He’s one of the Top 25 Businessmen Who Broke The Rules And Won, he made a $4.5 million salary last year and he’s the #14 Top Celebrity Entrepreneur.
In 1999, Michael Dell was giving a lecture on the ABCs of entrepreneurship to a business class at his psuedo-alma mater, the University of Texas. When it came time for the question and answer period, one of the students eagerly stood up and asked Dell why, despite being worth over $17 billion, he continues going to work each day. “You’ve got so much money,” the student said. “Why don’t you just sell out, buy a boat, and sail off to the Caribbean?” Dell stared back at the student and replied, “Sailing’s boring. Do you have any idea how much fun it is to run a billion-dollar company?”
Dell transformed a dorm room venture into one of the world’s largest billion dollar corporations. He became the youngest CEO in history to ever head a Fortune 500 company and he created a revolutionary new model for doing business in the information age.
How did he do it?
“I saw that you’d buy a PC for about $3,000, and inside that PC was about $600 worth of parts. IBM would buy most of these parts from other companies, assemble them, and sell the computer to a dealer for $2,000. Then the dealer, who knew very little about selling or supporting computers, would sell it for $3,000, which was even more outrageous.
At the root of it, I was probably just opportunistic. I had and still have a great interest in computers. There was a business opportunity [with] this product that I really liked, and it all kind of lined up together.
Well, we started the company by building to the customer’s order. And interestingly enough, we didn’t do it because we saw some massive paradigm in the future. Basically, we just didn’t have any capital [to mass-produce].
One of the things I benefited from when I started this business was that I didn’t know anything. I was just instinct with no preconceived notions. This enabled me to learn and change quickly without having to worry about maintaining any kind of status quo, like some of my bigger competitors.
I had to give it a full go and see what happened. I couldn’t resist the opportunity. The deal was, I would start into business full time in May, and at the end of August we would take a look and decide if it was doing well.
There are a lot of things that go into creating success. I don’t like to do just the things I like to do. I like to do things that cause the company to succeed. I don’t spend a lot of time doing my favorite activities.
I dropped out of college because that’s what I thought would happen. So, that for me was in 1984 and I started a company around that idea, believing that more and more people would know how to use PCs, that they would become easier to use, that even people could buy them without going to a store. We had a sense for it in the early ’80s but certainly couldn’t say we imagined it. It is just the way it happened I was, you know, rebellious–an 18, 19-year-old and just did what I wanted to do and all worked out OK.
The key is to listen to your heart and let it carry you in the direction of your dreams. I’ve learned that it’s possible to set your sights high and achieve your dreams and do it with integrity, character, and love. And each day that you’re moving toward your dreams without compromising who you are, you’re winning.
Don’t spend so much time trying to choose the perfect opportunity, that you miss the right opportunity. Whether you’ve found your calling, or if you’re still searching, passion should be the fire that drives your life’s work.”
Are you still waiting to find the “perfect opportunity”?
