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What do Bill Gates, Henry Ford,
J. P. Morgan, Mary Kay Ash, and Walt Disney all have in common? Uncompromising
vision, a willingness to take risks, and exceptional business acumen. Not
only did these individuals amass great fortunes, they revolutionized the
business world and helped shape society as we know it. Theirs are just
a few of the stories collected in this anthology of commercial ingenuity.
Drawing on a wealth of sources,
this priceless collection brings to life extraordinary achievements, many
of them forgotten or little known: how Robert Morris, the preeminent merchant
of the eighteenth century, financed the American Revolution with his personal
credit; how Ray Kroc used a shrewd real estate strategy to turn a faltering
hamburger franchise operation into the McDonald's fast food empire; and
how Mary Kay Ash built a billion-dollar direct sales cosmetics company
by preaching a message of economic empowerment to women. |
Enlightening and fascinating, Forbes(r)
Greatest Business Stories of All Time celebrates larger-than-life ambition,
inspired leadership, wheeling and dealing, and hard work.
Forbes is a registered trademark
of Forbes Inc. Its use is pursuant to a license agreement with Forbes Inc.
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Success is even sweeter the second
time around
In this inspiring book you will meet
twelve extraordinary people–from a software tycoon to the founder of a
toy empire–who soared to the top of the business world only to plummet
like Icarus from the heights–at which point their real stories, excitingly
told in this book, begin. What follows in each case is a remarkable, true
tale of despair overcome, confidence reborn, goals redefined, determination
rediscovered, and success reclaimed!
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Never deterred by minor setbacks, disappointments,
or missed opportunities, these business giants faced utter ruin in a bewildering
variety of forms, from personal bankruptcy and business failure to devastating
illness, natural disaster, and even criminal indictment and incarceration.
Yet, each of these modern-day heroes, though forever changed, scarred,
and humbled by tragedy, discovered an unfathomable reserve of strength
and dedication and rose again.
Prepare to redefine your notion
of what it means to overcome any obstacle in your path to success. Prepare
to meet twelve men and women–including Donald Trump, Larry Ellison, and
Emma Chapell–who will awe you with their courage, inspire you with their
vision, and help you find the strength and passion to make your own dreams
come true, again and again.
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For corporate officers and other
major executives in business interested in developing management insight
through review of the nation's largest corporations.
Focus on top management and those
aspiring to positions of corporate leadership in business. Features information
on successful companies and individuals, industries, marketing, law, taxes,
technology, computers, communications, investments, management performance
and global business trends.
|
Many magazines publish lists, ranking
best and worst and most improved, but Forbes alone can claim its readership
is on the list. Each year, the magazine names the richest people and the
biggest companies, and those very folks subscribe to this nervy and sly
business pub. Forbes covers global business stories with insight, solid
sourcing, and the sort of groupie zeal usually reserved for fanzines. No
merger, new ad campaign, or lawsuit goes unnoticed and stories always focus
on the movers who are shaking things up. Read Forbes to make sense of today's
volatile market--or just for the sheer pleasure of reading good reporting.
The
Predicament of the Newly Rich by: Sam Vaknin, Ph.D.
They are the object of thinly disguised
envy. They are the raw materials of vulgar jokes and the targets of popular
aggression. They are the Newly Rich. Perhaps they should be dealt with
more appropriately within the academic discipline of psychology, but then
economics in a branch of psychology. To many, they represent a psychopathology
or a sociopathology.
The Newly Rich are not a new phenomenon.
Every generation has them. They are the upstarts, those who seek to undermine
the existing elite, to replace it and, ultimately to join it. Indeed, the
Newly Rich can be classified in accordance with their relations with the
well-entrenched Old Rich. Every society has its veteran, venerable and
aristocratic social classes. In most cases, there was a strong correlation
between wealth and social standing. Until the beginning of this century,
only property owners could vote and thus participate in the political process.
The land gentry secured military and political positions for its off spring,
no matter how ill equipped they were to deal with the responsibilities
thrust upon them. The privileged access and the insiders mentality ("old
boys network" to use a famous British expression) made sure that economic
benefits were not spread evenly. This skewed distribution, in turn, served
to perpetuate the advantages of the ruling classes.
Only when wealth was detached from
the land, was this solidarity broken. Land – being a scarce, non-reproducible
resource – fostered a scarce, non-reproducible social elite. Money, on
the other hand, could be multiplied, replicated, redistributed, reshuffled,
made and lost. It was democratic in the truest sense of a word, otherwise
worn thin. With meritocracy in the ascendance, aristocracy was in descent.
People made money because they were clever, daring, fortunate, visionary
– but not because they were born to the right family or married into one.
Money, the greatest of social equalizers, wedded the old elite. Blood mixed
and social classes were thus blurred. The aristocracy of capital (and,
later, of entrepreneurship) – to which anyone with the right qualifications
could belong – trounced the aristocracy of blood and heritage. For some,
this was a sad moment. For others, a triumphant one.
The New Rich chose one of three paths:
subversion, revolution and emulation. All three modes of reaction were
the results of envy, a sense of inferiority and rage at being discriminated
against and humiliated.
Some New Rich chose to undermine
the existing order. This was perceived by them to be an inevitable, gradual,
slow and "historically sanctioned" process. The transfer of wealth (and
the power associated with it) from one elite to another constituted the
subversive element. The ideological shift (to meritocracy and democracy
or to mass- democracy as y Gasset would have put it) served to justify
the historical process and put it in context. The successes of the new
elite, as a class, and of its members, individually, served to prove the
"justice" behind the tectonic shift. Social institutions and mores were
adapted to reflect the preferences, inclinations, values, goals and worldview
of the new elite. This approach – infinitesimal, graduated, cautious, all
accommodating but also inexorable and all pervasive – characterizes Capitalism.
The Capitalist Religion, with its temples (shopping malls and banks), clergy
(bankers, financiers, bureaucrats) and rituals – was created by the New
Rich. It had multiple aims: to bestow some divine or historic importance
and meaning upon processes which might have otherwise been perceived as
chaotic or threatening. To serve as an ideology in the Althusserian sense
(hiding the discordant, the disagreeable and the ugly while accentuating
the concordant, conformist and appealing). To provide a historical process
framework, to prevent feelings of aimlessness and vacuity, to motivate
its adherents and to perpetuate itself and so on.
The second type of New Rich (also
known as "Nomenclature" in certain regions of the world) chose to violently
and irreversibly uproot and then eradicate the old elite. This was usually
done by use of brute force coated with a thin layer of incongruent ideology.
The aim was to immediately inherit the wealth and power accumulated by
generations of elitist rule. There was a declared intention of an egalitarian
redistribution of wealth and assets. But reality was different: a small
group – the new elite – scooped up most of the spoils. It amounted to a
surgical replacement of one hermetic elite by another. Nothing changed,
just the personal identities. A curious dichotomy has formed between the
part of the ideology, which dealt with the historical process – and the
other part, which elucidated the methods to be employed to facilitate the
transfer of wealth and its redistribution. While the first was deterministic,
long-term and irreversible (and, therefore, not very pragmatic) – the second
was an almost undisguised recipe for pillage and looting of other people'
property. Communism and the Eastern European (and, to a lesser extent,
the Central European) versions of Socialism suffered from this inherent
poisonous seed of deceit. So did Fascism. It is no wonder that these two
sister ideologies fought it out in the first half of the twentieth century.
Both prescribed the unabashed, unmitigated, unrestrained, forced transfer
of wealth from one elite to another. The proletariat enjoyed almost none
of the loot.
The third way was that of emulation.
The Newly Rich, who chose to adopt it, tried to assimilate the worldview,
the values and the behaviour patterns of their predecessors. They walked
the same, talked the same, clad themselves in the same fashion, bought
the same status symbols, ate the same food. In general, they looked as
pale imitations of the real thing. In the process, they became more catholic
than the Pope, more Old Rich than the Old Rich. They exaggerated gestures
and mannerisms, they transformed refined and delicate art to kitsch, their
speech became hyperbole, their social associations dictated by ridiculously
rigid codes of propriety and conduct. As in similar psychological situations,
patricide and matricide followed. The Newly Rich rebelled against what
they perceived to be the tyranny of a dying class. They butchered their
objects of emulation – sometimes, physically. Realizing their inability
to be what they always aspired to be, the Newly Rich switched from frustration
and permanent humiliation to aggression, violence and abuse. These new
converts turned against the founders of their newly found religion with
the rage and conviction reserved to true but disappointed believers.
Regardless of the method of inheritance
adopted by the New Rich, all of them share some common characteristics.
Psychologists know that money is a love substitute. People accumulate it
as a way to compensate themselves for past hurts and deficiencies. They
attach great emotional significance to the amount and availability of their
money. They regress: they play with toys (fancy cars, watches, laptops).
They fight over property, territory and privileges in a Jungian archetypal
manner. Perhaps this is the most important lesson of all: the New Rich
are children, aspiring to become adults. Having been deprived of love and
possessions in their childhood – they turn to money and to what it can
buy as a (albeit poor because never fulfilling) substitute. And as children
are – they can be cruel, insensitive, unable to delay the satisfaction
of their urges and desires. In many countries (the emerging markets) they
are the only capitalists to be found. There, they spun off a malignant,
pathological, form of crony capitalism. As time passes, these immature
New Rich will become tomorrow's Old Rich and a new class will emerge, the
New Rich of the future. This is the only hope – however inadequate and
meagre – that developing countries have.
About The Author
Sam Vaknin is the author of "Malignant
Self Love - Narcissism Revisited" and "After the Rain - How the West Lost
the East". He is a columnist in "Central Europe Review", United Press International
(UPI) and ebookweb.org and the editor of mental health and Central East
Europe categories in The Open Directory, Suite101 and searcheurope.com.
Until recently, he served as the Economic Advisor to the Government of
Macedonia.
His web site: http://samvak.tripod.com
Courtesy of http://www.ArticleCity.com/
Planning
To Get Rich With Your Internet Business? by: Michel Richer
The web is a great opportunities.
Imagine millions of customer. Its a huge cybermarket ! It's a trillion
millions dollars market waiting for you !
Let's face it everyone wants to succeed
with their internet business ? Iv been in business since 1995 ive spend
thousand upon thousand of hours on the web searching for the ultimate web
business. Not counting the thousand hours spent on reading and experimenting
those offer.
Let's talk face to face there is
no easy way to succeed. Talk to people who succeed like George Walton of
wal-mart or other like Donald Trump. They will tell you that it takes determination
and a good ideas. You have to be a man of action to really succeed.
Like i said there is no easy road.
But of course you can succeed like me. You have to be persistant.
You have to build your business brick
by brick. One step at a time. You start at the base of the ladder first.
Everyone who as succeeded in life have start at the base. Thats a fact
of life. Like the man you are today start as a baby.
Is your business still in its infancy
? Your business is gonna grow day by day. It takes approximatively 5 years
to grow a business.
Like an infant you have to learn
and experiment every day and be persistent. Don't do like me and buy every
ebbook and books on the web from unknow author who sells you books for
97$ or 47$.Thats creazy. Buy real books in library or at amazon or at my
site http://hombyz.com/books.htm.
Like any business a web business
is the same. But of course its a global market you can reach easily millions
of people.
To reach those people you have to
distinguish yourself.
You have to be professionnal.
1. You need a real domain name. (keep
your name as short and simple as possible).
2. You need a real email. give your
name or your email have to be the same as you domain name ex: http://www.hombyz.com/
my email is michel.richer@hombyz.com
3.You have to advertise like in google
adwords and put yourselk in good position in search engine.
4.Have a good product and affiliate
program.
5.Be honest and honest again
6.Become an expert in your field.
7.Have a good business plan.
8.Keep asking yourself everyday how
you can do better and better.
9.Think of your sucess and the success
of other.
10.Have small goal everyday. The
small goal become big goal.
Everyone want to succeed but not
everyone will. The difference between your success and you non success
is your belief and commitment to truly succeed.
Are you a real business man or just
a daydreamer ?
My name is Michel Richer. You can
reprint this article freely on your site. You just have to put this link
with this article.
Courtesy of http://www.hombyz.com/
About The Author
Michel Richer is the business manager
and webmaster of Hombyz.com. He is dedicated to helping you succeed on
the Internet. With over 10 years experience in internet business and a
solid reputation in the industry. You can take a look at his website at:
http://www.hombyz.com
Courtesy of http://www.ArticleCity.com/
Mentor???
Who Needs A Mentor? by: Charles Lalonde
Who needs a mentor. . .everyone who
is truly serious about achieving more of their true potential, personally
and financially. In fact, Richard Brooke says:
"If you're someone who wants to break
out and do something extraordinary that you would not do on your own initiative,
you better have a coach-and you better have a great one."
If you doubt Mr. Brooke's quote may
I suggest you investigate all top success icons in any field and you will
find they all have Mentors and Coaches. It is reported that Michael Jordon
at the peak of his career had 11 coaches.
You may be asking: what's the difference
between a Mentor and a Coach? Webster's dictionary defines a . . .
Mentor as: "An experienced and trusted
friend and prudent advisor."
Coach as: "a private tutor; one who
instructs or trains a performer or a team of performers."
We have defined two types of Mentors
- Life and Area Specific Mentors. A Life Mentor is one whose success system
or methodology is universal and the foundation for success in every area
of a person's life.
Finding a Life Mentor whose success
system is universal to everyone, no matter his or her education, talents
or social status, is extremely difficult. This is why Napoleon Hill, author
of Think & Grow Rich, is so unique and the ideal Life Mentor because
his success system is the foundation for every outstanding achievement
and fortune ever made.
An Area Specific Mentor is a mentor,
often referred to as a "coach," whose knowledge and expertise is in one
or a few areas of life. For example, a head coach of a National Football
League (NFL) team possesses knowledge, skills and a system encompassing
all aspects of the game. However, he utilizes coaches skilled in the different
areas of the game such as offense, defense and special teams.
Below are six areas in life where
we can use Area Specific Mentors/Coaches:
Physical/Health
Family
Mental/Educational
Career/Financial
Social/Civic
Spiritual/Ethical
Seriously you say, do we and specifically
myself really need a mentor? Let's look at the facts:
No one person will live long enough
to make all of the mistakes
In simple terms, mentors speed the
learning process and are the reason for advancements in technology and
the standards of living we enjoy today.
The last half-century has seen very
little change statistically.
Using the oft-quoted post-war study
published by the Social Security Administration and Denvey's Economic Tables,
less than 5% of the population at that time retired wealthy or financially
independent. Sadly, a study done in March 2000 by the American Economic
Review reported that the gap between "the haves" and "have nots" is widening.
Grade-Point-Score averages, according
to studies, have barely been maintained over the last 50 years. Moreover,
in professional sports, with all the advancements in mind and physical
development, one would think that the number of super stars being produced
would have increased dramatically; however, as a percentage, it remains
virtually unchanged.
With the explosion of entrepreneurial
opportunities in franchising and network marketing beginning in the 1980s,
plus the same explosion from the mid-1990s on in Internet businesses, why
doless than 5% of the participants in these ventures enjoy success and
make any money! WHY?
Research and my own experience, which
includes teaching an entrepreneurial course at a major community college
for several years and working with several thousand participants in my
Success and Wealth System course, leads me to one indisputable conclusion
- Most people are without mentors, especially "Life Mentors."
You may say: It only happens in movies
or for those talented few you say! How about the heroics and courage against
unbelievable odds in athletics, the military and in everyday life. These
qualities of character and achievement were learned from a true Life Mentor
such as parents, teachers and those who have paid the price to be called
a Mentor.
Yes, we all need good Life Mentors
and Coaches at every stage of our lives. But be careful to choose those
who walk the talk and demonstrate and exemplify the life qualities and
achievements in their own life.
Charles Lalonde has just released
his newest FREE eBook "The Two Greatest Life Mentors Of All Time." An information
packed eBook teaches What, Why and How to choose using his exclusive "Mentor
Profile Worksheet." Want a Billionaire and Multi- Millionaire for personal
Mentors? You Can! Find out how - get your FREE copy at: http://www.thoughtstoriches.com/mentor
(c) Copyright Futures Management
Services Inc.
About The Author
Charles Lalonde is the author of
Revealing The Secret Formula In Think and Grow Rich and has developed two
workshops, Performance Accelerator Sales System and Success and Wealth
System eCourse, which are designed to help individuals realize their dreams
and potential. Charles also is a performance enhancement specialist, trainer
and speaker, and certified Accelerated Learning and Educational Kinesiology
teacher. Visit www.thoughtstoriches.com
or email at clalonde@thoughtstoriches.com
Taxes,
Taxes, Taxes: Who Really Pays The Most? by David Berky
Each April our thoughts turn to the
coming of spring and the coming of the tax man.
I hear a lot of people complaining
about taxes at this time of year. Not just that they have to do their taxes
and spend hours pouring over old records and trying to figure out indecipherable
forms, but also musings and opinions about taxes in general.
I often hear the opinion expressed
that businesses, property owners and "rich people" do not pay their fair
share of taxes. And I agree. I agree that they don't pay their "fair share"
as defined in most people's minds. But I also think that in certain circumstances,
these businesses and people shouldn't have to pay any taxes.
That may sound a bit radical for
many people reading this, but allow me to explain my reasoning.
First, why are we taxing businesses
on their profits?
A business exists, whether it is
a sole proprietorship or a large international corporation, to make a profit.
People create businesses and invest in stocks with the idea that they will
get a share of the profits. This is the basis of our system of capitalism.
It is the motivation for a free marketplace and private ownership of property.
Why would anyone go to the trouble
of starting a business unless they expected a significant return on their
investment of money and time? Why would you bother buying stock in a company
if the company never gave you any dividends (yes, stocks can appreciate,
but bear with me)?
There comes a point when deciding
where to invest your time and money that you have to figure out how much
return you need to make your effort worthwhile. If you work at a job and
earn $30,000 a year, how much will your business have to make to replace
your income? How much more do you want it to make for taking the risk of
quitting your job and building a business?
If you can't make much more than
the $30,000, it hardly seems worth it to spend all the extra time and take
the extra risk of starting the business. So let's say that you figure you
can earn $50,000 with your business. And that is enough to take the risk.
But now the government comes along
and tells you that you have to pay $7,000 in taxes on your $50,000 business
profit. Now you have a choice. Live with less or increase your business
income. Living with less defeats the whole purpose so let's look at increasing
your business income.
You can either increase your business
income by getting more clients, selling more goods or raising your prices.
When you are in a less competitive market, raising your prices is the easiest
thing to do. So you raise your prices. Now you are earning the $50,000
you wanted in the first place and you have effectively passed your business
taxes on to your customers.
But not only are your customers paying
a higher cost for your product or service but they may also be paying more
in sales taxes. They get a double-whammy. If your customers are businesses,
they will pass on their increased costs to their customers. This cycle
continues until the cost of every business' taxes are eventually passed
on to the consumer - me and you.
Let's look at a specific and simpler
example of how this works. I know a person who owns some rental units.
The city in which they are located passed a tax on rental units.
Some politicians and local activists
were anxious to punish the "gouging landlords" and "rental robber-barons".
They figured that they could play Robin Hood and redistribute some of the
rich landlord's profits to the "needy".
Now my friend's costs have gone up.
So what did he do? Naturally, he raised the rents to cover the cost of
the additional tax. And since it is easier to accept a reasonable rent
increase than to move, his tenants stayed put and paid more.
Ironically, most of his tenants are
the same people who the politicians and activists consider the "needy".
So now the government takes an extra $20 a month out of their pockets through
the "tax on the landlord".
If the tenant is on an assistance
program they may get some of this money back. Of course the amount they
get back will be reduced by expenses and administrative costs for the government
to collect, control and distribute the money.
So who really paid for this tax?
The landlord? No, in the end it is always people - you and me.
All taxes are paid by the citizens
themselves, regardless of whether they are paid directly, as in sales and
income taxes, or through increased prices of products and services, or
through "fees" imposed by governing agencies. How does your car registration
"fee" differ from a tax?
Not only does each citizen directly
or indirectly pay every penny of tax money that is collected in this country,
but most people's perception that the "rich" and "corporations" don't pay
their "fair-share" is accurate.
These people and businesses can afford
to pay an attorney $10,000 to show them how to save $500,000 in taxes.
Most likely, you can't. The tax laws are made with loopholes for the "rich"
and for certain businesses.
Part of this is because it is these
people who own or control the majority of the property in this country.
And no progress can be made with out a significant investment of capital.
If these people and businesses are given the right reasons to invest their
capital (such as tax breaks) the economy will continue to function and
grow.
If they are overburdened with taxes
they will either move to Bermuda or start a cycle of inflation by raising
prices. Either way, you, Joe Citizen, will end up paying more either directly
in the form of taxes or indirectly as your cost of living increases.
It is a double-edged sword. Joe Citizen
wants "rich people" and businesses to pay their fair share (though Joe
does not realize that he ends up paying it anyway) but the government knows
that they can't kill the golden goose (and the economy needs a good "goose"
every once in a while).
So tax laws and regulations are passed
which seem to target the "rich people" and businesses but with enough loopholes
so that no real tax increase occurs. And the politicians can blame the
other party for the loopholes. But both know this is business as usual.
Make Joe Citizen feel good about
paying his taxes by raising taxes on the "rich" and "wealthy corporations",
but give them loopholes so that little more is accomplished than adding
another volume added to the tax code.
And Joe Citizen continues to pay
his taxes each year.
***************************************************************
© Simple Joe, Inc.
David Berky
is president of Simple Joe, Inc. a marketing company that sells simple
software under the brand name of Simple Joe. One of Simple Joe's best selling
products is Simple
Joe's Money Tools - a collection of 14 personal finance and investment
calculators. This article may be freely distributed so long as the
copyright, author's information and an active link (where possible) are
included.
