Dave Siksnans founded Printful in 2012 when he was 22. He started this company when he saw a need in the printing industry for high-quality high-speed apparel printing. Through innovation Siksnans was able to act and find a market that he was able to take ahold of. Starting with 5 employees he is now over 500 employees nation wide. He has allowed his employees a flexible work schedule to give them the ability to perform at such a high level to help the business succeed. I think Siksnans is a true inspiration in his ability to reach a market that hadn’t been touched yet. Printful is able to impact the world by making high-quality prints, that are fairly inexpensive and fast for consumers. Through this Siksnans has seen huge success and continues to grow his company throughout the US. Siksnans emphasizes throughout the company that marketing and getting the brand as a household name lots of times is what will lead to the success of companies and shows the true innovative th0ught process of such a young entrepreneur.

Siksnans has also had the ability to create his success through partnerships with other companies such as Shopify. By working with other companies Printful was able to get on it’s feat and get through the challenges that many new small businesses run into. I believe his use of the resources around him shows a true entrepreneurial mind, and how to get ahead of the competitors. I think Dave is a great model for all of entrepreneurs to look up to and follow his steps for success.

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Calloway Cook is an interesting entrepreneur. In 2019 he started Illuminate labs, a herbal supplements company. Calloway created this venture to solve the transparency issues in the dietary supplements market. The way that Calloway had a personal pain and instead of hoping someone else would solve it, and in turn creating a business to solve his pain as well as many others’ pains is truly inspiring. Calloway saw a gap in this area of the market because of how much consumers were willing to pay for tested supplements that were proven to be safe. He saw that consumers wanted safe, tested products that actually did what they said they “did”. In the market he entered very few to no companies actually had their products tested and proven to be safe to consumers, instead it was a bunch of bologna marketing ploys to get people to buy products that may or may not work. Dietary supplements are extremely hard to perfect as someone who has taken many dietary supplements for sports, the process of finding the right ones requires a lot of research on the consumers behalf and endless days of reading articles just to find out this supplement you were looking at does absolutely none of the things it tells you it did. At Illuminate labs they test every single batch of their finished products at a non bias third-party non-profit lab. They then will publish the results of those tests and make them available on their product page for the consumers to see.

I think Calloway’s innovation is truly inspiring as he brings to life the true meaning of being an entrepreneur. He found the pain and solved that pain. Simple as that. He didn’t need some big moment or multiple ideas coming to each other, instead he felt a personal pain and saw that others had that same pain, and simply created a venture to solve that pain. I think his efforts truly reflect what an entrepreneur is meant to be.

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Brian Lee is the founder of Label 428 which is a food social media agency. Label 428 focuses on Social Media and Content Marketing within the food industry. They accomplish their goal of bringing restaurants to life not only in person but online as well. Lee wanted to pioneer restaurants with the new trend of content marketing he did this by starting with a small target market in his last year of college. His small target market in the Kensington market area of Toronto. His business really took off when his first company he worked with blew up with a social media presence, especially on Instagram. Lee really pioneered a small segment of content marketing with restaurants in the social media forum. He is constantly looking for new ways to reach target markets of restaurants through the use of social media and innovating new areas and platforms.

Lee really inspired me by proving that there is always something to pioneer or be the first to make known. I really think that there is huge areas of untapped potential in every market. Lee’s principles of following what got him to his current position and staying true to Label 428’s brand is something that I see as extremely valuable. He is not trying to do too many things at once. Overall, I see Brian Lee and his company as a true inspiration to continue to innovate and think of the problems that not only people face but businesses as well.

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Brad Ormsby has approached marketing in a different way than much of the market. Ormsby starts by building a customer base before the business infrastructure is built. In a sense he tests the waters before building a whole business around an unknown client market. By taking this approach he has a bit of information that normal competitors don’t have. He is able to see what the market really wants and to understand what the customers are seeking to solve their problems or what their true pain is. Brad focuses on effort and perseverance he doesn’t believe it takes extreme knowledge or inside tips to understand how to reach the target market. He believes that to make a difference in the target market you need to approach it with effort and truly listen to the customers’ pain.

Ormsby found his love for digital marketing when he opened his own wellness center and had to build a website and digitally market the company. This passion led him to want to enter this market to help new companies or even old companies complete these tasks who didn’t have the time or maybe didn’t have the knowledge. I think the part that inspired me about Ormsby the most was that he didn’t just stop in the original spot he thought would work the best, he continued to pivot and find ways to add to his business. Brad is a true inspirational entrepreneur that believes putting forth effort and listening to your customers is what makes the true difference. I think Ormsby’s approach of persevering and persisting through hard times is what makes a true entrepreneur because the marketplace is never easy. If you want to succeed you have to put in the effort to catch the attention of your target market.

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