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Why Carlos Slim Is The Richest Man In The World

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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

I am the the Founder of Addicted2Success.com and I am so grateful you're here to be part of this awesome community. I love connecting with people who have a passion for Entrepreneurship, Self Development & Achieving Success. I started this website with the intention of educating and inspiring likeminded people to always strive for success no matter what their circumstances. I'm proud to say through my podcast and through this website we have impacted over 200 million lives in the last 10 years.

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Success Advice

Why You Shouldn’t Discount A Brick And Mortar Store In 2025

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Keeping up with technological trends has become a challenge for almost every business owner.

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Technology’s evolution has impacted everything, and business is no exception. Keeping up with technological trends has become a challenge for almost every business owner. Entrepreneurs unable to do so are being wiped out of the market.

There is no doubt that AI (Artificial Intelligence) and ML (Machine Learning) have taken over the business world. These technological advancements are impacting decision-making, success percentages, and other entrepreneurial aspects.

Adapting to these developments is integral to business success. Let’s explore how you can accomplish these milestones.

Embed the strength of AI and ML.

AI has modified business operations in major ways. For instance, companies have employed bots for customer support. These bots go through an effective learning process via Machine Learning before being able to answer like humans.  

Bots can also perform detailed data analytics and make business moves with high success percentages.

ML is used more for the analysis of data chunks and generating successful predictions. This simply means that business owners do not have to worry about large-scale financial losses. 

In terms of deployment and usage, a reputed company like Netflix employs machine learning for decision-making.

Blockchain is increasing the count of business opportunities

Tampering of financial transactions is quite common and causes severe monetary damage to customers. With the rise of digital payments, this risk has increased. 

Blockchain is used to elevate your experience for monetary transfers. It combats penetrating events to extract confidential customer information. 

Most business sectors are using block chain but finance and supply chain management sections have a higher count. These two corporate sections have several monetary deposits and withdrawals taking place. 

In terms of percentage, approximately 72% and 5% of finance and supply chain firms have implemented block chain successfully.

Dedicate Yourself to Continuous Learning and Individual Development

You invest in learning some of the very important skills, including digital marketing, financial management, and how to gain customers as an entrepreneur.

You need to set up your knowledge base about doing business on Coursera and Udemy with the basics that are necessary for the business, building further by networking with experts through webinars.

Besides, Agile methodology will introduce elasticity to your company: this review and feedback system with further correction regularly will allow for enhancing efficiency and promptly reacting to the market.

Developing key skills to achieve goals

Running a business successfully is not only about having niche/domain knowledge. Business owners need to have communication / soft skills as well in addition to niche information.

Here are some key technical/domain-related areas that business owners should have a strong grip on.

Data Storage on Cloud: These days, companies do not store their data on physical servers. Therefore business owners should know how data is stored/edited/removed/updated via AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, and other platforms.

Data Analysis/Interpretation Qualities: These days, data is as precious as gold. Business owners with data analysis abilities make correct predictions. As a result, their ventures grow in volume.

Development/Coding Knowledge

Programming knowledge gives business owners an edge whether the application is developed in-house or outsourced. It assists in getting updates deployed and handling application underperformance without getting professional support every time.

Hacking proof framework

There is no benefit of having an advanced automated system if can be penetrated. Successful business owners have above-average knowledge of cyber security and hacking attempts. They are able to choose top-notch anti-hacking software without much of an ambiguity.

Communication Abilities/Soft Skills

Here are some key communication qualities that business owners should have:

Communication/Conversation: Business owners should use to-the-point sentences in both written and oral communication.

Issue Resolution Abilities: Business owners should be able to drill down to problems and solve them. This is done successfully only if an entrepreneur has in-depth business domain knowledge.

Agile Implementations

It is mandatory for business owners to have knowledge of iterative/agile models. With such a competitive environment, it is impossible for business owners to succeed without adopting an agile framework.

Create a productive well-crafted Business Strategy

A productive business venture starts with a clear vision. The first factor making a business successful is the idea behind it. It helps with endless growth and combating competition successfully. Katherine Philips once mentioned that business goals are inevitable if goals are set concretely.

  • Goals should be based on smart achievements instead of complexity. Focus on the value that each one of them adds. 
  • Business objectives should not be vague. Key indicators should be constructed to measure the success/failure of each milestone.
  • Be realistic when setting goals. Do not aim at impossible milestones since they can be demotivating.
  • Milestones/goals need to be time-bound. Set a completion deadline for each one of them. 
  • Business goals should not be alien. Owners can think out of the box but not be obsolete / unrelated.

Create a productive well-crafted Business Strategy

Business owners cannot succeed without having a network. Some tips help in this case. Attend conferences and professional gatherings to connect with other entrepreneurs.
Here are some other related points business owners should pay attention to.

  • Attend meetings and conferences to stay updated with trends and meet business owners who already have well-set ventures. This helps in enhancing the learning curve of new / growing entrepreneurs.
  • Being a part of business communities/groups is very productive. When one shares opinions and discusses decision-making tactics, it helps in preventing errors and enhancing success rate.
  • Even the most experienced business owners have mentors as learning never stops. Take part in mentorship programs so there is an assurance that you are following the correct roadmap.

Conclusion

There is absolutely no doubt that business dimensions have evolved with technological advancements. Successful entrepreneurs have grabbed these changes in due course of time and continue to evolve. On the other hand, people following old paths and conventional steps fade out of competition. In a nutshell, keep an eye on the processes and practices you follow as these factors decide success rate.

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