The Self-Reliant Entrepreneur

October

Mark Twain (1835–1910)

Don't go around saying the world owes you a living. The world owes you nothing. It was here first.

—Mark Twain

Source: Wikimedia

Samuel Clemens, who wrote under the name Mark Twain, was born in Missouri in 1835.

Twain lost his father at age 11, and he left school to work as a printer's apprentice at a local newspaper. These formative years at the newspaper would shape Twain's young adulthood. In 1853, he moved north to New York and Philadelphia, where he wrote for several newspapers.

However, in 1857 he moved home to fulfill his dream of becoming a riverboat captain on the Mississippi. But the American Civil War ended all river traffic in 1861 and thus Twain's burgeoning career.

He then went west to Nevada, where his brother was a prospector. After finding little success as a prospector himself, Twain returned to newspapers, writing for publications in Nevada and San Francisco.

In 1865, his story “Jim Smiley and His Jumping Frog” gained national attention. This further established his name, and Twain embarked on a trip from California to Europe, writing for various papers along the way. The stories from this trip were compiled into his first book, The Innocents Abroad, which became an instant hit.

Literary success was not the only positive to come out of his travels. He also met Charles Langdon in 1869, who showed Twain a picture of his sister, ...