10 Things I Learned About Business From Steve Jobs-
The greatest Entrepreneur of the 21st Century

By Chris Krimitsos

1. Live every day as if it’s your last! This helps cut through a lot of wasted time, focusing on results and not on distractions that take away from result driven activities. Imagine if you spent 5 hours a day solely on result based activities.

2. You can change the world with your business if you truly believe. Steve used Apple to revolutionize the music industry, telecommunication industry and personal computer industry! The iPad, iPod, iPhone and iTunes brought the entire globe closer together and changed how we communicate forever - all because he truly believed it was possible!

3. Always move forward! After being ousted from his very own company, Jobs went on to found NEXT computing and then lead the movie studio Pixar. He then was reunited with his company and was a much more seasoned leader thanks to all the lessons he learned in between.

4. Set your own personal standards higher than anyone else’s. Steve Jobs was a relentless perfectionist setting the bar higher than any of his competitors. It's not unusual for Mac users to use the same laptop for 3-5 years while PC users will have gone through several laptops in the same period of time! Ask me how I know this lesson.

5. Approach life with passion and dedication. While others mention money and wealth, Steve was never described as one of the richest men on the planet, even though he was. He had a love affair with his work and was dedicated to his passion for making technology beautiful. He was always described as an innovator pushing the world of technology to new frontiers! The simple reason was that Steve knew who he was and what he wanted to accomplish here on this earth.

6. Let people know where you stand. Steve was famous for his temper, but one of the benefits of wearing his feelings and opinions on his sleeve was that everyone knew where they stood with Steve. Creating a culture of candor was instrumental in rebuilding the Apple we have all come to love today.

7. Develop the ability to say NO. Steve was once asked to what he attributes his success and he said his ability to say NO. He stated that he sees hundreds of opportunities each year that he would love to green light. Instead, he chooses those that will have the largest impact on Apple and the world and says no to all others. It was this acquired skill that helped Apple to become the world’s largest company. He learned that to be great he had to FOCUS and channel the company’s energy and resources to a handful of projects each year.

8. Give yourself a wilderness period. This was what Steve called his time after being ousted from Apple, before and during the founding of NEXT. During this time he reflected on what had happened with Apple, what spaces were ahead for technology to grow and how he wanted to place himself there. This reflection time was vital for him to understand himself and what his true visions were.

9. Look at the world through an artist’s eyes. When Steve went to college, he took courses in subjects that he wanted to learn more about; he took philosophy, calligraphy, art and many other subjects of which he desired a deeper understanding. This gave him a perpetual love of all things beautiful and played a critical role in his visualizing many of the greatest advances in technology.

10. Throw out the old and focus on the present (and not-so-distant future). When Steve came back to lead Apple, one of the first orders of business was getting rid of the Apple history museum at Headquarters. He donated all the artifacts to Stanford University. He then proclaimed that Apple was going to look forward into the future and focus in the present moment on building a new company!

Steve was once quoted as saying "I want to put a ding in the universe."

I think I speak for all of us, "You put more than a ding in the universe, and for that and for your contribution to all of our lives, individually and collectively, we are truly grateful. May you rest in peace up in the big iCloud in the sky."

About the Author
Chris Krimitsos is the Founder and CEO of The Wealth Building Annex, a premier businessgrowthorganization focused on producing results and growth for CEOs and business owners.He speaks about Internet Marketing strategies and differentiating business relationship techniques. He was recently nominated one of the top 3 Speakers in Tampa Bay. Chris can be contacted at Chris@TWBAonline.com or www.TWBAonline.com.