What was my greatest failure?
I was young, about twenty years old when I started my first business with a couple of friends. Our eager enthusiasm was the driving energy for our early success. We did extremely well considering we didn’t have any business experience and very little know-how about the business we were getting into.
It went so well that we had visions of opening a second business, buying real estate, and expanding beyond our country’s borders. But then our inexperience caught up with us. In a very short time span did the competition drive us out of business. It left us penniless and quite disheartened. But I learned some lessons that served me for the rest of my life. It is those lessons that I share with you in my book. They lay the foundation for my future successes.  

What was one of the least successful businesses?
It was one of the largest businesses that I have been part owner of. My partners and I worked very hard for about three years and in the end barely managed to make a decent living.
It was an interior decorating business. We had three locations and a staff of about twenty people. Business was booming. But we broke one of the most important rules of small business operations: we didn’t keep a close enough eye on our profit margins. The result was that in the end we had nothing to show for. We didn’t go bankrupt but we came close.
Just like my first business I didn’t make any money in this one. But I learned some very valuable lesson that helped me to fine tune my ABC→D formula. If it hadn’t been for these two businesses, my very first one and the interior decorating operation, I would not have been able to develop my formula. It is from the most severe challenges that we often learn the most. I certainly did. And I am passing that experience over to you so you will learn from what I learned and avoid costly mistakes.  

What do I consider my greatest success story in business?
This depends a lot on how we define success. My most financial success was probably my real estate developments through my renovation business. In terms of the best run business it has to be my last one.
These stories are of course described in great detail in my book. To summarize here, my real estate development is something most people can achieve. I started small, with one property, and what works well on a small scale can usually be implemented successfully on a larger scale. That is what I did and it made me a lot of money.
My last business, which truly ran like a well-oiled engine, was a tourist information centre. It wasn’t a large business. As a matter of fact it was very small. But it provided a marvelous service and had an amazing cash flow for a small basic investment. And the profit margins were great. It was a little goldmine.