Quote:

“The Entrepreneur always searches for change, responds to it and exploits it as an Opportunity.”

                                                               … Peter Drucker

A true story – Meet Chris Zane of Zane’s Cycles :

Chris Zane is in the experience business.

Whether he’s selling bikes in his Connecticut store or filling orders for corporate rewards programs, he knows a successful business is about more than just selling stuff.

Zane, 46, got his start at age 12 fixing bikes in his parents’ East Haven, Connecticut, garage.

At 16, he persuaded his parents to let him take over the lease of a bike shop going out of business, borrowing $23,000 from his grandfather at 15 percent interest.

His mother tended the store while he was at school in the mornings.

In his first year, he racked up $56,000 in sales.

In year 2011, it was approximately $21 million.

The story of Zane’s growth from small shop owner to major distributor found its way into several major business publications and college courses on marketing. Inc. and Fortune magazines

Both publication wrote positively of his aggressive local strategies, labeling them in some cases as “guerrilla marketing”.

An example was his tactic of purchasing competitor’s phone numbers after putting them out of business.

In another quite opposite strategy, his focus on establishing a bond with the customer through simple gestures—like selling children’s helmets at dealer cost, and offering lifetime guarantees—was a topic in an article by the Harvard Business Review.

Learning:

Achievement is connected with action.

Lead yourself to where you want to be…

YouTube video link of this topic: Change is an Opportunity (youtube.com)

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