16 People Who Made a Career Change After 30 to Become Self-Made Millionaires
Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson
Dwayne Johnson had a couple of transitions in terms of his career. He started out as a linebacker for the University of Miami. It seemed like he was set on a football career, but that was not to be. Two months into the 1995 season, he was cut from the Calgary Stampeders of the CFL. This encouraged him to make his first career transition into Professional Wrestling. He gained tremendous fame from 1996 to 2004 and was considered as one of the greatest pro wrestlers of all time. He was according to the WWE, ‘the most entertaining man in sports entertainment’. His fame in the ring opened up the road into the film industry. In 2002, transitioned into the film industry. He was cast with a leading role in the movie The Scorpion King. He was paid a massive $5.5 million for his role, a world record for a first starring role. Since then, he has starred in a number of films. His latest roles as Luke Hobbs in the Fast and the Furious were some of his more prominent roles. Apart from being a successful actor, Johnson also started his own production company, called Seven Bucks Productions. Though his production company, he has produced a number of TV shows and films. In 2013, He was listed No. 25 in the Forbes Top 100 most powerful Celebrities. Since then he has made it into the top 20 every year. In 2015, he was named Muscle & Fitness’s Man of the Century. On top of those awards, Time named Johnson as one of the World’s 100 most influential people.
Ronald Reagan
Although Ronald Reagan started out as an actor, he was always a leader at heart. When he graduated from college in 1932 he started working as a sports announcer on a number of regional radio stations. He then moved to Hollywood in 1937 to pursue an acting career. He was an up-and-coming star and featured in a number of major productions. While he was still acting, his leadership qualities started to reveal themselves. He was elected as the president of the Screen Actors Guild twice. He focused mainly on eradicating the Communist influence while in the position. During the 1950s, he switched to television where he became a motivational speaker for General Electric. He had always been a Democrat but became a Republican in 1962. This marked the beginning of his political career. He quickly gained a large following after his speech, ‘A time for Choosing’ and in 1966, became the governor of California. He ran for president unsuccessfully twice, in 1968 and 1976. However, in 1980 he won by a landslide and defeated Jimmy Carter. At that time, he had been the oldest president of the US ever elected. Economically, Reagan was one of the most successful presidents. During his two terms, he had brought inflation down from 12.5% to a mere 4.4%. Overall he ranked as one of the greatest American Presidents with an overall approval rating of 68%. Shortly after his end as president, he was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease and eventually died as the second longest-lived president of the US. He died in 2004 when he was 93 years old.
Arnold Schwarzenegger
Arnold followed a similar path to Reagan in that he also made a transition from the film industry to politics. However, he started his career as a professional bodybuilder and won the Mr. Universe title when he was 20 years old. He also won the Mr. Olympia title a massive seven times. During his time as a bodybuilder, he also wrote a number of books and articles on the sport. After his bodybuilding days, he transitioned to the film industry when he was in his 30s. Most people might remember him for his role in the Terminator franchise, but it was his role as Conan the Barbarian that shot him into fame. He went on to star in a number of high grossing and successful films. It was his transition into politics that caught a number of people off guard, although he had been involved in politics since 1993. In 2003, Arnold was elected as the governor of California and eventually went on to serve two terms. During his terms as governor, the media outlets dubbed him the ‘Governator’. He became the second foreign governor of California after Irish born John G. Downey. Arnold didn’t accept his $175 000 state salary due to his successful acting career. After his second term, he returned to the film industry and starred in a couple of action movies, including the Expendables franchise. His success in the entertainment industry has lifted his total net worth to over an estimated $400 million.
Harland Sanders
Harland Sanders probably has the most famous goatee in the world. He is also better known as Colonel Sanders, but before founding one of the world’s biggest fast food chains, he held many odd jobs. In his early life, he held positions such as a gas station operator, steam engine stoker and insurance salesman. It was during the Great Depression that he developed his secret deep fried chicken recipe while selling chicken from his roadside restaurant. His job as a gas station operator in Corbin, Kentucky, enabled him to start a small roadside restaurant which gained popularity among the locals in 1930. He got into a shootout with his competitor, Matt Stewart, over a sign that directed traffic to his gas station. Stewart shot and killed a Shell official who was with Sanders at the time of the shooting. He was convicted of murder and in so doing, eliminated himself as Sanders’s competition. In 1940, his restaurant burned down and he had it rebuilt it as a 140 seater restaurant and motel. It was during this time that he perfected his secret recipe and also patented his cooking method. He found that cooking chicken in a pressure fryer was faster than pan frying. After WWII, Sanders had the opportunity to open his first franchise in Utah in 1952. Pete Harman was the first franchisee and due to the secret chicken recipe, his sales more than tripled. Many other restaurants followed suit and ended up paying Sanders $0.04 per chicken sold. The franchise grew rapidly and by 1964, there were franchises in over 600 locations. The growth got too much for Sanders and he sold the franchise for $2 million.
Jonah Peretti
The saying, those who can’t do, teach, do not apply to Jonah Peretti. He was able to do what very few other teachers were able to do. He became a multi-millionaire. However, before Peretti made his millions, he was a middle school computer science teacher. He taught middle-schoolers how to work with Microsoft Office. It was his technical skills that enabled him to go on to other ventures and make his millions. Peretti had a fairly average childhood and education. Initially, he graduated from the University of California with a degree in environmental studies in 1996, a far cry from the computer world where he made his mark. He then went on to become a computer science teacher at Isidore Newman School in Louisiana. After teaching for only three years, Peretti headed to MIT Media Lab where he completed a postgraduate degree. It was there that he started thinking about how ideas spread and why people shared ideas in the first place. Near the end of his time at MIT, got into an email altercation with Nike and before he knew it, he was Arana Huffington and Ken Lerer and founded the Huffington Post. It didn’t take long for Huffington Post to grow and it was eventually acquired by AOL for 4315 Million in 2011. Peretti then started Buzzfeed as a side project which is valued at an estimated $1.5 billion. They now employ over 1300 employees across the globe. According to Peretti, he was merely lucky and once he attained his initial success, he was introduced to other people and data that enabled him to synthesize other things.
Ray Croc
Ray Croc was a tenacious salesman who spent his time trying to make his big break and make his millions. After WWI Croc did a number of odd jobs, including selling paper cups, becoming a real estate agent and even playing piano in various bands. It was when he sold milkshake machines for Prince Castle that he saw the opportunity of a lifetime at age 52. Richard and Maurice McDonald operated a takeaway restaurant in San Bernardino, California which ran like no other. They ordered 8 multi-mixing milkshake machines and Croc wanted to see why they needed so many machines. Upon arrival at their chop, Croc was convinced that their establishment had the potential to become a very profitable franchise. He convinced the brothers that their restaurant could spread across the US and eventually opened the first chain in Des Plaines, Illinois. Croc became frustrated with the brothers who didn’t want to expand beyond a couple of restaurants and ultimately brought them out in 1961 for a mere $2.7 million. 13 Years later, Croc retired from running McDonald’s and decided to get back into his lifelong favorite sport, baseball. In 1974, Croc bought the San Diego Padres for $12 million. His success with his baseball team was not as pronounced as with his restaurant chain. During his first year of ownership, they lost 102 games but drew over one million in crowd attendance at their games. Croc eventually succumbed to heart failure in 1984, after struggling for years with alcoholism. His legacy of the golden arches, however, still lives on.
Anna Mary Roberson Moses
Anna Mary Robertson Moses is the perfect example of proving that it is never too late to follow your passion and make a success of it. Better known as Grandma Moses, she only started her fruitful painting career when she was 78 years old. Before then, she was a housekeeper and farm laborer. Her work has become internationally acclaimed and in 2006, one of her paintings, The sugaring Off, was sold for $1.2 million. Her initial love for painting was ignited in school. She used various natural materials to make the colors of her landscapes. When she was only 12 years old she left her home to work for a wealthy neighboring family. For 15 years she kept the house, cooked and sewed for wealthy families. One of these families noticed how she admired their Currier and Ives prints and decided to buy her some chalk and wax crayons to create her own works of art. When she was 27 she got married to Thomas Salmon Moses and the pair worked on four farms separate local farms in Staunton, Virginia. They spent nearly two decades working on the farms before they bought their own farm. At her husband’s request, the moved to Eagle Bridge, New York in 1905. Her husband died of a heart attack in 1927 and one of their sons, Forrest helped in managing the farm. In 1932, Anna retired from farming and moved in with her daughter. It was there that she finally had the time to manifest her childhood painting dreams into a reality. Her painting garnered her great fame in the US and even Woman’s National Press club Trophy. She became one of the most celebrated women in US history.
Taikichiro Mori
Taikichiro Mori was an economics professor before he built his multi-billion dollar real estate empire in downtown Tokyo. He became known in Tokyo as ‘ooya-san’ which is a friendly Japanese term for the landlord. He earned this nickname because he eventually had buildings all over Japan, naming each building according to their chronological building date. Mori was a modest and disciplined man who grew up in Tokyo. He graduated from Tokyo Shoka University in 1928 and began teaching trade theory at Yokohama University. Mori’s father’s death marked the beginning of his real estate transition when he inherited the small family business and two buildings. At the time, Japan was in for three decades of expansion and growth. His first focus was the Toranomon neighborhood which was in need of redevelopment. The houses were weak and small and it had been destroyed twice, first by the earthquake of 1923, and then by the American Bombing in WWII. He was very concerned about the local residents and had their well-being at heart when he started his developments. Over 17 years, he helped the 500 residents to relocate or gave them apartments in hos developments. He also saw that Tokyo was becoming an international business hub. This led to him developing business complexes that combined office space with residential apartments. This was done with traffic in mind. Eventually, his company was responsible for building over 80 buildings and reshaping the Tokyo Skyline. He admitted that it was never his dream to see the city develop the way it did, but he was glad he could help the people nonetheless.
Donald Fisher
You don’t need to be an expert in a field if you want to make a success of something. Donald Fisher is living proof of how someone can use their skills in one field and apply it to another and make a success of it. By using his B.S. in Business Administration which he obtained from the University of California, Berkeley, he co-founded the retail clothing company, Gap. Fisher started out working for his father as a mill and cabinet maker. In the 1960s, he started his own company that renovated hotels. During this time, he bought a hotel that leased some retail space to a Levi Strauss & Co. shop. He wanted to return a pair of jeans that didn’t fit, but was unable to do so. Most department stores only carried a limited stock of their merchandise and Fisher suggested that a shop be opened that carried all their sizes and styles. Levi accepted his idea and he opened his first store that he and his wife called Gap. In 1972, Fisher launched his own clothing brand that bore the same name as the shop they opened. Their brand was a massive success and eventually, they went on to acquire the mail-order catalog business, Banana Republic. They also founded Old Navy which reached $1 billion in sales in just four years. Fisher was the CEO of Gap until 1995 and remained chairman of the board until 2004. He was the company director until he died in 2009, aged 81. Although fashion was never one of Fisher’s passions, he saw a gap in the market and used his business know how to build the multi-billion retail giant.
source: https://moneyppl.com/never-late-change-career-path-16-people-succeeded/3499/8/
Comments