Elon Musk is a multi-talented man. He is a South African-born American businessman who co-founded the electronic-payment company PayPal and developed SpaceX, which is the producer of spacecraft and launch vehicles. He was also one of the preeminent investors and even the chief executive officer of the electric car manufacturer Tesla.
Elon Musk was born to a South African father and a Canadian mother. From the beginning of his life, he showed an ability for computers and entrepreneurship. At age 12, he made a video game and sold it to a computer magazine. In the year of 1988, after getting a Canadian passport, Musk went from South Africa because he was reluctant to support apartheid through compulsory military service and because he inquired about the more significant economic possibilities available in the United States.
Elon Musk studied at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario, and in 1992 he transferred to the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, wherein in 1997, he obtained bachelor’s degrees in physics and economics. He registered for graduation in physics at Stanford University in California, but he dropped only after two days because he sensed that the Internet had much more chances to improve society than work in physics.
Over the years, the enthusiastic entrepreneur has had so much work to do and has started many exceptional ventures. It shows that Musk is in active pursuit of ground-breaking innovations, pioneering technology, and sustainable developments. Certainly, he has accomplished a fleet of achievements on his way to the top.
Before we let you inspire from his words of wisdom, we direct you to his significant achievements in his domain.
Significant Achievements of Elon Musk:
Without further delay, here are some of Elon Musk’s most outstanding accomplishments.
1. At the age of 12, he created his own video game:
The interest of Elon Musk in technology began growing when he was ten years old when he decided to teach himself about programming. He learned the BASIC language after completing a six-month course within only three days. His attempts were not in vain, either: at 12 years old, he succeeded in creating his own video game and market its code for the fair amount of $500.
2. He read the complete Encyclopedia Britannica at nine years of age:
Musk was an enthusiastic reader from a very tender age. On average, he would give 10 hours a day to studying science fiction novels and anything he could able to get his hands on. In reality, at the age of nine, he ran out of books to study at the library, so he ended up reading the whole Encyclopedia Britannica before he completed his fourth grade.
3. He ran a speakeasy to pay rent:
As a student of the self-funded college, Elon Musk had to create creative ways to get some income, a problem to which he made an intelligent solution was to rent out a 10-bedroom frat house and convert it into a club. According to Elon Musk, he and his friend would make a rent of a whole month in just one night.
4. He did his first internship at a bank:
While studying in college, Elon Musk made a practice of calling business people he read about in news or magazines and inviting them to meet for lunch. Certainly, this was the bold act that landed him his very initial internship at the Bank of Nova Scotia. His knowledge there was beneficial, as years later, he would go on to start his own online finance business.
5. He completed his double major in physics and business:
After studying for two years at Queen’s University in Kingston, Canada, Musk transferred to the University of Pennsylvania on a complete scholarship drive. There, he proceeded with a double major in business and physics and done his graduation from the prestigious Wharton School.
6. He sold his first company for $307 million:
On his first attempt to give a break in the internet industry, Musk collaborated with his brother Kimbal to begin their own company, Zip2. It was not long before their company was sold to a more prominent company for a massive $307 million. This transaction settled Musk with $22 million, which is actually too good for a 27-year-old!
7. He cofounded PayPal:
PayPal resulted from a consolidation between Musk’s company X.com and Confinity, a rival internet finance company. Musk worked as the CEO of PayPal after the merger, but his executive years were short-lived as he was fired while on his vacation. Notwithstanding the fallback, he continued to sit on the board and continued funding in PayPal. His participation played an influential role when the company was sold to eBay two years later for a huge $1.5 billion, from which Musk earning was $180 million.
8. He established SpaceX:
Before the PayPal sale was even settled, Musk turned his attention to space research. The business magnate was firm to make space travel more convenient, and in a bid to grow and build his own space launch vehicles, SpaceX was founded in 2002. By 2006, the space rocket company contracted with NASA to manage scheduled cargo transportation to the International Space Station in the year of 2008.
9. He set up the Musk Foundation:
In 2002, Elon Musk and his brother created a private foundation supporting four different areas: renewable energy analysis and support, human space exploration research and advocacy, science and engineering education, and pediatric research. With almost $300 million donated, his foundation has directed on disaster relief, AI, and sustainable innovations.
10. He became the CEO of Tesla:
In 2004, Musk originally joined Tesla’s board of directors as a chairman. Being one of its major investors, he assumed his position as CEO in 2007. His idea of producing electric cars and making way for a more sustainable future also made him the company’s lead product architect.
11. He transformed the industry of electric car:
As a tremendous advocate for sustainable energy, Musk was decided to build a product that would transform the car industry. After Tesla’s first electric car, the Roadster beat the market in 2008, the company favorably shifted the world’s understanding of electric cars and assumed its position as one of the world’s top automotive sellers. Currently, Tesla is managing to take a step towards taking another innovative development: an electric car battery with a million-mile lifespan.
12. He made a billion-dollar agreement with NASA:
After three failed attempts, finally, in 2008, SpaceX successfully launched the fourth rocket into space. This was a breakthrough time for Musk’s company as it gained them a $1.6 billion contract with NASA. This was also an important personal achievement for Musk, who’d applied the last of his savings to finance the making of the fourth rocket.
13. He debuted Tesla’s Model S vehicle:
In 2009, Musk launched Tesla’s Model S vehicle. Since its first launch, the expensive vehicle made history after getting the highest ever Consumer Reports rating of 99/100 in 2013 and the highest safety rating in history from the National Highway Safety Administration. Tesla succeeded to beat its own record rating in 2015 after getting 103/100 for its newest model.
14. He launched the Falcon 9 Rocket:
In 2012, the Falcon 9 rocket made its flight to the International Space Station with 1,000 pounds of supplies for the astronauts assigned there. The mission made SpaceX the first-ever private company to send a spacecraft to the ISS, and Falcon 9 achieved a fleet of different flights for NASA from thereon.
15. He linked the Giving Pledge:
In 2012, Elon Musk followed other billionaires like Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg by contracting the Giving Pledge. This engaged the business magnate to give the majority of its fortune in a bid to support philanthropic objectives.
16. He launched a reusable rocket to space:
In 2015, SpaceX made a giant leap towards affordable space travel by successfully landing a rocket on Earth after it was sent into space. By 2017, SpaceX became the first company to launch a NASA resupply mission on an earlier used rocket and making it the first reusable rocket to enter orbit.
17. He set the Hyperloop in motion:
In another attempt to revolutionize transportation technology, Musk founded the Hyperloop in 2013. Its primary purpose was to slash travel time between major cities via ultra-fast pods that would move on renewable energy. With many models ran and experimented with, India and Missouri are the first places to have launched initial investigations for Hyperloop’s installation.
18. He created OpenAI:
In late 2015, Musk proclaimed the creation of OpenAI, a San Francisco-based organization trying to develop artificial intelligence to help humankind and to develop AI technologies that can work better than the human brain. However, as Tesla became more involved in AI, Musk had to step down as the chairmanship of OpenAI in 2018 to bypass any dispute of interest.
19. He got SolarCity:
Initially, Musk spent $10 million on SolarCity back in 2006. Soon enough, SolarCity grew the largest installer of solar panels in the US. After closely cooperating with Tesla, the company bought off SolarCity and in 2016, making it a subsidiary.
20. He established the Boring Company:
One of the most recent ventures of Elon Musk is the Boring Company, a transportation startup committed to boring and constructing tunnels. Its central aim is to connect affordable technology with electric public transportation to allow fast transport over the cities. Unsurprisingly, the entrepreneur’s side venture is doing exceptionally well, having recently settled a $48.7 million contract to develop an underground tunnel in Las Vegas.
21. He debuted the Powerwall:
In his pursuance of sustainable technology, Elon Musk led Tesla one step further with the opening of the Powerwall. The innovative solar-charged battery pack beat the market in 2015 and gives a more affordable and sustainable alternative to power homes.
22. He cofounded Neuralink:
As if space research, transportation tunnels, and electric cars were not enough, Musk began a new enthusiasm project back in 2016. The business magnate founded Neuralink, a neural tech company, intending to develop neurotechnology to combine artificial intelligence into the human brain.
23. He started the Big Falcon Rocket:
In September 2017, Musk unveiled a recently modernized design for the Big Falcon Rocket, renamed it as Starship. With the potential to carry over 100 passengers, the spacecraft was another leap towards the entrepreneur’s overarching aim to conquer Mars. With launch experiments still underway, Musk believes that the first crewless mission could occur as early as 2022.
24. He was listed as one of the World’s Most Powerful People:
The business magnate was ranked 25th on Forbes’ 2018 list of the world’s most powerful people. According to the editors of Forbes, the rankings are based on the capital control of individuals, the number of people they influence, and their impact on the industry they work within. With Musk’s huge list of accomplishments, getting on a spot on this prestigious list comes as no shock!
25. He launched Gigafactory 3 in Shanghai:
Another latest achievement of Elon Musk is Tesla’s Gigafactory 3, based in Shanghai, China, which he was able to set up in record time: it used just 168 days to have it up and to run! As Tesla’s second-largest market, China was an important move on Musk’s part, forming Gigafactory 3, the first large-scale plant outside the US.
Inspirational Elon Musk Quotes 2021
So, if you are an ambitious business person, take a page out of Musk’s book. While the way to success is never smooth, a lot can be achieved if you have enough courage and persistence.
In order to motivate you more, here are some of his inspirational quotes.
“Being an entrepreneur is like eating glass and staring into the abyss of death.” — Elon Musk
When students of Draper University visited the Tesla factory, they asked Elon, “As an established entrepreneur, what is the number one tip you have for all the young entrepreneurs waiting to startup?”
He said, “I think it’s very difficult to start companies, it’s quite painful. A friend of mine has a good phrase for doing a startup: it’s like eating glass and staring into the abyss. If you are wired to do it, then only do it, not otherwise. So think of it this way — if you need inspiring words, DON’T DO IT!”
“It is possible for ordinary people to choose to be extraordinary.” ― Elon Musk
Most of the Potterhead’s know the rags to riches story of J. K. Rowling. Not many people had known about her name until the day the first Harry Potter novel was issued. She once said that when she seemed like a failure at one point in time, it was then when she felt liberated; that is when she started working on Harry Potter and the rest is history. She decided to be extraordinary, and she did it.
“(Physics is) a good framework for thinking. … Boil things down to their fundamental truths and reason up from there.” – Elon Musk
Begin with the basics and build from there. You cannot master something by ignoring the fundamentals.
“You shouldn’t do things differently just because they’re different. They need to be better.” — Elon Musk
Most of first-time entrepreneurs are misled into creating something different. If something is not better than the current solution, how much does it mean to be different?
“Failure is an option here. If things are not failing, you are not innovating enough.” – Elon Musk
Elon is defiantly not afraid to fail. With his companies almost going bankrupt in the past, it has caused him to re-evaluate, re-launch and come back 10X stronger.
“Some people don’t like change, but you need to embrace change if the alternative is disaster.” — Elon Musk
Many of us who are keen to follow Elon Musk’s life events aware of how Elon was in severe pain after his breakup with Amber Heard. It broke him, as he said, but did that stop him from moving on? Did he let his loneliness affect his professional life? He took his time but then embraced the change which is inevitable.
“It’s OK to have your eggs in one basket as long as you control what happens to that basket.” ― Elon Musk
He was often close to failure in some of these ventures and failed in delivering on deadlines he expected, but today, most of them are growing. He determined where to spend his time and money very carefully and controlled the process. That is complete work and a sign of enormous dedication, knowledge, and wise decision-maker.
It does not matter if you put all your eggs in one basket or many; it is you and how much you understand yourself that matters.
“My biggest mistake is probably weighing too much on someone’s talent and not someone’s personality. I think it matters whether someone has a good heart.” – Elon Musk
Often, the hard skills, such as the skills required for the job, are much more comfortable to teach and learn than the soft skills necessary for teamwork, leadership, and influence. Skills can be learned, but a plan comes from within. You cannot teach or train the heart.
“I think we have a duty to maintain the light of consciousness to make sure it continues into the future.” — Elon Musk
What do you consider is the mission of SpaceX? Making humans a multi-planetary species? Yes, that is one, but why make it a multi-planetary species? It is to keep the light of knowledge alive. To keep looking for explanations to questions like, why are we here? How does the universe work?
“Don’t delude yourself into thinking something’s working when it’s not, or you’re gonna get fixated on a bad solution.” — Elon Musk
Suppose you are preparing for the CFA exam. You assume you can solve it within a month’s preparation when you know you need much more time than that, it is merely bad planning. You are living in a fancy. You need to get out of it and set realistic goals that you can accomplish in a certain period.
“When something is important enough, you do it even if the odds are not in your favor.” ― Elon Musk
How many thriving private ventures can you remember in the space industry? It is hard to remember any except SpaceX, which has done a great job. It is a challenging field to bet upon. He did it despite all odds because he considered it. He believes it is essential to make human beings a multi-planetary species.
“There’s a tremendous bias against taking risks. Everyone is trying to optimize their ass-covering.” — Elon Musk
This can be linked to the career decisions we make in life. You could have enjoyed your life much more being a physicist, but you chose to be a software engineering as a stable option. That is just one example. You could be anything you wanted to be, but then why did you settle for something less. Take a chance; it’s never too late.
“If you’re trying to create a company, it’s like baking a cake. You have to have all the ingredients in the right proportion.” — Elon Musk
You would be fortunate to make your initial venture achieve the success you wanted, but that seldom happens. You practice, fail but do not give up, and that is how you get to build a company that creates value.
There is something to be told about Elon Musk’s relentless drive. His steadfast courage, growing curiosity, and determination have improved him to become one of the most successful entrepreneurs of all time.
With a long path of achievements behind him, the leading magnate shows no signs of slowing down. His objectives might, quite literally, end up taking him to another planet altogether. Through his courage to take significant chances to attain success and bring change, Elon has impacted the universe. Hopefully, these Elon Musk quotes have inspired you to think outside the box.
