Successful late bloomers to be inspired by


It seems that everyone nowadays is always pushing to do bigger and better things at such young ages. You hear about the ones that got their break when they dropped out of school and came up with a billion-dollar idea, but what about the people that lived through the grind before they were able to succeed? This people prove that it’s never too late to start following your dreams.

Reed Hastings

A night in with Netflix is something most of us can relate to nowadays, but can you imagine a life without being able to binge watch the latest season of Stranger Things?! Well, back in 1997 the genius Reed Hastings thought of the idea after he got charged $40 for a late fee for the DVD he had rented. At 37 years old, Reed came up with the idea of a DVD rental company that never charged a late fee; just keep the movie for as long as you want. He set up his business and even managed to compete with the giants of Blockbuster. Ten years later and he took his idea online leaving us with the streaming service we now know and love.

Successful late bloomers to be inspired by

Ray Kroc

We are definitely loving it when it comes to Ray Kroc’s idea: McDonald’s. While selling his milkshake mixers out of his car, Kroc bumped into brothers Maurice and Richard McDonald. Ray realized that the pair had bought eight of his mixers so far, so questioned why they needed so many. The brothers introduced him to their restaurant and Ray instantly saw dollar signs. He helped the brothers to franchise the store before buying out for $1 million each in 1955, when Ray was 53 years old. When most people thought he was entering his twilight years, Ray Kroc was only just beginning.

Sam Walton

Need some food? Head to Walmart. How about appliances? They have them at Walmart. Furniture? Walmart. It appears as though there is nothing too strange to be in the collection of the weird and wonderful discounted products at Walmart. Before 1945 there was a gap in the market, so that year Sam Walton took it upon himself to give the nation what they were after. The businessman took out a loan of $20,000 that year (the equivalent of $250,000 in today’s money) to put towards opening his store when he was 44 years old. Over the years he purchased more and more locations where he soon began to take America by storm. By the time Sam passed away in 1992, he was estimated to be worth a staggering $65 billion!

J. K. Rowling

This English author was down on her luck in 1997 when she found herself divorced, living with her sister, and without a job. J.K. Rowling had been putting together an idea in her head about a magical character named Harry Potter in 1990 when she was 25, but everything kept going wrong and getting in the way of her pursuing her creation. It wasn’t until she was 32 years old that she was able to finally get the story written down, before someone took a chance (but not after getting twelve rejection letters) and published her book. The empire has grown to a global sensation with 400 million copies of her books in the series being sold to date.

Successful late bloomers to be inspired by

All of these men and women show how you don’t need to stress about not making millions by the age of 25. These people proved that winners are not the people that never fail, but the individuals that never give up.

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