In an excerpt from their book, Donald Trump and Bill Zanker challenge readers’ commitment to succeed financially and offer their own anecdotes about their climb to the top.
Chapter 1: Do you have what it takes?
Take the quiz: Are you the next Trump?
People always ask me, "How did you get so rich?" The way I do things has allowed me to succeed financially far beyond what I had expected. I have had a lot of fun, and I have made a lot of money. I have known many celebrities, billionaire businesspeople, and superstar sports figures. It is not easy to explain in a couple of words, but I have noticed that all these successful people have traits that set them apart from the pack: their attitudes, actions, persistence, and passion, plus a whole slew of other qualities that separate the winners from the losers.
To be successful you have to separate yourself from 98 percent of the rest of the world. Sure, you can get into that special 2 percent at the top, and it is not just by being smart, working hard, and investing wisely. There is a formula, a recipe for success that the top 2 percent live by and that you too can follow to be successful.
First, you must be honest with yourself. The only way to get rich is to be realistic and brutally honest. You have to get out of the ideal fantasy world you read about in magazines and see on TV. It is not as easy as they make it look. It is tough, and people get hurt. So you have to be as tough as nails and willing to kick ass if you want to win. Most people are not cut out for this. You have to deal with a tremendous amount of pressure. You have to think large and be creative to solve big problems that scare the crap out of most people. People are going to try to steal from you and destroy you just for the fun of it. You have to stand up to them, fight back and kick their ass. Nobody is going to hold your hand and help you along. You are on your own. You have to be able to bend but never break.
All of the greats in every sport, in finance and business, in the arts, and in government possess something special. A lot of people have it, but frankly, most people do not. Do you have what it takes to think big and kick ass? Virtually all self- made millionaires and billionaires, such as Bill Gates, Oprah Winfrey, and Walt Disney had the ability to think big and kick ass. It is hard to explain, so I have devised the following success quiz, which you can take to see if you have it. If you have it, you are going to make a lot of money.
EXPLANATIONS OF THE QUESTIONS:
1. How much money do you want to have in five years?
If you chose the lowest amount, why did you do that? You have a choice of getting any amount from $100,000 to $5 million in the next five years. It is completely up to you. Nobody is telling you what to choose. So why would anyone choose $100,000?
Yet in life that is exactly what many people do. They settle for $100,000 when they could just as easily have $5 million. Choosing less money shows a lack of ambition and a lack of confidence. Do not start out by settling. Always shoot for the top. Every great athlete and every great billionaire goes for the gold, not the bronze. If it were me answering this question, I would scratch out $5 million and write in $50 billion! That is the attitude you must have to make it big.
2. What are your financial dreams?
What you dream about is what you will do. If you cannot even dream of doing big things, you will never do anything big in life. I spent my first few weeks in Manhattan dreaming of what I would do with a huge piece of vacant real estate on New York’s West Side that was owned by the bankrupt Pennsylvania and New York Central Transportation Company. After eighteen months of hard work and focus, I took an option to the property, worth $62 million, with no money down. I conceived the Javits Center on the land. That is the power of big dreams. What kind of big dreams excite you and make you feel great? Do not worry about whether you can do it. That does not matter. It does not cost anything to dream. Spend your time enjoying your big dreams.
3. Which statement best describes your financial situation?
This question shows how hungry you are. Hungry people work harder and are much more motivated to make great strides forward in life. If you are satisfied with your current financial situation, what is going to motivate you to do all the things you need to do to become rich and successful? You have to set higher and higher goals. You have to want more or you will start slipping backwards fast.
4. How much time do you spend each day building your wealth?
Wealth comes from big goals and sustained action toward those goals every day. Many people start with big goals. Yet after they run into a few problems or get distracted by other things that compete for their attention every day, they lose focus on their goals. To keep your goals alive you must take action every single day for at least two hours. No one should care about your money and success more than you do.
5. How much money do you spend on business, financial education, and training?
Finance and business are dangerous waters where vicious sharks are swimming around looking to feed on innocent novices. In this game, knowledge is the key to power. Spend the money necessary to know what you are doing or somebody will quickly be doing you. Financial illiteracy is a huge problem in this country. People get trapped in very bad situations because they did not do their homework.
6. What do you do when you are faced with a difficult problem?
Rich people are rich because they solve difficult problems. You must learn to thrive on problems. CEOs of big companies are paid huge amounts of money because they solve problems that nobody else can solve. Some are good at what they do and some are terrible and overpaid. I face problems every day. It is one of the things I do best. If you want to be in the top 2 percent, you must become very good at finding creative solutions to what appear to be impossible problems.
7. What is your attitude toward work?
There is no worse feeling than being trapped in a job you do not enjoy. You have to love what you do. To be a success the most important thing is to love what you do. You have to put in long hours and face enormous challenges to be successful. If you do not love what you do, you will never make it through. If you love your work, the difficulties will be balanced out by the enjoyment. I love making deals and constructing great buildings. The fun I am having every day keeps me going when things get tough.
8. What would you do if you lost your job or source of income?
This is the ultimate test. If disaster struck, would you fold up and go home to your mother? Or would you pick yourself up and make something happen? The biggest doers often suffer the biggest setbacks in life. So if you want to aim high, you have to have the guts to handle the inevitable bumps in the road. If you strike out, nobody is going to help you — not your friends, not the government. You have to look out for yourself, and your attitude is the key to surviving a setback. Look at shoe maven Steve Madden: he had some legal trouble, but he had a successful attitude that could not be subdued, and he staged a big- time comeback. You have to know that you have what it takes to come back from anything. Martha Stewart is another example — what a great and brave comeback she made — few people could have done what she did!
9. Which statement best describes your energy and concentration level?
In truth you have more energy than you think you have. Most people are working at about 50 percent capacity. You can do much more. It takes a crisis or an emergency to get most people up to full steam. I get charged up by loving what I do. Nothing is more important to me than the excitement of putting caution to the wind and doing something that has never been done before. I love the thrill of jumping headfirst into a big challenge, and then using all of my talents to make it successful. Passion is why Mark Burnett, Jim Cramer, and Arnold Schwarzenegger are at the tops of their fields. All successful people are high- energy people who are passionate about what they do. Find a passion that energizes you!
10. Which best describes your reaction when someone tells you that you cannot do something?
If you want to be a success, you have to get used to frequently hearing the word no and ignoring it. As a child, when your mother told you no, your father told you no, the teacher told you no, or the coach told you no, if you were a good little boy or girl, you listened to the word no and stopped what you were doing. That is why 98 percent of adults are conditioned to stop when they hear the word no. Quitters do not get anywhere. You will not be successful if you listen to nos.
If you want to be in the top 2 percent, you have to get real. In business you are not dealing with your mother, your father, or your teacher. People are not looking out for you. They do not want the best for you; they are looking out for themselves.
When most people say no, they are doing it to further their own ends. Do not let somebody’s arbitrary "no" stop you. Find a way to turn the "no" into a "yes," or find a creative way to sidestep the "no." Do not let anybody stop you!
11. You have an important decision to make and you do not know what to do. Which statement best describes your decision- making process?
I really believe that if you are good and if you are smart and if you know your business, you have to go with your gut on occasion and go against the tide. In some of the best deals I have made, I went against what everybody else believed. Television producer Mark Burnett went from selling T-shirts on Venice Beach to reaching the pinnacle of Hollywood power because he followed his instincts about the kind of reality TV that would appeal to the masses. We all have instincts. The important thing is to know how to use them. You may have superb academic credentials, but if you do not use your instincts, you might have a hard time getting to and staying at the top.
12. What is your attitude toward people?
The world is a vicious and brutal place. We think we’re civilized. In truth, it’s a cruel world and people are ruthless. They act nice to your face, but underneath they’re out to kill you. You have to know how to defend yourself. People will be mean and nasty and try to hurt you just for sport. Lions in the jungle only kill for food, but humans kill for fun. Even your friends are out to get you: they want your job, they want your house, they want your money, they want your wife, and they even want your dog. Those are your friends; your enemies are even worse! My motto is "Hire the best people, and don’t trust them."
13. When someone intentionally harms you or your reputation, how do you react?
When someone crosses you, my advice is "Get even!" That is not typical advice, but it is real- life advice. If you do not get even, you are just a schmuck! When people wrong you, go after those people, because it is a good feeling and because other people will see you doing it. I love getting even. I get screwed all the time. I go after people, and you know what? People do not play around with me as much as they do with others. They know that if they do, they are in for a big fight. Always get even. Go after people that go after you. Don’t let people push you around. Always fight back and always get even. It’s a jungle out there, filled with bullies of all kinds who will try to push you around. If you’re afraid to fight back people will think of you as a loser, a "schmuck"! They will know they can get away with insulting you, disrespecting you, and taking advantage of you. Don’t let it happen! Always fight back and get even. People will respect you for it.
14. You are "on a roll" and everything seems to be going your way. What do you do now?
If you are on a quest for the golden ring, you cannot afford to be complacent. You can never rest, no matter how good things are going. Your current "good times" are only a result of the hard work and dedication you have put forth. What you do today will produce results tomorrow. If you want to keep the good times rolling, you have to keep on planting those seeds every day! If you stop focusing even for one minute, you will start slipping backwards.
It is true that a few people are born to be successful. They possess a special talent that makes it easy to succeed — the gifted musician, the natural athlete, or the talented businessperson. The vast majority of successful people were not handed success on a silver platter. They worked hard for it. They set goals, and they stayed focused until they reached them.
Some people are born with an exceptional talent that makes it easy for them to excel, like Mozart or Shakespeare. Most great successes weren’t born that way. It took many years of hard work and intense focus to get to the top.
15. What is your attitude toward the business of being married?
Now, I have seen bad deals, I have seen bad partnerships, I have seen many business deals in litigation — and litigation is not nice — but there is nothing worse than a man and a woman who fight, especially when they are fighting over their assets, their business, their home, their cars, and everything else. It is terrible. You were in love with somebody, and now you are no longer in love. The hatred is so intense, far more intense than it usually gets in a business transaction. There is nothing more vicious than a man or woman going through a divorce. It is pure hell, like nothing else I have ever seen. You need a prenuptial agreement to protect yourself and your business interests.
Marriage is a contract unlike any other contract in life. You marry for love. But your signature on the marriage certificate is all about rights, duties, and property. It’s a legally binding contract that knows nothing of love.
If the love dies, all you have left is a resentful ex-spouse and the marriage certificate. There’s nothing more terrible than an ex-spouse with a ten-ton axe to grind, and no agreement on how your common property is to be divided. It usually leads to all-out war that is more vicious than any legal battle in business and could easily lead to your financial and emotional ruin. Always get a prenup. It’s just too risky not to.
So how did you score on the test? Let’s cut to the chase. If you scored a 46-60, you are making the grade! You are one of the top 2 percent who have what it takes to make it big. If you work hard, you may become more successful than someone with a high IQ or an MBA. I have seen it all my life. I went to the Wharton School of Finance with some great students. I still know many of them today and, with a few exceptions, they are not very successful. I have seen people who could not even get into Wharton, who went to other colleges or no college at all, but they focused on their goals and never quit. They worked hard and they loved what they were doing. So they ended up being more successful than the genius students at Wharton.
Hard work is my personal method for financial success. I know a lot of people who do not have great talent, but they are rich. You can do it, too. The principles in this book will help anyone no matter what their background. If you did not score between 46 and 60, then read this book now, underline what is missing in your life, and, especially important, absorb the attitudes expressed in my stories. Feel what I am feeling, and make my attitude your attitude. Then retake the test. You will score much higher after reading this book!
ZANKER’S TAKE
As President and Founder of The Learning Annex, I have had the opportunity to observe hundreds of supersuccessful people firsthand, millionaires and billionaires who have risen above the ordinary to achieve amazing things in life. They all possess one very important quality: persistence. Look at Donald Trump, for example; he personifies the word persistence. He never quit, even when he was down and out.
More than anything else, it takes persistence to do the things you need to do to get to the top. How many days do you feel like you can’t do it anymore? Can’t make the call or knock on the door. How many times can you get rejected, yet you know you are just so close? How many times do you have to ignore people hounding you for money, while you are moving heaven and earth to make you and your family’s dreams happen? We have all been there. It is hard, but the rewards are great, so we don’t stop until we achieve our dreams.
It takes persistence to knock on door after door and deal with rejection after rejection, without knowing whether you will ever be successful. And when you finally break through and land a great client or a great job or venture capital for your start- up business, it takes persistence to sign on the dotted line and commit to fulfilling what you promised you would do. It takes persistence to face the difficult problems that nobody can help you solve. It takes persistence to endure setbacks and come back with the same level of intensity and enthusiasm you had before. And when you finally succeed, it takes persistence to fight back when rivals, competitors, and bullies come after you to take you down.
I learned how persistence works long ago, when I was building The Learning Annex in the early 1980s. I wanted the owner of the famous New York food store Zabar’s, Murray Klein, to speak on "How to Create a Great Food Market." I thought New Yorkers who love food — and there are plenty of them — would flock to this class. Zabar’s was (and still is) a great New York food institution on the Upper West Side. I called and went to see Murray Klein, and in a very New York way he dismissed me and my request while he was busy yelling at the fish cutter to make the slices thinner. (If you’ve never been to Zabar’s, you’ve got to go visit this place.) Murray Klein is a quintessential New Yorker.
Walking home, feeling rejected, I got an idea. The next morning, I called a florist, and told them to deliver $200 worth of flowers every day to Zabar’s, with a note to Murray Klein saying, "Please teach at The Learning Annex." Remember this was the 1980s, and $200 bought a lot of flowers. I told the florist, "Keep delivering the flowers every day until I tell you to stop." By day nine, I started panicking that I was down $1,800 already, with not a word from Murray Klein.
Then the call came. "Zanker," Murray said, "What’s it going to take for you to stop sending me those damn flowers? There’s no room in my office anymore."
I said, "Give New Yorkers one night of your time."
Murray said, "I love your chutzpah. I’ll do it."
And Murray surprised everyone and brought a spread of food to the class that was glorious. People ate for free all of Zabar’s delicacies while Murray talked. He was brilliant bringing the food to class because everyone talked about it the next day. What great publicity for Zabar’s. And the next day I got fl owers from Murray with a card saying, "Zanker, that was fun, but I will never ever do it again!"
I’ve used this trick numerous times since then, and in fact more recently I got Jim Cramer from Mad Money the same way.
Let me tell you another story about persistence. When I bought back The Learning Annex in 2001, I wanted Robert Kiyosaki of Rich Dad fame to speak. I kept calling up his office, and he and his partner Sharon Lechter wouldn’t take my calls. I read that he was speaking in Phoenix, so I left my home in Westchester County, New York at 5:00 A.M., and got on a plane at John F. Kennedy Airport to get to Phoenix. I got to the event on time, and I asked to meet with Robert during lunch. His assistant said, "I can’t do it. You need an appointment."
I said, "I can’t get an appointment; he’s not returning my calls."
She said, "I’m sorry."
Taking a taxi back to the Phoenix Airport, I was very angry. How stupid. But on the fl ight back to New York, I decided I wouldn’t quit.
So every day, at around 11:00 A.M., I’d call Robert and Sharon, and leave messages. It became a ritual. Like brushing your teeth in the morning, I would call Robert and Sharon every morning at about 11:00. I did this for about three months straight, never missing a day, and finally Sharon Lechter called me up. She said, "I’ll be in New York next week, would you like to have lunch?"
I said, "Great."
She asked, "Where do you want to meet?"
I’m a guy who eats lunch at my desk, but the first restaurant that came to my mind was The 21 Club, a posh New York restaurant.
She said, "Great, I’ll see you there."
I got to the restaurant an hour before we were supposed to meet, and I went to the maître d’. I gave him twenty dollars, and asked him, "When I get here for lunch, can you ask me if I want my usual table?"
He took my $20, and said, "No."
I went into my pocket, took out five more twenties, and gave them to him. He said, "I’ll see you at one o’clock."
I walked in at 1:00, exactly when Sharon walked in, and the maître d’ hugged me — he was almost overdoing it — and he said, "Mr. Zanker, nice to see you." He ushered us to a great table. Sharon was duly impressed.
In the end, the lunch was a great success because it was over that lunch we agreed Robert would speak just once for The Learning Annex. "Rich Dad" Robert Kiyosaki had such a great experience that the "once" became many times. It took me six months, but I was persistent and always knew I would get Robert to teach for The Learning Annex because "No" was not an option.
I see it all the time. The most successful people I have learned from just never take no for an answer. They have all had to endure big challenges to get to where they are. They’ve had to overcome the odds that stop most people from making it big. To do this, they’ve had to develop the habit of persistence. You are going to learn a lot in this book, but as a small business owner never giving up is the most important attribute you can learn.
To Sum It Up
Winners in life have a special quality that I call the Trump IT quality, which sets them apart from 98 percent of the population. There is a formula you can follow to be a winner in life. But you must be brutally honest with yourself. Getting rich is tough, and people get hurt. You have to be as tough as nails and willing to kick ass if you want to win. Take the preceding litmus test to see if you have the right stuff. Learn about the areas of your life you need to kick up a notch. Read this book and absorb the tough-attitude stories. Then retake the test and you will score much higher.
From Think Big and Kick Ass. Published by HarperCollins Publishers Ltd. Copyright (c) 2007 by Donald Trump & Bill Zanker. All rights reserved. Reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.
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