Starting a small business – the million dollar successes!
Rags to riches stories are sometimes all that sustain me. Listening to the tightened-belt, day-by-day attitudes espoused by people who did it right and made it big, helps me when I’m confronting a new pair of delightful peep-toe blue shoes and trying to walk away. Of course, all fairytales are exceptions, not the rule. Yet, there are some lessons that can be learned from these tales.
The constant in these stories is an adherence to budgeting and frugality, and an ability to pinch pennies at every step of the way. So, what are the shining examples when it comes to businesses? Forbes has the answer, as it does for most questions in life.
Fred De Luca- Subway
You know Subway, the store that seems to appear on every street you walk down? That smell, that follows you as you walk away, of sugar and pickles and meatballs? Fred De Luca, at 17, had a $1,000 loan from a friend (n 1965, so about $7,000 today). Instead of spending it on his car, as most 17 year olds that I know would, he opened a sandwich store.
Named after his generous friend, the store was almost sunk when the health inspector required a $550 sink be installed, prompting another loan. De Luca held his ground, and opened another three stores.
Now a billion-dollar business, De Luca (and his immensely trusting friend) are the ultimate in the rags to riches success story.
Alex Aguila and Nelson Gonzalez-Alienware
I had never heard of Allenware, but then again, I am not big in the gaming world. In 1996, with desktop computer prices dropping as more and more flooded the market, Aguila and Gonzalez put together $10,000. Their start-up capital was employed in customizing PCs for hardcore gamers.
That may not sound lucrative to you and I, but that would be underestimating the nature of the gaming world. Get a couple of favourable reviews and word of mouth will do the rest. By the time they sold their business, Alienware was doing a $100 million in sales every year. Lucky Dell, the people who bought the business.
Mike Domek- Ticketsnow
Mike Domek must be a clever man. It’s hard to imagine a world these days were online ticket sales were the name of the game. He was already pretty immersed in the secondary ticket market, using connections to get tickets.
He turned those connections into a viable business. In 1992, he used $100 to become a full-time ticket broker. Four years later, he launched Ticketsnow, an online marketplace for second hand tickets. A decade after that, he had over 200 employees handling over $100 million in sales a year.
Ticketmaster obviously agreed with the worth of the business, when they bought the company for $265 million in 2008.
Anita Roddick- The Body Shop
Ah, Anita. The proof of every pudding. Sustainable business , ethical practices, groundswell industry- she proves it all. Starting up a business with $6,800 (in 1977, so $26,000 in today’s money), she was frugal every step of the way.
Encouraging customers to bring back their empty bottles, and mixing ingredients at home, Roddick franchised her business with incredible success.
The Body Shop was bought by L’Oreal for over a billion dollars in 2006, proving yet another pudding.
What rags to riches business stories do you think warrant a mention?
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