Lessons from the struggles of a self-made billionaire: Howard Schultz, former CEO and chairman of Starbucks

The elegantly suited, smart-talking, Caucasoid American CEOs giving perfect speeches seem to be so lucky & privileged. Isn’t it?

However, nothing is further from the truth. People often tend to ignore their struggles.

The true story of Howard Schultz, his stories & his journey to success:

1) He was born in 1 bedroom public housing (US equivalent of the slum).
2) His father met with an accident & had to lose his job; his 7 months pregnant mother had no medical insurance.
3) His first job was at 12 where he did door-to-door sales making 50 cold calls a day. He sold blood, worked many odd-end jobs for money to complete his graduation.
4) It took 1 year for him to convince his dream company he liked to hire him. That too, after many false starts & rejections.
5) He got an epiphany after visiting an Italian shop where he saw a community & camaraderie. His idea for doing that in the USA was turned down. So, he left to embark on his startup journey.
6) He spoke to 242 people to raise money & 212 said ‘no’. But he got enough to start his own business.
7) He started out but had no income for the first year. He had to deal with the fear of not having healthcare, 3 meals a day, & financial insecurity.
8) Eventually, his company gave healthcare to all, even the part-timers & also gave stocks to all eligible ground staff– the first American company to do something like this.
9) After he retired as a billionaire in 2000 – Starbucks found itself in trouble. He came back in 2008 & fixed it again.

𝘏𝘦 𝘥𝘪𝘥𝘯’𝘵 𝘴𝘦𝘵 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘶𝘪𝘭𝘥 𝘢 𝘮𝘶𝘤𝘩-𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘥 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘢 𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘬𝘦𝘵 𝘤𝘢𝘱 𝘰𝘧 100𝘉$, 300,000 employees & 30,000 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥.

𝗛𝗶𝘀 𝗶𝗻𝘀𝗽𝗶𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻- 𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗮 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗻𝘆 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘀𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲 𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗳𝗮𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝗙𝗿𝗲𝗱 𝘄𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗮 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗴𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗲𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗼𝘆𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 & 𝗯𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗳𝗼𝗼𝗱 𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘁𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗳𝗮𝗺𝗶𝗹𝘆, 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻 𝗮𝗳𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗶𝗻𝗷𝘂𝗿𝘆.

#inspiration #sales #motivation