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 markup and pass the savings on to the customers.

　　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.

　　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.

　　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.

　　through my previous contract with customers and the small ads 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 kits, and add-on computer components to people in austin area. not long after starting the classes i was able to move from a stuffy 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.?

　　in early may, about a week before i took my final exam to complete my freshman 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 fulfill them. manufacturing consisted of three guys with screwdrivers 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.

　　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.

　　after a while, my parents forgave me. and a little bit after that, i forgave them, too.

　　people asked me now, “were you scared?” sure.

　　but it turned out, the timing for “pc’s limited” couldn’t have been better.

"戴尔公司的故事"英语作文译文:

　　当时我看到,以更有效的方式提供电脑技术是一个巨大的商机;那后来成了戴尔公司的核心理念,一直奉行至今;

　　我是从一个简单的问题开始创业的:如何使购买电脑更便捷?答案是:直接把电脑卖给终端用户,去除分销商的加价,并把省下的钱还给用户;

　　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;我确信如果我当时花时间去问别人的话,会有很多人说我的想法行不通——创业后15年间我听过许多这样的话;