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- NEWEST VIDEO Like this video? Please give it a thumbs up below and/or leave a comment - Thank you!!! My name is Evan Carmichael and I believe that the fastest and most effective way to build a business is to model the strategies of people who have already done what you're trying to do. I call it Modeling the Masters. Today we're going to take a closer look at how two men would take a $5 correspondence course in ice cream making from Pennsylvania State University to learn a business. That $5 course turned these two life-long friends into the creators of one of the most popular brands of ice cream in the world. This is the story of Ben & Jerry's founders Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield and the top 3 lessons that you can learn from their success. “When you are led by values, it doesn't cost your business, it helps your business.“ - Jerry Greenfield Ben Cohen (born on March 18, 1951), 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 to creating his own flavours 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 his senior year of high school. Cohen attended Calhoun High School in Merrick, New York, which is where he met his future business partner Jerry Greenfield (born on March 14, 1951). Greenfield met Cohen during a gym class together in 1963. The two self-proclaimed wild boys became fast friends, and even double-dated in Cohen's convertible. After parting ways and bouncing 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 or ice cream, they settled on ice cream as the product they would launch -- 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 for a whopping $5, which convinced them they were on the right track. In May, 1978, Ben & Jerry's Homemade Ice Cream Parlour opened up in what was previously an abandoned gas station that they had renovated using $8,000 of their own money and $4,000 borrowed. By creating unusual but tasty flavours like “Chubby Hubby“ and the 14,000 calorie “Vermonster“ -- which was Greenfield's job to manufacture -- and sponsoring community festivals, word of the store quickly spread throughout the town. By the end of 1984, Ben & Jerry's had sales in excess of $4 million, double the figure from the previous year. By 1999, the company's total revenue was $237 million. Through a strategy of engaging in social activism and corporate social responsibility and using all natural ingredients for their products, Ben & Jerry's stood out in a highly competitive industry. In 2000, the company and its franchises were acquired by Unilever for $326 million. Action Item #1: Behave Responsibly Action Item #2: Treat Your Workers Well Action Item #3: Challenge the Big Guys True Story When Jerry Greenfield was asked to speak at The College of New Jersey for senior's week he discussed his decision to sell Ben & Jerry's to Unilever. He said, “We sold to them because they have a good sense of humour. The dame day they bought Ben & Jerry's, they bought SlimFast.“ Quotes “Ben and I have been friends since junior high in Long Island, where we were the shortest, fattest kids on the track.“ “Business can be a source of progressive change.“ “Business has never had improving the quality of life of the general public as one of its priorities. We decided to redefine the bottom line at Ben & Jerry's.“ What Do You Think? Does your company behave responsibly? Do you treat your employees well? Are you willing to challenge the big guys? Tell me what you think by leaving a message below.
