27 SECRETS TO SUCCESS
A Comprehensive Guide to
Personal & Business Behavior
For Anyone on the Success Track
Edwin H. Sinclair, Jr.
All rights reserved
© MMIX Gene Grossman’s Magic Lamp Press
Smashwords edition 1.1 – Published December, 2009
*****
CONTENTS
Introduction
#1: Early to rise
#2: Neatness Counts
#3: Dirty Hands: Not a Fatal Disease
#4: Do unto others
#5: The Confidence Game
#6: Make a List & Check it Twice
#7: Discipline
#8: Time is money
#9: False Promises
#10: Seven Deadly sins
#11: Penny wise
#12: Communicate
#13: Rehearse
#14: Spell-Check
#15: Listen
#16: Look Around
#17: No jokes
#18: No vices
#19: Keep it to Yourself
#20: Keep it down
#21: Network
#22: We’re closed
#23: Don’t let’em see you sweat
#24: Keep copies
#25: Gaudy is bad
#26: Get their numbers
#27: Dogs Rule
Some Helpful Tips
A One-Word Glossary
A One-Word Poem
A Closing Thought
*****
Introduction
Congratulations. The mere fact that you’ve shown enough interested in bettering yourself in the business world means that you’ve got the same stuff that made Benjamin Franklin so successful.
That’s right: you’re similar to Ben – whose accomplishments have been memorialized not only by numerous historical accounts, but also by the printing of his picture on a piece of paper – several copies of which you should want to carry around with you at all times: the United States one-hundred-dollar bill.
Almost 300 years ago, Mister Franklin would occasionally join a gathering of prominent Philadelphia merchants, who would meet at what they called the “Every-Night-Club,” to discuss the noteworthy business of the day. Franklin enjoyed being among this group, but wanted to know more about what had made these merchants successful enough to be in the group. His curiosity led him to one of his great ideas: he would get twelve of his friends together to form their own club; but not just a mere social club. These guys all shared a mutual interest: Self Improvement.
Ben’s new club met for dinner every Friday evening and one of their main topics of conversation was based on a series of questions he formulated, asking for theories on why certain local businesses were either succeeding or failing. They also were interested in what successful men had done to reach their status, and how they could be emulated. The guys called their group the Junto, which is a Latin word for meeting, and during the more than forty years of their existence, their discussions and efforts led to the creation of the country’s first lending library, the American Philosophical Society, and the University of Pennsylvania.
What I’ve tried to do in this book is bring the readers into my own Junto. I have been very fortunate over the years, to have attained a decent level of financial success, and have had the opportunity to discuss the attributes with many extremely successful people who were from my former Massachusetts suburb of Brookline, went to Groton Academy, or sailed with me out of Buzzard’s Bay. During these conversations with my former neighbors, classmates and yachting crew, some very interesting facts came to light: almost every multimillionaire I spoke to agreed with the same points… traits that they all shared in common, and believed to be required behavior for any person wanting to reach the top of their chosen careers.
Unlike other publications touting ways to become successful, the tips contained in this book do not require you to already own your own business. This advice is mostly about the way you conduct yourself personally and professionally; how to mold your persona into one that attracts friendship and deserves respect. If you watch the television shows that interview successful executives, you will notice that many times, the habits of their behavior disclosed will be amazingly similar to the ones suggested herein.
Edwin H. Sinclair, Jr.
2007
*****
1
Early to Rise
I’ve never met a successful person who hasn’t finished his early morning workout or breakfast by 7:00 A.M. Now I’m sure you will be thinking about the multi-millionaire movie stars and other entertainers who like to party all night and not get out of bed until the following afternoon, but that’s not the kind of success I’m talking about, because their success isn’t a result of a series of disciplines they follow: it’s based purely on their uncanny ability to look fantastic, or act, sing, dance, or play a sport better than most other people. They didn’t build a business or create their success from the ground up: they were fortunate enough to have been born with the gift of talent that they developed through years of hard work.
The beautiful movie model, movie star or millionaire professional athletes mentioned above probably won’t be buying this book, so it’s a safe assumption that you don’t fall into one of those categories… and since you don’t, you’re going to have to get used to getting out of bed early in the morning, and one perfect example of successful use of this tip is Ernie S., my driver.
When there’s an important business meeting to attend, there is nothing that can worsen your negotiating position than being late. We’ll discuss that point later on in the chapter on punctuality, but right now, the important thing I’d like to stress is the business habit of Ernie.
During the past few years I have been entering into a series of negotiations with top-level executive from foreign countries. Due to their hectic schedules and the time differences between our respective locations, they often fly into this country at other-than-normal business hours, and we will meet near the airport in one of their hotel’s conference rooms.
I prefer using a limo to and from meetings like this, to have final preparation time en route… and the most important thing to me is having a driver that is absolutely dependable. Searching for the type of person necessary, I received a suggestion to call a particular limo company who uses Ernie, an often-requested driver who specializes in chauffeuring airline captains between the airport and their hotels.
Several airlines give their captains preferential service, allowing them to be driven separately from the flight attendants and other crew. The airline’s flight schedule depends on the reliability of the limo driver, and Ernie is the one they request first, no matter what hour of the day or night that the pickup is required; it’s quite common for him to make a 3:30AM pickup. I don’t know how he does it, but he makes himself available on a 24/7 basis, and the only thing I’ve ever seen him snack on is a small flip-top can of Del Monte sweet peas.
Ernie may be the epitome of this particular discipline, but he’s still a good example. Another successful small business owner I became acquainted with was Harry F., a California bail bondsman, who was on call during the most popular arrest times – between one and four in the morning, and I gave his number to my answering service, to be given out to friends of mine who might want to call me after hours from the local Bastille.
There was a bar not far from Harry’s office nicknamed ‘The Stumble Inn,’ and the local West Los Angeles Division Police officers knew that by keeping their eye on the saloon’s door around closing time and watching patrons stumble towards their cars, they would know exactly which drivers to follow down the road for a block or two before stopping them and requiring a field sobriety test.
The Stumble Inn had several other local franchises in the neighborhood, so the jail usually had a full house by two in the morning, and the calls would come in to Harry and the other local bail bondsmen. But, being able to get up early wasn’t the main requirement for him: getting up was just part of it. Getting up and being alert was the important thing, because if you didn’t ask the right questions and write down the correct answers, you wouldn’t have angry relatives to call and wake up, to act as co-signers for insolvent arrestees.
Al H. owns a Goodyear Tire business that also does mechanical work on cars. For security reasons, he made a decision early on that it was best to not have any employees with access to the premises, so he made it a point to be the person who opened in the morning, and locked up every evening. If he expected to be ready for business by eight I the morning, he would have to leave his house no later than seven, for the drive to work and opening-up process.
Being the first one in is a quite common practice of business owners. Not only does it give them a chance to straighten out matter left over from the previous day, but it also lets them see first-hand how their employees are doing, relative to being on time to work in the mornings.
Another plus to being there before your staff is that they have no idea how long you’ve been there before you arrive. This means that if you feel like getting in eighteen holes on any given afternoon, no-one can be envious that the boss isn’t putting in a full day like they are, because they have no idea how many hours you’ve already worked that day, before they came in.
Caveat:
None of the above advice works if you don’t get to bed early enough. You can’t function during the day if you haven’t had the proper number of sleep hours, but many factors are at play in determining how many hours are best for each person. Some of the things to consider in determining how many hours you need are:
• Your inherited genetic need;
• Sleep hygiene: daily activities, like alcohol, caffeine, exercise;
• The quality of your sleep;
• Your 24-hour daily cycle (circadian rhythm)
There have been numerous studies about sleep requirements for adults, and the age-old recommendation of eight hours a night just doesn’t hold true for everyone. Personally, I try to stay up through Leno’s monologue, but it rarely works. I just can’t seem to learn what 11:45 PM looks like on a weeknight – and my eyes won’t stay shut after about 0615, so I guess that my body optimally uses an average of 6½ hours. On a particularly rare strenuous work day, I might take a half-hour nap, but if at all possible, I like to go straight through all day without one. To accomplish this, I do everything in my power to avoid particularly strenuous work days.
As far as your personal needs are concerned, all you really have to do is think back over the past few years and try to remember what amount of sleep hours works for you. The best thing to do is follow a strict regimen. Get to bed at about the same time each evening, and your getting up in the morning times will even out in the long run. If you’d like to read a little about the four determinants mentioned above, take a look at this WebMD page. http://www.webmd.com/content/article/62/71838.htm
If you’re really curious about sleep and health-related issues, there’s a well-known internet doctor named Joseph Mercola (http://www.mercola.com/) with some information on the subject. I checked his website out and didn’t see an “M.D.” abbreviation for him anywhere on it, but that doesn’t mean he’s not smarter than the average doctor. A friend of mine considers Mercola’s advice to be the gospel truth. He has a few pages on his website that go quite extensively into sleep requirements, so you might be interested to see what he’s got to say about the subject.
He quotes some statistics from the National Sleep Foundation’s study of 1.1 million people, which came to the conclusion that less than 6½ or more than 8 hours of sleep a night may possible be injurious to your health. You can see what Mercola has to say it at his website
http://www.mercola.com/2002/feb/27/sleep.htm
The one thing I have found that works for me and for just about everyone I spoke to is the importance of having breakfast… even if it’s only a smoothie you concoct in your own blender. Nothing can be more distracting during the morning work hours is having your body force you to concentrate on what’s going to be for lunch. Most nutritionists will tell you that a decent breakfast is essential, a good lunch should be your biggest meal of the day, and a light dinner with no sweet-snacking afterwards, is the best way to keep your machine working in good order.
2
Neatness Counts
There are some guys who never cleaned their room without threats of penalty deductions from their allowance – and if you’re one of those guys, then you’d better get your act together as soon as possible, because your mother won’t be around for the rest of your life, and you never can tell when a prospective business associate might have to enter your residence.