Real Winners These long shots overcame the odds and emerged triumphant.
Opinions expressed by BIZ Experiences contributors are their own.
Starting a business is one of the hardest things a person cando, but there are times in life when a person must overcome evengreater obstacles, such as serious life-or-death issues that dwarfany other concerns. We talked with two BIZ Experiencess who overcamesuch obstacles--and started businesses to boot.
Don Katz, 29, founder of the Symposium WineBar in Irvine, California, is an BIZ Experiencesial success usingany definition of the word. With an extensive educational andexperiential background in restaurant management, Katz was movingsteadily forward in his career--until 2001, when he was struck withspinal meningitis. After awakening from a coma, he was blind, anddoctors were unsure if he'd ever walk again. Six months later,he left the hospital, and with continued physical therapy, Katz isback on his feet.
In 2003, while brainstorming ideas of what to do next, Katzthought of blind taste tests for wine and figured he could make ago of a wine-themed business. The business he founded in November2004, which offers tastings and seminars and also sells wine,gourmet chocolates, cheeses and more, specifically appeals to newwine connoisseurs who want to taste wine in a non-intimidatingatmosphere. And thanks to his heightened senses of taste and smell,he's able to describe the wine in interesting and accessibleways--like "honey almond notes with a creamy finish."Says Katz, who expects 2005 sales to hit $400,000, "You canmake a lot of plans, and things can change overnight--it's justone day at a time."
Someone who likely agrees with that statement is Gary Doan,founder of Intradyn, an Eagan, Minnesota, software firmspecializing in data protection and archiving for small to midsizebusinesses. A serial BIZ Experiences in the technology industry, Doan,53, was diagnosed with hepatitis C in 1993. In 1998, doctors toldhim the disease would eventually cause liver failure. "I tooka few years off to plan my next venture and to wait to get atransplant," he says. When he got one in 2001, it signaled anew beginning for Doan: "I walked out eight days later andhave been healthy ever since."
Armed with his new lease on life, Doan launched Intradyn thatsame year, hoping to fill a need he saw in the market. And thatvision paid off, as he projects 2005 sales in the seven figures."I think you have to stay focused and [stay] in a positivelight," says Doan. "Even though the odds were against me,I didn't pay attention to them. I never for one minute thoughtI couldn't do it."
