来自戴尔的建议

　　当时我看到一个大机遇就是以更有效的方式提供电脑技术。那后来成为了戴尔公司的核心理念，自那以后我们便一直坚持不懈。

　　I started the business with a simple question: how can we make the process of buying a computer better? The answer was :sell the computer directly to the end customers. Eliminate the reseller’s markup² and pass the savings³ on to the customers.

　　我是从一个简单的问题开始创业的：我们如何使购买电脑的过程变得更方便?答案是：直接把电脑卖给终端用户。去除转销商这一层的钱，并把省下的钱还给用户。

　　It hadn’t occurred to me that others hadn’t figured it out. I thought it was pretty obvious. I am sure if I had taken the time to ask, plenty of people would have told me that my idea wouldn’t work-I have heard that a lot in the fifteen years since starting the business.

　　当时我并不知道其他人没有意识到这一点。在我看来，那是相当明显的。我确信当时如果我肯花点时间问问人的话，会有很多人说我的想法行不通-创业后十五年我听过许多这样的话。

　　Sometimes it’s better not to ask or to listen-when people tell you something can’t be done. I didn’t ask for permission or approval. I just went ahead and did it.

　　有时不闻不问是最好的办法-当别人告诉你行不通的时候。我就没有去问别人的许可和赞同。我只是一往直前的去做了。

　　On January 2, 1984, I went back to Austin earlier than I would have to attend classes, and I did all the things you need to do to set up a business. I registered the company with the State of Texas as “PC’s Limited”. I placed ads in the classified section in our local newspaper.

　　1984年1月2日，我比开学时间略早一点回到了奥斯汀，我做了一切成立新公司需要做的准备。我注册了个德州公司，名为“个人电脑有限公司”。我在当地报纸的分类广告上登了一则广告。

　　Through my previous contract with customers and the small ad I placed in the paper, I was already getting a lot of business. I was selling between $50,000 to $80,000 upgraded PCs, upgrade kits⁴, and add-on computer components⁵ to people in Austin area. Not long after starting the classes I was able to move from a stuffy⁶ room that I shared with a roommate to a condominium with high ceilings and two bedrooms.( I didn’t, however, tell my parents for a few months that I moved.)

　　通过我与客户的早期接触以及在报纸上的广告，当时我已经接到了很多业务。我在奥斯汀地区出售的升级电脑，升级工具，附加零件，每月的销售额达到5万到8万美元之间。开学后不久我便从和室友共住的闷热宿舍搬出来，住进了有高高的天花板，和两个卧室的公寓套间。(然而，我是在好几个月后才把搬家的事情告诉父母的。)

　　In early May, about a week before I took my final exam to complete my freshman⁷ year, I incorporated the company as “Dell Computer Corporation”, doing business as “PC’s Limited”. we moved the business from my condo to a 1000-square-foot office space in a small business center in North Austin. I hired a few people to take orders over telephone and a few more to fulfill⁸ them. Manufacturing consisted of three guys with screwdivers sitting at six-foot tables upgrading machines. Business continued to grow, and I began to think of what the potential could be if I could devote myself to the venture, full- time.

　　五月初，大约是我一年级期末考试前一周吧，我的“戴尔电脑公司成立”，以股份公司形式经营“个人电脑”。公司的地址也从我的公寓搬到了奥斯汀北部一个一千多尺的小商业中心写字楼里面。我雇了些人接电话订单，还有一些人负责填单。生产部有六个人，拿着螺丝起子坐在六英尺的桌子旁升级电脑。业务逐渐扩大，我也开始考虑如果我全心全意的扑在生意上，公司是否还有潜力。

　　Where I came from, not going to the college is not an acceptable option. Convincing my parents to allow me to leave school would have been impossible. So I just went ahead and did it, whatever the consequences. I finished my freshman year, and left.

　　不上大学在我的家乡是难以被接受的，要说服父母同意我辍学几乎是不可能的。因此我毅然不顾的我行我素。在念完一年级以后，我便离开了学校。

　　After a while, my parents forgave me. And a litter bit after that, I forgave them, too.

　　后来，我父母原谅了我。再后来，我也原谅了他们。

　　People asked me now, “were you scared?” Sure.

　　人们现在问我：“你当时害怕吗?”当然害怕。

　　But it turned out, the timing⁹ for PC’s Limited couldn’t have been better.

　　而结果证明，那个时机成立个人电脑公司再好不过。

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