ET52- How to Achieve Big Goals with Finish Line Thinking
Success Coach And Performance Expert Nicky Billou You can't win the race if you don't know where the finish line is or the hurdles you have to clear to get...
I love to read stories of entrepreneurs starting from scratch and building great small businesses out of their guts and ideas and just a little bit of cash.
Stories like the birth of Microsoft, Amazon and Apple are good, too, but a tad harder to relate to- at least for me.
The stories I really like usually feature businesses I haven’t heard of but which make their founders plenty of money and even better are doing something positive for the niche they serve. Here are some of my favorites:
The story of Caitlin Pyle who decided to quit her job proof reading and with her husband move to Ecuador where she started a business offering to teach proofreading online instead. The first month she pulled in over $9,000 in profits and hasn’t looked back since.
The story of Natasha Lekic who left a good paying job as a book editor then spent a couple of years trying to figure out a direction, before ultimately getting back into the same industry on her own terms as a business owner rather than an employee. With less than $100 in startup costs she built a business grossing as much as $55,000 a month.
The story of Graham Cochrane, a musician who never expected to make any money but after being laid off was forced to focus on his side gig, which he turned into a more than full time income. He took his just for fun blog for music recording and ramped it up to include lessons for sale and is now pulling in between $35-$75K a month.
How about this stat, “I have now been on the road for four and a half years and have visited 71 countries.” That is from Justin Carmack who writes a popular travel blog that earns him enough money to travel the world and pursue his passions for SCUBA diving and for not having a regular 9-5 job.
You may have heard of John Lee Dumas, a fellow San Diegan, who created a huge business for himself by profiling other successful entrepreneurs on his daily podcast. He started out with just a small investment and an idea and has since grown it into a seven figure business.
Check out the story of Zach Cutler who turned $200 into a huge public relations firm with over 70 clients and huge revenue. My favorit quote from his story hits close to home for me: “My firm was so bootstrapped in the beginning that I didn’t even want to pay for accounting software — something I lived to regret.” Yes- don’t skimp on bookkeeping! 🙂
Down to the last $500 in her bank account, this one woman business launched a clever T-shirt campaign that turned things around to bring in over $250K while she was still working from home.
I will keep adding to this list as I gather more of these stories. For now, have a great rest of the day!