💰 He Made Billions Off Books

What’s up, Hard Knocks community? 💰 

We’ve made it to another session here at the School of Hard Knocks where we give you an inside look at what’s happening within the business world, lessons from today’s top entrepreneurs, and key takeaways to apply in both your business and personal life.

Today’s Schedule

• From the Garage to the Warehouse: How Amazon Grew from a Small Garage-Based Business to an eCommerce Giant

• Free Game: Words of Wisdom from Steven Williams, CEO of Frito Lay

• From the Hard Knocks Library: Learn How to Make $100M Offers By Alex Hormozi

• In Case You Missed It: See one of our most viewed videos!

Let’s get it going🔥

From the Garage to the Warehouse🛒

It's crazy to think that the Amazon we all know and love today started from super-humble beginnings. Here, we're diving into how one of America's top billionaires created an eCommerce giant out of nothing.

On July 5, 1994, Jeff Bezos founded Amazon in a garage space in his rental home in Bellevue, Washington. Bezos began his company as a small online bookseller, but things took off pretty quickly. Within a year of its launch, the Amazon website sold and delivered to all 50 states and 45 different countries.

In 1998, Amazon expanded its inventory to include more than just books. Earnings were rocky and unpredictable at first, but Bezos finally moved things from red to green a few years later. In 2001, Amazon turned its first profit in the Q4 after a very successful Christmas shopping season. 2003 was the company's first entirely profitable year. 

Continuing on the journey of innovation and expansion, Bezos and the Amazon team launched the Amazon Prime service in 2005 and the rest was history. Experts predict that by 2025, Amazon Prime will grow to a whopping 168.3 million subscribers.

So how does Amazon stay on top year after year? The company's 16 leadership principles help drive its overall success from the top down. 

Here are some of our favorites:

Think Big: If you want to live a life that most people can’t, then you have to take action and think like most people won’t. Jeff Bezos knew that Amazon had the potential to be more than just a book store, so he broke the mold of what has previously been done and created an all-in-one marketplace. Think big and take even bigger action.

Invent and Simplify: Have you ever noticed how easy it is to buy a product on amazon? Amazon has mastered the consumer purchasing process. If someone comes to your store and wants to buy from you, make it easy for them. Although this may sound like simple advice, you would be surprised how many entrepreneurs don’t provide information on their services on their website or list a phone number for a consumer to call if they want to book an appointment. Improve your website / process and make it easy for them. Simplicity and Ease of Use Always Wins.

Have A Backbone and Commit: A person who agrees with everything might be easy to get along with, but they're probably not a leader. At Amazon, it's a leader's duty to respectfully challenge decisions when they disagree, even when it's uncomfortable. No one hired you to sit at the table and shake your head yes. The same goes in entrepreneurship. When dealing with a client, they hired you to fix what what’s going wrong in their business, even if it means saying no to the things they want. Successful leaders in business are encouraged not to back down just to make everyone happy. 

Learn and Be Curious: The minute you think you know everything is also the minute you stop growing. We were given two ears and one mouth for a reason. Listen more than you speak and you will absorb information from people like a sponge. Leaders are never done learning and always seek to improve themselves. Just like Jeff Bezos stayed curious about new possibilities, Amazon leaders are taught to explore new possibilities and constantly seek out new knowledge.

Words of Wisdom

Free Game

If you've got dreams of running a multi-billion dollar business, we know just who to talk to. We recently caught up with Steven Williams, the CEO of Frito Lay and he shared his insights on hustling, being smart with money, and how to stay on top of the competition.  

Here are some of his words of wisdom:

The Sky's the Limit: Steven shared the story of how Herman Lay started Frito Lay by selling chips out of his truck. Even though he came from humble beginnings he had a vision of something greater and he focused on arguably the two most important traits of any business - working hard on improving his product and taking good care of his customers & employees. The only limit that you or your business has, is the limit you set for it within your mind.

Be Consumer Obsessed: According to Steven, the secret to scaling your business in today's environment is understanding your consumer inside and out. You'll need to define your product better than anyone else. Use technology and data to stay on top of trends to know exactly what your customers want. Don't build your brand based on assumptions, build it off data.

The Golden Rule: Sure, intelligence matters when it comes to getting ahead, but Steven says it goes beyond that. Most business is really about how you treat people fairly and with respect. Success comes from being authentic, treating people how you want to be treated, and being in the right place at the right time. You could be smart, but if you're a jerk, everything goes out the window.

From the Hard Knocks Library

In Case You Missed It

If you want to catch the full interview with Frito Lay CEO Steven Williams and more, we interviewed wealthy people in varying industries all across Dallas, Texas in this YouTube Video below. We visited fancy shopping centers in Texas and asked people about the most amount of money they have made in a year as well as asking for their career/life advice. We interviewed people in a variety of industries such as Real Estate, Professional Sports, Healthcare, and Entrepreneurship!🔥

Let Us Hear From You

What were your thoughts on todays newsletter? Please reply back with your thoughts and feel free to include any ideas or things you would like us to include in future newsletters.