Success Advice
10 Lessons Every Entrepreneur Can Learn From Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh
Tony Hsieh has successfully built and sold not one, but two companies. Link Exchange sold for $265 million to Microsoft and online shoe retailer Zappos.com sold for $1.2 billion to Amazon.
Here are the 10 lessons that every entrepreneur can learn from Tony Hsieh, the CEO of “Zappos”, which is consistently voted one of the best places to work for and has a reputation for outstanding customer service.
Entrepreneur Lesson’s From Zappos CEO, “Tony Hsieh”
Lesson #1: Being Passionate Increases Your Chance Of Success
If you want to be successful then you need to find something that you are passionate about. A lot of entrepreneurs are too caught up with the money that they can make. However this can actually hinder their chances of finding success. As Tony says “business that are run by people who are passionate about whatever the business is about tend to have a much higher” When you are passionate about something you are able to work harder and inspire others to do the same. When faced with adversity you will have the passion to keep going.
Lesson #2: Understand What Really Motivates People
In Daniel Pinks best-selling book “Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us” He talks about how direct rewards such as bonuses or increased salaries can actually reduce productivity for many types of work. He also suggests that intrinsic factors such as being inspired by your work are actually much more important for motivation. Tony Hsieh illustrates this principle perfectly with his mission to create a company that you would want to work at even if you weren’t being paid to be there.
Zappos actually offers their new hires $4,000 to quit. Only about 3% have so far taken the money since the program was started. This concept was designed to weed out those who are only in it for the money and not in pursuit of a place where they can be part of a great working culture.
Lesson #3: Learn From Your Mistakes
Building and selling Link Exchange for $265 million might seem like the kind of mistake that any entrepreneur would be happy to make but Tony has stated he was not happy with his first company. The mistake he made was to try and build a company culture too late. With Zappos he didn’t want to make the same mistake and established the company culture at the very beginning.
Lesson #4: Focus on the Customer not the Product
Many entrepreneurs become so focused on the product or service that they are offering that they end up forgetting about their customer. Tony Hsieh wants to be known not as the best online shoe retailer but as the company with the best customer service. He has stated that he is actually not that passionate about shoes but providing the best customer service is something that inspires him.
Lesson #5: Talk To Your Employees
While we may understand that making our employees happy will increase their productivity how we achieve this can sometimes seem unclear. However Tony offers a simple prescription – “just talk to your employees. Ask them what would make them happy” Asking your employees what would make them happy and then giving it to them might sound simple but as Zappos has shown it can be incredibly effective. This includes ideas such as the laughing yoga classes, a full-time life coach and free lunches.
Lesson #6: Company Values Are Not Just Empty Slogans
Zappos has what are known as its 10 commitable core values. However these are much more than empty slogans. They guide the company in all decisions that are made on both a strategic and day-to-day level. An employees success in the company is directly related to how the live up to these core values. If they are failing to meet them then this is grounds for being fired.
Lesson #7: Support Your Staff
At Zappos, provided you are working according to the companies stated values then you will be fully supported. A lot of companies like to talk about integrity or customer service but fail to back their employees. A good example of this is a customer support call at Zappos that took over 7 hours. In many companies spending a whole work day over a relatively small order would be viewed as incredibly unproductive. However at Zappos this kind of customer service is celebrated.
Lesson #8: Understand What Makes You Happy
Tony Hsieh was running his own venture capital business when he initially invested in Zappos. At the time it was just one investment among many. However Tony realized within a year that what he really enjoyed in business was operating fledgling businesses not just being an investor in them.
Lesson #9: See Yourself As An Enabler
A desire to micro manage is something that many entrepreneurs find it difficult to avoid. However Tony Hsieh believes that the primary purpose of an entrepreneur is to enable people to do their best work. Tony also knows what it is like to be stifled by corporate culture. He quit his first job at Oracle after only five months. At Zappos he intended to create an environment which allows people to realize their full potential.
Lesson #10: Relationships Big or Small, Can Build Opportunity
Tony tells the story of a lesson that he learned from one of his business partners Fred Mossler. During a shoe show Mossler invited a rep for a very small brand out to dinner, rather than a rep from one of the larger brands they where introduced to. While the brand contributed almost nothing to Zappos bottom line, the relationship was something Fred Mossler truly valued. That rep would shortly there after go onto become the president of a company that Zappos had been trying to acquire. If Mossler had been concentrating on immediate gain rather than the relationship then the opportunity would have been lost.
Article By: Jonathan Savage | Addicted2Success.com
Success Advice
How to Alter Your Business Approach With Technological Advancements
Keeping up with technological trends has become a challenge for almost every business owner.
Technology’s evolution has impacted everything, and business is no exception. Keeping up with technological trends has become a challenge for almost every business owner. Entrepreneurs unable to do so are being wiped out of the market.
There is no doubt that AI (Artificial Intelligence) and ML (Machine Learning) have taken over the business world. These technological advancements are impacting decision-making, success percentages, and other entrepreneurial aspects.
Adapting to these developments is integral to business success. Let’s explore how you can accomplish these milestones.
Embed the strength of AI and ML.
AI has modified business operations in major ways. For instance, companies have employed bots for customer support. These bots go through an effective learning process via Machine Learning before being able to answer like humans.
Bots can also perform detailed data analytics and make business moves with high success percentages.
ML is used more for the analysis of data chunks and generating successful predictions. This simply means that business owners do not have to worry about large-scale financial losses.
In terms of deployment and usage, a reputed company like Netflix employs machine learning for decision-making.
Blockchain is increasing the count of business opportunities
Tampering of financial transactions is quite common and causes severe monetary damage to customers. With the rise of digital payments, this risk has increased.
Blockchain is used to elevate your experience for monetary transfers. It combats penetrating events to extract confidential customer information.
Most business sectors are using block chain but finance and supply chain management sections have a higher count. These two corporate sections have several monetary deposits and withdrawals taking place.
In terms of percentage, approximately 72% and 5% of finance and supply chain firms have implemented block chain successfully.
Dedicate Yourself to Continuous Learning and Individual Development
You invest in learning some of the very important skills, including digital marketing, financial management, and how to gain customers as an entrepreneur.
You need to set up your knowledge base about doing business on Coursera and Udemy with the basics that are necessary for the business, building further by networking with experts through webinars.
Besides, Agile methodology will introduce elasticity to your company: this review and feedback system with further correction regularly will allow for enhancing efficiency and promptly reacting to the market.
Developing key skills to achieve goals
Running a business successfully is not only about having niche/domain knowledge. Business owners need to have communication / soft skills as well in addition to niche information.
Here are some key technical/domain-related areas that business owners should have a strong grip on.
Data Storage on Cloud: These days, companies do not store their data on physical servers. Therefore business owners should know how data is stored/edited/removed/updated via AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, and other platforms.
Data Analysis/Interpretation Qualities: These days, data is as precious as gold. Business owners with data analysis abilities make correct predictions. As a result, their ventures grow in volume.
Development/Coding Knowledge
Programming knowledge gives business owners an edge whether the application is developed in-house or outsourced. It assists in getting updates deployed and handling application underperformance without getting professional support every time.
Hacking proof framework
There is no benefit of having an advanced automated system if can be penetrated. Successful business owners have above-average knowledge of cyber security and hacking attempts. They are able to choose top-notch anti-hacking software without much of an ambiguity.
Communication Abilities/Soft Skills
Here are some key communication qualities that business owners should have:
Communication/Conversation: Business owners should use to-the-point sentences in both written and oral communication.
Issue Resolution Abilities: Business owners should be able to drill down to problems and solve them. This is done successfully only if an entrepreneur has in-depth business domain knowledge.
Agile Implementations
It is mandatory for business owners to have knowledge of iterative/agile models. With such a competitive environment, it is impossible for business owners to succeed without adopting an agile framework.
Create a productive well-crafted Business Strategy
A productive business venture starts with a clear vision. The first factor making a business successful is the idea behind it. It helps with endless growth and combating competition successfully. Katherine Philips once mentioned that business goals are inevitable if goals are set concretely.
- Goals should be based on smart achievements instead of complexity. Focus on the value that each one of them adds.
- Business objectives should not be vague. Key indicators should be constructed to measure the success/failure of each milestone.
- Be realistic when setting goals. Do not aim at impossible milestones since they can be demotivating.
- Milestones/goals need to be time-bound. Set a completion deadline for each one of them.
- Business goals should not be alien. Owners can think out of the box but not be obsolete / unrelated.
Create a productive well-crafted Business Strategy
Business owners cannot succeed without having a network. Some tips help in this case. Attend conferences and professional gatherings to connect with other entrepreneurs.
Here are some other related points business owners should pay attention to.
- Attend meetings and conferences to stay updated with trends and meet business owners who already have well-set ventures. This helps in enhancing the learning curve of new / growing entrepreneurs.
- Being a part of business communities/groups is very productive. When one shares opinions and discusses decision-making tactics, it helps in preventing errors and enhancing success rate.
- Even the most experienced business owners have mentors as learning never stops. Take part in mentorship programs so there is an assurance that you are following the correct roadmap.
Conclusion
There is absolutely no doubt that business dimensions have evolved with technological advancements. Successful entrepreneurs have grabbed these changes in due course of time and continue to evolve. On the other hand, people following old paths and conventional steps fade out of competition. In a nutshell, keep an eye on the processes and practices you follow as these factors decide success rate.
Success Advice
Understanding the Power of Yes and No: How to Create Boundaries For Success
These words have a significant impact on how our success unfolds
The two smallest yet most powerful words in life, “Yes” and “No,” have a big impact on our growth on both personal and professional levels. In addition to affecting the choices we make every day, these words have a significant impact on how our success unfolds. (more…)
Motivation
From Couch Potato to Go-Getter: A Step-by-Step Motivation Plan for Everyone
By understanding what motivates you, you can turn your dreams into reality
Are you tired of feeling like a couch potato? Do you want to transform your life and become a go-getter? You’re not alone! Many people struggle with motivation, but the good news is that change is possible. (more…)
Success Advice
10 Micro Financial Habits for More Wealth and Peace of Mind
The World Economic Forum still reports that half of U.S. adults lack financial literacy
You’ve heard about developing financial habits, but what about micro-financial habits? Micro habits are the tiny things you can do every day with minimal effort that, together, transform your future. (more…)
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