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Living The American Dream: How Dov Charney Fashioned His Own Success
Article Overview: “Give me the chance of going to Harvard or being there when Google started and I want to be there making $3 an hour sweeping their floors. Or Apple when Steve Jobs started it,” says Charney. “Maybe I'm delusional but that's what I think American Apparel is.” For Charney, the success of American Apparel has just begun. But how did he get to where he is today? How did a Jewish Canadian college dropout become the CEO of one of the most revered and fastest-growing companies in America?
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Living The American Dream: How Dov Charney Fashioned His Own Success
“Give me the chance of going to Harvard or being there when Google started and I want to be there making $3 an hour sweeping their floors. Or Apple when Steve Jobs started it,” says Charney. “Maybe I'm delusional but that's what I think American Apparel is.” For Charney, the success of American Apparel has just begun. But how did he get to where he is today? How did a Jewish Canadian college dropout become the CEO of one of the most revered and fastest-growing companies in America?
Pro-Labour: “I make more money than my competition who pays 50 cents an hour because of the efficiencies of dealing with someone face to face and paying them a fair wage,” says Charney. “I think it's really low brow to take advantage of labor cost inequalities to sustain your business. I know how to use communications, technology, and distribution systems to deliver t-shirts to the public without damaging the lives of my workers.” From paying them above minimum wage to offering subsidized lunches and free massages, Charney has made it a policy to be on the side of his staff.
Niche: From day one, Charney has been clear about who his target market is and what he needs to do to cater to them. Whether it is producing tighter and sexier clothes with bolder and more provocative colours, or putting a message behind his marketing – one of corporate social responsibility – Charney made his every move with his market in mind.
Unconventional: There may not be many other CEOs who rise at the crack of noon only to walk around the office in their underwear and freely engage in relationships with their staff, but Charney says his unconventional approach not only works for him, but has worked for the entire success of the company. It was by being willing to break the rules that Charney took American Apparel to the top.
Passion: Few people believe Charney when he says that all it took to take him to the top was his passion, but he is adamant that that was the most important factor. Indeed, it is doubtful that he could have come back from all of his low points if he did not love what he was doing.
Efficiency: “The beautiful thing about free trade is it creates an environment of competition where there's a marketplace of ideas,” says Charney. “And you know, one guy could go offshore and pull things in from China. Another guy could automate here in the United States. And may the best man win. Maybe both men will win.” Charney calls his business model an “Industrial Revolution.” By streamlining his operations and creating a home-grown effort, Charney has made efficiency his secret weapon in business.
“I want to be remembered as one of the great CEOs of our time and of my generation,” says Charney. “And I think that I'm gonna make them proud. That's my plan.”
Lesson #4: If You Can Dream It, You Can Do It
Lesson #2: Narrow The Market To Your Niche
Lesson #3: Conventions Are Not For The Creative Entrepreneur
Lesson #5: Make Efficiency Your Secret Weapon
Born Hustler: American Apparel’s Dov Charney Is Born
Related Forum Posts
Books for Women Entrepreneurs
- There's a thread for good books in the Resources folder, but it doesn't target books for businesswomen particularly, so I figured I'd start such a thread here.
It doesn't matter how successful you are in your business - it's always possible to learn something new.
In subsequent posts I give Table of Contents and brief descriptions for various titles - most of them devoted to the businesswoman - and sometimes a review. If anyone else has read a review, or has read the book and found it useful, please comment!
1. The Old Girl's Network
2. Mother's Work
3. The 7 Greatest Truths About Successful Women
4. Pitch Like A Girl
5. Workplace Warrior
6. Treasure Hunt: Inside the Mind of the Modern Consumer
7. Contingency Planning & Disaster Recovery
8. She Wins, You Win
9. Napoleon On Project Management
10. Why Good Girls Dont' Get Ahead, But Gutsy Girls Do
11. Comeback Moms: How to Leave Work, Raise Children, and Restart your Career even If you Haven't Had a Job in Years
12. The One Minute Millionaire
13. Talking From 9 to 5
14. Soloing: Realizing Your Life's Ambitions
15. 101 Best Home Based Businesses for Women: Everything You Need to Know About Getting Started on the Road To Success
16. Work With Passion: How to Do What You Love for a Living. Revised and Expanded
17. Fail-Proof Your Business: Beat the Odds and be Successful
18. Confidence: How Winning Streaks and Losing Streaks Begin and End
19. Women Don't Ask: Negotiation and the Gender Divide
20. Millionaire Women Next Door: The Many Journeys of Successful American Businesswomen
21. Start Small, Finish Big: Fifteen Key Lessons to Start - and Run - Your Own Successful Business
22. Rewired, Rehired or Retired: A Global Guide for the Experienced Worker
23. The Martha Rules: 10 essentials for achieving success as you start, build or manage a business
24. The Essentials of Entrepreneurship: What it takes to create Successful Enterprises
25. Net Ready: Strategies for Success in the E-conomy
26. The Promotable Woman
27. Leave The Office Earlier: The Productivity Pro shows you how to do more in less time and feel great about it
28. The Work At Home Balancing Act: The professional resource guide for managing yourself, your work, and your family at home
29. Secrets of Six-Figure Women
Re: Are Economic Recessions Good for Franchising?
- [quote="RussellWebb":6xh1ztbv]As I understand it, when there are more corporate layoffs you have more workers looking into starting their own business. It makes sense in a backwards sort of way.
My first impression is that Franchising would take a hit like everyone else... but the more I look into it: [i:6xh1ztbv]The opposite occurs[/i:6xh1ztbv]. There's a larger pool of very qualified workers that are disenchanted with the corporate world. They are often more than willing to take a bigger risk and seek self-employment, whether it's a franchise or not.
In my opinion, there are lots of good opportunities out there, it's just a matter of doing your research and finding a nice fit.[/quote:6xh1ztbv]
I agree with Russell. Initially everything looks like its taking a slight to moderate (and in some cases very "moderate") hit. But owning your own business is really (not to be cheesy) what the American Dream is all about - and this can most definitely be done in the cast of a successful franchise business.
If you just think of a franchise as a very successful business plan, isn't that a pretty good place to start?
Off to get married, Congrats
- Hi Evan,
I am married over 34 years. So go for the long haul. It's worth it every minute.
I hope you will have a 24/7 time away from the Forum. Forget all about it and enjoy each other.
Your Dream begins.....
Regards
Beat
Re: New Funding Source Now LIVE!
- [quote="ideasuniversity":3lio17iz]I have checked the site and it seems it for American Entrepreneurs only. Please correct me if I am wrong[/quote:3lio17iz]
You are correct. I wanted to limit it to the U.S. in order to keep the legalities more simplified and under control. Also, there are plenty of other organizations doing their part to help the "world". I was interested in helping my own neighbors and fellow American entrepreneurs.
Re: THE SECRET TO SUCCESS IS ALL IN YOUR HEAD...RIGHT NOW!!!
- Success = Thinking (Head) + Heart (Feeling / Interest) + Hand (doing/ action).
Success - H3
Robert
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