How Jeff Bezos’ First Job at McDonald’s Helped Make Him Rich
Written by
Chris Adam
Edited by
Daria Uhlig
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Sometimes when you’re working at a first job as a young person, you realize the skills and knowledge you’re building will help you later in life. Other times, they don’t become apparent until you’re a working adult.
Among the most popular places for teens to work are restaurants. That was the case for one of the world’s richest men, whose first job was a position at McDonald’s. Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has talked about how that early low-wage job shaped his future in business and put him on a path to building wealth.
Learning To Be Responsible
“In interviews over the years, Bezos has remarked on how flipping burgers helped him learn managerial skills, gain responsibility and have fun,” Fortune reported.
Bezos said he was a back-of-the-house employee and faced the challenge of keeping everything going at the right pace during busy times.
In “Golden Opportunity: Remarkable Careers That Began at McDonald’s,” author Cody Teets quoted Bezos as having said, “You can learn responsibility in any job, if you take it seriously. You learn a lot as a teenager working at McDonald’s. It’s different from what you learn in school. Don’t underestimate the value of that!”
Gaining Business Insights
Bezos also has highlighted how his fast-food job helped him gain transferable skills that aided him in his career as an entrepreneur and business leader.
Among them, according to Bezos, is how to run an efficient operation and meet customer expectations. Though he didn’t interact much with McDonald’s customers, Bezos said he learned about putting an emphasis on quick, effective service and the importance of customer satisfaction. Bezos said customer satisfaction became a cornerstone of Amazon’s business ethos.
Bezos also learned early insights into managing workflows and knowing the importance of efficiency and pace in business. In addition, as many other leaders who worked in fast-food restaurants and retail places have expressed, there are valuable lessons in dealing with pressure while maintaining a high level of customer service.
Embracing Hard Work and Risks
Thanks in part to his early job at McDonald’s, Bezos has been able to build a business empire. Having learned the value of hard work from those restaurant days, Bezos was able to put in the work needed to build Amazon. But he also had to take risks — which he has said is an important mindset to embrace if you want to achieve success.
“When he was just 30 years old, Bezos had a Wall Street job at hedge fund D. E. Shaw, but he saw promise in the future of the internet economy and got the idea to build a bookstore online,” CNBC Make It reported. “Bezos’s boss agreed the idea had potential, but he still tried to convince Bezos that it would be less of a risk to keep the job he had.”
Bezos said he learned to embrace risks to minimize having regrets later in life. Bezos took the chance, started Amazon in a garage and then sent the website live a year later. That set him on the path to become one of the richest men in the world.
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