A sit down with Warren Buffett
Posted 7 March 2008, 15:57 in Personal Finance Business 1 Comment
If you did not know this by now, Warren Buffett is the world’s richest man alive, according to Forbes. At 77, he is the largest shareholder and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, a holding company that owns the gecko at Geico, the fruits at Fruit of the Loom, and all the lactose at Dairy Queen. Buffett’s wealth came in the form of great investments into public companies such as American Express, Coca-Cola, and Gillette. He is admired by many, which is why 25 thousand investors make their way to Omaha, Nebraska to attend Berkshire Hathaway’s annual shareholder meeting.
A few lucky business students were invited to meet the man himself in a Q&A session (the entire Q&A session is linked below under related links). Below are some tidbits that I found interesting…
Why do you think that despite making your methods publicly available, that relatively few people have been able to emulate your success?People want to make money fast, but it doesn’t happen that way. Graham’s philosophy doesn’t promise enough for many people. You don’t know when it will happen, but you just wait for the fat pitches within your circle of competence. It’s not as exciting as guessing whether the stock price will go up the next day. Most investors in internet companies didn’t know the market cap. They were buying because they thought the stock would move, but if you asked them to write “I would buy XYZ company for $6 billion because”, they wouldn’t get halfway through the sentence. It’s the classic tortoise versus hare, bound to work over time. Charlie and I have educated competitors. Most don’t compete with us, though. It’s fine, we have more than enough money.
Given your business success, your immense fortune, and your celebrity status, how do you stay so down to earth and humble? Are there specific people or lessons you have learned throughout your life that enable you to maintain this outlook?I was lucky to have the right heroes. Tell me who your heroes are and I’ll tell you how you’ll turn out to be. One of your most important jobs in life will be raising your children. They will learn more from you than they will in graduate school. My father was a huge influence, and later on Graham came along. I was also never let down by my heroes.
What importance do you give to balance as it pertains to work and life and what do you do to maintain your appropriate balance?I have so much fun that it’s not work. In my own life I did virtually no social functions or meetings that I didn’t want to do. In my adult business life I have never had to make a choice of trading between professional and personal. I have simple pleasures. I play bridge online for 12 hours a week. Bill [Gates] and I play, he’s “chalengr” and I’m “tbone.”
There you have it: there is no such thing as quick money in the stock market, find the right heroes in life, and find a job that you enjoy so much that it does not become “work.”
Related Links: Notes from Buffett Meeting | About Warren Buffett | Berkshire Hathaway
Related Articles: Gates No Longer World’s Richest Man
Netflix in Hawaii
Posted 30 January 2008, 20:53 in Business Leave a Comment
If you ever wondered why you have to pay state taxes on your Netflix (NFLX) subscription, this is why. Honolulu Advertiser recently ran a feature on Netflix’s distribution center in Hawaii as a result of growing competition from Blockbuster (they too will be opening a local distribution center).
To my surprise, their distribution center is less than a ten minute drive from my place. I am always surprised to receive a Netflix notification email saying they received my DVD at 6 a.m. As it turns out, Netflix employees start their day very, very early.
A typical workday in Halawa begins at 3 a.m. when an employee in an unmarked white van picks up the day’s load of DVDs from the U.S. Postal Service.
There are roughly 20,000 Netflix subscribers in Hawaii. About 12,000 DVDs are mailed out daily by its 10 employees in Honolulu. Perks of being a Netflix employee: free DVD player and Netflix subscription. What about the popcorn?
Related Articles: Blockbuster moves in on Netflix turf | Netflix shows off top secret distribution center
Willows Restaurant damages vehicle, does not pay
Posted 12 July 2006, 18:47 in Business Comments
One defining factor that separates a good company from a bad one is customer service. The good companies tend to be people oriented and goes beyond the call of duty to satisfy their customers. They understand the value of the customer, knowing that they would not be in business without them. The bad companies, well obviously, does everything opposite of the good ones. In this article, I write about a company soo bad that it’s worth mentioning on this blog.
A few weeks ago, we decided to go to an upscale restaurant to celebrate my father’s birthday. We had a brunch buffet at the Willows Restaurant (in Hawaii) since it was suggested by a family member. Their offerings in hindsight was mediocre at best: no one went back for seconds (crab legs were salty), they charged extra for soft drink refills (wouldn’t a $35 meal cover that?), and they imposed a 15% service fee even though our waiter — Ginger W – did not service us at all.
As it was an occasion worth celebrating, we tried to make the best out of the situation. At the end of the meal, we took a few pictures on the premise of the Willows Restaurant so that we could have a photo memory of the occasion. The smiles on our faces quickly turned into a frown when we got home and found that our vehicle was scratched by their valet attendant.
I immediately called the restaurant and was transferred to “Kim” who was the supervisor at the time. She advised me to head back to the restaurant so that she could take a few Polaroid photos of the incident. Kim informed me that I would receive a call from Garret Kamei, the owner of the restaurant.
I did not hear from Garret, so I decided to call him. I called him several times only to be transferred to his voice mail. I began to worry. What to do? Finally, I received a call from Garrett and said that he had food poisoning and could not return any of my calls. I told him what had happened and the events leading up to the incident. Skepticism quickly pounded my ear drums as if the customer is never right. A few more days of unreturned phone calls when hope was given and my case was reported to their insurance company.
Tammy Chun from First Insurance called and I again explained the events leading up to the incident. She said that I did everything right by immediately calling and reporting the incident and taking pictures. The insurance company would fix my vehicle as soon as she have their people inspect my vehicle. I brought my car to the Basic Auto Collision Repair Center, where the Ho‘s, the owner of company inspected the damage. They brought out what looked like a 2MP Sony Mavica and took several pictures of my car’s bumper. They also took pictures of things unrelated to the damage, such as the driver’s seat and steering wheel. The Ho’s asked what had happened and they too looked at me with skepticism.
A few days later, I received a call from Tammy with the bad news. She mentioned that her team of “experts” measured the height of the sidewalk, which did not match up with the height of my bumper. Perhaps they measured the height of a truck and not a car? That coupled with what the valet driver had said and what the Ho’s saw, she denied my case.
In an official letter from Tammy Chun she writes (pdf), “We spoke to Brent Takara, the valet driver whom delivered your vehicle to you … and he does not recall going over the curbing in which you observed.” It does not surprise me that someone whose MySpace profile is entitled “Mr. Ass” would suddenly forget that he damaged someone’s car. And from what I hear from friends and reports on the internet, valet drivers are notorious for damaging vehicles and not informing their owners. With that said, I do not believe Takara told the truth when Chun interviewed him.
Lesson learned: (1) never valet. The Willows Restaurant provides no means of self-parking, no stalls where a customer can park his or her own vehicle. They do this to rip off customers both inside and outside of the restaurant. (2) If you receive bad service from a waiter, do yourself a favor and cross out what they wrote in the tip section of your credit card receipt and put what you feel they deserve. On any credit card authorization receipt, it is in the customer’s discretion what he decides to tip, not the waiter.
Aside from the Willows Restaurant having bad food, bad waiter and bad valet drivers, I must say that their form of Hawaiian entertainment was good. However, their customer service is close to non-existent. They do not listen to their customers and believes the customer is never right — in my case anyway.
Related reading: Web gives customer last word | Valet honor: Reveal dent, or play silent bystander?
