The Unglamorous First Jobs Of The World’s Most Successful People

We’ve all been there. Working in a less-than-satisfactory job and feeling like we are going nowhere. Almost all of us have worked in positions we haven’t enjoyed, so we could get where we needed to go. Even the world’s most successful people.

Jeff Bezos recently made headlines for overtaking Bill Gates as the world’s wealthiest man, as Amazon shares skyrocketed in late October, bringing Bezos’s net worth past $90 billion dollars. But do you know where Jeff Bezos started his career? Before Amazon-fever swept the globe, Bezos was flipping burgers in McDonalds. If you asked someone who was born into an affluent family what they’d think about working in McDonalds, the chances are that the response wouldn’t be positive. But Jeff Bezos turned his employment around, and used it as an opportunity to learn business lessons that he couldn’t learn at school.

Marissa Mayer, former CEO of Yahoo, also spent her summers working as a grocery market cashier. Like Bezos, she didn’t complain about the minimal wages or long, boring hours. Instead she told reporters that she used the opportunity to learn about family economics and the importance of fast service. Noticing a theme here?

Almost every self-made successful person had a less-than-glamorous side hustle while they focused on their master goal. Some of the wealthiest people on this list used the lull as an opportunity to learn a lesson. A lesson that would prove to be valuable in their future occupations.

Reed Hastings, current CEO of Netflix, told reporters that he loved selling vacuum cleaners because he got to meet a lot of different people. And Mark Cuban also revealed that selling garbage bags taught him how to sell. The lesson? Even if you hate your current job, always look out for the lessons which you can collect and apply to your dream career in the future.

In the meantime, check out the unglamorous first jobs of these 10 successful celebrities and entrepreneurs: