Pursuit of Excellence

Items in italics are direct quotes from the articles below

http://www.businessinsider.com/barbara-corcoran-swears-by-1-interview-question-2017-6

When Barbara Corcoran interviewed candidates for her successful real-estate brokerage, she never bothered to read their résumés first. Résumés can be easily fabricated and perfectly finessed, so she didn’t see the point. Instead, she wanted to know one key fact about each potential employee: Was he or she happy? The “Shark Tank” star looks deeply at a person’s personality and drive. Her one interview question which helps her determine if someone fits her company is: tell me about your family. Corcoran says she wants to know about a prospective employee’s parents. How he or she grew up. How someone speaks about family reveals so much about how that person learned to approach challenges. By the time someone is sitting across from you in an interview, his or her perspective is most likely pretty ingrained. “If their family couldn’t give them a positive attitude, there’s nothing I can do that’s going to change it,” she says. From her point of view, unhappy people often don’t reach their full potential. She especially hates complainers, and doesn’t tolerate those who play the victim card. She even has a dramatic way to move on from complain-y entrepreneurs. When she first signs a deal with any entrepreneur, she displays his or her photo on the wall of her office. But the moment she hears that entrepreneur start playing the victim card, she flips the photo over. “They’ll never succeed. Victims don’t succeed,” she says. The words you speak into your soul have power over you. Good words can produce good results, but even deeper than that you need to have faith in your words too. Even if you don’t believe them initially, constantly search for your inner why, and begin surrounding yourself with those who are willing to walk with you. Build a community if you must, but ultimately discover purpose and make a difference. If you fall, then get back up until you climb your personal mountain. Successful investors will invest in you if you have the tenacity and conviction to follow through with your plans. Your words are important, and they will bring life or death.

http://www.businessinsider.com/how-stop-overspending-2017-6

At just 27 years old, the blogger behind the Money Wizard — who goes by the pen name Sean online — has banked more than $181,000. He’s on a mission to retire early, at age 37. Sean saves 65% of his take-home pay — he earns $80,000 a year as a financial analyst — and still manages to travel frequently. “Probably what’s most driving me [to retire early] — I just want freedom,” he told Business Insider. “So many people get caught up in the race of materialism, thinking that next house or next car is what will make them happy. I think happiness comes from freedom. I just want to be able to do what I want, without financial worry.” He saves automatically each month, putting his money into a 401(k), IRA, and index funds. “Saving off the top,” he said, is the best strategy for socking away money because you don’t miss the cash if you don’t see it in the first place. Sean’s philosophy for building wealth is based on calculating the value of his time in dollars. “Understanding that, at its core, money is a unit of exchange for time … every purchase costs me time — the most limited resource we have,” he said. Before buying something, Sean often calculates the true cost of the purchase, in terms of the time it took him to earn the amount, to put it into perspective. “If I buy a $30 dinner, that dinner is paid for in after-tax dollars and is subject to sales tax. If I’m in the 25% tax bracket and the dinner is subject to a 10% meal tax, that $30 dinner costs nearly $45. After considering the time spent working to earn $45, is the fancy dinner still worth it?” he said. How much is your time worth to you? There’s only 24 hours in a day, seven days in a week, and 12 months in a year. Try Sean’s exercise and consider how much time at work you must sacrifice every time you buy something you don’t need. Make your money work for you, and learn how to work smart not just harder. Your imagination can create new and wonderful ways to make life better. How can you make a difference? How can you take this difference and place it in a business model? Can this business become an income producing asset? Can the business be scaled? How much money do you need to live? These are all deep personal questions that you should take the time to think about. Once you are done thinking, act and make life happen.

If you are interested in creating a budget, then contact me for a financial checkup in the contact me section. Also, learn more about the self-lending principle in the mustard seed section.

For this week, I’ve included GET UNSTUCK FROM DESTRUCTIVE HABITS – Motivational Video for Success & Studying (end laziness) from Be Inspired YouTube channel.

“If you think you know it all, you’re a fool for sure; real survivors learn wisdom from others.”

Proverbs 28:26 MSG