I remember sitting in my Artist and Product Management class back in November 2011 when my instructor Kate Hertig made the comment “there is no such thing as overnight success in this industry, here it’s called the ‘10 year overnight success’.” This comment made me think about the many conversations my pop and I would have about success within this entertainment industry and what all it would entail. We often spoke about the many failures we would have to face in order to reach the point of eureka. Many before us can attest to great failures that ultimately lead to great success stories, proving that all of us that are in search of success may not be very far off base.Abraham Lincoln lost a senate race two years before becoming president of the United States of America. Henry Ford’s first auto business adventure went into bankruptcy, he left his second business after clashing with a business consultant, and it wasn't until his third business adventure that he formed the company we all know today Ford Motor Co.. Winston Churchill struggled in school, was pushed out by his own political party because no one wanted him, became the prime minister in 1940, he was defeated in 1945, and won prime minister for the second time in 1951 the rest is history. Dr. Seuss’s first attempt at a children’s book “And to Think I Saw it on Mulberry Street” was rejected 27 times before being picked up by Vanguard Press. J.k. Rowling was an unemployed, single mother and thinks that her first manuscript was returned from an agent so quickly it was put back in the mail the same day it was received. Her book Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone was rejected by at least nine publishers. She is now worth about $700 million dollars. Each failure did not define these individuals. Each failure did not limit their success. In actuality, success was ultimately built from these failures.
