Financial Services, Speaker and Coach

Entrepreneurs dream of business success gone viral; serving a marketplace so well that customers and clients are compelled to buy! Success which results in wealth as a result of extreme, unique value creation. Success that continues and leaves a legacy due to innovation. To be successful one should consider studying the success of others. Many look to titans of business for inspiration.

This strategy works, but maybe, just maybe we can draw massive inspiration from a young entrepreneur; maybe one as young as nine years old!

But first, certainly much can be learned and inspiration can come from the ultra-successful; people such as:

Steve Jobs, was adopted as an infant by a couple who nurtured the often frustrated childhood prankster, who was also a gifted, innovative thinker. Jobs is widely seen as the charismatic pioneer of the personal computer. In addition to co-founding Apple, the self-made Jobs also started Pixar Animation, building a net worth over $7 billion.

Mary Kay Ash, whose business plan for her dream company became a reality after starting over at age 45 in the summer of 1963. She and her husband began Mary Kay Cosmetics with a $5,000 investment. Before the company could open her husband died. Ash, doing business with “The Golden Rule” as a foundational principle, pressed on and built a company designed to allow women to advance by helping others to succeed. At the time of Ash’s death, Mary Kay Cosmetics had over 800,000 representatives in 37 countries, with total annual retail sales over $2 billion. As of 2010, Mary Kay Cosmetics has more than 2 million consultants worldwide and wholesale volume in excess of 2.5 billion.

Phil Knight, who began an extraordinary business career selling athletic shoes at high schools track meets out of the trunk of a Plymouth Valiant.  Knight co-founded and built the world’s largest, most visible and successful athletic apparel company, and in doing so amassing a net worth over $14 billion.

Oprah Winfrey was born into poverty in rural Mississippi to a teenage single mother and later raised in an inner-city Milwaukee neighborhood. Winfrey endured considerable hardship during her childhood, including rape and pregnancy at the age of 14, later losing her son in infancy. She became the first female African-American billionaire, bringing many others with her and helping them create personal fortunes. Winfrey’s mission “…is to use television to transform people’s lives, to make viewers see themselves differently and to bring happiness and a sense of fulfillment into every home.”

So what about the 9 year old?!?

Caine Monroy is an extraordinary young man living in East Los Angeles, CA. This young boy has built a “business” that to-date has generated over $150,000 for his future education, as well as creating an educational foundation for other children. This real life tale of big vision, ideas, and results which has become a viral news story is so inspiring it may move you to tears. To watch a short movie about “Caine’s Arcade”,  CLICK HERE!

What are the lessons we learn from these entrepreneurial giants and the kid in East LA?

  1. Your success begins with a big vision – a dream.
  2. Make sure the dream includes others
  3. The work towards making the dream a reality is reward in and of itself. (Caine had faith that doing it right was good enough, and sooner or later people would play in his Arcade.)
  4. Don’t forget to work hard! Go all in!
  5. Never quit. Never give up hope that you will succeed.
  6. Ask for advice and enlist the help of others.
  7. Be humble when you succeed and amazed at the outcome.

To be successful, study success, and add your own unique value. Are you planning to transform your small business into a really big, really successful company that serves others as it serves you? I hope so!

Work Hard & Have Fun!™