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The Who's Who of Billionaires

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2012 Billionaire Booms: The Year’s Top Gainers
by Sean Kilachand, Forbes Staff ... 7 March 2012 ... http://blogs.forbes.com/seankilachand/

While many individuals around the world are still feeling lingering effects of the credit crunch in 2008, the recovery efforts of the last few years seem to finally be bearing fruit. A fortunate handful of billionaires have managed to not only navigate the turbulent waters of 2011 but have advanced their fortunes to previously unforeseen heights. Out of the 1,098 billionaires returning from last year, 460 of them have added to their fortunes. Ninety-five of these individuals are worth at least $1 billion more than they were a year ago. The average take among gainers this year was approximately $738 million.

Here are the five biggest gainers on this year’s list, all of whom gained at least $5.5 billion:

1. Ricardo Salinas Pliego & his family ... Mexico
The year’s biggest gainer added $9.2 billion to his fortune and is worth $17.4 billion. He moves up from 112 to 37 in the ranks. The source of this windfall was the astounding year-over-year increase in the shares of Mexican home electronics retailer Grupo Elektra. Due to an equity swap that took place with UBS, the already reduced supply of shares became even scarcer and drove demand through the roof. In addition to strong revenue growth on the year, this propelled Elektra’s stock through the roof as it more than doubled in value in just one year.
2. Georgina Rinehart ... Australia
Australian industrialist Georgina Rinehart doubled her fortune this year to $18 billion, from $9 billion. Rinehart attained the title of richest woman in the Asia-Pacific by signing a deal with Posco, a South Korean steel company, granting them a 15% stake in the undeveloped Roy Hill iron ore mine in Western Australia, valuing the property at approximately $10 billion. Rinehart’s fortune is currently being threatened by 3 of her 4 children regarding the family trust.
3. Cheng Yu-tung ... Hong Kong
Cheng added $7 billion to his pile, bringing it up to a total of $16 billion. In December of 2011, Cheng took his profitable fine jewelry enterprise Chow Tai Fook public in what brought him a large amount of stock valued at over $10 billion (as of Feb. 14). Though shares of the firm are trading down in 2012, Cheng holds a substantial amount of the company’s stock, which allowed him to negate the precipitous drop in the value of his New World Development holdings this year.

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2012 Billionaire Busts: The Year's Biggest Losers
by Sean Kilachand, Forbes Staff ... 7 March 2012 ...http://blogs.forbes.com/seankilachand/

Though this year was certainly not the worst in terms of drop offs and decliners, there are a fair amount of individuals who would like to forget the last 12 months. At least 441 people, to be exact. In total, that’s how many people on this year’s list lost money. While global recovery efforts bolstered the fortunes of some listees, tumultuous public markets and adverse economic conditions proved disastrous for others. The range of loss was quite large, varying from $100 million to $10.4 billion at the most. Of these, 81 individuals saw their fortunes drop by at least $1 billion. On average each of the 441 lost $747 million.

Below are the five biggest losers in countdown order, followed by a more complete list of those who got poorer in the past 12 months. (All of the numbers are based on prices locked in on February 14).

5. Maria-Elisabeth Schaeffler ... Germany
Schaeffler saw her net worth drop $7.8 billion all the way down to $2 billion due to the massive amount of debt taken on by Schaeffler Group, the premier roller bearing production company, which she co-owns with her son Georg. The debt load is primarily sourced from the company’s $15 billion takeover of Continental AG in 2008. Though a restructuring occurred in 2009, Schaeffler Group still has an exorbitant amount of debt on the balance sheet.
4. Vladimir Lisin ... Russia
Russian steel magnate Vladimir Lisin lost $8.1 billion, the third most of any individual on this year’s list. His fortune now sits at $15.9 billion. The loss is due to a serious dive in the share price of Russia’s 3rd largest steel company. The drop can be attributed to a substantial increase in the amount of debt, volatile steel prices and lower growth expectations for the company.
3. Oleg Deripaska ... Russia
Deripaska experienced a decline of $8 billion this past year, having his net worth almost sliced in half, resulting in a total net worth of $8.8 billion. After a successful 2010 IPO, shares of Deripaska’s aluminum firm United Co. Rusal plummeted by more than 50% in value. This was due primarily to the drop in global prices of aluminum as well as depressed growth outlook for the company in the face of slowing Chinese demand and global consumption of aluminum.
2. Shashi & Ravi Ruia ... India
The Ruia Brothers suffered the 2nd largest loss this year, losing $8.8 billion on the year. The brothers saw their net worth drop to $7 billion as a result of a 75% drop in price of their Essar Group’s energy branch, Essar Energy. The brothers were being investigated for a minority stake they held in Loop Telecom; a firm run by their brother-in-law. The government actually charged Ravi, among other family members, for alleged criminal conspiracy. Investors reacted to the allegations and the stock price of Essar Energy tumbled dramatically. Essar denies the charges
1.Lakshmi Mittal ... India
The boss of the world’s biggest steel outfit, Lakshmi Mittal, suffered the largest loss of any individual on the list, dropping an astonishing $10.4 billion in just one year, leaving him with $20.7 billion. Shares of his self-named ArcelorMittal suffered a similar fate as those of other steel powerhouses, though his plight outweighed that of others in the industry. Though he still possesses the title of Asia’s third richest man, low demand and high costs have caused the price of ArcelorMittal to suffer in the public marketplace.

Here is a table with the top 25 biggest losers from this year’s list, from lowest to highest:

 

#	Country	Name	2012 Worth (in billions)	2011 Worth (in billions)	Decrease (in billions)	% lost
25	Taiwan	Cher Wang & Wenchi Chen	$ 4.0	$ 6.8	$ 2.8	42%
24	Hong Kong	Zhang Zhirong	$ 2.6	$ 5.4	$ 2.8	52%
23	India	Anil Agarwal	$ 3.5	$ 6.4	$ 2.9	46&
22	UK	Philip & Cristina Green	$ 4.2	$ 7.2	$ 3.0	42%
21	Sweden	Ingvar Kamprad & family	$ 3.0	$ 6.0	$ 3.0	50%
20	Russia	Alexei Mordashov	$ 15.3	$ 18.5	$ 3.2	18%
19	Japan	Akira Mori & family	$ 3.5	$ 6.8	$ 3.3	49%
18	Russia	Vladimir Potanin	$ 14.5	$ 17.8	$ 3.3	19%
17	USA	Larry Ellison	$ 36.0	$ 39.5	$ 3.5	9%
16	USA	John Paulson	$ 12.5	$ 16.0	$ 3.5	22%
15	China	Li Li	$ 1.4	$ 5.7	$ 4.3	76%
14	India	Gautam Adani	$ 5.4	$ 10.0	$ 4.6	46%
13	India	Mukesh Ambani	$ 22.3	$ 27.0	$ 4.7	18%
12	Russia	Mikhail Prokhorov	$ 13.2	$ 18.0	$ 4.8	27%
11	India	Adi Godrej & family	$ 2.4	$ 7.3	$ 4.9	68%
10	Mexico	Carlos Slim Helu & family	$ 69.0	$ 74.0	$ 5.0	7%
9	Canada	David Thomson & family	$ 17.5	$ 23.0	$ 5.5	24%
8	Russia	Viktor Rashnikov	$ 5.6	$ 10.6	$ 5.0	48%
7	Russia	Igor Zyuzin	$ 3.1	$ 8.9	$ 5.8	66%
6	USA	Warren Buffett	$ 44.0	$ 50.0	$ 6.0	12%
5	Germany	Maria-Elisabeth & Georg Schaeffler	$ 2.0	$ 9.8	$ 7.8	80%
4	Russia	Oleg Deripaska	$ 8.8	$ 16.8	$ 8.0	48%
3	Russia	Vladimir Lisin	$ 15.9	$ 24.0	$ 8.1	34%
2	India	Shashi & Ravi Ruia	$ 7.0	$ 15.8	$ 8.8	56%
1	India	Lakshmi Mittal	$ 20.7	$ 31.1	$ 10.4	34%

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The World’s Billionaires 2011: Inside The List.
by Luisa Kroll
Mar. 9 2011 - 6:55 pm

This 25th year of tracking global wealth was one to remember. The 2011 Billionaires List breaks two records: total number of listees (1,210) and combined wealth ($4.5 trillion). This horde surpasses the gross domestic product of Germany, one of only six nations to have fewer billionaires this year. BRICs led the way: Brazil, Russia, India and China produced 108 of the 214 new names. These four nations are home to one in four members, up from one in ten five years ago. Before this year only the U.S. had ever produced more than 100 billionaires. China now has 115 and Russia 101.

Atop the heap is Mexico’s Carlos Slim Helu, who added $20.5 billion to his fortune, more than any other billionaire. The telecom mogul, who gets 62% of his fortune from America Movil, is now worth $74 billion and has pulled far ahead of his two closest rivals. Bill Gates, No. 2, and Warren Buffett, No. 3, both added a more modest $3 billion to their piles and are now worth $56 billion and $50 billion, respectively. Gates, who now gets 70% of his fortune from investments outside of Microsoft, has actually been investing in the Mexican stock market and has holdings in Mexican Coke bottler Femsa and Grupo Televisa.

While nearly all emerging markets showed solid gains, wealth creation is moving at an especially breakneck speed in Asia-Pacific. The region now has a record 332 billionaires, up from 234 a year ago and 130 at the depth of the financial crisis in 2009. Sizzling stock markets are behind the surge. Three-fourths of Asia’s 105 newcomers get the bulk of their fortunes from stakes in publicly traded companies, 25 of which have been public only since the start of 2010..

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Billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates gives away
‘world’s richest’ title
By: Andrew Couts •March 8, 2011

Microsoft founder Bill Gates has given away so much of his wealth to charity that his oft-held title of "world's richest person" is now well out of reach.

Bill Gates could have been the wealthiest person in the world, reports Reuters. But he gave it all away. In fact, the Microsoft founder has given away so much of his fortune in the last year that it pushed him down lowly number two on Forbes‘ upcoming list of 2011 billionaires, just behind Mexican tycoon Carlos Slim Helu.

Had he not given so much to charity — primarily through the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation — Gates would be worth an estimated $88 billion — miles above the competition. Because of his massive philanthropic efforts, however, Gates is now worth $49 billion. This puts him well behind Slim, who has an estimated $60 billion. Warren Buffet, also a major philanthropist and regular in the top-three richest, is now worth $47 billion.

According to last year’s Forbes list, Gates was worth an estimated $53 billion, not far behind Carlos Slim’s $53.3 billion fortune. That marked only the second time since 1995 that Gates did not sit in the top spot — a place it seems unlikely he will inhabit ever again if he continues along this charitable path.

Gates and his wife Melinda have so far given an estimated $28 billion to their foundation, the largest such organization in the world, which focuses its efforts on increasing the availability of health-care and reducing extreme poverty around the world. In the US, the foundation puts forth most of its resources towards improving education.

Last year, Buffet and Gates launched the Giving Pledge, which challenged the wealthiest people in the US to give away at least 50 percent of their fortunes within their lifetimes. So far, a total of 59 billionaires have signed the Pledge. That includes Facebook co-founders Mark Zuckerberg and Dustin Moskovitz, both of whom joined last December.

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Here's something I stumbled across which made me laugh because it seemed so appropriate for this site.

A letter to "Rich Bastards" from a bank!
(From New Scientist, 28 August 1993, Feedback column)

The National Westminster Bank admitted last month that it keeps personal information about its customers-such as their political affiliation-on computer. But now Computer Weekly reveals that a financial institution, sadly unnamed, has gone one better and moved into the realm of personal abuse.

The institution decided to mailshot 2000 of its richest customers, inviting them to buy extra services. One of its computer programmers wrote a program to search through its databases and select its customers automatically. He tested the program with an imaginary customer called Rich Bastard.

Unfortunately, an error resulted in all 2000 letters being addressed "Dear Rich Bastard". The luckless programmer was subsequently sacked.

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List of Billionaire Articles Below

I must admit that reseaching this information has been very enlightening, and loads of fun. Here's a few things I came up with:

1) Three Vital Steps to Success ... Bill Gates

2) Ten Ways To Get Rich ... Warren Buffett

3) Five Secrets to business success ... Richard Branson

4) How to Become a Billionaire ...H. L. Hunt

5) Wealth Building Habits for Kids ... John D. Rockerfeller Jr

6) Four Tips (Trumpisms) ... Donald Trump

7) Eight Wealth Building Secrets ... J Paul Getty

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1. Vision - All successful people have vision. They have the ability the “see” clearly what they want before it exits.

I’d have to agree with Mr Gates on that one. All of the successful people I have known and studied have had that ability.

Ray Kroc, founder of McDonalds had a vision of what McDonalds could be. He saw McDonalds as an international franchise operation dominating the world of fast food. He had that vision when he first met the McDonald brothers in their little outlet in San Bernadino, in Southern California. The McDonald brothers knew he was crazy right away. They just couldn’t see it! They had actually tried franchising and failed. If Kroc was stupid enough to try again where they had failed, sure they would go along with him, and he could have a percentage of the new company. That percentage was eventually worth billions to Ray Kroc, who was not at all surprised when McDonalds succeeded on a scale that astounded the McDonald brothers.

Bill Gates could “see” that the future of computers was in the software, not in the hardware. Bear in mind that he “saw” this at a time when IBM dominated the world of computers with computers the size houses and where an apple was something that grew on a tree.

In the 1950's Walt Disney “saw” a place called “Disneyland” where people would come from all over the world to play. He saw this in a world where amusement parks were tacky places staffed by scruffy carnival people. Even worse, he saw it being located out in the boon docks of Los Angeles in aplace called Anaheim where those apples I mentioned before grew in orchards. The bankers Walt approached just couldn’t see it!! At the time the project was laughingly referred to as “Disney’s folly”, but Walt did it anyway. I bet you’ve either been there, know someone who has been there, or intend to go there or to one of the other Disney Parks around the world.

So what’s your vision? Once you a clear on what you want you’re half way there.

2. Being in the right place at the right time - Bill Gates suggested that some of success is luck. Just being in the right place at the right time.

While I agree with Mr Gates that being in the right place at the right time is important, recognising that you are in the right place, and that the right time is NOW, comes from having a clear vision of what you really want in life. If you know what you want, then you’ll recognise every opportunity that comes along that fits with your vision, and you’ll be able to grab these opportunities with both hands.

Bill gates didn’t invent DOS, someone else did. However Bill Gates had the vision that the creator of DOS did not have. He recognised that he was in the right place at the right time with IBM and acquired DOS. The rest is history.

Is your vision so clear that you recognise when you are in the right place at the right time?

3. Take massive immediate action - During our lifetime, I suspect that we are all presented with thousands of good ideas and wonderful opportunities that could make us wealthy and allow us to fulfil our dreams. The problem is that most people even when they recognise that they have a good idea, do nothing with it.

As one of the founders of the National Speakers Association of Australia (NSAA) 15 years ago, I’m sometimes asked if I’m concerned that I’m actually helping create competitors for myself, every time I speak at an NSAA Conference or Seminar. On these occasions I willingly share my knowledge and experience with people new to the speaking and training profession. I tell them what I’ve learned over the last 27 years and share ideas on how they can become professional speakers.

Frankly I’m not concerned at all about creating competitors, and I say this for two reasons. Reason number one is that I know that very few people will actually take action on the ideas I share. Not because they don’t see the value in the ideas, but simply because that’s human nature. They’ll talk about doing something. They’ll plan to do something. But they won’t actually do anything. If they do, they’ll only try it a time or two and if they haven’t achieved overnight success then they’ll stop doing it.

The second reason I don’t mind sharing my knowledge, is that I know that the serious people, the ones with vision who will take action, will not be interested in becoming Wayne Berry clones. They already have their own vision on what they want to become and achieve, and they’ll do it too. They’ll add real value in their own right in the marketplace.

Every year I share ideas on selling and negotiating techniques with tens of thousands of sales people, but sadly only a small percentage will have the vision and the persistence to follow through and use these ideas on an on-going basis. Those who do, become enormously successful and send me emails which I really enjoy receiving.

The real key to success is to find a good idea and take IMMEDIATE and MASSIVE action. You’ll note that there are two factors here, IMMEDIATE and MASSIVE.

My experience is that if we don’t act on a good idea within 24 hours, we are less than 50% likely to ever act on it. If we haven’t acted on it inside of 7 days, then we are less than 2% likely to ever act on it.

My advice is when you find a good idea act on it right away.

That way you’ll find out quicker if it’s a good idea or not.

The other key is to take MASSIVE action. The average person will try a new idea once or twice and if they don’t get an immediate result. They give up.

When I was in Washington DC last, I visited the Smithsonian Institution and saw some of Edison’s failed experiments as he worked to perfect theincandescent light bulb. The problem was in the filament. They all burned out after a short time. Edison took massive action on the challenge and after thousands of failed attempts, he finally solved the problem. The solution made him a fortune.

How is your MASSIVE “persistence” factor when you are trying out a new idea?

There is no such thing as try. You either do it or you don’t! Edison simply decided to do it, no matter what it took. Do you?

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10 Ways To Get Rich
Warren Buffett

1. Reinvest Your Profits: When you first make money, you may be tempted to spend it. Don't. Instead, reinvest the profits. Warren Buffett learned this early on. In high school, he and a pal bought a pinball machine to pun in a barbershop. With the money they earned, they bought more machines until they had eight in different shops. When the friends sold the venture, Warren Buffett used the proceeds to buy stocks and to start another small business. By age 26, he'd amassed $174,000 -- or $1.4 million in today's money. Even a small sum can turn into great wealth. 

2. Be Willing To Be Different: Don't base your decisions upon what everyone is saying or doing. When Warren Buffett began managing money in 1956 with $100,000 cobbled together from a handful of investors, he was dubbed an oddball. He worked in Omaha, not Wall Street, and he refused to tell his parents where he was putting their money. People predicted that he'd fail, but when he closed his partnership 14 years later, it was worth more than $100 million. Instead of following the crowd, he looked for undervalued investments and ended up vastly beating the market average every single year. To Warren Buffett, the average is just that -- what everybody else is doing. to be above average, you need to measure yourself by what he calls the Inner Scorecard, judging yourself by your own standards and not the world's. 

3. Never Suck Your Thumb: Gather in advance any information you need to make a decision, and ask a friend or relative to make sure that you stick to a deadline. Warren Buffett prides himself on swiftly making up his mind and acting on it. He calls any unnecessary sitting and thinking "thumb sucking." When people offer him a business or an investment, he says, "I won't talk unless they bring me a price." He gives them an answer on the spot. 

4. Spell Out The Deal Before You Start: Your bargaining leverage is always greatest before you begin a job -- that's when you have something to offer that the other party wants. Warren Buffett learned this lesson the hard way as a kid, when his grandfather Ernest hired him and a friend to dig out the family grocery store after a blizzard. The boys spent five hours shoveling until they could barely straighten their frozen hands. Afterward, his grandfather gave the pair less than 90 cents to split. Warren Buffett was horrified that he performed such backbreaking work only to earn pennies an hour. Always nail down the specifics of a deal in advance -- even with your friends and relatives. 

5. Watch Small Expenses: Warren Buffett invests in businesses run by managers who obsess over the tiniest costs. He one acquired a company whose owner counted the sheets in rolls of 500-sheet toilet paper to see if he was being cheated (he was). He also admired a friend who painted only on the side of his office building that faced the road. Exercising vigilance over every expense can make your profits -- and your paycheck -- go much further. 

6. Limit What You Borrow: Living on credit cards and loans won't make you rich. Warren Buffett has never borrowed a significant amount -- not to invest, not for a mortgage. He has gotten many heart-rendering letters from people who thought their borrowing was manageable but became overwhelmed by debt. His advice: Negotiate with creditors to pay what you can. Then, when you're debt-free, work on saving some money that you can use to invest. 

7. Be Persistent: With tenacity and ingenuity, you can win against a more established competitor. Warren Buffett acquired the Nebraska Furniture Mart in 1983 because he liked the way its founder, Rose Blumkin, did business. A Russian immigrant, she built the mart from a pawnshop into the largest furniture store in North America. Her strategy was to undersell the big shots, and she was a merciless negotiator. To Warren Buffett, Rose embodied the unwavering courage that makes a winner out of an underdog. 

8. Know When To Quit: Once, when Warren Buffett was a teen, he went to the racetrack. He bet on a race and lost. To recoup his funds, he bet on another race. He lost again, leaving him with close to nothing. He felt sick -- he had squandered nearly a week's earnings. Warren Buffett never repeated that mistake. Know when to walk away from a loss, and don't let anxiety fool you into trying again. 

9. Assess The Risk: In 1995, the employer of Warren Buffett's son, Howie, was accused by the FBI of price-fixing. Warren Buffett advised Howie to imagine the worst-and-best-case scenarios if he stayed with the company. His son quickly realized that the risks of staying far outweighed any potential gains, and he quit the next day. Asking yourself "and then what?" can help you see all of the possible consequences when you're struggling to make a decision -- and can guide you to the smartest choice. 

10. Know What Success Really Means: Despite his wealth, Warren Buffett does not measure success by dollars. In 2006, he pledged to give away almost his entire fortune to charities, primarily the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. He's adamant about not funding monuments to himself -- no Warren Buffett buildings or halls. "I know people who have a lot of money," he says, "and they get testimonial dinners and hospital wings named after them. But the truth is that nobody in the world loves them. When you get to my age, you'll measure your success in life by how many of the people you want to have love you actually do love you. That's the ultimate test of how you've lived your life." 

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Five Secrets to Business Success
Richard Branson
September 9, 2010

The celebrated entrepreneur and founder of the Virgin Group offers his tips for starting out.

I am often asked if I have found a secret – or at least a consistent answer – to successfully building businesses over my career.

So I’ve spent some time thinking about what characterizes so many of Virgin’s successful ventures and, importantly, what went wrong when we did not get it right. Reflecting across 40 years I have come up with five “secrets.”

No. 1: Enjoy What You Are Doing
Because starting a business is a huge amount of hard work, requiring a great deal of time, you had better enjoy it. When I started Virgin from a basement flat in West London, I did not set out to build a business empire. I set out to create something I enjoyed that would pay the bills.

There was no great plan or strategy. The name itself was thought up on the hoof. One night some friends and I were chatting over a few drinks and decided to call our group Virgin, as we were all new to business. The name stuck and had a certain ring to it.

For me, building a business is all about doing something to be proud of, bringing talented people together and creating something that’s going to make a real difference to other people’s lives.

A businesswoman or a businessman is not unlike an artist. What you have when you start a company is a blank canvas; you have to fill it. Just as a good artist has to get every single detail right on that canvas, a businessman or businesswoman has to get every single little thing right when first setting up in business in order to succeed. However, unlike a work of art, the business is never finished. It constantly evolves.

If a businessperson sets out to make a real difference to other people’s lives, and achieves that, he or she will be able to pay the bills and have a successful business to boot.

No. 2: Create Something That Stands Out
Whether you have a product, a service or a brand, it is not easy to start a company and to survive and thrive in the modern world. In fact, you’ve got to do something radically different to make a mark today.

Look at the most successful businesses of the past 20 years. Microsoft, Google or Apple, for example, shook up a sector by doing something that hadn’t ever been done and by continually innovating. They are now among the dominant forces.

No. 3: Create Something That Everybody Who Works for You is Really Proud of
Businesses generally consist of a group of people, and they are your biggest assets.

No. 4: Be a Good Leader
As a leader you have to be a really good listener. You need to know your own mind but there is no point in imposing your views on others without some debate. No one has a monopoly on good ideas or good advice.

Get out there, listen to people, draw people out and learn from them. As a leader you’ve also got to be extremely good at praising people. Never openly criticize people; never lose your temper, and always lavish praise on your colleagues for a job well done.

People flourish if they’re praised. Usually they don’t need to be told when they’ve done wrong because most of the time they know it. If somebody is not working out, don’t automatically throw him or her out of the company. A company should genuinely be a family. So see if there’s another job within the company that suits them better. On most occasions you’ll find something for every single kind of personality.

No. 5: Be Visible
A good leader does not get stuck behind a desk. I’ve never worked in an office – I’ve always worked from home – but I get out and about, meeting people. It seems I am traveling all the time but I always have a notebook in my back pocket to jot down questions, concerns or good ideas.

If I’m on a Virgin Atlantic plane, I make certain to get out and meet all the staff and many of the passengers. If you meet a group of Virgin Atlantic crew members, you are going to have at least 10 suggestions or ideas. If I don’t write them down, I may remember only one the next day. By writing them down, I remember all 10. Get out and shake hands with all the passengers on the plane, and again, there are going to be people who had a problem or have a suggestion. Write it down, make sure that you get their names, get their e-mail addresses, and make sure the next day that you respond to them.

Of course, I try to make sure that we appoint managing directors who have the same philosophy. That way we can run a large group of companies in the same way a small business owner runs a family business – keeping it responsive and friendly.

When you’re building a business from scratch, the key word for many years is “survival.” It’s tough to survive. In the beginning you haven’t got the time or energy to worry about saving the world. You’ve just got to fight to make sure you can look after your bank manager and be able to pay the bills. Literally, your full concentration has to be on surviving.
Obviously, if you don’t survive, just remember that most businesses fail and the best lessons are usually learned from failure. You must not get too dispirited. Just get back up and try again.

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How to Become a Billionaire
H. L. Hunt

When H. L. Hunt was asked what does it take to become a billionaire he said:

1. You must know what you really want.

2. You must know what you are willing to sacrifice to get it. And be willing to do what it takes to accomplish it.

3. You must write it down.

Mr. Hunt in the latter years of his life had a personal income of over 5 million dollars a DAY. (He should know what he was taking about.)

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Wealth Building Habits for Kids
John D. Rockerfeller, Jr

According to Nelson Rockerfeller, the one time Vice President of the United States, his father John D. Rockerfeller, Jr, gave each of his five sons an allowance "We got 25 cents a week, and had to earn the rest of the money we got."

To earn part of that extra money he raised vegetables and rabbits...

"We always worked. All the boys were required to keep personal daily account books. They were required to give 10 percent of their income to charity, to save 10 percent, and to account for all the rest."

They had to balance their account books every month and to be able to tell what happened to every penny they earned.

(From the book, Kids and Cash
Ken Davis and Tom Taylor, 1979, Oak Tree Publications)

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4 Tips (Trumpisms)
Donald Trump

Trumpism #1: Making It Big

“I like things big. I always have. To me, it’s very simple: if you’re going to be thinking anyway, you might as well think big.”

Trumpism #2: Accentuate the Negative

“It’s been said that I believe in the power of positive thinking. In fact, I believe in the power of negative thinking. I happen to be very conservative in business. I always go into the deal anticipating the worst. If you plan for the worst – if you can live with the worst – the good will always take care of itself.”

Trumpism #3: Hiding Your Light Under A Bushel

"You can have the most wonderful product in the world, but if people don’t know about it, it’s not going to be worth much.”

Trumpism #4: Show Me the Money

“Don’t believe the critics unless they love your work.”

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8 Wealth Building Secrets
J Paul Getty

Let the Wealth Building Secrets of one of America's greatest and famous Billionaire, J. Paul Getty inspire you to a great Achievement.

One of the shortcuts to building wealth is to learn from those who have achieved great wealth.

The late Billionaire John Paul Getty was known as one of the greatest wealth builders in American history.

He was kind enough to distill his building wealth rules for anyone who desires to amass wealth like him to follow.

Do you want to be fabulously rich? Then learn from the master wealth builder himself, and follow in his footsteps:

Building Wealth Secret No. 1:

To build wealth today, you must be in your own business.

You may think that the corporate executive with a $100,000 salary is better off than small shop owner, but the executive will be hard-pressed to double his income and taxes will eat up most of any increase.

The simplest peanut vendor has unlimited opportunity to expand his business and his income, and even salesmen, who in most cases are able to write their own paychecks, can control his sale increases himself.

Building Wealth Secret No. 2.

You must have a working knowledge of the business when you start and continue to increase your knowledge of it as you go along.

If you don't know what you're doing when you start, your mistakes will be costly and often unnecessary, and you won't be able to keep up with the technological explosions in any field.

Start smart and stay that way.

Building Wealth Secret No. 3.

You must save money in your personal life and in your business venture as well.

Discipline is the key to saving money. You must develop the will power to deny yourself immediate gratification or the temptation to gamble on the quick buck. Resources will be needed for expansion and should be guarded carefully.

Building Wealth Secret No. 4.

You must take risks, both with your own money or with borrowed money.

Risk-taking is essential to business growth.

Nelson Bunker Hunt is admired for his guts in trying to corner the silver market, not scorned for losing money on this deal.

Some of the richest men have staked their entire fortunes and lost, several times over, before the risk-taking paid off.

Back those risks with good judgment, experience, commitment, And the right support.

Seek advice on risks from the wealthy who still take risks, not friends who dare nothing more than a football bet.

Building Wealth Secret No. 5.

You must not only learn to live with tension, you must seek it out.

Thrive on stress! If it means getting physically fit, having a psychiatric overall or losing 50 pounds before you can handle it, do it.

Once you can learn to thrive on stress, you will not only enjoy it, you will seek it out willingly and enthusiastically and wonder how you could live any other way.

Men of means look at making money as a game which they love to play.

Consider it serious business and you will suffer far more stress than you need or want.

Keep your perspective or your stress level will rocket beyond your control.

Building Wealth Secret No. 6.

Build wealth as a by-product of your business success.

If wealth is your only object in business, you will probably fail.

Wealth is only a benefit of the game. If you win, the money will be there.

If you lose, and you will from time to time if you play long and hard enough, it must have been fun or it was not worth it.

Building Wealth Secret No. 7.

Patience.

This is the greatest business asset. Wait for the right time to make your moves.

Let your business grow naturally, not by pressing your luck.

Building Wealth Secret No. 8.

Diversify at the top.

Once you've made it, you'll understand that any business is limited in the challenges it offers.

You'll want and need other games to play, so you'll look for other ventures to hold your interest.