Lucky Breaks of Successful Entrepreneurs

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Gary Player, one of he greatest golf players of all time, once famously said "The harder I practice, the luckier I get".

We're not saying that these entrepreneurs didn't work hard to get where they are today, but these lucky breaks definitely played a part in helping them along the way, even if some of them didn't seem particularly 'lucky' at the time.

Ryan Graves; Age 26; Net Worth: £1.1 billion

In 2010, the CEO of Uber, Travis Kalanick tweeted that he was looking for a new product manager and asked if anyone had tips. Ryan quickly responded to say "here's a tip, email me :)" and from this one tweet, he was on his way to becoming one of the youngest billionaires in the world.

Richard Branson; Age: 23, Net Worth: £3.3 billion

In the early days of Virgin Records, the company was having trouble finding success in the US with the new song of their latest signing, 'Tubular Bells.' Branson had given the song to the head of Atlantic Records, who happened to be playing the album in his office when movie director, William Friedkin walked in looking for some backing music for his latest film. The movie in question was "The Exorcist", one of the biggest box-office hits of all time.

Levi Roots: Age: 48, Net Worth: £30 million

Levi Roots had his luck break when he went on the show Dragons Den in 2007. Roots only ended up on the show after a BBC researcher found him at a food fair in London, and had never even heard of Dragon's Den beforehand. He is now worth approximately £30 million.

Sergery Brin and Larry Page: Age 22, Net Worth: £25.9 billion and £20.2 billion

Larry Page and Sergery Brin didn't intend for Google to turn into the huge corporation it is today when they first came up with the idea. Initially Google was simply started as a class project whilst they were both studying at Stanford. They wanted to create a better search engine which could rank websites based on their relationships to one another.

Walt Disney: Age 27; Net Worth: £3.5 billion

Walt Disney's first animated character was actually named Oswald the lucky rabbit, but because Walt was working under a contract at Universal Pictures at the time, this character officially belonged to them. After a pay cut, Walt decided to leave Universal Pictures but this meant leaving behind Oswald too. It was then that he created Mickey Mouse, the character which has since served as a symbol for the entire Disney franchise.

Michael Kittredge, Age 17, New Worth: £1.1 billion 

Michael Kittredge made his first scented candle in his garage using melted crayons to create a gift for his mother. A visiting friend expressed an interest in buying one, and from there, Kittredge began to mass produce the candles creating the business which he later sold for an impressive £1.1 billion.

Hans Christian Anderson, Age 24, Net Worth: Unknown

At the age of 14 Andersen moved to Copenhagen to pursue dreams of being an actor or singer at the Royal Danish Theatre. Unfortunately, his teachers could not see any talent in him. Luckily one director of the theatre decided to take him under his wing. He paid for him to be sent to school, which is when Andersen began to realize his talent for writing. Once he left school his work began to be published and he finally gained the fame he always desired.

Lars Sorensen, Age: 46, Net Worth: Unknown

When Lars Sorenson was vote the best performing CEO of 2015 by Harvard Business Review, he actually credited his luck as the most important factor which got him there. When Novo Nordisk was first founded to create insulin, the drug was very newly discovered. Now, nearly 400 million people in the world suffer from diabetes and Novo Nordisk controls almost half of the market for insulin production.

J.K. Rowling, Age: 25, Net Worth: £69 million

J.K. Rowling was a single mother living on welfare and struggling to get by. Her turning point came when she was waiting for a delayed train from Manchester to London. Rowling cites the six-hour delay as the time when the characters Ron, Hermione and Harry, finally became fully formed in her mind. Six years later, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone was published.

Steve Jobs, Age: 30, Net Worth: £7 billion

Steve Jobs was once quoted saying 'getting fired from Apple was the greatest thing that could have happened to me.' He claims that this moment freed him of the pressure of being successful, allowing him to enter one of the most creative periods of his life. During this period he worked on ventures such as Pixar, which has now become the most successful animation studio in the world. He also returned to Apple to create some of the most popular products they have ever had, including the IPod, IPhone and IPad.