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Garage that Apple and Google Started in!

6 Incredible Companies That Started in a Garage
If you think you need a corporate office to get your business started, think again. Find out how these multibillion-dollar companies launched in the unlikeliest of places.

June 02, 2014However massive they may seem now, at one time, some of the largest and most successful companies around started in someone’s garage. Sometimes the garage was at the childhood home of the company’s founders. Other times, the entrepreneurs had to rent a garage just to get a little privacy for their ideas to grow.The humble beginnings of the following six multibillion-dollar companies prove that great ideas are still great ideas, no matter where they’re started and developed.

Apple

It’s one of the most valuable brands today, so it’s often surprising when people learn that Apple’s first computers were built in a small garage in Cupertino, California.

In 1976, Steve Wozniak created the first Apple computer. He then joined forces with the late Steve Jobs and another partner, Ronald Wayne, to launch Apple Computer Co. from Jobs’ adopted parents’ garage. One of their first big orders was from a local retailer who ordered 50 computers at $500 apiece, which they were able to produce in just 30 days. Although Wayne had already abandoned the business, Jobs and Wozniak successfully reached their goal in just 30 days.

Today, the Silicon Valley home where Jobs grew up is listed as one of the city’s historic properties.

Americans Mourn Passing Of Apple Co-Founder Steve Jobs - Apple's first computers were simply built in a small garage in Cupertino, Calif.
Address: 2066 Crist Drive, Los Altos, California

Hewlett-Packard

Just 10 miles from the garage where Apple was started, Stanford graduates Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard launched their own company, Hewlett-Packard Co. (HP), in 1939 with an investment of just $538. In the 12-by-18-foot garage in back of the house they were renting, Hewlett and Packard built their first product: an audio oscillator. One of their first customers was Walt Disney Productions, which bought eight audio oscillators to use for certifying the surround sound systems installed in theaters for the film Fantasia.

The garage was used as a research lab, development workshop and manufacturing facility for nearly a year before the partners outgrew it and moved to roomier quarters nearby. The company was incorporated in 1947 and, 10 years after that, became a public company. Today, Packard’s garage is a private museum and is known as the “birthplace of Silicon Valley.”

HP Restores Garage Where Techology Giant Got Its Start - Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard started their company HP in 1939

 

Address: 367 Addison Avenue, Palo Alto, California

Amazon

Four years after being named the youngest vice president of a successful Wall Street investment firm, Jeff Bezos quit his job and moved to Seattle to pursue what he believed to be untapped online retailing opportunities in the book industry. He set up shop in his garage in Bellevue, Washington, and began developing software.

Because he couldn’t have meetings in a garage with a potbellied stove, Bezos held meetings at a nearby Barnes & Noble, where most of Amazon’s first contracts were negotiated. In July 1995, Bezos launched Amazon.com and sold his first book from his garage startup. Two years after that, Bezos issued his IPO. The company is now the world’s largest online retailer.

 

Jeff Bezos Launches Bezos Center For Innovation In Seattle

 

Address: 10704 NE 28th Street, Bellevue, Washington

Google

Larry Page and Sergey Brin met at Stanford in the mid-1990s and decided they wanted to start a company together. Two years later, the partners established Google’s headquarters in Susan Wojcicki’s 2,000-foot Menlo Park garage for $1,700 a month. At the time, Wojcicki—who held a senior vice president position at Google until January 2014—was a recent business school graduate and rented out her garage to the Google guys in order to make her mortgage payments.

Within one year, the Google team would outgrow the garage space and move to an office in Palo Alto along with their eight employees.

 

Larry Page and Sergey Brin met at Stanford in the mid-1990s and decided they wanted to start a company together. Two years later, Google sets up its headquarters in Susan Wojcicki's 2,000-foot Menlo Park garage for $1,700 a month.

 

Address: 232 Santa Margarita Avenue, Menlo Park, California

The Walt Disney Co.

It’s the highest-grossing media conglomerate in the world, and it all started in the summer of 1923 in a one-car garage that belonged to Walt Disney’s uncle, Robert Disney. At the time, the company was called The Disney Brothers Studio and was located about 45 minutes from today’s Disneyland Park in Anaheim, California. In this small space, the team filmed the Alice Comedies, which would later inspire Disney’s version of Alice in Wonderland.

A few months later, Disney, along with his brother Roy, moved to a bigger lot down the street from their uncle’s house, which is where Disney signed a deal with Universal Studios to distribute the Alice Comedies. And the rest, they say, is animation history.

 

Walt Disney

 

Address: 4406 Kingswell Avenue, Los Angeles, California

Mattel

In 1945, before Mattel became the American toy manufacturing company, company founders Harold “Matt” Matson and Ruth and Elliot Handler were making picture frames out of a Southern California garage. From the scraps of the picture frames, which were made of Lucite and flocked wood, Elliot started making dollhouse furniture. Ruth, who worked at Paramount Pictures, is said to have landed her husband’s first order by bringing a suitcase full of the dollhouse furniture to a store on Wilshire Boulevard not far from her job.

The success of the dollhouse furniture pushed Elliot and Ruth (Matson had left the company due to poor health) to focus solely on manufacturing toys. In 1959, Ruth invented the Barbie doll, named after her daughter, Barbara.

 

In 1945, before Mattel became the American toy manufacturing company, Ruth and Elliot Handler were making picture fames in their Southern California garage. From

 

But these uber successful companies aren’t the only ones that started from small garages. Cloud company Box.net, mobile payment company Square and Tesla Motors were all launched from a garage. And garages aren’t the only usual place companies are born. Nike started out of founder Phil Knight’s green Plymouth Valiant’s trunk, and the beginning of Michael Dell’s computer empire came together in his dorm room at the University of Texas at Austin.

The lesson here is that the most amazing ideas have no boundaries. From small, rented garages to multibillion-dollar companies, anyone who’s passionate about an idea can start—and grow—that idea anywhere, as long as they have a little privacy and room to shut out the rest of the world.

Story written by Vivian Giang. Published in AmericanExpress.com

 

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Automatic Millionaire

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Tribute to Bill Britt & His IMPACT!

Sincere Tribute to Bill Britt –

When I was 14 years old, I came home from summer visit with Mom and Dad sat me down to explain that he started a new business venture.  He showed me the Amway Plan and I got it right away.  I had never heard of any type of business like that.  It made sense.  I sat in on meetings and events and then became obsessed with listening to tapes (yes tapes, i know, i know…a long time ago :))  Well, Dad had to be careful not to give me a Bill Britt, Dave Severn, Jim Mainor, or any real strong speaker right before I went to bed because I had trouble sleeping.  Nowhere had i ever heard of people talking so strongly about Business Ownership, God, Principles, Love of Country, Freedom and Family.  And all were very successful.  Most had quit there jobs and were living a life of Freedom without Bosses and 9 to 5 jobs and were simply building their business.  Going through all the challenges with growing up, I continued to listen to tapes.   They were shaping me as a person.  Then when I was 19 years old, I went to a business seminar that Bill was doing.  I had been to them prior, but for some reason, this event was unique.  The whole weekend they kept talking about the SECRET was going to be shared Sunday.  After many testimonies, there was no way I was going to miss Sunday’s meeting!  You kidding me… the SECRET was going to be revealed.  I really already knew what they were going to be talking about, but Bill Britt was talking right to me.   I don’t remember the exact words but after a long story of how God is the foundation of his life and the Secret was confessing with your mouth and believing in your heart that Jesus died for us on the Cross, I knew it was time to give my life to God.  Along with hundreds and hundreds of other people, Bill Britt delivered the ultimate message to me!  What words could I possibly have to show my appreciation to this man!   I then told others that they have to learn about the Secret and brought others to his Sunday service at future events.   Because they wanted to learn the secret, I saw my friends Keith, Vernon, Vernell, Joe, and Karen all go through the same process within the next couple years from a Bill Britt Sunday morning non-denominational teaching and testimony straight from the Bible.

Bill was so strong in his message that many had trouble with his dominant speech, but there was no question about it, you knew where he stood.  Though I am no longer in the Amway business, Bill will always be remembered and honored by me.   His impact on me is one of the main reasons that I haven’t had a boss in over 20 years, have owned many businesses, and that I give God all the credit and Glory.  From me, my friends, and the thousands of others that you gave the Secret to, Thank you!  You have been one of my greatest Mentors and Heroes.

Bill Britt
Picture

Bill and Peggy Britt
Bill Britt: A strong, opinionated leader, at one time his organization may have represented half of all Amway volume.  Through his love of God, Country and Business, he transformed many lives.  If the Scorecard of life is determined by the number of people that are better off because you lived, then Bill Britt aced the test.  Thank you Bill and Peggy!  Bill Britt died on January 23, 2013 in Jacksonsville, Fl to live his life in eternity with the Lord.   He will be greatly missed for positively impacting so many!
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Thank You!! (Eternal Glasses Needed!)

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Evidence Of Your Faith!!

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Money Problems is Not Solved by Money!

78% of NFL Players Go Bankrupt Within 5 Years & NBA Players In…

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Bankruptcy

So writes Jason Cimpl (wyattresearch.com) in edited excerpts from his original article entitled Five Reasons Professional Athletes Go Broke.

Cimpl goes on to say in further edited excerpts:

If data from Mint.com is accurate, the average athlete is destined to go (quickly) from fame to shame. Here are five possible reasons why:

1 – Overspending
Scott Bercu, a financial accountant for professional athletes, believes this group spends like mad, and blows their savings too rapidly. He said, “They see their salaries as infinite, like it doesn’t end, like they can’t spend it all but if you get $5 million a year, by the time you get done paying your agent and taxes, you have $2 million left to spend.”

2 – Career duration
The average career span in the NBA, MLB and NFL is 4.8, 5.6 and 3.5 years, respectively.
The “shelf life” of athletes is tiny. Professionals in this industry have a small window to make their millions, and if they don’t they cannot survive on their savings for very long (even if they saved responsibly).

3 – A lack of finance knowledge
Ed Butowsky of Chapwood Capital Investment Management believes athletes don’t understand finances. He says the leagues try to help educate them, but the system doesn’t work well enough.

Athletes see prominent people spending money, and they believe that their spending pattern should be the same. However, athletes fail to take into account that those prominent members have spent a lifetime learning about financial responsibility and budget strategies.

4 – Poor investment decisions
Also, according to Butowsky, athletes are targets for poor investment pitches. He said, “Chronic over-allocation into real estate and bad private equity is the number one problem in terms of a financial meltdown. I’ve never seen more people come to me about raising money for those kinds of deals than athletes.”

5 – Hangin’ with a bad crowd
Athletes often do try to be responsible with their savings. However, they pick the wrong financial advisors. The NFL Players Association claimed that 78 players lost a total of $42 million between 1999 and 2002 as a result of bad financial advisors. In fact, Bob Young – managing director for APEX Wealth Management – says athletes often don’t know who manages their savings. He said that he frequently asks players how they’re doing (financially), and they’ll often respond, “I have no idea. All the bills are paid by someone else.”

A few quick thoughts of my own

[It is very disconcerting] if the NFL and NBA data is correct. That’s a high rate of bankruptcy, and the leagues should provide better guidance for its atheletes….[Unfortunately,] professional athletes are easy targets. They are highly visible, have lots of money and limited experience.Though I find it hard to imagine losing millions of dollars in savings in such a short span of time, I also have a solid financial background, applicable work experience and a family that educated me on personal finance issues. Before pointing the finger at athletes, it may be wise to step into their shoes (cleats) for a minute  … maybe their financial woes aren’t entirely their fault or a result of reckless spending.

The above article has been edited by Lorimer Wilson, editor of munKEE
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Turn Tradegy into Triumph!

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I need a Job Right Now!

Why do some people NEVER have to worry about finding a job while others seem to search for weeks and even months?  I have interviewed thousands of people within the last 20 years, so I can definitely bring some VALUE for anybody that is looking for a job.

Let’s start with some Basics and Obvious Points regarding the Interview Process:

  • You cannot OVER DRESS for an interview.  It amazes me that people would consider wearing shorts, jeans, tee-shirts, etc.  But guess what, they do!   I don’t care what the JOB is actually for, how you dress makes a statement of HOW MUCH YOU WANT THE POSITION!  Always OVERDRESS!  The interviewer will respect it and let you know if you can dress down for the 2nd interview, etc.
  • Be On Time.  I have a friend that says if you are on time, then you are late.   RESCHEDULE the interview if you are going to be late.  Don’t give excuses why you are late, just reschedule as something very important came up.
  • Fill out entire application including references.  How does it look if you have NO REFERENCES?  And don’t dilly dally while you are filling it out.  I have had people take an hour to fill out a simple application.  WAY TOO LONG!  What does that tell me, they are not real organized and/or have trouble doing simple tasks.

Now, lets get a lot more into finding a job.

  • Many people are too narrow in what they want to do.  I particularly see this with Administrative and Clerical positions.  That is all they want to do.  I could run a newspaper ad tomorrow and get a room full of applicants for Clerical Positions.  If you know that, you are up against a lot of competition.  So, my suggestion is to Go On Some Interviews.  Learn about other Jobs available.  Many companies will spend money on you if you have the Right Attitude and are willing to Learn.
  • Just Go On Interviews, have Great Attitude, and Be Open.  I have an employee right now that Came in for an interview.  She was working in an administrative position for over 20 years and her company recently sold and the new company terminated most of the existing employees.  She came in for an outside sales position.  She could not make the hours work because she had taken a part time job as a security guard elsewhere, but remained open for any part time position.  She had a great attitude and thanked me for seeing her.  She then sent me a “THANK YOU” card in the mail for interviewing her.  Guess what, about a week later, we needed a part time person to make outgoing calls and I hired her!!  Now, think about this.  If she wasn’t open minded about coming in to finding out about if she could make sales happen, I would have never met her.

Don’t let fear of not doing stop you from trying new things.  The key is to TAKE ACTION, BE OPEN, and Make a Good Impression on as many people as you can as quickly as you can!

On another note, Almost Nobody that I interview knows that I own multiple traditional and non-traditional businesses.  And I know a lot business owners.  I have hired and partnered with people that I interviewed for one company, but ended up working for another company of mine.  I have also sent people to other business owners.  Again, Take Massive Action and go see some people.

I recommend going to Library and reading the book, How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie.  He explains how so MANY people have become successful in focusing on the other person and not themselves.  If you are in interview mode, You have to think, What can I do for this company?  That is the mindset you want to have.

I know a gentleman that suited up and walked right into a business that had NO help wanted advertisement and said, I believe I can help your business be better and I would like to work here.  And he got HIRED!!  Talk about NO COMPETITION and taking action.

What if you did that 10 times a day for 1 week?

Don’t let your EGO and PRIDE get in the way.  Go make some money.  I know of a young lady that had 2 small kids that had to take a part time job at a convenience store and all they had open was the midnight shift.  She worked so hard at what she did.  She kept getting promoted.  She got promoted to a Strong 6 Figure Position with a company car, cell phone, and many perks that many people would love to have!

One of my businesses, I hire for a straight commission and outside sales position.  I understand that it is scary.  I understand that NO GUARANTEE of income can be frightening.  But, the truth of the matter is that many people could not only do the job, but could make much more money than they could if they went and got an hourly job.  But because they let their fear and emotions get in the way, they will never know.  Just saying to stay open in your search.

I now want to mention something outside the box.  What about learning how to make money from home?  Starting a small business from your home could give you so many freedoms.  Contact me below if you may have interest in this area.

Blessings to you and your quest!

Feel free to contact me at:  CoachMike@mikedorfler.com

Make it a Great Day!

Mike Dorfler

 

 


 

 

 

 

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“Crush Davis” words of wisdom on CBN

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What is an Option Contract?

Option Contract

Let’s say you and your spouse was considering buying some land and building your dream house on it someday.  And one day as you were on your Sunday drive with the family, you spot the perfect looking piece of land to build your house on.  You stop and you see, IT’S FOR SALE!!!  So, you call the Seller of the land and the seller asks if you are ready to buy it today?  You are not ready.  You need 6 months to decide if you can afford to do it, to really see if you will be permitted to build your house on the land, you need to check out the schools for your kids, etc.  So you tell the seller, I would like to buy an “OPTION” on the land.  And you pay the seller $1,000 for the 6 month option to buy the land.    During that 6 months, the option allows you to buy that land at the price you agreed upon at anytime and the seller cannot sell this piece of land to anyone else.  However, regardless if you decide to buy the land or NOT buy the land, the Seller gets to keep the $1,000 forever in exchange for taking his land off the market for 6 months.

So what you, the buyer of the option, has done is buy “right to purchase” it at a specific “STRIKE” price with an expiration date on it.  So, if you were sent a TEXT TRADE on this, it would look like: “Buy the 100k Call”.

Now, lets say the agreed price is $100,000. and you can purchase it at anytime during the 6 month option time frame.  And remember the seller cannot sell it to anyone but you in that time frame.  Well, in month 2 of your option contract, you decided not to build your dream home on it but, the land value increased by 20% for whatever reason.  Because you bought the option, you could buy the land at $100,000 and sell it for a $20,000 profit.  This is how Options Work in the Market.  So in month 2, you decided to EXERCISE your right to buy the land at $100,000 and you turned around and sold it immediately for $120,000!  (In the Market, you really didn’t even have to buy the underlying asset, because the value of the option would have INCREASED and you could have sold your option for your 20% gain).   Now think of the LEVERAGE you have with options.   You paid only $1,000, but you made $20,000.  That is 20 times your money!!  You would have never made 20 times your money if you had bought the land at $100,000.  You can see here how options can give you tremendous returns.

When you buy an option contract, you pay only a portion of the Assets value in exchange to be able to purchase it at a specific price for a specific amount of time that has an expiration date.

What is Awesome is that there are 2 types of Options – Calls or Puts.   When you buy a Call Option, you want the underlying asset (in the case the stock price) to go UP!  The higher it goes up, the more you make exponentially because of the leverage of options.

When you buy a Put Option, you want the underlying asset to go DOWN!  The more the asset (the stock) goes down, the more you make exponentially!

INTRODUCING STRANGLES AND STRADDLES –

When you buy both a Call Option (you want the stock to go UP) and you buy a Put Option (you want the stock to go DOWN) AT THE SAME TIME, that is called either a Strangle or Straddle.   So, what do you want to happen?  You want it to go WAY UP or you want it to go WAY DOWN.  You don’t care which way.  What you don’t want is for the Stock Price to stay the same.  The value of the option will go down if the Stock stays the exact same price the whole time.

So what is the goal when you buy a Strangle or Straddle, YOU WANT THE STOCK PRICE to move in one direction dramatically!

You can sell Options, but with TextMyTrade.com, we are only going to be involved with buying options.

Before we get into the differences of  Strangles and a Straddles, lets talk about Strike Price.

The Strike price is defined as the price at which the holder of an option can buy (in the case of a Call Option) the underlying security when the option is exercised.  Hence, strike price is also known as exercise price.

Now think of the $100,000 Land where you bought the Call Option on it for $1,000.  Let’s assume that the $100,000 was the Exact True Value of the land at the Exact time of you buying the Call Option.  In the Market, we call that ATM or “At the Money”.  If the Land value never changed, the value of the option actually decays or goes down.   If the Land Value goes UP, so does the Option Value.  And if the Land decreased in Value, your $1,000 Option would expire worthless because nobody would want to pay $100,000 for the land if the value of it went down to $80,000.

Relationship between Strike Price & Call Option Price

 

For call options, the higher the strike price, the cheaper the option. The following table lists option premiums typical for near term call options at various strike prices when the underlying stock is trading at $50.  You see, Just like the Land, if the value of the asset goes up, so does the Call Option Price.  Remember the Call Option that you bought with the land was $1,000 and the Land went up 20%, well your Call option price would have increased in VALUE too!

 

Strike Price Moneyness Call Option
35 ITM $15.50
40 ITM $11.25
45 ITM $7
50 ATM $4.50
55 OTM $2.50
60 OTM $1.50
65 OTM $0.75

 

Relationship between Strike Price & Put Option Price

 

Conversely, for put options, the higher the strike price, the more expensive the option. The following table lists option premiums typical for near term put options at various strike prices when the underlying stock is trading at $50

 

Strike Price Moneyness Put Option
35 OTM $0.75
40 OTM $1.50
45 OTM $2.50
50 ATM $4.50
55 ITM $7
60 ITM $11.25
65 ITM $15.50

Using the Above OPTION CHARTS which is  called “option chains”, we can now explain the differences of Strangles and Straddles:

With a Strangle, you are buying 2 different Strike Prices – for example, you could buy the Call Option with strike price at $55 for $2.50 AND at the same time, you buy the Put Option with strike price at $40 for $1.50.  So, if you bought one share of each, you would totally spend $4.00 – This amount is called the NET DEBIT.

Lets look at what can happen here:  You have invested $4.00, so to earn 10%, you will need to SELL at a NET CREDIT for a Total of $4.10.   In the Market, we suggest that you put an AUTOMATIC “NET CREDIT” LIMIT sell order in for $4.10, so that as soon as it hits it, the trade happens automatically.  Looking just at the Call Option for a moment, Look at the difference of the Strike Price for the $55 verses the $50.  So, we can assume that if the Stock goes up $5, the VALUE of the Call Option will go up to about $2.  And you, my friend, would  sell the Call Option because your value would be around $4.50 OR it would have already sold at $4.10 if you had placed the Net Credit Limit order to sell in.