Economics is a complicated structure which to a great extend defines social and political life of the country. People who are economically successful possess special skills and knowledge which helps them reach success in this field. Many people want to achieve prosperity and become economically successfully but only few of them manage to make it true. Business success is often associated with the term entrepreneur. Usually, entrepreneur stands for a person who operates a new business venture and reaches success. In many cases entrepreneurs introduce new goods to new or already existing markets. The combination of new goods and successful business strategy becomes key factor of success in this case. The study of life and career of entrepreneurs is very interesting because it can give inside not only in the individuals’ life but also because it can help understand the way business market operates. Personal characteristics of entrepreneurs are very different but all of them are definitely men of great inner strength. In this paper we will trace life and career of several entrepreneurs in order to investigate the reasons of their success and their input into the economic development of the country.
Henry Ford is a perfect example of the entrepreneur who has reached a significant success in business. His credo, which became also the reflection of his attitude to business, sounds like this: “The best we can do it size up the chances, calculate the risks involved, estimate our ability to deal with them, and then make our plans with confidence“ (Ford). Henry Ford has become one of the most successful businessmen in the USA. Personal characteristics played a great role in his great economic success. Since early childhood Henry was self-assured, stubborn and goal-oriented. This finally helped him to reach great success in the sphere of business. In many cases such personality traits caused many problems but at the same time finally these very traits contributed to his success. Ford had great ambitions and, in addition, he had great confidence in himself. He truly believed he was able to make all his dreams true and finally he succeeded. Henry Ford was born and spent his childhood on a small farm. Since early years he became interested in technique and mechanics. At the age of sixteen he left his native home and moved to Detroit. In Detroit he got a job of mechanist. Three years later he came back to his native place and started working at the farm. In 1891 he started working for Edison Illumination Company. During this time he finally formulated his desire to dedicate himself to technical advances and development. Ford got a promotion in three years. During this time he started his own business experiments. In 1896 Ford developed a self-propelled vehicle and started its production. This invention became popular and soon Ford had to open a big factory. The factory proved to be successful and finally it became one of the leaders at the industry market. Even after the death of Henry Ford his factory functions successfully. Ford’s name is often associated with the automobile industry. Some people still believe that automobile was invented by Henry Ford. In realty Henry Ford did not invent the car but he implemented several innovations which have shaped out the face of automobile industry forever. His name has become a world-wide known automobile brand. At the present moment Ford Motor Company is one of the biggest automotive companies in the world. The company produces such famous and well-known cars as Mazda, Lincoln, Mercury, Jaguar, Land Rover, Volvo, Aston Martin and Ford.

Bill Gates is another outstanding entrepreneur who has made a great contribution to the technical progress of the country. William Gates became the first cent billionaire in the world. Bill Gates occupied the position of CEO in the Microsoft Company and during this period the most popular software Windows came to the world-wide use. Bill Gate was born in a wealthy family in Seattle. He was able to attend private school. His interesting in programming and technical science started early. He started his experiments in programming at the age of 13. Later Bill showed perfect results during SAT testing and entered Harvard easily. In 1947 Gates and his friend Allan proposed the Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry System (MITS) new programming language which would meet the growing demands of the market. During 8 weeks Gates and his friend worked hardly and finally introduced BASIC, which later became one of the most popular programming languages in the world. After MITS purchased the rights for this programming language it founded the Microsoft Corporation, which later became known all over the world.

Bill Gates does not reject the truth about his career. He accepts his mistakes but at the same time he appreciates his achievements. As his states in one of the interviews: “There were a lot of mis-steps in the early days, but because we got in early we got to make more mistakes than other people. I had customers who went bankrupt and didn’t pay us. We were optimistic in thinking we could get things done sometimes faster than what we did. The project of the moment always seemed very exciting” (Gates). Bill Gates has become the first software monopolist in the world and this position made him extremely rich. Tthanks to Bill Gates Microsoft remained the leader of the industry for many years. In 2008 Bill Gates left the company but saved his position of the chairman. At the present moment Gates spends much money on charity.

Not only men are able to introduce innovations on the world markets and thus become entrepreneurs. Mary Kay Ash is a perfect example of a financially successful woman. Mary was born and Texas and graduated Reagan High school in 1934. Mary started her career as a book seller and in 1939 she joined the Stanley Home Products selling company. She worked for this firm till 1952. In 1952 she decided to take the position in World Gift Company in Dallas. She occupied the position of the training director. She left the company in 1963 because she did not get a promotion only because she was female. She described all her experience in her book dedicated to the female issue. The book became the guidelines for women who wanted to become successful businesswomen. The book describes true experience of the woman who shortly became one of the most successful women in the USA. While working for the World Gift Mary invested certain amount of money in the production of the beauty cream. In 1963 Mary Kay founded Mary Kay Beauty Corporation. Mary started from small office and her business grew rapidly. By the year of 1964 more than 200 members entered Mary’s organization. At the present moment Mary Key is a world –famous trade mark which sells cosmetics and other goods. Mary Key became an example of financially successful businesswoman who knows how to plan her time and run her business. Mary did not only reach great financial success but also grew up three children.

From the biographies of financially successful people given above it becomes evident that persistence, strong will and self-confidence helped these people to become financially successful. It is also evident that there are many people who possess same qualities but at the same time do not become extremely rich. There is one more quality which distinguishes all entrepreneurs. All of them are capable to invent new things or find new use for the things which existed before. So, all entrepreneurs combine perfect business skills with the ability to invent something new.

Works Cited

Top Business Entrepreneurs.com. www.topbusinessentrepreneurs.com. 10 May 2009. http://www.topbusinessentrepreneurs.com/

About.com. 2009 About.com, a part of The New York Times Company. 10 May 2009

http://entrepreneurs.about.com/b/2005/10/29/henry-ford-famous-entrepreneur-of-the-week.htm

Bill Gates Interview. 10 May 2009. http://entrepreneurs.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm.

Top Business Entrepreneurs.com, Mary Kay Ash.©www.topbusinessentrepreneurs.com 10 May 2009. http://www.topbusinessentrepreneurs.com/47/billionaires/mary-kay-ash.htm

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