Blake Richie, owner and founder of Blake Richie Designs, grew up in the small town of New Providence, Iowa. Blake saw the way homes and stores looked in his town, and he had a dream to start a business to add a big town aesthetic to the small town in which he was in. Blake made this dream come to when he created Blake Richie Designs, a business in which he upscales cabinets and furniture to give the old, a new look. Within his town, he has become a “hometown hero” and other people in other towns have started to look at Blake’s success and imitate his business. Blakes quick success was also highlighted by the “Des Moines Register” as an entrepreneur who has juristically helped the economy of New Providence. From this story of Blake, I have seen the importance of looking at problems in the area in which you live so that you can make a quick impact on the people you see daily. In the small town of New Providence, Blake is now well known and when people have an issue, they call Blake right away with no question. This allows Blake to have business at all times due to the reputation and reliance that the people of new providence have on him.

Rebecca Liebman realized that in today’s day and age, in the educational system, we are not taught on personal finance. We are not taught how to budget for groceries, insurance, bills, plan for retirement and other expenses. Rebecca thought this was a huge issue in our society that targeted the next generation of young people. Due to her desire in her to fix this issue, she decided to join her brother in starting Learn Lux, a personalized educational program that allows students to become educated on the basics and technicalities of personal finance. This program allows for the next generation to gain a knowledge that is crucial for being successful in the real world, after college. Not only does the program provide security for the future, but it also allows for the next generation and then the next, to become educated on this matter. Since then, Rebecca and her brother have become very successful, and Learn Lux has thousands of subscribers and users. Rebecca is a great example of someone who saw a problem in our society, and she decided she wanted to help others by creating this business. This business idea came from the selfless desire of hers to educate other people and I believe this is a great motive in why to start a business.

Rodolfo Medina Jr, at age 8, was already helping his parents with paperwork and documentation for his parents’ shop. Due to this, his parents knew their child was special and that he would own a business someday. This interest in numbers and data sparked a fire inside of Medina which began his journey as an entrepreneur. Fast forwarding 10 years, Medina develops a desire for medical supplies and reaching out to places that have less recourses than we do here in the United States of America. Medina targeted the Philippines, as a country in need of recourses that do not have opportunity to get them. And just like that, Medical Depot was born. A company in which Medina would wish to give every Filipino medical supplies. In addition, this was all taking place during the Covid-19 pandemic which increased the demand for medical products even more. Medina’s goal for Medical Depot is too open over 100 branches worldwide by the end of the year 2023. This is an ambitious goal for Medina; however, he believes that the only way to achieve big things, is to dream big things. From this story of Medina, it really stood out to me that he used his desire to help the less fortunate, to build a company off of this. We can all take lessons from this entrepreneurial journey in Medina’s life.

Hart Main, at the age 13 came up with an idea that would soon begin to be a profitable and successful business. Hart began his interest in candles when he was in grade school as he would smell the “girly” scented candles that his sister used. Hart wanted to create candles that could fit the scents of guys instead of girls. Eventually, ManCan was started through financial help from Main’s family. Some “manly” flavors that ManCan has created are the following: Campfire, Bacon, Sawdust, Fresh Cut Grass, and Grandpa’s Pipe. After also being on Shark Tank, ManCan are now handmade in Beaver Creek, Ohio by a Candle Company in Lisbon. In addition, ManCan sales are skyrocketing as now they are giving money back into charity. From Hart Main, I have learned that sometimes going down an unfamiliar and uncomfortable route (manly scented candles) can lead to innovated ideas that produce profit and make a difference! I can use this story in my life as an entrepreneur too search for topics that may not fit the exact mold of society, but to use my creativity to land a product just like Hart did. We could all learn a thing or two from ManCan!

Brian Lee is the CEO and Founder of Label 428 a social agency and food network that is based out of the city of Toronto. This interest of Brian’s was sparked in his last year of college while he was studying Human Biology. After feeling as if this college study was leaving him in a dead end, he began visiting restaurants with his friends at Kensington Market. This is when Brian began to start his menu design, and social media services to restaurants. In particular, he got popular off of his Instagram for a specific restaurant and this is when Label 428 started to blow up. Now, Label 428 has a large social media presence and Brian hopes to keep gaining momentum on the business! In our culture today, we see technological services becoming more and more common within our society. It seems that no matter what a company is selling, technological services are useful within a company. I have learned from Brian Lee that going an uncomfortable route (dropping out of college and starting Label 428) may be a journey that could lead to purpose and success! Using what we are skilled at and what we have passion for should always lead our next move just as we can see from Brian Lee.

Michael “Mikey” Wren at age 8, first asked his mother about vending machines. Mike first asked if he could get a snack, but when his mother said no, his curiosity on vending machines tookoff. His mother wouldn’t allow him to buy from the machines because she believed vending machines were not their business and that it was a way for other people to make money off of them. This sparked Mikey’s interest and soon after he asked his parents if he could get his own vending machine to make money. After long conversation and persistence from Mikey, his parents agreed and soon Mikey’s Munchies was started. Now, at just 12 years old, Mikey has five different vending machines in St. Luis, Missouri and he hopes to get more machines established in the area. From Mikey’s story, we see a market of Vending machines that is not a common throughout the business world. Mikey found a market that was lacking in advancement, and he sought to make the industry better by starting his own machines! I have learned that pointing out a market with little growth is an extremely quick way to get a business to boom just as we can see from Mikey’s incredible story.