These five entrepreneurs started their businesses very young and today have flourishing companies. What’s their advice for anyone who dreams of working for themselves?
D
London-born-and-bred Gefen began married life as a campus rabbi in California but soon found himself out of a job. He returned home to London with his wife and baby boy and took a job as a cashier at his father’s grocery store. But he wasn’t happy. “I found the work unchallenging” he says.
His wife pushed him to find something more suited to his talents so he went to Work Avenue a Jewish career-services organization in Britain where a business advisor shared an idea: virtual secretaries. He’d heard the trend was picking up steam in the United States and Gefen agreed it could be a growth area.
Gefen 25 at the time began calling everyone he knew to land clients. Eventually his company launched: Jet Virtual a telephone answering service that provides a remote full-time receptionist. Clients’ calls are diverted to a professional secretary who transfers calls takes messages and payments and manages schedules.
Building on his success Gefen then started Jet Virtual Offices a company that makes small businesses appear larger and more impressive than they are by allowing them — for a small monthly fee — to have a business address for meetings in locations such as Regent Street Wall Street Grand Central Station and Beverly Hills. (Gefen has agreements with the office owners in those locations and only pays per usage.) The idea was a spur-of-the-moment brainstorm. “When a client asks if you provide services the answer should always be yes. One day a client asked me if I offered virtual offices. I said yes while quickly googling to find out what that was!”
Create a free account to keep reading.
