#He just thinks Steve was being dramatic about his lack of attention span when he tries to read | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

a-n-conrad · 5 years

Text

Flower Drawings (Steve Rogers x Reader)

[Summary: Soulmate au, everything you draw on your skin shows up on your soulmate, too. Your soulmate is feeling especially artistic right before you have to go to a formal event, hosted by your good friend, and professional nosy bastard, Tony Stark.]

It really wasn’t a big deal. I mean, you got drawings from your soulmate all the time. They were all very gorgeous, detailed drawings, and it really wasn’t odd for people to be walking around covered in drawings or notes. Anyone who hadn’t met their soulmate yet was still trying to find them, so they’d constantly be trying to communicate in ways that didn’t seem awkward or forced, and people who have already met their soulmate often leave them little notes or doodles.

So, obviously, having some drawings from your soulmate shouldn’t be a problem. That is if you weren’t friends with the number one tactless billionaire on the planet. There was no way that Tony Stark would see the half sleeve of intricate flower drawings, spanning all the way from your elbow to your wrist, and not insist on finding out everything he could about your soulmate, whether that meant getting the rest of the avengers involved or not. See, Tony insisted he was a matchmaker, and if he could find even the slightest hint of who your soulmate could be, he’d pounce on that situation before you could even attempt to distract him, because he wanted to be the one to introduce you to your soulmate.

That’s why when you first started getting drawings from your soulmate a few years ago, you did your best to hide them from Tony. It wasn’t hard, he was always busy with work, or with Pepper after they finally figured out that they were soulmates. And of course, that was also around the time that he got swept up with the Avengers, so he wasn’t around as much as he was before, and when he was it was usually pretty easy to wear something that would cover up any of the drawings, hoodies, flannels, and long-sleeved button-ups became a signature style of yours.

Of course, that was until tonight. Tony was hosting a charity ball and he had insisted that you come. Which was why Happy was at your door, begging you to come along, so he wouldn’t have to listen to his boss try to figure out what kind of odd situation was keeping one of his best friends from hanging out with him.

“I don’t know what to tell you, (y/n), he told me I’m not allowed back in the tower until you promise to come to the party tonight,” Happy explained, crossing his arms. You’re honestly not sure if that’s actually something Tony said or if Happy is just sick of dealing with your stubborn refusals.

“Well, I guess you’ll just have to head home, then. You’ve been meaning to take a day off, haven’t you?”

He made a face at you that you were honestly only used to seeing directed at Tony, “I swear, you’re almost as stubborn as him.”

You gasped dramatically, placing your hand over your heart in fake hurt. It was the sort of dorky theatrics you pick up after being friends with Tony Stark for as long as you have.

“Seriously,” He continued, not buying any of your earlier excuses “Why won’t you go?”

“Happy, come on, do you really think it makes any sense for me to be there? With the Avengers?”

“You’d fit in better than some of our other guests. Thor’s bringing his brother, and he tried to take over the world. Besides, you’ve gone to their movie nights before, they like you. ”

“Yeah, but Loki’s still got powers. He’s just far more interesting than me. And they get along with me. They don’t like me. I’m probably at the same rank as the girl that does coffee runs for Tony to them.”

“Pepper’s going to be there.”

“She’s Tony’s soulmate, and she’ll be far too busy with networking to spend time talking to me.”

“And you’re Tony’s friend. He wants you there.”

“Fuck,” you muttered, starting to feel a bit guilty about putting off spending time with Tony over your anxiety. You already didn’t get to see him as much as you used to without you selfishly trying to worm your way out of any event he’d be at, “Fine.”

“Wait, really? I had like another half hour of arguments.”

“Yeah, as long as I can find something fitting to wear. You know I don’t have a ton of nice clothes.”

“He knew you’d be worried about that.”

“Oh god, please tell me he didn’t buy me something stupidly expensive just for this.”

“You know he did.”

~ ~ ~ ~

Staring in the mirror wasn’t helping. You knew that someday you’d have to deal with your friend’s dramatic, drunk attempts at helping you find your soulmate, but you still weren’t sure that you were ready for that tonight. What would everyone else think of the host of the party loudly drawing the attention of the party to your soulmate markings? What would the Avengers think? They probably already think that you’re just an awkward nerd, who helps Tony with his tech on occasion.

Of course, the (f/c) dress that Tony had Happy bring you was beautiful, it had a gorgeous flowing skirt, and honestly seemed like it was designed to be exactly the dress of your dreams except for one thing. You couldn’t help but resent the dress’s lack of long sleeves. You had been stood in front of your mirror for almost twenty minutes after fixing up your hair and doing your makeup, just trying to figure out if there was any way for you to cover up your arms that wouldn’t look awkward, and after running through every option of jacket you had, you figured out that the answer was a firm no. You’d just have to go as you were and you were spending all of the extra time until Happy picked you up trying to give yourself a pep talk.

As if on cue, you hear a knock on the door to your apartment. With a resigned sigh, you made your way out to the living room. You paused at the door to give yourself another second, before opening the door to greet Happy.

“I do have to admit that Tony has pretty good taste in fashion. You look great, (y/n).”

You sigh and cross your arms uncomfortably in front of you, “Thanks, Happy.”

His eyes quickly dart to your arms, obviously drawn to the bright colors of the different flowers drawn across your skin, before a look of understanding slowly makes its way onto his face.

“That’s why you didn’t want to go, huh? You’re really that worried about him getting nosy?”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about, Happy.”

He rolls his eyes and nods, “Sure.”

It doesn’t take long before you make your way to the party, and it takes an even shorter amount of time to get in past the guards checking for invitations, despite the line about a block and a half down. They learned to recognize you a while ago, and always let you skip the line, whether you want to or not.

The room was already pretty full, not by the standards of a Stark party, but by your standards. Part of you was telling you to turn on heel and run, but you knew there was no way Happy would let that happen as he started guiding you through the crowd over to an even thicker crowd of people near the bar.

“Alright, Tony, here’s your delivery,” He said, as he pulled you into the center of the crowd, people moving out of the way once they realised what he was there for.

“(n/n)! I’m so glad you decided to come,” the familiar voice is already dripping with a slight amount of intoxication, which makes you immediately hide your arms behind your back.

“Decided is an interesting choice of words for that, Anthony, but sure. I guess I’m happy to be here.”

He rolled his eyes a little at your sarcasm, but still shot you a lopsided grin, before looking you up and down, “I honestly have to say I’m impressed. I did pick out a very nice dress for you, didn’t I?”

“It is very nice. I’m just curious how much of it was you and how much was Pepper.”

“Pepper helped with the color. I did the rest. You really think I don’t understand what kind of clothes you like by now?”

“I guess you’re right. If you didn’t know what to buy me by now I’d be a little disappointed,” You grin, “Anyway, where’s the rest of your crew? I thought they were supposed to be the main event.”

He laughs a little, “Not really, the media just went a little insane with advertising that they’d be here. Clint’s at some event with his daughter, Natasha’s out networking with Pepper, Thor and Loki haven’t gotten here yet, and Steve and Bucky are upstairs yet. Everyone else, aside from Peter, is around here somewhere.”

You blush a little at the mention of Captain America. You’d been crushing on him since the Avengers first got together. When Loki attacked New York, you were in the tower, since you were worried about Tony. You honestly would have died had a certain Captain not come to your rescue. At that point, you couldn’t help but be swept up in those gorgeous blue eyes. Though, you were sure he barely remembered it.

“Hey, Tony, sorry we’re late,” You hear a voice boom as a pair of men make their way over to the two of you, “I had to drag Steve out of his room.”

Steve shoots you and Tony a nervous smile as his companion says that, quickly going to fidget with his suit. You were so drawn in by the way his tie seemed to perfectly match the shade of blue of his eyes as you turned around that you almost didn’t notice Bucky as he walked over to join the two of you at your place at the bar.

“Hey, earth to (y/n),” You hear Tony break through your daydream.

Your head snaps around to look at him as he raises his eyebrows at you and pretends to wipe drool from his chin. You roll your eyes at him, and, failing to think of a way to subtly flip him off at a formal event, you opt to stick your tongue out at him like a child in an argument with their sibling.

Bucky chuckles a little at your interaction as he takes a seat near you at the bar and waves Steve over to join you, “So, doll, what’ve you been up to?”

You sigh, “Oh, honestly not a lot. I’m sure normal job things aren’t all that interesting to you guys.”

“Of course we’re interested in what you’re up to, (y/n),” Steve chimes in, in a tone of voice you’ve never heard him use before, only for him to quickly backtrack, “All we see all day is action, something normal is nice.”

This earns him an elbow in the ribs from Bucky, “What he means to say is we’d love to hear what you’ve been up to,” he attempts to save his friend.

You can’t help the awkward laugh as you start to awkwardly recount your recent activities. After a few nervous jokes between you, Bucky, and Tony, you slowly start to get more comfortable. Eventually all of you, including Steve, and joking around and laughing.

As you start to joke around, you make your way over to the seat next to Bucky and sit down, noticing that you’re starting to get a bit thirsty. The mistake you make is deciding to flag down the bartender to get a drink. Or, more specifically, flagging her down with the arm that is now almost entirely covered in flowers.

“Woah, woah, woah,” Tony cuts into the conversation, interrupting a story Bucky was telling about a fight Steve got into back in the old days, “What’s up with your arm?”

“Shit,” you mutter ask the three turn to look at you, quickly hiding your arm as best you can.

“Let me see,” Tony requests, somewhere between demanding and begging.

“Really, Tony, it’s fine,” You start, “Please, don’t do anything stupid. I really don’t need you to make a big deal about this.”

“Wait, what’s going on?” Steve asks, giving you a look reminiscent of a confused puppy.

“(y/n) has a full sleeve of soulmate marks and she’s refusing to show me,” Tony whines, pouting at you like a child trying to convince his mother to buy him sweets.

Bucky raises his eyebrows a bit and glances over at Steve, who shakes his head slightly. The kind of silent conversation that tells you that they definitely know something.

“You know,” Bucky starts with a smirk, “If you don’t show him, he’s just going to make an even bigger deal about it.”

Tony is quick to agree with Bucky, which is honestly a first, and it leads you to consider what he’s saying. Honestly, knowing Tony, he’s probably right. If you don’t just give in, odds are Tony will make some sort of dramatic scene and you’ll end up having to show him anyway.

“Fine,” you sigh, holding your arm out for the three of them to see.

The three of them stare down at the intricate, colorful flowers, the bright colors standing out against your skin. You nervously glace at the three of them to see their reactions.

“Flowers?” Tony seems intrigued as he grabs your arm to examine the artwork closer, “I guess they’re pretty good at drawing them, though.”

As Tony inspects each individual flower, you notice another silent conversation between the other pair. Bucky sends a look in Steve’s direction that you can’t quite decipher, and Steve looks down at your arm with a look that makes you a bit concerned that he might be sick.

The color drains from Steve’s face as he glances between the artwork on your arm and his best friend’s face. His eyes dart between the two a few times, before he tries to say something, only to choke slightly on his own words. He quickly clears his throat.

“Um, I’ll,” He starts to stutter out, “I’ll be right back.”

Before you can say anything, he runs off towards the elevator. By the time you start to process what just happens, he’s already on his way upstairs.

“Is,” You start, confused, “he ok?”

Bucky can’t seem to hide his disappointment, “I’m sure he’ll be fine. I doubt he wants to talk to me right now, though.”

“What the hell happened, Tin man?” Tony asks, finally letting go of your arm.

“Look, Stark, Steve’s not really great at these kinds of things, you have to give him a bit. He just got overwhelmed.”

“You mean he’s not good with parties?” you ask, a bit confused at the concept of The Captain America being overwhelmed by a crowd.

“Uh, sure, doll,” Bucky responds.

“Well, go get him. Thor should be here any second and I need all of you losers here for my speech,” Tony says, a bit frustrated at the new turn of events.

“I told you, he probably doesn’t want to see me right now. I’m sure I’m locked out of his room.”

“I can check on him, if that’d help,” You chime in, earning a look of surprise from Bucky, “I know a thing or two about getting overwhelmed.”

You see Bucky think about it for a second, before some sort of idea crosses his mind.

“You know what, I think that’d be a good idea.”

You nod and make your way over to the elevator, hitting the up button.

“Good evening, Ms. (y/n). How can I help you?” FRIDAY asks as the doors close behind you.

“Take me to the Avengers floor, please, FRIDAY.”

The elevator buzzes to life and starts to move quickly to the floor. The height of the building always made you nervous when you were there for movie night, especially when you thought about your “almost-fall” from the top floor during Loki’s attack, but right now you were far more focused on making sure Steve was alright.

Youwere still caught up in your worry when the doors to the elevator opened, and you were only brought back to reality when FRIDAY asked if you were alright.

“Yes, thank you, FRIDAY,” You respond, taking steps out of the elevator, “Where is Steve’s room, by the way?”

You start to walk as FRIDAY gives you directions, trying your best not to space out with worrying again. Soon enough, you’re standing in front of Steve’s door.

It takes you a little while to work up the nerve to knock. What if he didn’t want to see you? What if you were just annoying him? Weren’t you just being ridiculous to think you could help him? Captain America?

“Go away, Buck,” You hear his voice from inside the room. It sounds shaky, and almost a little sad.

“Are you alright in there, Steve?” You ask, trying not to ask too softly.

“(y/n)?”

“Can I come in?”

There was a pause, that while it felt like it lasted hours, honestly only lasted a few seconds, before you heard the bed creak and steps coming towards the door. You take a step back and soon enough the door opens.

The man standing in front of you, still in his suit, but now with the jacket off, looked a lot more nervous than the man you had just been joking around with only moments ago. Something about his face looked a little bit defeated and you had to use all of your will power to fight the part of you that just wanted to reach out and pull him into a hug.

“Hey.”

“Can I come in?”

He looks like he’s about to say no, but after a second, he takes a step to the side, inviting you into his room.

As you take a few steps in you start to glance around, noticing the very well done portraits hanging around the wall of the room. Along with the portraits of people you’ve never seen before, you notice a few familiar faces, including those of the Avengers. You can’t help but smile as you look at the amazing drawings of Tony and all of his friends. People you can’t even hope would consider you a friend as well.

“You’re a very good artist, Steve,” You say, absentmindedly making your way towards the bed to sit down.

“Uh, thanks,” He replies awkwardly, “I’ve had a while to practice.”

As you make it to the bed, about to sit down, you notice a spread of markers laid out across the bedspread. You look down at them in confusion, before looking back up at Steve, to find him awkwardly rubbing his arm, where you just now notice his now rolled up sleeves and the half-done drawings of flowers, added on to a strikingly familiar sleeve of flowers.

“I draw flowers when I’m nervous,” he explains, quietly.

“That’s why you ran?”

“Yes.”

“It’s that bad to be my soulmate?” You take a step back from him as he starts to walk towards you.

“What, no!”

You fight back tears as you try to duck past him towards the door, “No, it’s alright. You deserve better.”

“No, that’s not what I meant!” You attempt to keep walking away.

He curses under his breath, and grabs your arm, “No, (y/n), let me explain!”

“No, Steve, I get it. You’re Captain America, and I’m just some boring civilian. You could probably get just about any girl you want, so why would you settle for me?”

“Fuck, (y/n), I just don’t know anything about women, ok?”

You jump a little as he shouts, surprised by his sudden outburst of emotion. He quickly drops your arm when he notices what he just did.

“See?”

You notice his eyes drop to the floor and his shoulders sag. At that moment, every part of your brain screams at you to comfort him, but you’re too confused to actually do anything.

“Steve, what are you talking about?”

He looks up at you, obviously surprised you haven’t left yet, “I’ve been in love with you for years and every time I try to talk to you I can’t seem to act cool. Or even normal. I’m sure I blew my shot with you so long ago.”

“You absolute idiot,” You laugh a little as you say it, but Steve still looks entirely confused and a little bit hurt, so you continue to explain, “I’ve been in love with you since you saved me. Everything about you is just so… perfect. And not just in the Captain America way. You’re so sweet, and your awkward comments are honestly really cute. I just thought there was no way you’d ever care about someone like me. I’m probably the least interesting person you’ve ever met!”

“Wait, really?”

“Of course,” you respond, pulling him into a hug, knowing full well it would take a little bit yet before Steve was comfortable with anything else.

“So,” He starts to stutter out, “Would you like to go out to dinner with me sometime?”

You laugh a bit at his still awkward proposal, “Of course, love.”

“We should probably get back to the party, huh?”

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Thanks for reading! If you liked this, please check out my Ko-fi at https://ko-fi.com/anconrad and follow if you’d like to read more. Make sure to send me any questions you have!

#marvel #fanfic #steve rogers #steve rogers x reader #x reader fanfic #soulmate au #steve rogers soulmate au

215 notes · View notes

silentglassbreak · 5 years

Note

So like I know I literally already requested one but I love your writing so much that I had to request another 😍 Maybe have Billy help with Steve's anxiety by forcing him into his pool or have a sandelot scene wear Steve 'drowns' on purpose so Billy's mouth would be on his. Omfg I'm so sorry but like I haven't found anyone else who takes requests for harringrove and honestly it's a struggle 😭

HI! Please feel free to send me all the prompts your heart desires. This one went a little off from where I had originally intended it, so I hope you still enjoy it!

I included Robin, because don’t we just need her sometimes?

And BTW, you’re the L I T E R A L sweetest! No need to apologize!

A Reason To Fall Is Better Than No Reason At All

Steve was trying to remember why he let Robin talk him into coming to the pool today. The sun, beating about as brightly as he was sure it possibly could, made his skin sting angrily. The splashing sounds from the kids had his head running in different directions, ultimately distracting him from the real reason he didn’t want to be here.

“Agh, Steve,” Robin ripped her sunglasses off of her face, revealing a red line where they sat on her cheeks. “Would you quit moping? It’s the middle of summer, it’s our day off. Would you please just enjoy yourself?” His eyes glared in her direction. He stuck his bottom lip out, pouting childishly while crossing his arms over his chest.

“No.” She rolled her eyes and replaced her sunglasses.

“I honestly don’t know why you don’t just talk to him.” She went back to flipping through her magazine, eyes barely skimming the pages.

“Yes, you do know why.” Steve’s Ray Bans sat over his hair, pressing it down in, he was sure, the most unflattering way. He pulled them off and pulled his knees up to his chest, hooking his arms around them. His eyes constantly wandered to the lifeguard chair, where Heather Holloway was perched. Her shift ended in T minus ten minutes, and then his day was going to get so much...harder.

“It’s not my fault you’re too pussy to actually tell Billy how you feel.” Steve scoffed, tilting his head back toward the blinding sun.

“Sure! Why not?” He threw his hands up dramatically and dropped his voice to just above a whisper. “Hey Billy, did you know that I’ve been, like, insanely in love with you since you beat my face in last year? Oh, and also, I’ve stared at you in the shower so many times after practice that I damn near memorized all your freckles? How about that?” Robin’s nose was scrunched up, staring at Steve with a sort of disgust. She made a disapproving sound.

“Yeah, don’t fucking say that.” Steve let his body fall limp in the pool lounger, eyes moving over the kids’ heads in the water. He counted them off one by one in his head.

Mike. Lucas. Will. Eleven. Max. Dust-

Where was Dustin?

He stood to his feet instantly, moving over toward the edge of the pool, foot almost slipping underneath him. He crouched down next to where the boys were horsing around, evidently arguing over a game of chicken. His hand reached out and slapped the water, splashing Lucas and Mike.

“Hey, shitheads.” They turned and glared at him.

“What?” Mike’s voice always had this tone that made Steve wonder why he even tolerated him.

“Where’s Dustin?” They all started looking around, then back to one another. Will shrugged at Mike before Lucas looked up at Steve.

“I think he went to get a drink at the snack bar?” Steve rolled his eyes and stood back up, replacing his sunglasses on his face and marching toward the small store. He was looking back at Robin, who was eyeing Heather from over the lenses of her sunglasses when something, someone, crashed into his chest.

“Woah, Harrington.” Hands we’re grabbing his forearms, steadying him on the slippery cement. “Easy.” Steve pinched his eyes shut for a second behind his glasses before turning his head back. He almost didn’t recognize the boy in front of him.

Billy was almost as tall as Steve, falling short by maybe an inch. His dark black Aviators hid his ocean blue eyes, freckles spread generously over his face, down his neck, over his chest. Steve would know. But it wasn’t any of it that stunned Steve, it was Billy’s hair, or lack thereof.

Billy’s blonde curls always hung just above his shoulders, mullet-style, or in a low ponytail. When Steve looked at him now, it was just gone. He couldn’t breathe for half a second, a slow grin spanning Billy’s lips.

“You alright, princess?” Steve ripped his arms out of Billy’s hands, praying his eyes, blown wide, weren’t visible behind his sunglasses.

“Yeah,” he pretended to brush his shirt off. He didn’t even fall. He was an idiot. “yeah, the ground’s just...slippery.” Billy smirked, seemingly amused.

“That’s because it’s a pool.” The words came out slow, as if that’s what Steve was to him. He huffed and moved to walk past Billy, heart hammering through his chest. Billy let him go with one last glance in Steve’s direction, but he didn’t quite see that.

An hour into Billy’s shift, and Steve was quietly arguing with Robin, begging her to let him leave.

“I am not watching all of these children by myself, Steve.” He was cross legged on the lounger, turned toward her and gesturing way too much with his hands.

“It was your idea to come here!” She nodded her head, now watching as Heather dove into the pool near the lap barriers.

“Yes it was…” Her voice trailed off, eyes so obviously following Heather as she lapped back and forth in the pool. After almost a minute, Steve snapped in front of her face.

“Earth to lesbian!” She shot a glare at him. She slapped her magazine down on her legs and gave him her full attention.

“Yes, Stevie?” Steve furrowed his brow, hated when she called him that.

“He cut his fucking hair, Robin! I can’t stop looking at him!” She chuckled and threw her head back.

“Earth to closeted bi-Steve, who is admittedly in love with Billy Bad-Ass!” He frowned intentionally.

“You think you’re funny?”

“Oh, I know I’m funny.”

“None of this is funny! This is torture, Robs!” She rolled her eyes then, turning her body towards him.

“Then go,” She paused and grabbed his chin. “talk,” Turned his face toward the lifeguard tower. “to him.” Steve’s eyes stopped on Billy, shirtless, glistening, sunglasses pushed on top of his head, whistle shining around his neck.

Robin let go of his face and went back to her tabloid. “He’s into you too, by the way.” He felt like his heart stopped, maybe fell out of his chest somewhere near his stomach.

“He is not.” She scoffed, nodding her head curtly. “And how do you fucking know that?”

“Because when you were babysitting your children before, I might’ve chatted with Heather. They’re best friends, you know.” Steve’s mouth fell open. Her tone was teasing, but he couldn’t tell if it was because she was fucking with him, or providing him with information that she knew would make him do backflips.

“Please don’t screw with me like that, Robs.” She threw her head back, frustrated.

“You are absolutely incorrigible, Steve Harrington.” He glanced back at Billy, whose eyes were expertly trained on the pool and the patrons, waiting for a slip of misbehavior, an excuse to blow his whistle.

“Are you being serious?” She just hummed, flipping to the next page. “Alright.” Steve gripped the edges of the chair, knuckles going white. “Fuck it, I’m going to go talk to him.” Robin ripped her glasses off and looked at him.

“Seriously?! What are you going to say?”

“Robin!” She sat back, hand going up defensively.

“Okay, okay.” She nodded at Steve, lips in a hard line. “You’ve got this, Steve Harrington. You‘ve got this.” He nodded in agreement, his body standing off the lounger. Before he could walk away, his gut twisted and he turned quickly.

“Fuck, what do I say?!” She chuckled.

“I honestly don’t know.” She waved him off and looked off toward Heather. “Pretend to drown or something.” He shrugged, squeezing his eyes shut and taking a long, deep breath. He could do this. He could do this.

His body moved, almost involuntarily, and much too quickly toward the lifeguard chair on the other side of the pool. He ran over conversation starters in his head.

‘Hey, heard you like me. Want to get something to eat?’

‘Funny seeing you here, Hargrove. Want to make out?’

‘I’m in love with you, let’s fuck in the bathroom.’

He was only about ten feet from him now, and he had yet to find an acceptable way to even say hello to Billy, let alone confess his love. He didn’t need to that very second, right? He had time. Maybe ask him out for ice cream? He had plenty of access. Offer him a ride to Tina’s party tonight? Tell him he wanted to just hang out? One of those should work.

Steve’s head was so muddled, so distracted that he didn’t even see it, the discarded pair of sandals on the edge of the pool, wet and even slicker than the cement, until his foot kicked out from under him, head cracking on the edge of the pool. He heard someone yell, and he felt the searing pain just before he went into the water.

Luckily, Steve fell into the shallow end of the pool, legs catching him quickly, only most of his hair getting wet. Suddenly, he couldn’t quite remember his train of thought. He was headed somewhere, to talk to someone, but his eye was stinging from the blood streaming into it, and his forehead was throbbing.

His left eye shut reflexively, his hand reaching up to feel an open cut just under his hairline. When he pulled his hand back, his fingers were red and sticky. The sight made his stomach turn a bit, enough to make him want out of the pool and to sit down.

“You alright, pretty boy?” He looked up with one eye, fighting against the sun’s rays, to see him crouching next to the pool. “You need CPR?” Billy’s grin was genuine, but he was definitely fucking with Steve. He returned it with a nervous smile of his own, making his way to the edge of the pool. Billy held his hand out to Steve, helping him hoist himself up onto the edge and out of the water.

“I think I’ll be alright.” He noticed Heather standing behind Billy, eyes searching Steve’s face.

“You sure you’re alright? Do you need us to call an ambulance?”

“No!” Steve nearly shouted. As if this wasn’t embarrassing enough. “No, thank you. I’ll just clean up in the restroom.” She gave him a half smile. His eyes found Billy’s face, who was wearing a smirk that had some kind of meaning.

“Yeah, I think he’s fine Heaths. I’ll go get him cleaned up, and get him a fresh shirt.” Steve looked down at his white shirt, blood now staining the left side of his chest. Perfect. “Cover for me for a few?” She just nodded sweetly at him and patted Steve on the shoulder.

Billy’s hand guided him by the wrist toward the building behind the pool. They went through a door that read ‘Employees Only’, leading to a locker and shower room. Billy sat Steve down on a bench in front of his locker, fingers working the combination.

“Sorry, about this.” Billy snorted a laugh.

“Did you mean to do it?” Steve shook his head, disbelief on his face.

“No,” It came out as almost a chuckle. “definitely not.”

“Then don’t apologize.” Steve leaned his head back and shut his eyes, wishing he was anywhere else. Before he opened them, he felt Billy’s fingers brushing his hair off his forehead. When he looked, Billy held a cotton swab in one hand, some strip stitches in the other. “This shit’s going to sting.” He didn’t give Steve a chance to protest before he pressed the alcohol dipped swab to his cut, exciting a hiss from between Steve’s teeth.

It only took a few minutes before Billy had him cleaned up, blood gone from his face, cut closed and sterilized. He tossed a lime green shirt at Steve, taking the bloody one and shoving it in his locker.

“I’ll get the blood out and give it back.” Steve raised an eyebrow. “I know a thing or two.” He shook his head and unfolded the shirt. Billy leaned back against the lockers, eyes glued to Steve, moving up and down his body while he fiddled to find the front of the t-shirt.

“You know, Harrington, if you had wanted to get my attention, you could’ve just talked to me.” Steve froze, arms halfway in the sleeves, eyes stuck on Billy’s face.

“What?” His voice was so small, he almost didn’t hear it himself. Billy’s chest shook with a silent laugh.

“I mean,” He pushed away, moving into Steve’s space. “injuring yourself, just to get me to notice you? That’s kind of ridiculous, isn’t it?” Steve wanted to scoff, wanted to roll his eyes, wanted to do something. But he couldn’t, Billy was too close, breath too hot on his face.

“I didn’t-“ But Billy was quick, grabbing Steve’s arms, and pressing him against the lockers. Steve let out an exasperated sound.

“If you wanted my mouth on you, Steve,” His name rolled off Billy’s tongue like butter. “you should’ve just asked.”

He was on fire, on actual fire. Steve swallowed the lump forming in his throat, brewed as much confidence as he could, and…

“I’m asking.”

Billy growled then, lips catching Steve’s like a lion catching its prey. The kiss was hungry, desperate, everything Steve fucking needed. He tried to stop himself, but a low moan escaped when he felt Billy’s tongue lick past his lips, into his mouth. His arms dropped the shirt down, hands reaching up to grab the back of Billy’s neck, pulling their bodies closer. There was too much fucking space between them.

Billy’s lips trailed down Steve’s chin, biting lightly at the jawline, leaving wet kisses down onto his neck. He was going to stop breathing if Billy kept this up.

“Jesus Christ, Steve, I told you to pretend to drown, not to actually-“ Robin’s voice echoed off the walls before stopping short. Their heads both whipped toward her, eyes dark and hungry.

Steve gave a nervous grin and offered a short wave. “Hey Robs.” Her voice was much quieter then.

“H-Hey. Sorry, didn’t mean to-“ Billy took a step back from Steve and he immediately felt the absence. Billy padded over to the door, smiling all sugar and irritation before pushing to close it.

“Bye Robs.” He called before letting the latch click, hand turning the deadbolt. His eyes looked back to Steve, all fire.

“Now, where were we?”

#harringrove #ff #fic request #prompt #steve harrington #billy hargrove #stranger things #the fluffiest of fluff

78 notes · View notes

itsfinancethings · 4 years

Text

New story in Business from Time: McDonald’s CEO Chris Kempczinski on Changing Consumer Behavior and the Future of Those Ball Pits

(Miss this week’s The Leadership Brief? This interview above was delivered to the inbox of Leadership Brief subscribers on Sunday morning, Aug. 2; to receive weekly emails of conversations with the world’s top CEOs and business decisionmakers, click here.)

When Chris Kempczinski was appointed CEO of McDonald’s last November, he was replacing a successful but flawed leader. His predecessor, Steve Easterbrook, was credited with revitalizing the global fast-food behemoth; during Easterbrook’s nearly five-year tenure, annual net income grew 33%, to more than $6 billion in 2019, and the company’s stock price doubled. But Easterbrook was fired for having a consensual affair with an employee, a violation of company policies. As if stepping into the top job unexpectedly—Kempczinski had been running McDonald’s USA at the time of his promotion—weren’t challenging enough, he’s spent the bulk of his first year as CEO managing through a global pandemic. While McDonald’s in the U.S. has remained open since COVID-19 hit, the accompanying economic turmoil has taken a toll on business. In addition, some McDonald’s workers have recently gone on strike, protesting the company’s safety procedures, benefits and pay policies.

Just hours after McDonald’s had released what Kempczinski, 51, called possibly the “worst” quarterly results in the history of the company—sales dropped 24%—the CEO joined TIME for a video conversation from his Chicago home. One of the factors that impacted the company’s bottom line for the quarter was 12 million free meals it donated to frontline workers during the pandemic, at a cost of $30 million to $40 million. Kempczinski discussed with TIME how consumer behavior is changing as a result of the pandemic, allegations of sexual harassment at McDonald’s restaurants, and de-escalation training for employees who encounter customers who won’t wear masks.

Subscribe to The Leadership Brief by clicking here.

This interview with McDonald’s CEO Chris Kempczinski has been edited and condensed for clarity.

What’s your outlook for the public-health picture going forward?

One of the things that we’ve been saying to our team is that until there’s a vaccine that’s been widely distributed, we’re going to be in this period of regional hot spots that keep flaring up. Everything that we’re seeing right now suggests that that is going to be the pattern for probably the next year.

What is the status of your U.S. outlets?

They never shut down. One of the things that happened early on is that the government at the federal level basically denoted which businesses they viewed as essential businesses. McDonald’s and restaurants were deemed an essential business, and as a result, we were allowed to stay open, albeit in most cases with drive-throughs only. So with 95% of our restaurants in the U.S. have a drive-through, the vast, vast majority of our restaurants stay opened.

How has the pandemic affected your breakfast business?

Breakfast has definitely been the most impacted day part. If you think about breakfast, lunch and dinner, breakfast is most susceptible to people not going to work. We did some work, looking at cell-phone data and tracking mobility: what we saw in the mobility data was consistent with what we saw in the restaurant, which is essentially that people moving around was down dramatically in the mornings.

I was surprised to learn how extensive your delivery business is, approaching $4 billion in revenues.

We have a very robust and fast-growing delivery business. Over the last several years, it’s been a significant growth driver for us.

Going forward, will delivery play an increasingly large role in your business?

I think it will. What we’ve seen is, even in markets that kind of get back to quote-unquote a more normal situation, delivery usage tends to stay elevated. And it’s not just unique to restaurants. There’s kind of a macro trend that customers like the convenience of getting delivery at home.

Any other consumer behavior shifts?

The other thing that we’re seeing is the whole notion of contactless is going to be one of the enduring things that stays with us after this pandemic. Whether that is mobile-app usage or using kiosks to do ordering or doing delivery, customers seem to be increasingly preferring service channels that minimize contact with other people. I think that that is something that is going to be enduring.

What do you see the McDonald’s experience looking like in five years?

I think in the U.S., you’re going to continue to see drive-through and delivery be important parts of it. But I don’t think dine-in is going away. I think there’s still this kind of fundamental human need to socialize over food with other people, and so I think that behavior will still exist. It won’t be as pronounced as it was, but it will still be there.

Will you ever build a ball pit again?

There’s probably some good public-health reasons not for us to be doing a lot of ball pits.</span><span style="font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Oxygen-Sans, Ubuntu, Cantarell, 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif;">[Laughs.] I don’t know if we’ve got ball pits in our future. There’s probably some good public-health reasons not for us to be doing a lot of ball pits.

You’re requiring masks starting Aug. 1. What are the consequences for not wearing masks? Recently, an employee was assaulted in Oakland, Calif., after asking a customer to put on a mask.

We’re trying to strike a balance here. There’s certainly a public-health need for people to wear masks. There’s also situations out there, [where employees are] having to police the wearing of the mask. We’ve trained all of our restaurants how to handle or de-escalate those types of situations. But ultimately if a customer is not willing to wear a mask, that is where we encourage our crew to call law enforcement and let them deal with it. We don’t want to have our crew being put in a situation where their safety is somehow being put at risk by policing this. But I think the vast, vast majority of the customers out there recognize the importance of wearing masks.

TIME for Learning partnered with Columbia Business School to offer a series of online, on-demand classes on topics like effective leadership, negotiation and customer-centric marketing. To sign up or learn more, click here.

But what does it say about our society that restaurant workers, many of them teenagers, have to be taught de-escalation training?

For a long time, McDonald’s has in our communities played a larger role beyond just serving food. In many cases, we’re the town square. We’re the community center. We’re less comfortable or excited to be a policing entity. We have different times and different places that we get put into situations like that, whether it’s homeless who are trying to use our restaurant as a place to wash up or whatever. Or we have incidences that periodically occur where people have drug overdoses.

The whole parade of humanity.

When you serve 70 million people a day, which is what we do globally, what you tend to see in McDonald’s is what is happening in society at large. And so, we do the best we can with our crew to make sure that they’re able to serve our customers, but ultimately we have to make sure our crew are safe and so we don’t want to be putting them in situations where they’re in harm’s way.

Has the pandemic led to any supply shortages?

One of the things that’s been remarkable for us is through this whole pandemic, we haven’t had a single supply break on food, packaging, cleaning materials, etc., which is pretty extraordinary. In the U.S. in particular, there were some issues, about six weeks ago or two months ago, with beef shortages being of particular concern. I’m happy to tell you, those never impacted us. They impacted some of our competitors. There were industry supply pressures earlier around proteins. Those have let up, and throughout McDonald’s didn’t have any problems with it.

I’m guessing if you’re a McDonald’s supplier you are going to make sure that is one order that gets filled without fail.

We have made a point similar to that on a few different occasions.

Subscribe to The Leadership Brief by clicking here.

Has there been one menu item that has gained in popularity in recent months?

The surprising thing is that in the pandemic, consumers are gravitating back to our core menu. You’re seeing it in grocery-shopping behavior where these brands that in some cases people have viewed as, years ago I used to eat soup, and now all of a sudden people are eating soup again. You’re seeing a similar desire for trusted favorites … Big Mac, Quarter Pounder, french fries. They’re less willing to be trying new things. They’re less likely to go out there and try some fancy new burger at McDonald’s.

Are you happy with your menu offerings?

Our menu is a very democratic process; whatever the customer wants is what I want on that menu. If it’s not something that the customer wants, it’s not on our menu. I get asked quite often, Why isn’t this on the menu? Why isn’t that on the menu? And my short answer to all of those is because it didn’t sell enough. We are completely agnostic. We will put on whatever sells.

Beyond a hankering for the old favorites, any shifting tastes?

I do think one thing that is a global trend that we’re also seeing in the U.S. is protein consumption is shifting from beef to chicken. We’re paying attention to that in a number of markets again because consumption patterns are changing.

Last year, in fast food, it was the year of the chicken sandwich. But the Washington Post declared you late to the game and was pretty harsh about your offering, calling it “an amalgamation of various spare parts, lying around the company garage.” Snap!

That’s the great thing about working at McDonald’s, you never lack for attention. We always will get different perspectives. But we’re certainly working on ways that we can update and upgrade our chicken offering in the U.S. Suffice to say we will continue to be competing and innovating in chicken. And I’m sure we’ll continue to be getting critiques about how we’re doing.

You’re still working on your chicken-sandwich formulation?

Well, I don’t want to get too into revealing competitive secrets, but I think we are feeling good about where we’re at, and we look forward to bringing the customers some more innovation in chicken.

Given the environmental impact, should people even be eating meat at all?

It’s not our job to tell people what they should or shouldn’t be eating.</span><span style="font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Oxygen-Sans, Ubuntu, Cantarell, 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif;">Well, that’s a larger question that I think is not for McDonald’s to answer. That’s for consumers to answer. If consumers decide they don’t want to eat meat and they want to eat something else, we’ll serve that. It’s not our job to tell people what they should or shouldn’t be eating.

I understand you’re a marathon runner. How much McDonald’s food is part of your diet?

I eat it five days a week, twice a day. I have it every breakfast and lunch five days a week. I eat a fair bit of McDonald’s. I know my way around the menu pretty well. So I have my days that I’m going to eat healthy, and then I have my cheat days. And the great thing about our menu is you can do both.

What is your healthy go-to order?

If you’re talking breakfast, my healthy go-to order would be getting an Egg McMuffin sandwich with no bacon on it. And I might with that get either a cup of coffee or a small Diet Coke. And that’s typically all I’ll eat for breakfast. Lunch, it could be a salad. It could be our filet of fish with no tartar sauce on it. Double ketchup. Or it could be, if it’s a cheat day, it could be the Quarter Pounder.

The CDC says one-third of Americans are obese and frequent fast-food consumption has been shown to contribute to weight gain. You talk a lot about values. And I know you’re serving customers what they want. But how do you reconcile that with the fact that a Double Quarter Pounder with Cheese and a large chocolate shake account for more than three-quarters of total recommended daily caloric intake, heavy on the sodium and saturated fat?

Our philosophy is that it’s ultimately the customer’s choice. We do disclose all of our nutritionals, and so it is prominently featured on the menu. It’s prominently featured on the app if you were to order. Essentially any of our order channels, you can see what the nutritionals are. And then a customer will make those choices that they need. For us, our obligation is to make sure we’re giving the customer all the information that they need, and ultimately they’ll decide what they want to do.

I understand that it’s not an urban myth, that there are specific reasons why Coke does taste better at McDonald’s. Can you tick off a few?

We have a very tight and special relationship with Coke. And it’s in our mutual best interest for us to have the best-tasting Coke in McDonald’s. One of the things that is helpful and why we have such a great-tasting Coke product is because of our volumes. We have in the back of our restaurants these tanks that essentially allow us to have a better mixing process in our restaurants between the syrup and the carbonated water than what someone else is able to do.

And there’s some adjustment of the sweetness to compensate for melting ice?

We have a process with Coke, where we have what we would call a gold-standard product. And we work with Coke to make sure that what is ultimately coming out of the fountain machine and into a customer’s cup reflects the gold standard. And that does entail tweaking, when needed, the sweetness.

Could you talk about how you follow a talented leader who was also very human? How do you approach that? At the town hall after you were named CEO, you talked about how emotional that was for you.

Part of what I tried to do is just to start with being honest with people and authentic. And I didn’t try to wrap it in any kind of corporate speak or euphemisms or anything like that. I mean I tried to just speak pretty openly about how I felt, which was conflicted because on the one hand, I considered Steve a friend. He brought me into the company. He supported me. But on the other hand, Steve made a mistake, and he made a mistake that CEOs shouldn’t be making. So have that trove of emotions that you do in any situation where someone does things that surprise you, disappoint you. Steve was at the company for 20 years. So there were a lot of friendships that were built, but also by the same token, I know there were a lot of people very upset and disappointed.

The Nation just published a detailed article describing a culture of sexual harassment at many McDonald’s outlets. Does McDonald’s have a sexual-harassment problem in the restaurants?

Anytime I hear about one of those situations, it’s disappointing to me because it flies totally in the face of what we stand for as a business. We stand for diversity, inclusion. We want to be a place that everybody feels welcome and that they’re treated based on their abilities and their contribution. Not for anything else.

What’s management’s role in responding?

It’s our job to take action and make sure that whatever were the conditions for the situation that led to that, that we deal with it very quickly. And also part of my obligation as CEO is to set the tone at the top. And I’m spending a lot of time just making sure that people understand my expectations around values. People understand my expectations about speaking up if they see anyone deviating from those values and giving them the confidence that if they do that, they’re going to be protected and that we’re also going to deal with it swiftly. And that’s what I think we have done, and that’s certainly what I’m going to continue to do as CEO.

Can you address the recent employee strikes over sick days, health care, personal protective gear and wages?

I think all of those in light of the pandemic make a ton of sense in that people are very worried about their health. They want to make sure that when they go to work that they’re going to be protected. I don’t think any of us—myself included—want to be in a situation where you’re having to decide between your health and going and getting a paycheck. One of the misconceptions is that somehow or another through this pandemic, McDonald’s workers haven’t been able to get sick pay. The vast, vast majority of our restaurants are offering sick pay to crew working in the restaurants right now. In the vast, vast majority of restaurants, people aren’t having to make that trade-off between safety and getting a paycheck.

And personal protective equipment? Do you feel the company is doing a good job in supplying that to workers?

Yes. We have global safety standards, and one of those is that crew are required to wear PPE in the restaurants. So that’s a face mask, that’s gloves. We ask the crew, and there’s a whole set of procedures around washing hands every hour. And if you look at the infection rate in our restaurants relative to the general population, we typically are better than the general population. So it doesn’t mean that we’re complacent about it. But I think we’re doing a nice job of keeping our crew safe.

One of the first things you did as CEO was change advertising agencies to Wieden + Kennedy. How involved are you in the advertising?

Let me put it this way, my team hopes I’m never involved in the advertising piece. When I’m involved in the advertising, it usually means there’s a problem. Or that something is not maybe as good as it needs to be. So I would say like most things in my job, I’m usually not involved until there’s a problem, and then I get heavily involved.

I’m Interested in those 15-second spots that focus on ingredients with the wonderful Scottish actor Brian Cox from Succession. He doesn’t seem like the most obvious choice for McDonald’s voice-over work.

You’re always trying to find something that is arresting or grabs your attention. That’s always a challenge in advertising. How do you get someone to pay attention? And in many cases, it’s that little bit of that odd juxtaposition that creates interest. To have his voice, which people either unconsciously or consciously know who he is, juxtaposed with the ingredient—there’s something unique and kind of makes you pay attention to that, and that’s why I think it worked.

Your mother was a kindergarten teacher. Do you ever have a bad day and go home and think I basically have the same job?

[Laughs.] That feels like a very dangerous question for me to answer. I would just say that I feel like I have an opportunity to build the future in a very good way for the company. So like my mother as a kindergarten teacher, she’s looking at the future, I feel like my job is to look at the future as well.

KEMPCZINSKI’S FAVORITES

BUSINESS BOOK: Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman

AUTHOR: I do love Philip Roth on the serious side. He was a phenomenal, phenomenal writer. My guilty pleasure is tabloid journalism: TMZ, the Daily Mail, Page Six. I can give you the latest and greatest on all the happenings.

EXERCISE: I like sports. I’m good at none of them, but I love all of them.

APP: Outside of the ESPN app, Google Maps is a phenomenal app. I use that one for everything.

Subscribe to The Leadership Brief by clicking here.

from Blogger https://ift.tt/39NbCQx via IFTTT

#IFTTT #Blogger

0 notes

trendingnewsb · 7 years

Text

How to Be Successful? The Stories of These 15 Entrepreneurs Can Give You Some Ideas

Passion, motivation, the desire to take risks and confidence. These words define an entrepreneur. Perhaps these words makes you envision Steve Jobs and his black turtleneck. Maybe you see the iPhone as one of the most important ideas of all time. Or maybe when you think about an individual who brought a unique idea to the world and worked tirelessly until it changed life as we know it, you picture Thomas Edison.

Both Jobs and Edison are deserving of the Influential Entrepreneurial title, because both men impacted the world with new ways to communicate. But when I ask you to think of some of the most influential entrepreneurs in the last hundred years or so, would you have trouble listing more than two? Read on to learn about 15 of the most influential entrepreneurs.

15 Most Influential Entrepreneurs of All Time

Henry Ford

Ford was born into a family of farmers, but he was always curious as to how things worked. After receiving a timepiece from his father as a teenager, Ford took the thing apart just to see if he could put it back together. Though Dyslexic, Ford knew he had a passion about knowing how things worked, and he was determined to do something about it.

In 1891, Ford met with Thomas Edison (who was very intrigued by his auto-mobile ideas) who allowed him to use his warehouses to manufacture two vehicles. When he could, Ford built his own company so he could build the cars how he wanted to. Ford went on to build the Cadillac Automobile company, but he had terrible financial setbacks along the way. He believed in himself and didn’t let financial failures slow him down. Sales for the Ford group are now $190 billion.

Oprah Winfrey

Winfrey may be a household name because of her show and her magazines, but she’s accomplished so much more. After facing a tragic childhood and being very vocal about things she had experienced, Winfrey would gain fame in 1983 when she landed her own talk-show. While she was happy with the fame and financial success she was experiencing, she still had entrepreneurial skills. In 1988, she founded Harpo Studios. This business now has over 250 employees and is growing every year. Her personal wealth sits at a comfortable $2.7 billion.

Larry Page

At just 37 years old, Page has a net worth of $15 billion! He’s the co-founder of Google. His parents were both computer science professors at the University of Michigan. He came from a wealthy family, so he was able to attend the best schools in order to complete his degree in Computer Engineering Sciences. He also earned a Masters in Computer Science from Stanford before meeting Sergey Brin in 1995.

Brin was also a Stanford student, and the two became friends. In 1996, they went into business together and started Google Incorporated. Through networking, they were able to get financial backing from Andy Bectolsheim, one of the co-founders of Sun Microsystems. They would go on to be offered much more from tons of investors.

Richard Branson

Branson is a well-known British Industrialist, and you’ve probably seen him on commercials for the Virgin Group’s Virgin Atlantic Airways. Virgin Group spans across 360 different companies including Virgin Records, Virgin Galactic and even some charities. Branson was always of an entrepreneurial mind, as he started his first business venture in 1966 with Student Magazine. The next year, he opened his first charity, The Student Advisory Centre.

He is heavily involved with all aspects of his company, which helps make him such a success, and part of why he’s on this list. He didn’t stop as soon as he was successful, he continued to work hard because he cares about the work he’s doing.

Ariana Huffington

Huffington was born in Athens, Greece in 1950 and is now one of the most professional and successful females within the blogging industry. Along with blogging, Huffington also wrote a biography on Maria Callas in 1981, and Picasso in 1989. She gained more attention in the early 90’s when she supported her ex-husband’s unsuccessful bid for the Senate.

Always driven, she later founded the Huffington Post. This has spanned and grown and you may also recognize HuffPost Chicago, HuffPost New York, HuffPost Denver, and HuffPost Los Angeles. In 2010, she won the Webby award for the People’s Voice, and she was even named the second place winner in Time Magazine’s Best 25 Blogs of 2009.

Charles Kemmons Wilson

Wilson is one of the most famous entrepreneurs in the hotelier business. Supposedly, he came up with the idea for his business after a road trip helped him see the need for quality hotels. He and his business partner created Holiday Inn of America. It franchised in 1957 and grew dramatically. In fact, by 1958, Wilson and Johnson had managed to create 50 different Holiday Inns all over the country. In just five years, there were 500! And just after a decade, that already impressive number would double to 1000.

Wilson was a true entrepreneur, as he brought innovative ideas to the market which helped leverage the way things worked as well as adding financial pressure to traditional hotels and bigger competitors.

Anita Roddick

Roddick created the Body Shop in 1976 with only 15 products and loads of compassion. She had sourced the products from all around the world and was determined to give shoppers in the UK access to “Greener” products. She was so motivated and passionate about what she was doing, she was able to open store after store. As of 2003, she had built an empire of 1,980 stores serving more than 75 million customers in 50 countries. She sold her company to L’Oreal and made $1.03 billion on it.

Jeff Bezos

Born in 1964, Bezos is the founder, chief executive officer and Chairman of the Board for Amazon.com. Bezos started as an Exxon engineer, but he had always been interested in science. He received an honorary doctorate in science and technology from Carnegie Mellon University in 2008 and graduated from Princeton. In 1994, after a trip from New York to Seattle, Bezos came up with the idea for Amazon. He was able to get backing and now Amazon is one of the most successful e-commerce sites in the world with a revenue of about $25 billion.

George Eastman

You’ve probably heard of Kodak, but you probably haven’t heard of Eastman, even though he was the man who made it all happen. He founded the company in 1884, but he was more interested in creating than running the business. He hired Henry Strong as the president and in 1885, Eastman invented the roll film which was used for over 100 years.

Penny Streeter

Streeter was born in Zimbabwe in 1957, but she moved to the UK in the late eighties. After launching a recruitment business, she was left broke and homeless due to its failure. To add to her troubles, she was faced with a divorce at the same time.

Six years later, she decided she had nothing more to lose and started a recruitment business once more. This time, she created Ambition 24Hours and it sought to fill roles in nursing, social work, teaching, lecturing, and care-giving. In 2004, the company expanded into South Africa and in 2006, she made her first noticeable acquisition; the nursing services of South Africa. This was the largest staffing agency for nursing personnel. Streeter went from being broke to having a net worth of $117.80 billion.

Linda Bennett

Bennett truly worked her way from the bottom. Passionate about the clothing industry, she founded the luxury womenswear brand LK Bennett in the UK in 1990. She opened an accessories shop in Wimbledon with a small savings account and a bank loan. She managed to become an icon, creating shoes for the Duchess of Cornwall which she wore to marry Prince Charles.

In 2004, she tried to sell the business, but didn’t, as the asking price wasn’t met. Four years later she sold to a private equity firm called Phoenix Equity partners and Sirius Equity for around $110 million.

Madame C.J. Walker

Walker died over 90 years ago, but she made an empire. Born Sarah Breedlove, Walker is known for being America’s first African-American entrepreneur, as well as one of the wealthiest of her time. Many women in the 18-1900s suffered from hair loss (thought to be due to a lack of plumbing and electricity which prevented bathing regularly). Walker recognized it was a problem and decided to make some home-made remedies.

They worked so well that she invested and created a business. The products were a huge success and stores across the country were selling her products. In 1908, she opened a college to train hair dressers, and in 1910 she started a factory. She would later become a teacher and lecturer, speaking to female entrepreneurs to help them find their own success.

Walt Disney

After being hired by the Kansas City film Ad Company, Disney learned how to make animations from cut-outs. He went on to have many successes and failures, but he continued to work on his animation knowledge. In 1932, he won an Academy Award for his efforts in animation. He is of course responsible for Disney Land and Disney World which are currently worth about $35 million.

Hans Christian Andersen

Anderson grew up poor, but a fortuneteller told him he would grow up to be famous. He tried and failed to become an actor and a singer, but the director of the Royal Danish Theatre took him under his wing and paid for his education. He was bullied at school and began publishing his writings after leaving. His fairy tales became famous and Disney has adapted most of them.

Michael Newton

Newton started a CCTV system in 1982 that monitored how long a person was at a bar. He introduced a line of multi-channel systems that were able to view a broad range of areas all at once in various locations. Now using this system, over 7 million images are recorded every second. In 1994, he made the move into the commercial airline industry and is now the CEO of the AD Aviation company.

The post How to Be Successful? The Stories of These 15 Entrepreneurs Can Give You Some Ideas appeared first on Lifehack.

from Viral News HQ http://ift.tt/2rpJQFR via Viral News HQ

#IFTTT #Viral News HQ

0 notes

trendingnewsb · 7 years

Text

How to Be Successful? The Stories of These 15 Entrepreneurs Can Give You Some Ideas

15 Most Influential Entrepreneurs of All Time

Henry Ford

Oprah Winfrey

Larry Page

Richard Branson

Ariana Huffington

Charles Kemmons Wilson

Anita Roddick

Jeff Bezos

George Eastman

Penny Streeter

Linda Bennett

Madame C.J. Walker

Walt Disney

Hans Christian Andersen

Michael Newton

The post How to Be Successful? The Stories of These 15 Entrepreneurs Can Give You Some Ideas appeared first on Lifehack.

from Viral News HQ http://ift.tt/2rpJQFR via Viral News HQ

#IFTTT #Viral News HQ

0 notes