In today’s episode, I talk to Paul Orfalea, founder of legendary Kinko’s.
If you guys haven’t heard of Kinko’s before, it was a HUGLELY popular place for making copies, faxes, and more in the late 90s. Paul ran the company for 30 years. And at its peak, Kinko’s had more than 1,000 locations worldwide.
Kinko’s got acquired by FedEx for $2.4 billion dollars!
Paul is an AMAZING entrepreneur, but he is very humble and doesn’t like talking about how much money he makes (Spoiler: He is NO longer a billionaire because he donated a lot of his money to charitable causes)
If you’ve ever wanted to learn the life lessons and experience of an entrepreneur that has been in the game for many years, then you’ll love this episode.
In this episode, you’ll enjoy 3 BIG things:
- Why a business is an instrument to make you happy.
- How to live the best life in your 20s, 30s, and beyond.
- How did Paul splurge after he sold the company.
And if you enjoy listening to the podcast, I would really appreciate it if you left a review on Apple Podcasts to help more people find out about it. I might shout you out in the next episode!
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2 responses to “How to Start a Billion Dollar “Boring” Business (w/ Paul Orfalea)”
Brewster’s, millions starred Richard Pryor, not Eddie Murphy
I worked at Kinko’s corporate (Kinko’s Service Corporation) back in the early ’90’s as a Macintosh programmer (I just happened to visit Ventura, CA a week ago we drove by the old office). I’ve always admired Paul – he’s down-to-earth, friendly, and IMO a good leader. His typical way of introducing himself to employees was “Hi, I’m Paul – I work here!”
My favorite quote that has stuck with me:
“The customer may not always be right, but the customer is still the customer!” IOW, you treat your customers with respect and go for the win-win.