Success Story #1

John Sortino is founder and past CEO of the highly successful Vermont Teddy Bear Company, which was named the first national winner of the Best of America Award sponsored by Dun and Bradstreet Services and the National Federation of Businesses. In 1983, he became known as "the teddy bear man" while selling teddy bears from a peddler cart, which he turned that into a multi-million dollar online business.

After 15 years as the CEO, he sold off the Vermont Teddy Bear Company and has since founded other business enterprises, such as Chicago Bicycle. He serves as a consultant for many start-up companies, and he also wrote The Complete Idiot's Guide® to Being a Successful Entrepreneur.



Success Story #2

As featured in an article on www.entrepreneur.com, Todd Graves is the founder and CEO of Raising Cane's Chicken Fingers, which is a fast food restaurant focusing on chicken fingers with signature sauces and side dishes.

When trying to find funds to open his first restaurant, bankers and investors had no faith in his business concept. Todd decided to make his own start-up capital. After working 90-hour weeks for four months as a boilermaker in Los Angeles refineries, he then traveled to Alaska to work another four long months on a commercial salmon fishing boat.

When he went back home to Louisiana, the money he had earned made other investors more confident and willing to supply some capital as well. The first Raising Cane’s opened in 1996, and they now have over thirty locations.



Success Story #3

Lynn Dralle is an eBay entrepreneur who started off keeping shop at her grandmother’s antique store. In 1998, she began listing these antiques and collectibles on eBay, so that she could work from home and spend more time with her children. Now, this Power Seller’s eBay store yields about $250,000 a year in sales.

Her expert status in the field of antiques and collectibles has also led to a successful series of Internet auction guides such as iBuy, iSell, and The 100 Best Things I've Sold on eBay.



Success Story #4

Jessica Marvin is an artist who believes pottery, together with a complete lesson plan, presents a hands-on teaching method for any classroom subject. Her company, Art in History, is potentially worth millions and sells teaching kits for history, geography, and literature topics. Her idea was to teach as many school subjects as possible using art.

Art in History’s kits feature an unfinished ceramic replica of a historical artifact that the students get to paint and finish while coordinated lesson plans are included for the teachers.

For the first two years of her business, Jessica was involved in more or less everything. Now that an investor is involved, sales are phenomenal, and she has time as Vice President of Art & Design to focus on what she loves about the company.