Learning-from-Elon-Musk-5-lessons-on-being-a-successful-entrepreneur

One of the world’s most successful and wealthy entrepreneurs has been dominating headlines lately. Elon Musk, founder of SpaceX, Tesla, and the Boring Company, pledged to support Puerto Rico through its recovery from the devastating aftermath of last months Hurricane Maria. The inventor and businessman recently retweeted a picture of Tesla’s first solar and storage project that has now gone live at Hospital Del Nino, proving that Musk is a man of his word. However, Musk’s ambition to rebuild Puerto Rico’s entire energy grid seems like something that is unrealistic and unachievable. Yet, when considering Musk’s past endeavours and scientific innovations, surely if anyone was going to prove us all wrong it would be him? Here’s a brief summary of some of Elon Musk’s most significant innovations, which confirms he is the man leading us towards a green future.

hositalImage Credit: Elon Musk Twitter

 

The early years

Instead of continuing with education and studying for a PhD, Musk went on to start up his first company Zip2, a yellow pages for the online world. Zip2 went on to sell for an incredible $307 million in cash and $34 million in stock options. The sale allowed Musk to leave the average 20 something year old’s life behind, and enter the world of luxury and wealth. By the youthful age of 28,  Musk had made his millions, and let’s be honest, the majority of us would have stopped there to enjoy 10 holidays a year and a mansion in the heart of Kensington, but Musk and his brilliant mind hadn’t considered early retirement just yet.

 

elon muskImage Credit: WCCFTECH

 

Space X and Tesla

Between 2000 and 2003 Elon Musk achieved more than what 99% of us can achieve in a lifetime. In 2000 he went on to set up PayPal, a worldwide online payments system, and later sold it to eBay for another impressive sum of $1.5 billion, of which 11% went directly to Musk, further adding to his growing fortune. In 2002 he founded SpaceX and a year later went on to create Tesla, the company that arguably put Musk on the world’s center stage. Tesla’s most popular commodity is most certainly the futuristic sleek range of electric cars. The newest of the Tesla models, Model 3, which boasts autopilot and self-driving features, only went into production last month and should be available for international deliveries as early as next year. Tesla claims that the newer models are some of the safest and most energy efficient cars is history, with the vehicles being able to travel distances between 251 to 351 miles on one charge. With Tesla’s continued success, I would not be  surprised if the cutting-edge vehicles became one of the most sought after cars in the world.

 

TeslaImage Credit: Electrek

Since his earlier days, Musk has continually vocalised his desire to revolutionise human transportation on earth and beyond. By founding SpaceX in 2002, Musk has been able to invest a vast amount of time, resources and capital into this venture. In 2012 SpaceX launched it’s very own rocket, Falcon 9 into orbit to complete a satellite launch for NASA. As a result of the spacecrafts continued success, SpaceX and NASA have joined together to work towards the goal of adapting Falcon 9, a rocket designed to include nine engines to maximise reliability, so that some day it will be able to deliver not only materials, but also humans to outer space.  Musk has also recently hinted at the idea of using spacecraft’s as methods of transportation between the world’s most popular cities. He claims that leaving the atmosphere would allow us to travel from London to Singapore in under 30 minutes. I think we can all agree that Musk’s future plans to revolutionise transport would certainly make all our reservations about long haul flights disappear!

 

Photos of the SpaceX CRS-8/Falcon 9 Liftoff from Pad 40.Image Credit: NASA

 

The Boring Company and underground travel 

The Boring Company is one of Musk’s newest ventures, or as he calls it, a ‘hobby’. Currently, they are focusing on designs for a 3D underground transport system that would essentially allow companies to transport cargo, and eventually people, at speeds of up to 320 mph, helping reduce road traffic and travel time. After receiving approval from the council, Musk has begun to dig tunnels near the SpaceX headquarters in California to test his theory and see whether it would be a practical project. Although a lot of his ideas are just that, ideas, he is a man willing to put theory into practice! Another one of Musk’s most popular concepts for innovative underground transport is Hyperloop One. Tesla and SpaceX jointly released and open sourced a Hyperloop design that would transport passengers and cargo from city to city using magnets at speeds of up to 760 mph. However, since the concept is at a very early stage and the safety of the public whilst travelling at such high speeds is of huge concern, I wouldn’t expect to see a local Hyperloop network close to you in the near future. But, if the tests of the 3D underground transport prove to be a success, the revolution of underground transport will come sooner than we think!

 

TUNNELS eLONS TWITTERImage Credit: Elon Musk Twitter 

 

So, it’s safe to say that the man’s been busy! It’s almost hard not to imagine a future that doesn’t involve solar powered houses, traffic free underground networks, and city rocket launch sites. The list of Elon musk’s achievements is never ending, so if you fancy being captivated by one of the world’s most intelligent, ambitious and creative minds, and learning more about some of Musk’s inventions, including SpaceX’s new spacesuit and SolarCity, then check out Elon Musk’s most recent TED talk interview here.

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