How ordinary people succeeded: 5 inspirational examples
'03.02.2019'
Source: Companion Online
Popular hereditary businessmen or celebrities who use the considerable resources of their parents for their development are not very interesting to a wide audience. Many are captured by the success stories of ordinary people who are in ordinary (and sometimes less favorable) conditions. You will find out who managed to achieve wealth, fame and respect on their own, only thanks to their own hard work and the right direction.
Jan Koum
The success story of the worldwide popular messenger Whatsapp is no secret, everyone knows this application. Its creator Jan Kum was born in Kiev and grew up in Fastov in a far from wealthy family, writes Companion Online. After the death of his father, Yang and his mother decided to move to the States, where, in between school hours, he worked as a janitor at a store, and the family survived at the expense of food stamps.
Moving to the United States made it possible for Jan to learn programming, so a self-taught teenager in 18 years became a member of the hacker group. Then he was taken to Yahoo !, whence the developer soon left to develop his own project - Whatsapp. The first version of the application was downloaded by all 100 people, but the development of technology and confidence in the idea allowed the messenger to be brought to mind and made popular.
Cheri Schmelzer
Sheri's success began in the 40-year-old in terms of raising three children and running a household. To entertain herself and children, the woman decided to decorate the crocs rubber, commonly found among lovers of swimming pools and beach holidays. With the help of rhinestones and scrap materials, Cheri was able to create a truly original design, significantly diversifying boring and ridiculous sneakers.
In 2005, her husband offered to launch a site for selling hand-made decor, the couple founded the company Jibbitz. The order of 10 attempts was needed to select high-quality materials that would ensure the durability of new patterns and customer satisfaction with the modified Crocs. But by 2006, the annual profit from the sale of accessories reached 2,2 millions. And six months later, the manufacturer Crocs bought Jibbitz for 10 000 000 dollars.
Schmelzer did not invest a single dollar in advertising and marketing, their family business grew by itself.
Jan floun
In the 30 years, Jen’s school graduate (now the head of PJ Care) took nursing courses and began working in a hospital caring for people with mental disabilities. She didn’t like the conditions provided by state institutions, so when she got into the ministry of health, she unsuccessfully tried to change something using legal methods.
Realizing that the idea to implement at the legislative level will not work, Floun decides to open his own medical center. For the development of the case she needed more than a million dollars, so for a long time she could not get a loan. Only in 2001 in Milton Keynes, a hospital was opened for 22 patients, later the network expanded to three centers. The cost of rehabilitation in PJ Care is twice as high as in other clinics, but the quality of care is appropriate.
Howard Schulz
Did you know that the founder of the world famous Starbucks network was born and raised in the municipal building of Brooklyn? His father worked as a driver, so he couldn’t even give education to Howard, but Schultz managed to earn a sports grant to study at the University of Northern Michigan and still get a diploma.
Education made it possible to work at Xerox, which was booming at that time, and get resources for opening the first coffee point under the well-known Starbucks brand. At 1987, Harvard leaves work and heads Starbucks, then owning 60 outlets. At the moment, the network operates internationally and collects coffee shops under the single name of the 16 000 order, and Schultz himself is on the list of billionaires.
Ingvar Kamprad
If you think that the road to success for rural residents is closed, read the story of Ingvar Kamprad. The guy was born and grew up in the village, but he always showed inclinations toward entrepreneurship - as a teenager he bought in bulk small items, such as matches, pens and Christmas-tree decorations, and resold them to neighbors.
When his father gave Ingvar a sum of money as a reward for good training, the guy, no doubt, opened the mail order service. As the goods were supplied by local manufacturers, furniture began to be in greatest demand, which later became the company's business card. The new company got the name IKEA - an abbreviation of the initials, the name of the village and the Kampradov family farm. Ingvar's fortune in the last year of his life was 6 000 000 000 dollars (Kamprad died in January 2018 of the year).
The best success stories do not begin in an expensive office on the 300th floor of a skyscraper, they are created in simple houses, just as ordinary people, not even suspecting that they will become world-famous. History knows thousands of examples when the original idea, perseverance and hard work brought out to unprecedented heights housewives, cleaners or office managers with a mortgage and car loans. Therefore, if you have a goal - do not waste time!
