Being a successful introverted entrepreneur may sound like words that don’t go together, however there are many people who are perfect examples. These people have become successful entrepreneurs and great leaders.
As you read this article, you will find the most inspiring quotes and a little bit of information about each person. The successful introverted entrepreneurs who are included in this list have inspired me and they have helped many to reach their life or business goals.
One of my favorite on the list is Michael Jordan because even when he was faced with sports challenges early in life, he didn’t give up. He kept pushing through the roadblocks to become know as one of the greatest college and Pro basketball player in the world.
Let’s dig in and find out who is on the list and how they have become successful introverted entrepreneurs.
Michael Jordan
During high school, Jordan was told he was too short when he first tried out for the basketball team in his sophomore year. This motivated him to prove the coaches wrong and he did through hard work, a “never give up” attitude, and the biggest bonus was that he grew four inches over that Summer.
After experiencing continued success in basketball throughout high school, he went on to experience even more in college and in the pros. Along with sports success, he also experienced success as a media figure and in business as he continued to live out his “never give up” attitude.
Courteney Cox
- Image Source: Felicia C. Sullivan [CC BY 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
Know for being an actress, Cox is also a very successful introverted entrepreneur as a producer and director. After jumping on stage with Bruce Springsteen in his “Dancing in the Dark” music video, Courteney Cox went on to TV fame on Family Ties in the ’80s and most memorably as Monica on Friends.
In addition to her TV roles, she has made movie appearances in the Scream horror franchise. In 2003 Courteney Cox and her then husband David Arquette founded Coquette Productions Inc. Coquette focuses on creating dynamic, original and entertaining content.
Bill Gates
- Image Source: By World Economic Forum (Flickr) [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
When Gates was young and in high school, he was one of four banned students who was using a borrowed computer system to exploit bugs in an operating system to get free computer time. The company was Computer Center Corporation (CCC) and they eventually asked Gates and the other four students to help them find all of the bug exploits.
In exchange, they earned free time and Gates parlayed this opportunity into being able to study source code as he worked from CCC’s offices. And this is where he got his start with programming that he later parlayed, after many years, into what is now known as Microsoft.
Emma Watson
- Image Source: By Dee Jarvis, Panache Imagery [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
Before Watson got her big break, she had never acted professionally. Getting an early start in acting as one of the famous stars of Harry Potter, Watson has grown successful over the years. She has even became part of a business as the creative advisor for People Tree. It is a line of clothing and Watson became involved with them around 2009.
Larry Page
- Image Source: By Bob Lee (Larry Page) [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
After earning a Bachelor of Science degree in engineering from the University of Michigan, Page decided to concentrate on computer engineering at Stanford University, where he met Sergey Brin.
As a research project at Stanford University, Page and Brin created a search engine that listed results according to the popularity of the pages, after concluding that the most popular result would often be the most useful. They called the search engine “Google” after the mathematical term “googol,” which refers to the No. 1 followed by 100 zeros, to reflect their mission to organize the immense amount of information available on the web.
After raising $1 million from family, friends and other investors, the pair launched the company in 1998. Google has since become the world’s most popular search engine, receiving an average of 5.9 billion searches per day in 2013. Headquartered in the heart of California’s Silicon Valley, Google held its initial public offering in August 2004, making Page and Brin billionaires.
Wendy Kopp
- Image Source: By World Economic Forum [CC BY-SA 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
Kopp proposed the creation of Teach For America in her undergraduate thesis at Princeton University which was a display of her introverted entrepreneur spirit. She wanted to meet the needs of her generation since they were searching for a way to assume a significant responsibility. Realizing that her target audience were fellow college students, she felt they would choose teaching over more lucrative opportunities if a prominent teacher corps existed.
Shortly after graduating from Princeton, in 2007, Kopp became the founder of Teach For All, a global network of independent non-profit organizations that apply the same model as Teach For America in other countries. According to 2012 online records, Kopp makes at least $416,876 per year. In 2013 she transitioned out of the role of CEO of Teach For America. Today, she remains an active member of Teach For America’s board.
Elon Musk
- Image Source: By Maurizio Pesce from Milan, Italia (Elon Musk, Tesla Factory, Fremont (CA, USA)) [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
Elon Musk is the CEO and CTO of SpaceX, CEO, chief product architect of Tesla Motors, chairman of SolarCity, and co-founder of PayPal. Musk is also involved in developing a high-speed transportation system known as Hyperloop. He is a demanding perfectionist and innovator in the high-tech industry. His education in the field of physics and economics helps him to see the objective truth and separate it from the emotional and speculative forecasts. He just thinks big.
Elon Musk was the second entrepreneur in the Silicon Valley (the first one was James H. Clark) who managed to create three companies with the market cap of more than $1 billion – PayPal, SpaceX, and Tesla Motors. Elon Musk dedicates himself to space and alternative energy technologies. He plays by some different rules and does that quite successfully. The distinctive personality traits of Elon Musk are perseverance, critical thinking, accurate self-analysis and hard work (he works 80-100 hours per week).
J.K. Rowling
- Image Source: Daniel Ogren [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
As a single mother living in Edinburgh, Scotland, Rowling became an international literary sensation in 1999, when the first three installments of her Harry Potter children’s book series took over the top three slots of The New York Times bestseller list after achieving similar success in her native United Kingdom.
J.K. Rowling has received many awards and honours, including an OBE for services to children’s literature, France’s Légion d’Honneur, and the Hans Christian Andersen Award.
Featured photo credit: jmassel via flickr.com
