Entries Tagged 'Entrepreneurs' ↓

You must have heard about Zappos.com - one of the biggest online shoe retailers. I recently came across to this post written by one of the Fast Company founders - Bill Taylor. It is a great article that describes the great tools used at Zappos; they pay their trainees to quit. Great read. Definitely, check it out. Zappos brings home the idea how and why you should hire people who is right for the job.

After reading the article, I analyzed former jobs I have worked at. There were definitely some jobs where I’d quite after first week of training even if they have not paid me to quit.

June 2008 issue of Fast Company magazine published an interview with Texas Oil Tycoon T. Boone Pickens. For those who don’t know him, T. Boone Pickens is a corporate raider of 1980s, an American Billionaire, and founder of Mesa Petroleum.

Article mostly talked about his new $10 Billion Wind Farm venture. It is interesting to hear from a person who made his money from traditional energy sources such as oil and gas talk about alternative energy. He was honest to say that his purpose is to make money; environment is secondary. He is predicting demand for oil will keep going up and prices will follow. To the question why Mr. Pickens is turning his back on oil, he answered “Foreign oil is costing us $500 billion a year. In 10 years, $5 trillion goes out of the country. It’s the greatest transfer of wealth from one area to another in the history of the world”. Mr. Warren Buffett says about $2 billion is leaving the US everyday, so it will be $730 billion a year. If we attribute $500 billion of $730 to oil, I guess the rest is non-oil goods.

Regarding ethanol, he says ethanol is a political issue. Senators representing corn states want to keep their farmer buddies rich and happy, therefore they will always support ethanol (irrespective it is smart or dumb idea). Reminder: Mr. Charlie Munger said “turning food into gasoline is the dumbest idea ever”.

I have pre-ordered a copy of T. Boone Pickens’ new book “The First Billion Is the Hardest: How Believing It’s Still Early in the Game Can Lead to Life’s Greatest Comebacks.” from Amazon. Scheduled to come out September 2, 2008.

After seeing tiny yellow and blue check cashing shops popping up all over Florida street crossing corners, I wondered who was behind this phenomenal company and its astonishing growth. According to Currents Magazine, Ian MacKechnie, 62-year old Scotland-born American from Tampa, FL started the company in 1989. Today Amscot Financial is $85 million financial services (check cashing, money orders, tax, cash advances, etc) company that shows no signs of slowing down.

Ian MacKechnie is a serial entrepreneur who started and sold 2 multi-million dollar successful businesses MacKechnie Foods, a wholesale manufacturing baking company and Oliver’s, chain of coffee shops in Scotland/UK.

After reading about Tampa as one of the fastest growing cities in John Naisbitt’s Megatrends, he decided to move there and bought a baking business. However, surprisingly, business flopped. Luckily, he noticed his employees were cashing their paychecks not at banks, but at bars and liquor stores. The reason was convenience. Light bulb went off!

Amscot (derived from America and Scotland) with catchy slogan (”You’re OK with us”) is a very technologically advanced and keeps its stores clean. They give back to the community and knows as the “majority minority employer”.

Read full article.

I used to watch Mike Hegedus’ “Mike on America” feature segment during CNBC’s daily “On The Money” show. Since “On The Money” has been taken off the air recently, Mike has been reporting his features during “Power Lunch”. Mike Hegedus is an award-winning CNBC reporter whose “Mike On America” covers awesome business and entrepreneurial success stories across the United States and overseas.

Mike Hegedus’ Blog: MikeOnAmerica.CNBC.com

Check out one of his many videos below. While there, search for “Mike on America”, you will retrieve many other videos of his.

Mike on America

April, 2008 issue of Inc. Magazine featured entrepreneur Butch Stewart in its How I did it section. Butch Stewart is a founder of Sandals Resorts in Caribbean. I found the story very inspiring.

Read the full article here. Also read on Sandals history here.

Headquartered in Orlando, FL, Coleman Technologies, Inc. was founded by Jeff Coleman in 1980. CTI mainly engaged in information technology and systems engineering services. I came across to this company when I was searching for who was the installer of Cisco’s VoIP telephones in corporate offices throughout FL.

Anyways, on their website I found Jeff Coleman’s Laws and Management Rules that he used to build his huge business. Here they are:

Jeff Coleman’s Laws:

1. No one is smart enough to be a dictator.
2. The only real power one has is the power of persuasion.
3. The less you know about something the simpler it seems.
4. Important decisions require at least one night’s sleep.
5. Decisions made without all the facts are guesses.
6. The most important thing a manager does is people picking.
7. Lies are hard to remember.
8. There is nothing more critical to true success than openness, honesty and integrity.
9. Those that don’t solicit and listen to advice are destined to be unsuccessful.
10. What is given cannot be taken away.
11. Meddling after responsibility is delegated and accepted, provides a built-in excuse for failure.
12. Unwritten agreements are soon forgotten.
13. Time is not a good decision maker.
14. You must look successful to be successful.
15. Cash flow is more important than profit.
16. Grow or die.
17. The only people that are not making mistakes are those that are not doing anything.
18. Don’t bite off more than you can bite off.
19. The most important and most difficult trait to identify is the ability to get things done.
20. A manager with a full calendar every day isn’t delegating properly.
21. A full day spent in meetings is 40% wasted.
22. A pat on the back is the ultimate in cost effectiveness.
23. A manager that takes the credit for the work of the troops should be made a member of the troops.
24. A manager unwilling to take risks is destined for mediocrity.
25. Twenty percent of the people do eighty percent of the work.
26. People that feel comfortable in their job are more productive.
27. All contracts end.
28. The prepared bird gets the worm.
29. An unfilled position is better than one filled by the wrong person.
30. The killer of the bearer of bad news quickly joins the ranks of the uninformed.

Jeff Coleman’s Management Rules:

1. Don’t dictate - persuade.
2. Project a can-do attitude.
3. Delegate then don’t interfere, but be available to help.
4. Learn to accommodate a wide variety of personalities.
5. Don’t tolerate bickering, blame, throwing, or covering up - insist on harmonious teamwork.
6. Be tolerant of mistakes - up to a limit.
7. Be intolerant of incompetence.
8. Encourage constructive dissent.
9. Never miss an opportunity to pat someone on the back.
10. Be honest, but gentle when appraising someone.
11. Give individuals a voice in their job assignment.
12. Make sure an assignment is understood and accepted.
13. Set high standards.
14. Be selective in hiring.
15. Be consistent.
16. Be open.
17. Don’t lose your temper.
18. Don’t ever take credit for others’ work.
19. Speak out.
20. Be inquisitive.
21. Write it down.
22. Don’t give the appearance of vacillating, but avoid the extreme of bullheadedness.
23. Be accurate - don’t exaggerate.
24. Keep your boss informed.
25. Don’t criticize one of your employees in front of others.
26. Cherish your personal integrity.
27. Keep your appearance neat.
28. Set a good example.
29. Take pride in everything you do.
30. Make money for the company and have fun doing it.

Elance.com blog published an interview “3 Questions with Serial Entrepreneur Mark Fletcher”. I have not heard about Mark Fletcher before. After reading his interview and his blog, I learned that he was the man behind Bloglines and ONElist (now Yahoo Groups). Read the interview here.