Editor’s note: This article was first published in September 2010. Its examples reflect that time, including the description of Google as the world’s most valuable brand; brand rankings change every year.
It’s well established today that age, sex, social background, level of education, qualifications and your current financial situation have no bearing on success in business. Starting from there, who says you won’t be the next entrepreneur whose business makes it to the top?
Throughout history, and even more so today, we have seen companies built solely on the ingenuity and originality of someone with hardly any formal education.
On the other hand, there are entrepreneurs who prepared specifically so that one day they could lead their company to success.
So if none of the conditions we’ve described is required, what does a person need to build a successful company or business?
- Willpower
- Passion
- Leadership
- Perseverance
- Humility
An entrepreneur has to be clear that they may fail many times before they succeed. That’s why you need perseverance to keep going and humility to learn from your mistakes. Passion for what you do will take care of the rest, as long as you have the willpower it takes.
Starting a business certainly carries risk, but it’s riskier still to let time go by and end up regretting that fear of failure stopped you from going after the success you dreamed of.
Here are a few entrepreneurs we all know, and some success stories that I hope will motivate you:
- Steve Jobs: he dropped out of university after six months and was fired from his own company before starting again from scratch and achieving success once more. I recommend reading the inspiring story of how Steve Jobs, Apple’s founder, got started.
- Amancio Ortega: from shirt-shop assistant with no formal education to owner of a textile empire.
- Google: at 23 and 24, its founders were broke because they had put all their money into a project nobody believed in, yet passion and vision took them to what is now the most valuable brand in the world.
- Calvin Ayre: from programmer to millionaire and online gaming magnate.
- Donald Trump: from poor to millionaire, and from millionaire to ruin. He became a millionaire again thanks to his ten personal commandments.
Further reading
- How to be a successful entrepreneur, part 1
- How to overcome the fear of starting a business
- Common mistakes of Spanish entrepreneurs
- Differences between Spanish and American entrepreneurs
- 12 motivational quotes for business
Featured image: Jordiipa, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
