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TRUMP UNIVERSITY WEALTH BUILDING 101

loss of job security, the financial risks, the long hours, the stress and frustra-

tion, and so on and so on. I have two words for all of this:

Bull Cookies!

Look around you and imagine the vast wealth in businesses. Every business,
from the largest to the smallest, resulted from entrepreneurship . According to BizStats.
com, there are 24 million businesses in the United States, of which 18 million are
sole proprietorships—owned and operated by one individual. Many small business
owners are also part- and full-time employees while they maintain their day jobs.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, in 2003 alone (most recent fi gures availa-
ble), almost three quarters of a million Americans started their own businesses.
I never feel more alive than when I am on the entrepreneurial trail. There
is no job where I could ever have made the kind of money I have made as my
own boss. Stress and frustration? The worst career stress and frustration
I ever experienced was working for someone else, accepting a nominal salary,
putting up with corporate political nonsense, and lacking the personal free-
dom to pursue my own innovative, value-creating ideas.
The fact is, if you take it thoughtfully, and step by step, your chances of suc-
cess are excellent. You need less talent, skill, industry knowledge, money, and
other resources than you may believe. You can outsource most functions—
design, manufacturing and packaging, marketing and sales, distribution, ship-
ping, and accounting. The resources you can mobilize on the Web are nearly

limitless. And, if you control your financial exposure and don’t make it on the
first attempt, you’ll be better prepared for your next start-up.

Dictionaries define entrepreneurship as the start-up, growth, and man-

agement of a business, for profit, with great initiative and the assumption of

risk. I see it more creatively and personally: Entrepreneurship encompasses
mind set, action, and process (MAP) guiding you to the wealth you want.

M indset: Entrepreneurs go through the world continuously seeking
ideas and opportunities to commercialize. They focus on innovating,
doing things better, adding, creating, and delivering unique value to cus-
tomers and to all stakeholders. And they want to be rewarded for their
successes. The more value they add, the greater their fi nancial rewards.
A ctions Entrepreneurs are proactive to the extreme, and once on the

:
opportunity trail, they move mountains to mobilize the necessary
resources to accomplish their goals. Following the Nike motto, they just
do it! and they do it their own way.

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