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Guest Book Review from our Featured Author,
Avil Beckford
Category: Success / Wealth Building
Review of How to
Build an Empire on an Orange Crate by Honest Ed Mirvish
By Avil Beckford
I am always interested in rags-to-riches stories to
discover how people attain personal and professional success. And more importantly, I want to
know if they are worthy of admiration, how did they treat their family and friends? How did they
treat their staff? What moral compass guides them? Did they give back to their community? Would
I want to study them, the way Napoleon Hill studied his invisible counselors. What kind of
invisible mentors would they make? Are they unique leaders who we can learn from by studying
them?
I have never met Ed Mirvish, but I have attended theatre
performances at his theatres - The Lion King, and Sound of Music - and I have eaten at his
restaurants. Every Christmas season he gave out turkeys, and many would stand in line to receive
their turkey. He also had door crasher specials and many customers stood in line, rain or shine
for the Honest Ed store to open. This man gave back to his community. He did many outrageous
acts and secured a lot of free publicity.
Honest Ed Mirvish's story is a real rags-to-riches one.
He was born in poverty in Baltimore, US in 1914, and came to Toronto, Canada at age nine, when
his father David Mirvish thought that he would fare better selling The Encyclopedias of
Freemasonry in this untapped territory. Ed's father didn't have the Midas Touch, and even though
he owned a business for most of his life, he was not an entrepreneur, and didn't understand that
operating a business required a lot more that dreaming. He didn't understand that he couldn't
consistently write off receivables because clients couldn't pay - he had too many customers who
needed his ware, but couldn't pay for it. As dirty as it may sound, you go into business to make
money. Yes service is important, but you have to price your products at the right price and you
have to get paid. Ed Mirvish learned these potent lessons that went right over his father's
head.
In How to Build
an Empire on an Orange Crate or 121 Lessons I Never Learned in School, an autobiography of
Honest Ed Mirvish's life, you learn these lessons and much more. Honest Ed, like countless
others who achieved spectacular success, did not have a lot of formal education - he dropped out
of high school out of necessity to work in the family's grocery store - but he excelled in the
school of life. How to Build an Empire on an Orange Crate is in two sections. In section one, Ed
tells his life story in the usual manner, and in section two he tells his story by using 121
lessons that he learned. Published in the early 1990s, some of the businesses mentioned in How
to Build an Empire on an Orange Crate are no longer around. I went on a little excursion and
took photographs of the businesses that helped to make Ed very wealthy. I have created a little
slide show for the fun of it.
Yes, Ed Mirvish was very lucky, and he admitted that in
his autobiography, but he deserves a lot of respect, and we can truly learn from him. In the
book you see this fearless, entrepreneurial, business savvy person who is willing to go against
the grain. What he does often defies logic, and what we are taught - to only go into a business
that we know about. Ed went into the restaurant and theatre businesses which he knew nothing
about, and excelled at them.
"Thousands of teenage country girls were streaming into
Toronto to build parachutes, fighter planes, and bombs in the war plants. For the first time
ever, they had money to spend on smart dresses. And they spent." Ed used this information to his
advantage. Because the girls had money to spend freely, Ed allowed them to buy on credit while
other retailers accepted cash only. Ed's way of thinking was if the girls were allowed to buy
things on credit, they would buy more which they did, and they didn't default on payment because
money was flowing to them. Ed also sold the payment contracts to Mutual Discount Company. When
the girls came in on Fridays to make payments, he told them but they didn't care who received
their payments, but this allowed him to sell more when they saw all the new dresses.
Eventually, other retailers switched to allowing these
girls to buy on credit, and Ed switched to cash because by that time the war was ending, and
many of these girls would no longer have jobs, and would likely default on their payments - he
had great foresight. The potent lesson here is to look at what's going on in your environment,
and "the devil is in the details."
5 Great
Ideas
When opportunities come knocking, make sure you
recognize them and open the door.
To stand out, go against the grain and do the opposite
of what others are doing.
If you want to learn a craft, study the masters, then
personalize, and put your unique touch to what you've learned.
Study your environment to predict what trends will
unfold.
Fail fast to success.
15 Lessons from
Honest Ed Mirvish
No matter how attractive the substitute, you must always
give patrons what they PAY for.
We own nothing! We are all just custodians and
caretakers.
To be of service IS to be happy. What else brings
greater satisfaction?
People would soon suffer than change old
habits.
Before you jump into anything BIG always check the
DETAILS first.
It may be good, but it can always be better.
Listen to your instincts and follow your
convictions.
Traditional methods aren't always the best.
Improvisation often pays off.
Sheer ignorance sometimes beats experience. But you
can't succeed if you don't try.
Beware of experts who insist it can't be
done!
Dreams alone don't run a business.
To have the right influences in your life is fortunate.
They all pay off in the end.
Adverse publicity can often be a bonus - if acted on
instantly.
Experiment! If it works, stick with it. If it doesn't
move on!
Anything you do to INVOLVE your customers keeps them
involved with YOU!
I enjoyed reading How to Build an Empire on an Orange
Crate and learned a tremendous deal from someone who has the Midas Touch. As you read the
autobiography you see Ed's evolution as a businessman, and he builds on each success until he
has an empire. He never stood still and How to Build an Empire on an Orange Crate is the perfect
example of where initial small steps can take you. Though Ed Mirvish had many successes, he also
had several failures, but what he did was fail fast. It's not where you start in life that
really matters, it's where you end up. I recommend How to Build an Empire on an Orange
Crate.
Avil Beckford, Chief Invisible Mentor, writer and
researcher with over 15 years of experience, is the published author of Tales of People Who Get It and its companion
workbook Journey to Getting It. Subscribe to the
Invisible Mentor Blog http://theinvisiblementor.com for great interviews of successful
people, book reviews, how-tos, articles and tips to mentor yourself and ignite your hidden
genius. Explore the Resources Page for free white papers, presentations and an
e-book.
Article Source:
Review of How to Build an Empire on an Orange Crate by Honest Ed
Mirvish
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