We are all too familiar with many rags to riches stories here and there. But what do all these stories have in common? The story of despair, poverty, hope, survival and surmounting the odds. Bottom line? These rags to riches stories all inspire us. If they can do it, so can we–for these tales are real and somewhere between the lines of poverty, there’s always a glimmer of hope, of not giving up despite the harsh times.

And it’s not uncommon for those dirt-poor kids to metamorphose into famous rags to riches billionaires. Here are classic examples and maybe you can learn a lot from them. Note that some of the self-made moguls are either high school or college dropouts.

Steve Jobs of Apple fame was adopted and was forced to drop out of Reed College (after only 1 semester) when he could not longer afford to pay for the tuition. On November 2009, Steve Jobs was named CEO of the Decade by Fortune Magazine.

Even orphans are not exempted from being successful and a billionaire at that! Take it from Roman Abramovich of Russia. He had a difficult childhood when his mother died from bacteremia when Roman was just a year old and his father was killed on a construction site incident when he was only three years old. Today, he’s considered as Russia’s richest man having a net worth of US$8.5 billion, making him as the 51st richest person in the world.

Sheldon Gary Adelson is also another addition on our rags to riches stories. Born to Jewish parents who later migrated to U.S., He grew up in Boston where his father drove a cab and worked as selling newspapers when he was only 12. Now, Sheldon Adelson is a self-made billionaire businessman (Chairman and CEO of Las Vegas Sands, Corp.) and in the 2009 Forbes List, he’s ranked #178 with a net worth of US$3.4 B.

These are modern day role models to inspire you that poverty is not a hindrance to success.

The author of this article, Amy Twain, is a Self Improvement Coach who has been successfully coaching and guiding clients for many years. Go here to learn about essential motivation techniques for your success. Alternatively click here for Amazon’s Kindle Edition.