Welcome to another article in the Success Story series. The Success Stories series provides answers to some of the questions about what it takes to become successful. While each of us is unique in our goals and aspirations, we have things in common with others. By consulting my LinkedIn network of over 9,000,000 people, I believe I can find ideas and solutions that may help you achieve some of your goals. While I may not agree with all of the comments below, I include each and everyone that is presented coherently and may help one of my readers.
The questions have been edited for grammar and presentation. Comments and Kudos, while appreciated, have been edited out.
People making choosing to become successful is an amazing thing. But, its not a simple process. Below you will find eighteen case studies of people who have made choices to become successful.
They are amazing stories. While I don’t know your story, more than likely, at least one of the case studies below will resonate with you in some manner. And when it does, it will start your process to change to a life of success. And it doesn’t matter how successful you already are, you can become even more successful in life.
The common thread through all the case studies is that each of these people chose to make a change. The choice to make the make the change started them on the road to success.
This page is dedicated to the case studies below. My story and How You Can Start To Make The Change To Success is located here, which you should read later.
The answers below are truly astounding.
Each one is a personal triumph over adversity where a person has the choice to give up or go on and make the best of it.
These stories reinforce a traditional Jewish teaching about tragedy. The tradition states that a specific challenge is only given to a person who can handle it. While that tradition doesn’t make it dealing with difficulties any easier, it does explains why people can and do overcome almost everything.
The common story rings through – deciding that you will overcome the challenge is the first step in achieving it.
Many of us are blessed with what seems to be smaller challenges – but for each of us our personal challenges were and remain large.
Click here to find the original question and answer on LinkedIn Answers
Success Stories are part of my Success Through Balance approach to life. I believe that Success comes from living a balanced life. You can read more about being successful and the skills required here.
Ray Miller
In 1996 I was going through a painful divorce. The day I moved out of my ex’s house (my house), the phone rang, and it was my sister telling me our mother just died. My brother was making the funeral arrangements, and he is an Orthodox Jew, so Mom had to be buried in 24 hours, except that fell on the Sabbath and that is not allowed so that meant we buried Mom that Sunday, which also happened to be Mother’s Day.
While in the midst of all this negativity I had forgotten I entered a juried sculpture exhibition at The Sculpture Center in
The weekend of the opening my daughters were going to be with the ex and I was going to be alone, only a few short weeks after moving out and my Mother dying, I thought, why not drive to Cleveland for the opening. I had nothing better to do.
After the hour plus hour drive I pulled up in front of The Sculpture Center and looked at the building. It was an old grave marker show room, and across the street was The Free Clinic of Cleveland. Given my state of mind this only feed into my doubts about why I drove all the way to
Before I entered the expressway I thought, "Well I’ve come this far, I might as well see the show." I turned the car around and parked in front of the center and entered. I was greeted by a gentleman, who happened to be the Executive Director. He was pleased to see, and I was a little disoriented.
Walking around the gallery I saw some very exciting sculpture, and became totally engaged in the art, forgetting what had been going on in my life.
After walking around for a while the Director got everyone’s attention for the announcement of the Grand Prize to be presented by the juror, Marjorie Talalay, Founding Director of the Contemporary Art Center of Cleveland, and at the time Executive Director Emeritus.
The Director introduced David E. Davis, the prime energy behind the creation of the
At that point she announced the winner, "Would Ray Miller please come up and receive his award?" I looked around for a minute until the director pointed at me and I realized, I had won Grand Prize.
I was literally brought to tears and could hardly speak to thank Ms. Talalay, David Davis and the Director Bill Jurassic. I thanked them all for the award and for the life altering experience it was for me.
Later, as I drove back to
I am also remarried, have changed "day jobs" and have what I would consider a life that I love.
Scott Milhous
I have been through a divorce, lost a job, have 2 children and 1 bonus son. I know what change does in life. But so does anyone else who has seen a sun rise or set. Change is all around us and is inevitable and constant. Change is not always a major, dramatic shift in our lives. Those who fear change or run away from it are the ones that get left behind and wonder why they never get the opportunities their neighbour or co-worker gets. I speak on embracing change in business and life and would love to speak with you more on the subject.
Drago Pejic
I was on the project in
At that time I have developed Metadata Umbrella for a rock solid data protection. Like a bliss, I got an idea. If I offer my Metadata Umbrella for the separation of the data about Islamic banking, then financial flows of Islamic Banking could be perfectly separated from the financial flows for conventional banking, and Metadata Umbrella for Islamic banking that allows to every major conventional bank to offer Islamic Banking support, was born.
Guy Shuman
My change came when an owner of a small company gave me a chance to prove that I could be of value, I had no experience in that type of business they were in and I was given the chance to learn and expend. I gained expertise through experience and mentoring. That chance opened all the doors that have led me to where I am today. I still am thankful for that chance and try to pass on that type of opportunity to others when I can.
Sammy Simpson
I changed the day I heard these words, "Well, you are just ugly and you really stink too!" I was stunned, embarrassed and devastated all in the same moment. You know how when major things happen in your life, you always remember everything about it? Well, this was one of those moments for me because that one sentence changed my life for the worst for almost two years!
I was just 14 years old and a freshman in high school when it happened, but I can still picture it in my mind like it was yesterday. I was an awkward kid with low self-esteem already (as many freshmen are), but on this particular day when I walked in to Mr. Henderson’s English class, I had no idea what was about to hit me. I sat on the far right in the second desk in an end row that was right next to the wall. It was right across from Yvonne’s desk. I’m sure you had an Yvonne in one of our classes in school too. She was fairly popular and pretty, but could have been a perfect cast member for the movie, "Mean Girls."
I was the quiet-type usually, but for some reason on this particular day, Yvonne said something (which I don’t even remember) and I thought it was a good opportunity to try and show my witty side to join in the conversation. It was a feeble attempt to wedge myself into the inner circle of high school popularity, but it went over like a fart in a space suit! As I sat there just staring at Yvonne, she whipped around and gave me a look that could have killed and shouted the rude statement so the whole class could hear it. It was so loud that inside my head, she may as well have announced it on the school intercom system because it made it clear that I did not belong. Even worse was the fact she made the proclamation that, "you stink," which to me felt like a label that was suddenly tattooed on my forehead for all of eternity.
Suddenly, I really started to believe that maybe I did stink and something was wrong with me. I heard it in my mind over and over and over again. I started avoiding people, I had my mother change the way she did our laundry and I even went to a doctor to be examined, because suddenly all I could think about was that I really stunk. Even though everyone assured me that I was anything but a stinky person, I didn’t believe them. It got so bad that I convinced my mother to allow me to transfer to another school because I feared the label would never go away as long as things stayed the same.
But running away from the school didn’t change anything. When I did transfer to the new school, the problem didn’t go away and I still believed that I stunk there too! I started skipping classes and eventually, I just stopped going to school all together because I was so afraid to be humiliated again. I even considered quitting school all together. The funny part was that at this point, almost 8 months later, no one but me even remembered what started this problem in the first place. In fact, Yvonne probably never even thought about it outside of those very few seconds when it happened, but I was stuck in time and not moving forward.
The thing that finally pulled me out of the tail spin was a visit to a friend of mine who had quit school at 16 years old. I was convinced that by visiting my friend, I would give myself added inspiration to just quit school and move on with my life. Fortunately for me, the exact opposite happened. My friend was a person that I never wanted to be, and as I sat there listening to him tell me how great it was to not have to go to school and be in the real world, I suddenly realized that I needed to take control again and do things on my terms. I had thrown so much away because of a girl who was making a bitchy comment and I made it real in my own mind and lived as if it was a fact for almost a year.
When I took control again and realized that the only opinion that matters about who I am is my own, everything changed for good.
Michael Clarke
My change to success has been an incremental process of removing barriers one-by-painful-one and trying on each new world.
After making a wrong turn on undergraduate programs, career choices, and first spouse I was faced with a downward spiral or marginal jobs, poor pay, financial duress and marital strife which culminated with my separation, after 13 years of futile efforts, in 1995 and my father’s death in 1996. I was floored, broke and rapidly going no-where with two wonderful but alienated sons to support.
After many hours or self-recrimination and analysis I came up with a career plan after reading everything I could get my hands on. I then started to look at any self-imposed obstacles including beliefs, attitudes, self confidence and habits. I had quite a collection.
I started with the core of what I knew to be good and held on to that and vigorously began to work on that career track. I met my current wife during this process and was thrilled to find someone who shared by core beliefs such as self-reliance, self-responsibility and self-initiative. Admittedly, she was a bit reticent since I was such a work in progress but she stuck with me.
One by one I tore away the attitudes and beliefs that were holding me back and started taking steps towards success. I was introduced to some of the best thinkers of the day through a self-improvement TV channel called TPN. There I saw my current self in many different mirrors and learned a lot of new business attitudes.
The first major step I took was a plunge and went to the
I have now formed my own company specializing in migrating Documentum repositories for large organizations and architecting solutions. I am also launching a somewhat revolutionary SaaS offering I call "Integration as a Service". After a successful validation of the software tools in a Fortune 100 account we are off to a good start.
Nothing is certain except the fact that it won’t happen unless you try.
Kathleen Bernard
My change to success has come in degrees, but has come with major losses. I have mostly devoted my career to being a data analyst. I enjoy the work, but in the last ten years I have slowly been loses my health to a problem where my joints are breaking down (which can be fixed with surgery after surgery) but leaves me in constant pain. I have had to give up hiking, rock climbing, wearing heels (a big thing for a woman) and for the most part all types of exercise. I am now twenty pounds heavier than I was.
I tell you this not for sympathy, but for in the face of all of the adversity I have found a new calm that has reflected in my work. I have a three step pain management program that includes using music at work so I do not have to use as many painkillers. I find the music also allows me to concentrate more. I also have a therapy dog at home that helps me sleep and control the pain at home and when the pain gets too bad I still use the pills but it is very controlled and I don’t worry about over use. My work is better because in part because I am more reserved at work. My illness is not something I can talk about because who honestly wants to hear about medicines, surgeries, and constant pain. I keep mostly to myself which is off putting to a lot of people, but it takes a lot to control the pain each day. I am very detailed and careful because I can funnel my thought away from my body into whatever project I am working on.
I am successful in the fact that despite everything I have been through I can still work and provide for my family.
Jeanie Marshall
I attribute my success to a life-changing decision rather than to a life-changing event. In fact, there probably were multiple events, but they pale by comparison to the decision.
I made the decision to be happy.
I decided that being happy was the most important feeling for me. And that all else must flow from that. I’m happy every day. Now that’s not to say I’m happy every minute — I don’t delude myself. I think it’s important to have a full range of feelings and to recognize and honor them.
When I feel unhappy (or any other not-good feeling), it’s very important to me to find my way back to happiness.
Christine Brucker
Actually, I am at a point of change right now. Recently, I have been let go from my position as a marketing coordinator. It is time for me to find out what I want to do, as opposed to what I must do or what I should do.
I had put my personal dreams on hold for others since getting married at the age of 20. For my husband (I am now divorced), for my parents, for my son. Now, since I have to find a new job anyway, I can decide what I am good at and what I really want for a career.
It is a scary thing to be at this point and see the infinite opportunities. It is especially overwhelming to know that most of the limitations for crafting the next stage of my life are gone and it is all up to me.
Krishan Shah
It was the year 1996. I was doing my 10th Std studies. Unfortunately I got a less grade, and because of which I couldn’t get the admission in the line where I was interested (mechanical). Ultimately I had to opt for the subject in which I was less interested. One of my cousin brother who got much lower grade than me also got the admission with lower grade in the as same line as mine.
A quick thought went through my mind" if this extra higher grade doesn’t get me admission in the college/ line I want then what is the use of it" From then I decided to work hard and face the challenges and make sure that I get enough grade which can get me in good college for graduation" As a result I secured first rank in my centre for std 10 + 2….. (First rank for the First time ever my life)……. and went on and completed my CA (equivalent of CPA)…… and as people say, the rest is history.
Jennifer Boere
My change to success came after a very solid attempt on my part to take my life in the wrong direction.
After my parents divorced when I was 13, I started hanging out with the wrong crowd. I had been attending a "gifted" school until that time but was finding myself spending my time with kids outside the school in the rest of the community because they were "cooler" and more fun. By the time I was 16 I had dropped out of high school, had been arrested for criminal mischief and decided that working at the local pizza parlor was the best route to personal success because of the great money I was making!
After two more attempts at going back to school (and subsequently dropping out) I decided that I should probably at least get my GED (general education diploma) so that I could call myself a high school graduate. Lucky for me, there was a school in town designed to work on "dropout prevention" and a woman with the school showed up at my house and convinced me to come back to that school and get my real diploma.
To make a long story short, I did go back to get my regular high school diploma after finishing my GED. I applied to a women’s college and unbelievably was accepted – where I studied for over 2 years. From there, I transferred to the
Today I am less than 3 months away from completing my MBA degree at UF and am currently in the process of getting a job offer before graduation in the Management Consulting Field.
I look back and wonder how on earth I could have been so far misguided, but thank my lucky stars that I got back on the right track.
Michael McPherson
I was always the brainy kid that everyone thought was a geek, but would be successful someday (voted most likely to be a doctor). The problem was that everything came too easily to me (academically) and I got very lazy when I got to college (I had always been something of a dilettante, never finishing any project). Couple this with my newfound freedom and I nearly flunked out of college the first time through.
I wandered the country for some time, living with friends and bartending or waiting tables (working in retail, etc.), without ever working toward any goals. I was something of a loser at this point (I knew it, my family would not admit it, and my friends knew it).
There were several defining events that led me to where I am at this point (on the verge of astounding success). The first of these events was my marriage (I married a wonderful woman who supported me through everything). The second event was the death of my mother (who was also my very closest friend and biggest supporter). The final event was the birth of my daughter almost 9 years ago.
My wife provided me the support needed, the promise to my mother gave me the drive, and the birth of my daughter gave me extra incentive to get my life together and finally realize my potential.
I went back to college and finished my degree (while working 70 hours/week, with my wife also a full time student, and while raising an infant daughter) graduating at the top of my class. I then went back for my Master’s degree where I graduated with a 3.9 GPA.
I then went to work for the State of
My research allowed me to land a job as the H.R./Unemployment Administrator for a large temporary staffing firm with 15000 employees in 40 states. I saved this company a very large sum of money (in the millions) through training and revamping their policies and procedures. I was downsized after two years (very devastating).
During this period, I found a very large hole in the market for unemployment and employers. There were no truly useful tools to help employers track and audit their unemployment claims, protests, and charges. I determined what designs made sense for this type of software and went to my best friend from High School (I knew we could trust one another) and he came on board (he is an Information Systems Director with a large manufacturer).
We launched Sentinel Software Solutions shortly thereafter. Our first year was all development and the product that emerged was outstanding. We had struggled for a stretch to get the word out about our package (we had the greatest product that no one knew about). We sold packages to a couple of small clients (giving us the money to add some infrastructure and features) who have been very loyal and helpful to us.
Things changed when we had a referral to a large client (from an even larger potential client) who was in need of our product. I just closed a sale to the large client and we are awaiting word of a partnership with one of the largest companies in the country (in our field). Things are kind of a whirlwind at this point. We are not making money for ourselves yet (we are reinvesting at the moment), but the potential for great success is coming into focus.
I am sorry for the length of this response, but I am proud of my accomplishments. However, without these galvanizing events in my life, I might still be a bartender (nothing wrong with that occupation) and I would never have fulfilled my promise.
Brad Cooper
I’d have to say there wasn’t a "moment" or a specific event that caused a transformation. Rather, God has just consistently put me in a situation where the support has been solid (i.e. an incredible wife) and the internal drive has pushed.
Martin Konícek
There is nothing wrong to follow your belief and there is nothing to lose. There are known examples who have lost everything and begin rich again from point zero. It is inside you, the way does not matter.
Two answers:
Divorce: I learned from my first very taxing and tortuous marriage just what I would, and would not, tolerate from someone purported to be a "partner" in life.
Health: Bad car accident. It’s been 7 years .. no idea why I’m here actually but it taught me to seize the moment, enjoy every day and every one in those moments. There’s no way of knowing or predicting when it might be taken from you. When people say "life’s too short" I wonder: do they really have any idea?
Keep well and don’t miss a minute!
Irene Rivka Becker
If you go to my website www.justcoachit.com and click on Get Inspired you can read my personal story of winning the race with FIVE wolves that took me from a trailblazing career as CEO of a steel company, to starting my life and career again from ground zero.
What were the wolves?
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Business and personal change and shock
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Accelerating demands, turning points
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Interpersonal conflicts
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Personal stumbling blocks in moving forward
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Life, health and work crises.
Yes, the wolves all came to my door in what seemed like a blink and took me from a net worth of millions to ground zero.
But, there is a lot to be said for ground zero, because it is a place where the choice to give up, or to use what is to create what can be is very clear. I think that the path to purpose, to living to purpose is something that we each find in different ways. However, more often than not it is out of the greatest darkness that we can find the greatest light.
My work today is a passion and a mission of sorts because I help clients re-discover their passion for the possible by winning the race with the aforementioned five wolves.
Ginny Sanchez
When I just turned 17, my father died. I began working two jobs to help support a family of four (this meant leaving high school). After working a few months in this manner I got the "itch" to move on and joined a travelling carnival for the summer; I traveled the country and met a fellow that I married two months later (still married, 25 years this month). I married very young (18) and became a mother very young (19). While pregnant, I went back to school and got my high school diploma.
Armed with only that diploma, I entered the work world and eventually found work as a proofreader; I was very good at it despite never having gone to college. I taught myself how to set type and do paste-up work during my lunch breaks–because it would help me understand more about the business that I was in, and it helped me when proofreading. I had found a home in an industry where college is normally required, despite never having set foot in a college.
I left the position when my husband needed help starting up a trucking company. After doing this for a few years, I was struck with multiple sclerosis. Over the course of one year I lost the use of one eye, needed to re-learn how to hold a pencil, required speech therapy and had to use a cane to walk (which I used for three years). I gave up working–I couldn’t do this, and make all of my physical therapy appointments while raising three children.
Faced with my cane, I did the only thing I could think of doing that would really challenge me: I walked into a tae kwon do school and signed up for classes. I got as far as pre-black belt before having to stop due to disability (you can’t really spar when you can’t see that fist heading for your blind spot!).
One night, I was listening to the radio. I heard a talk show that was so funny I decided to call in–a prank phone call. I was encouraged to call again, and again; in two months’ time, I was hired as the executive producer–despite never having set foot in a college, nor ever working in radio before.
A little more than 7 years later, I still work in radio: I voice & produce spots, I’m an on-air personality, and basically have a whole lot of fun and get paid for it!
There has not been one defining moment in my life that changed everything–there have been a few. Overall, I believe that it’s never too late to start over, it’s never too late to begin. Don’t be afraid to go with the flow, and don’t fear the end of situations and life experiences–because every end really does bring a new beginning.
Mark Schnitzer
I (finally) realized that a professional effort at a "usual" opportunity, like medicine or accounting, results in "usual" amounts of income. To earn "unusual" amounts of income, one must devote professional effort to "unusual" opportunities.
It’s so obvious but so rare. All the competition is for mediocrity.
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