See what happens when ambition meets passion.

Almost everybody has had a cup of coffee at a Starbucks coffee house. Millions of people all over the world have had the opportunity to enjoy a fresh espresso-based hot drink, or sipped on a luscious cup of drip brewed coffee.

The fact is, Starbucks today is running a close second behind McDonalds for the largest number of commercial locations where people can enjoy their fresh brew and other related products.

Have you ever wondered how it all got started? The story is not super unique, but it does illustrate how far you can go if you start with a passion and then add a whole lot of ambition.

Starbucks was originally started by two school teachers, Jerry Baldwin and Zev Siegl, along with their friend Gordon Bowker, a magazine writer. The three friends all shared a passion for home brewed coffee. They each managed to come up with $1,350 and borrowed an additional $5,000 in order to open their first store in Seattle, Washington. Their desire was to sell high quality coffee beans and the equipment needed to produce an excellent home brewed cup of coffee.

Starbucks remained a Seattle based coffee bean and equipment shop for a number of years. One of the three partners sold out his share, and the other two were content to let things go as they were.

Entrepreneur, Howard Schultz, joined Starbucks in 1982, as Director of Retail Operations and Marketing. Howard strongly felt that Starbucks would do so much better if they were to offer an actual prepared drink for the consumer to enjoy, instead of just the beans. After all, with so many people on the go trying to make a living, being able to access a fresh cup of excellent brewed coffee would be a welcome option for millions. But Jerry and Gordon disagreed with Howard.

Howard, left Starbucks and started his own pre-brewed coffee house, called the IL Giornale Coffee Bar. Eventually, he came back and bought out Starbucks from Gordon and Jerry for $4 Million and quickly rebranded his Giornale outlets to Starbucks. He then aggressively moved forward with his plans to make Starbucks into something truly big and magnificent. Starbucks now is internationally situated, cookie cutter efficient and standardized. Starbucks has introduced millions to espresso drinks for the first time, and opened the market for premium-priced coffee. They have done it all so effectively, that even McDonalds has reportedly been following their example.

Today, Starbucks under the direction of Howard, is the largest coffee house company in the world, with over 17,000 outlets in 50 countries, around 137,000 employees. Starbucks total operating income is around $1.4 Billion with total assets of around $3.68 Billion.

So, we see how the original founders of Starbucks were living their passionate dream. Howard Schultz expanded on that passion, and combined it with ambition to become one of the great success stories of the last 3 decades. Coffee, anyone?

Solid Gold Performance...

Is determined by the size of your Vision. Howard Schultz's Vision for Starbucks demanded a well-defined Plan and an entire team — all dedicated to Winning... by PLANNING to WIN.

How Did Starbucks Become a Gold Mine? By Superior:

Innovation...     Marketing...     Business Cycle Management...

Click on Function... Insert a Do It in your Strategic Plan... then Just DO IT!

Your Thoughts and Observations...

"I believe life is a series of near misses. A lot of what we ascribe to luck is not luck at all. It's seizing the day and accepting responsibility for your future. It's seeing what other people don't see and pursuing that vision." ~ Howard Schultz