Like so many entrepreneurs before him, Jason Weisenthal, 41, conceived of his latest business after searching high and low for a product that wasn’t out there: custom wall decals made from photos of his kids playing sports – a personalized alternative to the cookie-cutter images of professional athletes that were already available.

Just a few years after launching Wallmonkeys in 2008, Weisenthal has grown it into the world’s largest library of print-on-demand wall graphics, offering everything from fine art and cityscapes to – of course – custom decals of your child sliding into home.

Growing up in New Jersey, Weisenthal spent his weekends working in his father’s shoe shop. After earning a degree in business management from Towson University, he soon took over a different shoe store, transforming it from a struggling business into a million-dollar company in just six years.

In founding Wallmonkeys, Weisenthal had to educate himself in printing, graphic design, e-commerce, and marketing. “I’ve always been too stubborn to fail,” he explains. “If I don’t have the answer, I’ll track down someone who does.”

This combination of business savvy, intelligence, and grit has paid off. Wallmonkeys has generated enormous demand for products that, just a few years ago, didn’t exist. “It was only when I learned to adapt, improve and evolve my business around the customer that the sales finally came,” he says.

Weisenthal lives in Olney, Maryland with his wife Andrea and their two children Rachel and Zachary.