Whether you are struggling to succeed or have hit an impenetrable wall, a failure story that turned into success will motivate and inspire you. These inspiring tales are proof that picking yourself up after a setback can lead to greater things. Whatever your dream may be, never give up in the face of challenge. Draw strength from these failure stories and keep going!
Thomas Edison
“I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” —Thomas Edison
Thomas Edison endured failure many times throughout his impressive career. One of the earliest examples was the hearing impairment he experienced as a young boy. This impairment limited him from fully engaging in social activities. Through it all though he continued to remain determined and remained focused on pursuing his dreams and goals. By age 16, he’d already presented his first invention: an automatic repeater for sending messages by telegraph. He famously went on to fail over 10,000 times before inventing the light bulb and earning 1,093 patents throughout his lifetime – inventions we know and use today like motion picture cameras, printing telegraph apparatus and telephones. Despite all of those who said Edison couldn’t accomplish his goals or objectives, he never gave up and soared so high that long after his passing in 1931, he is still remembered for what he created that changed our lives forever.
“Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time.” —Thomas Edison
He encourages us to pause, reflect on our failures and begin again. This story is an excellent reminder of how success can come from failure!
JK Rowling
Today, JK Rowling is the first person to become a billionaire due her writing – but it wasn’t always like this. Twelve publishers rejected JK Rowling but she persevered and believed in herself and her work. With the 13th publisher accepting it, Harry Potter became an international love affair for millions of readers including 7 best-selling books, 8 movies, and multiple theme parks around the world!
Oprah Winfrey
Oprah Winfrey, the queen of talk show hosts, billion-dollar media mogul and teacher to millions, faced more than her fair share of setbacks and failures before achieving success. Poverty and being on welfare as a child shaped Oprah’s adult life. After bouncing from job to job, in 1984 she lands the nationally syndicated talk show The Oprah Winfrey Show. With a “no money down” deal with ABC, Winfrey successfully negotiated over 100 times her original proposal. She also made history as the first woman and African American to own and produce her own TV program. Nowadays, Winfrey is worth 2.6 billion dollars–an admirable triumph indeed!
Colonel Sanders
Few people know the story behind KFC’s success as well as its founder, Colonel Sanders. Born in 1890, Sanders was plagued with occupational failures before he hit the jackpot with his renowned fried chicken recipe. Growing up in Henryville, Indiana, he held various jobs, including railroad fireman and tank dispatcher. His travels eventually led him to Corbin, KY where he ran a gas station and hotel until he opened the Sanders Café in 1930. With his secret seasoning blend of 11 herbs and spices, Sanders became an immediate hit with locals in search of some great fried chicken. After 66 years of hard work and failed business ventures, Sanders struck a deal that would make KFC an international success story seen by many today!
Steve Jobs
A well-known advocate of “failure as a step in success,” Steve Jobs is often credited with coining the phrase, “stay hungry, stay foolish.” Born and raised in Silicon Valley, California, Jobs started Apple at age 21 out of his parents’ garage. With $250 in capital from friend and investor Ronald Wayne, Jobs sold off some of his personal possessions to keep the production running. The early phase of Apple Computers saw jobs fail multiple times – struggling to create a market fit that he hoped would change the world. Finally, the Macintosh 128K was created with unique features that attracted potential buyers. Despite many road bumps along the way – including being fired from his own company – Job’s vision lasted and evolved into what we know today as Apple Inc.!
Vera Wang
“Success isn’t about the end result; it’s about what you learn along the way.” —Vera Wang
Vera Wang has become well known for her couture wedding gowns, but most don’t know that she started out as a competitive figure skater. In 1968, unfortunately, she failed to make the U.S. Olympic team and her dreams of becoming an Olympian were dashed. Even after having a successful 15-year career at Vogue as a fashion editor, Wang was denied the role of editor-in-chief and had to start over again. However, this didn’t dampen her determination. Wang understands that sometimes failure is just part of the journey to success. That is why she persevered and finally achieved fame and fortune in designing bridal wear.
Milton Hershey
No one ever said the path to success is paved in gold, and Milton Hershey’s story reminds us of this. After being fired from his apprenticeship with a printer, he tried three different candy-related ventures, all of which ended in failure. But Hershey didn’t give up. He started the Lancaster Caramel Company and finally, his business began to flourish. He followed his passion and founded the Hershey Company, and we all know how successful it eventually became. This story serves as a reminder that failure doesn’t have to be the end – if you persevere, it can often lead to amazing outcomes. Learn from your mistakes, accept your failures, but never lose sight of your dream – keep pushing forward towards your goals no matter what!
Walt Disney
An inspiring failure story comes from one of the 20th century’s most creative geniuses, Walt Disney. After being told he lacked creativity, Walt was fired from a newspaper, forcing him to pursue new ways to express his talents. This led him to start Laugh-O-Gram Films, which he funded with $15,000 but unfortunately had to close due to the closure of an important distributor partner.
After years of enduring frowns and rejections, Walt Disney finally found himself in Hollywood with no money but a lot of determination. His first creations were met with more failure, but eventually, his classic films came to be loved by many – marking the beginning of an incredible career.
George Steinbrenner
In 1960, George Steinbrenner made a daring move and purchased the small basketball team, the Cleveland Pipers. Unfortunately for Steinbrenner, due to his mismanagement of the team, two years later it had gone bankrupt. It seemed this history of failure followed him when he acquired ownership of the Yankees in the 1970s. As the team struggled with losses throughout decades in the 1980s and 1990s, many feared that his expensive and sometimes controversial decisions would lead to its ruin. Despite much criticism, Steinbrenner eventually turned things around and led them to amazing success with six World Series entries between 1996 and 2003, making them one of Major League Baseball’s most profitable teams.
Bill Gates
Bill Gates is now a household name and one of the wealthiest people in the world, but his journey to success was not without failures. One of his earliest endeavors, the company Traf-O-Data, resulted in a complete disaster. Gates and his partner, Paul Allen, tried to process and analyze traffic data tapes— an idea that was completely ahead of its time. Though the product barely even worked, the failure did not hold back Gates from exploring other opportunities. After a few years he created his first Microsoft product and proceeded on the path to success.
Arianna Huffington
Arianna Huffington, founder of The Huffington Post, had a long road to success. First, her second book was rejected 36 times before it was accepted for publication. But her true test of resilience came when she launched the site that would eventually become one of the leading names in journalism. The initial response wasn’t positive as dozens of reviews criticized the quality and potential of this new venture. Despite all the setbacks, Mrs. Huffington pushed through and established The Huffington Post as a staple in online media.
Fred Smith
Fred Smith thought of a revolutionary concept to revolutionize package delivery at the logistics level, with the use of automation. However, his college assignment to write a paper on this wasn’t taken well by his professors, and he ended up receiving a C grade. Despite this failure in academia, Fred never gave up on his passion. After serving during the Vietnam War, he came back and strategized a plan to make his dream business possible. He raised an impressive $80 million to do so! The result of this failure story is the beloved international courier services company known as FedEx.
Nick Woodman
Have you ever come across Funbug? Unless you were an unfortunate investor who was duped out of millions, chances are you haven’t. For those investors however, the infamy of this story likely leaves a bitter taste in their mouth. Funbug was a marketing company that underestimated the task at hand and ended up costing its investors heavily. But it was from this experience that Nick Woodman learned his lesson. He eventually pioneered the novel concept of GoPro within just four years of determination and hardwork. To achieve his dream, he undertook unconventional tasks such as learning how to use a sewing machine that belonged to his mother and negotiating with Chinese manufacturers for parts used in creating GoPro cameras.
Jeff Bezos
From massive toy purchases and miscalculations to a book buying glitch, Jeff Bezos has certainly had his share of missteps as the founder of Amazon. Making mistakes at the beginning of its launch, he ordered and stored over 100 million toys for the Christmas season, ending up with 50 million left unsold due to lack of storage space. Furthermore, an initial coding flaw magically allowed customers to buy a negative number items from Amazon’s book section and get credits! Despite these errors, Bezos was able to turn Amazon into one of the most successful e-commerce websites in the world.
Henry Ford
Henry Ford experienced two major failures when trying to get his automobile prototypes off the ground. His first attempt, the Detroit Automobile Company, fell apart when its shareholders got impatient with the lack of progress. The second opportunity – a partnership with Alexander Malcomson – nearly ended in disaster as well, but ultimately allowed Ford to create and launch the Model A. Instead of being disheartened by his initial failures, Ford recognized them as learning experiences. It enabled him to think outside the box and apply innovative solutions to his vision for automobile production. In this way, he was able to turn a seemingly career-ending setback into an opportunity for success.
“Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently.” – Henry A. Ford