100 Cities. 100 Entrepreneurs. 9 Keys for Success. Main Street Entrepreneur offers a unique look at what it takes to create a successful and thriving business. Lifelong entrepreneur, business consultant and university professor Michael Glauser rode 4,005 miles in 45 days, spent 246 hours on a bike seat, climbed 165,748 vertical feet, and interviewed more than 100 entrepreneurs in 100 cities along the way to discover the secrets to entrepreneurial success. Glauser has distilled hours of interviews and research to present the nine keys for: • Building a purpose-driven business • Meeting important community needs • Developing a supporting cast • Working with a zealous tenacity • Giving mind-boggling customer service • Diversifying revenue streams • Giving back to the broader community • And ultimately, creating the lifestyle of your dreams Readers will learn how to achieve their own dreams and won’t need a 30-page business plan, venture capital, or an exit strategy. All they need to do is implement nine keys for success. Not everyone can build a Facebook, Google or eBay, but anyone with passion and tenacity can do what these entrepreneurs all across America are doing.

A 1999 biography of Charles Merrill, the founder of the world's largest brokerage and investment firm.

Describes alternative lending sources for small businesses, as well as traditional funding sources.

When Michael meets Harold in what he thinks is a chance encounter in downtown Chicago, this young, cocky entrepreneur has no inkling of the journey of self-discovery and growth he is about to embark on. This quest occurs over the course of several decades, after Harold takes Michael under his wing. Harold has been crowned "The King of Main Street," a title he has rightfully earned as one of the most successful businessmen to ever walk the earth. Harold instructs his protÉgÉ about the most valuable discoveries, insights and lessons he has learned during his life's journey. In turn, Michael learns what it takes for true success in living, business, mentorship and succession. Harold shows Michael that it is important in life for a man to leave a worthy legacy. But Harold also has much more in store for him than Michael could ever have imagined.

Small firms in Chicago employ more than 1.6 million individuals—nearly 50 percent of the private work force, according to a new study released this fall by the Small Business Administration. The survey, which defines small firms as those employing less than 500 people, also shows that these businesses generate 47 percent of the area's total receipts of $278 billion dollars. However, SBA statistics also reveal that, on average, of the small businesses starting today, 53 percent will not be in business four years from now. Of these closings, it's estimated that 15 percent will close due to business failures. Chicago businessman Jay Goltz understands what it takes for a small business to succeed. During the past twenty years he has owned and operated Artists' Frame Service in Chicago. Goltz started the business in 1978, and today it's the largest, custom retail picture framing facility in the world. Now, Goltz shares some his secrets of success.

The Business of Good narrates the story behind social entrepreneurship as told by the individuals compelled to create a change in the world--not just another business. Serial and social entrepreneur Jason Haber intertwines case studies, anecdotes, and initiatives that have become part of the larger narrative of entrepreneurship. From Main Street to Wall Street, today’s social entrepreneurs are rebooting capitalism, challenging the charitable industrial complex, and are disrupting the way companies do business with exciting innovations designed to solve society’s most vexing problems. In this book, Haber examines Capitalism 2.0, philanthropy, and the role and power of media alongside the world’s response as social entrepreneurship changes how we give, how we invest, and who we are.

The Great Recession threatened the well-being of tens of millions of Americans, dramatically weakened the working class, hollowed out the middle class, and strengthened the position of the very wealthy. Against this backdrop, the hit reality show Shark Tank premiered in 2009. Featuring ambitious entrepreneurs chasing support from celebrity investors, the show offered a version of the American Dream that still seemed possible to many, where a bright idea and a well-honed pitch could lift a bootstrap business to new heights of success. More than a decade later, Shark Tank still airs regularly on multiple networks, and its formula has sparked imitators everywhere, from elite universities to elementary school classrooms. In Entertaining Entrepreneurs, Daniel Horowitz shows how Shark Tank's version of entrepreneurship disguises and distorts the opportunities and traps of capitalism. Digging into today's cult of the entrepreneur, Horowitz charts its rise from the rubble of economic crisis and its spread as a mainstay of American culture, and he explores its flawed view of what it really takes to succeed in business. Horowitz offers more than a look at one television phenomenon. He is the perfect guide to the portrayal of entrepreneurship in business school courses, pitch competitions, popular how-to books, and scholarly works, as well as the views of real-world venture capitalists.