The Donald

Donald Trump is an American business magnate, television personality, and author.

He is the chairman and chief executive of The Trump Organization.

Donald Trump is also the founder of Trump Entertainment Resorts, which operates numerous casinos and hotels worldwide.

His extravagant lifestyle and outspoken manner have made him a celebrity for years, especially with his reality show The Apprentice, where he serves as host and executive producer, and created the popular tagline “You’re Fired!”.

Donald Trump may seem like he has everything he could have ever wanted, but it was because of his dedication and strive for success that he became the person he is today.

As long as your going to be thinking anyway, think big.

- Donald Trump

 

The Beginning of Success

Donald Trump was born on June 14, 1946.

He is the fourth of five children, born into a household where his father was a real-estate tycoon and developer based in New York City.

At age 13 after having some difficulties at the school he was attending, his parents sent him to the New York Military Academy hoping to direct his energy and assertiveness in a positive manner.

At this school, Donald Trump earned academic honors, and played varsity football team, varsity soccer team, and varsity baseball team.

Trump attended Fordham University for two years before transferring to the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

Donald Trump wanted to follow his father into real-estate development, and began working on projects for his father’s real-estate firm while young and still in college.

Upon his graduation from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in 1968, Donald Trump formally joined his father’s company, Elizabeth Trump & Son.

He took the helm in 1971 and renamed it The Trump Organization.

 

A Family Affair

In 1977, Trump married Ivana Zelníčková and had three children together: Donald Jr. , Ivanka, and Eric.

Donald and Ivana then divorced in 1992.

In 1993, Donald Trump married Marla Maples and together they had one child, Tiffany.

They divorced on June 8, 1999.

On April 26, 2004, Donald Trump then proposed to Melania Knauss  and got married on January 22, 2005.

Melania gave birth to a boy named Barron William Trump, Donald Trump’s fifth child.

In 2007, Donald Trump became a grandfather when son Donald Jr. and his wife Vanessa welcomed a daughter Kai Madison and again in 2009 when grandson Donald Trump III was born.

In 2011, Donald Trumo became a grandfather once again. His daughter Ivanka Trump welcomed daughter Arabella Rose Kushner.

 

The Rise and the Falls

One of Donald Trump’s first projects when he was still in college was the revitalization of the Swifton Village apartment complex in Cincinnati, Ohio, which his father had purchased for $5.7 million.

Donald Trump became intimately involved in the project, and was personally flying in for a few days at a time to carry out landscaping and many other low-level tasks.

After $500,000 investment, Donald Trump successfully turned a 1200-unit complex with a 66% vacancy rate to 100% occupancy within two years.

The Trump Organization sold Swifton Village a few years later for $6.75 million.

In 1971 Donald Trump moved to Manhattan, where he believed in the economic opportunity in the city, specifically large building projects in Manhattan that would offer opportunities for earning high profits.

The development of the Javits Convention Center brought Trump into contact with the New York City government when a project that he had estimated could have been completed by his company for $110 million ended up costing the city between $750 million and $1 billion. He offered to take over the project at cost, but the offer was not accepted.

By 1989, the effects of the recession left Donald Trump unable to meet loan payments.

Donald Trump then financed the construction of his third casino, the $1 billion Taj Mahal.

Although he fixed up his businesses with additional loans and postponed interest payments, by 1991 the increasing debt brought Donald Trump to business bankruptcy and to brink of personal bankruptcy.

Banks and bondholders had lost hundreds of millions of dollars because of this, but opted to restructure his debt to avoid the risk of losing more money in court.

The Taj Mahal re-emerged from bankruptcy on October 5, 1991, with Donald Trump ceding 50% ownership in the casino to the original bondholders in exchange for lowered interest rates on his debt and some more time to pay it off.

On November 2, 1992, the Trump Plaza Hotel was forced to file a prepackaged Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection plan after being unable to make its debt payments.

Under the plan, Trump agreed to give up a 49% stake in the luxury hotel to Citibank and five other lenders.

In return Trump would receive more favorable terms on the remaining $550+ million owed to the lenders, and be able to keep his position as chief executive, though he would not be paid and would not have a role in day-to-day operations.

By 1994, Trump had eliminated a large portion of his $900 million personal debt and reduced significantly his nearly $3.5 billion in business debt.

 

Back in Business

After bouncing back from debt, Donald Trump began to succeed once again and his fortune returned.

Not only does Donald Trump now own many building, hotels, casinos, and golf courses, but he owns The Miss Universe Organization and the National Broadcasting Company, also known as NBC.

The organization produces the Miss Universe, Miss USA, and Miss Teen USA pageants.

Donald Trump is a name that people all around the world associate with greatness and success, but do not realize the times that he had failed but still got back up and pursued.

Turning failure into success can be done by anyone who has the right attitude.

Anything is possible if you just believe that you can do it too!