hi I’m Evan Carmichael welcome to
another edition of balling the Masters I
believe that the fastest and most
effective way to grow your business is
to model the strategies of people who
have already done what you’re trying to
do so today we’re going to look at how
two young friends decide that they
wanted to start a business so they took
a five dollar course in ice cream making
thinking this would be their passion and
they turned that five dollar course into
one of the most well known ice cream
brands in the world this is a story of
the founders of Ben and Jerry’s ice
cream and a top three lessons that you
can learn from their success Ben Cohen a
Brooklyn New York native remembers being
fascinated with ice cream from a young
age when his father used to regularly
eat entire half gallons directly from
the carton using a large soup spoon
after dinner the curious young Cohen
would take decreed in his own flavors of
ice cream by combining it with various
cookies and candies in fact Cohen’s
first job was working as an ice cream
truck driver in a senior year of high
school
Cohen attended Calhoun high school and
mayor of New York which is where he met
his future business partner Jerry
Greenfield Greenfield Medeco enduring a
gym class together in 1963 the two
self-proclaimed wild boys became fast
friends and even double dated and
Cohen’s convertible after parting ways
and bounce it around for several years
Cohen and Greenfield would finally meet
up again in New York and decide to go
into business together both Greenfield
and Cohen had an interest in the food
business and after debating whether to
focus on bagels our ice cream they sell
it on ice cream as a product they would
launched the machinery for bagels was
too expensive
immediately the pair began doing their
industry research they took a
correspondence course in ice cream
making from Penn State University before
whopping $5 which convinced them that
they were on the right track in May 1978
Ben and Jerry’s homemade ice cream
parlor opened up what was previously an
abandoned gas station that they’ve
renovated using 8,000 dollars of their
own money and $4,000 borrowed by
creating unusual but tasty flavors like
Chubby Hubby and the 14 thousand calorie
ver monster which was Greenfields job to
manufacture and sponsoring community
events
word of the store quickly spread
throughout the town by the end of 1984
Ben and Jerry’s had sales in excess of
four million dollars double the figure
from the previous year by 1999 the
company’s total revenue was 237 million
dollars through a strategy of engaging
in social activism and corporate social
responsibility and using all-natural
ingredients for their products Ben and
Jerry’s stood out in a highly
competitive industry in 2000 the company
and its franchises were acquired by
Unilever for 326 million dollars by
following their passion for the food
industry and by believing in their
socially conscious ideals Ben and Jerry
really do go from a five dollar course
and wrenching an abandoned gas station
into building a well known brand and
being acquired for over three hundred
million dollars to help you copy their
success here are the top three action
items and you can learn from Ben & Jerry
action item number one behave
responsibly if you look at any lasting
and successful company you’ll see that
they have a set of core values that they
really believe in it helps guide the
decisions and also tracks employees and
customers who believe the same way one
example of a core value is behaving
responsibly do you believe that your
business should exist not just to serve
your customers but also to serve the
greater community if yes you should
incorporate this message into everything
you do so people know about it and will
be attracted to your business Ben &
Jerry’s has become famous not only for
his unique and delicious flavors of ice
cream but also for the path to complete
oak to achieve a success from day one
the two childhood friends knew that they
wanted to build a different kind of
business one that approached social
responsibility was serious commitment
with a business model that incorporated
the principles of corporate social
responsibility Ben & Jerry’s
demonstrated that significant growth is
possible even when a company looks
beyond profits in the view of the public
good
according to Cohen and Greenfield Ben
and I built Ben & Jerry’s on the idea
that business has a responsibility to
the community and environment if you
open up the mind the opportunity to
address both profits and social
conditions are limitless
it’s a process of innovation if we were
going to have a business we were going
to have one that was consistent with our
values we measured our success not by
how much we made but by how much we
contribute to the community it was a
two-part bottom line
action item number two treat your
workers well growth comes from people if
you don’t bring on people then you’re
always be limited in how much you can
grow if you want your people to give
their best to come up with creative
ideas and tell the world about you treat
them well it’s not just about money
people want to feel like they’re part of
something greater than themselves they
want to work on challenging projects and
feel like they’re growing when you treat
your workers well you don’t just get
more done you’ll have a lot more fun in
1987 Greenfield came up with the idea
for Ben and Jerry’s joy game with a
mission to infuse joy into everything we
do the Vermont hippies wanted to be fun
and have an official part of their
company culture initially the joy gangs
activities were limited to providing
free pizza and 15-minute massages to
staff however as the company expanded so
too did the range of the joy gang’s
projects today the joy gangs approach to
bringing fun to the workplace is
three-pronged Joe gang grants awards up
to five hundred dollars to employees who
have an idea on how to make work more
fun from producing the hot cocoa machine
for the company’s freezer crew to a
stereo for the production crew Cohen and
Greenfield were willing to fund any
creative ideas that might make for
happier workers along with other
incentives and benefits such as allowing
workers bring their dogs to work or
jeans if the offers workers chose to
according the corn in Greenfield we
thought why don’t we get together and do
something fun and be our own bosses and
since we like to eat we should do
something with food we wanted our
workers to work hard but do it in an
environment that was fun
no one wants to dread going to work our
employees are what makes Ben and Jerry’s
successful action item number three
challenge the big guys whatever industry
you’re in
they’re probably big companies already
dominating your market don’t be afraid
of them just find a different way to do
things smaller companies are more agile
chemic decisions quickly can provide
better service and can get closer to the
customers use those benefits as a way to
challenge the big guys and start winning
some market share corn and green filled
with just a couple of hippies try to
avoid becoming simply another big
company living through the 1960s a to
dislike business for all of its negative
social and environmental effects 1984
big business came out to the little guys
pillsbury the multi-million dollar
company behind haagen-dazs began to feel
threatened by the rapid growth of ben
and jerry’s an attempt to shut down the
young upstarts Pillsbury game Ben and
Jerry’s distributors throughout Boston
an ultimatum Sal haagen-dazs or Sal Ben
and Jerry’s but not both corn and
Greenfield were not about to let this
corporate giant shut them down after
finding little hope and their legal
options the two decided to take matters
into their own hands together they
launched their now famous what’s a
Doughboy afraid of campaign and began
taking it as public as they could from
placing advertisements on the side of
buses to renting banner planes for
flying around major sporting events
corner Greenfeld did whatever they could
to think of to gain support for their
little business it worked and only made
Ben & Jerry’s more successful
according to Conan Greenfield we rally
people around our cause and it worked
we started getting like a hundred calls
a night most of them between the hours
of midnight and 3:00 a.m.
help to Vermont hippies fight the giant
Pillsbury corporation we did not want to
become another cog in the economic
machine
so remember behave responsibly treat
your workers well and challenge the big
guys to finish up this video I wanted to
share one of my favorite true stories
about Ben and Jerry and some of their
best quotes when Jerry Greenfield was
asked to speak at the college of new
jersey for seniors week he discussed the
decision to sell Ben & Jerry’s a
Unilever he said we sold to them because
they had a good sense of humor the same
day they bought Ben & Jerry’s they
bought slim-fast
thank you for joining me for another
edition of all in the masters if you
like the video and you want to see more
please give it a thumbs up below and I’d
also love to hear your thoughts and
feedback review a question about your
business please leave in the comments
below I always check those out so thank
you and we’ll see you on the next
episode
you
another edition of balling the Masters I
believe that the fastest and most
effective way to grow your business is
to model the strategies of people who
have already done what you’re trying to
do so today we’re going to look at how
two young friends decide that they
wanted to start a business so they took
a five dollar course in ice cream making
thinking this would be their passion and
they turned that five dollar course into
one of the most well known ice cream
brands in the world this is a story of
the founders of Ben and Jerry’s ice
cream and a top three lessons that you
can learn from their success Ben Cohen a
Brooklyn New York native remembers being
fascinated with ice cream from a young
age when his father used to regularly
eat entire half gallons directly from
the carton using a large soup spoon
after dinner the curious young Cohen
would take decreed in his own flavors of
ice cream by combining it with various
cookies and candies in fact Cohen’s
first job was working as an ice cream
truck driver in a senior year of high
school
Cohen attended Calhoun high school and
mayor of New York which is where he met
his future business partner Jerry
Greenfield Greenfield Medeco enduring a
gym class together in 1963 the two
self-proclaimed wild boys became fast
friends and even double dated and
Cohen’s convertible after parting ways
and bounce it around for several years
Cohen and Greenfield would finally meet
up again in New York and decide to go
into business together both Greenfield
and Cohen had an interest in the food
business and after debating whether to
focus on bagels our ice cream they sell
it on ice cream as a product they would
launched the machinery for bagels was
too expensive
immediately the pair began doing their
industry research they took a
correspondence course in ice cream
making from Penn State University before
whopping $5 which convinced them that
they were on the right track in May 1978
Ben and Jerry’s homemade ice cream
parlor opened up what was previously an
abandoned gas station that they’ve
renovated using 8,000 dollars of their
own money and $4,000 borrowed by
creating unusual but tasty flavors like
Chubby Hubby and the 14 thousand calorie
ver monster which was Greenfields job to
manufacture and sponsoring community
events
word of the store quickly spread
throughout the town by the end of 1984
Ben and Jerry’s had sales in excess of
four million dollars double the figure
from the previous year by 1999 the
company’s total revenue was 237 million
dollars through a strategy of engaging
in social activism and corporate social
responsibility and using all-natural
ingredients for their products Ben and
Jerry’s stood out in a highly
competitive industry in 2000 the company
and its franchises were acquired by
Unilever for 326 million dollars by
following their passion for the food
industry and by believing in their
socially conscious ideals Ben and Jerry
really do go from a five dollar course
and wrenching an abandoned gas station
into building a well known brand and
being acquired for over three hundred
million dollars to help you copy their
success here are the top three action
items and you can learn from Ben & Jerry
action item number one behave
responsibly if you look at any lasting
and successful company you’ll see that
they have a set of core values that they
really believe in it helps guide the
decisions and also tracks employees and
customers who believe the same way one
example of a core value is behaving
responsibly do you believe that your
business should exist not just to serve
your customers but also to serve the
greater community if yes you should
incorporate this message into everything
you do so people know about it and will
be attracted to your business Ben &
Jerry’s has become famous not only for
his unique and delicious flavors of ice
cream but also for the path to complete
oak to achieve a success from day one
the two childhood friends knew that they
wanted to build a different kind of
business one that approached social
responsibility was serious commitment
with a business model that incorporated
the principles of corporate social
responsibility Ben & Jerry’s
demonstrated that significant growth is
possible even when a company looks
beyond profits in the view of the public
good
according to Cohen and Greenfield Ben
and I built Ben & Jerry’s on the idea
that business has a responsibility to
the community and environment if you
open up the mind the opportunity to
address both profits and social
conditions are limitless
it’s a process of innovation if we were
going to have a business we were going
to have one that was consistent with our
values we measured our success not by
how much we made but by how much we
contribute to the community it was a
two-part bottom line
action item number two treat your
workers well growth comes from people if
you don’t bring on people then you’re
always be limited in how much you can
grow if you want your people to give
their best to come up with creative
ideas and tell the world about you treat
them well it’s not just about money
people want to feel like they’re part of
something greater than themselves they
want to work on challenging projects and
feel like they’re growing when you treat
your workers well you don’t just get
more done you’ll have a lot more fun in
1987 Greenfield came up with the idea
for Ben and Jerry’s joy game with a
mission to infuse joy into everything we
do the Vermont hippies wanted to be fun
and have an official part of their
company culture initially the joy gangs
activities were limited to providing
free pizza and 15-minute massages to
staff however as the company expanded so
too did the range of the joy gang’s
projects today the joy gangs approach to
bringing fun to the workplace is
three-pronged Joe gang grants awards up
to five hundred dollars to employees who
have an idea on how to make work more
fun from producing the hot cocoa machine
for the company’s freezer crew to a
stereo for the production crew Cohen and
Greenfield were willing to fund any
creative ideas that might make for
happier workers along with other
incentives and benefits such as allowing
workers bring their dogs to work or
jeans if the offers workers chose to
according the corn in Greenfield we
thought why don’t we get together and do
something fun and be our own bosses and
since we like to eat we should do
something with food we wanted our
workers to work hard but do it in an
environment that was fun
no one wants to dread going to work our
employees are what makes Ben and Jerry’s
successful action item number three
challenge the big guys whatever industry
you’re in
they’re probably big companies already
dominating your market don’t be afraid
of them just find a different way to do
things smaller companies are more agile
chemic decisions quickly can provide
better service and can get closer to the
customers use those benefits as a way to
challenge the big guys and start winning
some market share corn and green filled
with just a couple of hippies try to
avoid becoming simply another big
company living through the 1960s a to
dislike business for all of its negative
social and environmental effects 1984
big business came out to the little guys
pillsbury the multi-million dollar
company behind haagen-dazs began to feel
threatened by the rapid growth of ben
and jerry’s an attempt to shut down the
young upstarts Pillsbury game Ben and
Jerry’s distributors throughout Boston
an ultimatum Sal haagen-dazs or Sal Ben
and Jerry’s but not both corn and
Greenfield were not about to let this
corporate giant shut them down after
finding little hope and their legal
options the two decided to take matters
into their own hands together they
launched their now famous what’s a
Doughboy afraid of campaign and began
taking it as public as they could from
placing advertisements on the side of
buses to renting banner planes for
flying around major sporting events
corner Greenfeld did whatever they could
to think of to gain support for their
little business it worked and only made
Ben & Jerry’s more successful
according to Conan Greenfield we rally
people around our cause and it worked
we started getting like a hundred calls
a night most of them between the hours
of midnight and 3:00 a.m.
help to Vermont hippies fight the giant
Pillsbury corporation we did not want to
become another cog in the economic
machine
so remember behave responsibly treat
your workers well and challenge the big
guys to finish up this video I wanted to
share one of my favorite true stories
about Ben and Jerry and some of their
best quotes when Jerry Greenfield was
asked to speak at the college of new
jersey for seniors week he discussed the
decision to sell Ben & Jerry’s a
Unilever he said we sold to them because
they had a good sense of humor the same
day they bought Ben & Jerry’s they
bought slim-fast
thank you for joining me for another
edition of all in the masters if you
like the video and you want to see more
please give it a thumbs up below and I’d
also love to hear your thoughts and
feedback review a question about your
business please leave in the comments
below I always check those out so thank
you and we’ll see you on the next
episode
you
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