Written By: Yashika Sabharwal
From Rags to Riches: The 10 Best Success Stories
The lives of entrepreneurs throughout his/her history provide plenty of inspiration. There are hundreds of thousands of rags-to-riches stories, which you can read to find an inspirational boost.
A rags-to-riches story is a tale of a particular personality, who started with Zero (nothing), perhaps nothing more than just the clothes on his or her back for survival, but they came with rose to accomplish incredible achievements throughout their life.
Today, Business Connect Team showcase you some of this most renowned list of names, which inspire not only your mind for a time, but also impact your inner soul to get motivated.
When you read lists of inspirational rags-to-riches stories, like the story collection featured, you’ll start to see a few common threads to yourself and can relate it better. Hard work, passion, determination, and drive are all common elements of these stories. Surprisingly, obstacles, failure, and incredible odds are also elements of these stories.
Here are ten of the best business success stories that are guaranteed to inspire and encourage you to achieve your goals as well.
1.Stephen King
- Key Person: King is the Writer for horror, supernatural fiction, suspense, science fiction, and fantasy novels.
- Industry: Books
- Net worth: $400 million (£308 million)
The author of some of the greatest supernatural fiction, suspense, science fiction, and fantasy novels did not have an easy start in life. Stephen King’s father walked out from the family when he was only two, he leaves the infant boy to his mother to raise two young boys with great financial hardship.
From the very beginning, he knew he wanted to become a writer early on. He started his path with writing short stories, while still studying at school. He also won teen writing awards and never step back from those days, hence he went on to study English at the University of Maine.
His first writ up in the form of a novel, “Carrie” was rejected almost 30 times by the publishers before being selected and published by Doubleday Publishing in 1973. By a long run and success in the writing career that has given us so many masterpieces like – “The Shining and Rita Hayworth” and “Shawshank Redemption”, by which the novel based movie is telecast on The Shawshank Redemption.
His list of awards are countless and extensive that, if we start calculating his achievements then it would require a whole new article. In addition to over 350 million copies of his work sold worldwide, we totally rely upon his success and can undoubtedly say that Stefan King is the Real “KING” to the authors and he is one of the most successful authors in the world.
2. Henry Ford
- Key Person: Founder of Ford Motor Company
- Industry: Automaker Company
- Net worth: $200 Billion Dollars
Henry Ford was a farmer who was forced to work with his parent’s on the farm at a very young age because they couldn’t afford farmhands to help their family work.
When he created one of the first automobiles, most of the big investors laughed at the mode of transportation. It went more undeterred, but now with his hardships and obstacles, Henry ford created – “Ford” one of the most successful companies in the world.
3. Indra Nooyi
- Key Person: CEO PepsiCo
- Industry: Beverages Food processing
- Net worth: $80 million
EX-CEO of PepsiCo, the female name behind the most renowned company – ‘Nooyi’ is among the very few feminists, who hails from a very poor background to get the top edge of the CEO position.
However, her success story is equally appealing, inspiring and influential till the day. She used to work in the dark as the night shifts so that she can pay for her college’s tuition fee, while studying her management in the US.
Soon after her graduation, Nooyi joined the Johnson and Johnson. After working with them for quite some time, she worked delicately with various companies like Motorola and Boston Consulting Group, etc. When she was finally appointed as the CEO of PepsiCo, this achievement of her is seen to be very influential and remarkable till time.
4. Steve Jobs
- Key Person: Founder of Apple, Inc.
- Industry: Multinational Technology:
- Net worth: Estimated at $10.2 billion at the time of his death in 2011
Steve Jobs is well-known throughout the world as a pioneer and leader in the technology industry. He is the founder of Apple, Incorporated, and Apple products like the iPhone and iPad remain the largest selling mobile computing products throughout the world. Miraculously, Steve Jobs’ ultimate success came after decades of his failure pattern. He faces End-numbers of failures but he thrives through them all.
“Be a yardstick of quality. Some people aren’t used to an environment where excellence is expected.”~Steve Jobs
The company he started was incorporated through a garage. Apple’s first computer, the Macintosh, was a dismal failure when compared with the success of Microsoft computers.
The company almost went bankrupt multiple times, racked up huge amounts of debt, and nearly crumbled as partners and business associates came and went in frustration. Steve Jobs pursued his dream, though, and at the time of his death, Apple was one of the most profitable companies in the world.
5. Ralph Lauren
- Key Person: Founder of Ralph Lauren Fashions
- Industry: Fashion
- Net worth: $6.6 Billion Dollars
Ralph Lauren, born in 1939, grew up in the Bronx with his family of Jewish. His family is working-class immigrants they are leading his career to be summed up as a painter, encourage their son to express talents in painting. His “rags to riches” story includes his fashion interest and stretches all the way back to when he was 12 and selling hand-made ties to his classmates. He spent much of his downtime as a child watching movies, which sparked his inspirations.
Ralph Lauren’s contemporaries scoffed when he borrowed $50,000 to invest in the fashion business. His Russian immigrant parents lived far below the poverty line in the Bronx, and Lauren never even had a bedroom as a child. His loan, however, proved worthwhile. He’s one of the wealthiest fashion designers in the world.
6. Walt Disney
- Industry: Founder of Walt Disney Company
- Net worth: Roughly $1 billion at the time of his death in 1966 (after adjusting for inflation).
The whole world has heard of Walt Disney and fallen in love with his characters and creations like Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, and Pluto the Dog. Did you know, though, that Walt Disney started life so poor that he traveled door to door in his community trying to sell cartoon sketches to his neighbors?
“We keep moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new things, because we’re curious and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths.”~Walt Disney
It is really hard to believe that a door to door salesman, who was ones nothing had been able to build some of the massive amusement parks and also generate the billions of dollars in terms of revenue from a very own success and successful animated film venture.
7. Oprah Winfrey
- Key Person: Celebrity (The Oprah Winfrey Show)
- Industry: Entertainment
- Net worth: 2.6 Billion
Celebrity Oprah Winfrey (The Oprah Winfrey Show) started her living with her grandparents, soon after her parents divorced, she continues to live with grandparents. For quite some time, she had backwardness like to wear potato sacks instead of any cloths and her poverty leads her to eat left-overs for food. \
“The biggest adventure you can ever take is to live the life of your dreams.”~Oprah Winfrey
However, Oprah was not at all comfortable with this treatment by the times. She worked hard and obtained a full scholarship. Profile At the age of 19, she became a news anchor. Her anchoring as a career and the skills she owns will soon make her appreciated and eventually, she became the host of the most celebrated TV shows.
Her most famous TV show “AM Chicago”, which is now called as “The Oprah Winfrey Show” makes her the noted celebrity face. She is a remarkable woman, who show the world that, nothing is impossible when one has a full determination to do it, your courage and willingness makes you succeed!
8. Do Won Chang and Jin Sook Chang
- Key Person: Founded of clothing store chain Forever 21
- Industry: Clothing and Retail
- Net worth: Jin Sook Chang and Do Won Chang had a combined net worth of $6.5 billion
The founder of clothing brand Forever 21, Do Won Chang worked as a struggling janitor, on a gas station while on his tough days, he was also attendant in a coffee shop when he first allocates to live in the U.S.
Today with a Net worth of $6.5 billion Both Husband and wife Do Won Chang and Jin Sook, worked as a team behind Forever 21, and their journey isn’t always come easy.
After moving to shades of the U.S. from Korea in the year 1981, the founder of Forever 21, Do Won had to work, a total of three jobs at the same time to make it ends of his meet. This couple opened their first-ever clothing store in the year 1984, after so much struggle.
Hereby, they succeed in making Forever 21 is a famous international clothing brand with almost 480-store Empire, which rakes in around of a total $3 billion in revenue per year.
9. Peter Dinklage
- Key Person: Actor, widely famous for The Game of Thrones
- Industry: Entertainment
- Net worth: $15 Million
Fans of Game of Thrones will know and love Peter Dinklage for his portrayal of Tyrion Lannister. Looking at his talent, it’s easy to assume that he always had success in life. The reality is that he was born in New Jersey to parents who didn’t have a lot of money.
He had aspirations to be an actor, so he went to college and got a degree in theatre. After graduating, he had a huge amount of student loan debt. He couldn’t afford an apartment, but at least his friends let him stay on their couches in New York City.
“I waited a long time out in the world before I gave myself permission to fail. Please don’t even bother asking. Don’t bother telling the world you are ready. Show it. Do it.”~Peter Dinklage
10. Gabrielle Chanel
- Key Person: French fashion designer Gabrielle Bonheur “Coco” Chanel
- Industry: Luxury Fashion Clothing
- Net worth: $100 million
A young girl named Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel, who was born in the year 1883. She was abandoned by her own father at a very difficult phase to be an orphanage in France at a very young age.
At the orphanage, time the nuns taught her how to sew and do work with some small clothing items, and today she was highly skilled to use those skills as the biggest profession of the seamstress.
During her struggle days, she worked at night as a singer at the bar for extra income and living. She belongs to an era where women’s were not allowed to open bank accounts, they cannot cast votes, or they also don’t have any right to own a property. But a fully determined mind towards her success never stops. One day She met a rich man, at the same bar where she was working and then she began to live with him as his mistress when she was 23 years old.
This step of getting attached to an upper-classman, helped her to learn how to speak and act like a wealthy woman. So she tries every best thing to fit herself in that high society.
Afterward, once she firmly establishes her relations and friendship in the upper class, she then sets out to create clothing made with “poor” fabrics. Hence, at the time women were wearing feathers, corsets, and heavy brocade fabrics. Chanel called this fashion the “vulgar” and begins to create the comfortable sportswear and simple, chic clothing and dresses.
Her designs were widely famous in Paris and influenced the fashion sense everywhere in the world. Therefore, she opened the boutiques, and soon enough establish herself as the women of the clothing. By the time of struggle, she proved to the world that now she is a woman who never needed to seek the help of a man again. Today time her products are incredibly expensive in clothing and a symbol of total luxury to the world.
“Fashion is not something that exists in dresses only. Fashion is in the sky, in the street, fashion has to do with ideas, the way we live, what is happening.” ~Gabrielle Bonheur Coco
