What grew an idea planted in a Bellevue garage into one of today’s most successful businesses? Dedication, innovation, and 7 smart habits that you can use to nurture the success of your own enterprise.
1. Focus on Customers
Make the core of your business customer satisfaction. Hunt relentlessly for what makes your customers smile, and innovate based on their needs.
2. Practice Frugality
Sometimes success doesn’t require any special conditions. A studied rejection of luxury can make for lean innovations and improve company focus.
3. Make Your Own Rules
Another rule introduced by Bezos is the Two-Pizza Team: no team should be so big that you couldn’t feed it with two pizzas. According to Bezos, larger groups are less productive, so the company is organized into autonomous units of 10 or fewer that compete for resources (but not pizzas) in their mission to make their customers happier.
Honor organizational outlaws. It’s often the radical or outlandish approaches to daily business that make the most impact.
4. Think for the Long Term
Don’t be afraid to make decisions that might be unpopular in the moment but will reap future rewards.
5. Risk It
Before that big idea in the Bellevue garage took off, Jeff Bezos had a secure job at a hedge fund. Still, he quit it, set up in his parents’ garage, and poured his savings into making the Everything Store a reality. And it worked.
Risks are worth taking. Half the time, you’ll fail, but when that initiative results in a win, it just might be big and bold.
6. Let the Data Decide
Every aspect of commerce and customer behavior is eminently quantifiable, so Bezos demands that all decisions be based on that intel. Meetings are not about customer anecdotes, but rather Excel sheets filled with relevant metrics.
Before making a call, consult the data. Humans can get it wrong, but numbers never lie.
7. Stay Hungry
The road to success is paved with dissatisfaction. Never accept the status quo or say, “I’ve done enough.” Instead, keep searching for potential and inciting growth.
