Biz-Econ

9 famous people who failed before they succeeded

Rejection can feel genuinely devastating. But before you retreat into your tear-stained hovel to plot a new, anonymous life as a subsistence farmer in rural Bangladesh (not that there’s anything wrong with that!), consider this: Some of the world’s most successful people have failed - sometimes more than once.We’ve put together a list of indisputably successes, from movie stars to scientists, who experienced massive failure before they found fame and fortune.Weaker people might have given up. Instead, these folks remained focused on their goals.Scroll on to see the underdogs who went on to change the world.1.Walt Disney: Walt Disney was fired from the Kansas City Star because his editor felt he ‘lacked imagination and had no good ideas.’Several more of his businesses failed before the premiere of his movie ‘Snow White.’ He went onto become the guy who redefined American childhood.2.Oprah Winfrey: Oprah Winfrey was publicly fired from her first television job as an anchor in Baltimore for getting ‘too emotionally invested in her stories.’But Winfrey rebounded and became the undisputed queen of television talk shows before amassing a media empire. Today she is worth a cool $3 billion, according to Forbes.3.Colonel Harland David Sanders: Colonel Harland David Sanders was fired from dozens of jobs before founding a fried chicken empire.He traveled across the U.S. looking for someone to sell his fried chicken, and after finally getting a business deal in Utah, Kentucky Fried Chicken was born. KFC is now one of the most recognizable franchises in the world, with over 18,000 locations.4.Sir Isaac Newton: Sir Isaac Newton’s mother pulled him out of school as a boy so that he could run the family farm. He failed miserably.Realizing her son was not meant to till the land, she let Newton finish his basic education and was eventually persuaded to allow him to enroll in Cambridge University. Newton went on to become one of the greatest scientists of all time, revolutionizing physics and mathematics.5.Thomas Edison: Thomas Edison’s teachers told him he was ‘too stupid to learn anything.’ After that, things stayed bleak for a while, as Edison went onto be fired from his first two jobs, for not being suitably productive.Edison went on to hold more than 1,000 patents and invented some world-changing devices, like the phonograph, practical electrical lamp, and a movie camera.6.Albert Einstein: as a child, Albert Einstein had some difficulty communicating and learning in a traditional manner. Of course, Einstein’s communication and behavioral problems were not indicative of a lack of intelligence.He went on to win the Nobel prize in physics for the discovery of the photoelectric effect, and his special theory of relativity theory corrected the deficiencies of Newtonian physics.7.Vincent Van Gogh: Vincent Van Gogh sold only one painting, ‘The Red Vineyard,’ in his life, and the sale was just months before his death.If he had given up his artistic career after it proved to strain his financial and emotional well-being, the art world would be missing hundreds of paintings from a true master.8.Winston Churchill : Winston Churchill was estranged from his political party over ideological disagreements during the ‘wilderness years’ of 1929 to 1939.At the outbreak of World War II on Sep. 3, 1939, Churchill was appointed to the British Admiralty, thus ending his ‘exile.’ The next year, he was elected prime minister at the age of 62.9.J.K. Rowling: J.K. Rowling was a single mom living off welfare when she began writing the first ‘Harry Potter’ novel.Rowling is now internationally renowned for her seven-book Harry Potter series and, in US currency, became the first billionaire author in 2004.Source: Business Insider