Starting a business can be tiresome, troublesome and often nerve-racking; however, there are countless inspirational stories of start-up founders that could prove to be the motivation you require to keep on trucking, like the inspirational story of Josef Azam, a baggage handler turned successful CEO.
Here are three more to derive inspiration from.
There’s no use pretending otherwise – he was always going to appear in an article about inspirational start-up founders.
Jobs changed the world with his vision and it’s now hard to imagine what the world would have been like had he not been so visionary and pursued his vision with pathological obsession.
“Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do.”
Biography: Steve Jobs
2. Paul Allen – Co-founder of Microsoft
Due to his passion for privacy it’s understandable why so many people know very little about Paul Allen, if they’ve heard of him at all.
However, Paul Allen is, along with the much more famous Bill Gates, responsible for creating the first personal computer programming language and also co-founder of a little company known as Microsoft.
“Any crusade requires optimism and the ambition to aim high.”
Biography: Idea Man: A Memoir by the Co-Founder of Microsoft
3. Mel and Patricia Ziegler – Founders of Banana Republic
After meeting in a newsroom it seems unlikely that a young artist and writer would go on to form a global clothing line with only creativity and passion as tools of the trade. Nonetheless, they managed to build a highly successful clothing empire from military surplus clothing.
“The only asset we had was our own oblivion … we became so embroiled that quitting was no longer a possibility.”
Autobiography: Wild Company: The Untold Story of Banana Republic
Successful start-up founders whose (auto) biographies are as of yet unwritten
Whilst Steve Jobs, Paul Allen and Mel and Patricia Ziegler are well-known to the point where they’re the subjects of books about their successes, here are three start-up founders whose successes you can also derive inspiration from.
1. Tariq Farid – Founder of Edible Arrangements
Tariq Farid might have had greater access to capital than most start-up founders could dream of – $100,000 – but he broke even after just six months – that says a lot.
Edible Arrangements employs 92 people and enjoys revenue of over $420 million.
2. Clayton Christopher – Co-founder of Sweet Leaf Tea
With start-up costs of just $7000 – $3,000 for equipment, $3,000 for a van and $1,000 for a computer – Clayton Christopher is a young entrepreneur who every budding start-up founder can derive inspiration from.
Although he stepped down as CEO in 2010 to pursue other interests, he’s credited with founding a highly successful company that’s worthy of emulation.
3. Brian Morgan – Founder of Adventure Life
Successfully setting up an adventure travel company with just $3,000 in capital is commendable in any successful entrepreneur’s book.
Adventure Life is now one of the most successful adventure travel companies and has been featured in a wide range of publications including The New York Times and National Geographic Adventure.
These six entrepreneurs whose successes should provide you with the impetus to keep sight of what’s important are just six examples of how having vision, access to conference facilities to meet with investors and the will to succeed – no matter how high the odds are stacked against you – are often all you need to achieve your dreams of business success.