Born on October 28, 1955 as William Henry Gates, known as Bill Gates today became one of the moms influential people of the 20^th century. Beginning with a shaky career, he became one of the most successful and richest businessmen in the history of the world. He received numerous awards for his philanthropic work. He gained the reputation of a ruthless competitor.

As the CEO of Microsoft, he retired after some time and devoted himself completely to his philanthropic work and started out by making a $28 billion contribution to set up a foundation to form the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation.

Bill Gates had a vision where he wanted to go and now it seems impossible to imagine Microsoft without Gates at the controls. His unbelievable journey taught him many life lessons which are a complete guideline for today’s entrepreneurs to follow.

Get Lucky:

When Gates was in eighth grade, he attended a private middle school in Seattle in 1968. By getting involved in the school’s computer club at the age of 13, he with a handful of other students learn to program he and his friends spent hours in learning and here where his journey begin for a bigger success. In the 1960s, computer were not very common in schools and it one-in-a-million chance to be able to gets hands on one. Microsoft would never have existed if Bill gates had not discovered his love for computer programming because of his school.

Made the most of his luck:

It is not just about being lucky; Bill Gates made the most of his luck. He spent limitless hours on learning how to do computer programming. He dedicated himself to computer for mastering the art. He was smart enough to realize his love for computers and carried on. Every one of us has unique qualities but we remain ignorant of them all out lives.

Bite more than you can chew:

Bill Gates always believed in pushing himself a bit more then he thought he was capable of. This helped him to more forward much faster and progress. According to the co-founder of Litton Industries Roy Ash, in a hope of quickly learning how to chew, an entrepreneur usually bites more than he could chew.

Quality control is important:

Bill always kept an eye for detail and ensured that Microsoft always provide quality software. Although, the company grew and hired more and more programmers but that didn’t stop Gates from reviewing or rewriting every single line of code that the company released.

Showing revolutionary ideas:

In the early 80’s, nobody believed Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer for explaining how graphic interface was the future’s operating systems. In 1984, the attitudes quickly changed with the launch of Apple’s Macintosh, it was the first commercially successful computer with graphic user interface.

Persevere:

In 1990, Microsoft launched its Windows 3.0 and found a significant success with the graphical operating system. In just two years, the company sold over ten million units.

Sharing vision:

With his time at Microsoft, Bill gates took the time to write a memo as he realized the importance of his whole team to be on board with the company’s mission. He had seen the advent of graphical interface in future and predicted the internet preeminence.

Marketing is simple:

The most important point of marketing is to provide people with the solution of problem they cannot solve for themselves. People are not attracted to a product because it’s got low price or a great logo; they make the purchase because they want to solve a problem with the product.

Don’t learn from success:

According to Bill Gates, success may cloud our vision and make us over-confident and unprepared for the future challenges. The strategies that have worked in the past should not be blindly trusted and a person should not ignore the patterns of initial success.

Unhappy customers teach a lot:

Unhappy customers can be a great source for a company to improve upon its products. Bill gates made tons of unhappy customers over the years and acquired an enormous amount of information which he wouldn’t have learned otherwise.

Via: Income Diary