Me, Inc. Read online

  So I’m going to be your drill sergeant. Let’s take a look at the military model for a moment.

  Let’s say you’re eighteen or older and you volunteer to join the military. In boot camp, you will meet your drill sergeant. The person who will put you through hell. The person who will make you do twenty-six-mile hikes. The person who will wake you up at 5 a.m. and make sure that you have no time off.

  You are not going to like your drill sergeant. But he’s also the person who will make sure that you are ready for battle, and the lessons you learn from him may end up saving your life on the battlefield.

  So the guy you hate the most is actually your best friend. Because you need a taskmaster. Because without him, you won’t force yourself to do it. He has to force you to be all that you can be.

  You’re going to learn responsibility, learn the nature of working with others in a group, and when you’re done, you’ll be in the best shape of your life. All the things you will need to function in the real world.

  As a child, you may have gotten a weekly allowance, or “spending money,” but in the real, adult world, you don’t get an allowance. You don’t get money for doing nothing. In life, if you don’t work, you don’t make money.

  Get used to it.

  DON’T TAKE VACATIONS.

  There’s no reason for you to take a vacation if you’re a young person. You can define what young means for yourself. Start at eighteen years of age and go until your thirties.

  I have never taken a vacation. I consider work a privilege, not a birthright or means to an end. You actually don’t have a God-given right to have a job or to work. If you can earn a dollar, then thank America and its people for giving you the opportunity to work for it.

  There are many countries in the world where you would have no opportunity, regardless of your work ethic.

  In America, where there is all the opportunity you could ever imagine, there are no excuses for goofing off.

  This goes for everyone.

  Let’s say you’re one of the lucky ones. You have a job. And you have your entrepreneurial aspirations. Keep your day job. Pay your bills. Spend the rest of your free time working on your career. Your dream job. Your passionate entrepreneurial venture.

  Let’s take a look at your spare time, outside of the job that currently pays your bills.

  Out of each working week, you get two days off. Multiply that by 52 weeks, and you’ve got 104 days per year in which you’re not working to build your career. Take another two weeks off for vacation, that’s another 14 days of doing nothing. You also take off holidays, religious and otherwise.

  To me, all of that spells “loser.”

  You can and should use all of the time you have to further yourself. To educate yourself. To dream big. And do big.

  Don’t quit your day job, and do work on your time off.

  Do something every day to advance your career.

  Ladies, you’ll still have evenings free to put on your little black dress and go to the clubs. Guys, you can still go out to a ball game, but don’t waste the entire day doing nothing. But even these things can be business—networking is business. Bouncing your ideas off of people is business. Gathering contacts is business.

  If you’re at home on a day off, don’t just spend the day in front of your TV like a lump of clay.

  Work. Plan. Network.

  Get rid of the friends who want you to spend your whole day doing nothing with them. They’re not your friends. They’re your enemies. Your friends should be cheerleaders for your entrepreneurial interests. Your friends should not suck up all of your valuable time. Like vampires, those friends will leave you lifeless.

  The harder you work, the luckier you get.

  Work overtime—for yourself.

  Entrepreneurs set their own hours and work year-round. Even after they’ve achieved their goals and even after they’re filthy rich.

  THE ART OF MORE: PRINCIPLE #4

  ALWAYS BE GROWING

  To me, a successful life at its most basic is about the pursuit of MORE. That means really going after MORE of the things that lead you to happiness, success, and yes, money. But it doesn’t mean keep doing the same thing over and over again to the point of burnout or gluttony. It’s about seeking out all the opportunities available to you, considering all your options with care, and executing them effectively with an eye toward bettering yourself in the process. Don’t “build a brand” if you’re not completely aware of the foundation first.

  16

  Priorities/Practice What You Preach

  “Far and away the best prize that life offers is the chance to work hard at work worth doing.”

  THEODORE ROOSEVELT

  military officer, historian, adventurer, conservationist, and twenty-sixth president of the United States

  I usually don’t care to pry into people’s personal lives, even when I’m giving them advice on life and business.

  However, there are certain personal life choices that, generally speaking, just don’t help you.

  Reckless spending, for example, doesn’t help anyone. Not even millionaires.

  Live well below your means.

  I still do.

  To get even more personal—try to stay “straight,” that is, no drugs, no booze. You will not win if you don’t stay straight. Really. There’s nothing in drugs or booze that will make your schmeckle bigger, make you smarter, or make you run faster. Also, it costs a fortune to feed your hunger. And you may get fired when they find out you’re a loser. And you may wind up in jail. And you’ll lose your money. Your date will not be impressed by you throwing up on her brand-new shoes, as you spout poetic babblings that are meaningful only to you.

  If you drink enough, your God-given member won’t even work, and the next day you’ll feel as if a truck had run you over. You may not even remember what you did, where you were, or who you were there with. Bottom line: if you get hooked on drugs or booze, you’re fucked.

  I’ve never knowingly been high or drunk, except in a dentist’s chair. I’ve used that time for other things.

  Also, don’t smoke. You’ll stink like an ashtray, and you’ll be playing Russian roulette with cancer. If you lose, you’ll die a slow, miserable death.

  All of that, because you want to look “cool.” It’s a waste of your time.

  Of course, on the side of the cigarette pack, it says something like “Hey, moron, this stuff might give you cancer or some other disease.” In Canada, cigarette packages actually have pictures of what cancer does to smokers.

  In most public spaces in the United States, smoking is no longer permitted. So if you’re a smoker, you end up looking like an addict, sucking on your cancer sticks outside your place of work, or outside of bars, clubs, and restaurants.

  There was actually once a brand of cigarettes called Death cigarettes. Not surprising, it was successful.

  If you choose to become a smoker, you are an idiot, and you may lack the discipline and intelligence to be a successful entrepreneur. On the other hand, if you have the strength of character to recognize your mistake and kick the habit, then you may have what it takes.

  In addition to personal health, the health of your business plan is paramount. A healthy business plan, and a healthy life plan, is one in which you always have a backup plan—in other words, a way to keep paying your bills.

  Let’s say you’re a garage mechanic, and you have big dreams about opening up your own chain of branded garages around the country. Terrific.

  While you’re working at the garage to pay your bills, what’s your backup plan if the garage goes out of business or you lose your job?

  Have something else that you can do to pay the bills. Immediately.

  Keep your day job and pay your bills, while you’re making plans to turn your big dreams into reality.

  Should you go to college? The truth is, it really depends on what your career aspirations are.

  If you want to become a doctor or lawyer or other
high-end professional, then you’ll need to attend an institution of higher learning. In fact, you might have to attend medical or law school for as many as twelve years to earn your degree or degrees.

  On the other hand, if you’re an entrepreneur and aren’t sure exactly what you want to do but have really big ideas, I would urge you to dive into the deep end of the pool, right out of high school. Sink or swim. You will learn a lot.

  While you’re getting your entrepreneurial dreams off the ground, you’ll need to limit your financial exposure. In other words, avoid unnecessary spending and save your money.

  I will keep making this point in the book.

  You need to eat, but you don’t really need to eat filet mignon every night or buy bottles of champagne at a thousand dollars a pop. You need clothing that will make you look respectable, but you don’t really need a ton of fancy clothes you’ll never wear, and will just hang there in your closet.

  Do not buy a home. Not when you’re starting out.

  Live at your parents’ home if you have to, and until you can afford to move to a city (I’ll get to that shortly). Living at home will always be cheaper, and you’ll get home-cooked meals, too. But don’t be a mooch. Pitch in with household costs. Buy groceries. But limit your financial exposure. Translation: save on the rent while you invest in your future. I know, it’s not “cool” living at home. Try paying your rent with cool.

  If you meet a girl you like a lot and you need some private time, rent a hotel room for a night. Make it romantic. Fill the room with music. Splurge on chocolates and roses. When you’re done, dump the hotel room, and continue not having to pay rent or a mortgage.

  Save the money.

  Don’t buy a house until later in life. I didn’t. The first home I bought was a penthouse on Fifth Avenue in New York, overlooking Central Park. I was thirty-eight years old and I had already made headway toward a fortune—I wasn’t about to buy a house if I wasn’t already on my way. Until that time, I rented. My monthly rent for a good part of the seventies (until 1979?) was $200.

  Renting means that you can pick up and go, without great financial risk. And if you can’t afford the rent, or you lose your job, you can move to a cheaper apartment, until you get back on your feet and go back to building your fortune.

  Don’t buy a home until you have amassed four times the value of the home in your net worth. If you’re worth $1 million after tax, go ahead and buy a $250,000 home. And try to minimize the length of your home mortgage. You will also be able to deduct certain monthly mortgage fees, and front-load the “decrease in value” of the home and other legal issues. (For what this all means, I urge you to get legal professional counsel—there’s legalese that you have to be ready to dance with, unfortunately. But again, it is up to you to educate yourself. It is not up to anyone else to make it easier.)

  Don’t buy a car. Certainly not a new one. You may not even need a car. Take public transportation if you can. If you must, buy a secondhand car. But pay cash, don’t take out a loan. Buy a rent-a-wreck type car for $1,000–3,000. If you have the cash, pay cash. If you don’t have cash, don’t buy it.

  Buying a new car, even a cheaper model, when you’re in your early twenties and don’t have a good-paying job or career, doesn’t make sense. Even if the car costs $20,000, by the time you’re done paying off your car loan several years later, it will end up really costing you $50,000 or more. And that’s after-tax money. Which means you’ll have to earn even more. And then there’s insurance. And repairs. And what if your car gets stolen?

  Save the money.

  You want to take out a girl and impress her? Rent a nice car. Spending a few hundred bucks is preferable to sticking yourself with a debt of tens of thousands of dollars.

  If you really want to splurge, rent a limo for a night. It’ll cost a few hundred dollars. You can afford it. And a limo will impress her a lot more than your new $20,000 car. You won’t have to find a place to park, and you’ll have a chauffeur. And it’ll pick you up and drop you off. And when the date is over, the costs of car loans, maintenance, and insurance aren’t your problem.

  I didn’t have a real girlfriend until I was twenty-nine years old, although I had had lots of “girl friends.” I also didn’t have many of the costs that go along with having a girlfriend. No Christmas gifts. No travel expenses. No nothin’.

  I lived at my mother’s house until I was twenty-four years old. I contributed to the rent and household expenses, but I had very little financial exposure.

  If you don’t have the disposable cash, don’t buy it. You probably don’t need it and can do very well without it.

  All in all, these are personal choices. I’m not here to tell you how to live your life—except, in a way, I am. Your life, in many ways, is your business—and I’m here to tell you how to be successful in business. The above list of small changes in your personal life will, I guarantee, help you get to where you want to go.

  So, you saved some money, lived at home, and didn’t splurge on a new car. You have graduated from Priorities 101. Now what? If you live outside or far from a large city, it’s time to move to where the big dogs play. The simple fact is that you will substantially increase your chances of climbing the ladder of success in a big city.

  If you don’t live in a big city, move to one now.

  Period.

  There are more job opportunities in a big city than there are in a small town. A small town can become a ghost town overnight when the steel mill goes bankrupt, if that town depends on the mill as its main source of jobs. And the diners and clothing stores and supermarkets all depend on those workers having the money to spend on life’s necessities. So if the steel mill goes out of business, the rest of the town’s pieces fall like dominoes.

  Big cities have more people. Millions of them. Therefore, there is more money. Big cities have more job opportunities. Many more. Service jobs for the millions of inhabitants. Construction jobs for the big buildings. It’s almost endless.

  As an example, in big cities you can open a pushcart hot dog stand on the street for very little money. You will make a decent living selling hot dogs to the hungry people passing by during lunch and on their way home. You won’t have to go to school to sell hot dogs. You won’t have to pay for college. You won’t have working staff; it’ll be just you, so you won’t have to pay anyone else. You won’t have to pay workers overtime or vacation days, and you won’t have to deal with unions.

  That doesn’t mean you’ll become filthy rich with a hot dog stand. But in a big city, you can make a living doing it. And a big city has more people, which means more customers for you.

  Big cities can almost guarantee that you will at least have a job. Maybe not the job you want, and maybe not the job that will launch your entrepreneurial goals, but at least you will be able to pay the rent. And while you work at this menial job, you will hopefully have the freedom, and the spare time, to devote all your energies to your entrepreneurial goals.

  In the near future, small towns may become a thing of the past. Or perhaps small towns will become idyllic vacation spots for the rich, simply because small towns cannot support or guarantee jobs.

  And cities, more and more, are growing outward, so much so that they’re becoming mega-cities. Los Angeles now almost touches Long Beach, which almost touches San Diego. The populations of these metropolitan areas are in the tens of millions, and therefore the job opportunities are endless. And with a huge population, it’s the perfect place to launch your entrepreneurial venture.

  Yes, I know Detroit went bankrupt. And while it may be hard to imagine now, New York City was on the brink of bankruptcy in the mid-seventies. But if you read the newspapers, especially the business sections—and you should, even if you don’t understand most of it—you may be convinced, as I am, that Detroit is coming back. And New York came back gangbusters in a relatively short period of time. But if a small town becomes insolvent, or bankrupt, everyone moves away and it turns into a ghost town.
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  We’ve been taught to think of small towns as being safer—no gangs, drugs, or violence there. And my chances of protecting my family and keeping them safe are much better in small towns, right?

  Wrong. U.S. News & World Report recently ran a story about a new study by the University of Pennsylvania that debunks the myth that small towns are safer than big cities. It goes on to report that death from injury of all kinds in small towns is more than 20 percent higher than in larger cities.

  Hard to believe, but true.

  We all hear the same stories. Big cities have higher homicide rates. Well, true and untrue. Here’s the real skinny.

  Get ready for this one: The study says your overall risk of being killed by a gun is the same in small towns and big cities!

  And if you’re a child or over forty-five years old, and you live in a small town, you actually have a greater risk of dying from a gun-related event than in a big city, the study says.

  To be fair, in big cities, if you’re African-American or Latino and you are twenty to forty-four years old and especially if you live in a lower economic sector commonly referred to as the “ghetto,” gun-related deaths are higher.

  It’s no secret. In “ghettos” there is rampant drug abuse, and there are violent gangs on the streets. More deaths per capita occur there than anywhere else in a big city. It’s not politically correct to point these facts out, because some people might be insulted.

  But it’s true. And we all know it. Why this condition exists or how it can be cured is a question for another book by another author. I’m just here to point things out to you that are true, so your decision-making process is clear for yourself and your future.

  If you are injured or shot in a big city and you need emergency care immediately, hospitals are a few minutes away from anywhere you are.

  Small-town hospitals, when they even exist, are often not close to everyone. And small-town emergency staff is not (please forgive me) on the same level as those in big-city hospitals. They are also usually understaffed.