Richard Branson shares his keys to success in a recent interview with LinkedIn’s executive editor “Daniel Roth”.

Branson explains what to expect in the big business world and how the grind really is for a successful billionaire.

Richard Branson Shares His Keys To Billionaire Success

Image Via: Youtube: Nike Kobe System Success At Success

Read on to see how the worlds richest man has come to be.

Carlos Slim is currently the world’s richest man. Carlos has been an entrepreneur since the age of 12, when he first decided to purchase shares in a Mexican bank. Now Carlos Slim is worth billions upon billions ($75.5 Billion to be exact).

Carlos Slim – The World’s Richest Man

Carlos Slim Helu’s father, Julian, was a Lebanese immigrant to Mexico where he operated a dry goods store and invested in commercial real estate in Mexico City, which made him wealthy.

Julian seemed to have been aware that Carlos was going to be good at commerce and would educate him on business dealings. Although he was only 12 years old when his father died, Carlos inherited his fathers business talents, whose work ethic and business acumen was extraordinary.

Carlos first worked at the family company before studying civil engineering and eventually becoming a stock broker in his own brokerage firm. He invested wisely in a variety of businesses so that by the time he was 26 he was already worth forty million dollars. However, Carlos never wanted to be a stock trader, preferring to be a good businessman. Carlos Slim’s mastery of numbers is legendary. In the 1960s, his studies of linear programming gave him a formidable edge in the business world. Using this amazing talent, In 1981, Carlos did his homework and decided to buy into the second largest tobacco company in Mexico, Cigatam, who made Marlboro cigarettes. With the money he made, he was able to begin buying companies.

As oil prices declined in 1982, the Mexican economy started to go downhill . That’s when Carlos wisely invested the Cigatam profits in the Mexican divisions of American businesses such as Reynolds Aluminum and Hershey Corporation, as well as Mexican financial services. Basically, Carlos Slim earned his fortune and his power by putting monopolies together, especially in communications. He is a ruthless businessman, buying companies cheaply, organizing them and quickly driving competition out of business. Gathering many businesses with interests in construction, mining, printing, tobacco, food, and retail, he formed a conglomerate.

In the late Eighties Carlos Slim added other companies that traded in copper, aluminum and chemicals, after which he sold shares in his conglomerate, Grupo Carso, as a public company. He also bought Telmex, the telecommunications company. Along with Telcel, his mobile phone company, they handle most of Mexico’s phone and mobile lines.

In the Nineties, after buying the Mexican division of Sears Roebuck, Carlos began expanding his business empire out of Latin America by setting up Telmex USA and by joining Microsoft to begin a portal called ProdigyMSN.

One of the few business mistakes Carlos made was buying a stake in CompUSA in 1999 for $800 million. Unfortunately, the sales of personal computers were slowing down at the time because they were more and more obsolete as new technology became available. Carlos tried everything to keep them afloat, including changing CEO’s and other various strategies, but eventually the chain closed more than half its stores and sold the rest.

Carlos says that he has lost count of the “more than two hundred companies” he now controls. If he dines out in a restaurant, chances are that he owns it. Believe it or not, he does not even use a computer himself, preferring the old skool way, “a pen and paper!”

Carlos Slim has a mansion in Mexico City where he has hosted American presidents and famous Mexican novelists. He claims to live a rather rustic life, not traveling much and enjoying baseball as he roots for the New York Yankees. Rather, he enjoys staying at home and reading about the military strategies of Genghis Khan.

Although Carlos Slim is the largest private employer in Mexico and the world’s richest man, he is thrifty and not at all flamboyant as many businessmen of his social status tend to become. Described by his business associates and competitors as being very aggressive, he is a power to be reckoned with. That power extends to the Mexican legislature. His lawyers have successfully blocked any legislation that threatens his companies.

Carlos Slim’s 10 Keys To Business Success

1. Have a simple organizational structure
2. Maintain austerity
3. Focus on growth
4. Minimize non-productive things
5. Work together
6. Reinvest profits
7. Be charitable
8. Keep optimistic
9. Work hard
10. Create wealth

In one of his latest newspaper interviews, Mr. Slim states that he believes the retirement age should be expanded to 70 years old since originally the retirement age was based more on physical work but now it should be based on services provided rather than hard physical labor.

Having had a heart attack in the late Nineties, Carlos has slowed things down, allowing his six children and their spouses to take more responsibility, although he remains “Honorary Lifetime Chairman” of his businesses.

Focusing now on Mexican and Latin American education, health and employment, Carlos is Chairman of five Boards involving this work.

Carlos Slim’s Net Worth is now $75.5 billion dollars, making him the world’s richest man.

Carlos Slim Quotes

“All times are good time for those who know how to work and have the tools to do so.” – Carlos Slim

“Do not allow negative feelings and emotions to control your mind. Emotional harm does not come from others; it is conceived and developed within ourselves.” - Carlos Slim

“Live the present intensely and fully, do not let the past be a burden, and let the future be an incentive. Each person forges his or her own destiny.” – Carlos Slim

“When there is a crisis, that’s when some are interested in getting out and that’s when we are interested in getting in.” - Carlos Slim

“When we decide to do something, we do it quickly.” - Carlos Slim

“I think one of the big errors people are making right now is thinking that old-style businesses will be obsolete, when actually they will be an important part of this new civilization. Some retail groups are introducing e-commerce and think that the “bricks” are no longer useful. But they will continue to be important.” - Carlos Slim

“When you live for others’ opinions, you are dead. I don’t want to live thinking about how I’ll be remembered.” - Carlos Slim

Article By Joel Brown | Addicted2Success.com

When Nick Woodman developed the GoPro camera, he had no idea that the brand would one day make him a billionaire. What was special about this lover of adventure sports that made him a highly successful entrepreneur? Was it just about being lucky, about being at the right place with the right product at the right time, or were there other qualities that went into the making of this new billionaire?

Read on to see how a brilliant mind’s ability to recognize opportunities in ordinary life situations and translate them into great business ideas made all the difference.

Nick Woodman – The New Innovative Billionaire

The GoPro story:

GoPro cameras manufactured by Nick’s company Woodman Labs are very useful gadgets for adventure sports enthusiasts like surfers and skydivers. These high quality video cameras can be worn by the user in several different ways. They have the ability to shoot high quality video footage or still photographs at predefined intervals. The fact that popular nature channels like National Geographic and The Discovery Channel make use of GoPro cameras speaks a lot about the quality, utility and popularity of these products. Felix Baumgartner used several GoPro cameras during his supersonic record-breaking skydive from a height of 39 kilometres.

Foxconn, the manufacturer for several reputed products such as the Sony Playstation and the Apple iPhone recently bought 8.88% stake in Woodman Labs for $200 million. The valuation of Woodman Labs thus works out to about $ 2.25 billion.

Nick being a majority stake holder, owns at least 51% of the company and that means his net worth is at least $ 1.15 billion. Let us take a closer look at the qualities of this new billionaire.

A need becomes an opportunity:

Nick first got the idea about a camera that could be worn by the user in the late 1990s. However, he began thinking about it more seriously while on a surf trip in Australia with a few friends in 2002. It was a great trip with several memorable moments, but sadly it was impossible to take quality pictures of those wonderful moments.

A friend with a camera on the beach could hope to get a few stills, but from the distance they were a far cry from the type of pictures which would befit those thrilling moments. A wearable camera is the solution, but the only options available in those days were disposable waterproof cameras. Apart from poor results, they were neither comfortable to wear nor easy to use.

That trip finally made Nick translate his idea about the wearable camera into a serious project – GoPro. A chance event allowed Nick to see the need and that paved the way for a great opportunity. Most people on the other hand are not likely to take notice when these opportunities present themselves. You will see this ability of spotting opportunities and generating ideas in action in many other places in Nick’s success story. Take a look at how the brand name GoPro was coined.

Naming the brand:

In the days before GoPro cameras became available, only a professional surfer was able to get quality photographs of themselves in action. These photos were taken by a photographer who went out into the water with the surfer. When amateur surfers experienced great moments, they would often wish from the bottom of their hearts that they could go professional just to have those moments recorded. That gave Nick the idea for the brand name GoPro, something he thought that most surfers would identify with and he was bang on target. The idea that the camera made the wearer feel like a hero gave the model its name – Hero.

Product development:

Initially Hero was only a wrist camera. Nick’s enthusiasm for racing gave the next big idea for further development of the product. A Hero camera strapped to the roll bar of a race car came back with some amazing footage. Nick realized that GoPro should not restrict itself to wrist worn cameras and that it should be possible to wear it in many different ways and be mountable on equipment.

Checkout Nicks new invention, the GoPro Hero3:

Project funding:

Can belts made of shells and beads pay for the starting capital of a billion dollar company? The way Nick Woodman got the idea for generating the starting capital for his company is as amazing as the rest of his story and once again demonstrates his ability of finding opportunities in situations where most people would see nothing of importance.

Behind every successful man is a strong woman. One day while on a surf trip to Bali,Indonesia, Nick’s girlfriend Jill (now his wife) came back to their place wearing a nice looking belt made from shells and beads. It looked much better than the price she paid for it. Nick seized the opportunity and bought 600 of those belts which he later sold for a neat profit in about two months time. That was how the starting capital for GoPro was raised.

Product development:

The first model was a 35 mm film camera capable of taking still pictures. Next came the 10 second digital video camera without audio capability. The 3 mega-pixel cameras which could take both still pictures and video footage with audio and save them to a memory card was a major improvement. From then on it was one innovation after another and today with the right Hero camera you can record professional quality HD video. You get all this in a lightweight product that costs only a few hundred dollars.

One of the things that we should all learn from Nick is the hunger for innovation. He has a long list of innovations in line for his products, and the next step will be a dual Hero camera that can record the action in 3D. It is expected to take the product into an entirely new level and it is likely to hit the market in a few months.

The hunger for success:

Nick said at an interview that he was confident about the success of his business when his first camera model generated a revenue of $ 2000 at his very first trade show. When you are looking for success, you should not think about failure. If you want to learn swimming, you should never think about drowning. This quality is essential to keep fears and doubts in control and stay on the track to success. Nick showed ample evidence of this quality and according to him, the thought of failure never crossed his mind. Sometimes not having any clue about the future is a boon in disguise for the entrepreneur.

A few great shots taken on a GoPro camera:

The story of Nick Woodman, this year’s new billionaire and his brand GoPro reads like a book which demonstrates the key ingredients for success. It shows how the ability to find opportunities in ordinary situations in life together with some great ideas and constant innovation take people to great heights. Luck is always good to have, but as the saying goes, fortune favors the brave.

Get your hands on a GoPro HD Hero2 Outdoor Camera

Article By Joel Brown | Addicted2Success.com

This website makes it ‘nice and easy’ for the super rich to place an order on a brand spankin’ new item of their choice.

This website is a new online store catered towards multi millionaires and billionaires who are looking for ideas on how they can spend their copious amounts of cash. From Luxurious Yachts to Exotic Sports Cars to park by their water front mansions.

TheBillionaireShop.com wanted to make it easy for those with ‘Big Change’ to order what they want, all in ‘one click’.

The Billionaire Shop was initially created by the founders of MultiLotto.com to connect lotto winners with the latest in lifestyle and expression. Multilotto.com is offering its customers to play on the world´s biggest lotteries and felt the need to also provide the lucky winners the possibility to get a slice of the good life.

You never know, after building your own business empire, you could be dropping by TheBillionaireShop.com to pick up your very own Bombardier Business Jet or a Penthouse on Collins Ave, in Miami.

The world is your oyster, and this online store may be the inspiration you were looking for to dream big and live, even bigger!

Images via The Billionaire Shop

Brazilian Billionaire, “Eike Batista” is the 8th richest man in the world. He is a self made billionaire who saw great opportunity in gold and cashed in for $6 Million dollars at the age of 23.

This video here shows you how Eike came about his billions and what it takes to be Brazil’s richest man, Eike Batista. 

Eike Batista’s 10 Life Rules To Live By

1. “Nobody is happy alone. To share experiences is always a good thing.”

2. “You grown as a person when you face your own challenges, or stressful moments, as I like to say. A good entrepreneur must be prepared to evolve in adversity.”

3. “The good seller is the one who is also a good listener.”

4.“Believe in yourself. If you doubt in yourself, you won’t be able to face your co-workers. Or the market, for that matter.”

5. “Don’t quit on the first adversity. Believe in your intuition, but try to be down to earth as well, paying attention to research and polls.”

6. “Don’t think you are unstoppable or foolproof. Don’t think that the only way your business will work is through perfection. Don’t aim for perfection. Aim for success.”

7. “To have a dream is one step closer to achieving something in life. The difference between the dreamer and the maker, though, is that the latter actually makes it happen.”

8. “Look forward; focus on what people don’t see at first sight.”

9. “Look at a business in all its depth and think of every detail with maximum accuracy and minimum risk.”

10. “Luck is important, as it is part of any project. But luck will only be present when the project is well designed.”

Eike’s Advice originally featured on Forbes.com

Eike Batista The Brazilian Billionaire Shares His Story

Moving up during the course of his life from humble circumstances as a fatherless teenager to one of the world’s richest business leaders and most generous philanthropists, Li Ka-shing for many in Asia represents a model of how to succeed in the world.  Books about his approach to life and business — mostly in Chinese and all unauthorized — populate business sections of Chinese-language bookstores around the world, much like books about Warren Buffett do in the United States.

So today we feature 8 great words of advice from Li Ka-Shing himself.

8 Life Tips By From The Asian Billionaire Li Ka-Shing

1. As a leader, one should spend more time than others planning for the future.

2. I do not get overly optimistic when the market is good, nor overly pessimistic when the market is down.

3. A good reputation for yourself and your company is an invaluable asset not reflected in the balance sheets.

4. It doesn’t matter how strong or capable you are; if you don’t have a big heart, you will not succeed.

5. To be a successful manager, attitude and ability are equally important ingredients. A leader inspires others to greatness. A boss dominates his subordinates and makes them feel small.

6. Though a universal formula for success is difficult to come by, caution signs for failure are posted everywhere. Establishing a structure that serves to minimize failure will prove to be a shortcut to success.

7. Successful managers should also have a keen eye for talent. They not only select people who are smarter than themselves, but also avoid picking corporate superstars whose reputation precedes them.

8. The art of good management lies in the capacity to accept change, and the ability to meld new and traditional thinking.

–from the Li Ka Shing Foundation

Article Originally featured on Forbes.com

The investment titan and billionaire owner of the Dallas Mavericks, Mark Cuban, shares his examples and advice on how he created a way to Get Rich! This guy brings it to you raw and real on how to really make it out there and what you can expect on your journey to success.

We also share a video of Mark Cuban explaining how he retired in his 20′s, what ideas he likes to invest in and much more. Checkout it and learn a thing or two from Mark Cuban.

HOW TO GET RICH!

Thats what so many want. Right ? I’m certainly not going to lie and say it is not a whole lot better having lots of money. I had a whole lot of fun and loved my life when I was eating mustard and ketchup sandwiches and sleeping on the floor of a 3 bedroom apartment that housed me and 5 buddies.

I have a whole lot more fun now. It doesn’t suck to be rich.

The question everyone wants answered, is how to get there. There are ways to get there. But there is not a template that works every time for everyone. It works sometimes. Getting there requires being ready when opportunity presents itself.

IMHO, change and uncertainty create opportunity. Times like we are facing now, with complete financial uncertainty are perfect times to start on the road to getting ahead financially.

First, here is WHAT NOT TO DO:

There are no shortcuts. NONE. With all of this craziness in the stock and financial markets, there will be scams popping up left and right. The less money you have, the more likely someone will come at you with some scheme . The schemes will guarantee returns, use multi level marketing, or be something crazy that is now “backed by the US Government”. Please ignore them. Always remember this. If a deal is a great deal, they aren’t going to share it with you.

I dont broadcast my great deals. I keep them all to myself. The 2nd thing to remember is that if the person selling the deal was so smart, they would be rich beyond rich rather than trolling the streets looking to turn you into a sucker. There are no shortcuts.

So what should you do to get rich ?

Save your money. Save as much money as you possibly can. Every penny you can. Instead of coffee, drink water. Instead of going to McDonalds, eat Mac and Cheese. Cut up your credit cards. If you use a credit card, you dont want to be rich. The first step to getting rich, requires discipline. If you really want to be rich, you need to find the discipline, can you ?

If you can, you will quickly find that the greatest rate of return you will earn is on your own personal spending. Being a smart shopper is the first step to getting rich. Yeah you have to give things up and that doesn’t work for everyone, particularly if you have a family. That is reality. But whatever you can save, save it. As much as you possibly can. Then put it in 6 month CDs in the bank.

The first step to getting rich is having cash available. You arent saving for retirement. You are saving for the moment you need cash. Buy and hold is a suckers game for you. This market is a perfect example. Right at the very moment when cash creates unbelievable opportunity, those who followed the buy and hold strategy have no cash. they cant or wont sell into markets this low, that kills the entire point of buy and hold. Those who have put their money in CDs sleep well at night and definitely have more money today than they did yesterday. And because they are smart, disciplined shoppers, their personal rate of inflation is within their means. Cash is king for those wanting to get rich

The 2nd rule for getting rich is getting smart. Investing your time in yourself and becoming knowledgeable about the business of something you really love to do

It doesn’t matter what it is. Whatever your hobbies, interests, passions are. Find the one you love the best and GET A JOB in the business that supports it.

It could be as a clerk, a salesperson, whatever you can find. You have to start learning the business somewhere.  Instead of paying to go to school somewhere, you are getting paid to learn.  It may not be the perfect job, but there is no perfect path to getting rich.

Before or after work and on weekends, every single day, read everything there is to read about the business. Go to trade shows, read the trade magazines, spend a lot of time talking to the people you do business with about their business and the people they buy from.

This is not a short term project. We aren’t talking days. We aren’t talking months. We are talking years. Lots of years and maybe decades. I didn’t say this was a get rich quick scheme. This is a get rich path

Now you wait for times of uncertainty and change in your business. The time will come. It may  come quickly, it may take years and years. But it will come. The nature of our country’s business infrastructure  is that it is destined to be boom and bust. Booms are when the smart people sell. Busts are when rich people started on their path to wealth.

You will know when that time is here for you because you will know your business inside and out. You will be ready because you will have been saving up for this moment in time

With all the change and uncertainty in the financial markets, there are people right now making more money than they ever dreamed of. They are the ones who have been living the real estate market and the financing behind it and understanding what actually what was going on. They re the one who understood the complexities of the credit markets. When everyone was following the crowd, they kept on saving their money and avoiding the temptation of groupthink.

Boom and busts happen to every industry. The question is whether you have the discipline to be ready when it happens for you ?

If you do, you will find out what it feels like to get lucky.

Article By Mark Cuban

Mark Cuban – The Rich Life

These college dropouts are great examples of flunkers who can achieve success against the odds. They prove that if you work hard then you can be successful no matter what. Even if you are from a not so rich family, even if you decide to leave college, if you have enough drive and focus you can make your dreams come true.

Read on for the full list of the 13 Successful Billionaires Who Dropped Out Of College.

The 13 College Dropouts Who Made More Than A Billion Dollars

Bill Gates

$56 Billion

Education: Dropped out of Harvard.

Success: Co-Founder of Microsoft, Major Philanthropist.

Larry Ellison

$39.5 Billion

Education: Dropped out of University of Illinois Champagne-Urbana.

Success: Founder of Oracle, A Major Software Enterprise company.

Sheldon Adelson

$23.3 Billion

Education: Dropped out of City College Of New York.

Success: Sheldon Adelson is the Chairman & CEO of the Las Vegas Sands Corp, the parent company of Venetian Macao Limited which operates the Venetian Resort Hotel Casino and the Sands Expo & Convention Center.

Michael Dell

$14.6 Billion

Education: Dropped out of University Of Texas, Austin.

Success: Founder of Dell Computers.

Paul Allen

$13.5 Billion

Education: Dropped out of Washington State University.

Success: Co-Founder of Microsoft, owner of Seattle Seahawks and Portland Trailblazers, Major Philanthropist.

Mark Zuckerberg

$13.5 Billion

Education: Dropped out of Harvard.

Success: Founder of Facebook. Youngest billionaire in history.

Francois Pinault

$8.7 Billion

Education: Dropped out Of Saint-Martin school, in Rennes.

Success: Owner of Converse Shoes, Samsonite Luggage. Majority shareholder of brands such as Gucci, Yves Saint Laurent and Puma.

Steve Jobs (R.I.P)

$8.3 Billion

Education: Dropped out of Reed College.

Success: Founder of Apple Inc & Pixar.

Jack C. Taylor

$7.4 Billion

Education: Dropped out of Washington University.

Success: Founder of Enterprise Rent-A-Car.

Micky Arison

$5.9 Billion

Education: Dropped out of University Of Miami.

Success: CEO of Carnival Corporation, the world’s largest cruise operator and owner of the NBA’s Miami Heat.

Ralph Lauren

$5.8 Billion

Education: Dropped out of Baruch College.

Success: Founder of Ralph Lauren Clothing.

David Geffen

$5.1 Billion

Education: Dropped out of University Of Texas, Austin.

Success: Record executive, founder of Asylum Records and one of the three founders of DreamWorks.

Ronald Wayne Burkle

$3.2 Billion

Education: Dropped out of California State Polytechnic.

Success: Supermarket magnate, Invested in Sean John (Diddy’s Clothing Line) & American Apparel.

In this post I share with you, Ryan Blair sums up pretty nicely in his current bestseller Nothing to Lose, Everything to Gain what his Top 10 Million Dollar Mistakes have been on the way to the top.

Mistakes are good, they are often looked down on as a bad move or the next step to failure. I believe that mistakes are all part of the recipe for success. After starting six Multi Million Dollar companies all before the age of 30 ‘Ryan Blair’, a world renowned serial entrepreneur admits to his fair share of million dollar mistakes, as well as some billion dollar successes.

The Top 10 Million Dollar Mistakes

1. Don’t make wildly optimistic sales forecasts. Test and adjust your projections, based on experienced advisor input and industry norms, rather than the Google high exception. Excel spreadsheets can easily project dramatic growth, with no connection to reality.

2. Don’t hire people who like your ideas all the time. Flattery feels good, but it doesn’t pay the bills. Look for the thoughtful challenge to your ideas, and practice active listening, when you are selling your vision. High three-digit intelligence has value.

3. Don’t focus too much on the competition. It’s always more productive to focus on making your offering successful, rather than killing your competitors. Doing things like dismantling their leadership team, or highlighting their shortcomings is lose-lose.

4. Don’t waste time caring what others think. No matter how hard you try, you won’t make everyone happy. Don’t be afraid to follow your vision, learn from your mistakes, and pivot the business, just because someone will see the change as a disappointment.

5. Don’t mix business with pleasure. This is especially true of relationships. Do not fraternize with your employees, and choose your partners wisely. Thou shall not “do your business” where you do business.

6. Be quick to fire and slow to hire. Pull the trigger fast when a new hire isn’t working, but don’t forget to be human and follow all the steps. On the other side, hiring after one interview is like hopping a red-eye to Vegas to get married after one date.

7. Don’t put your company before your people. A company is an entity that can be pivoted at will. Your team of people has a collective passion and intelligence with a real worth that’s hard to manipulate. Make the company fit the people, rather than vice versa.

8. Don’t under-forecast cash needs. When you have people and their families depending on you for their paychecks, and you are out of money, that’s another lose-lose situation. Even if you can find someone willing to help, it’s a very, very expensive proposition.

9. Don’t try to do too much all at once. You hear about all the parallel entrepreneurs, like Steve Jobs running Apple and Pixar at the same time. Make sure you have the aptitude to run one business well, with one product line, before you start a couple more.

10. Never write something you wouldn’t want to come back to you. Every one of us has sent a sensitive email to the wrong party, or had it misinterpreted by the receiver. Save the hard and easily misinterpreted messages for face-to-face calm discussions.

There are more, but I think you get the idea. Of course, the biggest mistake is failing to learn from the mistakes of others, or even from your mistakes. You can only learn from your mistake after you admit you’ve made it. Wise people admit their mistakes easily, and move the focus away from blame management and towards learning. Wise people can become great entrepreneurs. Whereare you along this spectrum?

 (Video) Ryan Blair ViSalus Sciences CEO Success Advice

Grammy Award Winning Artist Bruno Mars is on this months cover of Billboard Magazine as he shares with everyone his experiences of being dropped from a major record label, being caught with cocaine, his take on success and who he wants to work with in the future. Read the Qs & As after the jump.

On getting dropped by his first label, Universal Motown

Bruno Mars - I wasn’t ready for it. I did nothing. And the lesson was — why are you waiting for someone to come and write a song with you? You know how to play the freakin’ guitar. Do it on your own.

“There was a lot of rejection. A lot of other labels saying, ‘You don’t know who the hell you are. You’re doing all this reggae, R&B, rock stuff. How the hell do we market that? Are you pop? Are you urban?’ Elektra gave me a shot and trusted my vision.”

On how he became a songwriter first

Bruno Mars – Brandon [Creed, then VP of A&R at Epic Records] was always saying, ‘You need a story. You need to be in the studio writing for people.’ At the time I was like, ‘You’re crazy. I’m amazing!’ But he was absolutely right. Working and interacting with other artists and being so involved with the business aspect; understanding A&R, understanding radio, understanding music videos meant that when it came to my time, I’d seen how it goes.”

On being caught with cocaine

Bruno Mars – It’s something that I wish would go away. It’s a cloud that constantly follows me no matter how many achievements. I’d like to move on. To show that I’m here for my music. Not to be in a tabloid.

On his success

Bruno Mars – It’s a rare thing that happens, especially in this day, where it’s real hard to sell albums. I’m traveling to places that I’ve never even heard of and there are all these people singing the songs back — and English is not even their first language. It’s like, what the hell happened?

On who he would like to work with in the near future

Bruno Mars – I’m just a mixed-up dude. I want to work with the Kanyes, the Jay-Zs… a Rihanna, a Gaga, Kings of Leon, Mumford & Sons. I want to do all those things. As proud as I am of “Doo-Wops,” I feel like, ‘Oh, man. People haven’t seen nothing. They don’t even know what I’m about to do,’ and that’s what I can’t wait to show the world.

Words of Wisdom for Artists

Bruno Mars – “When people fall is when they’re like, ‘OK. Now I’m here, what’s next? A clothing line?’ That’s not what I’m trying to do. It’s like, ‘Don’t be a s***. Remember your dream. Do your music and keep it special.’”

Checkout Bruno Mars & Travie McCoys Inspirational Song  “Billionaire” (The Acoustic Version)

Russian billionaire investor ‘Yuri Milner’ recently bought a lavish, 25,500-square-foot mansion in Silicon Valley for $100 million, believed to be the most ever paid for a single-family home in the United States.

Yuri Milner, who appears on the cover of the most recent issue of Forbes magazine, has invested in Facebook, Zynga and Groupon via his investment firm Digital Sky Technology Global; he also built Mail.ru, a Russian Internet company which last year listed on the London Stock Exchange. Milner’s primary residence remains in Moscow, where he lives with his wife and two daughters. Checkout Yuri’s newly purchased home, maybe some of you budding entrepreneurs out there will purchase something something like this one day =)

Russian Billionaire buys $100 Million U.S. Mansion – Yuri Milner

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fyF-fj-1coY

The mansion purchased by Milner is a French-style chateau set on 18 acres in hills overlooking San Francisco Bay.The estate has a ballroom, wine cellar, gym, spa and pools inside and outside.The Journal says the sale price beats the previous high of $95 million in 2008 for an estate in Palm Beach, Fla.

Aerial shot of the mansion and grounds-Google Maps image

Front facade – The mansion is designed to resemble a Loire chateau.

Tennis Pavillion

Rear facade

Living room

Formal dining room

Kitchen

Game room

Library

Theater

Upstairs hall

Master bedroom

Master sitting room

‘His’ bathroom

Photo by: Forbes IMAGE

The U.K Fiery Businessman & Star of The ‘Apprentice‘ TV Show “Sir Alan Sugar”  shares with us a little advice in Business and his Top 10 Success Tips he lives by. He may not be a role model for all as his style of management is often considered “out of touch” and negative, the proof is in the pudding with this as Alan Sugar’s Business Empire grows to a Net Worth of 1.14 Billion to date.

Watch these Videos & Read on for the valuable advice that can only be shared by one of a kind, “Sir Alan Sugar“.

Alan Sugar’s Keys To Success

LORD ALAN SUGAR – Business 101

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_r5XWLll8co

LORD ALAN SUGAR – Business 101 – Pt2

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZf0jR2kYiY

ALAN SUGARS TOP 10 TIPS FOR SUCCESS

1) Only set up in a business you know something about. You can’t just wake up one day and think you’ve come up with the best thing since sliced bread if you’ve got no experience in that area. It may be an industry you have been working in for years or a hobby you have.

2) Research your market thoroughly. Make sure that there isn’t something similar on the market already. Why would anyone want to buy something from you if it’s already out there?

3) Listen to experts in the relevant industry. Don’t ask friends and relatives for their opinions – they will only tell you what you want to hear just to be nice to you.

4) Draw up a proper business plan. You will need this to show you know where you are heading and you understand the market. It will help to make others take you more seriously.

5) Take things one step at a time. Don’t try to run before you can walk. Start small. Get it right and then grow when you’re ready for the next step.

6) Be prepared for lots of setbacks. Not everyone will be as enthusiastic as you are, but if you really believe in your idea and you have the determination and passion you will succeed.

7) Find a niche. It doesn’t always have to be something brand new. There’s not many things that haven’t been done before – just come up with something better or a better way of doing it.

8) Don’t expect the banks to throw cash at you. You have to put your money where your mouth is and prove to them that you are prepared to take a major risk, like remortgaging your house. If you show them how seriously committed you are, then they will be less hesitant to cough up.

9) Get advice from lots of different sources. From small business advisers at your bank to organisations such as Business Link, The Prince’s Trust and Shell LiveWire.

10) Be realistic. You may think you’ve come up with a great idea, But will anyone really want it? Do they really need it? Is it cost-effective? Is it practical to produce?

Sir Alan Sugar Quotes:

You’re a lightweight. You’re fired.
Alan Sugar

I can tell you where every screw, nut and bolt is in my company. I know everything [in my business]. Never, ever, underestimate me.
Alan Sugar

There’s only room for one bigmouth in my organisation, and that’s me.
Alan Sugar

Once you decide to work for yourself, you never go back to work for somebody else.
Alan Sugar

Learn to read body language.
Alan Sugar
From his book The Apprentice: How to Get Hired Not Fired

The shareholders are looked after by me. And they should be very thankful. I run Amstrad as if it was my own. They get their accounts every year, their profits and dividends. And if they don’t like it, they should sell their shares. But I’ll run my – the – company the way I want to. Not the way some twat in the City wants me to.
Alan Sugar

With one of the most familiar surnames in America, you may have noticed her as one of the judges on “Celebrity Apprentice” recently. This American businesswoman, socialite, heiress, fashion model and author, Ivanka Trump is a focused, successful and woman  she’s not one to leach off her dad, “Donald Trump” to reach her successes.

Ivanka Trump released a book called “The Trump Card: Playing to Win in Work and Life” where she shares the advice she has been given by great people along the way and how she managers to leave her mark in a predominantly mans world of business.

Ivanka Trump Gives Advice To Women On How They Can Become Successful In Business:

Ivanka Trump: Playing To Win In Work & Life

Ivanka Trump Quotes:

People underestimate me, and that’s fine. I prefer to go into negotiations being underestimated.- Ivanka Trump

“I’ve never lived in a building without my name on it.” – Ivanka Trump

I make money because I have to pay for everything apart from my school fees. My mother even makes me pay my own telephone bill. – Ivanka Trump

“I always felt very secure and very safe with real estate. Real estate always appreciates,” – Ivanka Trump

“I made a tremendous amount of money on real estate. I’ll take real estate rather than go to Wall Street and get 2.8 percent. Forget about it.” – Ivanka Trump

I’ve never had a sense of entitlement. I saw how hard my father worked for his money, and it was always made very clear to me that things wouldn’t just be given to me. - Ivanka Trump

Starting out with one newspaper in a Small city by the name of Adelaide in South Australia, Rupert Murdoch worked his magic and was able to take News Corp a worldwide name stretching his news publications from The UK, US all the way to Asia growing his Global Media Empire to a mass net worth of $30 Billion Dollars.

Rupert Murdoch is ranked 13th most powerful person in the world in the 2010 Forbes’ The World’s Most Powerful People list. Rupert Murdoch’s net worth is US $6.3 billion, he is ranked 117th wealthiest person in the world. Watch this video and see how Rupert Murdoch has come to be the 13th Most Powerful person in the world through his Successes.

Global Media Mogul ‘Rupert Murdoch’

Rupert Murdoch’s Success Quotes

The world is changing very fast. Big will not beat small anymore. It will be the fast beating the slow. – Rupert Murdoch

I`m a catalyst for change. You can`t be an outsider and be successful over 30 years without leaving a certain amount of scar tissue around the place. – Rupert Murdoch

In motivating people, you`ve got to engage their minds and their hearts. I motivate people, I hope, by example – and perhaps by excitement, by having productive ideas to make others feel involved. - Rupert Murdoch

Our reputation is more important than the last hundred million dollars. - Rupert Murdoch

You can`t build a strong corporation with a lot of committees and a board that has to be consulted every turn. You have to be able to make decisions on your own. - Rupert Murdoch

We share with you Richard Bransons 21 Small Business Strategies, taken from the Billionaire & UK Entrepreneurs Auto Biography “Losing My Virginity: How I’ve Survived, Had Fun, and Made a Fortune Doing Business My Way“.

Richard Branson has faced an immense amount of challenges along the way and has applied these 21 strategies to carry all of his Successful businesses through thick and thin. Read on to find the Top 21 of Richard Branson’s Small Business Strategies for running a Successful business.

Richard Branson’s 21 Survival Strategies For Small Business Success

1. Remain focused on fulfilling your business mission. Never allow adversity divert your attention and efforts.

2. Don’t wait till you are big before you begin building your brand. Build a brand from scratch alongside your business.

3. Learn to use your brain power. Critical thinking is the key to creative problem solving in business.

4. Build your own business team. Survival in business requires a synergy of skills.

5. Never take your eyes off the cash flow because it’s the life blood of business.

6. If you are a new startup company, try not to arouse the interest or suspicion of your competition; especially if they are a bigger company. They can crush you while you are still in your startup phase. Lie low while still strengthening your bottom line.

7. Grow internally first. Strengthen your bottom line first before considering external growth.

8. Focus on your business strengths and keep its weaknesses away from the competition or public.

9. Be swift to take advantage of business opportunities. Bigger companies are too cumbersome to move quickly; this can be a competitive advantage for you.

10. Learn to live on the edge.

11. Be creative. Innovate consistently on the little things that the big companies ignore. Little things often make big differences in business.

12. Listen to the customer’s complaint and act fast.

13. Meet regularly with your business team and brainstorm. Intricate business problems are mostly resolved at brainstorming sessions.

14. Run lean; avoid unnecessary expenses.

15. Don’t hesitate to seek external help or advice where need be. Sometimes, it takes an external, emotionally unattached individual to detect your business flaws and render unbiased advice.

16. Follow your instincts and live with the consequences.

17. Avoid litigations. They are expensive and consume loads of time but if you have got a good case and a better chance of winning; then fight it out.

18. Free publicity and word of mouth is probably the best and cheapest form of advertising. Learn to use it to your advantage.

19. Learn to raise capital by any means necessary. That’s your primary job as an entrepreneur. You must continually raise capital from family and friends, banks, suppliers, customers and investors.

20. Seek out strategic alliances; they are essential to growth and provide resistance to bigger competition.

21. And if after all this you eventually fail; don’t take it personal. Don’t be ashamed to start all over again.

Richard Branson’s Success Quotes To Live By:

“We have always had a pretty competitive ferocious battle with British Airways. It lasted about 14 years and we are very pleased to have survived it.” – Richard Branson

“Screw it, let’s do it.” – Richard Branson

“A business has to be involving, it has to be fun and it has to exercise your creative instincts.” – Richard Branson

“Back then we would create a company based on frustration at other people’s service and suddenly realized we had one of the most respected brands in the world.” – Richard Branson

“If you are trying to do something for the first time, it’s always an enormous challenge, and there is no guarantee of success. You never know with these things when you’re trying something new what can happen. This is all experimental.” – Richard Branson

“Business opportunities are like buses, there’s always another one coming.” – Richard Branson

“We look for opportunities where we can offer something better, fresher and more valuable and we seize them. We often move areas where the customer received a poor deal and where the competition is complacent. And with our growing e-commerce activities, we also look to deliver old products in new ways. We are proactive and quick to act, often leaving bigger and more cumbersome organizations in our wake” – Richard Branson

“To be successful, you have to be out there, you have to hit the ground running, and if you have a good team around you and more than a fair share of luck, you might make something happen. But you certainly can’t guarantee it just by following someone else’s formula.” – Richard Branson

“In the beginning it was just about the business; now it’s about the brand.” – Richard Branson

“Above all, you want to create something you are proud of. That’s always been my philosophy of business. I can honestly say that I have never gone into any business purely to make money. If that is the sole motive, then I believe you are better off doing nothing.” – Richard Branson

“We don’t actually plan to launch new businesses over the next few years, but we are planning to take the ones we have into new territories.” – Richard Branson

Barbara Corcoran is a busy woman. When she’s not selling her company for $70 million, grilling entrepreneurs on the hit TV show “Shark Tank,” or appearing on the TODAY Show with the latest real estate tips, she’s writing her latest book.

Barbara bought 11 new businesses on the show which she’s now shepherding to success. Barbara shares her secrets to success and living your best life. Hear why she believes real estate is a wise investment now.

Barbara Corcoran: Women’s Intuition ‘Powerful’ In Business

Bonus – Barbara Corcoran’s Advice For Business Owners

Although he’s sometimes most proud of being a jock, 38-year-old Queens, N.Y., native Mike Repole can also brag about his entrepreneurial prowess. As the co-founder of Glacéau, the successful maker of Vitaminwater, he’s guided the private drinkmaker (which also produces Fruitwater and electrolyte-enhanced Smartwater) to sales that are expected to surpass $1 billion soon. The company is so hot, Coca-Cola scooped it up for a reported $4.1 billion.

In this article Mike Repole shares his Business advice and success tips in branding your business for the masses.

Mike Repole: I’ve used this philosophy in both the success of VitaminWater and Pirate’s Booty. As the President and Co-Founder of Glaceau, I co-created the vitaminwater brand and, as a team, we took it from one bottle to $1 billion in sales, ultimately selling the company for $4.1 billion to the Coca-Cola Company. As Chairman of the Board and the largest shareholder of Pirate Brands (makers of Pirate’s Booty all-natural snacks including Potato Flyers, Smart Puffs, and Tings), we’ve been able to accelerate sales from $50 million to $100 million in 18 months with the five-year goal of $500 million. With consumers more focused than ever on healthy snacking, a great brand and people on board, the company’s potential is limitless.

Great brands aren’t “me toos”

Success relies on building a brand that is a trendstarter, not a follower.

Forget about the research reports that large corporations pore over.

Everyone reads the same things, does the same things and, not surprisingly, gets the same results. The best and most innovative brands don’t react to research reports or jump on existing trends; they create trends and make others react.

To get meaningful insights you need to be curious and watch and talk with real consumers.

I’ve never held or attended a focus group, nor will I ever. I walk into convenience, grocery and mass-market stores as an everyday customer to watch and talk with consumers one-on-one. This taught me that consumers felt there were only two types of snacks on the market: high fat, high calorie that tasted good and low fat, low calorie that didn’t taste great. The market was clearly poised for Pirate’s Booty, started two decades ago by Robert Ehrlich, a true pioneer in the health and wellness movement, to make enormous gains with a third category that broke this mold and everyone in the family could agree on. Kids ask for it and Moms feel good about buying it for the family.

But, even if you have an innovative product and limitless brand potential, you can’t maximize that potential without great people.

Wanted: passionate people and sore losers

To be successful, you need to be passionate about your beliefs. The most important thing you bring to the business is yourself, and the same holds true for all employees. People at large companies constantly hear “we can’t do that” or “no,” and that kind of environment deflates people’s passion. Everyone at Pirate’s Booty has a voice, but more importantly, a voice that is heard. I’m a true believer in healthy debate. Everyone’s opinion is valuable and no one’s opinion is valued over the rest.

“I seek out sore losers, because people who hate to lose are always going to find a way to win.” ~ Mike Repole

In addition to passion and a feeling of ownership, one final element that defines great people is the drive to win. I seek out sore losers, because people who hate to lose are always going to find a way to win. I’ve never run into anyone who hates to lose more than myself. It’s important to hire highly competitive people who are willing to do what it takes to win, especially when the odds are against them. All 50 people at Pirate’s Booty possess the energy, passion, commitment and dedication that it takes to build a great brand and be a winner.

For many people, being small means you’re the underdog.

Success isn’t about size. When you have a great brand and passionate people behind it, you’re never really the underdog. But take advantage of others’ perception of you as the underdog, because it’s one of your greatest weapons in battling the perceived giants. As I see it, the pressure is always on the big guys, because everyone always expects them to win. As underdogs, we can make unexpected, quick, and nimble moves, which give us a major advantage over large corporations. While it takes six months to a year to get a project off the ground at a big corporation, the so-called underdog has already jumped on the latest health and fitness trend and has moved on to the next big idea.

Anytime there are risks involved there are plenty of reasons to stay out of the game, but being an entrepreneur isn’t about excuses, it’s about results. So if you’re committed to your beliefs, build a brand by listening to potential customers, and find people who can share in your passion, because that’s what it takes to create the next big health and fitness trend that everyone else will be chasing after.

Who is Sheldon Adelson? The richest Jew in the world, and one of the richest men on the planet. A man who built his career with his own two hands and now gives millions of dollars to charity.

Watch this Video and find out how Sheldon now, has it all. 

Sheldon Adelson & His Billions

Sheldon Adelson Gives Billionaire Advice On Being Successful:

A couple months back we featured an article called How 50 Cent Made A Killing Off Water which detailed the deal that went down between 50 Cent & Vitamin Water leaving 50 Cent with almost Half A Billion Dollars in his share of the Pie over at “Glacéau”. This article features the man himself “Mike Repole” the co founder of Vitamin Water & Smart Water explaining how he came about inking a 4.1 Billion Dollar deal with Coca-Cola to release his Glacéau Vitamin Water to the Billions around the world.

Mike Repole, 38, co-founded Glacéau, makers of Vitaminwater and Smartwater, with J. Darius Bikoff in 1999.

Mike Repole – “I’m the president and co-founder of Glacéau, the beverage company that makes Vitaminwater, and last year one of the largest companies in the world approached us with an exciting proposition that would turn out to be worth billions of dollars. Sometimes you can’t see the forest through the trees; I don’t know if I actually recognized how successful a company we had created in Queens, New York, in less than a decade. What I am certain of is that I barely noticed Manhattan’s skyscraper views on the last day of April a year ago. It was nine o’clock in the morning when I greeted executives from Coca-Cola at their top-floor boardroom on Fifth Avenue, and I was focused.

I prepared for the most important day of my life like any other day: I ate an egg-white omelet and a bowl of fresh fruit for breakfast, and I wore a black polo shirt and black slacks. It was the third full-day meeting of the week and the culmination of a five-month-long discussion, so I wasn’t really nervous. Anxious is more like it. I wanted to close this deal by taking our products global while still continuing to run the business in Queens. Somewhere in the midst of all that, Coke added their sports drink Powerade to the table–a brand I’d always competed against–and said, “How about you find a way to make this better than Pepsi’s Gatorade too?” A few hours later, we all shook hands on the deal of a lifetime. The lives of everyone involved with Glacéau changed in that moment. Each of our 497 shareholders and 352 employees would eventually receive a check worth thousands of dollars. My younger brother, Gerard, a New York City police officer for 13 years, had invested very early. He had one of the toughest jobs in the world, and I helped him retire early. I will never feel prouder.

When you sell something for $4.1 billion, you celebrate with a nice dinner. That evening we ate at Les Salons, the private room above the four-star French restaurant Le Bernardin. Because I was so excited, I ordered the most expensive wine on the menu. I don’t even know which bottle. The wine could have come from a box and I wouldn’t have known the difference. And then it was back to business as usual for us here in Queens, only now we’re in the process of hiring 300 new employees, evolving Powerade, taking our products to the next level nationally, and introducing Vitaminwater internationally. We’ll be global in five years, and we needed Coke to accomplish that. Not bad for a kid from Queens who graduated from St. John’s University with a 2.2 GPA and hoped to become general manager for the Mets. Here are my fundamental business lessons that I never learned in school.”

Michael Dell, one of the richest people in the world of IT, is ranked the 44th richest  with a net worth of US$14.6 billion in 2011.

The CEO and owner of Dell. shares advice on how to build a successful billion dollar business in this day and age.

Michael Dell’s Billion Dollar Advice

Facebook creator Mark Zuckerberg shows us that not all Billionaires need to live in Fancy Mansions and drive Prestige cars. We show you how the man himself lives and how modest you can be even if you are one of the youngest billionaire in the world.

Checkout Mark Zuckerberg’s House.

Mark Zuckerberg’s House

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has reportedly shelled out US$7 million for a 464 square metre Palo Alto mansion, just a 10-minute drive from Facebook’s new office space in Menlo Park.

Despite the hefty price tag, this is small change for Zuckerberg, whose fortune jumped 238 percent to US$13.5 billion in the past year with Facebook reportedly approaching US$4 billion in annual revenue. His new pad features privacy hedges, five bedrooms and five bathrooms and a banquet hall sized dining room, according to the US Real Estalker blog.

Meet Ryan Blair, Author of the world renowned book “Nothing To Lose” By the time Ryan was 30 Years old he owned 6 Successful businesses each one in the millions to billions. Watch these Videos of Ryan Blair and step into the mind of a Serial Entrepreneur.

Watch the Video in this post.

(Video) Ryan Blair – Beating Hard Times

(Video) Ryan Blair Success Advice