writer, and television personality.
When her company went public
she became the first American
self-made female billionaire.
New York Magazine named her
the definitive American woman of our time.
She’s Martha Stewart
and here are her Top Ten Rules for Success.
– Well I’m a very curious person
and that curiosity really is, I think,
at the basis for all the kinds of things
that I like to try and experiment with, and attempt.
And we have a good time doing it.
It’s not so much being driven
as much as being interested in a lot of different things.
When you develop your business plan
don’t be afraid to write everything down.
Everything that comes into your mind,
because ultimately if you have a good business plan,
well thought out, well designed,
carried out for a year or two or three,
you can start to follow that plan in an orderly fashion.
Doesn’t always work, it doesn’t always work.
It doesn’t always turn out
the way you think it’s going to turn out.
You might stumble or trip or fall in a gully.
But if you have the plan you can get up
and continue on your path.
I really encourage them
if they have a great idea
to run with it.
Find ways to finance,
find ways to build,
find ways to market.
Once you develop a large customer base,
and we reach about a hundred million people every month
with all our various businesses, our books,
our magazines, our television,
and once you develop that kind of close rapport
they have already a feeling that
I’m providing them with things they need and want.
So it’s very important
to engender trust with your customers.
If you disappoint them, I mean, if you make something
that falls apart, forget it.
You don’t get that customer back again.
And all I want to do is grow my customer base.
I want to be where that customer needs and wants me.
Every business has, and I don’t like to think
of things as obstacles all the time,
I like to think of them as challenges to be solved
and problems to be dealt with.
When I started the business,
the Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia,
our two words were inspire and inform.
So you create the beautiful picture.
You create the lifestyle
that you think everybody would aspire to,
and then you have to tell them how to get it.
So that’s the teaching part.
And to be that inspirer, that inspiration,
you have to know a lot.
You can’t fake it.
So I learn every single day.
One of my mottoes is learn something new every day.
And I do.
So it’s all about informing yourself
so that you can be a good teacher.
– Have you ever cried in business ever, your entire career?
– Cried? – Yes.
– No, I refuse.
– How do you, well, I think it’s interesting–
– I cry, but I don’t cry in business.
– You don’t cry in business.
– No, I don’t think business is worth crying over.
I think you have to, again, concentrate on business,
you can build your business,
you can help others build businesses,
and it’s business.
It’s not about emotion.
It’s about really going for it.
You can be passionate.
That’s the only emotion I allow in my business.
I have always said ever since I started working
that I am my customer.
I want to appeal to me.
What’s missing in my life?
What void can I fill
that will fill the voids for everybody that’s like me?
And my mother would always say,
“Nobody’s like you, Martha! Forget it!”
And I always said, “Mother, I am like everybody else.”
And you know, I have chickens, I have a garden,
I scrub the floors, I vacuum my house.
I’m just like everybody else.
And so she finally got to understand
what I was talking about,
because I always want to please me with what we do.
Do I want to buy it?
Do I need it?
So it’s the need and the want.
(upbeat rap music) ♫ I’m working hard all day
♫ Busy in the kitchen
♫ Cooking and baking for my video edition
♫ I need to leave this place looking clean and fresh
♫ I’m Martha Stewart so it has to be the best
♫ Bring on the baking soda
♫ Bring on the clean
♫ This kitchen has to be ready for the next big scene
♫ The fridge is filled with all my favorite food
♫ Any funky odors can really ruin my mood
♫ This box here helps food taste fresher longer
♫ Stops any odors from getting stronger
Well I worked really hard and I think that
working hard and making money for your hard work,
that was another thing
that I also discovered as an entrepreneur,
that it’s all well and good to work really hard
but you must be compensated for your hard work.
And not be greedy about it
but be compensated fairly
and that when you look at the end of the month
that you actually have some money in the bank
that you could invest or reinvest in your business,
that you have actually succeeded
in being a good business person as well,
and you can pay your associates
and your colleagues well.
You can really actually see that a business is forming,
that a business is being created,
that you are actually being productive.
– Thank you so much for watching!
I made this video because Raquel English asked me to
so if there’s a famous entrepreneur
that you want me to profile
leave it in the comments below
and we’ll see what we can do.
I’d also love to know which of Martha Stewart’s ten rules
you liked the most and meant the most to you.
Leave it in the comments below.
I’m going to join in the discussion.
Thank you so much for watching.
Continue to believe,
and I’ll see you soon.
”
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