Wow... Did you hear about this loser?

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Subject: Wow... Did you hear about this loser?

What is “holding you back” from creating the life of your dreams?

Have you “failed” in the past? Or, are you just scared to try anything because you might “fail”?

Throughout history, there have been thousands of famous failures.

Let’s take another look at some very successful failures and see what we can learn from their stories.

Dr. Seuss

Born in 1904 as Theodor Seuss Geisel, he took on the name of Dr. Seuss in 1927 during his stint at Dartmouth and Lincoln College, Oxford, where he enrolled with the intention of earning his PhD in English Literature.

But he gave up in his career pursuits at the behest of Helen Palm, whom he met at the college, encouraging him to take up a career in drawing instead.

In 1928, they married, and he worked drawing advertisements for years for a variety of notable companies such as NBC, Standard Oil and General Electric.

In 1937, 9 years after he married his sweetheart, he wrote his first manuscript entitled, And to Think I Saw it on Mulberry Street.

That initial manuscript was famously rejected 28 times prior to being accepted by Random House/Vanguard Press.

Ultimately, it led John O’Hara, who once held the office of President of the company to remark that “I’ve published any number of great writers, from William Faulkner to John O’Hara, but there’s only one genius on my authors list. His name is Ted Geisel.”

By the time of Geisel’s death in 1991, he had sold over 600 million copies of his books, which had been translated into 20 different languages, making him by far one of the most famous failures to have ever lived.

His persistence carried him through, allowing him to succeed where others might have thrown in the towel and given up.

Jerry Seinfeld

Born in 1954, in Brooklyn, New York, Jerry Seinfeld is a famous American comedian and actor best known for his role in the hit television series by his own namesake, Seinfeld, which aired from 1989 through 1998.

However, it’s Seinfeld’s earliest failures that are most notable when speaking about his success in life.

In 1976, at the age of 22-years old, after graduating from Queens College, Seinfeld tried his hand at standup during an open-mic night in New York City where he froze on stage, forgetting the joke.

From the second row, a heckler asked, “Is this your first time?”

He was booed off the stage and felt miserable about the failure.

But he didn’t stop. He simply kept going.

He continued his stint of standup acts over the next three years, which eventually led to an appear on an HBO Special for Rodney Dangerfield, and afterwards, to a role on the sitcom, Benson.

In 1981, Seinfeld appeared adjacent to Johnny Carson on, The Tonight Show.

In 1988, at the age of 34-years old, Seinfeld created the semi-fictional series about his life with co-creator, Larry David and pitched it to NBC.

It was originally named, The Seinfeld Chronicles, but was later changed to simply read, Seinfeld.

In 2002, TV Guide ranked it as the greatest show of all time, then subsequently ranked it the second greatest show of all time in 2012.

Katy Perry

Born in 1984 in Santa Barbara, California, Katy Perry is an American singer and songwriter best known for her hit, I Kissed a Girl.

Perry experienced a seemingly-sudden rise to fame. But did she really?

In fact, Perry experienced numerous heart-wrenching failures on the path towards stardom before she ever became a household name.

In her childhood, her family faced severe struggles, oftentimes living in poverthy, having to use food stamps just to get by, which had a big impact on Perry’s upbringing.

From an early age, she realized that things weren’t easily obtained, and that she would have to work hard for it, something that clearly stuck with her through the failures.

Growing up, her and her siblings listened to Gospel music often.

At the age of 13, she was gifted a guitar, and shortly thereafter she began performing the songs that she wrote using that very guitar.

However, she was far from famous. In fact, fame was going to elude her for quite some time.

In 1999, at the age of 15-years old, she dropped out of high school after completing her GED in order to pursue music full time.

She moved to Tennessee where she signed with Red Hill Records and debuted a Gospel record entitled, Katy Hudson in March, 2001 at the age of 17-years old.

It sold only 200 copies before the label ceased its operations a few months later.

In 2004, at the age of 20-years old, she signed with another label called Java, which was associated with The Island Def Jam Music Group, to work on her solo record.

However, after Def Jam dropped Java, the record was shelved.

Afterwards, Perry signed with Columbia Records, and recorded new music over the next two years.

But before the record was completed, she was dropped from that label as well.

However, her big break came in 2007 when she signed with Capitol Records.

In 2008, when she released the would-be-hit song, I Kissed a Girl, Perry was 24-years old.

What seemed like an overnight success actually took 9 years to accomplish from the time that she had dropped out of high school.

Sylvester Stallone

Born in 1946, Sylvester Stallone is an American actor and director best known for his role as Rocky Balboa in the hit boxing film, Rocky.

Stallone moved to New York City in the 1970’s to pursue his dream of being an actor.

However, all he seemed to face was rejection, failure and a string of people telling him he talked funny, walked funny and couldn’t act.

He was broke at the time. It was during this period that he was forced to sell his dog for $25 just to pay for his electricity bill.

He had been rejected 1,500 times by talent scouts, agents and everyone in the film industry that he could get a meeting with.

He would sit for hours on end in offices just to wait to the see the person who would ultimately reject him again.

He did this repeatedly, over and over.

Eventually, this wore on Stallone. He was broke and homeless.

He lived and slept in the New Jersey Port Authority bus terminal for three weeks while trying to scrimp and save money together for another apartment.

He was just about as desperate as anyone could be in their lives.

After writing the script for Rocky, he was offered a tremendous amount of money with one caveat — that he not star in the film.

The offer was raised as high as $325,000 with the condition that he not act in the film.

He refused time and again.

Eventually, he accepted just $35,000 and a percentage of the film’s sales.

That film grossed over $200 million in the box office!

Because of his belief in himself and persistence, he has become a wild success!

“You, me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But it ain’t about how hard you hit. It’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward.” – Sylvester Stallone

Source – wanderlustworker

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So, what can we learn from these historical Successful Failures?

They were beaten down and “lost” at many things, yet they kept persevering.

They didn’t give up.

It didn’t matter that people called them a failure, they kept pushing towards their dream to succeed.

Their desire to succeed overrode any fears they may have had.

Do you give up when failure strikes?

Or, do you take your failures and find the “silver lining” and learn from the situation?

I hope you take these examples and examine your own life and make any necessary adjustments to turn the corner.

Take these famous Successful Failures and use them to build the desire and determination to “pick yourself up” and keep reaching for your dreams just like Seuss, Seinfeld, Perry and Stallone did.

Are you willing to become a better version of yourself? I hope so!

To your future success,

- Duane Eberhard

PS – Watch this video of another Successful Failure. From multiple failures to millionaire. It’s pretty inspiring!

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