Designing Woman Dyslexia couldn't keep this award-winning entrepreneur from multimillion-dollar success.

You could say this year's winner of the OfficeDepot/Entrepreneur Magazine Entrepreneurial Woman of theYear award had designs on success as far back as 1979. That'swhen Terri Bowersock borrowed $2,000 from her grandmother, leased asmall building, and filled it with "gently used"furniture--her own and her mother's. No sacrifice was too greatas Bowersock launched Mesa, Arizona-based Terri's Consign &Design Furnishings, the little consignment shop that has grown intoa franchised chain of 12 superstores in five states and boastsannual sales of $15 million.

A star entrepreneur in the making, Bowersock set out to create abusiness of her own straight out of high school. Her motivation wassimple: She was incapable of filling out a job application to workfor someone else. As a result of the dyslexia she'd sufferedfrom since childhood, any position requiring strong reading andwriting skills was out of the question. So she drew on the well ofdetermination that got her through school and allowed herself todream big. "Sometimes our disabilities give us ourdrive," says Bowersock, 42.

Her vision of a consignment-only store was rare in those days,but Bowersock was used to swimming upstream. She credits one ofEntrepreneur magazine's business start-up guides withsteering her in the right direction. "The guide was writtensimply. It really helped me for the first few years,"remembers Bowersock, who paid close attention to the list of commonreasons businesses fail. Avoiding the traditional consignmentadvertising in the classifieds, which she saw as inefficient,Bowersock launched a TV advertising campaign to educate viewers onthe joys of low-priced, upscale consignment furnishings. Hercreative approach worked, and the business took off.