Donny Deutsch

I love watching the Big Idea just for the questions and the guests. Not a lot of in-depth stuff, but he knows how to bring in big names and then I can look em up and get the back story.

If you miss the show, you can find highlights of the guests at the CNBC website.

OVERVIEW: Power meets power, every night on "The Big Idea with Donny Deutsch."

Donny Deutsch, the maverick CEO who built a multi-billion dollar advertising and media business, asks the fearless question of the most powerful people in business, entertainment and politics.

Whether it’s a one-on-one with Bill Gates, Howard Schultz, Harrison Ford or Donald Trump… "The Big Idea" celebrates the power brokers, trendsetters and stars who really make it happen.

-Source: CNBC’s The Big Idea Homepage

Bob Williamson - Horizon Software International

In 1970, at 24, Bob Williamson was in Atlanta, homeless, broke, addicted to heroin and methamphetamines. He was injured in a an auto accident and lying flat in his back he found God. He knew he was at the bottom with no schooling, a criminal record and very few prospects. He could either give up and die, or grab hold of God and turn his life around.

"I was either going to commit suicide, which several of my friends had done, or I was going turn my life around," says Williamson in an interview for Business Week this month. Bob is determined to be the best 'employee' when he lands a job with a paint company by being the first in and the last to leave. He becomes a paint expert and helps his company move into the computer age.

Like many entrepenuers, Bob experiments with improvements to his companies products and processes and has some success with his own line of paint for air brushes. By 1977, just 7 years after his "awakening", he has his own company of over 6000 art related items. Just as he's ready to take his company public, the IPO research uncovers his accounting firm has been embezzeling and he's facing bankruptcy. He spends the next 8 years working with his creditors to convince them to not sue and to give them progress reports. After his recovery, he sells all of the previous business assets and in 1992 forms Horizon International. Not on his paint formulas or past successes, but along the way, in order to manage his own companies and to avoid the accounting fiasco of his last business, he launches Horizon with his portfolio of software that had been developed in house, to help him run his own companies.

Read the whole story in Business Week

Forbes favorite Billionaires

According to Forbes' website, almost two-thirds of the world's billionaires made their fortunes from scratch. Fifty are college or high school dropouts. The most famous billionaire dropout is Bill Gates, founder of Microsoft, who left Harvard to sell software. Thirty years later he was given an honorary degree from his alma-mater. I guess the world of Academia still doesn't get it. Seems the horse without a cart can run faster and farther.

Other billionaires, such as Oprah Winfrey, made their fortunes against far greater odds. Born in rural Mississippi, she spent her early years living in poverty on her grandmother's farm. Wanting a way out, she moved to Wisconsin to be with her mother, but was sexually molested by her male relatives. At age 14, she reportedly gave birth to a premature baby who died. Only after moving to Nashville to be with her father did her luck finally start to turn. At the age of 19, she became the youngest person and the first African-American woman to anchor the news at Nashville's WTVF-TV. She then relocated to Baltimore's WJZ-TV to co-anchor the Six O'Clock News and later went on to become co-host of its local talk show, People Are Talking.

In 1984, Oprah moved to Chicago to host WLS-TV's morning talk show, AM Chicago, and the rest is history. Within two years, AM Chicago became the Oprah Winfrey show and went into national syndication and that's really when her Empire started. I say this because it's what sets Oprah apart from other hosts who are 'employed' by a network. Oprah saw the unprecedented success of her impact in the talk show arena, and became her own boss.

The Oprah Winfrey Show has remained the number one talk show for 22 consecutive seasons. Produced by her own production company, Harpo Productions, Inc.

Follow your heart

There is a universal truth to the notion that in life, love and career, you should 'follow your heart'. It seems a simple notion, but I'm amazed at how many people ignore their passions and gifts to settle for jobs they don't like, often hate, and sometimes aren't even good at.

I heard about a remarkable young man who has been following his dream since his youth. At first it sounded like his passion was just making money, but listen a little longer and you can hear in his stories that he seemed to be driven by the freedom that money could buy him. I think he was fascinated that he could have an idea, research a need, follow through and be successful. At age 9, Cameron Johnson started his first business, making greeting cards and party invitations on the computer he got for Christmas. Three years later, he was making $50,000 a year selling Beanie Babies on e-bay from his parents' garage. He saw opportunities around him and found a place for himself in every venture. If he never starts another business or earns another dime, he's going to be my poster child for empowering young people, anyone really, to just try.

Sometimes need and not passion drives people to success and innovation. Consider Margaret Rudkin, a young Connecticut housewife and mother of three. When she discovers one of her sons has an allergy to the preservatives and artificial ingredients in commercial breads she begins experimenting with baking her own preservative-free bread. The year was 1937 and the country was in a great Depression. She had no financial backing or experience, just the desire to create a loaf of bread that was delicious and contained only natural ingredients. Maybe you haven't heard of Margaret Rudkin, but does "Pepperidge Farm" sound familiar?

This is my first blog, but I hope we can be biz buds. I come from a family of artists and entrepenuers too. If you have any comments on my blogs, business ideas you need help with, or just want to share your experience, please stop by often. I'm going to look for inspirational stories to keep us moving and trying.