When it came to hardships, Gates and Zuckerberg might have had to tighten their belts a bit as they worked toward their dreams. Some of these successful examples of businesses initially were based out of their founder’s garages … but they had it fairly easy when it came to things like having heat, hot water, and electricity. Franklin had it just a bit rougher, living in a time where getting heat and hot water was a chore and electric-powered homes were more than a century away. His quote in Poor Richard’s Almanack, “No gains without pain,” would seem to show that perhaps he didn’t mind — after he was grown up, anyway.

Franklin didn’t let his being sent into the workforce at a young age keep him down. His keen intellect (he was excelling in school before dropping out) and his personality helped him do everything from doing scientific marvels like showing how lightning was related to electricity (via Franklin Institute), inventing bifocal glasses, and creating a stove that was used by multitudes to helping form the independent country of America with both his writing ability and his diplomacy skills (via Benjamin Franklin Historical Society). The former 10-year-old candle-and-soap worker became wealthy and left an indelible imprint in American history (via History).