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In this, our 2017 update we feature some brand new websites such as JET.com and Lynda.com.

All 30 website sales have been at valuations of over 1 Billion USD and the largest grossing exit was for 26.2 Billion!

Truly starting a website is still one of the best routes to riches!

If you are planning to sell your website one day then there can be no better advice than to start with the end in mind or as Ryan Allis succinctly puts it:

“You have to work with the end in mind and every day make sure your working towards it”

That last bit is particularly important:

Ask yourself daily – are you working towards your goals?

The entrepreneurs who founded the businesses below are outstanding examples of starting with the end in mind and working towards your goals.

I am inspired, I hope you are too!

Special Notes:

a) We are focused on successful Website Sales by founding entrepreneurs. We have not included businesses that went public (eg Facebook and Twitter) – However an number of the successful Website Sales have been as a result of the business being bought by Public Companies.

b) Not all Website Sales worked out well for the purchaser. An example of that was Microsoft paying over 6 Billion in cash for online display advertising company aQuantive in 2007 (No 2 in our list)

Top 30 Website Sales Of All Time

Final thoughts on Website Sales:

=> Every website I create is a asset I will sell one day.

=> My websites don’t just earn me money every day – they are my retirement fund!

Are you considering selling your online business?

=> Claim Your Free Website Valuation & Exit Strategy Today

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There have been significant changes since then. AirBnB founded in 2008 did not make the original list but are here today. Myspace no longer features!

Please Note: Despite their significant size, some companies are intentionally left out because they are primarily retail based that does web based revenue, but ultimately the service or product offered does not necessarily depend on the internet to generate the majority of its revenue and certain companies have been left out because they have since been acquired by other companies. We have also excluded from the list any business that is primarily App Based.

Use this table as motivation. It is easy to think that the numbers below are impossible but at a certain point the founders of the companies listed felt the same way. Also please see our various notes at the end of this list.

Last time we updated Google was the top earning website and Amazon was No 2 – this time they have swooped positions around. Amazon is that Juggernaut of a Money Earning Machine and they continue to innovate and grow.

In 2009 the top earning website was making $691 per second, today it is making $3392 per second!

Enjoy!

30 Top Earning Websites That Make A Lot Of Money Online

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How Did We Calculate The Earnings

To obtain the turnover of the companies in this list we first analyzed SEC 10-K reports that are submitted by publicly traded companies within 60 days of the company’s fiscal year end.

For private companies, reputable sites such as BusinessInsider, Forbes, and Bloomberg were utilized and cross referenced to identify revenue amounts for each companies most recent completed fiscal year. In cases of multiple sites showcased varying numbers, the lowest was used.

Top Earning Websites Notes:

=> Yandex is a Russian Internet company which operates the largest search engine in the Russian Federation with about 60% market share in the country.

=> NetEase, Inc. is a leading China-based Internet technology company founded in 1997 that pioneered the development of applications, services and other technologies for the Internet in China.

=> AirBnB Revenue – How Much Does It Make?

=> Dropbox was one of the most difficult websites to track down revenue for, with varying revenue figures quoted – but there are plenty of references to its large valuation.

=> Myspace featured in our original list – whatever happened to them?

How Can I Make Money Online?

Every great website, starts with an idea. If it’s a good one, traffic comes naturally and money is a bi-product of your success. If you want to learn more about creating a website, check out our FREE  eCourse. If you have not already done so – also check out Traffic Domination – where I share how this website has got over 10,000,000 visitors.

Read more: ‘Top Earning Blogs – Make Money Online Blogging’

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#1 Trust the Game

Michael Jordan believed that he would get out of the game exactly what he put into it.

If you don’t completely trust the game – if you think it’s “unfair” or “rigged” – then deep-down you’re not going to be feel motivated to give it everything you have. With that attitude, you’ve lost before you even begin.

Whether in life, business, or basketball, you get out what you put in. Trust in this:

#2 Master the Fundamentals

Basketball’s like anything else: it mostly comes down to doing all of the basic stuff right. Once you’ve got the fundamentals down, you’ve got a solid foundation to build on.

Jordan warns that when you “get away from fundamentals… the bottom can fall out of your game, your schoolwork, your job… whatever you’re doing.”

#3 Learn from Your Parents

You might expect that Michael’s boyhood heroes were NBA superstars like Jerry West and Kareem Abdul-Jabar, but you’d be wrong.

Jordan’s respect and admiration for his parents is one of the keys to his success.

#4 Practice Every Day

When Jordan first tried out for his high school basketball team, he didn’t make varsity. In an interview with ESPN, Jordan described how he felt:

“It was embarrassing not making that team. They posted the roster and it was there for a long, long time without my name on it. I remember being really mad too, because there was a guy that made it that really wasn’t as good as me.”

Jordan channeled his embarrassment and anger into motivation during practice:

“Whenever I was working out and got tired and figured I ought to stop, I’d close my eyes and see that list in the locker room without my name on it… that usually got me going again.”

Jordan became better at playing than everyone else by first becoming better at practicing than everyone else. Until the end of his career, Michael was known to be the first person to get to the gym and the last one to leave.

#5 School is Important

Jordan decided to leave the University of North Carolina to enter the NBA draft one year early. In 1984, he started his professional career without a college degree.

Despite immediate success in the NBA, Jordan decided to go back to school. In 1986, he returned to North Carolina to earn his degree.

#6 Don’t Let People Get in Your Head

Jordan was getting a lot of attention his rookie year. Sports Illustrated put him on the cover of their magazine with the words “A Star is Born” just one month into his NBA career.

All that quick attention aggravated a few NBA veterans. They decided to execute a “freeze out” of Jordan during the All-Star game where they simply wouldn’t pass him the ball.

But Jordan was unfazed. When the regular season resumed, he continued his stellar play and went on to win Rookie of the Year. Jordan is proof that you don’t have to let other people get into your head.

#7 Know How to Respond to Failure

Jordan wasn’t always a winner.

The first time he got to the NBA playoffs, his Bulls were knocked out in the first round. The next two years, they were swept by the Boston Celtics. After that, the Bulls were beat by the Detroit Pistons three years in a row.

All Jordan knew was failure. But it only made him want to be better. He’s said, “Everyone fails at something. But I can’t accept not trying.”

Video: “I’ve Missed More than 9,000 Shots in My Career”

Text From the Video:

“I have missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I have lost almost 300 games. On 26 occasions I have been entrusted to take the game winning shot… and missed. And I have failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.”

How to be More Like Mike:

Failure has a way of making people want to give up. But it has the opposite effect on Jordan.

If you don’t already, start thinking of your failures as fuel to work harder.

#8 Fear is an Illusion

“I know fear is an obstacle for some people, but it’s an illusion to me.”

Michael Jordan

Fears can be self-fulfilling. Sometimes the only thing holding you back from being successful is the fear that you may fail.

When we let go of our fears, we’re free to be more aggressive and take full advantage of our opportunities.

#9 Just Do It

There are three types of people. Jordan’s the type of person who makes it happen.

Which type are you?

#10 You Can’t Do It Alone

Throughout the 80’s, Jordan racked up a ton of personal achievements (scoring titles, league MVP awards, and “Defensive Player of the Year”). But no championships.

Those didn’t come until he had the help of Scottie Pippen, Horace Grant, and Phil Jackson.

#11 Excellence Speaks for Itself

At their prime, the Bulls would sell out every stadium they played in – home or away.

But the thing bringing in big crowds wasn’t the marketing department. It was the superior performance that Jordan and his teammates were putting on display.

When you consistently deliver an excellent product, people will find out. No marketing firm necessary.

#12 Expect Your Shots to Go In

Jordan wouldn’t be legendary if he didn’t have such a knack for making the “big shot.”

Time and time again, Jordan would have the ball in his hands in the final second of a pivotal game and… swoosh. In all of those big moments, he never once entertained the possibility that the ball wouldn’t go in:

 “I never looked at the consequences of missing a big shot… when you think about the consequences you always think of a negative result.”

In big moments, you should feel totally confident that you will succeed.

How to be More Like Mike:

Take a moment now and think about what you want to achieve more than anything else. Do you fully expect yourself to make it happen?

If the answer sounds anything like ‘no’, it’s time for a change in your attitude. Remember that every time Jordan pulled up for a jumper, he was expecting the ball to go in.

#13 When it’s Time to Change, Change

Jordan made one of the most shocking decisions in sports history when he retired from professional basketball on October 6, 1993. It’s hard to fathom quitting after winning three championships in a row, but Michael’s reasons were actually very simple:

“I just needed to change. I was getting tired of the same old activity and routine and I didn’t feel all the same appreciation that I had felt before and it was tiresome.

“A lot of things correlated with that — my father dying, the opportunity to play baseball, my desire to make a change. I look back on it and it was perfect timing to break away from it and see what I was missing, to see what it meant to me, to see the enjoyment that I got from the game.”

Even though Jordan didn’t make it into the major leagues as a baseball player, it was important that he listened to the voice in his head that was telling him to make a change. He returned to the NBA refreshed in 1995 and promptly won three more championships.

#14 The Best Marketing is Simple

On March 18, 1995 Michael Jordan announced that he was coming out retirement with a press release that simply read, “I’m back.”

Two words were all it took to cue a media circus. Jordan’s first game back with the Bulls had the highest Nielsen rating of any regular season NBA game in twenty years.

Often, the most effective way to get the word out is to get straight to the point.

#15 Demand the Best from Your Team

Michael Jordan would often get frustrated with the effort of his teammates – especially at the end of his career when he played for the below-average Washington Wizards.

Fred Lynch, one of Jordan’s high school coaches, recalls that Jordan was demanding even as a teenager: “He’d get on his teammates all the time. He hasn’t changed that. What he always expected was everybody play the game as hard as he played it.”

Expecting the best in others helps bring it out in them. Of course, it’s most effective when you lead by example (as Jordan did).

#16 Learn to Harness Your Emotions

After winning his first NBA championship in 1991, Michael Jordan cried like a baby. He cried again following the 1996 championship. In those two moments, you can really see the depth Jordan’s emotional investment in the game.

Showing emotion is commonly considered a sign of weakness, but for Michael it was a source of great strength. Jordan had the rare ability maximize his emotional energy while still being in complete control.

#17 Love What You Do

Jordan loves basketball so much, he once said it was his wife (“It demands loyalty and responsibility, and it gives me back fulfillment and peace”).

When you do your work with love, as Jordan did, it will shine through in your performance.

#18 Play Business like a Game

You may have assumed that the “game” Michael’s talking about above is basketball, but he’s actually giving advice on the game of business.

If you think that business is boring, then you’re doing it wrong. The more fun you make your work, the more energy and enthusiasm you’ll bring to it – and the more success you’ll find.

#19 Forget the Past

Jordan’s made some tough decisions, but he doesn’t dwell on them.

There’s no reason to worry about the past because it’s not coming back.

#20 Ignore the Future

It happens all the time in basketball: one team gets out to a big lead only to get overconfident and lose the game in the final seconds. Their mistake is thinking about the victory celebration instead of focusing on the game at hand.

There’s no point in distracting yourself with possible future scenarios. You’re not a psychic. Nothing’s going to play out like imagine. Your focus would be better spent on making the most of the present.

#21 Embrace the Present

Every moment you’ve experienced has been right now.

If you want a deeper sense of contentment and satisfaction in your life, begin making the most of the present. Starting now.

Read more: ‘21 Life Lessons from Steve Jobs’

The post How to Be Like Mike: 21 Life Lessons from Michael Jordan appeared first on How To Make Money Online.

What does it take to create the world’s largest online retailer, amass a personal wealth of over $83 billion, and be chosen as Time’s Person of the Year?

Better ask Jeff Bezos.

He’s the founder, chairman, president, and CEO of Amazon.com. But he almost wasn’t. Below, I’ll share Bezos’ amazing story and 15 lessons from his life that you can apply to your own business.

#1 Act

It is only through deliberate action that we can bend the universe to our will.

But there’s a common misunderstanding about action too: that we must know the exact right action to take before doing anything. This way of thinking leads “analysis paralysis” and inaction.

Bezos is not the type to fall into this trap. Though he’s well aware that taking the wrong action will have negative consequences, he doesn’t mind:

In 1994, Jeff Bezos was faced with the biggest decision of his life: should he quit his “well-paying” job as NYC hedge fund manager to create an online bookstore… or should he stay put?

He decided to drive across the country and buy the domain rights to Amazon.com. The rest is history.

As Amazon has grown, Bezos has encouraged his employees to err on the side of action. Sometimes this has resulted in pure brilliance (the development of one-click shopping). Other times it has resulted in total failure (the development of Amazon Auction, which couldn’t compete with Ebay).

Bezos doesn’t mind the occasional misstep:

It’s all part of the Amazon company philosophy. Bezos lists having a “bias for action” as one of Amazon’s six core values.

#2 Minimize Regret

When Bezos was debating whether or not to quit his day job and start Amazon.com, he realized that he lacked an analytical framework for making big life decisions. So he made one up:

In this big-picture perspective, the right decision was clear. He wouldn’t regret losing his job at the age of 80 (surely he would have found another good job by then), but he would still be kicking himself for not cashing in on the online gold rush (at that time, the Internet was growing at a rate of 2300% per year).

Give Bezos’ “regret minimization framework” a shot for yourself. You may be surprised what action it inspires you to take.

#3 Grow Slow

How long should it take before a startup becomes profitable? Maybe six months?

For Jeff Bezos and Amazon.com, it took over six years. Even then, the company made only about $5 million in profit out of revenue of over $1 billion.

That might seem like a long time (and a razor-thin margin), but it all went according to Bezo’s unusually slow-paced business plan. Bezos was in no hurry to rake in a profit because he wanted keep prices low while reinvesting as much revenue as possible back into the company.

This strategy frustrated investors in the short-term but it paid off in a big way when Amazon survived the bursting of the dot-com bubble and started posting bigger profits quarter after quarter.

#4 Encourage Word of Mouth

When Bezos started Amazon he didn’t have a marketing budget. The only way his company would succeed was if it was so good that it spread by word of mouth.

There’s no better way for a business to grow than through positive word of mouth. The only way to achieve that is to deliver a product or service that’s worth talking about. Part of that means providing excellent customer service…

#5 There is Nothing More Important than the Customer

Everybody knows that the customer is always right. But Bezos and Amazon have taken the customer-first philosophy to the extreme. For Bezos, customer satisfaction isn’t just everything, it’s the only thing. It’s the very foundation of his business model:

Bezos considers customer service to be Amazon’s biggest competitive advantage:

The customer experience has never been more important than it is online. Word of mouth spreads quickly on social networks and your competitors are always just one click away. If you want your brand to thrive online, focus like a laser on customer satisfaction.

#6 Charge Less

Some companies are always trying to find ways to charge you more. Just think of all the extra fees that airlines and car dealerships tack on to the advertised price.

Amazon could probably make a killing with this strategy, but they don’t. Instead, Bezos tells his employees to find ways to cut costs and increase efficiency so that they will be able to charge their customers even less.

It’s easy to raise revenue by raising your prices, but it can also lead customer dissatisfaction (which will lower your revenue in the long run).

Before you charge more, do everything possible to make your business model cheaper and more efficient. You’ll help your bottom line and you may even be able to charge your customer less. That’s win-win.

#7 Never Stop Innovating

Normal human beings fear change. Jeff Bezos is more afraid of becoming stagnant.

His tendency to push the envelope has given Amazon.com a reputation as a nimble, always-evolving company.

Amazon started out simply selling books, but it hasn’t stopped expanding since its inception. Today, Amazon sells just about everything – but it also creates its own products, offers a host of web services, and even delivers groceries to your door (if you live in Washington).

#8 Be Flexibly Stubborn

Bezos is a man who understands the value of a good paradox.

It seems impossible to be both stubborn and flexible at the same, but that’s exactly what Amazon is. Bezos explains:

Stubbornness and flexibility are both valuable traits. Like just about anything things in life, the key is finding a middle road between the two.

#9 Be Realistic

One of my favorite quotes is from Will Smith: “Being realistic is the most commonly traveled road to mediocrity.” The idea is that if you never allow yourself to imagine an extraordinary life, there’s no way you’ll ever obtain one.

On the other hand, it’s possible to dream a little bit too wildly – and I think this affliction is particularly common with entrepreneurs. If you expect overnight success with minimal effort, you’re setting yourself up for never-ending frustration and disappointment.

As Bezos points out, being realistic about your business is also a way to ease the pressure of being an entrepreneur:

#10 Imitate

It’s good to be unique. But it’s even better to put a unique twist on something that’s already been proven to work.

Don’t turn a blind eye to your competitors. Chances are they’re doing something you could learn from.

#11 Work Backwards

How do you develop a product that’s guaranteed to sell?

The best advice I’ve heard is to first figure out what your customers truly want and need. Provide that with your product and you’ll have no trouble selling it.

This is a strategy that Amazon has implemented many times, most famously with the Kindle e-book reader. Bezos explains:

In 2006, Amazon was an online retailer – not a maker of handheld electronics. But Bezos recognized that Amazon’s consumers needed a way to read the e-books that they were purchasing from his site. So they worked backwards to meet that need.

When Amazon released the first generation Kindle in November of 2007, it sold out within six hours (and remained out of stock for five months). To this day, Kindle remains the leader in the e-reader category and in November of 2011 they reported sales of “well over” one million sales per week.

#12 It’s Good to be Misunderstood

When you’ve got a business idea that’s destined to change the world (like Jeff Bezos did in 1994) there are bound to be people who just don’t get it. The more revolutionary your thinking, the more likely it is to be misunderstood.

Bezos has particularly thick skin when it comes to this kind of thing:

Amazon never shies away from a good idea because they’re afraid some of their customers won’t like it. According to Bezos, they’ve “always had a lot of skeptics,” but they’re confident in their vision – and confident that they can convert skeptics into believers.

#13 Be Picky About People

One of Amazon’s core values is to have a high hiring bar. That means they only bring on a new employee if he/she is a perfect fit.

Bezos is so particular about who he hires because he realizes that great company culture flows naturally from the people who you bring on board. As of April 2012, Amazon.com employs about 56,000 of the world’s best and brightest people.

#14 Be Far-Sighted

Bezos recognizes that “a lot of people believe that you should live for the now.” But he’s says, “I’m just not one of them.”

He recommends that people “think about the great expanse of time ahead of you and try to make sure that you’re planning for that in a way that’s going to leave you ultimately satisfied.”

The Benefits of Long-Term Business

Amazon is a company that will sacrifice guaranteed profits today in hopes of scoring even bigger profits decades from now. Bezos has said that “sometimes we measure things and see that in the short term they actually hurt sales, and we do it anyway.”

Here’s his reasoning:

#15 Make History

For us, it seems like Bezos has already reached his zenith – the pinnacle of entrepreneurial achievement. But in his mind, he still has miles to go. He’s openly said that he hasn’t yet built “a lasting company” and that “the Internet in general and Amazon.com in particular, is still in Chapter One.”

Bezos is out to make history. And if you want to find similar success, you’ll have to adopt his “go big or go home” attitude. I’ll leave Bezos with the last words:

Read more: ‘The 100 Richest Internet Entrepreneurs’

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You may know him as the serial entrepreneur founder of both Twitter and Square. But did you know Dorsey’s also a certified masseur who dabbled in fashion design?

With Twitter’s announcement that they’re looking to go public and Square getting picked up by Starbucks, Jack Dorsey’s two billion dollar companies are thriving. But Dorsey still takes the bus to work.

There’s a method behind this “unexpected” behavior. Everything Jack Dorsey does, from his never-changing morning routine to his insistence on having “an amazing haircut” is meticulously considered — and his habits and attitudes are the backbone for Dorsey’s continued success. Luckily for us, Dorsey’s come out into the spotlight a little bit in the last couple years and been more willing to share the life and business lessons behind his success.

Who is Jack Dorsey?

• born on November 19th, 1976; grew up in St. Louis, Missouri USA (age 40)
• founded Twitter in 2006;  CEO from 2006-2008
• developed Square in May 2010 (valued at $3.2 billion by 2012)
• second-largest shareholder in Twitter
• net worth estimated at 1.1 billion in March 2013

9 Life and Business Lessons from Jack Dorsey

#1  Play

“What really gets me energized is thinking about activity within a city.”

Jack Dorsey to Vanity Fair

Ever since he was a little boy, Jack Dorsey loved the hustle and bustle of city life. He spent hours sitting in front of his parents’ old police scanner, listening in as the ambulances, firetrucks, and police cars reported their movements. By the age of 14, Jack programmed an imaginary city on his family computer for the fun of it.

Ever since, Dorsey has been finding ways to turn his love for tracking city activity into a career. In In high school, Dorsey tried started a bicycle courier service with his brother but it wasn’t meant to be.” We quickly found out that St. Louis had no need for bicycle couriers at all,” Jack tells Techcrunch. By the time Dorsey way in college, he worked in NYC as a programmer for a company that managed dispatch centers for couriers.

Dorsey excelled thanks to his enthusiam for the subject matter:

“You have all these entities roaming about, and they’re all reporting what they’re doing in real time over a variety of different devices. We had couriers on CB radios, on PDAs, and on cell phones. We had taxis and emergency vehicles with GPS. They’re all reporting constantly where they are and what work they’re doing, and it’s all flowing into this one system that a dispatcher can view in real time on a map. That’s what’s going on in the city! I thought that abstraction was so cool that I wanted that same thing for my friends.”

Still in his early 20’s, Dorsey had followed his play not just to a rewarding career, but to his first billion dollar idea.

#2  Wait for Your Big Idea’s Time to Come

“Sometimes put the idea away. That idea will often emerge later.”

Jack Dorsey

Dorsey first had the idea for Twitter in 2000. But texting wasn’t big yet. The average American sent only 35 texts per month. Dorsey told Vanity Fair, “I quickly learned that… no one else had a mobile e-mail device, so the system was kind of useless.”

Jack decided to pursue a career in botanic illustration instead.

“Twitter in 2000 was something that was fun to play with but something I put on the shelf to play with for another day.”

Jack Dorsey

That day came in 2006. Americans were on the verge of sending more text messages per month than phone calls. Jack started Twitter in March 2006 and launched it by July. The time was right and Twitter exploded.

Tracking Twitter’s Growth:

2007:  400,000 tweets per 90 days

2008:  100 million tweets per 90 days

2009:  3rd-highest-ranked social networking site

2010:  50 million tweets per day

2011:  140 million tweets per day;  100 million active users

2012:  200 million active users

2013:  400 million tweets per day

#3  Be the Unexpected

“Expect the unexpected. And whenever possible, be the unexpected.”

Jack Dorsey

Who saw Twitter coming in 2006? The list starts and ends with Jack Dorsey.

Look out for surprises and embrace the unexpected.

#4  Career Paths aren’t Always Straight Lines

“I never wanted to be an entrepreneur. I actually wanted to be Bruce Lee.”

Jack Dorsey

Right before launching Twitter, Dorsey was in fashion school designing skirts. He’d already had serious stints as an illustrator and certified massage therapist.

So why did Dorsey settle on programming and entrepreneurship? He told Forbes, “those were the tools I needed to build what I wanted to build.”

Dorsey’s not done making career changes either. He hopes to one day be mayor of New York City. Jack says, “I have to move to New York first, but it is a goal. I think mayors are the ones to watch in the U.S. in terms of government innovation.”

#5  Look for Inspiration in Everyday Life

“Ideas can come from anyone and they can come anytime. We all have various directions that we want to take the company and sometimes those ideas come during a shower, sometimes they come when we’re walking, sometimes they come when we’re talking with other employees at the coffee store.”

Jack Dorsey, while talking to the Square staff

In high school, Jack worked as a barista at his mom’s coffee shop and saw how much the small business could have benefited from seamlessly accepting credit card payment. The same is true of another teenage job, working for glass artist (and eventual Square co-founder) Jim McKelvey. Dorsey told Fast Company that McKelvey, “lost a $2,000 sale because he couldn’t take credit cards.”

Within these observations were the seeds for Square — and today Dorsey continues to go out of his way to look for inspiration in everyday life. Jack commutes to work by public bus. The reason? It’s so he can observe how people are using their mobile devices firsthand and incorporate their behavior into his company policy at Square and Twitter.

#6  Embrace Routine

Dorsey starts every morning the same way:  he eats two hard-boiled eggs with soy sauce and a side of berries, then tweets about it (for his mom’s benefit).

Jack also has his weeks meticulously planned out, as he explained to Fast Company:

“All my days are themed. Monday is management. At Square we have a directional meeting, at Twitter we have our opcomm [operating committee] meeting. Tuesday is product, engineering, and design. Wednesday is marketing, growth, and communications. Thursday is partnership and developers. Friday is company and culture. It works in 24-hour blocks. On days beginning with T, I start at Twitter in the morning, then go to Square in the afternoon. Sundays are for strategy, and I do a lot of job interviews. Saturday is a day off.”

Dorsey links his rigid routine to his “discipline” and productivity.

#7 Don’t be a Jerk

Back in Twitter’s infancy, Dorsey kept a little personal blog. One day, he felt inspired to post 10 life lessons. The blog has since been deleted, but luckily Twitter employee Caroline Mizumoto printed the list out, stuck it on her refrigerator, and posted a picture on her Flickr.

Here are the ten life lessons straight from Jack Dorsey:

(1)  Don’t be a jerk

(2)  Don’t take anyone for granted

(3)  Enjoy the moment

(4)  Be honest, always

(5)  Be humble

(6)  Be kind

(7)  Respect people’s wishes

(8)  Allow endings

(9)  Fail openly

(10) Have an amazing haircut

Starting with “Don’t be a jerk,” an emphatic 6 out of Dorsey’s 10 life lessons involve treating your fellow human beings well.

#8  Have an Amazing Haircut

Dorsey once had disheveled hair and a facial piercing, but that all changed once he became the CEO of a fast-growing company. “I took my nose ring out after [Twitter’s] first round of financing,” says Dorsey.

Jack understood that investors would be judging Twitter’s future based on how he presented himself. Today, Jack keeps his hair trimmed and his suits fitted.

The way you take care of yourself says a lot about you to other people (fair or not). I don’t know about you, but I think it’s time I go out and get a haircut.

#9 Achieve Perfection through Simplicity

“Make every detail perfect, and limit the number of details to perfect.”

Jack Dorsey

140 characters. That’s all you get on Twitter.

Just like writing a haiku, there’s no room for unnecessary syllables – and Jack wouldn’t have it any other way. Dorsey loves to take a complex idea and begin removing “the conceptual debris… so you can just focus on what’s most important.”

“He’s always been a minimalist,” Ted Dorsey (Jack’s father) says. The elder Dorsey recalls his family moving into a new house and young Jack immediately choosing the smallest bedroom. But minimalism is more than just a character trait; it’s Dorsey’s business philosophy.

Jack can tell you what the companies mean to him in one word. For Twitter, that word is communication (“making that simple and easy”). For Square, it’s commerce. Though Dorsey says “it’s really complex to make something simple,” it’s worth it. Simpler things are easier to perfect and “If we can perfect one experience for one individual, we can scale to every single one of the 7 billion people now inhabiting this earth.”

How Twitter Boosted Income Diary

Income Diary’s success was built 140 characters at a time. When Michael Dunlop founded Income Diary in 2009, Twitter was growing at a “staggering” 1382%. Michael saw an opportunity and started a Twitter account for Income Diary. Soon Twitter was driving “100,000’s of visitors in a month” to Michael’s young blog.

If you enjoyed this article you should probably Tweet it, right? It’s what Jack Dorsey would want you to do.

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Now I realize Musk is a super hero. I’m not just saying that because Robert Downey, Jr. used Musk as real-life inspiration for Iron Man’s Tony Stark. I really think Elon has super powers:

• Musk can predict the future
• Musk has a super-human intellect
• Musk has the ability to work forever without stopping

He also has lots of high-tech gadgets, like his own rocket ships and a device with a holographic 3d interface. Elon Musk is a utility belt away from being able to take on super villains.

In all seriousness, Musk is one of the most influential entrepreneurs of the 21st century. If he keeps succeeding at this unprecedented rate, history will know him as the man who ushered in the age of electric cars, solar paneled homes, and private space travel. Below I’ve carefully compiled 15 lessons for business and startups from Elon Musk.

Who is Elon Musk?

• Elon Musk was born on June 28th, 1971 in South Africa.
• Musk moved to Canada in 1988 at the age of 17 to avoid service in the South African military.
• Musk earned undergraduate degrees in business and physics from The University of Pennsylvania.
• In 1995, Musk dropped out of Stanford University to found his first company.
• Musk is a twice-divorced father of five.
• Musk’s job is the CEO of Tesla Motors, the CEO and CTO of SpaceX, and the chairman of SolarCity. His 2013 salary is over $78 million.
• Musk’s net worth was estimated in September 2013 at $6.7 billion.
• Like Warren Buffett and Bill Gates, Elon Musk has pledged to give all of his money to charity.

 Photo by Brian Solis, via Wikimedia Commons

Companies Started by Elon Musk:

• PayPal
• SolarCity
• SpaceX
• Tesla Motors
• Zip2

Musk is one of only two people ever to found three billion dollar companies.

15 Business & Startup Lessons from Elon Musk

#1 Think Out of this World

“[Elon Musk] is very much the person who, when someone says it’s impossible, shrugs and says, ‘I think I can do it.”

Max Levchin, PayPal Co-Founder

Elon Musk isn’t here just to make companies; he’s here to make history.

His innovations in the auto industry have him being compared to Henry Ford and Jon Favreau famously interpreted Tony Stark (a.k.a. Iron Man) on Musk. The grandiosity of his goals haven’t escaped Elon:

“There was the advent of single-celled life, multicelled life, the development of plants, then animals. On this time scale, I’d put the extension of life to another planet slightly above the transition from life in the oceans to life on land.”

Elon Musk to Inc.

That’s right. Musk just put one of the items on his to-do list on the same scale as the development of sentient life. It’s plausible. SpaceX is seriously planning to be build a greenhouse and eventually a colony on Mars.

#2 Look for Opportunities in Emerging Industries

Musk only starts companies in emerging fields

In 1998, that emerging field was the Internet. Zip2 (and later PayPal) both succeeded thanks in large part to getting in on the ground floor of Internet boom.

Next, Musk identified three more emerging industries and got in on the ground floor on all three. SpaceX (space transportation), Tesla Motors (electric cars), and SolarCity (solar power) have all benefited from the high growth potential and low-competition that comes with being a pioneer.

# 3 The Quality of the Product Comes First

“I’d say stay very focused on the quality of the product.   People get really  wrapped up in all sorts of esoteric notions of how to manage etc., [but]  I think people should get much more focused on the product itself – how do you make the product incredibly compelling to a customer – just become maniacally focused on building it better.  I think people get distracted from that.”

Elon Musk, from Rock Solid Finance pioneer new territory.

#4 Be Prepared to Pivot

To pivot in business is to change direction while keeping one foot grounded where you started.

That’s exactly what Elon Musk did when he turned X.com (online bank) into PayPal (a global payment transfer provider). The change rendered X.com totally unrecognizable, but Musk was able to use much of its resources. Those resources included an innovative method of securely transferring money online through the recipients email address, which Musk had developed himself.

The pivot was a gargantuan success:  once PayPal became featured on Ebay, its use exploded.

#5 Embrace an Exit Plan

Can you imagine if Musk had stayed running PayPal? He’d still be rich and successful – but there would be no electric sports cars or rocket ships to his name. Thankfully, Musk long ago learned how to extricate himself from his own startups.

In 1995, Musk founded Zip2 (an online city guide) and in 1998 he sold it to Compaq for $307 million. Musk’s portion was $22 million. He was 28-years-old and free to do whatever he wanted.

That meant founding X.com. Again, Musk jumped ship after a couple of years, selling PayPal for to Ebay in 2002 for a cool $1.5 billion. For his trouble, Musk got $165 million in Ebay stock. Now Musk had enough personal capital to start the pair of truly extraordinary businesses that he still runs today.

When you start a business, you should have an end in mind. Michael Dunlop recently wrote about how to make your website your millionaire exit plan.

#6 Invest Earnings into New Businesses

Both times Musk cashed in a company for millions of dollars, he invested at least 45% of his earnings back into a brand new business within the calendar year.

• $10 million of the $22 million Musk made from the sale of Zip2 went to founding X.com (later PayPal).
• $100 million of the $165 million made from the sale of PayPal went to founding SpaceX.

Musk also invested heavily in Tesla Motors (33,076,212 shares) and SolarCity (20,724,991 shares). It’s the ownership of these three companies that constitutes the vast majority of Musk’s $6.7 estimated wealth.

#7 Hire Carefully, Fire Fast

Musk is known to be meticulous about building his staff:

“I think you definitely don’t want to grow too fast.   Make sure that every person you hire you really need to hire that person.”

Elon Musk

Elon has called hiring people his “biggest single challenge”:

“I have an exceptionally high standard for people that get hired, and especially for SpaceX.  We really aspire to hire quite literally the best people in the world at their job. Finding such people is so hard…  When we find them, we are generally able to attract them to the company… But the number one issue for me is finding superlatively talented people.  I think we’ve been fortunate to find some very, very talented people at SpaceX, but that is always the governor on growth.”

Elon Musk

He’s quick and unsentimental when it’s time to correct a hiring mistake:

“One lesson I learned [at PayPal] is to fire people faster.  That sounds awful, but I think if somebody is not working out, it’s best to part ways sooner rather than later.  It’s a mistake to try too hard to make something work that really couldn’t work.”

Elon Musk

#8 Be Your Own Happiest Customer

Musk loves the Tesla Model 6 so much, he’s going to drive in it across the USA next year with his five young sons. On September 5th, 2013, Musk announced via his Twitter:  “Just finalized the LA to NY family road trip route in Model S. 6 day, 3200 mile journey with only 9 hrs spent charging.”

This is more than just a great PR campaign to highlight all of Tesla’s new charging stations across the country. By putting himself behind the wheel of his company’s product for weeks on end, Musk will gain first-hand insight into how to improve Tesla’s premiere electric car.

In the case of SpaceX, Musk gets extra motivation for the company to succeed from his desire to one day be a SpaceX customer. The sooner the better:  “I don’t want to be doddering around up there, needing a quadruple bypass,” he says. His plan is to be a on a rocket to Mars by 2030, when he’ll be 61 years old.

Many great inventions and businesses start because their creator wanted the product for his/her own use. Income Diary founder Michael Dunlop’s PopUp Domination was originally developed for Michael’s own websites before he turned it into a public product.

#9 Make Failure an Option

“Failure is an option here. If things are not failing, you are not innovating enough.”

Elon Musk

Good business decisions are often very safe. But great business decisions are almost always risky.

All of Musk’s business successes have come in emerging industries with a dubious history of turning a profit:  the Internet (in 1995), electric vehicles, space travel, and solar panels. Musk knew going in that there was a high risk of failure, but while he never planned on failing, he always had a contingency plan to allow for failure.

For instance, when Musk set about sending rockets into space, he knew that the first rocket likely wasn’t going to succeed. That’s why he invested enough money into SpaceX ($100 million) to “make failure an option” and allow for up to three launches.

Musk also sees failure as an important part of the creative process:  “If every time somebody comes up with an idea it has to be successful, you’re not gonna get people coming up with ideas.”

#10 Leadership Requires Putting Yourself Forward

Musk’s leadership was tested like never before on August 2, 2008. It was the day of SpaceX’s third launch attempt and the future of the company was on the line.

The Falcon 1 launch vehicle made it through the first and most most dangerous stage – the one where it actually breaks away from Earth’s gravitational pull. But the rocket faltered soon after and they lost communication. That was it:  mission failed

The 300+ SpaceX employees in attendance were heartbroken – and fearing for their very livelihoods – when Musk stepped up to speak to the crowd. Elon revealed that he had already secured further investment in SpaceX so they would be able to continue their mission in case of complications (again, making “failure an option”). At the climax of his speech, he told his employees not what they should do, but what he was going to do:  “For my part, I will never give up,” Musk said, “and I mean never.”

Dolly Singh recalls the crowd’s response:

“I think most of us would have followed him into the gates of hell carrying suntan oil after that. It was the most impressive display of leadership that I have ever witnessed. Within moments, the energy of the building went from despair and defeat to a massive buzz of determination as people began to focus on moving forward instead of looking back. This shift happened collectively, across all 300-plus people in a matter of not more than five seconds.”

SpaceX’s very next launch was a complete success. On September 28th, 2008 the Falcon 1 became the first privately built rocket to achieve earth orbit.

Photo by U.S. Army Kwajalein Atoll (USAKA) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

#11  Be Driven to Work Hard

“If you don’t mind things being really hard and high risk, then starting a company is a good idea. Otherwise, it’s probably unwise. It will certainly stress you out. So I think you have to be pretty driven to make it happen. Otherwise, you will just make yourself miserable.”

– Elon Musk

Musk’s work ethic is legendary. “He is a machine,” says Dolly Singh, who worked under Musk as the head of talent acquisition at SpaceX.

Elon is said to regularly put in 100 hours of work week between Tesla and Space X – and he considers this the bedrock of his business success. When asked to give advice to entrepreneurs, Musk offered, “Just work like hell. If other people are putting 40 hour work weeks and you’re putting in 100 hour work weeks, even if you’re doing the same thing, you know that you will achieve in four months what it takes them a year to achieve.”

To aspiring entrepreneurs, Musk doesn’t mince words:  if you’re lazy, don’t waste your time starting a business.

Photo by marcella bona via Compfight cc

#13 Know Your Limits

Musk may be the smartest and hardest working entrepreneur of the 21st century, but even has limits.

Back in 2006, Elon had an idea for a solar panel company. But he knew that if he started it, he would be overextended and unable to give everything necessary to SpaceX and Tesla. So he shared his idea with Peter and Lyndon Rive, who founded SolarCity in July of that year. Musk was the principle investor in the company and has served as chairman of the board since its inception – but he’s kept a safe enough distance so that it doesn’t eat up too much of his time and energy.

Solar isn’t the only industry he sees huge opportunity. Supersonic jets, hyperloops, and virtual reality interfaces have all earned his attention. He’s skimming the surface in these fields, but not diving in headfirst.

#14 Find Your Higher Purpose

Colonizing Mars is much more than a business decision. It’s about the future of the human species:

“I think it’s important that humanity become a multi-planet species. I think most people would agree that a future where we are a spacefaring civilization is inspiring and exciting compared with one where we are forever confined to Earth until some eventual extinction event. That’s really why I started SpaceX.

Elon Musk

Musk used to struggle with his purpose until he found out what really mattered for him. He described the realization:

“I always had an existential crisis, trying to figure out ‘what does it all mean?’ I came to the conclusion that if we can advance the knowledge of the world, if we can expand the scope and scale of consciousness, then, we’re better able to ask the right questions and become more enlightened. That’s the only way to move forward.”

Elon Musk

#15 Start Businesses that Align with Your Higher Purpose

Musk’s mission to “expand the scope and scale of consciousness” has had him looking beyond simple profit benchmarks to found businesses that are making a global impact for good. Every day when Musk goes to work, he knows he’s helping to reduce carbon emissions, produce renewable energy, and help save the human race in case of collision with an asteroid.

How’s that for motivation?

The first step to leaving a legacy is to answer Musk’s existential question for yourself:  “What does it all mean?” When your business is aligned with your purpose, you will work harder, smarter, and better to achieve your goals.

Inspired Yet?

If you want more lessons from legendary entrepreneurs, check out our articles on Richard Branson and Steve Jobs.

The post Elon Musk’s 15 Lessons for Your Startup Business appeared first on How To Make Money Online.

First off – can we have a little background information on you Craig – Where you live? How old you are? What motivates you? What inspires you?

Cole Valley neighborhood of San Francisco and I am 56 years old. Well, a guy said “the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.” People use the Net to make that real, and I want to participate, the trend needs nurturing and protection.

Why did you launch Craigslist? Where are you at now with Craigslist?

After seeing a lot of people help others via the Net, I decided that I should also help out.

You have inspired so many programmers to work on their own projects, what advice would you give to a programmer to take action and create something amazing?

Join an existing effort, Sunlight Foundation is a great example.

I also understand that you are more about helping people and causes then making money, how has running one of the worlds largest website’s allowed you to help others? Also, any causes you would like to mention that you have helped or believe in?

The site helps by helping others help others. It’s given me a bit of a bully pulpit to support people doing great work, like IAVA.org, Sunlight, Kiva, donorschoose.org, and other causes using the net.

Checkout my personal blog for more information…

The Internet allows you to live a different style of life, what do you love most about being a Internet Entrepreneur?

I’m pretty mobile, working wherever I can get on the Net.

Do you think that entrepreneurialism is something that is in your blood? Or is it something that can be learned?

No, I’m an accidental entrepreneur, but I did have the sense to know when it was time to get out of the way and let someone else with the skill manage and that’s our ceo Jim Buckmaster. Jim’s much more of a natural.

Is there anyone that you look up to and model yourself on?

Homer J. Simpson, George Canstanza

What is the best advice you have ever been given?

Use my sense of humor.

How many hours do you work daily and what are your daily tasks for your sites?

Hard to say, very irregular eight am to eleven pm schedule every day, time off as needed.

What do you like best about the Internet?

Everyone can participate.

What do you like least about the Internet?

Trolls!

I understand you really like animals, tell us what you like about them and your interest such as urban bird watching

For reasons unknown, I love nature, when it makes itself convenient.

Where do you think the internet will be in the next 10 years?

Ubiquitous, delivered by smart phones.

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