5 Business Lessons from Breaking Bad

For many it is one of the best series that has been created; for others it is like the tech companies in 2000, overvalued.

Spoiler alert

For many it is one of the exceptional collection that has been created; for others it's far just like the tech corporations in 2000, hyped up. Despite not being a person who watches many series, I commenced looking this with my female friend and after a sluggish first season for me, I became hooked. I without delay began to identify many teachings which might be gift both inside the collection and in the global of enterprise and finance. For this purpose, after 5 adrenaline-stuffed seasons, I decided to go away you what, for me, are the pinnacle five business and financial training from Breaking Bad:

Sell, sell and sell

All businesses have two basic functions: producing the product and selling the product; Everything else is secondary. It is no use having an excellent product and not being able to sell it… and this is the challenge that Walter faces throughout the series. He was an expert making the best methamphetamine in the entire region with more than 95% purity, an extremely superior product as he often mentions it. However, he realizes that he just does not know what the sales process is like, so the other part of the business urges him. That is why throughout the seasons he focuses on finding a distributor, starting with Jesse and his team (Skinny Pete and Badger), then with Tuco, Gus Fring, Mike, Declay and finally Lydia. They were all the peddlers of Heisenberg's drugged purity. With them, White manages to go from selling a few grams on the streets of Albuquerque to reaching markets in Eastern Europe. By the way, to improve your sales, here is our course for you to have a bigger empire than Los Pollos Hermanos: Online course Create your Business Model in 21 days.

A good brand is a tremendous competitive advantage

If you watched the show, you know what I'm talking about: blue meth. It is obvious that the color is what distinguishes it, but what really makes the difference is the purity and quality of the drug. The sum of the superior quality plus the visual distinctive was what made Walter and Jesse succeed in positioning their product in the minds of consumers (and also of the DEA). Recall the scenes where Lydia tells Todd that if it's not blue, her buyers won't want it, as well as the endless opportunities Hank was obsessed with getting blue meth. The blue color represented superior quality, the same producer (Heisenberg) and a differentiating factor. For this same brand, both Walter talking with Declay in the desert and Lydia said, and very correctly, that this drug could be sold well above the common methamphetamine, which speaks of a very strong price power, which he likes a lot Warren Buffett. Undoubtedly the color blue represented a competitive advantage. Recall the scenes where Lydia tells Todd that if it's not blue, her buyers won't want it, as well as the endless opportunities Hank was obsessed with getting blue meth. The blue color represented superior quality, the same producer (Heisenberg) and a differentiating factor.

For this same brand, both Walter talking with Declay in the desert and Lydia said, and very correctly, that this drug could be sold well above the common methamphetamine, which speaks of a very strong price power, which he likes a lot Warren Buffett. Undoubtedly the color blue represented a competitive advantage.

The team is everything

I think it was pretty evident throughout the series that Walter without Jesse wasn't working. Beyond his cooking qualities, the reason is that Walter blindly trusted Jesse. Notice that throughout the episodes Walter deeply manipulates Jesse to stay with him, despite having had 2 other partners like Todd and Gale who were the same or better from a technical point of view. Walter saves Jesse's life when the assassins who killed Andrea's brother were going to shoot him, just as Jesse kills Gale to save Walter. From the beginning of the venture, they have partnered to achieve their goals. Without Jesse there would be no Walter and without Walter there would be no Jesse.

Strong strategy and cool head

Gus Fring is the living (or not so living, because he dies) representation of this teaching. A person that borders on the psychopath with no empathy for others, but a very high level of business intelligence is the one who managed to go from offering their product to the Mexican Cartel to being their direct competitor and even attacking them to protect their territory. During Breaking Bad, Gus makes decisions based purely on his business interests and not his emotions, which allowed him to have a solid strategy of production, distribution, alliances and risk management (especially with the DEA). On the other hand, we see how Walter, letting himself be carried away by his emotions, complicates very interesting and predictable cash flows and puts his business and his life at risk, such as when he constantly challenges Gus and seeks to assassinate him, despite having insured some good 3 million dollars for 3 months, a great business in progress and a millionaire laboratory.

Think big

Initially Walter wanted to collect just under $ 800,000 so that his family could live quietly while he was not through the production of a few kilos of methamphetamine that he made in the motor home in the desert with Jesse. Despite having 3 million insured with Gus, he always wanted more, which led him to kill him with a bomb in a hospital. The reason he did it was not just to save his life, but to take that market share, which he often does. Skylar asks him several times "How much money is enough?" It was never going to be enough. Walter at the end of the series, before he escapes, amasses roughly $ 80 million, more than 80 times his initial goal. Like many entrepreneurs, Walter started small, but thought big. He went from being an amateur to a drug king in New Mexico.

Article originally published in Val-u.