Businesses come in all shapes and sizes. Some are small, some are big, and some even span the globe! There’s a lot of different types of businesses out there today, but they all seem to have one thing in common: success. These stories show how these companies overcame obstacles and found ways to grow their business by focusing on what mattered most – customers.
Sara Blakely – Spanx
Sara wanted to create pantyhose that would make your legs look great, but didn’t want it to be visible. During her research process, she tried on the hosiery with her own pair of pants and found nothing was working. She knew there had to be a way to create the product without it being visible, so she took scissors to her pantyhose and cut out the feet. Her brand Spanx was born! She went through doors of doubt and failures but never gave up. She now is worth an estimated $1 Billion dollars today!
Mark Cuban
Before he became the owner of the Dallas Mavericks and host of Shark Tank, Mark Cuban was a college dropout who created his first company at the age of 24. At this time, he had no idea what he wanted to do with his life since he never finished college. He took some marketing classes at Indiana University but felt they weren’t providing him with any real-world experience. In 1995, he started a company called MicroSolutions. He eventually sold the company to CompuServe for $6 Million dollars. After this sale, Cuban became extremely wealthy and decided to invest his money in a new business venture.
Broadcast.com allowed people to listen live to different programs on the internet. In 1999, Cuban made a deal to purchase the company for $5.7 Billion dollars. At first, people didn’t think this was a smart idea because no one would be able to figure out how to use this technology and that it wouldn’t catch on with anyone. Since then, they realized that this new technology is only expected to grow and will become even more popular. Mark Cuban saw the value in this and look at him today – a billionaire!
Howard Schultz – Starbucks
Howard Schultz joined Starbucks as their first employee and eventually became CEO. While they were doing well, he noticed that they were doing things very differently from other competitors such as Dunkin Donuts and Caribou Coffee. He noticed that they weren’t providing an experience for their customers and it just became a place to grab a cup of coffee. Schultz had a vision for Starbucks to become more than just a place that sold coffee, but also provided an experience for the customer.