In this article I am going to share with you some wonderful stories of well-known businessmen, as all of them didn’t have the fortune they have now, no funding and sometimes no education or experience.
It’s definitely inspiring to hear about people who started with nothing.
Wondering how did they manage to gain their capital and what can we, as entrepreneurs, learn from them?
John Paul DeJoria
John Paul DeJoria started his journey as a newspaper courier, a janitor and tow truck driver to make ends meet. Then DeJoria eventually started working at a hair care company, where he met Paul Mitchell. They decided to take a loan of just $700, for their new project that turn to a massive success now known as John Paul Mitchell Systems.
Later, DeJoria co-founded Patron Spirits, and was a founding partner of the House of Blues chain. Today, he's worth more than $3.1 billion.
Kevin Plank
Kevin Plank, the CEO of the fitness apparel company Under Armour.
To invest in this brand, he took all he had - about $20,000, and requested an additional $40,000 of credit card debt.
Soon after, he made a landmark sale of $17,000 to Georgia Tech University and managed to make huge sales to two dozen NFL teams. He reached millions in sales and hire hundreds of employees. Today, Under Armour does nearly $2 billion in retail sales, and has 5,900 employees.
Jan Koum
Jan Koum was born in Ukraine, he is the founder of WhatsApp. He emigrated to California and started to study computer science in his spare time. By the time he was 18, he had developed impressive skills, and in 1997, he was hired by Yahoo! as an infrastructure engineer.
He eventually discovered that the app industry had huge potential and started WhatsApp Inc.
As we remember at 2014, WhatsApp had become enormously popular. After its massive success Facebook bought the app for a staggering $19 billion.
Entrepreneurs can come from humble beginnings, without start capital, but so long as you can work hard, commit to your ideas and take responsibility and risks, all your ideas can become true.
Don't let a lack of money or experience dissuade you from following your dreams. Share it in the comments below – what successful entrepreneurs inspire you in world of business? If you have your question, please write it below, I would be glad to answer it or to introduce your project to my team at Astorts Group to be evaluated.
Alessandro Rocco Pietrocola is an entrepreneur and investor based in London and operating mainly in Europe, Asia and Oceania with main focus on UK, Baltic Countries, Russia, China, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore, Middle East and New Zealand as area of interest! At the moment is the Ceo of Astorts Group. He is an UK FCA (Financial Conduct Authority) Approved Person and is has great experience as director of regulated companies. He uses to dedicate part of his life to inspire others and help them achieve the most out of their life. Since he was 20, he had successfully founded and managed several companies operating in the field of management consulting, wealth management and fintech. He loves travelling, he is a cigars lover, an amateur golfer and a dapper man.
