"Soichiro Honda" The Man who Refused to give up

I am sure you have heard of Honda Motor Corporation, one of the most successful automakers from Japan. Again what made Honda a success was that its founder, Soichiro Honda was able to take the hardest hits and still get up and move forward.

In 1938, while Soichiro was still in school, when he started a workshop to develop the piston ring that he hoped he could sell to Toyota. He worked 7 days a week, even sleeping in his workshop at times. When money ran out with no success, he pawned his wife's jewelry for working capital.

Finally, came the day he completed his piston ring and was able to sell it to Toyota. However, he was told that the rings did not meet their standards! Soichiro went back to school for 2 years to improve his invention only to suffer ridicule when the engineers saw his design.

He refused to quit. After two more years of struggle and improvement, he successful won the contract with Toyota. He needed to build a factory to supply Toyota. Unfortunately, his timing was bad. At this time, the Japanese government was gearing up for war and needed all the concrete for the war effort, so he could not get the concrete necessary to build his factory.

Instead of giving up, he invented a new concrete-making process that enabled him to build the factory. With the factory now built, he was ready for production, but again, his luck was bad. His factory was bombed twice by American war planes and steel became unavailable, too.

Instead of giving up, he started collecting surplus gasoline cans discarded by US fighters – "Gifts from President Truman," he called them, which became the new raw materials for his rebuilt manufacturing process. Again, his timing was bad. An earthquake hit and his factory was destroyed the third time.

After the war, an extreme gasoline shortage forced people to walk or use bicycles. Soichiro saw this opportunity and built a tiny engine and attached it to his bicycle. His neighbors wanted one, and although he tried, materials could not be found and he was unable to supply the demand. He also didn't have the money to build another factory to make these 'motorbikes'.

He still didn't quit. he wrote letters to 18,000 bicycles shop owners and asked them to pay him in advanced so he could build his factory to sell them his newly invented motorbikes. Unfortunately, the first models were too bulky to work well, so he continued to develop and adapt, until finally, 'The Super Cub' became a success and took Japan by storm. With success in Japan, Honda began exporting his bicycle engines to Europe and America.

This was how the Honda Motor Corporation was formed. Was that the end of his problems? Nope! As he ran Honda, it went into lots of financial problems. Honda also went near to bankruptcy five times, only to be turned around just in time. Everytime he took a hit, Soichiro would just get up, learn from his mistakes and keep moving forward.



Today, Honda Corporation employs over 100,000 people in the USA and Japan, and is one of the world's largest automobile companies. Honda's excellent engineering and clever marketing even resulted in Honda motorcycles out-selling Triumph and Harley-Davidson in their respective home markets.

So, the greater the success you want in life, the bigger the hits you got to be willing to take. There is a price for everything. A Suzuki costs $30,000 and a Ferrari costs $1m (at least in Singapore).

Success too has a price. The price is massive rejection, frustration, and hardwork, People never succeed either because they thought that success comes easy or because they are not willing to pay the price!

Hearty Thanx to.... Adam Khoo
Motivation Speaker | Asia's #1 Success Coach
Best-selling author of
Master Your Mind, Design Your Destiny
Secrets of Self-Made Millionaires