After writing about Zappos yesterday, I remembered a few interesting things that I didn’t mention in the post about the company. I had heard about the wonderful customer service and company culture about 3 years ago. So I decided to do a little experiment. I called the customer service line to talk with whoever answered, to find out what it was like to work at Zappos.
Tony Hsieh, Co-founder of Zappos
I had heard about what a great company Zappos was, but I was a bit surprised when I actually talked to the customer service representative. Before I tell you what happened when I called Zappos, let’s think back about what a “normal” customer service call is like.
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Business Strategy, Dreams Come True, Success
Amazon, business, customer service, happiness, shoes, Success, tony hsieh, zappos
Now I am reading Delivering Happiness
by Tony Hsieh. Tony is a co-founder of Zappos, the online shoe company that was recently sold to Amazon for $1 billion. I highly recommend this book because it is entertaining and fun to read.
Yet it is also filled with some deep meaning. Tony shares his story about how he sold his first company, Link Exchange, to Microsoft for $265 million. His own share was $40 million. But here’s the interesting part. He would be paid $8 million for staying with the company for one year.
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Business Strategy, Dreams Come True, Great Books, Internet, Money, Success
Amazon, billionaire, customer service, entrepreneur, fun, millionaire, Money, Success, tony hseih, zappos
After writing yesterday’s post about the True Cost of a Car, I took a look down and saw my cell phone. I thought about how much a cell phone really costs, in the context of financial freedom.
A $45,000 Cell Phone
How much does a cell phone really cost? How much do you pay? For a cool phone like an iPhone, it costs $299 for the phone, plus $36 for an activation fee. Then, it costs about $110 per month for calls, data and text. Add taxes and other fees and it comes out to about $135 per month. Divide the startup costs by 24 (months), and the average monthly cost is $150.
Why does it cost $45,000?
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Dreams Come True, Investing, Money, Success
android, cell phones, crowds, ERE, iPhone, Money, spending, status, Success, waste
Like most things in life, we usually make snap decisions about buying a car. We go to a dealership to “look at cars”, and two hours later we are excited to discover we are driving our shiny new car home. Has this happened to you? It has to me.
Unfortunately, this is the worst possible way to buy a car. $250 per month may sound affordable, but nothing could be further from the truth. $250 per month does not come close to the cost of owning and using a car.
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Dreams Come True, Investing, Money, Success
car, cost, debt, ERE, groceries, Investing, Money, payment, retirement, Success, work
I recently received a call from a recruiter, and he sounded like the guy from Idiocracy
. Have you seen this movie? If not, you really need to see it. It is about the dumbing-down of America and the lowest common denominator of human being. It’s about drinking Gatorade and eating fast food.
The Guy from Idiocracy
After talking to the recruiter for a few minutes, I actually thought it was a joke. Why would anyone trust him to find good people? Why would anyone even bother to talk to him? His diction was so poor I didn’t really understand what he was saying. I could tell he knew absolutely nothing about programming. I just kept remembering the frustrations of the main character in the movie when he tried to communicate with the “normal” people.
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Dreams Come True, Money, Success, US Economy
dumb, fast food, future, government, idiocracy, Money, politicians, singularity, Success, tax check
It seems like a pretty simple question, but most people I talk to have never even thought about it. People just seem to go to work, come home, crack open a cold one, and watch TV until it is time to go to sleep. I guess people don’t like to think about this question because the answer is “a lot more than I have right now”.
After reading this article on Yahoo, I started thinking about it some more. If people had a concrete number, would that make it easier to achieve? In my personal experience, having a goal accelerated the process in a huge way. Even if when I set the goal it seemed like it would take forever.
I think part of the problem is that people don’t really think about spending money. They just buy what they want, and randomly say, “I can’t afford it” at other times. It seems that at the most important times, like when buying a house or a car, we do spend the money.
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Dreams Come True, Investing, Money, Success
budgets, compound interest, dreams, ERE, finance, goals, Money, planning, retirement, strategies, Success
One of the blogs I follow regularly is Upgrade Reality, a self-improvement site run by Dirk, better known as Diggy.
The Upgrade Reality blog features articles that are optimistic, but without all the fluff and B.S. That’s why I’m glad that Diggy has released an eBook that encapsulates his philosophy and delivers his advice in a convenient eBook form.
You can order Upgrade Reality here. (Not an affiliate link.)
Here are a couple reasons you should check out Diggy’s book.
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Dreams Come True, Great Books, Internet, Money, Success
blogging, book, diggy, ebook, Internet, Success, upgrade your reality
Yesterday I discovered Cooliris, which might just be the coolest thing I have ever seen. It’s an extension for browsers (Chrome, IE, Firefox and Safari) that lets you see all the images in a virtual wall. It is absolutely incredible.
I love Cooliris because it is so neat. But there is more to it. We have talked quite a bit about accelerating technology, and that is a powerful force in our lives. Yet there is another piece of the puzzle that most people are totally unaware of: how we interact with technology.
What does Cooliris teach us about how to interact with technology?
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Accelerating Technology, Business Strategy, Dreams Come True, Internet
chrome, computers, cool, entertainment, fascinating, future, Internet, mind, Success, technology
After reading this article about how Amazon’s profit has grown by 45%, I started thinking about the other companies that have been making huge profits. Companies like Apple and Microsoft.
Amazon is positioning itself as the leader in eBooks, with the success of its Kindle readers. It was just a few years ago when people did not believe that eBook readers would ever succeed, because reading books on a monitor doesn’t work. Amazon overcame that hurdle by licensing E-Ink, the revolutionary new technology that makes an eBook look more like a real book.
Apple has had similar success with its iPhone, which in just a few years has become one of its most successful products in history. The iPhone 4 was the best selling product ever for Apple. And its stock price reflects the company’s success.
Apple's stock from March 2009
What do all of these successes have in common?
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Accelerating Technology, Business Strategy, Dreams Come True, Online Investing AI, Success
Amazon, innovation, ipad, iPod, Kindle, microsoft, Money, stocks, Success, xbox
Despite what dozens of personal financial wizards and experts say, get rich schemes DO work.
Usually for the person running the get-rich scheme.
The guy who is at the top of the pyramid marketing scheme does ok.
The gal who is running the Ponzi scheme gets rich quick.
The internet marketer who teaches you how to internet market to people who want to learn how to internet market also gets a few bucks the easy way.
But there are other ways you can make money quickly and easily.
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Dreams Come True, Investing, Money, Online Investing AI, Success
get rich, get-rich-quick, Money, rich people, wealth, wealthy
is one of my favorite financial books of all time. It's an allegory about a guy who has a terrible job, and how he overcomes challenges to achieve his dreams.
