Great Business Leaders Who Took Rewarding Risks

The greatest business leaders of our time are not fearless; they simply know how to weigh cost and benefit without letting the fear of failure consume them. If you’re thinking about going into business for yourself, or even if you’re already well on the way to success operating your own franchise, here are some success stories to motivate you to get started, or inspire you to keep up the good work!

Bill Gates

Today he is the world’s richest person and certainly one of the most respected. However, in 1975 he was simply a computer enthusiast thumbing through an issue of Popular Electronics. After reading an article that demonstrated the Altair 8800, Gates contacted its creators to say that he was working on a version of the programming language BASIC for the platform. While the rest—Gates’ subsequent rise to unequivocal success as the chairman of Microsoft—may seem like history, the really juicy part of the story often gets overlooked. Gates and his colleagues didn’t actually have any of the code written, they simply wanted to gauge interest in it. The Altair’s manufacturer was interested it turned out, and quickly scheduled a demonstration. Over the course of the next weeks Gates frantically worked alongside colleague Paul Allen to develop the BASIC interpreter. The demonstration, though born out of a calculated bluff, was a great success, which lead to Gates’ next big risk. He dropped out of Harvard to start his own business.

Richard Branson

While he may be one of the world’s most notable billionaires today, Richard Branson wasn’t always a success. By the age of 15 he had earned poor marks in school and had started two business ventures that both eventually failed. However, Branson was a man with ideas, and he was certainly a man who learned from his failures. By 16 he left school to start his first magazine, Student, which turned out to be an entrepreneurial success. He later went on to try his hand in the record business, and eventually helped found Virgin records—a name suggested as the original founders were all virgins to big business. In his adult life Branson took risk upon risk to expand the Virgin brand in every way imaginable. The sky was truly the limit as today he can include Virgin Atlantic Airlines in the portfolio of his successful ventures.

J.K. Rowling

Many aspiring writers are discouraged based on the financial prospects. J.K. Rowling was one of them. Her parents thought she’d make an excellent secretary, knowing that she’d at least be financially secure in a steady profession. However, as a secretary Rowling wasn’t able to focus—she would reportedly jot down story ideas instead of taking the notes required of her. At 26 she packed her bags, sans transcribing machine, and moved to Portugal to teach English. Feeling inspired by her work, she was able to concentrate her creative energy writing a story about a young wizard. Rowling may have made a lousy secretary, but chances are today, as one of the world’s wealthiest writers, she can afford to hire plenty of people to take notes for her.

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