Andrew Carnegie

Andrew Carnegie was the steel barron of his time. This is my essay on him.

Early Life and Background

Andrew was born in Scotland in November, 25th, 1835. He was born into a very poor weaving family. He lived in Scotland till 1848, when hard times hit Scotland, and starvation was a risk, he and his family immigrated to Pennsylvania.

Life in America wasn’t easy either, Andrew worked for twelve hours a day, six days a week, at a cotton mill for only twenty cents a day. He worked really hard. This benefited him greatly.

He then got a job at fifteen as a telegraph messenger boy, this job paid a little better. While working he would memorize all the locations of the businesses and the faces of the important business men. He became very good at his job and only in a year he got promoted as a telegraph operator and he was very good at this job too.

At eighteen he worked at the Pennsylvania Railroad company, and went through the ranks very quickly, thanks to his great work ethic. He got a good mentor who taught him business, and helped him make business investments. His investments paid off and he began investing in oil then in steel and iron after 1864.

His Nature of Business 

Andrew’s main business was steel, in 1889 he owned the biggest steel company in the world at the time. He sold this company though in 1901. He began dedicating his life to philanthropist work, which included libraries, scientific research, and the Carnegie Mellon University, Carnegie Hall. By the time of his death he had donated around five billion dollars in today’s dollars.

Why He Succeeded

The reason why he succeeded (in my opinion), is his work ethic, motivation to work hard, and problem solving ability. He never gave up and worked hard until the very end.