Sole proprietorships allow individuals to easily start and maintain control over small businesses. Several famous companies like eBay, Kinko's, Annie's Homegrown, Apple, Starbucks, McDonald's, and Virgin Records began as sole proprietorships, with founders like Pierre Omidyar, Paul Orfalea, Ann Withey, Steve Jobs, Howard Schultz, the McDonald brothers, and Richard Branson respectively starting their iconic brands as small, sole proprietor-run operations. These examples show how successful companies can grow substantially from humble beginnings under a sole proprietorship structure.

1. Sole Proprietorship

2. Sole Proprietorship

4. E bay
• The eBay concept was launched by Pierre Omidyar in
response to difficulties his girlfriend encountered when
she was trying to sell old Pez dispensers and other
collectibles. Omidyar knew there was a huge
community of people interested in selling used
merchandise, and the Internet seemed like the logical
place to bring them together. Using his personal
webpage, he started a sole proprietorship with a
prototype called Auction Web in 1995. In a short
period of time, the company was incorporated and the
name changed to eBay. eBay went public in 1998- but
just three years earlier, it was a small, sole
proprietorship.

7. • Paul Orfalea, whose nickname was "Kinko"
because of his curly hair, founded the company as
Kinko's in 1970. Its first copy shop, which Orfalea
opened with a sidewalk copy machine, was in the
college community of Isla Vista, California next to
the campus of the University of California, Santa
Barbara.

8. • Kinkos is a good example of a business that
maintained a sole proprietorship business
structure throughout its expansion. Like many
startup leaders, founder Paul Orfelea opted to
launch Kinkos as a sole proprietorship. As his
company grew, he preferred to maintain the sole
proprietor structure rather than transitioning to a
corporate one, forming partnerships with
individuals throughout the nation. When the
company was sold to a private investment firm, it
consisted of 450 different partnerships.
Inconvenient? Maybe – but it's proof that you can
grow substantially using a sole proprietorship
business structure.

10. Annie’s Homegrown
• Ann Withey (co-creator of Smartfood popcorn)
launched Annie's Homegrown to make and sell
organic pasta, meals, and snacks. Despite the
company's success, she chose to operate it as a
sole proprietorship because it gave her the ability
to focus on the creative aspects of the company
as well as the flexibility to take new products to
market quickly. Annie's Homegrown eventually
went public in 1998, but their example illustrates
the benefits of a sole proprietorship for successful
small businesses.

12. • As it stands, Apple is one of the world’s most successful tech
companies, but did you know that it all started in a garage?
• Apple co-founders Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs met when they
were young and became friends when they realised that they had
a shared passion for electronics. After working together on a
project and proving to be a successful team, they had the idea to
create a personal computer that could be used at home. In 1975,
they set up shop in Jobs’ parents’ garage and began developing
the first Apple prototype, named Apple I.
• To raise the $1,350 capital they needed to launch the company,
Jobs sold his Volkswagen microbus and Wozniak sold his Hewlett-
Packard calculator. Together, alongside third co-founder Ronald
Wayne, they started selling the Apple I to hobbyists, which
generated enough cash for them to refine their design before
creating the Apple II in 1977.
• From its humble beginnings in that garage in California, Apple
grew to become a tech giant that continues to innovate and
inspire today.

15. • The first Starbucks opened in Seattle back in 1971 after being
founded by three former students of the University of San Francisco
– Jerry Baldwin, Gordon Bowker and Zev Siegl. But the menu back
then was very different to the coffee and baked goods that are
served now…
• The original Starbucks sold only the finest, fresh-roasted coffee
beans. The name, meanwhile, as Starbucks’ website states, was
inspired by ‘the romance of the high seas and the seafaring tradition
of the early coffee traders’.
• Eight years after it first opened its doors, Starbucks was bought by a
savvy former employee named Howard Schultz who had become
captivated with Italian coffee bars and the leisurely, nurturing and
communal experience they offered. After Schultz decided to try and
emulate that experience with Starbucks, the company started to sell
tea, coffee, and treats. Soon after, started to expand beyond the one
Seattle store.
• Today, Starbucks has over 32,000 stores in 80 countries, proving that
a strong vision, plenty of passion and a little re-direction can pay off!

18. • Yep, another famous business that turned successful after starting out
small is McDonald’s! The iconic fast-food chain was founded in 1940 by
two brothers in their 30s: Richard and Maurice McDonald. With big
dreams of becoming millionaires by the age of 50, they opened a tiny
drive-in restaurant in San Bernardino, California, where they served
slow-cooked BBQ food.
• Eight years later they realised that a huge percentage of their sales
came from burgers alone. They decided to introduce a new speedy
service system that focused on lowering prices and slimming their
menu down to just nine items – hamburgers, cheeseburgers, soft drinks
in three favours, milk, coffee, crisps (which were later replaced by fries)
and pie. Thus, the concept of the fast-food restaurant was born.
• Thanks to the change, the brothers very soon saw their profits double,
leading them to open a handful of franchises in California and Arizona.
In 1954, a milkshake mixer salesman named Ray Kroc became so
impressed by the operation that he bought the rights to the brothers’
restaurants across the country.
• In 1955, Kroc opened his own McDonald’s in Illinois before buying the
entire company from the brothers in 1961 for $2.7 million.

20. • Richard Branson is the epitome of the self-made
entrepreneur. At aged 16, he quit school to create a
youth culture magazine called ‘Student’, hoping it
would become the voice of young activists. Despite it
being filled with articles and interviews from
respected personalities, it never made any money
through readership, causing Branson to look for a
new venture to help support the magazine.
• In 1969, while Branson was living in the midst of a
thriving London music scene, he got the idea to start
a mail-order record company. Though it was only a
modest business at first, it made enough money for
Branson to expand. He opened a discounted record
store on Oxford Street and named it Virgin, due to
the entire staff (the same staff who worked on his
magazine) being dubbed as business virgins.

21. • From there his business grew, first into a successful
record label which went on to sign bands such as Sex
Pistols and the Rolling Stones, before expanding into
industries such as trains, mobile phones, banking,
bridal wear, gyms, air travel and many more.
• Branson himself says, ‘I didn’t set out to build a
business empire. I set out to create something I
enjoyed that would pay the bills.’ Branson is now a
billionaire, which is good going for someone who
dropped out of school and pushed on despite
inexperience and a lack of knowledge!
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22. • https://youtu.be/bDLOefC5mT8