Get Big Fast or Die Slowly

Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon, had a simple but revolutionary concept that literally changed the world of e-commerce and it’s place in history. He called it “Get Big Fast”.

Let analyze the sanity of this theory, and how to apply it to your online business.

GET BIG FAST.

Well actually, similar ideas have long been covered in self-help books, using the term “delayed gratification” although it was used in reference to the individual and not a business. It basically means instead of reaping the fruits of your labor now, why not invest it for the future? The rationale is that if you can delay gratifying or satisfying your needs now, you can have even more in the future.

For example lets say you just made $200 on the Internet in the last month. You have two choices: spend the money or re-invest it into your business.

The first option gives you instant gratification, and after all it’s your hard earned money so why not spend it to give yourself a treat? By all means go ahead, spend your first online check on brining your family out to a fantastic dinner.

But what about the next check you get? And the next? And the next?

Do you go out and buy a new car (like so many Malaysian business people do) or re-invest it into your business to create more products, get more leads, build a stronger brand and woo new partners?

That’s exactly what Jeff Bezos thought about when Amazon was but a dream. He decided to forfeit all profits to expand the Amazon brand, customer base and inventory. According to Jeff, when you’re in a rapidly growing market you should forget about profits and focus instead on market share. That’s because when the market matures, you will be one of the biggest players in it and stand to get the highest profit.

Amazon should have, and could have, been profitable much earlier. Amazon’s first “reported” profitable quarter was in 2002 – but it was really profitable at least a year before that. All the profits went into making the business bigger,faster. This helped Amazon evolve form a small startup into one of the largest online economies of our time.

Have you ever wondered how history could have been much,much different if Bezos decided to take out Amazon’s first profits and get himself a nice Ferrari or yatch?

History is littered with thousands of would-be millionaires who just could not control their urges of self-satisfaction and leading “the good life”. Lets try not to be one of them.

Get big fast. Do it.

Related Articles:

• 2010 – My New Direction
• How to Fail In Internet Marketing

Tagged as: get big fast