11 Famous Successes That Stemmed From Failure

Famous success stories | BCBusiness
This media mogul was fired from her first job in television.

A who’s who of famous failures that have led to great success stories.

The pursuit of success is full of some failures. In fact, the more we fail, the greater our success. History is chock-a-block full of people who might never have made a success of their lives without some big challenges.

Zig Ziglar once said, “Failure is an event, not a person.” See if you can figure out who’s who in these descriptions. (Answers found at bottom.)

A.) He failed the sixth grade and was defeated in every single election for public office until he became Prime Minister at the young age of 62.

B.) He was booed from the podium when he first released his ideas, and was considered an outcast by his peers and the scientific community.

C.) In the first year of her contract, she was dropped by her producers because they thought she was unattractive and couldn’t act.

D.) He did not speak until he was four years old, and couldn’t read until he was seven. His parents thought he was “sub-normal.” He was expelled from school and his teachers described him as “mentally slow, unsociable and adrip forever in foolish dreams.”

E.) He was fired after his first performance at the Grand Ole Opry and told by the manager, “You ain’t going nowhere son, you otta go back to driving a truck.”

F.) She was broke, living on welfare, severely depressed, divorced and a single mother while attending school and attempting to write her first novel.

G.) After a screen test, the memo from the director read, “can’t act, can’t sing, slightly bald, can dance…a little.”

H.) A professor suggested he drop out of the English department and college altogether. At his very first job, he was paid in cases of shaving cream, soda and nail clippers. His first book was rejected by 27 publishers before printers accepted it.

I.) Enduring a rough and often abusive childhood, she faced numerous career setbacks including being fired from her first job because she was unfit for TV.

J.) He was told by Emperor Ferdinand that his operas were “far too noisy” and contained “far too many notes.”

K.) They said he was too small and didn’t skate well enough. Yet, he set the standard for grit, courage, skill and humility.

Answers:
A) Winston Churchill; B) Sigmund Freud; C) Marilyn Monroe; D) Albert Einstein; E) Elvis Presley; F) J.K. Rowling; G) Fred Astaire; H) Dr. Seuss; I) Oprah Winfrey; J) Wolfgang Mozart; K) Stan “Steamer” Smyl – Vancouver Canucks.

If you never fail, you’ll never succeed.