Successful Companies That Most People Haven’t Heard Of

Some people operate very successfully- under the radar.

 

In this hyper-exposed media culture, you’d think that every successful company’s name would be splashed all over the Internet. The fact is, there are hundreds of highly profitable businesses that you’ve never heard of.

 

And that’s a good thing, for two reasons:

 

#1- There is a lot more business success happening than first meets the eye

#2- As you’ll see below, companies in dozens of industries are making big profits. If you solve a customer problem and manage the business well, you can thrive.

 

Consider these companies and how they generate large profits.

 

Tencent

 

Tencent Holdings Limited is a Chinese multinational investment holding conglomerate founded in 1998, whose subsidiaries specialize in various Internet-related services and products, entertainment, artificial intelligence and technology both in China and globally.

 

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The company, who Feifei Wang discussed, is based in Shenzhen, China, and is the world’s sixth-largest Internet company by revenue (237.8 billion CNY (2017).

 

Taobao

 

Luke Hansford, another Quora writer, discussed Taobao.

 

“Taobao is more of an amalgam of Ebay, Etsy and Amazon. Individual sellers sell items, but unlike Ebay, the majority are unused products sourced from factories (a smaller portion of items are crafted by the sellers). Items purchased by customers are delivered by any one of the numerous delivery companies throughout China.”

 

The Lesson: Tencent and Taobao are capitalizing on one of the largest- and fastest growing- economies in the world: China.

 

Dyson

 

It’s difficult to pin down the largest company owned entirely by one person, but Sir James Dyson may be at the top of the list. Joe Andon discussed Dyson in his Quora answer.

 

I just used my Dyson vacuum this morning, and you may have seen their commercials for their unique (and effective) vacuum design.

 

As the firm’s website explains, James Dyson was frustrated with his vacuum’s diminished performance, due to the bag clogging. After 5 years and over 5,000 prototype designs, he created the first bag less vacuum. I’ll always buy a Dyson- they work great.

 

Dyson continued to innovate and create products, and the New York Times lists his net worth at over $6 billion. As Dyson says: “we are reinventing ourselves all the time.” That’s necessary to succeed in business. If you’ve had a business setback, this article may help.

 

The Lesson: Innovation can have a huge financial payoff.

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Cargill

 

Cargill earned over $2.8 billion on sales of $109 billion in its most recent fiscal year. This diversified firm operates in the food, agriculture, and animal nutrition and metals industries, just to name a few. Alex Lieberman mentioned Cargill in his answer.

 

The firm is owned by the Cargill-MacMillan family, and 14 family members own 88% of Cargill. As of June of ’16, the combined net worth of the families is over $49 billion.

 

W.W. Cargill started a smack grain storage business in 1865, and then earned wealth in railroads during America’s westward expansion.

 

The Lesson: A well-diversified business can generate steady growth over time.

 

Other large, privately held companies: Names you know

 

• Mars: The company known for candy brands, like 3 Musketeers, also owns pet care brands.
• Three large accounting firms: Deloitte, Ernst & Young, and PricewaterhouseCoopers all generate annual revenue of over $29 billion.
• Car rental: Enterprise Holdings owns Enterprise Rental and other car rental brands.

 

The Lesson: All of these companies sell simple, “low tech” products and services that people need. Sure, they all use tech, but their success did not come out of the tech boom.

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Success in Luxury Goods

 

It may surprise you, but some of the most viewed Vloggers on You Tube talk about make up and fashion. Millions of views and subscribers.

 

Why?

 

Because fashion, beauty and luxury goods are important to lots of people. So important, in fact, that people are willing to pay a huge premium for luxury products.

 

Peter Baskerville has a great comment about cosmetics in his Quora answer:

 

“That’s why they are at the ground floor near the entrance of most department stores. Cosmetic marketing creates huge value in the customer’s mind with a strong emphasis on hope and backed up by exquisite packaging, pseudo-scientific ‘miracle’ ingredient and persuasive counter selling techniques.”

 

So true.

 

Luxury goods, such as cosmetics, jewelry, clothing and perfume, can make a huge profit margin, if they market to an audience that is willing to pay a big premium for the product.

 

Experts Can Be Highly Profitable

 

Forbes points out that, as of 2017, the average private U.S. company has a net profit margin of 8.9 percent. Sageworks performs an annual study of the most profitable industries, and some are listed below:

 

• Accounting, tax preparation, payroll companies: 18.4% average net profit
• Real estate leasing, legal firms: 18%
• Dentists, lawyers and doctors

 

So, what do they have in common? These are professionals that we rely on, and we’re willing to pay a premium to get competent advice. How much does it cost to prepare a tax return, represent me in a legal case or perform surgery? I don’t know for sure- but I’m not going to push back much on the price.

 

An expert, who knows how to solve problems, can be highly profitable.

 

Unusual products that were hugely successful

 

1-800-GOT-JUNK

 

This company is a trash removal service, particularly for large items, such as furniture and appliances. Dozens of franchises and millions in revenue. Why? There was no large company offering this service.

 

Drybar

 

Drybar, a women’s salon that specializes in low-cost blowout hairstyling, had estimated annual sales of $60 million in 2014.

 

Snuggie

 

The Snuggie, the blanket with sleeves, had sold over 30 million blankets.

 

Pet Rocks

 

The Pet Rock, selling for $3.95, was one of the most popular Christmas gifts in 1975.

 

Businesses can make money in all kinds of interesting ways.

 

Ken Boyd

Author: Cost Accounting for Dummies, Accounting All-In-One for Dummies, The CPA Exam for Dummies and 1,001 Accounting Questions for Dummies

Co-Founder: accountinged.com

(email) ken@stltest.net

(website and blog) https://www.accountingaccidentally.com/

(you tube channel) kenboydstl