10 Famous Failure to Success Inspiring Stories

Table of Contents

Introduction

Failure to Success stories of great people has many unsuccessful stories in the background. Ever since the dark ages, there has been the struggle to stand out from the crowd. Throughout history, we have seen that a man’s biggest failure in life has been their turning point, into becoming one of the most successful people. We are here to share some of the famous failures to success stories of all the time.

The ability to always stand after facing a great failure repeatedly is the path to making great success stories. And here starts the story of the biggest failure in life turning into the most successful person.

There are many inspiring stories of success after failure and so we’ll cover some failure stories of great personalities who started from nothing and then rose to be the best at what they do.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN

If this isn’t the best from the stories of struggle and success, then I don’t know what is. From losing eight elections to failing twice in business, cause him a severe nervous breakdown. Yet Abraham Lincoln never gave up on his dreams and wrote history by becoming the 16th President of the United States of America.

Abraham Lincoln was born on February 12th, 1809.

The Republicans chose him as their preferred presidential candidate even though he was unpopular because of his political stance. His story of success began in March 1861 when he was appointed as the 16th President of the USA.

He was assassinated by John Wikes Booth, an allied conspirator on April 14, 1865. Lincoln once said, “Nothing valuable can be lost by taking the time”. Accurate to his expression, that’s the life he lived.

STEVE JOBS

The story behind the bite of the apple logo is one of the best success stories in the electronic gadgets industry. Steve Jobs became a prominent billionaire, inventor, entrepreneur, and iconic business owner.

Born in 1995, Job’s life wasn’t as optimistic. He was made to feel unwanted when his mother put him up for adoption, he also dropped out of his degree collection, considering it less appealing and less valuable.

His Journey of becoming a millionaire is the finest success story in History. He co-founded Apple in 1976 with his fellow mate Steve Wozniak. He resigned from Apple after a fall out with a marketer of Pepsi.

With his resignation, Apple had reached the verge of Bankruptcy. During this time Jobs founded NeXT which was thriving. NeXT was acquired by Apple in 1997. He was also the biggest shareholder of the PIXAR animation studios in 1979.

KENTUCKY FRIED CHICKEN

KFC World’s most famous fast-food restaurant. Founded by Colonel Harald Sanders, a business tycoon, who began by selling fried chicken from his roadside restaurant in Corbin.

Born in 1890, his father passed away when he was 5 years old and his mother was forced to work at a canning plant. His mother taught him how to cook when he was 7 years old, and he left his family and home at the age of 13. Sanders pursued many professions with mixed success and he also went through depression before thriving in his career.

He didn’t retire at the age of 65 but he initiated his career in his 60ees. Sanders’ example is the best in top failure stories turning to the most popular success story in English.

WALT DISNEY

People always say follow your dreams, and if there is one person who believed in himself and his dreams was Walt Disney. He was fired from a local newspaper in 1919 on the grounds of lack of imagination.

He then started a company called Laugh-O-Gram which was producing cartoon animation. His significant client at that time was Newman’s Theatres. In 1923, his company was declared bankrupt.

He was only included in the successful people stories when he moved to Hollywood. And then he and his brother founded Disney Brother’s studio which later became Walt Disney. In 1928 when Disney released Mickey Mouse, and that’s when things took a turn for the best.

KATY PERRY

She was born in Santa Barbara, California in 1984. Her family had to face many financial struggles, they survived on food stamps just to survive. She dropped out of high school and started to pursue full-time music.

From failure to success stories of students who abandoned education just pursue it is quite rare. Katy Perry hit her big break in 2007 when she signed in with Capitol Records. She released her first big hit in 2008 ‘I kissed a girl, at the age of 24.

She thrived in her music career after nine years of struggle.

MADONNA CICCONE

Widely known as the Queen of Pop. Madonna, an American Pop culture Icon, was born in 1958 in Michigan. She lost her mother at the age of 5.

She wanted to be a professional dancer and so she dropped out of University in 1978 to follow her dreams. She took on random jobs to support herself. She also pushed herself to do small parts in singing and performing with bands, like The Breakfast Club. She hit her first big break at the age of 24 in 1992.

She divulged her album ‘Madonna’ and since then became one of the greatest pop icons.

MICHAEL JEFFREY JORDAN

What is the first name that comes to your mind when asked, who is the best basketball player of all time? Michael Jordan it is, who is now recognized as a Basketball icon of all time.

But did you know that he was not selected for his high school varsity team? He never gave up and went early to the school to practice, and when he finally got selected, he wasn’t allowed to play and was made to sit on the bench in the corner. This disregard did not cause him to falter because he knew he played well and kept on doing his training to achieve perfection in the field.

Doing this he headed to his big dome even before finishing college. He then joined the NBA and started to set new records since then. His fans thrive to be like him and his matches are closely watched by fans all around the globe.

OPRAH WINFREY

Behind famous motivational stories, there are some untold yet best failure stories, one of them is the story of Oprah Winfrey.

Behind all the glam and lights there is this gut-wrenching story of perseverance and resilience. She was born in Mississippi in 1954 to a single teenage mother. She not only faces poverty from a very young age but was also sexually molested by her cousins and uncle. She then gave birth at the age of 14 to a premature baby that died shortly after birth.

She became a beauty pageant at the age of 17 and became a news anchor. It was then in 1983 when she decided to move to Chicago and took over a show called AM Chicago which eventually became The Oprah Winfrey Show.

Today she is not only a multi-billionaire but also an inspiration and a role model for many youngsters.

DHIRUBHAI AMBANI

Born in December 1932. There is no one who cannot recognize the founder of Reliance Industries. He was born in Gujrat a son of a school teacher. His family had to go through many hardships, he worked every day so that he doesn’t meet the same fate as his parents did.

He took Reliance Public in 1977 and was worth $25.6 Billion on his death. He was also honored by Padma Vibushan posthumously in 2016 for his contribution to the trade and commerce industry.

It’s because of his hard work and strategies that the Ambani family is not only the richest family of India but also the richest on the top 10 charts of the World’s greatest billionaires.

STEPHEN KING

Stephen Edwin King, an American Novelist, born in Portland in 1947. Passed from the University of Maine. He wrote short stories and novels reviving the genre of horror fiction, he supported himself by teaching and also did a job as a Janitor.

His work was many times disparaged as undisciplined and inelegant. He did not let his morale down and kept on writing books, his books gained fame because of his skills of realistic details and forceful plotting.

By the early 1990s, his books had sold more than 100 million copies worldwide.

So these were some struggling stories of great persons. A successful man’s story begins with a lot of hardships and struggles. The story of a successful person is never smooth and optimistic.

Also Read: How to Improve Yourself

Conclusion:

Failure stories of great personalities encourage us to work hard and smart and are persistent with whatever we do because there is always success after failure. People are often scared of failing and sometimes go through depression and anxiety just because they don’t want to fail.

With failure comes a lot of experience and strength to always thrive for perfection. There are many great failure stories that can inspire people to always rise up and shine.

Success is what everyone is running after, but no one achieves success in just one shot. People go through hard times and struggle before they thrive in their careers. Failure stories of successful people should make you strong and invigorate you to never give up.