6 Fundamentals of Success

Here are 6 fundamentals of success that I obtained from the book written by Stuart R. Levine.

Fundamental #1 - Make sure you add value (i.e. know your industry)

Fundamental #2 - Communicate Up and Down, Inside and Out (i.e. listen actively)

Fundamental #3 - Know How to Deliver Results (i.e. learn from your mistakes)

Fundamental #4 - Conduct Yourself and Your Business with Integrity (i.e. treat others with respect)

Fundamental #5 - Invest in Relationships (i.e. what goes around comes around)

Fundamental #6 - Gain Perspective (i.e. know what you want)


For more in-depth meaning of each fundamental, use the link on the side bar to direct yourself to Amazon.com, which will enable you to purchase the book, "THE SIX FUNDAMENTALS OF SUCCESS" by Stuart R. Levine.

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A Paint Brush and a Dream

Cyril Donkor is a former co-worker of mine at Wal-Mart, now he is on the verge of becoming a successful entrepreneur. His gift is creating African art, which he has been doing for a very long time. Wal-Mart was his first job after leaving Africa, but he knew in his heart that being an "employee" wasn't him. So, he started saving up his money and putting more work into his art. Eventually he was able to quick Wal-Mart and live comfortably, not great, but enough to get by.

His work was presented at various art galleries throughout the tri-state area. Right now he is trying to learn the concept of a businessman and every time I see him, I try to educate him as much as possible and refer him to some other people that could better assist him. It work is very good, everything including the tools and material is straight from Africa. His friends continuously ship him wood and additional supplies if needed.

For more viewings of his work click here. His contact info is: Cyril Donkor, 302.521.7223


Soulfood 

pen holder 

Make money off your roommates

After graduation a lot of people are moving in with their friends and spliting the rent for the house or apartment. Here is a secret that I learn from several real estate investors. First never rent always buy, because when you rent you're just throwing away your money. Secondly find a home and purchase it under your name, then find several roommates and have them split the mortgage. This reduces your monthly payment or even elminate your montly payment all together, which leaves you with more playing money. Your roommates basically pay for your home.

Just something to keep in mind.

I wanna be a Rapper...

First it was Deion Sanders, then it was Shaq then most recently Ron Artest now Brandon Lloyd of the San Francisco 49ers. I personally don't know what to say. These athletes become famous, obtain lots of money and now I guess that meets the requirement for becoming a mulitplatium artist. Don't they realize that it is highly competitive and the fans are fierce. Click here for more...

Some other pro athletes that I know of are: Kobe Bryant, Roy Jones Jr., Allen Iverson and several more. Please, if you know of any other athletes that also try to pursue a music career put them in the comment section. Thank you.

10 Ways to Ruin your Career!

Here are 10 ways to ruin your career, courtesy of Forbes.com.

1) Know what's expected - If you don't know the corporate culture and you don't know whats expected of you, you're gone.
2) Money isn't everything - Don't make the impression that you are there just for a paycheck. This mindset will kill your chances of advancement.
3) Leave the gossip to the supermarket tabloids - Small chit chat is okay, but don't chatter endlessly about who's in and who's out.
4)Flubbing deadlines - Deadlines must be met, no if, ands or buts about it.
5) Cubicle etiquette counts - Don't complain about the cubicle space and no personal phone conversations that you do not want people to hear.
6) Personal e-mails are death - Don't use company email for gossip or sending messages that you do not want the world to hear.
7) Isolation leaves you vulnerable - You don't always have to hang with co-workers after hours, but don't act like your antisocial towards them. Extend the simple courtesies to your co-workers: good morning, good night, please, thanks.
8) Don't climb ego mountain - No one likes an egomaniac, and for good reason: They're boring, obnoxious, trivial people. Listen to what your co-workers tell you. Ask questions. Learn from the experienced hands.
9) Don't take credit for others' work - The office go-getter takes credit for other people's work. Such people overlook a basic point: It's dishonest. If you do this, word will eventually reach the boss, and your standing will crumble instantly.
10) Office romance invites catastrophe - We all work long hours, and sometimes work becomes our social life, leading to romantic entanglements. Don't risk, the outcome will not be good for either of you.

Yasmin Shiraz is in Ebony Magazine!!

What's up everyone? The young lady I will be interning with this summer is in the June 2005 issue of Ebony magazine, page 33. The magazine talks about her new book for teen girls, The Blueprint for My Girls in Love: 99 Rules for Dating, Relationships and Intimacy.

Yasmin Shiraz is such a good business woman. She is always thinking of some new business venture and guess what she never took one business course. She was a sociology major that just loved to write and made a fantastic career out of it. Don't forget to pick up a copy of her book "Exclusive" (located on the sidebar) in addition to her others.



June '05 Issue of Ebony Magazine 

What to do...What to do..with $1000?

A couple of days ago I had a conversation with an attractive lady about investing. A relative of hers passed away and left her $1,000 (Not Bad). Anyway, she came to me and ask what would be the proper investment that she could tackle and get the best return.

I first had to figure out what type of person she is, meaning is she a person that very conservative or a person that doesn't mine taking a risk. The reason being is because she could have did a direct investment with one stock that she has confidence in or buy a mutual fund, the conservative approach. I also found out that she is an economist major, so she should know a little about the market.

I gave her some options, first one was to open a Roth IRA and the other was to open a ING Direct savings account. I told her she doesn't have to put the $1,000 in to those accounts, but they are essential accounts that she'll need regardless of what she does with the money. For those who don't know, the Roth IRA is a retirement fund and the ING Direct is a online savings account that has one of the highest yields in the U.S.

The conversation was going well, but I may have scared her with it because I was giving her a lot of options. And, I think she was just scared because she didn't want to loose any value in the money. She wanted to see a return in 10 years, so I suggested a mutual fund because it's an conservative approach and most likely in 10 years she'll have a good return.

As the conversation ended she decided to put it in to her Wilmington Trust savings account, which I believe has a lower interest rate than ING Direct. So, I guess we'll see what happens in a few weeks if she takes my advice or just leave it as is. Which I notice with a lot of young people. You tell them what to do with money, but they don't never do it. They act like they're interested, but the actions say something else. Like I said, we'll see what happens.

Loosing Faith in my Business Venture...well maybe not

For the past several weeks I've been deciding whether or not my business venture will be a good idea. Yesterday, I felt after talking to my roommate that maybe it wasn't a great idea. Today, I rethought it I just can't imagine this venture being a failure. I just see a great need, plus when I was at that age I would had love this product. I'm not mentioning this product because I don't want to take the chance of someone stealing the idea. Should I keep pursuing the possible business idea or should I just call it quits?