Business Success stories thread

Business Success stories thread...

>Be 19
>Start a startup, mobile app based around celebrities
>Work very hard, get investment (about 300k)
>Make app work (thank god it works)
>Do big official launch, spend lots of money on it... but pissed off a national hero celebrity and media destroy me on national TV, print and online.
>Be very sad for a few days, fire most of staff as prospects weren't looking great.
>big US entertainment company ring me a week later.
>Sell company for mid 7 figures, (I owned 49% of company)
>Invest in other startups and now helping other entrepreneurs. (Been 8 months since I sold).

Let's here some other good stories.

What was your startup?

Be 29
>living with a parent
>sit at home on the computer all day playing video games and wanking
>no money
>smart but no up to date or desirable skills
>no prospects
>no hope

Skip forward 2 years
>Built and ran a successful sole trader business for a year and change starting out on less than £100
>Turn over a quarter of a million that year
>Use the profits to launch another venture which has been going for 2 months
>Join gym, 8 months in now, fitter and healthier and happier than I've been in as long as I can remember
>Earning around £2-3k/month after tax just now, and growing
>Have two bigger profitable ventures in mind which both contribute towards the last venture, slowly building skills and knowledge towards each
>Reading, eating healthy, working out often, plenty of sunshine, more confidence talking to people

Life is what you make it.

>be me, failure at life, no friends
>contemplated becoming an hero
>got some advise from cambodian basket weaving site
>spent my life savings on new venture
>went to all the truck-stops in the vicinity
>cornered the market
>steady six figure cashflow
>just got a new yacht
>many friends / clients

Life is good

>Be 17 in college
>Hate my teachers, hate my courses, hate my classmates
>Drop out of college after first year with only an A in AS Media to show for it
>Want to earn money quick
>Get into recruitment
>Start doing OK
>Start doing good
>Start doing fucking amazing
>Sold my shitty 10yr old Peugeot and got a brand new Mazda
>Earn twice as much money as my parents
>Sepnd a shitter tonne of money on clothes, luxuries, food, basically anything I want
>Just turned 18 a few months ago
>tfw my parents don't even charge me rent

That just sounded very stupid, maybe its the lack of detail, maybe its the way you worded it, but I find it hard to believe simply based on how that story was written.
I guess I'll share mine;
>year was 2014
>almost 2015
>I was pretty much an average person
>going to college
>had a part time job
>I always wanted to start a "business"
>had no idea on what I could possibly do that wouldn't be to far fetched
>skip forward to August 2014
>meet with a friend who is also wanting to run a business
>talk and eventually come up with an idea
>after a year this idea becomes a startup
>approach investors and manage to get £2.5m in funding
>company expands to the whole of the UK
>soon in America
>this entire story was also a potential outcome of the startup im running now, I just wanted to type it out
:)

Cool Story bros

Here's mine. It's real.

>Be 20 something, loser, wagecuck, HS dropout
>move into a duplex, meet shady character living upstairs
>have a few beers with him, find out he used to have repossession business
>decide to start business with him, quit job with $200 in my pocket for startup
>build a plan with him, print out some price lists, hold harmless agreements, business cards etc
>solicit local used car dealerships for business using whats left of $200 for gas money
>5 clients by end of first week, start repossessing cars, parking them in my driveway overnight before delivery
>up and running, making more than i did at wagecuck job in two weeks flat
>word gets out in dealer circles that we're good (they see each other at auctions.. a lot of them are friends)
>unsolicited phone calls, more accounts
>hire bro-in-law to keep up with workload
>use $3000 saved, buy first truck - total beater
>$$ rolling in, running out of room in driveway so we rent a gated lot for storage
>opens up more revenue in storage and personal property redemption fees
>business now six months old, serious $$ rolling in (five figures/month gross)
>confusing and complications with scale and expanding start happening
>curious about above and how to structure ourselves internally - i apply at a very well established competitor who doesnt even know our name, lie on my resume
>work for them and use their system for a month, take careful notes or what works and what doesnt
>quit and apply the good parts of their system to our business
>see other avenues for profit such as transport services to auction, buy another truck with saved profits
>cash really rolling in now, company nine months old
>incorporate and get proper repossession insurance policy to solicit major clients (ford, gm, major banks etc)
>land first major client, hire to keep up with workload
>open a new location in different city to service said client (learned they didnt have coverage there from working at competitor)

Cont.

>new city location needs manager, hire good friend with MBA to handle expansion plans per our instructions, buy another truck for that location (3 total now)
>business one year old, revenue now upper five figures, monthly
>continue growing, adding clients, adding additional services like detailing before auction transport
>land second major client that requires coverage for entire state - open third location with new truck (4 total now) - MBA friend handles both
>6 months pass.. business now a year and half old, 8th largest repo company in terms of volume in the state
>goes on and on like this, growing, expanding
>business two years old, revenue mid six figures per month and i still havent taken any major profits
>continue to reinvest and opening location in neighboring state
>MBA friend has another friend, he becomes manager for one state while i remain manager for another
>five years later, now cover multiple states under different names for legal reasons, low eight figures annual profit across all companies

and no I won't give any names or states.

How long did you do the repossessing before you were able to stand back and manage your business from the sidelines?