credits to the original source of these photos
10/3/10
Personal Branding Tips from Think Like a Billionaire by Donald Trump - Presentation Transcript
- Trump: Think Like a Billionaire Author: Donald J. Trump & Meredith Mclver Publisher: The Random House Publishing Group Year: 2004 Pages: 288
- Power Tip #1
- The world has 587 billionaires.
- You must think like them to become one.
- Power Tip #2
- Cultivate a short attention span. You save time when you make others get to the point. To have a competitive edge, minimize downtime, vacations and sleep.
- Power Tip #3
- Treat every decision as unique and critical.
- Your success is the sum of your decisions.
- Power Tip #4
- Great promotion stems from success.
- Promotion is easy if you are the best
- at something.
- Power Tip #5
- To be a great investor, be a diligent student. Build a powerful financial IQ.
- Power Tip #6
- In real estate, picking a great location depends on using your instincts and visualizing the site's potential. Fire any broker who isn't responsive and who doesn't listen.
- Power Tip #7
- All mortgage brokers sell the same thing – money. Thus, mortgages should always be negotiated. Never accept the first offer.
- Power Tip #8
- Always be tough with contractors or they won't respect you.
- Power Tip #9
- Love your job. Support your friends. Trust your family. Prioritize loyalty.
- Power Tip #10
- Money can't buy happiness, but it sure can buy a lot of other things.
- Power Tip #11
- Why Not You?
- To succeed, learn to think like a billionaire.
- Power Tip #12
- “ There’s no such thing as personal and work business; it’s simply your business, 24 hours per day. You are your own storefront, your own manager and your own brand, so don’t screw it up by making bad business decisions in life.” – Donald Trump
- Power Tip #13
- Don’t take vacations – Enjoy your work so much that it doesn’t feel like work. Trump works nonstop and enjoys it. His kids are part of the family business.
- Power Tip #14
- Have a short attention span – Most successful people share this trait. They know what other people are going to say, so they try to cut to the bottom line. This saves a lot of time.
- Power Tip #15
- Don’t sleep any more than you have to – Trump goes to bed at 1 a.m., and rises at 5 a.m. Spending less time sleeping gives him a competitive edge. Always seize any advantage.
- Power Tip #16
- Don’t depend on technology – Trump doesn’t use an intercom. He explains, “When I want someone in my office, I yell. It works a lot better than an intercom, and it’s much faster.” He doesn’t have a computer on his desk, either.
- Power Tip #17
- Think of yourself as a one-man army – You’re a foot soldier, as well as a general. You have to plan and execute your strategy by yourself.
- Power Tip #18
- It’s often to your advantage to be underestimated – Of course, you don’t want people to think you’re a pushover. However, it is often to your advantage if they don’t think you’re the smartest guy in the room.
- Power Tip #19
- Success breeds success – To make an impact, you need to be successful or you need to create the impression that you are.
- Power Tip #20
- Treat each decision like a lover – Sometimes you feel love at first sight: you decide right away. At other times, you take your time and invite others to share their opinions. That’s like a long engagement. As with love, respond on a deep level. Don’t over think things.
- Power Tip #21
- “ Vast fortunes are accumulated through dozens of decisions a day, thousands a month, and hundreds of thousands in a career.” - Donald Trump
- Power Tip #22
- Be curious – Strive to understand your world. Try to understand how things really work.
- Power Tip #23
- How to Pick a Location
- When investing, consider buying property in a marginal neighborhood. You’ll save on taxes and you’ll make money if the neighborhood improves.
- Study a property’s tax history, and look for indicators (such as a new school nearby) that taxes may be going up.
- Power Tip #24
- “ Real estate is at the core of almost every business, and it’s certainly at the core of most people’s wealth. In order to build your wealth and improve your business smarts, you need to know about real estate.” – Donald Trump
- Power Tip #25
- How to Sell a House
- Use a broker to sell your home. A good broker should be responsive, and listen to your views and concerns. If your broker is constantly late or doesn’t return your calls promptly, just say, “You’re fired!”
- Find one who specializes in the type of property you’re interested in buying. Avoid brokers who are pushy; the best ones are usually sincere and caring. The fee you pay to an excellent broker could be one of your best investments.
- Power Tip #26
- How to Get the Best Mortgage
- Educate yourself before you visit your local banker.
- Buying property works best when you have multiple options, and the same is true of mortgages. Ask lots of questions, shop for the best rate and never hesitate to bargain.
- Never accept the first deal a mortgage loan officer submits; always negotiate. Look for hidden costs. All the sellers are selling the same product: money, so mortgages are made to be haggled over.
- Power Tip #27
- How to Deal with Contractors
- If you really want to find a great contractor, ask prospects for the names of 10 jobs they’ve worked on in the past year or two, and don’t settle for fewer than 10.
- Always be tough on your contractors or they’ll think you’re weak. Be clear up front about the expected timing and your intention to keep to the budget. The more knowledgeable you are, the better the chances are that your contractor will respect you and work well on your behalf
- Power Tip #28
- How to Know Whether Someone Is Loyal
- Loyal people perceive the hard work that enabled you to succeed. Surround yourself with people who would stand by you tomorrow if you went broke.
- Power Tip #29
- How to be a good investor
- Investing well requires a high financial IQ.
- To be a good investor, become a great student of investing.
- Look everywhere for the information you need to invest wisely. Strive to understand the deeper meaning behind market indicators.
- Power Tip #30
- “ If you want the best, you’d better be the best – in all aspects of business.”- Donald Trump
- Power Tip #31
- How to promote yourself
- Promotion comes from success, not the other way around. Keep that sequence in mind. Part of having a sense of who you are depends on promoting the right image of yourself every day. You’ll never think like a billionaire until you have a sense of your own identity and purpose.
- Power Tip #32
- How to make good friends
- Take time to learn about the details that are important to your friends. This is an important part of your bond. It helps to have friends with a similar level of confidence, so that envy and jealousy don’t get in the way.
- Power Tip #33
- How to hire an attorney
- Get a referral for a good attorney by calling the relevant bar association. However, don’t rely on your mortgage broker to refer a real estate attorney to you. This would create an automatic conflict of interest; the lawyer could only recommend termination of your mortgage negotiations by working against the broker who referred him or her to you.
- Power Tip #34
- How to get an appraisal and a building inspection
- Use an inspector if you’re taking out a mortgage on a property. The inspection should be thorough; if the inspector rushes, find another inspector.
- Don’t assume that a newly constructed project doesn’t need an inspection; new buildings often have the worst problems.
- Power Tip #35
- “ How to landscape”
- Hiring a reputable landscape firm and putting it to work can add tremendous value to any property.
- Ask your friends and neighbors to recommend a company with a good reputation.
- Visit previous job sites to see the landscaper’s work. Check how much maintenance will be required; installing a high-maintenance landscape can be counterproductive.
- Power Tip #36
- How to decorate interiors
- Look for an interior decorator who will help you refine and express your own aesthetic sensibilities.
- Do check all the invoices and negotiate the commission downward. The best decorators combine business smarts with artistic abilities.
- Power Tip #37
- How to say No
- When reading a contract, distill the language into plain information. Saying “no” is a lot easier when you can articulate your reasons.
- Accept it at face value when people are not nice or are unfriendly. Being tough with pleasant people is actually more difficult. You can control unpleasant people since saying “no” to them is easy.
- About the Author
- Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946 in Queens, New York, United States) is an American business executive, entrepreneur, television and radio personality and author.
- He is the CEO of the Trump Organization, a US-based real-estate developer, and the founder of Trump Entertainment, which operates several casinos.
9/19/10
Top 10 SME techniques and other 'mini-tips'
Top 10 SME techniques and other 'mini-tips'
By Jimbo Owen B. Gulle, illustrations by Frantz Arno Salvador
from Entrepreneur Philippines Magazine, March 2009
Like most corporate executives, owners of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) guard their business secrets zealously, sometimes to the point of not wanting any publicity for their companies.
Among other reasons for shunning the spotlight, they fear that copycats might steal their proprietary ideas and practices and create rival enterprises that could edge them out of the market.
Among these cautious CEOs is an entrepreneur whose company is one of the best peforming SMEs.
On condition of not being identified, he agreed to share with the new generation of entrepreneurs the lessons he has learned from running his various businesses for many years now.
Here are his strategies:
1. Think long term
As one who had inherited his father's business, he believes that new owners of a business should realize early enough that they will be in it for the long haul.
"To realize profits in a business sometimes takes more than five years," he says. "You have to first prove yourself to your customer before you could even get a foot in his or her door. And even if you find it easy to get in, it could also be easy to get thrown out.Also, you have to be like a chess player, able to think several moves ahead. Being shortsighted is very costly in business."
2. Let your lieutenants run the shop
He believes that although an owner should really know his business inside and out, he should not spend too much time in its day-to-day operations. The company's managers can do this while the owner uses his time- at least a third of his time each day, he says -- doing research and development, thinking of ways to grow the business and to do it better. "Imagine your role as the conductor of an orchestra, creating an ensemble of sound," he explains.
3. Use technology to stay in touch
He says that the business landscape has improved dramatically with the development of mobile technology and the Internet, such that a businessman today can always stay connected, make decisions, and close deals even when he's out of the office. "A CEO can now operate even without a secretary or a physical office, and he no longer needs to type out letters or carry documents with his either," he says.
4. Connections are still important
Even in this era of instant messaging, he says, it's still worthwhile to cultivate friendships and business alliances because it will help a businessman find leads for getting more business. "Before, an opportunity would find a person," he says."Today, you have to find that opportunity, and showing up in person is one way to do it."
5. Try to find the "loopholes"
He says that business before wasn't as elaborate, plentiful, covergent, and encompassing as it is today. "Before, there were a lot of 'pockets' but also a lot of holes," he explains. "Now there are no more holes, because chances are somebody else has already found them."
Where can one find these holes? He suggests trying to look at possible mergers or acquisitions of companies within your industry and finding out where the gaps are in their business, then having your business fill those gaps.
6. Recognize who you are, where you are, and what your abilities are
He says that a businessman shouldn't be so egotistic as to think that he doesn't need other people to help him. A good businessman, he adds, must also learn to be "rational and not emotional, to be focused without losing the big picture, and to be able to fit the 'micro' with the 'macro'." The minute a businessman wants to do everything, he says, his business is as good as gone.
7. Involve people from outside your company
He says this should be done not just in the sense of outsourcing work. For instance, he explains, a businessman can "use" his suppliers as a source of information about how competitors are doing and how the insudtry is moving, and the businessman can also ask salesmen and other middlemen to bargain for discounts or better prices from suppliers or big vendors.
8. Learn to piggyback on your customers' success, but know that loyalty is fleeting
"In business, if a customer slumps, so will you," he says. "There's no such thing as loyalty in today's business world anymore. Before, the attitude ran like this: 'All our suppliers are our partners, so we will support them for the long term.' But for today's customers, no supplier is indispensable. Every contract is up for open bidding, and it applies to all, friend or stranger alike."
9. Cut the middleman and go straight to the source
While this may go counter to his earlier advice about using middlemen as bargaining agents with suppliers, he emphasizes that nothing beats dealing with the other business owner yourself. He explains: "To get the price you want, you can use the middleman as an ally. This is because he or she knows the supplier better than you. But I say that they are only intermediaries, to be used as a 'profit center' while you are still awaiting the final say of the other business owner."
10. To make more profits, watch your margins and limit your waste
He says that this involves more than just cutting costs. For instance, he explains, printing companies often generate a lot of wasted paper, plastic, foil, and other printing materials because they need to allocate a certain width on each sheet of the printing area for trimming. This, he says, is usually considered an acceptable loss and a normal part of the production cost.
But he says that if businesses only learned to reduce that trimming area by even a few millimeters, the saved trimmings "would most likely equal their profit margin." He also suggests that businessmen should also learn how to take small orders to reduce the cost of big orders, which take more time and resources to produce. "So learn how to collect these 'crumbs' to make your money," he says.
Wrapping up the interview with Entrepreneur, he cites the following "mini-tips" as having also helped him succeed in his line of business:
*Service is still paramount, so empower your customer at all times;
*Beating the system is the key to creating your business niche;
*If you acquire things easily, you will likely also lose them easily;
*Price your products and services to your market; and
* Be prepared to take a risk when needed.
By Jimbo Owen B. Gulle, illustrations by Frantz Arno Salvador
from Entrepreneur Philippines Magazine, March 2009
Like most corporate executives, owners of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) guard their business secrets zealously, sometimes to the point of not wanting any publicity for their companies.
Among other reasons for shunning the spotlight, they fear that copycats might steal their proprietary ideas and practices and create rival enterprises that could edge them out of the market.
Among these cautious CEOs is an entrepreneur whose company is one of the best peforming SMEs.
On condition of not being identified, he agreed to share with the new generation of entrepreneurs the lessons he has learned from running his various businesses for many years now.
Here are his strategies:
1. Think long term
As one who had inherited his father's business, he believes that new owners of a business should realize early enough that they will be in it for the long haul.
"To realize profits in a business sometimes takes more than five years," he says. "You have to first prove yourself to your customer before you could even get a foot in his or her door. And even if you find it easy to get in, it could also be easy to get thrown out.Also, you have to be like a chess player, able to think several moves ahead. Being shortsighted is very costly in business."
2. Let your lieutenants run the shop
He believes that although an owner should really know his business inside and out, he should not spend too much time in its day-to-day operations. The company's managers can do this while the owner uses his time- at least a third of his time each day, he says -- doing research and development, thinking of ways to grow the business and to do it better. "Imagine your role as the conductor of an orchestra, creating an ensemble of sound," he explains.
3. Use technology to stay in touch
He says that the business landscape has improved dramatically with the development of mobile technology and the Internet, such that a businessman today can always stay connected, make decisions, and close deals even when he's out of the office. "A CEO can now operate even without a secretary or a physical office, and he no longer needs to type out letters or carry documents with his either," he says.
4. Connections are still important
Even in this era of instant messaging, he says, it's still worthwhile to cultivate friendships and business alliances because it will help a businessman find leads for getting more business. "Before, an opportunity would find a person," he says."Today, you have to find that opportunity, and showing up in person is one way to do it."
5. Try to find the "loopholes"
He says that business before wasn't as elaborate, plentiful, covergent, and encompassing as it is today. "Before, there were a lot of 'pockets' but also a lot of holes," he explains. "Now there are no more holes, because chances are somebody else has already found them."
Where can one find these holes? He suggests trying to look at possible mergers or acquisitions of companies within your industry and finding out where the gaps are in their business, then having your business fill those gaps.
6. Recognize who you are, where you are, and what your abilities are
He says that a businessman shouldn't be so egotistic as to think that he doesn't need other people to help him. A good businessman, he adds, must also learn to be "rational and not emotional, to be focused without losing the big picture, and to be able to fit the 'micro' with the 'macro'." The minute a businessman wants to do everything, he says, his business is as good as gone.
7. Involve people from outside your company
He says this should be done not just in the sense of outsourcing work. For instance, he explains, a businessman can "use" his suppliers as a source of information about how competitors are doing and how the insudtry is moving, and the businessman can also ask salesmen and other middlemen to bargain for discounts or better prices from suppliers or big vendors.
8. Learn to piggyback on your customers' success, but know that loyalty is fleeting
"In business, if a customer slumps, so will you," he says. "There's no such thing as loyalty in today's business world anymore. Before, the attitude ran like this: 'All our suppliers are our partners, so we will support them for the long term.' But for today's customers, no supplier is indispensable. Every contract is up for open bidding, and it applies to all, friend or stranger alike."
9. Cut the middleman and go straight to the source
While this may go counter to his earlier advice about using middlemen as bargaining agents with suppliers, he emphasizes that nothing beats dealing with the other business owner yourself. He explains: "To get the price you want, you can use the middleman as an ally. This is because he or she knows the supplier better than you. But I say that they are only intermediaries, to be used as a 'profit center' while you are still awaiting the final say of the other business owner."
10. To make more profits, watch your margins and limit your waste
He says that this involves more than just cutting costs. For instance, he explains, printing companies often generate a lot of wasted paper, plastic, foil, and other printing materials because they need to allocate a certain width on each sheet of the printing area for trimming. This, he says, is usually considered an acceptable loss and a normal part of the production cost.
But he says that if businesses only learned to reduce that trimming area by even a few millimeters, the saved trimmings "would most likely equal their profit margin." He also suggests that businessmen should also learn how to take small orders to reduce the cost of big orders, which take more time and resources to produce. "So learn how to collect these 'crumbs' to make your money," he says.
Wrapping up the interview with Entrepreneur, he cites the following "mini-tips" as having also helped him succeed in his line of business:
*Service is still paramount, so empower your customer at all times;
*Beating the system is the key to creating your business niche;
*If you acquire things easily, you will likely also lose them easily;
*Price your products and services to your market; and
* Be prepared to take a risk when needed.
5/3/10
3/26/10
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