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:: Home :: Nelson Davis :: Business Events, |
Entrepreneur Confessions |
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Entrepreneur confessions are the untold stories of small business owner's adventures. From going bankrupt to making the business a success, these personal entrepreneur stories show what it is really all about. Some people don't know reputations are at stake when it comes to business ownership, so much so that places such as Reputation.com exist to shave bad PR stories for those people that truly go out on a limb seeking success. _____________________________________________________ Confessions of a Startup-aholic The Energizer Bunny has nothing on Maurice Kanbar. For that matter, neither does the Road Runner. In my 10-plus years of interviewing business big shots, I’ve never come away from a conversation more impressed by one person’s energy, drive and confidence. _____________________________________________________ Magic Johnson's Fast Break Into Business Magic Johnson was in the seventh year of his Hall of Fame career when thoughts of his basketball afterlife led him to the office of uber-executive Michael Ovitz, co-founder of Creative Artists Agency, Hollywood's most powerful agency. Johnson had watched many former athletes attempt entry into the world of business only to fail, and he was hoping for advice that would allow him to chart a different course. Read More: Earvin "Magic" Johnson _____________________________________________________ Confessions of an Accidental Entrepreneur Confession: I never thought I would be an entrepreneur. I grew up in a traditional family: My dad worked at a corporation, and my mom did an awesome job of raising four kids. I excelled in school, got a full scholarship to a university, completed four internships, and then was hired for a corporate job (and was super excited about it) before graduating from college. Read More: Elizabeth Grace Saunders _____________________________________________________ Damage Control for Entrepreneurs The toughest lesson I ever had in customer service was when things went really wrong. Soon after I launched my direct-marketing firm, Marketing Informatics (marketinginformatics.com), I fought hard to acquire a large client - a national public policy think tank - that had received a grant from the Lilly Endowment to expand their membership. We were hired to conduct the market research and to orchestrate a direct mail campaign to boost donations. I assembled a team of my most trusted employees and handed off the project. Read More: Bob Massie & David Levi _____________________________________________________ Bitter Brew You know that charming little cafe on New York's Lower East Side that just closed after a mere six months in business—where coffee was served on silver trays with a glass of water and a little chocolate cookie? The one that, as you calmly and correctly observed, was doomed from its inception because it was too precious and too offbeat? The one you still kind of fell for, the way one falls for a tubercular maiden? Yeah, that one was mine. The scary part is that you think you can do better. _____________________________________________________ Case Study: How to Restart a Company Could Robin Sauve's bid to relaunch a business backfire? Here's how she managed to finance her start-up through the early stages. Robin Sauve was growing increasingly anxious. She and her husband, John, had started Barkley Logistics, based in Enfield, Connecticut, last June, shortly after buying the assets of her former employer, Premier Logistics, which had shut down after running out of financial options. Now, four months into the life of the new business, orders were slowly picking up for Barkley, which arranges merchandise shipments and deliveries of time-sensitive materials such as coupons and promotional fliers. Though not nearly as much business as Sauve had hoped for, the flurry of new jobs was nonetheless straining her ability to finance operations, and Sauve's financial adviser had told her she would soon need to get a line of credit to finance the company's growth. _____________________________________________________ Mike Arsenault Reveals How & Why Spreadable Failed, Shares Mistakes/Lessons Learnt Mike Arsenault was the product manager of Spreadable, a powerful word of mouth marketing tool that was developed by the Grasshopper Group. The company, which is lead by David Hauser, has been building products that make it easier for entrepreneurs to start and grow their businesses. The parent product Grasshopper.com – a virtual phone system for entrepreneurs is their most popular and reputed product and serves over 100,000 entrepreneurs. With Grasshopper.com's enormous success in its kitty, the Grashopper Group launched Chargify – a Recurring Billing System for entrepreneurs, which is also doing pretty well. However, they couldn't achieve similar success with Spreadable and they had to shut it down. _____________________________________________________ An Entrepreneur's Story from Tragedy to Triumph Born in 1974 in Edmonton, Alberta in Canada, Bill Zapf was what you would call a hockey all-star. Having played all through his childhood and into his teen years, he eventually went on to run hockey camps and coach kids in the sport he loved. His skill allowed him to play at a very high level, until the day he was hit from behind on the ice and into the boards so hard that he became a quadriplegic. _____________________________________________________ Andrew Fashion Interview After months of just scraping by, Andrew hit it big with ad revenue from his website, MySpaceSupport.com. He was pulling in $100,000+ checks every month. But after a few years of living the high life, the money stream from the site dried up and Andrew went from being a millionaire to being in debt. _____________________________________________________ An Entrepreneur's Story: From Rags to Riches Success is often achieved when the person is able to go further than most people, breaking limitations imposed by their own economic, physical and cultural boundaries. Cordia Harrington is a classic example of success, as she overcome poverty to become one of the most powerful women in businesses today. _____________________________________________________ What it Takes to be an Entrepreneur Paul Strzelec and his partner, Dirk Liebich, founded their company, Digital Tempus, in 2001 to provide consulting and business intelligence to manufacturing companies looking to expand. But when the terrorist attacks shook the nation on September 11 of that year, they put the company on hold and decided to keep acquiring knowledge while working for others. _____________________________________________________The Story of My Father: 3 Simple Lessons for Entrepreneurs
This is the story of my father, Burt Walker, a poor kid from Brooklyn who made millions taking the company he founded public — and then lost it all when he left my mother for a younger woman. I am sharing this personal story to help entrepreneurs. Read More: 3 Lessons for Entrepreneurs _____________________________________________________Starting a Business is a Leap of Faith
Many entrepreneurs start their own companies after seeing potential business opportunities
from their employers. Barry Edwards, President of the Louisiana-based Creative Presentation, Inc. saw an unclaimed yet promising niche in the computer industry that his employers failed to see. Though young, inexperienced and without capital, he took the leap of faith and started his own company specializing in visual communication systems. _____________________________________________________Jennifer Dugan: Success in the Travel BusinessIn June 1996, I got the news that would change my purpose in life forever. I was pregnant with my first child . Going to work each day at my full time job, I soon realized there was no way I wanted to work and have my child in daycare. This began my journey to find out how I could be at home with my baby. I began reading every thing I could get my hands on about working at home. This was before the Internet took off so resources were limited on the subject. _____________________________________________________ Lachy Groom: A Serial Entrepreneurial at 15 Lachy Groom is not your typical teenager. Yes, he goes to school, play sports and do normal teenager stuff. But unlike other teens, this 15-year-old native of Perth, Australia already has several businesses under his belt — all of which are doing quite well. _____________________________________________________ Daniel Ludwig: The Invisible Billionaire Daniel Ludwig was a very secretive man. He lived quietly in a Manhattan penthouse, from which he generally walks to his office a few blocks away. Somewhat crippled by an old back injury, he makes his slow and painful way along the sidewalk, all alone, he can be taken for an elderly pensioner out for a breath of air. _____________________________________________________ Draft headquarters Success Story Shawn Zobel has turned his passion into his profession. Draft Headquarters came from Shawn’s interest in the NFL draft. Now, he publishes his Draft Preview and runs www.draftheadquarters.com.
_____________________________________________________ Rebecca Kousky: Empowering Women Around the World
Rebecca Kousky is deeply committed to helping the plight of the poor women and children. While doing development and social work in various Third World countries, she saw first hand the difficult lives of these people. Upon graduation, she embarked on combining her passion for social activism with design, fashion and art. Nest www.buildanest.com was born. _____________________________________________________ Liz Lange - The Right way to do Fashion The massive success of Liz Lange, founder of the designer maternity line that carries her name, is a result of Lange’s predisposition to following her instincts. While working at the fashion mecca Vogue magazine as a writer in 1988, a visit to the studio of an upcoming designer inspired her to go into design. As she looked at the studio and the creative activities, Lange strongly felt that this was what she wanted to do. _____________________________________________________ Former Socialite turns to Hollywood Makeup She's known as Bloody Mary in Hollywood, where she does special-effects makeup. She sells camouflage face paint to the military. Theme parks use her name and product lines for their Halloween celebrations. It all started in 1992, when Bobbie Weiner's "happily ever after" dreams were shattered. Her husband of nine years "took off on a Harley, saying the marriage was over," she recalls. Read More: Bloody Mary's story _____________________________________________________ My Wife is my Boss "Let's go over this again: you're going to spend our life savings on dried fruit?" I asked my wife, Noha, in 2004 when she first pitched me the idea of starting Peeled Snacks, a fruit and nut snack company. Earlier in the year we'd both quit our jobs to go traveling before I started a stint as a public school teacher, but I'd assumed that she'd get back to work with a position lucrative enough to offset the modest teacher's pay I'd soon receive. Instead, she decided to become her own boss and make negative money. _____________________________________________________ The True Story of an Incidental Entrepreneur My father exhibited entrepreneurial instincts, managing to create a business and move on to an allied industry when the time was ripe. He blended his personal and business life and established deep, enduring relationships with customers. If that's not the definition of an entrepreneur, then I don't know what is. Read More: Incidental Entrepreneur _____________________________________________________ The story of Angie Hicks: www.angieslist.com If you need a contractor to remodel your kitchen, how can you make sure that you won’t be cheated and that the contractor you will get will actually deliver? You can, of course, ask your friends and family. Or check online to find reviews for contractors in your area. _____________________________________________________ Small Business Success Story: Nutritional Coach Tzabia Siegel is a trained coach who offers "freedom from dieting for a lifetime". Coaching services are offered through one-on-one coaching, tele-coaching, workshops, and speaking engagements. She is a certified Holistic Nutritionist with nine years of practice as a Nutritional Consultant. But how did she get to be a successful professional doing what she loves to do? This is Tzabia's success story – a story that provides plenty of tips for anyone who wants to grow their professional services business. _____________________________________________________ From the Marines to an Entrepreneur
After 13 years in the Marine Corps, Brian Iglesias was ready to embark on a dream career in filmmaking. Prepared to pay his dues, he worked the phones, sent e-mails, and paid visits. But all he ran into were dead ends. "Not too long ago I was leading over 225 Marines in landslide relief operations in the Philippines," he says. But "I had to beg people to let me intern. Only my friends were willing to give me work." Read More: Marine to Entrepreneur _____________________________________________________ A Filipina Entrepreneur Struggles to Succeed Here is a story of a Filipina entrepreneur who rose to the top amidst adversity. Nine years ago, Gina opened a kiosk at the upscale Hollywood and Highland complex, peddling her one-of-a-kind photo bags. Manning the store between 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. took up most of her daily routine. After the store closed, she would proceed to Starbucks where she earned seven dollars an hour working until 3:30 am. _____________________________________________________ From Nobody to Brand Name Entrepreneur in Under 3 Years I’ve been waiting a long time to share my success story, but now that I have my own business, I feel it’s worthy of a blog post. I really hope that this story inspires you to work hard and live your dreams, regardless of your age. It’s been quite the journey, but most of you have only been following it for about three years. I have been involved in the branding and internet world since I was very young. Here is my story… Read More: Brand Name Entrepreneur _____________________________________________________ Entrepreneur's Hardships turn into a Business After being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, Cathy Kerns found that there was a need for fashionable walking canes and started KernsAble Enterprises, Inc. Today, Cathy is a successful business owner who turned a negative into a positive. Read more: Entrepreneur's Hardships turn into a Business _____________________________________________________ Homeless but not Hopeless Chris Gardner wears a $10,000 watch on each wrist. On the right hand is a Cartier set to Chicago time, and on the left is a Roger Dubuis set to South African time. “I was late once and it cost me $50,000,” explains Gardner. “I figure it was cheaper to wear two watches.” For a man who not too long ago had only two suits to his name and could not even afford to pay rent, Gardner has come a long way. From living on the streets and bathing in public restrooms to owning a successful multi-million dollar stock brokerage firm, Gardner is living out the American dream. Read More: Homeless but not Hopeless _____________________________________________________ Confession of a 20 Year Old Entrepreneur My parents were horrified and my friends were skeptical. I was 19, broke, jobless and clueless. I opened a yellow pages and started thumbing through it. Public Relations caught my eye, not because of the brilliant advertisements, but because there were only four PR companies in the city. After much twisting, I convinced friends and parents to lend me £1000, then went on to the Enterprise Allowance Scheme which paid me an extra £2000 a year. I bought an answer phone and some letterheads and started writing and phoning people telling them how much they needed to hire my services. Now I am 20 and a director of three companies - the gamble paid off. Read More: Confession of a 20 Year Old Entrepreneur. .. _____________________________________________________ Overcoming Adversities to Succeed in the Recruiting BusinessAs General Patton once said, success is best measured by how high you bounce after hitting rock bottom. Billie Dragoo, President and CEO of RepuStaff and RepuCare, has experienced both highs and lows, to emerge as one of the most powerful women entrepreneurs today. Read More: Overcoming Adversity ________________________________________________________ An Amish Entrepreneur's Old-Fashioned ApproachImagine trying to build a national food retailing business based on mail order, far-flung distributors, and trade shows—without using the Internet. No e-mail newsletters or Web site for taking orders and handling complaints, no Facebook fans, or Google ads, or Twitter following. Read More: An Amish Entrepreneur ________________________________________________________ Economy Stalling Your Small Business? Shift GearsThese may not be the best of times to start or run a small business, but Christopher Hazlett’s struggle to hang tough through one crisis after another may hold lessons for the legions of entrepreneurs caught between a stumbling economy and crippling credit squeeze. Read More: Economy Stalling Your Small Business? ________________________________________________________ An Inspiring Entrepreneurial Story of Starting a Business During the Recession Without Worrying About LayoffsI heard this quote when I was driving to work this morning and listening to NPR’s Marketplace. Ms. Battishill works for a homebuilding company in the Los Angeles area. Knowing her job is not safe, she founded ScooterGirls Inc. that offers the ScooterGirls brand of mobile advertising, scooter sales and rental, tour, and the “Commuter Line” Apparel Collection. Although she had excellent credits, no bank was willing to lend her money due to the credit crunch. Determined to take control of her own destiny, Ms. Battishill borrowed 50% of her 401k account to start the business. Read More: Starting A Business During the Recession ________________________________________________________ Stop Thinking You Are Going To Fail Just Because Someone Says You ShouldMany would be entrepreneurs don’t start their own venture because they are afraid of failure. And quite frankly, they have every right to be afraid. After all, we are constantly bombarded by vague sayings like “9 out of every 10 startups fail” or “chalk up your first startup as a learning experience”, or my favorite, “most relationships and marriages can’t survive a startup”. After you hear enough of these cliches, you soon start believing them. Read More: Stop Thinking You Are Going To Fail ________________________________________________________ Confessions of a Tired Entrepreneur Then something happened – something I never saw coming. I had to stop marketing to actually do the work (which I also liked to do) – and then I had to start the process all over again… and again… and again. It was a painful cycle of ebb and flow and I got tired. Get the work. Do the work. Get the work. Do the work. I did this for 10 years. Fairly recently, it dawned on me that maybe I should only do one thing at a time, because I simply got too tired to care about my clients and their projects.
Read More: Confessions of a Tired Entrepreneur ________________________________________________________ Confessions of an Accidental EntrepreneurI'm going to tell you a story about an Accidental Entrepreneur.
Read More: Confessions of an Accidental Entrepreneur ________________________________________________________ Entrepreneur Confession Page 2...
To Submit your confessions please email them to confessions@makingittv.com |
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