No. Such. Thing.

The biggest falsehood about a successful person is that s/he is self-made. There is no such thing as a self-made person. Let me start from the beginning:

• The person was born. There were two people involved in this process, directly or indirectly.
• The person was raised by at least one parent or guardian. Granted, some childhood homes are more chaotic than others.
• The person went to school and learned from teachers. Again, some teachers are better than others.
• The person had to get capital to start business from somewhere. S/he didn’t print the money. It had to come from inheritance, saving money from another job, crowdfunding, or getting a loan from a bank. Other humans were in on any transaction.
• The person had to hire people.
• The person had to sell products or services to other people.
• Even the Unabomber had to go into town to buy pork and beans sometime.

The next time you hear someone touting him/herself as self-made, be dubious. Failure to acknowledge the role of others in one’s success is delusional. This is another phrase that should be expunged from the business vocabulary.