10/31/2023 0 Comments Entrepreneurs success storyInstead, they started their clothing empire with $200 of their own money, and applied for a revolving line of credit. Skiast-Levy and Nash-Taylor didn’t want to start a business in debt. Honest Tea is now the top-selling bottled organic tea in the U.S.Ĩ. After only five weeks spent perfecting the brewing process, he brought samples of and a mock-up label to a meeting with the company that is now Whole Foods Market, hoping that they would place a small order. Goldman started out brewing the tea in his kitchen and storing it in thermoses. GotVMail, now Grasshopper, generates about $5 million in revenue per year. The idea for GotVMail was to give smaller companies a way to sound as professional as larger, established firms, allowing small businesses to set up voice-mail boxes that can route calls to cell phones and get messages via e-mailed MP3 files. They got their startup money the hard way, by asking friends and family to help fund their business. Hauser and Taghaddos came up with a great idea for an inexpensive VoIP phone system for small businesses. Twenty years later, the company was taking in $237 million in annual revenue. With $8,000 in savings and a $4,000 loan, they leased an old gas station in Burlington, purchased equipment, and began coming up with ideas for “unique” flavors. They discovered that just about the only college town without an ice cream shop was Burlington, Vermont. The now-legendary duo decided to open a business after taking a correspondence course on the art of ice cream making. In 12 years, Tastefully Simple has grown into a $120 million dollar business. She had the idea to sell at taste-testing parties, and sales began slowly picking up. But then I thought, No, this is your dream. In her own words: “I remember sitting outside one day, thinking we were three months behind on our house payment, I had two employees I couldn’t pay, and I ought to get a real job. Thus, the idea for MAJERS, what would become a multi-million dollar marketing information company, was born.īlashack Strahan started her gourmet food company with $6,000 in savings, a backyard shed for storage, and a pool table as a packing station. He realized how valuable the information was when companies started requesting price data for competitors. He put all those ads into a single booklet. He started collecting newspaper grocery store ads from various cities to show to grocery stores in different markets. He wanted to find a better way to compare regional differences in retail prices, so that he could make more sales. Scribante started off selling bleach to supermarkets and other stores around the Midwest. 1-800-GOT-JUNK now has nearly 100 franchised locations across North America.Ī.J. He dropped out of college with only a year left to run the business full time. Scudamore started his company, which he describes as “the FedEx of junk removal,” with $700 in start-up capital and his own beat-up truck. The company now has over 7,500 locations worldwide, a clothing line, and an extremely loyal fan base– all from a dance class. She trained additional instructors to teach the routines she choreographed, which eventually lead to a franchise deal. Sheppard Missett picked up the pace, turned up the music, and created a fun class that was soon packed. The women weren’t coming to class to learn the precise steps to a dance, but to lose weight and tone up. When turnout dropped, she had an epiphany. The founder of this wildly successful fitness company started teaching dance classes after hanging up her professional dancing shoes. Here are some amazing success stories of entrepreneurs that started small. All due respect to the entrepreneurial geniuses of past centuries, but not many of us are aiming to become a railroad tycoon these days. One of my favorite Business Pundit posts of all time profiles 25 visionary entrepreneurs who “created empires from virtually nothing.” While entrepreneurial success stories are always inspiring, the best ones always seem to be those that people can relate to. This is a guest post by Merrin Muxlow from Resource Nation.
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