#1
Dad left his mother when he was two. she worked a series of odd jobs to provide for him and his brother.
He worked various odd jobs to pay his way through college, published short stories here and there.
Lived in a trailer with his wife and kids and had just got his phone disconnected because they couldn't afford it when he got the news that his first novel was being published. Received the good news via telegram!
Now he's one of, if not THE, most popular author in the world.
#2
To earn extra money, she began selling hair products geared toward Black women. Eventually developed her own line of hair care products that were sold door-to-door and demonstrated to groups of women decades before the 'Avon Lady' marketing model was developed from her model. When she retired, she had a sales staff of 20,000, her own factory in Indianapolis, and her 'Madam C.J. Walker' hair products were sold nationwide and throughout the Caribbean. First African-American woman millionaire - creating an estate that in today's money would be worth over $30 million.
Everyone wants to believe that they can go from rags to riches if they just work hard enough. Those kinds of stories give people the hope that they can better their lives and rise beyond their circumstances. The only problem is that the likelihood of that happening for a person from a poor family is just 1%.
Even though everyone is always rooting for the underdog, research shows that kids born into rich families have a 22% chance of being wealthy as adults. This is because they have better resources handed to them and support that can help them carve out the pathway to success with ease. Poorer people don’t just get everything handed to them, which is why it can be such a struggle.
#4
#5
When she finally did, Spanx exploded. She refused to take outside investment and built the whole thing on high risk loans + one single mill owner in North Carolina who agreed to take a chance on her product.
At 41 she finally took on investment from a PE firm and became the youngest self-made female billionaire ever. She celebrated by giving every single one of her employees $10,000 and two free plane tickets anywhere on Earth.
#6
She was born poor, and ended up working a brothel, where she caught the eye of a pirate captain who - according to lore - attacked the brothel specifically to liberate her. They married, and she sailed by his side for years, until his death.
At that point, she managed to gain control of his modest pirate alliance... and proceeded to kick all the a*s. She built up one of the largest pirate fleets ever, with hundreds of ships and thousands of sailors, one so large that it was able to fight the Imperial Chinese navy to a standstill. Ultimately, the Chinese government had to offer pardons to her and the vast majority of her crews, for them to agree to stand down. They even got to keep their loot.
And then she retired to run a casino/brothel, and live off her accumulated booty, dying sometime in her late 60s.
To this day, she's widely considered the most successful pirate in history.
What’s interesting to note is that many of the folks on this list were once a ‘nobody,’ and now, they’re well-known for all that they’ve achieved. One such person is the CEO of Starbucks, Howard Schultz. He grew up in a housing complex for the poor, and now his net worth is over four billion dollars.
His journey started because of his ambitions to be as successful as the rich people he saw around him. His biggest goal was to prove to people that he could do so much more than they believed he could. Through his hard work, he won a football scholarship at university, went on to work for Xerox, and then took Starbucks over and grew it into the global chain it is today.
#8
#9
Child of refugees, born and raised in Greece but the government refused to acknowledge him and give him.his passport (took years fighting against a racist government)
His parents were poor, there were days they did not have food. He and his brothers had to share basketball shoes to practice. They were all selling stuff on streetlights as teenagers.
His coach and teammates (on an amateur team) helped him a lot when he was a teenager. They gave them shoes and food.
Then he got drafted on the NBA...
It might feel harder to make a name for yourself in a creative field, especially because there is always so much competition. The reality is that you can also become famous and wealthy as a creative persona if you put in the right amount of effort. This is exactly what happened to Ed Sheeran, who is now considered one of the biggest names in music.
He was actually a struggling artist who sometimes slept in train stations or on top of heating vents. He often played at the local homeless shelter as well, and an original song that he had written for one woman went viral, which is what catapulted him to success. His hard work made him into the star he is today.
#10
#11
Born in Scotland to a nurse and an alcoholic father, he went from basically homeless to what he is now.
#12
He was so desperate for parts, he had a minor role in a p***o. At his brokest, he sold his dog - his best friend, for $25. Spent his last bucks to watch a boxing match and got inspired to write Rocky. Studios loved it and IIRC, offered him something like $250k for the script as long as he didn't star in it. But he rejected their offer bc he believed in himself and eventually the studio gave him a lowball figure and let him star in it.
Everyone wants to be rich, famous, and live a comfortable life, but it might not always be possible to do it the way many of the folks on this list did. According to research, the rags-to-riches stories often do more harm than good because they make people compare themselves to others.
It’s true what they say: comparison is the thief of joy. It can also affect a person’s self-esteem to compare themselves to someone who they feel has achieved tremendous success. The best thing we can do is to use our own achievements as a benchmark and try to keep growing.
#13
#14
Going from poverty to prosperity isn’t an easy task; it requires a lot of effort and determination. It seems like the people on this list had exactly that, which is what you can develop as well. Rather than waiting around for your luck to work or some long-lost relative to drop wealth into your lap, maybe it’s time to make it happen for yourself.
Do you have any inspiring stories like this about folks who got rich quick but without any connections? We’d love to hear what you’ve got to say.
#16
Very humble begins in post WW2 Austria.
#17
#18
#19
#20
Maybe not the greatest rags to riches story, but this guy is impressive nevertheless.
The greatest would have to be John D. Rockefeller.