Words of Wisdom from Self-Made Billionaires

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WHY restrict yourself to aspiring just to millionaire status when you could be thinking even bigger? 

Here, 20 billionaires (and a couple of mere millionaires) offer a few suggestions . . .

The One Thing Successful People Don't Do (And 9 Famous Examples)

By David K. Williams in Forbes magazine

In the months leading up to the launch of my book, The 7 Non-Negotiables of Winning, I’ve talked a lot about winning—but I’ve talked a lot about failing, too. Learning how to fail productively—to “Fail Up”—is one of the greatest secrets to full-on success.

And in that vein, I was impressed with a recent article by business author Bernard Marr. He pointed out that there is one single thing that all “radically successful” people have in common: They have a ferocious drive and hunger for success that makes them never give up.

There are many varieties of success. Jobs and careers are one area, but success in family life, personal relationships, community and church work, philanthropy and sports or treasured hobbies are important success priorities as well.

One thing is certain: There is no clear and definitive path to success for anyone. The most successful people in any endeavor will tell you many stories of failure within their life journeys. Many (if not all) have experienced major failures, multiple times. But they never gave up.

As I have said many times, the greatest secret to success is learning how to “Fail Up.” It would even be fair to say that failure is the driver that makes truly successful people even more hungry and determined to achieve their success.

In his article, Marr presented a list of nine famous successful people whose failures helped to spur their success. I would like to share them with you, along with some of my own thoughts on each:

1. Henry Ford stands tall as a pioneer of modern business, yet this founder of the Ford Motor Company failed many times on his route to success. His first business attempt at building a motor car was shuttered after just a year and a half when stockholders lost confidence in his ability to succeed. He gathered more cash and re-started his effort, but a year later was forced out of his own company yet again. The entire motor industry had lost faith in Henry Ford, but he was not deterred. He found another investor to start the Ford Motor Company, and the rest is history.

Seven Secrets to Success of Steve Jobs

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Steve Jobs—the co-founder, chairman and CEO of Apple Inc—was an American entrepreneur, marketer and inventor. He is widely regarded as a charismatic pioneer of personal computing.

The company revolutionized the world of personal computing with the user-friendly and intuitive operating system of the Macintosh (launched during the 1984 Super Bowl with an advertisement directed by Ridley Scott).

The following year Steve Jobs was fired from Apple. He then bought The Computer Graphics Group, which under its new name Pixar produced innovative computer animations. In 1991 the Pixar signed an agreement with Disney to produce a series of feature films, starting with Toy Story (1995), the first feature-length computer-animated film. Toy Story earned over £361 million worldwide, and is considered to be one of the best films of its type.

In 1996 Jobs returned to Apple as CEO, and two years later the iMac was launched.

The iPod MP3 player followed in 2001, the iPhone in 2007 and the iPad in 2010. The software music player iTunes evolved into an online music, movie and software store, playing a major part in popularizing “legal” downloading.

Steve Jobs died from pancreatic cancer in 2011 and was posthumously awarded the Grammy Trustees Award at the 54^th Annual Grammy Awards in 2012 for his “significant contribution to the field of recording”.

The 7 Success Principles of Steve Jobs

LEADERS, entrepreneurs and business owners are always looking for new and innovative ways to grow their brands. 

Who better to turn to than one of the most innovative leaders of our time—the late Apple CEO Steve Jobs?  

Through first-person interviews with Apple employees, experts, and analysts, as well as Steve Jobs’ own words over the past thirty years, I discovered that there are 7 principles largely responsible for Jobs’ breakthrough success.

These are described in my book The Innovation Secrets of Steve Jobs. Briefly, here are the principles that anyone can use to “think differently” about their service, product or brand.

Principle One: Do what you love. 

Steve Jobs once told a group of employees, “People with passion can change the world for the better.”  

Jobs has followed his heart his entire life and that passion, he says, has made all the difference. It’s very difficult to come up with new, creative, and novel ideas unless you are passionate about moving society forward.