People say that age is just a number. Well, is it really true? Most people feel insecure and anxious about undertaking any decision that contains risk after a certain age. After settling in a job, most people want to stay put rather than taking any risk. Many inherit innovative ideas but they lack the courage to go forward with that idea because of different kinds of mental pressures. Many fear that staying in an old underprivileged job is better than pursuing their dream and be unsuccessful and lose everything. Age is a big restriction for many.
But sometimes knowledge gained through age is necessary for becoming successful. Here is a list of 10 successful people who changed their careers after the age of 30. Indeed, exception can’t be an example but the names in this list may inspire you to pursue the loving dream that you hold.
Ray Kroc
Raymond Albert Kroc is the original mastermind who is behind the success of McDonald’s. In 1954 at the age of 52, He bought the California company McDonald’s 1954, after the McDonald brothers had franchised six locations out of their original 1940 operation in San Bernardino. He took control and made McDonald’s the best fast-food chain in the whole world.
But before buying McDonald’s he worked as a milkshake mixer salesman for the foodservice equipment manufacturer Prince Castle. And before that, he was a Red Cross ambulance driver at the age of 15 during World War I.
Colonel Sanders
Every fast-food lover has heard the name of KFC. But Colonel Harland David Sanders, the founder of KFC can be the best example for the term “Age is just a number.” He was 62 when he started and franchised fast-food chicken restaurant chain Kentucky Fried Chicken (also known as KFC).
Before starting KFC, everything Colonel Sanders touched eventually turned into failure. He tried various jobs all-over his life but couldn’t find success. Even in social media, various motivation posts can be found under the name of Colonel Sanders.
Jeff Bezos
Jeff Bezos, presently holding the title of Richest Man in the world, also started his venture after the age of 31. He is the first centi-billionaire (those who possess a net worth of more than $100 billions) on the Forbes wealth index and holding the title of Richest Man in the world since 2017. In 1994, he started Amazon with the idea of opening an online bookstore. He’s also the owner of The Washington Post and founder of the space exploration company Blue Origin.
Before that, he was successfully working in Wall Street to look at the business of several financial firms and doing well in his career in computer science.
Jack Ma
Jack Ma’s life is perhaps the greatest example of success through failure. He failed many exams in his school, he was rejected 10 times in Harvard. He was turned down in 30 job applications. He was the only interviewee (out of 24) rejected by KFC. But in 1999, at the age of 33, he founded his own venture Alibaba group and became one of the Richest Man in the world. Though recently in September 2018, he retired from Alibaba at the age of 55.
Arnold Schwarzenegger
Arnold Schwarzenegger rose to fame as the world’s top bodybuilder, who decided to become an actor at the age of 30. He also tried various careers before becoming an actor. He was also successful in those. At the age of 56, he pursued politics and became the Governor of California in 2003. As of 2020, he is the most recent Republican governor of California.
Harrison Ford
Harrison Ford worked as a carpenter to support his family financially. His father was a carpenter and his future career goal was also doing woodwork. At the age of 31, he found his love for acting and joined Hollywood. Now he is one of the most reputed actors in Hollywood. He is known for his roles in famous movies like Star Wars, Blade Runner, Indiana Jones, etc.
Ford studied English and philosophy at Ripon College in Wisconsin. However, he ended up leaving before completing his degree.
Vera Wang
Vera Wang has known her works in the fashion industry in the US. She is a very reputable fashion designer. But she joined the fashion designing industry at the age of 40. She was a senior fashion editor at Vogue for 15 years and then a design director for Ralph Lauren. After designing her own wedding dress, she opened a bridal boutique and soon launched her own signature collection. Before joining the fashion industry, she worked as a figure skater and journalist. However, she fell short of her Olympic dreams when she and her partner, James Stuart, placed fifth in the junior pairs competition at the 1968 U.S. National Championships.
Sara Blakely
Sara Treleaven Blakely is an American businesswoman, entrepreneur, and philanthropist, and founder of Spanx (Spanx, Inc. is an American underwear maker focusing on shaping briefs and leggings, founded in Atlanta, Georgia).
Her 1st plan was to become an attorney but she scored very low on the Law School Admission Test. Then she worked at Walt Disney World. After that, she also occasionally worked as a stand-up comedian during this period. Then she sold office supplies for 7 continuous years by doing door-to-door marketing.
Cher Wang
Cher Wang is the Co-founder and chairperson (since 2007) of HTC Corporation and integrated chipset maker VIA Technologies. HTC Corporation was one of the biggest giants in the smartphone industry. She started HTC Corporation at the age of 39. Before that, she was a general employee in her sister’s company. She got birth in one of the powerful business family of Taiwan. She created HTC with the hope of making handheld computers that could fit into pockets.
Jonah Peretti
Jonah H. Peretti is an Internet entrepreneur, a co-founder and the CEO of BuzzFeed, co-founder of The Huffington Post, and developer of reblogging under the project “Reblog”. He started The Huffington Post at the age of 31. Before that, he taught computer science classes at Isidore Newman School in New Orleans, in the mid-1990s. He also worked as a computer teacher helping school-going children to learn using Microsoft Excel.
While this article may not give you too many insights about these personas but this can give you enough motivation to pursue your own dream. Run for your dream and go for your passion. Love your work and money will find you.
Writer By
Shimanto Saha
Student at Mawlana Bhashani Science and Technology University
Department of Business Administration
