5 Frugal Habits of the World’s Richest People

Warren Buffet

Research and anecdote teaches that wealthy people, including the very wealthiest, are surprisingly frugal.

That’s not saying they’re cheap. After all, there is a difference between being cheap and frugal. Frugal means being smarter and wiser at prioritising your funds, finding the best value and making solid investments, traits that have fattened the bank accounts of the richest people in the world. They have so much wealth because they realise the real value of money.

1. They use coupons

Who have thought that the wealthy would spend time going through coupons and cutting them out? (Perhaps they might have assistants to help with that!)

Celebrities including Carrie Underwood, Lady Gaga, Kristen Bell and Hilary Swank are just a few examples of wealthy individuals who are fans of coupons.

As a whole, it’s been found that an astounding “71 percent of the affluent use paper coupons every month, with 54 percent using online coupons every month.”

2. They live below their means

The super rich are also known for living well below their means – even as far as cutting their own hair. One example of this is that they don’t see a vehicle as a status symbol (something some Asian tycoons and politicians are fond of). Instead, they realise that a car serves just one purpose; to get from Point A to Point B.

Sam Walton, the founder of Wal-Mart, famously drove around in a 1979 Ford F150 pickup truck. Walton’s son, Jim drove an older Dodge Dakota. Mark Zuckerberg owns a modest Acura TSX entry-level sedan, the 61st richest person in the world Azim Premji drove a Toyota Corolla, and Warren Buffett recently sold his 2006 Cadillac, which was noted for not being anything special, for a new model.

Many very rich people live in modest homes. Warren Buffett still resides in the house he bought bought in Omaha, Nebraska in 1958. Mark Zuckerberg, Tim Cook and Christy Walton all live in modest homes.

Ikea founder Ingvar Kamprad, Hobby Lobby founder David Green and former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer prefer to fly commercial, and even coach. Bill Gates was known to fly commercial for years. Azim Premji usually stays at company guest houses.

Finally, the wealthy don’t spend money on only luxury clothing. John Caudwell, an auto-shop owner who entered the cell phone business in 1987, has stated “I don’t need Saville Row suits” and “I don’t need to spend money to bolster my own esteem.”

In fact, 74 percent of the super rich shop at Wal-Mart, while only 6 percent shop at Brooks Brothers.

3. They are charitable

One of the more interesting habits that the rich have in common is their willingness to donate a vast majority of their wealth to a charitable cause. Zappos’ Tony Hsieh personally invested in the Downtown Project to improve downtown Las Vegas.

Chuck Feeney, the co-founder of Duty Free Shops, has donated to disadvantaged children and public health initiatives. Other wealthy individuals including Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, George Soros, Mark Zuckerberg, and Michael Bloomberg have donated huge chunks of their fortunes.

4. They value quality over quantity

Wealthy individuals aren’t cheap, and certainly are not against enjoying themselves, but they put more thought into their purchases. For example, T. Boone Pickens has said:

“I don’t go cheap on anything, but I’m not a shopper. If I want something, I look at it, decide what it is, but it will usually be the best product. I’ve got a pair of loafers that I still wear that I got in 1957.”

5. They don’t carry wads of cash

It’s been found that “86 percent of people who spend cash on luxuries like expensive cars, jewellery, and electronics are non-millionaires trying to act the part by purchasing luxury brands.”

Take the advice of oil mogul T. Boone Pickens and carry around only the cash that you need for what you intend to buy. According to Brad Klontz, a CFP professional and associate professor of personal financial planning at Kansas State University, the rich are often “money vigilant.” They avoid credit debt, and “are more anxious about making sure they have enough money and are managing it well.”

Source: Entrepreneur.com

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8 Really Awesome Celebrities Worth Emulating

Not all billionaires and celebrities are obsessed with simply parading their talent or luxurious lifestyle. There are plenty of examples from around the world of famous or wealthy people behaving in ways that are simply inspirational.

Money and status aren’t everything. Being an unprepossessing person is a far more admirable trait in someone with wealth or power. And it’s examples of the latter which Bright Side want to tell you about.

A simple princess from Sweden

Misha Gulko

This is Madeleine, Princess of Sweden. Yes, she cleans up after her dog. Herself.

The poorest president in the world

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José Cordano is the ex-President of Uruguay, but locals call him «El Pepe». He gave almost all his presidential salary away to charity, which made him the poorest (and at the same time, the most generous) president in the world. José earned 263,000 Uruguayan dollars (about 8,834 USD) per month, and left only 10% for himself.

During his presidency, he lived in a small cottage, fetched clean water from a well, and his most expensive purchase was a Volkswagen Beetle made in 1987. Mujica has no bank accounts and no debts.

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El Pepe in line at the clinic.

The mayor of London

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Boris Johnson, the mayor of London, doesn’t hesitate to appear in public without a tie and will happily wear a sports jacket, a back-pack and a helmet. And no wonder, because he’s one of the main supporters of increasing the number of Brits riding bicycles instead of driving.

The mayor of Reykjavík

eju

Jón Gnarr is a former mayor of the biggest Icelandic city, Reykjavík. He never went to college and has worked as both a comedian and a cabdriver before managing to form his own political party in 2010 which was given the reliable name of «the Best Party». The party mainly consisted of creative people: artists, musicians, comedians etc., and each of them was engaged in politics. Surprisingly, the citizens elected the leader of this party as a mayor by 34,7% votes.

The ex-mayor of NYC

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Michael Bloomberg may be counted among the ranks of the world’s richest people, but he nevertheless rides the subway to work. In this photo he can be seen sitting at his designated (and entirely ordinary) desk at NY city hall, surrounded by typical office furniture, computer screens, papers, diagrams, and... a can of peanut butter next to the keyboard.

Richard Branson, a billionaire hippy

etlivsomordblind

Sir Richard Branson is the founder of Virgin Airlines. In the space of ten years, he managed to turn a little music shop into a huge multi-purpose business spread across the world. On top of that, Branson is a vivid and colourful character, and that’s why he’s been called a «billionaire hippy». One of his best pranks was appearing at the airport dressed in an AirAsia flight attendant’s outfit. What’s more, it wasn’t just a photo opportunity — Branson served on a flight from Perth to Kuala Lumpur.

A Google legend

liveinternet

Sergey Brin is a legend of the computer business, the co-founder of Google Inc. He’s also Google’s president, a billionaire and one of the richest Americans. Yet Sergey still lives in a two-bedroom apartment and drives a Toyota Prius with an environmentally friendly hybrid engine. He likes to go to Russian Katya’s Tea House in San Francisco and recommends trying the borsch, Russian ravioli and pancakes.

A billionaire without a billion

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Chuck Feeney is the founder of a well-known retail chain called Duty Free Shoppers. Over the last 30 years, he has travelled all over the world, trying to divest himself of $7.5 billion. He earned this incredible amount of money selling brandy, perfumes and cigarettes. His charity fund, The Atlantic Philanthropies, has invested $6.2 billion in education, science, healthcare, civil rights and the maintenance of nursing homes around the world. By 2020, Chuck Feeney wants to spend all of his wealth on helping the needy.

Source: Brightside

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Self-Made Billionaire David Rubenstein’s 7 Habits Of #Success

Self-made billionaire, David Rubenstein regularly brainstorms business, life and success habits with entrepreneurial peers like Warren Buffet and Bill Gates. Here’s his 7 habits of success.

1. Try to be reasonably intelligent

Read as much as you can about the world, business, and what other entrepreneurs have done. You can be self-taught. You can’t hurt yourself by reading too much.

2. Learn to get along with people

Share the credit, use ‘we’, not ‘I’, and encourage people to take on leadership roles.

3. Learn the skill of persuading people

Entrepreneurship is all about getting people to see the world the way you do.

Virtually all of life is about persuading other people to do what you want, but entrepreneurs have a unique skill in convincing people to work for them, to buy their product, to buy their service.

Even Albert Einstein didn’t develop the theory of relativity by himself – he had to persuade the world that he was right, and that people should support his theories.

4. Learn to communicate

Spoken and written communication is equally important. This is also a vital component in leading by example, and persuading people to follow your lead.

5. Find something that you believe in and pursue that idea

The most successful companies aren’t necessarily successful because of the best ideas – the best ideas can flounder if the entrepreneur isn’t good at what they do.

You have to take an idea that’s reasonably good and pursue it, refine it, don’t take no for an answer; keep coming back and pushing the idea, and convincing people that you’re worth listening to.

6. Learn some humility

Arrogance can be helpful, but on the whole it’s more harmful than helpful. Humility makes people want to follow you, believe in you and support you. It’s also a vital characteristic if you’re going to be refining your idea and business until (and after) it’s a success.

7. The importance of building a company isn’t only to give yourself enormous wealth

It’s to show that you have the ability to create something — and then if you are successful, you have the obligation to give some of that back to society.

Source: entrepreneurmag.co.za

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Dream Big. Set Goals. Take Action

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Closing cycles, Shutting doors, Ending Chapters #2016

Photo credit: Daniel Peckham

One always has to know when a stage comes to an end. If we insist on staying longer than the necessary time, we lose the happiness and the meaning of the other stages we have to go through.

Closing cycles, shutting doors, ending chapters – whatever name we give it, what matters is to leave in the past the moments of life that have finished.

Did you lose your job? Has a loving relationship come to an end? Did you leave your parents’ house? Gone to live abroad? Has a long-lasting friendship ended all of a sudden?

You can spend a long time wondering why this has happened.

You can tell yourself you won’t take another step until you find out why certain things that were so important and so solid in your life have turned into dust, just like that.

But such an attitude will be awfully stressing for everyone involved: your parents, your husband or wife, your friends, your children, your sister.

Everyone is finishing chapters, turning over new leaves, getting on with life, and they will all feel bad seeing you at a standstill.

Things pass, and the best we can do is to let them really go away.

That is why it is so important (however painful it may be!) to destroy souvenirs, move, give lots of things away to orphanages, sell or donate the books you have at home.

Everything in this visible world is a manifestation of the invisible world, of what is going on in our hearts – and getting rid of certain memories also means making some room for other memories to take their place.

Let things go. Release them. Detach yourself from them.

Nobody plays this life with marked cards, so sometimes we win and sometimes we lose.

Do not expect anything in return, do not expect your efforts to be appreciated, your genius to be discovered, your love to be understood.

Stop turning on your emotional television to watch the same program over and over again, the one that shows how much you suffered from a certain loss: that is only poisoning you, nothing else.

Nothing is more dangerous than not accepting love relationships that are broken off, work that is promised but there is no starting date, decisions that are always put off waiting for the “ideal moment.”

Before a new chapter is begun, the old one has to be finished: tell yourself that what has passed will never come back.

Remember that there was a time when you could live without that thing or that person – nothing is irreplaceable, a habit is not a need.

This may sound so obvious, it may even be difficult, but it is very important.

Closing cycles. Not because of pride, incapacity or arrogance, but simply because that no longer fits your life.

Shut the door, change the record, clean the house, shake off the dust.

Stop being who you were, and change into who you are.

Source: Paulo Coelho

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7 Market Focused Questions You Must Ask to Help Your Business Grow

To answer this question you need to stop thinking like a small business owner and start thinking that you are running a multi-million dollar enterprise. Why? Because many small business owners tend to think like a small company. And the answer to growth is to think big.

Here Are 7 Questions to Think About and Respond to When Planning for Business Growth:

Do you have a strategic vision that outlines your business direction for the next 12 to 24 months? And if you have employees, do they know it?

What is your stated mission (or purpose) statement? How is it communicated to your employees, and how does it help drive business decisions?

Do you have stated, written and practiced company values to align how you and your employees work together and serve your customers?

Do you have a branding strategy that promotes how you want to be seen by prospects and clients and articulates your competitive advantage or differentiation from your competitors?

Do you have standard monthly financial reports to track the financial health of your business and to help drive your decisions?

Do you have outstanding customer service? If you can't answer based on your customer's feedback, loyalty, references and testimonials, your answer is "not yet."

Do you have an exit strategy for your business? Every business needs to have a sense of what the end game will look like. It drives growth and helps focus business decisions.

How did you do in answering these questions? Did you have thoughtful and detailed answers for each question?

When we talk to small business owners about these questions they often remind us that they are small businesses and not GE, Nordstrom's or Zappos. And that's the problem.

We have also seen companies that believe answering questions such as these is a waste of time.

Why Our 7 Vital Questions for Small Business Owners Who Want to Grow Their Business Is NOT a Waste of Time?

A small research oriented company who had been in business for 10 years was modestly successful. They were concerned, however, that although they were able to come up with a strategic plan every year, they were not disciplined enough to implement the tactics required to achieve the plan.

And they really didn't have to. Business came in and they were comfortable. You have likely heard us reference that success can be your greatest inhibitor to growth. And, the issue for them was that they weren't growing.

They decided to re-focus their efforts on growth. To do that they:

• Looked deep inside themselves and their business and discovered they were missing a number of ingredients for small business growth success. They uncovered this realization simply by honest answering our seven questions.
• Established company values to guide their work together and in serving their clients
• Created their strategic vision (ideal future state)
• Refined their purpose (or mission) statement
• Identified key strategies and tactics to implement the vision and created accountability by assigning those to lead individuals. Progress on tactics was reviewed quarterly, with general updates given monthly.
• Candidly discussed how they worked together and how work should be distributed to take advantage of each partner's strengths
• Identified their target market and the market niche
• Created tracking and reporting tools and a process to monitor sales
• Created a financial reporting system, reviewing it monthly and using ratio analysis to do a year over year comparison
• They are embarking on a re-branding strategy
• They are working to identify and develop an exit strategy

They started this initiative in 2008. 2009 was the best financial performance year they had in the company's 10-year history. 2010 was almost 40% higher than 2009. And note this was accomplished in the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression.

So what really happened? Were they lucky? Were they in the right place at the right time?
No - neither of these can explain their growth. What they did was stop thinking small. They stopped behaving like a 'mom and pop shop' and decided to focus on growth.

So, we encourage you to take a dispassionate view of your business. Stop listening to the generalities and honestly and thoughtfully respond to your own market-focused questions we suggested. Thinking small will keep you small; thinking big and planning big will lay the path to your growth.

Source: BusinessKnowHow.com

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6 Lessons I Wish I'd Known Before My Business Failed

It was easy to forget about the difficulties of building my business, Brooklyn Taco Co., when I was catering for The Daily Show with Jon Stewart every month. It was a great achievement to have my favorite celebrity craving my handcrafted tacos. Getting Stewart to laugh at one of my impersonations of a lunch lady was also pretty great. But the feeling of success faded quickly.

In February 2015, Brooklyn Taco closed. Immediately, I found myself obsessing over the whys and what-ifs.  Five years of experience building a food business taught me unforgettable lessons, but they were taught too late.

With absolute certainty, I know that Brooklyn Taco could have grown beyond a local brand if we had followed the principles below.

. Swallow your pride.

I had too much pride to share ownership of Brooklyn Taco with an outside investor. Brooklyn Taco had an offer in the beginning for around $400,000 for 80 percent. At the time, it seemed like I was selling off everything that my partner and I had built. Today, Brooklyn Taco is a dormant brand.  If you asked me if I would rather have 10 percent ownership in a prosperous company or half ownership in a failed company, I would take the former. Of course, giving up equity comes with its own risks, but take the time to think about it -- just don’t assume that it’s best to keep your company entirely in your own hands.

2. Starting too small can be a curse.

Starting small seemed like the healthy approach. We created the concept with $30,000, including rent, equipment and branding. The plan was to slowly grow and use the earnings to fund a larger operation, but in reality, a space that is too small to generate substantial profits is like treading water until you are too tired to stay afloat and you go under. This is the exact situation that occurred with Brooklyn Taco. A small space with low rent seemed perfect until we realized we lacked sufficient cooking capacity and seating to generate enough profits for expansion. We had a consistent business, but with no opportunity to increase production capacity, we were doomed from the beginning.

3. Choose your location carefully.

Initially, New York City seemed like the perfect place to start a new food concept. It offered a high volume of people, access to big press outlets, tourist traffic, millions of food-centric locals and plenty of vacant real estate available to open new locations. Yet, rents in NYC are so volatile that it is hard to create a business plan that will sustain growth. Starbucks has felt the pressure too, changing its business model for NYC locations to focus on smaller more efficient spaces.

Rent was only one of the hurdles that stunted our growth.  Staffing in NYC became the biggest struggle for Brooklyn Taco. How could I expect my business to attract and retain valuable employees when I couldn’t afford to pay them enough to meet their basic living needs?

Opening Brooklyn Taco in my hometown in Connecticut was not as exciting as opening in New York, but it was an idea that I should have seriously considered.  It is hard to accept, but the cost of operating a business in a major metropolitan area can be so prohibitive that you can make more money opening in a small town.

Related: 5 Mistakes to Avoid as an Entrepreneur

4. Explore new ways to boost your bottom line.

Brooklyn Taco did not have a beer and wine license nor did it have a liquor license. Alcohol was not part of the original plan when we established the company; we were purely a food-driven concept. It was not until we started putting the numbers together for investors that we realized that a beer and wine license or liquor license would have increased our profits significantly. The reality is that alcohol is shelf stable and has high profit margins; food is quite the opposite. The importance of alcohol in a food operation was reiterated after consulting multiple restauranteurs as we started to explore opening additional locations.

While we were never able to move on those plans, the lesson we learned was important: as a business owner, you need to always be looking at ways to protect and grow your bottom line.

5. Build a business that needs you to grow but can run without you.

Brooklyn Taco had huge breakthrough in the beginning of June 2015 when we were accepted into a two-month outdoor summer market, Broadway Bites, located in Herald Square.  Rent was extremely high -- $10,000/month for a 10-foot square booth -- but we had an incredible opportunity to make a lot of money while testing our tacos out in the Midtown demographic. Two 96-hour work weeks into the market, I had learned the ropes.

Now let’s fast forward to our last day, the breakdown and cleanup. I was exhausted beyond belief and didn’t know that a disc in my neck was herniated. My shoulder muscles became partially paralyzed due to nerve damage. Surgery was my only option -- and the only thing that wasn’t included in my business plan. Brooklyn Taco was forced to function without me and it didn’t work. I had spent so much time building my business on the ground level that I had created a company that could not survive without me.

6. Do not start a business with your significant other.

There is an undeniable and irreversible toll of trying to mix business with pleasure. A fight at home can carry into the business, and in our case a fight eventually led to a breakup. My girlfriend and I separated, but we remained in a business relationship and it was toxic.

The hardest part was accepting that we could not continue to operate a business with this dynamic. Neither she nor I were willing to run the business alone, and angel investors were not lining up like we had hoped. This was the end of Brooklyn Taco.

Despite such an arduous path from the beginning to the end of Brooklyn Taco, I do not have any regrets about the journey. I started out as a nervous amateur cook who knew little about what it takes to run a business to a savvy owner and seasoned chef who created one of the most recognized tacos in NYC. I hope that some day, Brooklyn Taco has the opportunity to rise up again and show everyone its greatness. That’s the beauty of mistakes -- if you learn from them, you’ll never fail to build something better.

Source: Entrepreneur.com

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