Category: Book Reviews

  • 19 F*cked Up Steps Starting a Business (I’ve Made These Mistakes Before, Don’t Do This)

    19 F*cked Up Steps Starting a Business (I’ve Made These Mistakes Before, Don’t Do This)

    Before starting ANY business, do NOT fall into this trap below:

    1. Watch a TV program hyping up entrepreneurs. How many of us have come across that?
    2. Decide that you want to be an entrepreneur too. How many of us have watched a TV program hyping up entrepreneurs and suddenly decided, “Oh, I want to be entrepreneur as well.”
    3. Look around to see what businesses are already existing and decide which of those businesses you would like to also have.
    4. “Envision” yourself putting up a business just like one of those that you see. (“Envision” is sometimes just a nice word of “daydream.”)
    5. “Envision” your first customers coming to your imaginary business and liking it.
    6. “Envision” your first customers telling all their friends about your business.
    7. Imagine your imaginary growing customers. Yes, “imagine your imaginary.” I know that sounds silly but that’s exactly what people do when they are “planning” their so called businesses.
    8. Imagine the media featuring a story about you and your growing market.
    9. Be inspired by this imaginary vision and withdraw all your money, bet the house, borrow cash and look for investors among friends and family to invest in your dream.
    10. Talk to friends about your business plan and get motivation from the ones who cheer you on… and ignore the ones who tell you its problems and challenges. You may have heard quotes online as well which say that you should stick with positive people and “stay away from negative people;” and you may interpret that to mean that you should only listen to people who tell you what you want to hear. As a result, you may listen to people who say that your screwed up business plan is good and stop listening to people who bring you back to reality and tell you that it is wrong or that it won’t work.
    11. Build and launch your business.
    12. Start wondering why a lot less customers are coming than in your “vision.”
    13. Cling on to your dream. Watch and read more hyped up entrepreneurial media telling stories about entrepreneurs who almost failed but ‘marched on’ until they became billionaires. Now I admit there are some of those people who did exactly that and they became very rich. But guess what? There are also a lot of people who bought the lottery and became very rich. Just because it worked for some people does not mean it is probably going to work for most others in the same way. Later in the book I will talk about how to properly take entrepreneurial risks.
    14. Selectively look for the friends who cheered you to “go for it” and talk to them so that you can hear more motivation from them.
    15. Continue to see your business fail.
    16. Start getting desperate for cash and start cutting costs which often includes cutting quality, as well as start changing your dream business from a vision to a “quick buck” business just to try and keep it afloat.
    17. Watch everything go haywire and get screwed up even more.
    18. Start hiding from the money lenders, relatives, friends and everyone else that invested or lent you money for your dream business.
    19. Lock up yourself somewhere and say “WTF just happened???”

    So what do you think of this common business plan? It is very real, isn’t it? You have seen it happen or possibly it has happened to you already. I wouldn’t be surprised. Well, guess what? A lot of it has happened to me as well. I don’t blame you for it nor do I blame myself because it is really so common. So many people fall into this trap. Why? Because of the media hype and quotes that are thrown around on social media that they believe.

    This is taken from the book Entrepreneurgasm: 33 Realistic Steps Turning $1,700 into $103,000 Online for the Average You which was the #1 BESTSELLER WORLDWIDE for Business Education on Amazon.com for Christmas 2014. You can download the e-book version here.

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  • Will you be “automatically” rich? Yes, you can. The trick >>

    Will you be “automatically” rich? Yes, you can. The trick >>

    It’s actually not that difficult.

    First of all, let me tell you that this post is about getting “automatically” rich in the long term.  How about the short term?  YES, getting rich in the short term  or near future can be done quickly too, although not “automatically”.  I will talk about that in another post (watch out for it, coming soon!).  But on to this post, about getting rich “automatically” in the long term (like for retirement, etc.)…

    Before you get angry at me for telling you to “earn more and save”, you’ll be surprised as to how “automatic” this earning and saving can be, and how automatic this saving can add up (and “compound”) into a million dollars. If you’ve watched any of my videos on future value, you already know the power of interest in making money grow. Furthermore, the effect of future value of money goes quicker when it is “compounded” (meaning your $100 earns 10% the first year and becomes $110 at the end of the year. In the 2nd year, you earn 10% on the new $110, so at the end of the 2nd year you’ll have 121, etc. and this interest just keeps growing bigger).

    Here’s the kicker… this “compounding” grows tremendously when, instead of just earning or saving extra and investing it, you save/earn at regular intervals. Just to demonstrate: If you’re 30 years old and you earn/save an extra $26/day (or earn/save an extra 9,500/year) and invest it in a bond earning 5% a year, you’ll have an extra $1 million by the time you “fully” retire at age 67 (nowadays, we work way past 60, and it may even be good for health and prolonging your life).  If you start just 5 years earlier it’s even more amazing… your 1 million will jump by more than 300,000 to $1,348,000 by the time you’re 67. Yes, there are other things to consider such as inflation; but the point is that becoming a millionaire can still be “automatic”.   If you’re willing to take more risk and, starting at 30 years old, start investing regularly in the stock market S&P 500 (instead of a bond) whose annual average return (1950-2009) is 7% already adjusted for inflation and despite ALL the stock market crashes (Source: simplestockinvesting.com), then you could have your inflation-adjusted “automatic” 1 million dollars earlier, by the time you’re only 61. (What if you’re already kinda old?  Is it too late?  Nope… read below.)

    *Note: I recommend consulting your personal CFA or CFP before making any investment decisions.

    Of course, how do you save more and earn more?

    Firstly, look at the non-productive expenses in your life.  I like the way famed author Robert Kiyosaki “redefines” the meaning of “asset vs. liability” in his book “Rich Dad, Poor Dad: What The Rich Teach Their Kids About Money – That The Poor And Middle Class Do Not!“.  In Kiyosaki’s definition (not your traditional accounting), if something puts money in your pocket now or in the future, then that thing is an asset.  If it takes money from your pocket, it’s a liability.  For example, traditional accountants (and biz students!) classify a new car as an “asset” because it has “value”.  Kiyosaki classifies it as a “liability” because a) it loses it’s value by 20% (and reduces your wealth!) the moment it rolls out the showroom, and b) it takes money out of your pocket in the form of mortgage payments.  Traditional accountants may classify educational school fees and tutorial fees as “expenses” because you “pay” for them. However, if this education helps us earn money, it could be reclassified as “assets” because they may cause people to save more and earn more in the future.  If  you’d like to read more about Kiyosaki, you can check out the Amazon reviews by clicking here or below.  You’ll be shocked at some of his insights which go against traditional education, and he even seems to  imply that a lot of traditional education is bad; although he stresses the importance of financial education and financial literacy.  (this blog post continues below)

    Secondly, save on the right things, don’t scrimp on the wrong things.  I’m amazed about how many people I’ve met who blow a lot of money on cafe lattes at stylish coffee chains, but will scrimp on amazing stuff which can help them get higher grades and a much higher paycheck, and yet they complain they don’t have enough money to save anything (yes, that’s the reason why I compare my premium tutorials to cafe lattes).   How much more extra salary could they make if they graduated on time (or even earlier!) and/or with better academic records?  How much would they save on extra school fees by not having to take the subject again?  The list goes on and on..  Nope, I’m not the first person to compare savings/earnings to coffee lattes or to use the word “automatic millionaire“.  These concepts were actually popularized by famous Oprah-featured author David Bach in his book “The Automatic Millionaire” where he demonstrates the power of saving, investing, and compounding and becoming a millionaire by giving up little things like coffee lattes.

    How about if you’re old?  Is it too late?  David Bach has a new book out “Start Late, Finish Rich” where he discusses how it’s not too late and how stuff can still be done to save more and earn more, in time for retirement. You can click on it here or below to read the Amazon reviews.

    So, how about you?  What are YOUR ideas to save more and earn more (even just a little bit more!) so you can “Finish Rich“? Let’s see your comment below.

  • Leader or just a manager: Which one are you?

    Leader or just a manager: Which one are you?

    8 important traits. This one’s my favorite..

    So you go to business school for college/bachelor or masters or even both.  That does NOT mean you’ll have the traits of a good leader, manager, or executive. Do you have them? This is my ultimate favorite one.

    Lucky for us, these leadership traits can be learned, and legendary CEO Jack Welch of GE outlines 8 of them in his great and super easy-to-read book “Winning“.

    When you watched the old TV hit series “Survivor”, you may have seen how STUPIDLY people try to assume the leadership role by just being BOSSY.  And you also saw the consequences.  Dumb move.  So what are the right ways to become a leader? One leadership trait of Jack Welsh that really strikes me is that “Leaders get into everyone’s skin, exuding positive energy and optimism“.  You may have known this somewhere in the back of your mind, but how many people actually do this at work?  Is it no wonder then, that brilliant but purely “technical” people are not chosen as leaders for a team, department, or company?  Nothing wrong with being technical, in fact it can be a huge advantage.  But if you really wana excel and be a “leader“, you also gotta learn and/or practice how to “exude with positive energy and optimism” with the people around you.  You can then become a “leader”, whether or not you have the “official” title.  Of course, this will then put you at a huge advantage next time a PROMOTION or PAY RAISE comes around.

    Not too difficult to do, is it?  And you’ll probably end up happier too.  Not just at work, but in your personal life as well.  If you’re serious about being not just a good, but a great executive, I highly recommend Jack’s book.  It goes into more details on this trait as well as 7 others, and has a lot more great stuff.  It’s also super easy-to-read and non-technical, with little snippets of knowledge that I can use everyday. Just quickly have a look at it, browse around and read the reviews on Amazon.com here.

    Hope you learned or realized something.  Have a great day!

    David

    Disclosure/Disclaimer: There are thousands of products and/or services out there who could become my affiliates from whom I can easily get commissions for recommending.  However, in the end, I only select and recommend affiliates whose products or services I genuinely and truly believe in.  This post contains affiliate links. Nevertheless, any business or interaction done between my readers and my affiliates are mainly between them and I make no guarantees on my affiliates’ behalf.