Dream Big and Win

9Investing

Turning a profit is only half the battle as you build your empire, even though it might feel as though you've finally reached the summit. However, if you're not reinvesting your profits wisely, all the effort you put into building your business will have been for naught.

In this chapter, we're going to examine the relationship between revenue growth and corporate spending to make sure you get the most bang out of every one of your hard‐earned bucks, both professionally and personally.

Words of Wisdom

“We don't have to be smarter than the rest. We have to be more disciplined than the rest.”

—Warren Buffett

Movin' on Up

I had a lot of big dreams in the early days of founding TransPerfect. I dreamed about seeing myself on stage (wearing something fabulous, possibly floral, probably pink), speaking to an audience full of employees, telling them, “This has been our most profitable year yet!” I dreamed about sitting across from marquee clients on foreign shores at an elegantly set table, our worlds and businesses coming together because of the power of translating shared meaning. I dreamed about having the means and wherewithal to go and do and buy whatever I wanted. But my biggest initial dream was not to have to make hundreds of daily cold calls from the same depressing room where I brushed my teeth and cooked my Ramen Pride noodles.

The first step to that stage and that dress and that dining table was getting out of the dorm room, if for no reason other than ...