Back Issues - January/February 2007

Detailed Examples, Step-by-Step Instructions, And Specific Blueprints From Self-Made Millionaires

A life of hard work, fame and wealth hardly begins to describe the amount of success and achievement accumulated in over 90 years by Art Linkletter. The self-proclaimed “poster boy for American seniors,” Linkletter is an authority on investments, communications and teaching whose contributions in writing and the media span multiple generations. Inside is an in-depth look at the man who has just a few lessons on life and business.

Little did Ryan Lee know – when he set up his Web site for personal training services just before the Internet boom – that he was headed into a breakthrough industry with online health and fitness. His side business soon surpassed that of his regular salary, and today Lee has fashioned a network of online affiliate programs for the fitness industry that has helped him achieve his financial aspirations and leave behind blueprints for others to follow.

At the age of 35, Cyd Syzmanski was single, working 18-hour
days and tending to 10,000-plus cage-free chickens. Having inherited the egg business from her family, Syzmanski toiled to keep her only source of income on its feet – and ultimately Nest Fresh grew into one of today’s prominent natural egg suppliers, topping $6 million in annual sales.

Matt Bacak began investing his first earnings at the tender age of 12, a young businessman in the making. Now, 15 years later, Bacak has survived failed businesses, botched partnerships, heavy credit card debt and bankruptcy – all in preparation for the accomplishments he has achieved today as a well-established Internet marketer and best-selling author.

Barbara Marcus never thought she was entrepreneurial material. When an opportunity emerged to buy into Parents in a Pinch, an in-home babysitting backup company, she couldn’t pass it up. After a giant step into the corporate world, Marcus continues to grow and improve her million-dollar business – without ever making a single cold call to date.

It took the despondency of a co-worker in a dead-end job for Greg Muzzillo to realize he needed to take the risk and start his own business in order to escape a similar future. Combining talents with a fraternity brother, Muzzillo launched Proforma, working as a print broker. The company went for gold when Muzzillo saw the potential for franchising his printing business and, in turn, made real the million-dollar dreams of many others.

An entrepreneur from the start, Richard Russakoff didn’t want the business world to control what he had to offer. As the son of owners of a small dry-cleaning company, Russakoff paved the way for his career as a successful strategic planner and CEO coach by means of his SURVIVOR program, an incomparable business model birthed through the hardships first endured by his family.

In one month, Paul Orberson made his first million-dollar check while working for a network marketing company. Today, as owner of Fortune Hi-Tech Marketing, his own international networking business, this small-town entrepreneur attributes part of his success to the lowest point in his career – a time when he struggled to pay the mortgage and put food on the table for his family.

Entrepreneurs never start too young. Patrick McKay was 10 years old and wanted to make a difference in other children’s lives. A black belt in Tae Kwon Do, this promising business kid created a self-defense video called “The Bully Factor” and continues to teach demonstration seminars to youngsters all across the country.