There are many famous entrepreneurs who have had to deal with failure before they achieved success. Entrepreneurship can be a difficult road, full of obstacles and pitfalls. But from these mistakes come lessons that help shape their future successes. In this blog post, we will explore some of the most successful failures in history, as well as others who continue to face struggles today.
Let’s take a look at these entrepreneurs.
1. Milton Hershey
Milton Hershey was born in 1857, the son of a carpenter. He worked for an insurance company and then as a bookkeeper for his father’s construction business before joining Lancaster Caramel Company where he developed candy-making skills. In 1893, Milton bought out his employer and renamed it to M.S. Hershey Chocolate Company; this made him one of America’s first great entrepreneurs who met success after failure.
However, when chocolate prices dropped due to overproduction during World War I (1914-18), Milton struggled with debt until he sold off most of the company assets that were used as collateral for loans amid increasing competition from Nestlé and Rowntree & Sons Ltd., among others.”
2. Henry Ford
Henry Ford was an American entrepreneur and the founder of the Ford Motor Company. He had a net worth of $188 billion in today’s dollars, making him one of the richest people to ever live. His company helped make America what it is today with innovations such as assembly lines for cars and trucks, which radically sped up production by transferring work from craftsmen to machines.
There are many instances where Henry found himself at his lowest point before going on to success later: he failed twice before founding his own company; after failing in business ventures related to rubber plantations, he ran into financial difficulties until 1921 when he founded Lincoln Motors- but that too went bankrupt within months due to issues like quality; and his third company, the Ford Motor Company was a success at first but faltered after he left in 1919.
Henry’s failures led to many of his innovations that helped shape one of the most powerful nations in history.
3. Brian Chesky
Brian Chesky is the co-founder and CEO of Airbnb, a marketplace for people to list and book lodging. In 2008, he had his first major success with an online design project called “AirBed & Breakfast.” The idea was then incorporated into AirBnB so others can rent out their homes too. But before that time there were many failures in business ventures which involved making furniture or signing up as a college student.
He has never been afraid to try something new while also taking care not to be overly ambitious when starting projects – but instead have them grow organically at their own pace without stressing about progress reports every day.
4. Fred Smith
The inventor of the shipping company FedEx, Fred Smith was in his mid-twenties when he decided to start a delivery service for small packages. He started with only $8400 from family and friends as initial capital. By 1973, he had expanded this enterprise into one of the largest companies in America by 1997 (worth over $21 billion).
But it wasn’t always so simple: there were many speed bumps along the way such as being charged by the U.S Postal Service with mail fraud! After that setback and even more challenges coming up, later on, he still persisted until finally achieving success after four years.
5. Soichiro Honda
Honda Motor Co., Ltd. is a Japanese public multinational manufacturer of automobiles and motorcycles, engines, and other parts for the automobile industry, based in Tokyo, Japan. Honda is second only to Toyota as Japan’s leading company by production worldwide; it also manufactures more cars than any corporation in the United States except General Motors.
Soichiro Honda founded this empire after having met with failure before success which seemed like an impossibility when he was growing up during World War II occupied Japan. Soichiro has always told his sons that self-confidence comes from perseverance: “If you have faith in yourself just once, then develop it fully.”
6. Arianna Huffington
Arianna Huffington is a famous entrepreneur who met failure before success. She was rejected from Harvard Law School and told to give up her aspirations of becoming an author, but she fought back against those setbacks by founding the company that would become The Huffington Post which now has over 100 million monthly visitors on their online news site.
Some students may be thinking “I’ve been turned down for jobs or college admissions too – I could never start my own business!” But what they don’t know is that you can create your own work environment with minimal startup capital: all it takes is motivation, creativity, and persistence. Even if you are not able to predict what will happen in life beforehand, taking risks can open up possibilities you had never considered.
7. Jeff Bezos
Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon.com, is one of the most famous entrepreneurs in history. He started his company with a $300 investment and grew it into an international powerhouse that has changed how people buy things online around the world. Yet before becoming successful he suffered through several failures-and even brief jail time-as he learned what not to do as well as what would work for him.
The Bottom Line
It’s not easy to be an entrepreneur. But with the right mindset and perseverance, you can make it happen. We hope this blog post has given you some insight into what makes successful failures tick and how they’ve been able to use their past experiences in order to build something great.
