"It is our choices that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities." - J.K. Rowling
J. K. Rowling (born 31 July 1965) is a British author best known as the creator of the Harry Potter fantasy series. Rowling was a single mother living on welfare. Working as a secretary was not how she had envisioned her life. She had admittedly reached her own personal rock bottom. Without even enough money to pay the electricity bill, Rowling knew she had to do something to provide a better life for her baby daughter. But what, she wondered. The answer came to her while riding the train one day; that was when Harry Potter came to life.
After completing the first Harry Potter book, twelve publishers rejected it. But number thirteen proved to be the lucky one. Within a few months, Rowling’s Harry Potter character had come to life between the pages of a book in England. A few months after that, the American rights to the novel were bought for a hefty sum. With that, Rowling finally quit her teaching job and decided to focus full-time on writing.
Today, the stories Rowling first wrote in coffee shops have become famous the world over as not only books, but also movies, computer games, music, and more. She is the world’s first billion-dollar author and the highest earning novelist in history. The Potter books have gained worldwide attention, won multiple awards, sold more than 400 million copies and been the basis for a popular series of films. In 2007, Time Magazine name Rowling runner-up for its Person of the Year and in 2010, Forbes estimated her net worth to be US$1 billion.
Action Item #1: Get Over Your Fear of Failure
Nobody wants to fail but you can't let the fear of failing prevent you from making important decisions in your life. Anything worth doing will come with a healthy dose of fear - successful entrepreneurs are the ones who can plough through that fear and come out victorious on the other side.
Rowling couldn't believe the number of different stories publishing houses gave her as to why they didn't want to print her manuscript. Her story was too long, too fantastical, and wouldn't do well selling to a mainstream audience, they said. She remained patient and had faith in her product. She continued to send it out to publishing houses until she found one who saw in her story what she did: a success. It was one year from the time Rowling finished the very first Harry Potter book to the time that a publisher finally agreed to buy and publish it.
According to Rowling: “Anything’s possible if you’ve got enough nerve. I was determined to try. I was determined to try because, frankly, my life was such a mess at this point, what – what was the worst that could happen? Everyone turn me down? Big deal.”
Action Item #2: Make Every Second Count
You only have so much time in the day to get work done and, as entrepreneurs, we usually have too many projects on the go to keep track of. It's hard work getting a business off the ground and you need to make every second count.
Harry Potter came to life on a day that Rowling was stuck on a train between Manchester and London during a four-hour delay. The passenger sitting next to her might have used the time to catch up on some sleep, but Rowling was determined to use the time to her advantage. Whether it was a 15 minute break from her secretarial duties at Amnesty International or a 30 minute nap time break from her baby daughter, Rowling used every spare second to dream up and jot down points for her story.
According to Rowling: “Where the idea for Harry Potter actually came from, I really couldn’t tell you. I was traveling on a train between Manchester and London and it just popped into my head. I spent four hours thinking about what Hogwarts would be like – the most interesting train journey I've ever taken. By the time I got off at King's Cross, many of the characters in the books had already been invented.”
Action Item #3: Love What You Do
If you don't love what you do, you're not going to have much success and entrepreneur. You're going to quit as soon as it gets tough and you're not going to make a meaningful contribution to your community. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know it's right when you find it.
Rowling wanted to make her contribution the world, to add her unique something that nobody else could bring to the table – and that unique something was her writing. She never went searching for the kind of success she has received today. She simply wanted to do best what she loved most, and that was writing.
According to Rowling: “I just write what I wanted to write... I write what amuses me. It’s totally for myself... I am an extraordinarily lucky person, doing what I love best in the world. I'm sure that I will always be a writer.”
True Story
Harry Potter was not an instant success. In fact, at the very first book reading that Rowling did for her first Harry Pottery novel, only four people showed up to hear her. The staff at the book store felt so sorry for her that they stood around and listened too. Rowling’s editor then advised her to "get a day job, since she had little chance of making money in children’s books.”
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