Michael Dell: biography, quotes. History of success

2024 Author: Howard Calhoun | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 10:16

The richest entrepreneurs on the planet include the founder of a well-known brand in the IT industry, Michael Dell. The quotes of this talented businessman have become the favorite theses of many of those who have embarked on the path of free activity. Therefore, it makes sense to study the success story of such an outstanding personality.

A brand that everyone knows

Michael Dell - this name should be known to everyone who at least once set out to buy a good laptop or, in extreme cases, a monitor. Dell Computer is one of the leading manufacturers of computer equipment. But she was not always famous. Back in 1984, when everything was just beginning, the company's capital was only $1,000. In other words, it all began more than modestly.

For 20 years of persistent and competent development of his offspring, Michael Dell was able to bring the company's assets to a level significantly exceeding the mark of several billion. Definitely - such a result deserves attention.

How it all began

Michael Dell, whose biography is replete with interesting facts, was born in 1965 in the picturesque city of Houston (Texas). The parents of the future billionaireexperienced financial difficulties, as his father worked as a stockbroker, and his mother had a practice as a dentist. Thanks to this, the boy's childhood was secure.

However, the growing up Michael was not spoiled for toys, which he, of course, wanted to have. This fact prompted him to independently raise funds for organizing entertainment. At the age of 12, the boy opened up to philately and active trade and exchange of stamps at special auctions. At this stage, Michael had the first idea for a business. It is about creating your own auction for the sale of stamps. Young Dell was able to convince several philatelist acquaintances to trust him with their resources and put them up for auction. As a result, with the help of the placed advertisement, the novice entrepreneur was able to earn $2,000.

Later, Dell showed himself again, but already on a fishing trip. While everyone was fishing with regular tackle, Michael decided to connect several hooks with a special weave and thereby increase the likelihood of a catch. According to the results of fishing, his catch was the largest. This approach formed the following position in the future owner of a multi-billion dollar company: if you think that some idea is good, be sure to try it out in practice.

Building an Entrepreneur

Michael Dell, sensing the opportunities that open up competent sales, while studying in high school, decided to continue earning. In this he was helped by the city newspaper, which allowed him to sell subscriptions. This is exactly what young Dell did.

However, he did notuse the classic door-to-door method. Instead, he decided to take a step towards team play. It looked like this: Michael identified newlyweds as his target audience and hired acquaintances, whose duties included delivering the addresses of representatives of the target audience. Further, the aspiring entrepreneur formed a database of contacts and began to send registered letters to the newlyweds with an offer to receive a two-week subscription to the newspaper as a wedding gift. This direct marketing resulted in $18,000 earned.

With this money, Michael Dell, whose success story was close to a breakthrough, bought himself a BMW and was able to enjoy driving the legendary car at the age of 17.

But Michael's parents did not appreciate such a bright entrepreneurial gift and continued to hope that their son would go to medical university. The influence of his father and mother paid off, and Dell became a student at Texas State University after high school.

Getting on the path of scale business

Study could not become a worthy alternative to entrepreneurship, and soon Michael began to upgrade computers, increasing their performance for his own needs. Soon there were customers who also wanted to improve their PCs.

For that time, the fashion for personal computers was typical, as a result of which all students wanted to get such equipment. But because of the high cost, they could not afford such a luxury. And hereMichael Dell appeared with his ability to see needs and fill them in the most optimal way.

The essence of Dell's idea was to buy extra components from IBM dealers and then use them to assemble full-fledged computers. What he did in his dorm room.

As you might expect, Michael went beyond the student clientele and placed ads in the newspaper. This advertisement suggested that potential customers purchase computers optimized for the user, and besides, they were cheaper by 15% compared to the prices of official dealers. The result was predictable: doctors, law firms, and businessmen began to order computers from Michael Dell. The result of such activities was the founding of PC's Limited. Soon things went so well that Michael left the path of the student and devoted himself entirely to business. As a result, in 1984 the company was renamed Dell Computer, a brand known throughout the world.

Activity scaling

Michael Dell, whose photos are familiar to anyone who was interested in business giants, developed his company with rather modest resources. At first, he hired only one employee. His responsibilities included financial control and administration. The founder himself was busy upgrading IBM PCs and preparing them for sale.

Thanks to an individual approach to the needs of the client and affordable prices for the final product, the turnoverIn the first month of activity, the company reached $180,000, and after two months it exceeded this level by more than one and a half times.

Soon, Michael realized that the real financial heights lay behind the creation of the production of products under his own brand. At this time, a new technology was just released, which made it possible to significantly simplify the production process. By hiring one of the IBM engineers for a week and a half for $2,000, Michael received the first powerful computer that was released under the Dell brand. Already in 1992, the company's sales amounted to $ 2 billion.

Private life

Step towards the family Dell made in 1989, marrying Susan, who helped him get rid of excessive modesty. Michael Dell received four children as a gift from his wife.

The billionaire's wife was also involved in the decision to found the charity, which started in 1999. This initiative has resulted in tens of millions of dollars being donated to disaster relief efforts.

Conclusion

As a result, it is worth quoting Michael Dell: “The client cannot simply be satisfied. The customer must be satisfied.”

The example of this outstanding entrepreneur proves that if you guess the needs of the client and correctly fill them, then the financial success of the business will not be long in coming.