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Money Isn’t Everything?

It seems to me that the people who offer up the sayings "theres more to life than money", "money dosent buy happiness", etc... are either ambitionless drones living a complacent life, or are already rich. I wonder why anyone who is young with a decent head on their shoulders would not have the ambition of getting rich. I think people are lying to themselves when they say 'making lots of money isnt important', just because they think they'll never achieve it. Who says money isn’t everything? Poor people, that’s who. Here’s how not to be one of ’em.

1. Treat the janitor like a CEO.
   Ryan Schinman, 28, president of CNB Entertainment, a company that matches sports and entertainment celebrities with sponsor-hungry corporations: “It’s always the case—especially in the entertainment business—that one day somebody is somebody’s assistant, and the next day they’re the vice president of marketing. Treat everybody the same, because you never know where anybody is going to be down the line, and you don’t want to burn bridges. It’s that old thing of treating others as you’d like to be treated. I adhere to that every day; that’s been my basic philosophy, and it’s paid off.”
   How he hit it big: As a sports agent, Schinman represented his first NFL player at the age of 20. Now he closes multimillion-dollar endorsement deals between major businesses (Frito-Lay, Charles Schwab) and celebs (Jason Alexander, Sammy Sosa).
   Just how big he hit it: Schinman pulls down a high six figures per year—and that’s just his salary. Besides a vacation house on a golf course in Admiral’s Cove, Florida, he has an enviable collection of sports memorabilia valued at nearly $2 million that includes more than 100 items signed by Joe DiMaggio and the scorecard from the first major-league baseball all-star game, in 1933.
   
   
2. Embrace the big disasters; that’s where your big opportunities lie.
   Walter Latham, 29, founder of Latham Entertainment, a multifaceted company specializing in “urban” comedy, was working a dull day job as a customer service representative at American Express when inspiration for a new career hit: “One day at American Express, I said, What can I do to get into entertainment? So I looked at the back of a CD cover of Grand Poobah, an artist that was kind of hot in 1992. I just called up his agent and booked a show. I sold out this club, standing room only. And just like that, I’d done it: I was going to be a promoter! Then guess what: He didn’t show up. I had to give all the money back; all of my money and all the money I borrowed was gone. I was, like, Shit, what am I going to do now? I called the agent and said, ‘What happened? This kind of ruined me—I lost all this money.’ But I did not get angry, and I think because I didn’t yell or scream or call him names, he didn’t get offended and understood what I was going through. He felt so bad for me that he basically gave me the next show, and I was more than able to recoup my losses. In fact, I made a lot of money on that one.”
   How he hit it big: Latham began moonlighting as a promoter of urban-oriented comedy and rap shows in Greensboro, North Carolina. In 1998 and 1999, as a result of his hugely successful Kings of Comedy tour, Latham raked in an incredible $32 million, and his bottom line’s likely to get even fatter after his company’s first movie—Bamboozled, a Spike Lee–directed film starring Jada Pinkett Smith and Damon Wayans—hits theaters this summer.
   Just how big he hit it: Latham recently awed comedian Steve Harvey when he presented him with a $68,000 gold President Rolex watch. Three or four times a year, he hops on a plane and flies to Chicago, just to have a guy named Alfonse fit him for $3,500 custom-made Italian suits.
   
   
3. Don’t be afraid to hire people smarter and cooler than you.
   Joe Kraus, 28, a senior vice president of Excite@Home: “Most employers think, Oh, I’ve got to hire somebody who doesn’t think they’re better than me. And that’s a path to disaster. You have to ask yourself: Is it more important to be successful or to be in control? If the answer is control, then you go down one path. But if the answer is success, that means you go out and you hire the most aggressive and the smartest people that you possibly can. When we started the site, we were 22 years old, and we had to recognize what we were capable of doing and what we weren’t, and fill in our strengths. So when we fleshed out our management team, we brought in people that were then twice our age. Learn how to recruit somebody who’s more senior and talented: Being able to hire your own mentor is a wonderful opportunity.”
   How he hit it big: After graduating from Stanford University in 1993, he and five of his friends launched the Excite Internet portal and search engine using $15,000 of their parents’ money. The company went public in 1996 and generated one of the largest IPOs in tech stock history. After merging with @Home Network in January 1999, the business generated $421 million in revenue last year. Lucky bastards!
   Just how big he hit it: Kraus has a net worth in the neighborhood of $50 million (no doubt one of those gated-community kind of neighborhoods). He owns about 615,000 shares of @Home stock, which at press time was trading at approximately $21. “I’m not Bill Gates, but I can’t complain at all.” A racecar fanatic, Kraus paid $250,000 for a red 1998 Ferrari 550 Maranello (he calls it “the best car ever built”) that he’s personally taken up to around 175 miles per hour.
   
   

4. Ditch your loser friends; they’ll only hold you back and keep you in the gutter.
   Ken Wilson, 35, founder of Gatorz Sunglasses, a line of superstrong shades made of aircraft aluminum: “I always like to relate my business to motocross, and one of the things I found was that if you practice with people who ride really slow, you’re probably never going to get faster. But if you go and ride with guys who are faster than you, you’ll get better. In other words, if you hang out with losers, you’re going to be a loser—if you sleep with dogs, you’ll get fleas. I think out of 270 graduates in my high school, I was, like, 218 or 234 on the list. I was actually voted Most Likely to Fail by my classmates. Now a lot of my high school buddies have seen what I did, and at my class reunion they elected me Most Improved.”
   How he hit it big: Although he used to sell vacuum cleaners door to door, Wilson used the contacts he made while racing on the professional motocross circuit to launch a line of aluminum-frame sunglasses he designed. By the end of its first year of operations, in 1990, Gatorz was a million-dollar business. Wilson has since branched out into skateboard design and now rakes in considerably more than $5 million in sales annually, which puts him among the top 10 sunglass manufacturers. He credits much of his business success to the empowering messages he learned from listening to motivational tapes.
   Just how big he hit it: Wilson owns a huge house on a golf course, a speedboat, and three souped-up motorcycles, not to mention a set of Tommy Lee’s drums. He used to have the expensive cars and the Rolex until he decided that that lifestyle wasn’t “cool.” His oddest extravagance: a $7,000 American bobtail cat (a rare breed resembling a tiger) named Sammy after his friend and endorser Sammy Hagar. But perhaps even odder is the diverse assembly of stars he pals around with, including rappers Vanilla Ice and Kid Rock and grappler Stone Cold Steve Austin.

   Managing A Small Business More than anything, your employees, not you, will determine how far your business can go. Lead by example. Do I have to say it? It is hard to get most people to change significantly. If someone is not good at something and has no interest in getting better, trying to force-feed them is an exercise in futility. Prepare and review financial statements within 15 days after the end of every month. And make sure they are prepared on the accrual method, not the cash method. Focus on one, maybe two things at a time. Strategy is as much what you do NOT do as it is about what you do. When evaluating potential employees, consider how well they will "fit in," in addition to how talented they are. Everyone in your organization must know what the company's goals are for the current year. Loyalty to an employee is important, but they have to get the job done. You can never go wrong by being ethical. Fire anyone who is not "on board." And do so quickly. Written formal employee reviews are a great opportunity to ensure that employees know what they are doing right, what they are doing wrong, and what they need to do to make a bigger impact. Use employee reviews as an opportunity to find out what YOU are doing right and wrong. Customers are always right, but customers can be fired. Leverage technology in order to improve the customer's experience and make your employees more productive. Hire the best accountant and lawyer you can afford. Tell them about major events BEFORE they happen. Be friendly with your customers and treat them well. People buy from people they know and like. The Internet is a marketing thing, not a technology thing. To grow your company, delegate things you would otherwise do by giving employees the task, resources, and a couple of suggestions-no more. Expect them to make a few mistakes. Don't get upset unless they make the same mistake twice. Always, always trust your instincts. Robert S. Levin. 20 Rules for Managing a Small Business. MYOB Small Business Report. 2005.

5. Ask for more than you really need.
   Kenny Dichter, 32, co-CEO of entertainment at SFX Alphabet City, the biggest marketer of sports and entertainment products in the country: “At the end of the meeting, you gotta ask for what you want. The first product we ever brought to market was a Chicago Bulls record, in 1996, right in the middle of the Jordan run. This was the hottest team ever in pro sports. Once we got the NBA’s permission, we went to Montgomery Ward in Chicago. My partner and I looked across the table at the buyer and said they could have an exclusive if they bought 150,000 units. There’s no question we would have taken 50,000; but we asked for 150,000. They came back and took all 150,000 units, and that started our business. It was a million-dollar-plus order, and it funded our operations for the next 12 months.”
   How he hit it big: In 1996 he cofounded Alphabet City, a record label specializing in sports-themed compilations; in 1998 he sold it to SFX Entertainment for $4.4 million.
   Just how big he hit it: Dichter makes “more than Danny Bonaduce and less than Michael Dell” at SFX Alphabet City and still has half of that cushy $4.4 million nest egg in the bank. The day of the sale, he went out and bought himself a Rolex. “It was $50,000—more than I’ve spent on all clothing I’ve ever worn combined.” He also has a summer house on a lake in upstate New York that he’s stocked with two Jet Skis “and a couple of six-packs.”
   
   
6. Ignore all urges to have a personal life until after you hit it big.
   David Mays, 31, founder of The Source magazine: “I’ve had a complete focus on my vision and business, to the exclusion of nearly every other part of my life—other than sleeping, eating, and a few activities, such as basketball. Everything from family to my social life has suffered. I barely graduated because of The Source. I’ve missed out on plenty of parties, on seats in the first row at Knicks games against Jordan, and stuff like that. I definitely would say that you’ve got to be committed and totally focused on it to be successful. And now that it’s established, I’m able to enjoy myself a little more, have some more fun, buy the Bentley.”
   How he hit it big: With $200 in the bank, he started publishing a one-page hip-hop newsletter in 1988. After spinning off countless TV shows and rap compilation albums, The Source now has a paid circulation of 440,000, frequently outselling Rolling Stone and Spin on the newsstands.
   Just how big he hit it: His company, a sole proprietorship, will have a gross revenue of $30 million in 2000. He’s bought all the “standard hip-hop items,” like the Bentley and the $60,000 Rolex Masterpiece Edition, but treasures nothing so much as his huge Manhattan apartment’s mammoth fishtank, which contains two sharks and a two-and-a-half-foot eel.
   
   
7. Transform each of your business goals into a personal obsession.
   Jason Olim, 30, founder and CEO of CDNow: “I think the people who are successful at starting businesses are people who have to do it for some internal reason, not an external reason. Have you ever watched Close Encounters of the Third Kind? Remember how he started building these mountains out of mashed potatoes and chicken wire and mud? Well, that was me. CDNow was my mashed-potato mountain. I was obsessed with this idea that I could make this thing. Honest to God, I was not thinking about getting rich. I thought I’d do it for a year and then go back to school or something. But I just knew I had to do this thing—and I knew that people would want it.
   How he hit it big: In 1994 software designer Olim used $12,000 of his own dough to create an online music information database people could consult before buying albums from his site. They learned fast: CDNow generated $105 million in gross revenue in the first nine months of 1999.
   Just how big he hit it: After the company went public in 1998, Olim and his twin brother, Matt, became megamillionaires. Besides buying himself a house and a few other IPO toys, Olim soundproofed his new office and bought a state-of-the-art stereo system with speakers that are almost as tall as he is, weigh twice as much, and cost “more than a car.”
   
   
8. Choose a business you’ll truly enjoy doing day to day.
   Tom Scott, 34, cofounder and chairman of Nantucket Nectars: “I firmly believe that you should only do something you think will be a lot of fun. When my partner, Tom First, and I first set up shop, it was like a tree fort for postadolescents. We had this little dingy office and sold everything from muffins to ice to coffee—the juice just happened to be one of the things we sold. We’d work from about 5:30 in the morning until about nine at night, and then we’d go out and get drunk. Sadly, I can’t do that anymore. But I wouldn’t have a business today if I didn’t love it, because I’m bad at doing things I don’t like.”
   How he hit it big: Favorable reviews of the Toms’ peach-drink concoction led the pair to focus on the drinks, and the company did $50 million in sales in 1999.
   Just how big he hit it: Scott owns and flies a single-engine Piper Malibu Mirage plane (at $870,000, it’s better than the one JFK Jr. owned) and flies himself off on vacation.

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