Being an entrepreneur is not smooth sailing for sure. Of course, now, when you come across somebody who is accomplished, the first that comes to your mind (in most instances) is “Oh, yeah, he/she has had it easy.”
But you wouldn’t believe how difficult it is to become successful and that people are oftentimes forced to give up on a lot of things to achieve certain goals. And that’s something that every successful businessman (and even the one who still hasn’t reached that phase) will tell you.
Every once in a while we are looking for some form of encouragement that will push us forward. And if you’re trying to become someone, or do something that’s valuable, however, if you could use some motivation, then maybe these phenomenal stories will push you even harder to reach your goals.
A Powerful Woman – Indra Nooyi
It has always been hard to stumble upon stories that will perfectly depict a journey of an accomplished woman that was once “just a nobody” but that has worked hard to become exactly what she is today.
I’m always glad when I uncover these stories because they will empower women across the globe to fight for what they believe in. One of these super-women is precisely Indra Nooyi and she was ranked as one of the most powerful women in the world.
If there’s anyone who is familiar with the term inclusivity in the business world that’s precisely this woman. Because of her, the Pepsi company has drastically changed (in a positive way). For almost thirty years, Indra has given her all to keep this company up to date with the latest business requirements and to concentrate on the things that matter.
Before she became the CEO of PepsiCo, this spectacular woman was a student in her homeland, India. She specialized in science, acquiring several bachelor’s degrees in chemistry, mathematics, and physics.
At first, when she joined PepsiCo, some of her decisions and strategies weren’t exactly approved by a lot of people, however, over time, it turned out to be very beneficial for this brand, and by virtue of Indra, Pepsi’s annual net profit was more than doubled within the first several years of her work.
Very soon, people realized that this woman is nothing less than a powerhouse which is why she quickly became the CEO of this company. However, five years ago, she decided that she wants to step down from this position and was later replaced by Ramon Laguarta.
A Force To Be Reckoned With – Kurt Uhlir
Here’s another accomplished businessman that definitely deserves to be on this list. And that’s no wonder since this reputable marketer, speaker, and operator managed to enter the top 10 entrepreneurs list a couple of years ago. So what are the most interesting facts that I could tell you about him?
For starters, I would like to emphasize the fact that this marvelous man has established and run a business from start-up to more than $500 million annual income, has managed to put together teams across six continents, and has been a huge part of the team leading an IPO ($880 million).
Apart from that, Kurt Uhlir has been part of a small, yet adroit group that has developed and blasted off three of the marketing channels that a vast majority of people utilize today, such as:
- Location-based marketing – the targeting of ads based on the use of a particular geolocation
- Social media management – this refers to posting interesting posts to various social media platforms. A few years ago, he joined a team at Vitrue that collaborated with Facebook, with the goal to make the APIs that generated a brand-new form of communication for various brands across the globe and that made social media management. The Vitrue SRM successfully managed over one billion social relationships in a variety of different countries. Kurt collaborated with the sales and CEO team to tell a story and the triumphant acquisition of GamesThatGive.
- Influencer marketing – He was also the CEO and the founder (one of two) at Sideqik which was one of the first influencer marketing platforms.
These days, as a charming speaker on innovation and marketing, Kurt gladly shares his story with others and gives speeches across Europe and the United States. He is here to help young and relatively inexperienced entrepreneurs to take their companies to the next level.
That’s precisely one of the major reasons why he is one of the most popular commentators for the time being. He has appeared on different national television shows and periodicals, like TechCrunch, Wired, USA Today, Thrive Global, Business 2 Community, NBC, WGN Radio, ABC, and many others.
Currently, he is VP of Marketing and Operations for eXp Realty which is a real estate brokerage that is rapidly expanding and has more than 86,000 agents.
Moving On To the Phenomenal Steve Jobs
I believe that a lot of you are at least familiar with the basics when it comes to this spectacular man. However, I would like to remind you once again that precisely Steve Jobs was one of the key figures in one of the most successful companies of all time, Apple.
And that’s all because of Steve’s inventiveness, talent, creativity, and ambition. Precisely these traits have helped him develop sensational products which attracted millions and millions of consumers from all around the world.
Even to this day, when he (unfortunately) is no longer with us, this man continues to inspire driven and intelligent entrepreneurs. Under his leadership, Apple has started to bloom and to develop revolutionary technologies and by that, I refer to some of the most popular products ever, the iPad and iPhone.
Numerous times, Steve Jobs stated how he has faced numerous obstacles along the way, but he was always determined to overcome them. Even though he was actually a college dropout that didn’t negatively affect his will and ambition to make some positive changes for both the world and his life.
But why did he drop out of college in the first place? Well, that’s because he wanted to take classes that he was actually interested in, instead of wasting his time learning about topics that didn’t pique his interest.
One of the classes that sparked his ambition was calligraphy. I know that a lot of you may find his choice to be a bit odd, however, precisely this class has encouraged him to create different font choices for Apple computers.
If he had never taken that class, then Apple users would never get the opportunity to have such wonderfully-crafted fonts on their Apple devices.
Remarkable Richard Reed
There are some people who at first “start small”, and at first glance, you do not believe that they are ever going to accomplish something spectacular, but then all of a sudden (not literally) they become some of the most successful people in the world.
And that’s precisely what happened to Richard Reed. At first, he has the desire to make something that’s going to help people be healthy and die old and that’s how Innocent Smoothies were made.
In the beginning, Richard had a smoothie stall on a street corner which forced lots of people to think that he would never do anything huge. Oh, how wrong they were! Today, this is by far, one of the most famous and eminent brands in the UK.
If you ask Richard Reed, he will tell you that it’s all because he received very powerful advice that practically changed his life for the better. There are a number of things he would advise future businessmen, however, today, I will share the most essential ones with you:
- “Keep the main thing, the main thing” – Meaning that you should invest all your energy, time, and resources in a single-minded goal.
- “Work it” – One hundred percent is simply not going to cut it. In order to succeed, you must give 150 percent. Only that is acceptable.
Both Talented And Accomplished – Matthew McConaughey
I know that you’ve thought that this list will only consist of conventional entrepreneurs, however, I wanted to jazz things up a little bit by mentioning somebody who hasn’t always had it easy and who just like most of us was “forced” to learn from his mistakes.
Yes, that’s right, I am talking about one of the most talented actors of his generation, Matthew McConaughey. You are probably familiar with his work (or at least some movies he has done), however, have you ever heard some of his interesting, and above all, useful speeches?
The one that stuck out for me, was the one he did at the University of Houston. The highlight of this speech was definitely when he discussed joy and defined it as a “constant approach”. Back then, he stated how “Joy is always in process, it’s always under construction.”
Back in the day, when he was younger, he believed that he could define himself as successful only if he earned a lot of money or won numerous academy awards. But then, at some point, he finally realized that that should never be prioritized but instead focus on the entire process of creating a movie and of course, to make sure to enjoy every second of it.
Once he realized that precisely that is essential, he was able to realize what real success actually is. But that’s not something that happens overnight. It took him some time, along with several ups and downs to conclude these things.
Once he decided to take everything one step at a time, he started to honestly enjoy his job and craft.
Charming Levi Roots
How do you call a man that doesn’t have one talent but a lot of them? Is he a miracle, a wunderkind, or what? I am not sure how I would define it, but what I do know is that Levi Roots is one of those people.
He is not only an accomplished businessman but also a very successful radio presenter and musician. Even though many people have heard of and tasted his Reggae Reggae Sauce (which is a BBQ sauce) not too many people know anything about him.
And he deserves to be written about because he has managed to do the “impossible”. Namely, he turned his family recipe into a very lucrative business that celebrates Jamaican culture. How amazing is that?
How did it all begin? In the beginning, he was selling his sauce from stalls at a variety of different events. And then, suddenly, things changed (to be more precise, in 2006) and at the Nothing Hill Carnival, he sold over four thousand bottles of this delicious sauce.
And that’s not the end of his exciting journey. Namely, Levi Roots was noticed by a reputable BBC producer precisely while he was selling his sauce. He approached Roots and told him that he should appear in Dragon’s Den.
In the episode that was run more than fifteen years ago, he asked for 50,000 pounds for a twenty percent stake in his company. His proposal wasn’t immediately accepted, however, after a while, he was offered the amount of money he asked for, however, for a forty percent stake that was divided between two investors, Richard Farleigh, and Peter Jones.
And Last, But Not Least – Elon Musk
There’s no need to remind you of how accomplished Elon Musk is, however, if you would like to know what he thinks that it’s a secret behind every successful person, it’s precisely a huge amount of work.
He doesn’t believe that a single person is responsible for a success of a particular company, but that each business must consist of a spectacular team in order to thrive and become the best among the best.
Besides that, Elon Musk stated numerous times that it’s essential to focus on developments that are going to change things for the better instead of blindly following any trend.
It’s an amazing thing when you get the opportunity to read or hear about successful individuals. That’s precisely the main reason why I decided to create this article. I wanted to inspire you to do something with your life right now.
