Today You Do Greatness: A Parable on Success & Significance

Today You Do GreatnessThere is no shortage of books today on how to be successful in work and life.

Many of them focus on success in terms of our career and personal finances, which is understandable since most people tend to equate success – or greatness – in their career and finances with ultimate success in their life.

In Today You Do Greatness: A Parable on Success and Significance, authors Rex M. Rogers and Rick E. Amidon remind us that real success – and true greatness – goes well beyond career and money to impact every area of our lives.

In this Kindle e-book, the authors do a great job of describing what true greatness is, and why we aspire to do or achieve it. [Read more…]

Streamlining My Life & Work the GTD Way

In my journey toward greater work-life balance, I’ve discovered that one of the best things I can do to stay balanced is to stay uncluttered.

My GTD inbox is, well...a box!

Easier said than done at times. Because I travel a lot, attend a lot of meetings and conferences, take a lot of notes, and then let the notes pile up before doing something with them.

I’m working on implementing more of the Getting Things Done (GTD) model of productivity, popularized by David Allen in his book, Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity.

He suggests a single in-box for all your incoming stuff…and then a regularly scheduled time when you go through the inbox and process (do something with) each item.  You might act on it now, delegate it, put it in another file for review later, etc. [Read more…]

Free Copy of Dani Johnson’s “First Steps to Wealth” Book

Dani Johnson First Steps to Wealth bookDani Johnson, star of the ABC show “Secret Millionaire,”  is giving away free copies of her new book, First Steps to Wealth, for a limited time (you just have to pay for shipping).

I watched bits of the show a few times last year, but didn’t really learn about her story until I saw her on a TV interview yesterday, talking about her new book.

Dani Johnson grew up on welfare, was pregnant at 17, homeless at 21, and a millionaire at 23.

From all that she’s been through, she definitely has something to say about how to overcome adversity, get out of debt, change your life, and build wealth!

In the book, she talks about topics like how to… [Read more…]

Reboot Your Life: A Lesson from the Forbes 400 Richest People in America

“Reboot” is often a term used in association with computers – to reboot a computer is to restart it.  But recently, I’ve heard of people who are rebooting themselves or rebooting their lives, meaning that they’re starting over, or recreating themselves.

I can understand why you’d want to reboot yourself if things aren’t going as well as you’d hoped, or if you want to make some significant change in your life – like start your own business or find a new career.   But reboot yourself when you’re at the top of your game and enjoying great success?  Doesn’t seem to make sense, does it?

Last week, I bought a copy of the Forbes 400 Richest People in America. It is a special edition that Forbes has published each October for 29 years, featuring, as the title implies, profiles of the 400 richest people in America.

I’ve read the Forbes 400 since I was a teen.  My dad would buy it each year because he found it interesting to read the stories of how the rich and famous got to be, well, you know, rich and famous.  Somehow, I got interested in it myself and have been reading it each year since.  I was especially fascinated to read about the people from Michigan (my home state) who made the list.

While reading the 2010 Forbes 400, I was particularly interested in an article entitled, A Select Breed:  The Rebooted Rich.  It describes how a few notable entrepreneurs, having found great success in their lives, refused to rest on the laurels of that success, but went on to reboot themselves and create new levels of success – sometimes in the field that first brought them success, but many times in brand new fields. [Read more…]

The YES Movie Review of Entrepreneurs & Experts Featured

In my last post, I gave my review of The YES Movie, produced by Louis Lautman of the Young Entrepeneur Society.  The YES Movie DVD, which runs 80 minutes, features Lautman’s interviews with an impressive group of more than 35 successful entrepreneurs, CEOs, millionaires and mentors.

His goal:  To hunt down specific strategies of the super-successful that anyone – regardless of background, age, experience, or financial backing, can implement and start their own successful money-making enterprise.

Because of space limitations in my last post, I wasn’t able to list all the experts and entrepreneurs who are featured in the movie.  Here’s the complete list . . .

  • Jim Rohn – America’s foremost business philosopher.
  • Randy Gage – A former high school dropout who rose from a dishwasher in a pancake house to become a multi-millionaire.
  • T. Harv Eker – Using the principles he teaches, T. Harv Eker went from zero to millionaire in only 2 1/2 years!  He is the founder and president of Peak Potentials Training, the fastest growing personal development company in North America, and author of Secrets of the Millionaire Mind: Mastering the Inner Game of Wealth.
  • Marshall Sylver – World-renown hypnotist, master of interpersonal communication, and “The Millionaire Maker”.
  • Niurka – A dynamic speaker and guide who inspires and empowers people to live powerfully, authentically and purposefully. By age 20, she was the #1 trainer for Anthony Robbins.
  • Christopher Howard – Internationally known lifestyle and wealth strategist.  He has researched the success strategies of the world’s greatest minds.
  • Les Brown – A top motivational speaker, speech coach, best selling author whose passion is empowering youth and helping them have a bigger vision for their lives.
  • Mark Victor Hansen – A renown speaker and success coach, he co-authored more than a dozen books, including Cash in a Flash: Fast Money in Slow Times and The One Minute Millionaire: The Enlightened Way to Wealth.
  • Dr. Ellie Drake – Inspirational speaker, author and TV personality, and founder of BraveHeart Women Network, the largest online paid membership community for entrepreneurial women.
  • James Malinchak – Success teacher and author of From College to the Real World : Street-Smart Strategies for Landing Your Dream Job and Creating a Successful Future!
  • Brad Sugars – International entrepreneur, CEO of ActionCOACH business coaching, and best-selling author of The Business Coach and Billionaire In Training.
  • Shawn Nelson – Founder, and “Chief Sac” of LoveSac.
  • Joshua Newman – CEO of Cyan Pictures, and Indie film producer and distributor.
  • Shane & Shawn Ward – Fashion designers and founders of the Shane & Shawn (formerly DetNY) line of clothes, shoes, and accessories.
  • Andrea Lake – Founder of seven unique companies, including Anti-Establishment Clothing.
  • Mike Litman – Co-author of Conversations with Millionaires: What Millionaires Do to Get Rich, That You Never Learned About in School! At the age of 32 he built a multi-million dollar business.
  • Dan “Punk Ass” Caldwell – Cage fighter and co-founder of TapouT, a multi-million dollar business that includes a clothing line and magazine centered around Mixed Martial Arts.
  • Dr. Farrah Gray – Publisher of Prominent Magazine and author of Get Real, Get Rich: Conquer the 7 Lies Blocking You from Success, The Truth Shall Make You Rich: The New Road Map to Radical Prosperity and Reallionaire: Nine Steps to Becoming Rich from the Inside Out.  Growing up in the projects on the south side of Chicago, he made his first million at age 14.
  • Sean Belnick – At age 14 developed Bizchair.com.  At age 20 – had $38 million in sales from the Bizchair website.
  • Ephren Taylor II – Started his first venture at age 12, making homemade video games to sell to friends.  A millionaire by age 16.  He was the youngest black CEO of a publicly traded company.  His City Capital Corp oversees 250 million in assets.  Author of Creating Success from the Inside Out: Develop the Focus and Strategy to Uncover the Life You Want.
  • Adam Sites – President of Xtremez.com.  Launched first website in 1995 at age 15 he launched his first website.  Now the largest internet retailer of paintball supplies in the world.
  • Cameron Johnson – Best-selling author of You Call the Shots: Succeed Your Way– and Live the Life You Want– with the 19 Essential Secrets of Entrepreneurship, consultant and speaker.  At age 9, started his first business.  By 15, his internet business was generating $15,000 a day.  Now, at age 23, he has founded and sold more than a dozen successful companies.
  • J.T. Fox – Real estate investor and radio personality.  At age 28, closed over $40 million in real estate sales.
  • Michael Simmons and Sheena Lindahl – co-founders of the Extreme Entrepreneurship Tour, the only national collegiate entrepreneur tour.  Michael is the author of The Student Success Manifesto.
  • Delatorro McNeal II – Author of Caught Between A Dream and A Job, speaker and successful entrepreneur.
  • Mike Michalowicz – Author of The Toilet Paper Entrepreneur. Started his first business, which grew into a multi-million dollar tech firm, at age 24.
  • Daniel Davidson – serial entrepreneur and author of The Entrepreneur’s Legal Companion.
  • Brett David – Became CEO of Lamborghini Miami, Lamborghini Palm Beach, Prestige Audi and Prestige Imports two years ago, at age 19, upon his father’s death.  Now 21, he has earned several number one rankings for his auto businesses, and his Palm Beach Lamborghini is now the flagship Lamborghini dealer in the United States.
  • Hezekiah Griggs III – America’s youngest media mogul, and CEO of HG3 Media.  Started first company at age 13.
  • Nick Vujicic – Born without arms and legs, he is a motivational speaker and the director of a nonprofit organization called Life Without Limbs.

As you can see from this impressive list of entrepreneurs and success mentors, The YES Movie is a great introduction to entrepreneurship.  In fact, it is kinda like having your own mini-MBA course!

In it, Lautman uncovers and shares specific strategies of the super-successful that anyone – regardless of background, age, experience, or financial backing, can implement in order to start their own business.

The YES Movie covers topics like:

  • Where do you get ideas, and how do you turn them into a money-making business?
  • How do you take action and turn your dream into reality?
  • How do you take risks and overcome failure?
  • How do you go from having a job (even a dead-end job) to running your own business?
  • How do you finance your enterprise, especially if you have no money yourself.
  • Where can you find mentors who can help?

By telling the stories of today’s successful young entrepreneurs, The YES Movie shows that truly anyone can be, do and have anything they want in life.  Click here to read my full review of The YES Movie.

Order the The YES Movie online (DVD format) here for only $29.97.

The YES Movie Review (Young Entrepreneur Society)

YES movie coverA few months ago, I heard about The YES Movie, produced by Louis Lautman of the Young Entrepreneur Society, which exposes the secrets of today’s young millionaires.

I had never heard of Lautman before, but I was eager to get a copy of the movie for myself to see what it was all about. I’ve been fascinated with entrepreneurship since I was a teen.

Growing up, I frequently read books by or about successful entrepreneurs.  I loved reading stories of self-made men and women – people who took an idea and turned it into a reality.  And I aspired to be like them – to own my own businesses and one day become a millionaire.

At age 39, I haven’t become a millionaire yet, but I have started several small businesses over the years that have had varying degrees of success.  Someday, I’ll tell you more about the ones I wish I had started, the ones I started and quit, and the ones I’m still engaged in – and why.

When I was a teen, most of the books I read were by or about people who were older, and who owned companies that required huge amounts of capital investments – like manufacturers, retailers, and airlines, to name a few. Today, even with the struggles we’ve had in the economy lately, I think there’s never been a better time to start a business.  The Internet Age has changed everything, and a new breed of young entrepreneurs are creating wealth quicker, cheaper and earlier than every before.

Lautman, himself a young entrepreneur, set out to interview 50 successful entrepreneurs, CEOs, millionaires and mentors.  His goal:  to hunt down specific strategies of the super-successful that anyone – regardless of background, age, experience, or financial backing, can implement. Specifically, he wanted to know:

  • What was their inspiration?
  • Why did they take action?
  • How did they finance their venture?
  • Where did they begin implementation?

I absolutely love how the movie was produced.  It is very much like the documentaries you see on the CNBC cable network which feature stories of successful businesses like McDonalds, WalMart, Coca-Cola, etc.  The music, and the way in which the interviews were shot, also reminded me a lot of The Apprentice, which I loved.  You can click to view the movie trailer and see what I mean.

The YES Movie, which runs 80 minutes, features Lautman’s interviews with over 35 successful entrepreneurs, CEOs, millionaires and mentors.  I was already very familiar with many of the mentors that were featured, including Jim Rohn, Les Brown, and T. Harv Eker, just to name a few.  Here’s Part 2 of my review of The YES Movie, along with the list all of the mentors and entrepreneurs who are featured in the film.

I was not familiar with many of the young entrepreneurs that were featured.  One thing that surprised me was that many of these entrepreneurs, both black and white, started their first businesses when they were children or teens.  And some even became millionaires in their teens!

This video is a great introduction to entrepreneurship.  In fact, it is kinda like having your own mini-MBA course.  By telling the stories of successful entrepreneurs, it shows that truly anyone can be, do and have anything they want in life.  It covers topics like:

  • Where do you get ideas, and how do you turn them into a money-making business?
  • How do you take action and turn your dream into reality?
  • How do you take risks and overcome failure?
  • How do you go from having a job (even a dead-end job) to running your own business?
  • How do you finance your enterprise, especially if you have no money yourself.
  • Where can you find mentors who can help?

Who is The YES Movie for?

This video is for anyone who has ever dreamed of starting their own business, but didn’t think they really could do it (for whatever reason).  No matter your age or stage in life, you’ll definitely be inspired and motivated to finally take action and realize your dreams.  You’ll discover that there are simple steps you can take today to more forward, and short-cuts that will help you accelerate the achievement of your goals.

One interview, with Delatorro McNeal II, is worth way more than the cost of the video, in my opinion, for anyone who is, as he says, “caught between a dream and a job.”  He shared some powerful insights on how to move from a dead-end job to a stepping-stone job, and from a stepping-stone job to your dream job, and from your dream job to the fulfillment of your dream.  Every 9-5’er in the world ought to hear his message.

If you have young people in your life (teens, college students, or young adults) who have an interest in entrepreneurship (or you’d like to instill the desire in them), I think this inspirational and motivational video would make a great gift for them. And if you’re a teacher or home school family (like ours is), this video will serve as a great introduction to entrepreneurship for your teenage students.

The only potential negative I see is that one entrepreneur featured in the video, Dan Caldwell, goes by the nickname “Punk Ass”.  He’s a nice guy in the video – there is no foul language – but Lautman does refer to him by his nickname a few times.

As a father of five children ages 3-13, I think concerned parents or teachers should preview the movie to understand the context of the interview with “Punk Ass” (aside from his name, nothing else could be construed as offensive) and then simply give a disclaimer before showing it to your students.  They’ll probably just chuckle a little bit.  And who knows – it just might cause them to pay closer attention!

But I don’t think anyone will get bored watching this movie.  It will light an entrepreneurial fire in the belly of everyone who watches it.  It did for me. Order the The YES Movie online (DVD format) here for only $29.97.

Here’s Part 2 of my review of The YES Movie, along with the list all of the mentors and entrepreneurs who are featured in the film.