Whether it’s in a job, in a new business, in finding an agent, or in switching careers, everyone fails sometimes. In some situations, people fail a lot before they become successful. However, when you’re facing a large amount of rejection or are continuing failing, it is really, really difficult to remember that you aren’t alone in that – and, more importantly, that the fact that you are currently not succeeding does not mean that you will never succeed. When you’re facing failure, though, it can really help to that you’re in good company. Here is a list of some great failures who later went on to become great successes.
The Beatles weren’t always the Fab Four. Before they were fab, the Beatles were rejected by a whole slew of record labels, including one that infamously announced, “The Beatles have no future in show business.” Of course, the Beatles ultimately became one of the greatest rock groups of all time, at one point managing to claim all of the top five spots on the Billboard singles music chart.
Jay-Z was rejected by every single record label in the business. However, eventually he found success by going on to create his own record label. Now he and his wife Beyonce are together worth $900 million.
Bill Gates dropped out of college at one of the country’s most prestigious universities and seemed destined for an unsuccessful career when his first business, Traf-O-Data, failed. Of course, ultimately he went on to found a company whose name is almost synonymous with modern-day computing.
Although Babe Ruth is famous as one of the country’s greatest baseball players, at the time of his retirement he held the record for the most strike-outs in all of Major League Baseball. In that sense, he may have failed more than any other player of his time – but his successes have made him remembered long after many of his fellow players’ names have been forgotten.
Michael Jordan, who was once cut from his high school basketball team, went on to become one of the game’s greatest players. He is well aware of the role his failures have played in his success, as he is quoted as saying, “I have missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I have lost almost 300 games. On 26 occasions I have been entrusted to take the game winning shot, and I missed. I have failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.”
