Andrew Cranegie Success Story

Andrew Cranegie Success Story, Biography, Journey

Andrew Carnegie was a Scottish-American industrialist and philanthropist. Andrew Carnegie led the expansion of the American steel industry in the late 19th century. He also became the richest American in history. During the last 18 years of Andrew's life, he gave away 350 million dollars to many charities, foundations, and universities almost 90 percent of his fortune.

“You cannot push anyone up a ladder unless he is willing to climb a little.”

Andrew Carnegie was born on 25 November 1835 in Dunfermline, Scotland to Margaret Morrison Carnegie and William Carnegie. His family was very poor and lived in one room which was shared with the neighboring weaver's family. In 1836, the family moved to a larger house in Edgar Street. Andrew was educated at the Free School in Dunfermline and that school had been a gift to the town by the philanthropist Adam Rolland of Gask.

“People who are unable to motivate themselves must be content with mediocrity, no matter how impressive their other talents.”

When Andrew was 12 years old his family falls into a very hard time and his mother assisting her brother and sell potted meat in his sweetie shop later his family moves to Allegheny City, Pennsylvania, in 1848. Andrew's father try to work in industries but after he did find a job later he started to work in cotton factories but did not continue for long and ended up making linens at home. At this time to support his family, his mother makes few cents with binding shoes.

“Do your duty and a little more and the future will take care of itself.”

When Andrew was 13 years old he also go to the Pittsburgh cotton factory to do work and support his family which is suffering from poverty. In this work, he was able to make 1.20 dollars a week and he had to work for 6 days and 12 hours. Later he found a job as a telegraph messenger. At the age of 15, he moved up to a telegraph operator position in 1851. At this job, he was being paid 2.50 dollars per week. He then took a job at the Pennsylvania Railroad. In 1853, when Carnegie was around 18 years old, Thomas A. Scott of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company employed him as a secretary/telegraph operator at a salary of $4.00 per week. He worked as the assistant and telegrapher to Thomas Scott, one of the railroad's top officials.

“The man who acquires the ability to take full possession of his own mind may take possession of anything else to which he is justly entitled.”

At the age of 18, Andrew Carnegie also rendered services to the military telegraph during the Civil War and finally took the job the superintendent of Pennsylvania Railroad. In 1855 Andrew lose his father. And then he realizes the importance of education. Later he was able to run the house with his earning.

“Teamwork is the ability to work together toward a common vision. It is the fuel that allows common people to attain uncommon results.”

In 1855, Andrew Carnegie made his first investment of $500 in a messenger train name Adams Express. This was the time when railroads were becoming one of the biggest businesses in America. On December 1, 1859, Carnegie officially became superintendent of the Western Division. While doing these jobs he learns about investments. In 1861, Andrew was appointed as the Superintendent of the Military Railways. He also learns management skills. In 1864, Andrew invested nearly $40,000 in the Oil Creek in Venango County, Pennsylvania. These investments within one year the returns exceeded 1,000,000 dollars to Andrew.

"Every act you have ever performed since the day you were born was because you wanted something. Aim for the highest and when it’s a question of God’s almighty spirit. Never say I can’t."

In wartime, the demand for iron products was increased because iron is used to produce industrial equipment. He left the railroad in 1865 to focus on his other business interests, including the Keystone Bridge Company. After leaving the railroad Andrew to start his steel industry controlling the most extensive integrated iron and steel operations ever owned by an individual in the United States. The most advantageous feature and one of Andrew’s great inventions plant was the use of the Bessemer process which allowed the high carbon content of the pig iron to be burnt away in the fastest time. Due to this steel price dropped as a result and the Bessemer converter was also adopted for rail but it was not suitable for building and bridges.

"You are what you think. So just think big, believe big, act big, work big, give big, forgive big, laugh big, love big, and live big."

His second great innovation was in his vertical integration of all suppliers of raw materials. In the 1880s, Carnegie Steel was the largest manufacturer of pig iron, steel rails, and coke in the world. His industry has the capacity to produce approximately 2,000 tons of pig iron per day. In the 1880s that H.C. Frick, the owner of huge coal lands in Connellsville, Pennsylvania, partnered with Carnegie and took over as the chairman of the Carnegie Company.
They both work in this company as a team. Andrew's focus was on low cost and mass production so this type of thing made his business at heights. In 1883 he take over a rival company called Homestead steelwork. It added the extensive setup along with feeder coal and iron fields, a 425-mile long railway along lake steamships to his gains. Near 1889, he owned quite a few companies such as J. Edgar Thomson Steel Works, Pittsburgh Bessemer Steel Works, the Lucy Furnaces, the Union Iron Mills, the Keystone Bridge Works, the Hartman Steel Works, the Frick Coke Company, and the Scotia ore mines.

"No, your Majesty, I do not like kings, but I do like a man be­hind a king when I find him."

In 1901 when he retired he was 66 years old and then Andrew Carnegie sold the Carnegie Steel Company to John Pierpont Morgan and Charles M. Schwab for nearly 500 million dollars wherein Carnegie’s share was $225 million. Andrew builds almost three thousand plus libraries all over the world with his money. The Carnegie Institute of Technology (CIT) at Pittsburgh was set up in 1901and Carnegie himself donated $2 million for it.

"Wealth is not to feed our egos but to feed the hungry and to help people help themselves."

Andrew Carnegie don’t want to marry during his mother's lifetime because he wanted to take care of his mother's health by himself and when his mother died in 1886. Then 51-year-old Carnegie married Louise Whitfield who was 21 years his junior. In 1897, the couple had their only child, a daughter, whom they named after Carnegie's mother, Margaret.

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