Rich Hamilton is the author of books and tapes about the Disney business model, including the award-winning Disney Magic: Business Strategy You Can Use at Work and at Home. He has a special passion for the Disney business model, and has been studying it since 1986.
Rich writes and speaks on customer service, selling, leadership, and business strategy.
Today, Rich consults and speaks on management skills that help create a sales-oriented company culture.
A former computer systems analyst and programmer, Rich has used online marketing techniques since before the beginning of the world-wide web.
He has been an advocate of the idea that the owner of a website should control the website.
How did RunYourOwnWebsite.com come about?
Rich says, "I've told friends for years that they could design and run their own websites. But they encountered frustrations beyond what they expected, and website projects were ending in failure."
"We found incredible software that makes it easy to run a website. In fact, it's even easy to create a very plain website with standard news posting and blog features.
And that's how this website came to be.
Is there a Disney connection?
"One of my books is Internet Business Magic: Using Disney's Magic Strategy in Your Own Online Business. In that book, we take the Disney business strategy, and describe how to apply it to an online business," Hamilton says.
"That's what we're doing here. Taking those strategies and making them part of the process of building a website.
"Unlike Disney, who has literally spent millions to create their websites, we are doing this for small and medium size businesses who want a dynamic website that they can grow a little each day, or each week, without an internet developer on staff and without paying a retainer to a website designer.
"The first goal is to apply the Magic Strategy, and build the website from the elements of a business that make it attractive to visitors. The second goal is to do it for a reasonable, fixed cost.
"Lots of website designers make some money up front designing a website. Then they make a ton of money maintaining that website, either with a monthly retainer or with ongoing time charges. We have a different idea."
The tortoise
And what's the deal with the tortoise? Rich explains:
"Tortuga is a sweet little tortoise who lives in a garden. She is the subject of a story I tell in some of my presentations about Walt Disney.
"The tortoise also exemplifies a profound secret of success. As in the story of 'the tortoise and the hare,' tortoises are very persistent. They may move slowly most of the time, but when they want to go somewhere, you can distract them with food, or move them to a different path. They may stop for a minute to eat the food, but then they head back to their original path, on toward their determined destination.
"I think we can all learn something from the tortoise, and use it for our own success. I put Tortuga on most of my company's websites, and on brochures, so I never forget the value of persistence and determination."
Rich Hamilton is available for a limited number of speaking engagements each year.
Rich Hamilton Productions offers behavior and values profiles for staff selection and management; learning systems for sales, marketing, and advertising; consulting services; and website design (through www.RYOWebsite.com).
