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From Oprah Winfrey to Steve Jobs to J.K. Rowling, entrepreneurial success stories are the stuff from which American dreams are made. Much like these famous names, the six self-made millionaires we're profiling have one thing in common: Thanks to hard work, determination and sound advice from mentors, friends and family, they've been able to build thriving businesses from the ground up.
The rise to the top can be bumpy. In fact, some of the entrepreneurs we talked to were homeless during the early years of their companies. That's why they all agree that it's important to help others in need. All, including Radio One's Catherine L. Hughes and Life is good co-founder Bert Jacobs, give back to the community by volunteering time, donating to charitable organizations or running their own charities.
Learn how these six diverse entrepreneurs -- from a t-shirt designer to a media mogul -- turned meager beginnings into multimillion-dollar success and what advice they offer to budding business tycoons who hope to follow in their footsteps.
Catherine L. Hughes
Courtesy of Radio One
Occupation: Founder and chairperson, Radio One
Advice to young entrepreneurs: "Sometimes the ones who love you the most will give you the worst business advice."
By conventional standards, Hughes wasn't destined to build a successful multimillion-dollar media company. She was a teen mom by 16 and a high-school dropout. However, she later completed high school, followed by brief stints at area universities in her hometown of Omaha, Neb.
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Bert Jacobs
Courtesy of Life Is Good
Occupation: Co-Founder and CEO, Life is good
Advice to young entrepreneurs: "Try to shoot for a timeless business."
You've probably seen the beret-wearing, smiling face of "Jake," the Life is good logo, on the company's tee shirts and products. Co-founders Bert Jacobs and his brother, John Jacobs, 43, started peddling their tee shirts on the streets of Boston -- going door-to-door at college dorms and sleeping in their van to save money -- in 1989. It would take nearly six years, however, before their shirts finally caught on with consumers, thanks to "Jake."
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Ali Brown
Courtesy of Ali Brown
Occupation: Entrepreneur, business consultant and publisher, AliBrown.com
Advice to young entrepreneurs: "It's important you seek out other business owners for information, advice, support and resources."
Fed up with her dead-end job at a New York City ad agency, Brown decided to quit in 1998. Armed with her brother's hand-me-down computer, she launched her first marketing agency, AKB Communications, from her kitchen table.
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Jill Blashack Strahan
Courtesy of Jill Blashack Strahan
Occupation: Founder and CEO, Tastefully Simple
Advice to young entrepreneurs: "Having goals is absolutely critical."
For Strahan, starting her multimillion-dollar company, Tastefully Simple, a direct sales retailer of specialty food products, began with "a dream and a shoestring." She grew up on a dairy farm in Minnesota and later started selling gourmet food baskets, which inspired her business.
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Farrah Gray
Courtesy of Farrah Gray Publishing
Occupation: Founder and CEO, Farrah Gray Publishing
Advice to young entrepreneurs: "Keep your business small . . . niche yourself."
When most 6-year-olds were worried about what time their favorite cartoon came on TV, Gray was already an entrepreneur. He was going door-to-door in his inner-city Chicago neighborhood selling hand-painted rocks as bookends to help his ailing mother make ends meet. "I can remember being very young and my mom having a heart attack. I wondered how we were going to pay the bills and thought to myself, 'I don't want to be poor like this anymore,'" he recalls.
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Jesse Conners
Courtesy of FirednFabulous/YouTube
Occupation: CEO and founder, PeppermintPark.com
Advice to young entrepreneurs: "There is constantly some fire that you have to put out . . . Don't let it discourage you."
Conners had an unusual childhood: When she was 9, her parents joined a cult and -- believing that the world was about to end -- sold all of their worldly possessions. From then until she was 18, Conners traveled across the U.S. and to Mexico with her family, following the cult's message and searching for work along the way. As unconventional as it was, she says her upbringing spurred the independence she needed to succeed in business.
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source: Kiplinger.com:
