THE WORLD'S YOUNGEST SELFMADE BILLIONAIRE.

Mark Zuckerberg
Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg hasn't turned 25, but he's already proved you don't need years of
work experience under your belt to become the world's youngest self-made billionaire.
Mark Zuckerberg
CEO and co-founder of Facebook
Founded: May 2004
"Facebook's mission is to give people the power to share and make the world more open and
connected."
--Mark Zuckerberg
One might assume that information would abound on the founder of a high-profile, multi-billiondollar social networking site. Wrong. Information on Mark Zuckerberg is surprisingly scarce.
Maybe that's just because the 24-year-old Harvard dropout has only ever held one job: CEO of
Facebook.
Zuckerberg grew up in the New York City suburb of Dobbs Ferry, N.Y., and attended the Phillips
Exeter Academy in New Hampshire. His father is a dentist, his mother a psychiatrist, and he has
three sisters. He taught himself how to program computers, and during his senior year in high
school, he and fellow hacker-programmer Adam D'Angelo caught the interest of AOL and
Microsoft by creating a Winamp plug-in that could build customized playlists.
But both turned down job offers in order to attend college in 2002--Zuckerberg to Harvard and
D'Angelo to CalTech. But Zuckerberg's undergraduate career in computer science wasn't
destined to last. Not content to just study programming, he created a photo-rating site called
Facemash, using photographs of other Harvard students from the school's online facebook (a
yearbook-like publication designed to introduce students to one another). But he created his
program by hacking into student records and using photos without permission, and was
reprimanded by the administration for violating privacy rules and breaching computer security.
Zuckerberg, however, wasn't deterred. He eventually finished the platform for "The Facebook"
(sometimes at the expense of attending class), combining the concept of traditional facebooks
with large-scale social networking sites like Myspace and Friendster.
In February 2004, Zuckerberg launched the program from his dorm room with co-founders
Dustin Moskovitz, Chris Hughes and Eduardo Saverin. In just a few weeks, more than half the
school had opened accounts. The group quickly expanded to more universities and colleges, and
that summer, Zuckerberg and his team moved to Palo Alto, Calif., renting a sublet and hooking
up with investors like PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel and Napster co-founder Sean Parker.
By August 2005, Zuckerberg had officially changed the company's name to Facebook, and after
raising $12.7 million in venture capital, was ready to move the company to the next level.
The site gradually expanded from college networks to include high school and work groups, and
in September 2006, anyone with an e-mail address was allowed to join. Today, there are more

than 110 million active users, and according to comScore Media Metrix, which tracks Web
activity, Facebook rates as the Web's top photo-sharing site, and is the fourth most-visited site in
the world, accounting for more than 1 percent of all internet use.
Of course, Zuckerberg's success hasn't been without some controversy. Some of his college peers
have accused him of stealing the code for Facebook, and that court case is still pending. He also
caused a media furor when he introduced the Newsfeed function, which shared all activity
updates between people in their respective social networks--at first without a privacy option.
In response, Zuckerberg said in a New York Times article that "Facebook has always tried to
push the envelope. And at times that means stretching people and getting them to be comfortable
with things they aren't yet comfortable with. A lot of this is just social norms catching up with
what technology is capable of."
Regardless, the tech titans took notice. In 2006, Zuckerberg astonished the world by turning
down Yahoo's offer to buy Facebook for $1 billion. A year later, Microsoft purchased a 1.6
percent stake in the company for $240 million.
No one except Zuckerberg probably knows where the company is going, but even he has said
that the site is a "work in progress." Recently, though, prominent Google executives have made a
career move to Facebook, which implies the company will be going seriously corporate--and
soon, maybe public. But one thing is for sure: Zuckerberg will be a major player in the tech
industry for years to come.
And in case you're wondering, you can't friend Zuckerberg on Facebook. That function's been
disabled.
Entrepreneurship is the ultimate risk and reward dynamic.
Taking your business to the next level can be one of the most exciting things. When business is
good, you have more control over your life. But reaching a plateauing or moving backward can
prompt the most seasoned entrepreneur to pull out his hair.
If you are going to get your business to the next level, you must aim to shatter some mental and
physical roadblocks that thwart your company's progress.

The key factors of becoming an entrepreneur

1. Having a open mind/ not Carrying a self-limiting belief.
Your mindset can be the biggest obstacle to overcome in your business. Many people carry
around a false belief about themselves that needs to be removed or improved. In business, you
are the gateway to your company.
If you believe you can't do something, you can't and probably won't even try. Many times a great
idea or product is stymied by an entrepreneur who can't change her mindset.

The only way to conquer a self-limiting belief is by recognizing a negative mindset and taking
action to overcome it. That way you can move when your mind is initially telling you not to.
Time and persistence can overcome such shortcomings.
2. Hiring the right people.
Good employees can make your business sail smoothly, while bad ones might make you scratch
your head and ask why you ever wanted to own a business. Without good people, you will need
to micromanage things and youll burn out.
Finding good employees requires you to shift your thinking. Hire slow, train them in detail and
don't allow mediocrity to set in.
3. Managing money.
When money is not properly allocated, your focus shifts from what you do best to worrying
about bills. Enthusiasm and energy may be sucked out of you as you begin to wonder which bills
to pay and which ones to put aside. There's no time to think about growing your business as your
mind fills with worry.
Pay attention to your cash flow in your business as well as your personal life. Expand your
lifestyle slowly and leave a margin. It is always easier to push out than to contract. Control your
dollars to leave your mind clear and remain focused on your business.
4. Looking for a home run.
It is so tempting to swing for the fences with every action and pursue the one thing that will turn
around your company.
But taking one big massive action and can end up with just having to sit back and wait to see if it
worked or not. This turns the entrepreneur into more of a river gambler than a businessperson.
Small actions one after an another can culminate in a company's taking off. Successful
businesses result from expending focused energy over time. Dont be afraid of the monotonous
base hits, but rather embrace them.
5. Not Being out of balance.
When you run your own business, it's easy to be utterly consumed by it. Sleep, eat and work can
be the entire life of a company owner. This imbalance is difficult to sustain.
Take time to live again! Set aside time to write down why you entered the business in the first
place. You might end up recalling things like "I want to be able to work when I want to work" or
"I wish to start a business so I can design my life.
Remember that you do control how you fill your time and can be purposeful about maintaining a
work-life balance.
There will always be hurdles to overcome in business. These challenges are part of the fun when
you are not consumed by them. You can overcome the difficulties along the way and take your
business to the next level. Just keep climbing that mountain.x