Don’t Send Out Resumes – Send Out Sales Letters
“It is folly for a man to pray to the gods for that which he has the power to obtain for himself.” – Epicurus (Vatican Sayings, third century B.C.) As I said yesterday, resumes don’t work because they are all about you. Sales letters work because they are all about…
READ MOREWhen You Want A Better Job…
Most people end up with jobs that result from a series of half-baked actions and fortunate accidents. Ask a dozen executives to retrace their careers and you’ll hear a dozen versions of “this happened” and “that happened” but very few saying “I wanted this so I did that.” When you…
READ MOREThere 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…
READ MOREMultitasking: One of the Most Odious Words Coined in the Last Decade
Let’s spend a few moments today talking about something you should NOT be doing and its opposite — which is the core habit of all successful enterprises. Of all the hot air that inflated the New Economy bubble (new myths about how businesses grow, what they should be about, the…
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…
READ MORECreate A Culture That Respects Money
“Men are divided between those who are as thrifty as if they would live forever and those who are as extravagant as if they were going to die the next day.” – Aristotle I am, as you know, a living depository of every negative, desultory, and deplorable habit ever devised…
READ MOREYour Business Is Like A Growing Country
“Stretch your foot to the length of your blanket.” – Persian proverb Think of your business as a small city-state in a vast wilderness. The wilderness is rich in potential but uncultivated. You understand its great possibilities. And you understand too that although it is now free to whoever grabs…
READ MOREWhat You Should and Shouldn’t Do About Sexual Harassment
“Even doubtful accusations leave a stain behind them.” Thomas Fuller, M.D. (Gnomologia, 1732) As a consultant, I sometimes get to look at business problems from a variety of perspectives. I hear one story from the boss, another from the “victim,” another from the “culprit,” and still another from the personnel…
READ MOREMy Resume Biz
Dear Early to Rise Reader, As we move into what my bones tell me will be a major and long-term recession, prudent Early Risers are quickly moving towards developing second incomes. While you have to work hard and well to keep the job you have (by making yourself indispensable …
READ MOREHow I Helped a Spanish-Speaking Immigrant Start a Profitable Business
It was one of those Christmas parties you don’t want to go to, but you force yourself to do it for business reasons. The conversation at the table that my fiancee Blanca and I were sitting at was all about the jobs people these people had. None of them were…
READ MOREHow To Overcome Gender Bias On The Job
“In the nineteenth century, government agencies in Washington had, almost without exception, flatly refused to hire even one female.” – David Brinkley (Washington Goes to War, 1988) On the plane the other day, I overhead a conversation between two women. One was complaining about her job, her boss, her fellow…
READ MOREThe Economy Is Definitely Slowing
“By trying we can easily learn to endure adversity. Another man’s, I mean.” – Mark Twain (Following the Equator, 1897) At the peak of the economic boom in the fourth quarter of 1999, unemployment was at its lowest level in a generation. More to the point, perhaps, the gross number…
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