Articles Index

Wayne Huizenga Biography

Wayne Huizenga is the only person in history to have founded three Fortune 500 companies, and six NYSE-traded companies. Huizenga is founder of the third largest U.S. waste disposal company, Republic Industries; the global leader in video entertainment, Blockbuster Entertainment; and the country's first and world's largest publicly-traded automotive dealership, AutoNation. He's also currently the owner of the Miami Dolphins football team.

Walt Disney - A Look at the Man Behind Mickey Mouse

Disney is one of the most recognized brands in the world, but few know as much about the man behind the Magic Kingdom, not to mention the hundreds of animated cartoons, countless feature films and endless toys that bear his name. An influential innovator and entrepreneur in the mid 20th century, Disney went from sketching a rabbit (yes, a rabbit) to running a multi-billion dollar empire.

Sharon Dotson, APR, Bayou City Public Relations

Sharon Dotson, APR, is an award-winning Houston publicist and public relations expert specializing in securing positive media coverage for successful niche businesses.

Jim Schakenbach

Jim Schakenbach has over 25 years of writing experience for broadcast, advertising agencies, and technology marketing communications. With a degree in journalism from Washington & Lee University and a career as a journalist, copywriter, and agency principal, Jim brings both real life experience and a depth and breadth of knowledge that enables him to write effectively and confidently about a wide range of subjects and industries.

Joey Tamer

Joey Tamer is an internationally-acclaimed strategic consultant. Her work helps create wealth for founders and investors of entrepreneurial ventures, and a high return on investment for Fortune 1000 intrapreneurial ventures.

Jill Konrath

Jill Konrath is founder of Selling to Big Companies, a web resource focused on helping small businesses and independent professionals win big contracts in corporate accounts.

Jamie Walters - Author and Founder of Ivy Sea Online

Jamie Walters is the founder of Ivy Sea and author of "Big Vision, Small Business". In addition to her writing and speaking, Jamie inspires and acts as thought-and-idea-partner to individual new-era leaders, healers, and right-livelihood entrepreneurs to help them align with their purpose, empower their communication, navigate transformation, and bring their brightest, boldest visions to life, while staying centered and sane.

Henry Ford - Founder of Ford Motor Company and Assembly Line Innovator

Henry Ford was not the inventor of the automobile, but his innovations in assembly-line techniques and the introduction of standardized interchangeable parts contributed to making the United States a nation of motorists and produced the first mass-production vehicle manufacturing plant.

Anita Roddick - Redefining Business As We Know It

Anita Roddick was founder of The Body Shop, a store that purchases outstanding natural ingredients for a line of cosmetics, helping the disadvantaged communities generate income and providing women with superb cosmetics.

Bill Gates - Windows on Wealth

Microsoft Corp. co-founder Bill Gates is perhaps the most famous entrepreneur of this era. He had the vision to predict the evolving importance of the personal computer. This allowed him to top Forbes magazine’s list of the world’s wealthiest individuals, with a 2006 estimated net worth of $50 billion.

Ben & Jerry's - The Men Behind the Ice Cream

Ice cream is a sweet treat that few can resist. Although vanilla is the most popular flavor in the U.S., there are a seemingly endless number of varieties and manufacturers. One of the best-known purveyors is Ben & Jerry’s, the brand synonymous with funky flavors like Cherry Garcia and Chunky Monkey and a groovy Vermont vibe.

Daniel Richards

Daniel Richards is a freelance business writer who has covered small business industry news for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, National Association of Women Business Owners and the National Retail Federation

Simon Cowell – Music Mogul Millionaire

Simon Cowell is best known as the obnoxious judge on the hit TV show American Idol whose cynical comments sent contestants running out the door in tears, but what most don’t know is that his work didn’t start there and most definitely won’t end there. His list of achievements is long and includes being a successful record producer and executive for the BMG UK record company to gathering wannabe entrepreneurs on his show, American Inventor.

Richard Branson - The Rebel Billionaire and the Ultimate Multipreneur

In a recent poll, About.com readers selected Oprah Winfrey as the Most Admired Entrepreneur. While perhaps less well known outside of his homeland of England, Richard Branson wins the Editor's Choice for Most Admired Entrepreneur. Learn about this British firebrand who has succeeded perhaps most of all at "engineering a breathtaking life for himself".

Lorenzo Borghese: The Bachelor Prince, the Cosmetics Entrepreneur

Even without a title of “prince,” Lorenzo Borghese would not fall into the category of “pauper.” Recently in the news for his appearance on ABC’s The Bachelor: Rome, Borghese is following in his grandmother’s footsteps as a cosmetics entrepreneur and has created his own line of luxury bath and grooming products – only these are for pets.

Howard Hughes: The Aviator, The Innovator, The Billionaire

Howard Hughes was once the most talked-about entrepreneur in the world - legendary for both his bold business tactics and his outlandish personal life. The recent popular movie "The Aviator" has prompted a new interest in this fascinating entrepreneur.

Harvey Mackay - "Mr. Make Things Happen"

Harvey Mackay is the author of five business bestsellers, a nationally syndicated columnist, and one of America's most popular business speakers. He is also Chairman and CEO of Mackay Envelope Corporation, which he founded at age 26, and which now employees over 500 people and does $85 million a year in revenue.

Donald Trump - Billionaire Real Estate Tycoon and Host of The Apprentice

Donald Trump has a long list of accomplishments. While he may be best known in pop culture for "The Apprentice", he built his reputation and his fortune (and lost it and built it again) in commercial real estate. He has developed some of Manhattan's most prestigious office buildings, residences and hotels, as well as casinos, hotels and golf resorts in prime locations like Atlantic City, Palm Beach and Palm Springs. He is also owner of the Miss Universe, Miss USA and Miss Teen USA pageants.

Hugh Hefner: The Ultimate Lifestyle Entrepreneur

Hugh Hefner is the supreme bachelor of our time. He has forever changed our world by breaking the boundaries related to sexuality, age, and gender. He created a revolutionary magazine with naked women and great articles in a time when sexuality was not even appropriate to talk about.

Adam Osborne – The innovator of the first portable computer

Adam Osborne was an American entrepreneur who was most famously known for the first portable computer, but also was a British author and a book and software publisher. He made a successful move into publishing computer books.

Oprah Winfrey - About.com Readers' Most Admired Entrepreneur

In a recent poll, About.com asked readers to select the entrepreneur they most admired. Was it Bill Gates? Richard Branson? Donald Trump? Nope -- Oprah Winfrey stood out head and shoulders above the rest. Read Oprah's story and some of the things that make her so admirable.

Ingvar Kamprad - IKEA Founder and One of the World's Richest Men

Thanks to the decline in the dollar, IKEA founder Ingvar Kamprad is now, according to some, the wealthiest person in the world. What started as a person-to-person business selling everything from pens to picture frames has grown to over 200 stores in 31 countries, employing over 75,000 people and generating over 12 billion in sales annually. IKEA is still privately held by Kamprad, who flys coach, takes the subway to work, and drives a ten-year-old Volvo.

Michael Dell: Innovator of the Personal Computer Industry

Michael Dell, born February 1965, started the road to success out of his University of Texas dorm room in with just $1000 and an idea in 1984. Michael Dell is both Chairman and CEO of his company with a net worth of over $30 billion. Dell sells directly to the customer so to avoid middleman mark-ups.

Mary Kay Ash - Most Outstanding Woman in Business in the 20th Century

The founder of Mary Kay Cosmetics created a business that has helped some half a million women fulfill their dreams of business ownership. A best-selling author and powerful motivational speaker, Lifetime Television named her the Most Outstanding Woman in Business in the 20th Century.

Shelley Peever, Contributing Author to About Entrepreneurs

Shelley Peever, MBA, is an associate faculty member for Royal Roads University's Bachelor of Commerce program. She is currently an advisor for the program's venture analysis and business plan course. Shelley is a multipreneur whose business interests include Peever Pedorthics, Inc., a clinic providing pedorthic assessments, fittings and orthotic fabrication for lower limb abnormalities, and Ruff Knits canine clothiers.