How to Grow Your Business with Strategic Vision | Learn from the Best in 5 Minutes

Hi, I'm Evan Carmichael and welcome to a special video edition of #AskEvan. Today's post is brought to you by American Express Canada. They've just launched a new exciting contest on their Amex for Business Canada Facebook page where you can win $10,000 and a consultation with Facebook. But I'll talk a little more about that at the end of the video. Today I'm gonna answer a question from one of my readers, Ahmed, who has asked me what my favorite book is for strategic vision.

So Ahmed's specific question was, "Evan, can you help by recommending books to me which talk about competitive intelligence or strategic vision? Thanks for your concern, Ahmed." So thanks for the question, Ahmed. If you haven't already seen my page of my favorite books, you should go check it out. My favorite book for strategic vision would be Radicals and Visionaries by Thaddeus Warrough. The book highlights the stories and advice from over 70 famous entrepreneurs. I'm a strong believer in modeling success, so whatever challenges you're facing right now with your business, there's a good chance that at least one of these entrepreneurs had to overcome it as well. Here are 3 of my favorite profiles that I hope you can learn from. Number 1: Jeff Bezos from Amazon.com. "Our vision is to be the world's most consumer-centric company where customers can come to find anything they want to buy online." If you're looking for a visionary and someone who disrupted his competition, Jeff Bezos is a great person to model. At age 30, Bezos was already senior vice president at a Wall Street investment bank. He was making a six-figure salary and was on the fast track to corporate success. In 1994, he saw that the internet was growing at 2,300% per month and wanted to capitalize on it by launching his own business. He made a list of 20 potential products to sell and settled on books. He realized that physical bookstores could only carry a limited amount of titles, giving him a huge advantage online. He launched Amazon.com in 1995 with over 1 million titles and called it Earth's biggest bookstore. Today the company has over $34 billion in sales, thanks in large part to Bezos's unrelenting vision to focus on customer satisfaction. He's constantly monitoring trends and following his customers into new markets, which have fueled the company's growth.

2.

Ray Kroc from McDonald's. "The definition of salesmanship is the gentle art of letting the customer have it your way." Ray Kroc was a milkshake machine salesman and, as he approached his 50th birthday, had a successful career in sales by paying personal attention to his clients. When he met with the McDonald brothers to sell them his milkshake makers, he was impressed with how they ran their restaurant. He crafted a vision where they could go from a single location into a national chain. When they told him that they weren't interested in doing it themselves, they sold their business to Kroc and let him run with it. Today McDonald's is the world's largest fast food company with sales of over $24 billion. To think that it all began with a single restaurant location that wasn't even his to start with is a testament to the visionary qualities that Kroc possessed. Number 3: William Hewlett and David Packard. What I'm most proud of is the fact that we really create a way to work with employees, let them share in the profits, and still keep control of it. Bill and Dave started their business with $538 in a small garage behind Packard's house. They flipped a coin whether to call the company Hewlett-Packard or Packard-Hewlett. As the business grew, they became known for the sensitivity they showed towards the people working for them. HP became the first company to offer flexible hours and profit sharing. They gave their staff more autonomy and created open offices to break down barriers between management and employees. Their philosophies became known as the HP Way and have been used as a model for generations of companies since. Today, Hewlett-Packard has revenues of over $126 billion, and Hewlett and Packard are considered two of the most respected businessmen in the country. It all started with $538, a garage, a passion for tinkering with electronics, and a desire to build a company where everyone could take pride in what they were doing.

So I hope that helps, amen. Here's what the book looks like if you want to go check it out and find it in a bookstore. My copy is a little bit dinged up because I've read it so many times. But you'll find that those are just 3 of the stories out of over 70 profiles of famous entrepreneurs that they have in there. And you're bound to find a story in there that will motivate you, give you ideas to grow your business and help you get to that next step. So I definitely recommend going to pick it up. Now just a reminder, this post is brought to you by American Express Canada. I mentioned there was a contest at the beginning of this video. They've launched a new contest on their Amex for Business Canada Facebook page, and I'll include the link below. It's called Take Off with American Express, and they're looking for a Canadian company to give $10,000 in cash to and a one-on-one personal consultation with Facebook. So all you need to do is visit their Facebook page and let them know where you'd like to take your business, and that enters you into the contest.

So good luck!

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