00:00:19masters a new series dedicated to
00:00:21helping entrepreneurs find a shortcut to
00:00:23business success by modeling the
00:00:25strategies and ideas of other famous
00:00:27successful entrepreneurs you can learn
00:00:29viable strategies to implement into your
00:00:30business today to achieve success for
00:00:32your company modeling the Masters and
00:00:35their strategy is quite simply as the
00:00:37fastest way to go from credit card debt
00:00:39to business success my name is Evan
00:00:41Carmichael and today we’re gonna be
00:00:43talking about the Harley Davidson Motor
00:00:44Company
00:00:45hey what may be an American icon today
00:00:48when it was first started was founded by
00:00:50two young entrepreneurs with an idea a
00:00:53big dream and the willingness to make it
00:00:55happen
00:00:56we’re gonna learn a little bit about
00:00:57their story how they got started what
00:01:00factors led to their success and what
00:01:02take-home lessons you can implement your
00:01:04business today to achieve success on
00:01:05your own the first lesson from Harley
00:01:07Davidson is build a great team it’s
00:01:10extremely difficult to build a great
00:01:11company as a one-person operation which
00:01:13a lot of entrepreneurs unfortunately are
00:01:16when Harley Davidson started it was
00:01:18started by two young entrepreneurs
00:01:19William Harley and Arthur Davidson when
00:01:22they were 20 and 21 years old
00:01:24they started the business unfortunately
00:01:26didn’t know a lot about actually
00:01:27building motorcycles they took bicycles
00:01:29tried to put an engine on top of it and
00:01:31it wasn’t working out for them they
00:01:32needed somebody with a little bit more
00:01:34experience so they brought in Walter
00:01:36Davidson was an older brother from
00:01:38Kansas they promised him a chance to
00:01:41ride on the motorcycle he only later
00:01:43found out that he had to actually build
00:01:44the cycle for them but he stayed on
00:01:47later on as a company grew they also
00:01:49brought in William
00:01:50to be the first official president of
00:01:53the organization so it’s important to
00:01:55really surround yourself with the people
00:01:57who can help your business get to that
00:01:58next step
00:01:59realize what you’re really good at and
00:02:01find people who are really good at the
00:02:03other areas and you don’t want to touch
00:02:04it or that you can’t be bothered with or
00:02:06you’re not really gonna be passionate
00:02:08about if you focus on your core
00:02:09strengths like the harley-davidson team
00:02:11did everybody focuses in on what they’re
00:02:13really good at then you have a much
00:02:15greater chance of achieving success
00:02:16lesson number two is build slowly when
00:02:20the company was first started and they
00:02:22made their first motorcycles in 1903
00:02:24they only made three the next year they
00:02:26made another three the next year they
00:02:28made only seven more and finally the
00:02:30next year they expand it and were able
00:02:31to make 50 when they started there were
00:02:35no employees it was just the founders
00:02:37they were working on sweat equity alone
00:02:39they didn’t spend the money to go and
00:02:41get warm ploys and dig themselves into
00:02:43debt and when they started their first
00:02:46center of operation was a little shed
00:02:47they had built in their backyard and
00:02:50their sister Hannah wrote Harley
00:02:52Davidson Motor Company on the outside of
00:02:54the door it wasn’t until their fourth
00:02:56year that they were able to expand to a
00:02:59full level Factory and build those 50
00:03:02motorcycles too many entrepreneurs when
00:03:04they get started take on too much debt
00:03:06they borrow money from all sorts of
00:03:08different sources and then they blow
00:03:10their brains out trying to accomplish
00:03:12rapid growth don’t overextend yourself
00:03:14build slowly make sure that you have a
00:03:17product that people are willing to pay
00:03:19money for and then be able to build your
00:03:21company and grow through the profits
00:03:23being reinvested into your
00:03:25lesson number three is sell to big
00:03:28companies one of the major reasons for
00:03:30the success of harley-davidson was their
00:03:32ability to secure the big contract some
00:03:34of the big deals at the Atlanta tour
00:03:36with the United States Postal Service
00:03:37the police departments and the allies
00:03:41during World War one and World War two
00:03:43it’s a lot easier to find a big company
00:03:46and sell them a thousand copies of units
00:03:49of whatever you’re selling to try to go
00:03:50out and sell thousand different people
00:03:52one copy or one unit of whatever you’re
00:03:55selling go out and try to find those big
00:03:57customers when the recession hit the
00:04:00Great Depression in the United States
00:04:02and around the world before that hit
00:04:04there were 300 different manufacturers
00:04:06of motorcycles in the United States
00:04:08after a hit they were – and the main
00:04:11reason why they only get through it so
00:04:13well was their ability to keep with
00:04:15those big contracts find the big
00:04:17contracts and one or two major cuts of
00:04:19customers keep them happy and look you
00:04:21coming back for more lesson number four
00:04:24is leverage big brands one of the best
00:04:26marketing decisions that harley-davidson
00:04:28ever made was to sponsor a team of
00:04:30racers called the wrecking crew these
00:04:33were guys who went out and raced
00:04:34motorcycles they won all the races and
00:04:36they were known for their dangerous
00:04:38stunts in their style by being able to
00:04:41associate with this group they passed on
00:04:44a lot of brand value to harley-davidson
00:04:46suddenly everybody knew who
00:04:48harley-davidson was it’s not unlike what
00:04:51Nike does now by sponsoring some of the
00:04:53top athletes so for your own business
00:04:55think about who you can partner up with
00:04:57who was already a known entity people
00:04:59know about them they have a respected
00:05:01brand and by latching onto them
00:05:03partnering with them you’ve gained
00:05:05instant credibility it’s hard to go from
00:05:07nothing people don’t know who you are to
00:05:11becoming that rising star and an easy
00:05:13way to do it is by leveraging the brand
00:05:15that others have already built
00:05:17harley-davidson continued to do this as
00:05:19they grew their company when they
00:05:21partnered with the police departments
00:05:22and with the Allies during World War one
00:05:24in World War two because people look up
00:05:26to the police and to the Allies when
00:05:29they saw that the police and allies were
00:05:30using Harley Davidsons then they must be
00:05:32a good product and everybody else wanted
00:05:34to get them as well so think about who
00:05:36you can leverage a brand that’s in your
00:05:39industry or related to your industry you
00:05:41tagged on to them and they can help take
00:05:43you to that next level of success our
00:05:46final lesson lesson number five is
00:05:48innovate Harley Davidson was always on
00:05:50the cutting edge of innovation for their
00:05:52motorcycles and they were known for
00:05:54always having high quality new
00:05:56technologies coming through to make
00:05:57their motorcycles more reliable and
00:06:00faster they were the first ones to have
00:06:03the step starter so you didn’t have to
00:06:05ride the bike for a certain amount of
00:06:07time before the engine would kick in
00:06:08they would first is the v-twin engine
00:06:11and they were the first ones that break
00:06:12all sorts of different land speed
00:06:14records with their motorcycles
00:06:16especially in tough economic times it’s
00:06:19important to invest in your research and
00:06:22development and have the best product
00:06:23possible if your product is similar to
00:06:26everybody else’s and the price is the
00:06:28same as everybody else’s it’s going to
00:06:29be hard to stand out give customers a
00:06:32reason to buy from you by making a
00:06:34product as good as it possibie invest in
00:06:37making it the best technology out there
00:06:39on the market so the customers have no
00:06:42choice but to buy from you today
00:06:44harley-davidson has almost 10,000
00:06:46employees and almost 6 billion dollars
00:06:48in revenue it seems like a really big
00:06:50company now but remember when it first
00:06:52got started it was two young
00:06:54entrepreneurs with an idea a big dream
00:06:57willingness to make it happen and by
00:06:59following those five lessons that we
00:07:01talked about today you can also achieve
00:07:03success and build a great company for
00:07:04you
00:07:05I hope you enjoyed the session today I
00:07:07wanted to thank phantom media or the
00:07:10sponsors of this event you can learn
00:07:12more about them by clicking on the links
00:07:14provided and as well you can learn more
00:07:16about Riley Davidson on their stories
00:07:18and the stories of other famous
00:07:19entrepreneurs on our website at
00:07:21economical calm I hope you enjoyed the
00:07:24session and look forward to the next
00:07:26modeling the master series with you
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