Famous people who filed bankruptcy and went on to great success
I once read somewhere that you need to take a step back to go forward. And that is the exact step many famous and successful people have taken after filing bankruptcy but later managed to step up and succeeded again.
But that’s not all; some of them made it a step further by creating more fame and wealth than what they previously owned before being bankrupt. In fact, too many of them, bankruptcy ended being a motivation and stepping stone for greater success.
Thus, this article’s message isn’t based on recommending bankruptcy but portrays that financial disaster is not the end of everything. So let’s find out who are the famous people who filed bankruptcy and went on to great success.
Walt Disney
Famous in the world for an incredible animation production studio, Walt Disney once suffered bankruptcy. Early in his teenage years, he had an entrepreneurial drive that was cut short due to bankruptcy a year later after launching his Laugh-O-Gram Studio in 1920.
However, his bankruptcy declaration didn’t stop his entrepreneurial spirit. Later in 1923, he launched another new company. But it was until 1928 that his career took off after launching Mickey Mouse.
In the course of his carrier, he almost suffered another bankruptcy when the production budget was three times more than what he had planned for. But thanks to the bank loan, he managed to complete that film and released it. Surprisingly, the film (Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs) became another major Disney success that gave his company the potential to last for the rest of his life.
The film scooped $6.5million, a return that was four times his budget. But this was not the end; it was preceded by other great successes like Fantasia and Pinocchio. When he passed away, Walt Disney Net worth was estimated at $5billion in 1966. Wow! Imagine how much would it be when converted to the present dollar?
Henry Ford
Very popular for his business approach, Henry Ford has made a great name for himself in the business world. Dealing with vehicles, any clients of his can have custom car paint as long as it’s dark. He is among the legends in the enterprise history and this is due to his great love for cars.
While working as a car mechanic, Ford founded in 1899 his Detroit Automobile Company. Despite trying his best to apply his perfection character and constant fiddling, this turned out to be excessive for his growing business. thus the company later become bankrupt in 1901. And this was after the production of 20 cars.
Later on, he never gave up, he remodels his company as Henry Ford Company which achieved greater success to date. Later on, he changed the company title to Cadillac Automobile Company.
However, in 1903 he founded Ford Motor Company. and later on in 1908, his company launched the T Ford model which is famous as the first world affordable car.
50 Cent
With his success kicking in after surviving nine bullets shots, 50 cents went on to become one of the world’s famous hip hop rapper. While many rappers speak out a tough front, he actually experienced firsthand and walk the walk.
According to 50 cents, “I lost something in life that I didn’t find until after I was shot. Initially, I was conditioned to believe in God. My grandparents took me to church every Sunday … I lost that … along the way, but after taking nine, it was like, ‘How was that possible?’ ”
Celebrating his success over the years, things took a wrong turn that leads to him filing for bankruptcy while in Connecticut. This surprised many people as the rapper worth was estimated at half a billion by the Washington Post. So how can he be bankrupt now? Most of it was blamed on living large, and being reckless. For instance, he was charged $7 million for licking a woman’s sex tape.
However, this was not the end of 50 cents; he succeeded to bounce back by clearing his debt that amounted to over $22 million. After clearing the debt, he was discharged from the status of bankruptcy by the court.
Larry King
Larry King, I am sure you have had of this name countless, times. Very famous as America’s best presenter both in Television and Radio, things were not always running smoothly and successfully for Larry. At one point he suffered a debt of over $350, 000, which forced him to file for bankruptcy in the same year.
Surprisingly enough, the same year that he filed for bankruptcy, just turned out to be the turning point of his life. He rose from bankruptcy status into America’s most popular presenter as well as being very wealthy in the process. In fact, in exactly the same day, he started off his twenty-five years career as a presenter for both radio and television channels in America.
Abraham Lincoln
It’s quite ironic, with his face all over the dollar bill; Abraham Lincoln was once flat broke with no cash. Furthermore, he is considered to be the greatest US president together with George Washington. During his serving time as the president, he was able to unite the whole country while the Civil war was ongoing. It was the nation’s greatest challenge in its history.
Overseeing the nation’s conflicts against itself is quite an impossible task to find a resolution, but Abraham Lincoln succeeded. However, back in the days when he was an ordinary citizen, things were not moving successfully like his political career. In 1833, Lincoln was a storekeeper in his 20s. it was a general store that he opened with his partner in New Salem, Illinois.
However, the business was not running successfully as they had hoped. They relied on credits from other stores to purchase inventories. To make it worse, the partner later denied making him liable for $1000 (equivalent to $28,000 today) debt despite selling his stake earlier due to poor business performance.
Unlike this modern era where one files for bankruptcy and then move on with life, Lincoln had to clear his partner debt for 17years. But it was actually from these ashes that he rose successfully in his political career. He started his campaign for the General Assembly of Illinois before winning the presidential seat later in 1860 becoming the 16th US president who was loved by all.
George Foreman
George Foreman is a successful entrepreneur as well as a former boxer. During his boxing career he had ups and downs, at first, he started well with a gold medal in 1968 for the heavyweight division and another great win in 1973 for the world title in the heavyweight championship.
However, he had an early retirement which led him to bankruptcy after suffering income decline over time. during this time, he was an ordained minister of Christ. In 1983 he filed for bankruptcy, but this was not the end of him.
He continued with his ministries and local projects as well as having a comeback in boxing later in 1944 at the age of 45. And that’s not all, he still holds the title for the heavyweight championship in the oldest age category.
In 1977 he finally retired from boxing and this time, it was for good. However, dint just retired and went back home like the first round, he ensured he has made a name for himself by lending his title to advertisers, reinventing public personality and adopted a friendly public personality that was well received as well as being a critical point of his entrepreneurial success. Surprisingly, George Forman’s estimate for current net worth is $300 million.
Toni Braxton
Six-time winner in grammy awards, Toni Braxton is very popular due to her sensational voice and heart touchy songs. Her first major wave of popularity was in the 90s. She would millions of albums and earned millions of dollars in return. But surprisingly, that wasn’t enough, so she filed for chapter bankruptcy in 1998 for the first time. Luckily, she managed to get out of this. When things seemed to be going well for the musician, she again filed chapter 7 bankruptcies for the second time.
And the reason being in debt of between 10 to 50 million dollars, however, the second bankruptcy was due to heart conditions that forced her to cancel organized shows and takes care of medical bills.
Braxton assets net worth is about $10million in the state where she filed for bankruptcy. And most of it is used in debt settling. But lucky enough, she is in good health with enough power and voice to sing. Thus she has a chance of bouncing back from the hole of debts.
Mc Hammer
Mc Hammer has experienced a successful rapping career but not without a share of struggles. In terms of success, he launched a hit album in 1990 “Please Hammer Don’t Hurt ‘Em,” which earned him about $33 million.
However, he experienced a major setback of $10million which forced him to file for bankruptcy. Most of it he blames it on frivolous spending. But luckily, he managed to pull himself out of that pit. Thus, his current net worth is estimated at $1.5million.
How to recover from Bankruptcy, how to rebuild credit
The following are essential tips on how to recover from Bankruptcy. They are all derived from the above famous persons we’ve discussed.
Poverty is never an obstacle: as you’ve read about some of them, poverty is never a reason for one misfortune and failure to succeed again in life. In fact, it’s a great motivation that enabled each of the above successful entrepreneurs to step back and make it again even much better.
Bankruptcy is never the end: Bankruptcy is never the terminal of everything. Actually, it’s a great source of success. It’s from failure that the above successful persons made it in life. They stepped back to note the cause of their failure and how to make it again and avoid such risks again. In fact, most of them made it to greater heights than previously.
Causes and solution to financial troubles
- Generating huge debts with the hope to launch a great business venture which often fails due to the same debts. Thus, as an entrepreneur, try your best to generate funds for investment from any other sources apart from credits or unnecessary loans.
- Mismanagement of funds: this includes avoiding taxes which are mandatory. Thus, you need a great financial management system with experts and advisors that will help you in managing your funds appropriately without being bankrupt
- Full trust in family and friends as well as providing for those people close to you. Trusting someone or assisting your friends and family when it comes to finances is not a bad idea; however, you need to consider the health and life of your business. Finances create a backbone for your business, which will fail if they are not managed properly.
- Excessive use of business funds. Spending your money is great especially if its to support a greater course. However, you need to consider the returns and how much you are spending to determine whether you will suffer bankruptcy or if you are on a greater path of success.
Stronger entrepreneurial drive
I am sure you’ve noticed that most of the above entrepreneurs have once failed on a given business venture but still steeped back and tried another. This is with the exception of Lincoln. Thus, to them, their first failure was like a minor glitch in business which never scared them away. Hence, we should take the same courage and wisdom in stepping back after suffering bankruptcy.
Risk Takers
Great rewards come from great risks. Thus is probably safe to claim that most of the above individuals, did fail after taking a risk. Hence, failure is often a possibility when one takes a chance in business.
Final Remarks
From the above information in this article, bankruptcy forms the baseline and this includes great success after stepping back with new business ideas implementations. Thus, bankruptcy is never the end, but the beginning of a new business venture with a greater investment return for those who re-strategize their plan quickly. Therefore, it’s the greatest lesson of all time where failure is never a choice but rather a stepping stone to success in case it happens.
