KEY QUEST PUBLISHING
Finding a niche is essential for any business startup. For Dackeyia Q. Simmons (www.entertainmentpower.com) that niche was a business directory for individuals pursuing a career in the Entertainment industry. The immediate idea was a book, but the process to get a book published is full of struggles and endless possibilities. Publishing houses exert great control over the layout, content and vision of a book, and that led her to a risky but rewarding decision: Self-Publishing. But it took her eight years to get her business Key Quest Publishing and her book Entertainment Power Players in the market. The struggles were many but her determination was unshakable. Hundreds of rejections letters from advertisers, death within her family and circle of friends, maintaining steady employment, researching material for the book, and creating a business plan obscured her vision, but she never lost sight. Today, her book is found on 80 campuses, 30 libraries and in 10 bookstores nationwide.

CLICK2ASIA.COM
Joseph Cheon (www.click2asia.com) started chatting on the internet in 1994. Then in 1995, he took his hobby a bit further by creating his own website called KoreaLink.com, which he funded with $5,000 of birthday money he had saved. The site’s popularity grew and so did Joe’s overhead. He ended up borrowing $250,000 during the first year, without generating any revenue. In 1996, KoreaLink.com was recognized as one of the top 100 sites in the country by industry experts. Then advertisers took notice, and Joe’s very expensive hobby became a business. By the end of 1998, he had paid off the debt and was ready to take on another challenge. In 1999, he partnered with Chinese American entrepreneurs and decided to go after the global Asian market. They launched a new media company and web portal called Click2Asia.com in September of 1999 offering free services like ISP and long distance calling to all its members. It was financed by $1 million of angel investment from prominent entrepreneurs. Three months later when the money ran out, Joe and His partners secured a second wave of financing in the amount of $10 million. Today, they have over 500,000 members, 100 employees and offices in Los Angeles, China and Korea.