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Famous Entrepreneurs

Who is on your list of most famous entrepreneurs?

Is it Benjamin Franklin or Ben & Jerry? How about Henry Ford or Bill Gates? Or could it be the new young entrepreneurs shaping our world today like those featured in “Cool, Determined & Under 30″ the October issue of Inc. Magazine. Famous entrepreneurs, both historical and contemporary, reveal ideas, key lessons, inspiration and passion through their life stories.

Business Entrepreneur has set out to create the most compelling list of famous entrepreneurs we know. On a regular basis, we will introduce a new entrepreneur with a little biography and description of their accomplishments. We hope to develop the most complete list of famous entrepreneurs with an initial goal of listing at least 100 famous entrepreneurs.

Oh yeah, this is in no particular order.

The Most Comprehensive List of Famous Entrepreneurs (the beginning…)

1. Bill Gates
Like him or not? Bill Gates is considered one of the wealthiest men alive. The founding of Microsoft changed the way the world thinks and interacts. Even though Microsoft had the good fortune of being associated with the stock market boom of the 1990’s he built an empire. He has had to battle the big bad government and their antitrust suit and has lived to tell about it.

2. Henry Ford
Henry Ford’s passion and excitement for the automobile industry still lives today through many people who work for Ford, drive Ford automobiles and in lives in the minds and hearts of many entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurs like Ford consistently fascinate us with their advancement and unique ideas and passion for what they do - two traits that you find in all entrepreneurs.

3. Oprah Winfrey
Oprah’s career began in broadcasting when she was 17, she anchored the news when she was 19 - kind of explains the rest of her story. A few short years later she moved to Chicago to host AM Chicago - it only took her one month to achieve #1 ratings, beating out Phil Donahue.A year later the show was renamed to the Oprah Winfrey Show - the rest is modern history. But the talk show was her job, nothing really entrepreneurial about it - but wait she created her own entertainment, media empire right before our eyes. She founded Harpo Studios which employs 250 people and is involved in television, film production, magazine publishing and online media. She also owns the Oxygen Media which broadcasts the Oxygen Network to more than 54 million viewers. Oh yeah, did I mention O Magazine and Oprah.com? She owns them as well. This is some of what makes her the most admired entrepreneur out there.

Open to comments, editions and discussion… See you tomorrow.

If you haven’t heard about Slideshare yet and you have been using hacked together code or a slow loading work around to host your PowerPoint slides on your website than you are in for a nice treat.

Slidehsare is a very cool Powerpoint sharing web service that converts your Powerpoint slides and converts them into Flash slideshows. You can then easily embed them in your blogs or share with your buddies. The slideshow loads right inside your web browser using the Macromedia Flash plugin.

It is really easy to set up and the whole process (slides to embedding) is very intuitive. You will be hosting your slides in minutes with a few simple steps.

1. Upload your Powerpoint (also works with Open Office presentations) using their web-based interface to the Slideshare website.
2. Give the slides a short description
3. Attach tags to the presentation.
4. Slideshare converts your presentation into a Flash format.
5. Copy the auto generated embed code and load up on your site or blog.

Take a peek at Slideshare.net or go to this cool slide presentation titled: 100 Attributes of an Entrepreneur. Please let me know what you think of this new Slideshare application? I would appreciate your thoughts and comments.

Are the record high gas prices affecting your bottom line this summer?

We have found a really cool service that may just help your employees reduce the bite that gas prices are taking out of their paychecks every month. Your business may be able to help them save money and cut expenses. Introduce iCarpool a new service that is designed to help deal with rising prices at the gas pump, traffic congestion problems and global warming and environmental concerns. iCarpool offers a list of the Top Ten Reasons to Carpool mentioning the following items:

Save on Gas

Save time by using the High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) and Express lanes along your commute

Save on parking costs

Save the environment and reduce your carbon offset

Save your energy

Have better control of your work schedule

If available, get Carpool / Vanpool prime parking spots on your campus

Reduced traffic congestion if more people carpool

Reduce dependency on oil

It’s fun

The company is based in Seattle and claims their service works for both regular daily commutes and even unexpected trips across US and in Canada, Europe, and Australia. It can even help you find a buddy to bike or walk to work with.

So it seems like clear win-win for an individual but what’s in it for the employer?

#1 Carpooling is a legitimate employee benefit, especially now as companies around the country are hearing it from their employees - the high gas prices have created a true need. This is a need employers can address easily and cost-effectively and also fell good about it.

#2 Depending on your parking lot situation you could save money providing parking spaces, since there wil be fewer cars needing slots.

#3 You could save a fair amount of money on mileage allowances on employees expense reports. As an example, if your company has trips between your sites - you can cut that these potential direct costs in 1/2 or by 1/3’s.

#4 You will help employees do their part to save emissions and reduce their carbon footprint.

#5 Your organization can earn some “green company” points in your community or on a broader scale - by doing your share in cleaning up the environment.

I would strongly consider looking into offering your employees a carpooling service - whether it is iCarpool or another service - it will be worth it.

Happy 4th of July!!!!

I hope you have a great day with family and friends. It is nice to hear about everyone’s plans for swimming, BBQs, and fancy desserts. Personally, I’m having a traditional 4th, followed by my wife’s birthday on the 5th. I am loving it.

Tonight my wife and kids get back from traveling in Montana and Wyoming - can’t wait to see all of the pictures; bison, wolves, Yellow Stone, Grand Teton National Park, Old Faithful, hot springs, bear, moose, mountains etc., I hope your day is special for you too.

For those of you who have friends and loved ones in the military I want to thank you for the sacrifice that you and they are making to ensure our freedom and independence into the future. Please know that you have a grateful nation supporting you.

Have fun everyone. We will be back in action next week.

10 Little-Known Formulas for Successful Advertising - by Dean Rieck

What is your formula for creating effective sales messages? If you’re like most people, you’ll say, “AIDA,” an acronym for Attention, Interest, Desire, Action. It’s a classic, perhaps the most quoted formula in advertising and marketing.

However, just as a skilled craftsman expands his or her creative abilities by collecting and mastering a variety of tools, a savvy marketer can expand his or her creative abilities by collecting and mastering a variety of formulas. Here are some less famous but highly inspirational formulas to add to your collection:

• ACCA. Awareness, Comprehension, Conviction, Action. This is similar to AIDA, but “Comprehension” stresses the importance of clarity, which is vital for any persuasive message. And “Conviction” is much stronger than “Desire.” It suggests certainty.

• Attention-Interest-Description-Persuasion-Proof-Close. This is another AIDA variation by Robert Collier. Intended for sales letters, it outlines what he thought was the correct sales sequence.

• AAPPA. The eminent Victor O. Schwab suggested this commonsense, clear formula. Get Attention. Show people an Advantage. Prove it. Persuade people to grasp this advantage. Ask for action.

• AIU. This is my own formula for envelopes. It stands for Attention, Interest, Urgency. Something about an envelope must get your attention, whether it’s teaser copy, graphics, or just blank paper. This should lead to an interest in the contents and an urgency to open the envelope immediately.

• PPPP. This is a formula by Henry Hoke, Sr. It stands for Picture, Promise, Prove, Push. In many ways, it’s easier to implement than AIDA because it shows you four basic tasks you must perform to make a sale. Picture: Get attention early and create a desire. Promise: Make a meaningful promise and describe what the item will do. Prove: Demonstrate the value and support your promise with testimonials. Push: Ask for the order.

• Star-Chain-Hook. This is Frank Dignan’s charming and surprisingly fresh way to approach an advertising message. Hitch your wagon to a Star with an attention-getting opening that is positive and upbeat. Create a Chain of convincing facts, benefits, and reasons to transform attention into interest and interest into desire. Then, Hook them with a powerful call to action, making it easy to respond.

• ABC Checklist. William Steinhardt’s formula is more detailed than most and very practical: Attain attention, Bang out benefits, Create verbal pictures, Describe success incidents, Endorse with testimonials, Feature special details, Gild with values, Honor claims with guarantees, Inject action in reader, Jell with postscript.

• The String of Pearls. This is a particular method of writing copy. The idea is that you assemble details and string them together in a long line, one after another. Each “pearl” is complete in some way, but when you string all the pearls together, their persuasive power becomes overwhelming.

• The Cluster of Diamonds. Similar to the String of Pearls, this formula suggests assembling a group of details under an umbrella concept. For example, an ad might have the headline “7 Reasons Why You’ll Save Money With XYZ.” The copy would then list these seven reasons. Each detail is a “diamond” in a particular setting.

• The Fan Dancer. The analogy here is perfect, though a bit racy. The idea is to tantalize with specific details that do not actually convey information. For example, let’s say you’re selling a book on reducing taxes. Part of your copy might read: “The one secret way to pay zero taxes and get away with it (page 32). How the IRS uses your mailing label against you (page 122). Three clever ways to turn a vacation into a business tax deduction even if you don’t own a business (page 158).” As with the forgotten art of fan dancing, you reveal little and leave your audience wanting more.

Copyright © 2003 Dean Rieck. All Rights Reserved.
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Dean Rieck is a top-ranked freelance direct mail and direct marketing copywriter. He has been called “the best direct response strategist and copywriter” in America. Dean offers complete copywriting and design services for direct mail, B2B, print, sales lead generation, sales letters, e-mail and online marketing, and radio advertising. For more tips on improving your direct response advertising results, subscribe to Dean’s free direct marketing newsletter at www.DirectCreative.com.

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