As business owners, it is easy to feel overwhelmed and anxious about your future and your business. Questions like; Will my business ever grow beyond this? Will all my long-term or short-term goals for my business ever come to fruition? One can quickly feel lost and overwhelmed.
These feelings and questions are normal as they show that you are passionate about your business and want it to be successful.
However, it is important not to forget the concept of process and time. Many business owners fail to consciously realize that growing a business takes time and dedication and is not exactly a 1-day thing. Nevertheless, the important thing is to persevere and keep at it.
In this post, we've compiled some inspiring stories of successful business moguls who started as small business owners, built their businesses to an international level, and what lessons we can learn from them.
Let's take a look.
Sam Walton
Wal-Mart is currently the world's largest retail chain and the biggest private employer in the world, and it all started when Sam Walton saw an opportunity where his then former employee refused to go.
Sam grew up on a local farm and started helping out with the family's finances at an early age. He supplied milk from the family's cow to customers, delivered newspapers, and even worked as a waiter.
A few years after college, he decided to go into retailing and business. After his stint in the military, he started managing his first variety store, a franchise of the Butler Brothers chain.
He went ahead to help grow the franchise into 15 different stores. He later suggested that the franchise chain be expanded into rural areas. However, the company refused, which prompted him to open his store.
Unlike other store chains, He targeted small towns and from there grew the franchise to what it is today.
We learn from Walton's story that it's okay to venture out rather than follow existing norms. You can dare to be different.
John Paul Dejoria
With a $700 loan, John Paul and Paul Mitchell started a business that has grown into a conglomerate today. John was a newspaper courier, janitor, and driver. He was even fired from his first job in haircare before he finally started the Paul Mitchell line of hair care products.
When asked about his thoughts on success, John Paul advised that every entrepreneur be ready for rejection. He said that to be successful, one must learn to do what the unsuccessful ones don't want to do. In his words, "When ten doors are slammed in your face, go to door number 11 enthusiastically with a smile on your face."
Howard Schultz
The Starbucks coffee house hero and founder started as a marketing director in the Starbucks company, initially a coffee bean store. After some years, he left Starbucks and decided to open his own store and started his own business, which was doing well. In the early 1980s, he bought the Starbucks company and converted it to a coffee shop that served varieties of coffee and beverages.
As a former marketing director, Howard was very intentional about the coffee house branding. He introduced various strategies like adding other beverages, snacks, and pastries to the shop.
He also started offerings that are particular to the seasons and locality of the store.
In a speech he once gave, he said a lot of what we ascribe to luck is not luck at all. Instead, it's seizing the day and accepting responsibility for your future. It's seeing what other people don't see and pursuing that vision.
So dear entrepreneurs, we hope that you have learned one or two lessons from these inspiring stories. Now, go find a way to implement them into your small business. We are rooting for you!