Humble beginnings to coffee giant: The inspiring journey of Schultz and Starbucks

The million dollar idea was rejected 217 times but still he didn’t give up trying. He started his company by selling all his assets, talking out loans and convincing 25 out of 242 investors. Today, Starbucks is the world’s largest coffee chain, with over 35000 stores in 80plus countries. Howard Schultz was born into a poor family in Brooklyn, New York. His father was a truck driver who struggled to make ends meet. He spent his childhood living in a small bedroom apartment from public housing projects.

When he was only 7 years old, his father broke his leg in an accident. Because of that his father was fired from his job with no medical insurance and no savings. His family was struggling for money. Schultz worked hard from a young age to get a better life. He played football in high school and earned an athletic scholarship to go to college. But he didn’t want to play sports and decided to major in communications. So to pay for college, he had to take student loans and worked many odd jobs to make ends meet. He worked as a bartender and even sold his blood a few times to manage his basic needs. After graduation, he worked at a ski lodge as a salesman, but he had a desire to work at Starbucks. At that time, Starbucks had 3 owners and only sold coffee beans. So at the age of 29, after 1 year of convincing the owners to hire him, he finally got a job at Starbucks.