Famous author Guy Kawasaki will be the speaker during the closing keynote lunch of the 52nds Annual Convention of the International Franchise Association’s in February 14 in Orlando, Florida. The Convention will be attended by 3,000 franchise professionals.  Developments in the industry, financials, new markets, franchising practices advice and more will also be highlighted during the four-day convention as reported by Franchise.org.

Guy Kawasaki, a Silicon Valley venture capitalist, best selling author, and former Apple Fellow who was the chief evangelist for the company and one of the employees originally responsible for marketing the Macintosh computer, will be a keynote speaker during the closing keynote luncheon at the International Franchise Association’s 52nd Annual Convention Feb. 14 in Orlando, Fla.

“Guy Kawasaki’s unique insights in business and technology will be well received by the nearly 3,000 franchise industry professionals expected in Orlando for IFA’s Convention,” said IFA President & CEO Steve Caldeira. “Guy Kawasaki’s in-depth knowledge of the high-tech industry combined with his years of management experience will enable him to address the wide range of franchise industries represented in franchising who attend the IFA Convention.”

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There are two classifications of books we really enjoy reading/studying – history and business management. But it’s tough to put Jay Elliot’s The Steve Jobs Way into either of those categories, just as it is almost impossible to put Steve himself into a standard business management classification. Lots of people have tried and continue to try because we’ve met academics, scholars, researchers who have spent a good part of their careers examining his companies and him with a telescope (getting up close and personal to do this is almost impossible). Sure, Guy Kawasaki did a pretty good job during his few years with Apple; but getting a first-hand view/analysis from someone who spent years with Steve and the management team is a rarity. One we couldn’t pass up.

We’re not an Apple/Jobs fan boy, but you have to admire the naivety of Steve and Woz to think they could make Apple into something different, something special and …well, achieve it with such awesome global success. Sure, we realize that the image of both Apple and Jobs are carefully cultivated, nurtured and protected; but it’s consistent, it works, it’s backed by substance. It’s an image that you have to simultaneously love/hate and do your darndest to try and figure out how one company, one person can attract and mesmerize mobs of people (customers) even when they stumble. We were anxious to see what was behind the curtain because while the Valley is known for its global contributions, there are also some very interesting, very quirky, very brilliant people who make things happen.

Credible Author
Jay Elliot, now CEO of Nuvel, a multi-product software firm, had the kind of up-close and personal day-to-day relationship with Jobs that gives you that insider’s view. But if you’re expecting to get a bunch of dirty linen secrets, you’re out of luck.

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Billionaires From the Frozen North
Any annual listing of the world’s richest people invariably conjures up many of the same names from one year to the next.  Yes, Warren Buffet is on there, and so is Bill Gates.  Ho hum.  But the average American-centric observer usually fails to recognize the wealth and entrepreneurial spirit that continues to thrive in our Neighbor to the North – Canada.  That country has its share of wealthy people, and successful people, and successfully wealthy people.  And even though the recent economic downturn has had some negative effects on those Billionaire Balance Sheets – comparing 2009 to 2008, the world’s billionaires shed approximately $2 trillion in asset valuation – none of these people is expected to show up in a bread line anytime soon.  According to Forbes, the magazine nearly everyone reads when it comes to exploring entrepreneurs and their successes, here are the ten richest Canadians for 2009, along with a brief description as to how they got there in the first place.  Unless otherwise noted, all figures are [not ironically] in U.S. dollars.

1. David Thomson and family ($13.0 billion); media conglomerate
Thomson is the grandson of Roy Thomson, who founded Thomson Corp. in 1934.  The company began as a book publisher, and today it continues to be one of the world’s prominent providers of textbooks for higher education.  But the corporation really took off once it got involved in electronic media and information technology, dominating such sectors as healthcare, financial services, law, and science.  The company acquired the Reuters news service in 2007 and is now formally known as Thomson Reuters.

2.

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Women in the Boardroom, and Beyond
Over the past several decades, women have gained a far more prominent position on the American business scene.  Once relegated to roles of subservience, as viewers of the AMC television series “Mad Men” can attest, female corporate executives have continued to assert themselves in boardrooms across the country.  The business magazine Fortune has, for the past twelve years, created an annual listing of the 50 most powerful women in business.  Some of them hold the top spots in their respective companies, while others are well on the way to that position.  The characteristics they share are hardly different from their male counterparts – vision, persistence, and intelligence – but many will privately attest to the fact that reaching this point in their careers took extra effort.  As much as we would like to believe in an egalitarian world of business, there is still an extra thrill when a woman manages to “make it in a man’s world.”  One measure of success – when the list premiered in 1998, only two women of the 50 was a CEO or its equivalent.  This year’s list includes 13 CEOs.

Most Powerful Women in Business
Fortune has selected fifty powerful women for its annual list; here is an in-depth look at the top ten:

1. Indra Nooyi (PepsiCo); Chairman and CEO
This is the fourth year that Nooyi has topped the Fortune list.  She led this food and beverage conglomerate to $43 billion in sales and led the drive to buy out the company’s two largest independent bottlers.  That move alone is expected to save the company close to $300 million a year.

2. Irene Rosenfeld (Kraft Foods); Chairman and CEO
Remaining at the number two spot, Rosenfeld helped increase company revenue 15 percent and saw her company become part of the Dow 30, a highly influential position.

3.

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Personalities and Entrepreneurship
As any business owner knows, it takes a certain type of person to operate a successful business.  But did you know that experts have identified as many as nine different kinds of personalities that apply to entrepreneurship?  By looking at any list of entrepreneurs – business owners who have built successful companies from scratch – you can match at least one of the following traits to each of them.

Nine Types of Entrepreneurs
By knowing which kind of an entrepreneur you are, you will find greater success by knowing what kind of business you should operate.

1. The Developer
Your intention to run your own company involves using it as a means for improving the planet, helping humanity, or simply making life easier for the general populace.  This field runs the gamut from healthcare to creating new personal products (healthier food or a soothing body spray), and it is your belief that morally upstanding companies will reap great rewards for working on worthwhile causes.

2. The Advisor
By offering a high level of customer service in the form of outstanding assistance and advice, no matter what kind of product or service you sell, you will satisfy people’s need and build a great company.  Any business founded by this type of personality invariably ends up as a customer-focused enterprise.

3. The Magnetic Personality
Individuals with immense levels of high energy and charisma have the ability to attract equally committed workers who help them build important businesses.  Although there is a “workaholic” element to this type that can be detrimental if left unchecked, some of the world’s greatest companies have been founded by superstar entrepreneurs.

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Michael Jackson – Icon
Beginning with his recent death at age 50, there has been enough Michael Jackson news out there to satisfy even the hardest core fan.  Without question he enjoyed an iconic presence in the world of popular music, stretching back to at least the 1980s.  More than one music expert has declared him to be Michael Jackson, King of Pop.  The album, “Thriller,” has sold more copies than nearly any other recording, and there can be no argument that the concept of the music video – ushering in what became MTV culture – was the perfect medium to show off all of Jackson’s talents.  But few people realize that he was as much an entrepreneur as he was an entertainer.

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Ingvar Kamprad is a little known name amongst the general public today, largely because he keeps himself to himself and is a very private individual. However, his achievements are simply amazing given his background. In fact, he is the owner of the single biggest furniture chain in the world at the moment and has made billions as a result. Ingvar Kamprad’s entrepreneurial ventures are simply amazing and thus can provide inspiration for budding entrepreneurs everywhere.

The Young Kamprad

Today, Ingvar Kamprad is worth $31 billion and was at number seven in the Forbes list of the richest men in the world as of March 2008. He is easily the richest man in Europe at the moment. However, his wealth was not always as healthy. The entrepreneur was born on March 30, 1926 in Sweden. He was born on a farm in the village of Agunnaryd in the province of Smaland. It was hardly a wealthy village but was instead a rural community that specialised in farming. Kamprad was well aware of its limitations and saw a business opportunity.

Before Ingvar Kamprad was in his teenage years, he was supplying the community with everything it needed at a profit. He would obtain goods on a regular trip to Stockholm and then sell them at a price to the neighbours. He began his business with matches and then moved onto products like Christmas decorations, fish, pens and seeds. They were all commodities that people needed but could not get a hold of. As such, he learned how to buy and sell for profit very quickly. He was a successful entrepreneur before he left school and set about building his empire at the tender age of 17.

IKEA

The entrepreneur raised the capital to begin his own business from his father, who wished to reward him for his excellent results at school.

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In this day and age, there are a handful of businessmen and entrepreneurs that are well known as a result of their involvement with a high profile company. However, the majority of them do not hold a candle to the early American businessmen that created a model for them to follow. The 19th Century businessmen were incredibly successful and should be used as basic examples of exactly what can be done with a little drive and intelligence. Andrew Carnegie was one such example. The entrepreneur was undoubtedly one of the most successful businessmen of his time to the point where he would be the richest man in the world today were his fortune to be translated into modern values.

Early Life

Very little is known about Andrew Carnegie’s early life purely and simply because he was born in Scotland and then moved to the United States with his parents a few years after his birth. He was born on November 25, 1835. His family was poor and Carnegie began to work at an early age. He only developed his intellect via reading the books that Colonel James Anderson, a local military hero, owned. Anderson had opened his personal library up to uneducated boys to help them better themselves. Carnegie would always be proud that he was a self-made man as he moved up through the ranks of the business world. This is evident in the fact that he worked as a bobbin boy in a cotton mill from the age of 13. This simply typifies the fact that Carnegie worked incredibly hard.

Andrew Carnegie secured a job at the Ohio Telegraph Company in Pittsburgh in 1951 and set about teaching himself the telegraph signals that were sent and received. As such, he was able to move up the ranks of the business very quickly and could afford to begin investing his money by the age of 18. The entrepreneur mainly invested in railroad companies and went about amassing a fortune.

The Civil War And Beyond

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When it comes to the world of fashion, there are very few designers and icons that are as or more prolific than Ralph Lauren. The entrepreneur has been at the very heart of the fashion industry for some years now and his creations are just as in demand as they ever were. As such, he is undoubtedly one of the American fashion designers that every budding designer aspires to be. Ralph Lauren displayed an amazing awareness of fashion from a young age and had a real talent, so he is a shining example of what an individual can do.

The Young Designer

Born Ralph Rueben Lifshitz in The Bronx, New York on October 14, 1939, the young designer most definitely did not have the easiest of childhoods. As the son of a Belarus immigrant who painted housings for a living, the entrepreneur knew what it was to be poor. In fact, it is a safe assumption that the family struggled. This taught Lauren the value of money because it meant that he had to work for everything he wanted. On the whole, that was fashion. He would take any jobs that he could to earn a few dollars, which would ultimately then be spent on suits and other fashion items that made him appear to be more financially sound than he actually was.

Ralph Lauren actually embarked upon his fashion journey when he was at the Martha Stern Talmudical Academy. Before he was 16 years old, he was selling ties and other items that he had actually designed to his classmates. If this did not show his desire to make enough money to live comfortably and get out of the area he grew up in then the comment that the entrepreneur wrote in his yearbook most definitely did. Lauren stated that he wanted to be a millionaire.

From The Army To Fashion

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Very few people outside of the business world have heard of an incredibly savvy entrepreneur called Akio Morita. Although he died on October 3, 1999, he shaped the way that the electronics industry was to operate in the years to come and he has left a legacy that will be difficult to emulate. The entrepreneur may not be well known but the brand that Akio Morita created is the largest electronics brand in the world – Sony. Akio Morita was an unwitting entrepreneur in that he did not aspire to be one but just demonstrates that money can be made from a simple idea.

Morita As A Boy

Akio Morita was born in Tokoname, Aichi in Japan on January 26, 1921. His family was an old and respected one that had manufactured soy sauce, sake and miso since 1665. As it had always been a family business, it was expected that the entrepreneur would take over and thus he spent a lot of time learning the trade when he was younger. However, although Akio Morita had a head for business, he did not have a head for his family’s business. He chose to study physics and mathematics at Osaka Imperial University, from where he graduated in 1944. Upon graduating, he enlisted in the navy and served during the remainder of World War II. This may not have sounded appealing but he did meet his business partner, Masaru Ibuka, during that period.

The Beautiful Friendship

Following the close of the war, the entrepreneur teamed up with Ibuka to create a company called Tokyo Tsushin Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha (Tokyo Telecommunications Engineering Corporation) in 1946. Morita managed to persuade his family to invest and began to create various items that would revolutionize the electronics and communications industries in the years to come.

The first big success for Morita and the company was the magnetic recording tape.

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Hugh Hefner is a name that the majority of adults have heard of and can easily put a face to the name. This is largely because Hugh Hefner is undoubtedly the king of porn and has been for quite some years. Although his route to becoming an entrepreneur was anything but conventional, the empire he has built up is undoubtedly one of the most impressive ever seen! As such, he is an entrepreneur that many individuals could learn a little something from.

The Pre-Playboy Years

Hugh Hefner was born in Chicago on April 9, 1926. His early life was a relatively happy time. His family was relatively wealthy and Hefner enjoyed a carefree childhood. However, as he was old enough to enlist when America entered World War II, Hefner enlisted to serve during the final few months of the battle. It was not until he got back from his service duties that he began to develop his business skills and, more importantly, the concept behind his business.

The entrepreneur claims to have had an epiphany of what he was to do with his life when he was in full time education at the University of Illinois. He graduated in 1949 after less than three years of majoring in psychology. During that period, Hefner was also honing his skills of editing and publishing by gaining a role editing Shaft magazine and submitting cartoons to various publications. Although it was an auspicious start given the role that he would eventually play in a certain magazine’s rise to notoriety, it gave him the entrepreneurial drive to start his very own magazine.

The Sexual Revolution

Sex was still very much a taboo in the 1950s, but it was also an untapped market as a result of that. Hugh Hefner undoubtedly spotted that the tide of public opinion was turning, society was changing and there was a huge gap in the market.

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Modern entrepreneurs have one thing in common for the most part – they use the Internet to great effect. Many may use it for marketing purposes, some use it to build their business but some actually start Internet business revolutions and experience tremendous success. Elon Musk is one example of that. He is the creator of PayPal and so is responsible for a quick and easy pay system that has revolutionized the way people can conduct the finances of business and pleasure online. However, his entrepreneurial ventures do not end there. As such, his methods provide a great template for other budding entrepreneurs to follow.

Childhood And Technology

Elon Musk was born in South Africa on June 28, 1971. His father was an engineer in South Africa and exhibited an obsession with his work. As such, Musk also picked that obsession up and began tinkering with technology and computers in his spare time. The entrepreneur invested in his first computer at the age of 10 and set about learning the inner workings of it, including the programming. He used the knowledge he gained from it to teach himself how to program. Just two years later, he had created and sold his very first piece of software.

Elon Musk left South Africa in 1988. Although he was still just 17 and leaving without his parents, the entrepreneur knew that he had to head to North America to make a living from his love of technology. He initially attended Queen’s University in Ontario as his mother was Canadian and thus he was able to live there legally. However, he soon obtained a scholarship to the University of Pennsylvania, or more specifically the Wharton School, to study economics. When he graduated with a degree in economics and also one in physics, Musk knew exactly what he wanted to do in the world of business.

Entrepreneurial Empire

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There are few names that are as huge in the film industry today as George Lucas. The entrepreneur has had a massive impact on film since the 1970s and has undoubtedly influenced this generation of potential film directors and producers. In some ways, George Lucas actually revolutionized the industry in the 1980s because he was part of the blockbuster innovation along with Steven Spielberg. The entrepreneur’s story is certainly a fascinating one.

The Young George Lucas

George Walton Lucas Jr was born on May 14, 1944 in Modesto, California as one of four children. His father was a traveling salesman so the family got by, but Lucas often found himself frustrated. He did not like school and really did not care whether he got good grades or not, which may go some way to explaining why he often barely passed. He was undoubtedly more creative than academic, which ensured that he did not always see eye to eye with his father. However, he had no intention of pursuing the course of an artist until he almost died in a serious car accident in his senior year of high school. The entrepreneur’s perception and attitude towards life undoubtedly changed and he decided to attend Modesto Junior College to study social sciences.

George Lucas discovered film and photography while at college and started making his own films as a direct result. He began with an 8mm camera and soon found it to be his calling. As such, he moved from Modesto to study film at the University of Southern California. Animation, cinematography and editing all captured his imagination and the entrepreneur resolved to become a film director after graduation. His cause was helped by the fact that he won several awards for a short film he produced called THX-1138: 4EB.

Into The Film Business

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There are a few names that are synonymous with the candy that is sold in various retail outlets today, and many of them have been around for years. Hershey is one of them but would have never came into being if it were not for the dream of a humble farm boy from Pennsylvania. Milton Hershey fell into the candy trade by accident but is now king of it, despite the fact that he died over 60 years ago. The entrepreneur has earned legendary status and you can read on to find out how and why.

The Chocolate King Is Born

Milton Snavely Hershey was born on September 13, 1957 in Derry Church, Pennsylvania. His parents lived in a farming community and made a living off the land. However, during the entrepreneur’s early childhood, the family moved a lot. An unsettled Hershey barely managed to attend school and make friends before they were on the move again. As a direct result, he left school after completing the fourth grade, which was early even by the standards of the time.

Milton Hershey was determined to settle down and make a living but his first foray into the world of work was hardly a success. He began an apprenticeship with a printer in Lancaster, Pennsylvania but absolutely hated the business. He persevered for a few weeks before deciding to move on to pastures new. Remaining in the town, the entrepreneur managed to get another apprenticeship but this time with a candy maker. Finding that he loved it, he stayed for four years and then put his knowledge to good use by setting up his own candy business.

The Beginnings Of Hershey Foods

Milton Hershey’s first few ventures into the candy industry were nothing short of a disaster. He did not make any money at all from his first three business ventures and moved home to Lancaster in 1883.

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Vincent Kennedy McMahon is undoubtedly one of the most successful entertainment entrepreneurs of the late 20th and early 21st Century. McMahon is famous worldwide for his alter ego “Mr. McMahon” in World Wrestling Entertainment today, but the way in which he built up the WWE is simply astonishing. Before he took over his father’s wrestling territory, the business was characterised by several companies working within set boundaries. Now, however, the wrestling world is united owing to the actions of the most powerful billionaire to ever work within the business.

Humble Beginnings

Vince McMahon was born in Pinehurst, North Carolina on August 24, 1945. His childhood was anything but spectacular as his mother and father split up before McMahon was old enough to know a family life. As such, the entrepreneur knew what it meant to be poor. This reportedly spurred him on and gave him the determination to succeed in later life. McMahon attended East Carolina University and graduated with a business degree. However, his earliest foray into the business world was as a travelling salesman owing to the fact that he had to prove his business acumen to his father.

McMahon met his father Vince McMahon Sr. at the age of 12. McMahon Sr. was heavily involved in the business that his own father had begun to build up as a wrestling promoter. Although McMahon Sr. was only slightly successful, Vince McMahon Jr. reported that he was determined to get into the business after just a taste. It was apparently in his blood and also provided a great launch pad for his entrepreneurial ventures.

A Wrestling Superstar

Vince McMahon’s first role in the world of wrestling came in 1971. His father assigned him a territory in Maine under the World Wide Wrestling Federation brand.

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In terms of the most powerful women in the retail industry over the past twenty years or so, Anita Roddick is one entrepreneur that has to rank up there with the best of them. The founder of The Body Shop revolutionized the way that consumers viewed the cosmetics and body care products that they bought and has made the world a better place as a direct result of it. Anita Roddick was one of the most forward thinking women of her generation and made a name for herself as a result of that quality. Although her life was sadly cut short on September 10, 2007, her legacy will live on.

Humble Beginnings

Roddick, or Anita Lucia Perilli as she was known then, was born on October 23, 1942 in Littlehampton, Sussex in the UK. Her family were Italian immigrants and had left Naples shortly before World War II broke out. As such, they had little money and worked hard to make ends meet. However, the entrepreneur showed a thirst for knowledge at school and managed to achieve a place at Bath Spa University to train as a teacher. After graduation though, Roddick decided that she wanted to see the world rather than remaining in the UK.

The entrepreneur traveled far and wide for a few years before returning home, which is when she met her husband, Gordon Roddick. Roddick had money and set about building a business empire to help support his new family. The couple opened a hotel and a restaurant but Gordon often had to work away a lot, so the budding entrepreneur decided to open her own business in order to make enough money to support the family in his absence. The Body Shop was born.

The Body Shop

The Body Shop initially stocked 15 products and opened in Brighton in 1976.

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There are a few figures in American history that have legendary status and only a handful of those are businessmen. The businessmen on the legends list all made a lot of money but they revolutionized the American way of life, making it much easier for the public to live their lives. As such, John D. Rockefeller is in good company. He is most definitely one of the entrepreneurs on the list and most definitely deserves the status that he currently has.

Early Life

John Davison Rockefeller was born on July 8, 1839 in Richford, New York. His parents were anything but well off, largely thanks to his father’s ability to follow hare-brained schemes that never quite worked out. He was described as lazy and would do anything to get out of working as a salesman. As a result, the entrepreneur’s upbringing was anything but stable until the family moved to Owego, New York where he was first schooled. However, after the family had moved to Strongsville near Cleveland in 1853, Rockefeller had decided to go into business on his own and work hard to get away from the hardship of his early existence.

At the age of 16, the entrepreneur left school and got a job of assistant bookkeeper for a commission firm. However, he was not happy to continue indefinitely in that position. As such, he resolved to open his own business as soon as he possibly could, and the opportunity arose in 1859 when he founded Clark & Rockefeller with partner Maurice Clark.

Moving Into Business

Rockefeller and Clark enjoyed a great amount of success with their business. The entrepreneurs had the foresight to build an oil refinery in the industrial area of Cleveland. This 1863 development saw them pair up with Clark’s two brothers and Samuel Andrews.

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Americans are obsessed with Top Ten lists as well as with money.  What better way to satisfy their cravings than to combine the two?  While fortunes may rise and fall from one year to the next, the list of the ten richest Americans—as measured by Forbes magazine—has remained fairly stable for quite some time.  No matter what sort of business may have caused them to reach this state of extreme financial well being—technology, retail sales, manufacturing, or energy—the common denominator is entrepreneurship.  Other than inheriting money from your relatives, there is no better way to accumulate personal wealth than by starting a business, making it successful, and watching it grow beyond all expectations.  Here are the rankings for 2009:

1) Bill Gates — $40.0 billion
As one of the founders of the personal computer age, the Gates story has been retold so many times that it has almost become a cliché.  At the age of thirteen he was already programming computers, and he continued his interest in technology while a student at Harvard.  Before this, most computers were mainframe dinosaurs whose memory banks took up entire rooms.  Prior to graduation, Gates left college to found Microsoft along with Paul Allen (who was on the Top Ten list as recently as 2006), which eventually struck a terrific deal with IBM.  Gates convinced the computer giant to allow him to keep the licensing rights for the MS-DOS operating system Microsoft had designed to run IBM’s first foray into personal computing.  Every PC loaded with MS-DOS—in other words, every PC on the market—put a licensing fee into the Gates coffers.  This generated millions of dollars a year for the company and its owners.  Once the Windows operating system came to the market, the riches poured in at an even faster rate.

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Some people are born with the ability to revolutionize their chosen field in life. Others are born with the ability to make a difference to millions of people, whether that is by helping them to feel more confident in themselves or to give them a different option when they choose a product or service. Dov Charney has effectively done both. He is an entrepreneur with an outstanding passion for one specific area of the market, and it is the specific area of fashion. As such, people from all over the world today wear his clothing. Dov Charney is the creator of American Apparel and is undoubtedly a fantastic example of an inspirational entrepreneur.

A Creative Child

Dov Charney was born in Montreal, Canada on January 31, 1969 into an arty family. His mother was an artist and his father an architect, as was his aunt. As such, he was encouraged to express himself from an early age. The budding entrepreneur often invested him time into creating his own art and enjoyed conversing with his parents about it. He also loved both American and Canadian culture while dreaming of uniting the two via his own creativity. However, during the 1980s spurt of Quebec nationalism, Charney found that he could not reconcile a third value, especially one that he did not necessarily agree with, and thus moved to the United States when old enough.

Dov Charney showed off his entrepreneurial skills at a young age by editing his own newspaper at the tender age of 11. Having proved to himself that he could do anything he liked, the entrepreneur chose to start making his own T-shirts. He would regularly move them across the US-Canadian border to his friends in Quebec and sell them for a profit. Seeing a gap in the market that he could fill, Charney continued to do this even after enrolling at Tufts University in South Carolina during 1987.

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In recent years, self-help has become a way of life for many people in the United States. Drawing on the advice, philosophies and help of others has undoubtedly enabled many individuals to make it through tough times in their lives. There are certain individuals that have taken full advantage of this and Tony Robbins is perhaps one of the most successful. Grasping onto the patterns and trends in modern society, the entrepreneur has made a fortune and a career out of helping people.

Tony Robbins The Man

Anhony J Mahavorick was born in North Hollywood, California in February 1960. His home life was anything but perfect because his parents divorced when the entrepreneur was just aged six. Although his mother took a husband once more before settling down with husband number three (which is how Robbins got his surname) it undoubtedly affected him deeply. He made a vow to help others that were suffering in the same way that he did. This was compounded by the fact that there was a gap in the market for it later on. Noticing the demand and the small number of self help gurus and motivational speakers out there, Robbins took to attending lectures and seminars before launching his own career.

Tony Robbins The Guru

Tony Robbins started his career by listening to and then promoting self-help seminars for one of the most popular gurus of that era, Jim Rohin. As a result of that element of his career, Robbins made a lot of contacts and was soon able to meet John Grinder, an expert in neuro-linguistic programming, or NLP. NLP was one of the most popular methods of helping individuals deal with their issues. As Grinder had founded NLP, he was able to teach the budding entrepreneur everything he knew so that it was possible for Robbins to branch out and teach it on his own.

Tony Robbins was a huge success when he began teaching NLP and his notoriety soon spread.

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