Richard Banson. I know, not as popular as the fore mentioned Grandpa, but he has something that most self made individuals lack. Serious guts. If you you want to talk about "gutting it out" how about a guy that makes a fortune, if not by luck, in the music business to take his amassed fortune and dump it into of all thing the airline business. Talk about the most competitive and costly industry to get into as a "startup" he decides to venture his fortune in the airline business merely based on the idea that he can do it better than anyone else. That`s an entrepreneur!! But in fact he was right. No matter what business you decide to get in to you can be successful as long as you are willing to go the extra mile, so to speak, and do something the competition never imagined.