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This time we see how Sam Walton Founder of Wal-Mart took his dream
of opening a department store to developing the largest discount store
in the world.

Sam started selling newspapers when he was little. He expanded his
business by hiring other kids to help him deliver newspapers. He
opened his first novelty store after WWII by buying an existing
franchise which he found out after he bought is that it wasn’t doing
well. This is where he learned about accounting and running a
business. Even though he was required to buy 80% of his merchandise
from the franchise, he started buying direct from manufacturers. Many
times at the end of the day he would hop into his station wagon and
load it up from the manufacturer. He discounted this stuff and made
his profit from buying in bulk and selling it for a small markup. His
feeling was that he could do better by buying low and selling a lot
instead of marking up the price and selling less. This was the
beginning of the Wal-Mart type of thinking. Soon he opened his first
department store across the street from his novelty store. The two
stores didn’t compete and Sam was on his way. Within 5 years he had
met his goal, he turned that franchise store into the largest in a six
state region.

He started experimenting with crazy ideas for that time like installing
an ice cream machine. This would become a big thing in the future
Wal-Mart. Wherever he went he had a yellow legal pad to take notes.
He would visit other department and discount stores to see what was
working and what wasn’t. Sometimes he would bring in a tape recorder.

When he set up a new store he gave the store manager the flexibility
to run specials and order items that the store needed directly from the
manufacturer. When Wal-Mart got larger they started their own
distribution system and the store managers then ordered from the
warehouse instead.

He gave a lot of authority to the people in the stores but he still kept
his finger on the pulse of everything going on by having Saturday
morning meetings with all his store managers and they went over what
was going on in every store. He was like a coach for all his store
managers.

A coach will work with you as a sounding board to develop solutions to
your obstacles. Your coach will help you stay on track and when you
have to go away for a while they will remind you to get back on track
and not to get completely derailed.

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Sam Walton