Jill Blashack Strahan - Tastefully Simple

Blashack Strahan started her gourmet food company with $6,000 in savings, a backyard shed for storage, and a pool table as a packing station.

In her own words: “I remember sitting outside one day, thinking we were three months behind on our house payment, I had two employees I couldn’t pay, and I ought to get a real job. But then I thought, No, this is your dream.  Recommit and get to work."

She had the idea to sell at taste-testing parties, and sales began slowly picking up. In 12 years, Tastefully Simple has grown into a $120 million dollar business.
(Source: http://www.businesspundit.com/) Merrin Muxlow

David Hauser and Siamak Taghaddos

David Hauser and Siamak Taghaddos
Got VMail/Grasshopper

Hauser and Taghaddos came up with a great idea for an inexpensive VoIP phone system for small businesses. They got their startup money the hard way, by asking friends and family to help fund their business.

The idea for GotVMail was to give smaller companies a way to sound as professional as larger, established firms, allowing small business to set up voice-mail boxes that can route calls to cell phones and get messages via e-mailed MP3 files. GotVMail, now Grasshopper, generates about $5 million in revenue per year.

Source: (http://www.businesspundit.com)

Judi Sheppard Missett - Jazzercize

 Judi Sheppard Missett
Jazzercise

The founder of this wildly successful fitness company started teaching dance classes after hanging up her professional dancing shoes. When turnout dropped, she had an epiphany. The women weren’t coming to class to learn the precise steps to a dance, but to lose weight and tone up.

Sheppard Missett picked up the pace, turned up the music, and created a fun class that was soon packed. She trained additional instructors to teach the routines she choreographed, which eventually lead to a franchise deal. The company now has over 7,500 locations worldwide, a clothing line, and an extremely loyal fan base–all from a dance class.

(Source: http://www.businesspundit.com/) Merrin Muxlow