#217 Estée Lauder

Founders

What I learned from rereading Estée Lauder: A Success Story by Estée Lauder.

Watch Runnin' Down a Dream: How to Succeed and Thrive in a Career You Love by Bill Gurley.

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[21:14] I sometimes wonder if I had set my heart on selling tassels, cars, furniture, or anything else but beauty, would I have risen to the top of a profession? Somehow I doubt it. I believed in my product. I loved my product.

[32:07] Risk taking is the cornerstone of empires. No one ever became a success without taking chances.
[39:24] I was single-minded in the pursuit of my dream.
[44:38] Despite all the naysayers, there was never a single moment when I considered giving up. That was simply not a viable alternative.
[55:59] We took the money we had planned to use on advertising and invested it instead in enough material to give away large quantities of our products.

[1:02:20] Never underestimate the value of an ally. Today they call it networking—this sharing between colleagues. It is one of the most powerful tools in the business.

[1:12:22] It's not enough to have the most wonderful product in the world. You must be able to sell it.
[1:15:03] Love your career or else find another.

[1:19:05] Visualize. If in your mind's eye you see a successful venture, a deal made, a profit accomplished, it has a superb chance of actually happening. Projecting your mind into a successful situation is the most powerful means to achieve goals. If you spend time with pictures of failure in your mind, you will orchestrate failure. Countless times, before the event, I have pictured a heroic sale to a large department store every step of the way and the picture in my mind became a reality. I've visualized success, then created the reality from the image. Great athletes, business people, inventors, and achievers from all walks of life seem to know this secret.
[1:21:34] I've always believed that if you stick to a thought and carefully avoid distraction along the way, you can fulfill a dream. I kept my eye on the target. I've never allowed my eye to leave the particular target of the moment.

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