Be More Successful than a Billionaire

Save Money on Kindle Versions of My Books for a Limited Time!

2011-03-26T13:20:00.000-07:00

Good Afternoon, Successful People!

Are you feeling motivated this afternoon?

I know that I certainly am!

I've decided to temporarily reduce prices on all my Kindle books to $3.00. These price reductions should take effect on March 27, 2011.

If you haven't already done this, this is to help you offset the cost of purchasing a Kindle. Otherwise, it will just save you a bundle.

You can purchase all my books in Kindle format except for The Ultimate Competitive Advantage.

Please let me know how I can help you.

I will be glad to answer any questions you have.

May God bless you, your family, and all you do in the name of Jesus!

With best regards, much appreciation, and all good wishes,

Don

Copyright 2011 Donald W. Mitchell, All Rights Reserved

New Course Available for Those Who Want to Start a Succcessful New Business, Either Part Time or Full Time

2010-08-09T18:07:00.000-07:00

Good Evening, Successful People!

Are you feeling motivated this evening?

I know that I certainly am!

I pray that you are having a blessed day and that this will be your best year ever.

After having worked with thousands of entrepreneurs who have started businesses in the last 35 years, I recently felt called to write a book about how to do so in a more effective and satisfying way. What most people try to do is all wrong, and it's a shame to have so many people struggle so unnecessarily.

I especially want to encourage those who are Christians and want to devote themselves to serving the Lord through their new business to take this course.

Every hour that you spend on this course will save you 50 hours of work later on and over $1,000. So it's your choice whether to spend the time and money on the course or to spend the time and money on making avoidable mistakes later.

Here are some of the subjects you will cover with me:

1. Free up lots of time to work on your new business while you keep your day job.
2. Attract customers 20 times faster and more easily that your competitors do.
3. Use 96 percent less investment money to permit faster growth and higher profitability.
4. Which technical details about starting a new business are important for you to handle and which ones you should ask someone else to do for you.
5. Avoid making costly mistakes because of what you don't know that you don't know.
6. How to test your ideas inexpensively without putting yourself at risk.
7. The best sources of free information that can make you more successful.
8. The habits you need to develop to be most successful.
9. How to attract top talent at little cost.
10. How to keep your new business from consuming all your time and attention

I will begin writing the book in October and and hope to complete it before the end of Spring 2011.

It occurred to me that some people might appreciate having an opportunity to access these lessons early, to ask questions about how to use the information, and to get a head start on anyone else who intends to the the knowledge in the same ways.

The book's readers will benefit by my listening carefully to questions and addressing those key concerns more clearly in the book.

So it's an opportunity for everyone to benefit.

After thinking and praying about this calling over the last few weeks, I decided to offer a 52-week online course that will feature a weekly teaching and telephone conversation. I can conveniently accommodate up to 100 people on a telephone call and still offer an opportunity to ask questions and to get answers. So I decided to limit the group to that number.

We will begin on October 1 with the teleconferences but those who join the course before then will begin receiving lessons right away so they will have more time to work on these tasks.

As the book passes through editing, people who are taking the course will receive advanced copies.

I'm assuming that most people can obtain Skype or some other Voice-Over-Internet-Protocol telephone service so it won't be too expensive to call into the United States to join the conference calls. All lessons will be on the calls, so if you don't want to call in this won't be a good opportunity for you.

The fee for this course is $500 (United States Dollars) payable in advance. Normally I charge $20 a session for such courses, but I wanted to provide a good value so I reduced the price by more than half for you.

To join the group, simply send me your name, your e-mail address, your telephone number, and your payment to:

Donald W. Mitchell
P.O. Box 302
Weston, MA 02493
United States of America

If you would prefer to pay by check debit or credit card online, send me an e-mail to askdonmitchell@yahoo.com and I will tell you how you can pay through those methods by using PayPal.com/.

If you would prefer to receive only written materials, I can instead offer individual subscriptions and online access for questions and answers to the advanced work of The Billionaire Entrepreneurs' Master Mind that address how to create large enterprises quickly and with few resources. If this opportunity interests you, please let me know and I will provide the details. People who want this option may start the course as soon as they register.

Please let me know how I can help you.

I will be glad to answer any questions you have.

May God bless you, your family, and all you do in the name of Jesus!

With best regards, much appreciation, and all good wishes,

Donald W. Mitchell
Chairman
The Billionaire Entrepreneurs' Master Mind

Copyright 2010 Donald W. Mitchell, All Rights Reserved

Labels: business, business opportunity, business success, course, entrepreneur, learning, online learning, part time, profit, save money, start up, teleconferences

Read Extensive Excerpts from 2,000 Percent Solution Living for Free

2010-02-20T14:07:00.000-08:00

Good Afternoon, Successful People!

Are you feeling motivated this afternoon?

I know that I am!

I have more exciting news for you about The 400 Year Project (the program designed to accelerate the rate of world-wide improvements by 20 times).

Although I am still revising the text of 2,000 Percent Solution Living, I have loaded onto the Internet extensive excerpts from the latest draft to help you. You can read this material for free at:

http://authonomy.com/ReadBook.aspx?bookid=17631#chapter

If you have suggestions for improving the book, I would be glad to hear from you with comments on authonomy.com or here.

May God bless you, your family, and all you do in the name of Jesus!

With best regards, much appreciation, and all good wishes,

Donald W. Mitchell
Chairman
The 400 Year Project

Copyright 2010 Donald W. Mitchell

Become a Sponsor of The 400 Year Project

2010-02-08T13:21:00.000-08:00

Good Afternoon, Successful People!

Are you feeling motivated this afternoon?

I know that I am!

I have exciting news for you about The 400 Year Project (the program designed to accelerate the rate of world-wide improvements by 20 times).

As I described in Adventures of an Optimist (BookSurge, 2007), one of the important aspects of implementing the project will be to prepare one million tutors who can assist organizations and individuals around the world to make the exponential breakthroughs that I have been writing about since 1995.

To facilitate that implementation step, I have begun writing a new book, Help Wanted, that describes the kinds of tutors needed and what they should be working on. My plan is to publish that book and make it widely available before the end of 2010.

Tutors are needed to work on the following opportunities:

-witnessing
-congregational ministries
-Christian non-profit organizations
-universities and colleges
-teachers and their unions
-voluntary associations for children
-foundations
-social-benefit-focused enterprises
-nations
-for-profit enterprises
-productivity-enhancement professionals
-lifting entrepreneurial effectiveness

While some individuals may wish to engage in this work on their own, I anticipate that many organizations will wish to sponsor an aspect of The 400 Year Project
to show their commitment to enhancing spiritual and social improvement while gaining competitive advantages over those who prefer to stick with traditional methods.

Beginning now, I am willing to accept sponsors and to help them apply the project's most advanced knowledge to their opportunities. Part of such sponsorships will be to prepare tutors skilled in particular applications of creating 2,000 percent (and higher order) solutions with the same time, effort, and resources.

I welcome all inquiries and will be glad to answer any questions you have. Please feel free to share this message with anyone you wish.

May God bless you, your family, and all you do in the name of Jesus!

With best regards, much appreciation, and all good wishes,

Donald W. Mitchell
Chairman
The 400 Year Project

Copyright 2010 Donald W. Mitchell

Advance Peek at an Excerpt from 2,000 Percent Solution Living

2009-09-12T20:44:00.000-07:00

Good evening, Successful People!

Are you feeling motivated this evening?

I hope so. I know that I am!

I felt called by the Holy Spirit to accelerate
writing of my new book, 2,000 Percent
Solution Living. Writing is going well, and
I thought you might enjoy an advance peek
at this blockbuster book, a way to live way
beyond your wildest dreams.

This excerpt comes from part of the book's
introduction:

Wisdom is the principal thing;

Therefore get wisdom.

And in all your getting,

get understanding.

Take firm hold of instruction,

do not let go;

Keep her, for she is your life.

— Proverbs 4:7, 13 (NKJV)

Would you like to enjoy your life more, accomplish so much that you amaze yourself, have lots of free time, be with loved ones as much as you want, and earn a much higher income while spending less time and effort working? Those are some of the potential benefits that 2,000 percent solution living offers you.

To gain those benefits, you’ll have to make some changes: Stop doing some harmful things and start doing some more beneficial things. In the process, you can use God’s help to turn your life into a masterpiece that both brings glory to Him and joy to you and those you love.

How do I know what’s possible and what’s involved? I’ve been helping people make such improvements for many years as demonstrations of the opportunity for everyone on Earth to make improvements at 20 times the usual rate. In addition, I’ve gained benefits from 2,000 percent solution living for myself.

Are you ready to start now? Read on to learn what to do.

Fulfill Your Potential by Gaining the Right Knowledge and

Performing Breakthrough Service

“… he who is greatest among you, let him be as the younger,

and he who governs as he who serves.”

— Luke 22:26 (NKJV)

Most people have no idea how little of their talent and knowledge they are employing. I see that lack of awareness all the time among my students. I believe that you are underestimating your potential as well.

Here’s an example of what I mean. Dr. Burra Ramulu worked as a shift supervisor at a fertilizer factory in the Middle East for many years. However, his most important responsibility was to train young Arabs to hold the organization’s senior roles. He was effective in such preparation, and all of those with positions above him in the organization were younger men whom he had originally trained.

After deciding to earn a doctorate, Dr. Ramulu became interested in 2,000 percent solutions (ways of accomplishing 20 times the results with the same or less time, money, and effort). His first 2,000 percent solution project was to study how his factory’s profits could be increased by more than 20 times while spending very little money for new investment. He found a way to greatly increase capacity, improve quality, expand productivity, and lower costs that only required an investment equal to about 10 percent of the plant’s existing capital base. As a result, cash flow expanded by more than 20 times.

Realizing that his opportunities to advance his career were constrained in the Middle East, Dr. Ramulu moved back to his native India and took a position with a global producer of basic commodities. As his dissertation subject, Dr. Ramulu investigated how to create a new business model for his employer, the first major business-model improvement for that industry in more than 50 years. As a result, he located a way to lower costs by over 40 percent, to reduce capital needs by even more, and to expand his company’s business volume by several hundred percent. The new business model was approved by his employer and is now being implemented. When in operation, profits for that business in India are expected to expand by much more than 20 times while competitors will be eliminated for many years to come.

Not satisfied with what he had learned and accomplished during the process of attaining his first doctorate, Dr. Ramulu decided to study for a second one. This time his dissertation work was based on an even more fundamental problem: How to lift poor, uneducated people out of despair and to make their lives hopeful and economically successful. Choosing to serve Kasimpet, the village where he grew up, Dr. Ramulu faithfully trekked hundreds of kilometers across India on weekends to teach the people there about 2,000 percent solutions.

Also supported by other volunteers who had once lived in Kasimpet, an initial 50 people soon reformed the bad thinking habits that had held them back, began using better thinking processes, formed a cooperative, and began designing and implementing profitable 2,000 percent solutions. In just a few months, most of those 50 people increased their incomes by more than 20 times, reduced their debts by more than 96 percent, slashed the interest rates they were paying on the remaining debt by 96 percent, and increased their net worths by more 20 times. They also gained new, positive outlooks on life, and sought to cooperate with one another rather than be divided by the accidents of birth from which castes are defined.

As this book was going to press, these 50 people had pledged to teach what they had learned to at least another 20 other people each who will be asked to do the same for 20 more people. Should everyone be faithful, most poverty and despair can be eliminated from that part of India in just a few years.

Naturally, Dr. Ramulu enjoys a wonderful sense of accomplishment from encouraging so many positive improvements. Can you imagine the sense of satisfaction that he enjoys each morning as he thinks about the villagers?

What else might Dr. Ramulu accomplish? It’s up to what God calls him to do. There is no practical limit to his potential to succeed in serving others.

There are millions of people with as much potential as Dr. Ramulu has who could have done what he did to serve others. But few of them choose to serve by learning and teaching breakthrough skills. Dr. Ramulu made that important choice, and that decision liberated him and those he has taught into 2,000 percent solution living.

I pray that this book will do the same for you.

Foundations of 2,000 Percent Solution Living

Become complete.

Be of good comfort, be of one mind, live in peace;

and the God of love and peace will be with you.

— 2 Corinthians 13:11 (NKJV)

Since I was young, people have often asked for my advice. I have always been happy to share my ideas, and many people have benefited. I have always been grateful to God for granting me this ability to serve and for providing His guidance for what to say and write.

I was deeply humbled in 1995 when the Holy Spirit directed me to lead an effort to help everyone on the Earth accomplish at least 20 times more. (You can read about the origins, methods, and conclusions of what I call the 400 Year Project, ways to make 400 years worth of normal improvements during the years from 2015 through 2035, in Adventures of an Optimist, BookSurge 2007, and at www.fastforward400.com.) I was so overwhelmed by the magnitude of the task that I had no idea what to do first. Fortunately, He directed my steps and learning so that the necessary solutions have been identified and described in my books about the 400 Year Project.

Despite my willingness to help in every possible way, it recently struck me that I may not have been sharing what I have learned in the right ways: When I asked people who have been reading about my work for years what questions they would like me to answer about accomplishing 20 times more, I found nothing new in what they asked. In fact, I had previously written answers to each of the questions I received.

From those responses I realized that people who want to make breakthroughs in all aspects of their lives need a brief compendium of the most important ways to accomplish 20 times more. This book, 2,000 Percent Solution Living, is intended to facilitate those accomplishments.

After thinking about the possible contents for the book over several weeks, I was surprised to be awakened at 1:30 a.m. on May 19, 2009, by a voice that dictated to me in great detail what should be in this book. This dictation continued for many hours and finally paused for me to begin asking clarifying questions, which were then answered. The instruction lasted over six hours.

From that experience, I concluded that by writing this book I am merely serving as a fleshly vehicle for a message from the Holy Spirit that is intended for all people on Earth. I pray that I have been faithful and accurate in sharing with you what I was directed to write.

The Lessons for You

But who can teach a lesson to God,

since he judges even the most powerful?

— Job 21:22 (NLT)

Most people rarely read nonfiction books, dipping perhaps into one or two in a decade. If that’s your reading pattern, this section is for you. I summarize the book’s key lessons here.

If this information is enough for your purposes, stop after reading this section. If you want to learn more about why these solutions are important or how to implement them, go to the chapters that describe the lessons you want to learn more about.

If you would rather read a fuller treatment of the book’s contents, you can skip this section and just begin reading Chapter 1.

Lesson 1: Accept Salvation by repenting of your sins; believe Jesus is God’s Son and in His resurrection from the dead; and give your life to Jesus Christ to do His will, not yours (or rededicate your life to Him if you have accepted Salvation but have not been walking with Him). Start every day by praising and thanking the Lord, praying for what is righteous that you want done in the name of Jesus, and studying the Bible. Attend church whenever possible; make a weekly written commitment of added ways to follow His direction; and witness to others about your faith until at least 20 people to whom you have been speaking choose to accept Salvation.

Doing these things will help you to hear and understand the Holy Spirit who will guide your steps toward the most productive directions on Earth, will provide you with supernatural support for making performance breakthroughs, and will help you earn eternal rewards to be enjoyed in heaven. As a result, you will have all the wisdom and power you need to do any righteous thing you want. Isn’t that awesome?

May God bless you, your family, and all you do in the name of Jesus!

Donald W. Mitchell
Chairman, Mitchell and Company

Copyright 2009 Donald W. Mitchell

Help Reduce Poverty with Your Ideas for a Global Contest

2008-11-07T09:40:00.000-08:00

Good morning, Successful People!

Are you feeling motivated this morning?

I hope so. I know that I am!

Because of the current global economic issues, I wanted
to do something to help poor people. While recently
reading a book called Crowdsourcing, I was struck by the
opportunity to launch a new kind of contest to create
better solutions for reducing poverty.

Traditionally, online contests have provided a period
of a few months to propose solutions. The best solutions
then gained prizes and recognition . . . and were
publicized for all to use.

The new idea is to start a contest by publishing some
outstanding solutions and inviting people to propose
improvements on those solutions. The list of published
solutions would be continually updated to reflect the
best solutions received to date.

Entrants would have the opportunity to use parts of
already proposed solutions for their entries.

In this way, someone might make a small change that
would provide a large improvement in a fine idea and
turn the result into something much better. And then
the process repeats itself as someone else adds
another valuable small change.

In the contests that were reported, the eventual
winning solutions were approximately 1,000 times
more effective than the first leading solutions that
were received.

I am interested in doing something like this by
beginning with the best solutions for eliminating
poverty that any of my students have generated. I
would publicize these on all of my blogs and put
out a press release about the contest.

What are your thoughts about this kind of contest?

How could it be made better?

How could it be made more interesting to you?

What prizes and recognition do you think should
be offered?

How should the winning entries be publicized?

Thank for your consideration of this request
for help.

I look forward to hearing from you.

You can send me e-mails at
save_more_souls@yahoo.com

If you want to learn more about the
400 Year Project, register for free to
read about this work at
http://www.fastforward400.com/

May God bless you.

Donald W. Mitchell
Chairman, Mitchell and Company

Copyright 2008 Donald W. Mitchell

Adventures of an Optimist Is Now Available

2008-01-01T17:12:00.001-08:00

Good evening, Successful People!

Are you feeling motivated this evening?

I hope so. I know that I am!

I also hope that 2008 will be your best year so far.

I thought you might enjoy learning about what I've been slaving over for the last six months.

As you know, I've been working on the 400 Year Project (demonstrating ways to make global improvements at 20 times the usual rate) since 1995. Along the way, I've helped write six books that details progress on the project (The 2,000 Percent Solution, The 2,000 Percent Solution Workbook, The 2,000 Percent Squared Solution, The Portable 2,000 Percent Solution, The Irresistible Growth Enterprise, and The Ultimate Competitive Advantage).

The thinking behind the project has, however, moved much faster than publishing of books has permitted. As a result, I realized early in 2007 that I could see the end of the project.

I decided to share that vision of a world improving on all of its performance areas (big and small, individual and collective). I've put that vision in my new book, Adventures of an Optimist: A Progress Report on the 400 Year Project to Help You Improve 20 Times Faster.

Last year, I held a contest to find a foreword for the book. Ms. Teresa Bolen was the winner of the contest. Here is what she had to say about the book:

"What would you do if God gave you knowledge for making the world a much better place? Not your everyday, ordinary, run of the mill knowledge, but knowledge that would allow you and your team to create solutions that would otherwise not be available to the people of Earth for another 400 years.

"Though he’s far too humble a servant of God to say so himself, I believe that is exactly what happened to my mentor and friend Don when he was gifted with the inspiration to create the 400 Year Project – a project to create 400 hundred years worth of improvements in merely 20 years. You read that right: four centuries worth of improvements in only two short decades.

"The kinds of global improvement methods he writes about have the potential to provide nutritious food, clean water, excellent healthcare and safety to everyone on the planet. These improvement methods have the potential to bring peace to every region of the globe. On a more personal level, these methods have the potential to dramatically increase longevity, perhaps even to more than double one’s lifespan. Don’s methods offer the potential to improve the quality of life, personal relationships, finances, and education, and to present a myriad of new opportunities for you and everyone around you. If you’re not already familiar with Don’s other works such as The 2,000 Percent Solution, The 2,000 Percent Squared Solution, The Irresistible Growth Enterprise, and The Ultimate Competitive Advantage, then this may sound like a fairytale. However if you are already a follower of Don’s work, then you’ll immediately recognize the potential of his 400 Year Project to bring that Divine inspiration into physical reality, ushering in improvements on a global scale, limited only by the imaginations of those who are putting these teachings into practice. In a world where many find themselves lost in the doom and gloom of contemplating a future dominated by disease, disaster, crime, war, and suffering, Don’s optimistic vision is not merely a shining path of hope, but a template for how to recreate our world into something so blessed and wonderful that everyone experiencing it would become optimists.

"In Adventures of an Optimist, Don takes you on a personal journey of how he came to be such a practical optimist and why he has so much faith in all of us. He gives a crash course on his world-renowned 2,000 percent solutions, i.e. any way that you can accomplish 20 times as much with the same time and resources, and gives convincing evidence on how that kind of incredible progress — though seemingly enormous at first blush — is merely a baby step for each of us. Don shows us again and again that we can gain infinitely more by learning how to make breakthroughs in areas with the most potential to benefit ourselves and everyone else.

"One of the great things about Don’s writing is how he demonstrates the ways he and his students have repeatedly succeeded with these improvement methods. He also shares the flops, lest we begin to feel that we are reading the optimistic musings of an intellectual superman!

"Don’s masterful use of metaphors and riveting storytelling ability draw you in to experiencing those moments with Don almost as if you were there in person while it was happening. One of my favorite examples is when he describes becoming one of Amazon.com’s top ten reviewers. Like so many people, I had wondered how in the world he accomplished it, especially in addition to his busy life as CEO of Mitchell and Company, helping world-class business professionals create better and better business solutions; professor at Rushmore University, guiding students to create their own 2,000 percent solutions; and writing numerous finely crafted books. You get to imagine what it was like in Amazon’s earlier days when most people were using dial-up modems, see how Don’s thinking interacted with the growth of the internet and of Amazon, and find out how he realized he could reach more people through Amazon reviews than even the most famous authors of business books do.

"Once the reader is comfortably grounded into imagining the possibilities of 2,000 percent solutions, Don eases you into multiplying those exponential improvements. He expands the vision more and more, and you’ll either come out on the other side with your mind wide open for the very real possibilities that the 400 Year Project offers, or you’ll already be taking action to start making those breakthroughs in those areas with the most potential to benefit yourself and others.

"As you read the book and begin to fully grasp the promise of the 400 Year Project, creating 400 hundred years worth of improvements in only 20 years, you’ll ask yourself, “What role do I want to play?” If you’ve ever wanted to make the world an infinitely better place, if you’ve been looking for an opportunity to make a difference so profound that you joyfully leap out of bed each day to create that difference, then this book may just be the introduction to the means you’ve been seeking. Get ready to open your heart, open your mind, and let the possibility of a future brighter than all your wildest dreams be revealed to you."

Teresa Bolen

Author, Master Plan to Master Exams: How to Discover Your Hidden Abilities to Create the Success You Desire

Kyoto, September 15, 2007

Here is the table of contents so you can get a sense of what the book covers:

Foreword

Acknowledgments

Background Briefing: What Can Four Centuries Worth of Improvements in a Generation Mean for Your Life?

Preface: A Singular Sensation

Introduction: Seeds of an Optimistic Idea, the 400 Year Project

Part One: ORIGINS

Chapter 1: How I Became a Practical, Unlimited Optimist

Chapter 2: A Surprise Announcement

Part Two: LESSONS

Chapter 3: Crawling and Toddling Ahead

Chapter 4: Introducing 2,000 Percent Solutions

Chapter 5: Irresistible Growth Beckons

Chapter 6: Reaching Millions of Readers

Chapter 7: Competitive Advantages

Chapter 8: Tutoring Lessons

Chapter 9: A Complementary Dimension: Getting More Out of Life

Chapter 10: Multiplying Exponential Improvements

Chapter 11: Making 400 Years Worth of Progress Quickly by Further Multiplying Exponential Improvements

Chapter 12: Saving More Souls

Part Three: PRESCRIPTIONS

Chapter 13: A Learning Foundation for Rapid Progress

Chapter 14: Entrepreneurial Models for Rapid Progress

Epilogue: Your Role in the 400 Year Project

Appendix A: Become a Helpful Book Reviewer

Appendix B: Why Are 2,000 Percent Solutions Available for Almost Any Activity?

Appendix C: How to Have Your Own Optimistic Adventures

If you would like to get a brief look, Amazon.com has an excerpt that you can download for 49 cents at

http://www.amazon.com/Adventures-of-an-Optimist/dp/B000RO9UWI/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1199235182&sr=1-1

If you would like to purchase a paperback copy, Amazon.com has new copies available for $18.99 at

http://www.amazon.com/Adventures-Optimist-Progress-Project-Improve/dp/1419684981/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1199235182&sr=1-2

If you want to learn more about the 400 Year Project, register for free to read about this work at http://www.fastforward400.com/.

May God bless you.

Donald W. Mitchell
Chairman, Mitchell and Company

Copyright 2008 Donald W. Mitchell

Gain Over 100,000 Readers for Your Book

2007-09-08T10:11:00.000-07:00

Good morning, Successful People!

Are you feeling motivated this morning?

I hope so. I know that I am!

Here are some facts you probably didn't know about writing books.

Let's start with nonfiction books. Did you know that fewer than 10 percent of all business books sold will ever be opened and read? Of those that are read, only 10 percent will be read from cover to cover.

Many people consider a book that sells 40,000 copies a business best seller. How would they feel if the results were published instead as having had 400 people who read the whole book? Not so impressive, eh?

For nonfiction books on general topics, most are given as gifts to people who never open them. Of those who do look inside, many readers will simply scan the index to find the few pages they care about. The rest of the book will be ignored.

Novels do better. Almost half will be opened and read a little. But fairly few will be read cover to cover. Why? People use these as ways to help fall asleep (the more boring the better), to fill in a little empty time on an airplane trip, and to look good on the shelf. If the novel isn't too interesting, most people will simply skip ahead to read the last few pages to see how it turns out.

If you are interested in selling lots of copies of your book and not having them read, get help from those who are involved in such marketing. You can do it with their help!

But if you want to get lots of people to read your book, get help from me.

I will be working with a handful of authors each month to plan their books and promotions to gain over 100,000 readers.

If that's of interest, contact me at ultimatecompetitiveadvantage@yahoo.com. I'll be glad to work with you to gain lots of readers. You'll do better in gaining readers than many best-selling authors, even if your book is never a best seller.

Remember to also visit

Live Spiritually Better than a Billionaire at http://livespirituallybetterthanabillionaire.blogspot.com/,

For information, contact me at
ultimatecompetitiveadvantage@yahoo.com .

I am available to you as a speaker on these subjects. You can find my background at http://livebetterthanabillionaireon5dollars.blogspot.com/2005_08_30_livebetterthanabillionaireon5dollars_archive.html/.

May God bless you.

Donald W. Mitchell
Chairman, Mitchell and Company

Copyright 2007 Donald W. Mitchell

Congratulations to Teresa Bolen for Winning the Contest to Become the Author of the Foreword for Adventures of an Optimist

2007-07-03T12:48:00.000-07:00

Good morning, Successful People!

Are you feeling motivated this morning?

I hope so. I know that I am!

Adventures of an Optimist is the story of how I conceived of and developed the 400 Year Project (see www.fastforward400.com) to demonstrate and inspire how the whole world could make improvements at 20 times the usual rate between 2015 and 2035. In that book, I also spell out the methods that anyone can begin using today to create enormous benefits for themselves, their families, those they love, and everyone else.

Thanks to all who registered and entered the contest to write a foreword or an afterword for the book.

Congratulations to Teresa Bolen for writing the winning foreword. As soon as her foreword is edited, Here is her winning foreword:

Foreword

What would you do if God gave you knowledge for making the world a much better place? Not your everyday, ordinary, run of the mill knowledge, but knowledge that would allow you and your team to create solutions that would otherwise not be available to the people of Earth for another 400 years.

Though he’s far too humble a servant of God to say so himself, I believe that is exactly what happened to my mentor and friend Don when he was gifted with the inspiration to create the 400 Year Project — a project to create 400 hundred years worth of improvements in merely 20 years. You read that right: four centuries worth of improvements in only two short decades.

The kinds of global improvement methods he writes about have the potential to provide nutritious food, clean water, excellent healthcare and safety to everyone on the planet. These improvement methods have the potential to bring peace to every region of the globe. On a more personal level, these methods have the potential to dramatically increase longevity, perhaps even to more than double one’s lifespan. Don’s methods offer the potential to improve the quality of life, personal relationships, finances, and education, and to present a myriad of new opportunities for you and everyone around you. If you’re not already familiar with Don’s other works such as The 2,000 Percent Solution, The 2,000 Percent Squared Solution, The Irresistible Growth Enterprise, and The Ultimate Competitive Advantage, then this may sound like a fairytale. However if you are already a follower of Don’s work, then you’ll immediately recognize the potential of his 400 Year Project to bring that Divine inspiration into physical reality, ushering in improvements on a global scale, limited only by the imaginations of those who are putting these teachings into practice. In a world where many find themselves lost in the doom and gloom of contemplating a future dominated by disease, disaster, crime, war, and suffering, Don’s optimistic vision is not merely a shining path of hope, but a template for how to recreate our world into something so blessed and wonderful that everyone experiencing it would become optimists.

In Adventures of an Optimist, Don takes you on a personal journey of how he came to be such a practical optimist and why he has so much faith in all of us. He gives a crash course on his world-renowned 2,000 percent solutions, i.e. any way that you can accomplish 20 times as much with the same time and resources, and gives convincing evidence on how that kind of incredible progress — though seemingly enormous at first blush — is merely a baby step for each of us. Don shows us again and again that we can gain infinitely more by learning how to make breakthroughs in areas with the most potential to benefit ourselves and everyone else.

One of the great things about Don’s writing is how he demonstrates the ways he and his students have repeatedly succeeded with these improvement methods. He also shares the flops, lest we begin to feel that we are reading the optimistic musings of an intellectual superman!

Don’s masterful use of metaphors and riveting storytelling ability draw you in to experiencing those moments with Don almost as if you were there in person while it was happening. One of my favorite examples is when he describes becoming one of Amazon.com’s top ten reviewers. Like so many people, I had wondered how in the world he accomplished it, especially in addition to his busy life as CEO of Mitchell and Company, helping world-class business professionals create better and better business solutions; professor at Rushmore University, guiding students to create their own 2,000 percent solutions; and writing numerous finely crafted books. You get to imagine what it was like in Amazon’s earlier days when most people were using dial-up modems, see how Don’s thinking interacted with the growth of the internet and of Amazon, and find out how he realized he could reach more people through Amazon reviews than even the most famous authors of business books do.

Once the reader is comfortably grounded into imagining the possibilities of 2,000 percent solutions, Don eases you into multiplying those exponential improvements. He expands the vision more and more, and you’ll either come out on the other side with your mind wide open for the very real possibilities that the 400 Year Project offers, or you’ll already be taking action to start making those breakthroughs in those areas with the most potential to benefit yourself and others.

As you read the book and begin to fully grasp the promise of the 400 Year Project, creating 400 hundred years worth of improvements in only 20 years, you’ll ask yourself, “What role do I want to play?” If you’ve ever wanted to make the world an infinitely better place, if you’ve been looking for an opportunity to make a difference so profound that you joyfully leap out of bed each day to create that difference, then this book may just be the introduction to the means you’ve been seeking. Get ready to open your heart, open your mind, and let the possibility of a future brighter than all your wildest dreams be revealed to you.

Teresa Bolen

Author, Master Plan to Master Exams: How to Discover Your Hidden Abilities to Create the Success You Desire

Kyoto, September 15, 2007

Remember to also visit

Live Spiritually Better than a Billionaire at http://livespirituallybetterthanabillionaire.blogspot.com/,

The 2,000 Percent Squared Solution Is Now Available on Amazon.com and Lulu.com

2007-05-02T07:44:00.000-07:00

Good morning, Successful People!

Are you feeling motivated this morning?

I hope so. I know that I am!

The 2,000 Squared Percent Solution is now available on Amazon.com.

Carol Coles and I are delighted to share this breakthrough book with you!

You'll learn how to increase revenues (for companies) and effectiveness (for nonprofits) by 20 times while reducing the cost of delivering your offerings and benefits by 96 percent. These two 2,000 percent solutions are the equivalent of creating 20 normal 2,000 percent solutions. You'll see profits and effectiveness soar by 400 times.

Fifty-seven outstanding people have endorsed this book already, more than endorsed all of our earlier books combined.

Here's what a few of them had to say:

"A 400 times increase in results! Is that an outrageous claim? Not if you know how. It's all about leverage - finding the point where small incremental efforts create enormous returns. Coles and Mitchell provide the insights, examples and experience to help you find those leverage points - a compelling read."

David P. Norton - Author, The Balanced Scorecard

"The 2,000 Percent Squared Solution is a brillinat distillation of essential management principles that everyone, and I mean everyone, canuse to drive dramatic acceleration of performance. It's packed with great stories that make the principles easy to understand, embrace, and apply. Whether you're a leader in a big, small, for-profit or not-for-profit organization, you need this book."

Rosabeth Moss Kanter - Harvard Business School, best-selling author of Confidence: How Winning Streaks & Losing Streaks Begin and End

"The 2,000 Percent Squared Solution combines audacity and practicality into a one-of-a-kind guide for improving performance."

Daniel H. Pink - Author of A Whole New Mind

"If you want greater profits and more efficiency, read this book. I found many breakthrough concepts for growing and streamlining all of our companies in this book. It made me aware of a lot of things we were not addressing and we are now."

Jack Canfield - Co-author of The Success Principles™, and Co-creator, Chicken Soup for the Entrepreneur's Soul®

We hope you'll take the time to examine this volume.

Here's the link for Amazon.com:

http://www.amazon.com

Once there, use the isbn ( 0615142761 ) or this name exactly: The 2,000 Percent Squared Solution. If you leave out the comma in 2,000, you probably won't be able to find the book.

In addition, Amazon.com will be offering a preview beginning in May. You can buy a digital version of Chapter One for only 49 cents through the Amazon Shorts program. Check it out!

Details of the book have also been sent to Amazon.com and should appear on the book's page in the next week or so.

You can also buy the book or a digital version at Lulu.com:

http://www.lulu.com/content/727157

Remember to also visit

Live Spiritually Better than a Billionaire at http://livespirituallybetterthanabillionaire.blogspot.com/,

The Portable 2,000 Percent Solution is now available on Amazon.com

2007-04-30T08:26:00.000-07:00

Good morning, Successful People!

Are you feeling motivated this morning?

I hope so. I know that I am!

The Portable 2,000 Percent Solution is now available on Amazon.com.

This book is a condensation and updating of our 1999 (and 2003 reprint) book, The 2,000 Percent Solution.

Carol Coles and I are looking forward to reading reviews on Amazon.com written by the many excellent Amazon.com reviewers and comments in blogs by Amazon.com customers who received copies of the uncorrected galleys.

You are able to post reviews now.

If you decide to look the book up, be sure to put a comma into 2,000 when you search or you won't find The Portable 2,000 Percent Solution. You can also search by the ISBN which is 1419663364 .

Here's the link:

http://www.amazon.com/Portable-000-Percent-Solution/dp/1419663364/ref=sr_1_3/102-8591504-8645760?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1177945797&sr=1-3

Remember to also visit

Live Spiritually Better than a Billionaire at http://livespirituallybetterthanabillionaire.blogspot.com/,

What Is Success?

2007-03-16T14:15:00.000-07:00

Good morning, Successful People!

Are you feeling motivated this morning?
I certainly hope so. I know that I am!

Many people blindly pursue "success" without thinking too much about the implications of the goal they've set out for themselves. If they have chosen a good goal, that's great. But if not, that lack of consideration may haunt them for decades to come.

Here are a few examples to consider:

Many of my friends and classmates seemed to have chosen their careers because they were "impressive" to someone else rather than because the work was greatly enjoyable to them. Mom and Dad would be proud of you regardless of what you do . . . as long as it's honest work.

Many of my students set very difficult goals. They may want to publish the definitive work in a crowded field like leadership, start a major consulting firm, and be hugely popular. Any one of those tasks would be enough for more than one lifetime. But to make matters more difficult, these people often set up an impossible timetable . . . everything may have to be done in 18 months. I'm all for high goals, but trying to do so much is like me trying to set the world record for marathons rapidly.

I also see organizations stumble because of goals. One company I know quite well is so focused on becoming the industry leader that the company's leaders never think very hard about the fact that it may not be worth anything to lead in that industry which seems to be facing obsolescence.

How can you avoid such pitfalls in chasing what seems to be success rather than success itself?

Here are some suggestions:

1. Imagine that you met your goal but that the accomplishment ended up not being very economically or socially valuable. Would you still be pleased to have done this? In other words, does the goal itself provide intrinsic joy that means you'd feel rewarded even if no one else appreciated what you had done?

2. Imagine that you had to choose between having a great family life and your goal. Which should get priority? If you say your family life, perhaps your other goal isn't your real idea of success. What would it be worth to you to raise youngsters who all were terrific people, had wonderful marriages, and raised even more terrific grandchildren . . . and they all chose to live near-by because they were so fond of you?

3. Are you interested in the success because it impresses you . . . or because it impresses others? In either case, you may be making a poor choice. The most rewarding successes are usually those that give us a sense of joy every moment we pursue them . . . whether or not anyone is impressed.

4. Have you checked out what others have chosen to see as success to see how you would feel about a similar journey? If you only pick choices that show up on the evening news, you are probably leaving out some great choices that you would like better.

# # #

Please let me know what else you would like to
learn, and I'll do my best to help in future blog
entries.

Thanks so much for your support of this blog.
I'm delighted that so many tens of thousands
of people have made this blog part of their
regular reading habit!

If you like this blog, please let others
know who might also enjoy it. E-mailing
your favorite post to them is a great idea.

Thank you to my many friends, students,
clients and blog readers who are spreading the
good word about this blog.

If you are visiting today because someone
invited you, I'm delighted to meet you! Let's
stay in touch.

Remember to also visit

Live Spiritually Better than a Billionaire at http://livespirituallybetterthanabillionaire.blogspot.com/,

Enjoy Mansions Better than a Billionaire at http://enjoymansionsbetterthanabillionaire.blogspot.com/,

Enjoy Football Better than a Billionaire at http://enjoyfootballbetterthanabillionaire.blogspot.com/ and

Be a World Hero Better than a Billionaire at http://beaworldherobetterthanabillionaire.blogspot.com/.

I offer individual on-line tutorials and
in-person seminars on creating 2,000
percent solutions (20 times the results with
the same effort), developing more profitable
business models and designing strategies that
work regardless of the business environment.
For information, contact me at
ultimatecompetitiveadvantage@yahoo.com.

I am available to you as a speaker on these
subjects. You can find my background at http://livebetterthanabillionaireon5dollars.blogspot.com/2005_08_30_livebetterthanabillionaireon5dollars_archive.html/.

May God bless you.

Donald W. Mitchell
Chairman, Mitchell and Company

Copyright 2007 Donald W. Mitchell

Stay the Course Rather than Slice and Dice Your Time

2006-01-25T05:28:00.000-08:00

Entrepreneur Lesson: Start Ups Should Avoid Time Management in Favor of Multiplying Customer Benefits

Download this press release as an Adobe PDF document.

While Moses was away for forty days receiving the Ten Commandments from God, Aaron bowed to popular pressure and created a golden calf for the Hebrews to worship. As a result God became angry and decided that the Hebrews would wander in the wilderness for forty years before reaching the Promised Land. Likewise, entrepreneurs launching start ups today are finding that popular time management techniques encourage entrepreneurs to work on the wrong tasks, rather than spending whatever time is needed to complete the tasks that will lead to the promised land of entrepreneurial success. As a result, entrepreneur start ups fail to succeed more often, are smaller and less profitable, and take longer to establish.

Weston, MA (PRWEB) January 25, 2006 -- Entrepreneur start ups seeking to create billion dollar businesses should focus all their attention on the right tasks rather than allocating their time to what they think is important based on a new study.

Time management experts argue that you should split your day into a variety of tasks, emphasizing the most important ones according to your goals. Such a process would never have allowed Moses to spend forty days with God on Mount Sinai to receive the Ten Commandments. Instead Moses would have been spending part of every day (except the Sabbath) reorganizing the distribution of manna, planning for the deployment of scouts to look for the Promised Land and practicing his technique for bringing forth water in the desert. Perhaps Aaron had, in fact, taken such a time management course and had an objective to keep people satisfied with their religious practices according to their own preferences. If so, he clearly was working on the wrong task.

The Billionaire Entrepreneurs’ Master Mind, http://billiondollarbusiness.blogspot.com/, a global learning organization that helps entrepreneurs create billion dollar businesses from start ups headed by Donald Mitchell (co-author of The 2,000 Percent Solution http://www.2000percentsolution.com/, The Ultimate Competitive Advantage and The Irresistible Growth Enterprise http://www.irresistibleforces.com/), examined the large companies that had the fastest growth under one CEO from 1989-2002 which had been founded as entrepreneurial ventures. This study determined that

The entrepreneurs focused their start ups on 7 key tasks, regardless of how long it took to accomplish the tasks:
― Creating a major new market or expanding an old one by 20 times
― Reducing the costs of customers and beneficiaries to use the start up’s offerings
― Adding customers 20 times faster than competitors at low cost
― Improving the start up’s business model at least every four years
― Employing a business model that didn’t require much external equity capital
― Building a management team deep in innovation, operations, finance and marketing
― Searching to find out what they didn’t know that they didn’t know.

This focus reminds many entrepreneurs of the way that Moses stayed with God on Mount Sinai until he had the Ten Commandments. It took forty days, but it was well worth the wait.

Donald Mitchell noted: “Entrepreneurs may be setting themselves up for failure when they set rigid deadlines for launching their offerings. If a delay means greatly adding to customer benefits, vast realms of opportunity will be opened up by being flexible rather than efficient in the venture’s use of time. Time management techniques can create a false illusion of progress while directing attention away from what’s really important to future success. Unsuccessful entrepreneurs usually are focusing on only one, two or three of the key tasks which creates the appearance rather than the reality of entrepreneurial progress.”

Mitchell cited the example of Tellabs which experienced a long delay of several years in producing its first telecommunications switch. But the company’s entrepreneurial leader, Mike Birck, was patient in order to ensure that the resulting product would be unstoppable. It was the right decision. After the product was launched, Tellabs experienced more sustained revenue, earnings and stock price growth than any other manufacturing company of its size in North America.

A media tele-conference will be held at 2 p.m. EST today, January 25. Please dial 1-712-580-7706 (passcode 16474222#) to join this tele-conference.

# # #

Unleash Your Brilliance with Unleashing Your Brilliance Today!

2006-01-23T00:01:00.000-08:00

Good morning, Successful People!

Are you feeling motivated this morning? I certainly hope so.
I know that I am!

I wanted to let you know about a very special offer. From midnight to midnight on January 23, 2006, you can buy Dr. Brian Walsh's book, Unleashing Your Brillianceon Amazon.com for $16.43 plus shipping (see http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0973841516/qid=1137993634/sr=2-1/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_1/104-5889592-2919129?s=books&v=glance&n=283155) and receive over $2,000 worth of free bonuses. Among those bonuses is a free e-copy of my book, The 2,000 Percent Solution.

Here is the review I wrote of this wonderful book in calling it the self -improvement book you should read in 2006:

A Simple, Effective Overview of How to Learn and Work Better

Dr. Walsh has provided us with a remarkable resource here. Unleashing Your Brilliance combines the lessons from many different disciplines of how to use your mind and body to accomplish more.

You will read about mind mapping, how your brain operates, accelerated learning methods, the many dimensions of intelligence, how emotions and feelings can affect learning, different thinking processes, learning styles, the benefits of mind-body integration, how hypnosis helps, the key principles of Neuro-Linguistic Programming, the photoreading process and learning a second language.

Dr. Walsh has a gift for simplicity. While any of these subjects normally fills many books, he manages to gracefully capture the gist in a few pages. It's a talent I envy.

He also provides you with extensive references so you can dive in to learn more in any of these areas that attracts your interest.

The book has one of the most entertaining chapter review mechanisms I have ever seen. You fill out a crossword puzzle at the end of each one to see if you recall key phrases, terms and ideas. Seeing what you missed naturally causes you to want to reread the chapter for greater mastery.

I was impressed that the material is very up-to-date. If you are going to read this book, do it now. Our knowledge of perception, learning and thinking are advancing so rapidly that this book will inevitably become obsolete in a few years. I hope Dr. Walsh will provide us with an updated edition when that's the case.

If you only read one self-improvement book in 2006, Unleashing Your Brilliance would be a good choice.

Nice work, Dr. Walsh!

To find out the details of how to take advantage of his offer go to:

http://www.unleashingbook.com/Amazonletter.htm

Please let me know what else you would like to learn, and I'll do my best to help in future blog entries.

******************************************

Thanks so much for your support of this blog. I'm delighted that so many tens of thousands of people have made this blog part of their regular reading habit!

If you like this blog, please let others know who might also enjoy it. E-mailing your favorite post to them is a great idea.

Thank you to my many friends, students, clients and blog readers who are spreading the good word about this blog.

If you are visiting today because someone invited you, I'm delighted to meet you! Let's stay in touch.

Remember to also visit

Live Spiritually Better than a Billionaire at http://livespirituallybetterthanabillionaire.blogspot.com/,

Enjoy Mansions Better than a Billionaire at http://enjoymansionsbetterthanabillionaire.blogspot.com/,

Enjoy Football Better than a Billionaire at http://enjoyfootballbetterthanabillionaire.blogspot.com/ and

Be a World Hero Better than a Billionaire at http://beaworldherobetterthanabillionaire.blogspot.com/.

I offer individual on-line tutorials and in-person seminars on creating 2,000 percent solutions (20 times the results with the same effort), developing more profitable business models and designing strategies that work regardless of the business environment. For information, contact me at ultimatecompetitiveadvantage@yahoo.com.

I am available to you as a speaker on these subjects. You can find my background at http://livebetterthanabillionaireon5dollars.blogspot.com/2005_08_30_livebetterthanabillionaireon5dollars_archive.html/.

May God bless you.

Donald W. Mitchell, Your Dream Concierge

Copyright 2006 Donald W. Mitchell

Use Your Mental Capital Rather than Venture Capital

2006-01-18T05:52:00.000-08:00

Good morning, Successful People!

Are you feeling motivated this morning?
I certainly hope so. I know that I am!

The Billionaire Entrepreneurs' Master
Mind put out a press release this morning
that I thought you might find helpful.

Here it is:

Entrepreneur Lesson: Start Ups Should Avoid Venture Capital
and Focus on 7 Key Tasks Instead Based a New Study

Download this press release as an Adobe PDF document.

When David defeated Goliath, he used only a sling and some
stones. Leveraging his skill and focus, David aimed his
stones at the right spot and the rest is history. Entrepreneurs
today launching start ups are finding that venture capital
makes them vulnerable like Goliath while mental capital
makes them agile and effective like David.

Weston, MA (PR WEB) January 18, 2006 ― Entrepreneur
start ups seeking venture capital are less likely to create
billion dollar businesses than start ups that focus on 7 key
tasks based on a new study.

The Billionaire Entrepreneurs’ Master Mind,
http://billiondollarbusiness.blogspot.com/, a global learning
organization that helps entrepreneurs create billion dollar
businesses from start ups headed by Donald Mitchell
(co-author of The 2,000 Percent Solution
http://www.2000percentsolution.com/, The 2,000 Percent
Solution Workbook http://2000percentsolutions.blogspot.com/,
The Ultimate Competitive Advantage and The Irresistible
Growth Enterprise http://www.irresistibleforces.com/),
examined the large companies that had the fastest growth
under one CEO from 1989-2002.

Most of the top performers were begun by an entrepreneur
as a start up. The majority of these top-performing former
start ups never relied on venture capital. Examples include
Clear Channel Communications, Paychex, Virgin Group and
Wal-Mart. Their beginnings were often humble. Sir Richard
Branson dropped out of high school to start Virgin. Tom
Golisano started Paychex in a one-room office with two colleagues.

Instead of venture capital, the entrepreneurs focused their
start ups on 7 key tasks:
― Creating a major new market or expanding an old one by
20 times
― Reducing the costs of customers and beneficiaries to use
the start up’s offerings
― Adding customers 20 times faster than competitors at
low cost
― Improving the start up’s business model at least every
four years
― Employing a business model that didn’t require much
external equity capital
― Building a management team deep in innovation,
operations, finance and marketing
― Searching to find out what they didn’t know that they
didn’t know.

Donald Mitchell noted: “Venture capital is expensive because
investors are seeking huge gains. Fields that attract venture
capital soon have too many competitors. Venture capitalists
are quick to fire entrepreneurs who fail to meet their business
plan goals. Firms without venture capital learn how to create
leaner, more competitive businesses that can become highly
prosperous.”

A press conference for members of the media will be held at
4 p.m. EST today, January 18, to discuss this research and
how entrepreneurs can build their businesses more successfully.
To register for this press conference, send an e-mail before
4 p.m. EST today to e-mail protected from spam bots and
directions to join the call will be sent to you. Label your e-mail
subject as "Entrepreneur Lesson Press Conference".

# # #

Free Tele-Seminars January 14, 18 and 21

2006-01-02T09:25:00.000-08:00

Good morning, Successful People!

Are you feeling motivated this morning? I certainly hope so. I know that I am!

Beginning on January 14, I will host another series of three free one-hour conference calls in which you can join to hear me describe The Billionaire Entrepreneurs' Master Mind. As part of these calls, I will be describing more about creating 2,000 percent solutions to build a billion dollar business.

This will also be a good opportunity to learn more about creating 2,000 percent solutions.

Before each call you plan to join, I suggest you send me your questions by e-mail so I can focus on what interests you most.

I will also create a FAQ section to answer those questions after I have a better sense of what aspects are of most interest.

Send your questions by e-mail to ultimatecompetitiveadvantage@yahoo.com and label it "I Have a Question about Building a Billion Dollar Business" in the subject line.

Here's the Call-in Information:

Call Dates and Times:

Saturday, January 14, 2006: 11 a.m. EST (8 a.m. PST)

Wednesday, January 18, 2006: 5 p.m. EST (2 p.m. PST)

Saturday, January 21, 2006: 11 a.m. EST (8 a.m. PST)

Call-In Instructions:

Dial 1-712-580-7706 (in the United States) a few minutes early. I will calibrate the starting time using http://www.time.gov/.

Select 2 on your touch-tone keypad to bypass instructions.

Enter the teleconference passcode: 16474211#

You will hear music if you are the first person on the call. If you don't hear music, others are on the line. Please introduce yourself so I can make your acquaintance.

I look forward to speaking with you on one of these calls!

If you would like to learn more about how you can build a billion dollar business and cannot join one of these calls, send me an e-mail at ultimatecompetitiveadvantage@yahoo.com and label it "I Want to Build a Billion Dollar Business" in the subject line. I offer a variety of services that can help.

In the meantime, read the December 19, 2005 blog post to Create a Billion Dollar Business to learn more about The Billionaire Entrepreneurs' Master Mind.

Please let me know what else you would like to learn, and I'll do my best to help in future blog entries.

Thanks so much for your support of this blog. I'm delighted that so many tens of thousands of people have made this blog part of their regular reading habit!

If you like this blog, please let others know who might also enjoy it. E-mailing your favorite post to them is a great idea.

Thank you to my many friends, students, clients and blog readers who are spreading the good word about this blog.

If you are visiting today because someone invited you, I'm delighted to meet you! Let's stay in touch.

Remember to also visit

Live Spiritually Better than a Billionaire at http://livespirituallybetterthanabillionaire.blogspot.com/,

Enjoy Mansions Better than a Billionaire at http://enjoymansionsbetterthanabillionaire.blogspot.com/,

Enjoy Football Better than a Billionaire at http://enjoyfootballbetterthanabillionaire.blogspot.com/ and

Be a World Hero Better than a Billionaire at http://beaworldherobetterthanabillionaire.blogspot.com/.

I offer individual on-line tutorials and in-person seminars on creating 2,000 percent solutions (20 times the results with the same effort), developing more profitable business models and designing strategies that work regardless of the business environment. For information, contact me at ultimatecompetitiveadvantage@yahoo.com.

I am available to you as a speaker on these subjects. You can find my background at http://livebetterthanabillionaireon5dollars.blogspot.com/2005_08_30_livebetterthanabillionaireon5dollars_archive.html/.

May God bless you.

Donald W. Mitchell
Chairman, Mitchell and Company

Copyright 2005 Donald W. Mitchell

Follow Mitchell's Law to Achieve Your Dreams in 2006

2005-12-31T05:29:00.000-08:00

Good morning, Successful People!

Are you feeling motivated this morning? I hope so. I certainly know that I am.

Let me share one idea with you . . . that may be more valuable than any other idea you can apply in 2006.

Management gurus all have their ideas about how to make you more effective. Here are some of the practices that they advocate:

Time management
Management by objectives
Six Sigma quality
Non-stop innovation
Top grading
Empowerment
Team building
Employee ownership
Training

and on it goes.

There's a problem with what they propose: Such solutions ignore the potential of compound expansion of benefits.

Let me explain. If you gain a benefit in one area, your organization's results improve only by that amount . . . unless the benefit triggers a gain in another area. It's like having a saving account that earns interest for one year, but doesn't earn any interest after that year.

Why does that occur? Competitors are improving every year. By next year, they have matched your gain in some other area and your improvement no longer adds more profit and cash flow.

When you link together larger gains that multiply their organizational benefits faster than competitors, you create ever increasing scales of benefit.

Here's an example. Imagine that a company finds a way to expand its sales by 20 times. That's a great breakthrough. The first year profit gain is likely to be equivalent of 30 years of normal progress!

But that's just the beginning. Now have the same company find a way to reduce its cost of providing its offerings by 95%. These cost savings multiply over the increased volume. The first year gain in earnings and profits is likely to be the equivalent of 600 years of normal progress (profits are now approximately 40,000 percent of the beginning level).

Don't stop now. Next have the same company be able to expand the market growth by 20 times annually. This multiples sales, profits and cash flow even faster because the company's ability to gain market share from the first improvement is further increased. The first year gain in earnings and profits is likely to be the equivalent of 12,000 years of normal progress (profits are now approximately 80,000 percent of the beginning level). And each year of market growth at that rate adds 20 times more profits.

We can keep going by putting in innovations to reduce capital needs by 95%. This means that free cash flow will increase by several hundred thousand percent.

By now, you are probably ready for Mitchell's Law:

Organizational growth in cash flow and value expands geometrically as a function of market growth times cost reductions faster than competitors times gains in market share times capital intensity reductions faster than competitors times use of lower cost capital than competitors.

Here's the mathematical expression of that law:

OG = (MG)(CR)(MSG)(CIR)(ULCC)

Organizational Growth in Cash Flow and Value = OG

Market Growth = MG

Cost Reductions Faster than Competitors = CR

Market Share Gains = MSG

Capital Intensity Reductions Faster than Competitors = CIR

Use of Lower Cost Capital than Competitors = ULCC

If you have questions about Mitchell's Law, please make comments on this blog post or contact me at ultimatecompetitiveadvantage@yahoo.com/. Please label your subject as "Mitchell's Law" so I will know to be sure to look at your e-mail.

Donald W. Mitchell
Your Dream Concierge

Copyright 2005 Donald W. Mitchell

Major in 2,000 Percent Solution Processes at Rushmore University for Greater Success!

2005-12-31T03:59:00.000-08:00

Good morning, Successful People!

Are you feeling motivated this morning? I certainly hope so. I know that I am!

I have a nice surprise for you this morning!

Rushmore University has just announced that it will now be offering masters and doctoral degrees in creating exponential organizational success via 2,000 percent solution studies. I will teach all of these courses.

You can apply The 2,000 Percent Solution Process to any subject that Rushmore offers courses in.

For more details, go to:

http://www.rushmore.edu/2000.htm

If you have questions, feel free to contact me directly at ultimatecompetitiveadvantage@yahoo.com/.

Here are some descriptions of experiences that others have had with my popular introductory course on this subject:

“Professor Donald Mitchell brought me to a whole new world. I used the course based on The 2,000 Percent Solution and The 2,000 Percent Solution Workbook to establish a strikingly promising business strategy for my company, which other business courses failed to help me provide. Now I am doubling my company’s business and profit very rapidly and realizing my dream: Exponential Business Success.”

–Hiroshi Fukushi

President, FD Green Co., Ltd.,

Thailand

; Managing Director, AET Manufacturing Co., Ltd.,

Thailand

; and Director, Ajinomoto Co. Ltd.,

Thailand

“This course obliterated my complacency. Our business has turned the corner due to application of the 2,000 percent solution principle. No more 6% interest on medium risk financial investments – 40% in 9 months, an annualized 755% improvement. The blinkers have gone.”

–William Kempen

Partner, Impact Human Resources, South Africa

“Donald Mitchell’s on-line tutorial alerted me to company stalls that must be avoided. It was very instructive to learn how not to do something. The creation of a 2,000 percent solution showed me that there are always better, cheaper and more effective ways to organize any business activity.”

–Neil R. McGrath

CEO, Application Developers Pty. Ltd., Australia

“The ‘Exponential Business Success’ course is quite ideal for small entrepreneurs and those working for reputable organisations to create solutions to the many snags that retard an enterprise’s exponential growth. The course is a powerful tool for those who are keen to bring significant change in their personal lives and organizations they work for.

“I am one of many students who have benefited greatly from this course. I am not only an effective member of my family and the organisation I work for but a visionary affiliate of my society as well.

“The author of the books The 2,000 Percent Solution and The 2,000 Percent Solution Workbook, Professor Donald Mitchell uses both resources to mentor his students in a more practical way. The first book takes the learner through stalls, stall busters commonly found in any organisation and the eight steps towards creating a valuable business solution … while The 2,000 Percent Solution Workbook guides the learner through a series of practical applications of the 2,000 Percent Solution process You do not need to go to class for the course is offered on-line.”

–Jacob V. Yesaya

Senior Lecturer in Vocational Education, Department of Vocational Education and Training,

Botswana

“This course enabled me to explore comprehensively all aspects of my organisation, ranging from the traditions we follow blindly, the complacency which had set in the way we serve our customers, the unnecessary bureaucracy and the blind spots in me and in my organization. This course helped me immensely in learning and acquiring expertise and know-how on how to manage and discipline my thinking, to be more creative, and build my self-confidence in my ability to make a big positive difference in other peoples’ lives.”

–Elijah Chingosho

Associate Professor, Rushmore University, Africa

“Under the wonderful guidance of my advisor, Professor Donald Mitchell, I developed goals, new habits and skills to achieve professional as well as personal success to lead a happy life.”

–Burra Ramulu

Supervisor, SAFCO-3,

Saudi Arabia

“When our effectiveness suffers because of stalled mind-sets, when our productivity is low, because we are stuck in bad habits that disfavour our projects, 2,000 percent solutions are effective answers. In his courses, Donald Mitchell shows students how to identify stalls and break through them by creating 2,000 percent solutions. I have found this idea of creating stall busters that supply exponential success highly useful in my professional and private life. Once people identify the main problems and create the ‘right’ solution to tackle them, not only do you solve the problem that you had in the first place, but you might also find yourself solving problems that you didn’t think that you even had and get results that you never even thought you could achieve. Donald Mitchell’s courses on the 2,000 percent solution are a highly beneficial lesson to any students who want to get things right and reach goals beyond their expectations.”

–Oliver Haggenmuller

Executive,

Switzerland

“I found Don Mitchell’s 8-step process an excellent practical tool to demolish all hindering forces and barriers in my work. The 2,000 Percent Solution gave me insight to look far beyond the limitations of my present reality. His feedback was very precise in a way that pinpointed the key areas where the performance of my business could be dramatically improved.”

–Roy Rissanen

MBA, Missionary Pilot, Africa

"The 2,000 Percent Solution course under the guidance and the kindness of author Professor Donald Mitchell has been a delightful experience. Easy and fun, I studied chapter after chapter with facility. The logical process and the selected examples make this book accessible to everyone."

- Alain Pierre Mignon

Executive, Indonesia

Beginning this week, I began hosting a series of three free one-hour conference calls in which you can join to hear me describe The Billionaire Entrepreneurs' Master Mind. As part of these calls, I will be describing more about creating 2,000 percent solutions.

Before each call you plan to join, I suggest you send me your questions by e-mail so I can focus on what interests you most.

I will also create a FAQ section to answer those questions after I have a better sense of what aspects are of most interest.

Send your questions by e-mail to ultimatecompetitiveadvantage@yahoo.com and label it "I Have a Question about Building a Billion Dollar Business" in the subject line.

Here's the Call-in Information:

Call Dates and Times:

Wednesday, December 28, 2005: 11 a.m. EST (8 a.m. PST)

Thursday, December 29, 2005: 5 p.m. EST (2 p.m. PST)

Monday, January 2, 2006: 11 a.m. EST (8 a.m. PST)

Call-In Instructions:

Dial 1-712-580-7706 (in the United States) a few minutes early. I will calibrate the starting time using http://www.time.gov/.

Select 2 on your touch-tone keypad to bypass instructions.

Enter the teleconference passcode: 16474211#

You will hear music if you are the first person on the call. If you don't hear music, others are on the line. Please introduce yourself so I can make your acquaintance.

I look forward to speaking with you on one of these calls!

If you would like to learn more about how you can build a billion dollar business and cannot join one of these calls, send me an e-mail at ultimatecompetitiveadvantage@yahoo.com and label it "I Want to Build a Billion Dollar Business" in the subject line. I offer a variety of services that can help.

In the meantime, read the December 19, 2005 blog post to Create a Billion Dollar Business to learn more about The Billionaire Entrepreneurs' Master Mind.

Please let me know what else you would like to learn, and I'll do my best to help in future blog entries.

Thanks so much for your support of this blog. I'm delighted that so many tens of thousands of people have made this blog part of their regular reading habit!

If you like this blog, please let others know who might also enjoy it. E-mailing your favorite post to them is a great idea.

Thank you to my many friends, students, clients and blog readers who are spreading the good word about this blog.

If you are visiting today because someone invited you, I'm delighted to meet you! Let's stay in touch.

Remember to also visit

Live Spiritually Better than a Billionaire at http://livespirituallybetterthanabillionaire.blogspot.com/,

Enjoy Mansions Better than a Billionaire at http://enjoymansionsbetterthanabillionaire.blogspot.com/,

Enjoy Football Better than a Billionaire at http://enjoyfootballbetterthanabillionaire.blogspot.com/ and

Be a World Hero Better than a Billionaire at http://beaworldherobetterthanabillionaire.blogspot.com/.

I offer individual on-line tutorials and in-person seminars on creating 2,000 percent solutions (20 times the results with the same effort), developing more profitable business models and designing strategies that work regardless of the business environment. For information, contact me at ultimatecompetitiveadvantage@yahoo.com.

I am available to you as a speaker on these subjects. You can find my background at http://livebetterthanabillionaireon5dollars.blogspot.com/2005_08_30_livebetterthanabillionaireon5dollars_archive.html/.

May God bless you.

Donald W. Mitchell, Your Dream Concierge

Copyright 2005 Donald W. Mitchell

Take the Course in Creating 2,000 Percent Solutions

2005-12-26T08:19:00.000-08:00

Good morning, Successful People!

Are you feeling motivated this morning? I certainly hope so. I know that I am!

Many people ask me how they can afford the time and money to take a course in creating 2,000 percent solutions.

Let me suggest two 2,000 percent solutions to that challenge:

1. Ask your employer to pay for the course in exchange for developing a 2,000 percent solution on a mutually acceptable subject related to your own work.

2. Ask your employer to let you use normal working hours for time to take the course and apply the results.

These 2,000 percent solutions have a great advantage for you: Your employer will more rapidly recognize your skill in creating 2,000 percent solutions . . . which should lead to better assignments and promotions.

Before agreeing to such an idea, most employers want more information. To make that easier, I've included below the course instructions and some comments made by those who have taken the course. I can also send you copies of papers that others have written for this course to show you what's possible.

Here are the directions:

I am delighted that you will be taking my course on creating 2,000 percent solutions.

If you will send me some background about yourself, I will be better able to work with you on the course.

You should plan to read and use both The 2,000 Percent Solution and The 2,000 Percent Solution Worb0ok in the course.

If you want to refer other people to this subject who might help you with the project, let them know about the free on-line resources.

They can read all but two chapters of The 2,000 Percent Solution by going to www.2000percentsolution.com and clicking on the "excerpts" button on the left hand column. That will take them to the table of contents and start with the beginning material.

They can also order an inexpensive hard copy or an e-book download from Amazon.com.

Excerpts from The 2,000 Percent Solution Workbook can be found at http://2000percentsolutions.blogspot.com/. Inexpensive hard copies and e-books can also be ordered from Amazon.com.

As you work on the course, keep a journal of how you spend your time each day and how much time you spend. You should submit the journal to me along with your paper. That will give me a flavor of any problems you have had.

Your paper should have two parts. In the first part, you should identify some stalls that have been or are a problem now for an organization you know well or for you personally. Next, identify how those stalls were overcome or could be overcome. This material is covered in the first part of The 2,000 Percent Solution.

In the second part of the paper, you should create your own 2,000 percent solution (a way to do something 20 times more effectively with the same or fewer resources or effort or get the same results in 1/20 the time or effort). When you are ready to pick the area you want to work on, e-mail me and tell me about it and I will give you further suggestions. This part of the paper relates to the 8 step process in part two of The 2,000 Percent Solution. You should discuss how each part of the 8 step process applies to your development of a 2,000 percent solution and explain why your solution is or will become a 2,000 percent solution.

If you pick some issue that's strategic to you or an organization, you will get more benefit than if you pick some trivial area.

Don't worry about page limits. Most people need to write more words than they expect. I'm happy to review longer papers.

I will also be glad to review drafts of your paper and give you suggestions as you go.

When you are satisfied with the paper, send it to me for final comments and review.

If you have any questions as you go, please let me know.

Here are some descriptions of experiences that others have had with the course:

“Professor Donald Mitchell brought me to a whole new world. I used the course based on The 2,000 Percent Solution and The 2,000 Percent Solution Workbook to establish a strikingly promising business strategy for my company, which other business courses failed to help me provide. Now I am doubling my company’s business and profit very rapidly and realizing my dream: Exponential Business Success.”

–Hiroshi Fukushi

President, FD Green Co., Ltd.,

Thailand

; Managing Director, AET Manufacturing Co., Ltd.,

Thailand

; and Director, Ajinomoto Co. Ltd.,

Thailand

–William Kempen

Partner, Impact Human Resources, South Africa

–Neil R. McGrath

CEO, Application Developers Pty. Ltd., Australia

–Jacob V. Yesaya

Senior Lecturer in Vocational Education, Department of Vocational Education and Training,

Botswana

–Elijah Chingosho

–Burra Ramulu

Supervisor, SAFCO-3,

Saudi Arabia

–Oliver Haggenmuller

Executive,

Switzerland

–Roy Rissanen

MBA, Missionary Pilot, Africa

- Alain Pierre Mignon

Executive, Indonesia

Beginning this week, I will host a series of three free one-hour conference calls in which you can join to hear me describe The Billionaire Entrepreneurs' Master Mind. As part of these calls, I will be describing more about creating 2,000 percent solutions.

Before each call you plan to join, I suggest you send me your questions by e-mail so I can focus on what interests you most.

I will also create a FAQ section to answer those questions after I have a better sense of what aspects are of most interest.

Send your questions by e-mail to ultimatecompetitiveadvantage@yahoo.com and label it "I Have a Question about Building a Billion Dollar Business" in the subject line.

Here's the Call-in Information:

Call Dates and Times:

Wednesday, December 28, 2005: 11 a.m. EST (8 a.m. PST)

Thursday, December 29, 2005: 5 p.m. EST (2 p.m. PST)

Monday, January 2, 2006: 11 a.m. EST (8 a.m. PST)

Call-In Instructions:

Dial 1-712-580-7706 (in the United States) a few minutes early. I will calibrate the starting time using http://www.time.gov/.

Select 2 on your touch-tone keypad to bypass instructions.

Enter the teleconference passcode: 16474211#

You will hear music if you are the first person on the call. If you don't hear music, others are on the line. Please introduce yourself so I can make your acquaintance.

I look forward to speaking with you on one of these calls!

If you would like to learn more about how you can build a billion dollar business and cannot join one of these calls, send me an e-mail at ultimatecompetitiveadvantage@yahoo.com and label it "I Want to Build a Billion Dollar Business" in the subject line. I offer a variety of services that can help.

In the meantime, read the December 19, 2005 blog post to Create a Billion Dollar Business to learn more about The Billionaire Entrepreneurs' Master Mind.

Please let me know what else you would like to learn, and I'll do my best to help in future blog entries.

Thanks so much for your support of this blog. I'm delighted that so many tens of thousands of people have made this blog part of their regular reading habit!

If you like this blog, please let others know who might also enjoy it. E-mailing your favorite post to them is a great idea.

Thank you to my many friends, students, clients and blog readers who are spreading the good word about this blog.

If you are visiting today because someone invited you, I'm delighted to meet you! Let's stay in touch.

Remember to also visit

Live Spiritually Better than a Billionaire at http://livespirituallybetterthanabillionaire.blogspot.com/,

Enjoy Mansions Better than a Billionaire at http://enjoymansionsbetterthanabillionaire.blogspot.com/,

Enjoy Football Better than a Billionaire at http://enjoyfootballbetterthanabillionaire.blogspot.com/ and

Be a World Hero Better than a Billionaire at http://beaworldherobetterthanabillionaire.blogspot.com/.

I offer individual on-line tutorials and in-person seminars on creating 2,000 percent solutions (20 times the results with the same effort), developing more profitable business models and designing strategies that work regardless of the business environment. For information, contact me at ultimatecompetitiveadvantage@yahoo.com.

I am available to you as a speaker on these subjects. You can find my background at http://livebetterthanabillionaireon5dollars.blogspot.com/2005_08_30_livebetterthanabillionaireon5dollars_archive.html/.

May God bless you.

Donald W. Mitchell, Your Dream Concierge

Copyright 2005 Donald W. Mitchell

Free Teleconferences to Learn about Joining The Billionaire Entrepreneurs' Master Mind on December 28 and 29 and January 2

2005-12-24T10:14:00.000-08:00

Good morning, Successful People!

Are you feeling motivated this morning? I certainly hope so. I know that I am!

I have great news for you: The Billionaire Entrepreneurs' Master Mind has been launched and membership applications are being accepted now!

Charter members are signing up from all around the world now.

Regular weekly teleconferences will begin in February.

Between now and then, I will be explaining this new service, evaluating prospective members, sharing background materials with members and reviewing their business models to suggest improvements.

I want to make it easy for you to consider becoming a member as well.

Beginning next week, I will host a series of three free one-hour conference calls in which you can join to hear me describe The Billionaire Entrepreneurs' Master Mind.

Before each call you plan to join, I suggest you send me your questions by e-mail so I can focus on what interests you most.

I will also create a FAQ section to answer those questions after I have a better sense of what aspects are of most interest.

Send your questions by e-mail to ultimatecompetitiveadvantage@yahoo.com and label it "I Have a Question about Building a Billion Dollar Business" in the subject line.

Here's the Call-in Information:

Call Dates and Times:

Wednesday, December 28, 2005: 11 a.m. EST (8 a.m. PST)

Thursday, December 29, 2005: 5 p.m. EST (2 p.m. PST)

Monday, January 2, 2006: 11 a.m. EST (8 a.m. PST)

Call-In Instructions:

Dial 1-712-580-7706 (in the United States) a few minutes early. I will calibrate the starting time using http://www.time.gov/.

Select 2 on your touch-tone keypad to bypass instructions.

Enter the teleconference passcode: 16474211#

You will hear music if you are the first person on the call. If you don't hear music, others are on the line. Please introduce yourself so I can make your acquaintance.

I look forward to speaking with you on one of these calls!

If you would like to learn more about how you can build a billion dollar business and cannot join one of these calls, send me an e-mail at ultimatecompetitiveadvantage@yahoo.com and label it "I Want to Build a Billion Dollar Business" in the subject line. I offer a variety of services that can help.

In the meantime, read the December 19, 2005 blog post to Create a Billion Dollar Business to learn more about The Billionaire Entrepreneurs' Master Mind.

May God bless you. Merry Christmas!

Donald W. Mitchell
Chairman
Mitchell and Company

Copyright 2005 Donald W. Mitchell

Ask the Right Questions to Live Your Dreams

2005-12-20T06:33:00.000-08:00

Good morning, Successful People!

Are you feeling motivated this morning? I certainly hope so. I know that I am!

In the New Testament Jesus advised, "Ask and ye shall receive."

That's still good advice today.

But many people don't know what to task for.

Like a kid in a candy store, they often want too much of what isn't good for them.

But if you will ask the right questions, you'll discover things and experiences that are good for you . . . and how to obtain them.

In Dr. Stephen Covey's book, The Seven Habits of Highly Successful People, he advises, "Begin with the end in mind." More people need to heed that advice.

I observed an example of not asking for the right things yesterday that I want to share with you. An erstwhile author has been working on a draft of a new book for months. The author kept being distracted from working on the book. In a conversation yesterday, I learned that the author was reluctant to finish the book because book marketing seems like an unpleasant chore. My impression was that this author was sabotaging the writing effort in part due to ambivalence about doing the book marketing.

The author commented yesterday that it would be nice to be able to hire others to do the grunt work of book marketing. Actually, there are hundreds of people who provide such services. The book author sounded relieved to learn that help was available at a price.

But hidden behind that relief seemed to be a more fundamental concern. The author described the quality of the first draft being written in derogatory terms. Many authors doubt their writing ability. What they don't realize is that you can also get all the writing help you can possibly use for a book. I fear that this author will continue to sabotage the writing efforts until this information is also known.

The basic problem is that the author doesn't know enough about being an author to know where the author has false beliefs. Clearly, one of those false beliefs is that authors have to do everything for themselves, even things they have no idea how to do.

The irony of this situation is that this author has recently taken courses with two of the most successful authors of all time. It would have been easy to have asked either author any question related to writing and gotten an expert answer.

Here are some questions for you to answer:

1. What are you hoping to accomplish in areas where you are spending time and effort?

In the case of the writer, I suspect that the answer is to obtain more profitable clients. If true, that would be ironic because writing a book is one of the harder and less reliable ways to gain profitable clients.

2. Why do you think that your current approach is the best way to go?

Often, our decision to do something is based on poorly researched and considered information. In the case of the writer, it may be that experts in that subject matter with better client lists may all be book authors. From that connection, some might conclude that being a book author was critical to that success. Actually, in many cases the opposite is likely to be true. The expert became a book author after having had a successful career in the field and wrote about her or his successes. The publisher was interested in the book because of the author's connections in the industry. When that happens, it's a case of "success breeds more success" . . . not a necessity for being an expert.

3. Who is the most knowledgeable person in the world about accomplishing what you want to accomplish?

You may not know initially. Ask around. Do Internet searches. Read articles and books. Try to at least find five people who could be the most knowledgeable.

4. How can you get the most knowledgeable person in the world to evaluate your objectives and the methods you are using to gain those objectives?

There are many possible methods. The expert may be willing to do telephone consultations for a fee. The expert may make public appearances and be willing to answer questions. The expert may be willing to answer e-mail inquiries. You may be in a position to do a valuable favor for the expert.

Ask these questions, and you will receive a better life!

Could a billionaire do better? Definitely.

Billionaires are more likely to check out a direction before they take it. They are also more able to draw on connections and financial resources to get the access and information they need.

But if you start to think like a billionaire by asking the four questions above, acting on the answers and employing your five dollar a day budget, you should be able to vastly improve your effectiveness . . . while feeling a lot more confident about what you are doing.

************************************

N.B. As you can tell, I'm experimenting with color. Let me know what you like and what I should change about my use of color.

Please let me know what else you would like to learn, and I'll do my best to help in future blog entries.

Thanks so much for your support of this blog. I'm delighted that so many tens of thousands of people have made this blog part of their regular reading habit!

If you like this blog, please let others know who might also enjoy it. E-mailing your favorite post to them is a great idea.

Thank you to my many friends, students, clients and blog readers who are spreading the good word about this blog.

If you are visiting today because someone invited you, I'm delighted to meet you! Let's stay in touch.

Remember to also visit

Live Spiritually Better than a Billionaire at http://livespirituallybetterthanabillionaire.blogspot.com/,

Create Your Own 2,000 Percent Solutions at
http://2000percentsolutions.blogspot.com/,

Create a Billion Dollar Business at http://billiondollarbusiness.blogspot.com/,

Enjoy Mansions Better than a Billionaire at http://enjoymansionsbetterthanabillionaire.blogspot.com/,

Enjoy Football Better than a Billionaire at http://enjoyfootballbetterthanabillionaire.blogspot.com/ and

Be a World Hero Better than a Billionaire at http://beaworldherobetterthanabillionaire.blogspot.com/.

I offer individual on-line tutorials and in-person seminars on living better than a billionaire on five dollars extra a day, creating 2,000 percent solutions (20 times the results with the same effort), developing more profitable business models and designing strategies that work regardless of the business environment. For information, contact me at ultimatecompetitiveadvantage@yahoo.com.

I am available to you as a speaker on these subjects. You can find my background at http://livebetterthanabillionaireon5dollars.blogspot.com/2005_08_30_livebetterthanabillionaireon5dollars_archive.html/.

May God bless you. Merry Christmas!

Donald W. Mitchell, Your Dream Concierge

Copyright 2005 Donald W. Mitchell

Announcing Create a Billion Dollar Business

2005-12-19T11:38:00.000-08:00

Good morning, Successful People!

Are you feeling motivated this morning? I know that I am.

As a follow-up to my recent announcement of The Billionaire Entrepreneurs’ Master Mind I wanted to alert you to a new blog, Create a Billion Dollar Business (see http://billiondollarbusiness.blogspot.com/).

This new blog will share exciting details about the new master mind for those who want to create unprecedented entrepreneurial success in their careers.

If you think this opportunity might be right for you, contact me at ultimatecompetitiveadvantage@yahoo.com with a subject heading of "I Want to Create a Billion Dollar Business". I'll be back to you to answer your questions and provide application information.

Merry Christmas!

May God bless you.

With best regards, much appreciation and all good wishes,

Donald W. Mitchell
Your Dream Concierge

Copyright 2005 Donald W. Mitchell

Be a Master of Accomplishment . . . Even with the Most Daunting Tasks

2005-12-15T09:04:00.000-08:00

Good morning, Successful People!

Are you feeling motivated this morning? I certainly hope so. I know that I am!

What does masterful accomplishment look like? To those who only see the final results, there's a seamless perfection that can be daunting.

The question that automatically occurs in your mind is, "How could I ever accomplish something so perfect?" That's both a good and a bad question. The good part is that you are looking to do more. The bad part is that you may be feeling inadequate as you do.

The reality behind creating the seeming seamless perfection is usually quite different. There's a general idea of where an organization wants to go. What follows are flops and partial successes . . . each one teaching some important lessons.

To get a sense of this process, read John C. Maxwell's book, Failing Forward.

The master of accomplishment . . . is the master of the pratfall!

While that's not a very dignified image, it puts you into the mood to have fun trying things out. If you can laugh at yourself as you do, people will admire and follow you more than if you always do things perfectly and you just need robots to execute your magic touch.

One of the great learning experiments I have ever observed was during Jack Canfield's Breakthrough to Success seminar. He blindfolded a man, turned him around and told the man to walk straight to the target. Naturally, the man had no idea of where to go. He wandered around aimlessly . . . making no progress. Then Jack told the man he could listen to advice. Whenever the man was going in the wrong direction, we could tell him he was getting colder. Whenever he was going in the right direction, we could tell him he was getting hotter. Although the man was only aimed in the perfect direction less than 10% of the time, he made fairly steady progress towards the target in a zig-zag path. To him, it must have seemed very frustrating and imperfect. To us, it was a marvel of efficiency.

He tried things, got feedback, made corrections . . . and success was inevitable. You can and should do the same!

But to do that you've got to forget about beings someone who is seamlessly perfect . . . that's not how seamless perfection is created.

Could a billionaire do better? I sincerely doubt it.

Billionaire egos are notoriously large and fragile. There are armies of handlers and "yes" people just to make the billionaire feel perfect at all times. What are the chances that a billionaire wants to take large public pratfalls in pursuit of seamless perfection? Not very good.
.
************************************

N.B. As you can tell, I'm experimenting with color. Let me know what you like and what I should change about my use of color.

Please let me know what else you would like to learn, and I'll do my best to help in future blog entries.

Create Your Own 2,000 Percent Solutions at
http://2000percentsolutions.blogspot.com/,

Enjoy Mansions Better than a Billionaire at http://enjoymansionsbetterthanabillionaire.blogspot.com/,

Enjoy Football Better than a Billionaire at http://enjoyfootballbetterthanabillionaire.blogspot.com/ and

Be a World Hero Better than a Billionaire at http://beaworldherobetterthanabillionaire.blogspot.com/.

I offer individual on-line tutorials and in-person seminars on living better than a billionaire on five dollars extra a day, creating 2,000 percent solutions (20 times the results with the same effort), developing more profitable business models and designing strategies that work regardless of the business environment. For information, contact me at ultimatecompetitiveadvantage@yahoo.com.

I am available to you as a speaker on these subjects. You can find my background at http://livebetterthanabillionaireon5dollars.blogspot.com/2005_08_30_livebetterthanabillionaireon5dollars_archive.html/.

May God bless you. Merry Christmas!

Donald W. Mitchell, Your Dream Concierge

Copyright 2005 Donald W. Mitchell

Develop a New Humanitarian Organization to Serve a Billion People Better than a Billionaire!

2005-12-14T07:42:00.000-08:00

Good morning, Successful People!

Are you feeling motivated this morning? I certainly hope so. I know that I am!

I am going to lay out this subject in its simplest form. I invite you to add your questions as comments to this post. I will answer each one below so that others can gain from the same information.

Most billionaires don't try to launch their own new billion dollar humanitarian organizations. Rather, they set up a foundation to give out grants to run experiments that they hope some one else will fund. It's like venture capital for humanitarianism. That approach works fine as far as it goes. .

Here's a typical situation:

An organization focuses on a special problem that occurs in many areas such as a lack of clean, potable water. They develop a technology that shows promise for extending these benefits for more people. Fifty sites are used as an experiment.

Five years later, no one is using this equipment. It's sitting broken with parts stripped off for other uses. No one knows how to repair the equipment or how to create funds to maintain the operation.

Having met many successful and unsuccessful humanitarian innovators, I am constantly reminded that many such innovators may have more heart than practical ideas. Most such innovators emphasize one potential advantage in their approach. Their approach falters when the organization cannot deliver that advantage, beneficiaries are unimpressed or there's no ongoing support to maintain the approach.

Here’s a better approach for the 21st century: Create the right three 2,000 percent solutions and you’ll soon have a humanitarian organization serving billions even if you are starting with limited resources.

The three 2,000 percent solutions are:

1. A way to increase the number of people served by 20 times over any existing approach by empowering those who need the help to create and sustain their own benefits;

2. Reduce the organizational and beneficiary costs to create and use the benefits by 95% and invest some of the savings into more benefits not offered by existing organizations for beneficiaries other stakeholders; and

3. Accelerate recruitment of new beneficiaries to develop these benefits to 20 times the best rate of any existing organizations.

On the surface, that sounds like three times the work of creating one 2,000 percent solution. That’s right. But because the benefits multiply against each dimension, the effect is to increase profits by 800,000 percent over a conventional humanitarian organization. That’s worth three times the effort.

To make this process easier, I have decided to create The Humanitarian Master Mind beginning in 2006.

Members will develop new humanitarian models that combine the three essential 2,000 percent solutions into their humanitarian solutions. In doing this, they will be supported by their fellow humanitarians in the Master Mind and by me.

Each member will receive these benefits:

1. Detailed directions, examples and coaching for how to create these three 2,000 percent solutions.

2. Weekly tele-seminars exploring the creation of superior humanitarian approaches built from these three 2,000 percent solutions and how to implement them.

3. Introductions to fellow master mind members with complementary interests and talents to pursue joint ventures and other collaborations.

4. Publicity about their ventures and introductions to donors when these those benefits are desired and appropriate.

5. Twice a year evaluations of humanitarian models and plans.

6. The option to exclude potential competitors from the master mind while in the group.

The charge for these services will be one annual fee that covers membership for up to 12 months.

All staff services for the master mind will be provided by me. I am co-author of The 2,000 Percent Solution, The 2,000 Percent Solution Workbook, The Irresistible Growth Enterprise, The Ultimate Competitive Advantage and the forthcoming The 2,000 Percent Squared Solution.

Applications for membership are now being accepted. Contact me at ultimatecompetitiveadvantage@yahoo.com for more information. Label your e-mail's subject as I Want to Build a Humanitarian Organization to Serve a Billion People.

Could a billionaire do better? I sincerely doubt it.

When was the last time a billionaire created three 2,000 percent solutions in one humanitarian organization to serve over a billion people? I'm not sure it's ever been done by a billionaire

************************************

N.B. As you can tell, I'm experimenting with color. Let me know what you like and what I should change about my use of color.

Please let me know what else you would like to learn, and I'll do my best to help in future blog entries.

Be a World Hero Better than a Billionaire at http://beaworldherobetterthanabillionaire.blogspot.com/

Create Your Own 2,000 Percent Solutions at
http://2000percentsolutions.blogspot.com/,

Enjoy Mansions Better than a Billionaire at http://enjoymansionsbetterthanabillionaire.blogspot.com/ and

Enjoy Football Better than a Billionaire at http://enjoyfootballbetterthanabillionaire.blogspot.com/.

I am available to you as a speaker on these subjects. You can find my background at http://livebetterthanabillionaireon5dollars.blogspot.com/2005_08_30_livebetterthanabillionaireon5dollars_archive.html/.

May God bless you. Merry Christmas!

Donald W. Mitchell, Your Dream Concierge

Copyright 2005 Donald W. Mitchell

Develop a New Billion Dollar Business Better than a Billionaire!

2005-12-14T07:21:00.000-08:00

Good morning, Successful People!

Are you feeling motivated this morning? I certainly hope so. I know that I am!

I am going to lay out this subject in its simplest form. I invite you to add your questions as comments to this post. I will answer each one below so that others can gain from the same information.

Most billionaires don't try to launch their own new billion dollar businesses. Rather, they are more likely to invest in venture capital funds seeking high rates of appreciation. The odds are that of 30 businesses they invest in, 27 will never be worth much. Three will have some significant value . . . and none of them will become a billion dollar business.

Here's a typical situation:

The CEO of a start-up workstation company proudly displayed his products and business projections. An engineering consultant had validated the technical superiority of the company’s offerings. All would be well . . . if only another $30 million in capital could be raised to ramp up production.

A year later the company was out of business. Despite the company’s satisfaction with its offerings, not a single customer ever bought one of the company’s workstations. Investors were as unimpressed as the customers. The assets were sold off for two cents on the dollar.

Having met many successful and unsuccessful entrepreneurs, I am constantly reminded that entrepreneurs may have more optimism than good ideas. Most entrepreneurs emphasize one potential customer advantage in their approach. Their approach falters when the company cannot deliver that advantage, customers are unimpressed or a competitor eliminates the entrepreneur’s edge.

Here’s a better approach for the 21st century: Create the right three 2,000 percent solutions and you’ll soon have a business worth over a billion even if you are starting with limited resources.

The three 2,000 percent solutions are:

1. A way to increase the size of the market by 20 times by improving benefits and/or reducing prices;

2. Reduce the company and stakeholder costs to create and use the offering by 95% and invest some of the savings into more benefits not offered by competitors for customers and other stakeholders; and

3. Accelerate recruitment of new customers to 20 times the best rate of any competitors.

On the surface, that sounds like three times the work of creating one 2,000 percent solution. That’s right. But because the benefits multiply against each dimension, the effect is to increase profits by 800,000 percent over a conventional competitor. That’s worth three times the effort.

To make this process easier, I have decided to create The Billionaire Entrepreneurs’ Master Mind beginning in 2006.

Members will develop new business models that combine the three essential 2,000 percent solutions into their business models. In doing this, they will be supported by their fellow entrepreneurs in the Master Mind and by me.

Each member will receive these benefits:

1. Detailed directions, examples and coaching for how to create these three 2,000 percent solutions.

2. Weekly tele-seminars exploring the creation of superior business models built from these three 2,000 percent solutions and how to implement them.

3. Introductions to fellow master mind members with complementary interests and talents to pursue joint ventures and other collaborations.

4. Publicity about their ventures and introductions to investors where those benefits are desired and appropriate.

5. Twice a year evaluations of business models and plans.

6. The option to exclude potential competitors from the master mind while in the group.

The charge for these services will be one annual fee that covers membership for up to 12 months.

Could a billionaire do better? I sincerely doubt it.

When was the last time a billionaire created three 2,000 percent solutions in one business? I cannot remember it has been so long.

************************************

N.B. As you can tell, I'm experimenting with color. Let me know what you like and what I should change about my use of color.

Please let me know what else you would like to learn, and I'll do my best to help in future blog entries.

Create Your Own 2,000 Percent Solutions at
http://2000percentsolutions.blogspot.com/,

Enjoy Mansions Better than a Billionaire at http://enjoymansionsbetterthanabillionaire.blogspot.com/,

Enjoy Football Better than a Billionaire at http://enjoyfootballbetterthanabillionaire.blogspot.com/ and

Be a World Hero Better than a Billionaire at http://beaworldherobetterthanabillionaire.blogspot.com/.

I offer individual on-line tutorials and in-person seminars on living better than a billionaire on five dollars extra a day, creating 2,000 percent solutions (20 times the results with the same effort), developing more profitable business models and designing strategies that work regardless of the business environment. For information, contact me at ultimatecompetitiveadvantage@yahoo.com.

I am available to you as a speaker on these subjects. You can find my background at http://livebetterthanabillionaireon5dollars.blogspot.com/2005_08_30_livebetterthanabillionaireon5dollars_archive.html/.

May God bless you. Merry Christmas!

Donald W. Mitchell, Your Dream Concierge

Copyright 2005 Donald W. Mitchell

Here's Your Link to Hear My Interview with Randy Gilbert

2005-12-01T06:37:00.000-08:00

Good morning, Successful People!

Are you feeling motivated this morning? I certainly hope so. I know that I am!

Randy Gilbert has sent me the link to help you listen to my interview with him on November 30, 2005 about creating more 2,000 percent solutions.

Here it is: http://theinsidesuccessshow.com/Guests/Don_Mitchell1.htm

Listen and enjoy!

I offer individual on-line tutorials and in-person seminars on living better than a billionaire on five dollars extra a day, creating 2,000 percent solutions (20 times the results with the same effort), developing more profitable business models and designing strategies that work regardless of the business environment. For information, contact me at ultimatecompetitiveadvantage@yahoo.com.

I am available to you as a speaker on these subjects. You can find my background at http://livebetterthanabillionaireon5dollars.blogspot.com/2005_08_30_livebetterthanabillionaireon5dollars_archive.html/.

May God bless you.

Donald W. Mitchell, Your Dream Concierge

Copyright 2005 Donald W. Mitchell

Listen to Your Dream Concierge on The Inside Success Show

2005-11-30T11:13:00.000-08:00

Hi, Successful People!

I just wanted you to know that I will be appearing on Randy Gilbert's Internet radio show, The Inside Success Show, at 3 p.m. eastern standard time today. If you would like to call in to hear the show live, dial 507-726-3300 and use the passcode 22327#. After the show has aired, you can hear replays at http://theinsidesuccessshow.com/.

Thanks for your interest!

Donald W. Mitchell
Your Dream Concierge

Copyright 2005 Donald W. Mitchell

Ignore and Forget Bad Advice from Billionaires

2005-11-30T06:41:00.000-08:00

Good morning, Successful People!

Are you feeling motivated this morning? I certainly hope so. I know that I am!

I recently read Trump: Think Like a Billionaire. As I did, I realized that a billionaire's perspective is so removed from how most people live as to be misleading when advice is offered. Let me quote my initial thoughts as captured in my book review:

Hire Experts. Hang with Celebs. Prepare for Your TV Show., November 22, 2005

Reviewer:

Donald Mitchell "Your Dream Concierge: Live Better than the Rich by reading my daily blog at http://livebetterthanabillionaireon5dollars.blogspot.com" (a citizen of the world based on Boston) - See all my reviews

There I was stuck with a five hour wait in the Fort Lauderdale airport. I went into the bookstore seven times before succumbing to Trump: Think Like a Billionaire. But nothing else looked any better. I think it was the guarantee that I could bring the book back after I had read it for a 50% refund that hooked me.

I once met Bennett Cerf. He was a great publisher. It's too bad his name is sullied by printing a puff piece of no content self-promotion like this one under the Random House imprint.

Presumably, the reason you buy this book is so that you can think like a billionaire and become one. You can knock me over with a feather if anyone becomes richer because of reading this book.

The book has five parts: Real estate; money; the business of life; slices of a billionaire's life; and Inside the Apprentice.

In real estate, you learn that you need architects, contractors, agents, designers, lawyers, accountants, tax experts and other professionals to develop real estate. Hire good ones and treat them well . . . unless they are contractors. In that case, give them a hard time until they cut their price and deliver sooner. Walk through your properties as often as possible, looking at them like a tenant or a visitor, and fix any flaws. You learn everything you need to know in 44 pages including how to rent an apartment, read a classified ad and buy a home.

In money you find out that you cannot control costs unless you sign all the checks your billion-dollar company writes. You also learn not to trust a great deal. Have someone keep track of your financial situation and share it with you frequently. Don't borrow more than you can afford to lose. Get scholarships and grants for college and get a job for the rest. Everything you need to know comes in 31 pages.

In the business of life, Donald Trump tells you to do something you like, promote yourself by doing good work, be helpful in meetings, dress nicely, work all the time if you can make money at it, use your romantic desires to stimulate your work life, impress others that you are well organized, get a pre-nup so your next spouse won't take you to the cleaners, have a strong marriage if you want to make the most money and demand the best even if you're not paying. This takes 45 pages.

Slices of the Billionaire's Life include some heavy hitting examples and a diary of the work days for The Donald. He alternates between yelling at contractors, working on The Apprentice, chatting with celebrity buddies and sneaking out for a little golf.

In inside The Apprentice, you get a little gander at Apprentice 2 interspaced with crowing about the show's ratings.

Throughout all five sections, you read dozens of examples of people telling The Donald "You're fired" and cartoons developing the same point.

The book also displays many colored photographs of The Donald scowling. He has a few where he's getting TV publicity and he smiles for that. He does seem to like promotion.

You also get lots of photographs of The Donald and his third wife (while they were dating) including some where she is arrayed across the furniture and furnishings (atop a piano with a vertically challenged dress and standing partly in a marble pool in The Donald's living room). My favorite has them both scowling in the classic The Donald pose.

One sour note in the book is that The Donald decides to attack those rare souls who haven't given him publicity that was as positive as he desired.

If you really want to see how shallow someone can be, this is your book. If Trump: Think like a Billionaire didn't have that value, I would have graded the book as a one-star effort.

I recently read a note from a publisher that said that no one can discuss how to live well like The Donald. I'm still looking for that discussion rather than the pretty self-image he studies in the mirror in this book.

I think I'll skip future efforts by The Donald. I hope the book store is open when I go to the airport tomorrow so I can get half my money back on this book.

As you can see the content of the book is mostly about experiences you don't have. Here are a few examples:
-Are you married to your third spouse?
-Do you appear regularly on a television show?
-Do you own real estate worth billions?
-Do you have a helicopter to ferry you around?

When Mr. Trump does try to deal with everyday issues, he doesn't seem to be able to add very much. I suspect that's because Mr. Trump is actually inexperienced in these areas. When was the last time he looked for an apartment to live in on a limited budget? When was the last time he bought an ordinary home to live in? When was the last time he self-financed his own college education?

In the area of marriage, he strongly advises a pre-nuptial agreement. That's a legal contract that splits the assets in the case of divorce. I can see why he likes that idea. It saved him a bundle with his second wife because he divorced her just before the terms of the pre-nuptial agreement started to get expensive. The result was worth millions to him.

Now, how would you feel or would you have felt if before you married the first time, your intended insisted on an agreement for how to handle the divorce? Most people would assume that their intended planned to divorce. Why marry someone with that attitude? So is that advice to always secure a pre-nuptial agreement good for you? I doubt it.

In testing out a billionaire's advice, consider if the billionaire's circumstances and yours represent the same perspective. Then consider if the billionaire's expertise applies to your situation.

One of the reasons that I decided to write this blog and prepare my book by the same title is because I was concerned that there was no intermediary between the very wealthy and those who would like to live like them. Having come from humble roots and having also worked with many of the wealthiest people in the world, I can understand both worlds and try to translate them into the terms of the other experience and perspective.

Could a billionaire do better? I doubt it.

Most billionaires are entertaining themselves more than they are working. If they take the time to write a book, it's because they want to be adored . . . not because they want to help someone else achieve what they have achieved.

************************************

N.B. As you can tell, I'm experimenting with color. Let me know what you like and what I should change about my use of color. Many thanks to Linda Grace for her suggestions which I am following!

Please let me know what else you would like to learn, and I'll do my best to help in future blog entries.

Create Your Own 2,000 Percent Solutions at
http://2000percentsolutions.blogspot.com/,

Enjoy Mansions Better than a Billionaire at http://enjoymansionsbetterthanabillionaire.blogspot.com/,

Enjoy Football Better than a Billionaire at http://enjoyfootballbetterthanabillionaire.blogspot.com/ and

Be a World Hero Better than a Billionaire at http://beaworldherobetterthanabillionaire.blogspot.com/.

I offer individual on-line tutorials and in-person seminars on living better than a billionaire on five dollars extra a day, creating 2,000 percent solutions (20 times the results with the same effort), developing more profitable business models and designing strategies that work regardless of the business environment. For information, contact me at ultimatecompetitiveadvantage@yahoo.com.

I am available to you as a speaker on these subjects. You can find my background at http://livebetterthanabillionaireon5dollars.blogspot.com/2005_08_30_livebetterthanabillionaireon5dollars_archive.html/.

May God bless you.

Donald W. Mitchell, Your Dream Concierge

Copyright 2005 Donald W. Mitchell

Avoid Time Wasters That Cost You a Billionaire's Life Style

2005-11-29T06:29:00.000-08:00

Good morning, Successful People!

Are you feeling motivated this morning? I certainly hope so. I know that I am!

When students start taking courses with me, most choose to have me help them review how they spend their time to make some better choices.

I ask them to start by writing down everything they do in detail and how long it takes, 24 hours a day, for 14 days. They then summarize how much time is spent in various activities. The results are often shocking. It's like seeing a stranger's life rather than your own.

Students next decide what they want their priorities to be and how much time they want to spend each week on those priorities. Often, these priorities include more time with family and friends, creative activities and of course their studies with me.

Although no two people find the same lessons, here are some typical ones:

1. Too much time spent sleeping -- some people are in bed 11 hours a day!

2. Too much television -- the count that people admit to can exceed 30 hours a week. That's like another full-time job.

3. Too much commuting -- many are spending over 10 hours a week in this state of suspended animation.

4. Too many meetings that serve little purpose -- this may take up 20 working hours a week.

5. Too much time at home and work doing tasks that others could and should do. My favorite is picking up after teenagers. Have the teenagers learn to pick up after themselves!

From there, many people begin to realize that they have poorly scheduled their day. For instance, a morning person who has lots of energy then may be only working on routine matters rather than important ones. Other people may need quiet to concentrate on creative tasks ... but don't provide themselves with that environment. Others go for endless stretches without breaks and feel tired and bored. A five minute break every half hour or so can make an enormous difference.

Finally, people are only doing one task at a time. For instance, they read books for their courses at home. They don't do anything while they commute. They do writing just for fun. Instead, a student could listen to audio tapes of course books while commuting and dictate drafts of papers and ideas for work at the same time. In some cases, job-related activities can be the source of case histories for course studies so that some 9-5 time can be applied to student work.

By the time they are done, most people are able to free up 20-30 hours a week to do more of what they really want to do. That's almost like getting an extra 20 years of life while you are in your prime!

Could a billionaire do better? I doubt it.

Most billionaires are stuck with lots of time wasters. Charities vie for their attention. Benefit dinners fill their evenings. Reporters want details. People bring them crazy ideas. They often have to use security to travel from one place to another which slows things down.

************************************

Please let me know what else you would like to learn, and I'll do my best to help in future blog entries.

Create Your Own 2,000 Percent Solutions at
http://2000percentsolutions.blogspot.com/,

Enjoy Mansions Better than a Billionaire at http://enjoymansionsbetterthanabillionaire.blogspot.com/,

Enjoy Football Better than a Billionaire at http://enjoyfootballbetterthanabillionaire.blogspot.com/ and

Be a World Hero Better than a Billionaire at http://beaworldherobetterthanabillionaire.blogspot.com/.

I offer individual on-line tutorials and in-person seminars on living better than a billionaire on five dollars extra a day, creating 2,000 percent solutions (20 times the results with the same effort), developing more profitable business models and designing strategies that work regardless of the business environment. For information, contact me at ultimatecompetitiveadvantage@yahoo.com.

I am available to you as a speaker on these subjects. You can find my background at http://livebetterthanabillionaireon5dollars.blogspot.com/2005_08_30_livebetterthanabillionaireon5dollars_archive.html/.

May God bless you.

Donald W. Mitchell, Your Dream Concierge

Copyright 2005 Donald W. Mitchell

Benefit from a Billionaire Mind without Having a Billion

2005-11-28T07:18:00.000-08:00

Good morning, Successful People!

Are you feeling motivated this morning? I certainly hope so. I know that I am!

One of the most empowering thought exercises my students ever do is to imagine that they have unlimited financial resources to solve a problem. No matter what the problem is, they quickly come up with powerful answers. You can see them sitting a little taller, smiling a little broader and being more friendly as they do. Next, I encourage them to describe their solution in more detail. They happily agree. I feel like I've turned them into queens and kings for a day. I feel their joy.

When they begin to run out of steam . . . but are still feeling really happy, I change the exercise.

Next, I ask them to take their solution and find a way to implement it with no financial resources. Their eyes get a little wider, the smiles turn a little more rueful and the heads twist a little. Then, they shake their heads "yes" and start thinking.

Sometimes they need an idea starter or two to get them off ground zero. Here are a couple of my favorites:

1. Who will benefit so much from your solution that they will be willing to fund some or all of what needs to be done?

2. Who can implement your solution at very little cost?

At that point, bodies begin to lean forward as though preparing for a race. Excitement begins to build as twinkles into their eyes.

They now see that there are no limits . . . except the ones that place on themselves.

Remember that lesson.

Could a billionaire do better? I doubt it.

Because a billionaire has lots of money, billionaires typically skip the powerful part of the exercise where you find a way to do the same task without any financial resources. That's too bad because with a billionaire's greater experience in thinking about large-scale projects, billionaires could get to be very good at this.

************************************

Please let me know what else you would like to learn, and I'll do my best to help in future blog entries.

Create Your Own 2,000 Percent Solutions at
http://2000percentsolutions.blogspot.com/,

Enjoy Mansions Better than a Billionaire at http://enjoymansionsbetterthanabillionaire.blogspot.com/,

Enjoy Football Better than a Billionaire at http://enjoyfootballbetterthanabillionaire.blogspot.com/ and

Be a World Hero Better than a Billionaire at http://beaworldherobetterthanabillionaire.blogspot.com/.

I offer individual on-line tutorials and in-person seminars on living better than a billionaire on five dollars extra a day, creating 2,000 percent solutions (20 times the results with the same effort), developing more profitable business models and designing strategies that work regardless of the business environment. For information, contact me at ultimatecompetitiveadvantage@yahoo.com.

I am available to you as a speaker on these subjects. You can find my background at http://livebetterthanabillionaireon5dollars.blogspot.com/2005_08_30_livebetterthanabillionaireon5dollars_archive.html/.

May God bless you.

Donald W. Mitchell, Your Dream Concierge

Copyright 2005 Donald W. Mitchell

Announcing The 2,000 Percent Solution Workbook

2005-11-23T05:50:00.000-08:00

Good morning, Successful People!

Are you feeling motivated this morning? I certainly hope so. I know that I am!

In 1998, Carol Coles and I joined with Robert Metz, former Marketplace columnist at The New York Times to author The 2,000 Percent Solution. That book went on to become an Amazon.com best seller, was selected by the Chinese government as one of the ten best management books of the 20th century, and has been the basis of major improvements in companies, governments and non-profit organizations around the world.

I have been teaching courses based on that book since 1999 and began experimenting in 2003 with ways to help students learn and accomplish more. From those experiments, a companion workbook emerged that students have hailed as essential to their experiences.

Today, that workbook becomes available for the first time to the general public.

The 2,000 Percent Solution Workbook is an essential resource for anyone who wants to accomplish more with fewer resources.

You can buy copies in hardcover, soft cover or for digital download on www.iuniverse.com today (see http://www.iuniverse.com/bookstore/book_detail.asp?isbn=0-595-81881-1 for the digital download).

Amazon.com has listed the soft cover and hardcover versions, but is not yet accepting orders. Presumably, they will begin taking orders within a few days. To find the soft cover version, go to http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0595374883/104-5889592-2919129?v=glance&n=283155&s=books&v=glance

The workbook takes you through the key ideas in The 2,000 Percent Solution and one concept from The Irresistible Growth Enterprise. You also receive a list of questions designed to help you create your own 2,000 percent solution. In addition, you will learn how to help others create their own 2,000 percent solutions. If you head an organization, you can use this resource to reach world-class performance standards within two years by being your own consultant.

If you would like to take an on-line course with me based on the book and the workbook, please contact me at ultimatecompetitiveadvantage@yahoo.com

Can a billionaire do any better? I doubt it.

A billionaire can hire the world's finest consultants, the greatest experts and armies of people to implement the results. But the humble contributions of those who use The 2,000 Percent Solution and The 2,000 Percent Solution Workbook will soar past billionaires by combining great knowledge about their situation with insights into the greatest accomplishments of all time.

************************************

Please let me know what else you would like to learn, and I'll do my best to help in future blog entries.

<>Thanks so much for your support of this blog. I'm delighted that so many tens of thousands of people have made this blog part of their regular reading habit!

If you like this blog, please let others know who might also enjoy it. E-mailing your favorite post to them is a great idea.

Thank you to my many friends, students, clients and blog readers who are spreading the good word about this blog.

If you are visiting today because someone invited you, I'm delighted to meet you! Let's stay in touch.

Remember to also visit

Live Spiritually Better than a Billionaire at http://livespirituallybetterthanabillionaire.blogspot.com/,

Create Your Own 2,000 Percent Solutions at http://2000percentsolutions.blogspot.com/,

Enjoy Mansions Better than a Billionaire at http://enjoymansionsbetterthanabillionaire.blogspot.com/,

Enjoy Football Better than a Billionaire at http://enjoyfootballbetterthanabillionaire.blogspot.com/ and

Be a World Hero Better than a Billionaire at http://beaworldherobetterthanabillionaire.blogspot.com/.

I offer individual on-line tutorials and in-person seminars on living better than a billionaire on five dollars extra a day, creating 2,000 percent solutions (20 times the results with the same effort), developing more profitable business models and designing strategies that work regardless of the business environment. For information, contact me at ultimatecompetitiveadvantage@yahoo.com.

I am available to you as a speaker on these subjects. You can find my background at http://livebetterthanabillionaireon5dollars.blogspot.com/2005_08_30_livebetterthanabillionaireon5dollars_archive.html/.

May God bless you.

Donald W. Mitchell, Your Dream Concierge

Copyright 2005 Donald W. Mitchell

Run a Short Meeting Better than a Billionaire

2005-11-22T08:30:00.001-08:00

Good morning, Successful People!

Are you feeling motivated this morning? I certainly hope so. I know that I am!

Imagine a billionaire running a meeting, and images of Donald Trump's board room in The Apprentice are bound to occur to you.

The purpose of those meetings is to fire someone.

Would you like to be fired in public with millions watching? Perhaps not.
Television today is all about letting viewers observe humiliation vicariously. How long do you think a company would last that actually conducted itself the way the firing process occurs in The Apprentice? People would be out looking for new jobs before they got fired and would leave in droves.

The average business meeting lasts an hour and little is accomplished. There's not even much entertainment value!

The average person who works in management spends over 20 hours a week in meetings. Make those meetings more productive, and those managers will be getting home a lot earlier . . . and have a lot more energy to spend with those they love.

Most of those meetings are with other people in the same organization. Many of these meetings can be streamlined.

Here are some ideas that have worked:

1. Schedule the meeting to last 15 minutes rather than an hour.

2. Conduct the meeting standing up. People will be anxious to finish up quickly and get back to their desks.

3. Only work on one item.

4. Distribute background material ahead of time and encourage others to do the same.

5. Start the meeting on time.

6. Have everyone who cares about the issue in the room.

7. Begin the meeting with any observations people want to make . . . but limit those observations to 2 minutes each.

8. Propose next steps.

9. Ask for comments on the next steps.

10. Assign responsibility and deadlines.

11. Ask that the assignments be acknowledged in writing within 24 hours.

As you can see, some meetings actually need more than 15 minutes if a decision is to be made. That length usually means that the organization isn't prepared yet to deal with the issue. Rather than thrash out what you don't know but could find out pretty quickly, focus just on making those preparations. Make assignments to become prepared, and meet again when that preparation is done. You won't get there any faster by extending the length of this meeting.

As for meetings with those outside of your organization, most of your visitors will feel like they should receive more than 15 minutes of your time. If you explain that you are busy, but would like to see them and can only spare 30 minutes, few will be offended. Don't schedule your next meeting for at least 30 minutes after your meeting with a visitor is supposed to end. In that way, you can graciously extend the time should it be appropriate to pay more attention to the person or focus on my issues.

Can a billionaire do any better? I doubt it.

A billionaire has an enormous entourage of assistants, helpers, aides, lieutenants and advisors. Many of those people won't feel motivated unless they get lots of "face time" with the boss. Warren Buffett is a possible exception. He tells most of the people who work for him not to call or visit.

************************************

Please let me know what else you would like to learn, and I'll do my best to help in future blog entries.

Create Your Own 2,000 Percent Solutions at
http://2000percentsolutions.blogspot.com/,

Enjoy Mansions Better than a Billionaire at http://enjoymansionsbetterthanabillionaire.blogspot.com/,

Enjoy Football Better than a Billionaire at http://enjoyfootballbetterthanabillionaire.blogspot.com/ and

Be a World Hero Better than a Billionaire at http://beaworldherobetterthanabillionaire.blogspot.com/.

I offer individual on-line tutorials and in-person seminars on living better than a billionaire on five dollars extra a day, creating 2,000 percent solutions (20 times the results with the same effort), developing more profitable business models and designing strategies that work regardless of the business environment. For information, contact me at ultimatecompetitiveadvantage@yahoo.com.

I am available to you as a speaker on these subjects. You can find my background at http://livebetterthanabillionaireon5dollars.blogspot.com/2005_08_30_livebetterthanabillionaireon5dollars_archive.html/.

May God bless you.

Donald W. Mitchell, Your Dream Concierge

Copyright 2005 Donald W. Mitchell

Better Ways to Pick a Good Book and Reading Suggestions

2005-11-21T03:38:00.000-08:00

Good morning, Successful People!

Are you feeling motivated this morning? I certainly hope so. I know that I am!

The average American reads one book a year.

Look at The New York Times best seller list over time, and you'll see what people are buying. See http://www.nytimes.com/pages/books/bestseller/

But only a fraction of what is bought is ever read. Why?

Most books don't appeal to their readers!

What should that one book be?

That's a question I'm asked all the time as Amazon.com's leading reviewer of non-fiction books.

What's my answer?

Read a non-fiction book that will improve many aspects of your life.

In fact, many successful people never read fiction. They view their time as too precious to waste on fiction.

Naturally, each person needs something different to improve many aspects of life.

Here's a short list to help you focus:

1. The Bible -- No other book contains as much wisdom, practical advice and inspiration.

2. The Essential Drucker -- Excerpts from 10 of Peter Drucker's books on for-profit management that will help you improve your enterprise if you are in business. See http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/006093574X/104-5889592-2919129?v=glance&n=283155&%5Fencoding=UTF8&v=glance

3. Relationship Rescue and Relationship Rescue Workbook -- These books will give you the edge in smoothing out problems with your family and loved ones. See http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/078688598X/104-5889592-2919129?v=glance&n=283155&s=books&v=glance
and http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0786886048/104-5889592-2919129?v=glance&n=283155&%5Fencoding=UTF8&v=glance

4. The South Beach Diet -- Using this diet will lower your weight, improve your energy and help you avoid diseases associated with overweight people. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1579546463/104-5889592-2919129?v=glance&n=283155&s=books&v=glance

5. Common Sense on Mutual Funds -- Use stocks to improve your wealth. See http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0471295434/104-5889592-2919129?v=glance&n=283155&s=books&v=glance

6. Developing the Leader within You -- Become more effective in leading whatever you do. See http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0785266666/104-5889592-2919129?v=glance&n=283155&s=books&v=glance

7. How to Get Control of Your Time and Your Life -- Time management for the overwhelmed. See http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0451167724/104-5889592-2919129?v=glance&n=283155&s=books&v=glance

8. How to Read a Book -- Make your reading more effective. See http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0671212095/104-5889592-2919129?v=glance&n=283155&s=books&v=glance

9. The Success Principles -- Time-tested lessons on being more effective at everything you do. See
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0060594888/104-5889592-2919129?v=glance&n=283155&s=books&v=glance

10. The 2,000 Percent Solution -- Accomplish 20 times as much with the same time and effort. This is the first major book I co-authored. See http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0595291139/104-5889592-2919129?v=glance&n=283155&s=books&v=glance

11. Getting to Yes -- Negotiate anything successfully. See
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0140157352/104-5889592-2919129?v=glance&n=283155&s=books&v=glance

Can a billionaire do any better? I doubt it.

A billionaire can certainly afford to buy all of these books. But how much time does she or he have to read?

I suspect that fewer than one person in 100,000 has read all of these books. You can be that one person without being a billionaire.

Even if you cannot afford to buy the books, you should be able to find all of them through your public library.

************************************

Please let me know what else you would like to learn, and I'll do my best to help in future blog entries.

Create Your Own 2,000 Percent Solutions at
http://2000percentsolutions.blogspot.com/,

Enjoy Mansions Better than a Billionaire at http://enjoymansionsbetterthanabillionaire.blogspot.com/,

Enjoy Football Better than a Billionaire at http://enjoyfootballbetterthanabillionaire.blogspot.com/ and

Be a World Hero Better than a Billionaire at http://beaworldherobetterthanabillionaire.blogspot.com/.

I offer individual on-line tutorials and in-person seminars on living better than a billionaire on five dollars extra a day, creating 2,000 percent solutions (20 times the results with the same effort), developing more profitable business models and designing strategies that work regardless of the business environment. For information, contact me at ultimatecompetitiveadvantage@yahoo.com.

I am available to you as a speaker on these subjects. You can find my background at http://livebetterthanabillionaireon5dollars.blogspot.com/2005_08_30_livebetterthanabillionaireon5dollars_archive.html/.

May God bless you.

Donald W. Mitchell, Your Dream Concierge

Copyright 2005 Donald W. Mitchell

Announcing Create Your Own 2,000 Percent Solutions

2005-11-14T06:21:00.000-08:00

Good morning, Successful People!

Are you feeling motivated this morning? I certainly hope so! I know that I certainly am.

Long before I conceived of the subject of this blog and began developing the book upon which it is based, I worked in the area of helping people find their own ways of becoming more productive. One of the first public fruits of that work was a book called The 2,000 Percent Solution which was published by the American Management Association in 1999. My co-authors were Carol Coles and Robert Metz.

Since then, I've given more talks than I can count to CEO and senior management groups in companies of all sizes and conducted classes and workshops all around the world to help people apply the lessons of that book.

What's the premise? You can accomplish 20 times as much with the same time and effort and resources in virtually everything you do.

Why is that the case? First, because experience has shown that such improvements routinely available. Second, because there's a simple process you can learn to follow that will get you there. Third, because we operate so far below the potential of what we do because of bad habits we've fallen into (something my co-authors and I call "stalls").

Since 2003, I've been teaching on-line students ways to revolutionize their lives for the better. One of the fruits of that work has been to create a workbook with my esteemed colleague, Carol Coles, based on The 2,000 Percent Solution to make it easier to make such wonderful improvements.

The workbook will be published in December, and I know that you will want to buy a copy. As soon as the book is available for purchase on-line, I'll let you know.

To give you a head start over the rest of the world, I've decided to post a few of the early chapters of The 2,000 Percent Solution Workbook on a new blog, Create Your Own 2,000 Percent Solutions. There's a link on this blog's page, but you can also go to http://2000percentsolutions.blogspot.com/ directly.

May God bless you and your efforts to create many more 2,000 percent solutions!

Donald Mitchell, Your Dream Concierge

Copyright 2005 Donald W. Mitchell

Select Words Better than a Billionaire: What Would You Do If You Could Only Succeed?

2005-09-24T07:02:00.000-07:00

Good morning, Successful People!

Are you feeling motivated this morning? I certainly hope so. I know that I am!

Introduction

Being a billionaire can mean that unguarded words may leave your lips. Billionaire Ted Turner is legendary for this. There's not an expletive, nor a curse, that may not have crossed his lips . . . according to press reports. Obviously, a billionaire can buy his or her way out of any unpleasantness that spoken or written words create. In fact, millions tune in to hear The Donald say to a different person each week, "You're fired."

By comparison, you'll have to be more guarded about what you say, and be more willing to eat humble pie to make amends when you make a slip in your choice of words.

I thought about the importance of words in another context as well: In selecting the credos we live by. At the recent Breakthrough to Success seminar conducted by Chicken Soup for the Soul author, Jack Canfield, that I described on August 8-15, Jana Stanfield shared with us many lyrics to inspire us. A number of my colleagues have adopted her lyrics as credos. Let's look at that more closely today.

Observations

A number of years ago, Drs. Richard Bandler and John Grinder made some fascinating observations about the impact of words in establishing the field that many now describe as Neuro-Linguistic Programming. They found that words are more powerful than explosives in moving us.

Here's an example. Some of us primarily relate to visual images. Use words about "seeing", "looking", "examining" or "peering" and we really pay attention. Use words like "listening", "it rings a bell" or "that sings" and we lose interest. But a person who likes to "hear the truth" will sit up and take notice to those same words.

I don't have space here to go into all of their findings . . . but one of them has really stuck with me over the years: The subconscious mind absorbs words differently than the conscious mind does.

Most importantly, the subconscious mind usually runs the show.

Here's an example you should know about. The subconscious mind ignores negatives in sentences. So "Don't do that!" becomes "Do that!" to the subconsicous mind. Is it any wonder that two year olds often repeat the misbehaviour that their parents have said NOT to do?

Imagine how your choice of credo can go wrong!

Recommendations

Here's an example that led me to write this post.

A credo that some have adopted based on one of Jana's songs is:

What would you attempt to do if you knew you could not fail?

On the surface, that sounds pretty good, doesn't it?

But let's analyze that credo from the perspective of the subconscious mind and rephrase accordingly:

What would you attempt to do if you knew you could fail?

That gives me the shivers! I wouldn't do very much that I didn't have to do. I don't like to fail or to even think about failing.

Now, let's select our words more carefully. I find I am more motivated to succeed than to "not fail" even at the level of the rational mind. Also, "attempt" is a weak word. It suggests an incomplete effort that could lead to failure.

Also, if we're not song writers, we don't have to follow a given sentence structure. So here's my rewrite:

What would you do if you could only succeed?

That thought leaves me feeling very positive, warm and motivated.

Try developing your own credo to see how you can improve on the advice that others have given you over the years. Put that credo where you can see it every day. I look forward to your success!

*************************************************************************

N.B. As you can tell, I'm experimenting with color. Let me know what you like and what I should change about my use of color.

Please let me know what else you would like to learn, and I'll do my best to help in future blog entries.

Thanks so much for your support of this blog. I'm delighted that so many tens of thousands of people have made this blog part of their regular reading habit!

If you like this blog, please let others know who might also enjoy it.

Thank you to my many friends, students, clients and blog readers who are spreading the good word about this blog.

If you are visiting today because someone invited you, I'm delighted to meet you! Let's stay in touch.

Remember to check out

Live Spiritually Better than a Billionaire at http://livespirituallybetterthanabillionaire.blogspot.com/,

Enjoy Mansions Better than a Billionaire at http://enjoymansionsbetterthanabillionaire.blogspot.com/,

Enjoy Football Better than a Billionaire at http://enjoyfootballbetterthanabillionaire.blogspot.com/ and

Be a World Hero Better than a Billionaire at http://beaworldherobetterthanabillionaire.blogspot.com/.

May God bless you.

Donald W. Mitchell, Your Dream Concierge

Copyright 2005 Donald W. Mitchell

Spiritual Dimensions of the Success Breakthroughs Seminar

2005-09-15T04:06:00.000-07:00

Good morning, Successful People!

Are you feeling motivated this morning? I certainly hope so. I know that I am!

On August 13, Jack Canfield held a cocktail party where we were invited to return as though five years had passed and we had accomplished all of our goals developed during the seminar.

I was fascinated to listen to how many ways that people had served others. One young man had helped end gang violence. A woman had stopped bullying in schools. Another man had established schools around the world anonymously. Still another person had established schools for the disenfranchised in Africa. And so on.

I could not help but marvel at this seemingly unlimited urge to help.

Where did it come from? It seemed to surge forth from the heart.

Let me explain. One exercise we did set the stage. Each person was given 24 toothpicks and told to put them into a structure that included nine squares. Next, we were asked to remove eight toothpicks to leave two squares that did not touch one another. Some people got the answer right away by inspecting the display. Others struggled. Once you had gotten the answer, you were instructed to look around to see if anyone had raised their hands to ask for help. To help, you were told to clap your hands when the person removed a toothpick that would help them succeed and to be silent when they made a mistake. By trial and error, anyone could solve the puzzle at that point in less than 30 seconds.

Afterwards, people shared their experiences. Many reported enjoying providing the help as the main learning of the exercise. It seemed like they wanted to give and were delighted to have the opportunity.

I was also impressed by many other common impulses. More than half the people wanted to write non-fiction books with helpful messages. The more people who were helped by those messages, the happier the people were. It was very nice to behold.

Many of the people also reported "success" as becoming closer to other people.

From a personal perspective, I found myself feeling like we were all one person at several points during the week. I liked that feeling.

But one of the most moving aspects of Saturday came when a woman I was working with shared her plans for after the seminar. These plans included spending 20 minutes a day to pray. I was impressed because that aspect of self-improvement had not been evoked explicitly during the seminar . . . yet that spiritual dimension was accessed anyway. I had had a similar reaction in deciding to increase my Bible reading from just evenings to include mornings.

A special epiphany came when Jack Canfield showed photographs of crystals grown from water that had been in contact with different human thoughts. Angry thoughts produced crystals that were very ugly and misformed. Loving thoughts produced crystals of great intricacy and beauty. When a large number of people had the same thought on the same day, the same crystal structure showed up in fresh water crystals taken from lakes around the world. This made me realize that our loving thoughts create a physical impact on our world.

Think about that the next time you have to decide how you want to react to something. Do you want to create beauty and harmony . . . or discord and ugliness? It's up to your spirit!

Regardless of how much money you have . . . or don't have . . . you can create beauty and harmony both with your thoughts and your deeds.

May you always walk and think in beauty and harmony!

Please feel free to let me know what else you would like to learn, and I'll do my best to help in future blog entries.

Thanks so much for your support of this blog. I'm delighted that so many thousands of people have made this blog part of their regular reading habit!

If you like this blog, please let others know who might also enjoy it.

Thank you to my many friends, students, clients and blog readers who are spreading the good word about this blog.

If you are visiting today because one of them invited you, I'm delighted to meet you! Let's stay in touch.

May God bless you.

Donald W. Mitchell, Your Dream Concierge

Copyright 2005 Donald W. Mitchell

Having a Ball as a Public Speaker!

2005-09-13T06:52:00.000-07:00

Good morning, Successful People!

Are you feeling motivated this morning? I certainly hope so. I know that I am!

Did you know that public speaking is the major fear of most people? That probably applies to our friends, the billionaires, too.

If you can learn to have fun with public speaking, you'll have more opportunities for fun and to share great knowledge and experiences with others. What could be nicer?

At Jack Canfield's Success Secrets seminar, August 12 was devoted to teaching us about the potential joys of public speaking.

While fear gripped most breasts in the beginning, we used the Sedona Method to first welcome and then to dissipate that fear. Jack Canfield and Marcia Martin then combined to give us experience with having fun while speaking.

We started by working with just one other person. Exercises included talking in gibberish, employing humorous accents, telling tall tales we handed off to each other in mid-story, introducing one another as outrageous characters and generally playing like I hadn't done since I was about four.

Next, Marcia taught us some simple lessons. Here are some of my favorites:

1. First, settle yourself before starting to speak. Relax and connect with the audience before launching in. The Sedona Method releasing works well. I also go shake hands with as many people in the audience as possible before I start speaking to release my nervousness and to make them real to me as individuals. This also helps to warm them up for me.

2. Imagine you are speaking to just one person in a conversational tone. I found it helpful to think of this like a cocktail party before having a cocktail.

3. Make eye contact for at least five seconds with one person before moving on to another person.

4. Connect and stay connected to the audience by extending your message to the whole group, watching for their reactions and being responsive to those reactions.

5. Put in pauses to give your listeners time to think about what you've just said before moving on.

6. Make what you have to say move efficiently from beginning to end, and then stop. Many people tell long preambles rather than just launching into the story they want to tell, and keep talking after they've reached the end of their story . . . endlessly repeating themselves and dissipating the power of their point.

7. Practice, practice, practice! Be sure to create videos of yourself so you can see what you do. Get feedback from others after each practice so you don't keep practicing mistakes.

8. Avoid sounding like a performer. Be real and speak from the heart.

9. Enroll your audience in what you have to say by starting with an intriguing statement. In one practice session, I told a story about getting stuck in a telephone booth as a child by saying, "When I was five, I went off looking for an adventure." That engaged my listeners so that they paid more attention to my story.

10. Think about the fun and naturalness of these exercises when the subject of public speaking comes up rather than the fear you used to have.

I was impressed by how quickly most people in the seminar started to become playful and relax with one another. Nice!

In the evening, we had a treat when Michael Gerber, the small business guru, joined us to share his views that until your small business has a successful system that you continuously improve, you don't have much more in your small business than a lot of risk and a painful job. He told us hilarious stories about his saxophone teacher, the master carpenter who taught him carpentry, and the encyclopedia salesman who taught him sales. The key lesson: Develop a system that any uneducated, inexperienced person can learn. Don't develop a business that requires your special talents to thrive. Use those talents instead to make a system that thrives without you . . . like Ray Kroc did with McDonald's (something that made him the equivalent of a billionaire today). Michael made a strong argument for putting in a "dreaming room" (like Walt Disney used) six blocks from your business to work on your business, instead of in your business.

I was fascinated to learn that Michael Gerber had no experience in business when he began his small business consulting practice in 1977. But by using a beginner's mind and a blank sheet of paper, he soon developed a superior system that he's been using ever since.

Once again, I was disappointed that there was no response from the Canfield organization about the information I shared with them about helping Tina (see yesterday's blog) assist homeless people. One woman I had been talking to did suggest I post a notice on the bulletin board . . . which I did.

What are the lessons for you?

1. Influencing others means becoming a superior communicator. Take the time to develop those skills. Toastmasters is an inexpensive, helpful, safe place to start.

2. No matter what you do, create a compelling vision that excites you and others. Share that vision, and create a superior system for creating the vision's reality.

3. Share your vision with others by revealing your true self to them.

Please feel free to let me know what else you would like to learn, and I'll do my best to help in future blog entries.

Thanks so much for your support of this blog. I'm delighted that so many thousands of people have made this blog part of their regular reading habit!

If you like this blog, please let others know who might also enjoy it.

Thank you to my many friends, students, clients and blog readers who are spreading the good word about this blog.

If you are visiting today because one of them invited you, I'm delighted to meet you! Let's stay in touch.

May God bless you.

Donald W. Mitchell, Your Dream Concierge

Copyright 2005 Donald W. Mitchell

Tina Requires Perseverance and Help to Serve More People

2005-09-12T08:32:00.000-07:00

Good morning, Successful People!

Are you feeling motivated this morning? I certainly hope so. I know that I am!

How can we accomplish more than a billionaire . . . without a billion? It's easy. Enroll more people in doing good works, and help them become more effective. Let me explain how this can come about.

During the recent Success Principles seminar run by Jack Canfield, I decided to become better acquainted with Tina who made coffee early in the morning at our hotel, the Ritz-Carlton in Lake Las Vegas, Nevada. I had become aware of Tina when one of the seminar members asked that Tina be invited into the meeting to receive our recognition because she had been so kind to everyone.

Earlier in the meeting, I overheard a number of people observing that our group was receiving much gourmet food . . . of which quite a lot had been left over. Many people expressed the hope that the food was being shared with the homeless.

While talking with Tina the prior day, Tina had shared with me that for the fall months each year she bakes lots of cookies and shares them with both homeless people and with military personnel. From the way she told the story, I assumed that she was using her own money to do this. I realized that if I could help her learn about creating 2,000 percent solutions she would be able to provide 20 times the benefits to those she wants to help with the same time, effort and money.

While we were chatting at 4:45 a.m. (she starts work at 4:30 a.m.), I asked her to tell me in more detail about what she does. I mentioned that I would like to help her to find ways to accomplish 20 times as much. She said that that would be great, and mentioned that she could bake more if someone helped her with the baking and if she had more money to buy the ingredients.

I mentioned that she needed to also recruit other volunteers to accomplish more. That would include someone to solicit donations of money and ingredients, and people to help her bake more food. She was interested in the idea of getting donations, but didn't know how to do that. I mentioned that many food stores, restaurants and food manufacturers regularly donate food and ingredients for these purposes. I also mentioned that there is Federal money to help the homeless get food that churches can apply for, but someone needs to know how to fill out the applications. Tina is involved with a lot of churches, so that's a real possibility.

I decided to ask other people at the Jack Canfield Success Principles seminar to share information on how to obtain this help with Tina. I approached one of the volunteers and she told me that she would arrange for me to share Tina's story at the end of the day. The end of the day came and that didn't happen. So I followed up, and told my story to more people. They said they would sleep on it and think about what to do to help Tina do good for the homeless people in the area.

Tina also wanted to learn more about the seminar. I told her that I had put some of the exercises in this blog. She doesn't have a computer, so she asked me to print out the pages for her. I told her that I would be glad to do so but that the business center didn't have any paper. So I went to a supervisor at the hotel and asked her if someone could print out the pages for Tina and let other people in the hotel know about the blog. The supervisor kindly said she would.

When Tina was before the group, a video was created and she was given a copy as a DVD. She showed it to me and said that she couldn't play it, and asked for my help. I took it to the Canfield people who tested it out and found that it was working. I asked what they had done with it, and no one knew. One man said that he thought that perhaps Tina had thought it was a CD rather than a DVD, so that they had now written DVD on it.

My vision of Tina is that she can be a magnificent leader in helping homeless people by making them feel loved and supported. But those who know more than Tina does now about this need to help her learn what she doesn't know yet about how to do this. Tina's passion though will attract many people to these good works. She is a wonderful example for us all. May God bless Tina.

Perhaps if I persevere more people will notice this angel of mercy amongst us and help her to do God's will.

If Tina was the high point of the day, my book's title was clearly a close second. Jack Canfield had noted that he was particularly good at choosing book titles and shared with us the story of how "Chicken Soup for the Soul" was developed as a title. I decided to ask Jack about other ways that you can develop great book titles. He shared several with me and offered to send me information about how to contact someone who is very good in this area. Then, he stopped me and asked what my book was about. I gave him the title in response. He stared up at the ceiling for a minute and said, "That's a great book title. You don't need to change it." He went on to explain that books about millionaires are passe and that new books should focus on billionaires. He later told the group about my book title and mentioned that he liked it. I was walking on air for the next several hours!

Hale Dwoskin returned with his amazing laughter, and we were filled with joy. He told us more about his seven day retreat and explained how with seven days of focusing on removing problems we used to have many people find that many of those problems disappear during the retreat. An important lesson for many is to stop seeking . . . anything . . . including Enlightenment. It was a profound lesson.

We then did an exercise in which we first focused inside ourselves and then asked ourselves to simply be ourselves . . . to stop trying. We were to be open to whatever is heard in a given moment whether that's internal or external. We were asked to welcome the silence that allows that hearing to take place. Then the same was repeated for feelings and the space and emptiness around the feelings. Then the same was repeated for seeing and the nothingness that allows the contrast to see. Next, we were asked to remember the person we used to be and to let go the desire to change that person. In the process, we were asked to find something that we could accept about that person. From there, Hale asked us to picture the person we were becoming in three years and to welcome or embrace that person. He asked us to notice if anything is resisting creating that new person and to release that resistance. Next, he asked us to welcome the good things in life and to picture more good things being accomplished. He asked us to assume that those good things are already being accomplished. And then we came back into the room from within our minds. It was a nice experience.

Hale went on to explain that the Sedona Method works by clearing out the energy pathways in our bodies of their remembered trauma. When that happens, we experience our natural state of current happiness.

Hale next explained that our desire to control is based on a feeling of being out of control. But when we give up on being in control, we find outselves actually feeling more in control. It's a fascinating paradox. Here's a process you can use:

"Is there something that you want to control?"

"Can you let go of controlling it?"

"Could you just set that free?"

"Could you accept the possibility that God doesn't need your help?"

"Can you focus on a person you've wanted to control and consider how much they have enjoyed it?"

"Could you accept the possibility that God can help them without you?"

"Just for now, could you let go of wanting control?"

Hale pointed out that we can still our inner critic, too. Here's the sequence of questions for doing that:

"Could you simply let go of resisting the conversation in your head?"

Can you accept letting the space between your thoughts to get larger?"

Repeat that sequence until the feeling goes away.

Hale then shared an amazing story from last year's seminar with Jack Canfield. A woman who couldn't walk used the Sedona Method for a few hours. At the end, she got up on stage and danced. It's on the DVD he gave us of last year's seminar.

As Hale leaves us, one woman rises to ask Hale if he would record five minutes of his laughter and send it to us. He laughs and says that sounds like a good idea. I will carry his bubbling bliss with me wherever I go.

From there, Jack Canfield takes us through a series of exercises to help us appreciate that what we focus on is what we notice. The reticular activating system in our minds is constantly screening out 98% of the information we process. The most vivid example is a video we watch of two teams passing basketballs. We are asked to notice how many times the white team passes the ball. About 1/3 of the people get the right answer. Then Jack asks if anyone noticed anything else going on. About 1/5 of the people did. During the session, a person in a gorilla suit walked across the scene. I noticed that there was an extra body on the screen, but didn't notice that it was a person in a gorilla suit until I watched the scene a second time. I am humbled to realize that I got the wrong answer on the passes . . . and missed the man in the gorilla suit.

We spend time creating affirmations (positive statements) about achieving our goals. Here are the rules for affirmations:

1. They start with "I am . . . ."

2. They are positive. (The subconscious doesn't notice "not" so you need to avoid it . . . or you will attract the opposite of what you want)

3. They are stated in the present tense.

4. They are brief.

5. They are specific.

6. They include words ending in "ing" to create an action verb.

7. They have a feeling wod in them (thrilled)

8. They are about yourself.

Here's an example: I am calmly and effectively teaching Johnny about keeping his room clean.

You should create affirmations for your most important goals and repeat them 3 times a day. That will focus our attention on what we want.

We also do a wonderful exercise where we are to ask everyone in the room for what we want. Each person is told to say "no" to the first nine requests and to say "yes" to the tenth . . . and then start all over again. It's amazing how much more confident we become about asking . . . despite all the no's we receive. I find that it becomes easier to ask for bigger things . . . because rejection feels more comfortable.

Another high point of the day is being asked to close our eyes and laugh aloud for three minutes. When the time is up, we can't stop. The bliss is infinite!

Our final exercise is to grope around with our eyes closed doing whatever we enjoy without speaking. The sounds of laughter, humming and dancing soon fill the room.

It's been a full day, and I hope that some of these observations are of value to you!

The only way to know is to try some of the exercises. You'll find it works better to do these with at least one other person. It's fun to share what you experienced with someone. Then, give them a hug!

I also suggest that if you know Tina, you help her with her mission to help homeless people and military personnel. If you don't know Tina, find another angel of mercy and help her or him instead.

Please feel free to let me know what else you would like to learn, and I'll do my best to help in future blog entries.

Thanks so much for your support of this blog. I'm delighted that so many tens of thousands of people have made this blog part of their regular reading habit!

If you like this blog, please let others know who might also enjoy it.

Thank you to my many friends, students, clients and blog readers who are spreading the good word about this blog.

If you are visiting today because one of them invited you, I'm delighted to meet you! Let's stay in touch.

May God bless you.

Donald W. Mitchell, Your Dream Concierge

Copyright 2005 Donald W. Mitchell

Hale Dwoskin Releases the Past While Jack Canfield Takes Us on a Magic Carpet Ride

2005-09-10T09:13:00.000-07:00

Good morning, Successful People!

Are you feeling motivated this morning? I certainly hope so. I know that I am!

Wednesday, August 10, was truly magical at Jack Canfield's seminar. After many beautiful, wordless hugs while looking other people lovingly in the eye, Hale Dwoskin arrived to share his bubbling laughter. I could listen to Hale laugh all day. Laughter just bursts from him in unrestrained, egoless glee . . . and we all giggle along with him.

I have been using the Sedona Method for almost two years on a daily basis since Hale first contacted me to review his book for Amazon.com. I thought I had it down pat. But I was only hovering over the surface. Within five minutes, Hale's gentle voice and amazing cadence had me so relaxed that I felt like a melting popsicle that would soon ooze out of the chair and become a puddle on the floor.

He taught us ten different ways to apply the Sedona Method. What each method had in common was that it released us from re-experiencing past emotions so we could focus on our happiness and the possibilities of the moment.

Hale demonstrated on stage the way we normally work. Our past issues are like a tiny dot on a large piece of paper . . . a very small part of our lives. But we focus only on past issues, covering ourselves with the piece of paper so that that past becomes our identity. To demonstrate, he asked people to describe their pasts. People with really bad problems (like constant pain) describe their problems with an amazing amount of pride ("I have the head pain physician in my city treating my pain because it's so bad."). It turns out that we use past problems as a way to make ourselves seem special. Isn't that sad? Why not become special for the amount of joy we feel?

Here's an example that I shared before of a basic method:

You ask a series of questions, giving yourself time to feel whatever you feel in between questions.

"What is your NOW feeling?"

"Could you welcome that feeling now?"

"Could you let that feeling go?"

"Would you let it go?"

"When?" (this is an invitation to say now)

Then you repeat the questions as often as needed until you feel free of that particular feeling.

Most negative feelings evaporate within minutes.

The four basic methods are:

1) Decide to let the past go (the example above)

2) Let the emotion in rather than repressing it and let the emotion dissolve

3) Magnify the emotion and look at the core to see that there's nothing there which pops the emotion like a soap bubble

4) Holistic releasing by perceiving the space around your emotion

I had heard that the Sedona Method can eliminate pain in minutes, and I was astonished by the demonstrations. A woman stopped a migraine that she had had for two days within a minute. I had some pain in my leg and it was gone within 15 seconds. Here's the sequence for pain release:

"Focus on your sensations."

"Can you welcome your sensations?"

"Can you welcome the emptiness and space around every sensation?

"Can you welcome the sensations?"

"Can you also welcome the emptiness and space that surround and interspace every sensation?"

and repeat until you feel comfortable.

For Migraines (or any pain isolated to one part of the body) you also expand the blood supply and get it moving by first holding your hand over solar plexus. You also put your hands together in front of you and gradually pull them apart until they are outstretched at your sides.

In the process, we came to learn that pain is the brain's interpretation of a sensation that we can change back into a sensation without turning it into pain. Very nice!

If any of you suffer from pain, you should learn the Sedona Method. A book, CDs and seminars are available.

The most profound understanding I receive is that the desire to fix problems from the past is also dysfunctional. The only reason that we want to understand and fix problems is because we plan to have those problems again. The Sedona Method allows us to release the old emotion while keeping the learning of that past experience. Our intuition already knows the lesson. Very nice!

We also learn to use the Sedona Method to improve relationships, to create a better male/female balance within us, to solve health problems, and to unleash our perfect intuition to guide us all the time. I find that my inner voice is much louder now in telling me what to do (the good voice . . . not the scolding one).

I find myself thinking that this method could be a lifesaver for one of my students who lives in Australia. I hope he reads this post today and decides to come to the weeklong retreat in Arizona in a few weeks that Hale is offering.

We all agree that this training is the best part of the seminar to date.

We finish the morning by learning a method to turn our inner critic into an inner coach. My teammates and I find this experience very rewarding.

I feel sorry for billionaires. They are so busy that none of them are at this delightful seminar. I wouldn't trade the experience for all of Donald Trump's money!

After lunch, Jack helps us develop our personal visions of our personal life purpose. It's a hypnotic induction that involves meeting a spiritual guide in a spiritual place after a magic carpet ride. The answers come in terms of symbols. We see ourselves receiving a gift in a box. Then we open the box to see what the gift is.

My gift is in a large box that's 12 feet long, eight feet deep and five feet high. The box is inlaid with gorgeous oriental designs created by large rubies, sapphires, emeralds and other precious stones. Although the box is so large, it is so light I can lift it with one hand.

Inside the box I find flawless five and six carat diamonds that are square cut. They are lit by an amazing white light, and glint with all the colors of the rainbow like fine diamonds do. I can feel the diamonds as I dig through them. Their value and beauty take my breath away.

But I cannot figure out what they mean. Jack instructs us to ask the spiritual guide (who is an angel for me). My spiritual guide doesn't answer after I ask repeatedly.

Then two perfect, enormous white doves gently fly down through the while light to circle over my head.

I ask my spiritual guide what the doves mean and again there is no verbal answer but a new scene appears.

I'm instantly transported though into a beautiful grassy area outdoors somewhere and two perfect, enormous blue-and-purple-colored butterflies flap their wings gently in front of my face. They are so beautiful I feel in awe of them.

I still haven't been able to figure out what all this means about my life's purpose. I've been asking other people what they think. Feel free to comment if you have any ideas. I would love to hear from you.

From there, we begin to craft our visions of what we want over the next three years. Today, we will learn how to create those visions.

After class, we break up into self-directed classes where we share knowledge. I join the one for professional speakers, and we have fun sharing things we have each learned that no one else seems to know. I share my experiences with international speaking.

Afterwards, we enjoy a beautiful steak dinner.

What are the lessons for you?

First, you must learn the Sedona Method. If you want to start small, you should read the book. I'm sure your library has a copy. From there, be sure to go on to the audio course (which is around $250 -- you can split the cost with friends and it will be quite inexpensive). If you like what you've experienced, you should definitely join Hale Dwoskin for a seven-day retreat in Sedona (it's $899 for the first person and $500 for those who join you). I cannot imagine a more valuable seminar for that price. The next retreat is September 25-October 1. Visit www.sedona.com or call 888-282-5656 to order.

Second, you should spend time thinking about your life's purpose. Here are some questions to help you:

a. List two of your unique personal qualities, such as enthusiasm and creativity.

b. List one or two ways you enjoy expressing those qualities when interacting with others, such as to support and to inspire.

c. Assume the world is perfect right now. What does this world look like? How is everyone interacting with everyone else? What does it feel like? This is a statement, in the present tense, describing an ultimate condition, the perfect world as you see it and feel it. Remember, a perfect world is a fun place to be.

d. Combine the three prior subdivisions of these questions into a single statement. Here is an example: My purpose is usinig my creativity and enthusiasm to support and inspire others as we all freely express our talents in joyfulness, harmony and love.

This method was developed by Mr. Arnold M. Patent. You can reach him at 28172 Via Chabas, Mission Viejo, California 92698 (949) 770-7769 www.arnoldpatent.com

Please feel free to let me know what else you would like to learn, and I'll do my best to help in future blog entries.

Thanks so much for your support of this blog. I'm delighted that so many tens of thousands of people have made this blog part of their regular reading habit!

If you like this blog, please let others know who might also enjoy it.

Thank you to my many friends, students, clients and blog readers who are spreading the good word about this blog. If you are visiting today because one of them invited you, I'm delighted to meet you! Let's stay in touch.

May God bless you.

Donald W. Mitchell, Your Dream Concierge

Copyright 2005 Donald W. Mitchell

Jack Canfield Helps Us Cleanse Our Past Hurts

2005-09-09T07:34:00.000-07:00

Good morning, Successful People!

Are you feeling motivated this morning? I certainly hope so. I know that I am!

Our exciting Breakthrough to Success seminar experiences continued with hugs and two hours of sharing experiences with the affirmations we created and installed yesterday. The most amazing story was told by a woman who was once pregnant, homeless and "crazy". She described how she had decided to give up her baby and take her own life. Now, she's a motivational speaker who is hired by the CEOs who used to give her a quarter on the street to train their employees. It left us all feeling like we don't really have any problems.

Jack Canfield is back to being his original sweet self, and that makes the session more enjoyable for us all.

Next, we picked a partner and began sharing what it is we hide from others, who we hide what from, what it costs us to hide, what we would gain if we didn't hide, what we now want to do and how to do it. This is a powerful exercise for my partner who tells me that he doesn't apply the principles that he teaches others . . . which makes him feel like a hypocrite and keeps him from accomplishing what he would like to accomplish. He commits to change this before he goes to sleep and to share with me what he does by this morning.

From there, we did another hypnotic induction designed to help us identify negative experiences in our past involving our families and to identify better ways of coping. One person shares that this person's mother once described this person as a child as having been "a hole in her diaphragm" which made him feel unloved and unworthy of love. There are some pretty heavy duty reactions to this exercise, and I begin to see how many people are carrying a lot of hurt that saps their self-esteem and energies.

Our final exercise is to do a sort of psycho-drama where we go through anger, hurt, fear, regrets and remorse, wants and needs, and love to deal with old feelings about someone. For most people, this is a parent. The sound of people pounding chairs with towels is almost unnerving to me. It's almost painful to be in the room while people experience so much pain.

People are beginning to deeply bond with one another. They are also reaching out in new ways. People stop me to start chatting based on something I've said in the general meeting. It's a nice experience. Many are interested in starting to read this blog.

What are the lessons from these experiences that you might employ?

First, do you hold grudges against others? If so, the time and effort you put into those grudges is mostly hurting you. Learn to forgive, forget and move on to something you can influence.

Second, do you feel hurt by the way someone has treated you? If you are still dealing with this, it's time to heal yourself. You should seek out the assistance of skilled people if you have been deeply hurt. Otherwise, try talking it out with a loved one . . . and let the hurt go. Turn the hurt into a positive influence.

Third, help someone who is in tough shape. Observing and helping with their problems will make you feel grateful that you don't have such serious issues.

Fourth, bathe yourself in God's love. He is always there for you, and wants to forgive you. You just have to ask for forgiveness, and you will be back in His good graces!

Please feel free to let me know what else you would like to learn, and I'll do my best to help in future blog entries.

Thanks so much for your support of this blog. I'm delighted that so many tens of thousands of people have made this blog part of their regular reading habit!

If you like this blog, please let others know who might also enjoy it.

Thank you to my many friends, students, clients and blog readers who are spreading the good word about this blog.

If you are visiting today because one of them invited you, I'm delighted to meet you! Let's stay in touch.

May God bless you.

Donald W. Mitchell, Your Dream Concierge

Copyright 2005 Donald W. Mitchell

Learn What You Don't Know That You Don't Know

2005-09-07T07:42:00.000-07:00

Good morning, Successful People!

Are you feeling motivated this morning? I certainly hope so. I know that I am.

I realized that some of you may not be into self-improvement. You like who you are already. So I'll add some bonus blog entries this week to help you have a great week.

During breaks at the Jack Canfield seminar, I'm meeting dozens of people. I ask each one to tell me what they are trying to gain that they haven't accomplished yet. Then I ask them to tell me how they plan to go about gaining what they want in the future.

Invariably, I find that they don't know much about how to accomplish their goal. So they are choosing a high risk, low reward pathway without knowing it.

I then tell them about what the low risk, high reward pathways are and answer their questions about why those pathways work better. In most cases, these brief conversations can save them years of effort and be worth a great deal of money to them.

Here's an example. One man wants to start a company. He tells me that his limitation is in raising the capital. I ask him what is the best source of low-cost capital, and he tells me it's friends and family. I tell him that's not a bad answer if he has no chance of failing, but if he fails that he will never have the same family relationships again. He looks uncomfortable. So I ask him what's a cheaper and more abundant source of capital. He mentions more expensive and less abundant sources like venture capital.

I share with him that raising capital from customers is a better route. Customers then have a stake in your success . . . which increases your chances of success. Many times this funding is simply in the form of advance payments against invoices . . . or a low interest rate loan with the option to turn it into some equity at a higher price. Once a large customer has made such an investment, everyone else wants to invest.

The man does the arithmetic and realizes that this pathway will make his company quickly worth $200 million instead of $4 million, and he will own over 50% rather than owning less than 25%. He's ready to shift focus and we discuss how to organize this by building a team with experience in this type of financing.

How can you apply this lesson to your life?

First, assume that you don't know something that's important to know about what you're doing.

Second, seek out people who have succeeded at what you are about to pursue.

Third, tell the people what you plan to do.

Fourth, ask those experienced people what you are missing.

Fifth, repeat the process with at least 25 people.

Sixth, check out any books on the subject to see what they suggest.

Although this may sound like a lot of work, if what you want to do is valuable to you, you'll be much better off in the long run. Notice, too, that you'll probably begin gaining better ideas very quickly in the process so your improvements will soon become available to you.

Please feel free to let me know what else you would like to learn, and I'll do my best to help in future blog entries.

Thanks so much for your support of this blog. I'm delighted that so many tens of thousands of people have made this blog part of their regular reading habit!

If you like this blog, please let others know who might also enjoy it.

Thank you to my many friends, students, clients and blog readers who are spreading the good word about this blog. If you are visiting today because one of them invited you, I'm delighted to meet you! Let's stay in touch.

May God bless you.

Donald W. Mitchell, Your Dream Concierge

Copyright 2005 Donald W. Mitchell

Jack Canfield Shows Up and Gives Us Respect

2005-09-06T06:47:00.000-07:00

Good morning, Successful People!

Are you feeling motivated this morning? I certainly hope so. I know that I am.

This blog post was originally written on August 8, 2005 for Live Better than a Billionaire on Five Dollars Extra a Day. I wanted to reprint it here for you in case you missed it.

What's it like to be trained by one of the most successful people on the planet? If I had to pick one word it would be: respected.

With almost infinite kindness and patience, the Success Principles seminar began gently on Saturday night, August 6, with a brief concert by Ms. Jana Stanfield who provides a brand of music and humor she calls "Heavy Mental". Perhaps the spirit of what she has to say is best captured by the lyric:

"The world needs more help than I can give

But the world needs all the help I can give."

She has songs about coloring outside the lines, being gentle with one another and seeing the beauty in everyone. She tells loving stories about children with MS, and how they like the concept that "if you can move, you can dance" and she soon has us doing both.

By Sunday morning, we're all excited about experiencing more. Breakfast is a nice surprise . . . with the finest fruits, meats and eggs. So fueled for a fine morning, we arrive in the meeting room.

Large binders full of material await us. The second surprise is when we find that the binder has extra copies of material in it . . . and permission to copy the material to share with those we teach and train at no extra charge. The third surprise is that the seminar is being recorded, and those who couldn't attend will be able to buy a CD of the session in a few months for around $600. That sounds like quite a bargain for those who missed it.

Then, Jack Canfield comes out . . . and turns out to be a low key, smiling, and gentle man. He nicely explains what he's going to do, why he's going to do it . . . and almost apologetically explains that we will learn best if we laugh a lot (based on the latest research) and that we are going to see a lot of cartoons. And they come, filling the room with giggles and guffaws. Then, he tells us about how to learn best (we'll remember 95% of we teach it to someone -- are you ready to learn?), and can remember 90% of we take complete notes on what happens, review the notes within five hours and get eight hours of sleep (the last hour and a half is when short term memory is turned into long-term memory).

He shares a long page of rules for the seminar, asking for our agreement. Some balk at various points (one woman wants to be able to have two glasses of wine on Wednesday night), and Jack patiently negotiates with each person an agreement that will help them meet their needs and still learn the most. At the break, we all comment that this agreement session was an eye-opener. We've never seen a group this size deal with so many issues, but it leaves everyone in the room feeling like Jack Canfield is serious about serving us, is a nice guy, and respects us. The most emotionally charged moment comes when a woman who is hugging her husband is almost in tears at the thought of being physically removed from him for part of the seven days. She eventually agrees to try two sessions without him during the week. We all applaud heartily at the happy resolution!

I'm present with one of my students, and I fear he will feel cheated if I don't always sit with him. I ask Jack if I may sit with my student whenever he requests me to. Jack suggests that that would be all right as long as these are less than half of the sessions. I turn to my student and ask him if that's all right . . . and he happily agrees. I feel a lot better!

We continue to discuss how powerful Jack's approach is during meals and breaks, and vow to be as patient and considerate in negotiating rules for achievement with our colleagues and families when we return home.

For the rest of the day, we are all astonished at how quickly Jack notices when we raise our hands and how eagerly he stops whatever he was doing to answer our questions and to hear our comments. I was once at a Tony Robbins seminar and stood on my chair waving my hands for two hours before Tony finally let me speak. I like the difference. I feel totally respected and that makes me eager to learn.

At lunch, the food is even better than at breakfast. We have both salmon and chicken, great vegetables, and everything is fresh and made with the best ingredients. In the restaurant this lunch would have cost $30. Very nice.

Dinner is even better. It's an authentic northern Italian menu beginning with antipasto. My student is from northern Italy, and he proclaims everything to be quite good and authentic.

In fact, the whole experience is first class. And that makes us all feel more respected. Some of the facilitators enjoy these sessions so much that they come back as volunteers year after year. One man has done so for 17 years.

During the afternoon, we work on having more self-esteem. You can feel the self-esteem expand from minute to minute. I had a chance to work with and meet dozens of interesting people . . . and quite a few tell me that they will be reading my blog entries about the seminar. I also teach a number of them about the key elements of creating 2,000 percent solutions. They like it!

At the end of the day, we have two pieces of homework that I enjoy: To write down 100 successes we've had; and to tell ourselves that we love ourselves in the mirror before going to bed. I nod off thinking that I'm one of the 300 luckiest people on the planet.

I usually wake up briefly during the night. Rather than rolling over and going back to sleep, I headed down to the business center to write this blog entry.

My eyes are getting a little heavy so I'll sign off in a minute.

But before I do, I want to share with you how you might apply some of what I learned yesterday.

First, take the time to get to know people before you start working on something with them. It will help you bond and feel like you can trust one another.

Second, discuss, negotiate and lay out the rules of how you are going to work together in ways that reflect everyone's preferred ways of operating. That makes everyone feel respected and engaged by what you're working on.

Third, be open to questions, comments and concerts . . . whenever they arise.

Fourth, create a first-class environment for people to pursue the common purpose. They will feel inspired by the positive treatment and the assumption that they are worth it.

Fifth, tell people you value them, write notes about why you value them and be physically demonstrative of your delight in them!

Thanks so much for your support of this blog. I'm delighted that so many thousands of people have made this blog part of their regular reading habit!If you like this blog, please let others know who might also enjoy it.

Thank you to my many friends, students, clients and blog readers who are spreading the good word about this blog. If you are visiting today because one of them invited you, I'm delighted to meet you! Let's stay in touch.

May God bless you.

Donald W. Mitchell, Your Dream Concierge

Copyright 2005 Donald W. Mitchell

How Jack Canfield's Success Principles Can Zoom You Past Billionaires

2005-09-05T05:55:00.000-07:00

Good morning, Successful People!

Are you feeling motivated this morning? I certainly hope so.

I am very happy and excited to be sharing some of the key lessons from Jack Canfield's book, The Success Principles. One of the many benefits of not being a billionaire is that we potentially have more motivation to succeed than those who already have so much material wealth. Through The Success Principles, you can have the chance to identify your goals and change your habits so that you will move more directly and effectively towards those goals.

If you get nothing else out of the book, be sure to take the part seriously about setting out your goals in writing and reviewing them daily. It is estimated that fewer than five percent of all people do that . . . and they vastly outperform the people who don't take this simple step.

Before capturing any more points about the book, let me share with you my review of The Success Principles. I think that overview will be helpful as we dig into a few areas of the 64 in the book.

A Landmark Resource!, March 21, 2005

Reviewer:

Donald Mitchell "Your Dream Concierge: Live Rich on Little by reading my daily blog at http://livebetterthanabillionaireon5dollars.blogspot.com" (a citizen of the world based on Boston) - See all my reviews

Most peoples' bookshelves are weighed down with self-help books. Some teach you how to lose weight. Others refocus your financial development. Still others help you with relationships. Yet others look at better habits. And others propound moral principles to guide you. What most of these books have in common is that they are usually superseded by a new and better book . . . soon after being published. How can you hope to keep up? Well, you couldn't . . . until now.

Jack Canfield and Janet Switzer have created something different in the self-help literature -- a compendium of the principles that have stood the test of time. I didn't find a single source of ideas that I like (except those that are only grounded in my religious beliefs) that wasn't included here somewhere.

The book is organized in several sections to make these references easier to follow: The Fundamental of Success (which includes principles like Take 100% Responsibility for Your Life, Be Clear Why You're Here, Decide What You Want, Believe It's Possible, Believe in Yourself, Unleash the Power of Goal-Setting, Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway, Be Willing to Pay the Price, Reject Rejection, Use Feedback to Your Advantage, Commit to Constant and Never-Ending Improvement, Practice Persistence, and Exceed Expectations); Transform Yourself for Success (which includes principles like Drop Out of the "Ain't It Awful" Club . . . and Surround Yourself with Successful People, Acknowledge Your Positive Past, Face What Isn't Working, Transform Your Inner Critic into an Inner Coach, Stay Motivated with the Masters, and Fuel Your Success with Passion and Enthusiasm); Build Your Success Team; Creative Successful Relationships; Success and Money; and Success Starts Now.

The authors also provide many free tools to help you succeed.

If the strength of this approach is that you cover the waterfront of sound principles, the weakness is that the coverage is pretty thin in places. That will be the gripe of many people against this book. But unless it was to be 2,000 pages long, that weakness is unavoidable. The suggested reading and other references in the back, however, are more than adequate to lead someone to deeper resources where they are needed.

I only noticed one unmitigated weakness in the book: a preference for evolutionary change and improvement rather than encouraging readers to develop breakthrough skills as well.

To give you a sense of how valuable I found this book, I persuaded the dean of the university where I teach to let me launch a new course for self-improvement based on The Success Principles as the text. This one book will replace what many students are now acquiring through taking as many as six other courses. I see that as an important step forward for their educations . . . and yours, too, if you read and apply this book as I have been doing since I read it. I've seen immediate results . . . and believe that you will, too!

If you are a writer, you will also enjoy the many places in the book where Mr. Canfield shares lessons from his remarkable success with developing the series, Chicken Soup for the Soul.

If you have already read much of the success literature, you probably think this book isn't for you. I beg to differ. Seeing so many good ideas in one book will help you weld together good habits and actions in even more constructive ways.

Since he wrote the book with Janet Switzer, I've had a chance to listen to Jack Canfield several times. I was impressed to hear him boil down this advice into the following key points:

1. Release yourself from the old emotions that keep your focus tied in the past (The Sedona Method helps with this).

2. Persistently focus on your goals.

3. Take the simple steps every day that will lead you to your goals.

4. Surround yourself with positive people and ignore those who aren't.

5. Trust your intuition.

6. Keep pursuing these new directions until they become well-ingrained habits.

It's more complicated than that but it's helpful to have a framework to refer to. I was impressed that Jack Canfield was able to look into the spiritual side of each of us. What do we feel drawn to do? What is our special purpose in life? Coming into harmony with that special purpose makes the other steps occur fairy automatically.

When I ask my students to use The Success Principles to help them plan their lives, the assignment I give them is as follows:

1. Write down your goals.

2. Create a plan for achieving each goal.

3. Identify which of the 64 principles are most important to your achieving your goals.

4. Describe how you will use those most important principles to meet your goals.

That's it. I encourage you to follow that same advice.

Here are the principles that are most important for me to achieve my goals:

Become an Inverse Paranoid (believe that the world is plotting to do good for you)

Release the Brakes (let go of limiting beliefs and negative aspects of your self image)

Ask! Ask! Ask! (much of what you want is there for the asking . . . but not if you don't ask)

Reject Rejection (when someone says "no" you're no worse off than you were if you hadn't asked . . . so you haven't lost anything)

Practice the Rule of 5 (simply do five specific things that move you towards one of your goals daily)

Face What Isn't Working (things won't get better until you address persistent problems)

Transform Your Inner Critic into an Inner Coach (it's just what it says)

Build a Powerful Support Team and Delegate to Them (you cannot do it alone)

Mastermind Your Way to Success (this concept comes from Think and Grow Rich . . . regularly communing with a team that helps one another think through what needs to be done)

Empower Yourself by Empowering Others (you'll learn more by teaching this material to others than by simply trying to apply it for yourself)

Be sure to buy and read (and reread) The Success Principles. That discipline will help you reshape your habits. If you live somewhere where it's hard to get the book, you can buy an on-line e-book from Amazon.com so that you can get started now. As Nike says, "Just do it."

You'll notice that I complained about one element of The Success Principles: The focus on evolutionary change at the expense of revolutionary improvement. You can learn the skill of revolutionary improvement which will make everything else easier to do. If you are interested, I suggest that you read the book I co-authored with Carol Coles and Robert Metz, The 2,000 Percent Solution. All but two chapters are available on-line for free at www.2000percent solution.com (just click on the "excerpts" button on the left hand column on the home page to find the table of contents and click on the parts you want to read from there). Carol and I recently completed a workbook based on The 2,000 Percent Solution, and we except to publish that soon.

I also offer a course based on The 2,000 Percent Solution in which students create their own 2,000 percent solutions at Rushmore University. If you want to take that course, go to www.rushmore.edu/. You can take the course as a stand-alone without pursuing a degree program. The course is called Mitchell on Exponential Business Success, but you can use the course to work on a personal issue instead. I also offer a course based on The Success Principles which is called, Canfield on Success, which can also be taken as a stand-alone course.

Please feel free to let me know what else you would like to learn, and I'll do my best to help in future blog entries.

Thanks so much for your support of this blog. I'm delighted that so many tens of thousands of people have made this blog part of their regular reading habit!

If you like this blog, please let others know who might also enjoy it.

May God bless you!

Donald W. Mitchell, Your Dream Concierge

Copyright 2005 Donald W. Mitchell

Become More Successful than a Billionaire in Achieving Your Goals with Jack Canfield's Advice

2005-09-03T08:33:00.000-07:00

Good morning, Successful People!

Are you feeling motivated this morning? I certainly hope so.

This post was originally written on July 24, 2005. The material it describes as being written in the future can be seen on www.livebetterthanabillionaireon5dollars.blogspot.com/ in the posts on August 8-15, 2005. I will be adding those posts to this blog as well in the next few days.

Jack Canfield will be hosting a Success Principles seminar in Lake Las Vegas in August. Your blogging correspondent will be there representing my many students around the world. They have each given me a question that they would like to be able to answer, and I will be inquiring on their behalf. Some of my students will also be joining me at the seminar.

While I'm there and afterwards, I'll be writing a little about what I learned on this blog. So even if you cannot be with Jack and me in Lake Las Vegas, you can learn from this amazing seminar. I recommend that you read The Success Principles before August 7 when the seminar begins. You will get more from the book if you set new life goals, pick out the ten principles that you need to follow the most and describe what you will now do differently to be more successful. If you borrow this wonderful book from the library, this preparation will cost you nothing!

I will also be writing a detailed summary for those who want to zoom ahead in their success. If you would like to subscribe to receive that summary or to have me ask your questions at the seminar, please send me an e-mail at ultimatecompetitiveadvantage@yahoo.com with the subject line that says "Please Represent Me at Lake Las Vegas" and I will let you know the details.

The seminar has already begun. A week ago on Monday night, we had a teleseminar with Michael Gerber, the small business guru and last Monday we heard from Hale Dwoskin about the Sedona Method. I can already feel my energy increase and my enjoyment in life expand. I look forward to helping you do the same!

You may be thinking that you wish you could take the time and spend the money to attend such a terrific seminar and stay at a Ritz-Carlton hotel for a week of pampering. Well, you can!

How? You can learn from my experience. There are probably 10,000 people who would like to attend such seminars for every person who can afford the time and money to be present. Most billionaires are too busy . . . and most other people lack the money.

Ask those you know if they would like you to go the seminar and represent them. If you can find enough people who want you to look into their questions and tutor them after the seminar, you can charge a fee for those services that will cover your time and expenses. And you will learn more because you will be looking into so many questions that you wouldn't have thought about before.

Please feel free to let me know what else you would like to learn, and I'll do my best to help in future blog entries.

Thanks so much for your support of this blog. I'm delighted that so many tens of thousands of people have made this blog part of their regular reading habit!

May God bless you.

Donald W. Mitchell, Your Dream Concierge

Copyright 2005 Donald W. Mitchell

Declare Your Independence from Conventional Billionaire Thinking, Traditional Economics and Harmful Fantasies!

2005-09-02T10:30:00.000-07:00

Good morning, Successful People!

Are you feeling motivated this morning? I certainly know that I am!

This entry was originally published on July 4, 2005,

It's Independence Day in the United States, the date in 1776 when the founders of our nation finalized the Declaration of Independence that set off our amazingly successful experiment with self-government.

I wanted to write a post today that would capture that same spirit as applied to being more successful than a billionaire..

Over the weekend, I was reading the best selling non-fiction book, Freakonomics. I was struck that the book has done so well because it has very little content, limited information that isn't well known, and employs methods that any first year statistics student could use. I showed the cover to my wife and younger daughter, and they were fascinated by what they saw. The book has an image of a sliced apple which has an orange inside of it. I decided that the title and the cover had to be big parts of the book's appeal . . . because books about doing elementary statistical analysis don't usually sell so well.

So what does Freakonomics have to do with apples and oranges? As best I can tell, Freakonomics has very little to do with those fruits in a literal sense. The metaphor seems to be intended to be applied in two ways: First, you have to compare apples and oranges to the right reference to understand what you are examining; and second, sometimes the cause of something comes from an unexpected source when we peel back the skin of surface reality.

How can we apply that metaphor to succeeding better than a billionaire?

The wealth of a billionaire is like a large object that dominates the landscape, obliterating the view of much else that is or could be going on. That dominance leads to a mind set that isn't necessarily helpful to the billionaire.

Let's think about how billionaires usually live. Since billionaires rarely live in camping tents on a deserted beach, a billionaire's life is usually the essence of acquisitiveness and covetousness . . . and in some cases, power hunger. We see those same qualities reflected in mere millionaires and the upper middle class in most countries.

Malcolm Forbes always made that impression on me. He loved his collections of Faberge eggs (made originally for the Tsars of Russia as Easter gifts) and toy soldiers. He also loved to entertain potential advertisers on his yacht. Those who didn't buy ads sometimes found negative stories written about them in Mr. Forbes's eponymously named publication. At one time he dated Elizabeth Taylor. There was no gesture too grand for Mr. Forbes. In a way, he was the prototype for Donald Trump in living conspicuously as a wealthy New Yorker.

Let's think about those qualities in psychological terms. What do they say about the person who emphasizes them? Well, I'm no psychologist (not even of the Tom Cruise variety), but I've read a lot of books about psychological research. One of the standard interpretations of those who seek to acquire more things than others in a compulsive way is a strong need to offset a sense of insecurity. Such people may feel unloved, unappreciated and like imposters who are unworthy in a world they feel is hostile to them. They fear the day that everyone wakes up to their inadequacy and leaves them . . . alone with their possessions. But at least they'll be able to eat! Those who covet, by comparison, may feel unfairly powerless. They feel inadequate because they measure themselves compared to what others have and hope that if they had more symbols of adequacy they would, in fact, become adequate. But the inadequacy is mostly in a social sense . . . people who don't get enough respect to satisfy them and crave that recognition. In a sense, these are people who feel extremely unloved. And the power hungry? They don't feel like they want love, they demand respect based on the physical ability to take what they want. Billionaire dictators who steal from their own citizens are a good example of this psychology.

What does all this have to do with you?

I want to introduce you to some other ways of thinking that you may find more psychologically rewarding than the burrs under the saddle of many billionaires.

A number of years ago I took a fascinating course with Dr. Richard Bandler, the co-founder of what is now called Neuro-Linguistic Programming. The course was called Design Human Engineering. In the course, Dr. Bandler explained that we could create any attitude, mood or emotion simply by taking charge of our minds. Here's a simple example. If you want to feel excited, you simply imagine all the times when you had felt such extreme excitement . . . and tie that feeling to the concept of having a dial in your mind that allowed you to increase or decrease that level of excitement . . . on your command. As a practice exercise, he had everyone else in the room cheering loudly for us when we wanted more excitement and then quieting down when we wanted less. That gave us a cheering memory to use to reinforce our self control over our own excitement. It's a quite effective technique, and I highly recommend the course and concept to you.

But having you learn that technique is not my purpose. Instead, I want to break down succeeding better than a billionaire into its component parts so you can become independent of the thought processes that billionaires are dogged by.

First, choose positive fantasies. When we imagine ourselves doing something great, we are reinforcing a positive image of ourselves. A year ago during the Tour de France in which Lance Armstrong won his sixth title in a row, there was an advertisement for a bicycle company that featured an ordinary man imagining that he was winning the Tour de France. If the ordinary man carried that thought with him only when he rode his bicycle, then that thought could have a positive benefit by encouraging him to ride his bike more often. The ordinary man would benefit from both more exercise through a fitter body and from a sense of confidence as his riding improved. And anytime he saw or heard about Lance Armstrong or winning the Tour de France, his positive fantasy would be further reinforced.

By comparison, a billionaire might have a negative fantasy. Like Uncle Scrooge in the Disney comics, a billionaire might imagine that thieves are all around her or him and be afraid to meet new people who aren't billionaires . . . who might want to steal the money. Or the billionaire might think that no one loved him or her as much as the other people loved her or his money. That's the message of the penultimate scene in Citizen Kane as Kane calls for "Rosebud" with his dying breath. Having that negative fantasy harms the billionaire by making him or her afraid and encouraging behavior that will be likely to reduce positive human contacts.

To live better than a billionaire, you need to employ positive fantasies. Rather than let any old fantasy grab your mind, fill your mind instead with fantasies that bring out the best in you. Rather than imagining yourself as Mike Tyson, imagine living like the most admirable person you know or have read about. In doing this, think twice before picking celebrities who are important mostly because of how they look or how well they are known. Pick people who are wholesome and helpful to others. If you want to pick a celebrity, choose someone like Paul Newman who is a great actor or actress (such as his wife, Joanne Woodward), does great work for charitable causes and knows how to have fun as well (such as through his automobile racing) while keeping his or her values intact.

Second, create new fantasies . . . and reinforce old ones. I call this process "fantasynomics". Here's an example. One of the most powerful symbols in U.S. culture for men is that of the cowboy. An even more powerful symbol is the marshal (like Matt Dillon, played by James Arness, in Gunsmoke) who used his wits and his gun to keep the law. For those who find this image to be irresistible, consider taking up Cowboy Action Shooting. These are competitions where the contestants don Western gear, adopt nicknames based on Western lore and test themselves in timed target shooting with Western-style guns. If you are interested, visit www.sassnet.com to find a club and lists of events you can attend and enter. There are special events for beginners and participation can cost as little as $40.

Before choosing such an activity, be aware of the downside risks. When I was young, my band teacher used to compete in quick draw contests around a similar theme. All that stopped painfully, however, when his gun caught in his holster, and my teacher shot himself in the foot with a live round.

Building around the frontier theme, many of the best parties I've attended simply asked everyone to dress up in Western attire. With put-on drawls, Stetsons, boots, silver buckles for the men and parasols, hoop skirts and bonnets for the women, everyone was quickly in fine humor. And no one had to worry about shooting themselves in the foot. I keep a set of Western gear bought at a famous store in Dallas for such occasions. My Stetson's hat box is even fancier than the hat itself and always makes me laugh when I see it.

Third, you can employ what I call "budgetnomics" to simply purchase or access goods and services inexpensively that you thought were only affordable by billionaires. These methods usually require some thought and advance planning, and may entail some significant effort. My friends, Phil and Linda Lader, for instance, are able to entertain thousands of the most fascinating people on Earth every year at their Renaissance Weekends as a result of 25 years of hard work in developing this marvelous concept of allowing the talented and famous to show their private side. On a simpler scale, you can do what my literary agent friend did and house sit for movie stars while their homes are up for sale. Or you can volunteer to be a host at a charity event that someone else organized and help make people comfortable while you enjoy the event as well. Many other examples can be found in this blog's posts . . . and many more will be added in the future.

Notice that in some cases, you can overlay positive fantasies, fantasynomics and budgetnomics to create even better results. For instance, one year an advertiser offered the chance to ride your bicycle with Lance Armstrong. Having that experience could help you want to exercise on your bicycle more often, have an easier time imagining what it's like to be in terrific shape and learn some of the inside secrets of how Lance Armstrong thinks as he prepares to win championships. If you wanted to have that experience all the time, you could write to Mr. Armstrong and offer to help him develop a fantasy bicycling experience that ordinary riders would enjoy. You could then help run this new business . . . which could benefit charities that Mr. Armstrong supports.

In any event, I encourage you to declare your independence today from the kind of self-limiting thinking and psychology that dogs many billionaires.

Ride straight ahead instead to choose positive fantasies that reinforce constructive behavior while buying truly valuable products and experiences with limited money by employing your ingenuity and your precious time.

Here's a good way to begin.

Invite your friends to visit this blog and share their ideas with you about what positive fantasies they have, positive fantasies they think you would enjoy, and their best experiences with fantasynomics and budgetnomics.

In addition, the more people who share information through comments on this site, the more valuable this site will be. In the process, let's become a separate nation. Let's declare our independence, too, from those who seek to emulate the billionaires by mindlessly coveting what they have and their extreme efforts to obtain and keep that wealth.

Donald W. Mitchell, Your Dream Concierge