Being a success means many things to many people; for some it is financial success that counts, while others believe doing great things in life makes you a winner.
If you are looking for stories that wow and inspire you to be the best you can be, check out these amazing stories of success from around the web and make your 2014 the best one yet!
Kiip
Some success stories don’t start out very promising, such as the one involving Kiip founder Brian Wong.
Brian worked for Digg but was laid off when the company reduced its staff numbers in 2010. Not one to give up, Brian instead turned his focus to an idea that he had regarding a platform that would allow brands to reward app users for obtaining certain achievements.
And so, Kiip was created and is currently earning $15 million in funding with more than 40 people working full-time in San Francisco.
PokerStrategy.com
When German mathematic and philosophy graduate Dominik Kofert created an online forum for poker enthusiasts, few could have predicted how successful PokerStrategy.com was to become.
Originally conceived as a place for poker fans to swap knowledge, playing tips and strategy, PokerStrategy.com has grown exponentially and is now the leading online poker community in the world. And the success doesn’t stop there; PokerStrategy.com was recently sold in 2013 for a staggering $50 million and it is still expanding, with information on coaching, latest news from the world of poker, events videos and much, much more.
Considering its humble beginnings, PokerStrategy.com has shown what you can achieve with dedication, determination and a winning hand!
Adora Svitak
Success doesn’t just come to those in the business world, it can happen to anyone if they want it badly enough. Adora Svitak is an American child prodigy who, at the tender age of 16 is an internationally published author and writer of several essays, stories and poems.
In 2013 she produced a number of YouTube videos promoting literacy and has also created an online literary magazine called Write With Adora (WWA) which publishes poetry, reviews, short stories, and creative non-fiction.
Lawrence Journal-World
The world of newspaper publishing has also seen its fair share of success in 2013. The Lawrence Journal-World was named a Local Media Association 2013 First Prize winner for its success in producing engaging articles ranging from local topics and town history, to sports coverage and special features.
LuckyBreak.com
Combining a desire to spread more cheer with a solid business idea, LuckyBreak.com is one of those ideas that may seem crazy at first but has now proved what a success it could be.
Ken Ahroni believed that if there were more wishbones in the world, there would be more wishes and more people would be happy. Soon after, he created LuckyBreak.com – a company that makes artificial wishbones for the holiday season. Started in 1999, the company has grown and produces 30,000 wishbones a day, with a reported $2.5 million in sales last year.
Jacquielawson.com
Jacquie Lawson is a 62 year-old grandmother from West Sussex, England, and has seen some amazing success come her way over the past year. Trained as an illustrator, Jacquie created jacquielawson.com to show off her homemade animated cards and allow others to download them.
Since then, the site has grown to 531,227 members, each of them paying an annual subscription fee of $6.80 to download various seasonal and occasion cards. This simple idea has earned Jacquie a healthy $3.6 million a year.
Emi-Jay
One of the most inspiring stories of 2013 was the one featuring Julianne Goldmark and Emily Matson.
These two U.S girls took inspiration from the coloured hair accessories they loved in 8th grade and began making their own. A lucky connection soon emerged as it turned out that Emily’s mother shared a hairdresser with none other than Jennifer Aniston.
The company is predicted to have made around £10million in 2013 and they even donate 20% of their profits to charity.
Zane’s Cycles
Using money gifted to him by his grandfather, Chris Zane started his own bike shop when he was just 16 years-old. He had been fixing bikes since he was 12 and so combined his hobby with a business plan in order to make some money.
Chris certainly had the right idea all those years ago, as Zane’s Cycles raked in $56,000 in his first year and now he expects to make a earn a staggering $21 million this year.
