With around 76% of millionaires coming from nothing to where they are today, many had to put in a lot of work for a length of time with very little gain in the beginning. We’ve shared our top inspirations from the world of entrepreneurship.
The world for entrepreneurship has risen in notoriety since the early 2000’s and it’s easy to understand why. Successful entrepreneurs are seen to be celebrating their achievements all the time, with a rise in social media showcases of flashy cars, travelling around the globe and staying in amazing hotels – however this lifestyle is the result of plenty of hard work and sacrifice along the way.
Entrepreneurship & Diverse Talent
With that being said, anyone who is dedicated to becoming the best entrepreneur they can be, will have the best odds in succeeding. Relative Luxury is all about working hard for life’s little luxuries, so we appreciate this sentiment more than most.
While we normally champion diverse talent, and seek balance in our articles, this guest post was a lovely piece of content that we wanted to share. Be sure to let us know in the comments below who you would add to our entrepreneurs to watch list for a future update to this list! We know there’s plenty of fantastic leading women in business, and those from under-represented communities as well. Inspire us with your suggestions!
Ben Francis – Gymshark
© Ben Francis – The Guardian
Ben Francis is a 29 year old British Entrepreneur, and founder of arguably one of the largest fitness and athletic wear businesses of the last decade – Gymshark. Ben makes our list of the top entrepreneurial influences because of the unique and inspiring story that he tells when talking about his upbringing and early start in the world of work.
He loved football as a child and admitted he never had much success in his school career. Ben started going to the gym at around 17 years old and has explained how it found that it was very intimidating for him at first. However, he kept to it, focusing on getting better each time he went to the gym. Progress takes time after all. Ben describes the gym as the place where he learned the most important lessons in his life, realising that structure, consistency and hard work achieved results.
Ben Francis says that these lessons, that he learned to apply to other areas of his life, helped turn him from a D/E GCSE student to an A/B A-level student. At around the same time in his life, Ben enrolled in a computer class that taught him the basic foundations of IT, pointing out that he enjoyed it more than any other subject he had studied before as it showed him how he can apply skills into the real world. Ben had the idea to merge his two new-found passions into developing iPhone Apps. Fat Loss Abs Guide and iPhysique were top of the app store chart back in 2011.
After deciding that he could take his skills to the next level and create a website that sold products, something he said he had never done before – (which is what attracted him to the idea). After overcoming many obstacles, in July of 2012 Gymshark was created.
In just under a decade a small idea in 2012 turned into a global success. In 2016 Gymshark was named as the UK’s fastest growing company and they have not slowed down since moving to a larger dedicated office space, as well as expanding into various other countries and markets. The team at Gymshark have also opened a gym facility, innovation hub and with a number of leading fitness influencers collaborating with the brand, Gymshark has a valuation of over £1 Billion.
© Gymshark x Steve Cook Partnership
Ben is one of our favourite entrepreneurs due to the fact he came from humble beginnings, building everything on his own, overcoming so many obstacles; as many entrepreneurs have to, and building a major household brand. Ben is a really good example of if you put your mind to something, you can do it.
Matt Moulding – The Hut Group including MyProtein
Matthew Moulding, Founder – The Hut Group
Matt Moulding is another British entrepreneur on our list and founder of The Hut Group. The Hut Group (THG) is an e-commerce company operating over 166+ websites, selling products internationally. In 2017 THG was valued at over £2.5 Billion, taking the trophy of the largest IPO on the London Stock Exchange since 2013.
Moulding was born in Burnley, England and studied industrial economics at university and later became a chartered accountant. After buying a CD online in 2004, Moulding came to the realisation that selling items online had the potential to be very cheap. Securing £500,000 he founded The Hut Group. It took 3 years for Moulding to push THG to break even. Moulding’s work eventually paid off, as in 2018 THG was operating 166 websites and pulling in over £1 Billion per annum in revenue.
In 2018 Matt stepped down as CEO to Executive Chairman and just two years later he was on track to becoming a billionaire. According to The Sunday Times Rich List, Moulding has a net worth of £600 Million and takes home a comfortable £1 Million a year.
© MyProtein – The Hut Group
Moulding took advantage of the opportunity the early internet presented showing that you can build an incredible business in an emerging market. Brands that The Hut Group operate include Glossybox UK, Eyeko and MyProtein.
Adrien Gaubert – MyGWork
Adrien Gaubert is a French entrepreneur responsible for creating a career networking site, specifically for the LGBTQ+ community, alongside his brother Pierre Gaubert. Adrien initially came up with the idea when he realised his mother was worried about the prejudice they may have to face throughout their life. Motivated by this, the Gaubert brothers created a site where members of the LGBTQ+ community could find work as well as feel equal and included in the workplace, without any discrimination.
Since its creation in 2013, MyGWork has recruited members from all over the globe and has won multiple awards such as a Top 5 Start-ups with Pride by GeekTimes with its founders (Adrien and Pierre) receiving the Attitude Award for Young LGBT Business and Entrepreneur of the year.
Companies like MyGwork are important in our society and play a vital part in people’s lives. It goes to show that chances are the struggles you face, someone else is facing them too and if you can find a solution, you can help so many people out.
Gary Vaynerchuck – Vaynermedia
© Harper Collins
Next to make our top entrepreneurs to watch list is genius marketer Gary Vee. You’ll see Gary talk a lot about his beginnings in entrepreneurship often expressing that it’s just what he was born to do and it’s easy to see why.
Gary is the founder and CEO of many companies including Vaynermedia, Vaynerproductions, Vaynercommerce, Vaynertalent, Vaynerspeakers, and Purewow. Co-founding companies like Empathy Wines, Resy and more. Gary has an estimate net worth of around $200 Million.
Anybody who knows Gary Vee knows he is big on his motivation as well as other personal values such as generosity, promoting self confidence, passion and honesty. Gary is on the list because of the value many young entrepreneurs hold in him. He often tries to guide entrepreneurs through the world of business as well as he can, reminding people that nothing happens instantly. He sacrificed nearly all of his 20s building his father’s wine company.
Our list is definitely a short one, with many more great entrepreneurs out there today. That being said, the majority of successful entrepreneurs all come from humble beginnings, proving that you have to have structure, consistency and hard work to make this kind of work become a success. You really can achieve anything you set your mind too, when it comes to setting up your own business or side hustle though.