You Probably Don’t Know What Traf-O-Data Or Virgin Vodka Were

Traf-O-Data was a business with an objective of reading raw data from roadway traffic counters and create reports for traffic engineers. The company had modest success but quickly fell apart. This is one of the countless examples of a company falling apart, but the rest of the story is about perseverance.

One of the people who founded Traf-O-Data and watched it collapsed was some guy named Bill Gates. Even one of the richest men in the world had a business that fell apart. Bill Gates learned from Traf-O-Data’s collapse and created Microsoft.

That’s one story of an entrepreneur going from one collapsed business to creating something remarkable. There are many entrepreneurs who have gone from collapsed businesses to successful enterprises. One of those people was Richard Branson.

When you think of Richard Branson, you probably think of Virgin Airlines and Virgin Records. Chances are you do not affiliate Richard Branson with Virgin Coke or Virgin Vodka. Virgin Coke and Virgin Vodka are two of Branson’s businesses that quickly failed. After learning from his mistakes, Branson was able to start Virgin Airlines and become a billionaire.

The list goes on and on for entrepreneurs who first failed and then became very successful. Henry Ford’s first two car companies failed and left him broke. Mark Cuban was a carpenter and waiter among other things before becoming a billionaire. When looking at successful figures, we often forget that there was a point when these people were not successful. There was a point when all of the billionaires were struggling to make a living. The reason you didn’t know what Traf-O-Data or Virgin Vodka were is because few people accept the fact that billionaires were once regular people who just wanted to make it in the real world.

Maybe you may be in what seems to be a hopeless situation. Being broke after creating two businesses that failed, selling vodka, floundering amongst low paying jobs, and watching a business that was successful completely fall apart also seem like hopeless situations. Bill Gates, Richard Branson, Henry Ford, and Mark Cuban were in those hopeless situations.