When Amazon founder Jeff Bezos stepped down as CEO, he left a set of rules for his successor. These rules can be helpful to any entrepreneur who is committed to conquering the business path.
Jeff Bezos, the founder and CEO of Amazon, has been relentless in his pursuit of building the most dominant company. As Amazon's path began to align with Bezos' vision, it did created an outstanding company, which changed our lives.
Bezos leaves his role as CEO as one of the most important business leaders of his generation as he grew his company from zero to nearly $1.7 trillion. He led Amazon for over 25 years. He founded the company at the end of 1994, when he was traveling across America by car.
At first it was online bookstore, and over the years he has expanded the offer to practically everything we can imagine today. On the side, he also developed other industries: servers in the cloud, he develops his own artificial intelligence, and a film studio. Bezos has tremendous influence in the broader aspect of the American economy as well as in philanthropy, the media, and last but not least, even politics.
Along the way, he learned some of the most important lessons about entrepreneurship, innovation and customer experience. A case of business principles, which every entrepreneur can learn from Jeff Bezos.
1. Use a regret reduction framework
Every entrepreneur wants his the company is growing, and the journey often involves risk and change. Don't be afraid to jump out of your comfort zone, take big risks and don't regret your decisions to try.
Bezos says he didn't regret losing his job, but he never regretted trying to cash in on the online gold rush. “I knew that if it didn't work out, I wouldn't regret it, but I knew that the only thing I could regret was not trying. "
So try using Bezos framework for reducing regret . You might be surprised how inspiring it is.
2. Find the right opportunity
The entrepreneurial process begins with good business opportunity, which everyone must recognize. It is the result of a systematic search, thinking and analysis. The entrepreneur must recognize the opportunity. It is not possible to order a business opportunity, as the business depends on the market and the needs of the customers. It's about being able to recognize the bigger picture and figure out where the opportunity is.
Bezos was not special passionate about books, but this was the best opportunity at the time. At the beginning of 1994, Amazon was just a simple online bookstore, and founder Jeff Bezos fulfilled orders right in his home garage. Despite the unusual business premises, Amazon's bookstore already gained the title of the largest bookstore in the world and, like one of the first online stores, quickly gained popularity among consumers.
3. Be obsessed with customers
You have to be focused on product and on customers, their needs and not on what you can do with the resources you have. Customers are the ones who bring money and success to the company.
"There are many principles, but the number one thing that has made us successful so far is an obsessive, compulsive focus on the customer," Bezos told David Rubenstein in a 2018 Economic Club interview.
4. Let your value exceed all costs
The basic rule of sales is that you don't sell to the customer, you sell to him you make it happen, to make the purchase herself. This is a significant difference. If the seller does not adhere to this, then he can prepare for a fight with the customer, the result of which will almost certainly not be a sale.
If the customer perceives that they will have lots of benefits for the price, which pays her, then her perception of value is very high. It is necessary to teach people that they will benefit from your product or service. The more we focus on value, the less important price becomes.
Bezos says: “In the early days of online sales, ordering was done online terrible experience. Only about a third of households had computers that were very slow. We had to convince all households that they need our products, and thus also buy computers. In the case of Amazon, this is almost exactly what happened.”
5. Fear customers, not competitors
An entrepreneur should not look around so much on competitors, but on ourselves and on their customers. Namely, the competition is not to blame for the possible collapse of the company, but often its owners. Nevertheless, you should not completely forget about the competition and should not allow it to have too much influence on your business processes and your vision. It is also extremely important to focus on your customers, because they are the ones who generate your profit.
"Don't be afraid of your competitors, because they will never send you money. Fear the customers, because they have the money," Bezos once said.
6. Focus on goals
A common problem in entrepreneurship is that you you don't set goals. Achieving short-term and long-term goals is the key to success. Even if you don't achieve them right away, it can be a challenge and motivation for change. Set goals are an important part of getting started, because without them you are moving without the right direction. Business goals make it possible focusing, where you want to be, while helping you create a plan to get there.
7. Recruit with passion
It's in recruiting a passion of utmost importance, because this one is guide to many successes. If you want to hire great people for your business, you will need to take the time to get to know them, as they are the ones who will share your vision for the business with you. Above all, it is necessary to give such people a mission in the company, because they also need passion and motivation to work. This is the only way you can grow together and be successful.
“How to hire great people and prevent them from leaving? By first giving them a big mission – something that has real purpose, that has meaning.” right Bezos.
8. Choose the right people
For the successful operation of any company, it is important that they are in it real people employed. Namely, people need companies, and companies need people. That is why it is important to in your company attract people who have a similar culture, thinking and drive. The company's culture and attitude towards employees is also important. Relationships and business culture not only affect how people feel at work, but also the company's performance and the private lives of employees.
9. Know what decisions you are making
As Bezos says, it is important to know how to make the right decisions in the business world. The first is decisions type 1, which have less consequences and where you can go back. Here he suggests doing your work with a smaller team or even individuals. Secondly, it is about decisions type 2, in which matters are irreversible but very important. In this case, more information is always sought, and once decisions are made, there is no going back.
It is important that every entrepreneur makes decisions and makes smart decisions, preferably ones that can be corrected. The problem arises mainly with indecision, confusion and mixing of both types of decisions. Every entrepreneur should avoid this.
10. Listen to your critics – but not too much
People also use different forms of criticism for different reasons. It is important for an entrepreneur to know the ways of criticizing, as this makes it easier to recognize and respond to them.
"If you can't afford to be misunderstood and criticized, don't do anything new or innovative," says Bezos. "First look in the mirror and decide if your critics are right," says Bezos. "If they're right, change."
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