Does the Road to Success Lie Through Failure? It Can, According to Billionaire Bill Bartmann

Most people don't value their failures...but Bill Bartmann does. In fact, when it comes to failure and success, no one knows the ropes better than he does. If that seems a little exaggerated, it's not. Among other life changes, Bartmann pulled himself from abject poverty to become the 25th wealthiest man in America.

"I've had a very interesting life," Bartmann says. "I've gone from being unemployed and almost unemployable, to employing more than 10,000 people. I've gone from being a million dollars in the hole and bankrupt to being over a billion dollars to the good."

And that's just the beginning. Bartmann, who has earned recognition from numerous institutions, as well as a permanent place in the Smithsonian Institute's Museum of American History, says his mission is to share his success strategies with as many people as possible.

"I've seen both sides of success and failure, and I've seen both of them up close and personal," says Bartmann. "It's because I've seen them, and have learned some things during my journey, that I want to share the things I've learned with the hope that it will provide some value for the people in the audience."

Because he's known more than his share of hard times, Bartmann says he teaches people how to react to adversity in a way that makes their lives better.

"Most of us don't know how to react to the things that happen to us. We go into shock," he says. "We want to grab a bottle or grab a gun or grab a razor blade, because we fall into despair or despondency. I show people none of that stuff is necessary."

Bartmann also says the way to dealing with adversity is deceptively simple.

"The simplest way to deal with adversity is to raise your self-confidence. If you can do that, then when things happen around you, you have the strength and the resolve to be able to deal with them honestly and straight-up," Bartmann says.

While, Bartmann admits, he can't fix everyone's problems, he does want to help make their lives easier.

"I'm not a psychologist," he stresses. "I'm not trying to cure all the ills of the world, but I do want to be able to talk to people one-on-one, to let them understand there is somebody out there who's been through the stuff they're going through, and there are some very simple things you can do that will make your life so much easier."

"I've had more failures than anyone else I've met in my whole life, but I've also had more successes than most people, because I've learned how to deal with my failures," Bartmann concludes. "That's what I want to show people."