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In every job, I would justify it in my mind, whether I loved it or hated it, that I was getting paid to learn and every experience would be of value when I figured out what I wanted to do when I grew up.
You continue your education.
Decision time. It’s always the little decisions that have the biggest impact. We all have to make that “make or break” call to follow orders or do what you know is right. I followed my first instinct: Close the sale.
They were people that took me under their wing and trusted me, not because I was the most knowledgeable about computers, but because they knew I would do whatever it took to get the job done. People trusted me with keys to their offices. They would find me there when they arrived in the morning, and I was there when they left.
No one was going to cover my obligations but me. I had to get my ass back to work, and do so quickly. That’s exactly what I did. As far as Renee Hardy? I haven’t seen her since. I haven’t talked to anyone who has seen or heard about her. I don’t know if she is dead or alive. At this point she is just a footnote. You never quite know in business if what you are doing is the right or wrong thing. Unfortunately, by the time you know
Most people won’t put in the time to get a knowledge advantage.
A guy with minimal computer background could compete with far more experienced guys just because he put in the time to learn all he could.
I kept on doing business with PCs Limited, and Michael Dell. Yes, that Michael Dell, of Dell Computers. He kept on doing what he was doing.
Wooah
I’m a Bill Gates fan, so I won’t describe his dancing, but he was definitely having fun.
Haha
As I would learn later in life, money makes you extremely handsome. Bill G. also taught me a few things about business.
Lol
Lesson #1: Always ask yourself how someone could preempt your products or service. How can they put you out of business?
Lesson #2: Always run your business like you are going to be competing with biggest technology companies in your industry—Google, Facebook, Oracle, Microsoft, whomever.
If you are ready to compete with the big guys, you are ready to compete with anyone else.
The sport of business is the ultimate competition. It’s 7 × 24 × 365 × forever.
That’s what success is all about. It’s about the edge.
The edge is getting so jazzed about what you do, you just spent 24 hours straight working on a project and you thought only a couple of hours had passed.
The edge is knowing that you have to be the smartest guy in the room when you have your meeting and you are going to put in the effort to learn whatever you need to learn to get there.
them or your business, you gave the right answer.
Yeahboi
The edge is knowing that while everyone else is talking about nonsense like the “will to win” and how they know they can be successful, you are preparing yourself to compete so that you will be successful.
The ultimate competition. Would you like to play a game called Eat Your Lunch? We are going to face off. My ability to execute an idea vs. yours.
In sports, the only thing a player can truly control is effort. The same applies to business. The only thing any entrepreneur, salesperson or anyone in any position can control is their effort.
Effort is measured by setting goals and getting results. What did I need to do to close this account? What did I need to do to win this segment of business? What did I need to do to understand this technology or that business better than anyone? What did I need to do to find an edge? Where does that edge come from, and how was I going to get there? The one requirement for success in our business lives is effort. Either you make the commitment to get results or you don’t.
You should be trying a lot of things until you find the one thing you really love to do and are good at. When that happens, you will be able to focus.
Being focused at 21 is way overrated. Now is the time to screw up, to try as many different things as you can and just maybe figure things out. The thing you do need to do is learn. Learn accounting. Learn finance. Learn statistics. Learn as much as you can about business. Read biographies about businesspeople. You don’t have to focus on one thing, but you have to create a base of knowledge so you are ready when it’s time. You never know when that time will come. But you can be ready when it does. You never know, you might end up in the adventure business!
If you’re asking, I don’t think people “know” what they are destined to be until they try it for the first couple of times.
Going to college should be about experiencing as much academically as you possibly can, but more importantly, it should be about learning how to learn and recognizing that learning is a lifelong endeavor. School isn’t the end of the learning process, it’s purely a training ground and beginning.
there is always a caveat to destiny, and that’s obligation. The greatest obstacle to destiny is debt, both personal and financial. The more people you are obligated to, the harder it is to focus on yourself and figure things out.
I’m a big believer that getting married is about finding yourself first, which makes it a lot easier to find the right person. If you can’t stand on your own, it’s impossible to successfully be part of a couple.
I’m also a big believer that financial debt is the ultimate dream killer. Your first house, car, whatever you might want to buy, is going to be the primary reason you...
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Never settle. There is no reason to rush.
If you aren’t happy with where you are, simplify your life and go out and try as many things as it takes to find what you may be destined to be. If there is such a thing.
With every effort, I learned a lot. With every mistake and failure (not only mine, but also of those around me), I learned what not to do. I also got to study the success of those with whom I did business. I had more than a healthy dose of fear, an unlimited amount of hope and, more importantly, no limit on time or effort.
The point of all this is that it doesn’t matter how many times you fail. It doesn’t matter how many times you almost get it right. No one is going to know or care about your failures, and neither should you. All you have to do is learn from them and from those around you because … All that matters in business is that you get it right once. Then everyone can tell you how lucky you are.
“Everyone has got the will to win; it’s only those with the will to prepare that do win.”
have been in situations where I have told myself that I’m smart, I know what I’m doing, that I will figure things out as I go, so it’s okay to take on this new opportunity. Those were usually the times I made mistakes.
1. Everyone is a genius in a bull market
Entrepreneurs have to be brutally honest with themselves and recognize where they have added value and where they have gone along for the ride.
will catch up with you if you lie to yourself and give yourself credit for the ride.
every other strategic element of my businesses I have learned to delegate—that’s not easy for an entrepreneur to do.
I’ve learned to hire people in whom I can build trust, and let them take the ball and run with it.
If you are the main engine behind your company, taking on new challenges will only dilute your ability to win the wars you are in and increase the risk of injuring your primary business or core competencies.
Because dealing with the rest of the world takes a lot of time and focus.
Taking any resources away from that battle would be a huge mistake.
If you are adding new things when your core businesses are struggling rather than facing the challenge, you are either running away or giving up. Rarely is either good for a business. In fact, by chasing these opportunities, you may be assuring that you drown in them.
“The worst evaluator of talent is a player trying to evaluate himself.”
infallible.
Incapable of making mistakes
Entrepreneurs who don’t follow The Rules are far more likely to fail. There is no doubt about it.
Far more often than not, raising cash is the biggest mistake you can make.
They forget to put themselves in the position of the person or company they are asking for money.
The reality of taking money from non-family members is that they are doing it for only one reason, to make more money. If you can’t deliver on that promise, you are out. You will be removed from the company you started.
