Howard Schultz grew up in a fairly poor family and instilled a fear in him of not being able to support himself in the future. Howard went on to college at Michigan State playing football because he thought that was the only way he could have gotten in. After college, Howard went to work at Xerox where he gained a lot self-confidence and self-motivation. After a life-changing trip to Europe, he fell in love with the romance of the Italian espresso bar. When he came back to the U.S., he talked to more than 200 investors to raise the finances to build his dream for Starbucks in America, but 99 percent of them said 'no.’ Thousands of Starbucks later, Howard is living proof of what happens when you have the courage to dream big.