Worldwide Success

Most entrepreneurs, active or potential, love to read about real life success stories of people who turned an idea into a business and grew it into a million-dollar enterprise.  The stories that are the most fun to read are the ones that are least likely to happen.  Like the ones where someone just stumbles upon a great idea.  Or great turn-around stories where someone goes from rags to riches.  We have discussed a few of these stories on this site in our I Love a Success Story series.  One of my favorites is I Love a Success Story – From Homeless to Millionaire.

If you like these types of stories you are in for a treat.  This week Yahoo Finance published a great article called Unlikely Millionaires which is a collection of real life millionaire stories from several publications including Business Week, Fortune and Inc.  Let’s take a closer look:

From Homeless to Software Success - This great article from Business Week tells the story of Bob Williamson who went from being a homeless drug addict to becoming the CEO of a $26 million software company.  This is proof that no matter where you are today, you can always turn your life around.  There are many people out there going through hard times, but it is hard to imagine a more difficult situation than what Bob had to deal with.

Bear-Naked Ambition: The Inside Start-up Story – This is an inspirational story that combines hard work, persistence, a good product, and a little bit of luck to create a $65 million business.  Simply amazing.

Mena and Ben Trott – This article provides a quick snapshot of the entrepreneurial couple that founded Movable Type, a very successful blogging platform and multi-million dollar business.  The Trotts started their business working out of their apartment like so many other interesting high-tech stories.  To learn more about their successful entrepreneurial journey and so many others like it, I highly recommend the book Founders at Work.

Josh Abramson and Ricky Van Veen – Is it really possible for a couple of high-school students to create a million-dollar business out of a goofy website about “stupid college stuff”?  You better believe it!

Catherine, Dave and Geoff Cook – Talking about kids creating multi-million-dollar businesses, the story of the siblings that started myyearbook.com is another inspirational story for any high-tech entrepreneur.

Richard and Betty James – This is a hard to believe, one-of-a-kind story of how Richard James became inspired when he saw a torsion spring coil fall off a table.  He made it into a toy and turned it into the legendary Slinky, which has sold more than 250 million units worldwide.

Thales Panagides – This one is surreal.  The guy goes to Brazil to launch an internet search provider, loves the beach, and finds a compatriot Greek who sells Brazilian bikinis.  Next thing you know he tries selling the bikinis on eBay, and finds out he had just hit on a goldmine.  Now he is the largest Brazilian Bikini distributor in the world.  Mind boggling.

Carol Nash – At 42 she gets laid off from her receptionist job at an insurance company.  As severance she gets a small portfolio of motorcycle insurance policies and starts her own insurance consulting business.  The business grows like crazy and she eventually sells it for more than $100 million.  Truly amazing.

I hope these stories have inspired you to pursue your own million-dollar dreams.  If these people could do it, so can you.

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