Originally Posted by Snake Doctor

Ok then forget Gene's list, and look at this one.

Walt Disney
William C. Durant (founder of GM)
PT Barnum (before he started the circus)
Ulysses S. Grant
Milton Snavely Hershey (his first 4 candy companies failed)
Abraham Lincoln
Thomas Paine
Rembrandt
Donald Trump
Mark Twain
Oscar Wilde
Henry Ford (First two car companies failed)
HJ Heinz

All of them were "average guys" before they became what they ultimately were, and all of them, at some point in their lives before that, filed for bankruptcy.