3 Inspiring Serial Entrepreneurs You’ve Never Heard Of

The term serial entrepreneur is now synomous with continual startups and acquisitions by Tech companies like Google but what about the serial entrepreneurs you’ve never heard of. The silent millionaires and billionaires staying out of the limelight and just building their business empires – getting results and making a difference.

Branson, Jobs, Gates… you’ve heard them before!

Here’s 3 Entrepreneur’s you’ve never heard of that we feel are noteworthy…

Eric Watson

Eric Watson - Serial Entrepreneur - Buy Business - Acquire Business - Sell BusinessBorn in Christchurch, New Zealand this global entrepreneur was listed as the 30th richest New Zealander with a wealth of $NZ220 million in 2011 by National Business Review.

He’s been married to New Zealand model Nicky Watson and is now the father of 2 children to Swedish model Lisa Henrekson

Originally a butchers apprentice, he moved into sales and then became a manager working for Xerox, he left in 1992 to buy a business, Blue Star Group, which just 4 years later he sold for US$68 million to a Publicly listed US based company.

Since that business he has followed the philosophy of Buy, Build, Sell religiously buying and selling numerous other businesses.

He now runs a private investment company that owns a 75% stake in the New  Zealand Warriors NRL team, a Lingerie company, a charitable trust and more.

 

Wayne Huizenga

Wayne Huizenga - Serial Entrepreneur - Buy Business - Acquire Business - Sell BusinessYou may have heard of some of his companies such as; Blockbuster video, Waste Management and AutoNation, but you likely haven’t heard of him.

Born December 29, 1937 this 76 year old has built not one, not two but three multi-billion dollar Fortune 500 companies and is responsible for six publicly listed companies on the New  York Stock Exchange. Huizenga has been a five-time recipient of Financial World magazine’s “CEO of the Year” award, and was the Ernst & Young “2005 World Entrepreneur of the Year”.

Starting his entrepreneurial career in 1968 Huizenga started Waste Management with a single garbage truck, building it into a Fortune 500 company by aggressively purchasing up independent garbage hauling companies. By the time Waste Management went public in 1972 he had completed 133 acquisitions of small-time garbage truck companies. By 1983 Waste Management was the latest waste disposal company in the United States.

His secret formula…. He bought, he built and he sold!

Blockbuster Video, originally started by David Cook in 1985 sold a Blockbuster Video franchise to Huizenga. In 1987 after overcoming his concerns with the Video industry Huizenga began buying up all the Blockbuster Franchises and even buying up competing chains too. Before long just as he had done with Waste Management Huizenga has built an video store empire that was the leading movie rental chain in the United States in 1994, allowing him to sell to Viacom for $8.4bn

In 1996 Huizenga began buying up auto dealerships and formed AutoNation to become the United States largest automotive dealer and a multi-billion dollar Fortune 500 company.

Huizenga continues to buy and sell stakes in various companies and sporting teams as well as providing large donations to Universities and Business Schools as his philanthropic way of giving back.

 

Michael Rubin

Michael Rubin - Serial Entrepreneur - Buy Business - Acquire Business - Sell BusinessOpening a ski-tuning business in his parents basement at age 12, Rubin started his entrepreneurial flair early. Before even graduating high school, Rubin had then acquired a chain of five ski-shops near his hometown to expand his business.

After building KPR Sports through the acquisitions of ski-shops, Rubin aged 23 went on to purchase 40% of a shoe company.

Since then, he’s headed a $130 million public company at 25, sold his e-commerce business GSI Commerce to eBay for $2.4 billion and most recently, made himself a billionaire running Kynetic, a conglomerate made up of three e-commerce companies that he actually bought back from eBay.

Now 40, Rubin spends his time with his girlfriend and his daughter.

 

Where does their secret lie? What’s their formula for success?

They follow the hidden formula. Buy – Build – Sell. They bought business, they built organically and through acquisition and they sold a business just as we teach and help our community do here at Business Builders Academy.

About The Author

Carl Taylor

Carl is the Author of Red Means Go! and founder of Business Builders Academy. He invests in and runs a number of businesses, and regularly teaches business skills through online training and live speaking events.