Some of the best advice I’ve ever received is, “Don’t compare your beginning to someone else’s middle or end.” Have you ever paused to learn about the humble beginnings and career paths of successful people? Did you know Steve Jobs was fired from his own company? How about Michael Jordan’s cut from his high school basketball team? Every big-time success story includes bumps.
The Humble Beginnings & Career Paths of Successful People
I’m inspired to write on this topic because there is so much struggle in the world right now. Having graduated college in 2009 during “the Great Recession,” I know it can seem impossible to have a career success story when you are struggling just to find career opportunities. For a little encouragement and inspiration, let’s look at the career paths of successful people.
President Obama
Did you know President Obama’s first job was scooping ice cream at a Baskin Robbins in Hawaii? Everyone begins somewhere! From that experience, he likely gained some key customer service and communication skills that he continued to build on over the next 25 years until he would, eventually, become our nation’s leader.
What many young people fail to realize is that each opportunity and experience shapes us. We are gaining perspective and building a transferrable skillset. Transferrable skills, or soft skills, are skills that are valuable and applicable across a variety of situations and fields. Among the most sought-after transferrable skills are communication skills, leadership skills, problem-solving skills, and interpersonal skills.
Reed Hastings, Netflix
We often think of door-to-door salespeople as annoying and intrusive. We wouldn’t associate it with success; however, perhaps we need to challenge these perceptions! Reed Hastings, Founder of Netflix, was a door-to-door vacuum salesman 20 years before he began Netflix.
Hastings likely used skills he built as a salesman when he was selling his idea to investors. Think about the parallel between door-to-door salesman and starting a business. In both roles, he had to be creative and learn to sell his idea. He likely experienced a good amount of rejection in both positions and, from that, probably learned girt and perseverance. Remember, our humble beginnings shape us!
My Humble Beginning
I’m not famous; but, for fun, I’d also like to share my humble beginnings. Growing up in a very rural area in Missouri, there weren’t a lot of options for employment as a teenager. A lot of my friends either worked in the fast-food industry or on family farms. I was very involved in sports and extracurricular activities, so, summer jobs worked best for my schedule and allowed me to focus on school and activities during the academic year.
One of the few opportunities for summer-only work in our area was the seasonal maintenance crew for our school district. That’s a glorified way of saying I was a summer janitor. My job duties for three consecutive summers were painting walls, waxing floors, and cleaning bathrooms, bleachers, and classrooms. It was not glamourous. By the end of an eight-hour day, I was hot, dirty, and tired.
My Takeaways from My First Job
What did I learn from this humble beginning that I still use today? The first would be the value of education or technical skillset. At 15 years old, when I first began that job, I knew I did not want to scrape gum off the bottom of the gymnasium bleachers for the rest of my life. I did not want to breathe chemicals of floor wax and cleaner. I also learned the value of teamwork. I could paint a classroom on my own and it would take me two days of being cooped up in the same room, or, my teammates and I could work together and move through a classroom, or two, per day. Finally, I also learned respect. I have so much respect for the professionals who work tirelessly to keep the facilities that we use daily in tip-top shape. When I was in college and preparing to student teach, my professor told our class, “Always respect and make friends with the cafeteria workers and the janitorial staff.” While some dismissed the advice, I knew it was true and understood the value and sacrifice of the people in these roles!
Career Paths of Successful People
As you read through the infographic below that illustrates the career paths of successful people, I challenge you to think of the positives that came from your beginnings. We all start somewhere, and career paths of successful people are never without bumps. If COVID-19 is creating a bump for you, press on and persevere. You’ll have your success story, too! In fact, we can work on your career plan together. There is no time like the present to develop your action plan for career success! Let’s chat on a free consultation call!
