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Creating a String of Blockbusters: How Huizenga Achieved Success

Article Overview: “My father always said working for somebody else never amounted to anything,” Huizenga once said. “You have to be an entrepreneur.”

Creating a String of Blockbusters: How Huizenga Achieved Success

“My father always said working for somebody else never amounted to anything,” Huizenga once said. “You have to be an entrepreneur.”

In 1992, Huizenga was awarded the Horatio Alger award, given to Americans who have achieved great success by overcoming adversity. He has also been named five times Financial World Magazine’s CEO of the Year. Huizenga has been at the top of his game for some time now, but just how did he get there?

Niche: People might have wondered what made Huizenga jump from the waste management to the movie to the hotel to the car industry. After all, were they not on complete opposite ends of the spectrum? In fact, they were not. Huizenga found his niche in the service industries. He looked for underperforming industries and, company by company, began to make them perform.

Ambition: From fist fights to hostile takeovers, Huizenga let no man – or company – stand in his way. He built his companies from the ground up based on a solid foundation of steel will. He remained ruthless up until the very last minute, making him the last one standing in the very end.

Execution: For Huizenga, execution was the most important part of the process in starting up any business. From the way he managed his team and his partners, to his search for a niche, to his willingness to throw in the towel, Huizenga perfected the process of creating a successful company.

Independence: Huizenga once said, “Success is obtaining your goals and objectives. Doing what others do not.” That is precisely how he managed his career, by being willing to do what others were not from start to finish. From how he built his companies to how he enjoyed the profits, Huizenga refused to live on the terms of others.

Instinct: Where other companies had crashed and burned, Huizenga often saw nothing but opportunity. Where other entrepreneurs had lost millions, Huizenga made billions. And, he did it all by trusting himself, by listening to his gut instinct, and by having faith in his ability to understand the industry and the consumer.

The first time one of Huizenga’s college friends saw the businessman drive past in a garbage truck, his heart sank. “I thought, ‘Oh God, I better hit the books,’” he said. “It must be pretty rough out there if poor Wayne is already driving a garbage truck.”

But driving a garbage truck was just the beginning for ‘poor Wayne’. From there, he would go on to defy the odds, creating one internationally successful company after another. He would go on to be named Ernst & Young’s 2004 U.S. Entrepreneur of the Year and 2005 World Entrepreneur of the Year.

Today, 46 years after he started his very first company, Huizenga shows no signs of slowing down. He might not have any formal business training, but he has managed to gain the edge over almost every competitor he has encountered. Huizenga continues to be at the top of his game, looking for opportunities around every turn, opportunities that others are missing.

Related Articles
  Lesson #4: Have Your Own Definition of Success
  Lesson #3: The Essential Lies in the Execution
  Lesson #2: Be Ruthless and Refuse to Accept Rejection
  Lesson #5: There is No Greater Good Than Your Gut
  Turning Garbage into Gold: Huizenga’s Business Takes Off

Article Tags: ambition, billions, blockbusters, car industry, entrepreneur, execution, fist fights, goals and objectives, horatio alger, horatio alger award, hostile takeovers, instinct, niche, overcoming adversity, solid foundation, spectrum, successful company, waste management, willingness, world magazines



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