Starting young in business as I did, is great fun and has many advantages (as well as its fair share of disadvantages) but what happens to those who try later in life?

Entreprenurship isn’t exclusivley for the ‘dot com kids’ or the ‘yupees‘ its for the brave and the imaginative. So here’s a selection of those who have done it when they were 40 or over, and many of whom are now millionaires.

Ray Kroc: At the age of 58, he purchased the McDonalds restaurants from his partners, the McDonald brothers. Prior to teaming up with them in the 1950’s, Kroc had tried his hands at many trades, including milkshake maker salesman, paper cup salesman, pianist, jazz musician and a military ambulance driver. It is estimated that he amassed over $500m dollars in his lifetime.

Dave Thomas: founder of Wendy’s, opened his first store in 1969, naming after his daughter. Thomas assisted in Kentucky Fried Chicken after he came out of the Army before opening his own stores.  At the time of his death in 2002, there were over 6000 Wendy’s restaurants operating in North America

Richard Branson: The 52 year old serial entrepreneur is famous for his Virgin companies. Branson had a poor academic record, resulting from his mild dyslexia, but also had no formal business training before starting his first business.

John Paul DeJoria: A former navy man, janitor, insurance salesman, and homeless person, DeJoria is now worth over $4bn thanks to a loan of $700 in the 1980’s that he used to create John Paul Mitchell Systems with hairdresser Paul Mitchell. He now has numerous business interests around the world.

George Eastman: the inventor of the late 1800’s credited for making roll film, and changing the face of photography and motion film forever. As an inventor he had no business acumen but founded the Eastman Kodak Company in 1892. His philosophy of quality is attributed to his success. He is known to have donated over $100m to charitable organisations and places of learning over his lifetime.

Hyman Golden: Born in 1923, served in the US Air Force and has window washer listed as one of his jobs. Hymen founded Unadulterated Food Products in 1972, with some childhood friends, a company focused on health food and juices. The Snapple line that was introduced during the 1980’s led to his company’s worldwide success. He retired in 1995.

Betty James: In 1960, after her husband left her and her 6 children, Betty James, full time house wife, took up the management of her husbands firm. She was 42 at the time. James Industries is famous for creating the Slinky, which Betty is attributed to its naming back in 1943. The company grew from strength to strength under her reign and she was bought out in 1998.

David Ogilvy: it was in 1949, after working as a chef, researcher and farmer and serving in military intelligence during the war, Ogilvy started his own agency “Ogilvy, Benson and Mather”. He went on to be known as the “father of advertising” building one of the biggest advertising firms during his lifetime.

Kirk Kerkorian: In 1968, Kerkorian sold his small airline to Transamerica Corporation for $109m. He had bought it in 1947 for $60000 with the money that he had saved by flying fuel across the Atlantic during the war for the British Air force.  The money from the airline sale helped him buy into MGM. He is now considered the richest man in Los Angeles.

Bruce Kovner: Caxton Associates manages in excess of $10bn in capital. Its humble beginnings started in 1983 when Kovner at almost 40 years of age and a respected trader at Commodities Corporation, left to start his own firm.  He now has an estimated net worth of $2.5bn.

August has been a busy month, I managed to get away on holiday to the south of France which was great fun and I achieved a proper sun tan (although not something to shout about on a CV, but I was pretty pale. If you seen me before i’m sure you’ll agree).

I thought i’d include a roundup of posts that I created during the month, just incase you missed any!

The art of bootstrapping - why it isn’t that bad to not raise investment and have a go at creating a viable business without giving away an arm and leg. Check it out here.

15 strange marketing stunts – I thought i’d take a look at some of the weird and wonderful marketing stunts that have occurred over the last few years. Here’s the link.

Blast from the past - I take a look at a blog post I posted back in 2009 which is over here.

What happens after bankruptsy - what has happened to individuals who are today famous in their business past? Read it here.

Let’s hope we can squeeze some more sun out of September and I hope you enjoy my blog posts this month, i’d love to hear from you!

Calum

Bankruptcy doesn’t have to be the end of all things financial; quite a few famous people have had to file for bankruptcy but still went on about their business and rose from the ashes like a phoenix.

In this current climate especially people are experiencing a multitude of challenges (and even rewards), from these examples we should take heart that there is still hope after bankruptcy. I’d love to hear your thoughts?

Henry John Heinz, condiment manufacturer, was 25 years old when he started his company in 1869 selling horseradish. It was the first of 57 varieties of condiments, but In 1875 the company had to file for bankruptcy due to an unexpected bumper harvest which the company could not keep up with and could not meet its payroll obligations. He got together the next year with his brother and cousin and started a new company and introduced a new condiment, tomato ketchup, into the market. This company is still one of the more prosperous companies in the world.

Oscar Wilde, acclaimed poet and author, watched his property get auctioned off in 1895 to appease creditors in his bankruptcy. He had previously been to gaol for two years hard labour after being convicted of homosexual activity. Although the prison term affected his health and he died at a young age, he went on after bankruptcy to publish his works such as the Ballad of Reading Gaol.

Henry Ford, automobile manufacturer, had two automobile manufacturing companies before the Ford Motor Company. His first company went into bankruptcy. He left the second company, the Henry Ford Company, after a disagreement with his business partner. This firm later became the Cadillac Automobile Company. In June 1903, at the age of 40, he created a third company, the Ford Motor Company. He was on the verge of bankruptcy again when bank balances had been reduced to less that $250, but he then sold his first car and went on from strength to strength.

Kim Basinger, actress, purchased the town of Braselton, Georgia. Shortly after she was sued for pulling out of the movie Boxong Helena, she lost and was unable to pay the damages. She filed for bankruptcy in 1993, and sold the town. She later married Alec Baldwin, had a child and won an Oscar for her role in the movie L.A. Confidential.

Walt Disney, animator, 8 years prior to creating Mickey Mouse in 1928, Disney filed for bankruptcy because his primary customer of his buisiness had filed for the same. Without the orders, Disney claimed that he could no longer pay his employees or the rent.

Milton Hershey, founder of Hershey’s chocolate, with only a 4th grade education was convinced he could make a product that the public would want. Hershey was only successful on the fifth attempt. The previous 4 confectionery companies all going bankrupt.

Donald Trump, property developer, has filed for bankruptcy twice. The first in 1992 for one of his casino businesses, and again in 2004 so that he could reorganise his business after negotiations with his creditors failed.

Vince Neil (Wharton), singer, has started several business ventures since his 1998 bankruptcy. He was a member of the band Motley Crue from 1981 to 1992, when he decided to follow a solo career. In 1998 he filed for bankruptcy, later he was refused the opportunity to reopen the case as he was unhappy with the way his lawyer had handled it.

Larry King, talk show host, when he stated he was deep in debt Larry King went Bankrupt, once in 1960 and then again in 1978.

Mark Twain, (Samuel Langhorne Clemens), pre-eminent American author, lost most of his money investing in an automatic typesetting machine, which later proved useless. After his bankruptcy in 1894, he travelled and lectured to large audiences in major cities across Europe for the next four years. He used the proceeds from these lectures to repay all his debts. He also wrote several of his more famous books after filing bankruptcy.

Some other famous bankruptcies where people recovered include:

Rembrandt Van Rijn, the Dutch painter, filed for bankruptcy at the age of 50 in 1656 after accruing too many debts. He sold paintings after his death through his son.

Mathew Brady, a renowned Civil War photographer, filed for bankruptcy in 1872 because people lost interest in his work. Subsequently the government paid over $25000 for his photographs.

Mickey Rooney, movie actor, who continues to act today, blames his bankruptcy on the abuse of alcohol and gambling.

Debbie Reynolds, movie actress, purchased a hotel in Las Vegas in 1992 and called it the Debbie Reynolds Hotel and Casino. Debts accrued and both the casino and Reynolds were pulled into bankruptcy.

Jerry Lee Lewis, Rock n’ Roll star, filed for bankruptcy in 1988 because of huge tax debts, he still performs concerts.

Burt Reynolds, movie actor, filed for bankruptcy in 1996 after his divorce from Loni Anderson.

Sherman Hemsley, TV actor, did not have enough funds to repay a $1 million or pay taxes he owed to the IRS.

Wayne Newton, 1942- , Las Vegas entertainer, bankrupt in 1992 and subsequently signed a $25m a year deal with a Las Vegas hotel for 10 years worth of performances.

MC Hammer (Stanley Burrell), musician and entertainer, lawsuits and an over indulgent lifestyle caused his bankruptcy in 1996.

Mike Tyson, professional fighter, bankrupt in 2003 for the inability to pay his bills.

Abraham Lincoln, former US president, went bankrupt when he became liable for back payments, after his ex-partners death, for a general store they had owned.

PT Barnum, showman, bankrupt in 1855 but went on to make money through giving lectures in England and eventually the circus industry.

I thought I’d include a link to a blog post that I previously posted last year about social media engagement, which might be worth a read if you’ve just started to venture into social media marketing.

The peer web: Marketing with, not at!

http://calumbrannan.com/2009/07/the-peer-web-marketing-with-not-at/

I’d love to hear your thoughts!

We’re getting ready to get our new website live and whilst on holiday in the south of France I was wondering what sort of whacky marketing stunts companies had come up with over the years to promote their companies. I thought i’d share some of the ones i’ve found. Some of these marketing ideas have had terrible outcomes while others have had great rewards;

1. Hoover, the vacuum cleaner company, came up with the idea of giving free return flights to anywhere in Europe with any purchase of £100 or more.  The response was minimal, until the marketing department decided to expand the offer to include tickets to the USA. The response was overwhelming and because the tickets cost more than the revenue generated, Hoover UK went into deep financial trouble, eventually being bought out by Candy.

2. JMP Creative, founded by magician Jim McCafferty, had an opening ceremony that included him escaping from metal box suspended from a height of 300ft. He had two minutes to perform this daring act, before the box was to be released and plummet to the ground below. McCafferty was too slow, he escaped the box and as he attempted to get into his safety harness he plummeted, but managed to clip his harness only 60ft from the ground. Spectators and potential customers made comment about the stunt “scaring the living daylights out of them”, to which Jim replied, “Imagine what I can do with your brand.” JMP is now a multi-million dollar marketing firm in Southern California.

3. The GoldenPalace.com online casino is prohibited from advertising in regular media and as a result has come up with great marketing ideas over the years. In 2004, they purchased a partially eaten cheese sandwich for $28000 that had the likeness of the Virgin Mary burnt onto it. Almost every news agency in the world covered the story, generating huge amounts of publicity. They subsequently sold and bought t-shirts and other paraphernalia linked to the cheese sandwich.

4. As an April fools joke, Taco Bell “purchased” the Liberty Bell. The controversy caused many complaints to the National Historic Park of Philadelphia, where the Liberty Bell resides. The result however increased Taco Bell revenues by over $500k for the two days following.

5. In 2008, Panasonic in Germany created a massive billboard showing off one of their latest television sets. The picture on the TV was an overhead shot of a tennis court. Suspended from ropes were 4 ladies who acted out a game of vertical tennis. This activity gained much publicity in Germany being televised on evening news slots.

6. Del Monte Foods have sponsored a “reality” show on AnimalPlanet, this show gets a different cat voted out each week. When a cat gets voted out, it gets adopted with one years supply of the Del Monte cat food Meow Mix. This ongoing venture is proving successful for the food producer as the good will being generated is being linked to its products.

7. In 1993, DC Comics killed off its most popular title, Superman. The idea generated so much press that the comic titled “The Death of Superman” was sold out in a single day, forcing multiple publishing runs that consequently sold out. The following subsequent titles in the series were huge sellers including “The Return of Superman”, thereby re-launching the line.

8. In 2007, Cartoon Network brought the city of Boston to a grinding halt as it had planted many strange devices across the city. The devices were lights that were supposed to be arranged to display a character from one of their shows. Unfortunately many of these devices were mistakenly taken as potential bombs.

9. Electronic Arts’ nine months of hell campaign, was set up to promote its new game Dante’s Inferno. Each month, EA released a new snip bit for the game under its various themes such as greed, treachery or gluttony. The campaign has apparently yielded 47 million impressions of coverage. EA rode a rollercoaster of public opinion for this marketing as it was accused of fakery and sexism as well as being lauded for creativity and intellect.

10. General Motors made a mistake when trying to piggy back off of Oprah Winfrey’s fame. To promote their new G6 Pontiac in 2004, they gave away a car to each member of the live audience. 276 cars at a cost of $8m were given away. The audience members got upset when they had to pay additional taxes on the gift, but everyone remembers the incident for Oprah Winfrey’s generosity rather than the GM promotion of Pontiac.

11. In 1954, Sir Hugh Beaver, Managing Director of the Arthur Guinness & Sons brewery, inadvertently created a bestseller hit book. In an effort to stop alcohol fuelled barroom debates he gave his stamp of approval for the Guinness Book of Records to be distributed to pubs in the British Isles. Within a few weeks of its release several reprints had to occur as book stores nationwide demanded copies.

12. Sir Richard Branson has been involved in many marketing stunts; in 1986 he broke the record for a transatlantic boat ride, followed the next year by the first air balloon crossing. He failed in his endeavours to be the first around the world in a balloon, but still generated huge publicity for his Virgin companies. Each new stunt seemed to endear him to the public and lift his brand further.

13. In June 2009, Hugo Boss had their hi-tech sailboat, filmed during the British Open. It was not a paid for sponsor of the tournament, but was often captured on camera by the BBC TV crew. The highly effective campaign was a prime example of successful ambush marketing.

14. Sasha Baron Cohen and Eminem teamed up and promoted Sasha’s movie Bruno. When he arrived at the 2009 MTV music awards in a thong and subsequently fell into Eminems lap. Eminem stormed off stage in a so called rage, the movie gained a huge awareness judging by the amount of hits YouTube received minutes after the incident, although both individuals owned up to it being pre-planned.

15. Burger King has released a word of mouth campaign, with no advertising involved at all. They created a website called subservientchicken.com which has a man in a chicken suit willing to perform actions that you type in. The site had over 20 million hits in its first few months.

I have recently been approached by a few young startups who are looking to raise money for their concept or very early stage product. I found myself beginning to write and talk about the pros and cons of raising investment, angel and VC. Therefore I thought it maybe useful to get my thoughts down as a blog for anyone in the future to take a look at.

The chances of an entrepreneur finding a venture capitalist with plenty of money to throw around, is close to zero, in fact some people have stated that its easier to get struck by lightning, in a cinema than it is to get funding. I maybe wouldn’t go as far as stating the cinema piece, but it is exceptionally difficult. In fact, even less venture capitalists will back an entrepreneur that hasn’t even tried before (failed and/or succeeded).

The general investment policy of a venture capitalist, with regards to choosing an entrepreneur, is that they would rather back an “A” class team with a “B” class product over a “B” class team with an “A” class product. The main characteristics of an “A” class team are its entrepreneurial experience. So this raises the question, how do you get the experience without financial backing?

In “Bootstrap Finance: The Art of Startups”, Amar Bhide says it best:

“For the great majority of would-be founders, the biggest challenge is not raising money but having the wits and hustle to do without it.”

The art of bootstrapping is all about minimising your commitment of resources to the necessities at any particular stage during the multi-stage process of starting up. Their persistence is critical in this regard, an entrepreneur will ask the question about how they can achieve a little more with a little less and continue with the opportunity.

The circumstances are different for every entrepreneur; a newly graduated student has a different tolerance to risk than a middle aged single parent with a mortgage and a car loan. These circumstances will dictate the methods used in minimising the resource commitments.

To address the risk, some people will maintain their day job while establishing a brand in the market place, thereby reducing risk. Others may value the time lost more and have a small savings set aside to replace their lack of salary. Others may have accepted another job with a future starting date, this is their failsafe should they believe the start-up isn’t moving quickly enough.

The art of bootstrapping is not necessarily about owning resources, but controlling them. The advantages of this comes not only in the reduced capital requirement, but in other factors such as flexibility, if you don’t the resource it’s a lot easier to commit it at the right time and more importantly, de-commit from it quickly. Fixed costs are generally lower, albeit probably at the price of higher variable costs. Risk is also reduced when an entrepreneur, aims to control rather than own e.g. resource obsolescence.

It’s something that I am applying to some of my more established businesses, and bootstrapping is something that could help your business more than you think during an economy such as the one we are experiencing. I’d love to hear your thoughts.

It’s been a beautiful few days, and a busy few months for me. I’ve just moved full-time to sunny Camberwell, London where soon I will be announcing my exciting new ventures (they really are great!). I’ve been working very hard with my super team (yes even on a Saturday) to deliver the goods.

Whilst ‘The Proclaimers – I’m gonna be’ might seem like a great theme tune for the start of this new journey and maybe the start of yours, I thought i’d deliver you some news about what the Scottish twins have been up to in the social media/tech space as my first blog post in a while (sorry about that, i’ve had bloggers block).

With the help of Scottish agency Bluemungus, The Proclaimers have launched an iApp for iPhone/iPad etc that allows us to learn the words and guitar chords to our favourite Proclaimers songs. The application also includes exclusive footage from recent gigs and news that you can of course push out to your Facebook friends.

Here’s to the Proclaimers who I associate with school discos, quite rightly stepping up to the mark and pushing their band through innovative means. 

On the note of bands, especially those not quite as big as the Proclaimers, I come across an interesting little service called Mobile Roadie (www.mobileroadie.com). An easy to use service giving musicians (authors, poets, writers, celebs etc) an instant iPhone app for there fans!

I promise i’ll get the posts going again now i’m settled down in London.