Posts by Early To Rise
Who Do You Work For?
SB doesn’t know who he works for. As a development manager for a real-estate project I consult with, he must take direction from three people: a profit-center manager, a project manager, and me. Most of the time, our advice and recommendations are congruent. Sometimes, however, we disagree. And when we do, it throws SB…
Read MoreBuild Your Personal Fortune From This Half-Billion-Dollar Secret
“How I like to be liked, and what I do to be liked!” – Charles Lamb (letter to Dorothy Wordsworth, January 8, 1821) Most of us, at least most of the time, don’t feel we are ever quite good enough, strong enough, pretty enough, or smart enough. We feel inadequate, and we want that…
Read MoreHow to Have the Best Summer Vacation Ever
“Good plans shape good decisions. That’s why good planning helps to make elusive dreams come true.” – Lester R. Bittel (“The Nine Master Keys of Management”) Yes, you can get away from the office. You can travel. You can even leave your laptop and cell phone behind. But you can’t make the work go…
Read MoreHow to Hire Great People
“If you hire only those people you understand, the company will never get people better than you are. Always remember that you often find outstanding people among those you don’t particularly like.” – Soichiro Honda AS, a friend and colleague, is a master of good hiring. His first hire — an entry-level marketing assistant…
Read MoreEasy Money: You Don’t Want It Anyway
“Castles in the air — they are so easy to take refuge in. And so easy to build, too.” – Henrik Ibsen (The Master Builder, 1892) In his Daily Reckoning, Bill Bonner once observed that many of the world’s greatest empires collapsed soon after they had the “good luck” to get hold of “huge…
Read MoreDo You Have the Time to Improve?
“Time sneaks up on you like a windshield on a bug.” – Jon Lithgow It takes only five minutes to read ETR. Ten minutes if you do so “in depth.” Everybody has the same number of hours each day: 24. Five or 10 minutes out of 1,440 minutes each day is a smidgen. You…
Read MoreHow To Be A Good No 2
“Be a first-rate version of yourself, not a second-rate version of someone else.” – Judy Garland I learned nothing about business while I was growing up and didn’t have much money. But I was eager to learn and worked hard — and those two qualities made me an excellent second banana. Being No. 2…
Read MoreDistinguish Your Business
“Rose is a rose is a rose is a rose.” – Gertrude Stein (“Sacred Emily,” Geography and Plays, 1922) Great companies are not excellent at everything they do. Great companies tend to be great at one thing, good at another thing, and acceptable in all other areas. This is something I learned years ago…
Read MoreProfits and Money – Very Different Motivators
“The only lifelong, reliable motivations are those that come from within, and one of the strongest of those is the joy and pride that grow from knowing that you’ve just done something as well as you can do it.” – Lloyd Dobens and Clare Crawford-Mason (“Thinking About Quality”) DZ (a business owner I used to…
Read MoreDo You Need a Financial Planner?
“There are worse things in life than death. Have you ever spent an evening with an insurance salesman?” – Woody Allen “I don’t understand,” I said. “I thought you were going to have me help you?” “I didn’t want to bother you. I found this guy — he’s the son-in-law of my hairdresser. A…
Read MoreHow to Become a Well-Known Expert in Your Field
“In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities; in the expert’s mind there are few.” – Shunryu Suzuli I’ve seen plenty of data to support the idea that you can make $100 an hour or more simply by specializing in an area you already know. If you are a doctor, you can develop a…
Read MoreWhat’s More Important Than Marketing?
“The beginning of knowledge is the discovery of something we do not understand.” – Frank Herbert “I’m not so interested in products,” my partner explained to a mutual protégé. “Products change with the times. I’m interested in developing a sophisticated understanding of how our market works.” As someone who spends a good deal of…
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