Who doesn’t want to become an entrepreneur and do what he really wants? But launching your business is challenging. And it doesn’t matter if it’s an online platform like YouTube or tonybet.com or an offline company, like a small coffee shop. So even motivated entrepreneurs lose their temper due to problems. Want to regain your motivation? Watch these 6 movies.
Joy, 2015
Joy is drowning in worries: she’s raising two children, doing the accounting for her father’s firm, and fussing over the housekeeping at home, where her unemployed mother, grandmother, and ex-husband are waiting for her.
One day Joy has to mop the floor because of a broken bottle of wine: she wrings out a rag and hurts her hands with the shards. That’s when she gets the idea to create a miracle mop with which she doesn’t have to get herself dirty or bend over all the time. This invention will conquer millions of housewives and bring huge profits, but on the way to success Joy will face difficulties in both family and business.
The character has a real-life prototype, Joy Mangano, who invented the self-surviving mop and many other handy household know-how. The opening credits, however, warn that this is not a biography with a claim to be a documentary: the film is based on many similar stories about courageous women.
Although the story is partly fiction by the screenwriters, the movie is inspiring to look at everyday routine from an entrepreneurial angle: the opportunity to make millions can lurk behind even the most boring and familiar things.
The Founder, 2016
Ray Kroc sells cocktail mixers. His customers are the owners of roadside drive-in restaurants, where customers are served right in their cars. Orders there are long waits and waiters often make mistakes.
Ray stops by the California town of San Bernardino, where an order for eight mixers came in for brothers Mac and Dick McDonald, an unusually large purchase for another diner. Crock is amazed by what he sees and tastes: speedy waiterless service and delicious burgers. At the same moment, he realizes he wants to get involved.
McDonald’s is an iconic franchise, but not everyone knows the history of this fast food restaurant. It’s hard to single out the antagonist here: there’s no “evil corporation” strangling the enterprising businessman, as is the case in other single-player success movies. Instead, the protagonist himself gradually takes on the role of this oppressor.
Glengarry Glen Ross, 1992
A day in the life of several real estate agents who are given an ultimatum by their bosses: the worst of them will be fired, and the one who brings in the most profit will get a brand new Cadillac.
The movie is based on a play, which was noticeably reflected in the production. The action is based only on the dialogues and monologues of the characters. The movie turns the real estate business inside out, and the ones who have mastered the art of selling a house to the best advantage.
Margin Call, 2011
A large investment bank downsizes and fires the head of the risk management department. Before he leaves he gives a flash drive to one of the employees and ominously says: “Be careful.” The flash drive contains an analysis predicting the collapse of the entire market.
The bank in the movie has a real prototype, Lehman Brothers, which filed for bankruptcy in 2008 and brought down world markets.
The Social Network, 2010
Mark Zuckerberg studies at Harvard and has already gained a reputation as a promising programmer – he was approached for cooperation by Microsoft itself.
He is spotted by the Winklevoss brothers, also Harvard students, who want him to help them develop the university’s social network HarvardConnection. But instead, Mark creates his own website, with capabilities that extend far beyond the university’s local network.
The script is based on a novel by writer Ben Mezrich and then on Zuckerberg’s actual biography. So it’s not exactly an accurate but fascinating story of the emergence of Facebook: how to lose your only friend, become a billionaire and change the structure of social relations around the world forever.
Tucker: The Man and His Dream, 1988
Preston Tucker always has ideas, and he is seething with desire to create. This time, Tucker is fired up to build the car of the future: it will revolutionize the road with a number of unique innovations. Ordinary people are thrilled, but some in power are not happy with the emergence of such a competitor.
The movie is stylized as the second half of the ’40s, not only through the careful work of the costumers and designers, but also through the acting: the cheerful and determined hero acts as if he were forever stuck in a TV commercial from that time. But the case of the Tucker Corporation is quite real: cars of this model still drive around America, although the company managed to produce only 50 pieces.
