American aviator and pioneering businessman Walter Beech co-founded the Beech Aircraft Company in 1932 with his wife, Olive Beech, and three other people. Beech, who was born in 1891, had early aspirations of flying. As a daring farm boy, Beech constructed a glider of his own design at 14 using supplies he found around his house. Young Walter did not lose hope even though that particular aviation attempt failed. On July 11, 1914, ten years later, he completed his first solo flight in a Curtiss biplane that he and a friend had repaired. After that, he joined the U.S. Army Air Corps and served in World War 1. He served three years as an engineer, flight instructor, and pilot. After the war, he conducted a barnstorming tour of the United States to collect suggestions for enhancing aircraft design and production. In 1932, he and his wife officially co-founded Beech Aircraft Company, which still to this day has distinguished itself as one of the world’s premier manufacturers of general aviation airplanes by consistently setting the pace for competitors to follow.
Even though Walter Beech wasn’t young when he officially started his business, he showed tremendous entrepreneurial traits in his younger years through his willingness to fail and stick to his dream. Unfortunately, Beech died from a heart attack in 1950 but will always be remembered as one of the first aviation entrepreneurs. Walter Beech is revered worldwide for the aircraft that bears his name and his skill as a salesperson, businessman, and ardent supporter of aviation.
Author Archive for dewingmb22
Ivana George is the creator of All the More Apparel. One night Ivana stumbled upon the idea while trying to find an outfit to wear to a church event but couldn’t find anything cute. Finally, Ivana found a verse that she thought would make a great t-shirt and happened to have some extra vinyl lying around. So she decided to make a shirt. Long story short, Ivana wore the T-shirt to her church event and got much better feedback than expected. Fast forward a few months, and she had a whole business with t-shirts, sweatshirts, stickers, and tote bags. Ivana said she was always creative and wanted to have her own business to sew her designs. In addition to that, Ivana said, “I also wanted something that was bigger than myself and had a purpose greater than just making money … And I feel like All the More Apparel is kind of like that for me where I can be creative and put my craft out there, but also give glory to God.” I find Ivana’s story very inspiring. She was able to make a difference through her clothing designs. She saw a need for cute encouraging clothing and created All the More Apparel as her solution.
https://allthemoreapparel.com/
Em Lucin created a business called Napoleon, named after her dog, that was founded on the idea of creating a swimwear label that put a twist on regular swimsuits. Em always struggled to find bold, fun, high-endurance, and sporty bikinis. Em grew up a swimmer and always felt more comfortable in athletic swimwear. Still, the market needed more variety and style, and Em decided to create her idea of sporty and fashionable swimwear. Napoleon began as merely a swimwear label when Em Lucin started it in her spare bedroom in 2018 as a side business. Three years later, after the pandemic and the lack of people traveling and needing swimsuits, Em pivoted her business. It has grown into a clothing line, including streetwear, loungewear, and footwear. To promote her goods and inform other business owners about the difficulties of starting a company, Lucin debuted her product on TikTok. She records packing orders, offers advice on running a business, and educates her 259.5K followers on some of the challenges of launching a business with no money, no college education, and a full-time job. Lucien showed great entrepreneurial traits in how she saw a problem and wanted to solve it. I also appreciate how she was willing to pivot her idea and continue to thrive even through a more challenging time.
Comme Si – Luxury Socks
In business as in fashion, attention to detail separates the good from the great—and if anyone understands the value of sweating the small stuff, it’s Jenni Lee. Jenni Lee is a young entrepreneur who created the company Comme Si, which makes luxury Italian-made socks that are made to feel as good as they look. Lee’s vision for her company was to make socks that would be a functional luxury piece in your wardrobe. She says, “As a woman who cares about every aspect of my wardrobe, I wanted socks to reflect what I look for in other fine accessories – designed well, made well, substantive”. I think this is a great and very innovative idea for an area where there is not much change. Lee says, “For me, this process is about reinvention; taking a common idea or concept, like wearing socks, and finding ways to infuse a fresh perspective through creativity, originality, utility, and nuance.” This shows great entrepreneurial traits and mindset. Wearing luxury socks
goes beyond letting your toes live in luxe fabrics. It is for your own personal feeling. It can also be something that you wear to signal your considered aesthetic to others. Socks may be small, but they really do contribute to an outfi
t’s composition.
SuperJam-Fraser Doherty
Fraser Doherty is a Scottish entrepreneur from Edinburgh who founded SuperJam. SuperJam is a company that uses traditional recipes to create a range of 100% pure fruit jams, which are sweetened with grape juice and made using superfruits such as blueberries and cranberries. He started his incredible business career at the age of just fourteen. Fraser was taught how to make 100% fruit jam by his grandmother, and that is where he found the inspiration to start SuperJam. At the age of 16, he presented his brand to Waitrose, which is a British supermarket, and went on to be the youngest ever supplier to a major supermarket. SuperJam has since grown to be a very successful company that has sold many millions of jars through thousands of supermarkets. Fraser says that starting SuperJam has been such an incredible adventure. He said he never could have imagined that what he started as a hobby in his parents’ tiny kitchen would grow into something so big. Here is a quote from Fraser that I think is a great way to look at entrepreneurship, “I think so long as you have a good idea and believe in yourself enough to give it a shot, you stand a chance of learning a huge amount. Maybe your idea won’t work out the first time but if you’re always willing to change it or come up with something else, you’re bound to create something successful.”
Have you ever found yourself wearing socks or leggings and wishing there were pockets? Sofi Overton, who founded the company Wise Pocket at the age of 11 saw this problem and the need for a solution. Sofi’s inspiration came when she saw her cousin put her phone in her boot because her leggings had no pockets. She got to work and created a sock with a pocket capable of securely holding a phone. Some of Sofi’s inspiration was that “There are lots of active kids like me that need a safe and stylish way to not only store phones but other important items like epi-pens or inhalers!” 
I personally think this is a great product because I often find myself wearing clothes without pockets and in need of somewhere to put my phone/wallet. I think that Sofi’s idea is very innovative in a market where you may think there are very limited possibilities for new ideas. The wise sock is the perfect sock for active kids and any demographic with storage needs, because there is always always a safe and secure place to hold your phone, wallet, keys, or whatever else you need close. I would definitely invest in this product!