If you have never heard of Larry Page it is safe to say that you do not pay too much attention to the internet or technology worlds. When it comes down to it, Page is a self made billionaire and one of the most well known people in the internet game. Page is the founder of Google, the search engine giant that has taken off so fast as to leave both Yahoo and Microsoft in the dust.

Even though many people feel that Page has had a good bit of luck on his side, it is safe to say that his background is a main reason for all of the money that he has made. After attending the University and receiving a degree in computer engineering, Page moved onto Stanford University. Once he obtained a master’s degree, it was time to get started on his Ph.D. But before Page finished work on this degree, he met up with Sergey Brin and in 1998 they launched Google.

Over the past 10 years, Google has continued to increase its revenue exponentially. In Forbes most recent list of the richest people in the world, the 33 year old Page ranked #27. So how much money does that ranking equate to, you may ask? Although not an exact figure, estimates show that Page has a net worth of approximately $12.8 billion.

Page currently holds the title of President for Products at Google. While this may sound like he has given up some power, it is safe to say that he is still pulling all of the strings behind the scenes.

Since taking the company public in 2004, Page and Google have seen a huge influx in business. This includes everything from their well known search engine to taking on new projects in the telecommunications industry. Of course, Page and Google make a lot of their money from their well known online advertising program. Both Google AdSense and Adwords are known as the best of the best in this industry.

Even though Page spends his money on big ticket items like most in his situation, he knows that this is not the end all. For this reason, Page also manages a $1 billion philanthropic organization. As you can see, he gets just as much joy giving back as he does making money for himself. In addition to spending countless hours for Google, Page is also an investor in Tesla Motors. This company is currently in the process of developing a battery operated vehicle with a range of approximately 250 miles. Again, this is a great way for Page to use his money to help others while also staying involved with a number of different industries.

Larry Page has made more money in the past year than most people will in their entire life. But even though he is achieving success at a very high rate, he spreads his wealth whenever possible. Of course, when you are worth nearly $13 billion it is easy to share with others!

17 year old Ashley Qualls pulls in $70,000 per month from her website featuring MySpace templates, whateverlife.com.

Yet another amazing “rags to riches” story depicting a 17 year old girl living a middle class lifestyle who amazingly starts her own business and makes millions.

Ashley always enjoyed computers and the Internet. She had a gift at writing HTML and put her talents to work designing her own website. It’s an awesome pink girly girl website. Ashely added new template designs frequently. She spread the word to all her friends and soon her website became very popular. All her friends were asking Ashley to help them create their MySpace profiles. The templates are free to the public.

Ashey’s website, whateverlife.com, receives approximately 7 million visitors per month. That’s incredible! Whateverlife.com is now hugely popular and very lucrative, $70,000 per month thanks to Google Adsense.

What’s a 17 year old do with $70,000 per month? So far, Ashely has only purchased a house and some clothing. The house was $250,000 and the shopping spree amounted to a whopping $600. A bit conservative, I would say. Ashley has a professional looking over the business finances.

Brad Greenspan, cofounder of MySpace, offered to purchase whateverlife.com for $1.5 million. Ashley declined the offer. Three months later, Greenspan’s people contacted Ashley again with another offer. The second offer was $700,000, any car and her own Internet show with a marketing budget of $2 million. The second offer was quickly turned down.

Ashey Qualls said, “Sorry fellas. I created this for nothing and I want to see how far I can take it.”

Let’s see how Ashley grows her business. Stay tuned for more updates.

There’s money to be made on the Internet! It doesn’t take money nor a Harvard degree.

J.K. Rowling is living everything but a mundane lifestyle. She has cruised the Galapagos islands for $25,000, tossed $22,000 on a vacation in Mauritius and lounged around in a $10,000/week hotel in Seychelles.

She attended a charity engagement in New York with her family and stayed in a 7 bedroom beach front house in the Hampton’s for a mere $140,000 per week.

J.K. Rowling is earning about $1.7 million every 3 days. She has a portfolio of real estate in Edinburgh, Perthshire and Kensington. Her home is a 13 bedroom house worth $3.5 million. J.K. Rowling now flies in a private jet and wears designer dresses by Vivienne Westwwod. She has a personal bodyguard to protect her and her family. The bodyguard’s salary is $260,000 per year. This is very different from her life before Harry Potter!

Here’s her story:

We have all heard stories about rags to riches, but the one about J.K.Rowling will leave anyone spell bound. From struggling to make ends meet, and the struggle to survive as a single mother, she became the most sought after writer. She was born on the 31st of July, 1965 in England. Her real name is Joanne Murray Rowling, but she writes under the name J.K.Rowling.

She is the author and creator of Harry Potter and its series of books. It can be undoubtedly claimed as the most popular children’s character created till date. No other book has ever sold as fast as the last four books of the Harry Potter series worldwide. It is also believed that it even collected more money than many big budget Hollywood films on the opening weekend.

J.K.Rowling has a lot of wealth that is estimated at about 550 million pounds. This makes her the thirteenth richest woman in England, and the 136th richest person in the country of England. Being noted by Forbes is indeed an honor, and the writer was honored with the title of the second richest female entertainer in the world.

The female author has one sister, and she started her writing when she was very young. She would write plenty of stories and narrate them to her sister. There is always inspiration for any writer, and so it is with J.K.Rowling. She was influenced by her headmaster’s personality to create Dumbledore’s character in the Harry Potter series.

The author attended a university in Paris where she studies French, but she was keen on pursuing English. It was in 1990 on a train journey to London, when she was struck with the idea of creation of a young boy. And she though if the boy attended wizard school, it would make the character more interesting.

In the year 1993 she had a child, with a Portuguese television journalist whom she had married. Unfortunately their relation did not work out, and she moved back to Scotland from Portugal. She wanted to live near her sister and thus the move. She was unemployed for a long time, and she had only her state benefits to support her.

She however continued writing her first novel. It was known that she would sit for hours at cafes to do her writing. Her book was initially rejected by all the publishing houses. She called the book Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. Christopher Little Literary Agents were representing her, and this was after the book was given to a reader, and they had gotten positive feedback.

A publisher called Bloomsbury finally recognized her work and she was paid an advance of 1500 pounds in the year 1996. This happened because the daughter of the publisher was impressed with the writing, and they instantly decided to publish it. The Scottish Arts Council paid the author an amount of 8,000 pounds as a grant for her to continue writing.

In the year 1997 the publishing house Bloomsbury printed about one thousand copies initially. They were also distributed in libraries. Within a few months, J.K.Rowling was winning many awards for her work. It started with the Nestle Smarties Book Prize, British Book Award for best children’s book and the Children’s Book Award.

She won these awards three times in a row, as by then she had continued writing sequels to the book. There are about seven books in the entire series, and they have been translated into 65 languages. No other book in the history of writing has ever sold so many books as soon as it has been published.

Warner Bros., the reputed Hollywood film production house purchased the rights to the books to turn them into films for a huge amount. The first film was released in the year 2001. The author made millions from the sales of all her seven-book rights to the studio. She has many expensive estates in England, but at the same time does her part with charity.

She is a part of donating money towards organizations that support multiple sclerosis, and also contributes to many orphanages. She is known as the only billionaire who made money from writing books. From simple stories when she was a child, J.K.Rowling can now take credit for being the creator of the most popular children’s character ever.

Harry Potter has millions of fans worldwide, and the surprising part is that the fan following includes teenagers and adults too. This is indeed an achievement for the author.

Richard Brandson is an English entrepreneur, known for his Virgin branding.

Branson is quite a character too. I saw him in many interviews and was very impressed with his personality. He’s a billionaire but still a “real” person. He has a good sense of humor and is very warm and friendly. I admire him for his accomplishments and charity work. He’s one extremely successful person with a sense of adventure. Bravo Mr. Branson!

Richard Branson born in 1950, was educated at Stowe School in Buckingham, UK. His first success was a magazine publishing, called “Student”. He was an entrepreneur from the start.

Branson setup a mail order business distributing records. He purchased records in bulk from a discounter. He then sold them to retail outlets in London. Virgin was the ideal marketing label since his records were new unlike others that were handled and listened to. Branson later opened a record shop in London and then launched “Virgin Records” with partner Nik Powell. This venture enabled him to open a recording studio.

Virgin Records’ first release was “Tubular Bells” from Mike Oldfield. Other record companies were reluctant to sign Oldfield because his song, “Tubular Bells” had no lyrics. It became a smash hit, selling over 5 million copies. Virgin Records hit the Big Time. They later signed huge stars such as The Sex Pistols, Culture Club, Belinda Carlisle, Genesis, Phil Collins, Janet Jackson and The Rolling Stones.

The Virgin Group expanded into international music Megastores, air travel, mobile, financial, retail, music, internet, drinks, rail, hotels and leisure, with around 200 companies in over 30 countries.

Branson’s Virgin Group Portfolio

• Virgin Atlantic Airways
• Virgin Mobil
• Virgin Blue
• Virgin Trains
• Virgin Express
• Virgin Cola
• Virgin Vodka
• Virgin Galactic
• Virgin Fuels
• Virgin Comics
• Virgin Health Bank

Virgin Atlantic Airways is the second largest British international airline. It operates a fleet of Boeing 747′s and Airbus A340′s to New York, Miami, Boston, Los Angeles, Orlando, San Francisco, Hong Kong, Johannesburg, Tokyo, Las Vegas, Delhi, Lagos, Port Harcourt, Shanghai and the Caribbean. The airline’s concept is to offer a competitive yet high quality Upper Class, Premium Economy and Economy service. Virgin Atlantic Airways has won many major awards, including Airline of the Year Award several times.

Branson seems to do everything “First Class”.

Personal World Record Attempts

• Cross Atlantic Ocean in the fastest recorded time
• Cross Atlantic Ocean in hot-air balloon
• Cross Pacific Ocean in hot-air balloon

Richard Branson has also appeared in many TV show and movies. He’s at home in the office (which is his home) or in front of a camera.

Branson currently lives in a breath-taking house on his own 74 acre island, one of the British Virgin Islands valued at $150 million.

Visit Virgin.com to read more.

Carlos Slim surpasses Bill Gates as the world’s richest man. Slim’s wealth is a staggering $59 billion.

So who is Carlos Slim?

Carlos Slim is a 67 year old Mexican telecommunications mogul. His current company holdings total $59 billion. His investments in telecommunications, financial services, and numerous other industries make Slim the richest man in the world.

Carlos is the son of a Mexico City shopkeeper who immigrated from Lebanon in the early 1900′s. Carlos started as a math instructor then turned investor and now self made billionaire. He followed his father’s financial teachings by investing in a wide range of businesses. He invested $55 million into an insurance company. He then pursued retail and hotel chains. Slim aggressively grew his profile using his shrewd business savvy. During the 1982 Mexican economic depression, Slim scooped up businesses right and left for pennies on the dollar. As the economy recovered, his investments rebounded dramatically. By the late 1980′s, Slim was one of Mexico’s most successful businessman. He now controls one third of Mexico’s stock exchange.

Here is a breakdown of Slim’s major holdings.

• America Movil (wireless) – $31 Billion
• Carso Global Telecom (holding company) – $12.9 Billion
• Grupo Carso (conglomerate) – $7.1 Billion
• Inbursa (financial services) – $5.6 Billion
• Ideal (infrastructure) – $1.7 Billion
• Saks Inc. (U.S. retail) – $263 Million

Slim maintained a very close relationship with several powerful government officials and political parties. This certainly made Slim’s acquisitions and monopolistic plans feasible. He neutralized all telecommunication competition as quickly as it arised. He put the brakes on AT&T’s and MCI’s plans to expand into Latin America by setting outrageously high rates to connect calls to his TelMex network. Slim continued to build his empire by acquiring several wireless assets from Verizon in Latin America. He then added AT&T Latin America and other phone assets to his telecom portfolio during the 2000 dot com crash. When opportunity knocks, Carlos Slim pounces on it with vigor.

Carlos Slim has three sons, Carlos Jr., Marco Antonio and Patrick. All three man strategic positions in the Slim empire.

Carlos Slim is without a doubt, an amazing businessman. He is cunning, clever and ruthless in his business pursuits. He’s all business. He runs many business from old buildings in lieu of fancy new high rise buildings. One of his companies, America Movil, runs out of an old tire factory. Just smart business sense.

I would have never imagined a businessman from Mexico to be the wealthiest man in the world, more wealthy than Microsoft’s Bill Gates, especially when we consider he is not a oil tycoon. Mexico is definitely not a poor country as many presume.