During a recent trip we bought my kids a children’s autobiography on Ole Kirk Kristiansen, the founder of LEGO. I had heard pieces of the story before, but wow was it amazing (and all condensed into 50 simple pages). Here were a couple of my key takeaways for entrepreneurs.

Overcome adversity

Ole grew up poor with 13 siblings. There was not much money for food, clothes, or school so he began working at a young age. As he started a family, his wife died after the birth of a child, leaving him to raise four boys on his own. He also had his factory burn down not once but twice! It would have been easy for Ole to give up or play the victim card and blame others. All entrepreneurs get knocked down; the best keep getting back up. He is a great example of the famous quote: “Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react to it.”

Pivot to new things

Ole made several important pivots that changed the future of his business. During the Great Depression, his woodworking business that made household items struggled as times got tough and customers bought less. He decided to pivot to making wooden toys with the idea that people would still buy toys for their children’s happiness even in tough times. That decision saved the business and altered his path. A second major pivot he made was switching from wooden toys to plastic toys. At the time this was a newer/material technology, but he believed in the opportunity and committed to a change that enabled better production and play of his LEGO blocks. Every successful business requires pivots; be aware and don’t be afraid of a new opportunity.

Vision for the future

Once Ole got into toys, he noticed that most toys were single play and not really connected to each other. He envisioned a way that multiple toys could be tied together into one story (think LEGO themes: park, castle, space, etc). He also envisioned a way to make more ways to play with the same toy by allowing you to tear down and restart with your imagination. The repeated use ability of LEGOs is a great feature that keeps kids entertained. Have a big vision for your target customers and build your business toward that vision.

These are just a few nuggets I took away from Ole’s story. There is a lot you can learn from the history of successful entrepreneurs!