$400 million woman

When Andra Rush started her trucking company, all she had was a beat-up van, a pair of used pickup trucks, and the naive certainty of a 23-year-old. She figured it would take her about four years to make her fortune. Then she could use her newfound millions to accomplish her true goal: tackling poverty on Native American reservations across North America. "I thought I could retire by the time I was 27," says Rush, a member of the Mohawk Indian tribe of Ontario, Canada. "At that age, you don't know what you don't know."
That summer, she interned at an airfreight company, where the speed of package pickups and deliveries drove profits. "I thought I could do that better," Rush says.
She maxed out her credit cards and borrowed $5,000 from her parents to buy a van and two used pickups. She wooed clients, accepted every delivery job that came her way, and worked nursing shifts on weekends.
You have to be service-driven. You think of customers every day, every minute. You think about what would make their lives or their businesses more successful. And you have to be focused on who's serving them. If we don't look after our drivers, they won't look after our customers.

Entrepreneur DNA

1. Tenacity – the most important attribute of an entrepreneur is never being willing to give up.

2. Street Smarts – getting out and understanding customers is far more important than book smarts or computer research.

3. Ability to Pivot – it’s not good enough to be tenacious and smart. You also need to be sure you have a great product/market fit and that it is a big enough market to make money. The best entrepreneurs fine tune their product and their business model until they find this groove.

4. Resiliency – being an entrepreneur is sexy … for those who haven’t done it. In reality it’s gritty, tough work where you will be filled with self doubt. Entrepreneurs are survivors.

5. Inspiration - Tenacity + street smarts is not enough without inspiration. You need to lead teams and convince others to move mountains when by all means they shouldn’t believe they can.

6. Perspiration - We all know people who can stand up at a conference and deliver a rousing speech or who sound awesome in front of customers. But it takes more than inspiration to build a successful business. It takes perspiration also.

7. Willingness to Accept Risk – I’m not talking about crazy risks, but entrepreneurs are people who are willing to start a business on a leap of faith. They don’t wait on the sidelines forever doing “side projects” until the day when they’re ready to start a company. If you aren’t willing to take a shot by going full time on your startup it tells investors you aren’t confident enough in the idea or in yourself.

8. Attention to Detail – If you’re going to lead an early stage business you need to be on top of all your details. You need to know your financial model. You need to be involved in the product design. You need to have a details grasp of your sales pipeline. You need to be hand on.

9. Competitiveness - The best entrepreneurs hate losing. Whether in person life or business they play to win. It consumes them. Sharing the market is not enough – they want to win every deal, hire every great employee and sign-up every partner. And they want to do it at the expense of the competition. As Leo Durocher famously said, “nice guys finish last.”

10. Decisiveness / Gets Things Done – Entrepreneurs don’t “noodle,” they “do.” This is what separates entrepreneurs from big company executives, consultants and investors. Everybody else has the luxury of “analysis” and Monday-morning quarterbacking. Entrepreneurs are faced with a deluge of daily decisions – much of it minutiae. All of it requiring decisions and action.

11. Domain Experience – Domain experience is not an absolute requirement. In fact, some people would argue that the uber successful ventures come from people outside the industry willing to challenge the conventional wisdom. But I believe that having domain experience and relationships gives you an unfair advantage. Better that you start with this than from scratch.

12. Integrity – I believe that integrity and honesty are very important to most venture capital investors. Unfortunately, I don’t believe that they are required to make a lot of money. This post talks about my views on this attribute.

Personal Success Stories

Wildly successful entrepreneurs didn't start out that way. Read inspiring true stories of self-made millionaires.

Donald Trump Salemanship Lessons

In his bestselling book The Art of the Deal, Donald Trump provided a unique perspective on constructing and negotiating business transactions. But as much as we know Trump as a deal-maker extraordinaire, his greatest skill is his salesmanship.

Think of The Donald as a salesman on steroids. And in this lesser-recognized role, Trump practices the art of the thrill.

Want to know what I mean by this and what we can learn from it for our own salesmanship?

Consider the following:

Never do things for your customers and prospects in a small way. Make it big and important or don't do it at all. I can assure you that when Trump takes a banker out to lunch to discuss a construction loan, he takes him out for a feast. He's not out to save money on the meal; he's determined to make money from it.

Now think of your own mental gymnastics when you invite a prospect out to dine. Chances are you think through the options, searching for a nice enough place but affordable.

Affordable?! If you've set aside $100 for dinner and drinks, push it to $200. If the prospect is big enough, consider $300 or even $500. Is it extravagant? Yes, but you're out to practice the art of the thrill. No one will remember another run-of-the-mill dinner, but an over-the-top feast will make you the thrill-maker they remember.

Everyone likes to do business with a winner. No matter what stage of your career, you need to look like you've made it.That means wearing a suit that will impress. As a universal rule, make it your business to be the best-dressed in the room. If you lack the fashion sense, a premier store will be more than happy to assign a knowledgeable salesperson to assist you.

And if you're thinking of the budget thing again, forget it. Put it this way; a smashing, well-tailored suit will last you for years. Allocate the upfront cost over dozens or possibly hundreds of business meetings and the investment becomes a mere pittance. Remember that your goal is not to save money; it's to make the sale--leave the penny pinching to others.

Bring your ego with you in full bloom. It's not enough to look successful; you need to act it as well. This demonstrates that you are alsoone of the smartest people in the room.

Again, take a page from Trump. Sure, he can be garish and way over the top, but no way is he going to check his ego at the door. Neither should you. So find a way to bring up your most significant achievements, tell an intriguing story and talk up your travels, discoveries and epiphanies.

The timid and the small thinkers will talk sports and weather. They will pale in comparison to the bold winners who regale their prospects and customers with compelling ideas and stories.

I'll never forget the afternoon I spent with legendary Washington attorney and presidential advisor Clark Clifford. He didn't just "meet" with me; he held court in a walnut-paneled office, wore a suit fit for a monarch and fascinated me with vividly colored stories that thrilled as much as educated and entertained. He established himself as one of the most important people in a town filled with big egos and left the impression that when it came to lawyers in the nation's capital, there could be only one choice.

This is the challenge and the opportunity before you--to make certain that of all the salespeople your customers and prospects come in contact with, you are the one indelibly imprinted on their brains. You don't sell. You thrill.

Secrets of self made millionaires

1. Set your sights on where you’re going
Twenty years ago, Jeff Harris hardly seemed on the road to wealth. He was a college dropout who struggled to support his wife, DeAnn, and three kids, working as a grocery store clerk and at a junkyard where he melted scrap metal alongside convicts. “At times we were so broke that we washed our clothes in the bathtub because we couldn’t afford the Laundromat.” Now he’s a 49-year-old investment advisor and multimillionaire in York, South Carolina.

There was one big reason Jeff pulled ahead of the pack: He always knew he’d be rich. The reality is that 80 percent of Americans worth at least $5 million grew up in middle-class or lesser households, just like Jeff.

Wanting to be wealthy is a crucial first step. Says Eker, “The biggest obstacle to wealth is fear. People are afraid to think big, but if you think small, you’ll only achieve small things.”

2. Educate yourself
When Steve Maxwell graduated from college, he had an engineering degree and a high-tech job—but he couldn’t balance his checkbook. “I took one finance class in college but dropped it to go on a ski trip,” says the 45-year-old father of three, who lives in Windsor, Colorado. “I actually had to go to my bank and ask them to teach me how to read my statement.”

One of the biggest obstacles to making money is not understanding it: Thousands of us avoid investing because we just don’t get it. But to make money, you must be financially literate. “It bothered me that I didn’t understand this stuff,” says Steve, “so I read books and magazines about money management and investing, and I asked every financial whiz I knew to explain things to me.”

3. Passion pays off
In 1995, Jill Blashack Strahan and her husband were barely making ends meet. Like so many of us, Jill was eager to discover her purpose, so she splurged on a session with a life coach. “When I told her my goal was to make $30,000 a year, she said I was setting the bar too low. I needed to focus on my passion, not on the paycheck.”

Jill, who lives with her son in Alexandria, Minnesota, owned a gift basket company and earned just $15,000 a year. She noticed when she let potential buyers taste the food items, the baskets sold like crazy. Jill thought, Why not sell the food directly to customers in a fun setting?
With $6,000 in savings, a bank loan and a friend’s investment, Jill started packaging gourmet foods in a backyard shed and selling them at taste-testing parties. It wasn’t easy. “I remember sitting outside one day, thinking we were three months behind on our house payment, I had two employees I couldn’t pay, and I ought to get a real job. But then I thought, No, this is your dream. Recommit and get to work.”

She stuck with it, even after her husband died three years later. “I live by the law of abundance, meaning that even when there are challenges in life, I look for the win-win,” she says.
The positive attitude worked: Jill’s backyard company, Tastefully Simple, is now a direct-sales business, with $120 million in sales last year. And Jill was named one of the top 25 female business owners in North America by Fast Company magazine.

According to research by Thomas J. Stanley, author of The Millionaire Mind, over 80 percent of millionaires say they never would have been successful if their vocation wasn’t something they cared about.

4. Grow your money
Most of us know the never-ending cycle of living paycheck to paycheck. “The fastest way to get out of that pattern is to make extra money for the specific purpose of reinvesting in yourself,” says Loral Langemeier, author of The Millionaire Maker. In other words, earmark some money for the sole purpose of investing it in a place where it will grow dramatically—like a business or real estate.

There are endless ways to make extra money for investing—you just have to be willing to do the work. “Everyone has a marketable skill,” says Langemeier. “When I started out, I had a tutoring business, seeing clients in the morning before work and on my lunch break.”

A little moonlighting cash really can grow into a million. Twenty-five years ago, Rick Sikorski dreamed of owning a personal training business. “I rented a tiny studio where I charged $15 an hour,” he says. When money started trickling in, he squirreled it away instead of spending it, putting it all back into the business. Rick’s 400-square-foot studio is now Fitness Together, a franchise based in Highlands Ranch, Colorado, with more than 360 locations worldwide. And he’s worth over $40 million.

5. No guts, no glory
Last summer, Dave Lindahl footed the bill for 18 relatives at a fancy mansion in the Adirondacks. One night, his dad looked out at the scenery and joked, “I can’t believe we used to call you the black sheep!”

At 29, Dave was broke, living in a small apartment near Boston and wondering what to do after ten years in a local rock band. “I looked around and thought, If I don’t do something, I’ll be stuck here forever.”

He started a landscape company, buying his equipment on credit. When business literally froze over that winter, a banker friend asked if he’d like to renovate a foreclosed home. “I’m a terrible carpenter, but I needed the money, so I went to some free seminars at Home Depot and figured it out as I went,” he says
After a few more renovations, it occurred to him: Why not buy the homes and sell them for profit? He took a risk and bought his first property. Using the proceeds, he bought another, and another. Twelve years later, he owns apartment buildings, worth $143 million, in eight states.

The Biggest Secret? Stop spending.
Every millionaire we spoke to has one thing in common: Not a single one spends needlessly. Real estate investor Dave Lindahl drives a Ford Explorer and says his middle-class neighbors would be shocked to learn how much he’s worth. Fitness mogul Rick Sikorski can’t fathom why anyone would buy bottled water. Steve Maxwell, the finance teacher, looked at a $1.5 million home but decided to buy one for half the price because “a house with double the cost wouldn’t give me double the enjoyment.”

Bob Parsons 16 rules for success

Bob Parson is the founder and CEO of godaddy.com. Below is a list of Bob Parson's 16 rules for success in business and life in general. More on Bob Parson can be found in his vlog, BobParsons.com

1. Get and stay out of your comfort zone.
I believe that not much happens of any significance when we're in our comfort zone. I hear people say, "But I'm concerned about security." My response to that is simple: "Security is for cadavers."

2. Never give up.
Almost nothing works the first time it's attempted. Just because what you're doing does not seem to be working, doesn't mean it won't work. It just means that it might not work the way you're doing it. If it was easy, everyone would be doing it, and you wouldn't have an opportunity.

3. When you're ready to quit, you're closer than you think.
There's an old Chinese saying that I just love, and I believe it is so true. It goes like this: "The temptation to quit will be greatest just before you are about to succeed."

4. With regard to whatever worries you, not only accept the worst thing that could happen, but make it a point to quantify what the worst thing could be.
Very seldom will the worst consequence be anywhere near as bad as a cloud of "undefined consequences." My father would tell me early on, when I was struggling and losing my shirt trying to get Parsons Technology going, "Well, Robert, if it doesn't work, they can't eat you."

5. Focus on what you want to have happen.
Remember that old saying, "As you think, so shall you be."

6. Take things a day at a time.
No matter how difficult your situation is, you can get through it if you don't look too far into the future, and focus on the present moment. You can get through anything one day at a time.

7. Always be moving forward.
Never stop investing. Never stop improving. Never stop doing something new. The moment you stop improving your organization, it starts to die. Make it your goal to be better each and every day, in some small way. Remember the Japanese concept of Kaizen. Small daily improvements eventually result in huge advantages.

8. Be quick to decide.
Remember what General George S. Patton said: "A good plan violently executed today is far and away better than a perfect plan tomorrow."
9. Measure everything of significance.
I swear this is true. Anything that is measured and watched, improves.

10. Anything that is not managed will deteriorate.
If you want to uncover problems you don't know about, take a few moments and look closely at the areas you haven't examined for a while. I guarantee you problems will be there.

11. Pay attention to your competitors, but pay more attention to what you're doing.
When you look at your competitors, remember that everything looks perfect at a distance. Even the planet Earth, if you get far enough into space, looks like a peaceful place.

12. Never let anybody push you around.
In our society, with our laws and even playing field, you have just as much right to what you're doing as anyone else, provided that what you're doing is legal.

13. Never expect life to be fair.
Life isn't fair. You make your own breaks. You'll be doing good if the only meaning fair has to you, is something that you pay when you get on a bus (i.e., fare).
14. Solve your own problems.
You'll find that by coming up with your own solutions, you'll develop a competitive edge. Masura Ibuka, the co-founder of SONY, said it best: "You never succeed in technology, business, or anything by following the others." There's also an old Asian saying that I remind myself of frequently. It goes like this: "A wise man keeps his own counsel."

15. Don't take yourself too seriously.
Lighten up. Often, at least half of what we accomplish is due to luck. None of us are in control as much as we like to think we are.

16. There's always a reason to smile.
Find it. After all, you're really lucky just to be alive. Life is short. More and more, I agree with my little brother. He always reminds me: "We're not here for a long time, we're here for a good time!"

Property Management checklist

Lets say you want to delegate the management of your rental property or properties and would like to browse a few property management companies. Here is a basic check list that can help you narrow down the best company that fits your needs.
Some things to look at while you are comparing companies:

-Does the PM co. offer owner operational statements showing profit/loss? How often? Monthly? Quarterly?

-What is the fee during vacant periods? Is it the same for occupancy?

-What is their average turnover time for vacancy?

-Will the PM co. send you a tax statement at the end of the year?

-Does the company subcontract for routine maintenance (cutting grass, shoveling snow, etc) or is it inhouse? Is there an extra fee?

-Do they offer a discount if you plan to aquire more properties and use their services?

-What is their method for collecting rent? ACH? Does the tenant mail it, drop it off, etc?

When you narrow your list down, get 3 references and call them.

If you feel that property management companies are not in your kind of thing, here is another way of managing your property

The BEST property management companies are members of NARPM.org ( national association of residential property managers)

But there's a better way...

(1) Find a really sharp real estate investor in the area where the property is and master lease to the investor. Example, if the house rents for $1000 per month, you might lease to the investor for $900 - $920 per month them they sub lease to the tenant who moves in.

(2) or take David Tilney's class about Hassle Free Property Management and learn how you can make each tenant the property manger for the house. That's what to do!

Run ads on craigslist and rentals dot com to find my tenants. After a thorough screening the prefect tenant is selected. They live in the house and they are in charge of taking care of the house. The first $50 - $100 in repairs are their responsibility. If the repairs are more than that they have the number for my contractors and make the call. Since yu can't fix anything it is a total waste of time to call.Eliminate the middle man and let the tenants call your contractor. When repairs are needed, the contractor calls to let you know the situations and approve the work order.

What about rents?

You set up two ways -- Either use ACH ( automatic clearing house) to go in to the tenants accounts and take out the rent or . .

Give each tenant a book of deposit slips for my bank. You can offer them to pay rent at any Bank of America, just give them one of these deposit slips when you do. The money goes in to a deposit only account which is swept clean every night when the money is moved to my management account.

With this system, you don't need to hire a property manager, the tenant is the property manager.