Thomas Edison is remembered as a success for finding a practical way to use electricity with the light bulb, changing nightlife for everyone forever. But he had a host of total failures before he got there, leading him to say his famous quote, “I have not failed 10,000 times—I’ve successfully found 10,000 ways that will not work.”
One of those (many) ways? The Electric pen. As railroads and other companies expanded in the late 19th century, there was a need to make administrative tasks easier, and automated.
Enter, the Electric Pen. The electric pen was a device that used a needle to puncture holes in paper, which could then be used to make copies using a process called electrotyping. Despite his efforts, the electric pen was not a commercial success and it was never widely adopted. Edison himself admitted that the electric pen was a failure, but he also stated that he learned a great deal from the experience. He applied the knowledge he gained from working on the electric pen to other inventions, including the light bulb.
Want some other stories of successful people who failed first? Check these "failures" out:
- J.K. Rowling was on welfare, and rejected by multiple publishers before finally getting Harry Potter accepted and published. Today, the Harry Potter series is one of the best-selling book series of all time.
- Walt Disney was fired from a newspaper for "not being creative enough." He was also told that a cartoon mouse wouldn't work because women would scream when they saw it on the screen. He later went on to create one of the most successful entertainment companies in the world.
- Steven Spielberg, one of the most successful and influential directors of all time, was rejected from the University of Southern California's film school three times before finally being accepted.
- Oprah was fired from her first job as a television anchor and told she was "unfit for TV."
- Michael Jordan, considered one of the greatest basketball players of all time, was cut from his high school basketball team. He later went on to become a six-time NBA champion and a five-time MVP.
It's only a failure if you let it stop you.
Back to Thomas Edison. He also invented a "talking doll" where he put a small version of his phonograph inside a doll he had imported from Germany. The dolls shipped, but the negative reviews immediately started pouring in. The machine fell apart with even the smallest knock. The voice sounded like a monster. And it lost the sound almost completely after an hour. As soon as he heard this, Edison pulled them from the market, and moved on to the next thing. He wasn't one to dwell.
I bet Edison's had way more failures than most of us. So what's stopping you from trying again?