Business Lessons From Paul English of Kayak

During my usual course of reading in the morning, I spotted an article on Inc.com about Paul English, co-founder of Kayak.com. Straight off the bat, I really admire the way he involves himself in various projects – some for profit and many not-for-profit. He personally answers kayak’s hotlines while donning the role of the Chief Technology officer. Here are some the lessons we must pick from him:

Customer Service Is Paramount: Just like most successful business, Paul English is a fanatic when it comes to customer service and rightly so. Look at any other successful company: they have all built their fortunes on swearing by customer service. Paul English caught on to it pretty quickly. English sees to it that each of his company’s customers get personalized support and service from real staff. He leaves no stone unturned as far as this aspect of his business is concerned.

If you don’t like to work on a Business, It isn’t for you: One of the things that I could derive from Paul’s story is that if you don’t like what you do each day on your business, you are really getting nowhere as far your business profits are concerned. Further, you would never return home happy. It becomes such a pain to wake up each morning to get back to work when you have no intentions to do so. Working on businesses you don’t like is going to make you weary, frustrated and desperate. It leads to nothing but doom.

Bubble with enthusiasm or die: Paul English Wakes up every morning at 6.00 AM and gets a lot of mundane and repetitive things out of the way, as soon as possible. Checking emails, responding to customers or staff and pretty much everything gets done before hitting the work desk. The way Paul gets to work should at least kill all the doubts that doing business is stressful and frustrating; in fact, it is invigorating and totally satisfying.