Find your Mojo! There is something unique in you that needs to be unleashed for the world to become a better place. There is an innate ability deposited in you by the Higher Power that has the potential of revolutionalizing our generation. Find your mojo like Howard Schultz and you will build your own fortune 500 corporation.
Howard Schultz was born on July 19, 1953 into a poor family, his father was an ex-US Army trooper and latter a truck driver. At age 12, Howard got his first job selling newspaper and a stretcher of leather in fur store at age 16. He developed hard work skills at early age.
Schultz realized his disadvantaged family points from the perspective of providence and he fine-tuned his skills in sports which he found as a short cut for gaining academic relevance and economic survival. It is amazing how he developed sporting skills in baseball, football and basketball until he became the first person to attend college in his family with an athletic scholarship into Northern Michigan University; he graduated in 1975 with a bachelor degree in Communications.
This experience changed Schultz’s life and while young poor boys were roaming the street and doing drugs to survive, he planned a modest escape from poverty. While some young people of his age from poor homes were filled with trepidation, low self-esteem and no focus, Schultz found his winning mojo in tenacity and curiosity.
Having lived a tough, rough and tumble early years, Schultz middle age was filled with obsession for success , he exercised tenacity so much that in 1979, about three years after graduation, he became a general manager at Hammarplast, a drip coffee maker manufacturer. While working at Hammarplast, Schultz visited one of the clients-Starbucks coffee company in Seattle who had a huge plastic cone filter turnover and he was blown away at the opportunities that exist in the line of business and he staked all else to join the company as Director of Marketing in 1982.
At this point of Schultz life, he has developed keen sense to spot opportunities and passion to wheel his dreams to reality. Just as his visit to Starbucks drove his action to joining the company, his visit to Milan, Italy made him ‘innovate’ a new business line of the traditional espresso beverages which Starbucks owners rejected after a successful pilot test of the café concept. Howard was extremely consumed by his passion that he raised about $400,000.00 to open his own business along the line of his innovation in 1986.
In the process of time and two years after opening his own business, Schultz bought the retail unit of Starbucks for $3.8 million and boom, the business expanded geometrically until Howard Schultz was worth $3.0 billion as at August 29, 2016 according to Forbes.com and Starbucks had a market value of about $88 billion as at March 31, 2016 according to Fortune.com.
Howard Schultz is an example of a man who had a tough, rough and tumble early years yet rose to stardom. He is a model of rag to riches kind of life and his life is a book ready to give hope to young people especially those from poor background s and also courage to entrepreneurs who have been alienated for thinking out of the box.
In conclusion, Howard found his mojo and he developed his passion around his circumstances until he changed his life and his business. It is obvious from Howard story therefore that if you cannot get the vote to lead or innovate that company, create your own!