You’ll Be Amazed By The Origin Stories Of These Successful Businessmen

When we see billionaires running their enormous companies, we tend to think that they got in their position of power and incredible success either because it was given to them or because they got lucky. However, this is rarely the case, and most of the people who’ve made it to Forbes‘ top 10 richest people have started their vast empires from scratch. This is more than enough of a proof that the richest and most successful people start their empires from scratch, and it’s because of their hard work and never-ending dedication that they’re able to take the world by storm. However, they have their unique back stories that are filled with struggles, and we’ve got a lot to learn from each and every one of them. Here are two of the world’s richest people, how they all started their journey to greatness, and how they changed as their wealth grew in size.

Elon Musk

Elon has had a long history of people not believing in what he’s capable of. No one thought he could make a full-fledged electric car company, and even his closest friends pulled out when he announced his plans for Space-X, a rocket company which proved to be a great success later on. This man had the mind of an entrepreneur from the start of his life and made $500 when he was only 12 years old by making a copy of the Space Invaders game. His early goal was to somehow move to America and did so without the help of his parents. It was a long and hard journey, and he had to stay in Canada with some relatives and lived in a state of poverty for a few years before he finally went to America to receive his education.

He learned a lot about economics during his education and had to deal with depression once he graduated. It was then when he started questioning what he wanted to do with his life — a goal that was intrinsic for him to do with something about the future of humanity. He decided that the most important factors to the future of his species would be the internet, space colonization, and renewable energy. We can see now that he’s doing pretty well with all these goals, having made a company for each of them. We’ve got to admit that he’s doing spectacularly with his ambitions so far, and while helping the world, he’s also accumulated quite a bit of well-deserved wealth.

Jack Ma

Jack Ma is one of the most influential people alive in China, and he had to climb a tall ladder to get where he is today. At first, he became a translator after he graduated from college. However, during a trip to the United States, he discovered the internet. It was there that he realized that while China was producing a lot of goods, there was no representation of it on the internet – this was when he realized the massive potential that an online platform for Chinese goods could have. His first attempt at this platform was Chinapage, which wasn’t exactly a success. In order to keep it afloat, he had to reach out to government funding, but as he’d realize, later on, that wasn’t in the best interest of his company. While the government offered a lot of funding, they also assumed a lot of control over the company and Jack felt like it wasn’t his anymore due to the bureaucracy that had taken over.

He left the company and started a government job from where he was able to make some great contacts and meet a person that would, later on, change the whole playing field for him. Jerry Yang, who would then become the co-founder of Yahoo, befriended him, and when Alibaba was created, Jerry was able to help Jack out a lot in terms of funding. Jack had learned not to let the government interfere too much with his company and sought funding from other sources. Eventually, the company took off and now Jack Ma is among the richest people in China.

Both these people were just regular citizens at the start, and their smart thinking helped them and other people around them grab bigger opportunities and be more successful.