Copying Success: How Orfalea Turned Paper into Power
Copying Success: How Orfalea Turned Paper into Power
Employees: “You have to nurture your people,” says Orfalea. It was a lesson the entrepreneur learned in the 1970’s, when he first began hiring people to work for Kinko’s as cashiers. “At that moment, I realized my name was on the receipts and invoices. That's my money,” he says. “Well, how do you treat people who are touching your money? You kiss their fingers. Happy fingers equal happy employees and that means more money. That didn't mean I was mellow. I had the velvet glove and the steel fist. And sometimes I used the steel fist. But you can tell how good a company is by looking in the employee's eyes.”
Expansion: Orfalea decided early on that he did not want to go the franchise route in taking Kinko’s national. Again, he chose to value people and establish partnerships with others instead of seemingly adversarial relationships with franchisees. By focusing on the appropriate structure for expansion and choosing to go his own route, Orfalea turned Kinko’s into an international success.
Effectiveness: “I get bored easily, and that is a great motivator,” says Orfalea. “I think everybody should have dyslexia and ADD.” Critics suggested that Orfalea’s medical conditions would render him incapable of running a business, but Orfalea became only more motivated and focused on getting more done with less. “If I find a great idea, I work on it at the beginning, then bring in other people to make things work,” he says. “Actually, I've always been good at getting out of work.” He chose effectiveness over efficiency and it paid off.
Opportunity: “You can either complain or look for opportunity in every problem,” says Orfalea. “I prefer opportunity.” Orfalea could have given in to his conditions and accepted himself as others saw him – slow and incompetent. He chose, however, to fight that image, and to use his disadvantages to his advantage. “Trust what you see, rather than what you hear,” he says. “And don't take life so seriously – just enjoy it.”
Rejuvenation: “It seems counter-intuitive in our work-obsessed society, but longer vacations are good,” says Orfalea, “for the employer, the coworker, and the economy.” Few CEOs today encourage their colleagues to take long vacations, but then Orfalea is not your typical CEO. Orfalea understands the importance of rejuvenation as a means to boost productivity. He also knows that some of the biggest breakthroughs come when people are out exploring the world instead of the inside of a boardroom.
Today, Kinko’s enjoys revenues in excess of $2 billion and employs more than 20,000 people around the world. Despite barely being able to read or spell, Orfalea managed to create one of the most successful office and print services companies in the world.
Copying Success How Orfalea Turned Paper into Power
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“Keep your nose in the window long enough, and they are going to let you in.” That is Orfalea’s advice to up and coming entrepreneurs; he got in and he has not looked back since. But how did his hyperactive dyslexic who flunked two grades in school turn his condition into a recipe for success?
Employees: “You have to nurture your people,” says Orfalea. It was a lesson the entrepreneur learned in the 1970’s, when he first began hiring people to work for Kinko’s as cashiers. “At that moment, I realized my name was on the receipts and invoices. That's my money,” he says. “Well, how do you treat people who are touching your money? You kiss their fingers. Happy fingers equal happy employees and that means more money. That didn't mean I was mellow. I had the velvet glove and the steel fist. And sometimes I used the steel fist. But you can tell how good a company is by looking in the employee's eyes.”
Expansion: Orfalea decided early on that he did not want to go the franchise route in taking Kinko’s national. Again, he chose to value people and establish partnerships with others instead of seemingly adversarial relationships with franchisees. By focusing on the appropriate structure for expansion and choosing to go his own route, Orfalea turned Kinko’s into an international success.
Effectiveness: “I get bored easily, and that is a great motivator,” says Orfalea. “I think everybody should have dyslexia and ADD.” Critics suggested that Orfalea’s medical conditions would render him incapable of running a business, but Orfalea became only more motivated and focused on getting more done with less. “If I find a great idea, I work on it at the beginning, then bring in other people to make things work,” he says. “Actually, I've always been good at getting out of work.” He chose effectiveness over efficiency and it paid off.
Opportunity: “You can either complain or look for opportunity in every problem,” says Orfalea. “I prefer opportunity.” Orfalea could have given in to his conditions and accepted himself as others saw him – slow and incompetent. He chose, however, to fight that image, and to use his disadvantages to his advantage. “Trust what you see, rather than what you hear,” he says. “And don't take life so seriously – just enjoy it.”
Rejuvenation: “It seems counter-intuitive in our work-obsessed society, but longer vacations are good,” says Orfalea, “for the employer, the coworker, and the economy.” Few CEOs today encourage their colleagues to take long vacations, but then Orfalea is not your typical CEO. Orfalea understands the importance of rejuvenation as a means to boost productivity. He also knows that some of the biggest breakthroughs come when people are out exploring the world instead of the inside of a boardroom.
Today, Kinko’s enjoys revenues in excess of $2 billion and employs more than 20,000 people around the world. Despite barely being able to read or spell, Orfalea managed to create one of the most successful office and print services companies in the world.
Copying Success How Orfalea Turned Paper into Power
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 The Curly Haired Copy Entrepreneur: The Rise of Paul Orfalea
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 “If you’re going to enjoy the picnic that life really is, you’d better learn to like yourself,” says Kinko’s founder Paul Orfalea, “not despite your flaws and so-called deficits, but because of them.” |
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Copying Success: How Orfalea Turned Paper into Power
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| “Keep your nose in the window long enough, and they are going to let you in.” That is Orfalea’s advice to up and coming entrepreneurs; he got in and he has not looked back since. But how did his hyperactive dyslexic... |
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One Copy at a Time: Kinko’s Takes Off
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| Orfalea had been a student at USC when he noticed a copy machine in the school library. He realized that few people had access to the new technology and decided to do something about it. With a $5,000 loan from the ... |
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Lesson #4: Turn a Learning Disability into a Learning Opportunity
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| For the 30 years that Orfalea served as CEO of Kinko’s, his office would have been unrecognizable as such. He had no stacks of reports piling up in his desks. He had filing cabinets, but a quick peek inside would re... |
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Lesson #3: Know the Difference between Working Hard and Working Smart
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| “I had a real problem with people overworking actually,” says Orfalea. “They’d work sixty to seventy hours a week in the stores, and they were busy, busy, busy, but the store was dirty and they didn’t see it. I’d sa... |
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Dianne CramptonDianne Crampton is an executive leadership coach, team consultant, author and president of TIGERS Success Series, Inc. Dianne has been helping CEO's and Executives connect their employees to their core values and goals for over 20 years using the trademarked TIGERS team culture process, which stands for trust, interdependence, genuineness, empathy, risk and success. To download a free white paper on behaviors that build strong teams and behaviors that will predictably tear them down go here. - Visit Dianne Crampton's Website |
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George LudwigGeorge Ludwig is a recognized authority on sales strategy and peak performance psychology. An international speaker, trainer, and corporate consultant, he helps clients like Johnson & Johnson, Abbott Laboratories, Northwestern Mutual, CIGNA, and numerous others improve sales force effectiveness and performance. Though it's George's strategies and processes that help corporations increase productivity and performance, it's his tremendous energy and dynamism that spark the transformation. Again and again, clients remark on his amazing ability to unleash human capacity and inspire men and women to break out of their comfort zones. The result is a whole new type of salesperson. His customized presentations teach achievers to make stunning advances in their lives. From helping salespeople realize cherished dreams to helping corporations exponentially accelerate revenue streams, George Ludwig leaves audiences and individuals empowered, emboldened, and clamoring for more. George is the best-selling author of Power Selling: Seven Strategies for Cracking the Sales Code and Wise Moves: 60 Quick Tips to Improve Your Position in Life & Business. - Visit George Ludwig's Website |
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Leanne Hoagland-SmithAre your sales where you want them to be? Will you be one of the few who achieves sales or business success or one of the many who have failed to change? Are you tired of being told you are like everyone else? Then you may find my first book on sales of interest. Be the Red Jacket in the Sea of Gray Suits, The Keys to Unlocking Sales available at Amazon or at http://www.processspecialist.com/red-jacket.htm. This book is a reflection of my no-nonsense approach to improving sales to overall business results. If you are truly committed to making sustainable changes, then I can help you secure a positive return on your investment because I focus on executable solutions not telling you the problems you already know you have. From training to corporate (group) coaching to executive one on one coaching, my approach is to assess, create awareness, build a goal driven action plan and then execute. The bottom line question is "Not do you or your employees know it, but do you or they want to do it?" Please call for a free strategy session at 219.759.5601. - Visit Leanne Hoagland-Smith's Website |
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