The Customer Is – And Always Will Be – King
Leadership Strategies used the following story as an example to try to make a case that customers “aren’t always right”: “When Citizens Financial Group CEO Larry Fish heard that a customer had treated one of his tellers poorly, he called the customer and suggested that she close her account. Although…
Three Things That Separate World-Class Investors
I have earned a reputation for being a good stock researcher — and a good stock picker. But I have told people for as long as I have been doing investment research that 90% of the money I actually make in the market is generated by how I buy stocks,…
The Richest Man in Babylon, Part 5
“A bag heavy with gold or a clay tablet carved with words of wisdom: If thou hadst thy choice, which wouldst thou choose?” That was the question Old Kalabab asked his students, wealth seekers who had come to ask his advice in George S. Clason’s classic parable “The Richest Man…
“Living Proof” That Investing In Real Estate Can Help You Achieve Your Goals
The profits that can be made in property investing are so extraordinary that you might find them hard to believe. I know, because I used to think that way before I started actually learning about it and doing it. Intellectually, you might accept that it’s possible to buy a $100,000…
The Four-Letter Word That Gets EVERYBODY’S Attention
“I saw the word ‘free’ used effectively in an ad recently,” ETR’s editor Charlie Byrne told me. “Jimmy Buffett is coming to town, and there are MANY tickets for his concert being offered on eBay. If you look at the listings, you’ll see ‘Buffett Tickets for Sale!’ . . .…
The Richest Man in Babylon, Part 3
As we said on Tuesday, it’s almost impossible to build wealth unless you develop the habit of saving. And to do that, you have to “pay yourself first.” That’s what David Bach’s book “The Automatic Millionaire” is all about — and it is the lesson Bansir and Kobbi learned from…
How to Start a Successful Small Business – Right Now
Looking for another stream of income? How about a little business that you can start — almost instantly — for less than $100 and with 100 million customers ready and waiting? Ten years ago, it would have been an ignis fatuus; today, however, it’s a very real possibility. The breakthrough…
You Trust Your Employees? Why…or Why Not?
A certain Wharton Business School professor used to lecture students about trust. “People are basically trustworthy, honest, and loyal,” he argued. “If you treat them as such, they will act accordingly.” He retired from academe in 1993 and six years later entered the “real” world of business for the first…
The Myth of the Power of Teamwork
“The work of the individual still remains the spark that moves mankind ahead even more than teamwork.” – Igor Sikorsky Imagine if Keith Lockhart and the Boston Pops Orchestra rolled into Tanglewood this summer with flutists playing the violin parts. Or if the Green Bay Packers appointed Brett Favre to…
Are You Getting Financially Flabby?
“Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go.” – T.S. Eliot “That house would fit into the closet of the house I’m building now.” We were sitting in a car in a low-income neighborhood in Delray Beach, Florida, and Frank McKinney…
Shanghai Report
“The animals that depend on instinct have an inherent knowledge of the laws of economics and of how to apply them; Man, with his powers of reason, has reduced economics to the level of a farce which is at once funnier and more tragic than Tobacco Road.” – James Thurber…
What Younger People Can Teach Us
“I can accept failure, but I can’t accept not trying.” – Michael Jordan According to the Wall Street Journal, 400,000 Americans went to work for themselves last year. Many of them are young — between 25 and 40 — according to a report issued by Working Today, a non-profit organization…