Friday, November 11, 2011

Seattle

Today I'm in Seattle for an MBA style Finance course held on the edge of the University of Washington.

As an entrepreneur my strengths have been Sales and Marketing, so a goal I set for myself was to strengthen my finance background. I now have 3 companies in two countries, and the finance side gets more complex each year.

While in Seattle I wanted to visit a good friend of mine, Robin Ross, Senior Director, Corporate Marketing Costco Wholesale.

Robin was kind enough to give a tour of the Costco campus in Issaquah, Washington.


The highlight for me was swinging by the desk of Jim Sinegal, the co-founder and CEO of Costco Wholesale. A real mentor and driving force for me in how I shape my business.

Of course, I was star struck and didn't get a picture. Jim's office and style are well known in corporate America. He answers his own phone, has a no door policy and only gets paid $350k per year to run a $83 billion dollar monster of a company.

I did get a picture of Jim's favorite saying, "You've got to take the shit with the sugar"


Cheers,
Calvin