Roger James Hamilton's Blog, page 15

World’s wealthiest self – made female Billionaire

What’s the rags to riches story that has led a young girl in poverty to become the World’s wealthiest self-made female billionaire?

There’s a good chance the mobile phone you’re using has a screen made by her: “The Touchscreen Queen”, Zhou Quinfei. How can her billion dollar journey help you on yours? Here’s her three big steps to success:

STEP ONE: BE RELENTLESS

Qunfei was born to a poor family in a tiny village in China. Her father was blinded in a factory accident, and her mum died when sh...

A cautionary tale for entrepreneurs

A cautionary tale for entrepreneurs:

A 20 year old Englishman was handed his uncle’s shoelace factory when he passed away. He was shocked to find it had been losing money for years. Determined not to let the factory shut down, he committed to learning everything he could to make the company successful.

One of his main competitors was a Chinese shoe lace company. He decided to copy everything he could, from their pricing and different colored laces, to the design of their website. But still, t...

Weekend inspiration for entrepreneurs

Weekend inspiration for entrepreneurs:

Are you so driven to create something great, you would do it for free? That’s what Ron Avitzur did – By working at Apple when he didn’t even work there…

20 years ago, Ron was hired by Apple as a contractor, but his project was suddenly cancelled. As he recalls: “A year of my work evaporated, my contract ended, and I was unemployed. I was frustrated by all the wasted effort, so I decided to uncancel my small part of the project. I had been paid to do a jo...

Weekend inspiration for entrepreneurs:

Weekend inspiration for entrepreneurs:

Are you so driven to create something great, you would do it for free? That’s what Ron Avitzur did – By working at Apple when he didn’t even work there…

20 years ago, Ron was hired by Apple as a contractor, but his project was suddenly cancelled. As he recalls: “A year of my work evaporated, my contract ended, and I was unemployed. I was frustrated by all the wasted effort, so I decided to uncancel my small part of the project. I had been paid to do a jo...

“I know one thing: That I know nothing.”-Socrates

Have you noticed it’s never the ones with the most knowledge that succeed? That ‘new’ knowledge always beats ‘most’ knowledge? That those who don’t know what can’t be done often beat the ones who do?

What if the greatest thing holding you back is that you already know too much?

All the best entrepreneurs are as good at unlearning as they are at learning. The Japanese have a word for this: ‘Shoshin’ – To have ‘a beginner’s mind’. The concept is captured in this Buddhist story:

“Once, a profes...

Do one thing best. Delete the rest.

Focus. Even if you think you can do ten things well. Do one thing best. Delete the rest.

The post Do one thing best. Delete the rest. appeared first on Roger James Hamilton.

Future shock: Idealog chats with a futurist

Idealogwas lucky enough to get a few moments of his time, so we kept is short and hit him with the biggest questions we could think of.

What are the big trends that are going to shape the world in the next 5 years?

The biggest trends in the next five years are the shifts in society driven by technology. In the last twenty years, 3 billion people connected in entirely new ways as a result of the internet and mobile phones. That is accelerating, and there are another 3 billion connecting in t...

The hardest thing to do in a startup = stop doing everything.

The hardest thing to do in a startup = stop doing everything.

When Sara Blakely was 29, she quit her door-to-door fax salesperson job and invested her $5,000 life savings in her new company, Spanx.

Her first decision was to focus on what she was best at: Promoting her product. She says “The best thing I ever did was to hire my weakness” so she could focus all her time on her strength.

While other startup founders might have been busy trying to run their company or fix their systems, Sara was...

Are you between a rock and a hard place?

Are you between a rock and a hard place? ThenDwayne The Rock Johnsonhas a story for you:

In Dwayne’s early years, his dad, Rocky Johnson attempted to make it as a wrestler, which pushed their family towards bankruptcy. Dwayne remembers, at 14, seeing his mother’s car being repossessed and then, a week later, being evicted from their house:

“We come home, and there’s a padlock on the door and an eviction notice. My mom is bawling. She just started crying and breaking down. ‘Where are we going...

Richard Branson’s Top 12 Tips for Entrepreneurs

Richard Branson’s Top 12 Tips for Entrepreneurs:

This week, Richard is selling Virgin America to Alaska Airlines in a $2 billion deal – less than 10 years after he launched the airline. Even after selling it, he will still keep getting income by licensing the Virgin brand to the company.

This is yet another billion dollar deal that Richard’s Virgin Group has achieved while he spends eight months of the year on his Necker Island, where I’ve spent a few weeks with him over thelast few years (he...