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The founder of GoDaddy has had tremendous success online as a domain registrar, he risked everything he earned from the sale of his company Parsons Technology, turning his 64 million dollar buyout to what will soon be a billion dollar company. Without further ado, here is his top 10 keys (suggestions) for success in 2008.

10: Never listen to advertising experts

The reason for GoDaddy’s success is doing everything that it was told not to do by agencies, the more people say you shouldn’t do something, the more you should do it. People generally fear change, they don’t want to make waves so becoming an agent of change is the only way to get any type of attention no matter your field.

9: Surround yourself with beautiful, intelligent and successful women

Half of the world’s population is female yet if you attend enough board meetings, you will quickly realize that these statistics don’t hold true in the executive world (sadly). I would easily argue that women are our smarter half and a company without at least 50% of the top management that isn’t one is missing out on huge opportunities.

8: Take care of your employees and give to charity

Employees leave a company because of stress but if you provide a good working environment that is fun, challenging and rewarding, even at lower pay then a competitor, they will stay with you. Charity is also always a great thing, once you can afford to do so.

7: It’s never too late to get a motorcycle but always wear your safety gear

I got my motorcycle license a few years back, the freedom that you experience driving on the road is tremendous, cars are so boxed that I got to the point where I actually hated being inside of one. Driving a motorcycle gives you instant feedback about the environment, the flexibility to move on a dime and just pure pleasure of the open road… something lost in cars and trucks.

6: Earn a Ph.D. in International Relations so you can become the head of ICANN

A degree is only worth as much as you do with it, ICANN is just about the most useless organization out there, they are experts at conducting meetings in exotic locations that produce absolutely nothing. Each time somebody registers a domain, they send a few cents to these guys who wine and dine on our efforts and provide anything but leadership or vision for the online industry.

5: Figure out what “Brad” does in GoDaddy

An inside joke but if you have an employee or somebody who really serves no value to your company, no matter your affiliation, time to let them go unless you can afford to do otherwise. Same goes with software and hardware, if it doesn’t have a use, then there is no purpose in supporting it any longer.

4: Figure out what “Yahoo” actually does

Yahoo use to be known as a search engine, now it’s morphed into a huge conglomerate but unlike General Electric, they are experts at buying up overpriced companies then shutting them down. They lack a vision, purpose and to be quite frank, are headed for the same fate as AOL… oblivion.

3: Let the devil within you come out every once in a while

Living life on the straight and narrow is nice but it’s good to get out of your shell or comfort zone every once in a while. When was the last time you did something crazy? If you can’t remember, time to do it again.

2: Never, ever, buy a Zune

Hmmm… let me see, Microsoft is an expert at creating loss leaders, they have the Xbox franchise which looses money hand over fist, more software packages then I can count which do little but offer pale imitations of other software products and are sitting on a huge pile of cash. Microsoft has their operating system (XP) that is their backbone and Office, otherwise, everything else has been a dismal failure… why? Well, they got too much money and I think they fear loosing it, so instead of making waves inside of new industries, they are stuck taking cautious approaches towards everything… which leads to mediocrity. If you aren’t in an industry to shake it up, don’t go into it… the Zune (so far) is no different. Let me put this another way, if you own stock in Microsoft, how much has it grown over the past few years compared to a company that does take chances such as Google?

1: Be Godaddy’est in everything you do

The definition of Godaddy’est is simply the ability to live on the fine edge between decency and absurdity. It’s a fine line between being labeled a mad man vs a crazy man, if you live your life on that edge, sometimes you get burned but more often then not, you will progress faster. Take chances, take risks and more importantly, enjoy the trip while it lasts.

The Bottom Line

Follow your gut, more often then not, it will prove right.

Buzvia: GoDaddy,  GoDaddy Radio, Bob Parsons Personal Site, ZipitLive: GoDaddy Reseller

One of my fondest memories growing up was watching home improvement shows on Saturday and Sunday afternoons. There is something fascinating about watching others fix, design and build things that never seems to get dull. In a half hour, a kitchen floor could be tiled and basic plumbing installed along with pot lights by a small crew of carpenters… usually right in the thick of it was Bob Vila!

Background Information about Bob Vila

During the 80s and 90s, there was no missing Bob Vila, he was everywhere it seems, from guest appearances on Tim Allen’s “Tool Time with Tim Taylor” to guest appearances on many other television shows and even starting in a series of his own series. It all began in 1946 when he was born into a Cuban family as Robert J. Vila in Miami, Florida. He later attended the University of Florida to receive a BS in Journalism followed by a stint at the Boston Architectural Center.

Bob Vila the businessman

Bob Vila traveled Europe for two years after receiving his BS in Journalism, after his studies at the Boston Architectural Center he began his own business renovating houses and designing living spaces for clients in the local Boston area. He enjoyed success in this endeavor and this lead to him receiving a number of awards.

Bob Vila’s co-hosting gig

After winning the “Heritage House of 1978” award from Better Homes and Gardens, Bob Vila was subsequently hired as a co-host of the popular show “This Old House” with Norm Abram, himself a very accomplished master carpenter. Norm had the gift of making everything look so damn easy to build and Bob Vila had the ability to make even the most mundane aspects of carpentry a must-see, together they where a fantastic combination. Bob Vila stayed with “This Old House” for 11 years before parting ways with Norm in 1989 to begin his own series, the cause of this legendary break-up is still a hotly debated topic. One rumor that seems to have the most legs is that Bob Vila was increasingly using the notoriety of the show to propel himself and this caused some friction with the producers, including Norm.

Bob Vila’s takes control

Whether by chance or planning, Bob Vila saw the writing on the wall after leaving “This Old House” and decided to begin his own show called “Bob Vila’s Home Again” whose popularity propelled him into popular culture stardom. He became the official spokesperson for anything “carpentry” related with Sears under the brand “Craftsman Tool” and the show had a catchy theme that showed entire home projects over multiple segments. I remember watching his shows vividly, especially one in which he was building a sunken greenhouse. It was odd because he always had the people who owned the house pay the work site a visit to show progress and to receive feedback but on this project, he never did this. It was later revealed by him that this was actually his house (he was the client), a nice personal touch that won him many fans. As his popularity peaked in the 90s, he wrote several books about architecture and home improvements. In 2005, he renamed his show “Bob Vila” and began selling his own brand of tools with himself being the personality behind them. He also produced “Guide to Historic Homes of America” and “In Search of Palladio” but they never reached the fame of his self-titled shows. He now the undisputed king of the home improvement empire, stretching his influence around the world that will last for generations to come.

Bob Vila the Humanitarian

Bob Vila has had a profound effect on the entire Home Improvement craze that swept the United States beginning in the 1990s, he enjoyed tremendous success but always gave back to both his fans and communities. He did a number of speaking gigs and gives a helping hand with a number of charities such as Habitat for Humanity, The Hemingway Preservation Foundation and even his very own foundation, aptly called the “Vila Foundation”. He is married and has three children.

The Bottom Line

Notice how Bob Vila became incredibly successful after he decided to take control over his destiny, there is no reason why you can’t do the same!

Buzvia: Bob Vila on Wikipedia, Bob Vila’s Official Site, NNDB’s Bob Vila Profile

Over the years, I have studied the Branson way of “Virgin” business and here is the top 10 list that he, so far, has never released as to why he has become such a successful entrepreneur.

10. Keep things small

Keep the size of the companies small, his average is about 60 employees per company, if they get too big, break them up into smaller pieces. This does a number of things, first, it keeps the company nimble and still personalized as everybody knows everybody else on a first hand basis. Secondly, it keeps things manageable, if there is a problem, the risks are minimal for the entire “Virgin Group” both financially and in reputability. Like Sir Richard Branson says, he always pays off the debts of defunct Virgin companies should things go bust which is difficult if you have one huge company with billions in receivership and tens of thousands made redundant.

9. Be ethical

Don’t participate in underhanded business activities such as kickbacks, bribes and sabotage. As a businessperson, the only thing you have to stand on is your business ethics and reputation, once this is tarnished, it’s an uphill battle to regain it. People tend to remember the dramatic and negative about people even if they represent but a small portion of a positive image.

8. Give others a vested interest

Sir Richard Branson has a unique method of building up his conglomerate of companies, he creates partnerships on usually a 50/50 basis. As such, each party has a direct interest in success of the new Virgin brand. This works in several ways for the entrepreneur who wishes to buy into this type of arrangement. Firstly, Virgin has a lot of companies so you may instantly have a customer with another part of the conglomerate, for instance, the in-flight entertainment for Virgin Atlantic may also be used for Virgin Trains. Secondly, Virgin has huge cash reserve, so getting additional funding (seeking it from Angels, Vcs and banks) is far easier when you can say “Oh, by the way, you do know Virgin is a partner in this company right?” Lastly, people work harder when they have a direct vested interest in something, an employee will work 40 hours a week but the founder behind the company has no problem pulling in twice those hours off the clock. This internal motivation usually makes the difference between boom or bust.

7. Follow your gut

Businesses must evolve to stay competitive, if you have a gut feeling to do something that doesn’t show up in the numbers yet, well, DO IT! Nobody knows a company like the founder or executive committee that was there since it all began, competitors, segways and even the market demands are in a constant state of flux. If you want to run a company strictly by the numbers, become an accountant, otherwise, follow your gut more often then not, it will prove right.

6. “Sue the Bastards” - Sir Richard Branson

If somebody is being unfair, tainting your image and reputation or simply not paying their bills after multiple tries to solve a problem, sue them. A friend told me once that there is business and there is personal, you may be great friends with a person who may be one of your suppliers or providers but don’t let that get in the way of running your business. If somebody isn’t treating you right, solve it before things get worse, and yes, they will get worse. I have taken my fair share of people to court, I think it’s a great way towards dispute resolution.

5. Mistakes aren’t a BIG deal

No matter what type of business, there will be some mistakes made, you simply cannot afford to go through the world of business walking on egg shells. No matter the size of the mistake or who it affects, admit to it and move on. Trying to push a mistake under the rug will simply allow it to grow into a bigger problem and eventually, it may get legs of it’s own. I liken the role of an entrepreneur to that of a fireman, you spend your day putting out fires before they become unmanageable, whether this is kicking the sales force back into shape or making sure internal politics don’t get out of hand.

4. Think long term

If you are starting a business with a quick payout then you should stick to your job at McDonald’s flipping burgers. Businesses need to be run for the long term, this is the only way you can attract investment and maintain your sanity through the years. Decisions are a lot easier to make when you can envision their effect a few years down the road then how they will immediately impact your bottom line. Todays investment will result in tomorrows revenue.

3. Don’t cash-out!

Your company just made a huge profit this year, what do you do? No… don’t go on a vacation splurging all this away, look at areas in your company that would benefit from additional investment or even better, consider acquisitions or new areas you wish to create change into. The bottom line is that profits are great mechanisms to further boost future influence, don’t take this cash out and waste it! This is a gift to be taken seriously and shared, not to be squandered at the casino

2. Customers come first

Let’s face it, a business without customers is a dead business. It’s tough to get new customers and even tougher to get repeated business from them, always appreciate them! There is something very wrong when a company begins to take it’s customer base for granted and begins exploiting them. I have seen this time and again, most of the time, the company goes under once all these under-handed activities either become known or the staff themselves get tired of becoming the customers punching bag. Let me repeat, if you want a successful business, you must appreciate each and every customer who ultimately buys into your idea. EVERY ONE!

1. Have Fun!

Life is about having fun, and business shouldn’t be any different, if you don’t enjoy your position in life, change it before it changes you. We are all very lucky to be given the gift of life by our parents, we need to show that appreciation by learning and exploring the world around us. You run a business, great! This is a tool to give you more freedom then the average worker, but be sure to get as much learnings out of it as you possibly can.

The Bottom Line

There is much we can all learn from Sir Richard Branson, hopefully this glimpse into his keys of management opens the doors of possibility for you.

Even in big companies where many staff, contractors and third parties play a vital role in keeping everything moving forward, there is always, except in partnerships, that sole entrepreneur trying to make sense of everything before it blows up.

Entrepreneur = Train Engineer

Startups are like a train, usually going completely out of control, where there is but one engineer at the helm who, somehow, keeps things relatively going in one direction. This direction, the vision of the entrepreneur, is very difficult to communicate to others as usually, this deep passion or inner desire simply cannot be transplanted. Of all the entrepreneurs I call friends, they all have this solitary road that sort of links all of us together regardless of market, success or expertise. This solitary road is like a proofing ground, that must be vanquished in order to proceed further into the quest of hoped success. Things don’t always work the way originally envisioned but the proofing ground pays dividends with ever future venture that the entrepreneurs chooses to undertake. Sometimes an entrepreneur hits a land mine with the first few steps, other times, only after great investments in time and money does this happen.

Opportunity Clairvoyants

You can teach somebody how to draw, you can show somebody how to change a tire on their car but you cannot without herculean effort, teach somebody to see opportunity even where there are none. Like clairvoyants of bygone days, entrepreneurs have the instant ability to see and project a business opportunity in just about everything. Like a bodybuilder who can do one tonne squats after years of training, the muscles within the entrepreneurs mind have re-orientated themselves into vast arrays of entanae that are able to pick out and analyze data at an incredible rate. Not to say they are any better then the layman’s reasoning, it’s just that they have developed this ability at a higher level. Most of them have also developed the ability to organize their lives around their businesses and, most importantly, become expert negotiators and sales people. When your living depends on your wits, the opportunity honing devices come fast and furious!

Are entrepreneurs like Superman or Superwoman?

Hmmm… no. We entrepreneurs are like everybody else, sure, the majority of us are obsessive about the next opportunity, if you talk to us long enough over a few years, you will notice that entrepreneurs are always on the “verge” of some breakthrough or another. “Strike while the iron is hot” sounds nice but for entrepreneurs, the iron always seems to be hot! It never has time to cool down! We aren’t like Superman or Superwoman though, we get sick and go through life’s tribulations like everybody else but the scale is different depending on which swing up or down they are currently on. Entrepreneurs life can be seen as a roller coaster, one minute everything is going perfectly then, like a rock getting stuck in the chucks of a skateboarder, everything goes to hell.

Motivation comes from within

Passion or motivation comes from deep inside entrepreneurs, for some, it’s the desire for vast riches while for others it’s simply a method of seeking approval from others or proving them wrong. Regardless of where the passion comes from, it’s there in abundant quantities regardless of how a venture or business goes. It’s like that stain on a shirt that simply will not go away, the motivation to keep working on something even while it’s going downhill is insatiable.

So why is the road a solitary one?

Well, an entrepreneur is a mad scientist of sorts, they have a little organism in a petri dish that they want to see mature into a beautiful being. The hours of careful attention and spirited thought that are involved with this process make a 40 hour workweek sound like child’s play. This comes at a cost, some entrepreneurs are able to find balance but just as many get swamped into their work like a black hole sucking the light out of the universe. The hours, days, months, years FLY by but what entrepreneurs must realize is that unlike a time machine, you cannot go back and relive those lost times that are just as important as the venture itself.

The Bottom Line

Entrepreneurship is an adventure that lasts a lifetime regardless of outcomes.

I realized something a few days ago that I hadn’t thought of previously, do people buy something because a corporation is selling it or because of the people running the place?

What is a Corporation

A corporation is a legal entity that, as one documentary I saw a while back put it, was equivalent to a psychopath hell-bent on making profits at any cost. The reason people set-up a corporation is normally two fold, the first is legal protection in case of lawsuits which isn’t possible under a sole proprietorship and the second, to make money. If you don’t want to make money, then a non-profit designation is for you but if you have very long term objectives of one day drinking a martini on your personal comet, well, a corporation is needed.

Who runs the corporation?

Left to it’s own devices, a corporation will by definition become ruthless in the pursuit of wealth, leaving many on the wayside. The job of the CEO, or more apt, the face of the corporation, is to reign in the profit beasts. Now, if your corporation is run by an accountant, there probably won’t be much difference but if it’s run by the founder, usually things are much more humanized then otherwise possible. Take for instance General Electric. Who runs that place? I haven’t a clue, it’s just some huge corporation that builds everything from sink plugs to jet engines. Same goes with Exxon, IBM, Johnson and Johnson and the list goes on. Now, if I say Apple, you will probably instantly say “Steve Jobs”, how about Microsoft? Bill Gates, Virgin? Richard Branson, Disney? Walt Disney in his cryogenic tomb. WHY IS THIS?

Brand of the Founder

I believe that there is something special that happens when a corporation is run from scratch by the founder throughout their lifespan. For instance, Ford has been run by distant relatives and stock holders for so long that it has lost the “synonymousity” that it once had with Henry Ford. Sames goes with the now Eatons, a huge retail empire in Canada that once dominated but has since been sold too many times to count. In these cases, the kids where unable to maintain the spirit or vision that their father had for the corporation. We actually saw this happen with Apple for a brief period of time when Steve Jobs was essentially kicked out, what happened? Apple went to the brink of extinction until he triumphantly returned. There is something special that only the founder of a corporation, who has managed it’s growth like a well pruned Bonsai Tree that simply cannot be taught or passed on very well. Now for another question, do you buy an Apple computer because of Steve Jobs or because of Apple?

Synonymous Founder

Apple is a good example of hype generated by it’s founders, I doubt people run to the stores and wait for days to get their hands on the latest Vista operating system, but they will for the iPhone! Why? Sames goes with Richard Branson who is basically a demi-god in the UK, are people buying something from his 350+ companies because of HIM or because of Virgin? In these cases, the company has become the persona of it’s founder and vice versa. This may cause some big problems in the future because, although a Corporation has an indefinite lifespan, humans do not. Bill Gates for some reason never was able to become a body double of his corporation and Steve Ballmer even less so.

Corporation vs Human

Humans have emotion, passion and desires, corporations have simply the bottom line. They seem like such different things but somehow, a few select executives and CEOs have managed to turn the two into one. Another great example is Micheal Dell, he built Dell Computers into a vast empire and once he left to become a “sabbatical chairman”, his company floundered. He had to return, much like Steve Jobs decades earlier, to pick back up the pieces and begin pruning his corporation once again. I find it

What does this all mean?

Anybody can run a corporation, but it takes a very magic touch indeed to be able to actually BECOME the corporation, where the company and the person behind it (usually the founder) are one. If you are able to achieve this goal, then you really have reached a peak that few have ever climbed.

The Bottom Line

There is a human behind every corporation, but not necessarily a corporation behind every human.

There is a lot more to success, no matter how you wish to define it, then many give it it’s due credence for. An idea can be anything, whether it’s a new habit, business model or way of thinking.

It begins with an idea

No matter what you achieve in life, everything has a beginning out of nothing. Your own being essentially came from what is the sharing of genes from your mother and father, who they themselves came from these same humble origins. If you go back far enough, we are all composed of what is essentially the benign nothingness of the universe(s) we live within. Ideas are no different, if you go back far enough, they essentially arise from a spark that is the same size as the universe right before the Big Bang. Infinitely small and complex yet made up of no real form nor reason. What I am trying to say is that like all living organisms across all the known and unknown universes, ideas share the same mysterious origins of nothingness… turning them into substance is the where the true challenge lies.

Turning ideas into Crap

Alright, you got a great idea, the first of several re-writes that will occur as you formulate these concepts into a working model will be essentially made of useless junk. All ideas sound absolutely amazing… creating a new paradigm shift that will influence generations to come… then, when put on paper, make as much sense as a fish developing lungs.

Turning Crap into Flowers

Yes, there are some fish out there with a working pair of lungs, but they are as rare as a good idea. Out of possibly 100 ideas you may generate on any given day, I would challenge you to implement more then one idea into this state… allowing it to grow and generate a life of its own. This is where the true entrepreneurs, leaders and visionaries skyrocket, no, they don’t have more ideas then the rest of us… it’s that they have NO FEAR of spending hours, days and even months molding crap with their bare hands until they can produce something as beautiful as a flower. They don’t mind getting their hands dirty, they don’t mind what others think or have to say about their idea… they are professional self-obsessed ignorance machines hell bent on proving that something works to themselves.

Turning Flowers into Crap

Let’s say you spend 6 months entrenched within an idea, you have spent an incredible amount of limited resources towards producing something that you are convinced is freaking amazing… then one day… in the middle of the night… you wake up and realize you just wasted 6 months of your life. A visionary has no problem saying “alright, they where right, I screwed up… onto the next idea!”. You see, turning crap into flowers is always time well spent, no matter the outcome. The next time, you will find more efficient ways of organizing your time, quicker methods towards synthesizing the next model and more importantly, optimized your very own mind to become an even more “outside the box” thinking machine. Essentially, when the flower dies, it also turns into crap which, as with many things in nature, gets recycled for the greater good. There is no loss, nothing wasted but a gain is achieved. Produce enough flowers, and the resultant crap can only accelerate the growth of more flowers, creating a self-perpetuating machine that very few entrepreneurs have been able to achieve through a lifetime without taking enormous risks. You see, the larger the plant, the more maintenance it requires, the more headaches are involved and the more crap is produced. Now you see why many companies fail as they grow, the complexity simply becomes too large for the stewards to manage.

Defining crap and flowers

Crap is an incredibly dense, nutritionally broad substance that has been used since the dawn of time to accelerate growth but it, on it’s own, has no real value. Flowers only happen when plants feel comfortable, well cared for and don’t mind using extra resources, that aren’t necessary for daily survival, towards beauty. All ideas begin as crap, it’s up to you to turn them into flowers. Without crap, you cannot have flowers.

The Bottom Line

The only failure is not trying at all.