Famous Entrepreneurs Who Hit it Big With Humble Beginnings

Famous Entrepreneurs Who Hit it Big With Humble Beginnings

 

via google.com

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: 

  1. Apple
  2. Google
  3. Mattel
  4. HP
  5. Amazon
  6. Disney
  7. Microsoft
  8. MagLite
  9. Yankee Candle Company
  10. Harley Davidson

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]
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Do Introverts Make Good Speakers?

This is a very interesting topic that was recently brought up in one of my foresight in technology courses I teach.  Many of my  technology students are introverts. The Myers Briggs MBTI classifies people as introverts and extroverts.  The introvert tends to think before they speak. The extrovert tends to think as they speak.  Because of this, many may assume, the time lag preferred by an introvert may not make them the most likely candidates to be a good speaker.

However, really good speakers have spent long hours in preparation of their presentations.  This is an ideal way for the introvert to deliver information.  They have time to think and arrange their thoughts in a way that comes across in the way they intended. 

Classic introverts, like Bill Gates, can deliver wonderful speeches.  The problem introverts may experience in the speaking circuit would probably have more to do with the question and answer session at the end of the presentation.  At that point, once questions are asked, the introvert speaker could answer things very quickly if it is something they are familiar with and have answered previously.  However, should a heckler get into the crowd and ask something way off topic, in that case, it might not be the ideal situation for the classic introvert. 

An example of an introverted leader/speaker feeling as if they are under pressure during a Q&A session would be the Mark Zuckerberg video where he had flop sweat.

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[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o3hu3iG8B2g&w=640&h=390]

Does the New Facebook Movie Imply Zuckerberg has Asperger’s?

image via nypost.com

There has been some buzz on the Internet about Zuckerberg’s psychological state for years now.  The release of the movie, The Social Network, only has added to the discussion.  There is one scene in which they show Zuckerberg sitting in a meeting where he is making continuous popping noises with his mouth. 

Those of you who have seen Boston Legal may recall a popping sound made the character, Jerry Espenson, played by Christian Clemenson.  The show’s character had asperger’s syndrome and was unable to stop making the popping sounds.  The portrayal of Zuckerberg in the scene where he “pops” may be implying there is something more going on with him. 

One could simply watch that scene and think he is just being rude.  It also could  just be something that Hollywood added to make the movie more interesting.  Whatever the case, it does open up some interesting possibilities about the true personality type or psychological state of Zuckerman. 

In our forthcoming book, The Young Adult’s Guide to Understanding Personalities, Toni Rothpletz and I list many examples of celebrity personality “types”.  To find out more about Zuckerberg and his personality type, click here.

Amazon and Facebook Create Fund to Help Start-Up Companies

Image via geeky-gadgets.com
LANewsMonitor reported:Amazon.com, Facebook and others on Thursday announced that they will be investing in a new, $250 million venture-capital fund which will target at start-ups and will be designed to better connect people online. KPCB partner Bing Gordon, who is also a former executive with Electronic Arts Inc., will head the social startup fund. This was revealed at Facebook’s Palo Alto, Calif., headquarters on Thursday.

Mark Zuckerberg said …

To read the full article go to:  lanewsmonitor.com

How Much Is Your Favorite Celebrity’s Net Worth? Fun Site Gives You An Idea

Celebrity Net Worth

image via celebritynetworth.com

Have you ever wondered how much an actor, musician, politican, businessman, athlete, rapper or someone else famous was worth?  Perhaps you wondered if Bruce Willis was worth more or less than Demi Moore.  There is a site called CelebrityNetWorth that can answer some of these questions for you.  The site is pretty easy to navigate.  You can ask questions like:  What rapper makes the most money?  Or . . . .Who are the richest people in the world?  You can even ask it how much a plumber makes . . .And  you can get some answers.  You can also input celebrity names and find out how much money they have.  I looked up a few that interested me but here are some of the most popular searches:

Some other names I noticed on their site included, Dr. Phil, Suze Orman ( worth $35 million), Huge Hufner, Mark  Zuckerberg (worth $6.9 billion) according to that site, and many more.  What I thought was interesting was there was a random celebrity button that, when pushed, would pull up random people that you may or may not have thought of in your quest for financial knowledge.

How reliable is the data?  According to their site, “All information presented on CelebrityNetWorth.com is gathered from sources which are thought to be reliable, but the viewer should not assume that such information is up to date or completely accurate or final. CelebrityNetWorth does not assume responsibility for any errors in the information it presents on this site.   All information on this site is based solely on public information and is subject to change without notice.”

If you are interested in finding out more about celebrity personalities like Chris Rock, Dwight Shrute, Ari Gold and more, click here. 

For more about celebrity net worth being knocked off line, click here.

For more information about increasing your own net worth, click here:  How to Reinvent Your Career.

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