5 Inspirational Business Stories

Running a small business can be a difficult task. Even some of the biggest and the most profitable businesses around the world have faced hardship in their early years of foundation. Here are five inspiring stories of businesses which had to overcome hurdles before establishing themselves as global brands:

1. Dyson

James Dyson was disappointed with the performance of a vacuum cleaner he was using in 1978 and he decided to design a better and more efficient model. However, before creating the world’s first bag-less vacuum cleaner, the budding inventor spent 5 years creating over 5,000 prototype versions – all of which failed. Dyson is now a global brand, with offices in England and Asia, with an expanding research and development team. The company also manufactures heaters, fans and hand dryers.

2. Innocent Drinks

In 1998, founders Richard Reed, Adam Balon and Jon Wright began selling their smoothies for £2 a bottle at a music festival in England. They spent £500 on ingredients for their smoothies, and the recipes they used were tested by close friends and family. They put up a sign at the stall, which read ‘Should we give up our jobs to make these smoothies?’, and customers were asked to put their empty bottle in bins marked as ‘Yes’ or ‘No’. By the end of the festival, the ‘Yes’ bin had more empty bottles than the “No” bin. The founders resigned from their jobs the next day to start their business. Innocent Drinks is now the biggest selling smoothie brand in the whole of Europe.

3. Ford Motor Company

You will probably be familiar with Ford Motors, a multi-national automobile manufacturer founded by Henry Ford. Though, you might not be so familiar with the Detroit Automobile Company. This was the first company Ford started, but it went bankrupt in 1901. After a year, Ford began a new business – the Henry Ford Company – with a partner. However, after a conflict with his business partner, the company shut down. Undeterred, Ford started his third business in 1903, which he named the Ford Motor Company. This was also close to becoming another failure, but after receiving funding from an investor, the business was saved. The Ford Motor Company has now gone on to become the motor vehicle giant we know today.

4. Forever 21

The first branch of Forever 21, a global fashion retailer, opened in Los Angeles in 1984 by husband and wife Do Won Chang and Jin Sook. Before they opened the first store, Chang, an immigrant from South Korea, worked three jobs as a janitor, a petrol station assistant, and in a café. Originally called Fashion 21, the shop generated sales of $700,000 after just one year of trading. The success of Fashion 21 led Chang to open a new branch in California every six months, gradually building the brand – which was renamed Forever 21. It remains a family-run business, with Chang and Sook’s daughters also working for the company.

5. Rovio

Rovio is the developer behind the hugely successful Angry Birds game franchise, and was founded in 2003 by cousins Niklas and Mikael Hed. Rovio had created 51 different games prior to Angry Birds, some of which they sold to larger game developers such as EA Games. Rovio was close to bankruptcy in 2009, after Niklas and Mikael decided to create their own games. This was also a complicated process, with over 100 different ideas considered before settling on Angry Birds. Before Angry Birds was released in December 2009, it spent eight months in the development process, undergoing numerous changes and revisions. It failed to make a significant impact on a global scale in the first three months, but after being featured on the UK App Store, sales rocketed. As of 2014, Angry Birds has had over 2 billion downloads.

Article compiled by Pocket Social:

Pocket Social lets businesses manage company social media accounts from a smartphone, tablet or desktop. The app prioritises tasks such as discovering relevant content to read and share, finding customers to approach on social media and identifying key influencers to approach.