Entrepreneurs Who Ignore Emails and Middleborn Children

February 20, 2008

Entrepreneurs Move Mountains
Image by Victor Geere

Have you ever wondered what successful business owners like Richard Branson think of entrepreneurs who don’t reply to emails? And would you like to know if middle born children can become just as successful in business as their siblings? If so, check out these fascinating entrepreneur interviews.

Body Shop Founder, the late Anita Roddick on what she thinks about money and business schools by Todd Benjamin, CNN.

Craig Newmark on how he founded Craigslist by accident and why he isn’t a CEO of his own company.

Richard Branson on success, how he manages his time at work and what he thinks of entrepreneurs who don’t respond to emails, by Joe Polish.

Interview with James Dyson, inventor and founder of Dyson on competitors, inspiration and getting high on failure.

John Doerr of Zazzle on his screw ups, the Internet’s next wave and making money.

Stelios of Easyjet on the advantage of being a middleborn child and the most expensive mistake of his career.

Jeff Bezos of Amazon on enthusiasm, entrepreneurship and the dangers of not choosing a business you are passionate about.

What did you learn from these entrepreneurs that inspire you to improve your own business? Have you been inspired by other entrepreneurs? Who and how?

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Comments

11 Responses to “Entrepreneurs Who Ignore Emails and Middleborn Children”

Nicole on February 20th, 2008 2:43 am

Thanks for these!
Will come back later, need more coffee for that read
Am looking forward to the ANita Roddick one, she always faszinated me!
cathlawson on February 20th, 2008 3:03 am

Nicole - you are welcome. Anita Roddick was so inspiring, wasn’t she. I’m reading one of her books at the moment and it is excellent.
dawn on February 20th, 2008 4:13 am

Catherinel…
Another great selection of resources - terrific!
I wanted to add that I am incredibly inspired by my baby sister (who happens to be a middle child). She is my entrepreneurial hero - and an all around awesome role model. Besides her full-time position as a hospital administrator, she owns multiple income producing rental properties, and her own brick & mortar storefront small business. She contributes her time and talent to our community and has raised three wonderful children. (Personally, I don’t think she sleeps)!! Yet, she and her husband have earned their way into self-made millionaires & I couldn’t be more proud of her!! She is my mentor as well - and I feel blessed to have her guidance with my own entrepreneurial goals.

dawn’s last blog post..What a Smart Woman…
cathlawson on February 20th, 2008 4:20 am

Dawn - thank you. I love reading entrepreneur interviews and biographies.

Your sister sounds inspiring. It’s amazing how much some people can fit into their lives and still have balance. And it’s great, because it gives inspiration to others to do the same.
Barbara on February 20th, 2008 5:06 am

Catherine,

Again, you have given us a list of great resources.

I just finished reading the story of James Dyson. I like how he said, “we don’t learn from our successes, but learn lots from our failures. How true.

It makes me wonder how many great inventions we’re missing out on, because people quit too soon.

Barbara’s last blog post..New Commenter Becomes NBOTW
Ian Denny on February 20th, 2008 1:08 pm

It’s a great list - I’ve deliberately disabled sound on my PC in the office, so I’ll look forward to the Branson interview as I can’t wait to hear about this ignoring email thing.

Ian Denny’s last blog post..Email Marketing: Don’t Spam, Know Your Audience
cathlawson on February 20th, 2008 1:22 pm

Hi Barbara - that is a great point. It’s really sad when you hear about someone giving up on something when they’re so close to success, then a few months later, a big company brings out the same thing.

And that is so true - you certainly learn more from your mistakes than failures. It’s funny how we always seem to remember the times we screwed up more than the times we did well isn’t it?

Hi Ian - I have to disable sound often too. You’ll love the Branson interview. And it might not be what you’re expecting to hear, as we know that Branson isn’t a great fan of using a computer.

cathlawson’s last blog post..Entrepreneurs Who Ignore Emails and Middleborn Children
Tim on February 20th, 2008 3:35 pm

Craig Newmark has made a fascinating contribution to the web. I just wish it wasn’t decimating newspapers around the country (USA). I live in Raleigh NC and you can see, month by month, the classified ads section shrinking. You have to wonder if many newspapers will survive in the next ten years.
cathlawson on February 20th, 2008 7:13 pm

Hi Tim - good point. You do have to wonder about the fate of newspapers.

Then again, our local newspaper charges way too much for ads, so I can understand people looking for cheaper advertising.
John Hoff on February 20th, 2008 11:22 pm

@Barbara - that quote you mentioned from Dyson caught my eye and made me click over to Dyson’s interview.

I tend to disagree with that statement. I believe you learn a lot from you successes and you learn a lot (more) from your failures. For Dyson to say that is like him saying he’s never learned anything from his successes. True, failure gives you more insight, but . . . well, here’s an example.

Let’s say you want to learn how to hit a baseball, so you go to the batting cage, put on your helmet, stand like batters do, and swing when the ball comes. If it’s your first time, you’ll probably miss. Let’s say you miss 30 times but then you manage to hit #31. You’d probably be asking yourself - how did I stand, what was I thinking, how early did I swing, etc.

There’s something to be said about remembering and learning from your successes.

Though, I’m not as successful as Dyson, thus maybe people should listen to him more than me? However, I always tell people to learn from both success and failure.

As a side note, a little off from Dyson’s quote but I’d like to put this out there - people often times confuse repetition with learning. They think, well if I do it enough times I’ll learn it. This is not so. Take the example I mentioned above. If mere repetition was all that was necessary in learning, then you’d think we’d learn how to miss the ball better.

. . . just a side note and some food for thought.

@Catherine - you’re right. We always seem to remember when we screwed up more than when we won, which can be bad when remembered like most people do.

This is a big topic and really impedes on people’s success.

What should be remembered about failures after you’ve learned from them is the successful attempt (and should be reinforced).

Success breeds success.

Any thoughts about this stuff?

On a side note, I was going to reference an article I wrote but I think it’ll be a better reference for you Graffiti post, so I’m heading over there now.

Thanks for the links. I’ll be checking the rest of them out. I expect Branson’s to be a little different. Billionaires think differently than most people, even millionaires.

John Hoff’s last blog post..Create Yourself A Shortcut - How To E-Mail, Blog, and Text On The Go!
Barbara on February 21st, 2008 1:25 am

Hi John,

I’m would bet Dyson also learned from his successes. He may have said so, but that could have edited out of the interview. Aah, what we could learn from what’s on the cutting room floor.

Yes, we can learn more from our failures, and what we learn the hard way, we tend to appreciate more. However, our mindset also comes into play. Too often, people fail, and then succeed, but still call themselves a failure, because they can’t get past that. Then we can get into the issue of a person’s upbringing……..

I agree, repetition does not equate to learning. Some things I could attempt a thousand times, and still not learn. We all need to know our limitations.

Barbara’s last blog post..Me And The Blog - Till Death Do Us Part