We would like to start the year, with a message of strength and hope.
There are days on your entrepreneur journey, where things don’t go your way and everything and everyone seems to be against you.
Guess what you are not alone.
There are many who have been beaten up emotionally, financially and perhaps even spiritually.
We would like to share some stories of those who have been to the bottom and have their lives turned around. They went on to live out fruitful if not great lives.
A Story of Strength and Hope – Chris Gardner
Chris Gardner is a successful businessman, author, and motivational speaker but he wasn’t always like that.
He once lived life at the other end of the spectrum – a down and out entrepreneur selling medical equipment to the hospitals.
However, business wasn’t as forthcoming as he expected, and income wasn’t forthcoming. To exacerbate matters, Chris was divorced and had to raise his toddler son. He didn’t have any help whatsoever.
Life was tough.
At one point he was even made homeless and had to live on welfare with his son in tow. Those were very very difficult moment for Chris.
With no experience, college education or connections, the future didn’t seem bright for Chris.
His lucky break came when he met an impeccably dressed man in a red Ferrari, Bob Bridges. Bob introduced him to the world of finance.
With hard work and dedication, Chris was accepted as a trainee at E.F. Hutton and as they say, the rest is history.
A Story of Strength and Hope -Joanne or J.K. Rowling
Another powerful turnaround story is the story of J.K. Rowling. J.K. Rowling is famously known for her Harry Potter fantasy books. Her books have won many awards and gone on to sold for more than 500million copies.
But way way before she became a household name, J.K Rowling was once jobless and had a daughter to take care of. She had to rely on state benefits to keep herself and her daughter afloat.
At one time, she was so depressed and was even on the verge of committing suicide as the future looked bleak. Those were very bad days for her.
No one expected a children book to take off so well. Her manuscript was rejected by 12 publishing firms before the 13th decided to go ahead to publish her book. Even then, the publisher did not expect her to make much money from selling children books and advise her to go get a proper job.
However, we know today J.K. Rowling is very much different than what she was in 1997.
Today J.K. Rowling is the highest paid author in the world and one of the richest woman too.
Strength and Hope
Beyond the rag to riches stories of Chris Gardner and J.K. Rowling. We believe there are many similar such stories out there. We encourage you to check out Chris’ book of memoirs, The Pursuit of Happyness to understand more about Chris and his miraculous turnaround
Similarly, we recommend you find your inspiration as you read up on one of the many autobiographies of J.K. Rowling available out there.
We hope the stories of this 2 inspirational people will keep you strong as you pull through your difficult moments.
So hang in there and as always do your best. Success may just be around the corner.
If you would like to contribute your story to our site to inspire and give hope to others, we highly recommend that you drop us a note.
In the meantime, cheers and all the BEST for the new year!
Luv
The team at Xtrepreneurs