The Profit Prophet

Recently, I have noticed a marked increase in stories about and people “believing” that if you wish for abundance, or success, or a great relationship, or whatever, that the universe will manifest it for you. Note: YOU CAN'T WISH FOR ABUNDANCE! I know some people think by just thinking of or wishing for or buying something, like an abundance ring, is going to bring abundance into your life. It does not and will not. Having an amulet or lucky trinket and just believing makes as much sense as thinking that a leprechaun will bring a pot of gold to your door. I am NOT saying that a positive attitude is not necessary to see and realize a better future. But in order to get to that future, it takes work and getting off your ass and developing into someone who earns abundance. Yes, sometimes people do get lucky, and good fortune smiles upon them, but it is usually a single event, and before they know it, that “abundance” has disappeared. Because I have met some seemingly brigh...

As a rule, I have been applying the rules of Adam Grant's great book " Give and Take " to the people I meet for some time now. I have intrinsically known about the three types of people he talks about (givers, takers and matches) in his book for some time, as I have stayed away from takers and matchers (people who do you a favor it you do them a favor) for the last 10 years. What I did not know is that givers are both the most successful and least successful people on the spectrum. The difference between the two types is givers is: one type only gives to other givers, or is a strategic giver. The other type, ends up giving to takes and matches and usually gets burned out due in part that you can never fill up either party with giving. I highly recommend anyone who wants to be successful in life to read the book.  Of course my advice to anyone is to stay away from the takers and matchers.  The are usually drama obsessed and only will suck the life force out of y...

I am big fan of gender equality, be it in wage compensation, recognition, and respect, but even if we do ever achieve these, men and women will always be different..and viva the difference!! Yes, men are men and women are women and never the twain shall meet, except when the fall in love.  With that said, I feel women do have to be extraordinary JUST to be recognized by most men, and that is sad.  But why? Well, it is because men have TOTALLY different priorities to women, and I think this story will explain why. One day a man decided to retire... He booked himself on a Caribbean cruise and proceeded to have the time of his life, that is, until the ship sank. He soon found himself on an island with no other people, no supplies, nothing, only bananas and coconuts. After about four months, he is lying on the beach one day when the most gorgeous woman he has ever seen rows up to the shore. In disbelief, he asks, "Where did you come from? How did you get here?" She r...

When most people think of start ups they think of a couple of young kids working in a garage or basement (or now Starbucks), eking out a living until they are purchased for billions of dollars, but this is more fiction than reality. As published in Time's March 14th, 2013 issue, according to research by Vivek Wadhwa, an academic and tech entrepreneur, and the Kauffman Foundation, the average age of successful start-up founders of start-ups and other high-growth industries was 40. And high-growth start-ups are almost twice as likely to be launched by people over 55 as by people 20 to 30. How can that be?  Well firstly, most startups take founders with multiple skill sets and know-how. Yes, dreaming is important, but execution is paramount to success. As an example of this, I thought I would share a story about an old dog and if you can draw the conclusion about age. A wealthy old lady decides to go on a safari in Africa, taking her faithful aged poodle named Cuddles along ...

A few years ago, Jason Cohen posted in his blog (A Smart Bear)  "Authentic" is dead , in which he goes on to say that some words have been used so often, that they have actually lost all meaning.  Well, that got me thinking, since I help a lot of start ups, and do a lot of marketing, branding, and word-smithing along the way, I thought I would build upon Jason's observations and do my own little survey.  So, I compiled a list of 43 words (see THE LIST below) that I see used over, and over, and over again, and asked my little network of people (colleagues, friends, business partners, etc.), what they though were the most overused.  Well, 1351 people responded, and out of the list of 43, there are five that stand out as the most overused. With 1351 respondents the percentage indication is in parenthesis.  The most overused terms  include: Innovative (54.5%); Cost Effective (43.0%); Low Hanging Fruit (42.8%); Out of the Box (42.6%); and Best of Breed (41....

The great thing about history, is that we do NOT necessarily need to repeat it and many of the customs, traditions and idioms come directly from a history long ago forgotten. Like, did you ever wonder where the phrase "Piss Poor" come from?    A long time ago, they used to use urine to tan animal skins, so families used to all pee in a pot. And then once it was full it was taken and sold to the tannery. If you had to do this to survive you were "Piss Poor". But worse than that were the really poor folk who couldn't even afford to buy a pot. They "didn't have a pot to piss in" and were the lowest of the low. So....The next time you are washing your hands and complain because the water temperature isn't just how you like it, think about how things used to be. Here are some facts about the1500s: Most people got married in June because they took their yearly bath in May, and still smelled pretty good by June. However, they were start...

As a young boy, I was sent away to Military School and there began my journey on discovery of what makes a good leader, and what does not.   Of course we had to study many of the great leaders of history, but more importantly, when put into positions of power, I discovered that just having rank, did not necessarily give your power over individuals. From that time until now, I have realized that in order to get anything done, and done well, involves leadership, and being a boss is no exception.   Of course, good bosses have strong organizational skills, are smart, creative, have solid decision-making skills and they get things done; exceptional bosses have that and something more.   It is not the what, but the how, that make good bosses great bosses.   It is how they take care of the people around them, the esprit d corps they create, the joy they bring to any endeavor and the passion they instill to all they meet.   Great leadership makes ordinary people ...