Rules of the Rich & Successful ( PLEASE PLEASE SUPPORT SUPPORT THE THE AUTHOR. AUTHOR. TO PURCHASE BOOK AS HARD COPY, FOLLOW ADDRESS: http://www.lulu.com/content/4986432 http://www.lulu.com/content/498 6432 )
Written By Harry J. Chong
This book is dedicated to the people who go to bed at night and dream of a better tomorrow…
Copyright © 2008 Harry J. Chong
Contents Introduction
IV-V
A Thought: Why Aren’t You Rich?
1-2
Rule #1 to #5
3-6
Rule #6 to #10
7-10
Rule #11 to #15
11-15
Rule #16 to #20
16-21
Rule #21 to #25
22-31
Rule #26 to #30
32-40
Rule #31 to #35
42-48
Rule #36 to #40
50-57
Rule #41 to #45
59-65
Rule #46 to #50
66-70
Rule #51 to #55
71-76
Rule #56 to #60
77-83
Rule #61 to #65
84-85
Rule #66 to #70
86-90
Rule #71 to #75
91-96
Afterword
97
List of Rules
98-102
Goals
103-104
Index
105-110
Introduction “A billion here and a billion there, and pretty soon you're talking real money.” -Everett Dirksen Why are some people rich, some people poor, and some people stuck right in the middle? That is a question I had pondered for many, many a year. And for many of those years I had not received a proper answer. The reason why was because I was looking in the wrong place. I was asking the wrong people. I was asking the middle-class and the poor why the rich were rich. And whenever I asked them how one would go about becoming rich, they always (more or less) gave me the exact same answer: go to school, get good grades, get a good education, and get a good job. While these things are important, they, as I have discovered, do not give the individual the ability to attain significant wealth or success. They merely help you to make a living—not a life. So what is the secret behind making the big money and becoming stupendously successful? What is the difference between the nob ility and the peasants? Aside from the hoards and hoards of cash? Surprisingly not much. In my quest, in my study, to find an answer to that burning question as to what truly makes a person rich; I have concluded that the wealthy do not have anything that cannot be attained by the common man. They do not have any extraordinary e xtraordinary talents or gifts and are not necessarily smarter than the “Average Joe.” Now this may sound like a bunch bunc h of hooey, but it is absolutely true. There The re are only a few minor subtleties which separate the rich from the poor. And that subtlety is in the way they think: the way they think about ab out money, the way they think about abou t finance; the way they think about life. That is the big secret! The rich and successful don’t think about a bout money and other issues like you would. They have a set of common co mmon principles, a set of common traits and characteristics, a mindset, rules, which can be learned by anyone—even including you. So if you want to think like the rich and the successful, if you want to think like the wealthy and the upper-class, you need to learn the “Rules of the Rich & Successful.” You can do that by reading this book. If you’re in the store and an d don’t have any money to purchase a copy—borrow it. I have written this publication especially for you—the little guy. I have made it to share my knowledge with the world and to spread the coveted “secrets” I have discovered on my road, my journey, toward success. I have learnt an incredible amount a mount of things in my studies about the rich, the successful and the upper-class. I’ve scrutinized them with a magnifying glass and as a result, I have acquired these “rules” that seem so ordinary and so mundane, I can barely believe how little people are aware of these basic things. Although this publication has taken me many years to write (mainly in research) I am exceptionally glad that I decided to do it and that you are reading it right now. With this book I will speak to you in the voice of the rich a nd successful. I will give you the keys to wealth, success, and happiness. You will learn about money and what truly separates the rich from the middle-class and the poor.
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You will learn the simple answer to wealth a nd success… which is thinking… you just have to think like the rich and the successful… you have to learn their rules… you have to live in their world… because be cause man, they really play a whole ‘nother ballgame…
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A Thought: Why Aren’t You Rich? "There are three ways to make money. You can inherit it. You can c an marry it. You can steal it." -Italian Proverb While interesting at best, the old “Italian Proverb” shown above is absolutely incorrect. There are many ways to make money mone y besides inheriting it, marrying it, and stealing it. You can also gamble at the casino and play the lottery… unfortunately these methods rarely work, if at all. There are just too many complexities and factors working against you. Let’s look at inheriting money for example… first of all you need to have a rich relative or close friend. Second of all a ll they have to like you well enough en ough for them to write you into their will and leave you a sizeable chunk of their fortune. Third of all they have to die! And if I’m not mistake human beings usually have a tenacity for living a pretty long time. (We’re right up there with the tortoises.) If you asked me, or anybody else, this is pretty difficult task to accomplish. All of the factors that would supposedly make you wealthy are completely beyond your control. You cannot choose your relatives, you cannot c annot make them write you into their will, and a nd you cannot make them die (legally); and that my friends is a tough shell to crack. In fact all the methodologies listed above are tough “shells” to crack…because the factors that make you rich and wealthy and an d successful are all out of your control. You cannot shape your own destiny and you cannot shape your own future, because they are all left to chance. And most people p eople as far as I know, aren’t a ren’t really much of lucky ducks, so the odds there are stacked against you. So how do you get ge t rich without inheriting it, marrying it, stealing it, or gambling? Well you have to do it the hard way…without any luck and without any chance. Now I know most of you would prefer to win the lottery and have instant riches, but please do not underestimate the “hard-work” solution. When you become proactive and do things that don’t rely on chance, you allow yourself to take control of your destiny and shape the future. By not relying on luck, you increase your odds of success a million times over. (Or should I say a million dollars? Uh, maybe not…) But hey, even if you wanted to become rich and successful how would you begin anyhow? I’ll tell you how. You begin by learning—through books, through seminars, and talking with knowledgeable people. That is how you learn and that is how you begin. Now I know some you may be anxious to get out there and start making the big money right away, but I ask you to hold your proverbial horses. Because while I am glad that you have that “go-get-em” attitude, you will be much better off taking your time and being methodical. Remember that you must first learn to crawl before you can walk and you must first learn to walk before you can run. So I ask you to “hold onto your horses” and take the time to educate yourself through books, seminars, and other people. It’s a great idea. Why not learn from other peoples’ experiences and avoid the mistakes and headaches that are inherent with the pursuit of wealth and success? Exactly!
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It would be illogical to do otherwise and that is probably why, I assume, you’re reading this book in the first place, and I’m glad you are. So if you would kindly continue on o n reading, sorry about the delay, you will now no w learn the rules, principles and secrets of the rich and the successful. Absorb them into your mind and inject them into your daily life.
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Money is Just an Idea “Never work just for money or for power. They won't save your soul or help you sleep at night.” -Marian Wright Edelman As much as we like to personalize p ersonalize and idolize money, all it is ultimately is an idea. Don’t give it more credit than it deserves, it’s nothing more than that. If nobody believed in money, money would not work. Money is just a system of exchange like bartering. It has no inherent value. It is only the belief in money that makes it valuable. I know this might be a difficult concept to comprehend at first, but please take the time to imagine this scenario…you’re on an airplane. Suddenly you have a psychic premonition. The plane is going to go down and crash over a deserted island. You will survive the crash, but the catch is you only have enough time to take one thing along with you. Which do you take? A) The suitcase full of money. B) The backpack full of food and emergency supplies. The answer is obvious; you take the backpack full of food and emergency supplies. “Why not take the cash?” you ask. a sk. Well, what good would money do you (besides being useful for kindling) if nobody is there to accept a ccept it? It’s absolutely useless! But what does this have to do with making money? (So many questions!) It has a lot more to do with making money than you think. First of all, if you realize money is just an idea, you won’t compromise your morals or ethics. Second of all, you won’t be emotionally attached to money and therefore will not make irrational decisions hindering your performance in your pursuit of wealth and success. Remember, if you do not have morals or ethics, if you are emotionally attached to money, there is no point to money. Because you are not in control of the money, the money is in control of you. Money, wealth, and riches are for freedom, security and happiness. It is supposed to be there for you, you are not supposed to be there for it. Don’t give money more credit than it deserves. It is just a cog in the system of exchange. It is nothing more than that. If you compromise your morals and ethics for money, you will quickly find that everything else will also begin to be compromised as well, along with your riches and success. Keep in mind that people do not trust and work with others who have compromised characters, they will not (willingly) work with liars and finks, and in order to become rich you will need other people (more on this later). In a Forbes Magazine interview about entrepreneurs, Arthur Blank (Billionaire and Co-Founder of Home Depot) Depo t) was asked, “What was your biggest mistake?” To which he replied, “Slipping on living my values.” So if billionaire Arthur Blank regrets slipping on his values, why shouldn’t you? Rule #1: Don’t sell your soul for money, it’s just an idea.
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Time Isn’t Money “No time like the present.” -Mrs. Manley People love to say, “Time is money.” Somehow So mehow they feel witty for spewing this tired maxim, but this maxim is incorrect and false. Time is more important than money. Money is everywhere if you look in the right places—but time however is limited. It is the only thing on Earth which we cannot reproduce. Unfortunately (or fortunately) we are not God and we do not have immortality. We have a very limited amount of time. That is why you should value your time and realize it is precious and limited. Of course I’m not telling you that you should drop everything and forget anything that takes time and dedication. No. What I am telling you is that you have to manage your time properly. You have to balance your family life, your work life and your business life (if you have one). And this is not a particularly easy task; it takes a lot of tricky juggling to do. But if you manage yourself well enough you can do everything you want to do and your life will not pass you by. Now be careful though, when you manage your time, don’t rush yourself unnecessarily and be hasty; because that in actuality will take u p more time than you originally anticipate (i.e. fixing your mistakes). Leave yourself enough length to sufficiently complete a job or task. It’s like watching a film; you don’t give yourself one hour ho ur to watch a two hour movie. (On the other hand don’t give yourself three hours to watch a two hour movie.) When you do decide to manage your time properly, please don’t spend excessive time mulling over a decision if you know in your gut that it’s right. Just do it. Don’t spend time looking back on past failures and regretting them if you’ve learnt your lessons—move on! Don’t waste your time. If you’re sitting in the back of a car or in a bus, bu s, use that period to do something productive. Read a book, write a book, call a client; book a meeting, anything you want as long as you’re being productive. I repeat, if you have spare time use it; use it for anything you want as a s long as it is productive toward your dream and your goals—because time is limited! As the Nike ads used to say, “Just do it!” Rule #2: Manage your time well, it’s limited… limited… use it or lose it.
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You’re Never Too Old, Young or Stupid “Learn as if you were going to live forever. Live as if you were going to die tomorrow.” -Mahatma Gandhi Stop making excuses. If you want something in life, you can’t keep making excuses. Excuses will kill you. Excuses makes you put your foot on the break because you’re too afraid too step on the gas. But if you don’t step on the gas g as how will you get anywhere? Right now I want you to think of your pursuit of wealth and success like driving. What did you do when you first wanted to drive? You read a book and the studied the rules of the road right? Then when whe n you learned the rules of the road your dad (or mom) took you out to get some real practice in a real car. At first you were a little nervous and you could only travel on small roads and it took you a longer than average to get to your destination—but you got enough practice and gradually you got better. Finally, after many weeks behind the wheel, you took your driving test. You passed with flying colors and you could proudly drive on your own without any assistance whatsoever. Now you’re grown up, you can travel on large roads and you can get to your destinations faster than you ever thought possible. And for you older folks, if you didn’t goof off too much over the years and kept driving responsibly, you’re probably at a level now where you’re more than self-sufficient and smart enough to teach others. …But what does this all mean? And how does it relate to the other parts in your life? Well, the same process applies to your journey to riches and success. Like driving you start off small (probably reading a book like this) and you gradually learn more and more, ‘till eventually become self-sufficient. You get nervous at first, but you take the steps that you need and you become more confident. Acquiring wealth is like growing up: you crawl, you stand, you stumble, you walk, you run…and then you get a car. So don’t make excuses and do not stop yourself from reaching your full potential because it all seems too overwhelming. You will, with persistence and intelligent thinking, get there eventually. Remember this popular Confucius saying, “A journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.” So for your sake and my sake, please don’t tell yourself that you’re too old, young, or stupid…or whatever excuse you may have. You don’t need to become a master right away. Your progression is gradual, one step at a time. Rule #3: Don’t make excuses. You’re never too old, young, or stupid. Rule #4: Success is gradual, every baby ba by begins by crawling, and you should too.
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LOM: Learning from Other’s Mistakes “The scars of others should teach us caution.” cau tion.” -St. Jerome Life is full of hard, difficult, and above all, annoying lessons. Well, it’s not necessarily the lessons though that are annoying—but rather how ho w they are learnt—usually the hard way. So why not just avoid them (those hard lessons)? Why not just skip all the pain an d the suffering? You know you can do that right? There are a lot of people out there who have been through exactly what you are going through and they can give you very helpful advice (directly or indirectly). They can guide you and help you avoid those tedious lessons. For example, let’s say you have friend who has been in the real estate business for many years. One day he calls you up (because you mentioned to him you were thinking of investing) and he tells you not to enter the housing market. He says the prices of homes are exorbitant and they are bound to come down in price within the near future; he also mentions that interest rates are slowly going up. What Do You Do? A) Take his advice. B) Ignore him and hope he goes away. If you chose A) you are correct! However, it is possible he could also be incorrect. But because of his occupation and experience, it is more likely than not that he is going to be correct. Now let’s take another quick quiz. Your friend tells you the price of oil is going to drop and that you should sell all of your oil stocks in your stock portfolio. You ask your friend why he thinks the price of oil is going to drop in price and he tells you, “It’s just too high.” Then you probe him some more and he reveals to you that he received his advice ad vice from his friend who is an accountant. What Do You Do? A) Take his advice. B) Ignore him and hope he goes away. If you picked B) you’re probably correct. Your friend likely has no experience in the oil industry and he was probably just inadvertently inadve rtently lamenting because his car costs so much to maintain and run. As well, his friend, who gave him the advice in the first place, is an accountant and is also likely to have no experience in the oil industry and/or commodities exchange. So what do you do? You ignore him and hope he goes away. After all it’s not his money, it’s yours. He is merely shooting the breeze a nd making inane conversation. So be careful about the advice you take; think about it twice and please don’t take any stock tips from your Uncle Eugene! Rule #5: Learn from others’ mistakes if possible. Avoid learning lessons the hard way.
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Rule #6: Be wary of taking advice and recommendations from people who are bias and probably don’t know what they’re talking about (i.e. fools).
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The Gift of Reading “The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you'll go.” -Dr. Seuss A majority of people in poorer countries do not possess the ability to read and write. So you should be thankful that you can, because it is one of the best gifts you have ever been given in life. Being able to read and write is a tremendous ability. ab ility. I and you could not be successful without it. But why for the world is reading and writing so very important? Well, reading and writing for one, is what has transformed mankind into what it is today. Being able to pass down knowledge without a person actually having to be there is an incredibly powerful tool. Books are a way to mass produce knowledge and to increase the intelligence of every single person who reads it. If you want to be successful you have to read to gain knowledge—because knowledge is power. Do not undermine u ndermine your common gift because it is absolutely special and exquisite. But regrettably people today have taken their gift for granted because it has h as become so common and so seemingly mundane. But did you know in the ancient times of Egypt (and other countries) cou ntries) people who could read and write were extremely ex tremely well revered. These people were known as scribes. In ancient Egypt the scribes were immensely well respected and considered very important to society, especially since very few possessed the ability to read and write. Kings and nobility, temples and cities, especially relied heavily on the se so called scribes—these readers and writers—to make important records and documents. Sadly, not many people appreciate this gift…it is far too common in these developed countries…and as a consequence of undermining this remarkable talent, they have become locked out of a vast world of important knowledge. Not only that, but they also stymie their ability to obtain wealth and success—that’s right, their laze and reluctant to read stops them from attaining their desired goals. There is an enormous amount of undiscovered knowledge contained in books written by very intelligent people—and you must read them in order to gain those crucial insights. You need to read in order to be financially, monetarily, and successfully literate. You have to read in order to expand your base of knowledge and understand all the jargon and financial statements that are floating out there in the world. Reading the right books will improve your chances of success with money. The more you know, the more you grow…in your riches and success. Rule #7: Read as much as you can. Learn to be literate in finance and money (by the way, if you prefer to listen to books on audio format that’s okay too).
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Material People “It is preoccupation with possessions, more than anything else, that preven ts us from living freely and nobly.” -Henry David Thoreau Most people, to say the least, are materialistic. They look for material goods and items to both entertain and comfort them. Material items may entertain and may comfort for a short while, but after time passes they become completely worthless. That nice shiny red sports car you have…worthless! have …worthless! That nice blue silk shirt you like to wear…worthless! That Superman #1 comic you have…uh, not so worthless…but you get the point. Most of these things only have a temporary and short lived effect and quickly lose their value after they are used. But some people seem to be b e addicted to these material items, regardless of the implications. I suppose you have to enjoy yourself once in a while, but going to the point where you rack up mounds of debt on your credit card, just for consumer goods which will eventually become worthless, is not very wise. It’s definitely a way to the poor house. Now it’s not to say you shouldn’t enjoy yourself once in a while and splurge, but you do need to have a budget. You need a defined limit to your spending so you can put your cash in a place where it needs to be, where it can grow and make you even more money. Please save your cash for something better than a $500 snakeskin purse! You probably work hard for your money, so why are you spending it like it came so easily? Rule #8: Don’t waste your hard earned dollars on consumer goods that quickly decline dec line in value.
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Living Paycheck to Paycheck: Income Up, Expenses Up! “The hardest thing in the world to understand u nderstand is the income tax.” -Albert Einstein A large percentage of the U.S. population is living from paycheck to paycheck—but they don’t have to! But they do! But why?! Simply because it’s easier; it’s easy to spend your money and to have a good time without consideration for the future. I don’t do n’t know why it is but people have a tendency to increase their expenses as they increase their income; which is extremely foolish and extremely irresponsible. Why when you are progressing so well would you put yourself back to “square one”? Don’t do this to yourself; it’s it’s insanity! Don’t take two steps forward and one step back. It is a waste of your time and a nd it will not benefit you financially or emotionally. Yes, I know you have to have it. But the truth is you don’t have to have it! That new gold Rolex watch you wanted? Forget it, there are clocks everywhere! That jumbo plasma TV you wanted? Forget it! TV is bad for your brain! That pretty new dress you wanted for casual nights out? Forget it you know your legs are hairy! What am I trying to say here exactly? Don’t live from paycheck to paycheck! Don’t increase your expenses along with your income. Save at least 10% of your money and put it into something useful, like an a n education, or a long-term savings account…anything but these material goods that do not increase in value over time. Also, when you do go to save your 10% don’t try and save it afterward. Always take 10% off the top of your paycheck before you begin to spend. “Why would you do this?” you ask. You do it so you will always save 10% and have no lame excuses as to why you didn’t; and you also do it so your spending habits will adjust accordingly to your newfound (reduction of) income. When you have 10% less money to spend you should automatically (hopefully) “fix” your unnecessary expenses. This may be difficult in the beginning, but b ut when you get into the habit of socking away your money every month or every week, you will eventually forget that you ever had it in the first place (except when you look in your bank account of course). You still say you can’t do it? Here’s some motivation: did you know that the Chinese save 30-40% of their entire annual income? And they are some of the poorest people in the world! Couldn’t you save a measly 10%? I know you can! Don’t end up like the “lucky” lottery winner who goes absolutely crazy and blows all of his or her new money on o n stupid, stupid things (and winds up poor po or again). When you earn a little extra cash, use it for something other than a new set of o f golf clubs. Get what you need for your finances, not what you want for your ego. Rule #9: When your income increases, it should not be followed equally by increased expenses. Rule #10: Save at least 10% 1 0% of your total income. Sock it away immediately. Don’t try to save that 10% after you’ve already spent it.
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Job Security “Job security is gone. The driving force of a career must come from the individual.” -Homa Bahrami There are many corporations that have existed for well over a hundred years (e.g. General Electric). But there has never, in the industrialized history of mankind, been a job for an individual that has existed for even half of that time, let alone a single decade. The reason why is because jobs are not as secure as you think. As an employee it is your duty to make the company as much money as possible; and if the company can make extra money by firing you or laying you off, that is what they’ll do. For them there is no loyalty to the worker, only the bottom line. You see, while jobs are important to the economy and peoples’ livelihood, they will not make you rich (unless you’re a power employee; more on this later). I’m not saying it’s impossible to get rich from a job, but it’s pretty darn difficult because job s are designed to give you a minimal amount of money—just enough to let you live and have a couple scraps left over to enjoy yourself maybe once or twice a week. They absolutely do not provide wealth. To make the big money you have to be an owner. People who own, people who own these business; make the big money because they control the company. Any excess income that is generated goes straight into their pocket. And if the company is managed well enough, they don’t even have to lift a single pinky finger (the employees e mployees will do that for them). I hope I’m not insulting you right now, because I think it’s completely okay to be employed by someone else if they pay you well enough and treat you with respect, but eventually though you should start weaning off your employer e mployer and look to be an owner for yourself. This is the only way to get rich and an d successful and to have more security than a job could ever provide. By being an owner you are in control of your destiny and as a consequence your pocketbook too. Rule #11: To become rich you must be the employer not the emplo yee. (Special Note: If you somehow feel inspired to quit your job after you read this book, I would highly recommend that you not tell off o ff your boss tomorrow and quit working. Only leave when your “other income” equals your regular employee income. Be careful about how you conduct yourself and go about executing your plan for success. Don’t burn bridges. They might come back to haunt you!)
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People: An Entry or Barrier to Success “Individually, we are one drop. Together, we are an ocean.” -Ryunosuke Satoro We live in a world full of people. peop le. Behind every door, every computer, and every desk, is a person. People are the ones who run the world—not those machines and not those big buildings. Behind the façade are just plain humans. And you should realize the importance of them and try not to antagonize too much with others; they are the ultimate key to your success or failure (depending on how you deal with them). It doesn’t how smart or great you think you are, if you have a business bu siness idea, your bank will not lend you money if you are an abrasive uncouth jackass. (I’m sure you’re not though.) So try to be delightful and “politeful” as much as possible…but please don’t only be nice to a few select people. Be kind, gentle and courteous to everyone that you meet. If you are only good to those who have something which you want, people will sooner or later find out and they will not want to associate with a phony and a user. Making genuine connections with people is of great importance and will help you to become rich and successful. If you are smart and you are good at managing and dealing with people you are an incredibly fortunate person and you will quickly be on your way to wealth—if not you better get practicing because behind all that money is just people. But how do you deal with people? Well for one don’t engage into arguments of inanity and unimportance. Don’t argue about abou t why the sky is blue or why dogs like to chase their tails. Be a good natured person and be gracious with others. Let them win an argument or debate if it makes them feel better. There’s no need to always win and be on top of everybody. By being cankerous and fighting all the time, you will only make a lot of enemies—enemies who often will get in your way. I’m not saying that you should be fake and suck up (people can tell if you are). I’m just telling you to be polite. Mind your manners, don’t swear profusely, let the other person speak, and respect his or her opinion no matter how crazy it sounds. Don’t get into a screaming contest. Be gentle and be generous. Have the qualities of people that you greatly admire. Rule #12: Treat people well and they will treat you well.
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Confidence vs. Arrogance “Arrogance diminishes wisdom.” -Arabian Proverb Being confident is a great trait—but being arrogant is not—it is a wolf in sheep’s clothing. Arrogance pretends to be your friend on your journey to success, but in truth it is your greatest enemy. There is a clear, but often confused, difference between the traits of confidence and arrogance. Many people often make the mistake of resorting to arrogance to feel good about themselves, rather than the sometimes less than available confidence , not realizing that they are entirely different. Confidence is when you believe you’re right—not because you think you are smarter than everyone else, but rather because you’ve thoroughly done your homework; and therefore know what you are talking about. Arrogance on the other hand is thinking that you are correct all the time for no apparent reason at all and just because you believe you are naturally smarter than everyone else. Confidence is when you have a smile on and greet everyone in the room. Arrogance is when you point out everyone’s flaws and try to tear them down because beca use you are insecure with yourself and you don’t want them competing against you in any way. Confidence is when you walk tall and are proud of your hard-earned accomplishments. Arrogance is when you stick your nose in the air and think you’re better than everyone else simply because you exist. ex ist. As you can see there is a tremendous difference between confidence and arrogance. Arrogance is false-confidence; it is being pretentious an d conceited for no other reason than wanting to feel self-important. Now confidence , true confidence, is that which stems from genuine knowledge and experience. You’re confident because you’ve put your time and effort into something and you believe in it for very valid reasons, not no t because you think you are a regular Stephen Hawking. So please don’t confuse confidence with arrogance. Arrogance is false confidence! Rule #13: Be confident, not arrogant.
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Do or Delegate “Surround yourself with the best people you can find, delegate authority, and don't interfere.” -Ronald Reagan Delegation is a major part of management, both for business and your personal life. It is when you give responsibility to others and you tell them what to do and let them do it autonomously on their own with little or no interference. If you are an entrepreneur you probably have a difficult time delegating to others because you’re probably used to wearing different hats and a nd doing everything on your own. But sooner or later you’ll have to learn the skill of delegation. You’ll have to learn to tell others what to do and how you want it done. Remember that you’re only one person and you can’t do everything yourself. Letting go of control is difficult, I know, but it really shouldn’t be—because delegation is a great way to relieve yourself of burdens and to free your time to do other more important things. Why do you this it is that you frequently see those jerk bosses telling (delegating) their secretaries to get them their darn coffee? Because like it or not, to the, they have more important things to do than fetch a cup of Joe. These power players get to the top because they know how to properly manage people, juggle tasks, and instruct others as to what needs to be done and how to do it; so if it’s good enough for them it should be good enough for you. Go out and try delegating. Ask somebody to do something for you (a favor of course) and see how the task turns out. You will be pleasantly surprised and see that it’s not as bad as you expected and perhaps it is even better than you could have done on your own. Rule #14: You’re only one person, so delegate wisely and get others to help h elp you.
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Your Home as an Asset? ”A house is just a place for your stuff. If you didn’t have so much goddamned godd amned stuff you wouldn’t need a house. You could just walk around all the time. That’s all your house is, a pile of stuff with a cover on it.” -George Carlin Your home is an important investment. It is possibly the most expe nsive thing you’ll ever buy in your entire life; but just because it’s such a grand object doesn’t mean it should have such a grand price. People often tell you to buy the biggest and the best and that your home will appreciate in value indefinitely. inde finitely. “It’s worth the extra money” they say. But the truth of the matter is; it doesn’t always work out that way. Just because the original purchase price on your home was $100,000 and it sells for $250,000 today, does not mean you paid $100,000. If you take into account, maintenance, property taxes, interest on your mortgage, and inflation, it’s likely you paid a lot more than $100,000. In fact, selling your house for more than double the original price at $250,000 may not even fully recoup your costs and expenses—in expe nses—in other words you could be losing money! I know it sounds insane, but real estate does not always go up (usually it does though, since in actuality it is somewhat limited in quantity). It can also move sideways and go down. In economic down turns, in a recession, most people will only be able to afford the bread and butter type of housing—you know, three rooms, one garage type thing. So if you have an enormous house during a time like that, it would probably not be able to sell on the market for a fair enough value (to you). …But selling value is not the only reason you economize with your home. Let’s not forget that big fat mortgage! You don’t d on’t want all those huge bills coming in month after month do you? So please, when you buy your house, don’t go overboard. Spend wisely and get something no frills at a fair value. Get something you need not something you want. Rule #15: Your big house may not be your biggest asset—especially if that big mortgage drains all of your “big” money.
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The Shrinking Dollar “Inflation is when you pay fifteen dollars for the ten-dollar haircut you used to get for five dollars when you had hair.” -Sam Ewing Time can be our friend or our enemy—it depends on what side of o f the proverbial coin you are on. But in most cases it’s our enemy. Time is too short if you ask me. And what doesn’t help making time more tolerant is inflation. Inflation is a bummer. Inflation is when the price of things steadily, or in some cases rapidly, go up. It can really put a dent on your wallet if especially your money isn’t growing. Inflation will cause your dollars to erode over time and become less valuable. Remember that your dollars, your money, shouldn’t be measured by the numerical value alone, but rather by what it can purchase. Many economists are aware of this phenomenon knows as inflation, so they created c reated this thing called the CPI or if you will, the Consumer Price Index. The Consumer Price Index (CPI) is a way to measure inflation by gauging how rapidly the cost an average “basket” of consumer goods has gone up or down. Generally though, it has steadily moved upward (inflation). So as time has gone by the dollar d ollar has eroded in power. A dollar today as you may have guessed, does not buy as much as it did five decades ago. But what can you do about this thing called inflation and prevent your purchasing power from shrinking? Simple, you invest. You put your money where it can grow. You purchase bonds, stocks, or even real estate to hedge (fight) against inflation. The interest you collect will allow you to at least maintain the present power of your dollar—or even better, make you some extra money. But keep in mind to be careful about how you go about fighting inflation. It’s not just a matter of putting your cash down somewhere you think is good. Investments, especially today, can be very complicated and a nd tricky—so you should take your time and research all the different avenues for your money. If you must, consult with a company that deals with asset management. Whatever you do, d o, do it carefully. Be patient and take careful considerations. Don’t get sucked in by greed. greed . Trust me, you won’t make 500% a year. Don’t lose any of your hard-earned money! Rule #16: Your dollar power erodes because b ecause of inflation, so fight off inflation with (wise) investing.
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Wealth is also about Preservation “Rule No.1: Never lose money. Rule No.2: Never forget rule No.1.” -Warren Buffett Becoming wealthy isn’t just about making money; it’s also about preserving what you already have. Many people in their the ir pursuit of riches and success tend to neglect neg lect the fact that what they have now is just as a s important as what they may have in the future. It sounds so conservative and so contrite, especially espec ially in regards to wealth production, but you need to have a secure vehicle of investment; whether it is the stock market, real estate, or starting a business, it’s got to be safe. Now I’m not saying you shouldn’t take some risks every now and then, but you should measure the safety of an investment and weigh all the pros and cons. c ons. You don’t want to lose all your hard-earned (or in some rare cases, easy-earned) money in an investment. It’s a waste of time and effort. Consider what you already have right now and don’t take unnecessary risks because you’re feeling extra lucky a nd you want those fantastically unrealistic 1,000% gains. Be smart with your money and don’t let greed get the better of you. If it’s too good to be true, it probably is. Rule #17: Take into consideration con sideration the security of your investment. Gaining wealth is also about preserving the capital you already have.
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Ideas: The Seeds that Make the Trees that Grow the Fruits that Feed the People “An idea that is developed and put into action is more important than an idea that exists only as an idea.” -Buddhist Proverb Ideas are important. They are the spark that inspires innov ation; and it is that innovation which shapes our country and our world. Unfortunately, most ideas are a dime a dozen and they are flung around like feces in a monkey cage for all the surrounding people to smell; which is why the importance of them is often neglected and ignored. They are often brushed under the rug, even without a glance or consideration. The reason why ideas are so often ignored is threefold. First, you have the bad ideas—which unfortunately make up the bulk of all ideas. Second, you have ideas that have already been thought of. And third, you have ideas that are undeveloped, not thoroughly thought out and lack cohesiveness. It is for these three reasons that ideas, the seeds which shape our minds and as a consequence our future, are usually ignored. As you may have assumed, bad, unoriginal, undeveloped ideas are a dime a dozen. But a good, thoughtful, original, well developed idea is actually quite rare. So if you have one of those (a good thoughtful original well developed idea), don’t neglect to pursue it. Make something out of it if you believe it will help you in achieving your goals and accomplishing your plan for success and wealth. Rule #18: Ignore bad ideas. Pay attention to the good thoughtful original well developed ones; they may pay good dividends (if you pursue p ursue it).
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Make Your Money Work for You “The most powerful force in the universe is compound compou nd interest.” -Albert Einstein There are two things in life that make people rich or poor. They are called assets and liabilities. Now I’m not talking about assets and liabilities in the traditional sense as on a balance sheet. I’m talking about it in the way they are defined by the rich and the successful. An asset, to a rich person, is something that simply makes them money—and a liability is simply something that takes it away. An example of an asset would be a rental home, because, surprise, surprise, it makes money for the o wner. And an example of a liability would be a fancy new car…because a car takes away money. It depreciates in value as soon as you drive it off the lot, it requires a lot of expensive gas and maintenance, and you have to have insurance. It has a negative value. Assets and liabilities: one makes money, one takes it a way. But what does this all mean to you, particularly in your pursuit of wealth? Well for the rich it means quite a bit; because it is their choice to choose ch oose between assets and liabilities which make them wealthy. A poor person will buy liabilities, something that takes away money and/or depreciates in value. A rich person will try to accumulate assets and have h ave his money work for him (or her). He will try to accumulate things that bring in money rather than take it away. Even if it is mere dollars at a time he will collect these things continually. Then eventually he will be able replace his ordinary working income or possibly even exceed it. From his numerous assets he will generate what is known as passive income. Passive income is income that is generated with little or no work at all. Owning a good stock that pays dividends is one form of passive pa ssive income. Owning rental properties that are managed by someone else is also a form of passive income. Receiving royalty checks from a patent or a book is also a form of passive income. As you can see there are many types of ways to generate passive income. And they are commonly classified into three types: paper and portfolio income, business income and real estate income. Paper and portfolio income would include things like stocks and bonds. Business income would include something like a shop or a store (managed by someone else other than you). And real estate income would be an apartment or a piece of land or a house that tha t is for rent. Now for the second asset a sset category, business, you should first know exactly what a business really is. People are often confused about what a business is. A business is not something or some place where you go to work, but bu t rather something that you own and minimally maintain to operate. Even if you have a shop and essentially own and control the place, if you have to be there in order for it to make money, you are not a business owner but rather a self-employed person and/or an owner own er of a job that you have created. A true business is something you own and do not have to present in order for it to run and generate cash. A business should be autonomous with little or no work involved. If for example you ran a cookie shop and you had to be there to bake the special cookies,
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you would really be self-employed but not necessarily own a business; rather you would own a glorious job. If however you ran a flower shop and it was well organized and had a manager to do all the tasks associated with running the business and he or she reported to you every week…that would be a true business. bu siness. It would be a business because you own it and you don’t have to be there in order for it to generate income; your presence is not critically important. Owning a business like that would generate good income; income which is passive, income which does not require any work and does not require your presence. That is a true asset. It brings in money and does not need you to be there. To get rich, to be successful, finds these assets (whether paper, business or real estate) and accumulate them as much as possible. Rule #19: Accumulate assets and avoid liabilities; generate passive income. Reinvest that income and increase/compound your rate of return.
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Better Better a Borrower Borrower than a Lender Lender “If you would know the value of o f money, go and try to borrow some.” -Benjamin Franklin Conventional wisdom tells you that being a lender is better than being a borrower. But it is a basic principle in economy, that over time with inflation, being a borrower is more advantageous. And we all know inflation is a “never ending story.” As such, you should try and not to go along with the cliché c liché of distaste for all types of debt. Some debt is good. goo d. That’s right you heard me correctly; some debt is actually good. And some debt, as you may have guessed, is bad. But what kind of debt is “bad”? Consumer debt of course! Debt to buy liabilities and things that depreciate in value! That is bad debt. It is debt which you should avoid, and debt that does not make you any money. But what then is good debt? I’m glad you asked. Good debt is the opposite of bad debt—it is debt that is used to bring in the dollars instead of taking it away. Good debt is debt which is used to buy assets. Good debt is debt used to generate revenue, to generate cash flow and passive income. That is what good debt is. Good debt makes you money. A business for example which borrows money to purchase high tech equipment in order to increase productivity and as a consequence profits, is good debt. A person who borrows money to purchase homes to rent them out is using good debt. A person who borrows money to pay for his college education is using good debt. (College helps you to earn more.) But a person who borrows money to buy a fancy new car or a nice aqua blue hot tub is unfortunately using bad debt. There is a subtle difference between good debt and bad debt—mainly in the way they’re used—but the effect is profound. People who resort to borrowing for frivolous things often put themselves into the poor house ho use (or the middle-class house if you will). But people who use good debt, usually, do very well and often put themselves into the rich house (a mansion). And isn’t that where you want to end up? “But,” you say, “What about banks! Banks don’t don ’t borrow money, they loan it. Look at how successful they are!” A misconception my naïve friend! Banks do more borrowing than they do loaning. You know that money you deposited into the bank last week? It’s not just there for safe keeping; it’s being borrowed from you to generate revenue. The bankers use it to lend out to other businesses and entities in order to generate income on the discrepancies. Basically, they pay you one percent and they loan it out for nine. That’s a lot of extra money—now, do you still want to be a lender or a borrower? I know the prospect of taking on debt may sound scary, but if you do it for sound reasoning, if you do it in order to generate cash, then it is absolutely fine. There is nothing to be afraid of as long as what you earn from your borrowed money is higher than the interest payments due on your loan—in that case you would as they say, be sitting pretty. Rule #20: There are two kinds of debt, good debt and bad debt. Good debt is used to make money; bad debt is used to take away money. Use good debt, avoid the bad. Leverage yourself and use OPM—other people’s money.
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OPT: Other People’s Time “Time is free, but it's priceless. You can't own it, b ut you can use it. You can't keep it, but you can spend it. Once you've lost it you can never get it back.” -Harvey MacKay Making use of other people’s money (OPM, i.e. borrowing) is important, but another well known form of leverage also includes using u sing other peoples’ time (OPT). Because your time is limited and you may be extremely busy in your pursuit of wealth and success, you will not only have to borrow money but bu t time as well. Of course you can’t really borrow peoples’ time per se, but you can use it to help increase some of your own. By getting other people to help you and to do certain things for you, you can essentially use their time to increase yours. Now this doesn’t mean you exploit others and make them do all of your work for you! Rather you get them (either through employment or volunteerism) to help or assist you in the areas where you lack talent. For example, if you are bad with numbers and are not familiar with accounting, you would hire an account to do your accounting and taxes for you. In other words, the accountant is using his or her time to help you out, thus allowing you to use your own, for other things that are more important and/or need more attention. Using OPT (Other Peoples’ Time) is very common and it is a form of time management. By allowing or delegating others, who are more qualified, to do a job or task for you, you save both time and the hassle and annoyance of having to do it by yourself. Sometimes you may really want to do something, even if you’re not good at it, but consider that your time is extremely limited. Get someone else to use their time to help you out, especially if they can do it faster than you ever could. Get the right person to do a job that you can’t and focus on what matters in your journey to success. Save time and provide employment for somebody who needs n eeds it. Rule #21: Use other people’s time (OPT) to do “menial” tasks for you so that you may maximize your productivity and focus on things that are a re of more importance.
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Think Big, Start Small “Dreams are today's answers to tomorrow's questions.” -Edgar Cayce If you want to be rich and successful you must think like the rich and successful; and in
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order to think like the rich and successful, you must think . Having big dreams is the reason why we dream. You fantasize about things you want but presently do not have. That is why we dream. If we dreamt, fantasized, or imagined about the things we already had, then there would be no point to dreaming. So when you think, when you dream, dream big. But—yes there’s a “but”—don’t get too ahead of yourself. Don’t have ridiculous expectations. If your dreams are intertwined with your goals, thinking big is beneficial, but you have to be reasonable and realistic. If you really want to achieve your dream, you have to keep your head out of the clouds for too long. (The oxygen is thin up there.) If your dream is too large or absolutely ridiculous you will be disappointed that you have not met yours goals and you will quickly give up. Don’t just throw out vague v ague numbers or expectations; don’t say, “I want a $100 billion because that’s my dream.” Be specific and realistic…and most of all start small. Starting small may not sound glorious or fun, but you are probably not in the position where you can get a loan for millions and millions of dollars with just a single phone call. Now I am not suggesting in any manner whatsoever that you should start small and end small. No. I am saying that you should start small and do something tha t is within your capability and steadily build on it over time. You build your business empire like you build a home. You begin at the bottom with a strong foundation and then you slowly work your way up to the second or third floor. You don’t create the roof first and then go down to the basement—at least according to the laws of gravity and the rules of society. All great things must begin as a seed. I know it seems discouraging to tell anybody to start off small, especially when you have such lofty goals, but for most individuals this is the only choice. It has to be accepted. Beginning at the wrong point in your journey will be self-defeating. Without gradual steps you will fail, get de-motivated and quit. q uit. The main reason why you can’t begin from the top is because people (those creatures you need to succeed) will not give you more than they believe you can chew off. They will look at what you have already achieved and give you just a little bit more to do than what you’ve already accomplished. Then if you succeed in that little extra, they will give you a bit more, just slightly beyond your range...then the next time a little more, and so on and so on, ‘till it reaches the point where you’re in the place that you want to be. I hate how it works this way, how it’s so slow and tedious, but that’s the way the world is and you should accept that fact—you have to start small in the beginning (but never forget your ultimate goals and dreams; always continue to think big). Yes, it is an unfortunate fact for most entrepreneurs and people that a majority of others are untrusting and will not put their financial future in the hands of a novice—although not everyone ever yone is
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totally risk adverse, there are a lot of people out there who will always bargain a little of their…and if that bargain or deal works out they will soon begin to trust and a happy relationship may grow. Let me paint you a scenario of this principle in action of starting small and thinking big… Scenario Scenario A – Starting Starting Big, Thinking Big William wants to start a software company. He’s a big thinker and he wants to begin with a strong start. So what does he do? He uses his life savings and takes out an equity loan on his home; then he hires a bunch of fresh faced employees and rents out a nice office floor. At first everything is going well; however, as it is discovered, William is a poor manager. He is inexperienced and doesn’t know how to handle people and eventually his best talented workers quit his company. His business folds and he ends up owing a lot of money. Game over! William is finished in the software business (at least temporarily). His ambitiousness was great but unfortunately he wanted to start too big and he took on on way more than he could handle. This failure happened because William lacked experience and his over enthusiasm, coupled with his naivety, led to his down fall. He did not try to climb up the ladder—he tried to jump to the top of it. It’s not impossible task, but most people tend to fall. And now William works at a Burger King as a cashier for minimum wage! (Note: There’s nothing actually wrong with working at a Burger King. It’s a fine company.) Scenario Scenario B – Starting Starting Small, Thinking Thinking Small Karen opens up a bakery. ba kery. It’s a fantastic bakery. People come in to visit from all over the town and they just love the fresh smell of bread and all the healthy hea lthy organic ingredients. The customers even love it so much that they are willing to pay a hefty premium for Karen’s special baked goods and as a result she is literally and figuratively raking in the dough! One day a businesswoman approaches Karen in her bakery and asks if she would like to franchise the concept, but Karen is happy where she is and she politely declines the offer. She says she’s comfortable where she is and doesn’t want to go beyond the bakery; it would be too much to manage. So naturally the businesswoman bu sinesswoman disappears… Months later Karen is traveling along the road and she spots a place called “Joanna’s Bakery.” It looks oddly familiar, so Karen stops by and go es inside to visit the bakery. The place is jam-packed with customers. The business is doing absolutely fantastic—even better than Karen’s own bakery! As Karen looks a round a charming lady suddenly pops out from behind the counter. She recognizes Karen’s astonished face. She comes out from behind the counter and goes over to Karen with a handshake and smile, she introduces herself as Joanna.
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Karen makes small talk with Joanna and asks how she is doing with her business. b usiness. Joanna tells her it’s going great and she has another fifteen franchisees under her belt. Karen is shocked—when Joanna tells her she’s now a millionaire. Karen runs out of the shop and bawls her eyes out. She’s realizes she missed a great opportunity… Now can you see what happened there? Karen started small. She took on something she could manage. But when she was approached to take her business a step further she declined because she kept ke pt thinking small. Now someone else has filled that void the consumer’s had for warm fresh baked organic goods and she, Joanna, is now profiting beautifully. And Karen as a consequence for thinking small has lost out. All she’s gained with her narrow-mindedness is another competitor. Scenario Scenario C - Starting Starting Small, Thinking Thinking Big Melinda is an ambitious aspiring entrepreneur. She has ha s great aspirations and she is always thinking big—but Melinda lacks real life entrepreneurial experience and she realizes that she is in no position to overextend ov erextend her self and use a heavy amount of leverage (borrowing) to start a new business. When an acquaintance tells Melinda that she can arrange a $250,000 $2 50,000 loan to start her jams business at a rate of 12% per year, Melinda politely declines. She is unsure of where her idea to sell jams in designer containers will go and would prefer to avoid a heavy amount of debt—or at least until she has proven herself on a smaller scale. After all she does lack real life entrepreneurial experience. So, Melinda opens up an eBay store and begins producing jams with designer jars in her home kitchen. The jams sell moderately well. A few months in business and Melinda is soon able to replace her ordinary employee income with her “Jams and Jelly” business income. Revenue (sales) is doing well and growing at a fairly rapid rate; so Melinda decides to open her own website and advertise her products. Everything is going according to plan; revenue is increasing at whopping rate of 25% per month. Melinda takes the leap and finally decides to hire her he r first employee. Business grows even more; Melinda’s Jams are really gaining in popularity. So what does she do next? She hires two more employees and moves the facilities to a rented kitchen with extra capacity for production. Revenue continues growing, so Melinda keeps plowing her profits back into her business, and needless to say it pays off very well. Later, while walking down the road with her dog, Melinda meets her acquaintance from earlier on. Christine lets Melinda know that a loan of $500,000 is available at the same rate from before. Since Melinda is now well experienced and has a fast growing business, she accepts with confidence. The money mone y is used for new facilities, working capital, and equipment. The business really takes off. “Mel’s Deluxe Jam” is a hit in every grocery store and supermarket. Melinda becomes a multimillionaire jam queen. …Now ask yourself, which scenario do you think is the best? Rule #22: Start (moderately) small, think big and grow, grow, grow.
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Leveraging Your Natural Abilities & Talents “Hide not your talents, they for use were made. What's a sun-dial in the shade?” -Benjamin Franklin No matter how dumb or stupid we think we are at certain times, there is one fact that remains…we are always better at one thing in the world than anybody else. And you should not overlook this dandy fact. Your ability to excel in an area of your life better than everyone else is something to really be proud of. Do not ignore the gift(s) that you possess. It doesn’t matter how trivial it is. The world is an unusual place, and strange talent is always needed. But the reason especially that you do not want to ignore your natural ability or talent you have, (within this context, I refer to natural ability as the things you have a penchant for and/or are interested in; no ability or talent is truly natural or God given) is because it can come in handy as serving as a stepping stone for greater things, such as your pursuit of wealth and higher success. Do you have socializing skills? Do you have a knack for painting? Do you have a knack for cooking? Then use that ability to its full advantage. Take what you’re good at and turn it into a profit—either directly or indirectly. Do not shun that which is mundane. Some of you may not like this advice, a dvice, because you’re different than others and you enjoy a unique challenge doing things that you aren’t necessarily good at. You like to round yourself out as a person and to have balance within your life—and that is an excellent trait for entrepreneurship and all types of success; most people don’t have the tenacity to pursue things that are strange and foreign to them. But if you are particularly p articularly good at one thing and others do agree with you, then maybe you should just use that gift to its fullest extent and potential. You may as well, right? I myself have a knack for writing, business, and investing, so I’ve often combined the two or three things in order to make a living. I use what wha t I’m naturally good at as a stepping stone into other things I wish to pursue…like maybe more business. I really recommend you take some time out from your hectic day and think about ab out that number one talent you have that nearly nobody else can match. Think about how you could turn that into money and success. Now you may or may not want to use your talent to continually make you money for the rest of your life. If you don’t, that is completely understandable. What you are talented at may be easy and it may make you money, but might not necessarily be that interesting. It is reasonable if you might shy away from your gift. But if you do have a talent that people need and you’re really good at it, why not just try it and use it temporarily to give yourself a leg up? It won’t hurt. You don’t have to do it for the rest of your existence if you really don’t like it (or if you do like it, maybe you might), you can just use it as a stepping stone to lead into other greater things that you wish to do—like making more money perhaps? pe rhaps? Let me clarify these points by showing you two scenarios…
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Scenario A – Leveraging Your You r Ability for Something Else Tom is a good looking fellow. He isn’t much for writing or arithmetic, but he is often complimented on how handsome and attractive he is. But Tom is not really interested in how he looks—the guy’s a humble fellow—he is however keen on opening up his very own sports shop. Tom love sports and the world of business, but sadly cannot find financing for his idea. So one day while looking in the bathroom mirror, Tom wonders how he can raise money for his sports shop. He has a “eureka” moment and decides to use his good looks and to do some professional modeling. It pays well and it’s not too hard to do. d o. Tom goes to a modeling agency and is hired right away to become a model. He is paid well and eventually after enough time passes Tom is able to save up enough money for his shop and is able to self-finance his very own business. Unfortunately the sports shop folds because Tom is terrible at writing and arithmetic—but he has a great story to tell his future grandkids and he has learnt many valuable lessons in business through running his own store. His future, despite present situations, appears to be bright. Scenario B – Leveraging Your Ability and Continuing to Leverage Your Ability Jane is a young, smart and talented woman. She is especially good at math and has a penchant for accounting. One day while she is at work flipping burgers at Wendy’s, she meets a posh looking man wearing we aring a three piece suit. He chats up a conversation with her and quickly discovers that she is an absolute a bsolute whiz with numbers and has a keen sense of both finance and accounting. So, at the end of the conversation the posh looking man asks her if she would like to work for his big accounting firm right away. Jane tells the posh looking man that she finds accounting both boring and tedious. The man tells her she would gain g ain great experience and make a better salary if she was as intelligent as she seemed. Jane thought about it for a minute and decided to accept. The man took his food and left his business card on the counter. Afterward Jane called up the posh man and was hired immediately through the telephone. The day after she made the call Jane went in for her first day of work. She was taken under the wing of this posh man and thoroughly trained and taught many things about the big accounting firm. Jane, though wary of all these numbers, did to no one’s surprise exceedingly well. Eventually Jane saved up a lot of money—and with a loan from her local bank— she had enough capital to start her very own accounting firm. She took all of her experience she had learned from her last job, along with the books she had read, and started her own business—becoming her own boss. And her accounting firm became one of the most successful firms in the entire country. Rule #23: Exploit your natural talents and abilities. Use them as stepping stones and don’t shun them just because you personally p ersonally find them mundane.
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Planning and Making Goals “The world makes way for the man who knows where he is going.” -Ralph Waldo Emerson To succeed in life with nearly anything you have to have goals and a plan. You need to have specific goals: where you want to be, what you want to have, what you want to do, or even who you want to change into. A goal goa l is important. It gives you something to aim for. It gives you a target to let you focus and to make your dream hold-able and more tangible. Goals are needed for success—however they must be properly defined—do not make goals large and vague. Bring it into focus and integrate your goal within a plan. A plan should specifically break down how you intend to reach your goal. It should have more than one line or a single paragraph. It should be broken down into steps, like putting together a piece of Ikea furniture. You need to create a realistic detailed outline of how you wish for things to occur in order to reach your goal. But before you go on and make a plan you should consider the fact that plans usually never work out exactly as planned. “Well,” you say, “then what is the point of planning?” The point is you need something to help guide you and steer you in the right direction. Because life is so hectic you will often lose track of what you’re supposed to do without any plan or guidance. guidanc e. A plan will keep you on the right track. It will give you a focal point. But sometimes, yes, as said earlier before, plans can sometimes falter. They’re not perfect—things change, life is dynamic—that’s why you should make it flexible. Plans should not be set in stone. A plan is a guide. It’s a rough outline of what should be done to reach your goal, but it is not n ot meant to be taken as draconian (strict) law. You need to be able to change it and update for the unexpected situations. A plan cannot be taken as a straight line. It needs to curve every once in a while. Because the truth is, circumstances in life will constantly change; things change, times change, you change. What you may have thought was a great idea before, may not be such a great idea now. You should take any newfound knowledge into consideration with your plan, rather than being adamantly ad amantly stubborn. Think of a plan as a map. A map, while useful as a guide, is not an end all to navigation. There are other factors to consider, co nsider, such as traffic, popped tires, traffic tickets, weather etc. Some of those are things you can’t even foresee, no matter how well you plan your trip and map your route. However your destination will remain the same, most of you routes will remain intact, and you will upd ate your plan accordingly to adapt to the present situations (e.g. traffic jam). Here is a quick example of a plan… “Goal: I want to become a millionaire. How Can I Achieve This Goal? I can win the big bowling tournament. They have a prize of a million dollars.
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When I Want to Achieve This Goal Goa l By: st Midnight – January 1 2015 Steps That I Must Take (Sub-goals): -Call the bowling agency and get a brochure [x] -Read the brochure and see if I am eligible for the competition [x] -Enter the tournament tournament [ ] -Go to the bowling alley everyday for two hours and practice [ ] -Read as many bowling books as I can on proper technique [ ] -Go to the tournament and compete in the games [ ] -Win the million dollar prize [ ] Note: If I don’t win, try again.” Of course, the above plan is exaggerated and simplified. It may also not be the way you want it to be personally formatted—but a plan with specific goals and the ways in which to achieve them is mandatory for any succinct and well thought out “map” for success. I recommend you write your plan down in a notebook and keep it in a conspicuous place so that you will not lose it, delineate from it, or God forbid, forget about it. For myself, I admit I type my plans out on my computer, but for most people writing it down with a pen is the best thing to do. By getting your plan onto lined paper, you can carry it around with you, and a nd you can conveniently check off your goals and subgoals as you go along on your journey and easily see if you are on the right or the wrong track… So what are you waiting for? Get a piece of paper and pen and write out your plan of action today! Rule #24: Create a specific goal and have a flexible yet at the same time detailed plan. A proper plan will help you meet your goal(s) go al(s) and keep you on the right track.
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Facing Failure & Rejection “A life spent making mistakes is not only more honorable but more useful than a life spent in doing nothing.” -George Bernard Shaw There is no one in the world that has never faced failure or rejection. Everyone, no matter how successful, has to deal with failure and rejection—no exceptions! Even a person as as important as the President of the United States of America has to face failure and rejection everyday. Not everything he says, as you know, is accepted by the public. He is constantly under the scrutiny of his citizens and peers. So don’t think for a minute that you’re a special fellow (though I’m sure you are to somebody) and that you’re alone in the world when you face that big fat failure staring you right in the face. Everyone goes go es through the same things in life, we all go through failure and rejection, but the thing that separates the winners from the losers is that the losers give up and accept the noes as inevitability. If you want to be a winner, if you want something in your life, you have hav e to keep on asking, you have to keep on knocking, you have to keep on pursuing; you have to keep on going because eventually something has got to give. But the winner’s attitude isn’t just about being a gung-ho money and success warrior, it’s also about simple math. The law of average s says that the more you do something the more likely you will get your desired result. It is simple probability. You cannot and will not lose all the time. If you are persistent enough, you will eventually end up as a winner—because a flood of failure will eventually dry out. For some this may be a difficult concept to understand (believe) at first, so let me illustrate the point through a simple story about two young boys… Bobby and Greg are two enthusiastic volunteers working for a reputable children’s charity; they’re both personable and equally as likeable. This year the children’s charity is holding a contest. Whoever can collect the most money will win a trip to South Africa. Both Bobby and Greg want to go g o on that trip. After all, they are the top fund raisers on the children’s charity. So they compete with each other and go from house to house to solicit for money. Everything goes well, but Bobby is a little shyer than Greg and has a difficult time when people slam the door in his face or tell him, “No.” Greg on the other hand knows charities can be annoying and it is expected behavior, so he continues on and collects donations as much as possible. Eventually the deadline d eadline for the contest closes. When the winner is announced it turns out that Greg has won the trip to South Africa. Bobby is happy for Greg but is slightly distraught. He was sure that he had tried his best and that he had done a very good job. So out of curiosity Bobby asks Greg what he did to win. Greg tells him he visited over 1,000 houses. Bobby mentally estimates the houses he visited in his head and tallies it to be at around 700. Although Bobby made more money per house, the law of averages worked in Greg’s favor. By simply visiting more houses than Bobby he had won the battle. The trip went to Greg not because he was
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better than Bobby, but because he had the tenacity and the persistence and the ability to face rejection. I know that nobody likes to be b e rejected—people want to feel important and they want to be accepted by others; but if you never try anything, or you give up too early, simply because you’re afraid of failure and rejection, you will not succeed and achieve your goals. I wish life weren’t like that. I wish everyone c ould succeed and I wish nobody n obody had to face the big N-O. But that’s just the way things are designed. You have to accept that fact and move on. Not everyone will see your genius. You have to accept failure and rejection as part of the process to success and continue with your pursuit, regardless of the past. You have to keep rolling your wheels and never n ever give up—or you’ll never get over that hill. I know this “never give up” phrase is such a tired cliché, but it’s a cliché for a reason—because it’s the truth. Winners never give up. Rule #25: Keep going until you get the result you want. Never give up and never cave in at the face of ridicule and rejection.
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Mind & Body: Your Health “It is health that is real wealth and not pieces of gold and silver.” -Mahatma Gandhi When giving advice or tips about becoming rich or becoming successful, nobody ever mentions one of the most important things that matters to your wealth—your health! Without it you’re nothing. Being out of shape and being unfit is not a part of a successful lifestyle. Good health gives you energy and stamina. It keeps you mentally sharp and helps you to perform when you need it the most. Don’t neglect your health folks. Keep your body in the best shape you can. Stay in a healthy condition. It is extremely important for your pursuit of wealth and success. Being healthy keeps you mentally alert. It makes you feel better and gives you the physical resilience needed to pursue your endeavors. endeav ors. Yes, it’s true a lot of millionaires and billionaires are out of shape—but you might be surprised that the majority of them are actually not. Many tycoons have good health. They eat well and they exercise regularly. Oprah Winfrey for example works out a minimum of half an hour a day (it’s how she keeps keep s her trim figure). And young millionaire LeBron James—well he’s clearly in shape isn’t he? You have to be in good health in order to succeed! Staying healthy makes you feel better and function better. Do not be intimidated by your body. You are always in control. You just need to take action and take the right steps. Exercise, walk or bike half an hour a day, eat less meat and whole dairy, reduce your junk food consumption, increase your intake of raw fruits, vegetables, and whole grains, don’t smoke, drink less alcohol, and think positively—and you’ll be on your way to good health! hea lth! Rule #26: Your body is a temple. Take good care of it and it will return the favor.
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The Five Types of Earners “A large income is the best recipe for happiness h appiness I ever heard of.” -Jane Austen People earn money in different ways, and the ways that they earn money can be classified into five general categories. They are as follows… 1) Employee 2) Power Employee 3) Self-Employed 4) Investor 5) Business Owner 90% of people fit into the employee e mployee category. They are the lowest paid and the most mistreated of all the categories. But if that is true, why do people always cling to their jobs? Well, the main reason is because people enjoy the idea of security; they believe that jobs provide financial safety. And there is also the fact that most people have ha ve a herd mentality. They like to fit in and they like to be able relate to others. (“Birds of a feather…” as they often say.) But if you want to get rich you can’t be one of the sheep. You must mentally separate yourself from the herd and leave behind b ehind your fondness to take solace in the troubles and glory of the common person. You must soar above the others othe rs and see the landscape of life for what it really is. You have hav e to act and think differently; not just being different and doing the opposite just for the sake of it, but really thinking ahead of the curve and differing yourself from others to yield greater results. If you want to increase your income and become a success you need to take a paradigm shift from the employee category over into one of the other four—either power employee, self-employed, investor, or business owner. The reason why you wa nt to do this is because these other four categories have more upside and potential. While the selfemployed category does not necessarily equate to riches (it may even pay you less than being an employee) it can lead into becoming a business owner or perhaps even an investor. But why would you want to become be come a business owner or investor? Well, the business owner and the investor side is the sweetest area of all five categories. They allow for passive income and they have the most potential—in other words they can really pay off big with dividends. So I suggest that you migrate from the employee side to the business owner side if you truly want to become rich and successful. succe ssful. Now you may notice that the categories c ategories are not random but rather put in a respective order. They are arranged in this manner man ner because people usually migrate, or move, typically from category one over to category five. Generall y this is the natural way that people progress through life on their road to success (though this may not always be the case). Let me demonstrating this progression by illustrating it with a scenario…
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Perry is an employee at a large company co mpany called UBM. He is doing okay o kay for himself. He is paid more than most of his coworkers and the tasks that he does are not too strenuous. But Perry is becoming bored with his career—so he decides that he wants a promotion and a substantial raise in salary. But in order to do this Perry must become what is called a “power employee.” He needs to increase his position in the company significantly in order to attain his desired benefits. So Perry works his butt off and becomes a manager at the distribution division at UBM. Things are going well, but Perry P erry is still not making as much money as he would like. Even though he receives stock options and the occasional pat on the back, Perry feels UBM is still a sluggish un-innovative company. It is not where he wants to be all of his life. So Perry starts a little project on the side to bring in extra income. Perry takes the initiative to become self-employed and starts his own consultation service, addressing the needs of the dynamic information technology (IT) industry. Luckily things go well and he is making more money than he could ever imagine. People flock to him for his sound advice and guidance and they pay him a lot of money. But Perry is still not satisfied! He has extra money but doesn’t have time for his family while he’s working and consulting. So Perry takes some time out of his hectic day to think about the situation and a possible p ossible solution. It dawns upon Perry that he has ha s a developed a great g reat business system and it is easily replicable and the name brand of “Perry Consultation” is very strong. So Perry looks in the Yellow Pages and contacts an investor. The investor says he would wo uld be delighted to help Perry kick start his new business b usiness with seed money. The investor puts up nearly half a million dollars. Perry takes the money and wisely puts it to work in his fledgling business. Everything goes well and soon Perry doesn’t need to be present for Perry Consultation to operate. It is now fully automated; the business is thriving and it continues to expand ex pand at a rapid rate with its budding franchisees. Soon Perry’s company is listed on the Fortunate 500 and now the rest is (fictional) history… To the entrepreneurs out there, I apologize for making it sound like a business is too easy to start—but the above scenario illustrates my point about progression. In order to succeed you must progress and eventually eve ntually become, an investor or a business owner. Higher opportunities are your destiny! Rule #27: There are five types of earners: employees, power employees, the selfemployed, investors and business owners. Try to become the latter two.
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What Rich Really Is “He who is contented is rich.” -Lao Tzu The word rich has many definitions. It is not universal. It does not mean the same thing for everyone—though for myself and for many other affluent people that I know, rich is being able to maintain an above average living and having the choice to not work; not having to worry about security, and not having h aving to worry about where the next nex t paycheck will come from—to them rich is defined as freedom, financial security. …Though that in itself is still somewhat of a vague definition. There are still many variations as to what exactly an above average living actually is. Instead of being vague and somewhat unspecific, let us instead measure riches and wealth against aga inst a specific type of value—time. Time is a good indicator of a person’s true monetary wealth. How much a person makes per year and spends per year multiplied by their life expectancy is an excellent formula to measure how wealthy, or not wealthy, somebody really is. Here is an example of wealth calculation (in nominal dollars)…
Kim makes $40,000 a year. She also has $50,000 in savings. Kim has a family of four, including herself, and spends roughly 75% of her annual income on household and living expenses. Kim is 40 years old. The average life expectancy for a woman is about 80 years. Kim expects to retire at age 65. 6 5. That means she has 25 2 5 more years of working. Take Kim’s annual income, minus her he r yearly expenses, multiply it by her years left ‘till retirement, and that gives Kim a total of $300,000. So beginning retirement, at age 65, Kim will only have a total of $300,000 to live on. That is her “wealth.” For the remaining 15 years of her life she will only have $20,000 a year to live on…but the number gets even thinner the longer she lives.
So you can see $300,000 $3 00,000 is not a lot of money—in fact it’s very little, especially when you take into consideration taxes and inflation. So when you are calculating your ultimate financial goal, you need to take tak e time into consideration. You should also factor in the lifestyle that you want and not just what wha t you need. Think about how you would like to live. With that in mind, let us do another a nother calculation for Kim. This time we will take into account her desires and find a sum of money where she believes be lieves she can retire comfortably on her own terms…
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Kim wants to retire today at age 40. She wants to be able to live a full life without having to work and having enough money for the many, many things that she enjoys.
Kim believes that a 25% increase in her annual income would satisfy both her wants and her needs and would create an above average living (i.e. $50,000 per year). Given Kim’s life expectancy of 80 years, she would need $50,000 a year for 40 years. This would be equal to $2,000,000 total.
Now $2,000,000 is substantially more than $300,000—but even that may not seem like enough over a total life time. So if you want to use u se another formula, here is a different one… Take your current age and subtract it from 100 years. Calculate what your yearly expenses are, including debt, and multiply that figure by five. Take the two numbers you have and multiply them into each other. The result is how much money you should have right now to in order to be considered moderately rich and to be totally financially free. Formula: (100 - Current Age) (Annual Expenses x 5) = Rich Example: (100 – 30) (50,000 x 5) = $17,500,000 (Your Goal) Now, the above formula may not no t suit everyone, but it should give you an estimate of what your ultimate monetary goal should be with consideration to time. It will give you something large to shoot for, but it will additionally keep things realistic—it will calculate how much money you will need to live for the rest of your life with an above average lifestyle. Use this formula to integrate a number into your financial goal. It doesn’t have to be exact, you don’t have to keep recalculating it as time goes goe s by, just imagine it if you were to retire today and work it into your plan. Rule #28: Wealth is measured against time. The longer you can live off your cash, c ash, the richer you are.
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The “I Can’t Afford It” Attitude “If you think you can do a thing or think you can't do a thing, you're right.” -Henry Ford A lot of people in America are poor, not necessarily because they lack the money, but rather because they have a poor mentality. They tend to think in a certain way: they think lazy, they think poverty; they think unsuccessfully. Their imaginations are filled with the mundane and the limits that surround them. They do not think with freedom. They do not see the possibilities. They live from paycheck to paycheck and wonder why. The real reason for their failures is mental laziness. Mental laziness is the big barrier to riches and success. Putting up walls around your brain and telling yourself detrimental phrases and words hinders any chance you have at becoming wealthy. Take for example the phrase, “I can’t afford it.” People will usually say this without any thinking. And it seems like a simple logical set of words—but it is more than that. Saying “I can’t afford it” diminishes the will to find a way to afford it and to imagine the different possibilities of making money. Rather than saying that terrible adage, one should rather say, “I can’t afford it right now…but I will find a way.” That is a far better attitude and is conducive to wealth building and success. By saying you will find a way to obtain something, you will open up the floodgates of financial and mental capacity. The following is a scenario of two people pe ople who are in similar situations—one has a poor mentality and one has a rich mentality… Scenario A – I Can’t Afford It Joe is in the store. He sees a big screen TV that he wants. wa nts. Joe asks the employee in the store for help. She informs him that television price is ove r $3,000. Joe says to himself “I can’t afford it” and leaves the store empty handed. Now there is no big screen TV in his living room, just a small 13 inch black and white set. Poor Joe! Scenario B – I Can’t Afford It Right Now…But I Can Find a Way Jerry is in the store. He sees the same big TV that Joe saw earlier, and of course like Joe, he wants it as well. Jerry asks the employee in the store for help. She informs him that television price is over $3,000. Jerry says to himself, “I can’t afford it right now…but I can find a way.” So Jerry goes home and lies down on his couch. He thinks of the ways he can generate money in order to buy bu y that big screen TV. After many hours a brilliant idea finally pops into his head. Jerry writes up a business plan and gets a small loan from the bank. He begins his business and in no time he is easily able to afford more than ten of those big screen TVs! And it’s all because he thought positively and didn’t use self-defeating phrases. His mind was open.
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Does that sound ridiculous? Maybe it is, maybe isn’t. Try it out. Think of some positive phrases and say them to yourself everyday before you go to sleep or in the morning. See what happens after a month—you’ll be pleasantly surprised. Rule #29: Don’t use self-defeating words and phrases. Use your creativity to find a solution to your troubles and above all stay positive.
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Risks Aren’t Always Risky—If You Know What You’re Doing "Risk comes from not knowing what you're doing." -Warren Buffett Whenever it comes to investing or business, people always regard the decisions involved as “very risky.” Despite what you’ve heard, this popular notion is inco rrect on many levels. While investing and business do have some risk, it is no riskier than anything else you would do throughout the day—when you think about it rationally—everything has a risk. It doesn’t matter what sort of activity you do, there is always a certain degree of risk to it. Even work can be risky. Hey, you could be working for another Enron and have your entire pension wiped out—who knows! I apologize. I don’t mean to be depressing or anything like that, but b ut it’s true, risk is all around us. Even when we go for a simple stroll outside our home, ho me, any number of things could happen. We could be hit by a car or slip down on ice—or even get beaned in the head with a flying baseball (I hope hop e that doesn’t happen to any of you). I know, all of this seems highly pessimistic and those things are not likely to happen, but I am just trying to make a point. Everything is inherent with risk, but you can always reduce that risk. It’s like driving a car. You don’t drive drunk, d runk, you follow the rules of the road, and you wear your seat belt. You do certain things to minimize danger to yourself and others. The same idea also applies to investing and business. You do certain ce rtain things to reduce your risk, to preserve your principal and to grow your money. By doing your financial homework, either through reading or through controlled practice, you can severely reduce your chances for financial ruin and greatly increase your odds of success. Don’t generalize something and say that it is risky becau se you don’t know any better; everything is risky to a novice. Instead, before jumping to conclusions, do some research—then make an educated guess based on your knowledge. Assess risks based on the facts, not on opinion. For example, while a person may say that the stock market is risky, in reality there are actually some relatively safe and highly rewarding stocks. If you do your homework you will find that not every single stock in the market is risky; you will know from your research and education that safety really depends on the individual company. Each situation presented in the stock market is different. And the same goes for anything else. Situations in an investing or business medium can vary. Even real estate e state for example is not always 100% safe, there can easily be a decline in housing ho using or land prices if there is a recession, depression d epression or a bubble. If however you have properly investigated your investment, whether stocks or real estate, you will be able to severely reduce your exposure to risk. Don’t be afraid to invest or to get g et your hands into business if you have thoroughly explored the pros, the cons, the rewards, and/or risks. Don’t generalize and think that all a ll ways of making money other than working are risky. If you have done your research properly you can significantly reduce your risk in a variety of ways. Business people for example use something called ca lled risk management. They use analytical techniques to gauge and measure how risky something really is. If an
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investment or a venture has a high possibility of returning well in the future and it is considered low risk, they will invest or proceed with their p lan. You should also do the same thing. Take a scientific approach to money rather than pointing your finger to something that you think, but do not know, is risky. Find out if what you’re getting into is worth your time and effort. Measure risk vs. reward. And if you choose to proceed, carefully ca refully manage any risk. Keep close to whatever you’re doing. Be competent and always do your financial homework. Rule #30: Everything in life is potentially risky. But you can manage and reduce that risk by being methodical, smart, and doing your homework.
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Have a Backup Plan or Exit Strategy “Insanity is doing the same thing, over and over again, but expecting different results.” -Rita Mae Brown When the majority of people make plans plan s for the future, they tend to only have hav e regard for the first half. Their brimming enthusiasm is given exclusively to the possibilities and the opportunities. However they often neglect the most important part of any good plan—an exit strategy. You see, in life and in business, getting in is just as important as getting out. In contract writing for example, a well known way to “get out of something” is utilizing what they call a clause. A clause c lause is a cleverly concealed statement written into a contract so the writer of the contract is protected and can easily get out of an agreement, if they so wish. And it especially works wonders if things turn out to b e sour. …You should have one too. You should have your own clause-like device in your plan that lets you escape from unwanted obligations. Of course, I’m not talking about a literal clause. I am talking about a clause in the figurative sense. You should have a device—an agreement—that will allow you to renege on a situation that is harmful toward your goals, either financially or emotionally. You need to have a proper backup plan or an exit strategy. Because life is complicated and things don’t always go as intended, you must have an alternative to achieve your goals, a “Plan B” for when things go awry. Now the truth is a lot of people don’t have a backup plan or an exit strategy. They believe that they are always going to win—but that is simply arrogance (not confidence). You must formulate a backup plan or exit strategy in case of an emergency—whether it is large or little, it is best to be prepared. Let’s say for example that you are in sales. You’re You ’re a salesperson and you send pamphlets, brochures and information packets out to prospective customers. However you notice that a significant percentage of your (prospective) customers aren’t responding to your advertisements and as a result you’re wasting extra mone y from your advertising budget. In this case you would resort to your backup plan/exit strategy, in which you would either… A) Find out why they’re not responding and try a different approach to advertising. B) Stop sending information to them and focus on different customers. While the aforementioned is a minor example of a backup plan/exit strategy, it still encompasses the main idea of a backup ba ckup plan/exit strategy—mainly in that it saves you from spinning your wheels, wasting your time and wasting your mone y. But most all it keeps you from losing your mind. There’s nothing worse than repeating a task, over and over again, and not getting the result you desire.
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Now this seems contradictory to most advice given to people, and normally I would tell folks not to give up and to keep persisting, but sometimes you need to rethink or realize that what you’re doing is not going as expected or intended—hence you need to resort to a backup plan or exit strategy. In the stock market for example, investors use what is called a stop-loss order. A stop-loss order, as the name describes, is a tool that helps to stop a loss. A stop-loss order will automatically liquidate (sell) an investor’s position in a particular stock if it falls below a certain price. This type of exit strategy is useful because it protects an individual from further loss and/or locks in profit. While you may not be interested in stocks, you too should have a similar exit strategy or backup plan for whatever it is that you are involved in. Take some time out of your busy day and update your plan for success. Integrate those exit strategies—it’ll save you many, many terrible headaches. Rule #31: Things don’t always go as you expect, so have an exit strategy or backup plan too!
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Having Patience: (Not) Taking Shortcuts and Cutting Corners “When it comes to success, there are no shortcuts.” -Bo Bennett Humans are busy, busy, creatures; more busy than the bees and the ants. We are a re constantly at work. Our minds and bodies rarely, if ever, get to relax. We’re stressed and we’re tired. There are too many things to do in a day and too many decisions to make. The modern world does not give g ive people breaks to stop and smell the roses. Time seems to go by like that (snaps fingers). So it is understandable that we as humans often wish to do things with extreme ex treme haste and want to have things given to us right away. This is a factoid of human nature which many, many businesses have exploited to become the titans that they are today. McDonald’s is an excellent example of this “exploitation” (i.e. fast food). Google is one too (i.e. faster searches). And let’s not forget the cell-phone industry. Hey, why should you waste your time and get up from the couch to pick up the phone? Just reach into your pocket! Yes, it is human nature to crave things that are quick and fast. But building your fortune and success, unfortunately, is not that quick (except if you win the lottery). You have to have patience in creating your empire. You cannot be hasty and take shortcuts and cut corners. “Why?” you ask. “Why not take shortcuts and cut corners—it’ll save a lot of time, won’t it?” Wrong! Taking shortcuts and cutting corners creates mistakes—mistakes you will eventually have to correct. Any time or money mon ey pinched by putting in a half-bum effort is going to return to you negatively. In the short-term you may benefit, but the long and even mid-term results will come back as burdens. Do not get into the habit of trying to cheat your way into success. I’m not saying that you should never take shortcuts. Sometimes you need to be able to solve a problem on the fly with a minimal amount of resources, which can include time and money. But right now, as a s the situation is, you are probably not experienced expe rienced enough to make the right calls. Deciding where to take a shortcut can only be properly done by a person with years of experience e xperience and sharp judgment. (Incidentally, most people with years of experience and sharp judgment judgmen t will usually not take shortcuts and cut corners.) With your inexperience you are likely to shoot yourself in the foot if you decide to slack off. So don’t do it, don’t take shortcuts and don’t cut corners. Do everything as carefully and as best as you can, especially in the beginning. Otherwise you will get into the habit of cheating so often that you will never be able stop, because as Warren Buffett says, “Chains of habit are too light to be felt until they are too heavy to be broken…” Rule #32: Don’t take shortcuts or cut corners, c orners, otherwise it will become bad habit.
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To Lead You Must Sometimes Follow "You cannot be a leader, and ask other people to follow you, unless you know how to follow, too." -Sam Rayburn A good leader has the ability to lead, but also has the ability a bility to follow. While leading is important, and taking the initiative is respected, certain situations call for following. Constantly trying to take control of the reigns; constantly trying to be the leader and telling everyone what to do can be counterproductive. When, for example, you’re on a road trip and you’re sitting on the passenger side, you don’t nag the driver and constantly criticize everything he or she does. Unless they are drunk or endangering your life, it is best to let an individual do their job as they will. Do not undermine a person’s ability because you feel inferior. As a true leader you must be able to trust another person who is in lead. You must be able to step aside (but not leave) for those who are more capable than yourself. See through the eyes of a follower so that you may find qualities in others which you may wish to acquire for yourself. Lead the leaders by letting go of control in the areas where whe re you lack strength, because being a team leader also means being a team player. A leader who cannot follow is like a football coach who has never played football—but if you’ve never been on the field for a game, or have never even touched a ball, how will you know what a player (a follower) needs? Exactly, you wouldn’t know. And that is why a leader must be able to follow. A leader must be able to see leadership through the eyes of the follower in order to know of that which is expected. exp ected. It is in following where we learn to lead. Rule #33: A leader must know how to follow and he must be able to see through the eyes of his followers in order to be the leader lead er that they may wish to follow.
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You Don’t Always Have to Make It Perfect ”To improve is to change; to be perfect is to change often.” -Winston Churchill The idea of perfection is false. Nothing can c an ever be perfect. If perfection were attainable, as some people might think, why would multibillion dollar software companies constantly create 2.0 editions of their software? Exactly, it’s because perfection is unattainable. You can have things that are close to perfection, but never have things that are in actuality perfect. If things could be perfect, the world would never change; it would never progress, and society as we know it would come to a halt. h alt. Perfection only exists in the fantasy world—or in reality, as the constant habit to change, and to always strive to improve. When you do something, when you tackle a problem, the solution will never be perfect. All you can do, or rather what you should do, is to focus on steadily improving over time on that which you are pursuing. It is ridiculous to expect ultimate perfection. Now, I’m not saying that you should not try your best. Rather, I am asking you to not let the idea of perfection dissuade d issuade you from your pursuits. Don’t falter at the sight of imperfection—because imperfections exist to be fixed. Don’t wait for the pe rfect moment or the perfect conditions. Go at it with whatever you have and keep working ‘till you get the result you want. In this world of high expectations we often wish for things to be of perfection— whether it is a computer we purchased from the store or our lives in general—but if we wait too long, if we wait for all the pieces to fall into place to take action, we will never achieve anything that is worthwhile. We will be frozen and scared; without action and movement, sedentary (perhaps) for fear of the problems that are wrought in progress. Do not have unrealistic expectations for perfection. You will trip and fall over you disappointments. Imagine your ideals and evolve them as time goes on. Grow with the faults of your nature and your goals. Adapt to survive. Make your pursuit of success driven by a mind to change chang e what is in front. Do the best you can. Make your efforts to continually improve whatever it is you are doing. Rule #34: There is no perfection pe rfection but only in the persistence to constantly improve.
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Reward Yourself Every Now & Then “The biggest reward for a thing well done is to have done it.” -Voltaire If there’s one thing that’s certain in the world, it’s that nob ody gives a damn about you and your dreams. When you go out there and try to better yourself, you’re going to be traveling down a different path than everyone else’s. Your path is narrow and dark. And while it is not completely devoid of others, it is a very lonely place. You must rely on yourself and propel forward on your journey with self-motivation. You have to take the initiative to personally reward yourself every now and then for a job well done. It may seem a bit narcissistic to give yourself a pat on the back, but most people you meet will not support you in your endeavors—much less reward you for your efforts. So you have to do it on your own. You must self-motivate and reward yourself for staying on track and achieving your goals. The idea may sound extremely e xtremely self-centered, even a little ludicrous, but the act ac t of rewarding yourself is a good idea. It creates tangibility (reality) in results, thus acting as a strong means of motivation. Do you have a daunting task ahead of you? Instead of moaning and groaning and procrastinating and complaining, say to yourself instead, “After I finish _________________ (you fill that in), I am going to reward myself with a __________________ (again, you fill that in).” If you’ve bribed yourself properly, you should now very feel motivated, because giving yourself something to look forward to can give you the kick in the pants you need. Yes, the idea of self-reward seems so simple, but do not let its simplicity fool you. It is a powerful tool and I assure you it is effective in the right situations. Once again, let me paint you a picture of how this idea works… Scenario A – I’m So Stupid! Ted is an aspiring entrepreneur. He is extremely e xtremely cynical and is his most harsh critic. Next week Ted has to give a presentation to an important investor. He has to pitch his business idea, but is extremely anxious and nervous. ne rvous. When next week arrives he meets with the investor. Ted is still in an unstable condition and state of mind. His self-doubts are rampant. Needless to say everything goes horribly wrong. The investor is unimpressed with Ted and annoyed that his time has been wasted. In fact, he is so angry that he gets his h is security guards and literally kicks Ted out of the door. Poor Ted! He is so despondent and disappointed. He goes home and promptly verbally beats himself up, calling himself an idiot, repeating ove r and over how stupid he is. Then the next week Ted gets a brilliant idea for another business venture. He writes up a quick business plan and creates a presentation in a few short days. He impresses a colleague with his idea and his presentation.
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Now Ted is feeling encouraged and he decides to pitch his idea to another investor—but when Ted gets too many noes he quickly gives up. He can’t face rejection anymore. Time passes by. Ted finds out that his colleague c olleague swiped his idea and has h as gotten a round of venture capital (money). Ted tries to sue his coworker but fails because he was in the pre-incorporation stage and did not register his intellectual property. He is out of energy and out of luck. Now he is eating “government cheese” in his mother’s basement. Scenario B – I’m Going to Eat Chocolate! Paula is a witty and intelligent secretary at big compan y. Like many, she is a thinker and an d she is a dreamer. Needless to say she has h as a lot of good ideas in her big juicy female brain. And of course she naturally wants to let them out and share them with the world. So Paula takes the initiative and arranges a meeting with the board of directors at her corporation. She is going to pitch a fabulous idea that could increase increase total company profits by up to 10%. When the day of the presentation comes, to Paula’s dismay, the whole thing turns out to be an absolute bomb. Paula accidentally shows pornographic pictures on the projection screen (her husband’s) and she accidentally spills cold water in the CEO’s lap! Not only that, but she takes the incorrect brochures from her desk and the board of directors have to read pamphlets entitled, “Why Times Shares Make Sense!” It’s a total disaster. After the presentation several days pass—but Paula is still feeling dejected at the lost opportunity. She sits at her desk and re-imagines how everything went wrong. But suddenly Paula snaps out of it. “At least I tried!” she exclaims. “I failed with dignity. And I should g o out and reward myself for my effort and the time I took to do my presentation.” Paula goes to the snack machine and buys her favorite chocolate bar, “Hey Henry!” She returns to her desk and clears her mind. “I should give it another shot,” she says. “I’m sure the managers understand. After all, it was my first presentation.” So Paula arranges another meeting—this time everything goes exactly as planned. The board is impressed. They implement the idea and the company increases its profits by 9.5%. It’s not exactly as Paula promised, but it’s good enough. She is given the corner office and promoted to head of the marketing department. Paula has succeeded! Do you see what happened in Scenario A and B? In Scenario A, Ted kept punishing himself. He kept being negative and eventually became fearful of the potential outcome of his ideas—whether good or bad. b ad. His attitude kept him from achieving his goals. By being cynical and afraid of rejection he put up a mental barrier to any possible success. Paula on the other hand was more positive. She rewarded herself for her efforts, good or bad, and avoided dwelling on negativity. She gave herself the motivation to carry on and eventually become successful succ essful because of her optimistic and nourishing mind-set… So ask yourself now, “Who do you want to be, Ted or Paula?”
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Rule #35: Be positive and reward yourself for your efforts because nobody else will.
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Family & Friends: Futile Support? “Be daring, be different, be impractical, be anything that will assert integrity of purpose and imaginative vision against the play-it-safers, the creatures of the commonplace, the slaves of the ordinary.” -Cecil Beaton I hate to say it, but the world is close minded and overly skeptical. You may be trying to better yourself and you may be looking for support from those around you, family and friends, but all you’ll get is looks of disgust and cynicism! Okay, this may not be the case for all of you—but for many out there it is. But why is this so? Why would they not support you? As Sesame Street says so very often, “J is for jealousy!” Yes, jealousy, envy, the green eyed monster, call it what you want, wan t, it’s there! When you get the cojones (pronounced: ka-hone-aze) to take control c ontrol of your life and shape your future, you may feel the need to share that fact with others, but all you will get in return is resentment and revulsion. People won’t like the fact that you’re trying to better your life in a significant way. Hey, it’s not that they’re naturally jerks or anything, it’s just that they feel threatened and at the same time diminished. There’s also the problem that your passion may go to your head. You’re a human hu man and you got an ego. Your pursuit of riches and success can make you become an overzealous braggart. It may not be on o n purpose, but while you’re “tooting your flute” and yapping about your bright future, the people around you will get very annoyed—because smugness is not an admirable quality. But even if you’re not annoying or smug, there’s just something humans find despicable about people who are rich or are honestly trying to get rich. For example, have you ever heard somebody say, “Rich people are cheap, poor people are more generous.” Since when has that been true? Bill Gates, one of the richest persons in the world, has donated over $29,000,000,000 of his personal fortune to charity. Is that not the definition of generous? In spite of this tidbit, most people around you will still not give you support, either financially or emotionally. In fact it may be the very op posite. They might even try to discourage your efforts and say overly critical things. They’ll call you headless. They’ll call you crazy. They’ll call you a dreamer. They’ll tell you to get your darn head out of the clouds—and when you’re down there they’ll kick you in your shins and have a hearty laugh. Now, I’m not telling you to not look for family and friends for morale support. I am simply stating that if you do not find encouragement from those around you, do not be discouraged. You should understand un derstand why people aren’t with you, “all the way.” They have personal reasons and misconceptions. Don’t waste wa ste your energy arguing with them. Respect their reasons, accept that they have misconceptions—and just move on with your life. Don’t mull over the thought of why nobody is receptive to your ideas. Don’t think about why they are not encouraging you and why they won’t support your efforts. Just forget about them and move on, because the person who loves you the most should first
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and foremost be yourself. In the pursuit of wealth and success, a high self-esteem need not be dignified with the yes-nod of others; it should be dignified by personal courage and results. Rule #36: If you don’t find morale support with family and friends, forget about it. The best pat on the back is the one you give yourself.
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How to Win People Over “People are very open-minded about new things—as long as they're exactly like the old ones.” -Charles F. Kettering Winning people over and getting ge tting them to like you is an important aspect aspec t of attaining wealth and achieving your goals, because b ecause ultimately it is the people who hold the keys to your success or failure. Behind all those systems, computers and rules are just plain old people—and they are a crucial part p art of your journey. So try to get along with them and learn to win them over. Here are some rules when dealing with people… 1) Don’t engage engage in unimport unimportant ant arguments, arguments, even even if you are are right. right. Don’t Don’t try to dissuade the other person in their opinion. It will only make them feel frustrated and angry. Being proven wrong is embarrassing. 2) Don’t harshly harshly rebuke an individ individual ual when they they make a mistake. mistake. Let Let them know know what they have done, but do it with tact and avoid castigation. Give them another chance if possible. 3) Make people people feel importan important. t. Praise Praise them when they they have done done well, even even if it is is something small. By praising and encouraging good behavior they will continue to do well. 4) Don’t say say bad things about about people. people. Don’t say things things that that you wouldn’t wouldn’t say to their their face or in front of their mother. Only say something if it’s nice. 5) Find out what what the other other person person wants and and let them them know that you can get it it for them or at least help them out. o ut. Since people mostly have their own interests in mind, you have to let them see that you can help them and show them that you are genuinely concerned with their problem. 6) If you are are wrong admit admit it. Apologiz Apologizee and don’t lie lie in order order to cover up up the glaring glaring fact that you are wrong. Be responsible. People admire tactful honesty. 7) When talking talking to people people don’t don’t try to control control the the conversatio conversation. n. Let them talk talk and listen to what they have to say. Be a good listener. 8) Ask people people questions questions that create create positive positive responses. responses. Get Get them to say “yes.” “yes.” Get their barriers down by allowing them to easily agree. 9) Appeal to a person’s person’s nobler nobler motives; motives; something something that’s that’s not done done for themselves themselves but for others or the greater good. For example, when you ask somebody to donate money, you don’t tell them they can get a tax refund. You tell them they can help the children or aid another person in need. That is a nobler motive. 10) When trying to convince someone to see your point of view, sometimes you will have to exaggerate certain ce rtain parts and dramatize specific facts. You will have to try and make your point seem bigger b igger than life itself. Entertain, don’t just inform. 11) Create a challenge for people. A friendly friendly competition will get them motivated. 12) When trying to get somebody somebody to perform a daunting task, task, downplay its significance and make it seem easier than they believe. Show them that they are truly capable of doing it. 13) Remember people’s names. It makes them feel important and shows that you care.
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14) Always make situations win-win. Nobody should have to lose in order for you to win. If you force someone to lose, so that you can win, they will hold contempt against you and slander your name. Your reputation as a fair person to deal dea l with will be ruined. Rule #37: Don’t be selfish; make situations win-win.
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Money Makes Money “You can have everything in life that you want if you will just help enough other people get what they want.” -Zig Ziglar Businesses and individuals that succeed the fastest are the ones that genuinely help out others. They are the ones that make money for ordinary people and help them achieve their goals, however large or small. They create win-win situations and make cash for everyone around them. These businesses and individuals create an income for themselves by providing a means for others to make a comfortable living—or in other words, money makes money! It’s just as the saying goes, “Give and ye shall receive.” What you put out into the world will be returned to you. But don’t take my word for it. Just look at the most successful businesses and companies in the world. See how they have helped other people with their lives and see how they have made them money. The following is a short list I have compiled which exemplify the “money makes money” principle…
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eBay – is the #1 auctioning website website in the world. It is a virtual store where people can list and sell new or used products. It is a popular place on the internet because of its ease of use and almost limitless potential. You can buy and sell almost anything: from a jar of jam to a million dollar mansion. This is the place to go online, where thousands and thousands of people can make a living. Google – is a place on the internet internet where you can find almost anything you are looking for. For many it is a destination d estination to find information, but for others it is a revolution. For you see, Google is the leader and pioneer in cost-per-click and keyword related advertising. They have created a unique system that allows businesses to save money on advertising, and additionally, enables individuals and small companies to easily place ads on their websites for revenue. Apple – is the company behind the Apple iPod digital music player. The popularity of this “electronic device” has spawned many businesses which exclusively manufacture or sell accessories and items to go along with the Apple iPod; the ubiquity of this digital music player has made money for other people p eople by creating a new niche market. Microsoft – By making cheaper and better software, software, such as “Office”, “Office”, Microsoft has improved productivity in peoples’ lives and has thus freed them in many ways to make better use of their time and money. Prosper.com – is a website which allows allows individuals to easily borrow and loan money online. Anybody who wants or needs funding for a particular project can solicit to borrow; and those who have extra money can loan and receive above average interest payments. Bank of America – The Bank of America, and many banks alike, give to their patrons a fair amount of interest on their deposits; dep osits; thereby helping people to grow their money and to hedge against inflation. MasterCard – This company’s credit card service is a benefit to retailers as it it allows customers to purchase items more easily, thereby increasing sales.
E*Trade – is an online stock brokerage brokerage that offers discount trading trading commissions and various tools which can help people to make a better return on their investments. McDonald’s – is a fast food restaurant, which for almost almost all of its life, has been franchising and allowing others to get in on their “money making machine.” Anybody who has the determination and dedication can become a franchisee.
Now that you’ve seen how businesses bu sinesses (and to an extent, individuals) can help he lp other people to save or make mak e money in their lives, ask yourself how you too can do the same—how you can make money for others as well. What talents do you possess that can make you a comfortable living, and at the same time provide for those with wants or needs? How can you help yourself by helping out others? Rule #38: The best way to make money is to help other people make money too.
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Money is all about Scalability “Without continual growth and progress, such words as improvement, achievement, and success have no meaning.” -Benjamin Franklin The quickest and best method to earn your way into riches and success is through something that is highly scalable. Scalability is how people become rich. If you create or do something that is scalable, you can rapidly expand it and not have (or have less of) the many hindrances associated with the regular ways of business or e arning income. You for example, probably have a job and go to work everyday. In that case your level of scalability would be extremely small; your ability to grow is limited. At work you are only one person and can only earn an income when you are present. On the other hand if you did something with large scalability, a website for example, it is likely you would not have to maintain a physical presence in order to earn income. The concept could easily be spread around the globe, and thus earn you more money. To further explain scalability let’s look at two different scenarios… Scenario A – Not So Scalable Ronny owns a restaurant. It is a popular place to eat and is doing quite well. However, Ronny is not satisfied with his current success and would like to open another restaurant of the same kind—but the cost for a second place would be nearly $500,000. It is not money he necessarily has, but in order to generate more income he must open up another location… Can you see the problem here? h ere? Aside from the physical constraints, Ronny’s restaurants are expensive to create. He is limited in how many restaurants he can build and run. Expansion is slow and return on his investment is minimal. The scalability of a restaurant is not high. It takes a lot of money to bring in any extra sales and profit. And depending on your calculations, a conservative estimate says it would take over ten years for Ronny to become a multimillionaire! Now you may be thinking, “That’s great!” But considering the risk, the time, taxes and inflation—is it really? Scenario B – Very Scalable Donald is a computer whiz with a love for all types of technology, but he is especially fond of the internet. One day while wh ile trying to teach his daughter to surf the web, he gets the inspiration for an internet browser designed for children. Dona ld decides to pursue his idea as a venture, and after many months of hard work at his computer compu ter he finishes his creation dubbed, “Kidd-Browzer.” Donald immediately buys a website a nd launches his software…and it’s a hit! People from all over the globe purchase and download his h is browser online. The scalability of this one man company co mpany is huge—and best of all it only costs $500 a month to run! This is the ideal business. There are no physical barriers and the capital to maintain and run the website is very little relative to the income being produced. Donald
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is doing very well for himself and in a few short months his software gains critical mass, acquiring more than a million active users worldwide! Yahoo discovers this fledgling company called “Kidd-Browzer” and decides to buy it for a cool $25,000,000. And now Donald is rolling in the cash; and it’s all because he had a little thing called “scalability.” Now that you’ve read the scenarios, can ca n you see the difference between an idea that is scalable and one that is not? Can you see the advantages and disadvantages? The scalable idea makes more money because bec ause it is more expansive and has little or no physical barriers. It is for this reason that software and internet related businesses are popular start-ups. Companies which can easily move beyond borders are the type of thing you want to get involved with. They don’t take much money to start (in relation to other businesses) and their products and services can reach anywhere in the world for anybody with a computer. c omputer. Now, I’m not saying you should get into software and internet related businesses—but you should consider something with high scalability. This book as an example is very scalable because it is easy to reproduce reproduc e copies and to distribute, either online or through paperback. p aperback. On the flipside, if I went around the country and gave lectures instead, the scalability would highly be diminished. The costs to travel would be expensive, and I would only make money mone y with my physical presence. So! When you begin your path to riches and success, consider scalability for quicker money. Rule #39: When pursuing a venture v enture take into consideration the scalability, i.e. how fast and how easily it can grow.
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Work Smart, Not Hard “The three great essentials to achieve anything worth while are, first, hard work; second, stick-to-itiveness; third, common sense.” -Thomas Edison The annoying thing with clichés is that they are vague and nobody nob ody really understands them, yet for some odd reason they persist pe rsist in society. People just seem to feel the need to continually repeat them. Have you ever heard of the cliché, “The key k ey to success is hard work”? I bet you have. Now, I don’t know if you personally like this “work hard” ha rd” catchphrase—but I definitely do not. (And it’s not because I’m lazy!) It is a d etrimental axiom and is too often repeated by the poorest people I meet— and for that reason, I really despise the phrase. It just seems to get under my skin. But do you know why I really hate it so much? Well, aside from being cloudy in nature and the fact that nobody no body really “gets it,” the meaning behind it is actually quite damaging. When you tell yourself to work hard you will automatically and subconsciously do everything in a difficult manner. You will equate hard work with being productive—and that’s just silly. Do you know what happens happe ns when a person listens to this “work hard” phrase and is given the choice between doing something the hard or the easy way? Well, if they’re like most people, they’ll automatically do it the hard way—because that’s the way they’ve been told to do things—they work hard ha rd whether or not it makes sense. So I beg of you, rather than repeating this inane catchphrase of “work hard,” I want you to say instead, “I will work smart and work my best.” In my opinion, and that of other successful people, this is a much more beneficial adage. The first part says you work smart, so that means you’ll be efficient. And the second part says you work your best, so that means you’ll persist and you’ll do a g ood job… In short, don’t “work hard.” Work smart and work your best. Rule #40: Don’t work hard. Work smart and work your best.
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The Business System “Good business leaders create a vision, articulate the vision, passionately own the vision, and relentlessly drive it to completion.” -Jack Welch Why are McDonald’s restaurants such a huge success? Is it because the food is superior? No. Is it because it’s chique and hip? No. Is it because of their clown mascot, Ronald McDonald? No. Is it because of McDonald’s consistency and ability to deliver the exact product they promise? Bingo! That’s it! That is why they are successful. McDonald’s has consistency of quality. Now to you and I this may seem mundane and ordinary, but to a business or an individual striving for personal excellence, this practice of consistency is one of their cornerstones to success. They build and use what is known as a system, or more specifically a business b usiness system. “But what is a business system?” you ask. A business system is a way for businesses and people to maintain and organize their company, so that their products and services are dependable and consistent in quality. Think of it like having a cookie cutter with an interesting shape. You can make one cookie or one hundred cookies—and they will all come out relatively the same. A business system can be thought of like a complex cookie cutter. It’s a way for companies to maintain standards and to keep k eep things in line with what their customers cu stomers expect. However, as mentioned earlier, e arlier, systems aren’t exclusively for big corporations and big companies. They can also be used by individuals. In fact, most people aren’t even aware that they make use of business-like b usiness-like systems in their ordinary everyday lives. The following is an example of a system you might use yourself… 1) You wake up in the morning to the sound of an alarm. 2) You take a shower. 3) You brush your teeth. 4) You comb your hair. 5) You change your clothes. 6) You eat your breakfast. 7) You get in a car c ar and drive to work (or take the bus, if that’s the case). 8) You work. 9) You come home. 10) You go to bed and repeat the cycle the very next day. Now the above may only seem like a regular routine—and it is—but it’s also a system. It is a way you do things to remain consistent con sistent in the quality of your work, to keep your job, and to earn your income. I know it is a simple analogy for a fairly complex concept, but that is essentially how it works. You go through a daily ritual so you’re fresh and ready for work; so you can do what you feel is your best. And that is what a business does too. They do things in a systematic order to maximize their time and to mak e more money.
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So having a business system seems like common sense, right? Well, surprisingly, a lot of small and beginning businesses don’t actually have one. They seem to prefer, like some sort of cowboy, to just “wing it.” But that is a stupid and idiotic mistake! By not having a system you will not only disappoint your customers (or whomever you’re serving), but you will also lose the opportunity to create large scalability for expansive growth. (See Money Is All About Scalability.) By creating a system, specifically a written one, you will bring consistency across the board, and as a result increase customer satisfaction; which consequently will help to maintain and increase sales. As well, by creating a solid system, you can easily duplicate or replicate your existing business idea. That will help to increase up ward scalability and allow you to easily add more units to your business—and as a result you will have more money and more success. Don’t be without a business system. You need to have one. Now, don’t let this task bog you down. It’s not as intimidating as it seems. It doesn’t have to be difficult. d ifficult. Just work on what you already know or what you already have and get it down on paper or computer. Gradually make your operations manual (i.e. your written system). Begin from scratch, build it up, and update upd ate it whenever needed. It’s a lot simpler than you think. Let me show you an example… “PREPARATION DIRECTIONS: To enjoy a delicious drink of hot or cold Ovaltine, put 2 heaping tablespoons of Ovaltine in a mug or glass. Pour in hot or cold 2% milk and stir. MICROWAVE: In a microwaveable mug, heat 2% milk at high power for 1 minute (or until hot). Add 2 heaping tablespoons tab lespoons of Ovaltine and stir. Replace lid firmly and store in a cool dry place.” Does that sound familiar to you? It should, because I copied it right off an Ovaltine jar! Those Ovaltine instructions embody exactly what a business system/operations manual should consist of—how to do something, when to do it, and sometimes, why you’re doing it. That’s it! It needn’t been overly complex; in fact the simpler the better. So don’t procrastinate. If you’re going to get into business, please get working on that system! Organization is key to success. Rule #41: Make your business consistent! Create a business system/operations manual!
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Saving Money: Don’t Step over Dollars for Pennies “Price is what you pay. Value is what you get.” -Warren Buffett Which is cheaper: hiring a paralegal at a t $100 an hour or hiring a full time bona fide lawyer at $300 an hour? If you said the $100 an hour paralegal—I’m afraid you’re wrong. I apologize for my frankness, but the correct answer is hiring the lawyer, not the lawyer’s assistant. “Why?” “Why?” you ask. Well, the answer is simple. The paralegal is far less experienced. They will take a longer time to do your job, and on top of that, they will tend to make numerous mistakes… After all, they are still learning. So while the lawyer may take an hour to do the task for $300, the paralegal may take four hours to do the task at $400! It may seem cheaper when looking at the price from a superficial standpoint, but the paralegal could actually wind up costing you a lot more! It’s mind-boggling isn’t it—the way we rationalize things by the first numbers we see? …But you didn’t pick the paralegal as being the cheaper choice, did you? If you did, you’ve done something commonly known as, “Stepping over dollars for pennies.” Don’t feel ashamed though, it’s a very common thing for people do. They look at the upfront price for something but neglect to consider c onsider the quality and/or speed of the job that’s being performed. Have you done this before? Have you ever used somebody who was selfemployed, inexperienced, but worked on o n the cheap? Then later regretted it? I personally have not done that (well maybe once), but I do know a lot of people who have. The following is a true story of a man who “stepped over dollars for pennies…” *Pete was going into real estate and he had purchased a great fixer-upper. The house was quite a bargain but had extensive cosmetic damage and needed numerous repairs. So it was clear to Pete that he had to hire workers to help him fix the home. Since he wanted work done on the roof first, he looked up several roofing companies in the phone book. But being that Pete had a tight budget he couldn’t squander any money and every dollar had to count. So when looking for help Pete naturally hired the cheapest workers he could find in the phone book. They came to his property and promptly began working on the roof; so Pete left them alone and went to relax. When he returned to inspect the job performed on the roof he was shocked at the shoddy work that had been done. The two men had done a horrendous job! Pete was peeved, but he knew it was his own fault for being cheap and for stepping over dollars for pennies; so he dismissed the two men and an d called up a well known pair of professionals. They corrected the mistakes the other two had h ad done, and they completed the job without any flaws. Pete had to pay extra money to repair his roof, but he had learnt a powerful lesson—not to solely consider the price, but rather the overall quality and speed of the task being performed; i.e. not stepping over dollars for pennies. …Have you ever done this before? Have you ever driven to a store just to save a few extra bucks, but in order to get those savings you had to fight traffic and burn a lot of
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gas? And when you got to the store you had to get g et into a big long line? Yup! It’s a lot more common than you think (stepping over dollars for pennies), but don’t feel dumb for doing it. Everyone has their “too good of a bargain to pass up” days. Just remember to try and take into consideration factors like time and an d quality, not just price alone. Look past the sticker price, it’s only superficial. Rule #42: Don’t just look at the sticker price, see what something is really costing you; don’t step over dollars for pennies! *Name has been changed to protect that person from—embarrassment.
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Be an Introvert! “When we dare to be really quiet we can come very close to ourselves and the world’s innermost being.” -James Carroll It is estimated that 80% of the world is extroverted. Th at means 80% of the world is made mad e up of people who primarily p rimarily focus on the things around them and their external environment. They are gregarious, assertive, and seek excitement and stimulation. The other 20% however is introverted. Introverts are the opposite of extroverts. Rather than focusing on the things around them and their external environment, they have a strong inward focus and concentrate primarily on themselves and who they are. Introverts tend to be quiet, lowkey and not particularly inclined toward socializing. For this reason, many view introverts as being boring, antisocial, useless individuals—but sometimes being introvert can give you an advantage. Focusing on yourself and looking inward, learning your strengths and weaknesses weak nesses is a very, very, important way of attaining excellence in your life, both bo th in secular (monetary) and spiritualistic aspects. By learning who you are, you learn how to improve yourself. You learn how to get rid of your weaknesses, strengthen what you already a lready have, and to add new things to yourself that you never knew you could add! So focus inward; take some time out of your busy day and just sit down, close your eyes, visualize, and think about you. Collect your thoughts and explore your consciousness. Find out o ut who you are and what drives you to want to succeed. Discover the pros and cons about your personality. Write it down if you must, but work on yourself mentally and improve everything that you believe needs improving. Rule #43: Be introvert. Focus on the inside. Look into yourself and learn who and why you are.
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Getting Into Action: No Procrastination “Action may not always bring happiness, but there is no happiness without action.” -Benjamin Disraeli There are three reasons why people procrastinate. One, the task they are pursuing seems too daunting and difficult. Two, they are afraid of failure. (You can’t fail if you never try, right?) And three, as strange as it seems, they are frightened of the change that invariably comes with success. “But what about laziness?” you ask. “Isn’t that also a part of the reason why people choose to procrastinate?” Surprisingly, the answer is no. Laziness is mostly a symptom. It is not part of the disease, the main cause of procrastination, which is pain. Pain is what really makes people “lazy.” It is the encompassing idea behind the three of the aforementioned reasons for procrastination. Pain is what makes people put things off or end up never doing them at all. Are you familiar with the saying, “If you do what you love lov e for a living you will never have to work a day in your life”? Well, this saying is absolutely true. When people do something that they enjoy, even if it appears to be laborious, they will never consider it as work; any activity, however difficult, if done out of passion and love, will come with an abundance of self-satisfaction. And there will certainly be no procrastination. It is only when people do something that they do not enjoy doing, do they decide to procrastinate; because procrastination is a way to avoid pain. Even if the task itself is not actually painful, the anticipation may form some significant anxiety. So, what is the cure to procrastination? Do what you love for a living? …Ah, no. Unfortunately, life likes to hand you lemons—a lot of ‘em! And you don’t always get to do the things you enjoy for living (at least not in the beginning). be ginning). Sometimes you just gotta buckle down and be disciplined. Throw away all your distractions, get organized, and get to work. Don’t let yourself idle. Start with the first step and pick up on the momentum, because procrastination is never conducive to success. Time is limited and wasting your days by mulling over matters and putting it off will eventually lead to a dead end; so forget about the pain and think about the reward. Think about what you can gain, not what you can lose. Your future is up to you. Rule #44: Don’t procrastinate. Do whatever you need to do right now. Forget about the pain you think will happen; focus on the reward. The reward will outweigh any possible pain (which usually never happens in the first place once you actually get going).
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Creating a Team “The wisest man is the one who surrounds himself with those who are wiser than he.” -Chinese Proverb Those around you will affect your success and your ability to achieve. They will influence you whether you like it or not—either no t—either directly or indirectly. So, if you have to be with people, friends, family, or strangers, why not surround yourself with those you admire and those who are supportive? supp ortive? Now, I’m not telling you to ditch all your “loser” friends and to start cutting everyone off who doesn’t do esn’t meet your standard. No. What I am suggesting to you is to associate with people who are of a higher achievement level than yourself. Form teacher-student relationships. Be a learner, find those who can teach you how to better yourself; people who can improve you and help you in your journey. Find like-minded intelligent individuals who share your values and understand your goals. Make a team to surround you for both intellectual and morale support. But keep in mind that the team you create doesn’t have to consist of people you would collaborate with just for social purposes. Your team can (and perhaps should) consist of people you employ, like your accountant, accou ntant, your lawyer, or your real estate broker—but whoever they are, just make sure they are smarter than yourself. Now before some of you get defensive and say, “I don’t need people who are better than me. I’m a perfectly intelligent person.” And, “I’m the smartest person I know!” Consider for a moment how arrogant and ridiculous that sounds. sound s. If you are smarter than all of the people pe ople around you—then why would you want wa nt to be around them in the first place? They would be of no use to you! If you were smarter than them, you would not be the student, rather, you would be the teacher and they would be the students. Having them around would not be to your benefit, bene fit, but to theirs. Now, that’s not to say you shouldn’t help people—yes, pe ople—yes, you should help people if you can—but you should at least surround yourself with those who are positive and intelligent. Don’t be around people who are negative, and above all, dumb. Dumb people make you dumb! It’s like a disease. It’s contagious. Who you hang out with influences your behavior and your intelligence. It may not be apparent at first, but surround yourself with enough dumb people and you can watch your IQ drop faster than a paratrooper with holes in his parachute. I’m sorry, I don’t mean to be so insulting and condescending, but that’s just the way dumb people are. They berate you for being smarter, because they don’t do n’t understand you, and then they try to bring you down to their level. It’s insanity! It’s “crabs in the bucket” syndrome. You try to move up, up , and they try to bring you down. Let me paint you a simple scenario of what a dumb person is and a nd how they can make you dumb as well… Ken is a good honest guy. He’s polite, he’s personable, and he likes to make a lot of friends. One day he meets a fellow named, na med, Mel. Mel is quite a character; cha racter; real rough around the edges, but with a good sense of humor—which is something Ken really
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appreciates. Suffice it to say, the two become fast friends. They hang out with each other at the mall and chat for hours on end. They’re totally simpatico—or so it seems. One afternoon while Ken and Mel are in the local Wal-Mart, Mel tells Ken that tha t he has to go to the bathroom. Ken nods his head and patiently waits. After Mel returns, he and Ken leave the Wal-Mart together. When they get outside to the big parking lot, Mel suddenly pulls out a knife from his jacket. “Look at this nifty knife I stole,” Mel says to Ken. “Five finger discount!” Ken is a little taken aback. He’s not sure what to say, but he knows he likes Mel and that tha t he wants to have his approval and acceptance—so, Ken laughs and takes a look at the knife. “How did you get that by security?” Ken asks. To which Mel replies, “It’s pretty easy would you like me to show you? Well, you can see where that scenario is going to head. Mel lures Ken into his salacious world and he gets him into the habit of petty crime and shoplifting. “But how,” you ask, “does a smart kid like Ken succumb to Mel’s type of behavior?” Quite simply, it’s human nature. Humans naturally want approval of their peers. So, it’s no wonder that Ken follows his dumb friend Mel, albeit reluctantly, into a series of mischievous crimes. And now the two are probably being vigorously harassed by the larger boys in their adolescent’s prison. …I know! I know what you’re thinking, “I’m not susceptible to peer-pressure! I’m an independent thinker!” Well, the truth is we are more alike than we think. Whether we like it or not, we are all ultimately just humans. So don’t expose yourself to stupid risks. Don’t get involved with the bad seeds; the scammers, the con-men, the people looking for a quick buck. Play it safe when it comes to your reputation and mental well being. Surround yourself with smart people in your financial an d social world. Do this and you will find success. Rule #45: Surround yourself with people who are smarter than you.
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The First Step to Anything: Belief “To succeed, we must first believe that we can.” -Michael Korda Before you can go on to do anything, before you can go on to become a great success, before you can go on to become rich, you must first believe in whatever it is that you are pursuing. That is the first (but often overlooked) step to success. Believing you can do it is the number one thing you must do before anything else. If you do not believe in yourself, if you do not believe in your cause, cau se, you will not become successful—you will not take the action necessary to achieve. When you refuse to believe you will automatically au tomatically destroy any chances that you may have at success. Because it is belief that one can succeed which makes an individual succeed. Belief motivates. It impels the body and mind into action. You have to believe in yourself, and to believe that you can become a success and achieve your goals. I know the idea sounds so utterly simplistic, but it really is belief which makes people and mankind as a whole progress in life. Remember the famed runner, Roger Bannister? At the time when he was running, nobody believed that you could run a mile in under 4 minutes—then he did it. He broke the record, and a nd suddenly everyone else was doing it too. But why hadn’t these people done it before? Before Roger Bannister had made his achievement? It was because beca use they didn’t think it was possible. Their minds had held them back. You see, if people never neve r believe in the (seemingly) impossible things, like the cure for a disease, like cancer or HIV, it’ll never be found. Because nobody will look for it, nobody will fund the research, and it will never be discovered as a consequence of disbelief. Fortunately for humanity, people do have an inclination to believe. They believe in things far greater than themselves. They believe in things that seem almost unachievable. They believe in the future. Strengthened with personal faith and conviction, every one of us can change our lives for the better. If you have a dream, don’t let anything stop you. Believe in it and eventually you will become successful. Rule #46: The first step to success is belief. Believe in your dream and believe in yourself.
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Visualize Your Success “Ordinary people believe only in the possible. Extraordinary people visualize not what is possible or probable, but rather what is impossible. And by visualizing the impossible, they begin to see it as possible.” -Cherie Carter-Scott Did you know that approximately 80 to 95% 95 % of learning is done through our o ur eyes? Let me repeat that: 80 to 95% of learning is learnt visually, through our eyes. What an amazing fact! So, why is it that people don’t put this tidbit to more use? Why do certain organizations (ahem) tell you to “mantracize” everything; putting your hands together and muttering the same words over and an d over again? Why Wh y not visualize instead? Visualizing is a powerful tool, and I for one, on e, with many others, believe it is not being used enough. If you have a dream, if you have a goal, you need to sit down and imagine what you believe and hope your future is going to look like. You need to paint vivid pictures and see all the things that can be. Visualizing your success will help to keep you motivated and to see the distant light at the end of the tunnel. So, sit down and visualize your dreams. Imagine making your desires into reality. Rule #47: Visualize your success and imagine the things you want, it will keep you motivated and help you see the light at the end of the tunnel.
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Niche Markets ”Very narrow areas of expertise can be very productive. Develop your own profile. Develop your own niche.” -Leigh Steinberg The entrepreneurial mind makes smart decisions, such as knowing when to fight and when to retreat—choosing your battles wisely. If you are an entrepreneur you should know by now that going head to head and competing directly with the “big boys” is an extremely difficult, if not impossible, task to do. (Not trying to dissuade anyone!) And though you and many may regard them as slow and redundant, they did not get to where they are because they are stupid. Instead of being a “David” and going head to head with these “Goliaths,” try instead to target specific markets with little or no competition—this is known as a niche market. A niche market—or more specifically, a niche market strategy, is one where you try to meet the demand of consumers whose needs are not being met by the big mainstream businesses. Wal-Mart for example, sells a broad range of goods, g oods, but they will not sell certain items if it does not mesh well with their corporate family values. The y do not sell records with lots of swearing and coarse language. They do not sell books with pro-antagonist or anti-religious views. And they certainly do not sell sex to ys and pornography. Basically, they do not carry any products on their shelves that are lewd and go against their desired company image. So if you’re looking for an uncensored rap album at Wal-Mart, I’m afraid you’re out of luck. But if you’re an entrepreneur, or have an entrepreneurial mind, it could be the chance you’re looking for; an opportunity opp ortunity to fill in the cracks, to meet a demand that is not being met by the big mainstream businesses. Now, you might scoff at the smaller opportunities, but there’s money to be made and success to be had in places where (business) people aren’t going. So, don’t overlook the smaller niche markets. Be an adventurer and ask yourself: “What needs aren’t being met?” and “How can I meet mee t them?” Rule #48: Make money and be successful in niche markets where needs are not being met.
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Keep Track of Your Successes and Failures “If we do not learn from our history, we are bound to repeat it…” -Anonymous Don’t ever look back at your past failures and let them hold you back. b ack. Don’t let them fill you with fear. Let go of the pain and regret—move forward into the future—but don’t forget the lessons you’ve learnt. Write them down. Remember your experiences to avoid repeating mistakes. But don’t forget to record your successes as well. Jot down the details of your achievements—and be proud of yourself. Take the time to reflect on how far you’ve come on your journey, whether in life or o r in business. When you’re struggling, look at what you wrote and remind yourself of how capable c apable you really are. And there’s no need to be modest either; reflecting on your milestones isn’t just to inflate your ego, it can also inspire you and help you to duplicate du plicate your success—over and over again. The benefits of remembering why and how h ow we do something is of tremendous importance, whether success or failure, we can all learn from our past. Personally, I recommend that you keep a little book or journal and takes notes of everything important that you do. However, if you don’t wish to keep a written log, at least remember what you do. Maintaining records of your successes and failures will keep everything in perspective. When you are down, remembering remembe ring a success will give you motivation. And when you’re up, remembering lessons learnt from failure will keep you from falling. So write down your successes and failures, use your past as a tool, and strive to continually improve yourself, both as a human being and an entrepreneur. Rule #49: Remember the lessons you’ve learnt from your failures and successes. Learn from your history and strive to continually improve.
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Read the Newspaper “Half of the American people have never read a newspaper. Half never voted for President. One hopes it is the same half.” h alf.” -Gore Vidal Inspiration comes from many places, so don’t always ignore what’s going on in the outside world. Don’t have a blasé attitude about life. Get interested. Pick up a newspaper or magazine and read what’s going on around in the world—or better yet, look on the internet (it’s free!) and see what everyone is else doing. Who knows, you might find inspiration and be led to a lucrative opportunity! Rule #50: Keep abreast of the news. Read the newspaper. Find out what’s going on in the world (or across your country). Who knows where you next great idea might come from!
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Heroes & Mentors “Mentor: Someone whose hindsight can become your foresight.” -Anonymous Finding out what we want to do with the rest of our lives is one of the most difficult (if not the most difficult) undertakings we will ever face in our pitiful existence. But once you actually find out what you really want to do d o with the rest of your life, the question will no longer be “What?” but rather “How?” How do I get to do what I want to do with the rest of my life? And that is no small question. It is beyond the scope of this book and is something I cannot cann ot answer—but that’s why you get a hero or mentor. me ntor. A hero or mentor will answer the “how to” questions that you so desperately need answered. They will guide you along the right path and help you to succeed. Now, heroes won’t guide you and take you under their wing like a mentor will, but if you don’t have access acce ss to a mentor they do serve a very similar purpose and can help you a great deal. Heroes can be emulated and you can duplicate their success, regardless of seeing or speaking to them. Michael Lee-Chin (Chinese-Jamaican-Canadian Mutual Fund Billionaire) is an excellent example who used his hero, Warren Buffett, as an inspiration to help him on his path to riches and success. Though Lee-Chin isn’t anything like like Warren Buffett in personality, nor has he met him, he was able to emulate Buffett’s investment strategy and closely duplicate his success. By reading the books and biographies available on Buffett, Lee-Chin was able to mold himself into his hero in money—I mean many—many ways. And you can do the same thing too! You can also follow a hero. All you have to do is find one. Look on the internet or visit the library. There is a plethora of admirable people, heroes and heroines alike. The only thing you need to do is to choose. Find a person you look up to and wish to be like. Then go out there, emulate them, and share in the same kind of success that they have! Rule #51: Find a hero or mentor to help guide you on your path to success.
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You Really Are Lucky! “Little minds attain and are subdued by misfortunes; but great minds rise above them.” -Washington Irving Bad things happen in life. Sometimes really, really bad things happen in life. But that’s what makes life, life. It has its challenges and it has its moments. It has its ups and it has ha s its downs; for better or for worse. That’s what life is all about: variety. It’s not just diamonds and expensive champagne. (When has it ever been?) The world is like a rose. It’s beautiful and delicate, but full of thorns. And no matter how much you prepare yourself for disaster, not matter how old or young you are, something always surprises you—something always gets to you. This is a cold hard fact, misfortune happens to everyone. It doesn’t matter how smart, rich, or strong you are, there will always be something lurking out in the dark to punch the wind out of your lungs (figuratively speaking). Now, don’t get me wrong here. h ere. I’m not purposely being pessimistic. This phenomenon of irrefutable “bad luck” is already well recognized and it does have a name. To many it’s known as: Murphy’s Law. Murphy’s Law states that, “Whatever can go wrong, will go wrong.” And it does seem to apply everywhere. However, unbeknownst to many, this statement was initially confined ex clusively to the Edward’s Air Force Base (where it has its originations). But since then the adage has spread throughout and has been adopted by normal people as an everyday saying. It’s become a universal phrase—and for good reason! Murphy’s Law does make a lot of sense. Things do in fact (almost always) go wrong—but there’s not much you can do d o about it. You just have to accept this fact of life and deal with it accordingly. Approach your problems like a winner—with a positive attitude. Face adversity and keep your optimism and self-esteem high, even when you fail. Remember, the true difference between a winner and a loser is: the winner doesn’t doe sn’t let a loss define him or her as a loser. The winner doesn’t give up. They keep going. They know that no matter how badly things are going, they are still a very lucky person. “But how,” you ask, “can any person smile through a tragedy?” You don’t have to smile. You just have to see the silver lining in the cloud. There is always a lways something to be thankful for. Think about it for a minute. What are you doing right now? You’re reading. You’re reading this book by yourself, on your own, without any assistance. How lucky and fortunate is that! Not only do you have the gift of reading, but you also have enough money to afford this book (or have someone who cares enough to lend it to you). And then there is the fact that you are a re alive, healthy, and you get to be on this big beautiful bea utiful blue planet! You have the opportunity to be alive and to experience earth and to be here and to breathe this wonderful oxygen rich atmosphere and explore e xplore this planet in almost any way wa y you please! How great is that? You get g et to be one of the fortunate few who get to be a human. You get to be on top of the food chain. You have the brains and intelligence to live better than 99.9% of the animals on this planet… You got the power! Don’t underestimate unde restimate how lucky you really are. Out of the millions upon millions of sperm in your father’s you-know-what, you won the race to the
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egg! You won the most important competition co mpetition there ever was—the race for life! So give yourself a pat on the back! You deserve it you lucky duck! Rule #52: Accept the bad parts of life—but also the good, because you’re luckier than you think.
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Turn a Disadvantage into an Advantage "An optimist sees an opportunity in every calamity; a pessimist sees a calamity in every opportunity." -Winston Churchill If you get handed a lemon, what do you do? Yes! That’s right, you make lemonade! I know. You already knew the answer to the question. But it gets a point across, simply and elegantly—and that is, to make the best out of a bad situation. The “making lemonade out of lemons” philosophy perfectly encompasses the attitude of people who are successful. It shows character of resourcefulness and ability to think positively. For you see, people who succeed at things (or at least have a tendency to) regularly take their disadvantages and make them into advantages. It’s sometimes difficult to see the proverbial silver lining in the cloud, but if you look hard enough, eno ugh, 90% of the time you’ll find that it is there. When something bad happens you can almost always make it good or at least better. be tter. Even with something as horrible as a loved one passing away, there is an opportunity there to make that bad situation into a better one. You could for example use the passing away of your loved one to meet with other family members you haven’t seen in a long time. You could use the sorrow to bond and to get closer to those around you. I know, it really doesn’t seem like much, but at least something a little good has come out of a tragedy. It’s like when a child burns his finger on a hot bulb. Yes, he’s he ’s burnt his finger, but you can also take the opportunity to enforce a valuable lesson—not to touch the bulb again. It may seem bad at first (a burnt finger), but when the situation is dealt with properly, we can see that something good can in fact come out of a negative circumstance (a lesson well learnt). Now this philosophy of “making lemonade out of lemons” doesn’t only apply to smaller situations or individuals. Large companies can, and often, utilize this optimistic practice as well. The Heinz Company a few years ago, as an example, had numerous customer complaints about how long it took their thick ketchup to come out of the bottle—and Heinz knew they couldn’t ignore this fact. It did seem to be a genuine problem. So what did they do? They turned a negative into a positive; making lemonade from the lemons they were given. Heinz ran a brilliant marketing campaign about how Heinz ketchup was worth the wait and that the extra thickness of the ketchup meant extra goodness and flavor. And as a result sales increased several percent and customers felt privileged to have such unique and tasty ketchup! Rule #53: Turn negatives into positives. When life hands you a lemon, make lemonade.
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Best Wins Always “It is the quality of our work which will please God and not the quantity.” -Mahatma Gandhi In a crowded market place, who is going to win? Is it the first comer, the pioneer, or is it the person or entity that makes the better be tter product or service? It may surprise you (or not) to know, but in this workaday world, the correct answer is the best will always win. Regardless of entry time into the market, the ultimate decision o f a consumer is in the quality of a product (relative to price, of course). c ourse). There will always be someone to pave the path, and you might not be there for that lucrative time, but there will also be another a nother person to improve it; to make it better, to make that dirt road out of asphalt—and maybe put up a toll booth. In business and in life, it’s about how you do it, not necessarily that you do it. And this isn’t just a bunch of you know k now what. It’s a true and present reality. Look at all the big businesses of the world today. They’ve all a ll had their predecessors, their Goliaths, and their challenges, but ultimately they won and beat out the competition because they had the best product or service. Remember that car company called, Ford? A very long time ago they used to be the leader in the automobile industry. They sold millions and millions of cars, and they thought that nobody could touch them—but that attitude cost them. And as a result of their arrogance, they became complacent and lost their position to General Motors; a younger, more innovative company. Unfortunately, history has a tenden cy to repeat itself, and today GM has lost out to Toyota Motors (Currently the most profitable car company in the world.) But Toyota won the battle of the cars, not because they were the largest, but because they made high quality vehicles and created automobiles that people really wanted. While GM was trying to push SUVs and gas guzzlers, Toyota was working on fuel efficient technology (AKA Hybrid Synergy Drive) and increasing the quality of their already high quality vehicles. GM and Ford fell behind this “foreign” automaker because they had lost their focus; they believed their iconic brands would carry them through the storms, but the poor quality of their products eventually diminished their powers. Now, this case study is not isolated to the automobile industry. It is prevalent in all areas of business, life, and entrepreneurship. Companies an d individuals fail because they have a piss-poor product or service. You Yo u can’t expect to succeed by just shoveling things out the door. You have to have a passion. You can’t just lie around, do a crap job, and expect success and money to be handed to you—unless of course you’re the government. In that case you can do anything you want! But sadly, most people don’t have that kind of power (to be lazy, stupid, incompetent, and reap the rewards). So when you pursue something, make sure it is the very best you can make it. Don’t fall to the wayside because of poor effort and quality. Be the best you can. Rule #54: Don’t worry if you’re not the first. Just focus on being the best, because best wins always.
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Make a Moat: Make Your Advantage “If any of my competitors were drowning, I'd stick a hose in their mouth.” -Ray Kroc When going on your adventure for success and money, you must have a distinct advantage over your competitors; whether it be your brains or your pocket book, it has to be there. If you want to continually con tinually succeed, make money, and last for at least for a little while, you are going to need some protection—a moat. As you probably already know, a moat is a body of water surrounding a castle to protect it from invaders—but in regards to life, money and business, a moat is metaphor for a competitive advantage. It is something that will keep your competitors out and your customers in. A competitive advantage creates customer loyalty (because it’s not just about the quantity of customer, but also about the quality). q uality). It provides people with a compelling reason to return. Like a Hollywood actress with a pretty face for the movies, you have to convince individuals why “Brand A” is better than “Brand B”—or “C” or “D” or “E.” You need to have a moat for success. You need to give people a reason to be with you. It’s just common business wisdom. In order to survive in business, or whatever venture it is that you are pursuing, you have h ave to offer something that is either: A) Cheaper, B) Better or, C) Cheaper and Better. Be tter. If you don’t offer any of the above things, then what reason is there for the customers to give you their hard earned cash? Unless you have a monopoly or you’re the only one in town, you need to offer customers something unique that will make them happily give you their loyalty. You need to have a defined edge over the competitors. Wal-Mart for example offers things significantly cheaper than other department stores, and even though their profit margins are lower, they manage to stay in business and stave off the competition. (They also do d o this in large part by efficient supply chain management and logistics.) On the flipside of that is a company, compa ny, you might know it, called Apple (formerly known as Apple Computer). It is an excellent example of a business which does not profit on products which are cheap, but rather products that are superior. Apple has a well known line of digital music players by the name of iPod. They are a high quality product which consumers are willing to pay a premium for. In fact, so much so, that Apple presently has a whopping 70% plus market share in the entire United States of America! And last but not least, as an example of the third competitive advantage (i.e. cheaper and better), you have software titan Microsoft, which in contrast to Wal-Mart and Apple, takes a middle ground strategy. They make products which are cheaper and more superior to the competition—and to say the least, it has worked out very well. Their flagship product, Microsoft Windows, currently has a 90% plus market share—globally! ...See how powerful making a moat can be? So, what’s your moat? What is your advantage? What is the reason people will come to you? Rule #55: You need an advantage over your competitors c ompetitors to make yourself stand out from the crowd. You need to give people a compelling reason to come back or return.
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Keep It Simple Stupid “Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.” -Leonardo da Vinci Don’t make things more complex than they need to be. If you make things too complex you will quickly become frustrated and give up. Don’t turn “2 + 2” into a mind boggling algebraic trigonometric geometric problem! It’s just like what Occam's razor said, “The simplest solution tends to be the best one.” But I think Peter Lynch summed it up u p best when he said, “Go for a business that any idiot can run—because sooner or later, any idiot probably is going to run it.” That Peter Lynch—funny and smart! But he has ha s a point! Simplicity is the key to succeeding in business and in life. When you keep things simple, you keep things organized. When you keep things organized, you keep things easy. And when you keep things easy, you keep things running (i.e. more success and more money). Personally, I don’t know why people wish to make things more complex than they really are, but I can assume it’s because they the y want to keep their day job—and why not? Make a simple task like fixing a photocopier seem difficult and impossible to do, and your manager will keep you around forever! But making things needlessly complex in life and business for your self certainly spells doom! If you’re an entrepreneur you’ll have to put on many hats and do so many different little jobs. Constantly making simple things complex is just a disaster waiting to happen. You need to manage your time and organize yourself for efficiency, so keep things as simple as possible. Don’t think that because you’re spending more time on a complicated project that you’re doing better work. The only thing you’re doing d oing is unnecessary work. You’re not being productive by making puzzles out of the everyday. So, please keep things simple— for your sanity, and for your bottom line! Rule #56: Keep everything as simple as possible. Don’t add needless complexity.
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Networking "The way of the world is meeting people through other people." -Robert Kerrigan People are like branches, easy to snap alone, but difficult to break when put together. And it is for that reason why you need to network. You need to make contacts and meet other people in order to succeed. Because other people tend to lead to other people, people who might help you in the future—like a venture ve nture capitalist, an angel investor, a mentor, or even just a friend who supports you. But when you do go out there and try to make connections, be as sincere as possible. Be yourself and don’t be a phony. And especially don’t network and meet with other people just to use them. Relationships Re lationships should be mutually beneficial. Using another person for your own selfish purpose is not only unethical, but b ut it’s damned easy to spot. So don’t be called out for your self-centeredness and fakery. Be genuinely interested in others. Make contacts with people beyond the “what can I use you for?” And be caring and honest too—don’t be a jerk! Talk to everyone. Make contacts with all types of people. Don’t be a snob. Don’t snub people because they’re “small pickles” or are of no immediate use to you, because you never know where one person might lead you to! According to Frigyes Karinthy, humans are only separated by approximately “six degrees of separation.” In other words, you are a re only separated from an individual by a mere six people (of which includes yourself). Through six people, through simple association, you have the ability to meet almost anyone on the planet. So always al ways keep an open mind when you are networking. Every person is potentially important. Remember, if you snub one person, you snub ‘em all! I know this all sounds confusing, so let me explain the theory of the “six degrees of separation” with an example (say you want to meet an important man named, Fred): You know Alvin
Degree 1
(Between you and Alvin is one degree.)
Alvin knows Bobby
Degree 2
(Between Alvin and Bobby is one degree.)
Bobby knows Charlie
Degree 3
(Between Bobby and Charlie is one degree.)
Charlie knows Danny
Degree 4
(Between Charlie and Danny is one degree.)
Danny knows Eric
Degree 5
(Between Danny and Eric is one degree.)
Eric knows Fred
Degree 6
(Between Eric and Fred is another degree.)
As you can see from the above illustration, (theoretically) you are only away from the “big kahuna” by “six degrees of o f separation.” So there is almost nobody you cannot get into contact with—but of course, before you can go out there and meet the “big kahuna,” you are first going to have h ave to talk with the “small kahuna.” And from there, you
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can work your way up! Now, get out there and network! Meet people, make connections; succeed! Rule #57: Network and meet as many people as you can, they will be your greatest asset in meeting the right person/people (i.e. the “big kahuna”).
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Rules? We Don’t Need No Stinkin’ Rules! “Rules are not necessarily sacred, principles are.” -Franklin D. Roosevelt Rules, rules, rules—what are they for and why do we follow them? Is it just to make our lives miserable; is it to confine us and to limit our capabilities? No. Rules are made to protect and to help us. They’re Th ey’re there to guide us and to steer us in the right direction. That is why, for example, you get a ticket if you don’t wear your seat belt while driving. It’s not to punish you. It’s because the police want you to be safe. But truth is sometimes the rules don’t work. Sometimes you have to go around them and do something completely different. Now, it’s not to say you should purposely break the law or anything silly like that—it’s just that sometimes, God forbid, you have to use your common sense and think on your own. Rules can be outdated and antiquated. They can fall short of your expectations and lack relevancy to your situation. Ultimately, you need to decide what’s right for you—whether it’s in your little handbook or not (yes, even this). Because not everyone is the same, and not every eve ry situation is the same, you must adapt and be flexible. Know the rules, but at the same time, know when to break them. There’s nothing worse than a person who wh o can’t think for themselves. So think for yourself, be rebellious and question the restrictions. Don’t immediately accept what people tell you to do. Explore the reasoning behind the rules, look for the logic, and decide whether or not they are right for you. Don’t trap yourself within a box. Mold yourself into an individual and use your brain and intuition to guide you. Do things on your own and not always at the suggestion of others. Look with multiple perspectives. Life isn’t black and white. Sometimes there are gray spots where you need to call the shots, regardless of what the rules say. You need n eed to look at where you are and make that executive decision, even if it goes against conformity and the standard practice. But, of course, it’s not always that easy. Sometimes you’ll get resistance. Sometimes you’ll get people who will tell you that you are completely wrong. And in those testing moments, you just have trust yourself and go a gainst the grain. Use your knowledge and skills and do what you need to do. The world is constantly changing. We can’t always cling to our old ideas and our old ways. There are times when we must take a paradigm shift, when we must evolve and innovate—when we must break the rules in order to succeed. Rule #58: Knows the rules—and know when to break ‘em.
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Dress for Success ”It is an interesting question how far men would retain their relative rank if they were divested of their clothes.” -Henry David Thoreau People will often tell you to “not judge a book by its cover.” But Bu t we all know that is exactly what they do. And, unfortunately, they can’t help themselves. It’s in their nature. Humans are designed to make snap judgments and go on the information they first receive—however scant it may be. And as goes the world, the same method of judging objects also a lso applies to individuals. Your physical appearance, at least initially, is how peop le will judge you, and it will weigh in on your success succ ess and your ability to connect with others. I wish it weren’t true, but people are superficial. They judge you by b y the clothes you wear and how h ow you look. Now, I’m not telling you to go out and buy an Armani tuxedo, but looking neat and clean and dressing well is an important part of your body language, and as a consequence communication. People have pre-established notions about how a person should look—and you need to conform to those expectations. ex pectations. If you want a job, if you want to raise capital for your business, if you want a personal loan, if you want to go on a date with a man or a woman, whatever it is, you need to look the part. In other words, you don’t go into IBM looking for a job dressed like a party clown! You have to design your appearance for who you wish to impress. If you really want to sell yourself to someone, you have to dress appropriately for the situation and not look like a person who just rolled out of bed. Getting an individual’s trust can be difficult, and looking like a mess will certainly not help. h elp. So, be as well kempt ke mpt as possible and take care of your looks. All it takes a bit of thought and a bit b it of time. It’s not that hard. You don’t have to look like Brad Pitt or Angelina Jolie. Just be yourself! Rule #59: Dress well, dress appropriately. What people see is what they expect.
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Profits Occur When You Buy ”Remind people that profit is the difference between revenue and expense. This makes you look smart.” -Scott Adams When purchasing real estate (or any other thing for that matter) for the purposes of resale, most amateurs focus mainly on the selling aspect; the supposed profits they are going to reap when they put their property or item up for sale. But the truth is you make your money when you buy and not necessarily, as many think, when you sell. Now, this may seem contrary or strange to prior notions that you may have, but what you buy and what price you pay will in the end determine de termine your profits more so than your marketing or sales techniques—because a polished sneak er, no matter how you look at it, is still a sneaker. If you buy an overpriced house, if you get locked into an obligation for a hideous piece of real estate within a terrible location, you will have already lost your money. There is no back peddling when you sign a legal contract. The dud is yours. And that is why you must always carefully consider the quality of real estate and the price you are paying. Is it reasonable? Think before you buy anything, especially if you intend to resell it, because that is the time when your profits will occur. So start strong from the beginning and end strong too. Don’t take something nobody wants and try to force it on the market, because beca use nobody will buy it—and if they do, it’ll be at a t your expense. Do the due diligence and avoid the duffers. To further illustrate the “profits occur when you buy” principle are two following scenarios which contrast between the different types of thinking… Scenario A – Sell for Profit Gerald is an aspiring real estate investor. After reading many boo ks and attending numerous seminars, he is anxious to get into investing. Gerald peruses the classifieds ads of the newspaper and searches for deals. He doesn’t find anything he really likes, but he is extremely excited, and at the same time, extremely anxious. Finally, after many hours of searching, Gerald finds an interesting ad. He jots down the phone number and immediately calls up the property owner. For sale is a worn-down looking condominium co ndominium for $200,000. Gerald initially thinks it’s a bit pricey, but figures he could make mak e the place into a quick fix flip and make a few thousand dollars—so, he promptly agrees to buy the condominium over the phone—but without much regard to what he is actually purchasing and for how much. Once ownership exchanges hands, Gerald excitedly puts the place up for sale. He lists his property on the internet and through a newspaper. A few weeks go by, but there are no responses to the ads. Then, one day, Gerald receives a call. There is a person offering to buy his condominium for $190,000. Gerald is exceedingly reluctant to accept, but the mortgage payments are bogging him down and he needs to escape the obligations that he has. So, he takes the offer and loses about $10,000 on his investment. …Too bad. If only Gerald had made careful consideration as to what he was actually purchasing, rather than focusing solely on the sales transaction. With minimal
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patience and conscientious thinking, he could have easily avoided this imprudent and foolhardy situation. Scenario B – Buy for Profit Jack is an aspiring real estate investor. He is fairly new to the game but is very knowledgeable and takes property investing seriously. Jack is an “eager beaver” and is on the hunt for a piece of property—but for many weeks he cannot find anything a nything that meets his criteria. Fortunately, Jack is patient. He waits for the right opportunity, and one day he is presented with the perfect investment. Jack finds a beautiful Victorian mansion in spectacular condition—and the price is only $150,000! According to the owner he is moving to Florida for retirement, but he is in dire need to sell his home as soon as possible. His favorite daughter down south, whom he intends to live with, is behind on her house payments and will be thrown out of her place if she does not come up with the money that she owes to the bank. So says the old man, he “needs to sell right away in order to help her.” The story checks out, so Jack meets with the owner of the Victorian mansion and a nd together the two close a deal. Jack, now the proud owner of a stunning $150,000 mansion, puts it up for sale and places an advertisement in the newspaper. Within a week he sells the home for 50% more than his cost price—Jack has made a $75,000 profit! Rule #60: Profits are made when you buy, not when you sell. Carefully examine the property (or whatever) you’re considering to purchase; look at its price and quality. See it for its true potential.
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You Don’t Have to be Einstein “It's not that I'm so smart, it's just that I stay with problems longer.” -Albert Einstein We live in a world of information where intelligence and knowledge are required requ ired to succeed. And as is the case, we are expected by society to know a certain amount of things. The pressure exerted on an individual, especially in the beginning of their journey, can be overwhelming—but nobody expects exp ects you to know everything. It doesn’t matter how old or young you are, everyone in their life is at a different level. So, it doesn’t matter where you start, as long as you strive to constantly c onstantly improve and to expand your mind. Life is a learning process and you learn as you go along; building up your wisdom bit by bit. But even as you gain more and more experience; that does that mean you have to be an encyclopedia. You’re not a machine, you’re a person. You can’t know everything. There is way too much out there the re for a single human mind to absorb. That is why it is an important skill, not just to know the answers, but whe re to get them. Being aware of your resources is a useful ability—if you don’t know an answer, you should at least know where to get it. Look on internet, search the library, or better yet, ask a person. People can be your greatest source of knowledge. And while an individual may not know everything, e verything, it can at least be said that everyone is an expert at something. Find the right person and they will gladly answer your questions, because people love it when others take an interest in what they do. So, don’t be shy. Ask about anything you think is relevant. Satiate S atiate your curiosity and your desire to grow. Rule #61: You learn as you go. Rule #62: If you don’t know the answers, know where to get them. Rule #63: Don’t be afraid to ask a sk questions. You will never know if you don’t ask.
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Superstition ”Superstition is the religion of feeble minds.” -Edmund Burke Friday the 13th, walking under a ladder, walking past a black cat, opening an umbrella, and breaking a mirror… What do these things all have in common? Of course! They are superstitions about luck! But who, in this day and age, would actually believe them? In a time with the internet, where information is available at your finger tips with the click of a button, who would be so gullible? Idiots? Ignoramuses? Fools? Dimwits, dopes, dolts, and dunces? No. Regular people, regular smart people, can also fall prey to superstition. I don’t really understand why they would cling to these beliefs; why false notions pervade through society—but I can certainly say that they are detrimental to an individual in many ways. It may not be apparently at first, but superstitions encourage illogical thinking and they can lead you into the habit of doing very foolish things—like betting on “Horse #8” because that’s your lucky number. My friends! That is a quick way to lose your money! Believing in superstition, whether in regard to good luck or bad luck, is a fast track to the poorhouse. Simply said, chance and fortune are not decided on the whimsies of a simple event. Shattering a mirror is not going to give you seven years of bad luck, and carrying around a rabbit’s foot isn’t going to make you any richer. Dedication, the ability to work hard, and intelligence are what make you succeed in life, not random events. Please, don’t d on’t be superstitious. Superstitions lead you to activities like gambling, going to the casino, and playing the lottery; and we all know those games are designed for you to lose. Anything that requires “luck” for you to get ahead is probably a thing best avoided, because relying on superstition and shaping shap ing your future around false beliefs is stupid. Think for yourself. Form your ideas from logic, not opinion. Rule #64: Don’t believe in superstitions. They’re complete hogwash and they give you nothing but false hope. Rule #65: Don’t gamble away your cash on a bet or on a “gut feeling.” Don’t rely on luck and superstition. There are better ways to risk losing your hard earned money.
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Connecting the Dots “Human salvation lies in the hands of the creatively maladjusted.” -Martin Luther King Jr. Sometimes throughout life we find ourselves doing unusual things; things that are odd in our personal nature and unrelated to the goals that we have. And at first it may not be apparent why we are doing them, but the purpose as we continue on, soon becomes clear and reveals itself. But why, as humans, are we attracted to the strange in the first place? Why do we do something with an unclear and an d uncertain future? It certainly seems to go against ag ainst the lessons we were taught growing up about structure and organization. So why do we wander and search? Why do we not just settle for the ordinary, the plain, and the straightforward? Well, for one, most of us aren’t actually straightforward. As much as we try to put ourselves into a neat little package, we are not the automatons that society thinks we are. Broken down into individuals, we are lateral thinkers at heart—and we do not always move in a straight line. We zigzag and we curve, and we often reach our destination by taking an offbeat path. That is why, on your journey for success and riches, you should always keep an open mind. Think outside the box and allow yourself to imagine. Every once in a while do things on a whim. Don’t always try to resist your urges. Don’t automatically brush something off simply because it doesn’t seem to fit into your master plan. Sometimes being different and deviating is necessary in order to succeed. Life is like a connect-the-dots puzzle. Little piece s make part of a large picture. p icture. But you have to connect conne ct all the dots, not just some of them, to see the final result. It is only then when you can look back and see how all the different skills and experiences you’ve acquired have come together. And you might be astonished at how the little things have made a larger impact. And it is for that reason you should explore your options and “expand your horizons.” Now, that’s not to say you should bounce bounc e all over the walls and go crazy. No. You still need to have some sort of structure and a focal point in your life (i.e. a plan). However, just because you’re organized and focused, does not mean you need to close every single door. There are times to be capricious. There are times to be serious. Don’t neglect the hidden opportunities and the mysteriousness of life, because you never know where the dots will connect and what pictures may form. Rule #66: Think laterally once in a while. Try different things. You never know where they may take you.
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Fads & Trends ”Fads are the kiss of death. When the fad goes away, you go with it.” -Conway Twitty There are two types of paths you will encounter enco unter in life, the one with the fads and the one with the trends. But which is better? Well, a fad is something like: yo-yos, slap bracelets, bell-bottoms, and virtual pets. A trend is something like: hybrid cars, alternative e nergy, digital music, and healthy fast food. As you can see, they are total opposites. Fads are short-term and trends are longterm. Yes. Fads can make a lot of money really quick, but they are hard to create and it is highly difficult for one to sustain as an enduring and a nd long lasting business or a reliable source of income. And that is why it is preferable to follow trends rather than fads— because fads, unlike trends, are short-lived and they have a tendency to go as quickly as they came. Following a trend is just far more sensible, because the capital and effort you invest is for the long-haul, and thus, has ha s more of an impact as time goes g oes on. It’s not to say that there is absolutely no future within a fad—hey, what’s wrong with a quick buck?—but they are rather difficult ventures to pursue. And as you probably probab ly already know, most of them are one hit wonders, coming once and going away forever, fading into obscurity along with any of the good will generated (good will being intangible assets such as trademark and copyright). So given those observations, it is reasonable to understand why most businesses prefer to follow trends rather than fads. Trends pay off in the long run. They are reliable sources of income and they provide better stability. While it isn’t necessary to avoid fads at all costs, it is advisable that you don’t invest all of your time and money into some “new craze.” Do not put all of your eggs into one basket when it comes to fads. Diversify and at least reduce your risk. Take an approach to these opportunities like a business would. For example, while many large retailers sell faddish products, they do not bank on one thing and rely on it solely for their income. There are other ways for them to make money, going with trends in particular, selling items in constant de mand like: furniture, clothes, books, electronics etc… In other words, smart people don’t bet it all on Chia Pets! Rule #67: Don’t bank on a fad. Invest in a trend and reap your profits from a reliable cash cow that won’t leave you in the middle of the night while you are asleep (e.g. real estate).
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Off to College or Not? “Financial education needs to become a part of our national curriculum and scoring systems so that it’s not just the rich kids that learn about mone y, it’s all of us.” -David Bach If you are young, you may be having to face the decision dec ision of whether or not to go to college. If you are self-directed and know exactly where you want to go, I can conclude that you can safely skip college without any worry whatsoever. On the other hand, if you are unsure of what you want to do with your life and you feel you need the time to discover yourself; then college just might be the place for you. Though, ultimately, I cannot tell you if it is the right choice to make, because bec ause every person is different. But you should know that college does not necessarily mean success (or lack of it). Did you know that approximately half of the people on the Forbes 400 List (The 400 Richest Americans) did not attend college and/or are dropouts? I’m not exactly sure what this says, but I think it means that as long as you have a smart head on your shoulders and are determined to see things through, it doesn’t really matter how or where you are educated. Rule #68: You don’t need a formal education to succeed. However, you do need to be smart, self-directed and determined!
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It’s Not Natural Ability ”I know of no more encouraging fact than the unquestionable ability of man to elevate his life by conscious endeavor.” -Henry David Thoreau In the media we often see these prodigies, young enthusiastic children with all these amazing talents and abilities, and we wonder and wonder how they actually did it. Then after thinking for a moment, we come to the naïve conclusion that it must be an inherited natural ability, and that they didn’t do any hard h ard work or sacrifice anything to acquire their talent—but there couldn’t be anything further from the truth. The fact is prodigies work hard at what they do, and they have as many failures as a normal adult would. But the main difference between the two, age aside, is that the adult is conditioned to think in a certain way, and an d he or she may take failing in a harsh manner, while a child will not. Because a prodigy does not define failure, knowing only to continue, they accelerate in their life to seemingly extraordinary levels. Their stubbornness to continue and unwavering lack of fear is what really makes them succeed; so what appears to be a natural gift or talent is in reality not. Bobby Fischer, the chess champion, for example, practiced and played chess for over 9 years before he won his first championship when he was 14 years old in 1958. It seemed like he popped over night because he was so young, but the truth is he had earnestly practiced everyday for nearly a decade. Bobby Bobb y Fischer was just like anybody else, except that he figured out ou t earlier in life what it is that he loved to do. So don’t be mistaken, it was not n ot his natural talent. He learnt the game just like everybody else. He didn’t have any advantages, he didn’t have a super IQ, he didn’t go to the best schools, he didn’t have rich parents; he didn’t have supernatural abilities. All he had was guts, determination, and a bright optimism for the future… In short, it doesn’t matter what you have—but rather wha t you do with what you have. The action you take is what really determines your success. Remember, we all h ave brains, and they’re made of the same stuff. How we use it is what counts. Regardless of your present situation, you can do anything you want if you are truly determined, focused, and stick with it. Rule #69: Determination and effort create success, no t God given gifts and natural talent.
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If It’s Not Broke—It Can Probably Be Improved “I've always believed the greater danger is not aiming too high, but too low, settling for a bogey rather than shooting for an eagle.” -Peter Scott Being content with what you have is important to your mental wellbeing. If you are perpetually dissatisfied with everything in your life, you will never be happy and things will never get better. However, satisfaction should not lead to complacency and settling. You should always strive to improve. Keep in motion and don’t stop growing as a human being. Challenge yourself. Stretch your imagination. See the future. Ask what something can be, not what it is. And be confident, but take your ambitions a step at a time. Progress requires patience. Don’t become discouraged at every little problem. Continue on, even if “the “going gets tough.” Succeed with persistence and fortitude. Everyday is an opportunity for you to make a piece of your dream come true, so long as you have the yearning for improvement. Remember that greatness does not come from those who laze; it comes from the minds determined to seek out a new tomorrow, by slowly chipping away at the problems of today. So don’t settle for less. Can you imagine if the world settled for less, where we would be? Without modern technology, without cars, televisions, and computers—just horses, plays, and abacuses! Not that there is anything wrong with those things, but I’m sure we can appreciate the conveniences that we have in our everyday lives. And it’s all because of the men and women who say, “I want more…” Do you want more? Rule #70: Appreciate where you are and what you have in life, but constantly strive to improve—because everything can be improved.
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Focus, Concentrate, Succeed “Our thoughts create our reality—where we put our focus is the direction we tend to go.” -Peter McWilliams It’s freezing cold. It’s in the middle of winter and you’re living in a log cabin. There’s a fireplace by the window. It’s full of twigs and dry wood, but it’s not lit, and you don’t have any matches, a lighter, or even a simple flint to make sparks. You do however have a magnifying glass. So, what do you do? Use the magnifying glass, of course! Hold it up to the light by the window and set the wood on fire! Amazingly it works, and it’s all because you’re concentrating. You’re focusing the sunlight on a single spot ‘till it can heat up enough to cause flame and smoke. The same idea, about abo ut concentration, also applies to your life. You need to focus and concentrate in order to succeed, to get that fire going in your life. Because society will not reward you for the things d one with mediocrity, it is best not to be a jack of all trades and a master of none. When you have a spark, when you have a business idea or any idea that you think can get you to the top, don’t do several things at the same time. Be a one-project man (or woman). Some of you may disagree, but ask a sk yourself this question: if you were feeling sick, would you rather visit a doctor who is only a doctor, or a doctor do ctor who also plays a clown at birthday parties? (Okay. There is Patch Adams, but there are always exceptions.) Now, it’s not to say you should brush everything off and consume yourself in one thing completely—it’s good to have a broad view of everything—but generally speaking you need to have at least one area of your life, one pursuit that gets your undivided attention. Rule #71: Better to be a master of one than a master of none.
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Location, Location, Location! “A man is not rightly conditioned until he is a happy, healthy, and prosperous being; and happiness, health, and prosperity are the result of a harmonious adjustment of the inner with the outer of the man with his surroundings.” -James Allen Would you ever buy a home next to a garbage dump? Of course not! It would smell, it would be nauseating, and it would most certainly make you sick—it wouldn’t be good for your health. The same idea also applies to your pursuit of success and money. Surrounding yourself in an environment—a city, a state, a country, a house—that is not conducive or positive to your mental wellbeing, will be detrimental to your “spirit” and will slow you down on your journey to reach your goals. Do not stay in a place where you are kept down—by the people, by the economy, by the law, or by any external force. Live in an area that encourages and nurtures your talents and skills. You are like a plant. You can only grow as much muc h as the soil surrounding your roots allows you to. If the dirt has no nutrients you will wither and die. Find a favorable environment which helps you to pursue your dreams. If you want to be a stock broker or o r an investor, you go to New York City. If you want to be a movie director or an actor or an actress, a ctress, you go to Hollywood. If you want to be b e successful, go to a place that will be receptive to what you have to offer. Don’t stay in a negative area. Always go for positive. Rule #72: Surround yourself in an environment that encourages your talents and skills.
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Ask Not What You Can Do For Yourself, But What You Can Do For Others “A man is called selfish not for pursuing his own good, g ood, but for neglecting his neighbor's.” neighbo r's.” -Richard Whately The world is a selfish place, it’s full of selfish people—and there is nothing wrong with that. So what if a person has h as their best interest in mind? Doesn’t everybody? The que stion isn’t, “Why do people act this way?” but rather “How do you react to it?” The best thing to do is to welcome this behavior behav ior and the opportunities that it brings. By understanding and accepting that humans are a re naturally selfish, by understanding their desires, their wants and their needs, you can increase your chances of attaining wealth and success. Succeed by telling others how they can win and what they can get. Tell them how you can help them to reach their goals. Win an individual over by showing them how they can benefit by working with you—but don’t focus focu s on yourself. See things from their perspective. Imagine yourself in their shoes; then ask yourself what you would want. And when you have those answers, let them know how you can give it to them. Get cooperation through their desire, not your coercion. Now, to some people this “success tactic” may seem a bit weak and passive—but if properly done, it works and it is extremely effective. As the saying goes, “You catch more flies with honey than vinegar.” Imagine for a moment you are a child. You are ten years old and you want a new toy from the department store… What Do You Do? A) Tell your mom or dad you want that shiny new toy because it’s the most fun thing in the world—and everyone else has ha s it. B) Tell your mom or dad how the toy can increase your intelligence and health through problem solving and physical activity. If you answered B) you have chosen ch osen the correct answer; because what you are doing is looking from the parents’ perspective. You are seeing what they would want and you are telling them how you can give it to them. By appealing to their desires, you set yourself up for success. And this works with anyone, not just parents. I know it seems manipulative—but it really isn’t. It is just showing people that situations can be win-win. Rule #73: Let people know how you can help them and they will help you.
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Ask and Ye Will Probably Receive “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.” -Jesus Christ Simple but true, a lot of progress in life is made merely by asking—asking the right question and waiting for the right answer. But regrettably, many people have forgotten the art of asking. We as a society, at least in North America, are far too complacent. We have been taught in our schools that the smartest person in the classroom is the one who has the answers, and that has bred an unneeded reluctance in people to ask questions. Of course, without a question there is no answer. On your journey to success and wealth, you will be required to knock on doors, to ask questions and favors. So when you get out there, do it without hesitation. Time is precious and there is nothing to fear. Say it politely and the worst you can get is a “no.” Yes, there will be a lot of rejection, many more noes than yeses; however, every eve ry person you ask is different. There is always a chance that somebody will say, “YES! YES! YES!” As long as you persist, as long as you keep asking, you will eventually get the answer you are searching for; but, as expected, you have to ask your question(s) in the appropriate manner. Like anything else, it has to be done in the right way—so practice! Stand in front of a mirror and pretend you’re talking with another person. (Or actually talk with another person). Perfect the pitch, the tone, the length, and the accuracy. Listen to yourself and do it ‘till it’s to your complete satisfaction. Keep it short, keep it casual, and keep it accurate. Get your point across clearly. There is nothing worse than a person who does not know what they want. But in your eagerness, do not forget to be considerate. Think about the human being standing on the other side, the one being bombarded with queries. Get into their frame of mind. Imagine that you are them and that you are being asked the questions. What would you like to hear? How would you like to hear it? And when would you like to hear it? In other words—what will it take for you to say “yes”? Well, it all de pends on your mood! A proposal (of the business kind) is like courting c ourting a member of the opposite sex. It has to be done in a particular manner. You have to catch your “soon to be” when they are in the ideal temperament; when they aren’t stressed out or down in the dumps. So don’t approach someone when they have clear signs of stress. Have the patience to wait for the proper moment. It doesn’t matter how fantastic your question or idea is, if you ask a person for something when they are feeling cranky, you will get a bad answer (i.e. no). Ask a question when an individual is in high spirits. You will get a much better response (i.e. yes). And last but not least—ASK THE RIGHT PERSON! Don’t ask a sk a dog to meow. When you have a question, you have to ask the right person. Although you can’t always know who the right person is, you can certainly take an educated guess. Find somebody who you strongly believe is most likely to get you that nee ded “yes,” because a question needs to find its way to a person who can answer it, somebody who has the resources or
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at least the lead to get you where you want to be. Ask as many “right people” as you can and the more likely you are to succeed. Be persistent and don’t fear rejection or failure. Rule #74: There will always be somebody who will say "yes." You just have to find them!
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It’s all in the Mind “Two men look out the same prison bars; one sees mud and the other stars. -Frederick Langbridge Of all the things you’ve learned reading this book, remember this: do not let the media or other people tell you what success is. Ultimately it is up to you. You choose what success is. You define it. So don’t live your life trying to make everyone but yourself happy. Success is in the eye of the beholder, interpreted differently by each and every person. You have to determine what success is to you. Is it being a millionaire—is it being a billionaire? Is it having a little more time for family and friends? Only you can answer these questions. When will you be satisfied? When is it enough? Look within yourself and find the answers. Nobody but you can c an define success, because success is personal, it’s yours. What you think is what you create. Take for example, Kolkata (previously known as Calcutta). It is a city in the country of India nicknamed, “The City of Joy”. However, Howev er, it is full hundreds of thousands of poor and destitute people who live off a meager few dollars a day… da y… But if that is the case, then how can they realistically call it a city of joy? Simple: it’s because of how the people peop le think and how they feel. As crazy as it seems, they believe that success is up to them. If they wish to be happy—they will be happy. They will make it so within their minds. And though they carry within them their hope, they are content with the things they have. They do not worry about that which they do not possess. The denizens of Kolkata appreciate what is today, but look forward to the mystery of tomorrow—and so should you. “But isn’t that just settling for less?” you ask. No. I am not telling you to lower your expectations or to accept less than you deserve. Nobody wants to be poor and destitute. I am merely trying to expound on the powers of the mind. Success is all a ll about your interpretation. So do what satisfies you. Don’t be influenced by the external forces that tell you that you have to be a certain way to be considered a success. Rule #75: Success is defined by you. Define it and then find it.
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Afterword Now that you have learned the rules of the rich and successful, you can go out into the world with confidence, having the knowledge that you have the wisdom of others who have gone through what you are going through right now. And as a result, you will be that much closer to achieving your goals and attaining success. With that said, I wish you the best in your journey and hope you will find true happiness. Though there are many discouragements and barriers on the road ahead, you will surely succeed if you never give in and a nd you hold on to your dreams. So don’t sell yourself short. Don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t do it. Because the only difference between a winner and a loser is, the winner will get back up after he or she has fallen down… a winner perseveres. A winner stands and says, “Yes! I can!”
“If you can dream it, you can do it.” -Walt Disney
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List of Rules Rule #1: Don’t sell your soul for money, it’s just an idea. Rule #2: Manage your time well, it’s limited…use it or lose it. Rule #3: Don’t make excuses. You’re never too old, young, or stupid. Rule #4: Success is gradual, every baby ba by begins by crawling, and you should too. Rule #5: Learn from others’ mistakes if possible. Avoid learning lessons the hard way. Rule #6: Be wary of taking advice and recommendations from people who are bias and probably don’t know what they’re talking about (i.e. fools). Rule #7: Read as much as you can. Learn to be literate in finance and money (by the way, if you prefer to listen to books on audio format that’s okay too). Rule #8: Don’t waste your hard earned dollars on consumer goods that quickly decline dec line in value. Rule #9: When your income increases, it should not be followed equally by increased expenses. Rule #10: Save at least 10% 1 0% of your total income. Sock it away immediately. Don’t try to save that 10% after you’ve already spent it. Rule #11: To become rich you must be the employer not the emplo yee. Rule #12: Treat people well and they will treat you well. Rule #13: Be confident, not arrogant. Rule #14: You’re only one person, so delegate wisely and get others to help h elp you. Rule #15: Your big house may not be your biggest asset—especially if that big mortgage drains all of your “big” money. Rule #16: Your dollar power erodes because b ecause of inflation, so fight off inflation with (wise) investing. Rule #17: Take into consideration con sideration the security of your investment. Gaining wealth is also about preserving the capital you already have. Rule #18: Ignore bad ideas. Pay attention to the good thoughtful original well developed ones; they may pay good dividends (if you pursue p ursue it).
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Rule #19: Accumulate assets and avoid liabilities; generate passive income. Reinvest that income and increase/compound your rate of return. Rule #20: There are two kinds of debt, good debt and bad debt. Good debt is used to make money; bad debt is used to take away money. Use good debt, avoid the bad. Leverage yourself and use OPM – other people’s money. Rule #21: Use other people’s time (OPT) to do “menial” tasks for you so that you may maximize your productivity and focus on things that are a re of more importance. Rule #22: Start (moderately) small, think big and grow, grow, grow. Rule #23: Exploit your natural talents and abilities. Use them as stepping stones and don’t shun them just because you personally p ersonally find them mundane. Rule #24: Create a specific goal and have a flexible yet at the same time detailed plan. A proper plan will help you meet your goal(s) go al(s) and keep you on the right track. Rule #25: Keep going until you get the result you want. Never give up and never cave in at the face of ridicule and rejection. Rule #26: Your body is a temple. Take good care of it and it will return the favor. Rule #27: There are five types of earners: employees, power employees, the selfemployed, investors and business owners. Try to become the latter two. Rule #28: Wealth is measured against time. The longer you can live off your cash, c ash, the richer you are. Rule #29: Don’t use self-defeating words and phrases. Use your creativity to find a solution to your troubles and above all be positive. Rule #30: Everything in life is potentially risky. But you can manage and reduce that risk by being methodical, smart, and doing your homework. Rule #31: Things don’t always go as you expect, so have an exit strategy or backup plan too! Rule #32: Don’t take shortcuts or cut corners, c orners, otherwise it will become bad habit. Rule #33: A leader must know how to follow and he must be able to see through the eyes of his followers in order to be the leader lead er that they may wish to follow. Rule #34: There is no perfection pe rfection but only in the persistence to constantly improve. Rule #35: Be positive and reward yourself for your efforts because nobody else will.
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Rule #36: If you don’t find morale support with family and friends, forget about it. The best pat on the back is the one you give yourself. Rule #37: Don’t be selfish; make situations win-win. Rule #38: The best way to make money is to help other people make money too. Rule #39: When pursuing a venture v enture take into consideration the scalability, i.e. how fast and how easily it can grow. Rule #40: Don’t work hard. Work smart and work your best. Rule #41: Make your business consistent! Create a business system/operations manual! Rule #42: Don’t just look at the sticker price, see what something is really costing you; don’t step over dollars for pennies! Rule #43: Be introvert. Focus on the inside. Look into yourself and learn who and why you are. Rule #44: Don’t procrastinate. Do whatever you need to do right now. Forget about the pain you think will happen; focus on the reward. The reward will outweigh any possible pain (which usually never happens in the first place once you actually get going). Rule #45: Surround yourself with people who are smarter than you. Rule #46: The first step to success is belief. Believe in your dream and believe in yourself. Rule #47: Visualize your success and imagine the things you want, it will keep you motivated and help you see the light at the end of the tunnel. Rule #48: Make money and be successful in niche markets where needs are not being met. Rule #49: Remember the lessons you’ve learnt from your failures and successes. Learn from your history and strive to continually improve. Rule #50: Keep abreast of the news. Read the newspaper. Find out what’s going on in the world (or across your country). Who knows where you next great idea might come from! Rule #51: Find a hero or mentor to help guide you on your path to success. Rule #52: Accept the bad parts of life—but also the good, because you’re luckier than you think.
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Rule #53: Turn negatives into positives. When life hands you a lemon, make lemonade. Rule #54: Don’t worry if you’re not the first. Just focus on being the best, because ultimately best wins last. Rule #55: You need an advantage over your competitors c ompetitors to make yourself stand out from the crowd. You need to give people a compelling reason to come back or return. Rule #56: Keep everything as simple as possible. Don’t add needless complexity. Rule #57: Network and meet as many people as you can, they will be your greatest asset in meeting the right person/people (i.e. the “big kahuna”). Rule #58: Knows the rules—and know when to break ‘em. Rule #59: Dress well, dress appropriately. What people see is what they expect. Rule #60: Profits are made when you buy, not when you sell. Carefully examine the property (or whatever) you’re considering to purchase; look at its price and quality. See it for its true potential. Rule #61: You learn as you go. Rule #62: If you don’t know the answers, know where to get them. Rule #63: Don’t be afraid to ask a sk questions. You will never know if you don’t ask. Rule #64: Don’t believe in superstitions. They’re complete hogwash and they give you nothing but false hope. Rule #65: Don’t gamble away your cash on a bet or on a “gut feeling.” Don’t rely on luck and superstition. There are better ways to risk losing your hard earned money. Rule #66: Think laterally once in a while. Try different things. You never know where they may take you. Rule #67: Don’t bank on a fad. Invest in a trend and reap your profits from a reliable cash cow that won’t leave you in the middle of the night while you are asleep (e.g. real estate). Rule #68: You don’t need a formal education to succeed. However, you do need to be smart, self-directed and determined! Rule #69: Determination and effort create success, no t God given gifts and natural talent. Rule #70: Appreciate where you are and what you have in life, but constantly strive to improve—because everything can be improved.
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Rule #71: Better to be a master of one than a master of none. Rule #72: Surround yourself in an environment that encourages your talents and skills. Rule #73: Let people know how you can help them and they will help you. Rule #74: There will always be somebody who will say "yes." You just have to find them! Rule #75: Success is defined by you. Define it and then find it.
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Goals Before you finally go, take the time to write down the top ten goals goa ls in the following pages that you would like to achieve within your life. Be specific and note n ote when you’d like to attain them by. (Don’t forget to integrate them into a plan, see Planning and Making Goals) Put them in order from most important to least important. Try to be realistic, but at the same time stretch your imagination. Goals do not have to solely be about money. They can also be about other things, like having a family or even traveling around the globe (because success is defined by you). Tuck this book away into a drawer and see years or months later if you have succeeded. succeeded . The results might surprise you. Example: I want to have a networth of $25,000,000 in ten years. 1) ___________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________
2) ___________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________ 3) ___________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________ 4) ___________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________ 5) ___________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________ 6) ___________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________ 7) ___________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________ 8) ___________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________
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9) ___________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________ 10) __________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________
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Index 10%........................................ 10 1958 ....................................... ....................................... 89 2 + 2 ....................................... ....................................... 77 2.045 40 years old............................ 35 99.9%.................... 99.9% ..................................... ................. 72 abacuses ................................. ................................. 90 ability ..................................... ..................................... 89 above average .......... ................ ............ ........ .. 35 accept ..................................... ..................................... 31 Accept .................................... .................................... 73 accepting ................................ ................................ 93 accountant .............................. .............................. 64 accounting ........................ 22, 27 achieve............. achieve................... ............ .......... .... 53, 66 Achieve .................................. .................................. 29 achieving achieving your goals .......... .............. .... 18 Action ........... ................. ............ ............ ........... ....... .. 63 activity ........... ................. ............ .......... .......... ........ .. 63 adapt....................................... adapt....................................... 80 adult ....................................... ....................................... 89 advantage ............................... ............................... 76 Advantage .............................. .............................. 74 advantages advantages and disadvantages disadvantages 56 advertising.............................. 41 advice ....................................... ....................................... 7 affluent ................................... ................................... 35 afraid ...................................... ...................................... 63 Afterword............................... 97 against the grain............ grain................. ......... .... 80 aiming .................................... .................................... 90 Albert Einstein ............10, 19, 84 alternative alternative energy........ energy............ .......... ........ 87 always .................................... .................................... 95 amateurs ................................. ................................. 82 ambitions ambitions ........... ................. ............ ............ ........ .. 90 America .......... ................ .......... .......... ............ ........ 37 .............................. 70 American .............................. angel investor ......................... 78 Angelina Angelina Jolie .......... ................ ............ ........ .. 81 Anonymous...................... 69, 71 answer .................................... .................................... 94 answers .......... ................ ............ ........... ........... ........ 84 anticipation anticipation .......... ................ .......... .......... ........ .. 63 anxiety ........... ................. ............ .......... .......... ........ .. 63 Apologize............................... 51 appealing ................................ ................................ 93 appearance appearance .......... ................ ............ ........... ....... .. 81 Apple ......... ............... ........... ........... ........... ..... 53, 76 Appreciate .............................. .............................. 90 Arabian Proverb......... Proverb............. .......... ........ .. 13 arguments............................... 51 Armani ................................... ................................... 81 Arrogance Arrogance ........... ................. ............ .......... ....... ... 13 arrogant .................................. .................................. 13 Arthur Blank ........... ................. ............ ........... ..... 3 Ask......................................... Ask.................................. ....... 94 asking..................................... 94 asphalt .................................... .................................... 75
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asset........................................15 Asset.......................................15 asset management...................16 assets ................................ ................................ 19, 20 Assets and liabilities...............19 Attitude...................................37 automatons ............................. .............................86 86 axiom......................................57 baby..........................................5 backup plan .......... ................ ............41, ......41, 42 Backup Plan............................41 backup plan/exit strategy........41 bad debt ..................................21 ..................................21 bad habit .................................43 .................................43 bad luck ............................ ............................ 72, 85 Bad things...............................72 bank........................................87 Bank of America ......... ............... ...........53 .....53 Banks......................................21 bargain....................................61 Barrier ....................................12 ....................................12 barriers....................................97 bartering ...................................3 ...................................3 Be the best ..............................75 ..............................75 Being content..........................90 being the best..........................75 belief.......................................66 Belief......................................66 believe ....................................66 ....................................66 Believe....................................66 Believing ................................66 ................................66 bell-bottoms............................87 benefit.....................................93 Benjamin Disraeli...................63 Benjamin Benjamin Franklin......21, 26, 55 Best Wins ...............................75 ...............................75 big kahuna ........................ ........................ 78, 79 Bill Gates................................49 billionaire ...............................96 ...............................96 Billionaire...........................3, 71 black and white.......................80 black cat .................................85 .................................85 Bo Bennett..............................43 board.......................................47 Bobby Fischer ........... ................. ............ .......89 .89 body........................................32 Body .......................................32 .......................................32 books ......................................87 ......................................87 Borrower.................................21 borrowing ...............................22 ...............................22 boss.........................................11 bosses .....................................14 .....................................14 bottom line..............................77 Brad Pitt .................................81 .................................81 branches..................................78 brands .....................................75 .....................................75 bread and butter......................15 break the law .......................... .......................... 80 bribed......................................46
broad view.............................. view.............................. 91 Broke...................................... Broke................................ ...... 90 Buddhist Buddhist Proverb .......... ................ ......... ... 18 business ............................ ............................ 17, 39 Business income..................... 19 Business Business Owner ........... ................. .......... .... 33 business usiness owners ........... ................. .......... .... 34 Business people...................... 39 business system ................ 58, 59 Business System..................... 58 Businesses .............................. .............................. 53 Buy......................................... Buy.................................. ....... 82 Buy for Profit............. Profit................... ............ ...... 83 calculation .............................. .............................. 35 Calcutta .................................. .................................. 96 Canadian ........... ................. ............ ............ ......... ... 71 cancer ..................................... ..................................... 66 capital..................................... 17 cars ......................................... ......................................... 90 cash ........................................ ........................................ 36 cash cow................................. 87 casino ..................................... ..................................... 85 catch more flies with honey than vinegar............. vinegar................... ............ ........... ..... 93 catchphrase............................. 57 Cecil Beaton........................... 49 CEO ....................................... ....................................... 47 challenge ................................ ................................ 51 champagne champagne .......... ................ ............ ........... ....... .. 72 chance .................................... .................................... 94 change .................................... .................................... 45 charities .................................. .................................. 30 charity ........... ................. ............ ............ ........ 30, 49 Charles F. Kettering .......... ............... ..... 51 cheap ...................................... ...................................... 76 Cherie Carter-Scott Carter-Scott ........... ................ ..... 67 chess champion............ champion................. .......... ..... 89 Chia Pets ................................ ................................ 87 Chinese .......... ................ .......... .......... ........... ........ ... 71 Chinese Proverb........... Proverb................. .......... .... 64 City of Joy.............................. 96 classroom ............................... ............................... 94 clause ..................................... ..................................... 41 cliché ...................................... ...................................... 31 clichés .................................... .................................... 57 close minded ........... ................. ............ ......... ... 49 clothes .............................. .............................. 81, 87 clown...................................... clown............................... ....... 91 coach ...................................... ...................................... 44 college .................................... .................................... 88 College ............................. ............................. 21, 88 comfortable comfortable living............ living.................. ...... 54 common sense ........................ 59 Companies Companies .......... ................ ............ ........... ....... .. 75 competitive competitive advantage..... advantage......... ....... ... 76 ........................... 76 competitors ........................... complacency complacency ........... ................. ............ ......... ... 90 complexity complexity .......... ................ ............ ........... ....... .. 77 compound................................ 20 compound..............................
................ ..... 19 compound interest........... computer ................................ ................................ 55 computers......................... 51, 90 Concentrate Concentrate .......... ................ .......... .......... ........ .. 91 concentration.......................... 91 concept ................................... ................................... 55 condominium condominium .......... ............... ......... .......... ...... 82 confidence .............................. .............................. 97 Confidence ............................. ............................. 13 confident confident ......... ............... ........... ........... ............ ...... 13 Confucius ................................. ................................. 5 Connecting Connecting the Dots........ Dots............. ....... .. 86 connections connections .......... ................ .......... .......... ........ .. 78 connect-the-dots connect-the-dots puzzle ......... ......... 86 conscious conscious endeavor........... endeavor................ ..... 89 consistency............................. 58 consumer................................ 75 Consumer Consumer debt .......... ................ .......... ....... ... 21 consumer consumer goods ........... ................. ............ ...... 9 Consumer Consumer Price Index......... Index............ ... 16 contacts .................................. .................................. 78 ............................... 35 contented............................... contract .......... ................ ............ ........... ........... ........ 41 Conventional Conventional wisdom ......... ............ ... 21 conviction conviction ........... ................. ............ .......... ....... ... 66 Conway Twitty ......... ............... ........... ....... .. 87 cookie cutter........................... 58 cooperation cooperation .......... ................ .......... .......... ........ .. 93 corporations corporations ......... ............... ........... ........... ........ 11 cost price ................................ ................................ 83 country ................................... ................................... 92 CPI ......................................... ......................................... 16 crabs in the bucket bucket ......... ............... ........ .. 64 creatively creatively maladjusted maladjusted ........... ........... 86 creativity creativity ......... ............... ........... ........... ............ ...... 38 crime ...................................... ...................................... 65 critical mass ......... ............... ........... ........... ........ 56 curiosity curiosity .......... ................ .......... .......... ............ ........ 84 customers ............................... ............................... 41 cut corners.............................. 43 .. 43 Cutting Corners.................... Corners...................... dare ........................................ ........................................ 62 David ......... ............... ........... ........... ............ ........... ..... 68 David Bach .......... ................ .......... .......... ........ .. 88 dealing with people............. people................ ... 51 debt ........................................ ........................................ 21 decision .................................. .................................. 88 define ..................................... ..................................... 96 Define ........... ................. ............ ............ ........... ....... .. 96 defined ................................... ................................... 96 definitions definitions ........... ................. ............ .......... ....... ... 35 degree of risk .......... ............... ......... .......... ...... 39 delegate .................................. .................................. 14 Delegate ................................. ................................. 14 delegating............................... 14 Delegation .............................. .............................. 14 demand................................... demand.............................. ..... 87 denizens .......... ................ .......... .......... ............ ........ 96 department store..................... 93 desires .................................... .................................... 93 destiny.................................... 34 Determination Determination .......... ................ ............ ........ .. 89
determined..............................88 deviating.................................86 diamonds ................................72 ................................72 different ..................................86 ..................................86 digital music ........................... ...........................87 87 dignity ....................................47 ....................................47 dime a dozen...........................18 direction..................................91 Disadvantage .......................... .......................... 74 discouragements ..................... ..................... 97 discover ..................................88 ..................................88 dividends ................................18 ................................18 doctor......................................91 dog..........................................94 dollar power............................16 Dollars ....................................60 ....................................60 door ........................................94 ........................................94 Dr. Seuss ..................................8 ..................................8 dream.......................... 66, 90, 97 dreamer...................................47 dreams .............................. .............................. 23, 97 Dreams ...................................23 ...................................23 Dress.......................................81 driving ................................5 ................................5 , 80 dropouts..................................88 due diligence diligence ......... ............... ........... ...........82 ......82 E*Trade ..................................54 ..................................54 eagle .......................................90 .......................................90 earners ....................................34 ....................................34 Earners....................................33 eBay........................................53 economize...............................15 economy .................................11 .................................11 Edgar Cayce ........................... ...........................23 23 Edmund Burke........................85 educated..................................88 education .......................... .......................... 39, 88 Edward’s Air Force Base........72 effort.......................................89 efforts .....................................48 .....................................48 Einstein...................................84 Einstein ...................................84 electronics...............................87 embarrassment........................61 employee .......................... .......................... 11, 33 Employee................................33 employees...............................34 employer.................................11 employment............................22 emulate ...................................71 ...................................71 emulated .................................71 .................................71 entrepreneur .......... 14, 46, 68, 77 entrepreneurial........................68 entrepreneurs .......................... .......................... 34 entrepreneurship ...............26, 75 environment............................92 everyday .................................58 .................................58 everyday lives.........................90 evolve .....................................80 .....................................80 exaggerate...............................51 example ............................ ............................ 28, 59 excuses .....................................5 .....................................5 exercise...................................32
Exercise.................................. 32 exit strategies strategies .......... ................ ............ ......... ... 42 exit strategy ...................... ...................... 41, 42 Exit Strategy ........... ................. ............ ......... ... 41 Expansion................................ 55 Expansion.............................. expense .......... ................ .......... .......... ........... ........ ... 82 expenses ................................. ................................. 10 experience experience .......... ................ ............ .......... .... 6, 43 Exploit..................................... 27 Exploit................................... external force .......... ................ ............ ......... ... 92 external forces ........................ 96 extroverted extroverted .......... ................ ............ ........... ....... .. 62 extroverts extroverts ........... ................. ............ .......... ........ .... 62 eye of the beholder............ beholder................. ..... 96 eyes ........................................ ........................................ 67 fad87 Fads........................................ 87 failure........... failure................. ........ .. 30, 69, 89, 95 Failure .................................... .................................... 30 failures .......... ................ ............ ........... ........... ........ .. 69 Failures .......... ................ ............ ........... ........... ........ 69 failures and successes............. 69 fair value ................................ ................................ 15 false beliefs ......... ............... ........... ........... ........ .. 85 family ............................... ............................... 50, 96 Family .................................... .................................... 49 family and friends ......... ............... ......... ... 49 fast friends.............................. 65 fear ........... ................. ............ .......... ...... .. 45, 89, 95 finance...................................... 8 Financial Financial education............. education................ ... 88 financial safety............ safety.................. ........... ..... 33 financial statements.................. 8 find ................................... ................................... 95, 96 flagship flagship .......... ................ .......... .......... ........... ........ ... 76 flame ...................................... ...................................... 91 flexible ................................... ................................... 80 flower shop ......... ............... ........... ........... ........ .. 20 focus........................................ 93 focus...................................... Focus................................ 62, 91 follow ..................................... ..................................... 44 Follow .................................... .................................... 44 followers followers ........... ................. ............ ............ ......... ... 44 football ................................... ................................... 44 Forbes 400 List ........... ................. ........... ..... 88 Forbes Magazine ...................... 3 Ford........................................ 75 ................................ 71 foresight ................................ Formula .................................. .................................. 36 fortune .................................... .................................... 49 foundation .............................. .............................. 23 Franklin D. Roosevelt Roosevelt ........... ............. 80 Frederick Frederick Langbridge........ Langbridge............ ...... 96 th Friday the 13 ........................ 85 friends .............................. .............................. 50, 96 Friends ................................... ................................... 49 Frigyes Karinthy .......... ................ .......... .... 78 furniture furniture ......... ............... ........... ........... ............ ........ 87 future ...................................... ...................................... 63 gamble..................................... 85 gamble................................... gambling gambling ........... ................. ............ ............ ......... ... 85 garbage dump......................... 92
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gas guzzlers............................ 75 General Motors ......... ............... ........... ....... .. 75 generalize ............................... ............................... 39 genuine connections..... connections........... .......... .... 12 George Bernard Bernard Shaw ......... ............ ... 30 George Carlin......................... 15 gift............................................ gift............................................ 8 GM......................................... GM.................................. ....... 75 goal ........................................ ........................................ 29 goals......................23, 53, 66, 97 Goals...............................28, 103 God .........................4, 75, 80, 89 going gets tough..................... 90 ........................................ 32 gold ........................................ Goliaths............................ 68, 75 Good debt ........... ................. ............ .......... ....... ... 21 good debt and and bad debt .......... .......... 21 good health............................. 32 good natured ........... ................. ............ ......... ... 12 good will ................................ ................................ 87 Google ........... ................. ............ .......... .......... ........ .. 53 Gore Vidal .......... ................ ............ ........... ....... .. 70 government government .......... ................ .......... .......... ........ .. 75 greatness greatness ......... ............... ........... ........... ............ ...... 90 grow ................................. ................................. 25, 56 grown up .................................. .................................. 5 ............................. 55, 59 growth ............................. guide .......... ................ .......... .......... ............ ...... 28, 71 ................................... 16 haircut................................... half-bum effort ....................... ....................... 43 happiness ......................3, 63, 92 happy ......... ............... ........... ........... ........... ..... 24, 96 Harvey MacKay........... MacKay................. .......... .... 22 ............................... 32, 92 health............................... Health..................................... Health................................ ..... 32 healthy fast food..................... 87 hedge...................................... 16 Heinz...................................... 74 help ........................................ ........................................ 93 Henry David Thoreau Thoreau ...9, ...9, 81, 89 Henry Ford............................. 37 hero ........................................ ........................................ 71 heroes..................................... 71 ................................... 71 Heroes ................................... heroines.................................. 71 hidden opportunitie opportunitiess .......... .............. .... 86 high spirits .......... ................ ............ ........... ....... .. 94 ............................... 71 hindsight ............................... history .................................... .................................... 69 HIV ........................................ ........................................ 66 Hollywood Hollywood .......... ................ ............ ........ 76, 92 Homa Bahrami ....................... ....................... 11 home ...................................... ...................................... 15 Home ......... ............... ........... ........... ............ ........... ..... 15 Home Depot ............................. ............................. 3 homework homework ........... ................. ............ .......... ....... ... 40 honest..................................... 78 horses ..................................... ..................................... 90 hot bulb .................................. .................................. 74 house ................................ ................................ 15, 92 housing market......................... 6 humanity ................................ ................................ 66
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humans ............................. ............................. 65, 93 Hybrid ....................................75 ....................................75 hybrid cars..............................87 I Can’t Afford It .......... ................ .......... ...... 37 IBM ........................................81 ........................................81 ...................................18, 70 idea...................................18, ideals ......................................45 ......................................45 Ideas .......................................18 .......................................18 Ikea.........................................28 Imagine....................... 45, 93, 94 imperfections..........................45 improve ........... ................45, .....45, 69, 84, 90 Improved ................................90 ................................90 India........................................96 individuals ..............................53 ..............................53 inflation ..................................16 ..................................16 Inflation..................................16 influence.................................64 influenced...............................96 influences ...............................64 ...............................64 information.............................84 inherited..................................89 initiative..................................44 innovate ..................................80 ..................................80 Insanity...................................41 Inspiration...............................70 interest payments....................21 interest rates..............................6 interests ..................................51 ..................................51 internet..............................84, 85 introvert ..................................62 ..................................62 Introvert!.................................62 introverted ..............................62 ..............................62 Introverts ................................62 ................................62 intuition ..................................80 ..................................80 investing ........................... ........................... 16, 39 investment investment ......... ............... .........17, ...17, 39, 83 investor.............................46, 92 Investor...................................33 investors .................................34 .................................34 iPod ..................................53, ..................................53, 76 IQ 64, 64, 89 89 Italian Proverb .......................... .......................... 1 jack of all trades ......... ............... ........... ....... 91 Jack Welch ............................. .............................58 58 Jamaican.................................71 James Allen ............................ ............................92 92 James Carroll..........................62 jargon........................................8 Jesus Christ.............................94 job11, 44, 55, 57 Job ..........................................11 ..........................................11 journal ....................................69 ....................................69 journey........................92, 94, 97 judgments ...............................81 ...............................81 junk food ................................32 ................................32 ketchup ...................................74 ...................................74 knowledge ................................8 ................................8 Kolkata ...................................96 ...................................96 ladder......................................85 Lao Tzu ..................................35 ..................................35 laterally...................................86
laugh ......... ............... ........... ........... ............ ............ ...... 49 law of averages ........... ................. ........... ..... 30 lawyer ........... ................. ............ ............ ........ 60, 64 laziness................................... 63 Lead ....................................... ....................................... 44 leader....................................... 44 leader..................................... ................................... 58 leaders ................................... leadership ............................... ............................... 44 learn as you go ......... ............... ........... ........ ... 84 Learn from others’ mistakes.... mistakes...... 6 learning .................................... .................................... 1 learning process ........... ................. .......... .... 84 LeBron James......................... 32 lectures ................................... ................................... 56 Leigh Steinberg ...................... 68 lemon ..................................... ..................................... 74 lemonade ................................ ................................ 74 lemons.............................. 63, 74 Lender .................................... .................................... 21 Leonardo da Vinci.................. 77 lessons.................................... 69 Letting go......................... go ............................... ...... 14 Leveraging Leveraging .......... ................ ............ ........ 26, 27 liabilities..................... 19, 20, 21 library............................... 71, 84 life53, 94 Life......................................... Life.................................. ....... 84 life expectancy expectancy ......... ............... ........... ........ ... 36 light ........................................ ........................................ 91 liquidate ......... ............... ........... ........... ............ ........ 42 List of Rules........................... 98 listener.................................... 51 loan ........................................ ........................................ 21 location .......... ................ .......... .......... ........... ........ ... 82 Location ................................. ................................. 92 log cabin................................. 91 logic ....................................... ....................................... 85 logistics .................................. .................................. 76 loser.................................. loser.................................. 72, 97 lottery ..................................... ..................................... 85 lottery winner ......................... 10 luck ........................................ ........................................ 85 Lucky ..................................... ..................................... 72 lucky duck.............................. 73 magazine ................................ ................................ 70 magnifying magnifying glass .......... ................ .......... .... 91 Mahatma Gandhi........ Gandhi.......... .. 5, 32, 75 mainstream ............................. ............................. 68 make money ........................... ........................... 54 manage ......................... 4, 76, 77 management ........................... ........................... 14 mantracize .............................. .............................. 67 map ........................................ ........................................ 28 Marian Wright Edelman........... 3 market place ........................... ........................... 75 market share ........................... ........................... 76 marketing ............................... ............................... 74 Martin Luther Luther King Jr. ........... ........... 86 master of none........................ 91 master of one.......................... 91 master plan ............................. ............................. 86 MasterCard............................. 53
Material.................................... 9 materialistic.............................. 9 McDonald’s ................43, 54, 58 media ......... ............... ........... ........... ........... ..... 89, 96 meet .......... ................ ............ ........... ........... ............ ...... 79 meeting .......... ................ ............ ........... ........... ........ 78 men ........................................ ........................................ 90 Mental laziness ......... ............... ........... ....... .. 37 mentally sharp........................ 32 mentor .............................. .............................. 71, 78 .................................. 71 Mentor .................................. ................................. 71 Mentors................................. methodical................................ 1 Michael Korda .......... ................ .......... ....... ... 66 Michael Lee-Chin .......... ................ ........ .. 71 Microsoft Microsoft ........... ................. ............ ........ .. 53, 76 millionaire .............................. .............................. 96 mind ....................................... ....................................... 84 Mind .......... ................ .......... .......... ............ ...... 32, 96 mirror ..................................... ..................................... 85 misconceptions misconceptions ......... ............... ........... ....... .. 49 misfortune .............................. .............................. 72 misfortunes misfortunes .......... ................ .......... .......... ........ .. 72 mistakes mistakes .......... ................ .......... .......... ............ ........ 30 moat ....................................... ....................................... 76 Moat....................................... 76 modern world......................... 43 Mold .......... ................ .......... .......... ............ ............ ...... 80 momentum ............................. ............................. 63 money ........... ................. ............ ............ ........... ....... .. 53 Money......................... Money .................................... ........... 53 monopoly ............................... ............................... 76 morale support support .......... ................ ........ 50, 64 morning.................................. 58 mortgage ................................ ................................ 15 motivation......... motivation............. .......... ........... ..... 46, 47 Mrs. Manley............................. 4 mud ........................................ ........................................ 96 multiple multiple perspectives perspectives .......... ............. ... 80 Murphy’s Murphy’s Law .......... ................ .......... ....... ... 72 Mutual Fund........................... Fund........................... 71 mutually mutually beneficial ........... ................ ..... 78 mysteriousness ....................... ....................... 86 narcissistic.............................. 46 Natural Abilities..................... 26 natural ability............. ability................... ............ ...... 89 N atural atural Ability............ Ability.................. ........... ..... 89 natural talent ........... ................. ............ ......... ... 89 natural talents and abilities..... abilities..... 27 needs ................................ ................................ 68, 93 negative............................ 47, 92 negatives negatives ......... ............... ........... ........... ............ ...... 74 negativity negativity ........... ................. ............ ............ ........ .. 47 network .................................. .................................. 78 Network Network .......... ................ .......... .......... ............ ........ 79 networking networking .......... ................ ............ ........... ....... .. 78 Networking Networking .......... ................ .......... .......... ........ .. 78 networth ............................... ............................... 103 new craze ........... ................. ............ ............ ........ .. 87 news ....................................... ....................................... 70 ............................. 70 newspaper............................. Newspaper Newspaper .......... ................ ............ ........... ....... .. 70
niche .......................................68 .......................................68 niche market ........................... ...........................68 68 niche markets..........................68 Niche Markets ........................68 Nike..........................................4 nobler motives........................51 noes ........................................94 ........................................94 notebook.................................29 obligations ..............................41 ..............................41 Occam's razor ......................... .........................77 77 occupation ................................6 ................................6 offbeat ....................................86 ....................................86 one hit wonders .......... ................ ............87 ......87 one person ..............................14 ..............................14 open-minded .........................51 operations manual...................59 opinion....................................85 OPM ................................. ................................. 21, 22 opportunities.....................34, 87 opportunity opportunity ........... .................68, ......68, 72, 74 Oprah Winfrey........................32 OPT ........................................22 ........................................22 optimism.................................72 optimist...................................74 ordinary people.......................53 Ordinary people......................67 organization............................86 organize ..................................77 ..................................77 other people’s money .......... .............21 ...21 other people’s time .................22 Other People’s Time...............22 other peoples’ time .................22 Other Peoples’ Time...............22 Others .....................................93 .....................................93 Ovaltine ..................................59 ..................................59 own.........................................11 owner................................11, 33 pain.........................................63 Pain.........................................63 paint..................................46, 64 paper.......................................20 parachute ................................64 ................................64 paralegal .................................60 .................................60 party clown.............................81 passion....................................49 passive passive income .......... ................ ........ 20, 33 Passive income .......................19 past .........................................69 .........................................69 pat on the back........................50 path.........................................56 paths .......................................87 .......................................87 patience ..................................94 ..................................94 Patience ..................................43 ..................................43 Paycheck.................................10 Pennies ...................................60 ...................................60 people ............................... ............................... 65, 79 People.....................................84 Perfect ....................................45 ....................................45 perfection................................45 Perfection ...............................45 ...............................45 persist .....................................94 .....................................94 persistence ..............................90 ..............................90
persisting ................................ ................................ 42 person..................................... 84 personal ersonal courage .......... ................ .......... .... 50 p ersonal ersonal nature............ nature.................. ........... ..... 86 pessimist................................. pessimist........................... ...... 74 pessimistic.............................. 39 Peter Lynch ............................ ............................ 77 Peter McWilliams ......... ............... ......... ... 91 Peter Scott .............................. .............................. 90 philosophy.............................. 74 phony ..................................... ..................................... 12 photocopier photocopier ......... ............... ........... ........... ........ .. 77 physical physical appearance appearance .......... ............... ..... 81 pictures................................... 67 pitch ................................. ................................. 47, 94 plan .........28, .........28, 29, 36, 41, 42, 103 Plan B..................................... B..................................... 41 Planning ................................. ................................. 28 plant ....................................... ....................................... 92 play-it-safers play-it-safers ........... ................. ............ ......... ... 49 plays ....................................... ....................................... 90 police....................................... 80 police..................................... polished sneaker ..................... 82 polite ...................................... ...................................... 12 politeful .................................. .................................. 12 poor house................................ 9 poorhouse............................... 85 positive....................... 38, 48, 92 positive attitude ...................... 72 positives ................................. ................................. 74 possessions............................... 9 potential potential ......... ............... ........... ........... ............ ........ 47 poverty ................................... ................................... 37 Power Employee Employee .......... ................ .......... .... 33 power employees .......... ................ ......... ... 34 power players ......................... 14 powers of the mind................. 96 Praise...................................... Praise............................... ....... 51 present .................................... .................................... 28 ................................. 22 priceless................................. principle ................................. ................................. 53 principles............................ 2, 80 p rison ........... ................. ............ ............ ........ .. 65, 96 problem .................................. .................................. 43 problems........................... problems........................... 84, 90 procrastinate ........................... ........................... 63 Procrastination Procrastination ......... ............... ........... ........ ... 63 prodigies.................................. 89 prodigies................................ prodigy ................................... ................................... 89 product ................................... ................................... 75 productive roductive .......... ................ ............ .......... .... 4, 57 products...................... 56, 76, 87 p rofit ......... ............... ........... ........... ............ ...... 76, 82 profit margins......................... 76 Profits............................... 82, 83 profits profits occur when you buy.... 82 progress ...................... ...................... 33, 55, 94 progression ......................... ......................... 5, 33 Prosper.com Prosper.com ........... ................. ............ .......... .... 53 prosperity ............................... ............................... 92 purchase urchase price .......... ................ ............ ........ .. 15 pursuit .............................. .............................. 91, 92
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puzzles ................................... ................................... 77 question............................ 71, 94 questions ................................ ................................ 84 quick buck........................ 65, 87 quiz .......................................... .......................................... 6 Ralph Waldo Emerson......... Emerson........... .. 28 Ray Kroc ................................ ................................ 76 ......................................... 8 read ......................................... Read ................................... ................................... 4, 70 reading ........... ................. ............ .......... ...... .. 72, 96 Reading .................................... .................................... 8 real estate ........16, 17, 39, 60, 82 real estate broker............. broker................... ........ 64 realistic............................23, 103 reality ..................................... ..................................... 91 Receive .......... ................ ............ ........... ........... ........ 94 records ........... ................. ............ .......... .......... ........ .. 69 Reinvest Reinvest .......... ................ .......... .......... ............ ........ 20 rejected................................... 31 rejection rejection .......... ................ .......... .......... ........ 30, 31 Rejection ................................ ................................ 30 Relationships.......................... 78 .................................. 85 religion .................................. Remember.............................. 51 reputation ............................... ............................... 52 resourcefulnes resourcefulnesss ......... ............... ........... ....... .. 74 resources ................................ ................................ 94 response response .......... ................ .......... .......... ............ ........ 94 responsible ............................. ............................. 51 restaurant restaurant ........... ................. ............ ............ ........ .. 55 retailers .......... ................ ............ ........... ........... ........ 87 revenue................................... 82 Revenue .......... ................ .......... .......... ............ ........ 25 reward ........................46, 48, 63 Reward................................... 46 reward yourself............... yourself.................... ....... .. 46 Rich........................................ Rich................................. ....... 35 rich kids .......... ................ .......... .......... ............ ........ 88 Richard Whately ........... ................. ......... ... 93 ridicule ................................... ................................... 31 RIGHT PERSON................... 94 Risk........................................ 39 risk management......... management............. .......... ........ 39 risk vs. reward........................ 40 Risks ...................................... ...................................... 39 risky ................................. ................................. 39, 40 Risky ...................................... ...................................... 39 Rita Mae Brown......... Brown............. .......... ........ .. 41 road ........................................ ........................................ 33 Robert Kerrigan ........... ................. .......... .... 78 Roger Bannister ........... ................. .......... .... 66 Ronald McDonald........ McDonald............ .......... ...... 58 Ronald Reagan.......... Reagan................ .......... ....... ... 14 routine .................................... .................................... 58 rules ............................39, ............................39, 80, 97 Rules ...................................... ...................................... 80 ................ ..... 12 Ryunosuke Satoro ........... salvation ................................. ................................. 86 Sam Ewing............................. 16 Sam Rayburn Rayburn ........... ................. ............ ........ .. 44 satisfaction satisfaction .......... ................ ............ ........... ....... .. 90 savings ................................... ................................... 60
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scalability scalability ......... ............... ........... ..........55, .....55, 56 Scalability...............................55 scalable...................................56 Scalable ..................................55 ..................................55 scars..........................................6 Scenario A ..............................24 ..............................24 Scenario B ..............................24 ..............................24 Scenario C ..............................25 ..............................25 scenarios.................................26 scientific approach..................40 Scott Adams ........................... ...........................82 82 screaming ...............................12 ...............................12 seat belt...................................80 secretaries ...............................14 ...............................14 security ...............................3 ...............................3 , 17 self-centered ........................... ...........................46 46 self-defeating..........................38 self-directed............................88 self-employed ......................... .........................34 34 Self-Employed........................33 selfish ............................... ............................... 52, 93 self-motivate...........................46 sell ..........................................97 ..........................................97 Sell for Profit..........................82 selling .....................................82 .....................................82 service ....................................75 ....................................75 Sesame Street ......................... .........................49 49 settle for less...........................90 settling..............................90, 96 share .......................................71 .......................................71 shoplifting...............................65 short........................................97 shortcuts .................................43 .................................43 short-term ...............................43 ...............................43 Shrinking Dollar.....................16 sick .........................................92 .........................................92 silver ......................................32 simple .....................................77 .....................................77 Simple ....................................77 simplest solution.....................77 Simplicity...............................77 six degrees of separation separation ........78 ........78 slap bracelets .......................... .......................... 87 small kahuna...........................78 small pickles...........................78 smart.......................................88 smarter....................................65 smile .......................................72 .......................................72 smoke .....................................91 .....................................91 socializing...............................26 software ......................45, 55, 76 soul ...........................................3 ...........................................3 specific .................................103 .................................103 specific goal............................29 specific goals .......................... .......................... 28 sperm......................................72 St. Jerome.................................6 stars ........................................96 ........................................96 step at a time...........................90 Stepping over dollars for pennies ..........................................60 stepping stones .......................27
stick with it............................. 89 sticker price ............................ ............................ 61 stick-to-itivenes stick-to-itivenesss .......... ................ .......... .... 57 stock broker............................ 92 stock market ........................... ........................... 17 stock options ........... ................. ............ ......... ... 34 stocks ..................................... ..................................... 39 straightforward ....................... ....................... 86 strange .................................... .................................... 86 stress ...................................... ...................................... 94 stressed................................... 43 stretch your imagination....... imagination....... 103 structure structure ......... ............... ........... ........... ............ ........ 86 struggling ............................... ............................... 69 stubbornness........................... 89 student .................................... .................................... 64 Stupid ..................................... ..................................... 46 succeed............................. 53, 74 Succeed .................................. .................................. 91 success ......28, 47, 66, 69, 89, 96 Success....................... 67, 81, 96 success tactic .......................... .......................... 93 Successes Successes ........... ................. ............ ............ ........ .. 69 suit.......................................... suit.......................................... 27 sunlight sunlight .......... ................ .......... .......... ........... ........ ... 91 Superman ................................. ................................. 9 superstition ............................. ............................. 85 Superstition ............................ ............................ 85 superstitions superstitions ........... ................. ............ .......... .... 85 superstitious superstitious ........... ................. ............ .......... .... 85 supply chain management...... management...... 76 Support................................... 49 Surrounding Surrounding ........... ................. ............ .......... .... 92 surroundings........................... 92 survive..................................... 76 survive................................... system .............................. .............................. 58, 59 talents ..................................... ..................................... 54 Talents.................................... Talents.................................. .. 26 taxes ....................................... ....................................... 22 teacher .................................... .................................... 64 team........................................ team........................................ 64 Team ...................................... ...................................... 64 technology.............................. 90 televisions televisions .......... ................ ............ ........... ........ ... 90 temple ........... ................. ............ ............ ........... ....... .. 32 think big ........................... ........................... 23, 25 Think Big ............................... ............................... 23 think differently differently ........... ................. .......... .... 33 Think outside the box............. box............. 86 think positively....................... 32 Thomas Edison....................... 57 thoughts.................................. 91 ticket ......... ............... ........... ........... ............ ............ ...... 80 time .......................................... .......................................... 4 Time ........................... ........................... 16, 35, 43 Time is money.......................... 4 toll booth ................................ ................................ 75 tool ......................................... ......................................... 67 top ten ........... ................. ............ ............ ........... ..... 103 toy93 Toyota .................................... .................................... 75 Toyota Motors........................ 75
tragedy ................................... ................................... 72 traveling ..........................46, ..........................46, 103 trend ....................................... ....................................... 87 trends ......... ............... ........... ........... ............ ........... ..... 87 Trends .................................... .................................... 87 true business........................... 19 true potential............. potential................... ............ ........ 83 trust .......................................... .......................................... 3 TV10, 37 tycoons................................... 32 UBM ...................................... ...................................... 34 umbrella ................................. ................................. 85 Uncle Eugene........................... 6 understanding......................... 93 undertakings........................... 71 undeveloped undeveloped ideas.......... ideas................ ........ .. 18 United States States of America....... America....... 76 value................................. value................................. 15, 35 Value...................................... 60 venture ........................40, 46, 56 venture capitalist capitalist ........... ................. ......... ... 78
Victorian mansion .......... ................ ........83 ..83 virtual pets ..............................87 ..............................87 vision ......................................58 visualize..................................62 Visualize.................................67 Visualizing ............................. .............................67 67 Voltaire...................................46 volunteerism ........................... ...........................22 22 volunteers ...............................30 ...............................30 Wal-Mart ....................65, 68, 76 Walt Disney............................97 wants ......................................93 ......................................93 Warren Buffett...... 17, 39, 60, 71 Washington Irving..................72 Wealth .............................. .............................. 17, 36 wealth and success....................8 wealthy ...................................17 ...................................17 wellbeing ................................92 ................................92 Win.........................................51 window...................................91 winner......................... 30, 72, 97
Winning people over .......... .............. .... 51 Winston Churchill Churchill ......... ............ ... 45, 74 winter ..................................... ..................................... 91 win-win............ win-win.................. .......... .... 52, 53, 93 .................................. 13 wisdom .................................. wisest man.............................. man.............................. 64 women.................................... women............................. ....... 90 work ....................................... ....................................... 55 work hard ............................... ............................... 57 work smart .......... ................ ............ ........... ....... .. 57 Work smart ......... ............... ........... ........... ........ .. 57 Work Smart............................ 57 work your best........................ 57 world............ world.................. ............ ........ .. 26, 93, 97 write ......................................... ......................................... 4 Yahoo..................................... 56 yes94 Yes ......................................... ......................................... 97 yeses........................................ 94 yeses...................................... Zig Ziglar ............................... ............................... 53
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