Steve Harvey is a prominent American businessman, actor, author, game show host, and former comedian. Harvey is also the author of the New York Times bestselling book Act Like a Lady Think Like a Man, as well as three other books. In addition to this, he is also the founder of the Steve Harvey Global Entertainment Company, which is a shell company for most of his other successful businesses. So, considering Steve Harvey’s impressive list of achievements, we will be diving into how this inspiring man came to be in this Steve Harvey Success Story special.
“The Dream Is Free. The Hustle is Sold Separately.”
After years of studying the lives of the world’s most accomplished people, we noticed that success leaves clues. In fact, it is one of the primary reasons we write success stories about extraordinary people like Steve Harvey. We also chose to write about Steve Harvey because has an an inspiring rags to riches story, that everyone should know about.
In addition to this, we also know that every story possesses hidden gems that can inspire us, inform us, and better us in new ways. So, with that being said, if you’re ready to learn how Steve Harvey transformed his life from ordinary to extraordinary, then let’s dive in.
THE STEVE HARVEY STORY
Early Days | Steve Harvey Success Story
As a young boy, Steve Harvey had a dream. In his early days, when he was just in grade school, he made up his mind that he wanted to become famous and be on television. In fact, he was so determined that this is what he wanted to do with his life, that he bravely stood before his entire class one day, after the teacher gave every student the opportunity to tell the class what they wanted to be when they grew up.
This was a big leap for Steve Harvey, because not only was he young, and knew little about the real world, but he had a severe stutter. A stutter that many people would use an excuse for why they couldn’t do something.
Steve Harvey’s decision to stand up in front of his class, and tell the world what he intended to do with his life was a defining moment for him. Here’s why; after being asked what he wanted to be when he grew up, and after sharing his vision with his teacher and his entire class that he wanted to be on Television someday, he was ridiculed. He shared his vision, his dreams, and as typically happens to far too many starry-eyed kids with big dreams, someone belittles them.
In Harvey’s case, it was his own teacher who tried to snuff out his dream.
She assured Harvey, that he would never make it onto the television or in the entertainment industry because of his severe stutter. This teacher leveled with Harvey that his dream was a pipe dream, especially considering no one in his community ever had, or would make it big in the entertainment world.
Challenge Accepted
But, Harvey didn’t let this teacher destroy his dream. Instead, he used his teacher’s doubts as fuel. He personally took her naysaying as a challenge, and committed himself to proving her wrong someday.
Now, even though Steve Harvey chose to challenge his teacher’s naysaying, he still had to go through some serious trials and tribulations before he would take his leap.
In fact, before ‘making it”, Steve Harvey spent years bouncing from job to job. He worked as a autoworker, an insurance salesman, a mailman, a carpet cleaner, and many other jobs. That’s right, before he became the successful person he is today, he struggled just to make ends meet. But then, at the age of 27, he deciding to finally go after his dream. And this is when things became really difficult for Harvey.
Steve Harvey finally took a leap of faith to pursue a career in comedy. And, for the following three years, he would struggle. For three years he was homeless, and living out of his Ford Taurus so he could continue to pursue his dream.
The Tides Turns
For three long grueling years, Harvey would do small stand up comedy gigs, and local shows to scrape by. Barely making enough money to survive, he persisted on this path as it was part of his plan for breaking into show business.
Unfortunately, things would get so bad for Steve Harvey, that he eventually found himself having to bathe in the sinks and toilet stalls at hotel bathrooms. It actually got so bad for Harvey, that he hit his breaking point during one of his bathing sessions.
One day while lathering up with soap, and being unable to come out to finish his “bath” for fear of being seeing by a flood of men who happened to be in the bathroom because of a break in a conference that the hotel was hosting, Harvey made up his mind to call it quits.
Interestingly, on the day Steve Harvey was considering giving up, instead of calling his dad to ask him if he could move back home, he instead decided to check an answering machine his parents set up for him for anyone who was looking to contact him while he was on the road.
Low and behold, on that answering machine was a message from the Apollo Comedy Club inviting him to come on to their show. Harvey seized the opportunity, and even though he didn’t have the means to fly across the country to be on the show initially, he found a way. After Steve Harvey landed his debut on the Apollo Comedy Club which put him smack dab where he wanted to be, on television, and he never looked back.
Harvey proved his teacher wrong.
Upward and Onward
Steve Harvey has been on television in some way shape or form every single day since that fateful day. He went on to becoming known to many as ‘The King of Comedy’, becoming the host of the Apollo Comedy Club, which would eventually come to be known as It’s Showtime at The Apollo. He made his way onto T.V. shows, into movies, hosting his own T.V. show, and becoming the host of the extremely popular show Family Feud.
Harvey has had a long, an extremely accomplished career in the entertainment industry. And since 2017, he’s been successfully running various businesses under the name of Steve Harvey Global.
One thing that’s important to keep in mind, is that despite all of Steve Harvey’s success on the big screen, and his accumulation of millions, he had to work for it. Harvey earned every bit of the success he now has, and he did it because harbored an effective success ethos.
Success Ethos | Harvey Success Story
Steve Harvey’s success ethos is comprised of a handful of key attributes, and the one most responsible for his initial success was first and for most, his willingness to take a shot at making it big. He was willing to risk it all for success, and he did for three long years. Had he never risked going for it, he never would have reached his mountain top of success.
The next success attribute responsible for Steve Harvey’s success, was his determination to push through till the very end. And even though he seemed like he was about to quit on that fateful day, he showed faith and hope that there was still a chance at success by first calling that answering machine.
Steve Harvey has also shown to have a fierce dedication to his work. He’s mentioned during interview how he makes sure to always have something going on in terms of money-making activities (i.e. shows, event, movies, and other business activities). He makes it a point to keep himself busy, never ceasing to have a job/show to work on, because he never wants to be homeless again. In short, much of his success can be attributed to a strong work-ethic.
Lastly, Steve Harvey attributes much of his success to faith. Harvey is a Godly man, who is convinced that had not read and believed in a few passages from the bible, namely proverbs, that he wouldn’t have had the faith necessary to the heights of success he has reached.
Related: Steve Harvey’s Net Worth
In His Own Words
Steve Harvey has, in his own words, on multiple occasions, provided us with the seeds of his success. Here are just a few of those instances, where he has attempted to use his words to show us the way:
The quotes above tell us a lot about success, and if you’re looking for even more insights, you’ll certainly get them by watching the embedded video below.
Related: Steve Harvey Quotes for Success
So, give it a watch, as it sums up Steve Harvey’s take on success very succinctly.
Video Credit: The Official Steve Harvey | Subscribe Here
Conclusion
There you have it, the Steve Harvey success story that describes his journey from being a young kid with a sever stutter, who’s teacher tried to kill his dream, to a starving artist living out of his car, to finally getting his shot, and making the most of it.
We’ve uncovered his success ethos and the key success attributes that helped him find his way out of the poor house, and into a world of massive success and fame. And because we believe repetition is the mother of skill, the father of action, we’re summing up those success qualities for you one more time, here they are:
Fearlessness | Persistence | Work-Ethic | Faith
With that being said, you now have some key success insights you can now leverage to find your own massive levels of success. So, take your leap, put in the work, don’t give up, and have faith that in due time, your day in the sun will eventually arrive.
Until then,
STRIVE
PS – If you enjoyed our Steve Harvey success story, then you’ll love this collection of short but empowering success stories.
