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All our lives we are told by the pundits our goals are not realistic. Our dreams are too far-fetched. Our expectations are too high. We are told you have to remember who you are and where you came from. We are preached to that those "things" are for the "other" people; you certainly can't expect that for yourself; whom are you kidding? You'll only disappoint yourself. It will be a big letdown. You know how you are when you get disappointed. I say Crap! CRAP!

POPULAR CONSENSUS = RECIPE FOR FAILURE

The aforementioned rhetoric is what we and every other human being have been told since Guthrie Man. Conventional wisdom has been holding people back for tens of centuries. Being in the majority is a recipe for disaster. A famous man once said, "A sure formula for failure is to try and please everyone." Some might say I built a career on doing just the opposite of pleasing everyone.

SETTING GOALS FOR SUCCESS

How many times in your business life have you been told your goals are unrealistic? And you acquiesce to conventional wisdom and lower your goals? Our lives are a series of lowered expectations year after year. We got pounded by everything around us. Just like our parents and their parents. We are products of our social and economic milieu. And we ask ourselves why there are barrios and ghettos? Remember, you will become whom you hang around with. What if you were judged by the people you surround yourself with? By your advisors, associates, and close friends. What would people think? Forget people! What do you think? How would you judge someone like yourself? Pretty scary, huh?

What a distressing contrast there is between the radiant, intelligent child and the feeble mentality of the average adult. (Freud)

Achievable goals – NOT!

Conventional wisdom says you want to set achievable goals. My life was changed a number of years ago when I heard Ted Turner of Time Warner/Turner Communications (now AOL/Time Warner) fame say "set goals you cannot accomplish in your lifetime." Does that sound like an achievable goal? Does that sound like a goal with a set time frame? Doesn't conventional wisdom say "you must set a time limit for your goal?" B.S.! The pundits tell you that a set time frame will act as a benchmark. Actually it acts as the opposite. It's really a ceiling. How many times have we seen someone give seven days, a month, or sixty days to do something? What happens? It takes exactly that long to accomplish the act. Doesn't it? Instead we should say – as fast as humanly possible! What happens when you're told "I need it now?" It gets done now!

You see, all super high performance people go against conventional wisdom. Turner, Iacocca, Ford, Dell, Edison, Gates, Jobs, Tom Watson, Perot, Fred Smith, Knight, Bezoes, and probably any superstar you know all subscribe to do what others felt was wrong. And in every case, probably something that was not considered achievable. In other words, the very opposite of conventional wisdom. That same conventional wisdom that is preached in our schools. And we wonder why we're not more successful! Why our children are not high achievers! We wonder why kids are so ill-prepared for life! We wonder why there are so many dufuses! (I'll write a great deal about dufuses in future issues). Wouldn't you like to have some chances back again? The things you didn't do. And you say you can't. Why? Because of your responsibilities, family, kids, etc. Because others say so? Because time has passed you by? Because you are too old now? Because you don't have the energy any more, or even because you're too young? Because! Because! Because! Conventional wisdom says you can't, that's why!

Colonel Sanders was 65 years old when he decided to sell fried chicken in a cardboard box. Grandma Moses was in her 80's when she decided to paint. How old are you? Is your idea any more funky than Sanders? Grandma Moses'? Is your idea any stranger than Ross Perot's idea to build a company that could outsell IBM at what they did better than anyone in the world? Cheaper? Starting with $1,000? Or what about a teenage Bill Gates wanting a computer in every U.S. home! I don't think so! Who's kidding who?

What about the proliferation of dot.com companies. There are literally thousands of dot.coms founded by 20-year-old kids to senior citizens. Think about the following: In 1994 there were virtually no dot.coms. In 1999 over 300 dot.coms had IPO's for a market capitalization of a trillion dollars; and it's estimated in 2000/2001 over 900 dot.coms will come to market. The 294 companies doing the most business on the internet have an average market cap of $18 billion. That's 30 times the average NASDAQ non-dot.com company's market cap!

It's a changed world! Are you changing?

Dan Pena Articles

From Bill Gates at the end of the last century to John D. Rockefeller at the end of the previous century; from Rick Scott, founder of Columbia Health Care; to AT&T; from Richard Branson and British Airlines to Dan Peña and The Financial Times; from government, banking, insurance and every other facet of world commerce – to grow geometrically and stay around, and avoid being ground into a powder by greedy lawyers and the people who will try to cheat you – litigation must be prudently used and mastered – you must lose your fear of litigation and master the legal system. It exists for honest people, like you, not just the bad and the greedy.

I will, as briefly as I can, memorialize the salient points of using litigation as a business tool. Now before I start, I want it on the record, some 50% of my 30-year track record of litigation has had nothing to do with winning money, i.e., many lawsuits have been over principle, some were to right a heinous wrong such as slanderous remarks made about me; some were to simply protect me or a company that was wrongfully sued; and some were because an entity just needed a good comeuppance and nobody else would carry the flag into battle. I, like Don Quixote, have fought many a windmill.

Our judicial system works, but we grow up being afraid of it. It's way out of our comfort zone so we preclude ourselves from benefitting from it.  Normally the cost associated with lawyers and expert witnesses keeps us from using it. In fact, I'm currently embroiled in litigation where the ancillary players to the litigation have rights which are being severely violated. A large group of people could bring great pressure to bear, but they're afraid because of previous bad experiences. Sometimes people lose faith in their fellow citizens who will sit on a jury and are afraid to go to court to tell their story. They could get what they deserve but aren't pursuing their best interests.  No one should sue anyone unjustly, but you should not tolerate being sued unjustly either. Sometimes, you or your company will have to sue to protect your rights, or defend yourself all the way through trial.

Many times lawyers will sue you hoping you’ll “settle” and pay them large sums of money because you are afraid of going to trial. The more successful you are, the more you need to remember that the courtroom exists to protect you and your company. Naturally you have to defer to your lawyer, but I have found 28 Rules of Litigation to be rock solid guides for me.

28 Rules of Business Litigation:

1. Choose your Battles: No one should sue over every wrong.
2. Choose the Venue
3. Be the Plaintiff: if you can’t be the Plaintiff, act like one—be the person getting ready for trial not being afraid of trial
4. Have the Best Representation
5. Listen to Your heart
6. Don't listen to your sick stomach when you're out of your comfort zone.
7. Don't listen to friends, relatives, et al
8. Listen to experienced litigants – like me!
9. Generally speaking, don't worry about the cost (THIS IS VERY HARD!). Just be sure you’re getting “bang for your buck” and not a lot of internal memos.
10. Big lawsuits are better than small ones
11. Elect jury trials, as opposed to a judge only: don’t be afraid to trust your fellow citizens.
12. Preparation(yours) is key – KNOW THE FACTS
13. Practice depositions and trials
14. If you are thinking of a better strategy, get a new lawyer (not true in my case)
15. NEVER GIVE UP
16. Don't be intimidated by the process
17. Use mock trials (pretend trials you do in front of a hired jury)
18. Dress simple and conservatively in court – no jewelry except a wedding band, white shirt, plain tie and dark suit for men and the equivalent for women; short groomed hair for men. Everyone should show the proper respect for the judge and jury.
19. Don't lose your temper in court – it's okay to cry if it's for real.
20. Have your spouse in the front row every day. Children also if possible. Other family members in second row is okay. Your family needs to know what you’re going through. And there is nothing wrong with showing that you are a respected member of the community.
21. No quotes to the press other than "We believe in our case and that is why we went to court". Your words can easily be distorted by a reporter in a hurry.
22. When you break for lunch or recess, remember never talk in public about the case – you never know who might overhear.
23. When you find a legal team that wins, STAY WITH THEM
24. ALWAYS TELL THE TRUTH, No matter what. The truth will set you free!
25. During videotaped depositions and in court, look at the camera.  In court, look at the jury. Make eye contact.
26. When testifying in a deposition or trial, if you don't know the answer, say you don't know the answer. Don’t guess.
27. Keep in touch with your lawyers: ask them what’s going on each month at least.  Don’t abandon your case to them and be sure you understand what they are doing.
28. Don’t allow lawyers to shift in and out of the case: you want one team that learns, not new lawyers constantly coming “up to speed.”

Like any other project management, litigation must be managed. That means you need to stay involved. Unfortunately, like speech-giving, you become a great litigant by going through a learning curve. I don't mean you have to get involved in losing efforts (like making bad speeches so after some time you make good speeches) to get in a position to win in court. Large law firms and experienced lawyers will allow you to get ahead of the learning curve. The Quantum Leap methodology talks ad nauseam about following your dreams. Life without dreams is like a bird with a broken wing – it can't fly. I wrote this newsletter because sometimes you'll need litigation to follow your dream. Go out and kick some butt if you have to, and don't let conventional wisdom keep you from achieving your dream. Conventional wisdom says Don't Litigate. All high-performance people and the great organizations of the last one hundred years did the opposite when they were in the right, and they still do litigate, as I write this letter.

Don't litigate frivolously – but don't be afraid to protect what is right either.

Learn more about Dan Pena’s Quantum Leap methodology through his QLA Training Programs and his bestselling book, “Your First 100 million”.

Dan Pena Articles

Here's a list of 28 Tips that make Great CEO's and Companies. These are some of the things I've learned after meeting many successful executives. They all have major characteristics which are  common. This is the same with strong businesses. No matter what industry, all super successful companies are highly adaptable, focused and passionate about their vision.

1. The Hedgehog Vs Fox…the fox is smart & cunning but gets caught up in lots of details, becoming misdirected and chasing his own tail…hedgehogs do only 1 thing and do it well and nothing else…eat. THE BEST CEO’S OF ALL TIME ARE HEDGEHOGS!!
   

   Example: Jimmy Carter was smart, wordly, tackled many issues…and got lost in detail. Ronald Reagan had only 1 thing on his mind for 8 years… Russia… remove the "evil empire", remove the "evil empire" and remove the "evil empire"! Reagan was a hedgehog…

   All great Hedgehogs have 3 common traits:

   1. Passionate about what they believe in..
   2. Recognise that they are genetically encoded for their chosen field of endeavour… they really LOVE what they do!
   3. and somebody WILL pay them for what they love to do!
       
2. Teams with the clearest sense of vision & impact WIN!
3. Talent base – people…are the most important assets of new economy companies.
4. Best question to ask a CEO…why would great people want to be part of your company?
5. Customers will constantly raise "the bar of expectation" for companies.
6. The internet is a giant "lab experiment" for corporate America and those companies that recognise this and play well within the rules of ambiguity & fluidity will survive and win. NOTHING IS CAST IN CONCRETE.
7. The best form of customer service is SELF service. Constantly empower customers to get their own answers themselves…this is a huge differentiator
8. "CLOCK SPEED" OF BUSINESS IS CONSTANTLY ACCELERATING…TIME REALLY MATTERS MORE THAN MONEY (MONEY YOU CAN SOMETIMES GET BACK, TIME YOU CAN’T) MOST EVEN BRIGHT UNDERESTIMATE THE VALUE OF TIME…THINK MORE IN TERMS OF "RETURN ON MINUTES"(ROM) THAN "RETURN ON INVESTMENT" (ROI).
9. Get in the digital game fast, no matter how small…"launch, listen, learn, then re-launch!
10. SIZE IS THE ENEMY OF SPEED! SPEED TO REACT MATTERS MORE THAN SIZE OF COMPANY…
11. Good leaders make sense of change in the world…then imparts that insight to the team.
12. SHIFTING THINGS (CHANGE) WHEN LIFE IS GOOD IS TOUGHER THAN WHEN THINGS ARE BAD, BUT YOU SHOULD CONSTANTLY BE SHIFTING…MORPHING.
13. People WANT to be led by strong leaders and good leaders are constant students.
14. THE JOB OF CEO’S IS NOT TO BE THE SMARTEST GUY IN THE ROOM, BUT TO ATTRACT OTHER SMART GUYS TO WORK FOR HIM. THE "GROUP BRAIN" IS FAR MORE POWERFUL THAN INDIVIDUAL BRAINPOWER.
15. Current accounting and measurement systems and metrics are outdated for new economy companies.
16. Human capital is the new currency of the digital economy.
17. Technical change is a sub-set of greater change – cultural change.
18. GOOD IS THE ENEMY OF GREAT!! When we get good, we usually quit.
19. GREAT DNA ENCODING OF PEOPLE AND VALUES (NOT IDEAS) IN YOUNG COMPANIES EARLY ON WILL CREATE THE TRULY GREAT AND LASTING COMPANIES LATER.
20. IT IS NOT IMPORTANT WHAT WE DO, BUT WHOM WE DO IT WITH…GREAT COMPANIES DIDN’T START WITH WHAT THEY PLANNED ON DOING, BUT THEY STARTED OUT GREAT BY WHO THEY PICKED TO DO IT WITH! People should get on your "bus" not for where you are going but BECAUSE THEY LIKE WHO IS RIDING ON THE BUS WITH THEM. The "bus" will also change directions, but the bonds of good people won’t.
21. ALWAYS PUT YOUR BEST PEOPLE ON THE BEST OPPORTUNITIES, not biggest problems.
22. "STOCKDALE PARADOX"… Admiral Stockdale survived 7 years of torture in Vietnam not by being overly "optimistic" of being rescued within weeks, but by being realistic of knowing it could be years. The other "optimistic" American POW’s around him died from broken expectations and hearts…of hoping to be rescued within weeks. REALISTS ARE BRUTALLY HONEST WITH THEMSELVES…YET THEY STILL HAVE AN UNWAVERING BELIEF THAT THEY WILL PREVAIL…"FAILURE IS NOT AN OPTION, EVEN IN THE FACE OF GREAT ADVERSITY…JUST KNOW WHAT YOUR ADVERSITY REALLY IS"!
23. CEO’S MOST IMPORTANT TASK…NEVER STOP BECOMING QUALIFIED FOR THE JOB.
24. FLYWHEEL EFFECT…when you start pushing a 10 ton metal flywheel, it takes lots of effort to make a single revolution, but less for the next 3…momentum will start to carry the wheel forward itself…same is true in business. It’s tough and slow to build momentum and inertia, but before long, it starts spinning under it’s own force. After a while, MULTIPLE REVOLUTIONS WILL CREATE EVOLUTION!
25. Use technology only after you have momentum, not to create it. Technology is simply an accelerator of momentum, not a creator of it
26. Building a great company means your building something WORTHY of lasting…QUESTION: HOW DO YOU KNOW IF YOUR COMPANY IS WORTHY OF LASTING??? ANSWER: DOES IT STAND FOR SOMETHING GREAT TO SOMEONE?
27. Dream now and then, they will come true!
28. GREAT COMPANIES DO 2 things well:

1. Preserves: core values and purpose.
2. Changes: operating practices, technologies and culture as needed.

Summary:

• Human talent is the currency of the new economy.
• Good is the ENEMY of great!
• Time is more important than money ("ROM")
• Be a hedgehog!!! Unwavering single mindedness…
• Know WHO you want on your "bus" in work & life…
• Build something that is WORTHY and STANDS for something to someone…
• Take time to dream…

Dan Pena Articles

Purveyors of conventional wisdom have told me for years I couldn’t do this or that. I’ve kept the list of the things they said I couldn’t do but did. These are listed also in my book "Your First 100 Million". The message, of course is, "You CAN do that". You will definitely encounter lots of resistance on the road to super success but don’t let others stop you from reaching your goals. If you can dream it, DO IT!

1. You can’t take 26 units in one semester (1/2 year) of college/university
2. You can’t take 15 units during summer school at two universities simultaneously when 6 units is the max
3. You can’t leave Bear Stearns and go in to the oil business, a business you know nothing about
4. You can’t play 72 holes of golf in one day
5. You can’t run 1,000 miles in one month
6. You can’t run 100 miles in one day
7. You can’t run 38 miles on your 38th birthday
8. You can’t build the 50th largest exploration and production company from scratch in a collapsing market
9. You can’t buy a castle
10. You can’t build the fastest growing natural resource company during the worst recession the energy business has experienced in 50 years! (GWRI grew at 67,000% per year for eight years, or over 500,000% in total!).
11. You can’t convince the Kuwaiti Investment Office (KIO) to a restructuring that will sell in The City (The London financial district)
12. You can’t hire the Kuwaiti Investment Office’s (KIO) own brokerage firm and use them as a mediator to negotiate a restructuring with the KIO
13. You can’t convince the KIO to back a long-range plan to build a natural resource company
14. You can’t go public using a $60,000 option on property you don’t even own and turn it in to $50,000,000 in 3½ months
15. You can’t buy Bow Valley USA ("BV"); it’s too large. It’s 5 times larger and owned by one of the largest energy conglomerates in North America.
16. You can’t get financing to buy Bow Valley in such a short time frame! (Seven weeks)
17. You can’t tell the Financial Times journalist he has faeces for brains
18. You can’t marry a virgin
19. You can’t leave the US to raise your kids
20. You can’t move back to the US and back again
21. You can’t change your social economic milieu
22. You can’t go to college/university!
23. You can’t finish 3 years of college/university in 1½ years
24. You can’t change your major area of studies over and over again and still graduate
25. You can’t live an outrageous life and ever amount to anything
26. You will never reach the age of 21…30…40…50…55
27. You can’t get quality people to leave their jobs for less money, no contract, and relocate at their expense
28. You can’t do $50million in revenue your first year in business with only one employee (me!)
29. You can’t get a major contract with the US federal government (FDFC) with no employees, no office or money, and only a leased fax machine
30. You can’t be engaged to be married for 2½ years
31. You can’t marry, and stay married, to a woman whose parents loathe you
32. You can’t plot to overthrow a communist government (Haiti) in the western hemisphere in 1980
33. You cant’ do a major equity offering on the back of a major restructuring of Great Western Resources Inc (GWRI)
34. You can’t get the KIO to participate pro rata in restucturing
35. You can’t get the KIO to put up money pro rata in a major equity offering a week after Desert Storm
36. You can’t get The City to participate in the growth of GWRI when your persona is so outrageously controversial
37. You can’t take GWRI public when you have no experience in the energy business
38. You can’t get the most prestigious law firm in the UK to represent you for the public offering\
39. You can’t get the Israeli government to choose GWRI over major oil companies to drill in Israel
40. You can’t sell your first drilling fund in 1982 with an injunction against Great Western Energy Corp. ("GWEC")
41. You, an unknown, can’t compete in a drilling fund market that is already saturated
42. You can’t get a New York Stock Exchange member firm to sponsor your drilling fund
43. You can’t get a "Fortune 200" size firm to affiliate itself with your drilling fund sales
44. You can’t build a refinery with no engineering experience, fighting the unions
45. You can’t get Orthodox Jews to sign a contract for the Israeli government on the Sabbath, while in Israel
46. You can’t resurrect the Bow Valley negotiations once they’ve left the table and headed on back to Canada
47. You can’t convince Bow Valley you can perform
48. You can’t get a bank to put up $85 million to buy Bow Valley’s coal operations when you have no coal experience
49. You can’t get Citicorp to back you when no one at the bank has ever done business with you
50. You can’t get City Stockbrokers to guarantee the Bow Valley transactions
51. You can’t get the KIO to underwrite GWRI while in the acquisition mode
52. You can’t get a major accounting and law firm to carry GWRI like a bank during the growth mode!\
53. You can’t turn down $30 million for your shares in GWRI! (the 1989 attempted takeover).
54. You can’t be one of the highest paid energy executives in the US (Top 5, 1986 – 88)
55. You can’t get a multi-million dollar rent free lease in Houston when your company is still in the "minor leagues"
56. You can’t pay an extra $1 million for a acquisition when the deal is already cut
57. You can’t honour an acquisition deal when oil prices collapsed before funding and when the price of oil dropped in half
58. You will never get the KIO to back you after your mole’s departure
59. You can’t get a court to issue an injunction to stop the issuing of the Los Angeles Athletic Club’s October Marathon first place award to a bogus winner
60. You can’t get blue-blooded advisors in The City when you first come to London
61. You and your wife can’t go to the Cotton Club in Harlem in 1978! (The only white attendees).
62. You can’t out-drink (1981) the biggest drinker in The City
63. You can’t change the way you think about raising children
64. You can’t change the way you think about being a husband
65. You can’t volunteer for the draft at the highest point of the Vietnam War (June 1966)
66. You can’t continue to lift weights with a torn rotator cuff and double hernia
67. You can’t go public the same day as Jaguar (a UK government-owned legend) and finish the day at a premium
68. You can’t change the investment direction from the public offering prospectus so soon after receiving the money
69. You can’t cut the overhead (senior sales (40%), benefits etc.) so soon (90 days) after a public offering
70. You can’t go public in the UK
71. You can’t buy a foreign company over the phone on New Year’s Eve
72. You can’t buy a foreign company for less than it has in the bank
73. You can’t have a dream come true unless you have a dream
74. You can’t restore Guthrie Castle in less than one year
75. You can’t live off-post (against Army regulaions) as a single junior officer
76. You can’t buck the Mafia…and win
77. You can’t find anyone that will take GWRI paper in an acquisition
78. You can’t double GWRI’s share price (in a few weeks) in order to make an acquisition in December 1985
79. You can’t grow GWRI without giving up control
80. You can’t shove a major energy company out of an acquisition deal while you were a non-player
81. You can’t run GWRI from Guthrie Castle
82. You can’t continue to out-trade KIO
83. You can’t write a Seminar manual in less than four months
84. You can’t do a Seminar entitled "You Can’t Do That"
85. You can’t start a Wall Street financial planning seminar (TFC) from scratch! (1975)
86. You can’t interest people in the "You Can’t Do That!" philosophy
87. You can’t double GWRI share price in four months from the initial public offering
88. You can’t write a book (first of a trilogy) in less than 100 days
89. You can’t build a 18 hole golf course at Guthrie without planning permission
90. You can’t sue The Financial Times newspaper (arguably one of the most influential financial papers in the world) and win
91. You can’t coach unsophisticated neophytes to acquire and consolidate fragmented ("cottage") industries
92. You can’t coach individuals with no financial acumen to engage international accounting and law firms to act on a strict "success orientated" fee basis only
93. You can’t teach unsophisticated neophytes to finance deals at 100% (or more) using debt/equity financing with other people’s money (OPM) entirely! And you can’t use the same methodology with top 25 world companies.
94. You can’t spread your Quantum Leap Advantage methodology throughout the UK and Europe
95. You can’t rent Glamis Castle (The Queen Mother’s home) for your 50th birthday!

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Dan Pena Articles

They all had one thing in common: they wanted to make more money, lots of money. we’re talking serious money. And Dan Peña millionaire and speaker extraordinaire was going to show them how… for this they were prepared to pay hundreds, even thousands …was it worth it? Streetwise Business finds out…

It was as going to be 3 days of four letter words, hard facts and real life scenarios. Peña tells it the way it really is – no feelings spared. “We’re all self made but only successful people admit it. What’s keeping you from doing it – YOU!” booms Peña. The 3 day intensive ‘Quantum Leap’ seminar had begun.

If you don’t like bad language don’t go. If your sensibilities can take it without being offended there’s much to learn …but listening to Pena you can’t help wanting to throw up every so often. But doesn’t the truth always hurt?

“The only place where success comes before work is in the dictionary” according to Vidal Sassoon.

“High performance people don’t keep track: they’re macro thinkers’ not micro thinkers. To be really successful you can’t be part-time. You have to be enthusiastic – have passion.” says Peña.

“Instead of Tunnel Think Funnel.”

There are no illusions as to why anyone is at this seminar: “I’m here to make you f—— rich not motivate you like Deepak Chopra or Tony Robbins,” bellows Peña.

“I have been dead in business five times. I know what it’s like to have a house repossessed …I’ve been there…l can be rich… I know I didn’t do it by accident…there’s no doubt in my mind I can do it again…the shit works…you can be Forrest Gump. It’s not that hard.”

“Going to seminars is like mental masturbation. It’s fashionable.” adds Pena.

But you can’t help feeling it’s more than ‘fashion’ that got some of the delegates there: some were already millionaires’, one admitted to being a ‘seminar junkie’ on the verge of having his house repossessed desperate to learn where he’d ‘screwed up’.

“The road to success is always under construction …there are lots of pot holes but no traffic jams. There are two great levers- other people and other people’s money.” says Peña.” The 90’s is about selling. I am a salesman not a business executive”.

Mentors & Dream Team
“To succeed build your dream team and get yourself a mentor,” advises Peña. “and you can raise money without a business plan”.

“You interview the banks..don’t go to them with a begging bowl..” The delegates perk up. They want to hear more of this. This is what they’ve come for.

Referred to as the ‘bulldozer’ of knowledge you can’t help respecting Pena – albeit begrudgingly. This man is nobody’s fool. Hard as nails he doesn’t suffer fools – and will tell you exactly what he thinks…

Words of wisdom fall thick and fast. Peña doesn’t do himself justice – he does have a little Deepak Chopra in him.

The Banks
Peña doesn’t believe in business plans: “by definition the figures aren’t right. The income is always less, the expenses always more. The banks only want to fill their files. Deal with the banks like it’s monopoly money. You should be able to get an overdraft for at least lock of turnover”.

The DUFUS TEST
You are who you hang around with. So make sure you put people through a test advises Peña. “Once you learn to make money it is not that hard….what’s hard is to stay excited about it..

This is from a man who has taken to hunting pumas in the dark for his kicks..

Mega Wealth
Serious wealth isn’t for everybody. And it doesn’t bring a balanced life, Words of warning that most in the audience needn’t worry about – yet.

Walk Your Talk
The best way to predict the future is to create it yourself. Peña believes that if you look good you will feel good and act good. Look the business.

Quantum Growth
Business need to focus on growing revenue. It’s easier to get more revenue than more margins says Peña.

In order to take a ‘quantum leap’ .you need to take the offensive. You cannot achieve exponential gains from a defensive posture insists Peña.

The key to success is to create priorities, make new choices, establish new ideals- leading to a new lifestyle. There’s no doubt: to succeed you will need to change your mind set. Motivation is like a fire unless you add fuel it goes out. Be committed to do what it takes to have what you want.”

The message comes across loud and clear: “the only things in life you regret are the risks you didn’t take”.

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Dan Pena Articles Dan Pena, Mentors and Dream Teams, Millionaires

The world is full of people who want their ears tickled on strategies for wealth creation and protection & so-called revealed secrets to wealth creation. And there are plenty of slick “business coaches” who are more than willing to do just that. for a fee. This is the world of the seminar guru.

“The Big Lie” has been perpetrated by these so-called experts about strategies for wealth creation and protection and revealed secrets to wealth creation. These experts have successfully conveyed to the masses that a strong work ethic is an outdated oddity, unnecessary in today’s “enlightened” business world. These “success evangelists” quickly learned that people liked hearing they could get rich quick, without hard work, and wanted – really wanted — to believe in a pie-in-the-sky. These charlatans found people would pay tens of thousands of dollars for half-truths and misleading bunk, just to feed their desperate need to succeed. Better yet, if what they were taught didn’t work. they were already down the road at another tent, listening to the next great plan for easy wealth.

Most Success And Business Coaching Today Is Nothing More Than A Big Scam!

The strategies for wealth creation and protection and revealed secrets to wealth creation by so called experts is no more than a scam. The lack of true business acumen of most of the current slate of success coaches is appalling! Ask yourself. ask THEM, how much serious money have they made in business. in real business, not their savvy selling of how-to-make-money tapes and seminars. Besides their obvious experience in the “Greater Fool” theory of business, how much experience do they have in kill-or-die corporate boardrooms and bank world headquarters. How many of them are millionaires, let alone multimillionaires? Did they start from nothing and build not one, but 5 fortunes, a business empire worth hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars – on both sides of the Atlantic?

The Big Lie Is That Success Is Easy, It’s For Everyone!

If I Can Do It, You Can, Too!

There Is No Price To Pay, Just Become A Well-Rounded, Balanced, Person.

I’m OK-You’re OK, So Get In Touch With Your Inner Child And.Voila!

You’ll Become, By Osmosis, A Happy, Healthy, And Terrific, Financially-Successful Person Loved By All!

Bunk!

If ever there was a business which proves the old truism, “Those that can’t, teach!”, it is the current success evangelist road show business.

The Truth Is.

There IS a pay price to action, a price to succeed. You have to give up something to get something. Super-success is NOT for everyone, and you will endure weeks and months and years of hard work, obstacles, failures, victories, pain, and any manner of “negative” experiences to reap the rewards of success, drink from the golden goblet, own the brass ring. It helps to have someone knowledgeable, who’s “been there, done that” to walk you through the minefields.

The truth is, successful people are not ten times smarter than you. They don’t really work ten times harder than you. So why are they successful? Because their DREAMS are so much BIGGER than yours!

Since his retirement in 1992, Dan Peña’s goal and purpose in offering the books, training, and specialized seminars, is to bring out proven strategies for wealth creation and protection  and change the way success information is disseminated on the planet.

When choosing your success coach, arguably the most important single business decision of your life, choose one who’s track record is worthy of your goals and dreams, who can take you where you want to go (no 40 yards towards the goal on hot air, but 100 yards down the field for the touchdown).

Wouldn’t it be wiser to select a mentor who’s experience covers 5 continents and includes over 75,000 business DECISIONS over a period of ALMOST 40 years?

For more information about The Big Lie and The Truth, and about the man, Daniel S. Peña, Sr., read the first chapter of his newest bestselling book online, “Your First 100 Million”, or research Dan Peña’s C.V. online

For additional information on strategies for wealth creation and protection & revealed secrets to wealth creation and how Dan Pena could help you quantum leap your business and income, email him or call UK (44) 01241828-691.

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Dan Peña an ‘Executive coach’ and ‘Business mentor’ class apart has based his life and success on 5 "basic" Credos – he writes these down every month, along with his goals, and repeats them every day – Dan believes one must "internalize" these credos, and make them a part of oneself to succeed. These special Credos are:

1. Yesterday’s Dreams are Today’s Realities

Or, what you dream about today will be your reality tomorrow – if you don’t have a dream how can it come true! My personal example of this is Guthrie Castle – I dreamt of living in a castle, and visualized walking through each room, upon the grounds, in the garden – and this dream is now my reality – I live in a 15th Century storybook castle – Guthrie Castle, Scotland!

2. Seeing Dreams Ahead

It’s important to see yourself as you want to be – where you want to be – see yourself at the "goal line" – most people get stuck on the "rocky road’ – Focus on the Goal not the Road to get there, because the "road to success" is always under construction.

3. Simulation: Practice Within When You’re Without

People regularly practice playing a sport like golf or basketball – but few people think about "practicing being successful" – I had practiced meeting the Queen of England – what I would wear, how I would stand, the handshake, so when I did meet her I was comfortable – for I had practiced the moment for years. You should "practice" success before you reach your goal.

4. Act as if There are NO Limits to Your Abilities

I coach my mentees to act as if they are invincible – to act as if they could accomplish anything! Once one "acts" this way – they actually internalize the concept and start believing it themselves – I know one can accomplish much more than they usually ask of themselves; I always ask for more!

5. Enthusiasm: Greek God Within

Enthusiasm is from the Greek – meaning "God Within" – there is not one high performance person alive (or dead) who is not over enthusiastic about their business, their life – enthusiasm is contagious!

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Here's a list of personal quotes I have come up with during my time speaking in seminars and meetings. Learning is more enjoyable with one-liners such as these and easier to remember. Motivate yourself and others with these short and insightful "isms". Add them to your email signatures or status messages on Facebook.

1. Don't waste time on things you can't change!
2. Tough times don't last – tough people do!
3. The best way to predict the future is to create it yourself!
4. Dream Big, Think Big, Be Big!
5. Man Plans – God Laughs!
6. Don't under any circumstances, ever, second guess yourself.
7. Even when one thoughtfully and judiciously plans, more often than not, such plans are overcome by external events. Therefore, never underestimate how wrong you can be!
8. Any problem solved will be replaced immediately by a larger more complicated one!
9. Don't focus on mistakes, focus on the positive "next time"!
10. Progress often masquerades as trouble.
11. The more you investigate, the less you have to invest.
12. Cash only prolongs death. It doesn't avoid it.
13. I've never seen a "part-time" super successful, high performance person.
14. A deal has to sound good before it is good.
15. Hunger makes beasts of men, and demons of beasts.
16. If you want things to change, first you have to change.
17. The only difference between a Champ and a Chump is "U".
18. Quantum Leap success means fishing with nets, not just with lines.
19. Conventional wisdom is almost always wrong.
20. A deal is either hot – or it's not.
21. We must all remember life doesn't have to be fair for us to succeed, if we take charge and become masters and creators of our own destiny!
22. The older you get the less you are surprised.

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