The Secrets Of Success In Business And Life

Following is a summary of the book:’Secret Millionaires Club-Warren Buffett’s 26 Secrets to Success in the Business of Life’.

1. Don’t be afraid to make mistakes. Try to learn from your mistakes – better yet, learn from the mistakes of others! Even when you make mistakes, keep your eyes ahead – on the future. See your future. Be your future. Try to work together and pool your ideas. Toss out what does not work and focus on what works. Remember, the more you will learn, the more you will earn.

2.Don’t borrow money. Think twice before you either borrow money or loan money to someone – especially a friend. The best way to pay back a debt is to never have one. Friendship gets strained when you squabble over debts.

3.Love what you do. Following your passion is the key to success. Be honest. Deal with integrity. Give your customers a bargain.We all need to work for a living. Work at something you like. Pursue your dreams. Be excited and always have a dream.

4.Make time for both work and play. It is important to make the right trade-offs between work and play so live a balanced lifestyle. Study everyday and try to learn something you didn’t know before. Do not try to do too much. Do only those things that are most important to you and keep a balance between work and play.

5. Listen to what others can teach you. The experience of others is the best classroom you will find. A mentor is someone who will share their experience and guide you to become better at something. Choose the right mentors, like your parents, grandparents or a teacher. Choose mentors who behave the way you want to behave for the rest of your life. Remember to educate yourself continuously. That lasts for ever.

6. Always think of new ideas. Try to come up with alternate ways of doing things. When you are faced with roadblocks, be flexible and think of new ways to make things work.

7. Always have a plan. When you fail to plan, you plan to fail. The will to prepare is just as important as the will to win.

8. If you fail, try again. Failure is not falling down, it is staying down. Be positive about failure. Today’s failure can lead to tomorrow’s success. Never give up.

9. Protect your reputation. It takes years to build a reputation but only minutes to ruin it.The best thing you can do for yourself is to build a reputation for being kind, generous, and thoughtful to others. Make sure that you act as if everything you say, the things you do, and how you treat others could be posted on the Internet for the whole world to see.A good reputation is the greatest thing to build over your lifetime—and make sure to never do anything to harm it in any way.

10. The customer comes first. Take care of the customer and the customer will take care of you. Communicate well with your customers. Ask a lot of questions and listen to the answers. Remember there is no such thing as a dumb question. Find out what the customers want and give it to them.

11. Open minds let in better ideas! Opening your mind can open the door of success. Show respect for others’ opinions by encouraging different ideas.In life, being positive and open-minded is also very important. It’s always a better choice to be optimistic about the future and project a positive attitude.Don’t automatically say “no”; ask, “What are the terms and conditions of ‘yes’?”

12. Always promote yourself. Successful businesses successfully promote and advertise themselves.You advertise yourself—meaning you project an image of yourself—every day by what you wear and how you treat others. It’s important to advertise yourself in a positive way so people see you from the inside out. Always be honest and sincere, and never lie under any circumstance. Treat other people the way you would like to be treated—that’s the best advertisement of all.

13. Location is very important. Location is a vital part of most businesses. Any business that sells to the public needs a good location so it can be found easily and is near the customers who want to buy its products. In a classroom, it is best to sit in a place where you can hear the teacher and clearly see the lessons on the board. The better you are located, and able to pay attention, the better you will do in school.

14. Don’t be fooled. If it seems too good to be true, it probably is. In life and  in business, you want to make sure that you carefully think things through when offered something. If someone guarantees that you will make easy money or they make promises that are unbelievable, then a warning bell should ring in your head. In other words, don’t believe everything you hear. Always be careful when considering a promise and always use good, common sense to make up your mind. If you think something seems too good to be true, you’re probably right.

15. Don’t judge others. With businesses, like with people, you should get to know them before you judge them. Managers of any successful business will go out of their way to get to know their customers before they introduce a new product or service. They never presume to know what their customers will like or dislike. In other words, they do not misjudge their customers.It’s also important not to misjudge people in your life. Make sure that you take the time get to know someone before you form an opinion about him or her. Prejudging someone because of how they look, what they wear, or by what others say about them is not a good idea. Be careful not to misjudge others—most of the time it leads to a lack of good judgment.

16. Be willing to change your ideas. Chains of habit are too light to be felt until they are too heavy to be broken. Be responsible and dependable. Think of how your actions today will affect you in the future. If you think you are developing any bad habits, try to break them. If you think you are doing the same thing over and over again, then try to change yourself.

17. Your image is important. Price is on the price tag; value is in the eye of the beholder. Work on your image so that you have a good reputation and people think good things about you. Be likable – someone who is honest, kind and thoughtful. Always give your customer a good experience. Create this image through the way you are and also advertise yourself.

18. Be thoughtful of others. If your service is outstanding, you’ll always stand out. Be pleasant/friendly, be respectful and care for others. Remember these three things all the time.

19. Pay attention to details. A good business is disciplined to do the little things right every day. Discipline and practice are important. If you do all the little things right every day, then the big things will follow. If you take the easy way out by cutting corners and doing things too quickly, you will never be as good as you could be.

20. How you present yourself is very important. It’s not just the outside that counts. It is the whole package. The outside should reflect the inside and the inside should reflect the outside. Show respect if you want to be respected.Admire honesty as part of being honest. And be lovable to be loved.

21. Your decisions affect your future. Make sure you stay in school. Failing to complete your education can lead to not achieving your dreams in the future. Think of the consequences of your decision and the domino effect it may have on your future. A positive decision you make today just might pay off in the future.

22. Save for the future. Save money for things you need instead of spending it all on things you want.Remember that a penny saved is a penny earned.

23. Be someone in demand. Prices are determined by supply and demand. If many people want a thing, the prices are high and vice versa. In life there are two things that we can supply to others without limitation: knowledge and love. Share your knowledge freely and be lovable. Supply all the positive things in life to others and you definitely will be in demand.

24. Confidence comes with understanding. Don’t get involved in a business you don’t understand. Understand the business, its competitors and what the customers want. Similarly in life, understand before you do things. Think things through before you act.

25. Learn through out your lifetime. Be smarter at the end of the day than you were at the beginning. Learn more about your business and the changes that are happening in it, your competitors and your customers. Challenge yourself to learn something new every day.Learn to be better at what you like to do and that will make you happy with yourself. And if you are happy with yourself, others will be happy with you.

26. Partners make it easier. Great partnerships will make any job easier. Build great partners in business and also in life, with your friends and family. Building great relationships makes life smoother.

And BTW if books are really not your thing and you’d rather watch movies,here you go:Link