James McClintock - a True Entrepreneur

     My father James McClintock is a true entrepreneur in my opinion.  He works for Environmental Protection Agency, working to help stop pollution from ruining our environment.  He also teaches science at George Mason University.  On top of that, he owns his own business called DNA Diagnostics in which lawyers ask him to test evidence from suspects and victims in criminal cases.  He has worked for the EPA ever since he got out of college.  He got a doctorate degree in microbiology.  He loves anything and everything about science. 

            He works for the EPA to help come up with ideas on how to go about saving the environment from pollution.  For example, he is working on a project to help the Chesapeake Bay from pollution.  His dream since he was young was to be in charge of the whole EPA but since he is close to retiring, he decided to take up teaching as a side job.  The side job to help pay for bills became a secondary permanent job.  He taught at AACC before receiving his job at George Mason University teaching microbiology.  He teaches what he got his degree in so he is quite experienced in the field.  He wants to help those in trying to get their degree in that field now so they can do well in the future with a job related to that field of study. 

            He had also always dreamed of doing something related to criminal justice as well.  He started his business DNA Diagnostics so he could own his own business related to criminal justice and science.  Lawyers will ask him to test evidence from suspects and from victims in such cases involving rape, assault, and murder.  This way he is helping keep criminals off the streets but also doing something he enjoys related to science and criminal justice.  He came up with the idea to start his business because he wanted to be his own boss so he could do things the way he wanted.

            That is the meaning of being an entrepreneur by making a business from ideas of what you like to do.  He worked doing what he wanted to do by going to college and studying what he enjoyed learning about.  When he realized he couldn’t go any further in the EPA, he took what he knew about science and turned into his own business.  He chose to make a business that will always be in need.  There will always be evidence in criminal cases that needs to be tested to tell who committed the crime.

By: John McClintock

Harold MacDonald - Plumber

       The entrepreneur I decided to write about is my father who has owned his own plumbing business for over 5 years now. My father started off in the plumbing business after coming back from a tour in the Navy when he was 21 years old. He joined the union and became an apprentice for a couple years as he moved his way up in the company he worked for at the time, Saia Plumbing. He eventually became a journeyman plumber, which is a licensed plumber who can complete jobs alone. He worked for Saia until around 1991 when he was laid off and got another job at W.L. Gary Plumbing company in D.C.

            My father worked for W.L. Gary for over fifteen years and in that time became a Master Plumber, the highest skill and licensed level a plumber can achieve. Throughout his time with W.L. Gary my father became one of the company’s most trusted and hard working employees and was offered a higher paying job as a supervisor. My father declined the job offer because of his love for being hands on and actually doing the work instead of inspecting it.

Around 2005 my father left W.L. Gary to start his own plumbing business. He is now the owner of MacDonald Plumbing LLC where he is the main plumber for the company and basically runs a one man business. On larger jobs he will hire some of his old friends from the business and even me as his apprentice. My dad is a very busy man, taking care of all the customer jobs and while maintaining the legal documents and certifications he must have to keep his business legit. His philosophy on owning his own business is that if he can get paid by a larger company for doing the same work as he can by just being the sole profiteer of his own company. My father is his own boss, and still is one of the hardest working people I have ever met. His expectations and goals don’t stop, he only wants to make himself and his business more successful. 

Dietrich Mateschitz - Red Bull

Dietrich Mateschitz is an Austrian entrepreneur, who cofounded the energy drink Red Bull. He didn’t even invent the product, he founded an existing Thai product called “Krating Daeng” and ran with it. He took that recipe and tweaked the formula, which soon turned into what is now known as Red Bull. Dietrich used his marketing and entrepreneurial skills to the ultimate. He targeted the youth and marketed to them in so many ways. He made a simple product stand out from all competitors. Simple but effective marketing, Red Bull, “it gives you wings.” It took Mateschitz about three years of hard work and experimenting to get it right, but when he did the product boomed.
He is currently a billionaire, and many successful events of his own. The Croation entrepreneur is known as a marketing genious due to the effectiveness of all of his advertising campaigns. Mateschitz has also dipped his fingers in the vast world of sports in various ways. He also owns a nascar team which is called, "Team Redbull", the successful business man also owns two soccer teams in Brazil and Germany. Another important fadct is that Mateschitz company Redbull, hosts many big time sporting events including, Redbull rampage, Redbull Crashed Ice, Redbull X-figthers, Redbull Air Race World Championship, Redbull Flugtag, and many more. Red Bull also sponsors many big time athletes such as Travis Pastrana.

Dietrich Mateschitz is the ultimate entrepreneur in my eyes, because he did not create a new product, he found an existing product and , stumbled upon the idea for Red Bull. He then used his great entrepreneurial mindset and advertizing expertise to seek out the best target market which is the, and focus on selling to them. This worked out very well because kids aspire to be like a lot of athletes they endorse. All of his success led him on a path to become one of the world's billionaires.


Submitted by: Dilan Desai

Bringing Dreams to Fruition

Hoping to own a clothing boutique in the near future I find myself privileged to have such inspiration within family. My cousin Chris Julian owner of Fruition and Monogram Las Vegas as well as co-owner of Stussy and UNDFTD Las Vegas which started from the ground up and continue to soar amongst his competitors. Chris attended UNLV and graduated a business major. At the age of 22 years old he decided to take what he has a passion for and turn it into a lifestyle. Starting off with just a vision opening Fruition at the age of 23 years old he never thought that would lead him to the opportunity’s that he’s had and will have in the future.  Fruition is a clothing boutique in Vegas that offers vintage urban sheik such as vintage Nike, Polo, and Stussy to a higher end Louis Vuitton, MCM, and Fendi. Following that movement he was then offered a co –owner position of UNDFTD and Stussy Las Vegas. 

His most recent projects B.A.R. (Born and Raised) a restaurant lounge and bar area overlooking the Vegas strip and Monogram a clothing boutique placed in the new Vegas Cosmopolitan makes a statement that he has taken Vegas by storm and I’m sure will take his brand outside Vegas in the near future. He is now in the process of helping star basketball player Lebron James open a store in Florida and working on projects with hip hop artist Kanye West.

Chris is my mentor and has helped me with numerous internships so hopefully one day I can bring my dreams into reality. 

Submitted by: Roberto Julian

“The American Dream”

            The wind has a way of defining Annapolis as a city for sailing. In June, this is a refreshing reminder, but in January, when locals cut through the wind like knives through ice, that air can feel a bit uncomfortable. So when a lawyer is finished with his trial and he walks back to his office on West Street, he passes by an almost invisible coffee shop, whose lingering scent can allure anyone in search of a warm place to stay. Inside Café Ole, one can greet the owner, a cheerful woman named Claudia Hassan: an entrepreneur whose ethics were never learned in a classroom, but always perfected in her business.

            Upon initial entry her voice can be heard toward the direction of the door to greet her most recent arrival, but her shocking blue eyes will most likely be fixed on the soul of one of her regulars. She sparkles behind her cash register, including everyone in her conversation through her contagious laugh. If enough time is spent there, a customer can learn about her history before she offers another refill of a sixteen-ounce drink. Her Brazilian accent complements her story well. When it’s combined with her jovial tone her happiness seems immeasurable.

            When she first moved to the United States, Café Ole was known as The Pony Espresso. Claudia was a barista there for eight years working hard to support herself and her family. “Everyone here knows everything about everyone. They always ask me about my boys, my house and my family in Brazil,” she told me on the first day I worked for her, “and soon they’ll know everything about you!” Her laughter turns into ecstasy when two elementary-aged boys skip into the store squealing for their mother’s attention. She showers them with love as they play with the register, count money and sip chocolate milk like they own the place (because of their ancestral right, they do). “Don’t forget to say hello to everyone who walks in the door,” she teaches the boys, “also say thank you very much for coming Miss Nancy, because we want her to come back! We love her!”

Over half of her customers are regulars, which is typical of businesses downtown. When regulars bring co-workers or a passerby stumbles upon the open doorway, they seem to make a connection with the 10-foot wide building. The familiar faces become a family, but even the out-of-towner can feel at home at either a barstool by the window or a table between the door and the register. Claudia’s shop is an oasis for her customers, whose spare time she values for it is spent drinking her coffee.  Her presence distracts busy Annapolitans from the stressors of daily life, providing them with service so pure it doesn’t feel like service. It’s a small abode, humble at its’ worst, that generates gallons of coffee per day, filling West Street’s atmosphere with the seductive smell of a fresh brew.

A Brazilian smile, Seattle’s Best coffee and an American currency keep her business running. For nine hours of the day, every day (apart from weekends, which are reserved for her heirs), Claudia is like the best friend you never had. She intently listens to her customers, always giving advice and receiving favors in return. One of the first things she taught me upon my employment was not simply serve coffee, but to build a relationship. It’s a beautiful thing to see your customers as friends. She understands the exchange of service, not simply of money, and that is what makes Claudia Hassan a notable entrepreneur.

Submitted by: Sigrun Kalatschan

Ron Popeil

For the past 40 years, Ron Popeil has generated over $2 billion in sales with his unique and creative products. He was even voted as one of the 25 people who have changed the way we eat, drink and think about food by Self Magazine readers. One of his most successful inventions, The Showtime Rotisserie, at one point was selling by the thousands each week. Yet life wasn’t always this easy for Popeil, he would have to go through a lot of heartache and turmoil to get to the top. From a rocky childhood, to finding his true calling, to close financial ruin of his company, Ron Popeil would find his way through it all and come out on top.

  Ron Popeil was born on May 3, 1935. He and his brother, who was just 17 months older, were constantly moving from foster home to foster home in upstate New York. His parents were divorced and rarely spent time with them. Even at Christmas, when all of the parents came to pick up their children from the foster home, Ron’s parents never came. By the age of seven, Ron’s grandparents took Ron and his brother to live with their aunt in Florida for about two and a half years. When he was 10, his grandparents moved to Chicago and he and his brother went with them. By the age of sixteen, Popeil was out on his own.

  His father, Samuel Popeil, was also an inventor. He sold his inventions to different department stores and chains throughout the U.S. When Ron moved out on his own, he went to go work with his dad. He showed the different products at the store and convinced them that consumers would by the products in large quantities. Due to the significant sales of the products, stores would buy the products has fast as they could. However, the turning point in Popeil’s life didn’t come until a causal walk down Chicago’s Maxwell Street.

  During that walk down Maxwell Street in Chicago, it came to him. He saw all of the people selling their products on the street and all of the money they were making. So he thought he could do what they can, but he could probably do it better. So he bought some kitchen products from his dad’s factory and went down to Maxwell Street to sell them. It was a success; he was putting more money into his pockets than ever before and that’s when he knew what his true calling was.

  In the mid 1950’s television was on the rise and Ron discovered he could produce a 60-second commercial for $500 and he did. Popeil’s first TV product was the Ronco Spray Gun, a gun shaped hose nozzle that held different tablets of soap, wax, weed killer, fertilizer, and insecticide. By the 1960’s, Ron was selling most of his products on television, his father and he became very wealthy. In 1964, Ronco pulled in $200,000 in sales and by 1968, the company was raking in $8.8 million.

  In the 1980’s Ronco faced financial problems. A Chicago bank went under and Ronco’s bank didn’t want to follow suit. So, the bank called in all the company’s I.O.Us. Ronco couldn’t cover them because of the certain time the bank wanted their money. So, the bank took over the company’s assets and decided to auction them off. When the bank was ready to auction off the assets, Ron offered the bank $2 million to buy it back. The bank denied his offer and went on with the auction. When the bid only came up to $1.2 million, the bank asked if Ron’s offer still stood. Keeping his word, Ron bought his company back and got it back on track.

  These days, Ron is still inventing and keeping busy, but he always finds time for his favorite hobby, fishing. Ron always takes out one of his two boats and uses one of his inventions, The Pocket Fisherman, to help catch his dinner. Ron Popeil is a successful entrepreneur for many reasons. First, he has made a significant amount of money and he and his family are financially set for life. Second, he has brought the consumers useful and high quality products that have made their lives easier. Third, he followed his dreams and didn’t let anyone tell him otherwise, and has made a successful career of what he loves to do.

Submitted by: Alex Wright 

Bibliography

 "About Us." Www.ronco.com. Web. 29 Mar. 2011. <http://www.ronco.com/rco_aboutus.aspx>.

Tyler Balliet - Second Glass

Tyler Balliet (founder & president of Second Glass) felt the marketing of wine was inefficient to his generation. Thus, through his love for wine, Second Glass was created. Second Glass is mainly a source for wine information. It drops knowledge through weekly e-mails informing everyone about wines and encouraging them to enjoy more. It enriches knowledge of the readers of the different regions, styles, and techniques in a simple, yet slightly humorous, way.

            Tyler discovered wine at college in the Pacific Northwest. He studied the culture surrounding wine while living in France. From there, he bettered his skills at a wine shop in Boston. Second Glass was born out of Tyler’s desire to create a fun, entertaining atmosphere when learning about wine. Second Glass started as an unpretentious wine print magazine, and then grew into an event company that ran on new media and technology. Tyler was instrumental in the use and development of new technologies to create and distribute wine information. He created a mobile application which is used at Wine Riots (a series of events that connects wine distributers to young consumers) and third party events and utilizes new social media techniques to make wine information more easy to obtain and more useful to the average consumer. Tyler became profiled as one of 2010’s most exciting young entrepreneurs in INC Magazine’s 30 Under 30 and crowned “prince of Boston’s wine revolution” by Stuff Magazine.

Submitted by: Ryan William Lynch

http://secondglass.com/about-us/

http://www.inc.com/ss/30under30/2010/top-young-entrepreneurs?slide=26 - 29