Jim McCann took over a small, struggling flower shop and built it into a 250-million dollar business, and has his sights set on a target of 1-billion dollars in yearly sales.

How has he done this?

The answer is, of course, complex. There is listening to the market, there is team-building within the company, there is constant innovation.

Jim says one of his jobs as a CEO is to “throw grenades”, to shake things up. But from a marketing standpoint, one of the great lessons of 1-800-Flowers is “multi-media”. This company has expanded into virtually every means of distribution and every media. They are an online and offline marketer; a mail-order company utilizing direct-mail and catalogs; a chain of bricks ‘n mortar stores.

They use all the internet media, radio, TV, print ads, statement stuffers. They wonderfully exhibit the marketing principle: open as many different doors as you can to your customer. Let him choose the one he prefers using.

In 1978, Paul Newman and a buddy decided that rather than just distributing bottles of Paul’s homemade salad dressing as Christmas gifts to neighbors, they’d get some local stores to sell it. They bottled it in the basement, and initially saw it as a gag. Newman’s Own has become a giant food company, with over 150-million dollars in revenues from about 150 food products, donating all its profits to non-profit causes.

“There are three rules for running a business”, Newman says, “and, fortunately, we don’t know any of them.”

Newman and his partner repeatedly disregarded the advice of experts, fought established practices and entrenched competitors, and won. About entrepreneurship, Newman writes: “Now that I’m heavily into peddling food, I understand the romance of business, the allure of being the biggest fish in the pond, the juice you get from beating out your competitors.” The story of Newman’s entrepreneurial adventures is told in good humor but revealing of valuable business and marketing lessons in the book Shameless Exploitation In Pursuit Of The Common Good.

Not Bad For Not Knowing What He Was Doing…

So are YOU still making excuses in your business and trying to be perfect?

People Who Start From Scratch And Get Rich Are For Real!

Sometimes, to listen to the media, you’d think that the from-scratch millionaire and multi-millionaire was more like the mythical unicorn than a relatively common American. But the latter is true.

Darin Garman is a former Iowa prison guard. Motivated by a tattered copy of Think And Grow Rich gathering dust in the warden’s office, he quit his job and entered the world of commercial real estate as a novice. A relatively short time later, as an agent working with apartment building and shopping center investors, he controls over 70% of his market. He also manages real estate investment funds.

Jeff Kaller was a fry cook when he started investing in real estate. Today he’s the premier entrepreneur and educator in the field of foreclosures.

Rob Minton of QuitWorkSomeDay.com switched from ordinary real estate agent to one working only with investors, as well as focusing on investment himself, and has quickly built a nationwide network of agents, investors and interests in properties.

Stephen Oliver got his MBA but realized the corporate career path couldn’t match his financial and personal goals. He started his tiny martial arts school with $10,000.00 pulled from credit cards. In just 18 months, he built a $1-million business with 5 locations. Now he is franchising nationwide.

What do they have in common? Not any particular business, but rather a progression of both thought and action, from worker to business owner to entrepreneur to investor.