You’re your business’s first customer, and that’s all it takes

I’m reading a wonderful book called The Republic Of Tea by Mel and Patricia Ziegler (pub. 1994 ISBN: 0385420579).

Here’s a clip from Publisher’s Weekly about the book:

More than a chronicle of the birth of a new business, this unusual 20-month exchange of faxes between the Zieglers (husband-and-wife founders of Banana Republic) and their partner-to-be, Rosenzweig (future Republic of Tea CEO), records with almost missionary zeal its authors’ determination to convert a stressed-out, coffee-gulping society into serene sippers of tea–and make millions in the process.

A couple of sentences struck me: “I would not think of starting a business unless I was its first customer. And… all it takes to launch a business in which you are the first customer is to find a second customer and sell him the product.”

Great stuff. How about you? Are you your business’s first customer? You should be.

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