6 Rags-to-Riches Millionaires

1. Catherine L. Hughes
Courtesy of Radio One
Age: 64
Occupation: Founder and chairperson, Radio One
Advice to young entrepreneurs: "Sometimes the ones who love you the most will give you
the worst usiness advice!"
"y conventional standards, #ughes wasn$t destined to uild a successful multimillion%dollar
media company! She was a teen mom y &6 and never graduated from college, ut had rief
stints at area universities in her hometown of Omaha, 'e!
(espite her limited formal education, #ughes, who credits pulishing legend )ohn #!
)ohnson as one of her mentors, wor*ed her way up at Omaha$s +O,# radio starting in &-6-
efore heading to the nation$s capital to ecome a lecturer at #oward .niversity! /n &-01, she
ecame general manager for the university$s radio station, ,#.R%F2! "y &-0-, she ought
her first radio station, ,O3%42 in (!C!, with her then%husand and founded Radio One a
year later!
5hose early years were rough! #ughes, who was divorced y then, slept with her son on the
floor of her radio station ecause she couldn$t afford to live anywhere else! 62y mother tried
her est to tal* me out of the radio usiness ecause of that,7 #ughes recalls! /t$s for this
reason that she advises young entrepreneurs to e wary aout who they divulge their
challenges to %% even family! 6/f / had listened 8to my mother9, / would e a government
employee right now and there would e no Radio One!"
5hirty%two years later, in addition to the radio company, #ughes$ empire includes her
television networ* 5: One and several interactive ventures, including 'ewsOne!com and
#ello"eautiful!com! #er charitale efforts include serving as a oard memer and the main
enefactor for the ;iney ,oods School, a oarding school located in ;iney ,oods, 2iss!,
that serves students from financially strapped families!
2. Bert aco!s
Courtesy of 3ife is good
Age: 46
Occupation: Co%Founder and C<O, Li"e is good
Advice to young entrepreneurs: "5ry to shoot for a timeless usiness!"
=ou$ve proaly seen the eret%wearing, smiling face of 6)a*e,7 the 3ife is good logo, on the
company$s tee shirts and products! Co%founders "ert )acos and his rother, )ohn )acos, 4>,
started peddling their tee shirts on the streets of "oston %% going door%to%door at college
dorms and sleeping in their van to save money %% in &-?-! /t would ta*e nearly si@ years,
however, efore their shirts finally caught on with consumers, than*s to 6)a*e!7
5he logo, which is infused with optimism, was created after a conversation aout how the
world was slammed with constant negativity! /t ecame an instant hit! 'ow, the 'ew
<ngland%ased company has revenues in e@cess of A&BB million, and each year more of it
goes toward their charity, 3ife is good +ids Foundation, which helps children overcome life%
threatening challenges!
6/n the eginning, we made every usiness mista*e in the oo*,7 says "ert! 5he rothers
didn$t have a usiness plan or growth strategy %% a formula for disaster, if you go y what$s
taught in usiness school! "ert credits part of their success to listening to their friends and
customers as informal focus groups, rather than 6e@perts!7 #e advises udding entrepreneurs
to: 65ry to shoot for a timeless usiness that will wor* through good times and ad!7
#. Ali Bro$n
Courtesy of 4li "rown
Age: 4B
Occupation: <ntrepreneur, usiness consultant and pulisher, AliBro$n.co%
Advice to young entrepreneurs: "/tCs important you see* out other usiness owners for
information, advice, support and resources!"
Fed up with her dead%end Do at a 'ew =or* City ad agency, "rown decided to Euit in &--?!
4rmed with her rother$s hand%me%down computer, she launched her first mar*eting agency,
4+" Communications, from her *itchen tale!
,hile having her own usiness was e@citing, the uncertainty of self%employment had its
challenges! "rown rememers all too well ma@ing out credit cards and draining her an*
account to stay afloat in the early days! One night in particular, she tried to withdraw AFB
from an 452 ut was denied ecause her alance was only A&?!16! 5hirteen years later,
than*s to her hard wor* and perseverance, "rown has achieved many successes: She earned
her first million efore the age of >1 and has appeared on 4"C$s reality show 6Secret
2illionaire,7 where she donated money to several organiGations! She still actively supports
three of them!
,hen it comes down to deciding if entrepreneurship is the right move for you, "rown says,
6<ntrepreneurship isn$t for everyone! <very definition of entrepreneur /$ve found includes the
word Hris*$!7 For those who are willing to ta*e the leap of faith, she advises: 6/tCs important
that you see* out other usiness owners for information, advice, support and resources!
5oday, would%e entrepreneurs have the /nternet and social media, and itCs a great place to get
started learning more aout how to grow a usiness!7
&. ill Blashac' (trahan
Courtesy of )ill "lashac* Strahan
Age: 1F
Occupation: Founder and C<O, )aste"ully (i%ple
Advice to young entrepreneurs: "#aving goals is asolutely critical!"
For Strahan, starting her multimillion%dollar company, 5astefully Simple, a direct sales
retailer of specialty food products, egan with 6a dream and a shoestring!7 She grew up on a
dairy farm in 2innesota and later started selling gourmet food as*ets, which inspired her
usiness!
/n the eginning, the entrepreneur fed her fledgling company with A6,BBB of her own savings
and some loans from a friend and the Small "usiness 4dministration! Strahan$s first
headEuarters was a &,FBB%sEuare%foot space with a concrete floor and no running water! <arly
orders were pac*ed on a pool tale! 5oday, the 5astefully Simple offices ta*e up nearly
FBB,BBB sEuare feet on a 0-%acre lot!
/n addition to running a company that$s valued at more than A&BB million, Strahan finds time
to give ac* to the community! 5astefully Simple has donated more than A1 million to local
causes, and in FBB- teamed up with Share Our Strength, a group that see*s to end childhood
hunger in 4merica! /f you$re an entrepreneur with a good idea, she says to rememer that
there isn$t an easy road to uilding a profitale usiness: 65he secret to success doesn$t
involve pi@ie dust or a magic ullet! #aving goals is asolutely critical!7
*. +arrah ,ray
Courtesy of Farrah Iray ;ulishing
Age: F0
Occupation: Founder and C<O, +arrah ,ray -u!lishing
Advice to young entrepreneurs: "+eep your usiness small ! ! ! niche yourself!"
,hen most 6%year%olds were worried aout what time their favorite cartoon came on 5:,
Iray was already an entrepreneur! #e was going door%to%door in his inner%city Chicago
neighorhood selling hand%painted roc*s as oo*ends to help his ailing mother ma*e ends
meet! 6/ can rememer eing very young and my mom having a heart attac*! / wondered how
we were going to pay the ills and thought to myself, H/ don$t want to e poor li*e this
anymore,$7 he recalls!
5rying to figure out a way to improve his family$s home life spar*ed something ig: "y the
time he was &0, Iray had founded and operated several usinesses, including +idGtel, a
prepaid phone card company, and Farr%Out Foods, a food company targeting young adults,
which grossed A&!1 million in sales efore he sold it! 4t FB, his first oo*, 6Reallionaire: 'ine
Steps to "ecoming Rich /nside and Out,7 was pulished!
'ow, Iray$s focused on his latest venture, Farrah Iray ;ulishing, a outiEue celerity oo*
pulishing house he started in FBB-, which includes titles such as 65ransparent7 y C''$s
(on 3emon! Iray also spends his time contriuting to charitale organiGations, such as the
'ational Coalition for the #omeless and the 'ational 2arrow (onor ;rogram! For anyone
considering starting a new usiness, he suggests *eeping things small: 64 lot of times we get
caught up in trying to e the ne@t Faceoo* or 4pple! 5hat isn$t necessary %% niche yourself!7
6. esse Conners
Courtesy of FirednFaulousJ=ou5ue
Age: F?
Occupation: C<O and founder, -epper%int-ar'.co%
Advice to young entrepreneurs: "5here is constantly some fire that you have to put out ! ! !
(onCt let it discourage you!"
Conners had an unusual childhood: ,hen she was -, her parents Doined a cult and %% elieving
that the world was aout to end %% sold all of their worldly possessions! From then until she
was &?, Conners traveled across the .!S! and to 2e@ico with her family, following the cult$s
message and searching for wor* along the way! 4s unconventional as it was, she says her
upringing spurred the independence she needed to succeed in usiness!
,hile in high school, she started doing the mar*eting for her father$s chiropractor practice,
which eventually led to a Do in real estate! 4t F&, she auditioned for and was cast in the first
season of '"C$s 65he 4pprentice!7 4lthough Conners didn$t win, her stint on national
television landed her a Do on the real estate spea*ing circuit! /n FBB?, she egan uilding
;eppermint;ar*!com, a memership%ased fashion and lu@ury rand online retailer! 5he ,e
site has een up and running for a little over a year and has a ten%person staff!
<arlier this year, Conners$s 6outside the o@7 approach to usiness helped her to surpass a A&
million net worth! /n addition to running her company, she has offered charitale support to
<lephant #uman Relations 4id and provides resources to women who are victims of
domestic ause, according to her ,e site! Conners advises udding entrepreneurs to e
aware that daily ostacles are the norm, not the e@ception! 65here is constantly some fire that
you have to put out! 5hat$s what running a usiness is all aout,7 Conners says! 6(on$t let it
discourage you! 5ry again, start again!7
?!
-!
&B!