What I learned from reading Time to Make the Donuts: The Founder of Dunkin Donuts Shares an American Journey by William Rosenberg.
Back in the late 1960s, Mario Puzzo, the author of the Godfather, said to me, bill, I want to write your life story.
You've got a hell of a story to tell.
I said, thanks, Mario, but I'm too busy right now.
I was growing Dunkin donuts, which I had founded in 1950, and the business was expanding so fast, I didn't have time to stop and reflect about my life.
I had too much going on at the heart of things.
I'm a man of action.
I like results.
But Mario's offer tempted me because I had read some of his earlier books and thought he was a fantastic writer.
But there's a right time for everything.
In the year 2000, I finally sat down to write this book.
At 84 years old, I've had more than enough time to reflect on what works and doesn't work in business and life, and I want to share this knowledge with you.
Everything in this book is based on what I know to be true and what I believe to be the facts.
Its my opportunity to show you the struggles that are part of any successful venture and impart the wisdom gained, the principles and philosophies that ive developed over the years so that you may benefit as well.
This is my story as I see it, of all that led up to the founding of Dunkin donuts and its phenomenal growth.
Its about everything that I achieved, my personal triumphs and trials and my multiple bouts with cancer, take advantage of my experiences and use them to your greatest benefit.
Nothing is brand new, whether it's franchising the Internet or something else that we haven't even considered yet, coming down the pike in the future, the basic tenets still apply.
My successes came from hard work born out of determination and risk taking, persistence, innovation, vision and passion.
How did I do it?
How did a poor kid who dropped out of school at the age of 14 to deliver telegrams in the height of the Great Depression become a self made multimillionaire?
In all that I accomplished, you will notice I established a method for success that has taken me to the top.