Have you ever wondered where Donald Trump got the idea?



First, a disclaimer:  I do not personally know Donald Trump.  I do have a recording of "The Donald" that I downloaded after I read Why We Want You to Be Rich by Donald Trump and Robert Kiyosaki.  I listen to it occasonally and I do remember his saying what he wrote in Trump: The Art of the Deal : "I like thinking big. I always have.  To me it's very simple. If you're going to be thinking anyway, you might as well think big." 

The first thing I thought of when I saw this book on Amazon was "I wonder if Trump ever read this book?"  The Magic of Thinking Big by David J. Schwartz, PhD. was first published in 1959 and Dr. Schwartz was a professor at Georgia State University in Atlanta.  I have seen this book praised by a few other authors and it ended up on my Wish List.  They call this book a business classic for a reason.  There are many books out there that were inspired by the basic ideas in this book as well as a lot of great business ideas.  This book does have some outdated references, however the ideas in this book are as timeless as the idea of business itself.

If you're looking for a new direction of successful thinking, get this book and use it to your advantage.

Yes YOU can!



I first came across Stacey Hanke as a communications consultant with some excellent things to Tweet about.  I follow her on Twitter and now get some gems on improving my communications with my co-workers and clients for my next business.  There were so many gems that I felt the need to find out if she had ever written a book before and to get a copy. 

This book is entitled "Yes You Can!: Everything You Need from A to Z to Influence Others to Take Action" and it is written by Stacey Hanke and Mary Steinberg.  This is not your typical checklist of things you can do in order to persuade other people.  This is a personal development workbook with questions for you, the reader, so you can improve your world.  It is also a great book filled with lots of tips for public speaking and communicating in general.

I recommend this book for anyone who will be speaking in public with their career or professional aspirations.

Are you prospering in this economy?

We keep hearing it over and over again.  The economy stinks...or choose your favorite expletives and/or descriptors.  Something that I used to say a long time ago was that the economy was neither good or bad, but it was more like the weather.  I have no idea what the source of this thought was.  There is nothing we can individually do about it.  We can't change the fact that it might rain or that it's too hot or cold, we just have to deal with it.  To quote an old cliche`, "it is what it is." 

Economics is defined by Merriam-Webster as "a social science concerned chiefly with description and analysis of the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services."  Very often, we think of economics in the personal sense, that economics is responsible for our personal success or failure. 

I have finally found a source of information on the current economic environment that makes sense.  The theory is that the government doesn't drive economics anymore than Santa Claus does.  The population (300 million people in the United States) producing goods, selling services, buying goods and services is what makes up the economy.  The idea that is overlooked, but incontravertible, is that the biggest factor affecting a given geographic area is the birth rate.  This concept was so obvious to me and completely caught my attention.

The man is Harry S. Dent and his work is "How to Prosper in a Downturn" by Nightingale-Conant.  I first saw Harry S. Dent on the evening news during the budget debate.  The program contains insights on how you can not only protect youself and your family in the event of a downturn, but prosper in a downturn.  It also contains outlines of what the economy of the different regions is going to look like in the future.  Buy it, learn it and prosper in a downturn or flat economy.


How to Prosper in a Downturn By Harry Dent - $1.00 30-Day Trial w/ $20 Discount - Click Here

Your Business Education Can Begin Here

The book is The Personal MBA: Master the Art of Business by Josh Kaufman.  I stumbled upon this book when I was doing a search for some great business books.  I decided to give it a shot.  I was intrigued by the notion of self-education since the last formal school I graduated from was the US Naval Nuclear Power pipeline.  It was a great learning experience, but did not offer many applications to the business world. I had read several books in the Portable MBA Series in the mid and late 1990’s, but I failed to see the real-world applications of the knowledge.  Don’t get me wrong, I think the Portable MBA Series are great books!

I started my career as a “self-educated” entrepreneur over 20 years ago and my education was basically one where I signed up for various businesses and I gave people my money.  I then would operate my business with very little success outside of great learning experiences. I did get a lot of tax write-offs, but did not succeed in business to a level of my liking.

I decided to expand and identify my business education after putting my arrogance aside and taking a serious look at my results.  I LOVE THIS BOOK!  Josh gives a lot of real-world applications that makes this book a great reference book as well.  Instead of a PhD trying to show you what you would have learned from graduating from an Ivy League MBA program, this book shows you what the applications of various academic principles are to running a successful business.  It also gives you some suggested reading that will certainly help you educate yourself further in several topics of business study.

Remember, the object in business is to succeed.  This book can help you find your way to succeed in business.  Keep this book as a reference guide after you read it!

NEWSFLASH: "You Become What You Think About"

Do you know who thiss man is?  His name is Earl Nightingale.  He was on the USS Arizona as a Marine on December 7, 1941...and survived.  He went on to become a radio announcer in the 1950's and is thought of by many to be the father of the self-improvement industry. He is also credited with the phrase "You become what you think about most of the time" from his collection of audio recordings on success. He didn't make it up.  youi can find this in the New Testament, in the works of Emerson and Benjamin Franklin and I'm sure in several other sources throughout history.

Here's a good question:  What if it's true?  So what do you think about most of the time?  Are you bringing yourself success or are you in your own way?

Once upon a time I used to drink heavily.  One day, I was drinking at home alone (a huge red flag) wondering why my business efforts were not bringing the rewards I was "dedicated" to achieving.  Poor people or people who thought poorly (the same thing) all told me that God didn't want me to be successful or that it wqasn't my time or that I was destined to be poor.  Then, one day, I decided to track my time and my money.  I discovered that around 120% of my disposable income was going to alcohol and cigarettes.  I was also spending about 4-5 hours a day drinking...that's a part-time job.  To my chagrin, after I conmmitted myself to not drinking anymore, I realized just how much time I dedicated to drinking.  After about a year and a half, I realized how much time I spent smoking.  After that, I decided to stop smoking...I also decided I wanted to live a long and fruitful life. Since then, I have seen dramatic improvements in my life, my results and in the process identified one of the principles of success I was just not getting.

To end this story, I discovered that what I really do become what I think about most of the time.  This is the negative viewpoint of this fundamental truth. If you are focusing on poverty and thinking about poverty, you will have more of it.  If you are thinking about wealth, you are at least a little closer than you were. 

Your Education Never Stops

There we are!  We've comfortably graduated the last level of schooling that you have and now, it's on to Easy Street.  Right?  I mean, that's the way it is in the movies! 
Well, unless you are currently staring at a director and a bunch of people that can't wait for you to get this ONE line right so they can all go to lunch, this isn't the movies.  I have no idea how to get into the movies or the entertainment industry in general.  I have never had an interest in that.

I have seen Easy Street in Palm Beach Gardens, FL.  It's just south of the intersection of PGA Boulevard and Prosperity Farms Road.  I was always amused that it is a dead end street. 

Now, more than ever, your education doesn't end with your last schooling.  The world will educate you if you don't educate yourself.  They didn't teach classes on how to operate the latest smartphone when I was in school.  We didn't HAVE cell phones when I was in school.  As a matter of fact, it wasn't too long ago that ANYONE had a cell phone.  I had to learn how to use my cell phone.  I had to learn that it would send text messages, but no one wanted to get text messages.  Then, everyone wanted to get text messages.  I had to learn to send texts all over again.  Now, it is almost the primary function of a cell phone...and this is just one example.

You (and I) are going to constantly be updating your education as you go through life.  Either you will be barely making the minimum effort or your will take your studies seriously.  If you are barely making any effort to upgrade your education, then you are probably not a very happy person or you have accepted that life is what life gives you.  Your bank accounts probably reflect that as well.  There's nothing wrong with that, but I can't live my life that way.

I want to see what I missed in class or better yet, what they didn't teach in class.  

The Starting Point

Take a look around you.  Do you like what you see?  What kind of car do you have?  Do you see a happy family that brings you feelings of warmth, love and belonging? Are you alone in a one bedroom apartment and a twelve pack of beer trying to figure it all out?  Personally, I have been in all these situations I mention.

Where you are right now is all your fault, for better or worse.  Where you are right now is the sum total of all your previous decisions.  Where you are right now is your responibility, not only to yourself, but also to your fellow human beings and every living thing on the planet.  What happens to us is not always our fault, but what we choose to do about it is our responsibility.

Wherever you are right now, this is your starting point.  Maybe you've screwed around a lot, screwed up a lot or just never made it out of life's starting gate for one reason or another.  Maybe you are doing great, but now you want to change your direction and do great at something else.   Maybe you were a victim of the recent financial crisis and you never saw it coming.  Maybe you were able to get out from under those investment properties and hold your profits...just in time.

If you like metaphors as much as I do, you'll notice that every day the sun rises as a new day begins.  Every day, you have a new beginning.  Every day, you can continue on a path leading to no where or you can change your direction to a more profitable, more rewarding path. 

Every day is a new day and a new beginning...

One of THE MOST influential books...

Atlas Shrugged is easily one of the most influential books in literary history.  It was first published in 1954 by Ayn Rand and has been heralded by students, CEO's, entrepreneurs,  business leaders and others as one of the most influential books of all time.  I heartily agree. 

One day, I was listening to one of my Jim Rohn audios entitled The Art of Exceptional Living.  At one point in the audio session, Jim challenges the audience to learn as much as they can to read all the books and to read the "towering novels."  He pauses and then says Atlas Shrugged.  It was the summer of 2008 and I was just starting to put everything together as to why my life had not turned out better.  I was being very harsh on myself, but then as I would find later, I was not being harshy enough on myself.  I was finding too many excuses and asking the advice of all the wrong people.  For example, you don't ask your broke friends how to get rich, because they don't know.  If they knew they wouldn't be your broke friends, they'd be your rich friends.  This is one of the novels that helped me develop a sense of morality behind business and to help me realize that it's ok to do well.

For example, one of the greatest things you can learn to do is to reap without explanation...

Back to the topic, it has always been a challenge of Hollywood to produce this novel on the silver screen...so much of a challenge that it has been ignored for many years.  On April 15th (Tax Day), Part One of Ayn Rand's classic an novel Atlas Shrugged is coming to the big screen.  This is something I will probably go see over and over again (and buy the DVD set when it is released). 

Visit the Official Atlas Shrugged Movie Web Site Today!

Entrepreneur, John Maxwell's "A Minute With Maxwell" Word of the Day!

This is John C. Maxwell. Enjoy! MBN

Every Morning...

Here's one of my quotes from one of my favorite books.  The book is called Failing Forward by John C. Maxwell.  If you're not familiar with John C. Maxwwell's work,  now would be a great time to do so.  This was one of my first exposures to John C. Maxwell's work, but I know own about five of his books I my library and I plan on adding more.

"An African parable captures the idea very well:

'Every morning in Africa, a gazelle wakes up.  It knows that it must run faster than the fastest lion or it will be killed.  Every morning a lion wakes up.  It knows that it must outrun the slowest gazelle or it will starve to death.

It doesn't matter whether you are a lion or a gazelle: When the sun comes up you had better be running.'

If you have always had a hard time failing forward, then you have to get yourself moving.  It doesn't matter what has stopped you or how long you have been inactive.  The only way to break the cycle is to face your fear and take action, even though it may seem small or insignificant."