10 Rich & Famous People Who Were Fired Before
They Became Successful
Being fired is one of the worst experiences you can go through, but how many of
us take it positively and starts off new? There have been a few examples of people
where they getting fired was a „blessing in disguise‟ which changed their destiny as
well their fortunes. This journey of „F‟ – from „F‟ired to „F‟amous was even made
by Thomas Edison.
1. Walt Disney
Walt Disney, the man who created Mickey Mouse and Co-Founded one of the biggest motion picture
production companies was fired in 1919 from The Kansas City Star, a newspaper agency. According
to his editor, he “lacked imagination and had no good ideas”.
But this did not beat him. Walt Disney then acquired an animation studio, Laugh-O-Gram.
Unfortunately it also drove into bankruptcy. Finally he decided to set his sights on creating a cartoon
series and tried his fate in the most popular and profitable field of Hollywood.
Walt Disney then founded „Walt Disney Productions‟ with his brother. Walt says, “You may not
realize it when it happens, but a kick in the teeth may be the best thing in the world for you. One
killer idea can quickly make up for a series of flops”.
2. J K Rowling
J K Rowling used to work as a secretary for the London office of Amnesty International, but she
always dreamed of being a renowned writer.
At her workplace on her computer, she secretly used to write stories and daydream about the teen
wizard, none other than Harry Potter. Her employers finally got fed up and fired her. She finally
focused entirely on writing and today she is the best-seller author and a multi billionaire by writing
one of the most successful book series of all time. This Potter book series have sold 400 million
copies and also won multiple awards.
3. Anna Wintour
Anna Wintour, started her career as a Junior Fashion Editor at Harper‟s Bazaar in New York. Anna
proposed various ideas for some innovative shoots, but her editor, Tony Mazalla rejected all by
saying that those ideas were a little too edgy. She got canned after merely working for 9 months.
This experience of getting fired was a learning process for Anna and it could never hold her back.
Anna said to her fashion students, “I recommend that you all get fired”. Immediately after Harper‟s
bazaar, she was appointed by Viva. But today she is experiencing enormous success as Editor-in-
Chief of American Vogue magazine, holding the position since 1988.
J K Rowling, the most famous name in the book world, was a person who went through tough
criticism at her workplace as she spent too much time on brainstorming of new story ideas.
4. Robert Redford
Award-winning actor and director Robert Redford was not a skilled worker during his teenage. He
used to work at Standard Oil, where his supervisor once found him asleep during his working hours.
No, his manager didn‟t fire him; rather he was shifted to another department. After making several
such mistakes, he was fired.
As a worker he was lazy, sloppy. Getting fired made him to work hard on his dream. He then
attended college at the University of Colorado and finally moved to New York to become an actor.
He is highly successful today being an actor, film director, producer, businessman, environmentalist
and philanthropist. He has received two Oscars in 1981 and 2002 for directing „Ordinary People‟ and
„Lifetime Achievement Award‟ respectively.
5. Mark Cuban
Mark Cuban is a business magnate and investor who founded „MicroSolutions‟. In 1982, Cuban took
his first job as a salesman at a computer store immediately after completing his college. He was
always more interested in cultivating new business than poking his head into someone‟s order.
Once he failed to open the store as he was busy with a potential client who could procure new
business. He was immediately fired by the store manager. This was the last time that he worked for
someone else.
His company, MicroSolutions was initially a system integrator and software reseller. Since its
inception it has gained more than $2.5 billion. Today he is also the owner of the National Basketball
Association's Dallas Mavericks, Landmark Theatres, and Magnolia Pictures, and the chairman of the
HDTV cable network HDNet. Cuban wrote an e-book on “How to Win at the Sport of Business”, in
2011.
6. Bernie Marcus and Arthur Blank
Bernie Marcus and Arthur Blank used to work for Handy Dan which is a home-improvement chain.
In 1989, a corporate raider fired both of them. Based on the experienced gained from the Handy Dan,
these two men decided to start their own home-improvement store. The main mantra of this store was
„discount‟.
They named it as „Home Depot‟. In less than a decade, the number of stores increased to 100 and
their business made over $2.7 billion in sales. Bernie Marcusi said, “We believed from the start that
if we brought the customer quality merchandise at the right price and offered excellent service, we
could change retailing in the United States. Today, we are the model of what retailing should be”, as
quoted by Entrepreneur.com.
7. Michael Bloomberg
Michael Rubens Bloomberg was a partner at Salomon Brothers, which is an investment bank.
Salomon Brothers, Bloomberg and 62 colleagues were fired because the company was acquired that
eventually became Citigroup, in 1998. Bloomberg was let go after he received a hefty check.
Michael Bloomberg used that money to start his own financial news and information services media
company, Bloomberg. Today, he is the Mayor of New York. He is also the 12th richest person in U.S.
with a net worth of $19.5 billion.
8. Oprah Winfrey
Oprah Winfrey has an impression of getting richer with everything she does. She started off her
career with a petty job at the grocery story close to her father's barbershop in Nashville, Tenn. Later
she became an evening news reporter. Oprah Winfrey couldn't help but always used to get
emotionally involved while hosting a show. Because of this, the producer of Baltimore's WJZ-TV got
fed up and pulled her off air. He offered her a role on a daytime TV show as a solace.
Initially Winfrey was a bit heartbroken. Her sadness quickly faded as the show, „People Are
Talking‟, became a hit. That success helped Oprah to find out her true flair as a host.
9. Lee Iacocca
Lee Iacocca is well known for engineering the Mustang that is the unsuccessful Ford Pinto. Lee was
actually at the top most position in Ford Motor Company, when he clashed with the then CEO and
Chairman. After many unused and bad ideas, including the Ford Pinto, Iacocca was fired.
Iacocca was soon undertaken by Chrysler, which was already in danger of going out of business.
Chrysler took out a huge loan from the government to recover his company. Lee brought many ideas
from Ford over to Chrysler which was actually rejected there, like the plans of Dodge Caravan and
the Plymouth Voyager. He successes and became it CEO. He held the same position in the company
until 1992. He was also credited with its rise from failure.
10. Jerry Seinfeld
Jerome Allen “Jerry” Seinfeld once was playing a small role on the sitcom Benson, but his producers
didn‟t exactly liked the way he was playing his role. They fired him after only three episodes without
any notice. He didn't know he was fired until he saw the script for a read-through and his part was
missing from it.
He was humiliated but he carried on and went back to perform in his comedy clubs. Within one
performance, he was get caught by a talent scout among his audience for the Tonight Show. His
career immediately turned to be superior.
According to Forbes magazine, Jerry Seinfeld's annual earning from „Seinfeld’ in 1998 was $267
million, which make him the highest-earning celebrity that year. You can imagine his success and
fame he has acquired till date.
