Life and thoughts of the richest people. Success stories of billionaires who started a business from scratch (20 photos)

There are a lot of billionaires in the modern world, and there is nothing surprising here, but it is precisely how they achieved their financial perfection that really delights. Not all of them are flashy spenders, as we see them in Hollywood reports. In fact, many of them surround themselves with the humble trappings of life. We've rounded up the best money management tips from the richest people on the planet.

1. Michael Bloomberg

Personal net worth: 34.3 billion

Know what is good for you and follow it.

Michael Bloomberg is well known as one of the most controversial mayors. New York, and the majority shareholder of Bloomberg L.P., a global information company for financial market participants. One of the things no one knows about is that in the last 10 years Michael has only bought two pairs of shoes. These are two pairs of black loafers that go perfectly with all the suits that the billionaire feels most comfortable in.

He realized what was good for him and invested what could be spent on an unnecessary pair of shoes in really useful things.

2. Bill Gates

Personal net worth: 79 billion

Making financial mistakes is a common occurrence in life. We all do it, with the difference that those who reach financial heights in life not only make mistakes, but also learn from them. Bill Gates, well known as one of the richest men in the world once said.

It's good to enjoy your success, but it's more important to remember your mistakes..

3. Ingvar Kamprad

Personal net worth: 53 billion

Ingvar Kamprad, the founder of IKEA, believes that many expenses are absolutely useless, even if money burns your pocket. Like many other super wealthy people, he chooses to fly economy class instead of a private jet. In his memoirs, Kamprad writes:

We don't need flashy cars that inspire titles, uniforms or other status symbols. We truly rely on our own strength and will.

4. Warren Buffett

Personal net worth: 66.1 billion

Buy a house that suits your needs.

Warren Buffett is a classic example of the golden rule. He still lives in Omaha, Nebraska, in a house he bought in 1958 for $31,500. Despite a billion-dollar fortune in his account, Buffett sees no point in living in an incredible mansion. He feels happy in his modest 5-room home located in the heart of America.

5. Oprah Winfrey

Personal Capital: 2.9 billion

This simple advice played an important role in Oprah's life. Now this advice has become an aphorism

You become what you believe in. Where you are in your life right now is based on what you used to believe..

Realizing what really brings you joy and then helps you achieve the highest results.

6. Richard Branson

Personal net worth: 5.1 billion

Set goals and do everything to achieve them.

British billionaire and founder of the VirginGroup, Richard Branson started his journey with a list of goals. The goals on this list were not even realistic, but he set them and did everything to achieve them. He knew that goal setting is the key to success.

7. Carlos Slim Elu

Personal net worth: 78.5 billion

Put off your youth.

Carlos Slim, a Mexican businessman who, like Bill Gates, was recognized as the richest man on the planet, shares the most important tips about financial success. Start saving money as early as possible! The sooner you start saving money and manage it wisely, the better it will be for you in the future, regardless of the position you hold and will hold.

8. John Codewell

Personal net worth: 2.6 billion

Don't neglect public transport.

A businessman from England has achieved his success in the mobile industry, but this does not mean at all that he uses an expensive car and flaunts his fortune. In fact, he enjoys walking, riding his bike and using public transport.

9. David Cheriton

Personal net worth: 1.7 billion

Learn to do things on your own.

David Cheriton was an early investor in Google and is enjoying the results of his $100,000 investment in 1998. However, he rejects the barber and cuts his own hair. Even such a seemingly insignificant amount can be useful in other areas of life. Just think how much money you give to other people when you can do the same things yourself.

10. Mark Zuckerberg

Personal net worth: 30 billion

Be humble.

Even the founder of Facebook lives frugally in many aspects of life. One example is his car, a $30,000 Acura sedan. He can afford absolutely any car or even a whole ship, but instead he chooses a modest and practical car.

11. John Donald MacArthur

Personal Capital: 3.7 billion

Make a budget and stick to it.

MacArthur was the sole shareholder of the Bankers Life and Casualty Company. Despite living in an era of Hollywood glitz and glamour, MacArthur eschewed expensive purchases and lived very modestly. He never owned luxury goods, had no press agents, and had an annual budget of $25,000.

12. Rose Kennedy

Financial condition at the time of death is unknown.

Be creative and look for cost alternatives.

Rose Kennedy is better known as the matriarch of infamous famous family. But her money-saving tactics were amazing. Especially when you consider the wealth amassed by the family. Instead of buying stacks of recycled paper, she preferred to wait until the end of the year and buy old desk calendars that were losing their relevance. As a rule, it cost less than waste paper. This good example saving even in small things.

13. Thomas Boone Pickens

Personal Capital: 1 billion

Make a shopping list and don't take more cash than you need.

Oil magnate and billionaire Pickens always practices one sure way to save money. He never carries more money in his wallet than he needs. He makes a shopping list before heading to the store. And buys only what is on this list. And the amount of money in his wallet will not allow him to break this rule. You can't spend money you don't have, can you?

14. Jim Walton

Personal net worth: 34.7 billion

You don't need all the latest and greatest.

Jim Walton, the youngest son of WalMart founder Sam Walton, leads a modest lifestyle. That's what his father always taught him. Despite financial success, he still drives a pickup truck that is over 15 years old. He understands that you need to get everything from your vehicle and without a trace. Not driving around in the most luxurious and expensive car you can buy.

15. Donald Trump

Personal Capital: 3.9 billion

Donald Trump has earned his success with his hard work. Many losers think that Trump is just lucky in the world of finance. But Trump says luck comes from hard work.

If your work brings you results, then most likely people will say that you are just lucky. Maybe it is because you are lucky to have brains to work with.!

16. Robert Kuok

Personal Capital: 11.5 billion

Use all the possibilities that you have.

Robert Kuok, Malaysia's richest man, lives by the rules he learned from his mother. Never be greedy, don't take advantage of others, and always have high morals when it comes to dealing with money. Robert says that in order to be successful financially, you must be brave and always take advantage of every opportunity that comes your way. Even when others doubt your abilities.

17. Li Ka-shing

Personal Capital: 31 billion

Live modestly.

Li is the richest person in Asia and one of the ten richest people in the world. Li owns an empire that spans 52 countries with 270,000 employees. He believes that his incredible success lies in the simple and humble life. When you first begin your journey, you must train yourself to live modestly and not boast of your wealth.

18. Jack Ma

Personal Capital: 10 billion

The client always comes first.

Jack Ma, billionaire founder of Alibaba Group, believes that customers should always be the number one priority. They are followed by employees, and the last in this chain should be shareholders. Ma believes that a person's attitude to how he lives his life is more important than his abilities.

19. Howard Schultz

Personal Capital: 2.2 billion

I never wanted to be one of the billionaire list. I have never defined myself by my wealth. I always try to define myself and my values.

Howard Schultz, chairman of the board of directors of Starbucks, said that a person's values ​​are much more important than their capital.

Do you want to become a coach in your field, earn big money and influence society? You can learn this on a live "". Come!

Probably, everyone was once interested in learning about the 10 richest people in the world.

This article takes a detailed look at the richest people in the world, indicates the sources of their wealth and changes in it compared to last year.

The first place is occupied by Bill Gates, who remains the leader for the second year already, the second place is taken by Carlos Slim Elu and the third one is occupied by Warren Buffett.

1st place given to William Henry Gates III

Bill Gates has been the planet for 12 years. In the photographs, Bill is always wearing glasses, because. Due to the long work at the computer, his eyesight deteriorated. Looks good for his 54 years. His fortune is estimated at 53 billion dollars.

Almost everyone knows his occupation. Bill Gates is the co-founder of Microsoft and is also a non-executive chairman of the board of directors. Holding on to the first place of the richest people in the world, in 2008 he lost it to Warren Buffett, after that, in 2009 he again took first place. And still competes for leadership in the list of "the richest people in the world" with Carlos Slim Elu.

Second place goes to Carlos Slim Elu

For 71 years old, looking at the photos, Carlos looks pretty good. And this is not surprising, because according to the latest data, his fortune is estimated at more than 74 billion dollars.

In 2012, Carlos managed to beat Gates by $18 billion. Carlos Slim Helu was able to push Bill Gates out of first place thanks to a tremendous increase in the shares of his American Mobile corporation by almost 27%, which greatly helped him in this breakthrough, because he owns 67% of the shares of this company.

The entrepreneur started his activity in Mexico, owns many TV channels in this city, as well as some shares in large Mexican and American companies. Carlos Slim Elu is a citizen of Mexico, but he also has Arabic roots, because. his parents are from Lebanon.

Third place went to Warren Edward Buffett

Probably, this American investor is now known to almost all the inhabitants of the planet. In 2008, he was able to take first place in the ranking of "the richest people in the world", but soon had to give it up first to Gates and then to Carlos El. His fortune has reached 50 billion US dollars as a result of successful investments in a variety of industries.

He was nicknamed the "Oracle of Omaha" due to his amazing ability to predict the success of an investment. Owns shares for more than 10 years, and this indicates the correctness of the position of long-term investments.

Fourth place went to Bernard Arnault

Bernard Arnault is one of the most successful people in the world. The fortune of the French businessman is estimated at 41 billion dollars. He owns a 47% stake in LVMH, a leading luxury retailer. Owner of famous trademarks Louis Vuitton, Kenzo, Chaumet, Givenchy, Guerlain, TAG Heuer, Moët & Chandon, Hennessy. In 1999, he wanted to buy the Gucci Group. Unfortunately, the $6.15 billion deal fell through.

Fifth place went to Lawrence Joseph Ellison

His fortune has reached 39.5 billion dollars. Lawrence is the founder of the famous company "Oracle", the investor of the largest company NetSuite Inc.

He increases his income by investing in some companies and has achieved good results in this. In 1990, Oracle was in trouble, had to reduce branches and lay off employees, but Larry was a successful leader and restored the firm to its former position.

Sixth place goes to Laxmi Nivas Mittal

The state is estimated at 31.1 billion dollars. Due to his perseverance in achieving his goals, Lakshmi calls himself the "Bill Gates of India".

He is the owner of the world's largest metallurgical company Arcelor Mittal, which has branches in all countries. In Ukraine, he has the Arcelor Mittal Krivoy Rog plant, the purchase of which he negotiated with Yulia Tymoshenko.

When communicating with people, Lakshmi focuses more on the individual than on official contacts. Can find compromises, and tolerant of people. The richest people in the world are also people, oddly enough.

Seventh place went to Amancio Ortega

In 2014, his fortune is estimated at 31 billion dollars. Owns a large Spanish brand "Zara", the profit from which is constantly increasing.

The production, distribution and sale of clothing takes place without intermediaries, which makes it possible to reduce the prices of a popular brand by 25%. The company quickly captures the latest fashion trends and is therefore known throughout the world.

8th place - Eik Batista

He is ranked 8th in the list of "richest people in the world" thanks to his cash savings of $30 billion. He earned this amount by being involved in the mining industry in his home country Brazil.

He remained faithful to his country and does not leave it, which cannot but please the tax authorities. He began his career in gold mining, and later moved on to other types of iron ores. At 51, he has 2 children, was married to a Playboy cover girl.

Ninth place went to Mukesh Ambani

He has a fortune of $27 billion thanks to the oil company Reliance Industries. Together with his brother, he inherited the company from his father, but the brothers quarreled and divided it among themselves.

His income is steadily growing, and he may soon take first place in the list of "richest people in the world."

Tenth place went to Christy Walton

Among the most successful people in the world, we find Christy Walton. Christie inherited the world-famous trading corporation Wal-Mart from her husband, who died in a car accident. Initially, the widow received $ 25 billion, but by 2012 she increased her capital to 28.5 billion, thanks to which she is in 10th position on the list of world billionaires.

Wal-Mart is a major retail chain of stores worldwide. More than 2 million employees work in more than 6,500 stores of this company, serving almost 180 million customers around the world.

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The richest people in the world are always interesting, because you can get motivated and adopt the necessary beliefs from them. This list of the richest people in the world proves once again that we always have something to strive for. Good luck with everything.

Today I want to tell you the stories of some of the richest people on our planet who were able to earn more than a billion dollars thanks to their brilliant ideas, hard work and desire to get rich. What is most interesting, all these people did not inherit a huge fortune and did not win the lottery, they all started their business from almost nothing. Very interesting, read on.

Li Ka-shing - $26.5 billion

Li Ka-shing was born and lived in China until he left the country in 1940 and moved to Hong Kong. Due to the death of his father, he had to leave school at the age of 14 and go to work. His first job was in a plastic products trading company and he had to spend 16 hours there.
The first ten years, plus thrift, led to the opportunity to open his own business, Cheung Kong Industries. Like Ka-shing's previous job, it was a plastics business, but over time, it has grown into Hong Kong's largest investment corporation. Li Ka-shing himself is considered one of the richest Chinese.

Sheldon Adelson - $26 billion

Sheldon Adelson, the son of a taxi driver from Boston, began his entrepreneurial career at the age of 12 by selling newspapers. After that, he was a court reporter, mortgage broker, investment advisor and financial advisor. There was a period when he tried to sell toiletries and charter tours.
But the organization of the computer exhibition-fair COMDEX in 1979 became a serious success. For the next 2 decades, it was the leading exhibition in the computer field in the United States.
And in 1988, together with partners, he acquires a casino and a hotel in Las Vegas (Sands Hotel & Casino), after which he quickly begins to get rich.

Sergey Brin - $24.9 billion

This is already a new wave of billionaires who began to earn money in the age of computerization and the Internet. Sergey Brin, a 40-year-old Google owner and former Russian, was born in Moscow and then moved to the United States with his family of mathematicians. Engaged in search engines (this is how Google.com itself is called correctly) began at Stanford with classmate Larry Page. The system was tested at the university, and then they began to look for investors. The name Google is a mispronunciation of gugol, a word spoken during one of the project's presentations.
Brin and Page were included in the list of billionaires in 2004, when they were 30 years old. Today, Brin is mainly engaged in the development of new projects and directions, such as augmented reality glasses and an unmanned vehicle.

Larry Page - $24.9 billion

The co-founder and co-owner of Google has been leading the company since 2011 and is actually responsible for its strategic development. In addition to Google, he is actively engaged in the development of the clean energy sector, in particular, together with Brin, he invested in Tesla Motors, which produces electric cars. high level(this is a normal machine that is powered by batteries).

Roman Abramovich - $23.5 billion

A well-known personality in narrow circles, Roman Abramovich, a billionaire orphan, who was raised by his grandparents. He went into business while still a student, creating a cooperative for the production of toys and various polymers. After that, there were many other companies and cooperatives, both in production and in trade.
But, as some sharp tongues say, Abramovich's main talent is that he knows how to get into right time in the right place - thus, he was able to gain control of Sibneft, which allowed him to become a billionaire.

Amancio Ortega - $20.2 billion

Until I read who it was, the name meant absolutely nothing to me - Amancio Ortega. If we say that this is the founder and owner of Zara, then a lot will fall into place.
He started sewing his first suits in his living room with the help of $25 and his wife. The first clothing store opened in 1975, and after a while became the owner of the popular clothing chain Zara. In addition to the Zara chain, he has chains of clothing stores for children, for young girls, stores underwear and so on. In total, Ortega has more than 3,000 stores in 64 countries around the world.

Mark Zuckerberg - $19 billion

29-year-old Mark Zuckenberg is an icon modern world. Young, lazy, creative and rich. Creator of the largest social network Facebook, which created a system for its university - Harvard - and in the end could not finish it, because. there was no time left. Helped in the creation of Chris Hughes, Dustin Moskowitz, plus Eduardo Saverin. The first major investment came from Peter Thiel, founder of PayPal.
Now Facebook is a public company, which first lost a lot in price, and then (in 2013) began to rise in price. Zuckenberg now has a 17% stake, making him the youngest billionaire in history.

Kirk Kerkorian - $16 billion

The now elderly uncle of the age of 96 left school in the 8th grade for the sake of boxing. At that time, he achieved great success and even became the welterweight champion in the Pacific Amateur Boxing Championship. After the Second World War, he left the ring and went to the airfield and began to fly the plane, but in 1944 he ended up in Las Vegas, where he got stuck for 3 years. Having spent a lot of money, he nevertheless said goodbye to gambling and bought the air transportation company Trans International Airlines for $60,000. After some time, he was able to sell it for $ 104 million to Transamerica.
And since 1968, he took up Hollywood - he earned at MGM, United Artists, Columbia Pictures and 20th Century Fox.

Elon Musk - $6.7 billion

Elon Musk is one of those new rich people who capture the market with their brains, hands and business acumen. First big deal at age 12 - wrote a program that I sold for $500 (at that age I only spent pocket money on ice cream and buns). At the age of 25, together with his brother, he created a software company for news companies, and after 4 years he was able to sell it for a price of 307 million. He invested this money in the creation of PayPal, which, in turn, he sold to eBay for $1.5 billion.
Today he is engaged in the Space X space program and has contracts from NASA. Also engaged in the aforementioned Tesla Motors.

Dustin Moskowitz - $5.2 billion

About this young man You can also say he was at the right time in the right place. Dustin Moskowitz is Mark Zuckenberg's roommate and helped him build Facebook. On this moment he owns 5% of the shares and this is the basis of his fortune. Facebook is not his main project now - now he is working on the Asana project. This is a web application for efficient project collaboration. Of the interesting things, he rides a bicycle to work and participates in the Giving Pledge project (a philanthropic project from Bill Gates and Warren Buffett). The essence of the project is that half of the members' fortune goes to charity.

Ken Griffin - $4.4 billion

Billions are made not only on computers. Ken Griffin is the owner of Citadel hedge funds. He got his first positive experience of playing on the stock exchange at the age of 18 and has not stopped working since then. He became one of the most famous specialists in his field. After 2008, the funds lost half their price, but are now gradually recovering.

John Arnold - $2.8 billion

Another successful stock player, John Arnold, started at Enron, now deceased. At the age of 27, he earned $1 billion for the company and received his bonus of $8 million. It was this money that he used to invest for himself and leave the annoying company.
In 2012, he surprised the whole world by announcing that he was retiring from trading after 17 years of successful experience. He and his wife now have a $1.4 billion charitable foundation and are also part of the Giving Pledge project we mentioned above.

Oprah Winfrey - $2.5 billion

Oprah Winfrey is a whole layer of American culture. This is the Cinderella of our days, who did not drop her shoe on the stairs, but plowed like a horse and used all the possibilities. The beginning of life is harsh, you can’t say anything: a strict mother, she was first abused at the age of 9, at 14 she gave birth to a child who died in infancy. But when I was in school, I first got a job at a radio station. At the age of 19, she already hosted local news, then daytime talk shows. The next major achievement is to promote a completely unpopular show so as to become a celebrity, and then, with experience and a name, create your own production company.
At 32, Oprah became a millionaire, and her show is the property of the nation. Since 1994, it has become so popular that the check for the year exceeded 9 figures. Oprah Winfrey became the first African American woman to be featured on the Forbes list.
Today, once on the air with Oprah, you can become a celebrity in 1 day. For example, this was done with Robert Kiyosaki in 1997 (of course, we will not belittle the achievements of Robert himself).

Mikey Jagtiani - $2.5 billion

Mikey Jagtiani, a Middle Eastern representative on our list of billionaires, was going to be an accountant, but his studies didn't work out. living in London was too expensive, plus the exams were also not going smoothly. To survive, I had to work as a taxi driver and a cleaner.
At the age of 21, Mikey Jagtian ends up in Bahrain alone with 6 thousand dollars (that's all the family had) and opens a children's goods store with this money. And today it is a retail chain in the list of the most profitable in the Middle East.
A corporation called Landmark includes 280 stores throughout the Middle East and brings Mike Jagtiani up to 650 million in profit per year.

Michael Rubin - $2.3 billion

Another representative of today's billionaires is Michael Rubin, CEO of Kynetic. He began his career as an entrepreneur as a child and sold seeds to his neighbors. At the age of 10, he already hired 5 guys to remove snow from neighboring lawns for money. At the age of 14, this future billionaire had already opened the first store, persuading his father to sign a lease. At 23, he was already a director in a company with $50 million in sales.
But he saw his destiny in e-commerce, which was just beginning to develop. He invested about 80 million in his online store, but, despite increasing sales, he could not make this business sustainable. However, eBay came to the rescue, which bought the company from Rubin for 2.4 billion. The price is much higher than the real cost of this project, but eBay was behind in the race with Amazon, so they shelled out this money.
Today, Rubin is engaged in Fanatics clothing stores and websites of various kinds, in which he has already invested 500 million.

Eduardo Saverin - $2.2 billion

Another person who made a fortune on Facebook. Saverin was Zuckenberg's first investor and was commercial director young project. But while Saverin was in New York on practice, Zuckenberg attracted new investors and artificially lowered his equity stake from 34% to 0.03%. Eduardo sued and got his share back up to 5%.
These 5% allowed him to get into the list of billionaires. In addition, the man turned out to be reasonable and, before Facebook filed for an IPO, he renounced his US citizenship and became a citizen of Brazil, which allowed him not to pay US taxes. And although he has a Brazilian passport, he lives in Singapore and invests in online projects: an application that scans the barcode of a product and offers it at the lowest price on the Internet or online credit card payments using a webcam.

Sean Parker - $2 billion

Another co-owner of Facebook, Sean Parker, started out as a talented programmer and hacker. Already at the age of 16, he was arrested for hacking the websites of companies that were on the Forbes list. He also had a hand in creating the Napster Internet resource, through which it was possible to exchange music. It was a kind of breakthrough, albeit closed for "some" friction with the law. At 24, he meets Zuckenberg and is the president of Facebook. True, then he is removed, which, however, does not prevent him from keeping 3% of the shares and becoming a billionaire.
Today he is engaged in his startups.

Richard Desmond - $2 billion

The life of Richard Desmond also did not indulge at the beginning: his parents divorced, lived together in a small apartment, left school at the age of 14 to play drums and help his mother earn money.
First real work he was in the Thomson Newspaper, but at the age of 21 he owned two record stores. But the experience of the media also received its continuation - in 1974, Desmond became the publisher of the International Musician and Recording World magazine.

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Today, these people are on the Forbes list, but the beginning of their lives did not portend such a development. Many billionaires have made their fortunes by overcoming social, political, and psychological barriers. Inspirational examples of the richest people in the world.

Participants Forbes list considered to be minions of fate, stretched out happy ticket and not knowing the hardships of a simple life. However, many billionaires have made their fortunes by climbing out of poverty and overcoming incredible social, political and psychological barriers. The most inspiring stories of the 2015 world ranking in our selection.

Moed Altrad

• Net worth: $1 billion
• Country: France

The story of the 67-year-old French billionaire, who entered the Forbes ranking for the first time this year, is like a fairy tale. Born to a Bedouin family in the Syrian desert, Moed lost his mother at the age of four. His father regularly beat him, and eventually abandoned his son altogether. The orphaned child was raised by his grandmother. Out of superstition, she forbade Moed to attend school, so that the boy actually had to do it in secret.

The craving for knowledge was so great that Altrad received a scholarship to study in France. He moved to his new homeland 46 years ago without a penny in his pocket and without knowing the language. At first, Moed ate no more than once a day the most meager food. But the talent for physics and mathematics gradually helped him out of poverty. He received a degree in information technology and began his career with internships in technology and oil companies.

In 1985, Altrad decided to go into business himself, for which he bought a bankrupt construction plant in the south of France. Despite the lack of experience in the industry, the aspiring entrepreneur very quickly learned the basics of business, made his company profitable and engaged in an expansion that has not ended to this day.

Li Ka-shin

• Wealth: $33.3 billion
• Country: Hong Kong

The richest man in Asia, Li Ka-shing knows firsthand what life is like on the edge of poverty. At the age of 12, he had to drop out of school and work in a watch band factory to support his family. By 1950, he had amassed his first capital and entered the trade in plastic toys and related products. Later, Li Ka-shing bought the factory himself, and things went uphill. Since then, the billionaire's business has grown into a diversified holding with assets in real estate, ports, technology and a host of other industries. Li Ka-shin employs 270,000 people in 52 countries.

Leonardo Del Vecchio

• Wealth: $20.4 billion
• Country: Italy

The mother of the future billionaire sent her son to an orphanage when Leonardo was seven years old - the family did not have enough money to raise a child. After going through a tough orphanage school, at 14 Del Vecchio got a job as an apprentice in a factory that produced eyeglass frames and auto parts. After another eleven years, he founded his own company - Luxxotica. Today it is the world's largest manufacturer of sunglasses and prescription eyewear, owning the Ray Ban and Oakley brands and making products for Burberry, Bulgari, Chanel, DKNY, Dolce & Gabbana, Armani, Prada, Ralph Lauren, Tiffany, Versache and many other companies. Del Vecchio in his homeland is deservedly called the "king of points".

Roman Abramovich

• Wealth: $9.1 billion
• Country Russia

The world's most famous billionaire from Russia 14 was orphaned when he was four years old and raised by relatives. Having not received a higher education, he went to serve in the army, and upon his return he took up his first business - selling toys from own apartment. Later, the enterprising entrepreneur made a fortune on oil deals and in 1995 acquired the then powerful Boris Berezovsky as a business partner. In tandem, they bought Sibneft from the state at a more than modest price tag, which became the basis of Abramovich's fortune.

David Murdoch

• Wealth: $3.1 billion
• Country: USA

Dyslexic David did not finish his studies at school and was forced to start working at a gas station from his teenage years until he joined the army in 1943. Returning from the front, he borrowed $1,800 from friends and opened a diner restaurant. Since then, Murdoch's business has grown at an incredible pace. Today he runs the world's largest fruit and vegetable producer and exporter, Dole Food Corporation.

Sheldon Adelson

• Wealth: $31.4 billion
• Country: USA

The son of a taxi driver, Adelson grew up in a small apartment in a "social" house on the outskirts of Boston. He had to sleep on the floor, and his grandmother became the main teacher of the boy. At the age of 12, Sheldon borrowed $200 from his uncle and started selling newspapers and magazines. Since then, the business has grown exponentially. Over the decades of his entrepreneurial career, Adelson has experienced ups and downs - he sold vending machines, advertising publications, consulting services, a service for organizing large conferences, etc. In the end, the businessman found his niche in gambling business- he became the "King of Las Vegas", the owner of the largest casino management company Las Vegas Sands, which has a representative office not only in the United States, but also in Macau, China.

John Paul Dejoria

• Wealth: $2.8 billion
• Country: USA

In the early 1980s, DeJoria found himself homeless and sleeping in his car on Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles. A Vietnam War veteran, he was selling shampoo door-to-door at the time. The businessman has since turned his $ 700 savings into John Paul Mitchell Systems, one of the largest hair care product manufacturers in the country, which he founded together with Paul Mitchell. Today, the company sells a wide range of products, from familiar shampoos to exotic product categories such as tequila (Patrón Spirits brand) and Cell phones(ROK Mobile).

Jan Kum

The iconic TV presenter, producer and women's rights activist was born when her mother was still a minor. She was raised by her grandmother on a farm in Mississippi. Winfrey made her first steps in television in Nashville, Baltimore. She then moved to Chicago, where she forcibly turned a third-rate morning show into the number one federal talk show. Over time, Oprah left the frame, preparing for herself real business an empire that today includes many businesses, from producing Hollywood films to publishing bestsellers.

Christos Lazari

• Wealth: $2.1 billion
• Country: UK

Now one of London's most influential real estate investors, Lazari arrived in the British capital at the age of 16 from his small village in Cyprus with £20 in his pocket. At first, he washed dishes and served guests in restaurants, thus saving money for studying design courses. Later, Christos created his own brand Drendie Girl, but the fashion industry did not work out - and in 1978 the aspiring entrepreneur switched to the real estate market. Today, his Lazari Investments owns 2.5 million square feet of office space in prestigious areas of London.

Miki Jagtiani

• Wealth: $5.2 billion
• Country: India

In his youth, Jagtiani dropped out of college and tried to gain a foothold in London, not disdaining the work of a cleaner at a hotel and a taxi driver. He ended up leaving Britain for Bahrain to help the family run a children's goods store. Soon, within just one year, Miki lost all his close relatives - his mother, father and brother. Business management fell entirely on his shoulders. But Jagtiani did it - and turned the humble store into a $5 billion Landmark Group retail chain with 1,900 points of sale in the Middle East, Africa and India.

“Not gods burn pots” - you, of course, understand the meaning of this saying. All those who created something new or achieved success were in fact ordinary people, with their own shortcomings, somewhat unhappy, not always rich in the beginning. But this did not prevent them from becoming great and going down in history. Therefore, the biography of such a person is hundreds and thousands of small lessons for each of us.

1. Ray Kroc's McDonald's: cleanliness, service and quality

Ray Kroc is the founder of the worldwide McDonald's chain. The first of Ray's lessons is that age is not a hindrance. The seller of paper cups and mixers at the age of 52 managed to see the potential of a small restaurant of the McDonald brothers and develop it to a planetary scale. The brothers' establishment was designed in such a way as to serve customers as quickly as possible. Krok got the idea to develop this direction in order to increase the supply of his mixers to these establishments.

Ray buys the right to open restaurants with the same name from the brothers, and a few years later he buys all the rights to McDonald's and starts selling franchises. As a result, Kroc managed to turn a potentially successful enterprise into a truly profitable one, choosing the motto - "speed, cleanliness, service and quality." His company has repeatedly proved how important it is to be able to transform in order to survive in a changing market. When the campaign to draw attention to healthy eating began, a huge number of fast food restaurants around the world closed. The Makdo network survived and, moreover, gained momentum thanks to its transparency, openness and honesty. Restaurants have changed the format to eco-green, added salads to the menu, painted the number of calories in each product, launched tours of production, etc.

From the very beginning, Krok wanted restaurants with golden arches to stand at the best crossroads of human traffic - even then he understood how important it was to be always in sight. So instead of personally enjoying the profits from the network, which grew like mushrooms, he invested all the money in its development. By the way, buying the land on which all his restaurants stand. This allowed Kroc not to depend on external circumstances - the growth in the cost of land or the whims of landlords.

The stability of the network's income was based on a simple thing - people get used to a certain style and hardly perceive any drastic changes. Therefore, at first they “finished” the service and invented potatoes and hamburgers, and only then restaurants began to clone in the USA and then around the world. Naturally, gradually improving already in the process. By the way, Kroc personally controlled and helped to ensure McDonald's standards in all restaurants of the network.

2. The founder of Lego: the bricks that became the toy of the twentieth century

You can always do something new, even if there are a lot of competitors around. True, only if you know exactly what you want. From the very beginning, Lego has adhered to the principles of accuracy, strength, compatibility and connection of generations. Lego sets since 1958 have been produced to certain standards and the same size. This has led to the fact that today parents can give their children a building kit from childhood, and kids can easily combine super-new items with vintage sets.

In addition, Lego has put a lot of effort into making sure their plastic is of the highest quality, strongest, and safest. One of the facts: in the composition of each part there is barium sulfate - it can be seen on the x-ray if the child swallows the part. It means one thing: “Do you want to be the best? Be them in the little things!

And the founder of the company was an ordinary carpenter - Ole Kirk Christiansen, who was simply observant - he noticed how his son and friends play with colored wooden cubes, and came up with his own designer. Later, he put quality, reliability and safety at the forefront of everything - something that all parents aspire to.

3. Mother Teresa: unconditional love for people

Laureate Nobel Prize of the world, a great woman who saved people by word, deed, prayer. Her main lesson for us is that she accepted people: “If you start judging people, you won’t have enough time to love them.” Every day, before leaving the house, the nun asked God to give her strength to accept people as they are - evil, harmful, cowardly, greedy. She focused every day on best qualities people and with this line of thought helped humanity. This is the most important lesson in concentration and focus, truly humane treatment to a person. Mother Teresa did not feel sorry for people because she understood their weaknesses. That is why she found words and ways of helping that really worked for the benefit of people.

4. Steve Jobs: either terrible or excellent gadget

He did not possess brilliant abilities and huge starting opportunities. Steve Jobs saw the power of simplicity and its benefits to people. Jobs was driven forward not by the desire to get rich on innovation, but by the desire to give the best possible. Rest and work with content for most people, according to Jobs, should have been simple and understandable, because not every user is a programmer who likes to delve into the code and hardware to create a personally-perfect gadget for all occasions. Ordinary people often wanted a cool, quality product that made their life easier.

Calligraphy and Zen Buddhism instilled in Steve a passion for simplicity, and his perseverance, disarming and evil honesty, the requirement to be the best made Apple what it is today. Those whom Jobs yelled at to put their brains to work usually end their speech about him like this: “He humiliated us by creating terrible working conditions. But it was he who made me do what I did, not being sure that I was capable of it.

Jobs didn't miss an opportunity, something that set him apart from everyone else. If he saw a cool prospect, he threw all his strength and the strength of those who were within his reach to achieve it.

5. Inventor Nikola Tesla: "Experiments are so beautiful that I have no time to eat"

Tesla showed us that authority and fame can be narrow-minded. So, Thomas Edison, who built his career on direct current, did not listen to the questions and advice that sounded from the lips of his assistant in experiments with electricity, unknown at that time, Nikola Tesla. And as a result, it was this assistant engineer, who previously idolized and immensely respected Thomas Edison, who defeated him in the electricity market.

Edison was cold to Tesla's opinion, although he used his improved machines, he refused to see the possibilities of alternating current - safe and more flexible, so to speak. Such a current was transmitted with less loss over long distances. But until Tesla invented transformers, most consumers used only the inventions of the Edison they knew.

Therefore, Tesla had to capture the imagination of people. For example, in 1983 at the World's Fair in Chicago, he passed an alternating current of 2 million volts through his body. Focus? No, the current passes through the surface of the body and does not kill - Tesla knew about this a century ago. By the way, this is another lesson loved by many people today - if you want to sell your product to those who are not yet ready for it, then you need a grand presentation. Shocking and mysterious.

6. Harry Houdini: tricks for the benefit of development

Houdini was an excellent illusionist. And the secret of his tricks was painstaking research - he was constantly looking for new ways to surprise people with what was available to him. Harry didn't break the locks or tear the ropes when he got free of them - he knew physics and was gutta-percha for the audience. So, he thoroughly knew the structure of locks, expanded his technical and technological knowledge, tested the body for strength, developing tremendous flexibility and the ability to displace joints and control individual muscles.

What about the disappearing elephant trick? Love for optical tricks helped here, plus a deep understanding of the foundations on which they were created. He did not know how to communicate with spirits (which was attributed to him), but pumped in himself the ability to receive secret information from people, adjust situations and predict behavior.

Houdini was driven by the desire to be the best version of himself yesterday, and this developed technologies and physical culture. He improved every day and improved what he could improve. That is why he was the greatest illusionist.

7. Tony Shay: wow - like the meaning of life

A cool company was born from a simple desire - to deliver the order as quickly and amazingly as possible. At Zappos, founded by Tony Shay, everything that complicated the process of delivering shoes has undergone changes - logistics, warehouse management, product placement, sales scripts. So, any intern in a company works for a couple of weeks in a call center to learn how to understand future customers - and all his sensible remarks are made instantly into already working scripts. Any financial and logistical operation is available to any of the official supplier partners on a special web platform.

The CEO of the company put everything on the line for the sake of one goal - to produce a wow effect on his customers every day. And he turned out to be right. When the buying process itself (the ease of ordering, more than friendly service, the joy of opening a box of shoes) causes constant delight, people are ready to overpay, go forward, give feedback to the one who made them admire. For example, once one of the customers called the Zappos hotline at 2 am and asked to find the address of the nearest pizzeria. And, surprisingly, he quickly received necessary information. True, as it turned out later, it was Tony Shay himself.

Tony Shay learned more about his customers and thus came up with new ways to surprise them. By the way, one of the components of customer happiness, according to the CEO, was the happiness of the employees themselves. Shay paid great attention to the creation of such corporate culture, where helping another is not a duty imposed from above, but habitual behavior. As a leader, Tony literally required everyone to be creative every minute, show their concern for customers in any way they could, pay for good ideas from the company's budget, amuse his colleagues and know everyone by face and by position in order to resolve all business issues faster.

Mutual aid and simple circuits exchange of information, the principle of "more with less effort" helped Tony in the promotion of his book "Million Dollar Company: Delivering Happiness." He gave the unreleased book to bloggers and mainstream media in exchange for their reviews, whatever they were. As a result, the new edition instantly became popular, not getting lost in the mass of books that appear on the market every day.

Key takeaways from the biographies

Each of these personalities taught us to believe in our work to the end, to improve, to be attentive to details. Each of these people showed what is important:

See opportunities, not limitations;
always look wider;
to create even in routine and boring affairs;
understand - the happiness of another depends on how much you have defined your problem and found its solution. Only by solving your own problem can you solve the problem of others.

A little last exercise. Go to the store and try on the most expensive suit there is or the prettiest dress that you couldn't look at yesterday for fear of the price tag. Feel the nice material and quality, understand that you can get it. If you really want. Get used to the idea that all this is only possible if you think big. You can afford it.