7 Amazing Entrepreneurs Who Have Inspired, Motivated, and Taught Us All
The following entrepreneurs have inspired me in various ways and motivated us all to never give up — they all have achieved massive success due to their immense hunger, determination, and will to change the world. I have learned a lot from each of them.
Sir Richard Branson
Branson has taught me to always have fun no matter what. Entrepreneurship isn’t all about pain, it’s about feeling good and basking in the moment — the present. You have to enjoy yourself on your journey to success. Be happy every day that you are able to push forward with your business and have a blast!
Bill Gates
I admire Gate’s zombie-like intelligence. He is, without a doubt, one of the smartest leaders in the computer industry. And it’s ironic, because his brilliance lies in his ability to surround himself with people smarter than him. He’s always been hungry and willing to do anything to see his dreams of Microsoft realized. Gate is definitely a powerful nerd.
Oprah Winfrey
It’s funny because Oprah doesn’t consider herself an entrepreneur at all, but I think that we can all agree that she is. I respect Oprah so much for having such a big heart! She truly cares about those less fortunate than her. Her charity and causes to help the poor and impoverished have changed the world. And not to mention her ability to shine light on real issues that matter — that spark positive change.
Sam Walton
Sam is the man! When nobody believed in his dream to open up Walmarts in small, no-name, towns, he pushed forward anyway and relied on his gut. He saw an opportunity that everyone else thought was a business pitfall. He took a risk and made it happen. Now look at what he’s created, the Walton’s are one of the richest families in the country and Walmart is deeply engrained throughout the world.
Steve Jobs
I love Job’s energy. Yes he’s an ass and he is what some would call a despot…but therein lies his brilliance. He fights so hard to push his ideas unto Apple, because he truly believes in himself. And guess what? He’s proven himself to be right most of the time. Jobs is — hands down — one of the most creative people in the industry. That’s why we love him.
Thomas Edison
From Edison, I learn that failure isn’t “failure,” it’s just a way to get closer to success. Edison didn’t fail 10,000 times before creating the light bulb, he “ just found 10,000 ways that didn’t work.” Entrepreneurship is all about experimentation, and you have to be willing to keep on trying new things — new techniques — before you find something that works…. even if it takes 10,000 tries. You only have to be right once.
Howard Hughes
Hughes was one of the weirdest but one of the most innovation entrepreneurs in history. At a young age he acquired his father’s tool company and quickly turned it into the top aviation company on the planet. Without a formal education in engineering, Hughes was able to dream up and help develop some of the most sophisticated aircrafts at the time. His company, Hughes Aircraft provided the government with countless aircrafts and vessels that helped shape the course of combat and travel in America. However reclusive he was, Hughes was simply one of a kind!
21 Comments
Michael
July 13th, 2007 at 12:57 pm
I have strong respect for Thomas Edison. Edison was quoted in “The Winning Attitude by J.C Maxwell” saying
“When a man makes up his mind to solve a problem, he may at first meet with dogged opposition, but if he holds on and keeps on searching he will sure to find some sort of solution. The trouble with most people is that they quit before they start.”
chris.pund
July 13th, 2007 at 1:35 pm
Great list Dave! All those mentioned have made an amazing impact on the world and we as young entrepreneurs can only aspire and dream to do as much a they have! Best of luck and see you at the top!
Terence Chang
July 13th, 2007 at 2:10 pm
Great list. There are many other success story out there. One of them is the CEO of Vizio. The giant LCD manufacture.
Thanks!
Explode The Net
July 13th, 2007 at 2:57 pm
Thomas Edison was an interesting guy. Brilliant. I can’t say I know much about Bill Gates other than he seems to have more enemies than anyone ‘cept for Bush and Bin Laden, but he must have done something right!
David Askaripour
July 13th, 2007 at 3:15 pm
Michael, thanks for sharing that quote. Very inspiring.
Chris, thanks dude. Indeed, see you at the top!
Terrence, I never heard of Vizio. Thanks for sharing that.
Yup, Gates did a lot of things right.
Katie
July 13th, 2007 at 3:46 pm
Hi Dave,
I certainly agree that those innovators deserve mention, especially Oprah, Richard Branson, Thomas Edison and Steve Jobs. I’m just wondering though… why are almost all the featured entrepreneurs white men?
I’m sure that you didn’t intend it to be that way, but it’s just frustrating to see only the same demographic held up again and again as the people to emulate.
dafdundee
July 13th, 2007 at 3:50 pm
David,
This is a very good list but there is so many more out there such as Larry Ellison of Oracle, William Wang of Vizio and Ted Turner.
However I object in Oprah being included in the list of inspiring “Entreprenuers”. An Entreprenuer is someone that build a business of from their own hard work. Essentially building something from nothing. Oprah on the other hand was a paid talk show host that gained so much popularity and power she capitalized on that and expanded her business holding. With that said I think she is a Great Businessperson, but not an Entreprenuer!
Michael, check out the book by Seth Godin called The Dip. Its all about knowing when to quit and when to push thru for great results.
David Askaripour
July 13th, 2007 at 4:02 pm
dafdundee, that’s a good point. You may be right about that. However, Oprah is a person who is constantly innovating: from her magazine, to her website, to her charities… she is constantly on the move helping people, building new business models, and sparking new initiatives. But, yeah, she may be more of a businesswoman than an entrepreneur…
Katie, yeah they are mostly white. True. But that’s just who those people were — it’s that simple. I guess I was leaning towards internet/tech innovators in this article and the demographics of the people who created large tech companies were white. But I don’t see color, I see “people.”
Katie
July 13th, 2007 at 4:23 pm
That’s fine, I didn’t think that you were intentionally choosing people based on their demographics. It’s an easy thing to overlook.
I’m just saying that, when your readers view the page, they see a very similar-looking group of men. For me, this was off-putting and made me feel that your articles were not written for me.
Granted, it IS very difficult to find women entrepreneurs in the tech fields. However, saying that, only half of your examples are from technology. Richard Branson got his start in the music business, Sam Walton was in discount commerce and Oprah runs a media empire.
Mind Petals writes for a large audience and I simply believe that it’s not unreasonable to take that into consideration.
David Askaripour
July 13th, 2007 at 7:24 pm
Hey Katie,
Thanks for sharing your opinion. What you say is very valid and it reminds to be constantly aware of the full range of the Mind Petals readership. Thanks for voicing this and being a part of our community. I hope that you stick around
Michael
July 14th, 2007 at 11:38 am
Thanks dafdundee for the book suggestion.
As a South African, I am proud of Elon Musk, founder of PayPal and Mark Shuttleworth who created Thawte, the SSL digital certificate company. Both these amazing men are highly successful entrepreneurs and are South African.
Dechef Richo
July 14th, 2007 at 3:07 pm
They say ” Success is Achieved after continuous failure “,Now i can believe that , not after reading Thomas Edison’s Biography …
Keep it up David , we love this site .
Do you have plans of turning these blogs to audio , so that we can start listening to some of them and downloading ?
David Askaripour
July 15th, 2007 at 10:05 am
Dechef, Thanks so much for supporting Mind Petals — glad to have you a part of the community. Indeed, we plan to push forward with the radio show this month, so get ready for some great interviews of entrepreneurs!
Indeep Chase
July 16th, 2007 at 4:10 pm
We need more pioneering spirits today. It seems as times are changing and invovations are slowing down, we need more people to take an independent stand to become risk takers and become self sufficient and self reliant.
Dave
September 12th, 2007 at 1:44 pm
It is true, all these folks made significant impact on the world, but not always a postive one. Sam Walton may have changed the face of inexpensive retail as we know it, but the side effects in some cases have been catastrophic economically for a lot of those low wage employees.
Walmart comes into a smaller town, runs out all the small businesses, leaving the people no choice but to work at the Walmart, which in some cases only employs them part-time so they don’t have to supply medical insurance options. Aside from that, they pay the lowest wages which essentially enslaves those folks into servitude because then the only place they can afford to shop is at the Walmart that brought all the problems in the first place.
Walton may have been a visionary, but the residual effects are not inspiring.
David Askaripour
September 12th, 2007 at 8:11 pm
Dave, I can appreciate your concern about the effects of Walmart, but the reality of the matter is that we, as free individuals, always have a choice as to where we can work / willing to work. I think that Walmart has done more good than harm. Like anything else in life, they aren’t perfect. But the fact of the matter is that Walmart is providing goods at lower costs. I have compassion for those smaller shop owners who lost their businesses (re: gave up on their businesses), but they had the choice to continue on and keep at it — those are one of the benefits in living is such a great country as America. I could be mistaken, but I believe that Walmart has a program in place for the smaller shops around their stores. Thanks so much for sharing.
Creative Financings
September 14th, 2007 at 12:34 am
I have always had a problem with people who made millions, or billions, by treating their employees like dirt and under-paying them. So Walton would not be on my list of inspirational business people. I’d replace him with someone like Ted Turner or Kirk Kerkorian.
Ryan Spahn
September 14th, 2007 at 1:03 pm
Reading about Edison and others how they kept focused and did not let negativity from others lose their focus is inspiring.
Time will tell if my work http://Sleep.FM - The Social Alarm Clock enriches our daily lives, by allowing our voice-mails to wake each other up, rather then alarm buzzer(on your birthday awake to wishes or a soldier in Iraq have his kids wake up him each day, etc).
Im focused and excited to see the day say in five to ten years Im watching the latest Hollywood blockbuster and in the scene I see the star of the film being awakened not by an alarm buzzer but by a voice-mail left to wake her up.
Ryan
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October 6th, 2007 at 7:47 am
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Content Writer
October 6th, 2007 at 3:02 pm
“failure isn’t “failure,” it’s just a way to get closer to success.
Just Remember this and one will never be disappointed in his/ her life.
IT encourages me to do more work and more hungary for success
Shauna
December 26th, 2007 at 12:13 pm
Thanks for your post.
I just wrote a blog, “How Resolutions Will Save AND MAKE You Money,” that features related money making ideas. It’s a great idea and I hope people take advantage! (BECOME the next Jobs, etc!)
Best of luck in the new year!
Shauna
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