Word From the Wise
There's a lot to learn on the road to the top. Here, 5 highly successful entrepreneurs reveal what the journey has taught them.
Lesson 1: We're All in This Together
Doug Ducey CEO & Chairman, Cold Stone Creamery
Before I came to Cold Stone Creamery, I worked in sales and marketing for Procter & Gamble. It was the ideal place to learn the right way to do just about anything in business. But the emphasis seemed to be on personal achievement. Success was all about me making it happen. When I came to Cold Stone, some of that thinking had to change.Cold Stone Creamery was founded [by] Don and Susan Sutherland in Tempe, Arizona. When I joined the company, my job was to grow the popular local ice cream store into a franchise. The first franchisees taught me more than I could ever convey.By the time we had about 10 stores open, a man named Dan Farr came into our offices and boldly said, "I want to open up a Cold Stone Creamery in Alaska." I smiled and told him Alaska wasn't really a priority for us right now. Dan wouldn't take no for an answer, and by the end of our meeting, he had talked me into opening a store in Anchorage.When Alaska became a success, we knew that Cold Stone Creamery could be a national phenomenon. Aside from being a great store owner, Dan and his unbridled belief in us opened our eyes to how big the world could really be.In August 1999, our leadership team went on a strategic planning retreat. With just 74 stores open, we staked our claim that "The world will know Cold Stone Creamery as the 'Ultimate Ice Cream Experience' by having 1,000 profitable stores open by December 31, 2004."As monumental as that vision was, equally important was a single line in our mission statement: The success of the franchisee and the ultimate happiness of the consumer will go hand-in-hand as our number-one priority.After all, our success so far was hardly a solo act. From Don and Susan, who succeeded together, to the early franchisees like Dan Farr, we have been inspired by and have contributed to each other's success. Mutual success is the true success story at Cold Stone Creamery. Our success isn't about an individual, and it isn't just about a team. It's about putting the success of others before your own.
Lesson 2: Listen to Your Dreams
Jeff Taylor Founder, Monster.com
You can change the world during a 30-minute shower. There's something about the hot water flowing over your head that makes what I call the "good part" and the "absent part" of your brain talk to each other. When you stand there with the soap in your hands, you begin to reinvent the soap. You think, I can put this clear soap together with this cream soap... I can make a better soap! Then you think, The shampoo doesn't have very good packaging. The next thing you know, you dream up a cool business idea. You turn off the shower and step one foot out onto the bathmat, then suddenly, you can't remember anything.[In the shower], your mind, body and spirit are all moving into your subconscious, where you invent new things, solve problems and potentially create opportunities or big ideas. You have to pay attention to your subconscious. Learn to focus on your idea and maintain that idea long enough, so that when you get out of the shower, you're able to capture your idea on a nearby pad of paper.I keep a pad of paper next to my bed, ready to catch my dreams and ideas. This leads me to a small, but important, life story.In 1994, I had an ad agency that specialized in recruiting and retaining talent. Our success was built around the concept of creating "big ideas" for our clients. One day, a client said, "No more big ideas. I want a monster idea."I actually had a dream about a monster idea, a bulletin board system for jobs. Paying attention to my subconscious, I woke up at 4:30 in the morning and wrote down much of the interface and the concepts that are still used at Monster today.Monster.com is now in 25 countries and has become the largest and most popular job search and career management site on the internet. Listen to your subconscious, learn to capture its power, and maybe, just maybe, you'll be the one to come up with the world's next monster idea!Jeff Taylor is now working on Eons, a web business targeted at the 50- to 100-plus age group.
Doug Ducey CEO & Chairman, Cold Stone Creamery
Before I came to Cold Stone Creamery, I worked in sales and marketing for Procter & Gamble. It was the ideal place to learn the right way to do just about anything in business. But the emphasis seemed to be on personal achievement. Success was all about me making it happen. When I came to Cold Stone, some of that thinking had to change.Cold Stone Creamery was founded [by] Don and Susan Sutherland in Tempe, Arizona. When I joined the company, my job was to grow the popular local ice cream store into a franchise. The first franchisees taught me more than I could ever convey.By the time we had about 10 stores open, a man named Dan Farr came into our offices and boldly said, "I want to open up a Cold Stone Creamery in Alaska." I smiled and told him Alaska wasn't really a priority for us right now. Dan wouldn't take no for an answer, and by the end of our meeting, he had talked me into opening a store in Anchorage.When Alaska became a success, we knew that Cold Stone Creamery could be a national phenomenon. Aside from being a great store owner, Dan and his unbridled belief in us opened our eyes to how big the world could really be.In August 1999, our leadership team went on a strategic planning retreat. With just 74 stores open, we staked our claim that "The world will know Cold Stone Creamery as the 'Ultimate Ice Cream Experience' by having 1,000 profitable stores open by December 31, 2004."As monumental as that vision was, equally important was a single line in our mission statement: The success of the franchisee and the ultimate happiness of the consumer will go hand-in-hand as our number-one priority.After all, our success so far was hardly a solo act. From Don and Susan, who succeeded together, to the early franchisees like Dan Farr, we have been inspired by and have contributed to each other's success. Mutual success is the true success story at Cold Stone Creamery. Our success isn't about an individual, and it isn't just about a team. It's about putting the success of others before your own.
Lesson 2: Listen to Your Dreams
Jeff Taylor Founder, Monster.com
You can change the world during a 30-minute shower. There's something about the hot water flowing over your head that makes what I call the "good part" and the "absent part" of your brain talk to each other. When you stand there with the soap in your hands, you begin to reinvent the soap. You think, I can put this clear soap together with this cream soap... I can make a better soap! Then you think, The shampoo doesn't have very good packaging. The next thing you know, you dream up a cool business idea. You turn off the shower and step one foot out onto the bathmat, then suddenly, you can't remember anything.[In the shower], your mind, body and spirit are all moving into your subconscious, where you invent new things, solve problems and potentially create opportunities or big ideas. You have to pay attention to your subconscious. Learn to focus on your idea and maintain that idea long enough, so that when you get out of the shower, you're able to capture your idea on a nearby pad of paper.I keep a pad of paper next to my bed, ready to catch my dreams and ideas. This leads me to a small, but important, life story.In 1994, I had an ad agency that specialized in recruiting and retaining talent. Our success was built around the concept of creating "big ideas" for our clients. One day, a client said, "No more big ideas. I want a monster idea."I actually had a dream about a monster idea, a bulletin board system for jobs. Paying attention to my subconscious, I woke up at 4:30 in the morning and wrote down much of the interface and the concepts that are still used at Monster today.Monster.com is now in 25 countries and has become the largest and most popular job search and career management site on the internet. Listen to your subconscious, learn to capture its power, and maybe, just maybe, you'll be the one to come up with the world's next monster idea!Jeff Taylor is now working on Eons, a web business targeted at the 50- to 100-plus age group.
This article was originally published in the October 2006 print edition of Entrepreneur's StartUps with the headline: Word From the Wise.
What make RICH Different Than POOR?
Eker lists seventeen ways in which the financial blueprints of the rich differ from those of the poor and the middle-class.
Rich people believe: “I create my life.” Poor people believe: “Life happens to me.” (This is HUGE. Every successful person I know is control of her life. Unhappy people are constantly complaining to me how this, that, or the other thing prevents them from doing something.)
Rich people play the money game to win. Poor people play the money game to not lose.
Rich people are committed to being rich. Poor people want to be rich.
Rich people think big. Poor people think small.
Rich people focus on opportunities. Poor people focus on obstacles.
Rich people admire other rich and successful people. Poor people resent rich and successful people. (This is important, too — it seems to hold true among my friends.)
Rich people associate with positive, successful people. Poor people associate with negative or unsuccessful people. (Another important one.)
Rich people are willing to promote themselves and their value. Poor people think negatively about selling and promotion.
Rich people are bigger than their problems. Poor people are smaller than their problems.
Rich people are excellent receivers. Poor people are poor receivers.
Rich people choose to get paid based on results. Poor people choose to get paid based on time.
Rich people think “both”. Poor people think “either/or”.
Rich people focus on their net worth. Poor people focus on their working income.
Rich people manage their money well. Poor people mismanage their money well.
Rich people have their money work hard for them. Poor people work hard for their money.
Rich people act in spite of fear.Poor people let fear stop them. (This is big for me right now. I’ve accomplished most of the goals I set for myself, and need to set some new ones. But I have this nagging fear, because I’m moving into the unknown. Eker says that successful people act in spite of this fear. They move beyond worry, they “fake it til they make it”, learning as they go. Unsuccessful people do nothing at all.)
Rich people constantly learn and grow. Poor people think they already know.
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