CALVIN KLEIN - FAILURE AS A STEPPING STONE!

Calvin Klein was born in Bronx,New York on 19 November 1942. He studied fasshion in New York city and apprenticed for a suit manufacturer. in 1968 . He founded Calvin Klein limited , a coat shop in York Hotel with $10000. His first collection consisted of coats and dresses that were understated ,they featured at a New York city  cloth store Bonwit Teller. In the late 1970's the company made attempts to start its own fragrances and cosmetics but later withdrew due to financial losses. When the designer jean frenzy reached its whole time high in the 1980's, Klein introduced  an insanely successful line of boxers for both men and women  underwear collection that made over $70 million dollars in a year. the stunning growth  went on through the years. $24000 was brought in with the licensing program when it was initiated in 1974, it had royalty income of $ 7.3 million dollars ten years later . His clotes were sold in over 12000 cloth stores  in the U.S and were available in six other countries. Klein had an increase in financial problems  and pressure from all sides , license disagreements of the Men's wear line  and its dissappointing sales as well as emnormous employyee turnover  both with in and with license partners . the company faced bankruptcy in 1992,
Klein managed to regain and increaswe his profitability throughout the 1990's  throught the success of his under wear collections  and fragrance lines . In1999 kl;ein wa s back on his feet again  and planning to expand his business  . He was approached by two luxury companies  to join him but nothing resulted , A fter seven months of no potential buyers , Calvin announced that his empire was no longer on sale anymore .
Calvin Klein now makes underwear, jeans, clothes and his stores are all over the world . he has a net worth of $700 million and is one of the richest individuals in the fashion industry.


Here are two lessons from Calvin Klein :

Don't be afraid to innovate : Calvin 's name is so synonymous with innovation . He has made out of a career out of venturing into the unknown . Innovation breeds originality  and creativity  there's nop need to fear what you don't know .
 When you fail at something , that doesn't mean you can't do it you just need to be more cautious next time so its always good to endure so as to succeed.

JEFF BEZOS - FRUITS OF ADVENTURE!

Jeffrey Bezos was born in Albuquerque, Mexico on January 12 1964. He is a CEO and founder of Amazon.com one of the pillars of internet commerce today.   Bezos graduated from Princeton university in 1986 with a degree in computer science and electrical engineering.After a few years in New York as a financial analyst, Bezos moved to Seattle and founded Amazon.com in 1994. Through innovation and sheer business savvy, Bezos built up Amazon.com and became one of the world's richest people in the process. Named Time magazine's Man of the Year in 1999, Bezos became a celebrity entrepreneur, known for his buoyant personality as much as his financial know-how. With Bezos at the helm, Amazon.com weathered financial ups and downs and expanded from selling books and CDs to a wide variety of consumer goods. In 2000 Bezos helped found Blue Origin, a side project whose goal is to build reusable rocket ships to encourage tourism in outer space.

while still in school Jeff and his girlfriend started up a dream institute were they charged 600$ per pop,after college he also became an employee at a start up company called Fitel. This job had him flying between New York and London frequently.

He later quit and got a job with banker's trust which he almost quit to create a news by fax service with Harsley Minor (owner of CNET)but instead he decided to join D.E SHAW's hedge fund. Finally he decided to quit and then founded amazon.com .

During a long walk in central park, Shaw tried to convince Jeff out of quitting  but jeff couldnt get over the fact that internet was growing 2400% per year.He decided he'd rather try and fail at a startup than never try at all.

In Seattle ,Jeff and his first employee SHEL KAPLAN decided to start up amazon.com in a garage. They built the site around huge digital catalogs. For a while an analyst had called the company "amazon.bomb" because it was totally down but amazon had hopes of surviving because of two reasons, "users always came  to the site in big numbers and Jeff didnt make any promises apart from a long time vision.As time has gone by, Amazon has kept going up it has expanded from selling books to almost everything ,music,music videos, and also its own  the amazon kindle.

He is currently having a net worth of over $23.2 billion. He is now the largest internet retailer of any kind reporting over $48 billion sales in 2011. He continues to involve himself in side projects that bring out his adventurous side.

ESTEE LAUDER - BEAUTY IS THE BIG DEAL!

The  early history of the Estee Lauder biography is a mystery. Voting records have her birth date recorded as July 1, 1908,  but her family says she was born in 1906. She was born as Josephine Esther Mentzer, the youngest of nine kids to immigrants Max and Rose Schotz Mentzer.

Her family called her Esty that became Estee after a school official misspelled it as such.

Estee Lauder started her career in selling when she agreed to help out her uncle, Dr Schotz, a chemist. She helped him sell some of the creams he made for the company, New Way Laboratories that he formed in 1924. She sold creams with names like Six-In-One Cold Cream and Dr Schotz Viennese Cream to beauty shops, beach clubs and resorts.

In 1930 she married Joseph Lauter (which later became Lauder). They separated in 1939, only to remarry in 1942. Estee Lauder , "I was married very young. You think you missed something out of life. But I found that I had the sweetest husband in the world."

She and her husband continued to make their creams in their factory  a converted restaurant and Estee Lauder Inc. was formed in 1947. Their breakthrough came after they won a concession from Saks Fifth Avenue to sell their cream. The initial products sold out in only two days, their way was now set.

The product that put Estee Lauder firmly on the map came with the introduction of Youth Dew in 1953. At the same time it was bath oil and a perfume and sold over 50,000 units in the first year.

Explaining her success, she said, "I have never worked a day in my life without selling. If I believe in something, I sell it, and I sell it hard." This attitude, together with an unlimited belief in her product and the beauty in all women, made Estee Lauder an  honoured iconic name.

Over the years numerous lines were added to the Estee Lauder Companies. Names like White Linen, Cinnabar, Aramis, Clinique, Prescriptives, Origins, M.A.C., Bobbi Brown Essentials and Tommy Hilfiger. Estee Lauder continued to be actively involved in the company  always attending new launches  . In 1995, the company raised $335 million when Estee Lauder finally went public.

Estee Lauder died April 26, 2004, but her contribution is unforgettable . Today, Estee Lauder is a major brand name in over 118 countries with $3.6 billion in annual sales and her family's shares are worth $6 billion. Her company might never have set a trend, but they weren't ever left behind.

WALLACE AMOS - THE TASTE THAT MADE AMOS!

Wallace Amos Jr. was born in Tallahassee, Florida, in 1936, the only child of Wallace and Ruby Amos. His parents divorced when he was twelve, and Amos was sent to live with his Aunt Della in Harlem, New York. Aunt Della loved to cook and bake, and it was she who gave Wally Amos his first chocolate chip cookie. This simple  act of affection  had lasting impacts  on the life of the young boy, who eventually went on to make a career from fresh baked chocolate chip cookies.

. He enrolled in a trade high school specializing in cooking, and had a job as a cook after school. But Amos became restless and  left school just months before graduation, signing up for the U.S. Air Force in 1953. During his four years in the military, he finished his high school education.

Amos started baking to excite and impress himself, since cookies always made him feel better. In the back of his mind, , he considered the idea of selling his cookies. Because he had little money, Amos almost ignored this idea. Instead, he started thinking of ways to promote his business. As a man who had made his living promoting other people as an agent, he used his background to come up with ways to sell cookies. He wrote up a business plan and approached some of his famous friends including singers Helen Reddy and Marvin Gaye, who each contributed to his start-up funds. Soon he had $25,000 in financial backing. Amos planned a big party to launch his new business: he hired a band, bought champagne, and invited many of his celebrity friends. The Famous Amos Chocolate Chip Cookie Company was officially born in March 1975 at the corner of Sunset Boulevard and Formosa Avenue in Los Angeles.

While the launch of Famous Amos was glitzy, the man behind it all worked from dawn to dusk baking and selling his cookies. He had no money to advertise, so he became the new company's showman, passing cookies out on the streets, delivering them to friends, and taking them everywhere he went. As quoted in a Black Enterprise profile from November 1992, Amos said, "I knew I had the best product; all I needed to do was to convince the public of something I already knew."

During its first year in business, Famous Amos had sales of $300,000 and Wally Amos's smiling face became increasingly well known since it was featured on every tin or bag of cookies. By 1977, when Wally moved to Hawaii with his family, Famous Amos had added two baking and manufacturing facilities and additional stores around Los Angeles and its first in Hawaii.

Amos started baking to console himself, since cookies always made him feel better. In the back of his mind, however, he considered the idea of selling his cookies. Because he had little money, Amos almost abandoned the idea. Instead, he started thinking of ways to promote his business. As a man who had made his living promoting other people as an agent, he used his background to come up with ways to sell cookies. He wrote up a business plan and approached some of his famous friends including singers Helen Reddy  and Marvin Gaye, who each contributed to his start-up funds. Soon he had $25,000 in financial backing. Amos planned a big party to launch his new business: he hired a band, bought champagne, and invited many of his celebrity friends. The Famous Amos Chocolate Chip Cookie Company was officially born in March 1975 at the corner of Sunset Boulevard and Formosa Avenue in Los Angeles.

While the launch of Famous Amos was glitzy, the man behind the glitz worked from dawn to dusk baking and selling his cookies. He had no money to advertise, so he became the new company's showman, passing cookies out on the streets, delivering them to friends, and taking them everywhere he went. As quoted in a Black Enterprise profile from November 1992, Amos said, "I knew I had the best product; all I needed to do was to convince the public of something I already knew."

During its first year in business, Famous Amos had sales of $300,000 and Wally Amos's smiling face became increasingly well known since it was featured on every tin or bag of cookies. By 1977, when Wally moved to Hawaii with his family, Famous Amos had added two baking and manufacturing facilities and additional stores around Los Angeles and its first in Hawaii

Famous Amos was selling $5 million worth of cookies by 1980, and just two years later sales had rocketed to $12 million. Yet with such phenomenal success came mistakes. Amos began selling shares of the business to outsiders; he also tried to launch new products such as chocolate sodas, which did not work out. In 1983, he wrote his autobiography, The Famous Amos Story: The Face that Launched a Thousand Chips. As Amos celebrated the book's success, his business was losing money. By the time the Bass Brothers of Fort Worth, Texas, came on the scene in 1985, the company founder was in serious financial trouble. Feeling he had little choice, Amos sold his remaining interest in Famous Amos to the Basses for $1.1 million, keeping a small tie to the company as a board member.

Amos and his cookie empire enjoyed a decade of success. However,  Amos  gradually sold off parts of his company. In 1988, a corporation called the Shansby Group purchased Famous Amos Cookies and successfully repositioned the brand image, changing it from a specialty item to a lower-priced product. Amos attempted to launch another cookie company, which he called Wally Amos Presents Chip & Cookie. The Shansby Group sued Amos for violating an agreement that forbade him to use his name and likeness on the packaging of any food products. In 1998, the Keebler Company purchased the Famous Amos brand, at which time Amos resumed his role as the product's spokesperson.

CEDRIC WALKER - UNIVER-SOUL RECORDS!

Cedric Walker is the founder of UniverSoul Circus. Born in Baltimore, Maryland, Walker's entrepreneur spirit started at the young age of 6. He was determined to make extra money. He shined shoes. He sold petty things  like Christmas cards, Kool Aid Popsicles, and fruits and vegetables from a horse-drawn cart.
Walker was first bitten by the entertainment  bug   in the early 70's when he moved to Tuskegee to live with his uncle a nightclub owner. That's where he met and later teamed up with a promising young musical group called the Commodores. Cedric became their production and stage manager and toured with them around the world. He later worked as a promoter for the Jackson Five.Walker admits that, even at this point in his life, he was so fond of the circus that he would have quit the Commodores and the Jackson 5 to run away with the circus as a maintenance man.  

The Univer-soul Circus is a single ring circus founded and run since 1994 by Cedric Walker. It currently contains 75 performers and 12 acts. The circus is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia.

He struck out on his own in the 1980s when he organized the Fresh Festivals, the world's first Rap music tour featuring the likes of Run DMC, Salt n Peppa and The Fat Boys. In the early 1990s, he underwrote and helped produce a couple of highly successful gospel plays, "Wicked Ways" and "A Good Man is Hard to Find."

By the mid 1990s, Walker and his associates began to look for new forms of family entertainment: "The vision was to explore the  variety of  talents other than singing and dancing that  performers had to offer," he said.  That vision led him to create UniverSoul Circus.The historic first show of "The Universal Big Top Circus," as it was originally named, took place in 1994 in the parking lot of Fulton County Stadium in Atlanta. In those early days, from a financial standpoint, the circus lost every penny that was put into it. But the show received rave reviews from critics and fans alike. The response inspired Walker to continue with his dream of running away with the circus. Now in its 12 th season, UniverSoul Circus is playing to packed houses from coast to coast.

PATRICE MOTSEPE - LEARNER IN DISGUISE !

Today i decided to talk about an  iconic   African entrepreneur Patrice Motsepe, South Africa's richest man who created a giant mining group from low end mining business services .

 Patrice was born  on 28 January 1962 in Soweto to Augustine Motsepe, a schoolteacher turned small businessman, who owned a Spaza shop popular with black mine workers, it was from there that he learnt basic business principles from his father as well as first hand exposure to mining.   Mr. Patrice Tlhopane Motsepe began his business career as a child when he would wake early to help his entrepreneurial father by selling liquor to mine workers at his father's shop. he worked long hours as an eight year old  and this frustrated him  . he realized he had to choose a career that would keep him away from the tiring business, that is when he decided to take on law. He went  on and earned a BA from Swaziland University and a LLB from Wits University is Executive Chairman of African Rainbow Minerals Limited, ARM, a leading,  mining and minerals company, found in Johannesburg, South Africa. 

In 1994 he became the first black lawyer to be made a partner at the law firm Bowman Gilfillan, where he specialized in mining and business law before becoming restless. He then shifted to the mining industry. He Started a contract mining operation called Future Mining which provided various services to Vaal Reefs gold mine, now part of AngloGold. Unable to secure a loan, he ran his business from a briefcase for the first eight months.

Mr.Motsepe formed African Rainbow Minerals (ARM) in 1997 and acquired a number of marginal shafts at Vaal Reefs in January 1998 on favorable financial terms, followed by the purchase of other marginal shafts owned by AngloGold in the Free State.

Today he's the biggest single shareholder of the world's fifth-largest gold mining company. His firm, African Rainbow Minerals, controls 19.8 per cent of Harmony. His family trust owns 43.1 per cent of ARM.

Forbes  magazine racks him as 442nd richest person in the world and South Africa's first black billionaire with an estimated net worth of $2.7 billion dollars as of March 2012.

Harmony Gold Mining Company specializes in turning old digs into new digs. Harmony is South Africa's largest gold miner, after acquiring ARMgold in 2003, and the sixth largest in the world. The company buys mature gold mines with lagging production and turns them into low-cost, high-productivity mines. It had 2003 revenues of $1.2 billion and has 50,718 employees.

TYLER PERRY- FROM RUGS TO RICHES!

Tyler Perry was born on 13 September 1969 in Harvey, Louisiana. He is the founder of the Tyler Perry Company. Inc.He is  in the media industry of the United States. He is best known as a director,a writer, an actor in films,television and theater.
 Mr. Perry was born as Emmit.R.Perry Jr. but decided to change his name due to the bad relationship he had with his father.
Tyler has a very inspirational tale of his journey to becoming the most successful black producer of film and theatre in the U.S. As a child ,he suffered rejection and endless abuse, this motivated him to do some soul searching of himself as an adult.
In the struggle to find  carthasis of his childhood pains, encouraged by Oprah Winfrey,he decided to jot his memories down on paper. Tyler began writing letters of his past experiences to himself. This were transformed into his first musical "I know I've been changed". He believed that God had called on him to share his story and experience with everyone. Perry utilised his  past experience to build a successful career for himself.

In 2005 ,Perry produced  " The diary of a mad black woman" that sold over 2.5 million copies just in DVD. At the same time he produced and starred in "Madea goes to jail " and "Meet the Browns" these two productions sold out more than 500 shows in theatre yet every week 35000 people viewed a Tyler Perry production.
Ever since his entrance in the film industry, Tyler Perry has become a multimedia phenomenon with amazingly successful film,stage and book projects.
His first two films both debuted at number one at the North American box office and the combined sales of his nine DVDs have sold over 11 million units. 

His first book, "Don't Make a Black Woman Take Off Her Earrings: Madea's Uninhibited Commentaries on Life and Love" debuted at #1 on the New York Times' hardcover nonfiction bestseller list and remained in the Top 10 for eight weeks.

Most recently he created and produced the first-run syndicated comedy series, "House of Payne.".
This is how  a man that suffered rejection, molestation ,abuse and once lacked shelter became one of the biggest entrepreneurial minds worldwide.


Five Entrepreneurial lessons from Tyler Perry;
 We all have unique, gifts, talents and abilities. You may have a number of them. The fact is you can’t focus on all ten at the same time and 1) Expect success or 2) Expect us to buy it. Perry encouraged one bewildered entrepreneur during the Q & A session to simply narrow her focus and master one thing, allowing that to become her feeder for future opportunities. He shares that television and the big screen were always a goal of his, but he created his niche and built his following around plays first. Let’s be realistic; No one can trust someone who is identifying himself with a couple of  jobs at the same time.. Even if you can do all of those things, choose what you love more and roll with it then all of your other hidden talents come out once a relationship is built – not on your business card. The general public, won’t take you or your business sensibilities seriously unless you're this tactical.

  Know up front that people will come and go on your journey to success and that is their job. Tyler  identifies them as boosters. Some people are only there to help you push the rocket off the ground. Once you’ve launched, its high time a few folks fell off. Everyone can’t handle where your dreams  are taking you and that’s fine. You just have to be willing to accept that some people come into our lives for a reason and a season. When their time is up, we have to be content with letting them go. . If you have to kick them to the curb for being underhanded, let them go . Either way it goes, understand the gift of good-bye and just let them go. Business will thrive once you do.

Always be a "finisher ".  A good entrepreneur always completes what he starts up. Endurance and patience are hardcore traits  you must possess if you are to become successful. Once you begin something ,prepare yourself to finish it. Don't leave things unsettled!

Learn from your past experiences. Experience is a  lesson of its own , whether positive or negative ,there is always something new to learn ,if you don't learn what you want,you obviously learn what you don't want. our past will always be an idea generator try and utilize it.


www.blackentrepreneurprofile.com/famous-entrepreneurs

www.inc.com/ss/2011-inc-5000-top-10-black-entrepreneurs

OPRAH WINFREY

Born in Kosciusko, Mississippi, on January 29th, 1954, Oprah Gail Winfrey was born and raised in the family farm. Originally named Orpah, after one of the people in the Bible's Book of Ruth, the "r" and "p" were reversed due to problems spelling or pronouncing Orpah.
When she was born her father, Vernon Winfrey, was stationed as a soldier at a local base; and her mother, Vernita Lee was a house maid. Both were young at the time of Winfrey's birth and never married.

At a young age, Winfrey's parents split and she was raised by her grandmother, Hattie Mae, where she began her career by learning to read aloud and perform recitations.

From the age of 6 to 13, she lived in Milwaukee. After suffering abuse and molestation, she ran away and was sent to a juvenile detention home at the age of 13, only to be denied admission because all the beds were filled.

When she was 14, her disgruntled mother sent her to live with her father in Nashville, Tennessee Vernon was strict, but encouraging. Oprah remembers her father being very strict ,but today she loves him for it She had to read and do a book report each week, as well as memorize  five new words each day. If she hadn't done her tasks she would not be given any food. This had a massive impact on Oprah's life since ,everything he made sure she learnt is actually what has made her succeed

 Oprah says he had a big impact in her life. He always wished that Oprah would make the best of her life, and he wasn't ready to accept accept anything less than that.. 

  She began her media career at the age of 17, when she started to operate  at the local  radio station in Nashville while attending Tennessee State University, where she majored in Speech Communication and Performing Arts. Two years later, she became both the youngest news anchor and the first black female news anchor at Nashville.

In 1976, she decided to move  to Baltimore to join WJZ-TV news as a co-anchor, and in 1978 she realised she could  host talk shows , that is  when she became co-host of WJZ-TV's "People Are Talking", while continuing to serve as anchor and news reporter.

Winfrey's career really began peaking after moving to Chicago in 1983 to host "AM Chicago", an early morning talk show at WLS-TV. The first episode aired on January 2, 1984.

 Within months after Winfrey took over, the show went from last place on the ratings to overtaking Donahue as the highest rated talk show in Chicago. It was renamed the Oprah Winfrey show, and it was  expanded to a full hour, and broadcast nationally beginning September 8, 1886, its first show about marrying the right person.

Winfrey is among the few Forbes 400 members whose wealth derives from their fame rather than the other way around. She is a ubiquitous media presence with her own television show and her own magazine, and each year the publishing industry produces at least one new biography to be snapped up by her adoring fans. This year Winfrey reaped favorable publicity when Jonathan Franzen, author of the acclaimed new novel The Corrections, expressed ambivalence about being honored by her middlebrow book club. The media heaped scorn upon Franzen for dissing Oprah, creating the rare spectacle of a person worth million being seen as an object of sympathy by middle class journalists. Now that's popularity.

SOURCES:
www.oprah.com/money/Women-Entrepreneurs_

www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/645317/Oprah-Winfrey
.youngentrepreneur.com

WARREN BUFFETT-THE MAKING OF A BILLIONAIRE!!

Warren Edward Buffett is an American business magnate, investor, and philanthropist. He is widely considered the most successful investor of the 20th century.

Buffett was born in 1930 in Omaha, Nebraska, he is a son of a stockbroker and Congressman, and is among   the world’s most successful investors.
As a child, despite  his family background, he delivered newspapers to make extra money and this sparked his interest in the media where he has made  a variety of successful investments including the Washington Post Company, a stock that has made him a lot of money and which he promised and vowed  never to sell.
Obsessed with a devotion to develop a good entrepreneurial nature, Warren was involved in several part time businesses but his destiny was clear   when, after graduating from the University of Nebraska, he studied business at the Columbia Graduate Business School under the legendary Benjamin Graham.
He tried hard to acquire  a position with Graham’s firm and was  unsuccessful at the beginning. He finally got the job and, as he generously acknowledges, he got  a lot of experience about stock investment from Graham.
After Graham's retirement,  Buffett started a limited partnership in Omaha, using capital given to him by family and friends. This kind of partnership was a great success and Buffett is said to have averaged an annual rate of return for the partnership in excess of 23 per cent, far in excess of the market.
After several years, Buffett decided to wind up with this  partnership,  giving the lucky investors their capital and their share of the profits, and bought an interest in Berkshire Hathaway, a textile company, giving his original investors the the chance to invest. The smart ones did so.
Buffet early days at Berkshire Hathaway were not that  good. It  was in an industry facing real challenges from exports and high manufacturing costs. Warren Buffet had not, however, applied what  Graham had taught him, and arranged for the company to buy out two Nebraska insurance companies earned under es.
This was the start of Buffett  interest in insurance and his rise  to financial fame  with Berkshire Hathaway. The insurance game is quite complicated and difficult but under Buffett, the company has become,  a successful share investor and a leading provider of insurance.

 Warren Buffett is  one of the greatest investors the world has ever known. When  you take a closer  look at  his youth attributes, instinct and activities. You may agree at the end of this that, he is indeed an entrepreneur! Of course, that depends of the long standing  unanswered question - "What is an entrepreneur?" but we'll leave that for you to decide.

 Warren Buffett a multi billionaire, is quite proud of the fact that his goals are to amass wealth. In fact,  his objectives  and his skills are the main traits that attract investors to back him and the holding company he manages.
He is a a very honorable man who invests long term in people (managers who run great companies). He invests in concepts, products, services, industries and people he understands through thorough research. When you read his annual reports he does not "sugar coat" the positives and negatives. In fact, he has made many errors and will tell you about them. The holding company, Berkshire Hathaway was a failed textile company purchase that Buffett believed he could improve and uphold as time goes on. But,  the market forces of foreign competition versus capital investment requirements in the business were simply too massive and the company ceased operations.

Warren Buffett's s three life lessons:

If the only reason you are doing something is because others are doing it, then that is not good enough .
 In fact, if everyone else is concentrating on the same kind of business or topic maybe that’s the one best to avoid. . Learn to be comfortable on your own unique decision.

Warren’s success does not come from doing so many things right. It comes from avoiding the things that are terribly wrong. This might seem like two sides of the same coin but it is  a whole lot different  The stories are endless of people who did a few things right and were massively successful, but then did something stupid that took them back to nothing.

Life is about learning. If you are always open to learning you can never lose. Keep this as your only rule for the day and the world will be yours for the taking. Warren insists that there has been no better way for him  to continue to add value to what he does than this life maxim.
 Sources : 
www.forbes.com/profile/warren-buffett
USA today
www.time.com
sun-sentinel.com

CARLOS SLIM

“Adversity causes some men to break, others to break records”. - William A. Ward
Entrepreneurs have to oppose all odds to establish, run and diversify their businesses. They take gigantic risks and face new challenges daily. Growth, expansion, and innovation is a way of life for them.
They create value, generate massive amounts of wealth, bring about technological outbursts, and give employment to a large number of people.
The great success stories and secrets of entrepreneurs are a source of motivation and inspiration for individuals who want to by starting up something of their own. Today we will  look at Carlos Slim. 

Born on January 20 1940 ,Carlos is of Lebanese origin and like his fellow Lebanese people, he believes in living a simple family life as against much publicized life of American Business Tycoons. He is a family man and had a successful married life with Soumaya Domit, in whose name he also founded an Art museum called "Museu Soumaya". With increasing age he has given more and more business responsibilities to his 3 sons and 3 sons in laws.

He is a Mexican business rock, philanthropist, the wealthiest person in the world as per 9 July 2011 in Forbes Magazine, and is the richest person in the world for the second time consecutively.He became a billionaire after the economic crash of 1982 when he purchased investments at very low prices that would later be extremely valuable. In 2000, he came up with the Foundation for the Historic Centre of Mexico City to restore and save significant buildings. He is worth US$63.3 billion as the chairman and chief executive of telecommunications companies Telmex and América Móvil, and he has huge holdings in other Mexican companies through Grupo Carso SAB and in business interests elsewhere in the world. Slim already owns 6.9 % of the company that publishes the New York Times. In 2009, he lent the company an additional $250 million to help it "keep business".And according to The Wall Street Journal, the average Mexican can't help but have dealings with a Slim-owned business. Slim's interests lie in  a variety businesses ranging from cigarettes, bicycles and soft-drinks to airlines, hotels, railways, banking, telecommunications, mining and construction. He  also has 32.9 million class D shares of YPF, an Argentine energy company according to a Bloomberg report.
 Carlos Slim Helu, is also an early 20th century style American capitalist who still believes in monopoly, old factory system and economies of scale more than  technology. This business mogul is compared to the likes of Rockefeller, Carnegie, Stanford and J P Morgan etc and is often called Robber Baron of 21st century. He is first person from a developing country to have topped the "Forbes" list.
 He is a multi billionaire with a difference; his old life style is illustrated not only in his business sense but also in his personal life style. With his wealth that is estimated at $74 billion, this wealthiest person in the world is a man of taste and class. Carlos Slim Helu has carving for classical painting and sculpture by great artists like Rodin, Renoir, Da Vinci and Micheal Angelo. Despite being a multi billionaire, this 71 years old man lives in a modest six-bedroom house, a mile away from his office. He doesn't believe in conspicuous consumption and has no interest in flashy super yachts or palatial houses allover the world.
. He is fan of Baseball club "New York Yankees", but unlike Russian Oligarchs he is happy being a fan only and doesn't want to buy it.Carlos doesn't even own a fleet of cars and still loves to drive by himself.
Source; CNN Money, Wall Street Journal, New York Times

AN IDEA IS JUST LIKE A BULLET IN BUSINESS-PROTECT YOURSELF!

 We are in tough times, with the economy standing on a string .  Right now there's no IDEA thats more valuable than a unique idea. Am talking about the potential to do the same thing like others but in a different way that is more modified! "CREATIVITY"!

"Think left and think right and think low and think high. Oh, the thinks you can think up if only you try" Dr Seuss.

If you happen to attend a class in business school anywhere ,  your lecturers will always talk about the concept of comping up with ideas,at that unique ideas! They will give you examples of Google,Facebook,Microsoft these are ideas they'll never miss out on . This are companies that were started up by unique ideas.There is so  much, or more, to learn from ethical entrepreneurs who worked hard, failed, and had the strength  to stand and start again, or know when to give up and deal with cheap and small community attitudes. Real people who had real problems, real insecurities and real challenges, such as putting food on the table each night for a young family and motivating staff when they were wracked with self-doubt.

Today will look at some of these entrepreneurs whose creative minds worked the magic;

Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield are a legendary duo decided who started  a business after taking a correspondence course on the art of ice cream making. They realized that just about the only college town without an ice cream shop was Burlington, Vermont. With $8,000 in savings and a $4,000 loan, they leased an old gas station in Burlington, bought equipment, and began coming up with ideas for unique flavors . Twenty years later, the company was taking in $237 million in annual revenue. Many of us at first are despising the idea ,surely i also think it would be a cheap one if they hadn't thought about selling it where it had never been! An idea is an idea never despise it, just expand it!

Hoak and Benbow met on an internet message board and came up with the idea for a site that lets fans analyze hypothetical NBA trades. Based in Illinois and Australia, respectively, the two collaborated on Trade Checker, later enlisting the help of Essman.
This was an idea that hit among NBA fans, it also attracted the attention of  NBA general managers. In addition to licensing RealGM software to teams for approximately $30,000 a year, RealGM.com has become one of the world's most popular websites, getting approximately 20 million page views per month.
 Note: This are two individuals who barely know each other but they sparked up a great idea and made it happen. You don't need to start up another Google to get rich "epic fail" i really think a good idea starts from what is around you ,what you love most ,what you know best and can identify with!

Lindsay Manseau  was a free lancer who photographed 25 weddings  in 2009. Her business was booming, but she wanted a way to better connect with her couples and the wedding industry. So Lindsay began developing My Marriage Market, an online platform where couples and vendors will be able to connect.At just 20 ,Lindsay is living a life many of us just dream of.

Idea is  a fashion statement that's rare . We all have different ideas. ideas  are in the sky, in the street,  have to do with the way we live, what is happening,and what we are doing about it. Just get time for them, clear out a corner of your mind and let creativity settle in!

MAKE YOUR EMPLOYEES HAPPY!

Happy employees are more productive, creative ,time-conscious, and better team players. Any good  entrepreneur has to make sure his employees are happy and satisfied if he or she is to reap big! "How do these successful entrepreneurs make their employees happy?" might be the question on your mind right now.
Well i got some of these tips from other sources so you could use them;

Recognize progress;  this is one of the most valuable trait any good entrepreneur should possess so as to keep his employees happy. When you notice achievement please compliment and praise them, they'll feel appreciated. Once in a while everyone wants to feel important and appreciated therefore credit them when necessary, highlight milestones that people hit and challenges they have overcome, this will keep them happy!

Employees will get more engaged at work if you take interest in who they really are,that is to say care about them and get to know them individually this will build a friendship and more to that cooperation that will lead to the success of the company.

Stop calculating all the time; Don't make your employees feel like they have a debt to clear for the good things you've done for them, sometimes just do something good for them without expecting,this will show them that you truly mind them and they'll definitely step up in their services.

Dont wait for holiday to engage in exciting company activities,plan something exciting like getaways ,camping ,picnics, surprise birthdays,this will surely keep them on their toes and their minds will  get set tomake more achievements.

Make work fun: we all see the point in your employees taking work more seriously but the earlier you loosen them up,the better.Companies were people can joke around occasionally with each other have stronger bonds according to Joshua Murry.That is to say when mistakes are made ,people can see the funny side and not focus solely on the disappointing side,it will even provide more moments of connection.

Get rid of project leaders; let your employees work  together as a team on the same level. They'll all feel responsible and recognized while they partake the project. They'll even devote more of their energy to the project since they feel individually responsible.

Make your ideas theirs; let your employees  contribute their ideas however much they might not apply to you,give them the freedom to speak their mind. Instead of ordering or commanding make it feel like you were suggesting. For example; let the "you must do this!" turn into "what if you did it this way" . Bottom line is your the boss,your word does matter and so does the way you communicate!

Make the working area more comfortable and inviting ; your employees will spend the bulk of their waking hours at their desk,so why not make it more inviting and comfortable for them. invest in comfortable furniture,paint warm soothing colors and fully stock their offices with equipment   . These little touches really add up ,visiting clients will notice them too.

Flexibility makes every one's breathe easier; Make it possible for employees to access their work on any computer any where ,this will increase on the service they offer , also giving them a work at home option sometimes would be a better idea . it brings more relief to them most times when they cant balance duty and family at the same time.

Let your employees disengage at times ; sometimes for them to work better and produce larger ,employees shouldn't feel like your poking them at the back.  this would make them feel harassed and stressed ,sometimes they need to hear you encourage them to connect with family and other personal priorities.