What's the single most important advice to give someone starting their own company?
READY. FIRE. AIMA funny thing happened on the way to a billion dollars.Sara Blakely had no office, nobody ready to do manufacturing, spent dozens or hundreds of hours trying to meet the main person at Neiman Marcusu2026and got an order to put Spanx in seven stores.u201cOnly,u201d she told me, u201cI had no idea how I was going to make the product! I didnu2019t even have a manufacturing deal and now I had to fill seven stores of Neiman Marcus.u201du2014-Daymond John was working in Red Lobster. It was his sixth year there. He had no money. He had just come up with a name: FUBU (u201cFor U, By Usu201d) and he went to a trade show to see if he can sell some of his t-shirts and hats.He got a $400,000 order from Macyu2019s.You canu2019t just ship 400,000 dollars worth of shirts to Macyu2019s. You need to make about 10,000 items. Hand sewn. Buy the fabrics, etc.He had no money. u201cHow was I going to do this?u201d he thought.(me and Daymond John)u2014u2014Richard Bransonu2019s flight got cancelled. He and all the other passengers were stuck on an island in the Caribbean.He found a private jet owner and said, u201cHow much would it cost me to fly your plane from here to Puerto Ricou201d.The owner quoted him a price.Richard Branson didnu2019t want to pay the price. He only needed one seat. He didnu2019t need the whole plane.What does this guy think? That I own an airline?u2014-Ready. Fire. Aim.Of course, these are the beginnings of stories. And they have whatu2019s called u201csurvival biasu201d.We know these stories (and Iu2019m about to say how they all ended), because each of these people built multi-billion dollar empires out of the answers.And thereu2019s a common thread through the answers despite the fact that all three of these people had NOTHING in common at all.Richard Branson owned a music magazine.Sara Blakely was selling fax machines in Florida.(me with Sara Blakely)And Daymond John was busing tables at a Red Lobster and grew up in poverty-torn Hollis, Queens.And I can think of a thousand more examples like this - united by a common thread and nothing else.We know these stories because:YES! They got the order (Neiman Marcus, Macyu2019s, the plane) and they said, u201cYes! Iu2019ll do itu201d.They u201cfiredu201d without thinking.B) That order has value. Even if itu2019s value that could disappear if itu2019s not acted on fast enough. Not everything has to have solid value. For instance, if Daymond John had a warehouse filled with hats, maybe the u201cyesu201d would have been easier because he had solid value.But the order from Macyu2019s had some sort of ephemeral value that would decrease with time (if he didnu2019t deliver, Iu2019m guessing the order would go away).The planeu2019s potential to take Branson to Puerto Rico would have disappeared probably within hours.And if Sara didnu2019t deliver to Neiman Marcus, they would have lost her phone number and never spoken to her again.So Sara called up every manufacturing facility, explained the order, showed the proof (used the ephemeral value) and got a facility to agree. She filled the order. She quit her job. And now billions of dollars later, she sits on top of a clothing empire.Daymond John knew he had $400,000 in value if he acted fast enough.So his mother mortgaged their house for $100,000. They hired seamstresses, they bought fabrics, they worked around the clock to make 10,000 shirts. They delivered and paid back the mortgage immediately.He quit Red Lobster and has since sold $6 billion worth of product.Richard Branson put up a sign that said, u201cTickets to Puerto Rico for Xu201d. He sold out almost immediately. He played the plane owner.Then he thought. Why canu2019t I always do this?He started Virgin Air. Since then he sold off his first loves: Virgin Music and his magazine and his main focus now is the multi-billion dollar Virgin Air. All because he said YES before he had a clue how he was going to come up with the money for that plane.All because he Fired, before he Aimed.But itu2019s not: u201cFire. Aim.u201dItu2019s u201cReady. Fire. Aimu201d.Sara Blakely spent two years sketching out and making by hand her first versions of Spanx even though she had no background in fashion or sewing. She filed a patent without knowledge of how to file a patent. For those first two years she didnu2019t even tell a soul what she was working on.Then when she was in Nieman Marcus, she had to use every sales technique she learned from selling fax machines cold to get in the door.Then, once in the door, she still had to convince the buyer.u201cCome with me,u201d she said. And took the buyer to the bathroom. She said, u201clook at my buttu201d. Then she changed into Spanx. u201cLook againu201d.The buyer was convinced. Neiman is still buying from Sara.Daymond John was selling hats on the corner for years. Hats! Then he begged and pleaded with LL Cool J to wear a hat in a video. Not to mention, Daymond had been interested in sewing and hip hop fashion since he was a kid.So when he went to MAGIC, the hip hop fashion show, he knew what he was talking about. He was ready.Richard Branson had never started an airline. He didnu2019t know the first thing about dealing with Boeing to get more planes. Or dealing with Heathrow to get flight routes.But he had spent years in one of the most difficult businesses around. The record business. He had built that up from scratch. He knew the subtleties of sales and how to build a business.He was ready.Ready. Fire. Aim.This doesnu2019t mean you have to spend years at one thing. Then say u201cYES!u201d to anyone. Then go for it.They were all trying other ideas. They all had many dreams. If one dream doesnu2019t work for awhile, you can switch to another.Reinventing yourself and choosing yourself is not about pursuing just one dream at the expense of everything else in your life.Itu2019s about getting ready. Itu2019s about being creative every day. Itu2019s about making learning and creativity and relationships a habit.I havenu2019t been always so good at this. Sometimes Iu2019m a bit afraid to talk to people. Sometimes Iu2019m a bit nervous about saying u201cyesu201d before I really plan something out. But Iu2019ve gotten better and I notice even on a daily basis, the ideas of u201cReady. Fire. Aimu201d happen all the time.Itu2019s how we take a chance, with a bit of risk but NOT TOO MUCH RISK at making our life a little bigger than it was the day before (example: yes, Daymond John mortgaged his house for $100,000. Thatu2019s a risk. But he had a $400,000 order from Macyu2019s waiting for him).You practice the Ready. Fire. Aim skill on a small scale. Take a risk on the person you want to reach out and talk to. Take a risk on article you want to write, or the photo you want to take. Or the service you want to provide.And get more and more ready by constant learning. Learning helps mitigate risk. And it compounds every day.What does that mean? It means quickly you will not only only be u201creadyu201d but youu2019ll be u201cready to fireu201d. Much more quickly than you could have possibly imagined.Much more quickly than I possibly imagined.One more story.Shortly after she delivered to Neiman Marcus, Sara also sent a box of Spanx to Oprah Winfreyu2019s company.Oprah made Spanx one of her u201cfavorite thingsu201d of 2000.!!Oprah then wanted to film Sara working in her office, with all her employees, working on their various clothing deals.Wait. What office!? What employees!? What deals!?Sara said, u201cYES!u201dThen she figured it all out.
