VIDEO SUMMARY
Discover the Game-Changing Steps to Entrepreneurial Triumph
Hey there, future moguls! 🌟
Ready to unlock the secrets to business success and skyrocket your hustle game? 🚀
Ever wonder how some folks turn a simple idea into millions? 💡
Well, get ready to dive deep into the world of entrepreneurial wisdom! 🧠
From transforming tiny startups into colossal enterprises to delighting customers like a boss, we’ve got the inside scoop on what it takes to make it BIG. 💪🏼
Whether it’s mastering the art of customer satisfaction, embracing failure as a stepping stone to greatness, or surrounding yourself with excellence, we’ve got you covered! 🌟
Don’t miss out on this chance to level up your game and learn from the masters themselves! 📈
Join us on this epic journey as we unravel the mysteries of success and pave the way to your brightest future yet! 💫
#SuccessSecrets #HustleHard #BusinessBaller #UnlockYourPotential
Step-by-Step Guide
Step 1: Recognize Potential for Growth
Description:
Identify the common trait among successful individuals: they acknowledged their potential for growth and were willing to invest time and energy to improve themselves.
Implementation:
- Reflect on your own skills and abilities to recognize areas for improvement.
- Acknowledge that acquiring more skills can lead to remarkable achievements.
- Be open to investing time and energy in self-improvement.
Specific Details:
- Take time to assess your current skill set and identify areas where enhancement is needed.
- Understand that personal and professional growth require dedication and effort.
- Embrace a growth mindset, believing that you can learn and develop new skills over time.
Step 2: Learn from Inspiring Stories
Description:
Glean lessons from inspiring success stories to understand the practical steps taken by others to achieve their goals.
Implementation:
- Seek out stories of successful individuals in your field or industry.
- Analyze these stories to identify key actions and strategies that led to success.
- Extract actionable insights that can be applied to your own journey.
Specific Details:
- Look for stories of individuals who started with limited resources but achieved significant success through perseverance and determination.
- Pay attention to the specific steps taken by these individuals to overcome challenges and build successful businesses.
- Take note of any recurring themes or strategies that contributed to their success, such as resilience, hard work, and customer focus.
Step 3: Start Small with Available Resources
Description:
Begin your entrepreneurial journey with the resources you have at hand, even if they seem limited.
Implementation:
- Assess your current resources, including financial capital, skills, and connections.
- Start small by focusing on a specific niche or market where you can make an impact.
- Utilize creativity and resourcefulness to maximize the effectiveness of your available resources.
Specific Details:
- Evaluate your existing assets, such as savings, skills, and personal networks, to determine your starting point.
- Consider launching a small-scale venture or side hustle to test your ideas and gain valuable experience.
- Look for opportunities to bootstrap your business by minimizing costs and leveraging free or low-cost resources.
Step 4: Persist Despite Challenges
Description:
Persist in pursuing your goals despite obstacles and setbacks along the way.
Implementation:
- Develop resilience to overcome challenges and setbacks that arise during your entrepreneurial journey.
- Stay focused on your long-term vision and maintain a positive mindset, even in difficult times.
- Continuously adapt and iterate your strategies based on feedback and experiences.
Specific Details:
- Expect to encounter obstacles and setbacks on your path to success, but view them as opportunities for growth and learning.
- Seek support from mentors, peers, or support networks to navigate challenges and stay motivated.
- Embrace failure as a natural part of the entrepreneurial process and use it as a learning experience to fuel future success.
Step 5: Build Strong Relationships
Description:
Cultivate meaningful relationships with customers, suppliers, and partners to support the growth of your business.
Implementation:
- Prioritize building trust and rapport with your customers by delivering exceptional products or services.
- Foster mutually beneficial relationships with suppliers and partners to ensure reliable support and collaboration.
- Stay engaged with your community and industry networks to expand your reach and opportunities.
Specific Details:
- Invest time and effort in understanding the needs and preferences of your target audience to deliver tailored solutions.
- Communicate transparently and honestly with suppliers and partners to build long-lasting partnerships based on trust and integrity.
- Actively participate in industry events, networking groups, and online communities to connect with like-minded professionals and potential collaborators.
Step 6: Stay Committed to Your Vision
Description:
Remain committed to your long-term vision and goals, even as you encounter success and recognition.
Implementation:
- Define a clear vision for your business and articulate your goals and objectives.
- Stay focused on your core values and principles, even as external circumstances change.
- Continuously evaluate your progress and make adjustments as needed to stay aligned with your vision.
Specific Details:
- Regularly revisit your business plan and strategic objectives to ensure they remain relevant and achievable.
- Communicate your vision and goals to your team members and stakeholders to foster alignment and commitment.
- Be willing to pivot and adapt your strategies in response to changing market conditions or emerging opportunities.
Step 7: Embrace Continuous Learning
Description:
Commit to lifelong learning and personal development to stay ahead in a rapidly evolving business landscape.
Implementation:
- Seek out opportunities for professional development, such as workshops, courses, and mentorship programs.
- Stay informed about industry trends, emerging technologies, and best practices through books, podcasts, and online resources.
- Actively seek feedback from customers, peers, and mentors to identify areas for improvement and growth.
Specific Details:
- Allocate time and resources for ongoing education and skill development to enhance your capabilities as an entrepreneur.
- Foster a culture of learning within your organization by encouraging curiosity, experimentation, and knowledge sharing.
- Embrace failure as a natural part of the learning process and use setbacks as opportunities for reflection and growth.
Step 8: Give Back to Your Community
Description:
Contribute to the success and well-being of your community by giving back and supporting local initiatives.
Implementation:
- Identify ways to give back to your community through charitable donations, volunteer work, or mentorship programs.
- Align your business values and resources with causes that resonate with your personal or organizational mission.
- Engage with local organizations, schools, and nonprofits to make a positive impact and build goodwill.
Specific Details:
- Consider donating a portion of your profits to local charities or community organizations that address pressing needs or issues.
- Volunteer your time and expertise to support entrepreneurship programs, youth initiatives, or environmental conservation efforts.
- Collaborate with other businesses and stakeholders to launch joint initiatives or campaigns that benefit the community at large.
Step 9: Celebrate Milestones and Achievements
Description:
Take time to acknowledge and celebrate your accomplishments and milestones along the way.
Implementation:
- Set specific goals and milestones for your business, both short-term and long-term.
- Recognize and reward progress and achievements, whether big or small, to maintain morale and motivation.
- Share successes with your team members, customers, and stakeholders to foster a sense of pride and accomplishment.
Specific Details:
- Create a culture of celebration within your organization by acknowledging individual and team contributions to the business.
- Host regular meetings or events to review progress against goals and recognize outstanding performance.
- Encourage open communication and feedback to ensure everyone feels valued and appreciated for their efforts.
Step 10: Leverage Personal Attributes and Skills
Description:
Identify and leverage your personal attributes and skills to excel in your chosen field or industry.
Implementation:
- Reflect on your strengths, interests, and talents to determine your unique selling proposition.
- Embrace your individuality and use it as a competitive advantage in your business endeavors.
- Continuously hone and develop your skills to stay ahead of the competition and adapt to changing market demands.
Specific Details:
- Assess your personal attributes, such as communication skills, creativity, and problem-solving abilities, to identify areas where you can excel.
- Emphasize your strengths and passions in your business activities to differentiate yourself from competitors and attract customers.
- Invest in ongoing training and development to enhance your capabilities and stay relevant in your industry.
Step 11: Embrace Entrepreneurial Opportunities
Description:
Seize entrepreneurial opportunities, even if they require stepping outside of your comfort zone or taking calculated risks.
Implementation:
- Stay alert to emerging trends, market gaps, and opportunities for innovation in your industry.
- Be willing to take calculated risks and pursue new ventures or business ventures that align with your interests and expertise.
- Embrace uncertainty and ambiguity as part of the entrepreneurial journey, viewing challenges as opportunities for growth and learning.
Specific Details:
- Keep an eye on market dynamics, consumer preferences, and technological advancements to identify potential business opportunities.
- Be open to exploring new ideas and concepts, even if they deviate from traditional norms or practices.
- Take calculated risks by conducting thorough research, assessing potential outcomes, and mitigating potential downsides before making decisions.
Step 12: Demonstrate Perseverance and Resilience
Description:
Demonstrate perseverance and resilience in the face of obstacles and setbacks, maintaining a steadfast commitment to your goals and vision.
Implementation:
- Develop a resilient mindset that allows you to bounce back from setbacks and failures with determination and perseverance.
- Stay focused on your long-term objectives, even when faced with short-term challenges or setbacks.
- Cultivate a support network of mentors, peers, and advisors who can provide guidance and encouragement during difficult times.
Specific Details:
- View obstacles and setbacks as opportunities for growth and learning, rather than insurmountable barriers.
- Stay committed to your goals and vision, adapting your strategies and tactics as needed to overcome challenges.
- Seek feedback and support from trusted advisors and mentors to gain perspective and insight into navigating difficult situations.
Step 13: Focus on Customer Experience and Service
Description:
Prioritize delivering exceptional customer experience and service to differentiate your business and build customer loyalty.
Implementation:
- Understand your customers’ needs, preferences, and pain points to tailor your products or services to meet their expectations.
- Invest in training and empowering your employees to deliver personalized and attentive service to every customer interaction.
- Solicit feedback from customers and use it to continuously improve and refine your offerings and service delivery.
Specific Details:
- Go above and beyond to exceed customer expectations and create memorable experiences that foster loyalty and repeat business.
- Foster a customer-centric culture within your organization by emphasizing the importance of empathy, responsiveness, and accountability.
- Leverage technology and automation to streamline processes and enhance efficiency while maintaining a human touch in customer interactions.
Step 14: Differentiate Through Innovation and Creativity
Description:
Differentiate your business through innovation and creativity, offering unique solutions and experiences that set you apart from competitors.
Implementation:
- Encourage a culture of innovation and creativity within your organization, empowering employees to explore new ideas and experiment with novel approaches.
- Invest in research and development to uncover untapped opportunities and address unmet needs in your industry or market.
- Stay agile and adaptable, continuously iterating and refining your products, services, and business models to stay ahead of the curve.
Specific Details:
- Foster a collaborative environment where employees feel encouraged to share ideas, take risks, and challenge the status quo.
- Embrace a mindset of continuous improvement and experimentation, testing new concepts and prototypes to validate assumptions and gather feedback.
- Leverage technology and digital tools to drive innovation and enhance the customer experience, leveraging data insights and analytics to inform strategic decision-making.
Step 15: Build a Strong Brand and Reputation
Description:
Invest in building a strong brand and reputation that reflects your values, mission, and commitment to excellence.
Implementation:
- Define your brand identity, including your unique selling proposition, brand personality, and visual identity elements.
- Consistently communicate your brand message and values across all touchpoints and channels to build brand awareness and recognition.
- Proactively manage your reputation by delivering on your promises, addressing customer concerns promptly, and maintaining transparency and integrity in all your interactions.
Specific Details:
- Develop a compelling brand story that resonates with your target audience and differentiates your business from competitors.
- Invest in high-quality branding and design elements, including logos, color schemes, and marketing collateral, to create a cohesive and memorable brand identity.
- Monitor online reviews, social media mentions, and customer feedback to proactively address any issues or concerns and maintain a positive brand reputation.
Step 16: Cultivate Strategic Partnerships and Alliances
Description:
Cultivate strategic partnerships and alliances with complementary businesses and organizations to expand your reach, capabilities, and market opportunities.
Implementation:
- Identify potential partners and collaborators who share similar values, target audiences, or strategic objectives.
- Develop mutually beneficial partnerships that leverage each other’s strengths, resources, and networks to achieve common goals.
- Nurture and maintain relationships with partners through regular communication, collaboration, and shared success.
Specific Details:
- Explore opportunities for cross-promotion, co-marketing, and co-branding initiatives with strategic partners to amplify your reach and visibility.
- Collaborate on joint projects, events, or campaigns that add value to both parties and resonate with your shared audience.
- Leverage partner networks and connections to access new markets, distribution channels, or customer segments that may be otherwise inaccessible.
Step 17: Adapt to Market Dynamics and Trends
Description:
Stay agile and adaptable in response to changing market dynamics, trends, and consumer preferences to remain competitive and relevant.
Implementation:
- Monitor industry trends, competitive landscape, and market shifts to anticipate changes and opportunities.
- Stay informed about emerging technologies, disruptive innovations, and evolving customer behaviors that may impact your business.
- Adapt your strategies, products, and services in real-time to meet evolving market demands and stay ahead of competitors.
Specific Details:
- Conduct regular market research and analysis to identify emerging opportunities, threats, and gaps in the market.
- Stay connected with your customers and solicit feedback to understand their evolving needs, preferences, and pain points.
- Embrace flexibility and agility in your business operations, processes, and decision-making to pivot quickly in response to changing market conditions.
Step 18: Invest in Scalable Growth Strategies
Description:
Invest in scalable growth strategies and infrastructure to sustain long-term success and expansion.
Implementation:
- Develop a clear growth strategy and roadmap that outlines your objectives, milestones, and action plans for achieving sustainable growth.
- Invest in scalable technologies, systems, and processes that can support increased demand, expansion into new markets, and diversification of offerings.
- Continuously monitor and optimize your growth initiatives,
Step 19: Maintain Focus on Customer Experience
Description:
Maintain a relentless focus on providing exceptional customer experiences, prioritizing customer satisfaction and relationship building to drive long-term success.
Implementation:
- Prioritize the customer’s experience above all else, recognizing that customer satisfaction is the cornerstone of business success.
- Invest in building meaningful relationships with customers, exceeding their expectations and creating memorable experiences at every touchpoint.
- Continuously evaluate and improve the customer journey, soliciting feedback and implementing changes to address pain points and enhance satisfaction.
Specific Details:
- Emphasize the importance of empathy, responsiveness, and personalized service in all customer interactions, fostering loyalty and advocacy among your customer base.
- Train and empower employees to deliver exceptional customer service, providing them with the tools and resources needed to delight customers and resolve issues effectively.
- Leverage technology and data analytics to gain insights into customer preferences and behavior, tailoring your offerings and communications to meet their needs and preferences.
Step 20: Embrace a Culture of Continuous Learning and Improvement
Description:
Embrace a culture of continuous learning and improvement, recognizing that success is a journey of growth and development that requires ongoing adaptation and innovation.
Implementation:
- Foster a growth mindset within your organization, encouraging employees to embrace challenges, learn from failures, and continuously seek opportunities for growth and improvement.
- Provide access to training, mentorship, and development opportunities that empower employees to expand their skills, knowledge, and capabilities.
- Create a supportive environment that celebrates experimentation, creativity, and risk-taking, valuing learning and growth as essential components of success.
Specific Details:
- Establish learning and development programs that address both technical skills and soft skills, equipping employees with the tools and resources needed to excel in their roles and contribute to the organization’s success.
- Encourage cross-functional collaboration and knowledge sharing, fostering a culture of openness and transparency where ideas are freely exchanged and innovation is embraced.
- Lead by example, demonstrating a commitment to continuous learning and improvement in your own actions and behaviors, inspiring others to follow suit.
Step 21: Surround Yourself with Positive Influences
Description:
Surround yourself with positive influences and role models who inspire and challenge you to grow, both personally and professionally.
Implementation:
- Seek out mentors, advisors, and peers who embody the qualities and values you admire, leveraging their wisdom and guidance to navigate challenges and seize opportunities.
- Build a supportive network of like-minded individuals who share your aspirations and goals, providing encouragement, accountability, and camaraderie along your journey.
- Prioritize relationships with people who uplift and empower you, avoiding toxic or negative influences that undermine your confidence and hinder your progress.
Specific Details:
- Actively cultivate relationships with individuals who inspire you and push you to reach your full potential, whether they are colleagues, friends, or mentors.
- Attend networking events, conferences, and workshops to expand your circle of influence and connect with new people who can offer fresh perspectives and insights.
- Be selective about the company you keep, surrounding yourself with individuals who embody the values of integrity, ambition, and positivity that you strive to embody.
Step 22: Lead with Integrity and Empathy
Description:
Lead with integrity and empathy, embodying ethical principles and values that prioritize the well-being of others and contribute to a positive and inclusive work culture.
Implementation:
- Set a clear example of ethical behavior and integrity in all your actions and decisions, demonstrating honesty, transparency, and accountability in your leadership.
- Practice active listening and empathy in your interactions with others, seeking to understand their perspectives, concerns, and needs with compassion and respect.
- Foster a culture of trust, fairness, and inclusivity within your organization, empowering employees to speak up, share ideas, and contribute to a supportive and collaborative work environment.
Specific Details:
- Communicate openly and transparently with your team, keeping them informed and involved in decision-making processes that affect their work and livelihood.
- Treat others with kindness, respect, and dignity, valuing diversity and inclusion as essential principles of ethical leadership and organizational success.
- Hold yourself and others accountable for upholding ethical standards and promoting a culture of integrity and empathy that benefits both individuals and the broader community.
Step 23: Celebrate Milestones and Successes
Description:
Celebrate milestones and successes along the journey, recognizing the hard work, dedication, and achievements of individuals and teams that contribute to the organization’s growth and success.
Implementation:
- Acknowledge and appreciate the efforts and accomplishments of individuals and teams, expressing gratitude and recognition for their contributions and commitment.
- Create opportunities for celebration and reflection, such as team outings, award ceremonies, and recognition programs, to honor achievements and foster a sense of pride and camaraderie.
- Cultivate a culture of positivity and optimism, where successes are celebrated as opportunities for learning, growth, and continued excellence.
Specific Details:
- Hold regular team meetings or gatherings to highlight milestones, achievements, and successes, inviting team members to share their accomplishments and lessons learned.
- Provide rewards and incentives for exceptional performance, whether through monetary bonuses, promotions, or non-monetary perks that reinforce a culture of excellence and recognition.
- Encourage peer-to-peer recognition and appreciation, empowering employees to acknowledge and celebrate each other’s contributions and successes in a supportive and collaborative manner.
Step 24: Stay Committed to Lifelong Learning and Growth
Description:
Stay committed to lifelong learning and growth, embracing new challenges, opportunities, and experiences that enrich your personal and professional journey.
Implementation:
- Cultivate a growth mindset that values curiosity, adaptability, and resilience, viewing every experience as an opportunity for learning and self-improvement.
- Seek out new experiences, skills, and knowledge that expand your horizons, challenge your assumptions, and push you outside of your comfort zone.
- Stay open to feedback, mentorship, and constructive criticism, recognizing that continuous learning and growth are essential for personal fulfillment and professional success.
Specific Details:
- Invest in ongoing education and skill development, whether through formal education programs, professional certifications, or self-directed learning initiatives that align with your interests and goals.
- Embrace challenges and setbacks as opportunities for growth and development, reframing obstacles as stepping stones to success and resilience.
- Surround yourself with mentors, advisors, and peers who inspire and challenge you to reach your full potential, leveraging their support and guidance to navigate your journey of lifelong learning and growth.
COMPREHENSIVE CONTENT
Stories of Determination and Success
These people had one thing in common, you know? They knew they had it in themselves. They knew they could be something beyond where they were. They were willing to put their time, their energies, to better themselves. What you really could do with more skills, it’s just remarkable. So, I would like to just tell you a couple of short stories, and we’ll draw maybe a couple of lessons from them.
I would like to tell you of two women that each sold the business to Berkshire Hathaway, uh, to me actually, for many, many, many millions of dollars. Both of them started with twenty-five hundred dollars, by a coincidence, with the exact same amount. It was everything they had in the world.
And one of them was a woman who landed in Seattle in 1917, couldn’t speak a word of English, had a tag around her neck. The tag said Fort Dodge, Iowa. The Red Cross got her to Fort Dodge, where she was reunited with her husband who had come to the country a couple of years earlier. And she lived in Fort Dodge for two years, and as she put it, she felt like a dummy. She couldn’t pick up the language, she couldn’t learn a word. And so she decided, she and her husband decided to move to Omaha. So, they came to Omaha.
The Remarkable Story of Rose Blumkin
In 1919, she found a small colony of Russian Jews, so she started feeling more at home. Then, as her oldest daughter went to school, she would come home, this daughter Francis, and she would teach her mother the words she learned in school that day. And this woman, Rose Blumkin, spent 20 years saving money, bringing first her siblings over, her mother and father, fifty dollars at a time. She sold used clothing to do it. She had four children during this period, and by 1937, after 20 years, she’d saved 2,500 dollars.
She went to Chicago and bought what she could of furniture. Her dream had always been to open a furniture store. And this woman, without who had never gone to school one day in her life, with 2,500 dollars, but with the same spirit that the people in this room had about having a dream and working to accomplish that dream, she built a business which she sold to me in 1983 for 60 million dollars approximately, in which did a billion and a half dollars worth of business last year.
The fourth generation is working in that business. This woman, Rose Blumkin, she worked for me until she was 103. And then, I’m not saying then she retired and she died the next year, which is a lesson to all of Berkshire’s managers that premature retirement, you know, nothing. You can’t tell what’s going to happen. But Mrs. B, with her 2,500 dollars.
One further fact about her, she could not read or write, and she went into a furniture business. And she didn’t bring anything unique in furniture, but she brought a determination to succeed. She knew she could outwork anyone else, she knew she cared about her customers. She worked at very low gross margins, but she built this incredible business.
And I saw one other woman who did a similar thing with twenty-five hundred dollars. I paid her hundreds of millions of dollars for her business. So, I decided to go to the source and get these people before, you know why? I don’t want you guys coming around to me, asking me hundreds of millions of dollars. I’d like to join in with you, um, much earlier.
Today, I’d like to tell you about one other small business person. This person I went to buy his business from him, and he turned me down, which was very wise. But this was a fellow who was born about eight years before I was. He was born in 1922. We’ll call him Jack. He lived in the Midwest. He was a pretty good athlete, didn’t like school much.
And I’m going to tell you one thing early in the story, maybe you can figure out who the guy was, the company he built.
The Journey of Jack: From College Dropout to Entrepreneur
Heirs more college graduates each year than any other company in the United States. And this fellow, who was destined for this but did not know it, Jack, went to college for a year and then dropped out. He really wasn’t that interested in school. And the year he dropped out was 1941, and when the country became the United States became under attack, he went down to the Army Air Force recruiting station, volunteered, and they turned him down because he had hay fever.
So he went over to the Navy, and again volunteered, and they took him. They put him on an aircraft carrier. He flew small flight airplanes during World War II, got two distinguished flying crosses from the Navy. And then he came back to the Midwest. So now we’ve got a young guy, probably by this time he would be 23 or 24 years old.
And the interesting thing is, he got back to the Midwest, and he actually kind of went from one job to another for a short period or not such a short period of time. And he finally became a used car salesman at a Cadillac dealership in St. Louis, Missouri. And at age 35, having moved up in the organization, the sales organization, he said to his boss, “Could I go in the car leasing business with you?” The boss said, “Well, if you’ll cut your salary in half and you’ll come up with—it was 25,000 dollars, which he borrowed—we can become partners in a car leasing company.”
So, my friend Jack started at age 35 in the car leasing business, and he had seven cars. It was pretty slow. In fact, one of the things he did was whenever the phone rang, he let it ring three or four times so people would think that he was very busy answering other phones, and of course, the only call he was going to get all day.
So his first venture was okay, but it wasn’t really going to go anyplace, and there’s a lesson in this for all of us. At age 40, he decided, with 17 vehicles, 17 cars, he was going to go into competition in the rental car business. So now he’s taking on Hertz and Avis and National and people like that who have hundreds and hundreds of thousands of cars, and he’s got 17 cars, and his cars aren’t any different than theirs. I mean, he’s buying them from.
Jack Taylor’s Legacy: Turning Ordinary into Extraordinary
He can’t get the airport locations, those companies have them all sewed up. But he was determined that he would basically offer the customer, get a different car, but he can offer them friendlier service than they’ve ever seen. And so, he started the company, he named it after the battleship that he’d flown from in the Pacific, which was the USS Enterprise.
And he died about a year, year and a half ago. But when he died, his rent-a-car company, starting with those 17 cars, was worth more than Hertz and Avis and all the rest of the rental cars put together. The man’s name was Jack Taylor, and his son, Andy Taylor, is a good friend of mine, runs the business now. A grandchild is in the business. They’ll probably be a fourth-generation alumni. So, this man in the United States, he didn’t invent artificial intelligence, you know, he didn’t do anything that just like Mrs. B selling furniture, I mean, that any one of us could have entered those businesses.
But he lived by the creed, basically, of delighting his customers and working with people and establishing the relationship with them so that they, in turn, would want to, like the customers. He couldn’t go out there and take care of every rental car possibility, but he learned how to project himself and his attitude toward his fellow man and his desire, you know, to make a friend out of every customer.
He managed to take very ordinary cars and turn them into this extraordinary business from virtually nothing, and it illustrates several points. One is, you don’t necessarily get it right the first exactly right the first time. I mean, the car leasing business, you know, basically you were competing on the cost of money to finance cars, and it’s very hard to delight a customer when you just give them the car and tell them to send you a monthly check for five years and you’ll be back at that time.
So his talents were being wasted basically in that business, but at the age of 40, with all of that experience behind him, he found the golden key. He took a very ordinary business and turned it into an absolutely extraordinary operation just like Mrs. B, Rose Blumkin, did with furniture.
And he didn’t worry about whether the Federal Reserve was going to tighten or ease, he didn’t worry about whether the stock market was up or down yesterday, he didn’t worry about the things he couldn’t change. But he did worry, he did focus on the one thing he could change, and that was the customer’s experience.
And I have seen the one, I didn’t, the one that got away, Enterprise. I went down to Florida and tried to talk him into selling the Berkshire, and he was smart enough not to do it. Probably the value of the company is quadrupled since I made that visit, but he was smart enough to see that he would find that business. Henry Ford, as you may know.
The Importance of Learning and Customer Delight
Failed twice before he started the Ford Motor Company in 1903. I mean, the test isn’t whether you get the greatest business idea in the world the first time out. The test is whether you keep learning as you go along, what your strengths are, and what you can do for your customers, what you can bring especially to the party.
And to do that, you need the education that I know you’ve received through ten thousand small businesses. But you need a genuine desire, day in, day out, to delight the customer. I’ve never seen a business, and I’ve seen a lot of businesses, but I’ve never seen one that delights the customer that doesn’t succeed.
I mean, what you want is that customer the next day when they think, “Do I want to rent a car or do I want to buy some furniture?” What goes through their mind? You know, it’s the place where they’ve had a great experience. I don’t know what I paid for this, type actually, probably if somebody gave it to me, but for the purposes of the speech, I will say, I have no idea. But what I or the shirt I’m wearing or others, but I do know I will remember how I was treated when I bought it.
I mean, you long forget about the price, but you never forget whether you had a good experience or a poor experience with the purchase experience. And you’ll have a hard time finding a person who has had a wonderful experience, a delighted experience, in purchasing anything that isn’t going to come back. And similarly, if the memory is of rudeness, indifference, and whatever it may be, they’re never going to come back.
And as a small business owner and as you grow, you have to not only be able to project that interest in people’s well-being and delighting them yourself, but you have to do it through other people. And you won’t be able to do it through people who themselves do not feel they’re being fairly treated, that their views aren’t appropriately considered.
So, you really do have to learn to multiply yourself through other people. And I advise the young people to come to Omaha. We have a lot of a number of classes. The key is to certainly in terms of your personal life, the most important decision you may make, you’ll make, is the spouse that most of you will likely have.
Surrounding Yourself with Excellence
It’s very important to surround yourself with people who are better than you are. You are going to move in the direction of the people you associate with. So if you constantly, I’ve been enormously lucky in that respect. I mean, I’ve just had teachers and friends and a spouse that really was a better person than I was. And I had enough sense to learn from these people that life went better if you behaved better yourself. It took a while.
So, I advise you to seek out as your partner in business, your partner in life, whatever it may be, look for the people that actually are examples to you rather than somebody that you think you need to straighten out yourself. And simple rules like that, delighting customers, working through other people, associating with people that will cause you to move in a better path than you might otherwise have, they will take you so far in life that it’s hard to believe.
I mean, they took Rose Blumkin without being able to speak a word of English, couldn’t read or write, and they took her to what is now a billion and a half dollar business. And incidentally, there’s been no money put in it since the 2,500 dollars. That’s been the total capital paid into the Nebraska Furniture Mart.
And I think if you looked at Enterprise, I don’t know their books the same way, but my guess is that very little equity capital has been added to Enterprise over the years. The business built on itself.
So, I want to tell you, I admire this group enormously. When I met Dr. Mello’s class on September 22nd, eight years ago, I was thrilled, and I admire people that are doing what you have done. You know, working hard at your job at the same time you took on an added, really a lot of hard work, to further your skills. 99 percent graduate, I mean, it’s a mind-blowing statistic. And I’m looking at 2200 people here who I admire. I’m cheering for you, and I can tell you the best is yet to come. Thank you.