In this Famous Friday episode, Evan Carmichael delivers a motivational narrative that uses the life of Carl Benz—founder of the company that became Mercedes‑Benz—to illustrate the power of modeling success and relentlessly pursuing one’s dream. He outlines Benz’s early hardships (father’s death, poverty, education), a series of unrelated jobs, two failed startups, and his eventual pivot back to his passion for bicycles and the vision of a horseless carriage. After a disastrous public demo in 1885, Benz persisted, refined his prototype, and achieved a successful demonstration at the 1887 Paris Expo, leading to the first commercially available automobile in 1888 and the birth of a global brand. Carmichael emphasizes that repeated failure, perseverance, and an irrational belief in one’s dream are essential to eventual success. The video ends with a call to subscribe and a listener testimonial praising Carmichael’s newsletters.
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Welcome to the Famous Friday. I believe that whatever goal you have, whatever challenge is in front of you, the easiest way, the fastest way to go and accomplish it is to model success. Find someone who's already doing what you want to do, learn what made them successful, and apply it to your business. So today we're going to learn from Carl Benz, whose company eventually became Mercedes-Benz, and his lesson is: Follow your dreams. When Karl Benz was 2 years old, his father, who was a locomotive driver, was killed. He grew up in absolute poverty, but his mother made sure that he continued to get his education and further his studies. Initially, he went into locksmithing. That was the box that he was put into, but he wanted to follow his dreams, follow in his father's footsteps, and go into locomotive engineering. He also had a passion for riding his bicycle and dreamed of a day where there would be a horseless carriage, where people could be able to get around on a vehicle that didn't require a horse. After he finished his studies, he spent 7 years bouncing around trying to find himself. He took jobs in mechanical engineering, as a draftsman, as an iron worker in a construction company, as a designer, but he couldn't find a position that he really loved. And instead of doing the safe thing and sticking with one job for the rest of his life, he decided the best thing for him would be continue to explore until he found something he loved. So at age 26, after spending the past 7 years failing and bouncing from job to job to job, he decided to launch his own company with a partner. Unfortunately, his partner wasn't really reputable, and after a year, all of the company's assets and tools and equipment were impounded. So he set up another company with a photographer and a cheese merchant, merging the businesses together so they can get money from the bank. But he got his shares diluted to owning just 5% of the company and had a really lowly role in the business. The worst part was the other founders didn't consider his ideas when they were designing new products. So after a year, he left. So now he has 7 years of failing in the job market and 2 failed startup businesses under his belt. What would you do if you were in this situation? Most people would be filled with despair. They feel like, "I've tried everything. I've tried every job. I've tried every business and it's not working out. What am I supposed to do?" So he tapped back into his love of bicycles and his dream of building the horseless carriage. He visited a local bicycle shop, got to know the two partners who founded it, and with them started a new business. His goal was to build the first horseless carriage, which would become known as the automobile. So after working away for two years, he finally had his first prototype. He was so excited! Finally, the first automobile! And he set up a live demonstration to show everybody what his new invention could do. So in 1885, he set up the public demonstration, and unfortunately, the automobile was too difficult to control, and in front of everybody, smashed into a wall. So here he is after 2 years of researching, developing, and making this prototype, after 2 years before failed businesses, after 7 years before failed jobs, everything's leading up to this moment, this day, here it is, it's finally arrived, And it's a huge public failure for him. So what would you do then? Would you give up and go do the safe thing again and get a job? It was Carl's dream, so he had to keep going. It took him another 2 years of developing and tinkering and modifying before he had a product that was ready for another big public demonstration. In 1887, he had his new prototype ready for demonstration at the Paris Expo. It was a success, and in the summer of 1888, he started taking orders, and he had now the first commercially available automobile in history. His dream of building a horseless carriage had been realized, and he was on his way to building a worldwide brand name. This is a really important lesson for you guys, because if you have a dream, there's gonna be people who tell you not to do it. You're gonna try a lot of things, and you're gonna fail. It might take years of failing and failing and failing and failing with no light anywhere at the end of the tunnel. What keeps you motivated to keep going? You're gonna wanna quit and throw in the towel multiple times. The only thing that keeps you excited is that dream. It's at times an irrational belief that you can make this dream a reality. And if you listen to your dream and continue to take steps every day to move towards it, eventually you'll accomplish it and maybe build a world-recognizable brand in the process too. Believe. If you guys like this video and you want to see more, subscribe to the channel and let me know what you think about this video by leaving a comment below. Thank you so much for watching and I'll see you soon.
Evan, your newsletters have taught me not to quit. I look forward to them every week. They have changed my life. Thank you.
