5 lessons from top billionaires

There is a saying that says; “You need money to make money.” However, there are a few wealthy people who worked hard to rise from their humble beginnings.

Rags-to-riches stories go a long way in inspiring entrepreneurs. They brush away doubts and procrastinations from your head and help you move forward to the next level of success.

If you hear that demotivating voice in your head, use these five inspiring rags to riches stories of people who achieved great success.

Overnight success doesn’t exist

“You can’t go into business thinking that success will come to you in just one or two years.”

Do Won Chang moved from South Korea to the United States with his family in his twenties.

He worked in a coffee shop washing dishes. He took a second job at a gas station. Then he decided to start an office cleaning business.

Those three jobs kept him working from the moment he woke up until midnight every single day. Whenever he saw a man driving a luxury car at the gas station, he asked: “What do you do for a living?”

He began to notice a pattern: Many of them worked in the clothing industry. So, he quit washing dishes to work at a clothing store to learn everything there was to know about the garment industry.

Through his three jobs, he was able to save $11,000 (Sh1.1 million today). He used the money to open a store called Fashion 21, which sold wholesale clothing at low prices. It hit a turnover of $700,000 (Sh71.6 million) in its first year.

He began to open more stores and changed the name to Forever 21. During the Great Recession of 2008, Chang chose to open even more Forever 21 stores instead of cutting back on expenses. His goal was to create 7,000 new jobs every year, which also helped his company. Today, Do Won Chang has a net worth of $3.1 billion (317 billion).

There’s no big life secret

“The big secret in life is that there is no big secret. Whatever your goal, you can get there if you’re willing to work.”

When talking about heartening tales, it’s difficult not to mention the humble beginnings of the queen of talk shows.

Oprah Winfrey was born in a tiny town in Mississippi to a teenage single mother who worked as a housemaid. They had to rely on family to help them survive.

As a little girl, she was bullied by her peers because she wore clothes made of potato sacks. She was also hit with a stick by her grandmother whenever she forgot to do her housework.

When she was just nine years old, she experienced sexual abuse. At 14, she got pregnant. The baby died soon after birth.

Though Oprah had been through hell and back at such a young age, it only made her have more empathy for the pain of others. She was incredibly smart and excelled in school.

She got a scholarship to college and a job at a radio station. She worked her way up to a news anchor. There was something truly special about her personality.

When she was 30, she became the first black woman in history to have her own talk show. Today, she is worth $2.8 billion (Sh286 billion).

Be addicted to winning

Larry Ellison came from the slums to co-found Oracle. “I’m addicted to winning. The more you win, the more you want to win.”

 He was born on the Lower East Side of New York during World War II, back when that district was l poor and teeming with immigrants striving to survive. At an early age, Ellison contracted pneumonia and was sent to the South Side of Chicago to live with relatives.

Despite these obstacles, he was able to educate himself and join Software Development Laboratories in 1977.

This was a crucial move, because in 1982 the company became Oracle. This is a company that brings in $38 billion (Sh3.8 trillion) every single year, and along the way, Ellison, who stepped down as CEO in 2014, managed to accumulate over $69.1 billion (Sh7 trillion) in net worth.

Commit to your business

“Commit to your business. Believe in it more than anybody else.” The founder of Walmart came from humble beginnings. He was born and bred on a farm. He helped his family financially by milking their cows, bottling the milk and driving it out to customers.

He also delivered newspapers on a paper route. During college, he waited tables in exchange for meals.

At 26, he purchased a Ben Franklin variety store with the help of a $20,000 (Sh2 million today) loan from his father-in-law, plus $5,000 (Sh0.5 million) of his savings. He expanded the chain with the help of his brother, and then went on to found Walmart – the world’s largest company in terms of revenue.

By 2015, Walton’s net worth already exceeded $100 billion. Sam Walton died in 1998 but the started-from-the-bottom story of a boy who delivered milk and newspapers around the village still inspires thousands of people worldwide. 

Believe in your work

“Creativity and believing in your work is absolutely a necessary part of success.” Ingvar Kamprad was born on a farm in rural Sweden.

His family was so poor that he began working at six years of age selling matches to people in town. At 10, he rode his bicycle around, trying to sell Christmas decorations door-to-door.

Kamprad had dyslexia, which made it difficult for him to get good grades. But he tried his best to overcome his disability. When he was 17, his father gave him a small reward for getting good grades in high school.

He used the money to start a business called Ingvar Kamprad from Elmtaryd, Agunnaryd (IKEA). After years of trying to sell to his neighbors, he realised that everyone needed furniture and home decor. So he began selling products at lower prices than his competitors.

The local furniture businesses began to boycott him to stop him from buying wholesale. If he wanted to sell furniture, they said, it needed to be his own design. He decided to create furniture that was simple, modern, and cheap. Today, there are over 350 IKEA stores worldwide.

Ingvar Kamprad died at 91 years old in January 2018. At the time of his death, he was worth $58.7 billion (Sh6 trillion).  

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