What do you get when you cross earth worms, red bull, poker playing, and a life-long love affair with business? You get a billion-dollar acquisition deal and a clear path to happiness…not necessarily in that order.
In “Delivering Happiness” the new book written by Tony Hsieh (CEO of Zappos), Tony candidly shares his dreaming about having a successful business when he was eight…starting with an idea to making millions of dollars with worms. Yes, worms. Yes, he thought of making millions when he was eight. (In contrast, when I was eight I thought about cuddling with puppies and dancing with David Cassidy.)
Tony transitioned to businesses in: lemonade (with a twist), paper routes, garage sales, newspaper publishing, direct mail, pizza retail, video games, web support, venture funds, all before he found his success…inside and out…with online shoe retailer Zappos.
Reading Tony’s honest, and simple…(yes simple), account of his journey in business from those youthful endeavors, to losing his business soul, to finding it again and negotiating a billion-dollar deal with Amazon, got me one step closer to uncovering the answer to a question that I ask myself several times a week, “are entrepreneurs born or are they bred?” In Tony’s case, not only was he born with this commerce-driven gene…it’s hard wired into his DNA. So is caring about people and their well-being. A powerful combination for success for sure.
Having heard Tony speak live, and loving his conscious approach to business (and the ability to buy shoes online risk free), I couldn’t wait to read “Delivering Happiness.” Fortunately, being selected to receive an advanced copy as a blogger, I didn’t have to wait too long. This gracious opportunity came with a ‘cross-my-heart promise’ to write an honest review…the one you’re reading now.
Honestly, between you and me, I didn’t want to put the book down…even though I had to a few times to do things like work, eat, and take my pup for a walk. Reading “Delivering Happiness”, I felt like Tony was bringing me into his world and having a personal conversation with me over a coke and a burrito…like…I was a friend of his. Apparently that IS how he treats everyone. It’s his “special sauce.” Between the pages of this book and his journey he lets you in on the ‘why’ and the ‘how’ to add this special sauce to any business recipe.
The only draw back to this book is that it is written in such a casual way, that I couldn’t help but feel a bit old reading it…even though I’m only a decade older than zen master T. Ummm, strike that, it was so informally written that I felt a lot older. But even with that drawback, it helped me see where I’ve become too static and serious in my own business and to put things in the right perspective.
Will reading this book give you the actual steps to creating a fulfilling and financially rewarding business like Zappos…of course not, but then you wouldn’t expect that from reading a book…would you?!
What “Delivering Happiness“does do is just that….deliver happiness…and drives home a tangible connection between happiness and generating sustainable profits. It also stimulates that the key ingredient to being truly successful in business—is profound and unshakable belief. And it does so in such an infectious way that you realize that succeeding financially in business truly does come second. You’ll have to read the book to find out what comes first.
Written by Kim Castle
