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Top 10 list from billionaires as to be successful

  
Education, Life
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1. Figure out what you’re so passionate about that you’d be happy doing it for 10 years, even if you never made any money from it. That’s what you should be doing.
2. Always be true to yourself.
3. Figure out what your values are and live by them, in business and in life.
4. Rather than focus on work-life separation, focus on work-life integration.
5. Don’t network. Focus on building real relationships and friendships where the relationship itself is its own reward, instead of trying to get something out of the relationship to benefit your business or yourself.
6. Remember to maximize for happiness, not money or status.
7. Get ready for rejection.
8. Success unshared is failure. Give back — share your wealth.
10. Successful people do all the things unsuccessful people don’t want to do.

What would you add to the “Billionaire’s Secrets” List?

From $8 a Month to $20 Billion

  
Education, Life
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“Twenty-five years ago, when Zong Qinghou was 42, he made his living selling soft drinks and popsicles to schoolchildren. He says he earned about $8 a month — less than a third of China’s average wage at the time — and was so broke that he once slept in a tunnel under the streets of Beijing rather than spend on a hotel.

“Today, Zong, 67, is still selling soda — and lots of other things — as the wealthiest man in mainland China, Bloomberg Markets magazine reports in its December cover package, “The World’s Richest People.” His net worth of $20.1 billion as of Oct. 5 ranks him No. 30 in the world…”

– Bloomberg, Zong Tops China Billionaires as Communist-to-Capitalist

The responsible trader puts risk control first. That means staying clearheaded in respect to potential outcomes, refusing to “drink the kool-aid” while everyone else chugs it.

Given the need for realism, though, it’s good to temper cynicism with awareness of what’s possible… the potential in what could happen, with hard work, if things really go right.

In that regard, extreme success outliers are not to be envied or copycatted — obviously one needs a lot of fortuitous circumstance (plus the hard work) to do what Zong did.

Instead, fat tail successes serve as a useful reminder that perhaps, just perhaps, outlandish aspirations are not so outlandish… and could even be modest in respect to what’s been done.

After all, if a man in China can go from making $8 a month at age 42, to being worth $20 billion at age 67, who is to say what you or I might achieve? 

A profile of natural gas trader John Arnold -Must read

  
Education, Life, US Market
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John Arnold

You could hear John Arnold trying to choose his words carefully. Seated at a conference table inside a drab government building in Washington, D.C., in August, Arnold hardly fit the stereotype of a swaggering, 35-year-old billionaire natural-gas trader.

He wrung his hands as he waited to speak and twisted his wedding band. He filled, and refilled, and re-refilled his water glass. Then he stuttered a bit before he gained momentum and politely advocated rules that would restrict others while allowing him to keep doing what he does.

It was a rare public appearance for one of the least-known billionaires in the U.S. But the stakes were high. Arnold was testifying at a hearing of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).

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Facebook CEO will donate most of his wealth

  
Analysis, Education
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Well, if Mark Zuckerberg’s image wasn’t already bolstered enough by his recent appearance on 60 Minutes, today’s announcement might help polish it a bit more.

Zuckerberg is one of 17 of the latest billionaires to sign the Giving Pledge, a joint effort from Bill Gates and Warren Buffet to encourage wealthy individuals “to commit to giving the majority of their wealth to the philanthropic causes and charitable organizations of their choice either during their lifetime or after their death,” according to the organization’sweb site. The Wall Street Journal first reported the news early Thursday morning.

“People wait until late in their career to give back. But why wait when there is so much to be done?” said Zuckerberg, according to a press release. ”With a generation of younger folks who have thrived on the success of their companies, there is a big opportunity for many of us to give back earlier in our lifetime and see the impact of our philanthropic efforts.”

First officially announced by Gates and Buffett in June of this year, The Giving Pledge touts a list of 57 billionaires who have pledged to give a majority of their wealth away over the course of their lifetime.

Dustin Moskovitz, a co-founder of Facebook and #290 on the list with $1.4 billion, has also agreed to join Zuckerberg in signing. Other names new to the list include ex-AOL CEO Steve Case and investor Carl Icahn.Mr. Icahn ranks 24th on this year’s Forbes 400 list, at an estimated net worth of $11 billion. Zuckerberg, whose soaring second-market shares valuation of Facebook stock brings his estimated net worth to $6.9 billion, is new to this year’s Forbes 400 list at #35.  Gates and Buffettcontinue to top the list at #1 and #2, $54 billion and $45 billion, respectively. (more…)

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