First Careers of the Wealthy and Famous
August 27, 2010 
8 Comments
We all had to start somewhere – here are some interesting first careers for just a few of the wealthy and famous:
Donald Trump: Before he became a famous (and unbelievably wealthy) real estate mogul, he made his money collecting soda bottles.
Oprah Winfrey: Before she became a billionaire and one of the most respected women in TV, Oprah bagged groceries and worked at a radio station reading the news.
Charles Schwab: The billionaire owner of the discount brokerage named after him started his life bagging and selling walnuts and sold chickens and eggs in his hometown.
Anita Roddick: She tried many jobs including teaching, and starting a restaurant with her husband before she created the extremely successful company, The Body Shop.
Jon Anderson: The guy who had the sole rights to sell Budweiser in LA got his start undercutting the theaters by selling less expensive popcorn!
Mark Burnett:One of the most well known reality show producers learned how to wrangle reality stars by recalling what he learned from his first career – working as a nanny!
Walt Disney: Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Goofy…all of these memorable characters came from the same man who started his career wanting to draw political cartoons and working for the Red Cross.
Thank goodness their first jobs didn’t work out!
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Jesus Christ the Biggest Men on Earth made cruses and wood chairs and tables for the rich, The most Powerful men on Earth had a humble job until he decided that was time to do his REAL JOB…
All jobs teach us something and prepare us for the future (if we take the time to learn). Obviously these people learned a lot from their humble beginnings.
All of these individuals mentioned above show initiative, intelligent and the will and ability to succeed. Plus, they all had dreams just like the rest of us. I applaud all of them for utilizing their abilities and skills to showcase themselves.
It just goes to show that these people were not born with silver spoons in their mouths, and that with initiative and creativity an average person can be very successful. But I think that even the menial first jobs they had showed ambition and a desire to better themselves that enabled them to keep going until they achieved their current status. An average person can achieve greatness, but most do not want to.
Do you see a pattern here with these successful individuals? The value of a good work ethic can never be underestimated.
I live in Maryland and I remember Oprah when she co-hosted “People are Talking” a local talk show. She interviewed Frank Purdue once and asked him if he minded being told he actually looks like a chicken. That did not go over well but it obviously it didn’t hurt her career. Proves you can make mistakes and still end up successful.
Ten thumbs up for this post!
Its really motivating and as others have said reinforces that hard work does pay off.
This z astonishing….they are the richest persons but they had started with almost nothing. Tribute to them and lesson for us