In 1990 when J.K. Rowling’s mother passed away, it signified the start of one of the most difficult times in her life. At only 25 years old, J.K Rowling relocated from Manchester, UK and went to work as an English teacher in Portugal. She shortly met a local journalist there and got married before giving birth to her first child. However, the marriage was short-lived and after separation, she returned to Scotland with her daughter.

She was unable to get employment and survived on start welfare. J.K. Rowling describes her condition at the time as being as poor as possible without being homeless. Basically, she was a jobless, penniless single mother who had already taken out a restraining court order against her ex. All these financial troubles ranging from lacking money for food to failure to pay rent for several months took a toll on her, and she became depressed and even contemplated suicide.

However, despite feeling like a failure and having suicidal thoughts, her will to provide for her young daughter and a story idea kept her going. While on a train ride to London, J.K. Rowling had an idea about writing the story of a young boy who attended a wizard school. Even through all the challenges, she was facing, she never stopped writing her story.

Interestingly, J.K. Rowling had never even been an exceptional student as she was denied admission into Oxford University. She also did not have any experience in writing or publishing a book. Furthermore, even though she urgently need a paying job to settle her bills, she just spent her time writing.

Five years later in 1995, the first ever Harry Potter book was ready. The manuscript was rejected by the first 12 publishing houses, before finally being accepted on the final 13th attempt when Bloomsbury approved the book and published it. However, the editor advised Rowling to look for another job as he thought that the book may only make her a couple thousand dollars maximum.

Through all her failures, J.K. Rowling became very successful with her Harry Potter book series, selling over 450 million copies. The movies that were adapted from the books also became one of the top-grossing movie series of all time. With all these accomplishments, J.K. Rowling is now among the richest and most influential people in the UK, and her charity organisation fights for children’s welfare and eliminating poverty.

J.K. Rowling believes that one of the main reasons that she finally succeeded is due to the teachings she gained from failure. Persistence, effort, vision and guts all helped her succeed. She also stopped focusing on the negative aspects of her life and with a remarkable precision, Rowling settled on achieving one life goal.


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