Some of the best learning happens when you read stories about real people and real companies. Read them for ideas, for lessons, and inspiration. This week’s stories and strategies from real life are about YouTube, Tupperware, Miller Lite, Better Health Store, and Michelle Villalobos.

From Rolfe Winkler: YouTube: 1 Billion Viewers, No Profit

“Google Inc. nurtured YouTube into a cultural phenomenon, attracting more than one billion users each month. Still, YouTube hasn’t become a profitable business.”

From Joe Cochrane: Tupperware’s Sweet Spot Shifts to Indonesia

“As in 1960s America, many Indonesian women stay at home, creating an audience for parties run by women who have begun to sidle past conservative mores and into the work force.”

From Phil Rosenthal: Miller saw the Lite and figured out how to sell it

“Those wry, nostalgic Miller Lite commercials, the ones that talk about how Miller invented Lite beer (and you), recall a time when the mass-marketed low-calorie beer that dominate the market today were fresh, new and able to elicit the sense of discovery among drinkers.”

From Frank Witsil: Health-food chain experiences organic growth

“Instead of a click-and-mortar enterprise, Tedd Handelsman ended up turning the Better Health Store into a small chain of markets that sells vitamins and organic food.”

From Becca Savransky: How a South Florida woman is taking her business on a road trip

“When Michelle Villalobos, a personal branding expert from Coral Gables, realized last year she wasn’t happy, she decided to make a change.”