Here's What I Learned at Warren Buffett's 2019 Berkshire Hathaway Shareholder Meeting Entrepreneur Insider expert Mike Koenigs shares his key takeaways on Warren Buffett's approach to business.
By Terry Rice Edited by Dan Bova
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
Mike Koenigs helps business owners and entrepreneurs get paid for being instead of doing by becoming Transformational Business Influencers. His companies have helped over 57,000 customers in 121 countries productize their knowledge to become bestselling authors, in-demand speakers and media masters. One of his biggest pieces of advice: Get out there and meet people! Koenigs recently attended Warren Buffett's 2019 Berkshire Hathaway Annual Shareholders meeting, where he met and listened to some of the most revolutionary minds in the business world. Here are his key takeaways from the event:
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"I've heard about the Berkshire Hathaway meeting for years. But the illusion I was under is that you had to own a share of their stock, which is presently selling for like $222,000, to attend. I only thought it was for the big shots. I didn't know that they sold B shares, which are currently around $200. If you buy one B share of a Berkshire Hathaway stock, you can attend this annual event and get four passes. It's the best $200 I've ever spent -- because it's an asset that appreciates -- but more valuable than the stock is the knowledge you gain."
Related: 24 Things You Need to Know About Warren Buffett
Focusing on playing the long game.
"Buffett and Vice Chairman Charlie Munger talked about the fact that they have a lot of time off. As an entrepreneur, it's easy to get into that, 'I can't take time off because I have to do this and this and this and this.' We get into the doing trap, the chaos trap. The way to get out of that trap is to stop doing all the time. Most of what we do is nonsensical chaos addiction that doesn't move us forward, and it's not the long game. And the only way to play the long game is to stop doing the short game."
Modeling Warren Buffet's approach.
"I have a friend named Tai Lopez. He's got a huge platform online, and by his account, he's spent about a half a billion dollars on advertising online. Tai has dedicated a lot of time thinking about Berkshire Hathaway, Warren Buffett and modeling how he thinks. Tai told me that Warren said at one point, 'I've made about 25 great decisions in the past 50 years.' He doesn't waste time thinking about the small stuff. He thinks about big things. And he knows the power of brands. They acquire brands that are going to be around a long time, like General Mills. Cheerios -- that is a license to print money. Try to model your thinking to be in line with theirs, because historically, when the S&P is doing 10%, Berkshire Hathaway consistently is doing 23 – 25%."
The value of building a personal brand.
"The distinction between your personal brand and the brand of your business doesn't exist. Build a following and train that following to buy from you where you produce value. If you've got a personality that people like, that makes them feel good, they will pay you three times five times or ten times more for an identical product or service. And once you've built an asset or brand that you sell, your personal brand following will follow you to your next project. You get a kickstart rather than building from scratch."
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