Kinko's 3 Rules

Thirty-three years before FedEx acquired his company for $2.2 Billion, before the hundreds of print shops, and even before Paul Orfalea graduated college - he opened the first Kinko’s.

During three decades of growth, contraction, and ups and downs, Orfalea developed a unique way of doing business. It was just selling copies using rented machines in a rented storefront. The situation was perfect for commoditization. Who has the cheapest copies, asked the locals, let’s go there.

But Kinko’s was different. Orfalea found three rules that led to the company’s success.

Rule 1: Motivate your workers. Kinko’s was famously hands-off. There was no dress code in the early days and not many rules. What rules did exist didn’t come from Paul.

 Let the people at the store figure things out. Counterworkers could do anything to make the customer happy. Rather than find a manager, staff could instantly ‘make it right’.

Rule 2: Understand your customers. Kinko’s is not in the copy business. Paper sales? Nope! Brochures? You’re kidding me.

Kinko’s is in the problem-solving business. Customers arrived with a difficult task they needed to be done yesterday. Kinkos did that.

Rule 3: Balance your checkbook. Orfalea has dyslexicia. He finished eighth from the bottom of his high school class. He coasted through college, taking classes with football players because those classes graded on a curve.

He’s smart, but not academic. Keep it simple, he tells entrepreneurs. At the end of the day make sure you have more money than when you started.

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