In 1978, Paul Newman and a buddy decided that rather than just distributing bottles of Paul’s homemade salad dressing as Christmas gifts to neighbors, they’d get some local stores to sell it. They bottled it in the basement, and initially saw it as a gag. Newman’s Own has become a giant food company, with over 150-million dollars in revenues from about 150 food products, donating all its profits to non-profit causes.

“There are three rules for running a business”, Newman says, “and, fortunately, we don’t know any of them.”

Newman and his partner repeatedly disregarded the advice of experts, fought established practices and entrenched competitors, and won. About entrepreneurship, Newman writes: “Now that I’m heavily into peddling food, I understand the romance of business, the allure of being the biggest fish in the pond, the juice you get from beating out your competitors.” The story of Newman’s entrepreneurial adventures is told in good humor but revealing of valuable business and marketing lessons in the book Shameless Exploitation In Pursuit Of The Common Good.

Not Bad For Not Knowing What He Was Doing…

So are YOU still making excuses in your business and trying to be perfect?