Posts by Early To Rise
There Is No Limit To The Number Of Ways You Can Make Money
“You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.” – Wayne Gretzky (legendary hockey player who holds numerous NHL records, including most career goals and points scored) Inc. magazine just came out with its yearly issue on the fastest-growing small companies. Looking over the list, you have to be impressed with the variety of businesses…
Read MorePioneers and Governors: You Need Them Both In Your Business Empire
“The final test of a leader is that he leaves behind him in other men the conviction and the will to carry on.” – Walter Lippmann In Message #466, I talked about growth (how much is good and how much is too much) by drawing an analogy between a new business and a fledgling country.…
Read MoreAlbert Einstein’s Three Rules of Work
“So many worlds, so much to do, / So little done, such things to be.” – Lord Tennyson (In Memoriam A.H.H., 1850) 1. Out of clutter, find simplicity. 2. From discord, find harmony. 3. In the middle of difficulty, lies opportunity. 1. What to Do About the Clutter Start with the clutter on your desk.…
Read MoreWords of Wisdom From Thomas Edison
“Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.” – Thomas A. Edison Today’s quote from Thomas Edison is a very good bit of wisdom. I’ve talked about stamina and persistence before (for example, in Message #151, “Breaking Through the Pain”). You sometimes want…
Read MoreShould You Train Your Employees?
“A teacher affects eternity; he can never tell where his influence stops.” – Henry Adams (The Education of Henry Adams, 1907) According to a study of 1,600 businesses, companies that train their employees “are able to promote internal candidates almost a third of the time, compared to only a fifth of the time for companies…
Read MoreBefore You Let That Mediocre (Or Poor) Employee Go…
“Perhaps nobody ever accomplishes all that he feels lies in him to do; but nearly every one who tries his powers touches the walls of his being occasionally, and learns about how far to attempt to spring.” – Charles Dudley Warner (Backlog Studies, 1873) The secret to having a top-notch working team is to compose…
Read MorePlan Your Meetings Or Prepare For Disappointment
“Our lives are not totally random. We make commitments, we cause things to happen.” – Wendy Wasserstein (1990) We’ve said before that you should always have a plan before attending a scheduled meeting. Your plan should include a specific personal goal (e.g., “I will leave the meeting with an agreement from Jeff on the new…
Read MoreMake Your Product a Little Better and Charge a Lot More
“Goodwill is the one and only asset that competition cannot undersell or destroy.” – Marshall Field The fastest way to gain market share is to sell a popular product at a below-market price. But it’s a tough game to play. You need the financial resources to pull it off and the operational wherewithal to grow…
Read MoreYes, You Can Get Rich By Teaching
“He who can, does. He who cannot, teaches.” – George Bernard Shaw (Man and Superman, 1903) What George Bernard Shaw didn’t say in today’s oft-repeated quotation — but should have — is that those who teach also do. A friend of mine has been very successful as an executive in the financial-brokerage business. At a…
Read MoreYou Don’t Need To Be A Creative Genius
“There are three ingredients in the good life — learning, earning, and yearning.” – Christopher Morley I had lunch with JS today. JS owns and runs a very successful business in South Florida. He sells medium- and discount-priced jewelry directly to customers and through the catalogs of some very large and well-known chain stores. When…
Read MoreChampion Your Heroes And Create Loyalty
“Nothing comes from nothing.” – Lucretius (On the Nature of Things, 1st century B.C.) As we said in yesterday’s message (“In Times Like This, Resist the Invitation to Gripe”), your boss needs a positive-minded, hard-working team to see his business through these tough times. That’s why, if it becomes necessary for him to lay off…
Read MoreYour Decisions Should Move Closer to Your Objectives
“The ability to simplify means to eliminate the unnecessary so that the necessary may speak.” – Hans Hofmann (search for the Real, 1967) The pressure is on. You have no time to waste. Everybody is shouting. Which do you choose? Door No. 1 or door No. 2? Decide quickly! But decide right! Your future is…
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