Written by: Richard Eckley, Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
The world is constantly changing, a lot of these changes and improvements come from normal people who have a good idea and deciding to run with it. Sometimes even dedicating their life to the new passion they have found. Throughout history you can find these people. Any great invention or improvement in technology usually starts with a simple thought (how can I make this better) putting their own unique twist on an already existing product or technology. Then using persistence and consistency often resulting in failure after failure until after years of hard work, research trial and error, they finally have the success they dreamt of. Most people don’t see all the years of hard work that goes behind a successful person, the self-doubt, financial struggles, family issues, etc. Basically, life happens to all of us, but the successful person perseveres with their original idea. They don’t get sidetracked with the (Shiny object syndrome) but stick to what they know they are good at and is a natural ability of theirs. Let’s look at a few people who found their passion then ran with it.
James E Casey, the Founder of UPS (one of the largest package delivery firms today) he was born in 1888 in Nevada, USA and in the early 1900’s aged 11, he started work as a messenger and delivery boy for a department store and telegraph company, his father had fallen ill and couldn’t work, as he was the eldest, even at this young age he went out to support the family of 6. After a few years of this he decided to start his own business at the age of just 19, borrowing $100 and setting up (The American Messenger company) with his friend Claude Ryan. They slowly grew it to become the largest parcel and messenger service in Seattle. Starting with just 2 bicycles,2 telephones and 6 delivery boys in a 6ft by 17ft basement. They expanded to horse-drawn carriages, motorbikes and even a Model T Ford van changing the name to (Merchants Parcel delivery). They then looked to expand into new cities as realized the service they were providing was needed in all cities. When expanding into California, they discovered there was already a company with that name, so they had to think of a new one and United Parcel Services (UPS) was born in 1919. James never married but made UPS his family, with many successes over the years and failures from the first airborne parcel service in America to the financial crash of 1929. He kept focus on making his company the best he could, living by his motto (The more valuable you make your service to others the more profitable you become) Today UPS operates in over 220 countries and territories worldwide and when you see these brown vans dropping off your parcels and packages and can give the nod to James or ( Jim ) as his friends called him and a thank you for following up on his great idea.
John Stith Pemberton is a name you may have never heard of but without him we wouldn’t have one of the most recognizable names in the world today, he was born in 1831 in Knoxville, USA later passing his medical degree and practicing medicine. He suffered a chest wound from a saber during the American Civil war. At first using morphine as the pain killer to help with the wound, later knowing this was addictive he looked for other methods of painkillers he could produce that weren’t so addictive. After many experiments in his drug store, (he was also a pharmacist) he produced (Pemberton’s French Wine Coca) adding Coca leaves to his syrup as they have a great pain-killing effect. However, the temperance movement was growing in America around this time, so he started to look for alcohol-free methods. Teaming up with another pharmacist (Willis E Venable) after much trial and error eventually created a new soda fountain drink (Soda fountain cafes were very popular around the late 19th and early 20th century) they were the equivalent of our coffee houses today, with people gathering there to catch up, have a chat and a non-alcoholic drink.
The two men combined the coca leaves which contained cocaine acting as a pain relief (which was not known to be as addictive at the time) and Kola nuts which contain caffeine along with carbonated water and sugar. This new syrup had unique qualities of not only being a pain killer but making you feel more alert, a combination of the two special ingredients. Frank Robinson, a bookkeeper and a partner of Pemberton’s got involved with the project and it was him that gave this syrup its name (Coca-Cola), combining the first words of the Coca leaves and the Kola nuts. So, in 1886 Coca-Cola was born and they started a massive advertising campaign launching the drink with phrases like (Coca-Cola delicious, invigorating, refreshing and a cure for headaches with a unique taste) with great success. However, In 1888 Pemberton fell ill with stomach cancer partially due to his addiction to Morphine still and the expensive use of this drug meant he was almost bankrupt. He did want to retain shares in his newly formed company, but his son Charley needed money straight away. So, Pemberton sold all his shares and the formula for Coca-Cola to Asa Chandler for $2300 in 1888. He died later that year.
Chandler was also a pharmacist and a businessman with his brother John, Frank Robinson and two other associates they formed the Coca-Cola Company in 1892. Changing the process so no cocaine was left in the syrup and reduced the caffeine content. They continued the advertising campaign expanding distribution into more countries and using different slogans over the years, raising their yearly advertising budget from £1 Million in 1902 to over $4 Billion in 2019 so keeping the brand constantly in our minds and making Coca-Cola one of the most recognizable brands worldwide today. All starting from a pharmacist’s idea back in 1886.
Joanne Rowling was born in 1965 in Gloucestershire, England she always enjoyed writing, but never really thought she would make any money from it. Even writing a short story aged 6 called (Rabbit, about a rabbit called Rabbit). She wrote a couple of adult novels years later but never tried to publish them. It wasn’t until 1990, while stuck on a train in a 4-hour delay, that an idea hit her ( A boy who didn’t know he was a wizard until invited to a wizard school) she had never wanted to write children’s books, but the idea about what could happen to him and the adventures he could go on pulsed through her mind, she didn’t have a pen and paper with her on the train, so just let her mind go wild with all her imagination set loose. Then as soon as she got home, she started writing the plot for a school of witches and wizards on different notebooks and pads of paper. Life as always, threw a few curve balls her way, with her mum becoming very ill, financial worries, and relationships problems even moving to Portugal getting married then back again when they separated, bringing her 4-month-old baby girl with her and settling in Edinburgh. For 5 years, she worked at the plots, characters and storyline with any spare time she had. Looking for work and sometimes having to live off social security, money was always scarce. She finally applied for a teacher training course, preparing to be a teacher so she could carry on her writing, although she still hadn’t tried to get anything published yet and didn’t know after all these years if anyone would like her story. Then in 1995 she sent off the first 3 chapters to a literary agent, he liked the storyline and sent them off to the leading publishers at the time, each one turned the book down.
Only one company Bloomsbury Publishing saw potential in the book and offered a £4000 advance on the rest of the book, but on condition she change her author name, as the book was more boy themed with wizards and dragons, so Joanne Rowling became J.K.Rowling. They first did an initial run of only 500 copies of (Harry Potter and the Philosophers stone) to see if the book would have any demand. It did, mainly through word of mouth in the playgrounds and schoolyards of children talking about this amazing book. At the Bologna Book fair that year it caused a stir and (Scholastic Press) offered her $105,000 for the American writes to the book, changing its name to (Harry Potter and the sorcerer’s stone). On June 27th, 1997, Harry Potter was released in the UK to great success and the rest, as they say is history. The previous 7 years she had worked on her passion, developing it, improving the story line often re-writing whole chapters as they gave too much of the plot away. Without any financial reward and not knowing whether she would even sell a single copy. She had followed through on her idea, kept focused on what she was good at, never lost her passion and in doing so created a whole new industry. Today she is a billionaire.
There are many more we could list, all starting with a single idea then developing it. Not only helping to create the wealth and life they wanted but helping millions of other people along the way. What is your natural ability or a passion you have? Will it help other people? Will it solve a problem they have? or entertain them? Only you have the answer.
There is a great saying we are born twice, once when we are first born into this world and second when we discover why.
For more information on finding your passion or creating wealth in your life get your copy of (How to create wealth) by reaching out here, subject line Brainz/Wealth.
Richard Eckley, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine
Richard Eckley is the founder of The Eckley Global Community school, a movement teaching the 4 keys to success health, wealth, relationships and mindset. After his 20-year marriage ended in divorce, he was left a single dad with 3 teenage kids, he wanted to give them a guide to know everything would be ok. He has studied personal development for 30 years giving him an in-depth knowledge. He then wrote his first book ( Your 4 keys to a healthier happier you) a starting point to this process, this led on to deeper dive books in his ( coffee reads) series and the development of the Eckley Global Community School working with local schools and individual students in 5 countries. His ethos: create the life you want
