Low Income Housing Authority Low Income Housing News, Programs, Government Agencies, and More!

Home About Us

Find/ Apply For Housing

News/ Blog Help/ Resources FAQs

From Welfare to Faring Well: Successful People Who Never Gave Up

Success Secrets

Many well-known successful people where once unsuccessful. They failed repeatedly, suffered multiple rejections, lost their jobs, and were told they couldn't do it. Some have been on welfare, some came from low income housing areas, and some were even homeless. But the reason they became successful is because they never gave up. Here are some examples:

#1 - Walt Disney: once had to eat dog food to survive. He was told Mickey Mouse would terrify women on the screen. He was fired from a newspaper job and told he had no imagination.

#2 - J.K. Rowling, the author of Harry Potter books: was once on welfare. Before becoming famous, she was a divorced single mother just getting by, raising a family, attending school and trying to write a novel.

#3 - Oprah Winfrey: was fired as a TV reporter and told she was not fit for television. She was fired from her co-anchor position with a Boston television station and was also sexually harassed.

#4 - Jerry Seinfeld: was booed off the stage, but went back the very next night and performed successfully.

#5 - Henry Ford: failed and went broke five times before he was successful in establishing the Ford Motor Company.

#6 - Thomas Edison: was told he was not smart enough to learn and made 1,000 unsuccessful attempts before inventing the light bulb.

#7 - Sidney Poitier: was told by a casting director to stop wasting people's time and become a dishwasher.

#8 - Elvis Presley: was fired by the Grand Ole Opry after just one performance and told he wouldn't make it.

#9 - The Beatles: were fired by a recording studio and told that guitar music was on the way out.

#10 - Colonel Sanders of Kentucky Fried Chicken: was rejected 1,009 times before a restaurant finally accepted his recipe for chicken.

These are excellent examples of people who had faith in their ability to succeed and refused to take no for an answer. The definition of success is "something that turns out as hoped for or has a favorable result." Failure is simply falling short of that favorable result but is not the end. It is merely a speed bump on the highway of life. Or, as Henry Ford stated it, “Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently.”


Funding and Grants For Women and Families: