Famous Entrepreneurs Who Hit it Big With Humble Beginnings
Famous Entrepreneurs Who Hit it Big With Humble Beginnings
The movie The Social Network showcased Mark Zuckerberg’s ability to create an enormous business from seemingly nothing. Not all entrepreneurs have been accepted to Harvard like Mark Zuckerberg or Bill Gates to hit it big. However, having the intelligence to get there doesn’t hurt.
I grew up next door to a very smart man who worked his way through a state college and started a little company with $5000. That man was Leonard (Sam) Shoen who created U-Haul by asking gas station owners to let him rent trucks from their lots. Amerco is now the parent of U-Haul and is a far cry from the corner gas station beginnings.
There are plenty of Leonard Shoen and Sam Walton stories out there. Accountingdegree.com recently published a list of 10 big businesses that got started in a garage including:
For more detail regarding how each of these companies got started, you can click on each individual company or read the article by clicking here.
To see Steve Jobs’ Commencement Speech at Stanford explaining how he started Apple watch the following video:
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UF8uR6Z6KLc]Related Articles
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How Are Online Degrees Perceived?
I often get into Linkedin group discussions about the pros and cons of online learning. I address it in depth in my book, The Online Student’s User Manual. I thought eLearners.com had a pretty good article about the acceptance of online degrees. To read the entire article click here.
In that article, hiring managers were asked how they felt about strictly online learning environments. It was close to 50/50 in terms of whether they felt it was favorable or not. The acceptance got better with the schools that had both regular classes and online classes offered.
I have taken both traditional and online courses. I personally prefer online learning. I think it will become more and more the norm. I feel I learned more and had a much better experience in my online business classes because I was not forced to be in as many group-related activities. In my traditional university experience, I witnessed a lot of business majors getting their bachelor degree based on being in groups where they contributed nothing and got A’s because the rest of the group did the work.
I think a lot of people are slow to accept technology because it is a big change. However, online learning is here and it is growing. I work for many online universities where I see very strict guidelines enforced. I have people monitoring my classes constantly. I get feedback and direction to be sure I am staying on track and offering only the highest in quality education.
Perhaps a lot of the perception is due to the profit or non-profit status of schools. I think a lot is name recognition. Big-named schools like Harvard now offer online courses. To find out more about that program, click here. I think as more schools like Harvard add distance education, it will only improve the perception of online education.