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If you could write to yourself at 16, what would you say? This question was asked to 75 celebrities: writers, actors, musicians and athletes. From their responses came the book Dear Me: A Letter to My Sixteen-Year-Old Self, a collection of letters to the past. On its pages famous people appear as ordinary sixteen-year-old boys and girls, often notorious, not self-confident. Older selves try to give their younger selves witty, intimate, wise advice about how to behave in life, what to expect, and what to avoid. The result is a book not about celebrities, but about youth, growing up, waiting for a miracle.

This idea turned out to be so exciting that people from all over the world started writing letters to themselves. On the official website of the book, their number is already measured in thousands. Probably, each of us has something to say to our sixteen-year-old self.

Here are some celebrity inspirational letters. Of course, they can no longer change the past, but it is easy to change the future of many people.

"In my sporting career I have missed more than nine thousand times. I have lost more than three hundred matches. Twenty-six times I was trusted to take the last throw so that the team won - and I missed. I fail again and again. Therefore, I am the Champion!"
These words belong to the greatest athlete of our time, the legendary man Michael Jordan. The great basketball player who earned about five hundred million dollars during his sports career. The man who became the idol of the youth of the whole world.
In America and Europe, Michael Jordan is a megastar. Moreover, this person is not just an excellent athlete, but also an exemplary father, an exemplary family man, teacher, and thinker. And it is his words that perfectly describe the attitude of outstanding people to failure.

All over the world, successful, rich, healthy people treat life's trials and blows of fate in the same way. Their motto is: "Whatever doesn't kill makes me stronger." A strong person perceives any test and failure as a stage of growth.
The weak and the poor also have the same attitude towards failure. Failure for them is God's punishment, bad luck. Born at the wrong time, in the wrong country, received the wrong upbringing. In short, any pain kills them. Weak man, weak in all respects - in the spiritual, physical, moral, mental - any failure makes even weaker. Faced with adversity, he feels only fear.

The same Michael Jordan as a child was not taken to the school basketball team because the coach decided that he had no talent. It was a test. And what did the black boy do? Filled with tears, dismissed nurses and forever abandoned your favorite sport? By no means! He just started working out more. Much more than his peers, the happy members of the school team! So, from defeat to defeat, from misunderstanding to misunderstanding, from test to test, he became an outstanding athlete and champion.

from the book of V. Dovgan:

Each failure carries a huge charge of success. No wonder the Chinese and Japanese characters for "catastrophe" have two meanings. The first meaning is failure, catastrophe, and the second meaning is new opportunities. If you ask any businessman, entrepreneur, what caused him to take off, you are sure to get to the bottom of the true starting point.
It will be nothing but failure.
Hear the life story of the mayor of the world's financial capital, New York City, Michael Bloomberg. Michael Bloomberg, a multi-billionaire, created a unique multi-billion dollar company and became the epitome of a Cinderella story or the great American dream. A young man from a poor family, almost accidentally entered college, after graduation he began to work in a brokerage company. He gave this company many years of his life, but he was fired. Disaster, failure, fiasco. Why did they fire him and not some other employee? Because he is the weakest of all? Because he's a loser? After all, he gave this company so much time and heart, treated it like a family!
It would seem a complete failure, a complete disaster.
But it was at this moment that Bloomberg's great empire was born. Today, not a single financial institution in the world can do without TV channels and information systems that he created. He achieved not only tremendous success in business, but also in politics, becoming one of the brightest mayors of New York, and this is a very complex city with large debts, high crime, and huge problems - all of which he inherited from previous mayors .
When he was elected mayor, he discovered that the city budget was in a catastrophic state: it was bursting at all seams, New York had been living beyond its means for many years. But Bloomberg didn't mind. He said he would work for one dollar a year to make up the shortfall more quickly. He, like all ordinary New Yorkers, rides the subway, and when the subway workers put forward demands that were impossible for the city and went on strike, he calmly went to the store in front of all the townspeople, bought a bicycle and rode to work on a bicycle.
Surprisingly bright person, bright destiny! But it would not have taken place if Michael had not been fired. He would not become a multibillionaire, he would not become a famous politician.

Another loss story. Walt Disney is one of my favorite entrepreneurs. A man who left an indelible mark on the earth. Young Walt was fired from the newspaper with the degrading, shameful wording "for lack of ideas." Some small newspaper, some insignificant Chief Editor expels Disney with a verdict that he is mediocre, that he is a fool. And it was this pain, this tragedy in his fate that led to the birth of a great empire, the great world of Walt Disney.
The second failure did not wait for Disney for very long - having drawn his first cartoon character Oswald the donkey, he tied himself up with a partnership with an extremely dishonorable person who secretly redid all the contracts behind his back. One fine day, when Disney came to work, he heard: "All cartoons, all contracts with film distributors belong to me, and even the donkey Oswald, who has already become famous, also belongs to me. Here, dear Disney, you have a salary, work for a pittance You are no longer the owner or author, just nobody!"
A vile stab in the back, a vile betrayal. But that was precisely what inspired the birth of the famous Mickey Mouse character. Who knows, without this betrayal, the history of world animation could have gone in a completely different way, and you and I would never have had the opportunity to laugh and grieve with this wonderful character, there would not have been such an unusual attraction in the world as Disneyland. At the moment of the betrayal, Disney was killed, he suffered a colossal nervous breakdown. But he found the strength to say to this scoundrel: "Take this freak! In the world with which I am friends, there are a huge number of new heroes!" And on the way home, he drew the famous Mickey Mouse.

An interesting story of the rise of the famous boxing producer Don King. The black boy grew up in the backyards of a big city - in a Negro ghetto, where alcohol, drugs, and crime reigned. What fate could await him ahead? Prison or death. At first, that's how it happened. As a gambling guy, Don King held an illegal sweepstakes. After a fight with a debtor whom he killed, he ended up in jail for a long time. And this is where the miracle happens. He starts from morning to night to read smart books, begins to completely change his life, his worldview. The prison administration, seeing positive changes in the prisoner, filed a petition for early release.
A completely different person came out of prison. A highly educated, well-read person who constantly quotes Dostoevsky, Socrates, Plato, Einstein. He took up producing in professional boxing, took it to a whole new level and became his legend. Don King went down in history as the man who first organized the fight between Muhammad Ali and Furman with a prize fund of the then unthinkable amount of $ 10 million. Who knows, if a tragedy hadn't happened in his life, if he hadn't gone to jail, maybe he would have simply become a drug addict, drunk himself, turned into a homeless person.

Every failure brings new opportunities.
These words are quite applicable to the fate of one of my favorite entrepreneurs - Soichiro Honda.
An illiterate locksmith from a small Japanese village dreamed of starting his own business. Having collected all the money, even selling his wife's jewelry, he set up the production of piston rings for the Toyota automobile company. His fellow villagers were puzzled and surprised - how could an illiterate person open a business? In addition to making piston rings, Honda was constantly working on his technical inventions. For a long time he did nothing.
Colleagues laughed at him, they believed that we should just continue to produce these rings and not invent anything new, otherwise he would soon go bankrupt. They mocked him, and it always happens, because little people who are afraid to take risks, afraid to take a step, in general, to do something themselves, enthusiastically accept any of your defeats. They are glad that you didn't succeed either. This is an excuse for their gray, boring, beggarly life. This is an internal guarantee that they live correctly, do not stick out, do not take risks and do not suffer.
Imagine how Soichiro Honda felt when he heard those taunts. But it was at this moment that a miracle happened. Soichiro figured out how to ride a bike without expending effort. He attached a small motor to his wife's bicycle and made his first moped. If at that moment he had listened to the "well-wishers" and refused to continue inventing, maybe all his life he would have been just one of the thousands of Toyota suppliers. Nobody knows, but quite wealthy person. It was from failure that the great Honda empire was born, which is now one of the five largest automotive giants and produces 75 percent of all motorcycles in the world and a huge amount of necessary household appliances.
Remember Soichiro Honda's formula for success: "99 losses equals one victory!"

Let's look at how Sony was born. Designer Akio Morita's first product was rice cookers, which worked horribly, burned rice, and often broke down. It was a defeat. The product was extremely unsuccessful. But it was precisely this failure that prompted Akio Morita to create the first tape recorder, the first transistor. The first failures of the Sony company changed its face, determined a completely different path of development. And it was this path that turned out to be fantastically successful, and it was he who brought Morita wealth and fame (in the 70s, Akio Morita was the richest man in the world).

All of you are well aware of such wonderful sweets as "Roche", "Raffaello", "Kinder Surprise" - chocolate eggs with amazing toys. But few people know how the Ferrero empire was born. Today it is a company with a turnover of more than 10 billion dollars and a worldwide reputation.
It was after the war in a small provincial Italian town. Grandfather Ferrero decided to make a business on homemade sweets and bought cocoa, powdered milk, butter, sugar, investing all his savings in them. The family prepared for the city holiday for several days and made sweets, hoping to sell them profitably. And just a day before the holiday, a tragedy occurred. The day was very hot and all the sweets melted. Ferrero's wife, having entered a makeshift warehouse, saw instead of sweets a spreading sweet mass. The tragedy was so strong that her legs buckled, and Ferrero himself, looking at this catastrophe, simply turned gray.
But a way out was found. They cut the bread and spread it with this sweet paste, making sweet sandwiches. The next day, Ferrero and his wife not only saved themselves from complete ruin, but also earned good money, because these sweet sandwiches flew away "like hot cakes on a frosty day." Thus, an amazing product was born - Nutella chocolate-nut spread. Later, when the Ferrero company experienced financial difficulties, Ferrero proudly said: "Saint Nutella will help us!" Indeed, this product has always given the Ferrero company super profits and has been popular with children around the world for decades.

Another interesting example. John Castor suddenly lost sleep, he was attacked by a terrible insomnia. But unlike a huge number of fools who immediately grab tranquilizers, sleeping pills and kill their health, their psyche and their lives, he simply began to read books on jurisprudence. And he became a successful lawyer, began to earn a lot of money! He was happy that he suffered from insomnia, because due to the extra hours he became more competitive and had more time to prepare for processes, study documents, study.
Have you ever had insomnia? I had. Fortunately, I already knew this amazing story, and when this time came, I just read books, enjoyed life and said: "God, thank you!" My light day, my life increased by several hours.
In every disaster, in every failure, there is a breakthrough, a seed of success. "Whatever doesn't kill me makes me stronger." Here it is, the formula for success!
In every failure, in every disaster, there is new opportunity but we just don't know about it. We just weren't taught it. We perceive every failure as a blow of fate, as a slap in the face, as a bandwagon, as bad luck, as a catastrophe. But only through the struggle with failure can you achieve something worthwhile if you stubbornly continue your work.
Personally, I get a lot of inspiration, the biggest boost of energy from reading Cinderella stories. I am always inspired by the fate of people who, it would seem, from the deepest bottom, from the deepest abyss, fly up, turn into beautiful, great princes and queens.

We all admire the amazing literary hero Harry Potter. But few people in Russia know that the miracles that happen to this amazing boy and his friends are nothing compared to the miracle that happened to his literary mother, writer Joan Kathleen Rowling, or Jo, as she was called from childhood in the family.
This amazing woman was born on July 31, 1965 in England, in the small town of Chepingrodtree. She spent a typical childhood of a girl from a small town without any troubles and upheavals. Years later, she gave the date of her birth to her favorite hero, Harry Potter. As a child, Rowling, in her own words, was an insecure, chubby girl in horn-rimmed glasses, a nerd and a nerd. By the way, a deep bow to her from all the parents of the earth, because with the help of her books she was able to introduce a fashion for nerds - children who strive for knowledge, a kind of clumsy bespectacled.
Few parents paid attention to this, but indeed, before Harry Potter, in most schools in Russia, Europe, and throughout the world, strong, hooligan, cocky, bright children were heroes, but not "nerds" at all. This amazing writer, with the help of her books, introduced a fashion for knowledge.
After graduating from school, Joan enters the University of Exeter, where she chooses the specialization "Philology", studying in depth French, Latin and ancient Greek. Joan began writing her first Harry Potter book back in 1990, when she was twenty-five years old and worked as a secretary in a London publishing house. She did not have a computer, she wrote her bestseller on pieces of paper and put them in a shoe box. Soon, in 1990, her beloved mother dies of multiple sclerosis at the age of 45, and Joan and her sister are left alone.
At the age of 26, Joan goes to Portugal to teach English and soon meets Jorge Arantes, a journalist and playboy, and marries him a year later.
The ambitious husband could not find a job for a long time, and therefore Joan, in order to support her family, had to teach English almost until the birth of her daughter Jessica. And already in October, Joan, whose family life did not work out, with a three-month-old Jessica in her arms, went to the only relative and close person - to her sister in Edinburgh. She became a semi-poor single mother and lived on public assistance on the outskirts of the city in a gloomy slum. Rowling received only 70 pounds a week, which was completely spent on food and some clothes for Jessie. She was very embarrassed by her plight, literally turning into a beggar.
When Joan first came to the post office to receive cash assistance, she felt "as if a neon arrow was burning over my head, pointing everyone to me. I quickly put my deposit book in my pocket so that no one in line could see what it was" . Another episode that Rowling recalls with pain and sadness is the distribution of old toys in the form of humanitarian aid. Jessica got such a dirty teddy bear that Joan refused to take it: "I felt that my former humiliation was nothing compared to what I felt when I saw this teddy bear."
The death of her beloved mother, the constant lack of money, the difficult separation from her husband, who literally pushed her out of the house with a small child in her arms, contributed to the development of severe depression. Sometimes on rainy evenings, when her daughter was asleep, it seemed to Joan that this black streak of life would never end. From the terrible reality, Joan escaped only at the desk.
Joan wrote her first book for almost five years. Joan sent the manuscript of the book "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone" retyped on an old typewriter to various publishers, from where the standard replies came: "Too difficult for children. Children will not be interested."

But in 1995, the streak of terrible failures finally ended - the manuscript ended up in the Bloombury publishing house, which specialized in the production of children's books. The first professional to take notice of her books was literary agent Christopher Litel. He saw something unusual in the young writer and recommended that the publisher give the manuscript of the book to a special children's expert council consisting of boys and girls different ages so that they can evaluate the manuscript. The children were delighted with the book, and it was decided to publish The Philosopher's Stone. Then the literary agent of the writer Christopher Litel took the "Philosopher's Stone" to the largest book fair in Europe in Frankfurt.
And soon the Bloombury publishing house paid JK Rowling an advance of $ 2,250 - a fantastic amount for her. For the first time in her life, Joan went to a jewelry store and chose an aquamarine ring to match the color of her eyes. From that moment on, an amazing turn takes place in the fate of JK Rowling - the ugly duckling turns into a beautiful swan.
The first book was published in July 1997, the same year Joan received a grant of 12 thousand dollars and finally bought a computer.
Further more. The Americans bought the rights to The Philosopher's Stone from her for $110,000, and by the summer of 2000, the first three books had sold thirty-five million copies and were translated into 36 languages. Rowling was finally able to leave her job - she taught French - and fully focus on creativity. Harry Potter books literally conquered the whole world. And Rowling herself has become a superstar, a cult writer of our time. What about our time! All times!
The female writer who made over a billion dollars!
Only in the US in the two months since the publication of the sixth volume of Harry Potter, eleven million copies of the book have been sold. The sales level of the sixth volume reached seven million copies already within the first day from the date of publication. This means that on average more than 250 thousand copies were sold per hour, which broke the record of the fifth book "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix", when five million books were sold in the first day. At the same time, it is worth noting that, now already famous and outstanding, the writer remained a sympathetic, modest, noble person.
We are not all born in the same position. Someone is born into a family of rich people, someone - into a family of poor people, or even worse - in a family of people who cannot make their way in life because of racial or national prejudice. But even this does not prevent purposeful people from finding their way in life.

The number one star in show business, TV presenter Oprah Winfrey has broken all records in the field of making money and in popularity on television. Today, tens of millions of viewers look with admiration at this full African-American woman. She is an idol for millions of people on the planet. Imagine what this means in America, where two hundred years ago black people were slaves, and a hundred years ago they were refused even to ride in the same bus or buy goods in the same store.
But Oprah did not come quickly to her victory. In childhood and adolescence, Oprah's fate was not the best. She was born in the slums of one of the poor quarters, where prostitution, violence, drugs, crimes were almost the main occupation of young people. She left home very early, wandered, took alcohol and drugs, and was promiscuous. At 16, she gave birth to a dead child, not even knowing from whom. As a child, it was only by chance that she was not sent to a juvenile prison for theft - she was saved by the fact that the prison was overcrowded.
A tramp, thief and drug addict, Oprah naturally skipped classes for months and wrote with a lot of errors. Most people with her fate would have laid down their hands long ago and never dreamed of millions of dollars, of fame, of fame. Many would sign with blood that a child who grew up in poverty, in a criminal environment, who from childhood knew the wrong side of American society, initially cannot achieve at least some success in life. Her pinnacle is to at least marry a quiet, hard-working guy. But only those people who have given up and put up with their poverty, those people who have said to themselves: I will never achieve anything in life, my lot is life in hell, torment and hopeless darkness.
Oprah had a hope, a dream to achieve the best in life. And fate smiled at her: she managed to find a job at some small provincial radio station. At first she did all kinds of auxiliary work in the office, then she was entrusted - for the first time in her life - to go on the air.
And the star lit up!
Today she is the owner of more than a billion dollars, a giant world megastar!
At one of the last shows, she allowed herself to make a royal gift. There were 240 spectators in the studio watching the talk show. The talk show was attended by several people, and Oprah gave these participants a gift, giving them a Cadillac. Then she suddenly turned to the audience and said: "Dear friends! Now each of you will receive a beautiful festive box, but only one of them will contain the key to the Cadillac, which is already waiting for you on the street."
Imagine the surprise of the viewers when each of the 240 people found the treasured keys! When the excited crowd of talk show participants poured out of the studio, they saw 240 shiny new Cadillacs in front of the building, tied with huge pink bows.

Why did I remember these stories? Guys, I know that a lot of people are in the same position as Oprah and JK Rowling once were. Do not give up! Fight! Fight! Dream! A major victory can be achieved only in the struggle, only by winning, overcoming all sorts of obstacles and failures. Everything can be overcome, even catastrophes. The main thing is not to give up, not to give up.
I understand that your enemies: poverty, dullness, disease, injustice, contempt of society - these are the most terrible enemies that you can imagine, but remember - you are created in the likeness of God, remember that you have a great star in your heart. Let them laugh at you, let them consider you ugly duckling, the last sucker - do not expect from society, and often even from the closest people, that they will tell you the most important, most important words: "I believe in your success, I believe in your bright great future, you were born under a great lucky star!". You will most likely never hear this. The main thing is to repeat them to yourself.
Amazing stories in the life of ordinary people, the stories of Cinderella are repeated in our world again and again. Every hour a miracle happens on each of the continents. Believe in this miracle! Believe no matter what!
Believe and it will happen to you!

And another success story. When I watched films with Sylvester Stallone in the title role, I confess honestly, I did not like this rich, handsome, arrogant man. For some reason, in my imagination, he was a lucky man, a darling of fate, to whom chance and fate presented everything on a silver platter. But how deeply moved I was when I learned the real story of his life.
Sylvester Stallone dreamed of acting in films. He went to screen tests, participated in extras, but no one took him. A couple of times he was filmed in extras, where in the background someone punched him in the face - this was all that he achieved in several years of knocking on the thresholds of studios, directors and film producers.
At twenty-five, he was still unknown to anyone. He didn't even have acting experience! Who needed him in Hollywood, where from morning till night 250,000 talented, already established actors are waiting for invitations and ready to fly like a bullet to any meeting that provides a chance? The likelihood that Stallone would be invited to the main role was not just zero, it was negative. Only in delirium can a person imagine that he will develop a career with such competition, insignificant personal data and no track record in the cinema!
I am far from the world of theater and cinema. But one day my wife and I were at the birthday party of our neighbor and my friend Mark Kaufman, where Oleg Pavlovich Tabakov, a megastar of cinema and theater, an outstanding person of our time, was present. We had fun chatting and joking. Oleg Pavlovich is very charming, everyone was amused when he answered some question in the voice of his famous character - the cat Matroskin. Unexpectedly for myself, I decided to take the opportunity and asked: “Oleg Pavlovich, at what age should one become an artist, at what age does a person have a chance to become an outstanding actor? Judging by modern sports, in gymnastics, in most cases, athletes in 25 years old are already ending their careers. Naturally, they start very early. But what about in the theater world?" And he told me this story. A very good friend turned to him and asked him to arrange for his daughter, who was raving about her career as an actress, to go to the theater - she was 19 years old, to which Oleg Pavlovich - this master, this master of his craft, replied: "It's already too late."
What can we say about Sylvester Stallone, who was 25 years old, and behind his back no acting experience and no roles - nothing. With his dream to act in films, he annoyed absolutely everyone. He ran out of money. His wife told him many times: "Listen, do the real thing. Stop delusional, stop living in illusions! We have nothing to live on anymore." Indeed, by that time they had to sell everything of any worth from the house. Soon the wife herself slammed the door and left this "crazy man".
Stallone has only one dog left and an empty apartment without heating and electricity, because in America they quickly turn off gas, electricity, and water for debts. He turned into a beggar, he was terribly poor - there was no money even for food. But this dreamer really wanted to act in films. All his friends and family told him: "What are you doing? Stop! You don't have a chance!" Sylvester Stallone still lived his dream. When it became cold and it was impossible to be in the house, he went to warm himself in public libraries, flipped through magazines and read books there. And then one day it dawned on him - he said to himself: "I will write a script, I will achieve the main role through this script, and my dream of becoming an actor will come true!"
He began to write one script after another, but no one accepted these scripts, he received rejection after rejection. When it got really bad and there was nothing to eat, he was forced to sell his only friend - his dog. When he was selling it, he told the buyer: "I will definitely find you. I do not sell friends, I do not sell my dog ​​- I just have nothing to feed it. When I have money, I will definitely find you, and I will definitely buy you back." But there was no money, and no chance either.

Complete dead end, complete loneliness, complete poverty. What to do? Maybe refuse? Oh no! I will play in the movies! I will achieve my goal. And then one day, when he saw the fight of Muhammad Ali on TV, it dawned on him! He felt such inspiration, such a tremor in his body, he was literally "sausaged". He took a pen and paper and wrote the script for the movie "Rocky".
Inspired by his work, he went for the thousandth time in an endless circle from producers to directors, from directors to producers. But no one wanted to take his script. Everyone refused to even pay attention to him. This went on for several weeks until two young producers read the script. They told him, "Great, man. good script. Here's $15,000 for you. We buy it, and be happy!" To which they received an unexpected answer: "No! I'm not giving away the script just like that. I have to star in the lead role. "They were amazed at his impudence and sent Sylvester Stallone to hell. But after a while they called him again and offered 100 thousand dollars already. He again did not agree.
The producers popularly explained to him: "Look at you. You are small, unsightly, you have no talent, you are unprofessional. What the hell is the main role. Take the money! We will hire a good actor and earn more more money, and we will give you a percentage of the cash collection. " Being in the most distressful situation, experiencing a terrible need, Sylvester Stallone replied: "No! I disagree. I have to play the lead!" Again he was sent to hell, again time passed, and again the conversation took place: "250 thousand dollars, a very good, profitable percentage of the box office - and all your problems will be over. Well, why do you need this main role? Why are you missing out on maybe your only chance in life?" "No! Stallone said. “I will only sign the documents on the condition that I play the lead role.”
More time has passed. Since these producers really liked this script, they spat and agreed. Naturally, they only gave him $15,000 and a percentage of the box office gross.
Having received the first money, he was delighted and ran to look for his dog. Having found that buyer, he asked to sell his faithful friend back to him. But a clever businessman, who heard of his good fortune, told him: "No. I will not sell." He agreed to return the dog, bought for only $50, only after Stallone laid out his entire fee - $15,000 - to him. Not only that, this quick-witted gentleman took advantage of the opportunity and bargained for himself a small role in the movie "Rocky". Today Sylvester Stallone is a cult actor. His scripts, his films, his roles have become classics of world cinema. He achieved his dream, he achieved his goal. But what he had to go through, how many trials he had to carry his dream of becoming an actor!

To be honest, when I heard his story, I was shocked, I was excited. I asked myself the question: "Starving, experiencing cold, need, could I refuse 250 thousand dollars, which would immediately solve all my problems?" This is another question.
But, on the other hand, when I was offered 10 million dollars for bottling Dovgan vodka in Ossetia, you understand with what quality, I, too, could immediately receive a decent amount and close all my problems. But at that moment, I did not hesitate to take a penny. I persevered because my main dream was to create protected quality vodka and save people from death. At that time, and even now, tens of thousands of people a year die from low-quality vodka in Russia - this is a terrible figure.
My dear reader, my dear star! I gave these examples because I sincerely want to reach your heart. I want to do everything to make a star light up in your heart so that you can achieve your success, even if today you are starving, living at the station, your relatives and relatives despise you and consider you an idiot, a loser. You yourself see that success comes regardless of the place of birth, or the race of a person, or his religion. He comes to those who are waiting for him very much and do everything to achieve him no matter what in the world.
I am absolutely sure that you have hidden strength, you have talent, you have everything to come to success.
When I gave the manuscript of this book to read to my friend Igor Lvovich Yakimenko, he was delighted, but he noticed that I constantly turn to the reader, to you, my dear friend, as a star, as an outstanding person. Igor Lvovich doubted a little and said to me: "Listen, will the reader perceive such non-standard treatment as flattery, as something excessively cloying, unpleasant?" Then I explained to Igor Lvovich that I was completely sincere. Behind these words is the whole story of my life.
If no one in the world speaks the most important, most inspiring words, imagine how many unfulfilled destinies, how many unrevealed people live among us! Who knows how many victories we would see if each person received this powerful support in time. I have seen these victories many times in my seminars. That's why I will not tire of repeating: "You are beautiful, amazing person! You will definitely succeed! It's as easy as two and two!"
If you, my dear reader, believe in yourself, then my book was not written in vain.
I am recording this chapter on a tape recorder, returning from a powerful seminar in Ulan-Ude at an altitude of ten thousand meters. I whisper these words, afraid to wake up the passengers sitting next to me, I'm excited.
My heart is filled with great power.
Telling you these amazing stories, dear reader, I myself again experienced with you pride, delight for the opportunities that life gives us. All religions in the world argue and fight, each defends his point of view, his truth, but they all agree on one thing.
Faith works miracles. Believe in yourself!

Another very striking example from our history.
Our grandmothers remember the time when they had to live by a torch, in the dark. Today, every home has electric light, and we simply cannot imagine our life without it. But, habitually pressing the switch, few parents think about the history of this invention.

To create an electric light bulb, Thomas Edison did more than a thousand (!) Experiments. All his colleagues have long lost faith in the possibility of creating a working model. One failure followed another. And when once again an explosion thundered in the laboratory, Edison's assistant, unable to stand it, shouted: "You are crazy, we were almost killed! You cannot understand that it is impossible to create an electric light bulb!" To which Thomas Edison calmly replied: “Yes. Every failure that we suffer is the only path to the truth. Each failure brings us closer to the right decision. Each time we learn that this path will not lead to success, but immediately choose a new one.” way and do a new experiment. The assistant ran away in horror, and Edison had to continue the experiments alone.
Only for the 1016th time, Thomas Edison's light bulb lit up and changed the course of our civilization. Apartments, enterprises, factories, mines - everywhere, on the ground and underground, Edison's light bulb is on today. An everlasting monument to perseverance and the right attitude to failure.

"Nothing in the world can replace perseverance. Neither talent - there is nothing more common than talented people who have not succeeded. Neither genius - an underestimated genius has become a commonplace saying. Nor education - the world is full of educated renegades. Only perseverance, determination and hard work sharply change a person."

These words belong to another eminent person, who is one of the most amazing examples of resilience in the face of many defeats. Judge for yourself:

He was born into the family of a poor settler. At the age of nine, he lost his mother. At fourteen he became a day laborer, a laborer for wealthy owners. At twenty-four, he worked as a postmaster for meager pennies. At twenty-five, he was elected a member of the state legislature. At twenty-seven, he passed the bar exam on his own. At thirty-one he failed in business. At thirty-five, his girlfriend died. He suffered a terrible nervous breakdown. At thirty-seven, he was elected a member of Congress. Failed again in business. At thirty-eight, he was not elected to the post of speaker. At forty-three, he was not elected to Congress. At forty-six, elected to Congress. At forty-nine, not elected to the Senate.
But two years later, in 1860, Abraham Lincoln became President of the United States.
Faith in yourself, in your success sometimes remains the only weapon in the fight against the vicissitudes of life. But it is she who is able to become the lever that can help a person turn the world upside down - turn failures into a brilliant victory.

Frank Woolworth dreamed of becoming a salesman. To gain experience, he worked as a clerk in a grocery store for two years for free. Then he went to work in a large store, where he received 3.5 dollars a week. This money was barely enough for him to pay for a room and a table. Then he began to earn already 10 dollars. This inspired him so much that he decided to get married. But the owner suddenly reduced his salary to $ 8.5, citing the fact that he is not a good salesman and there are many workers who work better. Frank lost faith in himself so much that he had to be treated for a nervous breakdown for a whole year. His mother told him: "The time will come, son, and you will become a rich man!", but it would seem that there were no grounds for optimism.
Suddenly, the former owner called him and entrusted window dressing and the arrangement of new stores - this was what Frank did best. That's when he found out that there were shops where they sold five cents, and trade is on very briskly. He was instructed to open such a store. But the store went bankrupt.
Frank realized that the five-cent barrier narrowed the seller's opportunities, and began to trade in ten-cent goods. Three of the five such stores he burned out.
But Frank did not give up, he managed to convince his brother and several shareholders to invest and expand a whole network of similar stores.
Fifteen years later, F. W. Woolworth's cheap goods stores covered all of America and brought him his first million dollars. By the end of his life, he became the owner of more than a thousand stores selling goods for $ 100 million annually. Woolworth's personal account alone had $65 million.
He built the first 55-story skyscraper in New York, calling it the "Temple of Trade". In an interview, Woolworth modestly shared the secret of his success: "Of course, disappointments await you. But you always have to hold on!"

Few people know the story of the creator of the famous Barbie doll, which became the idol of billions of girls. This doll was sold like no toy in the world - every two minutes on the planet, another happy girl became the owner of a long-legged beauty and her large family. IN best years company "Mattel" - then still family business Ruth Handler and her husband Elliot - owned 12 percent of America's $2 billion toy market. Ruth herself, the president of the company, was warmed by the glory of Barbie and Ken, named after her children, to the fullest - she became the first female vice president of the Toy Manufacturers Association, distinguished business woman of 1961, 1968 Woman in Business, the first female member Board of Directors of the Federal backup system. In 1970, President Nixon appointed her to the President's Business Advisory Council. Even a terrible illness could not break her business acumen, a flair for new opportunities - Ruth Handler was diagnosed with breast cancer and she underwent a mastectomy. The loss of her breast seemed to her then the greatest misfortune that could have happened to her. But it turned out that this disease was only the beginning of the trials.
A terrible failure, the loss of all the fortune and even prison overtook Ruth Handler at the very pinnacle of her success. In 1975, she was undeservedly charged with manipulating the company's securities, and although Ruth was never found guilty, she was appointed the most long term forced public works. In 1978, the mother of a "society model girl" was sentenced to five years of probation, subject to working 2.500 hours for public works and payments of 57 thousand dollars. She left the leadership of the company "Mattel" and for many years her name in the company was banned. Shareholders, worried about falling sales of Barbie, tried to prevent the undesirable association of "blonde gold" with the name of her hapless creator.
“It seemed to me that everyone was pointing the finger at me. I couldn’t go out. Even in my own apartment, I only went up in a freight elevator,” Ruth later recalled.
For any person, a catastrophe of this magnitude would mean the end of an active life in business. But not for Ruth. She was disgraced, humiliated and ruined, but she did not quit the game. As Ruth herself admits: "I still have a lot of fighting spirit left in me; perhaps the meaning of life is to fight."

Oddly enough, her illness gave her a new impetus to action. Ruth fully experienced what it was like to wear a male-designed breast prosthesis. Breast prostheses were then produced in a meager assortment, they did not meet the requirements of female anatomy and were not divided into right and left. Her lawsuit was not yet over when Ruth approached a qualified prosthetic tech and suggested he start a new venture with her: Ruth decided to make the best artificial breasts in the world. In a matter of months, she set up a new office and hired eight women who, like herself, had undergone a mastectomy. Each of them served as a live advertisement for the new company's product.
In 1980, the new company's sales exceeded $1 million. For Ruth Handler, that million was more than just a bunch of money. It meant her triumph, her rebirth as a fighter and entrepreneur. Moreover, the mother and "daughter" were reunited again - in the wake of nostalgia in the 90s, Barbie festivals began to take place all over America and listeners really wanted to hear how it was created. The name Ruth Handler turned out to be the most delicious bait for the organizers, and Ruth traveled half the world with the story "how Barbie was born." Her advice to people experiencing failure is simple: "Do not cling to the lost, no matter how great this loss is. Find yourself something else to do. I had many nightmares, but I always found the strength to rise and move on."
We recognize the names of such people only at the moment of their sparkling success, at the moment of ascent to the victory podium. We do not see those decades of exhausting work, humiliating failures, hundreds and hundreds of small and large failures that made up their ascent.

Remember Soichiro Honda's formula for success: "Success comes only through repeated failure and introspection. In fact, success itself is only 1% of the work, the remaining 99% is failure."

Si Yong has won more baseball games than anyone in history. He became the top pitcher with 512 wins, a record that will probably never be broken. But another record is also associated with his name - three hundred and thirteen defeats, which not a single pitcher has experienced either.
Indeed, many people have become great only because they dealt with failure in the right way.

There have already been examples with writers .. But why go far if there is our wonderful writer Daria Dontsova. I think it makes no sense to paint about her success, since everyone knows who she is. But does everyone know that very moment in life when success knocked on her door?
At thirty small years Daria, then still Agrippina, was diagnosed with an inoperable tumor! She had four surgeries in a row. The only person who believed in Dontsova's future was Dontsova herself. Lying in the ward, she saw a woman who came to her, dropped the cakes and went out the window from the sixth floor. Then she began to see how this woman was driving in a car, to see who she was talking to, etc. She not only saw it, she even heard and felt it. The doctors thought that she had lost her mind ... She herself thought so, but not her husband Alexander Ivanovich - a psychologist. He reassured her and offered to write down everything she sees. As a result, six months later, Daria left the hospital with the first five books, which immediately became bestsellers. Now she already has over 70 books, Popularity, Respect, Welfare and Health)

Success in business, and in any other business, begins with character.

Marion Brem once thought that nothing would come of her in this life. Judge for yourself, a thirty-year-old mother of two children hears from a doctor a terrible diagnosis - "cancer", she will live, only five more years. Her marriage cannot withstand such terrible stress and falls apart. Brem becomes a dying mother, a single mother with no job or health insurance.
Her friend unexpectedly gives advice: "You love to communicate with people. Why don't you try yourself as a salesman?" This advice was the starting point for her psychological, physical and spiritual recovery.
Brem "sold" her abilities to the owner of a car dealership, that is, she got a job there. Two months later she was "Salesperson of the Month", by the end of the year she was "Salesperson of the Year". Less than five years later, she already had her own salon. The key to such a successful career for this strong woman was her character.

Many people want to be successful in some activity, but they are quite sure that they will not succeed. In fact, everything is possible if you believe in yourself and work on your knowledge and skills. Motivational Stories successful people- this is one way to raise morale and set yourself up for victory. Each of them started small, gradually striving more and more for victory, for their goal. To make sure that you have the ability to achieve the desired result in any business, read the life stories of successful people who, like you, did not know if they could achieve their goal.

Incredible people live all over the world. There are a huge number of them in Russia, much more than anywhere else. Therefore, you should not make excuses that you do not live in a promising country. So, read the stories of successful people in Russia who had nothing at first. But let's not forget about other countries.

Andrey Krylkov

Andrei Krylkov is a man whose story begins with the fact that he is given a terrible diagnosis. The boy lived with cerebral palsy since childhood. When it was time to go to school, he was assigned to a special orphanage where children with disabilities studied. Among these children, Andrei stood out for his intelligence, ingenuity and resourcefulness. In his position, the boy never lost hope of recovery.

One day Andrei heard from another attending physician that, if desired and striving, he could cure himself on his own. So the guy starts reading medical literature actively engage in sports. Andrei's family began to seriously worry about his state of mind, so much the boy wanted to get on his feet.

The guy's first simulator was a homemade barbell. Studying sports literature, the young man trained at home. Over time, his hands and feet began to obey. He was very impressed medical commission when he came in for an inspection.

Today, Andrei Krylkov is a successful bodybuilder, although he still cannot do more delicate work, such as screwing nuts or repairing small items. But the guy does not lose hope. He has a great desire to act and unshakable faith in himself, so no one doubts that Andrei will soon defeat his diagnosis completely. And therefore, it is this incredible biography that often opens all the stories of successful people in Russia.

David Smith

Today, many people, especially the fair sex, dream of getting rid of the hated fat folds, but cannot find motivation for this. David Smith is a man who, without special methods, was able to lose as much as 186 kilograms.

The story of this guy begins with the fact that he could not move without assistance. His weight was 268 kilograms, and he decided it was time to change his life.

Surely you will ask how a young man of 26 years old brought himself to such a state. The fact is that the guy from childhood suffered from a tendency to be overweight. When his mother, to whom he was deeply attached, died, he tried to fight his despair with food. Less than a year later, the guy no longer knew how to get rid of the fat layer.

Through sports and proper nutrition David got himself in shape, but he had to turn to professional surgeons because his skin was very sagging.

Now the young man, satisfied with his result, lives a full life and is not going to stop there.

Ingeborg Mootz

Surely you are interested in the stories of financially successful people. If so, then you will like the biography of Ingeborga Mootz, who is already 83 years old. She, like any old woman her age, lives in a small private house, which is lined with old-fashioned furniture inside. Ingeborga keeps photos of friends and relatives and leads a normal life. It would seem that there is nothing surprising in this phenomenon. But Ingeborga stands out because she is a successful German stock trader.

Once, when her husband died, the old woman realized that she simply had nothing to live on. The starting capital of the woman was the shares bought earlier by her husband. Not missing her chance, Ingeborga began to play on the stock exchange. In a short time, the woman was able to earn 500 thousand euros. Moreover, her relatives entrust their capital to her so that she can multiply them.

Today, the pensioner is not going to stop there, she wants to earn a million and is actively moving towards her goal. Moreover, Ingeborg gives practical advice to everyone, helps poor people and conducts courses for people who want to play on the stock exchange.

Mark Goffany

No story of successful people begins with pleasant circumstances. So the biography of Mark Goffeny is interesting in that the guy dreamed of learning to play the guitar, but one difficult circumstance prevented him. The young man is disabled, both arms are missing.

Any history of successful people in the world fades when it becomes known that the guy has become a skilled guitarist, and he plays his favorite instrument with his feet. His music is filled with a special charm, so Mark already has thousands of fans around the world. The guy gives guitar lessons, enjoys life and is not going to stop there, improving his skills and continuing to work on himself.

Zhang Ying

History is bound to have its oddities. So, Zhang Yin, the owner of a small company that only a few people knew about, was able to make a fortune by studying US garbage dumps. Having bought most of them, she supplied waste paper to China, where the raw materials were recycled and arrived in America already in the form of packing boxes.

Zhang Yin is the first lady of China. Any incredible story of successful people begins with the fact that a person does not imagine that he is capable of achieving great results. But in Zhang Yin's case, things are much more serious. In China, a woman is assigned the role of a housewife and a secondary person. It is inconceivable that a woman, without education, start-up capital and family ties, takes leadership positions and becomes the country's first business woman.

This biography motivates and inspires a large number of people around the world. The main lesson that Zhang Yin gives is that everything can be profited from, even garbage, and everything can be achieved, there would be a desire. Today, the queen of landfills is very popular, she is not going to stop, she plans to develop her business in order to reach an even larger level.

Serikbol Kuldeibaev

All the stories of successful people in business begin with the fact that they dream of earning a certain amount of money. So, Serikbol Kuldeibaev, who has been a disabled person of the first group since childhood, dreamed of becoming a millionaire. It would seem that his wish is impossible. But the guy proved to the whole world that nothing is impossible.

After graduating from school in an orphanage for the disabled, the guy learned to sew. In this area, he worked for seven years, setting aside small amounts of money. Later, he decided that repairing shoes was not an occupation for him, and opened six shoe outlets with deferred finances. But this was only Serikbol's first step as a businessman.

The guy located points throughout the city where you could buy soda, later he decided to open his own barbecue. Since he did not want to buy expensive meat from private entrepreneurs, he bought his own farm. So Serikbol first earned a million.

But were in life successful entrepreneur and the difficulties involved in moving the capital in which he lived to another city. A man with his family decided to try himself in a new place. Serikbol had to experience a lot of difficulties in order to open a business in a new city, read a lot of books and get to know a lot of people. But the result quickly made itself felt.

Today, a man lives in abundance, but the craving for new achievements has not left him. He assures that nothing would have happened if he had not come across kind and sympathetic people who helped him in his endeavors.

Jean-Claude Van Damme

Stories of rich successful people are always interesting. Now it is very difficult to find a person who would not hear such a name as Jean-Claude Van Damme. Indeed, this is a world famous actor, but few people know that his path to success was extremely difficult.

Jean begins his development with admission to the ballet school. Thanks to his talent, hard work, self-confidence and a strong desire to succeed, the guy quickly conquers the world of sports and becomes its star. But the dream of becoming an actor haunts him.

At the age of 20, leaving everything, Jean goes to Hollywood. The first few years were very difficult, because the guy had to work in the worst positions in order to somehow earn his living.

Fate disposed of Jean's life in such a way that one day he met Chuck Norris, who helped the guy get a small role in his first film. The talent of the young man was noticed immediately, so he was invited to auditions, to give the main roles. Jean soon became the Hollywood star he had always dreamed of. Such a biography once again proves that it is categorically impossible to give up when there is at least a small chance of winning.

Susan Boyle

The stories of the most successful people in the world are connected not only with business. Susan Boyle most recently was an ordinary woman of 47 who did not stand out from the crowd. She does not have a bright appearance and does not seek to win the love and attention of all the people of the world. She just has a dream, which is to become a singer. With this thought, the woman decided to go to the British talent show.

When Susan entered the stage, the audience in the hall and the members of the jury took her appearance with a somewhat skeptical attitude. Everyone was amazed, looking at the appearance of the woman, that she really wants to become a singer. But after Susan's grandiose performance, the amazed audience and jury bathed her in a standing ovation.

Literally an hour after the broadcast was broadcast, millions of Internet users watched the video of the woman's speech. Today, the number of Susan's fans is growing exponentially, and the woman is glad that she was able to muster up the courage and fulfill the dream of her life.

Randy Pausch

Randy Pausch is a man who teaches that the life stories of successful people don't have to end on a positive note. The man is not known for his incredible wealth, successful film career or phenomenal talent in the field of music. All people know him as the author of the so-called "last lecture".

At the age of 45, Randy learned about the fatal diagnosis. A man who was well versed in philosophy and computer science, who sought to acquire knowledge and apply it to improve the world, had no more than 2 months to live.

Usually in this situation, people despair, go into themselves and stop hoping for the best. But this is not about Randy. Before his death, he gave a lecture about life, about how important it is to appreciate every moment, how to live in such a way as not to regret things that were not done. This story touched and motivated millions of people around the world. The guy left behind a trace in history that will never be erased.

Biography of Randy Pausch proves that it is not necessary to be full of strength and energy, it is not necessary to look far into the future in order to succeed and do good to those around you.

Tatyana Bakalchuk

The stories of successful people in business continue. This time we will talk about This woman is the owner of one of the largest online stores.

Tatyana's story begins with the fact that she was on maternity leave. At this time, the woman decided to open a virtual clothing store. The warehouse was right in her apartment. Since 2004, Tatyana has managed to promote her business, multiplying her capital several times over. To date, Tatiana's fortune is 380 million US dollars.

The example of this woman shows that even while on maternity leave, you should not sit idly by. Perhaps fate will meet you halfway, and you will become one of them. After all, Tatyana did not have connections and large start-up capital, she only had a desire to work, ingenuity and the ability to feel the needs of customers.

Edward Tiktinsky

Eduard Tiktinsky is an exemplary businessman. From a young age, he was sure that he wanted to become an entrepreneur. His dream came true, but Edward had to work hard to make it come true. His biography continues the history of successful people in Russia.

Since the guy was born in a poor family, his career began as an assistant to one of the leaders of a real estate company. Soon Eduard's talent was noticed and he became the marketing manager of one of the leading firms, and after that he founded his own holding.

The man assures that there is simply no one and only way. To achieve the desired result in work, you need to enjoy it. Therefore, go to your dream, turn what you want into reality, without thinking that something may not work out.

Vadim Kulubekov

Vadim Kulubekov is a guy who, at the age of 21, managed to create his own company, while having 100,000 rubles in his pocket, which became his starting capital.

The story of this man, like most biographies of successful people, began with a tragic event. When Vadim was 19 years old, his father died, who always supported the guy in everything. Then he realized that in this life there is no one else to rely on.

Having a strong character, Vadim did not want to work for a stranger, while receiving a penny. After reflecting on his future fate, the guy decided to become an entrepreneur. He found a small room where the employees of his company lived and the office of this company was located at the same time. Thanks to his abilities and love for his work, Vadim managed to expand production and become one of the most promising entrepreneurs of his time.

Albert Einstein

Who today does not know Einstein? This is the most outstanding scientist of the last century, it would seem that his life should have been filled with successful discoveries. But this is far from true.

When little Albert was born, no one guessed even close that phenomenal success awaited him. The boy began to speak only at the age of 4, and when his peers already knew how to write, he could hardly read. Parents and other adults considered Albert a mentally retarded child, teachers had long given up on him.

But in fact, the already growing young man simply thought differently from other people. He stood out from the crowd. And soon Einstein received the Nobel Prize in Physics. Then he made discovery after discovery, gradually becoming the greatest scientist of the century. No one dared to say that Albert is an inferior person, since he left a visible mark on the history of science.

Walt Disney

What story of successful people would do without the creator of Disneyland and our favorite childhood cartoons? Walt Disney, starting his career, suffered setback after setback. Because he didn't have enough creative ideas, he was fired from the newspaper, and his animation studio went bankrupt.

To get funding to create Disneyland, Walt had to work hard. 302 times he was refused, after which he was nevertheless given this chance.

The most famous animator of his time suffered as many failures as any person striving for success would have dared to endure. Perhaps that is why he achieved his goal. This story proves once again that one should not give up in order to gain recognition.

Steven Spielberg

Steven Spielberg was expelled from two schools, which did not particularly upset the young man. He tried to enter film school three times, but all these attempts failed miserably. The members of the selection committee answered the guy that he was mediocre and could not achieve anything.

However, Stephen was able to get into one of the popular universities. He studied hard, trying to be as close to his dream as possible. His efforts were not in vain, as Spielberg became the director of the most significant films in the history of cinema. Without special work he managed to get 3 Oscars. By the way, the film school, which he never managed to enter in his youth, awarded the already adult and successful Spielberg an honorary degree.

There are many more awards in the man’s collection, and he managed to earn more than one billion US dollars, but this is not a priority for him. His main goal was to achieve his dream of mastering his favorite profession and becoming successful, which he achieved by overcoming all obstacles.

Marilyn Monroe

It's hard to believe, but Marilyn Monroe, the most famous blonde of all time, the sex symbol of many generations and just a successful actress, suffered many setbacks on the way to her goal. So, the girl decided to try her luck in Hollywood, but one of the companies refused her, citing the fact that she is not attractive and cannot adequately play a movie.

The young woman did not give up, continuing the struggle for her happiness. She faced many trials both in her career and in her personal life. Rumor has it that Marilyn was not happy man because she tried to commit suicide several times.

Nevertheless, the girl is the most popular blonde of our time, the ideal of beauty and the standard of femininity. So think twice. If you were refused, perhaps fate gives you a chance to try your hand at another, more successful place for you.

Thus, these motivational stories make you think that it is not necessary to be the ideal of beauty or the most smart person in their environment to achieve phenomenal success. It is enough to love what you do and do it with your soul, skillfully bypassing all obstacles. Believe in yourself, then success will knock on your door. Don't stop there, but don't become a slave to what you do. Most likely, you will be haunted by failure, perhaps in large numbers. But this means only one thing: fate is testing you for strength in order to give you the success that you have dreamed of and for which you have been striving for so long.

Today, within the framework of our "World Brands" section, we decided to deviate a little from the tradition of publication topics and talk about a seemingly ordinary product - scissors, but their price is from 1000 euros. IN modern world often the origin of a thing speaks of its quality. Remember, for example, a Swiss watch, a German car, Russian caviar. All these things are united not only high price, but also...

Even children know that the world is made up of particles. We recently had the opportunity to look at such particles with the naked eye. Moreover, now you can even touch them. Let's talk about Lego. People spend about 5 billion hours a year collecting cubes. If this number is divided by all the inhabitants of the earth, it will be about an hour for each.

There are cars that are good on their own. Riding them is a pleasure. These cars include cars of the famous Bugatti brand. The French company "Bugatti" and its amazing products have left a noticeable mark in the history of the world's automotive industry. Therefore, today, as part of our permanent column "World Brands", we will introduce you to the history of the creation and development of the famous Bugatti brand.

Today in the section "World Brands" we decided to publish a biography of one of the most secretive, but at the same time popular women in Russia. We are talking about the former wife of Vladimir Putin - Lyudmila Aleksandrovna Putina (nee Shkrebneva). In 1958, on January 2, Lyudmila Shkrebneva (Putina) was born in Kaliningrad. Lyudmila's father worked first as a postman, and then as a turner at a repair plant, and her mother worked in ...

There are many examples when young people, carried away by an idea, achieved a lot in their lives. Some of them did not have a rich inheritance, and someone escaped to the pinnacle of fame literally from poverty. There are many examples of this. One of the ups and downs was made by a poor teenager named Jason Daniels, carrying through the years the famous taste and recipe of Jack Daniels whiskey. Mr. Daniels was very devoted to his beloved...

Today, under the heading "World Brands", Andrey Shipilov has prepared for you a publication about the most big network fast food in the world. The future owner of thousands of restaurants around the world, Fred de Luca was born into a family of emigrants from Italy in 1948. From an early age, the boy tried to earn money on his own, and his parents saw what he would grow out of their child. big man. Beginning with...

In Germany (in Wiesbaden) in October 96 of the last century, on the pages of a bureau report called the Executive Intelligence Review, shocking information was printed about the well-known speculator of the planet - George Soros. Soros was accused of global scams and speculation that affected the lives of the ordinary population of entire countries. Until now, a number of experts believe that he ruined the main bank of England, whose leadership in response ...

Bernard Arnault is the owner of LVMH, a successful French businessman. Born on 03/05/1949 in a wealthy family. Already in his youth, Bernard Arnault began to be interested in luxurious things, he studied fashion trends, art and understood good wines. Bernard Arnault is known in the world as the number one figure in the production of luxury goods and wealth. Arno controls at least sixty brands from around the world...

Today, LifeGlobe brings you the most interesting examples of how luck, luck, or even a spelling mistake can determine the future popularity of a nascent company. We present to your attention the history of the emergence of 20 leading global brands of our time

It was known at all times that its future success depends on the catchy, memorable name of the company. Recently with when creating any big company or for the purpose of rebranding an already existing, but unpopular, practice of "brainstorming" is most often used - when all employees gather in one room and "throw" their ideas of names on a common table. This is an interesting and correct approach, but sometimes no “brainstorming” can be compared with the will of chance, suggesting completely unexpected ideas or forcing you to make a mistake that will cause the brand to become mega popular in the future…

Of course, in the last words there was a reference to the most famous case of this kind - a typo during the registration of the domain of the most extensive and popular Google search engine today. Initially, Page and Brin's search engine was called BackRab, but at some point they decided that something needed to be changed - in 1997, a brainstorming session among students was held in the dormitory of Stanford University, the purpose of which was to find a name that fit a search engine capable of processing colossal amounts of information. After several inconclusive hours, the idea came to Page himself - the word googol, which meant one with a hundred zeros, but the student who was entrusted with registering the domain name made a typo, as a result of which the google.com domain was born.

In order not to go far, let's remember how Facebook was created - the largest this moment social network in the world. As you know, the first trick of Mark Zuckerberg was the theft of photographs and data of Harvard students, and posting them on his Facemash website with the ability to vote for a particular photo. But the leadership of the university did not appreciate the resourcefulness of the student and Mark was expelled. After some time, the bright mind of Zuckerberg came up with the idea of ​​another project, much larger and this time completely legal. One day Mark was sorting through old things and accidentally stumbled upon his school photo album "The Photo Address Book". He remembered that no one ever liked this name, because. was long and it took a long time to pronounce it, so everyone just called the album "Facebook" - so the future social network a name appeared that today is not known except in the most backward countries of the world or some native tribes South America =)

Another social resource that is popular with us - VKontakte - got its name due to the fact that Pavel Durov, who created it, listened to the Ekho Moskvy radio station, where the phrase "In full contact with information" was often repeated on the air. Without hesitation, Pavel removed unnecessary words and registered a domain name, which has recently been shortened to just two letters VK. Well, I didn’t bother with the logo at all - I used the example of Facebook =)

The name of the Russian search resource Yandex is actually an abbreviation, and it is different in Russian and English - "Language iINDEX" in Russian and "Yet Another iNDEX" in English. About who came up with this idea, nothing is known for sure, but according to official version it was one of the developers of the search engine

Domain name for foreign search engine Yahoo! invented, without knowing it, the Irish writer Jonathan Swift, who called this word the annoying tribe of natives in Gulliver's Adventures. In addition, it is also a joyful exclamation common in America, so the founders of Yahoo! Jerry Yang and David Filo chose just such a name for the domain of the future search resource - in their understanding, "Yahoo!" means the user's joy from what he found necessary information

Creator trademark Hotmail, which is part of Microsoft today, is Sabir Bhatia, who at one time went through a bunch of names ending in "mail" and, in the end, settled on the name Hotmail - due to the fact that, in addition, the abbreviation HTML is encrypted in it. The very idea of ​​​​creating mailboxes that can be accessed from any corner of the planet that has the Internet belongs to Jack Smith. Today, Hotmail is on the brink of shutting down due to the rise of the more user-friendly Outlook.com. In 2013, Hotmail will cease to exist forever, and its users will be automatically transferred to the new mail service.

In order not to go far from the Internet and IT technologies, let's remember one of the leading manufacturers of prestigious consumer electronics novelties - Apple, whose brand in May 2011 was recognized as the most valuable brand in the world. The history of the name is quite comical - one fine day, after three months of fruitless attempts to come up with a name for the company, Steve Jobs threatened his partners that if they did not offer him a normal option before 5 pm, he would name the company after his favorite fruit - an apple! Didn't offer...

The name of another major electronics manufacturer was decided by a coin - William Hewlett and David Packard tossed it when they decided whose name would appear first in the name of their joint venture, whose first office was Hewlett's garage. It is logical to assume that since the company is called Hewlett / Packard, then the coin turned out to be lucky for the owner of the garage =)

The Japanese company Sony also went through a long search - the creators of "Tokyo tsushin koge kabushiki kaisa" ("Tokyo Telecommunications Engineering Company") Akio Morita and Masaru Ibuki wanted to find a shorter and more concise name, but could not come up with anything. And then the Latin language came to their aid, and specifically, the word sonus, which translates as "sound". It was the 50s in the yard and in Japan the American word sonny, consonant with it, was widespread, but written in Japanese hieroglyphs it meant "unprofitable". The problem was solved with the simplicity inherent in the Japanese - they deleted the extra N from the name and registered the SONY brand

Another giant Japanese company specializing in the production of digital equipment for home and office - Canon - originally, when created in the 30s of the last century, bore the intricate name Precision Optical Instruments Laboratory in Japan. But with the creation of the first camera, named for some reason in honor of the Buddhist goddess of mercy Kwanon, the brothers Goro and Saburo Yoshida decided to rename the company and at the same time take several consonant names, including Canon, - just in case. Such far-sightedness helped them avoid problems in the future with religious structures that did not like that the name of the great goddess was "some incomprehensible contraption" - as a result, the Yoshida brothers settled on the name Canon, because. it turned out that, in addition to sweetness, it is also translated from in English like "canon", and in French it means "cannon" - since that time more and more new "photoguns" have been produced =)

The name of the South Korean industrial concern Samsung in translation means "Three Stars". The reason for this name of the company is not known for certain, but many associate it with the three sons of its founder.

The name of the American company Kodak was born thanks to the love of its founder, George Eastman, for the letter "K" - he was looking for short words that would begin and end with this letter. He was also attracted to it by the fact that in all the world's most popular alphabets, the letter "K" is written the same way. As a result, the word “Kodak” was born in Eastman’s head - this is the sound, in his opinion, that the camera invented by him in 1888 made with a film for 100 frames

Copier creator Chester Carlson wanted to emphasize the fact that before his invention - a copier based on dry ink powder - there were only wet copying technologies. Therefore, Chester sat down at the dictionaries and found the word "xer" in Greek, literally translated as "dry", and based on it he came up with a name for his device - "xerox"

In order not to go far, let's remember that in another American state a company was born, whose products we consumed by the liter in the 90s - we are talking about Pepsi-Cola, which the pharmacist Caleb Bradham invented at the end of the century before last. There are several versions of where this name came from. According to a more common one, Caleb named the drink after pepsin, a digestive enzyme that helps our stomach break down protein. According to another version, Bradham simply took the name of the company of one of his local competitors - Pep Cola - and "edited" it a little. The last opinion that you can pay attention to is based on the assumption that people liked that the black drink gave them vigor and strength (from English pep - energy, vivacity) - hence the name

Already in this, the 21st century, Pepsi-Cola was thoroughly replaced by another no less black and no less harmful drink - Coca-Cola. The pharmacist John Stith Pemberton didn’t think about the name for a very long time - he named the main ingredients of his recipe, created on May 8, 1886, three parts of coca leaves (which are so popular in Colombia ...) for one part of tropical cola tree nuts. You can learn about other ingredients in the article What is in everyone's favorite Coca-Cola. According to another version, the name for the drink was invented by a local farmer who sold it to a pharmacist for $250. The Coca-Cola logo was written in calligraphic letters by Pemberton's accountant Frank Robinson - a gifted accountant, judging by the fact that the logo has not changed since then)

An interesting story is also connected with the name of the German industrial concerns Adidas and Puma. Once upon a time, in the 20s of the XX century, two brothers, Adolf and Rudolf Dassler, founded a common company for sewing shoes. They called it unpretentiously - Dassler (full name - "Dassler Brothers Shoe Factory"). In 1948, after the death of their father, the brothers quarreled heavily and decided to continue to go their separate ways. As a result, they agreed that no one would use the name Dassler again. Adolf named his newly formed company Addas, which was later replaced by the more euphoric Adidas (from Adolf's shortened name, Adi Dassler), and brother Rudolf founded the Ruda factory, later renamed Puma. On this, the joint story of the Dassler brothers finally ended.

The Tokyo engineering company Mitsubishi was founded in the early 1870s, the logo was a trefoil - the emblem of the family of the founder of the company, Yataro Iwasaki. As a result, the name "Three Diamonds" was coined from the coat of arms ("mitsu" - "three", "hishi" - "diamond", according to another version of the translation - "water chestnut"). Why doesn't it sound like Mitsuhisi then? The answer lies in the phenomenon of Japanese morphonology, or Randaku, as a result of which the often deaf initial consonants of the root become voiced when read if there is a prefix or another root before the root of the word. That's why the "h" in the middle of Mitsuhishi is pronounced like "b"

The history of the name of the South Korean financial and industrial group Daewoo is not as interesting as the translation of the name itself, which few people know about, is unusual. The founder of the company, Kim Woo Chong, called it simply and modestly - "Big Universe". Indeed, much more modest)

No less interesting is the name of the German auto giant Audi. The word itself is borrowed from the Latin language and is translated as "Listen!", But the main interesting feature is that Audi is the Latin version of the surname of the founder of the company, August Horch. The fact is that they didn’t really think about the name for the first machine produced at the newly formed plant - they simply called it Horch, but when they began to come up with a name for the next model, the son of one of his partners came to the aid of Augustus, who proposed the Latin version of the head’s surname . Since then, the history of one of the most successful automotive companies in the world begins, which today is part of the Volkswagen Group.

As you can see, some companies were named on a whim, others took weeks and months to find a suitable name, but all of them, nevertheless, became successful in their economic niches - mainly thanks to the right name, interesting idea and coordinated work of their teams