Me, Inc. (10 page)

Once she pays back the loan, Kiva loans out that amount to another family in need. In that way, it's a gift that keeps on giving.

I wish our government system functioned more like Kiva and other micro banks.

Many of us, in this age of entitlement, look to the government to do all sorts of things for us. I contend that we should be able to do for ourselves.

One of the real benefits of making Big Money is that you can be philanthropic and create new jobs for people. The problem you ultimately want to have, as an entrepreneur, is deciding who to help, not deciding who can help you. Work your way to this level. And when you do, fulfill your obligation.

Before I ever had success, I was motivated by selfish motives. I wanted to become successful and make lots of money. I could then buy my mother a house and give myself a better lifestyle. Mostly though, I was motivated to become successful as a goal. Once I achieved what people consider “wealth,” humanitarian notions simply came at me, big and strong. Not everyone in the world is as fortunate, or lives in a luxurious country like America.

So, in my late twenties, I started to contribute to charities. And, so did the band. It made me feel good. I thought of that very first CARE package we received so long ago in Israel, with the can of peaches, and the torn sweater and the American children's books with Bugs Bunny. It was time to give back.

Of course, my story isn't unique. The most successful entrepreneurs give to charities, start foundations, fund scholarships, and so on. And what you'll find, if you work hard enough, are at the right place at the right time with the right thing and end up wealthy, is that you, too, will want to give back.

Wealth for its own sake is an empty shell. Wealth that includes making other people's lives better will reward you even more than the beautiful mansion you live in. It does for me. It will for you. And, like me, your charity may inspire yet another entrepreneur to rise up.

This book is about how to be successful. I will tell you that I was not truly successful until I decided to also be charitable.

PART II

YOU

12

Who Are You?

“Build your own dreams, or someone else will hire you to build THEIRS.”

FARRAH GRAY

businessman, investor, philanthropist, author, and motivational speaker

W
here did I learn what I know? How did I become me? Did school and college prepare me for the real world? I went through the school system and graduated from college with a bachelor of arts in education degree that qualified me to teach, or write books. But did all that prepare me for how I made the Big Money? No.

And I suspect the same is true with you. Unless you took courses in architecture, engineering, or pre-med, the rest of your liberal arts education hardly prepares you for life as the business warrior and champion you envision yourself to be.

Oh, you'll be the hit of the cocktail party with your liberal arts college degree. You'll be able to quote Kant and Kierkegaard, and there's nothing wrong with that. But you won't be able to pay off your car loan or your first home mortgage with that information.

In other words, grade school education, high school education, and liberal arts college degrees generally won't prepare you for how you're going to make a living, let alone how you're going to make the Big Money.

You'll notice that I keep using the term
Big Money
. That's because none of us (including yours truly) wants to
just
make money. We all want to make BIG Money.

You
can
go to a “directional” education program, that is, study to be an architect, or a dentist, or a lawyer. Those degrees will certainly help you earn a living, but they'll cost a lot of money and take many more years of study.

What I'm about to tell you is not politically correct. In fact, it may come as a shock to you. But here it is: you don't need a lot of systemized education to achieve great things
and
make lots of money.

Education
is
important, and I urge you to get one. But if you can't afford to go to college or vocational school, it's important to understand what the word
entrepreneur
means.

Merriam-Webster defines
entrepreneur
as “one who organizes, manages, and assumes the risks of a business or enterprise.” What being an entrepreneur means is that you have to think and do for yourself.

It is important to keep this phrase in mind: “You have an inferred fiduciary duty to yourself.” It means that it's up to YOU.

It's up to you to educate yourself outside school. It's up to you to make friends with people who are more successful than you are. Respectfully, get rid of your chip-dippin', TV-watchin', happy-with-my-life, don't-wanna-do-anything-else friends. They won't help you. Surround yourself with people who are more successful than yourself.

It's up to you what you do with your free time. Do you goof around and take vacations, or do nothing after work? Do you do nothing on your weekends? Do you go to ball games or bars with your drinking buddies? Get rid of those guys immediately. They won't help you.

Or do you spend your evenings and leisure time devoted to YOU? To your dreams. To your aspirations. To making Big Money.

Does your significant other ask, “What's more important, me or your career?” If he or she uses that line on you, you may want to be honest and say, “It's my career first, and then you. Without earning a good living, I can't provide us both with the life we want.”

If that doesn't resonate with them, you may want to consider dumping that person from your life. They may be the biggest psychological hurdle in your quest for the Big Money.

I'm sorry, but that's the truth. You can't have it both ways.

There have been books written about the “10,000-hour rule,” which claims that the key to becoming a success in any field is getting 10,000 hours of experience in what you want to be successful at, or the theory that you need to put in that much time to become any good at something. As it happens, the Beatles spent 10,000 hours playing together in clubs in Germany in the early sixties before starting their recording career, and Bill Gates spent that amount of time programming his high school's computers in 1968.

You can't devote equal amounts of time to your beloved girlfriend/boyfriend/husband/wife
and
your career. If you want to succeed faster and bigger, you will have to choose YOU first, then everyone else. Or, as I like to put it, ME!!!

Be selfish. Be committed to yourself
first
.

Remember, YOU first.

Girlfriend/boyfriend/wife/husband/friends
second
.

The giving back comes later.

An important point to remember: no matter what you read, and no matter what anyone tells you, there is no such thing as “the Ten Secret Rules for Becoming Enormously Rich.” If it were that simple, then everyone would be rich already.

The journey that you must make to become a real estate mogul and have your name become a brand, like Lefrak or Trump, is not the same road that a comic-book geek (and I am one) has to travel to launch his comic book company (like my Simmons Comics) and get production companies to develop his comic-book creations into TV shows and films.

So what does all of this mean? It means YOU will have to figure it out for yourself.

That's
what
entrepreneur
really means.

YOU make up your own rules. And YOU have to educate yourself and learn whatever you need to learn to have the tools to go out there and be the business warrior and champion that's inside you, yearning to get out.

They don't teach that stuff in school.

The reason this book is called
ME, Inc.
is that I AM THE MOST IMPORTANT PERSON IN MY PRIVATE AND BUSINESS LIFE.

That's right, ME first. Maybe it's not politically correct, but it's necessary, if you want to increase your chances of success big-time.

Take a hint from the airline industry. If there is turbulence on your flight, the crew will tell you to take the life-sustaining oxygen mask that just fell in front of your face and put it on YOUR face first. Not your child's face. On the surface, it sounds cruel, but it makes pragmatic sense, because if you can't help yourself
first
, you will not be able to help anyone else. Not your child, not your family, not your friends, not anyone.

To some extent, capitalism in America has its hands tied behind its back. But there is still enough of a capitalist business world out there that will give you a chance of making Big Money.

In point of fact, you cannot fail. Yes, you heard me right. YOU CANNOT FAIL.

You have everything to gain, and little or nothing to lose, by throwing yourself headfirst into your entrepreneurial endeavor. If your business fails and you cannot pay off your debts, under current business laws you can declare Chapter 7 or Chapter 11, which means that with a decent lawyer, you will be forgiven all your debts and you can start all over again. Of course, because you're an ethical person, as soon as you hit the big time, you will pay off your debts anyway, even though you may not be legally required to do so.

The only thing holding you back from succeeding in America may be YOU.

Before you undertake this journey, you must have the heart of a lion and your self-esteem must be intact. If your self-esteem isn't strong, then bluff and
act
like it's strong. Grit your teeth and
pretend
that you have enormous self-confidence. Fake it until you make it.

If a bully comes up to you, do not show weakness. It will make it easier for him to beat you up. If you show enormous self-confidence and show no fear, the bully may, just may, back off. A small chance at greatness is better than giving up.

In the wild, if faced with a wolf that's about to attack, your best chance for survival is to stand your ground, puff out your chest as large as it can go, wildly flail your arms in the air, make a lot of noise, and
always
look straight into the eyes of the predator. If you do that, you may survive. In other words, you will win.

The same principle applies in business transactions, though of course, the loan application and your proposal count, as does your demeanor. When you sit with a bank or financial official, and you're looking to get a loan for your business venture, be big. Be strong. Be confident (and make sure your idea is worth being confident about). Be all that you can be. If it doesn't come naturally,
fake it
.

Remember, no matter what your business proposal is, what they'll really be investing in is YOU.

That's why there are often key-man clauses in corporate contracts. What is Trump Enterprises worth without Donald Trump? What's Virgin worth without Sir Richard Branson? I know both of those men, and I can guarantee that even if they were completely unknown, when one of them walked into a room, you would
still
stop what you were doing and take notice.

Invariably, if a vacuum cleaner salesman rings your front door, he will be selling HIMSELF first. The vacuum cleaner is secondary. It always comes back to YOU, and it always will.

Say what you mean. Mean what you say. Let your word be your bond. Your reputation will precede you. You've heard this all before. The most important word here? You guessed it: YOU!

Remember, it's how you
feel
about your aspirations and dreams every day that is the most important thing, because these feelings will drive you to action.

It's your WILL to succeed, your never-ending COMMITMENT to yourself to succeed, your “never-take-no-for-an-answer” mind-set, and your PERSEVERANCE that will help you win and win big.

It's important to note that rock stars, politicians, and other people with position, power, and wealth weren't born that way.

They had to earn it.

They worked for it.

They had to make up their own rules.

They had to sell themselves first, before their product.

They had to educate themselves. School was over, and self-education began when they left school.

And they were willing to work harder than you to get there.

Do you have what it takes?

Will you let anyone or anything stop you from where you want to go?

Have you ever said something like “I just want enough to have a comfortable life”?

If you have, this is not the book for you. And you may not be an entrepreneur.

Unless you have incredible luck and win the lottery, you will not obtain riches with an “I just want enough to be comfortable” mind-set. Even if you do win the lottery, you will probably not know what to do with the money, and will soon be back where you started from, just like many lottery winners. They won big fortunes, and in a short time went bankrupt. Some got divorced, left their families, and even committed suicide. Google it if you don't believe me.

You have to have the guts and the will to do what our military urges: BE ALL THAT YOU CAN BE.

Go Big. Or Go Home.

You will notice, as you are reading this book, that I repeat things. A lot. As if I'm losing my memory in my old age.

Good.

It's intentional.

You and I and everyone else have the attention span of gnats. And that means that saying or doing anything once simply doesn't work. Never has. Never will.

Saying or doing anything should be like the chorus of the hit song. Before the song is through, you will have heard the chorus (the memorable part of the song) over and over again.

The repetition will make you remember the song and hum it to yourself long after the song is over.

“If at first you don't succeed (and you
won't
, believe me), try, try again.”