Want to Retire Early? Learn From Those Who Can

Post by David Pierce. Find me on Twitter.

Ah, retirement. No work, no boss, nothing to do. Just play golf, smoke cigars, and hang out. Sounds awful.

If you’re looking for a way to get out of the corporate world or whatever you’re doing right now, make a ridiculous amount of money, and retire whenever you darn well please, one great way to get started is to take a look at how some people who do what you want to do well, do it.

That’s the premise behind Retire@21, a site all about how young entrepreneurs are making it in the world. The site has, among a bunch of other useful and interesting tools and stories, a series of fascinating interviews with some of the most successful entrepreneurs, particularly in the Web world.

The interviews all look into how a person or group made it – where their breakthrough idea came from, how it came to be, and what it took to get them to where they are now. The interviewees come from a huge variety of different realms and vocations, from founding and running the hugely popular RapidShare to an interview with Darren Rowse, the famous Problogger.

One of the ones I found the most interesting was Tony Hsieh , the CEO of Internet shoe-store powerhouse Zappos. Here’s a small portion of the interview:

2) Zappos sells footwear – with approaching a billion dollars in revenues, that is a lot of customers. What has allowed you to grow to such a large business while at the same time retaining an excellent reputation for service?

The #1 driver of our growth has been through repeat customers and word of mouth. We focus on having the best customer service, but ultimately, our#1 priority is company culture. Our belief is that if you get the culture right, then most of the other stuff, like great customer service and building a great brand, will happen naturally on its own.

3) Can you share some of the biggest lessons you have learned personally and as a business as Zappos.com has grown? If you were to start again, what might you do differently?

Something I’ve learned over the years is that it’s a good idea to hire people more slowly and fire those that are harming the culture more quickly. In general, I think mistakes are fine as long as we learn from them and do our best not to repeat them. I wouldn’t necessarily do anything differently, but I would try to do everything faster.

The interviews are inspiring, impressive, and actually a lot of fun to read. A lot of the people seem totally mystified by their success, which is nice to see – maybe there’s less difference between them and the rest of us than I thought!

If you poke around the rest of the site, there’s tons of inspiration to be had, as well as a lot of practical tips for how to make money online. Frankly, the “how to make money online” thing doesn’t particularly interest me, but if it’s your cup of tea, give it a go.

The last thing worth mentioning is the “Rich List,” a look at the Top 50 Entrepreneurs Under 30. They’re all rich, most look about 13, and all have interesting stories to tell. A lot of them were surprising, actually – I’d never heard of RuneScape, but evidently I’m the only one in the world if its founder is making so much money.

If you’re young, and want to see how some people are making it in this crazy world, Retire@21 is a great spot. If you’re not 21, don’t worry – it’s a great place to get information, get inspired, and find ideas for someone of any age.

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