The Profit Prophet

This piece maybe a little sexist so to all my powerful female friends forgive me; but for most guys out there this is unfortunately true! Some things woman are just better at than men. Enjoy and I hope it brings out a smile! I sent this out as part of my weekly email mailing, and many suggested that I add it to this blog. Dan was a single guy living at home with his father and working in the family business. When he found out he was going to inherit a fortune when his sickly father died, he decided he needed a wife with which to share his fortune. One evening at an investment meeting he spotted the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. Her natural beauty took his breath away. 'I may look like just an ordinary man,' he said to her, but in just a few years, my father will die, and I'll inherit $65 million.' Impressed, the woman obtained his business card and three days later, she became his stepmother. Women are so much better at financial planning than men.

As I go from network meeting to network meeting during these very uncertain times, I notice two types of people. One type is hoping, praying, and desperately searching for a job. The other type is looking to start a new endeavor or more precisely create their “own” job. As I have been fortunate to be associated with a number of successful entrepreneurs and some successful start up endeavors, one theme keeps recurring: Entrepreneurs are the closest thing to God on Earth! Why? Well, as the story goes, God said “Let there be Light!” In small words, God had a thought, and that thought manifested itself into reality. Essentially, God created something that was not there earlier. So too, an Entrepreneur has an idea and then goes about creating a product, service, company, system or whatever. Essentially, there was nothing and then “poof” there is something! I believe that my background as an engineer, entrepreneur and American it is my duty to create new ideas, companies, jobs, p...

I was watching the movie "Dune", by Frank Herbert the other day and there is a very famous line known as the Litany against Fear that goes like this: “I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain." The reason why this is so important is that most people do not make the right decisions about thier careers or companies MOSTLY out of fear. They are afraid of being wrong, of failure and rejection, or making themselves better, of growing, or of the unknown, or of having to start over, or of really getting the success they deserve. Right now the Economy is in the grips of FEAR. Companies are afraid to hire employees, make purchases, create new products, start new ventures. Governments are afraid of doing somethi...