The Merchant of Maine: L.L. Bean is Born
The Merchant of Maine: L.L. Bean is Born
Bean was born on October 13, 1872 in Greenwood, Maine. His parents, Sarah Swett and Benjamin Warren Bean were farmers and horse traders. But the young Bean would not get to know either of them very well. When he was just twelve years old, his parents died within four days of each other. Bean, along with his five siblings had all of a sudden become orphans.
After their parents’ death, the six youngsters were sent to live with relatives in South Paris, Maine. It was there that Bean would develop his early entrepreneurial skills. He began selling steel traps, which earned him his first income. He then moved on to working on farms, hunting and trapping animals. When he was just 13 years old, he killed his first deer and sold it for a profit. Despite enrolling in a semester at Hebron Academy and taking a commercial course at Kent’s Hill Academy, Bean’s real education came from his time spent in the outdoors.
Bean discovered that he was a natural born salesman, but nevertheless found it hard to stay in one place at once. He began drifting from one job to the next, selling soap door-to-door and doing odd jobs here and there. When one of his older brothers, Otho, offered him a position as a sales clerk in his dry goods store in Freeport, Bean accepted. Earning a salary of $12 a week, Bean began selling overalls to workers. It was a decent living for Bean, but he still found it hard to spend all of his days within the confines of a store.
Bean wanted to be in the outdoors, hunting and fishing in the Maine woods. Indeed, the more time he spent in nature, the more he knew that was where he belonged. And yet, he discovered a problem. He was spending so much time in the outdoors that by the time he returned home from one of his expeditions, his feet would always be sore and soaking wet. It was the only drawback in what was always an otherwise wonderful experience for Bean.
And so, he set out to solve that problem. With a little ingenuity, Bean began designing a lightweight boot that would protect his feet from the elements. He envisioned his boot to have a rubber sole and a leather top, and took his idea to the local cobbler to have the top and bottom stitched together. The result was the Maine Hunting Shoe, a revolutionary new product that became a must-have for all outdoorsmen. With that, Bean knew he was on to something big.
The Merchant of Maine LL Bean is Born
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For the first 39 years of his life, few people ever thought that Leon Leonwood Bean would amount to much. He floated from one undistinguished job to the next, and had little in the way of formal education. Instead, Bean was a young man happy to retreat to the woods, whiling away his time hunting and trapping instead of reading books. But it was Bean’s love of nature that would eventually become what is today a thriving multimillion dollar business. Named one of the Wall Street Journals Top Ten Entrepreneurs of the 20th century, Bean turned his passion into the internationally successful outdoor clothing and equipment company L.L. Bean.
Bean was born on October 13, 1872 in Greenwood, Maine. His parents, Sarah Swett and Benjamin Warren Bean were farmers and horse traders. But the young Bean would not get to know either of them very well. When he was just twelve years old, his parents died within four days of each other. Bean, along with his five siblings had all of a sudden become orphans.
After their parents’ death, the six youngsters were sent to live with relatives in South Paris, Maine. It was there that Bean would develop his early entrepreneurial skills. He began selling steel traps, which earned him his first income. He then moved on to working on farms, hunting and trapping animals. When he was just 13 years old, he killed his first deer and sold it for a profit. Despite enrolling in a semester at Hebron Academy and taking a commercial course at Kent’s Hill Academy, Bean’s real education came from his time spent in the outdoors.
Bean discovered that he was a natural born salesman, but nevertheless found it hard to stay in one place at once. He began drifting from one job to the next, selling soap door-to-door and doing odd jobs here and there. When one of his older brothers, Otho, offered him a position as a sales clerk in his dry goods store in Freeport, Bean accepted. Earning a salary of $12 a week, Bean began selling overalls to workers. It was a decent living for Bean, but he still found it hard to spend all of his days within the confines of a store.
Bean wanted to be in the outdoors, hunting and fishing in the Maine woods. Indeed, the more time he spent in nature, the more he knew that was where he belonged. And yet, he discovered a problem. He was spending so much time in the outdoors that by the time he returned home from one of his expeditions, his feet would always be sore and soaking wet. It was the only drawback in what was always an otherwise wonderful experience for Bean.
And so, he set out to solve that problem. With a little ingenuity, Bean began designing a lightweight boot that would protect his feet from the elements. He envisioned his boot to have a rubber sole and a leather top, and took his idea to the local cobbler to have the top and bottom stitched together. The result was the Maine Hunting Shoe, a revolutionary new product that became a must-have for all outdoorsmen. With that, Bean knew he was on to something big.
The Merchant of Maine LL Bean is Born
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 The Merchant of Maine: L.L. Bean is Born
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 For the first 39 years of his life, few people ever thought that Leon Leonwood Bean would amount to much. He floated from one undistinguished job to the next, and had little in the way of formal education. Instead, ... |
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Lesson #3: Go Ahead and Get Your Hands a Little Dirty
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| Bean might have been an entrepreneur, and a successful one at that, but in his heart he was a hunter, and a fisherman, and an all around outdoorsman. He felt more comfortable in the woods of Maine than in the corpor... |
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Lesson #1: Plan for the Long Run If You Want to Run Long
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| Hunting was nothing new, and neither was hiking. Both had been around for as long as man and Bean knew it. His business had sprung up from a need that was not being met – getting wet feet in the great outdoors. It w... |
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Lesson #4: Network to Bring Others Into the Know
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| By the end of World War II, L.L. Bean products were being found in the homes of everyone from Calvin Coolidge and Franklin Roosevelt to Doris Day, Babe Ruth, and the Aga Khan. Even John Wayne took off his country we... |
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Dressed for Success: L.L. Bean Takes On Retail
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| Bean had designed the Maine Hunting Boot to solve his own problem of wet feet, but once it was created, he knew it was going to be a hit. He was so sure of its innovative design that he even paid the hefty sum to ha... |
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Bernard ReberBack in late 1992, MS Access hit the streets. About that time the company I managed needed new software to handle their growing client base and I decided to try this new product. I had little difficulty writing and adapting a database to suit us and discovered a hidden talent for programming. A business was born. With business studies and 25 years of management experience in three different countries under my belt, I could offer a unique combination of skills and my customers agreed. From these humble beginnings my software 'invoiceit' emerged in 1999 and has since been taken to 49 states (hello Wyoming, won't you join us?), all across Canada and more than 70 other countries. From the very beginning the program included cashbook accounting, the simplest form of keeping financial business records. The Dictionary.com defines 'cashbook' as "A 'book' in which to record money received and paid out". For 'book' substitute 'simple software' and that's what I'm about. Now I have published Simple Accounting, an inexpensive spreadsheet solution which even you can master. For just $14.95 it costs less than a takeout meal! More at http://www.scrambled-card.com/simple_accounting_main.htm - Visit Bernard Reber's Website |
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Jay Kubassek(Jay's Full Bio: EvanCarmichael.com/jaykubassek) Jay Kubassek is a Canadian born entrepreneur, internet marketing genius, professional speaker, international real estate developer/investor, executive film producer, extreme sport enthusiast and a passionate supporter of several charities worldwide. In 2007, Jay's vision and dedication to help other entrepreneurs and business owners duplicate his marketing success led to the creation of his fourth company CarbonCopyPRO, an internet marketing firm already worth over 15 million dollars that has over 20 employees and contract workers with clients is 12 different countries. Jay resides in NYC with his girlfriend Jamie, three year old son Milo and dog Cooper. As executive producer he recently premiered his first film in the 2008 Cannes Film Festival. As an adventurist he is racing the 2008 Baja 1000 off-road race and is a member of the 2008 U.S. National Elephant Polo Team, The New York Blue who will be representing the US in the 2008 World Championships in Nepal. Visit Jay's Blog: www.JayKubassek.com - Visit Jay Kubassek's Website |
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