Jeff Bezos In 1999
You have probably seen this picture of Jeff Bezos in 1999 sitting in his office that was located down the street from a pawn shop & a porno shop:
It always has a motivational spin on it in the caption or made into a meme like the one above. Something about not giving up on your dreams or "humble beginnings".
The lesson is actually way deeper though if you do your research…
Jeff Bezos was already very we…Jeff Bezos was already very well off financially by the time this pic was taken. He first appeared on the Forbes 400 with a net worth of $1.6 billion one year after Amazon's IPO in 1997. Amazon was founded 5 years before this pic was even taken.
It is about reinvesting into your company.
Not spending your money on dumb shit.
Reinvesting in the things that matter.
When you see this picture, you automatically assume he was broke, going through the start-up phase. Now that you know the truth, take another look at the picture and let the lesson sink in...
This is the reason he is where he is now, with a net worth north of $100 billion.
"It's a symbol of spending money on things that matter to customers and not spending money on things that don't," said Bezos.
Thanks for reading!
Below is a pic & caption from an Instagram post I shared that goes right along with this topic:
ZERO. That’s the amount of dollars I have taken home from Lean Kitchen since the start back in June 2016. 25 months. $0.