It seems that success usually doesn’t come easy, but for these particular individuals below it was actually a very difficult process indeed. In the end, personal persistence finally paid off for these 12 people who all failed when they were starting out, and each later went on to become massive success stories of their own. The moral of this story? Don’t give up, even when things look really bad.

1. J.K. Rowling

As a struggling writer she was divorced, unemployed and struggling to make ends meet while raising a daughter on social security benefits. Now after publishing her seventh Harry Potter book, she is wildly successful and the very “first person to become a billionaire from writing”.

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2. Steven Spielberg

After applying to his preferred personal choice of school – the University of Southern California, Speilberg’s application was nonetheless rejected 3 consecutive times before he finally decided to seek another institution for his education, only to later drop out and finally pursue his successful career as a film director.

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3. Charlie Chaplin

After initially being rejected by executives because they feared his act was “too obscure for people to understand”, Chaplin was finally given a chance and he went on to become America’s first popular Hollywood film star.

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4. Harrison Ford

After being told by the producer of his first film that he didn’t have what it takes and was not destined for success in the movie industry, this actor appeared in a string of Hooywood hits and has now become the 3rd highest grossing actor of all time.

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5. Thomas Edison

After being told by his childhood teachers that he would never be able to succeed because he was “too stupid to learn anything”, Thomas Edison went on to design more than 1000 different lightbulbs until he finally created one that worked and later went one to become of the most important inventors of our time.

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6. Oprah Winfrey

Once fired from her job as a TV reporter after being told she wasn’t suited for the television screen, Oprah Winfrey went on to become the most well known host of day time talk shows ever, as well as becoming a billionaire.

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7. Jerry Seinfeld

Despite being booed off the stage at his first performance, Jerry Seinfeld went on to become one of America’s best known stand-up comics with one of the most popular sit-coms ever.

 

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8. Marilyn Monroe

After signing her first deal with Columbia Pictures, the production company allowed her contract to expire because they felt she wasn’t pretty enough or talented enough to become a popular Hollywood actress. She later developed into one of the most popular Hollywood icons of all time.

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9. Sidney Poitier

After being belittled by a casting director, the actor was told to “go be a dishwasher or something” and scolded for wasting everybody’s time. He eventually went on to win the first academy award by a black actor ever and is still admired for his films by actors everywhere.

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10. Soichiro Honda

After being passed over by Toyota for an engineering job making cars, this resourceful man instead turned his sights toward designing motorcyles and started the company Honda, eventually turning himself into a billionaire.

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11. Walt Disney

After being terminated from his postion as a newspaper editor apparently because “lacked imagination and had no good ideas”, he later had a few failed businesses before he finally succeeded with the film premiere of his first movie full-length Snow White.

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12. Albert Einstein

Einstein did not speak until the age of 4 and did not learn how to read until 7, and although he was even characterised by his teachers as “slow” and “mentally handicapped”, this slow starter eventually went on to becoming one of the brightest minds of the century and later went on to win the Nobel Prize for physics.

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H/T: Roosevelts  via: TheBuriedLife