Entrepreneurial lessons are vital information that is needed especially during a time like this. The COIVD-19 pandemic has to lead to an increase in entrepreneurship globally, the economy took a turn as businesses were shut down, hospitals were flooded and activities were placed on hold.
Who is Tony Hsieh?
Tony Hsieh before was the founder of Zapposwhich he sold to Microsoft in 1998 for $265 million. Hsieh co-founded the Internet advertising network LinkExchange.
Tony Hsieh was managing his own venture capital business-Venture Frogs when he initially invested in Zappos. He became the CEO of the company in 2000 and transformed it into a billion-dollar business. Zappos caught the interest of Amazon which bought it for $1.2 billion. Hsieh was said to have made at least $214 million from the sale, not including money made through his former investment firm Venture Frogs.
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7 Entrepreneurial Lessons to Learn From Tony Hsieh
Know What Makes You Happy
It is important to know what makes you happy. When you are doing what you love, the effort comes effortlessly, the energy is real, continuous improvement will be pursued and the job will bring in joy, profit and achivements.
Support Your Staff
Always appreciate and value your employees, reward them, ensure that they have all that is needed to do the job swiftly.
Your staff is your second-most important asset after your customers. They attend to customers on behalf of your business. Treat them well so that they can always give their best. In the case of Zappos, a customer service agent that spends 7-hours resolving a customer complaint would be viewed as productive and would be supported as long as it is in tandem with Zappos value. But, in some other companies, this would be completely frowned at.
Company Values
Create and implement values for your company. Let your company values direct the day-to-day operation of all employees in the discharge of their responsibilities.
Interact With Your Employees
Create time to interact with your employees, find out if they have all they need to carry out their duties, if there is anything they want the company to do for them, how they are faring physically and mentally.
Hold personally conversations with your employees, this will make them feel valued and loved and in result increase the effort they put into the success of the company.
Focus On The Customer, Not The Product/Service
While seeking success and profit do not forget about your customers, your target audience who you created this product/service for. Your customers are very important, never neglect them.
Many entrepreneurs become so focused on the product or service that they are offering that they end up forgetting about their customers.
Learn From Your Mistakes
Mistakes are not odd, they happen. Mistake is not a bad thing, however, it is bad not learning from your mistake. Strive to avoid making mistakes, should they happen learn from it.
Passion Increases Your Chance of Success
Passion drives your enthusiasm for success. When you do what your passionate about, what you love, it will be easy for you to work towards achieving success.
Success is basically hinged on doing something that you are passionate about. A lot of entrepreneurs are entirely focused on making money. But, this can actually hinder their chances of finding success. As Tony Hsieh says “businesses that are run by people who are passionate about whatever the business is about tend to have a much higher shot at success.”
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.
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With these 7 entrepreneurial lessons from Tony Hsieh, it is time to make your company stand out by implementing the lessons.
