Paul Orfalea

Founder, Kinko’s

Q1. Why did you start the first Kinko’s store?

A1. I was at USC and I needed some copies. And so I saw this place where they were making Xerox copies and there were long lines and I think the easiest way to know if you have a good business is customers in line. So I saw these folks and I thought, well, if they’re at one college, why wouldn’t they go to another copies and make copies. So that’s basically how I got into business.

Q2. Did you always know what you wanted to do - build a business?

A2. No, I don’t think you ever should. I think life should be like an impressionistic painting. So you have an idea where you want to go but it’s not too detailed. I wasn’t in business to help readers it wasn’t my passion. I did it for the money. There’s nothing wrong with making money. And you know what our stores that made the most money had the happiest workers, the happiest customers.

Q3. Why the name Kinko’s

A3. Oh, you think of good names for businesses, they have strong consonants. Google, Xerox, Kodak, Kinko’s. It has a strong consonant and plus I had this kinky kinky hair that was – my nickname was Kinko.

Q4. Can you talk about how ADD and dyslexia played a role in your life?

A4. Well, first of all, I didn’t – there was no such a term, I never heard of the term dyslexic until I was about twenty seven. Then ADD became popular when I was in my forties, so I never had these kind of terms. I never had a term to fall back on. I remember hearing my mother trying to describe my problems, and saying, well, he’s a problem child. But as a child I flunked second grade, I went to an eye-doctor, three days a week. I had to go memory school.

Q5. Did people think you were stupid?

A5. Oh yeah, I was categorized - it’s not a very sensitive term, but I was called retarded, I was retarded. I had to go to school with retarded kids. I don’t know what term they use now, but it wasn’t a very sensitive, it wasn’t a very sensitive term. And I was expelled from a school once, I was expelled from a school, and I remember the vice principal said, well maybe you could enroll – to my mother – maybe someday Paul could learn to lay carpet. Like that could be my highest aspiration in life.

Q6. So then, what were your aspirations?

A6. I knew I’d save my money and learn how to be financially independent. My parents more – it was more important in my family that I knew how to save money and be a good money manager than grades. So I knew I’d probably be good at managing money.

I knew I’d have my own business my whole life. My whole life I knew I’d never get a job. My personality wouldn’t lend it self for other people. I got fired after two days.

Q7. What about your personality makes it so that you’re not suitable…

A7. Well if you’re not a competent person like myself, and I’m not, I can’t do things very well, I’m not mechanical, I can’t fix things and I can’t write letters, I have to rely on other people. So you have to always live in a world that you trust people, so I was very lucky I had to trust people. Or I wouldn’t survive.

Q8. Describe your role at Kinko’s.

A8. My job at Kinko’s is that I – my role at Kinko’s was chief wanderer. I work with very capable people who ran that business beautifully. My job was going store to store to store looking for what people were doing right, and exploiting that. Every store they were doing something that I could take to the other stores and um, and replicate what the success at that one store.

Q9. What does re-purposing yourself mean?

A9. Well I think retirement means you’re retired, you discovered tired again? I guess it’s a kind of lame word. Repurposing is that to just rediscover your sense of purpose in life. And I don’t think it’s very hard you know. I was always a kind of a child that could entertain myself. So I teach in school, and in various business, and here in the foundation we have – I mean good deeds are pretty cool to do. Most importantly I wake up every day and I get to think about what I want to think about, not yesterday’s problems like I used to.

Q10. You now spend time teaching at USC – what is your approach?

A10. It’s all about questions. Life’s about questions. And the best life – the best things in life are the unanswered questions, and questions build on questions. I have them go around the room I give them an article and they have to write on the back of an envelope three questions, and the reason I want it on an envelope is because I want them brief questions. And just by going around the room and having them ask questions, by the middle and the end of the class, semester, the questions they ask are so elegant and so cool.

Q11. What’s the take home for your particular story?

A11. Just keep your optimism, keep your trust, it will be rewarded for you. And I do kind of believe in karma, that good things happen if you exude good vibes, good things will happen to you. s