Rags to riches stories always motivate and inspire people. Even if you don’t want immense wealth, these stories will demonstrate to you, that with action and perseverance, you too can have what you desire.
Some of these stories you may have heard of, but it’s good to be reminded.
Like most rags to riches stories, Chris Gardner’s consists of many ups and downs. When he was a child, his father left him. His mother remarried, to a man who was anything but a father figure. He made Chris’ life and his mother’s life a living hell. Chris was chased out of the house and really had nowhere to go. He eventually found a place in the Navy.
After the Navy, he became a medical supplies salesman. He then had a child with his wife, Sherry. His career in the medical industry was doing well for him then, but the future was uncertain. The industry was changing, so Chris had to look to somewhere else for employment.
One day Chris saw a man parking a red Ferrari. He went up to him to ask what he did for a living. The man told Chris he was a stock broker. That’s all Chris needed to hear. Now he wanted to pursue a career as a stock broker.
Chris left his job as a supplies salesman. He had little money and his wife left him. Chris had no job, no money, no wife, and no home. But he did have his son. His son gave him immense motivation to do what he had to secure a better life.
The two of them were homeless and slept wherever they could, including a bathroom at the subway station. While they were homeless, Chris studied for the licensing exam, which he passed.
They were still struggling, but they had more hope than ever before. Chris got a job at Bear Sterns in San Francisco. He made cold calls to get new clients and worked as many hours as he possibly could.
As Chris worked harder, their situation began to get better. They were able to find a place to live and Chris was starting to earn more money. In 1987, Chris was able to start his own brokerage firm called Gardner Rich & Co. in Chicago.
There is much more to Chris’ story, enough to fill a book and make a movie out of. I recommend you research more about him.
2. Jim Carrey
They all had to relocate to Scarborough, another town in Ontario. To help make ends meet all of them took up jobs at the Titan Wheels Factory, including Jim. They worked in the janitorial and security departments. While working an eight hour shift Jim was still attending school.
They eventually moved on from the factory but things still didn’t get any better. The family was living out of a camper van. Jim decided enough is enough and took a shot at comedy, his main passion.
Jim did a few stand-up routines at local comedy clubs and was instantly hooked. At sixteen he dropped out of high school and performed celebrity impressions. Then he made a major choice to move to Los Angeles.
In LA he performed a regular gig at The Comedy Store. His talent impressed many people including Rodney Dangerfield.
Jim didn’t stop at stand-up. He began to look around for work in other areas of entertainment. He landed a part on a short-lived sitcom called The Duck Factory. After that, Jim played a few more parts in some movies.
Jim also did a film entitled, Earth Girls Are Easy. One of his costars, Damon Wayans called his brother Keenen. Keenen was creating a show called In Living Color. Jim joined the cast of In Living Color. This became Jim’s breakout role because of his many memorable characters.
After this show, Jim moved into bigger film roles. His hits included Ace Ventura, The Mask, and Dumb and Dumber. Jim became one of the highest paid comedians and actors in Hollywood history.
3. H. Wayne Huizenga
Wayne was born in a suburb of Chicago, Illinois to Harry and Jean Huizenga. When Wayne was in his early teens, he along with his father, mother, and younger sister moved to Florida.
His father, Harry, wasn’t an ideal male figure. He was abusive to his wife Jean. They were close to a divorce until they moved to Florida. The move was Harry’s plan to save the marriage and start over.
But Harry didn’t really want to change. He still was abusive to both Jean and their children. It was tough for all of them but Wayne didn’t let this stop him. He used it as motivation to get a better life.
After high school, Wayne moved back to Chicago and tried attending college but dropped out after about a year and a half. Wayne then enlisted in the Army reserves. He trained with them for about a year.
After Army training, Wayne moved back to Florida, where he moved towards the waste management industry. He bought a truck and began to take out the garbage in Broward county. Broward was seeing a huge population boom at this time.
In less than ten years, Wayne grew that one garbage truck into a fleet and a successful business. The business stretched across much of the southern part of Florida and eventually grew into Waste Management Inc.
WMI became one of the largest waste management firms in the United States. Wayne wasn’t settling down though, he wanted more.
Wayne set his sights on a new industry. One of his friends mentioned a small company called Blockbuster, which at the time only had a few stores. Wayne was intrigued when he visited one of the stores and decided to buy the company.
Wayne again turned another company into a huge success. Blockbuster grew and grew and eventually merged with Viacom for $8 billion. Wayne moved on to pursue more ventures, many which also have become very successful.
Through his career, Wayne has founded three Fortune 500 companies and has owned three professional sports teams.
4. Oprah Winfrey
For the first six years of Oprah’s life, she was raised by her grandmother, Hattie Mae Lee. Her grandmother was poor and couldn’t provide much, but did provide Oprah with a great ability, the ability to read before the age of three.
When Oprah was six, she moved to the inner city of Milwaukee to live with her mother, Vernita Lee.
Oprah still didn’t have much except her academics. She excelled in school and was even awarded a scholarship to attend Nicolet High School.
As Oprah grew older, she became a rebellious teenager, running away from home. Her mother decided to send Oprah to live with her father, Vernon in Tennessee.
Oprah continued to do well in school and other areas of life. Her success impressed WVOL, a local black radio station. She got a job with them to do the news part-time. This was Oprah’s first taste of the media world. She liked it very much and chose that as the industry where she wanted to pursue a career.
After the radio, Oprah moved to television. She worked as a news anchor for WLAC-TV in Nashville. There she was the first black female anchor and the youngest ever. Oprah then moved to Baltimore, Maryland where she became an anchor of the six o’clock news. Then she co-hosted a local talk show called People Are Talking.
Oprah then moved on to Chicago where she hosted a show called AM Chicago. At the time, the show was very low rated. Ms. Winfrey however took it to a whole new level. It became the highest rated talk show in Chicago.
After the success, the show was renamed The Oprah Winfrey Show and became nationally broadcasted. I guess you could say the rest is history.
Oprah has been nominated for an Academy Award, runs a successful magazine, TV show, website, and will launch her own cable network in 2009.
5. Andrew Carnegie
Andrew Carnegie was one of the titans of the industrial age. But before this time he was a poor boy from Scotland.
His father, William, was a hand loom weaver. When the industrialization of society began to spread across the world, William’s job became obsolete. The family had difficulties making ends meet. Then like most people of their time, they decided to start a new life in America.
In 1848 when Andrew was thirteen, they arrived in the US. Andrew quickly got to work at a cotton mill. He worked six days a week and twelve hours each day. Three years later Andrew got another job as a telegraph messenger for the Ohio Telegraph Company.
Andrew quickly excelled at the job and showed a great work ethic. A man from the Pennsylvania Railroad Company offered him a job as his secretary and telegraph operator. With each new job, Andrew worked harder and harder and earned more money.
Andrew quickly became the superintendent of the Pittsburgh division of the railroad company. Thomas Scott, the man who offered Andrew the job became his mentor. Thomas helped him with investing. Andrew early investments were very successful. With each profitable investment, Andrew put the money into another company.
These investments gave him enough capital to continue investing in other businesses and industries. Andrew remained with the Pennsylvania Railroad Company and continued to advance his career there.
Andrew eventually started investing in the steel industry. Andrew moved away from the railroad industry but kept his contacts with those he met in the industry. His investments grew into a steel company that became one of the largest in America.
Andrew’s company was eventually bought out for the equivalent of 120 billion in 2007 dollars.
After this, Andrew became a philanthropist and donated a large amount of his fortune. His donations went to build schools and libraries across the country and the world.
Their stories may be different but they all demonstrate that your current circumstances cannot prevent you from where you want to be in the future.
6. Richard Branson
Branson was born to a decent family in Blackheath, London. He had two parents and a grandfather that was the Judge of the High Court of Justice. He received a good education, but he didn’t do well in school. Instead of focusing on school, Branson decided to put a lot of his time into growing Christmas trees and raising budgerigars. However, both of these projects failed. At 16, Branson was able to publish a magazine and then set up a record mail-order business. In 1972, he was able to open several record stores, which he called Virgin Records. In the 1980s, his record stores were able to flourish. Branson created the Virgin Atlantic Airwaves while expanding Virgin Records, which became a music label. After starting off a poor student and not having the greatest potential in life, Branson is now the 245th richest person in the world. He also opens an island as well as land on different islands in the Carribean.
7. J.K. Rowling
Rowling was born in Yate, Gloucestershire, England, which is near Bristol. She attended school and found her love for writing fantasy stories. She would often write stories and tell them to her sister. Rowling moved from village to village many times and often traveled. In December of 1990, Rowling’s mother died, and she moved to Porto, Portugal in order to teach English as a foreign language. Before her mother’s death, Rowling had already begun writing her famous Harry Potter novel. In Portugal, Rowling married, but the couple separated in 1993. However, she did have a daughter and the two moved to Endinburgh, Scotland. During this time, Rowling was diagnosed with clinical depression and often contemplated suicide. She was unemployed and living on welfare. She was able to write and complete her first novel by going to several different cafés. Today, J.K. Rowling is worth about $1.1 billion and has been able to sell over 400 million books.
8. Ozzy Osbourne
Osbourne was born in Aston, Birmingham, U.K. His father was a toolmaker and his mother worked for car components. His parents worked hard each day in order to support Ozzy and his five siblings. Osbourne didn’t do well at school because he was said to be dyslexic. Because of this, Ozzy looked towards extracurricular activities, such as music and plays. At 15, Ozzy dropped out of school and became a construction site laborer. He switched jobs between being a plumber, toolmaker, slaughterhouse worker, and then a car factory worker. Osbourne sometimes got into trouble and was accused of burglary of a clothing store. He was not able to pay the fine so he spent time in prison. Eventually, Osbourne would go on to become the singer of a local band, and many would recognize his talent. Soon enough with the help of friends, Ozzy was able to create his own band, Black Sabbath. Throughout his lifetime, Ozzy has struggled with alcoholism and drug abuse. He has been banned from certain cities, arrested many times, and even abused his wife, Sharon. However, he has still been able to produce nine studio albums, three live albums, and many singles that were able to top charts.
9. Liz Murray
Born in the Bronx, New York, Murray’s life started off on a bad note. She was born to HIV-infected, drug-addicted, poor parents that were not able to provide for her. At nine years old, Murray found herself and her family living in an extremely dirty apartment. At the young age of 16, Murray was left alone once her mother died of AIDS. Her father also abandoned her, moving to a homeless shelter. She went to high school, but often found herself sleeping in subways, park benches, or at a friend’s home. Without a great education, Murray was able to graduate in only two years and was able to attend Harvard. Today, Liz is an inspirational speaker who speaks out about determination and how no matter how hard life is, you have to move on and continue to work your way through the battles. Many movies have been created about her life.
10. John D. Rockefeller
Rockefeller was born in Richford, New York and was one of six children. His father was a traveling salesman and was a foe of conventional morality. Throughout much of his life, Rockefeller’s father tried to find tricks and schemes he could use in order to avoid hard work, or any work at all. John’s mom struggled a lot in order to keep stability in the home, especially when her husband was gone for weeks at a time. Rockefeller’s family soon moved to Moravia and then to Owego. John went through school and got a job as a bookkeeper where he made about $50 in three months. In 1859, Rockefeller decided to produce business with a friend named Maurice B. Clark. The two established a firm and built an oil refinery. The refinery was run buy two other men, but soon after, Rockefeller bought out the Clark bothers’ firm and renamed it Rockefeller & Andrews. Soon his brother also bought into the oil business. By the end of it all, Rockefeller was able to find the Standard Oil Company and became the world’s first billionaire.
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