how to motivate people

the matter of the fact is that we would all love to be purpose-driven. as the video shows, the only way to get there is to no longer be concerned with the money. so like scarface said, first you get the money, then you get the power and freedom to change the world.. my early/mid-twenties age-mates have got to switch up their thinking. we are known as being overly hopeful and optimistic, which i think is great. but first we must get out from under our university debt burdens and become captains of industry to actually start affecting the change we want to see in the world.

"money is the motivation.." --lil wayne 'hustler muzik.'

revisit tragedy: early+often.

The Crisis of Credit Visualized from Jonathan Jarvis on Vimeo.

http://www.crisisofcredit.com/

THEN+NOW

"we be steady schemin'." --anonymous broker/lender/wall st trader/investment banker.

now + then = [eventual] opportunity.

in a not sodistant past, the us housing market lookt like this. relatively healthy, one might say:
fast forward a couple of years + missed payments to this picture:moral of the story: do not buy a $500US iPad only to sell it on ebay in 6 months for a fraction of the expnse.

"gotta get at the gettin while the gettins still good." --anon.

"if ur the sh**, then im trynna get sewer rich."

According to the Small Business Administration, only 44% of new businesses last more than 4 years. In addition to that 60% of businesses are either losing money or are breaking even.

So even if you aren’t going to create the next multi-million dollar company, it doesn’t mean you can’t learn from the mistakes successful entrepreneurs have made.

hit the pic to jump to the article at quicksprout.com chronicling ten successful entrepreneurs currently running companies worth $50+ million. they talk about some of their struggles on the way to building overwhelmingly successful businesses and companies.

i thnk capital allocation is the biggest mistake most entrepreneurs/start-ups make. spending too much or spending too little. spending all the money in all the wrong places. throwing away money and not putting some away under the mattress for a rainy day or a hurricane.

"the united states economy is like the titanic, and i am here with the lifeboat trying to get people to leave the ship... i see a real financial crisis coming for the united states," said international fund manager and us senate candidate peter schiff.

"big house. long hallways. got ten bathrooms. i could sh** all day." --lil wayne 'we be steady mobbin.'

the kids call it crack, i call it...

i think it is quite amusing that some people are still mystified that some businesses thrive while others get the pink slip/chapter 11.. the businesses that thrive consistently are those that sell goods with inelastic demand. what that means is that the product will be consumed on a regular basis, whether the price is up or down. i thought i would do a redux of recession-proof businesses for the uncouth:

1. energy [natural gas, oil, electricity]: buildings need to be lit/heated/cooled, vehicles need to be gassed.
   
2. food: people eat it almost every day of the year.
3. alcohol: consumed during the best/worst of times/prohibition/morning/noon/evening by the rich/middleclass/homeless on a daily basis.
   
4. cigarettes: see number 3.
5. shelter: except for the homeless and people living in govt housing [ie: the president], people pay monthly rent or a mortgage.
6. healthcare/insurance: business model = customers pay monthly fee for coverage + insurance company deny claim x insurance company use funds to buy large houses and personal aircraft.
   
7. governement: pay your taxes, every year, or WE WILL FIND YOU wesley snipes.
8. illegal activity [racketeering, drug traffick, etc.]: these activities provide the best profit margins, by far, by keeping uncle sam out of the money laundry.

i did not list anything concerning the arts [music, print, motion picture] because it is simply not a good look trying to make it big with a career in the arts. ask tom ford. sure, he only destroyed the fashion game while at gucci and ysl and also on with his own line; but fashion is the day job that helps support his pursuit of his art, cinema. get oprah money, then one can do oprah things. wealth buys time. the learning channel has a show called 'the lottery changed my life' and u may be able to guess what it's about. there was a family who understands the reasoning behind this list; they bought new cars and remodeled their house but also purchased a parking lot on peachtree street. the money comes in each and every month.. allowing plenty of time to knit + sculpt +paint. holler at etsy.

"money is everything. and its every other thing." --drake.

the year ponzi turned high class.

tens of thousands of investors, some losing entire life savings, saw more than $16.5 billion vanish into thin air during 2009. this number trembles in comparison to madoff's $65 billion scheme in 2008; but in all there were more than 150 ponzis this year, compared to 40 last year.

by comparison, the american taxpayer by way of the federal government estimates the deficit for the current budget year will exceed $1.2 trillion, encompassing all the economic stimulus measures passed through by our overseers. as for me, what do i have? three stacks of high society in red, courtesy of the oligarchs. question: who is the real criminal amongst these scenarios?

meanwhile, the second year of the great recession looms. the worst recession since the great depression, that is. unemployment hovers at 10% [officially; closer to 20% unofficially, including underemployed and discouraged workers]. consumer debt is out of control. the american people are un-insured and under-educated, but over-charged. small businesses are finding it hard to obtain liquidity in the form of revolving lines of credit, previously used to sustain operating activities. banks have done one thing almost right--they've stopped lending to borrowers already pushed to the limit. energy futures and stocks maintain their rollercoaster motion, anticipating or wishing against a W-shaped recovery. business analysts from cnn to fbn to msnbc seem to think that somehow the american consumer/taxpayer/slave will somehow spend our way to prosperity.. what to do?

another good thing to emerge from this heaping pile of rubble we call the american economy, is the banishing of the crutch formerly known as easy credit. the era of fast money is essentially over. the millenials will be the poorest generation since 1947. we will have to revert to a time when one actually had to work to make a dollar. after unsuccessfully being able to draw equity out of real estate to begin my investing ascent to mogulhood, i've been a very angry young man. i've licked my wounds and regrouped. i'm re-upped and starting small. again. out [well, in] looking for another job. but i've got a strategy, and if you cant beat em, join em:

"money is my morals; other than that i'm soul-less." --the clipse(!)

BLK|MRKT|CAPITAL is borne.

2009. it was supposed to be the best of times..

i have got to admit. the last six months have been not nearly what i had planned. i think it is fair to say that 2009 is the worst year of my life thus far. no one likes you when you're twenty-three. but on the up side, the only way to go is up. i had hoped that the last six months i would be using this blog to chronicle my successes. instead, ive been rather quiet. meetings with business lawyers and accountants, bankers, clients, etc. it would have been far too depressing to have written about the many false starts. the summer was spent focusing on positive thought and reading a few 'self-help' motivational business books [success through a positive mental attitude, the success principles, think and grow rich, etc]. the only problem is the things that i have been doing have bore no fruit. so i am regrouping, saving and waiting until the credit markets loosen. they are no where near funny at the moment. ill become a mogul, yet. i will.