Posts by Early To Rise
How Good Is Your Next Big Idea?
“Without everyone embracing what we want to do, we haven’t got a prayer.” – Jack Welch The Big Idea is your strategy for growing and improving your business. It’s your particular take on how to do something faster/quicker/smarter/cheaper/better. Is your Big Idea clear to you? Or are you a little befuddled about it? If you…
Read MoreHow to Make Your Children Wealthy
“One of my father’s most precious legacies to me was spiritual. I learned from him the value of courage and the strength of will.” – Armand Hammer (Hammer, 1987) TG told me that a mutual friend, OJ, had burned through an inheritance of $180,000 in a year. Most of it went to drinking and…
Read MoreTurn Any Job Into A Lucrative Career
Dear Early to Rise Reader, MMF has mentioned in the past valuable skills you can master to earn an excellent second income. Copywriting and resume writing come to mind, for example. Today, I’m writing to tell you about something completely different. It’s a way for you to make very good money (something that could ultimately…
Read MoreBody Language: Don’t Be Deaf To Shouting
Body language experts say the two most important clues to the way someone thinks of you are the way he positions his heart and his feet. Someone who likes you will tend to position his heart (i.e., his chest) toward your chest. So if your boss/colleague habitually stands and sits askance when he’s with you,…
Read MorePeripatetic Managing: Does It Really Work?
Do you walk around the office? Some management experts think doing so is a critically important business skill. Others warn against it. In “Seven Habits of Highly Successful Executives,” Steven Covey makes suggestions for limiting and avoiding casual chats around the office. In Covey’s view, these are unnecessary and often counterproductive. In the newsletter Communications…
Read MoreSo You Want To Be A Leader?
To be a natural leader, Gary North tells us, you must serve. As an example of what he means, he refers to a book titled “Dedication and Leadership,” by Douglas Hyde. Originally published in 1956, it contains a chapter that recounts how Hyde taught an overweight, stuttering man named Jim to become a leader in…
Read MoreHow Do You Handle The Whiners?
“Every man supposes himself not to be fully understood or appreciated.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson (Journals, 1840) In the early part of my career, I spent countless hours ensnarled in the following kind of situation: A manager would come into my office and start to complain about something. The moment I understood the problem, I’d…
Read MoreMore On Being Tough and Ruthless
“Where there is no might, right loses itself.” – Portuguese proverb JB wrote to say that although he agrees that “being mean and nasty is not a long-term strategy,” most people fail to reach their business goals because they are afraid to do “what it takes to succeed in business” and are “concerned about what…
Read MoreMMF’s Seven Rules For Buying Investment Properties
JJF and I know Delray Beach pretty well. We own homes here and have bought and sold more than a dozen properties in our neighborhoods. We have been able to observe firsthand the growth in real-estate prices since the mid-1990s. And we know a good number of people who are active in the real-estate market.…
Read MoreLet Your Best Customers Do What They Want: Buy More!
In most businesses, the 80/20 rule applies to just about everything — including the question “Who gives us our bottom line?” In other words, there is a good chance that fewer than 20% of your customers are giving you more than 80% of your profits. This is so because repeat and upgrade sales usually require…
Read MoreAre You Sick Of Your Job? It Shows!
Almost everybody, no matter how smart, ambitious, energetic, etc., grows tired of his or her job at some point. Usually, the feeling passes after a while. Sometimes, it lingers. It’s not much fun to work when you lack passion — and in case you are in any doubt, it’s not much fun for those around…
Read MoreWhat’s Wrong With Nepotism?
The toughest and most important part of building a business is finding great employees. When you take the regular paths — help-wanted ads and interviews — you end up hiring a lot of disappointing people. I recently spent weeks trying to find someone to fill a part-time position. After a lot of time and money…
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