THE ROAD TO SUCCESS IS NEVER A STRAIGHT LINE
"The Zig Zag Principle is founded
upon rock solid principles so simple
that you will read this book
wondering how you could have
missed seeing truths that are so
obvious."
Stephen R. Covey, author, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People and The Leader in Me
Rich’s Story
Richard J. Christiansen is a thought leader, educator, mentor, parallel entrepreneur, and humanitarian. He has founded or co-founded 51 businesses, of which 16 have become multimillion-dollar successes. Each was capitalized with $10,000 or less. His businesses have ranged from technology, import/export, SEO, lead generation, online sales, innovative products, real estate, worm poop, and most recently a gift and grief registry.
Rich has authored a Wall Street Journal & USA today national best-selling book, The ZigZag Principle (McGraw Hill, 2011) and co-authored Bootstrap Business (Wizard Press, 2007), in which he outlined the lessons he learned while creating these businesses. He has lectured around the world, giving keynote presentations at universities, conferences, and corporate events. His work has been featured in numerous publications such as Forbes and USA Today, and he has been interviewed on countless radio, podcast, and television programs.
He recently released a program on Building Family Legacies through Symbols, Traditions, Doctrine, Defining Events and the Supporting Structure. This is step-by-step instructions on how to better create unified values within your family. This program was as spawned from a book he and his son Tim co-authored the Amazon Best Seller, “Even If Your Toes Turn Purple – Raising Teenagers that are Confident, Happy, and Stand Out.”
Together with his family, Rich loves to explore and spelunk slot canyons and crest the summits of high mountain peaks. He has stared up the throat of Mt. Everest three times, summited Mt. Kilimanjaro with his wife and youngest 2 sons two summers ago and this summer trekked the Mount Blanc Route. Long boarding weekly with his youngest sons and zipping down the ski slopes like a teenager are among his hobbies. He is a passionate golfer and loves fast zippy cars that are technology loaded.
He and his wife are the parents of five amazing sons as well as a daughter who came from Nepal. Rich is passionate about educating youth in third world countries. He builds and lifts wherever he goes. One of Rich’s significant talents is spotting and mentoring winners, having launched and trained hundreds of young women and men over the years. He is presently the Chairman of the Board of Trustees at Southern Utah University and a Founder at Brigham Young University.
Currently, he does business in 14 countries and is a principle founder of HooDoo Capital, an early-stage venture capital firm.
Track Record
Looking for stories about success? You’ve come to the right place.
Richard J. Christiansen is a thought leader, educator, mentor, parallel entrepreneur, and humanitarian. He has founded or co-founded 51 businesses, of which 16 have become multimillion-dollar successes. Of course, the whole process has been a learning experience and has given Rich many stories about success to share with others. He’s learned to fail efficiently. He’s learned to succeed in a way they don’t teach you in business school.
Rich put it all together and called it The ZigZag Principle. This process really works. It’s a sure way to make your own stories about success.
Here are Rich’s stories in his own words:
I was an executive, and for a long time I loved it. Among my jobs, I worked as a product line manager with Novell, I was general manager of the U.S. Operations for Mitsubishi Electric, and general manager of web services, for About.com. Then one day I realized that the corporate world and I didn’t quite mesh. I was itching to get out on my own. And so I bolted. I began building companies. Along the way I discovered The ZigZag Principle. Now I enjoy sharing the lessons, tools, and stories about success and failure with others.
Although I’ve started 51 businesses and although I have many stories about success, there are a few things I haven’t done. I admit, I’m not willing to make the personal sacrifice in time and family for that either.
My real passion is in working with little teams; as soon as I get to 15 people, I think it’s time to sell. That’s my magic number: 15. With that number, I can be aware of everyone’s needs. After that, politics start entering the scene, and you lose something.
That being said, here’s a look at some of the companies I founded (my personal stories about success) and what I did with each company.
EggNesters — an online lead generator for the mortgage industry. It was a success, and I exited it. I timed that exit perfectly. It wasn’t a big cash-out business, but I made money. I entered the market at the perfect time, when mortgages were heating up, and I exited it when things began to look a little iffy. I don’t know if it was raw luck or subtle left-brain smarts, but I got out of that at the right time.
Tornado Solutions — a web publisher on specialty topics; I sold out to my partners at the same time as Know More Media. It was a cash cow, and I did the right thing to exit this company. But just in time. Here’s actually one of my weak points: I tend to hold on to things too long. For all the many companies I’ve created, it’s crazy how many I’ve done that with.
Know More Media — a business blogging network. This company lasted a year. It was a good business. But, it ended in an ugly partnership meltdown. The New York Times was on the verge of buying it, but my partners wanted to grow it bigger. We should have sold it.
Cyclone Trading Company — a corporate event supplier and international trading company. We sold the company after 7 years. This was another good exit. It was actually a double-dip, because I got the company back. We sold it in about 2007, and were paid well, and we received a monthly fee for the company. But the buyer eventually stopped making payments, and because of a clause in our agreement, the company came back to me. We’re in that business now, and we easily do $4-$5 million a year.
Everest Web Solutions, a search engine optimization and engineering resource for several large organizations, including Warner Music and The New York Times, among others. We founded this company with $5,000 — this was a company we built to test the concepts that I was writing about (with several colleagues) in Bootstrap Business. We merged this with Interactive Acquisition to form CastleWave. This was a nice exit merger, a mashup, a doubling down, actually.
CastleWave LLC — this technology company, specializing in strategic web consulting, search engine optimization, technology development outsourcing and high purpose link-building, was a success from day one, and proved the sound principles of Bootstrap Business — in which we took $5,000 and created a multimillion-dollar business within a year. Here is a company I sold to prove that I could do it! To prove that in the worst downmarket since the Great Depression, you could create value and sell a company. This was another well-timed exit, however; we did well.
Bootstrap Business — I co-wrote this bestselling book with Ron E. Porter, which teaches people how to build a business from where they are at the moment, how to avoid the big mistakes that knockdown most small businesses, and how to secure their financial future while also balancing their lifestyle.
I’ve figured out how to make start-up companies turn into stories about success, because I followed The ZigZag Principle. I started small and grew. Then I got out. Weaving gold out of straw is a passion of mine. I enjoy taking the Bad News Bears and turning them into rock stars–these make great stories about success. I really believe in working with small unconventional teams, forming them, unifying them on common goals and values. Together we set those goals, we get the motivation systems in place, and then we build! I love the start-up phase of building businesses.
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You can read more of Rich’s strategies and success stories on his blog. Additionally, Rich has put together a series of events, coaching sessions, and other programs designed to help you learn the ins and outs of becoming an entrepreneur (if you have the appetite for it, that is. Take the EAT test for free.)
What Others Are Saying
Before you dig into The ZigZag Principle, check out what others are saying about the book, the principle, and the author.
“Rock-solid principles so simple that you will read this book wondering how you could have missed seeing truths that are so obvious.”
— Stephen R. Covey, bestselling author of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
“Your ZigZag principle is more powerful than the “release and iterate” mentality which is so prevalent today. I have adjusted my planning to incorporate this principle in our product launches. Properly executed, the ZigZag Principle will keep folks like me out of financial hot water.”
“Plow straight ahead to reach your goal? Rich Christiansen has unlocked the key to saving yourself a lot of time and money in your business with his ZigZag Principle. Rich’s advice is straightforward, sensible, and most importantly, he has proven that it works time after time. Want the problem of too much success in business? Read the book and get ready.”
“Most business owners get caught up in reaching their end-goal, not realizing that their initial goal is actually amoving target. I, like most small business owners and entrepreneurs, have been guilty of this, but I found the solution in Rich Christiansen’s ZigZag Principle. Through using his system, I’ve been able to successfully navigate the transition of my business from one service area to another.”
“Without having learned the ZigZag Principle, I am confident that not only would my business transition been painful — it would have been a complete disaster. I’ve learned to fail efficiently, thanks to Rich.”
“I’ve personally known and worked with Rich Christiansen since 2007. This I know: He’s the real thing. Rich confidently delivers, and humbly acknowledges the challenges every entrepreneur faces. He’s been there. Rich is truly the entrepreneur’s entrepreneur. The ZigZag Principle is the first start-up road map I’ve seen that really works. It’s simple to understand. It can be successfully applied to any bootstrapped business (or frugal enterprise).
“More importantly, it gets results. Like magic. It gets money coming in the door, fast. Good customers buying your products and services. The ZigZag Principle reduces risk while it clears the path for real, sustainable success. And it scales, baby! Save yourself the pain of spinning your wheels hoping to raise investment for your start-up. Simply apply Rich’s formula. What are you waiting for?”
“The ZigZag Principle highlights the perfect balance between staying focused on what’s most important in a business, but also helps you become aware of opportunities you may not have seen coming. Since I’ve learned about this concept, I’ve been able to let go of some of my fierce desire to stay focused on only one objective and open my eyes to opportunities that I would have normally passed up. The result is a business that has evolved into something I didn’t envision three years ago — it’s better.”
“The ZigZag Principle has revolutionized the way I run my business. It works, it measures, it performs. Every business should know and implement this principle!”