On the subject of a "Great Idea"

So one recurring theme about becoming rich that many people seem to buy into is the idea that you need a great idea, that it is the thinking up that Great Idea that is what makes people rich. For example, the engineer who came up with the idea for the Super Soaker water gun, or the guys who came up with the Life Is Good phrase for apparel.

But this is a misconception. Yes, a great idea can certainly be a nice thing to have, and if you are selling this idea to an established company, this is fine, but this is not essential to building a company, which is the primary way I am talking of to become wealthy. For building a company, what counts most is the quality of the company itself. Sure you can start off with a great idea, but the most important thing is to build a great company that has a creative culture that can continue to produce all sorts of great new products.

Many people focus solely on the idea of creating a world-class product and forget that one also needs to create a world-class company as well. A world-class company will create world-class products and services.

And in creating a world-class company, one doesn't necessarilly need any revolutionary new idea. They just need to find a product or service and find a way to deliver or provide that product and service better than the existing competition. A perfect example was the creation of the company Waste Management. There is nothing exciting about garbage or waste. But building a world-class company for removing and properly handling waste in a professional manner resulted in a huge company.

Or plumbing. An entrepreneur might have the goal to build a huge professional plumbing company. Again, no "great ideas" involved here, just the concept of building a world-class company to deliver a service everybody needs.