LESSONS FROM JEFF BEZOS

1. FOCUS ON CUSTOMERS 

Jeff Bezos advises e-commerce entrepreneurs to get absolutely obsessed with the needs of your customers. He says we should stop wasting our time on our competitors — become customer-centric and that’s where you’ll find success.

It’s so easy for us to consistently snoop out what our competitors are doing to see if we have the edge, but what does the edge matter if we’re entirely ignoring our customers? That’s the real goal. That’s how Amazon became so successful, too. Do you know of any real, viable Amazon competitors? Neither do we. That happened because Jeff Bezos focused specifically on serving customers — not by consistently looking over his shoulder at perceived competition.

2. THINK FOR THE LONG TERM

When Jeff Bezos is asked about the results of his quarterly numbers, he replies that he simply doesn’t know them.

Why? Because that’s too short-term. Why focus on the short-term when you can focus on the long-term? On the future? On how the decisions you make now will benefit your long-term business plans?

Bezos often states that this mindset, though beneficial, takes conviction. A short-term approach may solve short-term problems, but in the end, you’re stuck dealing with the minutia of everyday decisions. Make deliberate decisions based on the long-term.

3. LET THE DATA DECIDE

After graduating from Princeton University with a computer science and electrical engineering degree, Bezos worked at Fitel, a start-up, and then later landed a job at a Wall Street Investment Bankers Trust where he quickly rose to a Senior Vice President level.

During those periods of climbing up the career ladder, he discovered upon the usage on the neophyte World Wide Web was increasing at 2,300 percent a year. Because of that, he began to strategically study the Top mail-order businesses with an understanding that the web could soon replace the mail order.

He could see what was just round the corner. And he understood the importance of being ahead of the curve. Like his predecessors (Andrew Carnegie, John D. Rockefeller, JPMorgan), to be truly successful you must build an entire industry.

4. GROW SLOW

For Jeff Bezos and Amazon.com, it took over six years. Even then, the company made only about $5 million in profit out of revenue of over $1 billion.

That might seem like a long time (and a razor-thin margin), but it all went according to Bezo’s unusually slow-paced business plan. Bezos was in no hurry to rake in a profit because he wanted keep prices low while reinvesting as much revenue as possible back into the company.

This strategy frustrated investors in the short-term but it paid off in a big way when Amazon survived the bursting of the dot-com bubble and started posting bigger profits quarter after quarter.

5. NEVER STOP INNOVATING

“If you double the number of experiments you do per year you’re going to double your inventiveness.” – Jeff Bezos

Normal human beings fear change. Jeff Bezos is more afraid of becoming stagnant.

His tendency to push the envelope has given Amazon.com a reputation as a nimble, always-evolving company.

Amazon started out simply selling books, but it hasn’t stopped expanding since its inception. Today, Amazon sells just about everything – but it also creates its own products, offers a host of web services, and even delivers groceries to your door (if you live in Washington).