Being the Captain of Your Soul When It Comes To Success

People daily chase an illusion when it comes to one of the most important things in life: success. They always get it all wrong because of the simple fact that they never take time to deeply consider what they really want from life. They are way off the mark because they simply chase after something that they really do not know how it looks.

Success is many things. It is more than the simple acquisition of things. In it, there is experience, evolution and existence. It is more of the merging of one’s dreams with reality, rather than getting the mere social approval in the world. It is something that elevates a person’s frequency of existence. This therefore means that simply working towards goals and aspirations because everyone else is doing the same thing will lead you no closer to success – even if you come out at the top.

To be successful, you have to get the basics right and to get the basics right, there is no other place to look except inwards. This is so because it is the soul that really knows what you want. Therefore, knowing what you really want from life is the starting place of all success. Getting your compass in order is the only way that you can be sure that you will arrive at the right destination. If you get the direction wrong, then, it doesn't matter really how fast or how far you go, you will never really “arrive”.

While success is usually externally evaluated, it is a wholly internal experience. Being the captain of your soul and the master of your destiny all lies in how well you can navigate your life so that at all times, you get to experience both satisfaction and fulfillment. In short, it is all a matter of what makes you happy and satisfied. This is the true measure of success and it is the major yardstick that the universe uses. It is what your soul will use when you are in your deathbed and ultimately, it is what you will use to judge how much success you have achieved in this world.

The starting place is the soul. It is only by knowing how to captain your soul that you will be able to be the master of your destiny. It is also the only way that you can really experience and evolve the way nature and the universe intended.

5 Celebrity Rags To Riches Success Stories You Should Know

Fancy restaurants, exotic vacations and a lot of glitz and glamour is what most people usually associate celebrities with. However, to get to the level that they can afford these things, some of the celebrities have had to undergo a lot of poverty and suffering. Here is a glimpse at 5 Hollywood inspiring rags to riches success stories that you need to know.

# 1 The Sylvester Stallone Success Story

He was homeless. At some point, a Port Authority bus station was all he could afford as a home. He had to also sell some of his wife’s jewelry along the way as he chased his dream of being an actor. There is also the story of selling his dog for fifty bucks at a liquor store.

It was not just poverty that Sylvester Stallone had to deal with. There were also the rejections. More often than not, he got rejected for roles he auditioned for because “he spoke and looked funny.” The studio that bought Rocky didn't even want him playing the role in the first place! The only thing that made them relent was that he refused to sell the script to them unless he played the lead role. But that was way before he played Rocky and the other action films that brought him international stardom and recognition.

#2 The Hilary Swank Celebrity Success Story

She is the girl who lived in a trailer park. Hilary Swank’s dream to become an actor led she and her mother to move to Hollywood with only $75 to their name. That money wasn't enough for them to rent a house and for a while, they had to live in their car. Bookings and auditions were made through pay phones. But all that was before she strolled her way into two Oscars and a lot of money.

#3 The Carmen Electra Success Story

After her 1991 tour, Carmen Electra spent several years without a home in Hollywood while waiting for her “next break”. Things however nearly fell apart when her former boyfriend ran away with all the money she had at the time. As she admits, this made her to almost give up on the chances of her dreams coming true. But she didn’t. And now, she is not only celebrity, but a rich celebrity with all the glitz and the glamour that comes with it.

#4 The Djimon Hounsou Story

Before he became a famous fashion model and before he played a part in both Blood Diamonds and Gladiator, Djimon Hounsou lived in the streets. While he had hoped for a better life by his moving from Africa at the age of 13, he ended up in the streets.

As he says: “I lived on the streets for some time — fighting for survival, searching out nothing more than my daily necessities for a meager existence.”

But that was before he was discovered by a fashion designer on the streets. He got a break in modeling and as they say, the rest is history. He never looked back.

#5 The Susan Boyle Success Story

Everyone remembers he audition, especially the skepticism that was in the theatre when she walked onto the stage. She had never been married and at the time, she was unemployed. She had also never had much of her schooling and the pursuit of her dream had seen her sing in churches, local bars and singing competitions.

But that was before the Britain Got Talent audition. The audition video alone went viral and thus making her an instant international celebrity. She later went on to produce various number one albums that have earned her an excess of £22 million in personal fortune. She is now a celebrity with a lot of money. She is far away from being “Simple Susie”.

Susan Boyle Success Story: From Susie Simple To International Sensation

Susan Boyle spent her early years being called “Susie Simple”. She was bullied in school and a learning disability led to her dropping out of school early. With little educational qualifications, the only time that she was really employed was as a trainee cook. This was for only six months.

She had a dream to be a successful singer and she tried to make her dreams come true. She sang at every opportunity she got. She sang in churches, in local pubs and at every avenue that could give her a stage. She also took singing lessons and attended Edinburg Acting School.

Confident of her ability to sing, Susan Boyle used all her savings to pay for a professionally cut demo for her music. She sent these to record companies, radio talent competitions, local and national TV; but nothing came of it. She had had a dream but nothing seemed to be working out for her.

When she clocked 47, age wise, she almost believed that she was too old to pursue her dream of singing. She had given up on making her life a success story. In fact, she had even considered turning away from the opportunity to sing in the British Got Talent show. But her voice coach convinced her otherwise.

Her decision to walk onto the British Got Talent stage was the turning point of the Susan Boyle Success Story. Her audition clip went viral on YouTube and it is estimated that within 9 days of her audition, he videos had been watched over 100 million times.

After the show, she went on to release her first album which debut at the number one spot in charts all over the world. This was followed by other albums that were equally successful and thus cementing herself as an international celebrity. All the years of being “Susie Simple”, the Karaoke sessions in pubs and her determination to not give up on her dream finally paid up.

Because of her determination and hard work, Susan Boyle is now a millionaire, many times over. She has also lived to see her dream of becoming as successful as Elaine Paige come into reality. More importantly, her voice has colored many people’s homes and she has made her contribution to the world. Her’s is an inspiring success story for all people who are still working towards their dreams.

Stephen King Success Story: The Journey Of A Bestselling Author

With over 350 million novels sold, Stephen King is a real success story. It is more of a rags-to-riches success story for a man who was raised by a struggling single mother. For a time, this master storyteller  his brother and mother had to live off handouts from neighbors. As he says:

“My mother was a single parent. Her husband deserted her when I was 2, and she went through a lot of menial jobs. We were the little people. We were dragged from pillar to post, and there was none of this equal opportunity stuff going on at that time. We were latchkey kids before there were latchkey kids, and she was a female wage earner when, basically, women did scut work and cleaned up other people's messes.”

Stephen King was far from an overnight success. Although he started writing early in his life he had a long way to go before becoming the multi-million dollar writer that he is today. Early on, he was a struggling author, and as the earnings from his writings was not enough, he had to work as an industrial laundromat, a janitor and an English teacher in a public school. He struggled to pay his bills and wrote whenever he could.

Stephen King’s success story took a turn for the better when he finished writing the manuscript for Carrie. For this, he received a $2500 advance. The book did not disappoint when it got published. In fact, it was so successful that it ended up being adapted into a movie in 1976. That was not the best part though. The phone call that informed him of the sale of the rights to New American Library was. King was to get half of the $400,000 sale price!

What followed was a rollercoaster ride that saw Stephen King write over 50 novels. The novels have earned Stephen King both money and awards. He has over the years received: Bram Stoker Awards, World Fantasy Awards, British Fantasy Society Awards, an O. Henry Award, a Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters, the World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement, the Canadian Booksellers Association Lifetime Achievement Award and the Grand Master Award. His is an inspiring success story for aspiring writers.

Stephen King Success Quotes

J.A. Konrath Success Story: The Journey Of Indie Publishing’s Most Vocal Champion

“In the ten years I was legacy published, I made about $450k. In the four years I've self-published, I've made over 1.1 million dollars.”

J.A. Konrath is one of the most vocal advocates of self-publishing. This is no surprise considering the frustrations that he encountered while trying to chase his dream of being a writer. His publisher even cancelled his contract for his books supposedly not “having promise”. Most of these books ended up on bestseller lists. Here is J.A. Konrath’s self publishing success story.

“ Those novels garnered over 500 rejections.”

During the ten years that Konrath was trying to jumpstart his career as an author, he wrote over 10 books. This is in addition to investing a lot of time and money not only to get his stories published, but also to promote them.

Years of struggle to make his dream to be a published author finally bore fruit when his first novel was accepted by a publisher. He signed the deal in 2002, but it was not until after 16 months that his book finally got published.

He had finally got published but the J.A Konrath success story had not yet really taken a positive dive. A few stores ordered hardcover copies of his work and given the pricing and the little support he got from the publishers, sales never really took off. This is despite Konrath dropping in on signings, hand-selling his hardcovers and using a big piece of his $33,000 advance in writing conferences and book fairs around the country.

He however continued writing in between. By 2005, he had finished another novel and was ready to get published. He however didn’t sell a lot of books and so there was really not a lot of support from his publishers. In an attempt to earn the trust of his publisher, he visited over 500 bookstores in 29 states just to prove that he could make the sales happen.

His efforts to make his self publishing success story complete prove futile. In fact, by 2007 when he gets out his fourth novel, his contract is cancelled. As he admits, that was a devastating blow to his writing dreams since it meant that there would be no more support from his publisher.

“But I soldier on”

With his contract cancelled and with no support from the publisher, Konrath’s success story went to a new level. He now had to rely on reorders from faithful fans and on sales that he did personally. His efforts bear fruits as he manages to get his books into multiple prints. This is however not enough to get his titles to be picked by another publisher.

He finally decided to change his name to Jack Killborn in the hope of attracting a new fan base. All the while, with the money he had spent on self promotion, his writing career seemed to end…

“Then this Kindle thing comes along.”

When the Kindle came and the opportunity to self publish came along, J.A. Konrath jumped at it. This is so because it simply meant that he not only had complete control over his work, but also that his work could get maximum exposure without necessarily spending a lot of money.

Self-publishing on the Kindle saw his sales go through the roof. It finally made his self publishing success story go a complete circle. He says:

“I got all of my rights back, and my six week Kindle total is $116,000, which is more than the first three-book deal I signed. For those same books.”

“Don't write hoping to quit your day job. Don't compare yourself to me, or anyone else. This is your journey, and it will be unique to you.”

“So far this month I've sold over 10,000 copies of Whiskey Sour. That was legacy published in 2004. From then until I got my rights back, Whiskey Sour sold about 35,000 ebooks. So in 24 days, on my own, I've sold about 1/3 of what my publisher took nine years to sell.”

“Read my blog, going back to 2005. I worked for twelve years and wrote a million words before making a dime, and it took another ten years for me to be making this much money. I've got over fifty ebooks. And I'll cop to a bit of egotism and say I've never met anyone who ever worked harder in their career than I did. So the snide answer would be: Bust your ass for twenty years, with very little reward.”

(J.A. Konrath Quotes)

Amanda Hocking Self Publishing Success Story: The 26 year Old Indie Author Bestseller

Amanda Hocking sold over 185, 000 books between July 2010 and January 1^st 2011. That is in less than 7 months! This is no mean feat for someone who had worked as a dishwasher and who had spent five and a half of her years working in group homes for the disabled just to pay the bills. This is also in addition to the fact that she had never been traditionally published. Her journey to becoming a self publishing success story was not easy though. Here is her journey as an indie author.

Amanda Hocking admits that she has always had a love for telling stories. As a kid, she told stories even before she could learn how to write. She started with writing on notebooks and by the time she got her first computer at age 11, she had enough material to write a novel.

Since Amanda’s dream and passion was writing, she took advantage of every opportunity she had to write and learn how to write. She attended English classes in high school, English and writing classes in community colleges and even attended a writing workshop for two years. This was while she still held a day job as a dishwasher and worked in group homes for people with disabilities, just to be able to pay her bills.

July was not her first attempt to be published. By then, she had written 12 books and she had been trying to get published for almost 8 years, getting rejection after rejection. When she finally heard about self-publishing, she chose to try it out simply because there was really nothing worse that could happen. She first published on Lulu, but that was not where her success story began to take a turn for the better. None of her eBooks at Lulu sold.

Her efforts at self publishing on Lulu proving to be no success, she later decided to self-publish on Kindle. That is when she started selling. By August 2010, she had sold enough copies to leave her day job and concentrate on her passion which is basically to write. Amanda Hocking’s success story continues to inspire many aspiring authors. This is in addition to the inspiration that she gives her readers through her books.

Mark Cuban Success Story: From Sleeping On The Floor to Over 2 Billion Dollars

“When I got to Dallas, I was struggling - sleeping on the floor with six guys in a three-bedroom apartment. I used to drive around, look at the big houses, and imagine what it would be like to live there.”

-Mark Cuban 

Mark Cuban rose from being the guy who got fired by bosses to become the billionaire owner of the Dallas Mavericks. This is in addition to having a personal fortune of $2.4 billion. He is a self-made billionaire, and as is with all success stories of the self-made filthy rich, his journey to belonging to the exclusive class of billionaires was no easy feat. Here is his success story.

Mark Cuban’s success story began in earnest after he decided to move to Dallas in his 1977 Fiat X19. This was after having been fired several times. He and his friends had to share a 3 bed-roomed apartment, and since they were six, some of them had to sleep on the floor. As he puts it:

“We had only three bedrooms and three beds. I slept on the floor. I had no closet and no dresser. I just stacked my clothes in a corner. The place was a dump, and we just destroyed it even more.”

Starting out, he worked as a bartender for some time. Thereafter, he got lucky so far as his employment search efforts were concerned and got himself a job as a computer salesman. It was however not long before he got fired from the job – again!

That was the turning point in his life. He then made up his mind not to deal with bosses again. His first major venture after setting for Dallas was a business under the name MicroSolutions. In his new company, Mark started out acting as a salesperson, a trainer and also a programmer. As for the programming, he had to learn by himself on the job.

A few years down the line, his determination, effort and willingness to innovate and quickly adapt to change turned the business into a company generating in excess of $30 million in revenues. He was finally financially successful.

But the Mark Cuban success story does not end there. He later sold his company to CompuServe and the capital he got from it enabled him to start a venture that made him a billionaire. That was the founding of Broadcast.com, a company that he sold to Yahoo! for over $2 billion.

He still actively invests. He no longer looks at the big houses to admire them. In fact, he once even bought a mansion worth $15 million without even having looked at it! He also doesn’t sleep on the floor and as he says, he loves his life and loves living. Mark Cuban’s success story is a true “rags” to riches story.

The True Rags To Riches Success Story of Andrew Carnegie

“People who are unable to motivate themselves must be content with mediocrity, no matter how impressive their other talents.”

-Andrew Carnegie

With a net worth of over $298.7 billion, Andrew Carnegie is certainly one of the richest men who has ever lived. This is by far no mediocre achievement for a man whose father could not find a job. In fact, by the time his father was on his deathbed, Carnegie was the only breadwinner for the family. He was by then 20 years old.

His rags-to-riches success story started after the family moved from Scotland in 1848. Shortly after settling in the country, he started working as a bobbin boy for a textile mill earning a meager $1.20 per week. His journey to success saw him tending to steam engines and boilers, becoming a messenger, personal telegrapher and working as a superintendent in a railroad company.

What is interesting about the Andrew Carnegie success story is that throughout the various stages in his early life, he continued to work despite the income from his investments bringing in more money than his salary. There was also nothing meteoric about his success story in that all along, he simply reinvested the money he earned.

By the time he formed Carnegie Steel, his wealth tube, Andrew Carnegie had invested in a sleeping car company, an oil company and various transportation companies among others. He later used his investments to form Carnegie Steel, a company which ended up making him the owner of the most extensive integrated iron and steel operations in the United States. He later sold his company for over $480 million.

The next stage of the Andrew Carnegie success story saw him devoting his life to philanthropy. He even wrote a book about it. Thanks to his determination, hard work and generous heart, we now have the Carnegie Hall, the Carnegie Corporation of New York, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Carnegie Institution for Science, Carnegie Trust for the Universities of Scotland, Carnegie Hero Fund, Carnegie Mellon University and the Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh among many others.

His is a true rags-to-riches success story that shows that through sheer will and determination, any man or woman can rise to the top.

Andrew Carnegie Success Quotes:

“Concentrate your energies, your thoughts and your capital. The wise man puts all his eggs in one basket and watches the basket.”

"Anything in life worth having is worth working for.”

“The average person puts only 25% of his energy and ability into his work. The world takes off its hat to those who put in more than 50% of their capacity, and stands on its head for those few and far between souls who devote 100%.”

"Compromise is usually a sign of weakness, or an admission of defeat. Strong men don't compromise, it is said, and principles should never be compromised.”

“Immense power is acquired by assuring yourself in your secret reveries that you were born to control affairs.”

“There’s always room at the top in every pursuit.”

Carlos Helu Slim Success Story: From The Other Side To The Top Of The World

Carlos Helu Slim’s success story is worth writing about simply because of the fact that he has not only dominated the Forbes Lists of the Richest Men in the world, but also because he is the first man from a developing country to do so. With a current net worth of $73 billion, he is a comfortable fixture in the Billionaire listings.

The pressure to start out in business started early for Carlos Slim when his father died when he was 12. He therefore started working in the family company way before he even went to study engineering. He later dabbled in stocks as a stockbroker, and his success in this field earned him his first millions. In fact, he was so successful that by the time he clocked 26, he was worth over $40 million.

His life having been a success story thus far, Carlos Helu Slim used the money he had earned to acquire businesses back in the 1980s when the Mexican economy was crumbling. He bought into tobacco companies, oil companies and most of the American divisions that had a presence in Mexico.

His timely investments over time paid off. But he did not stop there. Ever a firm believer in complete domination of any industry, he started either buying out competitors in the industries in which he had invested in, or simply drove them out by undercutting them. He also bought controlling interests in many companies, both in Mexico and overseas, with the usual cycle being that he bought a controlling stake in a company, reduced the overhead and waste and then later decided either to hold onto his interest or simply sell it off at a huge profit.

The repeated cycle of buying into businesses and driving off competitors eventually led to monopolies that have since fueled his rise to belonging to the world’s most elite economic class: the class of billionaires. His is a success story that is not just limited to one, but several industries which include investments in mining, construction, printing, food and retail industry.

Although a billionaire many times over, Carlos Helu Slim lives a frugal life. This billionaire who is the largest private employer in Mexico lives in a modest 6 bed-roomed house that is less than a mile from his office.

Carlos Slim Helu Quotes

"Work well done is not only a responsibility to yourselves and society; it is also an emotional need."

"Our concept is more to accomplish and solve things, rather than giving, that is, not going around like Santa Claus. Poverty isn't solved with donations."

“When we decide to do something, we do it quickly."

“When there is a crisis, that’s when some are interested in getting out and that’s when we are interested in getting in.”

“When you live for others’ opinions, you are dead. I don’t want to live thinking about how I’ll be remembered.”