Ventureweek

From Forbes.com: Jason Ross is the founder of member’s only men’s e-commerce site Jackthreads.com, launched in late July 2008.  Jason Ross’ vision was to develop an online space where the best in men’s contemporary fashion and streetwear brands could be sold at a better price than retail with a member’s only premise

If you’re considering entrepreneurship, think about it like this: you can spend the next ten years working for a corporation, or you can spend the next five or ten years learning how to start and build companies. The latter may be harder, but also that much more rewarding and valuable for the rest of your life. At a young age, with nothing to lose, it’s the perfect time to give it a shot. Here are five key things that catapulted my company, Jackthreads, from a one-man operation out of my bedroom to a multimillion-dollar company with over a million members:

1. Passion
   Early on, I realized the importance of choosing an idea that I’m passionate about. When I graduated from Ohio State in 2003, I knew I wasn’t headed toward corporate America; I wanted to start something. I launched a small business with a friend, selling promotional merchandise to college athletic departments. It was successful, but nothing huge, and I decided to walk away because I wasn’t excited by my work. I’ve always been into men’s fashion and online shopping, and when I began to parlay this interest into a business, it never felt like work. I was spending more time on hobbies I already enjoyed, making it much easier to wake up and push myself harder everyday.
2. Audience
   While online shopping, I noticed a huge hole in the market for guys who wanted to buy cool brands at affordable prices—which is a massive audience. After some research, I realized the brands in this space didn’t have a partner to turn to. Though the private shopping club model was taking off in Europe, I set out to bring it to the U.S. and address the lack of off-price retail options for 18-35 year old guys. Our niche targeting and unique audience is now what separates Jackthreads from other e-commerce sites.
3. Cash
   No matter how passionate you are, cash is crucial to being able to create and scale any successful business. Access to capital is usually exceptionally difficult to gain; not everyone is lucky enough to attract the attention of an angel investor, but that’s not the only way to succeed. I used credit cards and worked night and weekend jobs to get my company off the ground. That funding source, combined with a very frugal mentality, allowed us to invest only on activities that directly supported the growth of the business.
4. Team Selection
   For the first two and half years of developing JackThreads, I worked alone. The day I launched, the website was a mess—the e-commerce site wasn’t accepting any credit card payments! Thankfully, a young developer who had just graduated from Ohio State fixed the website within two weeks. He was hired immediately, and for the first nine months after launching, it was just the two of us. Whenever a certain job in the company got to be too much for us to handle on our own, we’d hire to fill the position. This came back to haunt me a few times, since I’d hire just to fill the role without ensuring it was actually a good fit. Hire slowly to make sure you get the right people on board for long-term success. A great team goes a long way, and we have that today.
5. Role Models
   Though sometimes it may seem embarrassing or intimidating, never be afraid to ask for advice. Along the way, I constantly sought advice from mentors, retail professionals, e-commerce experts, etc. Whenever an issue arose, I would seek an expert on the subject to bounce ideas off of, and this helped me avoid mistakes I probably would have made otherwise.

Steve Jobs is one of the greatest business leaders of our time. Here are some recent tips from the book, “The Innovation Secrets of Steve Jobs”.

Say No to 1,000 Things: “Steve Jobs once said the secret to innovation comes from “Saying no to 1,000 things.”

Sell Dreams, Not Products: “Steve Jobs doesn’t rely on focus groups. “Steve Jobs avoids most focus groups like the plague,” says tech analyst Rob Enderle. Apple listens to customers for feedback.  But when it comes to breakthrough success at Apple, Steve Jobs and his team are the company’s best focus group. Asked why Apple doesn’t do focus groups, Jobs responded: “We figure out what we want. You can’t go out and ask people ‘what’s the next big thing?’ There’s a great quote by Henry Ford. He said, “If I’d have asked my customers what they wanted, they would have told me ‘A faster horse.’””

Create Insanely Great Experiences:“There are specialists, creatives — even geniuses — but no cashiers. Although the Apple Stores have no commissioned sales staff, they generate more revenue per square foot than most other widely recognized brands. Create a comfortable and informative shopping environment.

“A successful  Life is one that is lived through understanding and pursuing one’s own path, not chasing after the dreams of others.”

-Chin-Ning Chu (1947-2009), bestselling business management author and business consultant in Asia and the Pacific Rim

”A real decision is measured by the fact that you’ve taken a new action. If there’s no action, you haven’t truly decided.”
Tony Robbins Motivational Speaker

” Keep Knocking on doors until you find the person who will say yes to your dream. That person is out there. You just have to find him or her. Persistence ALWAYS pays.”

Donny Deutsch

Advertising entrepreneur and media personality

“The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing.”

- Walt Disney (1901-1966), Film producer, director, animator, entrepreneur, philanthropist

“Effective leadership is not about making speeches or being liked; leadership is defined by results not attributes.”

Peter Drucker noted writer, business consultant. Known as the man who invented management.

“If you wait until all the lights are “green” before you leave home, you’ll never get started on your trip to the top.”

Zig Ziglar -Self Help Author and Speaker

“We don’t have as many managers as we should, but we would rather have too few than too many.” Larry Page- Co-Founder of Google