Gary Shorter: The Entrepreneur Behind the Trans4mer All-in-One Exercise Device

After selling his family’s home of 18 years, serial entrepreneur Gary Shorter moved his family to a smaller and more affordable apartment. Already suffering from lower back sciatica, he injured his back while moving and had to undergo surgery. To regain his strength and balance, Shorter used exercise balls, kettle bells, and medicine balls, all of which did the job without the usual pain associated with exercise. Shorter wanted to continue his physical therapy in the comfort of his own home but the sheer number of balls and bells required was too inconvenient and expensive. Thus, he put his engineering skills to work and came up with several configurations and combinations for an all-in-one exercise device. Shorter’s chiropractor, physical therapist, and back surgeon all gave his idea their stamp of approval, and the Trans4mer was born.

Featuring four different configurations, the Trans4mer is a cost-effective and space-saving alternative to medicine balls, kettle bells, exercise balls, dumb bells, and other athletic equipment. Shorter believes that staying healthy should not be painful, stressful, or costly, and the Trans4mer delivers the benefits of 20 exercise devices in one easy-to-use system.

Anthony Sblendorio: Green Building Architect, Entrepreneur, and Environmentalist

Named the Small Business Council of America’s Small Business Person of the Year for 2013, Anthony Sblendorio is the founder of landscape architecture and development firm Back to Nature in Oldwick, New Jersey. Founded in 1994, Back to Nature specializes in green building and has worked on some of the first LEED certified structures and communities in the state. In 2011, Sblendorio decided to open a home and garden store despite his lack of retail experience. Also called Back to Nature, the store is located in Basking Ridge and offers a wide selection of plants, gardening tools, and gifts. Opening the retail store was “risky,” Sblendorio recalls, as he made his move only a couple of years after the credit markets collapsed. The risk paid off, though, and Back to Nature has thrived over the last two years.

“It’s our responsibility to get people inspired to want to do something and not to judge them if they don’t,” says the entrepreneurial environmentalist.

Sblendorio obtained his degree in landscape architecture from Rutgers University. His architecture firm is now working with the Willow School in Gladstone to develop plans for its LEED certified buildings and construct the country’s first “living” school building. In addition to running the Back to Nature landscape architecture firm and Back to Nature retail store, Sblendorio teaches at Rutgers University, New Jersey Institute of Technology, and the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection. Previously, he served as co-CEO of Ecological, a Manhattan-based master planning and development firm he co-founded with Joe Grano and former New York governor George Pataki.

Sblendorio’s contributions to the green building movement have been recognized by the American Society of Landscape Architects, the Urban Land Institute Northern New Jersey Chapter, the Hunterdon County Planning Board, The Perennial Plant Association, and The Garden Club of Morristown.

Len Saunders: Keeping Kids Fit for 25 Years and Counting

For the past 25 years, award-winning author and motivational speaker Len Saunders has been inspiring kids and their parents to lead a healthy lifestyle. A recognized leader in the field of children’s health, fitness, and wellness, Saunders has received several accolades for his efforts to reduce childhood obesity. He is best known for being the creator of Project ACES (All Children Exercise Simultaneously), a program he started in 1989 to motivate kids to exercise. Today, Project ACES continues to get children from more than 50 countries to exercise in unison during the first Wednesday of May.

Saunders earned his bachelor’s degree in physical education from the University of Bridgeport in Connecticut and later obtained his master’s degree in exercise physiology from Montclair State University in New Jersey. He says his passion for eliminating childhood obesity comes from his own childhood; growing up, Saunders had many positive role models who encouraged him to be the very best he could be. Leading the fight against childhood obesity and getting kids excited about exercise is his way of paying it forward.

Reshma Saujani: Empowering More Girls to Code

Reshma Saujani is the founder of Girls Who Code, a national non-profit organization that seeks to close the gender gap in computing fields. The Indian-American attorney was inspired to start Girls Who Code after running for congress. Though she didn’t win, she received support from other women during her campaign. She also learned that there will be 1.4 million computer specialist job openings by 2020, yet US universities are expected to produce enough qualified graduates to fill just less than 30 percent of those jobs. And while 74 percent of girls in middle school are interested in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM), only 0.3 percent of girls who graduate from high school choose computer science as their college major.

“If we teach a million girls to code by 2020, there will be a tangible change in the economic future – more jobs, less pay inequity,” says Saujani. “Socially, there is a huge impact. When girls build, they make things to improve their community.”

Saujani launched Girls Who Code in spring 2012 and the organization’s inaugural program educated and empowered disadvantaged young women from all over New York City. This year, Saujani plans to launch programs in Detroit, San Francisco, and San Jose using a $435,000 grant by the Knight Foundation. She also wants to start Girls Who Code clubs in schools eventually.

According to Saujani, both men and women support Girls Who Code. Men also back the organization because they have daughters and see the lack of computer science education in schools. Saujani herself doesn’t know how to code, saying she has always been intimidated by math and science. But she doesn’t want other girls to feel the same way, and says that the young women who join Girls Who Code gain a tremendous amount of self-confidence over the course of the eight-week program.

Arkadium: From Bootstrapped Startup to Multimillion Dollar Game Development Studio

A leading casual game development studio with offices in New York City, Ukraine, and Canada, Arkadium was founded in 2001 by game enthusiasts and married couple Jessica Rovello and Kenny Rosenblatt. When the pair began dating more than 10 years ago, they got talking about the games they used to play in arcades but couldn’t find anymore. Their conversations inspired them to start a development studio that made those classic arcade games for online play. Thus, they launched Arkadium with $15,000 from 401(k) accounts and gave themselves six months.

Armed with a business plan, Rovello and Rosenblatt sought funding from mentors and advisors but were told that they had zero valuation and would “get eaten alive by the terms.” So they began building a business, deciding they would develop a game or two before trying to raise money again. But then the dot-com bubble burst and 9/11 happened, leaving Arkadium in a deadlock.

Rovello and Rosenblatt stuck with their company while creating websites on the side. They didn’t take salaries but continued to pay employees and develop products. By 2003, Arkadium still wasn’t making money, and the couple gave themselves another six months before one of them had to go get a job. Then R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company called to ask if they had any casino games for the company’s website. Arkadium whipped up a poker game proposal and won the bid.

Today, Arkadium makes games for both businesses and consumers. The company’s hundreds of games reach more than 10 million unique gamers per month across multiple channels such as Facebook, Windows 8, ESPN, CNN, Discovery, AARP, and Lifetime. Rovello and Rosenblatt never raised any outside capital and own about 75 percent of Arkadium; the rest is divided among family, friends, and a few early angel investors.

“A lot of 20-somethings who think about starting a company are trying to make a bazillion dollars quickly and be the next Mark Zuckerberg. But not taking any financing and growing organically means you get to maintain control of your business,” says Rovello.

How RetailMeNot Became the Biggest Coupon Website in the World

Australian entrepreneurs Guy King and Bevan Clark are the co-founders of popular coupon site RetailMeNot. When they started RetailMeNot in late 2006, their goal was to build the best deal website, not the most profitable. While most businesses in the online coupon sector focus only on offering deals that earn affiliate revenue, RetailMeNot put the consumer’s best interests first and money second. King and Clark’s strategy worked, and RetailMeNot quickly grew into the biggest coupon site in the world.

As King explained, “Our success from a large part has come down to being useful to as many people as possible, and the revenues will follow. I think people should invest their energy in being useful.”

In 2009, King and Bevan sold RetailMeNot to WhaleShark Media, Inc., which was later renamed to RetailMeNot, Inc. The company’s portfolio of coupon and deal websites include RetailMeNot.com in the US, VoucherCodes.co.uk in the UK, Deals.com in Germany, Poulpeo.com in France, and more.

Off-Leash K9 Training: Police/Military Obedience for Regular Dogs

Former US Marine and US Secret Service Nick White loves training dogs. Having trained with some of the best dog trainers in the world, he began training dogs for free for friends and family, and soon their friends and neighbors wanted to work with him as well. Knowing that the key to being happy and successful is to make money doing what you love, White founded Off-Leash K9 Training, LLC in 2009. Based in Northern Virginia, the company currently has nine locations across the United Sates. The highest rated dog training business in Virginia, Maryland, and Washington, DC, Off-Leash K9 Training counts UFC world champion Jon “Bones” Jones, world champion boxer Roy Jones, Jr., professional wrestler Iron Sheik, and musician Bret Michaels among its clients.

Off-Leash K9 Training specializes in private lessons, dog behavior consultations, and helping owners understand why their dogs do the things they do. Dogs who enroll at Off-Leash K9 Training are given military/police precision obedience, transforming them from unruly to completely obedient and off-leash. White recommends that owners who have dogs with obedience issues seek professional guidance as soon as possible, as their pets will not “grow out of it” or “fix itself.” “On a daily basis, we talk to owners who have been dealing with issues with their dog(s) for months and even years, when it was a problem we were able to easily correct within just a couple sessions!”

When it comes to expanding a business, White has learned that growing slowly is the best way to go. Expansion comes with unexpected issues and kinks, he says, so it’s important to expand one location at a time. Aside from running Off-Leash K9 Training, White serves on the board of the Prince William County Humane Society and regularly appears on ABC’s The Pet Show With Dr. Katy Nelson as a consultant.