Michael Dell's Two-Billion-Dollar Dream

One afternoon in 1977, as his parents and two brothers fished in the Gulf¹ of Mexico, 12-year-old Michael Dell sat on the beach, painstakingly² putting together a trotline, a maze³ of ropes to which several fish hooks could be attached. "You're wasting your time," the rest of the family called to Michael, as they pulled in fish. "Grab a pole and join in the fun. "  

Michael kept working. It was dinnertime when he finished, and everyone else was ready to call it a day(收工;停止). Still, the youngster cast the trotline far into the water, anchoring it to a stick that he plunged⁴ deep in the sand.

 Over dinner his family teased young Michael about coming away empty-handed. But afterward⁵ Michael reeled in his trotline, and on the hooks were more fish than the others had caught all together!

 Michael Dell has always been fond of saying, "If you think you have a good idea, try it!" And today, at 29, he has discovered the power of another good idea that has helped him rise in just a few years from teen to tycoon⁶. He has become the fourth-largest manufacturer of personal computers in America and the youngest man ever to head a Fortune 500 corporation(领导一个《财富》500强企业).

 Growing up in Houston, Michael and his two brothers were imbued⁷ by their parents with the desire to learn and the drive to work hard. Even so, stories about the middle boy began to be told early.

 Like the time a saleswoman came asking to speak to "Mr. Michael Dell" about his getting a high-school equivalency diploma. Moments later, eight-year-old Michael was explaining that he thought it might be a good idea to get high school out of the way.

 A few years later Michael had another good idea, to trade stamps by advertising⁸ in stamp magazines. With the $ 2000 profit he made, he bought his first personal computer. Then he took it apart to figure out how it worked.

 In high school Michael had a job selling subscriptions¹⁰ to the Houston Post. Newlyweds, so he figured(他这样分析认为), were the best prospects¹¹, so he hired friends to copy the names and addresses of recent recipients¹² of marriage licenses¹³. These he entered into his computer, then sent a personalized letter offering each couple a free two-week subscription⁹.

 This time Dell made $18 000 and bought a BMW. The car salesman was flabbergasted when the 17-year-old paid cash. The next year Dell enrolled¹⁴ at the University of Texas in Austin. Like most freshmen¹⁵, he needed to earn spending money. Just about everyone on campus was talking about personal computers. At the time, anyone who didn't have a PC wanted one, but dealers¹⁶ were selling them at a hefty markup¹⁷. People wanted low-cost machines custom-made to their needs, and these were not readily available. Why should dealers get such a big markup for so little added value?(产品在经销商手中产生的附加增值微乎其微，他们有什么理由把价位定得那么高从中获取那么多的利益?) Dell wondered. Why not sell from the manufacturer directly to the end user?

 Dell knew that IBM required its dealers to take a monthly quota¹⁸ of PCs, in most cases more than they could sell. He also knew that holding excess inventory¹⁹ was costly²⁰. So he bought dealers' surplus stock at cost(他以成本价买下经销商的积压产品). Back in his dorm room, he added features to improve performance. The souped-up models found eager buyers(经过改装后的机型十分热销). Seeing the hungry market, Dell placed local advertisements offering his customized computers at 15 percent off retail²¹ price. Soon he was selling to businesses, doctors' offices and law firms. The trunk of his car was his store; his room took on the appearance of a small factory.

 During Thanksgiving break, Dell's parents told him they were concerned about his grades. "If you want to start a business, do it after you get your degree," his father pleaded.

 Dell agreed, but back in Austin he felt the opportunity of a lifetime was passing him by. "I couldn't bear to miss this chance," he says. After one month he started selling computers again--- with a vengeance²².

 The quarters he shared with two roommates looked like a combat zone- boxes piled high, computer boards and tools scattered²³ around. One day his roommates heaped all his equipment into a pile, preventing Dell from entering his room. It was time to come to grips with the magnitude of what he had created.(他必须认真考虑如何应对他创建的庞然大物<喻指他的红火的生意>) The business was now grossing more than $ 50 000 a month.

 Over spring recess²⁴, Dell confessed to his parents that he was still in the computer business. They wanted to know how classes were going. "I have to quit school," he replied. "I want to start my own company. "

 What exactly is it that you want to do?" asked his father.

 "Compete with IBM," he answered simply.

 Compete with IBM? Now his parents were really worried. But no matter what they said, Dell stuck fast(顽固坚持). So they made a deal; over summer vacation he would try to launch a computer company. If he didn't succeed, he would have to go back to school in September.

 Returning to Austin, Dell risked all his savings²⁵ and incorporated Dell Computer Corp. on May 3, 1484.

 He was 19. Under a deadline, his pace was frantic²⁶. He rented a one-roam office on a month-to-month lease and hired his first employee, a 28- year-old manager to handle finance and administration. For advertising, he grabbed an empty pizza box and on the back sketched²⁷ the first ad for Dell Computer. A friend copied it onto paper and took it to the newspaper.

 Dell still specialized²⁸ in direct marketing²⁹ of stripped-down IBM PCs to which he added custom features(定制时确定的特点、功能;专门要求). As orders came in, Dell rushed around gathering³⁰ up the right parts to assemble each order. First-month sales topped $180 000; the second, $ 265 000. Dell barely noticed when the new school year arrived.

 Within a year, he was selling 1000 PCs and hired more staff. Customers phoned orders to an 800 number, and then the staff assembled the units. Parts were ordered only as needed, keeping inventory and overhead low. UPS trucks picked up daily that day's production for delivery. It was very efficient-- and very profitable.

 Just when it seemed the sky was the limit(没有任何限制;一切都是可能的<或能达到的>), and sales had topped $3 million, the manager that Dell had hired quit. But, as Dell always told himself, " Every time you have a crisis, something good comes out of it. " From necessity, he learned accounting³¹ basics- experience that would prove invaluable³² in the years ahead. "It's a lot easier to learn something if it's important to you," he says.

 Unlike other manufacturers, Dell gave his customers money-back guarantees. He also realized that when a computer is down, the customer wants it back up and working right away. So Dell guaranteed next- day on site service for his products, and introduced a 24-hour-a-day toll-free(免费电话) line for customers to talk directly with computer technicians. Ninety percent of computer technical problems, according to Dell, can be solved over the phone.

 Constant telephone contact with customers kept the company close to the market. Customers let Dell Computer know directly what they liked or didn't like about a particular model. "My competitors were developing products and then telling customers what they should want, instead of finding out what the market really wanted and then developing products," Dell says.

 By the day Michael Dell would have graduated from college, his company was selling $ 70 million worth of computers a year. Dell quit dealing³³ in souped-up versions of other companies' products, and started designing, assembling and marketing his own.

 Today Dell Computer has wholly owned subsidiaries in 16 countries, including Japan. The company has revenues of over $2 billion, employs some 5 500 persons, and Dell's personal fortune is between $ 250 million and $ 300 million. To encourage even greater productivity, Dell Computer gives its employees awards for ideas worth trying even if they don't pan out. "Our success has forced the giants to become more competitive," Dell says. "That's good for the consumer. "

 Dell, his wife and their two-year-old daughter lead a pretty normal life. His charity is generous but quiet. Recently the couple announced the donation of a parcel of land for a civic³⁴ center(娱乐大厦) to Austin's Jewish community. Dell also regularly lectures on entrepreneurship to MBA students at the University of Texas Graduate School of Business in Austin.

 What concerns Michael Dell is that our country is losing its competitive edge(竞争优势). "There's too much of an entitlement attitude nowadays," he says. "' I deserve this' needs to he replaced with 'I earned this.' "

 He credits his own success to the fact that Alexander and Lorraine Dell expected their three sons to learn and work hard- and draws a lesson. "The reason our schools are failing isn't because classroom sizes are too big. I can show you schools in Thailand where kids study in unbelievably crowded classrooms - and yet they're learning much more than our students. Why? Because they want to learn. Because they want to work hard. Because their parents and their teachers expect that of them. "

 Back when his firm was two people in one room, Dell told his friends his dream was to become the world's largest personal-computer maker³⁵. He was unrealistic, they said.

 Why would anyone want to be second or third or tenth?" he replied. His message to us all: why not at least try to realize your dream, what deep down you would truly love to achieve?