At Upward Lifestyle, we believe that everyone has a million dollar idea hiding deep within them. At some point in our lives, all of us have said, "You know what would be a great business?", but unfortunately few of us follow through on those ideas. When I stumbled upon the show "How I Made My Millions" on CNBC, I saw it as the ultimate inspiration, and I think you will too.
For starters, you can find the full version of the show on
CNBC's website. The host, David Faber walks through several amazing stories of people who took a simple idea and grew it into a remarkable business. Some of the cool companies include Burt's Bees, 1-800 Flowers, and SuperPretzel. While I won't ruin the details of the show for you (You should watch it ASAP!), I do want to walk through my quick and dirty analysis of the unique cases presented. I think there are a few similarities that all the companies shared, and we should be mindful of these as we wander down the road to our alternative career.
Here are my thoughts on the common themes between the success stories:
1) No Groundbreaking Inventions: Most of us have this misconception that we need a groundbreaking idea in order to start a successful company. This show proves that taking products that already exist in the market and tweaking them slightly can be enough to dominate the competition if marketed properly. "The Headblade" is the perfect example of this. Todd Greene was going bald and was frustrated by the difficulty of using conventional razors on his head. By simply tweaking an existing razor to fit his hand better, he cornered the market for head shaving devices. Check out his website at www.headblade.com
2) Minimal Startup Costs: If money is your worry, look no further than Kernel Seasons for motivation. By mixing up a few different popcorn seasoning flavors in his kitchen and selling them to the local movie theater, Brian Taylor created a whole new market for gourmet sprinkle-on popcorn seasonings. The lesson here, poor people can start companies too!
3) A Good Website is Critical: In order to judge the credibility of your business, most customers will head to your website. And as they say in business, first impressions are EVERYTHING.
4) You Don't Need an MBA: While some business knowledge may be useful, most of the daring entrepreneurs on this show lacked high level educations. The one common denominator though, all of them spent extensive time studying the things necessary for their success, such as web design and marketing.
5) It Takes Time: None of these millionaires were overnight success stories. They developed a concept, refined it, marketed it, and slowly grew their business. Quitting your job to start a business is a dangerous proposition and a good way to go broke. Start small and then as your side business grows, look for the right point to exit your old job, but don't jump off the ship without the raft........
Enough of my ramblings, head on over to CNBC, watch the show for yourself and let me know your thoughts in the comment section below!
I am pleased to announce that I have my first billion dollar company!! By selling a 0.000001% share in my company to an eager young investor, my company's official value finally crossed the billion dollar threshold!
