1
Always keep in mind that the complaining customer is your very best friend, someone to treasure
2
Just do the business; the costs will take care of themselves
3
Always give your customers more than they bargained for
4
Don’t research the market; test it instead
5
Always keep in mind that you can never win an argument with a customer
6
Always return every electronic communication - phone call, FAX, and e-mail mesage - the same day you receive it
7
Always run your business for the convenience of your customers, not for your or your employees’ convenience
8
Never impose a minimum charge or fee on people who want to do business with you
9
Always have an immediate, right-now, risk-free, money-back, no-hassle return policy
10
Whenever company policy gets in the way of customer satisfaction, change company policy
11
Never use either government statistics or “the state of the economy” as a basis for decision-making
12
Never squeeze your suppliers dry. Always see to it that they make money on you
13
Don’t ever give a consultant final say on anything
14
Always treat your small customers as though they were big customers
15
Always take the word of an expert with several grains of salt
16
Always start your business on a shoestring
17
Always be suspicious of statistics when they’re about people; learn to rely on anecdotal evidence instead
18
Cultivate your street-smarts and let your school-smarts atrophy
19
Forget about luck; there’s no such thing
20
Never be faked out by “problems”; they exist only in your head
21
Hang out with successful people as much as you can; their optimism and confidence are contagious
22
When choosing business associates, shun talkers, embrace doers, and stay away from people who start things but never finish them
23
Don’t ever seek or take the advice of an economist
24
Always keep your eye on the ball - scoring points, not just gaining yards
25
Never raise a white flag in response to a challenge
26
Always keep in mind that every setback in business can be a blessing in disguise
27
Don’t compete in terms of price alone; compete on the basis of quality as well
28
Don’t ever be penny wise and pound foolish
29
Just do it!
30
Never forget that when you’re in business, the buck stops with you. Period
How to Get a Copy
of the Book in Hardcover

An Open Letter
From the Grave

From a Very Successful Businessman of the Past
to All the Aspiring Businesmen and Women of the Present
New and Old

MY NAME'S HARRY SHAPIRO AND I DIED IN 1971. But no matter, I'm going to help all you guys now in business succeed beyond your wildest dreams. Like I did.

I don't know if you know this but just about 9 out of every 10 new businesses go under within the first 5 years. That's dopey! Doesn't need to happen. And it won't if you listen to me.

You think I'm kidding? Lying? Exaggerating? OK, try this.

I was born in 1897 in a very poor Jewish town in Poland, very much like Anatevka in Fiddler on the Roof.

I left my parents in 1911 and came to this country with an aunt. I was 14. I never saw my mother or my father again.

When I arrived in New York, I had to go to work to support myself. I never did go to school, not here or in Europe. I also couldn't speak a word of English when I got here. Yet I was a millionaire before I was 30.

Here's how I did it.

I went into business almost immediately selling silk stockings door-to-door. My own idea - I don't think anybody else was doing it at the time. I made money and saved it. A year later, I took a job as a delivery boy in a small grocery store just to learn the retail food business. Within twelve months, I bought the store. I was now all of 16.

I went on to open store after store. I also went into the dress manufacturing business. And as I've already said, I became a millionaire about 12 years after that.

Satisfied? Now let me tell you how I'm going to help you. You know, as one businessman to another. And by the way, this includes you ladies who are also in business.

Here's what I did. I leaned on my kid, Irving (some "kid," he's 85 now) to write a book that has 30 Success in Business Maxims in it. (It's called Harry Shapiro's Legacy. What else?)

Included are why the complaining customer is your very best friend, why you should never impose a minimum charge on people who want to do business with you, why when company policy gets in the way of customer satisfaction you should always change company policy, why you should never use government statistics as a basis for making decisions, why you should never give a consultant final say on anything, how to keep your attorney and/or your accountant from ruining your business, and lots, lots more.

And let me tell you, my kid sure knows what he's talking about. He opened an architectural office in LA in 1959 without knowing a soul there and without having two nickels to rub together. Yet in less than a year, his company was thriving!

But there's more! At the time, the national average profit margin among architects was 8% of gross fees. My kid was averaging better than 30%! Sometimes as high as 50%! And producing award-winning building after award-winning building for his clients at the same time.

That's my boy! A chip off the old block, I tell you. But then, again, all he did was apply my Success in Business Maxims. A no-brainer!

OK, now here's the deal. On the left side of this page is a list of all the Success in Business Maxims (they're actually links) that are covered in Harry Shapiro's Legacy. All 30 of them. And I want you to have them. FREE! As we used to say in the old country, "Such a deal!"

Here's all that you have to do to get them. Click on any one that interests you. You'll immediately be taken to a new page where you'll give my kid your name and your e-mail address. That's it. That's all you have to do. A piece of cake. He'll then send you an e-mail message with the Success in Business Maxim that you selected attached as a pdf file. In full. Nothing deleted. Images and all. Just as it appears in Harry Shapiro's Legacy.

And the beauty of it all is that you can do that as many times as you want. What a nice guy!

Now don't forget, all the Success in Business Maxims are free. They'll cost you zero. Nada. Zilch. You sure can't beat that price!

By the way, if you want, you can get yourself a copy of Harry Shapiro's Legacy in hardcover. Not free, mind you, but still a hell of a bargain if it turns out that what you learn from it winds up saving your business. Just click on the How to Get a Copy of the Book in Hardcover link, bottom left.

Listen, I've got to go. Give it a shot. And every time you go to the bank to make a BIG deposit - which you'll be doing frequently after you've read and put into effect all of my Success in Business Maxims - tell them Harry sent you.

Oh yeah, one more thing before I check out. Don't blame me if you pass up this freebie for whatever reason and then your business goes belly up. As my kid says in his book, never forget that when you're in business, the buck stops with you. Period. So if you don't take advantage of my kid's good nature and let him send you the same successful business principles that I taught him - FREE - then, as we used to say when I was still hanging around with you mortals, you're a horse's patootie!