4 Successful Entrepreneurs And Their Story In Beautiful Miami
The fact that Miami is a wonderful city for investing comes as a surprise to no one; the diverse culture, the amazing weather and the business-friendly policies that offer the perfect environment for expansion, and promotion of a haven for investors and venture capitalists.
Miami’s diversity and Latin influence has earned the place the moniker “The Capital of Latin America”; a name that justly describes the flexible social hierarchy that has formed in the city, and the very few restrictions that presents compared to other urban settings, making it perfect for investing in flourishing business opportunities.
Like Miami, entrepreneurs here are anything but common. Let’s take a look at some lessons learned from expert entrepreneurs at The Magic City.
Hugh MacLeod - Gapingvoid
Hugh MacLeod is the Co-Founder and Creative Director of Gapingvoid, a company that has enabled him to continue achieving success as a cartoonist and artist without going down the traditional gallery or newspaper routes. The company focuses on helping other businesses inspire new thinking and transform their inner culture towards more efficiency and success in their performance. McLeod has been running a blog since 2001 and also selling his cartoons as fine art successfully, but years after working with advertisement, he wanted to start something different: a company that could affect change in business through art. MacLeod and his business partner Jason Korman (now CEO of Gapingvoid), started the business in 2008 and since have with a large number of companies like Microsoft and Rackspace to Goldman Sachs and Roche Pharmaceuticals. Gaping void prides itself in their ability to constantly change to be able to meet the needs of each client and continuously evolve to become better everyday.
http://gapingvoid.com/
Joel and Leticia Pollack - Panther Coffee
Coffee is serious business in Miami. Everyone who has visited the city knows this is the home of the “colada” and “cortadito”, both Cuban styles of pretty much drinking espresso on steroids. Joel and Leticia met in Portland, Oregon as he was working as a roaster and she was a barista. Their business began as a bicycle cart taking advantage of the food truck routes to sell their drinks alongside them, but they quickly realized this business model was not going to cut it and after overcoming some initial trepidation, they opened Panther in the Wynwood Art District. The response they got from the public was much better than anticipated. They took out loans and worked with Goldman Properties (a company trying to revitalize Wynwood) in an effort to make Panther what is it today: a cultural meeting place offering amazing coffee and with three locations in Wynwood, South Beach, and Coconut Grove.
http://www.panthercoffee.com/
Lauren “Lolo” Reskin - Sweat Records
Sweat Records is a Miami independent music store, café and event venue. Best friends Lauren Reskin and Sara Yousuf, both local DJ’s and music promoters, founded it back in 2005. Sara left in 2006 to be a full-time Public Defender and new partner Jason Jimenez came on board in 2007. Only 6 months after opening their first location, it was destroyed by Hurricane Wilma, forcing them to move to a smaller space and pretty much starting over. Sweat Records plays an important role to the local music scene and is committed to keeping alive traditions that are becoming more rare in a world of music downloads and increasing prices form the record labels. The profit margin on physical music is one of the smallest in retail and that’s why businesses such as Sweat Records, must offer more to its clients than just CD’s and Vinyl; a mission they have been maintaining since 2007 at their location with a multipurpose all-ages event space, a fully vegan coffee and treat bar, and cafe tables for users of the shop’s free Wi-Fi.
http://sweatrecordsmiami.com/
Andrés Moreno - Open English
Andrés Moreno has always had a passion for languages, taking advantage of the fact that he grew up in different countries and was exposed to their native tongues allowed him to become fluent Spanish, English and Portuguese. His own learning experiences frustrated him and gave birth to his idea of creating a better method for teaching. Moreno ended up leaving school six months before graduation and started Optimal English, a company that specialized in training executives at Fortune 500 companies to speak English fluently by working with young native English speakers. Moreno learned to identify speaking English as an instrumental tool to the world of business and risked it all to find funding in Silicon Valley to start Open English. Today his company is based in Miami due to its proximity to target markets and the quality of talent and lifestyle found in the city. Open English currently has more than 1,000 employees and $120 million of funding. It’s also considered the leading brand of English language education in several markets around the world.
http://www.openenglish.com/
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