How A $100 Loan Helped Create One Of The World’s Biggest Companies

One day, a man named Jim Casey asked a friend to lend him $100 to start a business. It was 1907 and he was only 19 years old at the time.

His idea? UPS—the biggest package delivery company in the world.

Here are a few things his story can teach all of us about life and work:

1. Trust Your Instincts

We’re not sure if Jim Casey ever questioned asking his friend for a loan, but he did it nonetheless. If you’re passionate about your idea and committed to making it a reality, push that doubt aside and go after your goals.

2. Don’t Stop at Success

Is your idea working? Great! Now keep going. People were happy with UPS, then the company gave them something to be even happier about: overnight deliveries. It was a huge success because, well, no one likes to wait.

3. People Want to Be in the Know

People are more likely to believe in your ideas if you’re transparent with them. For UPS, that meant introducing online tracking so customers knew exactly where their package was at all times. Today, the company gets 101.5 million tracking requests every single day.

4. Change is Good

Sometimes slight changes are in order. Other times, success calls for big shifts in how you do things. Did you know that UPS invests $1 billion a year in tech initiatives? That money goes towards things like chatbots for customer service, drones that monitor warehouse stock, and a system that automatically plans tens of thousands of delivery routes per minute.

Ready to be a changemaker? UPS is hiring on WayUp now!