Delivering Happiness: A Path To Passion Profits and Purpose (Review)

The Zappos Story

“Envision, create , and believe in your own universe, and the universe will form around you.“- Tony Hsieh

I’ve been sent more than a few books to review here on the blog but I’ve only done 2 so far and they were ebooks.

I’m admittedly a nerd who loves when stuff shows up on my door step and I figured I just had another awesome amazon package showing up. However upon opening it I found it was not one but two advanced copies of the Zappos Story: Delivering Happiness.

I guess in the world of Zappos that’s like sending the customers shoes overnight when you think it’s going to be 2 days. I was like, WOW Cool. It’s just a part of the Zappos model of wowing everyone in their path.

Paying new employees $2000 to quit
Making customer service the entire company not just a part of it
Focusing on Company Culture as the #1 priority.
Apply research from the Science of Happiness to run a business
Help employees grow both personally and professionally
Oh and make some money too

It’s all standard operating procedure at Zappos.com

This book for me was about stepping up my game and seeing a much bigger picture so stick with me because I’m going to give you a chance to get a free copy of it yourself. I seriously hope it does for you what it did for me.

Story Behind The Story

If you don’t know what Zappos.com is then you really want to dig into this read. Zappos.com isn’t just an online company that sells shoes. It’s a model for pushing new boundaries of thought, true happiness, creativity and practicing excellence.

One of the things I dug the most was how Tony Hsieh (Author and CEO of Zappos) shares the successes he had way before Zappos ever even came into the picture.

He shared the story behind the story.

Many times I hear or read about lots of marketers or business owners that paint this effortless picture of overnight success with their primary business however he sheds light on everything that lead up to the current success of Zappos.

I had no idea he had the kind of success that Tony Hsieh had already discovered previously to Zappos. His hard work, dedication and commitment to culture early on had a lot to do with his transformation and application of happiness at Zappos.com.

Marketing Customer Service

A “Customer Obsessed Company” would be one way to pen Zappos but now after reading the book I realize just how obsessed with the customer experience the company is. This concept transcends into the very core of the company and is what makes it work.

In Delivering Happiness you see exactly this works currently within the company but even more importantly exactly how it grew from day one within the company and even before. I really got the evolution that not only the company went through but how it all started which was by knowing all of Tony’s history.

Tony really digs into the fact that it’s always been more than just the money, even though Zappos merged with Amazon.com for an insane amount, Tony says in the book it’s always been about creation. After knowing his full story, you really get that.d

“Another common trap that many marketers fall into is focusing too much on trying to figure out how to generate a lot of buzz, when really they should be focusing on building engagement and trust.“-Tony H.

How does Zappos focus on building engagement and trust?

Via some serious kickass customer experiences.

Those experiences start from the inside out and are are based on 10 core values. That to me, transcend just business.

10 Core Values

“Many companies have core values, but they don’t really commit to them. They usually sound more like something you’d read in a press release.“-Tony H.

By really committing to core values it means you willing to hire and fire based on them. Imagine as a solopreneur or a small business living by that credo yourself?

I tell you it’s made me think on a whole new level even as an individual working from home.

Deliver WOW Through Service
Embrace and Drive Change
Create Fun and A Little Weirdness
Be Adventurous, Creative, and Open-Minded
Pursue Growth and Learning
Build Open and Honest Relationships With Communication
Build a Positive Team and Family Spirit
Do More With Less
Be Passionate and Determined
Be Humble

Now imagine just living those 10 core values in your personal life, regardless of having a business or not?! This is one of the reasons Zappos.com employees dig working for the company. It’s not just a way of business, it’s a way of life.

These values are broken down individually step by step and you’re shown exactly how they were implemented into this successful companies culture. This part of the book alone is worth the time to read.

The Stories

There are pages and pages of stories of employees sharing their unedited insights, stories and true experiences of working at Zappos. There’s no better way to put your core values to work than to be utterly transparent with your employees experiences.

How else would you realize they are really working?

Sure companies may be profitable but how happy is the company from the inside out?

Do you think uninspired or unhappy employees could truly create an amazing customer experience?

I don’t care what size business you have or hell I don’t care if you have a business or not period. There is an amazing amount of value you can extract from this book and apply to your personal or professional life. I know I did.

Looking to be inspired?
Are you looking to run your business with a breath of fresh air and be happy?
Looking to re-difine the rules of how a business is supposed to be run?
Looking to find purpose, passion and profit in your life finally?

Go grab a copy of Delivering Happiness today.

People don’t buy what you do they buy why you do it as Simon Sinek says and it’s never more clearly outlined how to accomplish this than in the Delivering Happiness book.

Book Contest

So here’s what you do next to get in the drawing for the Free Limited Edition Copy of Delivering Happiness:

In the comments below pick one of the 10 core values above and share with me what 1st step you plan to take to implement it this week. As you can see, it can be personal or business based on the values. I’ll pick the one that I think rocks the most and send you a Free Copy of the book!

Think about it, whether you get the book or not you totally win!

Be sure to leave your comments below and I’ll pick the winner by this Friday as well as feature their entry and announce who they are here on the blog next week! Let’s get to it!