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Walton's 10 Rules of Business Success - Rule 10: Swim Upstream

When we look at the modern Wal-Mart (WMT) and the rest of the retailing industry, it's hard to picture what it was like when Walton started Wal-Mart and the strategy he used as being radical in its day; not only radical, but to most - crazy! The vast majority of people thought he had no idea what he was doing.

But in those days, the idea of a discount retail store in a small town was considered naive and bad business. It wasn't till years later when Wal-Mart had his competitors all surrounded that they started to understand what they faced.

The final of Walton's 10 rules on business success revealed what the way of thinking behind this was ... he said: "Swim upstream. Go the other way. Ignore the conventional wisdom. If everybody is doing it one way, there's a good chance you can find your niche by going in exactly the opposite direction."

With Walton going upstream like he did, he was able to test and try different things under the noses of his competitors that they didn't think worthy of their notice. Once he had all the major kinks worked out of it, he rolled out his strategy and began introducing the stores everywhere. Nobody could duplicate them. To this day there is still nobody that can do it even when they understand what is happening from an operational standpoint.

The major reason why is everything that Walton did was made a part of a culture and purpose of the company that was embedded into all his associates. It wasn't something that only "low prices" could define, it was part of what Wal-Mart was and who his people were. You simply can't take the outward workings of another company and copy them thinking that you will be able to reproduce their results. That's what swimming upstream produces.

All of the 10 rules that Sam Walton revealed in his list that would bring business success are extraordinarily simple in understanding, but much harder in execution and the will of a company to do it. Those willing to follow this powerful rules will find themselves not disappointed in the results they bring as well.

Other Sam Walton Sources:

Sam Walton

Sam Walton: 10 Rules for Building a Successful Business

Sam Walton - Retail Success Story

Sam Walton and Wal-Mart

How Wal-Mart Got Started

Sam Walton: King Of The Discounters

Sam Walton: Great From the Start

Is Wal-Mart Too Powerful?

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