Essay Example on Entrepreneurial: Thinking Creatively to Achieve the Impossible

Introduction

Entrepreneurial has been defined severally depending on the element in context. Entrepreneurial can be defined as having a strong desire of using the available resources to achieve something different from the everyday things that other people have accomplished. It implies thinking creatively without confinement (Kirzner, 2015). Thinking with creativity to achieve what seemingly looks impossible to accomplish. It includes creativity and innovation to create a unique product that can attract a large client base. It is out of the entrepreneurial knowledge and skills that a profitable product is created. The product needs to have the ability to generate wealth that impacts the economy positively. Under entrepreneurship, several notions are used to discuss it. They include; behavioral idea, occupational, and the entrepreneurship that is primarily focused on the creation of ventures for incentive gains (Audretsch, Obschonka, Gosling, & Potter, 2017).

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The behavioral entrepreneurial notion mainly focuses on the visionary of a firm to seize monetary chances from the industry they are operating in. On the other hand, occupational entrepreneurial refers to owning a personal venture (Audretsch et al., 2017). The individuals under this category are the ones who create economic value by modifying the available idle resources in regions considered to be of low efficiency into areas of high-profit returns, hence giving them a notable yield. Entrepreneurs are always vigilant of any business opportunity. They are still out trying to incorporate innovation of technology into creating a viable business that makes a change to the basic life of individuals and sometimes making the people hooked on their products and services (Kirzner, 2015). The three entrepreneurs that I adore are Oprah Winfrey, Steve Jobs, and Walt Disney. The three iconic entrepreneurs successfully turned their businesses into havens. They successfully modify their products because they lacked stiff competition to challenge their merchandises.

Steve Jobs

Steve Jobs is the pioneer of Apple Inc. Limited. He is a social entrepreneur who has ventured into the technological world. He was birthed in the year 1955 in Francesco. Steve's entrepreneurial story is unique. After birth, he was abandoned by his biological parents before being adopted by Clara and Paul Jobs (Fouche, Plessis, & van Niekerk, 2017). Growing up in a technology-oriented family, Steve was always urged by his guardians Paul and Clara to examine any possible invention he could do in their garage. Steve naturally fell in love with computers, and his passion was uncontrollable. He was an excellent student who at times, topped his class. After completing his grades in California, Steve moved to Reed College in the year 1972, before dropping out of college barely a year after joining. The few skills he learned in calligraphy while in Reed College were the backbone of his journey to success (Fouche et al., 2017).

Steve met his co-founder Steve Wozniak in the year 1971. Wozniak was a computer technician, and his interaction with Steve Jobs was mainly catalyzed by the love of the computers, which Wozniak was maintaining in the labs. After a short interaction with Wozniak, Steve Jobs was hired by Atari computers where his ideas of venturing into technology were fully implanted. The chemistry between Wozniak and Steve jobs grew stronger, and they modified their first Apple personal computer in 1976. Steve gained fame after he invented the Apple II. It was a highly successful mass-produced computer that earned him wealth and recognition globally. Using his entrepreneurial skills, Jobs identified commercial opportunities in Apple and fully invested in by developing the famous Macintosh in 1984, which created the desktop publishing (Wu, Wang, & Hao, 2018).

Just like any other business, power wrangles were witnessed in Apple Inc. Steve Jobs opted out in 1985. He recruited some of his former business partners in Apple firm and employed them under his new centers; NeXT. He sported a gap in production of computers for higher learning institutions and homes. He invested in his NeXT, which started manufacturing computers and visual graphics for the computers. He invented first ever 3D computers that were highly successful in terms of sales volume. The need to partner and utilize a common market saw Jobs company expand its productivity after departing Apple firm partners. Within a few months, Jobs became the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) for the merged companies. He revived Apple industry, which was on the verge of bankruptcy (Fouche et al., 2017). The experience Steve Jobs has gained in entrepreneurial activities is exceptional. He has gained the skills in studying the market trends and utilizes the gaps available to the benefit of his ventures. In the list of his investments are the iTunes, iPods, Apple Store, and App Store, among others (Wu et al., 2018). Steve Jobs has distinguished himself as a business magnet with unique market skills which he uses to turn around fortunes for his companies that he currently manages; Apple being the main. He used different management styles; the democratic form of leadership is the major one.

Oprah Winfrey

Oprah has become a household name both in the media and business industries. Oprah was born in Mississippi on the 29th of January in 1954 (Malika & Djihane, 2018). While growing up, Oprah was often sexually assaulted by some of her close relatives and friends to her mother. The troubled childhood with her mother saw her move to Nashville and live together with his parent, an entrepreneur who ran his barbershop. She later joined Tennessee State University (TSU), where she engaged herself in telecommunication. Subsequently, she gained some experience in media, she later in 1976, went to Baltimore in Maryland where she was the host of a famous TV chat show called "people are talking." Her TV show was a success, and she hosted it for eight years before being recruited by Chicago based TV station to host a morning show titled A.M Chicago (Malika & Djihane, 2018).

Oprah utilized her unique voice to conquer competitors in the media industry. Phil Donahue was her primary competitor in the media industry, but within months of practice and evaluation of the entertainment market, Oprah exceeded her rival with more than one hundred thousand viewers. The win led to her national recognition leading to her high demand in movies and events. She featured in "The Color Purple" film in which she was nominated for Academy awards for the best supporting actress. Oprah's level of accomplishment in business is unprecedented. In 1986 she started her show "Oprah Winfrey" which was syndicated as a national program. The show had a placement on more than one hundred and twenty TV channels with a mass following of over ten million followers. The profits generated from the show saw Oprah get $30 million yearly. Upon seeing the opportunities in GBE show, Oprah gained the ownership rights from ABC and registered it under her new formed Harpo Company. In 1994 she pledged her show to be free of topics of tabloid and also signed other TV ministries under her company (Tyler, 2017).

Oprah has also ventured in magazine production. Some of the magazines she has launched include the Oprah Book Club and the famous Oprah Winfrey magazine which has monthly publications. The magazine production has earned her a fortune; some of her magazines have recorded best sales throughout. In 2009 she ended her contract with ABC and signed a new deal with Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN), which was a co-venture with Discovery Communications (Tyler, 2017). Her show also suffered the setback in the 2012 but picked up when she hosted Lance Armstrong; an American cyclist and Tour de France champion who has stripped off all his titles in 2002 due to doping claims. The show on which Lance admitted to having used doping pills throughout his cycling career generated millions of revenues to Oprah. She downsized her business in 2015 and 2017 she announced that Discovery had become the majority shareholder of her OWN Company; she retained 25% of shares hence remaking the CEO as per the agreement (Tyler, 2017).

Walt Disney

Walter "Walt" Disney was born in 1901 in Illinois. The strong bond between him and his brother Roy birthed the Walt Disney Production. The two brothers heavily invested in motion pictures which later on paid them handsomely. While living in Missouri, Disney focused on drawing and selling pictures to close family members, friends, and neighbors (Keller et al., 2015). Walt Disney moved to venture in newspaper artistic. His brother sought a job for him in the company where he met with a famous cartoonist Ubbe Eert Lwwerks who mentored him through animations. Walt started commercial animation, which he used both drawings and camera motions. He recruited Harman Fred into his company where they partnered to and initiated a deal with the Kansas Theater to help screen the cartoons they had created. They named the cartoons Laugh-O-Grams. The comics gained recognition nationwide hence making Disney a popular creative figure in the media (Keller et al., 2015). Walt used the revenues he gained from the first sales to open up his studio, which he gave the same name -Laugh-O-Grams. The success of the company saw the recruitment of more employees where Disney hired Lwerks and Hugh's (brothers to Harman). They produced a series of animations their breakthrough being a seven-minute, which was a combination of both animation and live action. The video was giggled "Alice in Cartoonland." In 1923 Disney's studio was overwhelmed with debts, which compelled him to announce it bankrupt (Keller et al., 2015).

After the closure of the studio, Disney and Roy once again pooled their entire funds and moved to start shows in Hollywood. They created the Disney Brothers Studio. The two brothers engaged Margaret Winkler to distribute their creation where each was to be sold for $1,500. After a year of operation in the industry, they realized that Margaret and her husband Mintz Charles had stolen all the rights to Oswald and the other animations they had created all along. This forced them to forego their creations and focused on making other new creations (Keller et al., 2015).

In 1929 Disney Walt created silly Symphonies which showcased Mickey's friends. Disney's breakthrough in the animation business was in 1937 when he produced a first full film called "Snow White and the dwarfs." The cast was premiered in Los Angels and in spite of the great depression at that period; the film unimaginably generated a profit of $1.499 million. The film also scooped eight distinguished Oscars, and it remained one of the most ever viewed animations globally. Between 1940 and 1944 Disney and the brother produced other four full-length animations; challenges rocked the Disney Studio which saw a majority of the animators resign. It took time for Walt Disney to bring up the company after the exit of his crucial animator. His focus on business helped him regain the management of the studio, and in 1950 he successfully produced the "Cinderella" film which gained universal acceptance. Disney was among the pioneers of television entertainment (Keller et al., 2015). He always seized opportunities and got viewership rights to broadcast his great animations on TV channels. Some of the creations that remain to be the children's favorites include the "MickeyMouse," Savvy Crocket, and Zorro. Disney died in December 1966 after a lucrative business career in animation (Keller et al., 2015).

Conclusion

Entrepreneurship takes numerous forms depending on the environment in which an individual is operating in - media, technology, among others. The three business moguls have excelled in thei...