Page 15 - The Bootstrapper Bible

ChangeThis called Road Construction Ahead. He was just delighted when he made more than $100,000. Think about the orders of magnitude at work here: $40 million at the box office is 400 times $100,000. Just imagine all the room there is for a small business that operates under the radar of the giant. Find a niche, not a nation. [Costco] can choose from hundreds of different shrimp suppliers (it all comes from the same ocean!), but it deals with only three firms. 3 PRESIDENTIAL INPUT. In many companies, the president has no trouble getting things done. When Jack Welch at General Electric wanted the ice maker on the new fridge to be quieter, you can bet people in the engineering department paid attention. And when Jack wants to have a meeting with some key customers in Detroit, odds are that theyʼll make time for him—hey, heʼs the president of the whole company. But in big companies, the president is far removed from the action. GE has tens of thousands of employees and only one Jack Welch. Heʼs surrounded by people with their own agendas. He rarely gets to change the whole company. The other day, one of my employees flew to Detroit. He had a special fare ticket and knew that his travel options might be restricted, but he got to the airport four hours early for his flight back. Another flight, virtually empty, was leaving in 15 minutes. | iss. 6.01 | i | U | X | + | h 15/103 f