Money
How 10 Billionaires Surmounted Failure to Build Massive Empires
Overcoming gut-wrenching failure is often a surprising prerequisite for achieving phenomenal success.
In fact, it’s actually quite the rarity to have an impeccable track record like the legendary investor Warren Buffett that dates all the way back to the very early years.
It’s far more normal for entrepreneurs to experience incredible amounts of adversity through their careers, whether it’s a business bankruptcy or a tragic personal setback. Instead of capitulating, these people are able to tap into their grit, willpower, and discipline to help them surmount catastrophic moments and set a foundation for future achievement.
Billionaire Examples
Today’s infographic comes to us from Quick Base, and it shows the career trajectories of 10 billionaires ranging from Richard Branson to Oprah Winfrey.
It shows us that experiencing massive failures is common to even the most financially successful individuals – and it’s how one get through these tough events that really counts.
Walt Disney’s first studio went bankrupt in just two years, while Jack Ma couldn’t even get a job at KFC. Elon Musk has a lengthy timeline of failures as well.
Oprah Winfrey overcame multiple obstacles early on, including childhood abuse, a miscarriage at 14, and sexual abuse in the workplace.
Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm.
– Winston Churchill
For many of these entrepreneurs, it would have been socially acceptable to give up after these tragic events. However, as Churchill says, it was their ability to persevere that actually helps define their success in the first place.
Meanwhile, the results for the billionaires above speak for themselves.
Jeff Bezos has a massive empire and is the richest person on the planet. Oprah became the first female African-American billionaire in 2003. Walt Disney started a studio that has stood the test of time, and Jack Ma is a well-known billionaire and personality even outside of China.
Money
Visualizing All of the U.S. Currency in Circulation
This graphic illustrates the amount of U.S. currency in circulation globally, by denomination, based on data from the Federal Reserve.
Visualizing All of the U.S. Currency in Circulation
This was originally posted on our Voronoi app. Download the app for free on iOS or Android and discover incredible data-driven charts from a variety of trusted sources.
Have you ever wondered how much U.S. currency is in circulation?
Every year, the U.S. Federal Reserve submits a print order for U.S. currency to the Treasury Department’s Bureau of Engraving and Printing (BEP). The BEP will then print billions of notes in various denominations, from $1 bills to $100 bills.
In this graphic, we’ve used the latest Federal Reserve data to visualize the approximate number of bills for each denomination globally, as of Dec. 31, 2022.
Breakdown of U.S. Currency in Circulation
The following table lists all of the data we used to create the visualization above. Note that value figures were rounded for simplicity.
Type of Bill | Number of notes in circulation (billions) | Value ($B) |
---|---|---|
$1 | 14.3 | $14B |
$2 | 1.5 | $3B |
$5 | 3.5 | $18B |
$10 | 2.3 | $23B |
$20 | 11.5 | $230B |
$50 | 2.5 | $125B |
$100 | 18.5 | $1,850B |
$500-10,000* | 0.0004 | n/a |
*$500-10,000 bills are listed as a range, and a total circulation of 0.0004 billion. Not included in graphic.
From these numbers, we can see that $100 bills are the most common bill in circulation, even ahead of $1 bills.
One reason for this is $100 bills have a longer lifespan than smaller denominations, due to people using $100 bills less often for transactions. Some businesses may also decline $100 bills as payment.
Based on 2018 estimates from the Federal Reserve, a $100 bill has a lifespan of over 20 years, which is significantly higher than $1 bills (7 years) and $5 bills (5 years).
If you’re interested in more visualizations on the U.S. dollar, consider this animated chart which shows how the dollar overtook the British pound as the world’s most prominent reserve currency.
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