There are a lot of famous entrepreneurs all over the world, and we can certainly learn a thing or two from their success. I personally consider these men as inspirations, and I use their own success as templates to develop my own entrepreneurial abilities.

Steve Jobs – Steve Jobs was born on February 24, 1955 to Joanne Carole Schieble and Abdulfattah Jandali. Jobs, however, was put up for adoption and was taken in by Paul and Clara Jobs. Steve Job’s childhood was a turbulent one, but his own innate intelligence and natural resourcefulness allowed him to cope with school work and academic life in general.

When Jobs finished college, he was enrolled at Reed College, which is located in Portland, Oregon. Jobs, however, dropped out of college after several months, and spent the rest of his college days attending creative classes and living a semi-mendicant lifestyle.It wasn’t until 1976, however, until Steve Jobs would get his first major big break. This was the year that his long time partner, Steve Wozniak invented the Apple I, which in turn allowed Jobs, along with his partners, Wozniak and Wayne, to found Apple with the intention of selling it. Thanks to Apple, Steve Jobs was soon recognized as one of the pioneers of the PC industry as well as consumer electronics. Later on in his career, Jobs would help develop many of important electronic devices that most us take for granted today.

What made Steve Jobs very successful was his astute ability to
identify a particular need, and then develop a product that fits that
need. He then visualized this perfected product, and then use his team
of developers and technicians turn it into reality. So Job’s ability to
identify successful products and merchandize was – in many ways – the
cornerstone of his success

Markus Persson – Swedish game developer, Markus Persson is the well known creator of the extremely successful, Minecraft video game. He was born on June 1, 1979, in Stockholm, Sweden. He supposedly began tinkering with computers at the age of seven, and by experimenting with several type in programs, he was able to produce his first game by the time he was 8 years old.

Before Persson created Minecraft, he worked as a game developer and programmer for King.com and Jalbum respectively, for several years. Outside of his professional life, Persson developed seven different games for various competitions, and it’s worth mentioning that he is still in the process of developing new games for release.

However, Persson’s claim to fame is the sandbox game, Minecraft, which was originally released last 2011. Minecraft was originally developed by Mojang Specifications, an independent video game development company which Persson co-founded. The sandbox game proved to be very successful, and the rest, as they say, is history.

What made Persson successful is that he understood his product and his industry. From what I can tell, Persson is very well informed about Piracy issues, game development issues as well as the current state of video game market. His deep understanding of his industry along with his own innate skills at video game development, are the source of his success.

Matthew Corrin – Not much is known about Matthew Corrin’s personal life, but from what I have gathered, he is a graduate of the University of Western Ontario. He then took up an internship at The Late Show with David Letterman. After that, he seemed to have worked for a short time in public relations. Aside from that, there’s very little to go on about Corrin’s personal life.

With regards to his professional life, however, Matthew Corrin’s success began when he moved back to Canada from New York. When he arrived at Toronto, Corrin bought a restaurant called Lettuce Eatery, He then began changing the menu and operations of his new business to create a brand that would be less associated with salads and diets. Corrin had a simple, straight-forward idea, and that was to create a chain of restaurants that offered nothing but healthy food at reasonable prices. Ordering a food at Freshii involves choosing a particular wrap, soup salad and bowl. This allows customers to choose the amount of nutrients which enter into their body. It was a risky idea, but it worked, and Freshii was able to consolidate its own unique niche in the restaurant industry.

What made Corrin successful is his ability to take risks, with a little help from his luck. At the time when he founded Freshii, Corrin had no experience in running restaurants or retail, which meant that he was green. However, his instincts paid off, and his ability to create a successful brand and dining style allowed him to expand his business and increase its income. It just goes to show that combination of courage, innovation and raw luck can help you succeed.

Ingvar Kamprad – The successful Swedish entrepreneur, Ingvar Kamprad, was born March 30, 1926 in Pjätteryd, Sweden. During his childhood, Ingvar spent a lot of his time selling various items, such as matches, pens, picture frames, and various household items, around his local town. Over time, he was able to teach himself various business techniques from sheer hands on approach.

Kamprad’s success, however, truly began in 1943, when he founded IKEA at his Uncle’s kitchen table. IKEA stands for Ingvar Kamprad Elmtaryd (the family farm) Agunnaryd (his village). The small business was the continuation of what Kamprad had already done throughout his life, and that was selling small household items. After five years, Kamprad was able to amass enough resources to start selling furniture, and these items were often delivered to their recipients. Over time, IKEA flourished and his business began its focus on the selling of furniture.

Today, Kamprad is considered as one of the top 10 wealthiest people in the world. The secret of his success is that Kamprad is a natural born merchant, and he was able to develop his skills through direct experience. Unlike Matthew Corrin, Kamprad had plenty of experience in retail, and like Markus Persson, Kamprad knew exactly what type of products to sell. So by the time, he founded IKEA he was already a veteran business owner.

Richard Branson – In many ways, Richard Branson is a lot like Steve Jobs. Born on July 18, 1950 to Edward James and Eve Branson, in Surrey, England, Richard Branson was never much of student, and at the age of 16, he simply dropped out of school. Shortly thereafter, he founded a youth culture magazine called Youth. The magazine was able to sell $8,000 worth of advertizing during its first edition.

After this initial success, Branson expanded his horizons by living in a commune in 1969, surrounded by the local music and drug scene. It was during period that Branson began mail order record company called Virgin. The idea was originally conceived as a way to make money to support his magazine. Although the business originally had a modest income, it eventually became quite successful, and during 1972, Branson was able to buy his first recording studio at Oxfordshire, England.

Branson’s first major break was with Mike Oldfield whose single, Tubular Bells, would eventually allow Branson to sign up various aspiring musical groups to his label. Over time, Virgin Records would become one of the six major recording labels in the world. With the success of Virgin Records, Branson then expanded to other sectors, and today, Virgin Group includes more than two hundred companies and businesses.