30 Richest Dyslexic Entrepreneurs
I’m sure some of you have realised I’m dyslexic. When I was younger I struggled to read and write and now I earn more then a full time income being a writer which is kinder strange considering the issues I had with it. Being an Internet entrepreneur/Blogger has helped me dramatically improve my reading and writing. For today’s post, I thought it would be interesting to see which other entrepreneurs are dyslexic and was very happy to see some huge names!
I am also left handed and a college dropout, so to make this list even more intersting I decided to find out who else is just like me. It was great to see I share these characteristics with Henry Ford and Walt Disney! Both of them were dyslexic, left handed and college dropouts, the only down side is they both went bankrupt at some point…
Dyslexic, Left Handed and College Dropout Entrepreneurs
|
Rank
|
Name | Business | Net Worth | Dropout | Left handed |
|
1
|
Henry Ford |
Ford Motor Company | $188,000,000,000 | Yes | Yes |
|
2
|
Ingvar Kamprad |
IKEA | $22,000,000,000 | ||
|
3
|
Richard C. Strauss |
Real Estate Developer | $18,500,000,000 | ||
|
4
|
Charles Schwab |
Charles Schwab | $6,200,000,000 | ||
|
5
|
Richard Branson |
Virgin | $5,000,000,000 | Yes | |
|
6
|
Kerry Packer |
Nine Network | $4,800,000,000 | ||
|
7
|
David H. Murdock |
Dole Foods | $4,700,000,000 | ||
|
8
|
Reyn Guyer |
Nerf Ball | $4,400,000,000 | ||
|
9
|
William Hewlett |
HP | $4,100,000,000 | ||
|
10
|
Steve Jobs |
Apple | $3,400,000,000 | Yes | |
|
11
|
William Wrigley, Jr. |
Wrigley | $3,400,000,000 | ||
|
12
|
Steven Spielberg |
Dream Works | $3,100,000,000 | Yes | |
|
13
|
Craig McCaw |
McCaw Cellular | $2,500,000,000 | ||
|
14
|
Ted Turner |
Turner Broadcasting Systems | $2,300,000,000 | ||
|
15
|
David Neeleman |
JetBlue Airways | $1,600,000,000 | ||
|
16
|
Tommy Hilfiger |
Hilfiger Clothing | $1,600,000,000 | ||
|
17
|
F.W. Woolworth |
Woolworths | $1,500,000,000 | Yes | |
|
18
|
Walt Disney |
The Walt Disney Company | $1,100,000,000 | Yes | Yes |
|
19
|
John T Chambers |
Cisco Systems | $1,000,000,000 | ||
|
20
|
Nelson Rockefeller |
Standard Oil | $1,000,000,000 | Yes | |
|
21
|
Thomas J. Watson, Jr. |
IBM | $800,000,000 | Yes | |
|
22
|
Vince McMahon |
World Wrestling Entertainment | $480,000,000 | ||
|
23
|
Horst Rechelbacher |
Aveda Corporation | $300,000,000 | ||
|
24
|
Paul J. Orfalea |
Kinko’s | $250,000,000 | ||
|
25
|
Thomas Edison |
General Electric | $250,000,000 | yes | |
|
26
|
Anita Roddick |
The Body Shop | $200,000,000 | ||
|
27
|
Alexander Graham Bell |
Bell | $122,000,000 | Yes | |
|
28
|
John Britten |
Britten Motorcycle Company | $100,000,000 | ||
|
29
|
G. Chris Anderson |
Drexel Burnham | $90,000,000 | Yes | |
|
30
|
Ben Way |
Waysearch | $35,000,000 | Yes |
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It’s unfortunate James couldn’t continue Kerry’s interest of the Nine Network after he passed away. He decided to go after Casino’s instead… wise investment…
Nice list all the same
Genentech should be Ikea buddy
Fixed Mike, thanks!
Cool list
Regarding Richard Branson (#5), for those of you who don’t know he wasn’t really a dropout… he got kicked out of school for having it on with the headmasters daughter!
OMG ahaha! I guess what happens is he was “Asked to leave…” which wouild make it look better for getting in future schools.
OMG! What a ledge!
Thinking about it now, I bet that headmaster feels a little dumb. His daughter just missed out on a cool $5bil :p
Probably
He had been threatened to be kicked out of school before that, but he set up his own suicide so that the only way he wouldn’t do it was to be let back into the school. Of course, he never was going to actually kill himself, but it got him back into school.
BTW, all of this came from watching a documentary about him. He really is an inspirational figure
Why does that not surprise me? LoL!
Richard and his Virgin girls…
WOW. Awesome list. I want to see my name in it in future!
Great list.
I love the lack of left handed people.
Cool list, and very interesting to see how many people in this list are actually some of the most successful people in the world.
Thanks Michael!
I think that list points to one thing (and also what we see of Michael when he is not playing Xbox ;)……
It is not our capabilities that matter, hell, you maybe highly skilled! If you do not take action then you will not accomplish even the smallest of achievements compared to the ‘can do’ attitude of someone who faces challenges positively.
Now I’m going to stop reading here and start writing
Michael,
Where are you on this list?
Check back next year Renelda Thanks!
Very interesting list. Did not know about Walt Disney… knew about most of the others though.
I like the idea of dropping out college, but bad, I’m not a left-handed person
Great list Michael!
Wow, awesome list mate, inspirational.
Ted Turner is also a college dropout. Actually, to be accurate, he was kicked out of Brown for having an unauthorized female companion in his room.
He might have finished later on somewhere else, though. Which may be the reason he’s not listed as a “dropout.”
Ahaha… Thats fuuny, seems all these entrepreneurs have more in common with each other then I first thought.
Wow thats great Jeromy, not surprised though! I think we have this thing where we have to prove to everyone that we can be a success, its all about taking action. I hope to see you up their on the list one day!
I did not know that Steve Jobs was dyslexic. However, Spielberg did graduate from college 33 years after he dropped out.
While I appreciate one of your points in this post, that being a successful online entrepreneur does not require a college degree. I wonder how you feel about a college education in general? A waste of time or worth the effort?
I would be curious to know how many followers of your blog graduated from college and furthermore what percentage of online entrepreneurs are college graduates. My point is that graduating from college or not has a limited correlation with online success. Being tired of a job, wanting more control of your time, wanting to create passive income, wanting to work from home and a host of other reasons are why people become online entrepreneurs. The decision is not between college and entrepreneurship but what you want to do with your life.
I don’t think people are struggling with the potential barrier of being a college dropout and not thinking they can cut it in this online entrepreneurial world. Quite the opposite. There are few barriers to entry to sell stuff online.
Hello Andrew,
Thank you for your comment. I personally dropped out of college, but to Americans it would be high school. A lot of young entrepreneurs I speak to are in high school but realise the opportunities out their will allow them to make more money if they just skipped out high school and then college.
I do think being a college dropout effects you because it means the job opportunities are lower and by creating your own business you prove everyone wrong and show them actually you can be a success.
Their is a few barriers to selling online but to do a lot of things “successfully” it doesn’t just take action, it also takes great thinking such as Tony Hsieh who runs Zappos.com – they have been such a huge success because of their whole philosophy and not just by selling you something.
I hope that helps,
Michael
Interesting list, Michael. I’m left-handed, college dropoff, slightly dyslexic (used to be worse). In general most people I personally know think I’m awaste of space.
I’m just starting to dive into this whole online game. So far, with your help, and about 3 others, I think I can actually sift through the bs and get something going. Thanx!
Thanx for the great tips the other day, too.
This is a really great list and I love these kinds of lists from you blog. Keep it up.
Mohammad Afaq
Free Website Traffic
Wow, look at the list! I think this is the only place where i can find all the millionaire than other side.
Nice touch.
http://outofrangeblog.blogspot.com/
I don’t think I would drop out of HS or, subsequently, college. I find a lot of value in the stuff that they teach us (at least in my science and English classes) and of course I learn 70% of my life lessons from participating in the school music programs, so…I do have my bouts of dyslexia, but I’m right handed. Interesting list. Thomas Edison is my favorite inventor of all time, actually. Interesting to know he was left handed, haha!
Dear Michael,
This is absolutely fantastic!!! It’s something most parents and teens don’t know. I use a few examples — including Branson — to help parents and teens feel great about the kids’ potential when they are not good students.
I love your list! Will send you a recent post about a British study on a related subject.
Thanks,
Christine
awesome list, like some one mentioned above, action and positive attitude will get you to where want to get.
I think that list says volumes about those with dyslexia… perhaps it is not so much a handicap.. I would venture to say it’s another way of viewing a task at hand that others cannot view it in that particular way, and it is NOT the wrong way to view it either… Just as well, its not just about being able to read words correctly!
Great list man! very inspiring
Someone once described dyslexia to me as this:
Normal people see from a to b but someone who is dyslexic see the whole picture, every route every direction….
Which could explain why they have been so successful!
I know many people who suffer from Dyslexia. So many people say that they cannot do anything. I am definitely going to forward this post to all my friends.
Exactly what I want to see Farrhad, proves to everyone, what ever is holding you back, you can still achieve great things!
Funny comments but this is a great inspiration to the homeless people I work with!
Great list…..couldnt agree more that dyslexia is just a different way of looking at things. Has Steve Jobs said he’s dyslexic – I know lots of people say he is. Wondered where you’d taken it from.
my twitter name say’s it all please help me make a difference… @ IAmDyslexic or e-mail me at [email protected] thank u
i was born using my left hand untill 1st grade i was smacked with a ruller and had the pencil pulled from my left hand placed into my right hand, same for 2nd grade, now i use both and have horible hand writting skills letters slant both ways i went to school when dyslexics were placed with the mintal retarted some even tied to their chairs, the only thing i remmber learning for those years was to sit with hands folded i didn’t learn to read untill i was in the 6 or 7 grade my spelling and grammar is at 4th grade level,
i have raise 7 children 5 of them at this time are in college i’v have ran a 6 figure a year business for 8 years opened up 2 business in my town that i was the operations manager of can look me up and info on that by googling search my name Lisa Milliron i live in Brunswick ohio and i’m here on the internet to make a diffence , i did’t use spell checker i want to share who i really am when looked at through words becouse the way i use my dyslexic gift many , well most never even knew of my struggles, but it has possed many many walls in my life but i’m bringing down that masive barer one brick at a time i’ll be on a list one day to show other dyslexics its ok being us
thanks lisa
Very interesting list Michael, knew IK had an interesting past, but didn’t know he was left handed and dyslexic, but nothing surprising there, look at all those funny names on IKEA products
Ahaha Very Good James, your be surprised the backgrounds a lot of people have.
Michael
We all know dyslexics are brighter, ha ha, but I that my hat off to you earning living through writing a blog.
Getting my head around marketing & sales is proving tough for my photography business as I find it hard to express myself. So you have my full attention now
Pat Bloomfield
http://www.patbweddingphotography.com
This list of poples , for me represents the proof , that when you work, and you work real hard .. you become what you whant .. a teacher in your busines.. and that is what make’s us the best ..
So.. let us see them like teachers in what they have done ..
and follow their stepts..
in eny busines , peoples are winning and loosing.. this iis the life.. we have to be the winers !!!
This is very nice site you have. I enjoyed browsing through it. Your site has a lot of useful information. thank you for sharing your info.
Any information on how to utilize my Dyslexic identification to further my career opportunities. Any information you can send along or groups that get together to share tips would be great.
I think, Most of US national drop out from college when compared to Asian and other continent countries.
Left hand habit also same like that.
Fabulous post. My son is dyslexic and this is a great resource to show him.. thanks
You made my day with this… Thanks!
That’s really interesting, I have often read about successful people being left handed and or dyslexic, I suppose that from every difficulty comes an equal and opposite effect. Well done for taking the time to compile that table!
That’s really interesting, I have often read about successful people being left handed and or dyslexic, I suppose that from every difficulty comes an equal and opposite effect. Well done for taking the time to compile that table!
This is the right post!!!!
Are there any people of color you can report on?
This gives insight into who is clearly being assisted in the system we live in.
If someone isn’t succeeding, it’s important to consider not why they can’t get ahead but also the situational and systemic factors that block them from being able to advance.
This is a great list! I am a teacher of elementary dyslexic students. I am always looking for famous dyslexics to encourage my students.
Steve Jobs is left-handed isnt he?
my son who recently finished 10grade without any help has dyslexia,and he has got an offer from a LD school in USA since we are from srilanka is it really worth to send him to US to finish 13yrs of school as its a must to enter into any career he chooses.Opinions will be most welcome.
Great list Michael! My 6 year old son is dyslexic. He might not be that academically inclined though he is physically advance. He learned to swim and ride the bike on his own , when he is about 2-3 years old. I know with the right guidance and support , he can become successful. Regards from Manila
In architecture there is high proportion of left handed and dyslexic people. Antonio Gaudi spent 10 years doing a 5 year course because he was dyslectic. Richard Rogers, Jorn Utzon (Sydney Opera house) and Mackintosh are all dyslexic as well.
The funny thing with architecture the best architect didn’t go to collage Frank Lloyd Wright, Corbusier and Mackintosh were all put of work by the architectural profession and all hated architects.
The modernist movement in architecture is all about none qualified architects doing architecture.
Makes me wonder why in the UK it is a 7 year course which progresses from part 1 to 2 to 3 when architecture is the art of being holistic.