Rags to Riches Billionaire Story # 1

Ingvar Kamprad
Net worth: $31 billion

World’s richest retailer and founder of furniture store Ikea.

Kamprad began to develop a business as a young boy, selling matches to neighbors from his bicycle. He found that he could buy matches in bulk very cheaply from Stockholm, sell them individually at a low price and still make a good profit. From matches, he expanded to selling fish, Christmas tree decorations, seeds and later ball-point pens and pencils. When Kamprad was 17, his father gave him a reward for succeeding in his studies. He used this money to establish what has grown into IKEA.

The acronym IKEA is made up of the initials of his name (Ingvar Kamprad) plus those of Elmtaryd, the family farm where he was born; and the nearby village Agunnaryd.

Kamprad has admitted that his dyslexia played a large part in the inner workings of the company. For example, the Swedish-sounding names of the furniture sold by IKEA were originally chosen by Kamprad because he had difficulty remembering numeral stock-keeping units.

Reputed to be quite frugal: flies economy class, frequents inexpensive restaurants, furnishes his home with Ikea ware.

Rags to Riches Billionaire Story # 2

Li Ka-shing
Net worth: $26.5 billion

Li fled turbulent China in 1940 and resettled in Hong Kong. Li’s father died in Hong Kong.

Shouldering the responsibility of looking after the livelihood of the family, Li was forced to leave school before the age of 15 and found a job in a plastics trading company where he labored 16 hours a day.

By 1950, his hard work, prudence and his pursuit of excellence had enabled him to start his own company, Cheung Kong Industries. From manufacturing plastics, Li led and developed his company into a leading real estate investment company in Hong Kong that was listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in 1972.

Rags to Riches Billionaire Story # 3

Roman Abramovich
Net worth: $23.5 billion

Orphaned at age 4, Abramovich was raised by his uncle and grandmother. He dropped out of college and eventually made a fortune after taking over Russian oil giant Sibneft, which he later sold.

Roman, was gifted with a talent for business and being in the right place at the right time as he started his career as an entrepreneur just as Soviet premier Mikhail Gorbachev’s reforms permitted the opening of small private businesses.

He began his business career selling plastic ducks from a grim Moscow apartment but, within a few years, Abramovich’s vast wealth spread from oil conglomerates to pig farms, and secured his place within Yeltsin’s inner circle. However, even today, his task force of bodyguards and armoured Mercedes testify to the high-risk nature of capitalism in post-Soviet Russia.

Rags to Riches Billionaire Story # 4

Sheldon Adelson
Net worth: $26 billion

The son of a Boston cabdriver, he borrowed $200 from an uncle to sell newspapers at age 12. Later, he dropped out of college to become a court reporter. Now a casino and hotel magnate, Adelson took his Las Vegas Sands public in December 2004.

He worked at a young age selling newspapers on local street corners and owned his first business by the time he was twelve. In the years that followed, he worked as a mortgage broker, investment adviser and financial consultant. He started a business selling toiletry kits, and in the 1960s he started a charter tours business with two friends. He went to college at City College of New York but did not complete a degree there.

The basis for Adelson’s wealth and current investments was the computer trade show COMDEX, which he and his partners developed for the computer industry; the first show was in 1979. It was the premier computer trade show through much of the 1980s and 1990s.

In 1988, Adelson and his partners purchased the Sands Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada, the former hangout of Frank Sinatra and the Rat Pack, in order to bring Las Vegas to a new phase of business centricity through the exhibition industry.

Rags to Riches Billionaire Story # 5

Amancio Ortega
Net worth: $20.2 billion

Son of a railway worker Ortega apparently got started as a clerk in a shirt store. With $25 and help from his then wife Rosalia Mera, now also a billionaire, he began making gowns in his living room.

In 1975 he opened the first store in what would grow into the enormously popular chain of fashion stores called Zara.

Rags to Riches Billionaire Story # 6

Kirk Kerkorian
Net worth: $16 billion

Son of Armenian immigrants, he dropped out of school in the eighth grade and took up boxing.

Kirk Kerkorian was born on June 6, 1917 in Fresno, California, to Armenian immigrant parents. Dropping out of school in 8th grade, he became a fairly skilled amateur boxer under the tutelage of his older brother, fighting under the name “Rifle Right Kerkorian” to win the Pacific amateur welterweight champion.

After the war, having saved most of his wages, Kerkorian spent $5,000 on a Cessna. He worked as a general aviation pilot, and made his first visit to Las Vegas in 1944. After spending much time in Las Vegas during the 1940s, Kerkorian quit gambling and in 1947 paid $60,000 for Trans International Airlines, which was a small air-charter service which flew gamblers from Los Angeles to Las Vegas.

He then bid on some war surplus bombers, using money on loan from the Seagrams family. Gasoline, and especially airplane fuel, was in short supply at the time, so he sold the fuel from the planes’ tanks, paid off his loan – and still had the airplanes. He operated the airline until 1968 when he sold it for $104 million to the Transamerica Corporation.

Later, he made billions buying and selling movie studio MGM. Today his MGM Mirage owns more than half the hotel rooms on the Las Vegas Strip

Rags to Riches Billionaire Story # 7

Oprah Winfrey
Net worth: $2.5 billion

Born in rural Mississippi to a poor unwed teenaged mother, and later raised in an inner city Milwaukee neighborhood, Winfrey was raped at the age of nine, and at fourteen, gave birth to a son who died in infancy. Sent to live with the man she calls her father, a barber in Tennessee, Winfrey landed a job in radio while still in high school and began co-anchoring the local evening news at the age of 19.

Her emotional ad-lib delivery eventually got her transferred to the daytime talk show arena, and after boosting a third-rated local Chicago talk show to first place, she launched her own production company and became internationally syndicated.

Winfrey became a millionaire at age 32 when her talk show went national. Because of the amount of revenue the show generated, Winfrey was in a position to negotiate ownership of the show and start her own production company. By 1994 the show’s ratings were still thriving and Winfrey negotiated a contract that earned her nine figures a year.

Considered the richest woman in entertainment

by the early 1990s, at age 41 Winfrey’s wealth crossed another milestone when with a net worth of $340 million, she replaced Bill Cosby as the only African American on the Forbes 400. Although blacks are 12% of the U.S. population, Winfrey has remained the only black person wealthy enough to rank among America’s 400 richest people nearly every year since 1995.

Rags to Riches Billionaire Story # 8

Micky Jagtiani
Net worth: $2.5 billion

Jagtiani flunked out of accounting school in London and took up driving taxis and cleaning hotel rooms to pay the bills and support a bottle of whiskey a day habit. He then lost his entire family to illness in the span of one year.

Just 21 and alone in Bahrain with $6,000 of his and his family’s savings, he took over the retail space his brother had leased before dying of cancer and started selling baby products. Chain is now one of the most profitable retail groups in the Middle East.

Thirty years after he landed up in Bahrain the Dubai-based CEO of Landmark group has built himself one the largest and most profitable retail chains in the Middle East, with more than 280 stores, 6,000 employees and an estimated $650 million in revenues

Rags to Riches Billionaire Story # 9

Richard Desmond
Net worth: $2 billion

After his parents divorced, Desmond lived with his mother in a garage apartment. Quit school at age 14 to become a drummer and worked in a coat-check room to help pay the bills.

His first job was for Thomson Newspapers, working in classified advertisements. He moved on to another company and by the age of 21 he owned two record shops. He acquired an interest in publishing and in 1974 published a magazine called International Musician and Recording World.

Started his first magazine at age 22 and now owns dozens of titles, including celebrity rag OK!.

Rags to Riches Billionaires Story # 10

J.K. Rowling
Net worth: $1 billion

British writer and author of the Harry Potter fantasy series.

Rowling moved to Portugal after the death of her mother from multiple sclerosis. She returned to the U.K. a single mother and lived on welfare while finishing her first Harry Potter story. Now one of the world’s most successful authors, she published the seventh and final installment of the boy wizard series last July.

She progressed from living on welfare to multi-millionaire status within five years.

Where Did They Start Their Millions: Facebook

Website: Facebook
Founder: Mark Zuckerberg
Place started the business: At his Harvard Dorm Room

The birth of Facebook is related to Zuckerberg’s appetite for hacking.
He got into limelight when he refused $1 billion offer from Yahoo. Later on he settled with $240 million dollar deal, giving Microsoft 1.6% stake in Facebook raising the valuation to $15 billion.

Where Did They Start Their Millions: Google

Website: Google
Founder: Larry Page and Sergey Brin
Place started the business: In a garage

Larry and Sergey started on a name BackRub. But Larry and Sergey decide that the BackRub search engine needs a new name. After some brainstorming, they go with Google — a play on the word “googol,” a mathematical term for the number represented by the numeral 1 followed by 100 zeros. The use of the term reflects their mission to organize a seemingly infinite amount of information on the web.

Where Did They Start Their Millions: Runescape

Website: Runescape
Founder: Andrew Gower
Place started the business: From a bedroom in his parents’ house in Nottingham.

He has involved in coding for games since his childhood. He had a penchant for dungeon gaming. He initially started RunEscape as a hobby, and later monetized his website and turned out to be a successful business venture.

Where Did They Start Their Millions: PopCap Games

Website: PopCap Games
Founders: John Vechey, along with Brien Fiete and Jason Kapalka
Place started the business: In his office

John Vechey, along with Brien Fiete and Jason Kapalka founded Popcap games in the year 2000. They earlier worked with internet gaming sites like flipside and pogo. Their first gaming product was Bejeweled, which became a big hit, and received numerous awards.

Where Did They Start Their Millions: Threadless

Website: Threadless
Founder: Jack Nickell along with Jacob Dehart
Place started the business: From a studio apartment

Jack Nickell along with Jacob Dehart ( both college dropouts ), started threadless when they were still working on their regular job. Both the partners put a modest $500 as their initial investment. Now the company has annual revenue to the extent of $50 million.

Where Did They Start Their Millions: Biz Chair

Website: Biz Chair
Founder: Sean Belnick
Place started the business: From his bedroom

He started with $500, with an initial inventory of 50 products. Now the company has 75 employees and sells more than 25000 products online. He sells office furniture, home furniture, school furniture and medical equipment in online shop. Microsoft, Google and American Idol are amongst some of his notable clients.

Where Did They Start Their Millions: Digg

Website: Digg
Founder: Kevin Rose
Place started the business: In his apartment.

David Prager (The Screen Savers, This Week in Tech), originally wanted to call the site “Diggnation”, but Kevin Rose wanted a simpler name. He chose the name “Digg”, because users are able to “dig” stories, out of those submitted, up to the front page. The site was called “Digg” instead of “Dig” because the domain name “dig.com” had been previously registered by the Walt Disney Internet Group.

Where Did They Start Their Millions: PlentyOfFish

Website: PlentyOfFish
Founder: Markus Frind
Place started the business: In his office

Back in 2001 after his birthday someone in the office introduced him to online dating sites. He went back to his desk and checked out udate.com and kiss.com and lavalife/web personals. He was bored and He wanted to chat with people. He was really annoyed when he found out you had to pay for everything, he ended up telling the girl who introduced him to the sites that he could do better and make them for free, so he went and registered Plentyoffish.com.

Where Did They Start Their Millions: Voltage

Website: Voltage
Founder: Rishi Kacker and Matt Pauker
Place started the business: In a basement office in the engineering building

Rishi Kacker and Matt Pauker worked on the technology as a summer research project while attending Stanford. They entered a business-plan competition they won the contest. With the help of some seasoned executives, the two have created a thriving security-software business with more than 130 big-business customers and 75 employees. “It’s still amazing to me,” says Pauker.

Where Did They Start Their Millions: YouTube

Website: YouTube
Founder: Chad Hurley
Place started the business: In his office

After that fateful dinner party, where Hurley and Chen wanted to create a simpler way to share their videos of the night, they immediately went to work at the office creating the answer. “In February, we started developing the product,” says Hurley. “In May, we had our first public preview. And in December, we officially launched YouTube. By that time we were serving over three million videos a day.”

Where Did They Start Their Millions: FastHost

Website: FastHost
Founder: Andrew Michael
Place started the business: From his bedroom

He became a multi-millionaire after selling an internet business he started as a teenager. He started up Fasthosts as an internet project for a sixth form project at the age of 17. With the sale of Fasthosts, Mr Michael’s wealth has rocketed to £47m.

Where Did They Start Their Millions: WhatEverLife

Website: WhatEverLife.com
Founder: Ashley Qualls
Place started the business: started at her kitchen office.

Started her business in 2004 with an $8 domain name and an old computer, at the age of just fourteen. She didn’t know she was starting a business at the time – she thought she was just creating an easy way to share her cool MySpace background designs with her friends.

Where Did They Start Their Millions: eBay

Website: eBay
Founder: Pierre Omidyar
Place started the business: In the home of Pierre Omidyar

There aren’t many sites on the Internet that can claim the success that eBay has enjoyed. The first name eBay used was Echo Bay Technology. When the company tried to register the domain name echobay.com, they found that it was already in use. They shortened the name to eBay.com and the Website was born.

Where Did They Start Their Millions:LinkedIn

Website: LinkedIn

Founder: Reid Hoffman
Place started the business: In the living room

LinkedIn was officially founded in 2003. The site was launched on May 5th (affectionately referred to by employees as “Cinco de LinkedIn”) when the five founders invited about 350 of their most important contacts to join. At the end of the first month in operation, LinkedIn had a total of 4,500 members in the network. LinkedIn’s first “real” office was on Shoreline Road in Mountain View.

How LinkedIn’s founder got started

Reid Hoffman talks about his path from academia to social media.

My dad wouldn’t let me have a computer because he didn’t think it was relevant. I was in college before I actually got one. I think if he knew then what he knows now, I would have had one much earlier.

But I’ve always had an interest in how we improve people’s ecosystems — whether it’s civics or education or economics. When I was an undergrad at Stanford, I thought the way to do that was to be an academic. Then I saw that wasn’t the right way, because you become a scholar and publish in an area where only, like, 50 people will read it.

Find ways to reach people.
How do you change lives for millions of people? At Oxford [as a graduate student in philosophy] I decided software entrepreneurship was the way.

I came back to Silicon Valley and worked for Apple and then Fujitsu before starting Socialnet, an early social-networking site. After a while I didn’t agree with the direction it was going, so I talked to Peter [Thiel, co-founder of PayPal], whom I knew from Stanford. He said, “Come join us. Help us at PayPal.”

Improve users’ lives.
What I realized before PayPal was sold was that there was going to be a confluence of two forces.

One was how the world of work is changing — every individual is now somewhat entrepreneurial. They’re getting the next gig themselves.

The other was the Internet, which could empower all these individuals to establish profiles online so that people can find them. You’d be able to use your network to get access to people to better chart your path.

I started LinkedIn because changing people’s professional lives is a massive transformation. In 2003 we got financing from Sequoia Capital, and we started to get more and more people into our service. Everyone began to realize the value. That’s when I was, like, “This could work.”

Secrets of my success

• It’s okay to be brief
When people ask me about work/life balance, I just laugh. But I try to be time-efficient by scheduling meetings in appropriate increments –15 minutes or less sometimes. I’ve also tried to build a culture that understands writing brief e-mails is not emotional coldness.

• Be willing to change course
Entrepreneurs tend to believe, “I’ve got my idea, I’ll go until I die.” But I advise them to take seriously the questions about whether their [business] plan is irredeemably flawed and whether they need to change what they’re doing. Be diligent about failing fast so that you don’t spend five years doing something that’s just going to fail.

• Don’t be a perfectionist
I frequently tell Internet entrepreneurs, “If you’re not somewhat embarrassed by your 1.0 product launch, then you’ve released too late.” There’s value in launching early, getting engaged with customers, and learning from them. That can direct your progress.

Secrets of Millionaires: Business Principle #4

Business Principle #4
Timing

It’s the Best of Times, the Worst of Times…How well you do depends on which side of the trends you are on.

Going Global

Going global means you have a business that has the ability for global diversification which provides worldwide expansion. Our takes all of the financial risks when opening in a new market and our compensation plan is seemless throughout the world. Someone can buy our products in Asia and you get paid in the currency from the country you reside.

Global Economic Meltdown

In February 2009, the US Labor Department reported that unemployment reached 7.6%. 11.6 million Americans are unemployed. Many of these people are professionals who are on the wrong side of trends. They are not going to find another job, because companies in their fields are not hiring!

As you may know, the economic meltdown has caused this.

Many of these very talented people will be forced into entrepreneurship and they will be looking for businesses. Are you going to be ready to profit from this large group of people?

Technology

The World is Flat has been a best-seller in book stores. It discusses how technology has changed everything. With computer, internet, and a phone line,

people are able to run multi-million dollar business from their home. The world is flat as a computer screen meaning you can video chat, present concepts, and talk through your computer and the other person can be on the other side of the planet.

Demographics

Every 8 seconds someone turns 60 years old. This group is referred to as baby-boomers. What products do baby-boomers want?

What I recommend you do is increase your financial IQ.

Secrets of Millionaires: Business Principle #3

Business Principle #3

Using Leverage For Wealth

Creation

“I would rather earn 1% of 100 people’s efforts than 100% of my own efforts.” – John Paul Getty, Renowned Billionaire

Trading Time For Money = No Leverage

Anyone who is an employee and working for someone else is trading time and expertise for money. Most people are “stuck” in this cycle and it is not the road to wealth.

Leverage Through Employees = Headaches

If you know anyone who is a business owner, you probably have heard them mention how their employees have caused them headaches. If you have ever worked with someone who drove you crazy, imagine how the owner of the business feels.

Leverage Through Agents

In the real estate industry, you will find the broker-agent relationship. On the surface, agents look like a solution, because you get leverage from someone

who isn’t your employee. The downside is when a broker trains an agent, the possibility is that the motivated agent will take that knowledge and training and

start their own business. The broker has lost all the time put into that agent and has gained a competitor. You just trained your competition.

Another problem with leverage throught agents is that you are limited by time meaning that you can train only so many agents at once, so your income is limited by the amount of agents you can train at once.

Broker Empowers Leadership

When a broker empowers leadership, he/she gets leverage. With this type of leverage, a broker can train agents and brokers. So, a broker could create agents and other brokers allowing them to get more leverage. Now, if you trained an agent to become a broker and that broker you train works harder than you, they make more money than you.

You always earn a percentage on what that broker generates. When a broker you train can earn more than you for working harder….what is that callled?…….that is called “fair.”

The broker will not have a need to break off from you and go into competition with you, because they have the ability to earn on their effort.

Excerpt from Retiredat32

Secrets of Millionaires: Business Principle #2

Business Principle #2

Unique, Consumable Product

Why a CONSUMABLE Product?

There’s a saying in business – “You’re only as good as your last sale.”

In normal market conditions, car salesman and realtors can make good commissions, but they are unemployed until their next sale…they have to keep selling and finding new customers to make money. Think about it from this prospective….how many cars and houses do you buy a year?

A consumable product is one that people buy, use, then then buy again. Food, gas, and personal care products are examples of consumable products. When people run out, they have to buy more product creating a repeat, automatic business.

Why a UNIQUE product?

A product that has a “special thing” about it makes it unique. If you are the company that has created that product, people have to come to you. Apple created that with the iPod and iPhone.

If you don’t have a unique product, you end up competing on price. People will spend more money and often times go out of their way to purchase unique products.

So if you end up with a product that isn’t unique, then you compete on price. Imagine trying to compete with Wal Mart…that is what will happen, if you end up competing on price.

A patent can be one way keeping a product unique. If you get a U.S. Government and/or Worldwide patent, your product remains unique, because only you can produce that product with that method.

Excerpt from Retiredat32

Secrets of Millionaires: Business Principle #1

Business Principle #1

Huge Expanding Market

Real Estate is a HUGE market, but it’s NOT expanding. Real estate is actually shrinking or contracting.

If you are in a market that is shrinking or contracting, your way of making money could look a lot like the real estate job market as shown in this graph below.

A huge, expanding market demonstrates the importance of evaluating the industry you are in with this principle in mind, because it doesn’t matter how good you are at what you do, if you are in an industry that is dying.

A perfect example is vinyl records. Do you remember vinyl records? If you are over 40, you probably do. If you are not, you might not even know what we are talking about. That is the definition of a dead market. When a product is so dead, some of the population doesn’t even remember it.

So, if you want to know the secret to Business Principle #1, then here it is: don’t be attached to your education, your current career, or your prior experience when you chose your future income. If you had been in the vinyl record industry, you wouldn’t have had a job in very short order. This industry went from $7 billion to zero in seven years.

Coming soon the Secrets of Millionaires: Business Principle # 2. Keep visiting.

How a Millionaire’s Brain Works

Posted by Robin Bal

A man walked into a bank in New York City one day and asked for the loan officer.

He told the loan officer that he was going to Philippines on business for two weeks and needed to borrow $5,000. The bank officer told him that the bank would need some form of security for the loan.

Then the man handed over the keys to a new Ferrari parked on the street in front of the bank. He produced the title and everything checked out The loan officer agreed to accept the car as collateral for the loan.The bank’s president and its officers all enjoyed a good laugh at the guy for using a $250,000 Ferrari as collateral against a $5,000 loan.

An employee of the bank then drove the Ferrari into the bank’s underground garage and parked it there.Two weeks later, the guy returned, repaid the $5,000 and the interest, which came to $15.41.

The loan officer said, “Sir, we are very happy to have had and this transaction has worked out very nicely, but we are a little puzzled. While you were away, we checked you out and found that you are a multi millionaire. What puzzles us is, why would you bother to borrow “$5,000″.

The millionaire replied: “Where else in New York City can I park my car for $15.41 and expect it to be there when I return”

Well thats how the rich stay rich, they know a lot more about Money Management. All the millionaires I have met in my life were penny wise. Look after your cents and the Dollars will look after themselves.

You may post your comments below for the lessons you have learned from this story.

Richest Kids in America: Very Sweet Young Success Stories

Report from moneywatch.com:

ALLYSON AMES
President and co-founder of Wonderland Bakery
http://wonderlandbakery.com

Wonderland Bakery’s president and co-founder, Celebrity Chef Allyson Ames, was named one of the richest kids in America by Mark Victor Hansen, respected authority in the area of human potential and creator of the best-selling Chicken Soup for the Soul series.

Hansen’s new book, The Richest Kids in America, is the result of a three-year research project in which he set out to chronicle the journeys of North America’s most successful young entrepreneurial superstars.

Hansen tells the inspiring story of Ames, 23, who has steadfastly pursued her passion for baking and childhood dream of having her own “wonderland.”

Allyson Ames will begin a media tour sharing her story including NBC’s The Today Show, August 3rd at 10:00am and CNBC’s Squawk on the Street, August 11th at 7:00am.

Ames has created Wonderland Bakery, a unique retail bakery concept specializing in cupcakes, cookies, artistic cakes and whimsical gifts. An enchanting mix of equal parts Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory, Alice’s Wonderland and Candyland, Ames and Wonderland Bakery’s celebrity following has earned national media attention.

She has created cookies for President Barack Obama’s inauguration day events, baked the reigning “Best Gingerbread Cookie” according to Whoopi Goldberg and The View, and Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger honored Wonderland Bakery with the 2008 California Business of the Year Award.

Ames is a culinary prodigy who started cooking and baking at age five, and was named The Best Young Chef in America at age 17. She is the Official Sweet Ambassador for Newport Beach and has been tapped as one of the hottest Hollywood celebrities under the age of 25 by Variety magazine.

She has recently added to her brand a collection of “Bake Memories at Home” desserts, a mesmerizing line of merchandise, a best-selling book, Wonderlicious The Enchanting and Delicious Wonderland Bakery Adventure, a read-a-long book for the animated Allyson Wonderland bear by Gund.

This holiday season, Ames will commence an expansion plan that includes whimsically designed point-of-sale displays that will be placed in retail locations from coast to coast. She is in negotiations to host a children’s cooking show; internationally license the Wonderland Bakery brand of toys, games and products; and will expand with five new Wonderlicious party, cafe and retail stores in major markets, with the first stores in Los Angeles and Las Vegas.

“Allyson Ames has an amazing story that will inspire other entrepreneurs to dream big, make it work and build a commanding brand,” said Hansen.

20 ONLINE BUSINESS TIPS

TOP 20 ONLINE BUSINESS SUCCESS TIPS
by Gail Buckley

1. Do something you love.
2. Believe in yourself and think positive.
3. Even though it’s home-based, it’s still work.
4. Only fools rush in – don’t be one of them.
5. Your computer is your lifeline, make sure it’s reliable.
6. Don’t jump the gun in deciding what you’re going to sell.
7. Plan, plan… and then plan some more.
8. Stand out from the crowd.
9. Design a content rich, customer-friendly site around your USP (or have one designed for you).
10. Pick a domain name that is catchy and easy to remember.
11. Don’t scrimp when it comes to selecting a hosting service.
12. Make it easy for your prospects to purchase from you.
13. Keep your site up-to-date.
14. Establish your presence online.
15. Keep track of your successes and failures.
16. Build your own opt-in list.
17. Consistently follow-up with all your customers.
18. Be patient and consistent in your promotional efforts.
19. Don’t rest on your laurels.
20. Above all, stay committed to your plans and goals -regardless of how long it takes to realize them.

Suggestions in Keeping Up Your Online Store in Economic Downturns

Here is a few suggestions I got in the Volusions active staff:

Jennifer S.
“Solidify your design by making it more consistent through your site. If you already have a consistent design, try taking it a step further into your advertising and just add some little things to make your store feel more like an experience.”

Jeri B.
“Maintain a simplified color palette throughout your entire site. It will add a harmonious look and feel to your site, and make it appear more professional and easy to navigate.”

Jon B.
Get familiar with the many design tools on the web. Here are just a few I suggest:
http://www.modernlifeisrubbish.co.uk Modern Design Tips
http://www.dafont.com Free fonts that won’t lock up Photoshop
http://www.colorschemer.com Give your site color harmony
http://www.resizr.com A free way to resize your photos
http://www.istockphoto.com Stock photos for $1

Sandra N.
“Execute more mini projects. Divide a main project into smaller projects with a smaller scope so that each “mini” project can be easily completed in a shorter amount of time. This leads to a better sense of accomplishment, don’t you think?”

Michelle B.
“Make it more of a point to get feedback from family and friends to evaluate your site regularly. Your goal could be to ask someone for feedback once a week, five times a month, or any schedule that will work for you. Start with a specific area (design, navigation, product descriptions, images, etc.) and ask for comments in that specific area. This will allow you to focus on one area at a time, and create a specific “To-Do” List for that section before moving on to the next.”

Kate P.
“Add to your credibility as an online company in the eyes of potential customers. Have a clear return policy/money back guarantee posted, and make sure that customers can readily find it before they order. There’s nothing worse than feeling like you were duped by a company because they hid their policies or made it nearly impossible for you to return items.”

AmyLynn K.
“Make it a point to improve your on-page SEO. A lot of people just put sizes into their product descriptions, but is that really describing the product? You could describe its various sizes, what it’s for, and so much more about it. This in and of itself will make search engine spiders like your site a whole lot more.”

Stacie L.
“If you haven’t done so already, now’s the time to start running online ads. It’s a great way to gain exposure and possible sales, especially if your site isn’t ranking well in search engines. A few quick tips: direct campaigns to landing pages to better target traffic, monitor campaigns often and write ad text that is relevant to what the searcher is looking for. Always keep in mind that those reaching your site have already searched, so don’t make them search more after clicking on your ad. See the Search Engine Marketing section for more tips on setting up online ad campaigns.”

Adam H.
“Off page SEO is huge for improving your search engine rankings. Create a blog to link back to your store. Write articles or ask bloggers to review your products. Making a point this year to increase your backlinks can pay huge dividends in the end for your business.”

Let’s continue doing business! Good luck!

Surviving Economic Crisis and Still Earning

How to Survive the Economic Crisis by Starting Your Own Home Money Machine
by Fabian Tan

These are times when most of us can help ourselves to a few hundred dollars in the least so that the impact of the economic down turn is negated at least in part. Thanks to the internet, there are several home business ideas to tide over this crisis ridden period. Let us consider some of these home business ideas for your benefit.

1. Identify some evergreen areas

By jumping into an money-generating idea, we don’t want to add to our trouble. The best way therefore, would be to identify evergreen areas develop home business around those areas. As an example, it does not call for any major technical know how or investment to create a blog, or rather a few blogs and promote it through regular blog posts. Almost anyone can do this and you will some money – may be to meet your phone bills.

2. Consider information products

Creating Ebooks and marketing them is yet another secure idea for making profits which can be pursued by people with basic education and a computer. There are different methods of earning through Ebooks and a detailed research will tell you how easy it is to make a few hundred dollars every month from this home business.

3. Forum postings

There are thousands of forums in the internet and all these forums need fresh content at regular intervals. People who have business interests in these forums cannot find the time to do these postings at the desired intervals. This very simple job/business is outsourced and can be taken up by almost anyone.

Top 5 Highest Earner Per Minute

Top 5 Highest Earner Per Minute

Believe this or not, this list shows you how much this persons earn each minute.

	Name	Earnings Per Minute
	Bill Gates	$ 6,659.00
	Warren Edward Buffet	$ 5,594.00
	Carlos Slim Helu	$ 3,995.00
	Ingvar Kamprad	$ 3,729.00
	Lakshmi Mittal	$ 3,130.00

Another millionaire list, ops, this is the billionaires list.

Source: Forbes Magazine

The World’s Billionaires 2009 – Top 25

The World’s Billionaires 2009

Enjoy this wonderful top list!

Rank	Name	Citizenship	Age	NetWorth($bil)	Residence
1	William Gates III	United States	53	40.0	United States
2	Warren Buffett	United States	78	37.0	United States
3	Carlos Slim Helu & family	Mexico	69	35.0	Mexico
4	Lawrence Ellison	United States	64	22.5	United States
5	Ingvar Kamprad & family	Sweden	83	22.0	Switzerland
6	Karl Albrecht	Germany	89	21.5	Germany
7	Mukesh Ambani	India	51	19.5	India
8	Lakshmi Mittal	India	58	19.3	United Kingdom
9	Theo Albrecht	Germany	87	18.8	Germany
10	Amancio Ortega	Spain	73	18.3	Spain
11	Jim Walton	United States	61	17.8	United States
12	Alice Walton	United States	59	17.6	United States
12	Christy Walton & family	United States	54	17.6	United States
12	S Robson Walton	United States	65	17.6	United States
15	Bernard Arnault	France	60	16.5	France
16	Li Ka-shing	Hong Kong	80	16.2	Hong Kong
17	Michael Bloomberg	United States	67	16.0	United States
18	Stefan Persson	Sweden	61	14.5	Sweden
19	Charles Koch	United States	73	14.0	United States
19	David Koch	United States	68	14.0	United States
21	Liliane Bettencourt	France	86	13.4	France
22	Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Alsaud	Saudi Arabia	54	13.3	Saudi Arabia
23	Michael Otto & family	Germany	65	13.2	Germany
24	David Thomson & family	Canada	51	13.0	Canada
25	Michael Dell	United States	44	12.3	United States

Source: Forbes Magazine

Congratulations! This is not a millionaires list, this is the Billionaires List

30 Websites That Sold For A Lot Of Money

This is another top list that will surely explode your brains out. A website that could be sold for a lot of money. Lots and lots of money. Check out this list.

30 Websites That Sold For A Lot Of Money

Rank	Website	Acquired By	Price	Acquisition Date
1	Aquantive	Microsoft	$6,333,000,000	13-Aug-2007
2	Broadcast	Yahoo!	$5,700,000,000	1-Apr-1999
3	Geocities	Yahoo!	$3,600,000,000	28-May-1999
4	Youtube	Google	$1,650,000,000	9-Oct-2006
5	Marketing Yahoo!	Yahoo!	$1,630,000,000	14-Jun-2003
6	Bebo	AOL	$850,000,000	13-Mar-2008
7	Tell Me	Microsoft	$800,000,000	14-Mar-2007
8	Club Penguin	Disney	$700,000,000	1-Aug-2007
9	Right Media	Yahoo!	$680,000,000	29-Apr-2007
10	Real Media 24/7	WPP	$649,000,000	17-May-2007
11	Postini	Google	$625,000,000	16-Nov-2006
12	MySpace	News Corp	$580,000,000	18-Jul-2005
13	Adult Friend Finder	Penthouse Media Group	$500,000,000	11-Dec-2007
14	Mezi Media	ValueClick	$352,000,000	16-Jul-2007
15	Zimbra	Yahoo!	$350,000,000	17-Sep-2007
16	Business	R.H. Donnelley	$345,000,000	26-Jul-2007
17	Blue Lithium	Yahoo!	$300,000,000	4-Sep-2007
18	Audible	Amazon	$300,000,000	31-Jan-2008
19	Last FM	CBS	$280,000,000	30-May-2007
20	Tacoda	AOL	$275,000,000	24-Jul-2007
21	How Stuff Works	Discovery	$250,000,000	15-Oct-2007
22	Photo Bucket	Fox Interactive	$250,000,000	30-May-2007
23	Hitwise	Experian	$240,000,000	19-Apr-2007
24	Sidestep	Kayak	$200,000,000	20-Dec-2007
25	Fandango	Comcast	$200,000,000	11-Apr-2007
26	Web Dialogs	IBM	$161,000,000	22-Aug-2007
27	Havok	Intel	$110,000,000	14-Sep-2007
28	Ugo	Hearst	$100,000,000	24-Jul-2007
29	Feedburner	Google	$100,000,000	23-May-2007
30	iStock Photo	Getty Images, Inc.	$50,000,000	9-Feb-2006

Another Internet Millionaire Stories

30 Blog’s That Make A Lot Of Money Online

If you are a blogger this list will surely inspires you a lot. In a few months, you will earn a million out of your blogs. Happy blogging!

30 Blog’s That Make A Lot Of Money Online

Rank	Website	Owner	Monthly Earnings	Main Income
1	Techcrunch	Michael Arrington	$200,000	Advertising Banners
2	Mashable	Pete Cashmore	$180,000	Advertising Banners
3	Perez Hilton	Mario Lavandeira	$140,000	Advertising Banners
4	Gothamist	Jake Dobkin	$80,000	Pay Per Click
5	Timothy Sykes	Timothy Sykes	$80,000	Affiliate Sales
6	Venture Beat	Matt Marshall	$62,000	Pay Per Click
7	Life Hacker	Nick Denton	$60,000	Advertising Banners
8	Tuts Plus	Collis Taeed	$55,000	Advertising Banners
9	Smashing Magazine	Vitaly Friedman	$50,000	Advertising Banners
10	Steve Pavlina	Steve Pavlina	$45,000	Pay Per Click
11	TPM	Josh Marshall	$45,000	Pay Per Click
12	Car Advice	Alborz Fallah	$42,000	Advertising Banners
13	JohnChow	John Chow	$35,000	Affiliate Sales
14	Kotaku	Nick Denton	$32,000	Advertising Banners
15	Coolest Gadgets	Allan Carlton	$30,000	Advertising Banners
16	Problogger	Darren Rowse	$25,000	Advertising Banners
17	Joystiq	AOL	$18,000	CPM Advertising
18	PC Mech	David Risley	$16,000	Affiliate Sales
19	Shoemoney	Jeremy Schoemaker	$12,000	Private Advertising
20	Informasi Dan Tips	Mustofa Alaydrus	$9,500	Pay Per Click
21	Sizlopedia	Saad Hamid	$9,000	Pay Per Click
22	Retire at 21	Michael Dunlop	$5,000	Affiliate Sales
23	Noupe	Noupe	$4,930	Advertising Banners
24	Uber Affiliate	Paul Bourque	$4,500	Second Tear Affiliates
25	Abduzeedo	Fabio Sasso	$3,920	Advertising Banners
26	Click For Nick	Nick Skeba	$3,900	Pay Per Click
27	Tyler Cruz	Tyler Cruz	$3,200	Advertising Banners
28	Just Creative Design	Jacob Cass	$3,000	Services
29	Sizzled Core	Haris Nadeem	$3,000	Pay Per Click
30	Filmonic	Liam Goodwin	$2,200	CPM Advertising

30 Richest Internet Entrepreneurs

Top Internet Entrepreneurs

They are considered the most wealthiest being alive. Thanks to the internet their career have shifted. Imagine if internet was not born, what would this guys do for a living. Anyway, here are the TOP LIST.

Rank	Name	Website	Year Website Launched	Net Worth
1	Larry Page	Google	1998	$18.5 Billion
2	Sergey Brin	Google	1998	$18.5 Billion
3	Jeff Bezos	Amazon	1994	$8.7 Billlion
4	Pierre Omidyar	eBay	1995	$6.3 Billion
5	Eric Schmidt	Google	1998	$5.9 Billion
6	Ronald Burkle	Yahoo	1995	$3.5 Billion
7	Mark Cuban	Broadcast.com	1995	$2.6 Billion
8	Jerry Yang	Yahoo	1995	$2.3 Billion
9	Omid Kordestani	Google	1998	$1.9 Billion
10	David Filo	Yahoo	1995	$1.7 Billion
11	Kavitark Ram Shriram	Google	1998	$1.7 Billion
12	Todd Wagner	Broadcast.com	1995	$1.5 Billion
13	Peter Thiel	PayPal	1998	$1.3 Billion
14	Niklas Zennstrom	Skype	2003	$1.3 Billion
15	Janus Friis	Skype	2003	$1.3 Billion
16	Jack Ma	Alibaba	1999	$1.1 Billion
17	Mark Zuckerberg	Facebook	2004	$700 Million
18	Simon Nixon	MoneySuperMarket	1999	$680 Million
19	Andrew Gower	Runescape	2001	$650 Million
20	Reid Hoffman	LinkedIn	2003	$500 Million
21	Zhang Chaoyang	Sohu	1996	$425 Million
22	Steve Chen	YouTube	2005	$350 Million
23	Elon Musk	PayPal	1998	$328 Million
24	Chad Hurley	YouTube	2005	$300 Million
25	Duncan Cameron	MoneySuperMarket	1999	$280 Million
26	Marc Andreesen	Netscape	1994	$253 Million
27	Reed Hastings	NetFlix	1997	$150 Million
28	Blake Ross	Mozila	1998	$120 Million
29	Andrew Michael	Fasthost	1999	$110 Million
30	Max Levchin	PayPal	1998	$100 Million

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