A Lesson in Persistence We Can Learn From Heinz, Hershey, Ford, Disney, and Trump

From our experiences growing up, we all haveCompany. Within a couple of years, Ford and
different ideas on how to make money in thecompany came up with higher wages, better
world.production with the creation of the assembly line,
But even with these ideas, most of the timesand better cars, including the Model T and Model
starting out, we have no idea if they will work outA.
or not. We're afraid of failing so we let areHe was able to turn the company into a
dreams disappear and settle for the next bestmultimillion dollar corporation and provide one of
thing.the most reliable and affordable brand of cars
This type of approach is common in most peoplethat we have today - Ford Cars.
that begin to face adversity.Walt Disney
Realize that even with every failure we make, itDisney started out working with what he loved to
is a lesson that we can learn from that willdo, draw, and got paid drawing pictures for his
eventually lead you towards your goal only if youneighbor, a retired doctor. He carried his love for
make the decision to be persistent enough todrawing until high school, where in between, he
make it through the end.was influenced by motion pictures.
If you went bankrupt today, would you considerHe wanted to become an artist, drawing comic
that a big problem? Imagine if you wentstrips for the newspaper, but no one wanted to
bankrupted today, how would it affect you?hire him.
Would you give up?It was until his brother gave him an opportunity
Here are five people, each who went bankrupt,to work at an art studio. He took the opportunity,
and made it to success despite failing numerouswhere he created ads for newspapers,
times.magazines, and movie theatres.
Henry HeinzAfter the art studio job was over, Disney
Heinz began by selling vegetables to hisworked for the Kansas City Film Ad Company
community as a kid since his family tended amaking commercials based on cutout animations.
garden. He was successful in doing that, and thenHe then created an animation studio that
narrowed it down to horseradish, the bestproduced animation called Laugh-O-Grams,
horseradish in town.successfully airing at a local theatre.
With the goal in mind that someday he would buildProblems arose however when Disney's
a business selling the things he had a passion for,Laugh-O-Gram studio was loaded with too my
he and a friend created the Heinz Noble &debt because of the salaries he had to pay to all
Company selling horseradish.his employees.
In 1875 however, the company went bankrupt asAs a result of all the debt Disney owed, the
a result of not being able to pay his workers duestudio went completely bankrupt and he was left
to the popularity of horseradish, driving the pricewith nearly nothing.
of it down.He decided to move, despite all his debt, to
Despite being in a great amount of debt, Heinzpursue his dream of producing great animation to
didn't give up. He started another company calledthe world. From Hollywood, California, he was able
F & J Heinz, this time producing tomatoto create his greatest works and his company
sauce. The company manufactured qualitywent on to become a multi-million dollar
ketchup and became an instant success, allowingcorporation.
Heinz to recover from bankruptcy and turning hisSince then, we have enjoyed all the works that
company into a multimillion dollar corporation.Disney has given to us, from his cartoons and
Because of his persistence of turning his idea intomovies, to his theme parks and hotels.
reality, today we enjoy one of the most deliciousDonald Trump
and quality ketchups - H & J Heinz CompanyFinally, we have Mr. Trump. This ambitious man
Ketchup.started out working after college to creating
Milton Hersheymany million dollar projects that involved real
Hershey started out working for a printing press,estate.
but realized that type of work didn't suit him.He was very successfully early in his career
Afterwards, he worked for a candy maker forbuying and creating million dollar projects and
four years, and developed a passion for differenteventually selling them to make million dollar
types of candy, realizing this time that distributingprofits. These included apartment complexes,
quality candy to the world would be his dream.hotels, convention centers, and casinos.
He started his first candy-making business inHowever, during the recession of 1989, he was
Philadelphia, but it failed. He then started anotherunable to cover the debt of casinos, especially the
candy-making business in Chicago, but that failedone billion dollar Taj Mahal.
as well, and one in New York, which also failedBy 1991, he had lost control of his most valuable
again.assets including the Trump Plaza Hotel and
Doing all of this caused him to go bankrupted, anddeclared bankruptcy, being $900 million dollars in
his family had a hard time helping him pay somedebt.
of the debts that he owed for his early attempts.Taking a decade to recover from his debt, he
Under a lot of pressure and criticism, he decidedeventually was able to erase it all through
not to give up.incredible deal makings and a line of other
He created one more company called thesuccessful projects.
Lancaster Caramel Company, this time using aTrump is now not only a billionaire who owns
caramel recipe he had learned from his pastmany famous hotels, casinos, and real estate
hoping that this recipe would work. It finally didproperty, but also a well known celebrity with the
and people loved his caramel chocolates.popular reality TV show, The Apprentice.
From the money he had earned, he then wentDespite each of these people going into financial
onto to create the Hershey Company using freshtroubles, debt, company problems, and
milk available to him to create milk chocolates.bankruptcy, they were still persistent enough to
Today, we enjoy that very milk chocolatemake their business work out - Heinz with
formula from one of the most delicious milkproduce, Hershey with candy, Ford with
chocolate bars ever created - the Hersheyautomobiles, Disney with animation, and Trump
Chocolate Bar.with real estate.
Henry FordWe are all used to their product names now, and
Ford started out with the reputation of a watcheven though they are all famous, there was a
repair man. Having a talent and always ambitioustime where they were just normal, common,
to fix things and make them better, Ford beganeveryday people.
experimenting with gasoline engines. He createdThe only difference between what separated
his first automobile called the Fordricycle and keptthem and everybody else who failed in business
on thinking of new ways to improve it.was that they had big dreams and decided to be
His dream was to be able to offer a reliable andpersistent enough to make those dreams happen.
affordable automobile to every American. He thenYou may be facing difficult times right now or
started a business around cars when the Detroityour business is not going your way you planned,
Automobile Company was launched.but just remember that these five people were
The company failed however, as the cars was ofable to come out of adversity despite bad starts,
low quality and the cost too much.low sales, and even total bankruptcies.
He tried again with the Ford and Malcomson, Ltd.Take a lesson in persistence from successful
but failed again when sales were too slow and thepeople. They don't just become successful right
owners of the car parts demanded their firstaway. It may take a couple months or it may
payment from Ford, since he was using theirtake years and years of trying.
parts to make cars.And even when the world is giving you all the
On the brink of going bankrupt, Ford tried his bestsigns to stop, if you just say to yourself, "No, I
to persuade the owners to join his company.will make this happen no matter what until the
They finally gave in.very end," eventually, you'll see that it will.
With a third attempt, he created the Ford Motor