Every beginning is hard, and some beginnings are harder than others. There are people who had to start working on their dream from scratches, only with what they could afford at the time. Most of their working conditions were poor, to say at least. There wasn’t much hope for a huge success, if any. They had only the basics, stuffed in some crowded space, usually their own garage, working hard and having their eyes set upon their goal. Over the years, or sometimes even shorter, they somehow managed to achieve what is most often unachievable: they succeeded in their business. And it’s not just a mediocre success – we’re talking about millions, sometimes billions of dollars of profit. These people own multi-dollar companies today. Check who they are and how they got to where they are now and feel inspired by their stories.
1. Apple
The most valuable technology company in the world had its modest beginnings in a garage in Cupertino, California. Over there, Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniack and Ronald Wayne were trying to put together the first prototype of their personal computer. This was the year 1976 and the three of them were just ones of the many who were trying to make a breakthrough in the technology industry. Over the years, they made a couple of improved models, until in 1984 their Macintosh model helped them attract attention to themselves and become big business. Today, this company employs more than 50 thousand people, manufactures a lot more than just personal computers and profits about 14 billion annually.
2. Google
Menlo Park, a garage in California was a starting point for this giant, where the original three employees worked on the search algorithms and indexing web pages. In a year’s time, they manage to make enough progress to move to a bigger location, only to eventually end up in what is now known as Googleplex. To celebrate their 8th birthday, they decided to buy that small garage where everything began and to make it a legacy and a reminder of their tough beginning and unpredictable future. Another interesting fact is that, in the beginning, the job soon started to get in the way of their studying, so they tried to sell the company to Excite. Luckily, they were rejected and later came to be the most visited site in the world.
3. Amazon
It was the year 1994. Jeff Bezos was in his garage in in Bellevue, Washington, hoping he would manage to develop his online bookstore. Surprisingly, after a short period of time, the company grew very quickly, forcing him to find a bigger venue. Today, Amazon is the giant of online retailing. There aren’t a lot of people who haven’t bought something from this site, whether it’s food or electronic appliance. Humble beginnings turned out to become a business with an annual profit of billions of dollars.
4. Harley Davidson
In 1901, Harley Davidson was building engines for bicycles in a small garage, which is funny, considering that products he became known for usually end up in a garage. He soon started working on developing motorcycles, his most popular product later on. Of course, he had to make certain changes in the garage, as he was constructing pretty big and heavy vehicles. It certainly isn’t that complicated today, when home reconstructions are provided by other companies such as Spherec and you don’t have to do it on your own. But Harley had to use even his wooden shed to construct a racing bike in there. His persistence paid off, as Harley Davidson is a household name and this company is still coming up with ways of improving motorbikes.
5. Disney
A tiny garage in Hollywood was the working space of Walt Disney, the man who would soon to develop the biggest entertainment giant in the world. In his uncle’s one-car garage, Disney was working on his animation products, hoping that one of the distributors would be interested in his Alice in Wonderland pilot. Luckily, it happened and shortly after that Disney moved to a real studio, leaving the garage behind. The garage almost got demolished many years later, but a group of citizens managed to save the initial working space of the genius of the animation industry who created movies, theme parks and products that are popular all around the world.
Final words
Humble beginnings are what most of us are expected to have if we choose to dive into the adventure of owning a private business. And it doesn’t mean that we will succeed. But these people are the living proof that sometimes dreams can be built from almost nothing but persistent work and belief in yourself; that their own little garage was actually the starting point of something huge and long-lasting; that it’s not about how you’ve started – it’s about where you end up.
Source: Business Achievers
