« Mentors, Templates to Help You Perfect Your Business Plan | Main
April 18, 2008
True Entrepreneurs Know How to Dream
I read an article the other day that made me think of those who are chasing their dreams. Entrepreneurs are people that never cease to amaze me. They seem to have this fire that grows and grows until it consumes everything and everyone around them. Entrepreneurs are people that know how to persist, work, and influence others. The article I read describes a few people that have worked insatiably to achieve their goal. The name of the show is Oprah's Big Give. In the show Oprah Winfrey gives many contestants money to give away to others. The contestants use that money the best way they can. The contestants win by making it through rounds and cuts. In the final round there are three contestants left, two of the three are small business owners.
In the first round contestants were given $4,800 to use to bless the lives of others. The first entrepreneur finalist is Cameron Johnson. Cameron used that money to raise more money for the Denver's Children's Home. While she was doing the she learned of a father who was diagnosed with cancer. With the bread-winner's health failing she decided to step in and give this family a boost. She worked her networks and was able to payoff the entire mortgage on their home with the help of some big investors - Ford Motor Co., the family's bank, and NASCAR driver Dale Earnhardt, Jr. She then was able to talk the bank into waiving the interest fees and to complete the paperwork in only four days!
In another round contestants were given $100,000 to use to serve others with. Another final entrepreneur contestant, Stephen Paletta, was the only contestant to meet the challenge. He bought a truckload of consumer electronic gear, visited a poverty stricken neighborhood and went door to door distributing the electronic goods. In the semifinal round of the show Stephen was able to raise $43,000 for a local women's shelter by using his network of family and friends. He was also able to engineer specific help to a family that has a child with cancer by securing rental payments for their apartments for a year, decorating the child’s room in pink and white, and talking four car dealerships into paying for a brand new car.
As I read these stories/accomplishments I wasn't very surprised. For the past few years I have worked as an entrepreneur and have worked with numberless entrepreneurs and all true entrepreneurs have the same thing in common - desire. True entrepreneurs establish a vision that becomes their mission. They become obsessed with making their mission a reality and they'll work through night or talk to everybody they know or don't know just to gather the resources and the help to make their vision become a reality. This entry is dedicated to the true entrepreneurs to those who do not know how to give up; my hat goes off to you. Thank you.
Posted by cmanscill at April 18, 2008 8:22 AM
Trackback Pings
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.webhostingfan.com/mt-tb.cgi/21