The Guru Guide to Entrepreneurship
by
Joseph H. Boyett & Jimmie T. Boyett
This book answers a very simple question. Let’s suppose that you went out and
acquired all the books and articles you could find written by and about the world’s
greatest entrepreneurs—people like Bill Gates, Michael Dell, and Sam Walton.
Suppose you took the time to read all of the articles and books. What would you
learn about what it takes to become a successful entrepreneur?
This book is the result such an effort. Here you will find the wisdom of over 70 of
the world’s greatest entrepreneurs carefully extracted from more than 250 books
and over 2000 articles about their ideas and exploits. We call this book The Guru
Guide to Entrepreneurship. Think of it as your synthesis and digest of the best
thinking about what it takes to succeed on your own.
The Guru Guide to Entrepreneurship provides you with a clear, concise, and
informative guide to the wisdom of some of the world’s most successful
entrepreneurs. It is a digest of the best thinking about what it takes to start your
own business and succeed. But, we have designed this book to be more than just
a digest. This book also provides you with a much-needed cross reference to the
best thinking about the key issues involved in starting and running a business. The
ideas of each entrepreneur are linked with those of others who agree or disagree.
We identify the ideas and concepts that fit together and those that conflict. We
provide you with an easy-to-follow guide to exploring the secrets of success of
some of the worlds’ most successful entrepreneurs . We report on methods and
results. Finally, we provide you with an evaluation of their strengths and
weaknesses.
Table of Contents
The Guru Guide™ to Entrepreneurship consists of six chapters. Each chapter covers
an important issue about starting and running a business and summarizes the
ideas of our panel of gurus on that issue.
Chapter 1, "Should You Do It?" answers the most basic of questions. What does it
take to be an entrepreneur? What attributes or characteristics are essential for
success? How do you know if you have what it takes to become the next Bill Gates
or Sam Walton, founders of Microsoft and Wal-mart, respectively? In this chapter
we provide three self-tests for entrepreneurial potential offered by our gurus. We
then discuss five constants of experience and opinion that our gurus say
successful entrepreneurs share.
In Chapter 2, "The Perfect Idea," we examine where our gurus get their ideas for
businesses, how they conduct their search, and what they have learned about the
necessary ingredients for the perfect foolproof business. Here we outline what our
gurus say are six near-perfect foundations for businesses and six suggestions our
gurus offer for sharpening any business idea to the point of perfection.
Chapter 3, "Money Matters," deals with one of the activities entrepreneurs say
they hate the most; raising money. In this chapter we discuss our gurus
recommendations for how you should derive your estimates of start-up costs, raise
initial capital, work with bankers and venture capitalists, manage your finances and
weigh the pros and cons of going public.
In Chapter 4, "Getting Customers," we reveal our gurus tricks, tips, and techniques
for attracting customers. We show you how they use promotions and gimmicks to
get attention; how they court the press to garner free publicity; how they conduct
market research; and how they develop and use advertising,
Of course once you attract customers, you want to keep them. That’s what
Chapter 5, "Keeping Customers" is all about. We show you how our gurus
calculate the value of a customer and describe three things that our gurus say are
key to keeping customers for life. Among other things, in this chapter we outline
our gurus secrets for providing world-class quality and service and for listening and
responding effectively to customer complaints, ideas, and suggestions.
In our concluding chapter, "Managing People," we discuss how our gurus hire,
inspire, motivate, reward, and, when necessary, fire the people who work for
them. Among other things we explain in this chapter why our gurus say it is a
mistake to try to hire people for specific jobs; and, why it is good to be a "tough"
boss. We reveal our gurus secrets for developing team spirit; and, how they
empower people to do what is right to exceed customer expectations all the time.
Our Gurus
In alphabetical our entrepreneur gurus are:
J. Waiter (Walt) Anderson, co-founder White Castle
Marc Andreessen, co-founder of Netscape Communications
Mary Kay Ash, founder of Mary Kay Cosmetics
James L. (Jim) Barksdale, co-founder Netscape
Phineas Taylor (P.T.) Barnum, founder of "The Greatest Show on Earth"
Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon.com
Arthur Blank, co-founder of Home Depot
Richard Branson, founder of the Virgin Group
Charles Brewer, founder of Mindspring.com
Warren Buffett, founder of numerous investment companies and owner of
Berkshire Hathaway
William Alle Burpee, founder of Burpee Seed Company
Tom Chappell, co-founder of Tom's of Maine
Jim Clark, founder of Silicon Graphics and co-founder of Netscape Communications
Ben Cohen, co-founder Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream
Michael Coles, co-founder of the Great American Chocolate Chip Cookie Company
Finis Conner, founder of Conner Peripherals
Joshua Lionel Cowen, founder of Lionel Trains
Cecil B. Day, co-founder Days Inn of America, Inc.
Michael Dell, founder of Dell Computers
Anthony Desio, founder of Mail Boxes, Etc.
Roy Disney, co-founder of Disney Brothers Studio (later Walt Disney Productions,
Ltd.)
Walt Disney, co-founder of Disney Brothers Studio (later Walt Disney Productions,
Ltd.)
Larry Ellison, founder of Oracle Corporation
Charles Ferguson, co-founder Vermeer Technology Inc.
Debbi Fields, founder of Mrs. Fields Cookies, Inc.
Bill Gates, co-founder of Microsoft
Earl Graves, founder, publisher and editor of Black Enterprise
Jerry Greenfield, co-founder Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream
Andrew Grove, co-founder of Intel Corporation
Bud Hadfield, founder of Kwik Kopy and Franklin's Printing
Wilson Harrell, founder of over 100 companies, columnist for Success Magazine and
former publisher of Inc. Magazine
Frank Hickingbotham, founder of TCBY (This Can't Be Yogurt)
Soichiro Honda, founder of Honda Motor Company, Ltd.
Wayne Huizenga, founder of Waste Management, Inc., former Chairman of the
Board and CEO of Blockbuster Entertainment Corp., chairman and CEO of Republic
Waste Industries, Inc.
Masaru Ibuka, co-founder of Sony Corporation
Edgar Waldo (Billy) Ingram, co-founder of White Castle
Kenneth Iverson, former president and chairman of Nucor Corporation
Steven Jobs, co-founder of Apple Computer, Inc.
Howard Johnson, founder of Howard Johnson Co.
Herb Kelleher, founder of Southwest Airlines
Phil Knight, co-founder of Nike Corporation
Jim Koch, founder of Boston Beer Company
Ray Kroc, founder of McDonald's Corporation
Edward Land, founder of Polaroid
Chris Larsen, co-founder of E-Loan
Charles Lazarus, founder of Toys "R" Us
Bill Lear, founder of Lear Jet Corporation
Bernie Marcus, co-founder of Home Depot
Konosuke Matsushita, founder of Matsushita Electric Industrial Company
Jim McLamore, founder of Burger King
Edward Miller, co-founder and Chairman of Spic and Span Inc.
Tom Monaghan, founder of Domino's Pizza
Robert Mondavi, founder of Robert Mondavi Winery
Akio Morita, co-founder of Sony
David Packard, co-founder of Hewlett-Packard
Ross Perot, founder Electronic Data Systems (EDS), founder Perot Systems
Corporation, Presidential candidate
Stephen Pollan, financial consultant and writer
Anita Roddick, founder of The Body Shop
Bill Rosenberg, founder of Dunkin Donut
Pleasant Rowland, founder and president of Pleasant Company
Colonel Harland Sanders, founder of Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC)
Ricardo Semler, president and CEO of Semco, S.A.
Howard Schultz, founder Starbucks Coffee Company
Fred Smith, founder of Federal Express
Thomas Stemberg, co-founder of Staples
Dave Thomas, founder and Senior Chairman of the Board of Wendy's International,
Inc.
Ted Turner, founder of Turner Broadcasting System, CNN and Headline News
Jay Van Andel, co-founder of Amway Corporation
Lillian Vernon, founder of the Lillian Vernon Corporation
Sam Walton, founder of Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.
An Wang, founder Wang Laboratories, Inc.
by
Joseph H. Boyett & Jimmie T. Boyett
This book answers a very simple question. Let’s suppose that you went out and
acquired all the books and articles you could find written by and about the world’s
greatest entrepreneurs—people like Bill Gates, Michael Dell, and Sam Walton.
Suppose you took the time to read all of the articles and books. What would you
learn about what it takes to become a successful entrepreneur?
This book is the result such an effort. Here you will find the wisdom of over 70 of
the world’s greatest entrepreneurs carefully extracted from more than 250 books
and over 2000 articles about their ideas and exploits. We call this book The Guru
Guide to Entrepreneurship. Think of it as your synthesis and digest of the best
thinking about what it takes to succeed on your own.
The Guru Guide to Entrepreneurship provides you with a clear, concise, and
informative guide to the wisdom of some of the world’s most successful
entrepreneurs. It is a digest of the best thinking about what it takes to start your
own business and succeed. But, we have designed this book to be more than just
a digest. This book also provides you with a much-needed cross reference to the
best thinking about the key issues involved in starting and running a business. The
ideas of each entrepreneur are linked with those of others who agree or disagree.
We identify the ideas and concepts that fit together and those that conflict. We
provide you with an easy-to-follow guide to exploring the secrets of success of
some of the worlds’ most successful entrepreneurs . We report on methods and
results. Finally, we provide you with an evaluation of their strengths and
weaknesses.
Table of Contents
The Guru Guide™ to Entrepreneurship consists of six chapters. Each chapter covers
an important issue about starting and running a business and summarizes the
ideas of our panel of gurus on that issue.
Chapter 1, "Should You Do It?" answers the most basic of questions. What does it
take to be an entrepreneur? What attributes or characteristics are essential for
success? How do you know if you have what it takes to become the next Bill Gates
or Sam Walton, founders of Microsoft and Wal-mart, respectively? In this chapter
we provide three self-tests for entrepreneurial potential offered by our gurus. We
then discuss five constants of experience and opinion that our gurus say
successful entrepreneurs share.
In Chapter 2, "The Perfect Idea," we examine where our gurus get their ideas for
businesses, how they conduct their search, and what they have learned about the
necessary ingredients for the perfect foolproof business. Here we outline what our
gurus say are six near-perfect foundations for businesses and six suggestions our
gurus offer for sharpening any business idea to the point of perfection.
Chapter 3, "Money Matters," deals with one of the activities entrepreneurs say
they hate the most; raising money. In this chapter we discuss our gurus
recommendations for how you should derive your estimates of start-up costs, raise
initial capital, work with bankers and venture capitalists, manage your finances and
weigh the pros and cons of going public.
In Chapter 4, "Getting Customers," we reveal our gurus tricks, tips, and techniques
for attracting customers. We show you how they use promotions and gimmicks to
get attention; how they court the press to garner free publicity; how they conduct
market research; and how they develop and use advertising,
Of course once you attract customers, you want to keep them. That’s what
Chapter 5, "Keeping Customers" is all about. We show you how our gurus
calculate the value of a customer and describe three things that our gurus say are
key to keeping customers for life. Among other things, in this chapter we outline
our gurus secrets for providing world-class quality and service and for listening and
responding effectively to customer complaints, ideas, and suggestions.
In our concluding chapter, "Managing People," we discuss how our gurus hire,
inspire, motivate, reward, and, when necessary, fire the people who work for
them. Among other things we explain in this chapter why our gurus say it is a
mistake to try to hire people for specific jobs; and, why it is good to be a "tough"
boss. We reveal our gurus secrets for developing team spirit; and, how they
empower people to do what is right to exceed customer expectations all the time.
Our Gurus
In alphabetical our entrepreneur gurus are:
J. Waiter (Walt) Anderson, co-founder White Castle
Marc Andreessen, co-founder of Netscape Communications
Mary Kay Ash, founder of Mary Kay Cosmetics
James L. (Jim) Barksdale, co-founder Netscape
Phineas Taylor (P.T.) Barnum, founder of "The Greatest Show on Earth"
Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon.com
Arthur Blank, co-founder of Home Depot
Richard Branson, founder of the Virgin Group
Charles Brewer, founder of Mindspring.com
Warren Buffett, founder of numerous investment companies and owner of
Berkshire Hathaway
William Alle Burpee, founder of Burpee Seed Company
Tom Chappell, co-founder of Tom's of Maine
Jim Clark, founder of Silicon Graphics and co-founder of Netscape Communications
Ben Cohen, co-founder Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream
Michael Coles, co-founder of the Great American Chocolate Chip Cookie Company
Finis Conner, founder of Conner Peripherals
Joshua Lionel Cowen, founder of Lionel Trains
Cecil B. Day, co-founder Days Inn of America, Inc.
Michael Dell, founder of Dell Computers
Anthony Desio, founder of Mail Boxes, Etc.
Roy Disney, co-founder of Disney Brothers Studio (later Walt Disney Productions,
Ltd.)
Walt Disney, co-founder of Disney Brothers Studio (later Walt Disney Productions,
Ltd.)
Larry Ellison, founder of Oracle Corporation
Charles Ferguson, co-founder Vermeer Technology Inc.
Debbi Fields, founder of Mrs. Fields Cookies, Inc.
Bill Gates, co-founder of Microsoft
Earl Graves, founder, publisher and editor of Black Enterprise
Jerry Greenfield, co-founder Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream
Andrew Grove, co-founder of Intel Corporation
Bud Hadfield, founder of Kwik Kopy and Franklin's Printing
Wilson Harrell, founder of over 100 companies, columnist for Success Magazine and
former publisher of Inc. Magazine
Frank Hickingbotham, founder of TCBY (This Can't Be Yogurt)
Soichiro Honda, founder of Honda Motor Company, Ltd.
Wayne Huizenga, founder of Waste Management, Inc., former Chairman of the
Board and CEO of Blockbuster Entertainment Corp., chairman and CEO of Republic
Waste Industries, Inc.
Masaru Ibuka, co-founder of Sony Corporation
Edgar Waldo (Billy) Ingram, co-founder of White Castle
Kenneth Iverson, former president and chairman of Nucor Corporation
Steven Jobs, co-founder of Apple Computer, Inc.
Howard Johnson, founder of Howard Johnson Co.
Herb Kelleher, founder of Southwest Airlines
Phil Knight, co-founder of Nike Corporation
Jim Koch, founder of Boston Beer Company
Ray Kroc, founder of McDonald's Corporation
Edward Land, founder of Polaroid
Chris Larsen, co-founder of E-Loan
Charles Lazarus, founder of Toys "R" Us
Bill Lear, founder of Lear Jet Corporation
Bernie Marcus, co-founder of Home Depot
Konosuke Matsushita, founder of Matsushita Electric Industrial Company
Jim McLamore, founder of Burger King
Edward Miller, co-founder and Chairman of Spic and Span Inc.
Tom Monaghan, founder of Domino's Pizza
Robert Mondavi, founder of Robert Mondavi Winery
Akio Morita, co-founder of Sony
David Packard, co-founder of Hewlett-Packard
Ross Perot, founder Electronic Data Systems (EDS), founder Perot Systems
Corporation, Presidential candidate
Stephen Pollan, financial consultant and writer
Anita Roddick, founder of The Body Shop
Bill Rosenberg, founder of Dunkin Donut
Pleasant Rowland, founder and president of Pleasant Company
Colonel Harland Sanders, founder of Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC)
Ricardo Semler, president and CEO of Semco, S.A.
Howard Schultz, founder Starbucks Coffee Company
Fred Smith, founder of Federal Express
Thomas Stemberg, co-founder of Staples
Dave Thomas, founder and Senior Chairman of the Board of Wendy's International,
Inc.
Ted Turner, founder of Turner Broadcasting System, CNN and Headline News
Jay Van Andel, co-founder of Amway Corporation
Lillian Vernon, founder of the Lillian Vernon Corporation
Sam Walton, founder of Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.
An Wang, founder Wang Laboratories, Inc.
Joseph Boyett, Author & Consultant
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