1. They took advantage of trend
“There are no shortcuts. You have to work hard, and try to put yourself in a position where if luck strikes, you can see the opportunity and take advantage of it. I would also say it's hard not to fool yourself. Everyone tells you how they are going to be "special," but few do the work to get there. Do the work.” – Mark Cuban
The fist secret to the success of the internet billionaires was their preparedness and ability to take advantage of a moving business opportunity. The internet came as a trend and while most established business owners fought to resist its impact on their businesses; these internet billionaires embraced the internet and went about seeking ways to use it as leverage. The ability to take advantage of trend; the ability to accept change is the big difference between successful entrepreneurs and the average business owners.
“To truly prepare for the unexpected, you’ve got to position yourself to keep a couple of options open so when the door of opportunity opens, you’re close enough to squeeze through.” – Pierre Omidya
2. They started small
The 25 internet entrepreneurs listed above are billionaires by all standard but they were not so many years ago; and they did not become internet billionaires overnight, they started small. Most people admire entrepreneurs such as Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos and Larry Page but only few knew the starting point of these entrepreneurs.
“There are no shortcuts.” – Reed Hastings
One key to becoming a successful entrepreneur or business owner is the ability to start small. Most people dream big but only few are humble enough to start small. I think it’s worthwhile you know that Mark Zuckerberg, Larry Page, Jerry Yang, Sergey Brian started their internet businesses from the dorm of their various schools; Jeff Bezos started Amazon from his garage.
“Most people think it's all about the idea. It's not. EVERYONE has ideas. The hard part is doing the homework to know if the idea could work in an industry, then doing the preparation to be able to execute on the idea.” – Mark Cuban
These internet billionaires did not sit on their business ideas and business plan; waiting for the million dollar investor. They started with what they’ve got on hand and kept it going till they hit fame and fortune. So if you must replicate the success strategies of these internet billionaires, then you must be willing to start small.
3. They worked for free
“It’s not because of the amount of money. For me and my colleagues; the most important thing is that we create an open information flow for people. Having media corporations owned by conglomerates is not just an attractive idea to me.” –Mark Zuckerberg
Extraordinary success comes with extraordinary sacrifice. During the early start-up years of these internet billionaires, they weren’t paid a dime. They worked for free developing their business idea and even when their various companies was formed; they kept working for free.
What’s the lesson I am trying to stress here? The lesson I am emphasizing is that “delayed gratification is essential to becoming a billionaire and building a successful business whether on the internet or offline.”
4. They were innovative
I did a careful research and found out that the internet billionaires were not pioneers in their niche; they were late comers but they came with a competitive strategy, “innovation.” Google and Yahoo weren’t the first search engine; before them was ask.com
“We are targeting innovation. We believe mobile applications are essential.” – Larry Page
Amazon wasn’t the first online bookstore; other small independent bookstores existed but Jeff Bezos used innovation as an edge to position Amazon as the world largest bookstore. Facebook wasn’t the first social networking site; MySpace was already on ground and successful but Mark Zuckerberg positioned Facebook using innovation as an edge.
The lesson here is that you don’t have to be the first to win; you don’t have to reinvent the wheel, all you have to do is improve on the present idea and you will have a winner on hand.
5. They had a mission
“The thing I really care about is the mission; making the world open.” – Mark Zuckerberg
One of the reason the 25 internet entrepreneurs listed above became billionaires was because they had a mission; a mission to positively affect humanity. Why do you want to start a business? The answer to this question will determine if you’ll succeed or not.
“The most important single thing is to focus obsessively on the customer. Our goal is to be earth's most customer-centric company.” – Jeff Bezos
A business mission is essential to starting a business and growing a business because it helps you the entrepreneur maintain focus; it keeps you on course. Without a strong business mission; you might hit success but you can never sustain that success. MySpace went under because Facebook; its competitor had a stronger mission and that business mission became the driving force behind Facebook’s success.
“Basically, our goal is to organize the world's information and to make it universally accessible and useful. That's our mission. When we started, we had about 30 million Web pages, which was quite large for the time — that was two years ago. Now, we have well over a billion Web pages. So that gives you some idea of how we've grown in content. So we try to make more and more stuff available to people, we try to, when you come to Google, fulfill that need that you have as quickly as possible.” – Larry Page
6. They served everyone for free
Have you ever been charged for doing a search on Google? Were you charged a subscription fee for your Yahoo, Google and Facebook account? The answer is no. The reason these internet billionaires became successful was because they served everyone for free. Mark Zuckerberg helped family and friends stay in touch without charging a dime. Google provides direction to vital information without charging a dime; Craiglist is also a free resource.
"If you want to be rich, simply serve more people." –Rich Dad
Now what is the key point here? The key point for success here is to provide a valuable service to many people for free or a lot less than normal.
7. They reinvested in their business
The last secret to the success of the internet billionaire was that they reinvested in their businesses. Jeff Bezos didn’t pay a dividend for five years; Larry Page and Sergey Brin worked their socks off without getting a dime. These internet entrepreneurs became billionaires because they reinvested not only the profits; but their time and resources.
Instead of taking a profit and throwing a party; they chose to stay committed and expand their business via strategic acquisitions. Re-investing in your business is essential to business growth and expansion.
As a final note, these are the top seven secrets to the success of the internet billionaires. Do you want to become an internet billionaire? All you have to do is to replicate these seven success secrets and I will see you at the top.
