3 Failure To Success Stories Every Entrepreneur Should Know
Failure—it’s hard to think of anything humanity fears more (other than death, perhaps). But failure isn’t the miserable ending that we’ve dreamed it to be; often, it’s a valuable learning curve or a challenge on the way to success.
According to Sir Richard Branson, failure—or more specifically, what we learn from it—is one of the most common attributes of a successful entrepreneur. As explained by Branson in a recent Virgin Australia blog, failure isn’t something to be feared— it’s a catalyst for growth.
“Nobody gets everything right the first time. Business is like a giant game of chess – you have to learn quickly from your mistakes. Successful entrepreneurs don’t fear failure; they learn from it and move on.”
So, in honour of Sir Branson’s advice, take moment to read through the below failure to success stories from some of the world’s most famous business people.
Credit: Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP
Oprah
Yes, that’s right — hard as it may be to believe, even the great Oprah Winfrey experienced failure on her journey to success! Fired from her first television job at the age of 23 for being ‘too emotionally invested in her stories,’ Oprah could easily have given up. Instead, she dusted herself off and kept working on her passions, and even though she initially faced a ratings drop on the Oprah Winfrey Show for refusing to follow tabloid trends, a surge followed as respect and buzz grew around the show. Today, Oprah is known as the woman behind a billion dollar media empire, and is the undisputed Queen of television talk shows.
JK Rowling
Regarded as one of the most successful and beloved authors in the world, even JK Rowling once faced dark times of uncertainty— at one stage, even contemplating suicide. As a single parent living on welfare, Rowling battled against multiple odds in the quest to complete her first book— including the death of her mother, the loss of her marriage, and the challenges of writing while looking after a baby.
Still, even after she finished completing the first Harry Potter book (a feat in itself that took five years) she then had to face the challenges of publishing. Initially rejected by 12 publishers, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone was eventually picked up by several publishers—leading to Rowling becoming one of the world’s best-selling/richest authors!
“It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all – in which case, you fail by default.”— JK Rowling, during a 2008 Harvard University speech.
Bill Gates
Now famous for building the world’s largest software company, Microsoft, Bill Gates wasn’t always known as the world’s richest man. In fact, as well as being a Harvard University dropout in his earlier days, Gates was also a failed entrepreneur. But as many came to see, Gates wasn’t a failure, he just hadn’t found his true niche yet. Since building Microsoft, Gates has gone on to become one of the most revered people in the business world, and in 2016, was named by Forbes as the world’s richest billionaire for the third year in a row. Currently worth $85.5 billion, Gates has remained in the top 10 richest billionaires for 17 years and counting!
So if you’re yet to crack that big job, have failed more times than you can count, or haven’t yet discovered what it is you actually want to do, don’t beat yourself up too much—there’s always time to keep working toward your goals. The main thing is that you invest in your self-learning and focus on growth beyond failure.