Thomas Edison

Keys to Thomas Edison’s Success Story:

Thomas Edison Failed, But Literally Never Gave Up:

Thomas Edison did whatever it took to manifest his inventions. He is famous for saying “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” The fact is, Edison understood perseverance, and the attitude it takes to literally never give up. He knew that you only need to succeed once, and failure is just a part of the process. In fact, Edison’s first patented invention, an electronic voting recorder at the age of 21 to quickly tally votes in legislature, was a complete failure. At the age of 22 a year after he flopped his first patent, Edison was successful in creating his first invention, an improved stock ticker.

Thomas Edison Didn’t Allow For Negative Events To Effect His Future:

As a kid, Edison was infected with ear infections which made it difficult for him to hear out of both ears. He was also considered “hyperactive” and very easily distracted by teachers who thought it was extremely difficult to teach the youngster. This led Edison to being home-schooled where he quickly gained a major thirst for knowledge reading various books on many different subjects. Despite Edison having difficulties paying attention and learning, he didn’t allow these events to label himself as “unintelligent” had he labelled himself this way, he may have never become one of the greatest inventors in the world. Diversity further deepened when at the age of 21, Edison’s mother had developed mental illness, and his father had no job, which put the family in a struggling situation. He was forced to get a better job where he took the suggestion of a friend to move to Boston and work for the Western Union Company. During this time, Boston was the “go-to” place for science. Regardless of the negativity Edison faced, he was focused on his love for inventing. “The three great essentials to achieve anything worth while are: Hard work, Stick-to-itiveness, and Common sense.”

Thomas Edison Went With The Flow of Life, Leading To His Passion of Experimenting, Entrepreneurship, and Inventing:

At the age of 12, after reading various books, he began to conduct chemical experiments at a small laboratory which he set up in a train baggage car. This railroad led to an event that changed Edison’s life, he saved a 3-year-old from being run over, and the child’s father decided to teach young Edison about operating telegraphs as a token of gratitude. At the age of 15, he had learned enough to secure a job as a telegrapher, and during this time was when he put major attention to his passion of inventing, constantly experimenting with telegraph technology. In the 1860’s he had started his own paper route company which led to many other small entrepreneurial ventures. Edison was able to blend his entrepreneurial mentality with his love of experimenting and inventing to later become a success. By the time he was 23, he had already started a small laboratory and manufacturing facility in New Jersey where he hired machinist and put his entrepreneurial mentality to wkr were he’d create his products with partnerships based on the highest bidders and often the company was the company he once worked for, the “Western Union.” In the 1870’s he was known as a first-rate inventor.