MIKE FELDMAN IS A “creative thinker,” one of the key entrepreneurial strengths identified by Gallup’s research. When Feldman first saw an iPhone, he did not think, I should build an app for that! Instead, he thought, This technology is great, but it isolates people. I should come up with something that would bring people together. Feldman’s company, T1Visions, creates large-format touchscreens that let people in stores, classrooms, and offices share photos, play games, and collaborate. How did he test the product? By starting his own restaurant (a small tapas place) and embedding giant touchscreens in the tables and walls.
CLAYTON MOBLEY IS A “risk-taker.” For the first four years that Mobley ran Spartan Value Investors, in Birmingham, Alabama, the company bought and resold foreclosed homes to consumers, with annual growth of 80 percent to 150 percent. Then, Mobley figured the company could quadruple revenue and profits by selling rental properties to investors and managing those properties for the new owners. Switching markets would require retraining 75 percent of staff, increasing monthly marketing expenses from nothing to $20,000, developing new services such as property management, and investing 60 percent of capital. Failure to execute would likely close Spartan’s doors.
Mobley spent nine months studying the new industry. He was away so often doing research that vendors thought he had left the company. At last, he pulled the trigger. As a result, Spartan grew its revenue by over 800 percent. “You do everything you can to stay objective and make the right decision,” says Mobley. “But at the end of the day, you have to make a bet on yourself.”
MARIE FORLEO IS A relationship builder.
Forleo is the founder of New York City–based Marie Forleo International (2013 revenue: $11.9 million), which offers entrepreneurship and personal-development programs online. She has found not only jobs but also clients and employees while working in some of the most people-person jobs imaginable: bartender, fitness instructor, and life coach. She is forever introducing people to others who might help them, and being introduced in turn. Her relationships have won her invitations to appear on Oprah Winfrey’s and Tony Robbins’s programs, and her philanthropic work garnered her an invitation to travel to South Africa with Richard Branson.
“Every relationship that has helped me is the result of a from-the-heart, honest connection with someone I know and like,” says Forleo. “That’s where all the good things in life come from.”
