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Mr. X: Why don’t you call me Mr. X from the beginning?

Michael: Okay we’ll call you Mr. X, sounds good.

Mr. X: Specific names just leave out, okay?

Michael: You’ve been in business a very long time, a lot longer than I have. I love talking to people because I love learning and I know that you have a lot more experience than I have in business. If I can pick your brain and ask you questions or lead you in different directions to where you can teach me something, I’m ahead of the game.

Mr. X: Entrepreneur, super start-ups, or what?

Michael: Why don’t you do start-ups in general? Tell us, what is your passion? When you started into business how old were you? Did you know you were going to be in business as a young kid? What brought you to where you are right now?

Mr. X: I’d been trained in the corporate world working for other people up to thirty-five.

Michael: Up to thirty-five years old?

Mr. X: Yes, and at the time I graduated from University in America on the East Coast, and then as a result of that, I got to know about American business extensively. Somehow the University I went to on the East Coast turned me on to the start up in Silicon Valley. Then I put them all together in starting my own company. Now the reason I’m doing repeatedly, I set up about seven corporations so far is because of the one more time. If I have failed all the way, that’s one thing; if I have succeeded with some, I look for one more time opportunity. Now when I see the stock I sold turned out to be $39.75 per share, there is exhilaration, accomplishment! A lot of people get affected by this positively. That gave me more energy. I see a lot of people that joined me make not just lots of money but a lot of opportunity, things they couldn’t do, they did through the teamwork. They pulled together, had organization and development where people can really hold their own management background and then the Presidents of the companies that I hired, they go through the industry, and when they say something, they listen to them. And then I see a disciple turning into a monstrously successful guy and I love watching it. I’ve done it myself so I’m proud to see someone else do it. That’s the passion.

Michael: What you’ve accomplished you want to share that with others and help them do it too.

Mr. X: Yes, because when they do it, I learn something new too. That humbles me so.

Michael: Could you give a description of what you do. What area of expertise do you excel in?

Mr. X: I’m mainly involved in seller telecommunications and writer seller telecommunications and then biochemical, biology and chemistry combined, and it’s a health enrollment but it goes into essentially all areas associated with that. The total target market that I’m after is about $34 billion per annum in the U. S. alone. That’s only the biochemistry area, and telecommunications area is wide open.

Michael: Do you have that kind of background? Do you think it’s necessary for someone to start a company like what you’re doing to have that expertise as a background or can you find experts? As a business entrepreneur what skills does someone need to put a company like that together?

Mr. X: They don’t really have to be an engineer at all. They should be trained in a structured manner, whether at University or self-taught, to look for signs or ingredients for people to watch. For instance, if he wants to do the design for a certain product, he should be able to go after trade publications, professional journals, all kinds of stuff at his fingertips, and he needs four or five years of continuous digging into and he can equip himself with what is going on in industry. He doesn’t have to be a rocket scientist to learn what’s going on in industry after five years of relentless study of that industry itself.

Michael: So you have to be familiar with your industry so you can talk the language and understand the marketplace and be able to identify new markets and needs.

Mr. X: To say “yes” to it, I need to qualify it by saying that for anyone to succeed with any introduction of service or product, they should deliver or design, whether it’s a conceptual service or an actual product based upon their knowledge of the consumer or users and customers and the knowledge of marketplace. Both of them combined together is one set of circumstances that should put trust and vouch for your efforts to deliver any products or services. Then as a result of that he should also look for price fulfillments, value that is delivered, people feel there is a value to it because for the same dollar the consumer gets better solution and better bang for the buck. Without that, there is no reason to deliver their service or product.

Michael: So you have to look at the end user first before you build the company.

Mr. X: End user and the marketplace. And then five or six year of knowledge about the market and equipped with what he or she studied, the technology or reasons for that service to succeed; they have to equip himself or herself with those things. Otherwise, without the knowledge it is not good. When I start on anything, I look for the product and service that will be popular five years later or ten years later. The only thing that I forget by not having that kind of insight into five or ten years is when I need them to deliver the product now, keep the pot boiling for that project, within five years I still have to sell the product and then bring in the profit, the cash and all that and I forgive myself by delivering only two or three features better than others at margin their products that services for immediate sales of all those products and services because the market is not ready to accommodate the five years ahead or ten years ahead. That’s the only time I forgive myself. But in doing so, the margin of the product that delivered must have good profit margins. The margin is defined as gross profit margin; sales minus cost control give us profit margins. That is at strength miserable for observing growth oriented operating expenses waiting for five years fighting the battle to get ready and get our feet wet and ready to tackle on big guys five years later better start now with a couple of marginal products. But without that kind of value whether in terms cost of performance to cost ratio, high, higher gross margins for the sales, the margin now must be of the features that I deliver although it’s not breakthrough technology, but it’s not platform technology at all but platforms between the rich derivative and the breakthrough. Now there is a long discussion on that but that I can’t get into. Yet unless a guy knows the marketplace and knows what the customer wants now and five later or ten years later, five years or ten years is a projection. A guy has to have some sort of a business acumen that he can project although he is incorrect about the five year, ten-year projection but he has to have projection even if it is incorrect.

Michael: Would that go back to studying goals or business plans? With no direction you’re not going to go anywhere.

Mr. X: Any plan is modifiable based upon changes in the marketplace. Therefore, even incorrect there has to be a plan.

Michael: What else is critical?

Mr. X: The most important thing is the guy has to be dumb enough to continue on even if he fails pick up and continue on again and again and again until he knows that he failed and failed. Again every time he failed he learns something, and next time he may not.

Michael: Are we talking about you?

Mr. X: Yes.

Michael: Can you tell us some of those experiences?

Mr. X: Years ago I had the best idea in the world and what’s $3,000 per unit I’d deliver at $395 per unit without which the people cannot even stay on the computer.

Michael: Okay, let’s back up. $3,000 per unit was what you were going to sell it for?

Mr. X: That’s my competition’s price.

Michael: Okay.

Mr. X: And I delivered that at less than $1,000.

Michael: And still with enough profit?

Mr. X: Right. And I delivered the first $500,000 worth of product and everything crashed.

Michael: What happened?

Mr. X: I just simply picked up and ran again!

Michael: Why did it crash? What failed?

Mr. X: Everything I checked about the technology failed. Everybody said it didn’t have that kind of flaw but it did have.

Michael: Okay.

Mr. X: Our supplier died, but I did study the features of competition and I had ninety-nine percent of features in our product that really didn’t work but I knew what I needed. I quickly reorganized and fixed it, ran out of money, and went out and raised the funds again and in the end we raised $60M cash in a three-year period, and I have $70M a year sales and George Bush Senior visited my company and he came because of that. Be that as it may it failed but I didn’t stop.

Michael: Right after that project did you have another failure?

Mr. X: Yes I did.

Michael: Let’s talk about it.

Mr. X: Well when I started I knew I could start it with $15M so I got $4M; I was supposed to have $15M and after that I was supposed to have cumulatively $30M. I didn’t get it. The whole market, the fiber optics and all that collapsing and for me to go out and raise another $18M it isn’t that hard at all. But I stopped right there. I knew it was collapsing, not me, the whole industry. Why should I be affected because of that? And have more people lose money? No, so I stopped there, and I failed because of that. I knew I had to fail because it was expected to fail. Why dig deeper when I knew it was going to fail? Because of the industry, right? The fiber optic glut had caused so many companies to close their doors. I didn’t think I was the only one who was going to survive in the middle of that fiasco, so it was induced but it was indirectly induced sort of the collapse of the corporation, but that’s okay. I learned a good lesson.

Michael: What was the big lesson you learned?

Mr. X: When to quit! I learned about organizations’ behavior, organizations’ development. I needed to find better the difference and distinctions among research and development versus product development better than ever before because sometimes in telecommunications the distinction is quite blurred. That’s what I learned. Now I don’t think I made a mistake in that area at all, but since I had to spend $5M for ground stations the distinction sort of blurred. But in the future if I ever do it again, which I’ve started already I am redoing it now. I already have extensive satellite technology developed and am moving right back into it, but this time I’m not even opening up the store yet. What I mean by that is hire a lot of people and have a lot of big real estate meetings and all that and have a monthly payment of $400,000 or $500,000. I’m not doing that right now. I don’t want to do it that way because of .com collapse gave me another opportunity to look at the same business from a different angle, meaning I am constructive at business and completely see from construction in view of the .com collapse. Now I have reconstructed it.

Michael: Right now are you operating a large business?

Mr. X: Yes.

Michael: What is a typical day for you? Do you have offices that you go to during the day?

Mr. X: Yes I do.

Michael: Do you work long hours?

Mr. X: Yes, but I’m cutting them down. I’m in pursuit of converting teams I have working on telecommunications into a self-managing team, meaning they are directing themselves, the products and all that so I don’t have to watch over their shoulders or check on them all the time. I encourage them to take new subjects and information, and I guide them, but I stay out of their sight.

Michael: Do you do all of the hiring of your management team?

Mr. X: Yes I do.

Michael: What advice could you give to small or large business in hiring a good management team and what to look for and what are some of the mistakes you may have made in bringing in wrong management? What’s important about a management team?

Mr. X: That’s a big order. It’s very difficult work. Never hire someone who ever worked as a policeman, CIA, FBI or a Navy Seal or any Intelligence Operations.

Michael: Why not?

Mr. X: They have limited views of positive business ethics. Versus positive, it’s negative. Also you have everyone fight against each other.

Michael: Okay, that’s interesting.

Mr. X: Yes, very interesting. I have learned great lessons. The negotiations to hire executives should be at least a few months.

Michael: Never too quickly.

Mr. X: Never too quickly. You can do all the background investigations. Those guys who set up the operations want to make the employer the greatest sucker in the world set them all up. All of the references perfectly check out.

Michael: So you really, really have to check out these guys.

Mr. X: Face to face is even more important than background checkups.

Michael: You go to their homes?

Mr. X: No, I meet them. You give them some sort of test, not the sort of test actually that you can see, but a discussion. The most difficult thing is “What would you do given the situation we had?” That discussion is really important. If the guy says “I can do it,” that’s not enough. If you want to hire a guy cheap, you don’t need to do that. Anybody who wants to be an executive is going to really step in your own shoes in a different functionality or call it vertical specialization, or horizontal specialization those areas whether marketing or sales or engineering or management, whatever it may be they’re really stepping in your shoes and sort of representing your visions and ambitions transformed into their minds and bodies, they’re going to do something for you and then you have to really convert them into someone who is going to really fit that passion, that ambition and see goals. What we call in industry one that’s between the goals of the corporation is the same as the individual, implementing it, so that happens, that guy is not going to do it, right?

Michael: Right.

Mr. X: That sort of person needs constant maintenance. Suppose you made a real good choice and the guy working with you on the project has turned out to be the worst jackass in the world and you made a total blunder hiring him. Not to panic; you just replace him but don’t turn him off and terminate him in a way that he would affect others in the company. It doesn’t mean that you have to call a security guard and escort him off. You have to really maintain trust, but verify, what Regan said. You never expect that guy is going to do it unless you have a checks and balance, not in an intrusive way but you have to check all the time and maintain teamwork.

Michael: How do you maintain that? Do you have daily reports, weekly reports, meetings, phone conversations, how do you manage that management?

Mr. X: In the past we’ve relied upon documents, monthly reports and then the operations review and all that. They don’t work any more.

Michael: Why?

Mr. X: The market is moving so fast. To sit with that jackass and try to look into his brain and whether or not he’s focusing on the product or the company, it’s too late. Immediately you have to view it as looking at his capability, whether or not he can even move the team and manage it, and get into the market, get into the customers’ requirements and then he has to have to have close functional management capabilities. Any marketing guy who doesn’t know how to work with the rest of the corporation he should be out of the company. That is another blur. We used to have sales separate from marketing, separate from engineering, separate from the CFO; it is not separated that much any more. Look into his brain hard, which is called the maintenance of the team. That’s what the president of the company or the founder has to do now. Not the surprises he has every month looking at the documents, that’s too late.

Michael: How do you keep his passion? Is it bottom line, money?

Mr. X: No. There has to be a contribution that he believes is his contribution to certain causes of mankind, something that, and this is based upon a righteous, clean, principle-oriented corporation that is run in a way really respecting everyone in the company and the money should not be the focus of those guys. Paying the money the way he wants actually is a disservice to his passion and ambitions, but if you could find out what he really wants to do. Now lousy sons of bitches don’t have it, right?

Michael: Right.

Mr. X: The good guy who really wants to make money he is not enslaved to the money but considers money as a good thing that can work for you.

Michael: An enhancement to his passions.

Mr. X: Right. He's going to go after a contribution he can make. Be the product; be the number one in the world because of his effect. Everybody in the industry looks to him for answers and all that. He put his name on the map and all that because others didn't do it ahead of time. That kind of guy, money does not matter. That is why we give him more money, not energizing him with the money. But he and I agree on the value and the contribution that we can make to the society, to the industry that we are going after, then he's going to perform better than anyone who is after the money all the time because they are enslaved to the money.

Michael: Yeah, it is the contribution for the end user but also most importantly it's the recognition he will gain from his achievements and the recognition from his peers and his co-workers in the industry as a whole.

Mr. X: I handle let's say $3M, $5M, $10M each month I have in the pocket. But I don't even need that money. All I need is breakfast, a couple of pancakes and a couple of strips of bacon.

Michael: A good breakfast and you're happy.

Mr. X: Then lunch and dinner. I mean that's only a $7 or $8 dinner, right? I'm a cheapskate too, right?

Michael: I'm sure!

Mr. X: And all those millions of dollars I don't even need. That doesn't commune. And I find guys with that kind of ambition too, similar ambition. It's not that easy. And a guy does not commonly think through from cradle to success, every time they do anything. And I walk away from it and I look at again and I say "Hey there are more than I've done here or thought about", so I start fresh again and I go through every conceivable thing about that subject and then make sure that nothing is left out or any rock unturned. Once I finish I put it down on the table and say "I'm done with this,” it's got everything in it. And until it's done, I don't rest. And I can't sleep until it's finished at least, thinking of putting it all together, any ingredients, all ingredients, every ingredient, everything it has to have in order to call it a semi-final, finished whatever. And I finish it. Even unfinished as a finished I allow that position of finished with the unfinished as defined and then I have unfinished in my concept, right?

Michael: Okay.

Mr. X: That is finished. But people don't think like that. Have you ever heard of any guy saying "Yeah, I have finished sections along with unfinished sections defined as unfinished; therefore, it's finished in my judgment.”

Michael: No, I've never heard anyone say that.

Mr. X: That's how much I have to think. And if a guy walks in and says "You know something? I have a great idea.” Tell me about it. See that's the unfinished area, he didn't finish it. And then he fails. So it's a never-ending process. Now I'm training others to let them make a mistake too. I say "Hey make a mistake. Let me help you.” So you've got to make your mistakes. I'm telling the team to make mistakes. But not fatal mistakes!

Michael: Do you do consulting for people?

Mr. X: When they need help, yes.

Michael: You told me you came across my website. You were searching for something. You were looking for copy writing.

Mr. X: Right.

Michael: Before we get into that, tell me what led you to that? There must be something in your business career or in your business life that was missing and you felt like maybe it was the communication through your writing that could help your business in some way. Tell me what led you on to that path.

Mr. X: Management courses in graduate school do not teach actual copy writing. It taught me what to look for, not in detail of the copy writing. I need to apply the marketing management theory and practice copy writing. I know the ingredients though. That's why when I read what you said, I knew what they were, but I put them all together in one place and then picked ingredients. It was a checklist from you when I got the file. That was very important. I'll be so creative for the sake of creativity sometimes I miss out on many of the ingredients. Those ingredients left out are going to kill that creative work and its opportunity. So what I'm going to do is, you know the security fence? How high, I mean if it's higher than the others it costs you more money. When you start corporations and companies you want to increase the security fence against people stealing technology from you, somebody screwing you, the probability of litigation, all of those things. If you have too high of a fence it's going to cost too much for the rest of the competition and the industry. Let's say your fence is five feet, don't go beyond five feet. If I have to look for those security efforts of the operations in terms of checking what's missing and all that, that time spent is too costly so I go after the checklist because I'm too busy with other things besides copy writing. So how do I maintain the height of the fence as high as others or higher than others, or lower than others but it has the ingredients and the efficiency and the effectiveness. So how I beat the competition again is to go back to the list and check and check off against it. And then at least I've done my homework when it comes to it. It is not perfect, the checklist, but at least I covered the ground. And then when I read my competition I'm going to check that again and say "Ah, are they meeting it? If they are not are they modifying it?" I have to know that. Without the checklist, I don't even know what the competition is doing.

Michael: When you study your competition and we talk about copy writing and we talk about the words written that communicate the product or service to the consumer, the portion of dollars spent on marketing and advertising, which is a tremendous amount I'm sure. When you look at those words and how they affect the end user who makes a decision whether they're going to buy that product or not do you see how you could come out over the competition through the use of these words in a big way?

Mr. X: I see that because consumers want something very unique, be it security and I'm not talking about a security fence but is it secure for me to buy this product? Is this company listed on BBB? Are they going to run away with my money? Those kinds of concerns have to be eliminated. Now what I'm talking about, assuming that everybody qualifies and satisfies the main level of feature like credit cards and the testimonial says that they are accredited all of those things met, like the credit card company is reliable and trustworthy, I can sue them and get the money back. I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about features that get the consumer hooked on, they have to create the urgency and they don't. You're not going to make it unless you get this product.

Michael: You're saying your competition doesn't create that urgency?

Mr. X: They don't. That's where people are going to make money by creating urgency for purchasing the product. The can justify, justify, justify but too much justification stinks. And then whatever they said they sold the consumer because you put them all together they are lying, but they don't know they're lying. They're lying to themselves. They should avoid those things. The variation of interpretation in those documents and claims made in that particular document, the way it was written and all that are totally false statements. But the guy selling it is going to dump all the time. How do we defend ourselves against those guys doing this to us? Because even me, I am mesmerized talking to those guys that I almost buy those things and I walk away and then walk back and say, "No this is wrong.” So I didn't buy it.

Michael: Now what are we taking about?

Mr. X: I'm talking about "The Three.”

Michael: "The Three"?

Mr. X: "The Three,” you know that 264-page e-book.

Michael: No, I'm not familiar with that.

Mr. X: I have it here.

Michael: So you saw an information product you were interested in, the sales letter made all kinds of promises, but when you got the product it was bullshit.

Mr. X: Yes because you don't have to look too much. They don't really analyze before they buy.

Michael: You can sense it. You have a sense whether it's a come-on or whether it's hype. You just can feel it. Is that what you're saying?

Mr. X: Yes, it is easy to get mesmerized.

Michael: Yes it is.

Mr. X: So they have to think twice, especially online salesman trying to come up with his online store, they should find a permanent partnership with a guy like you who will deliver honestly. Okay I look for these things and I'll get a feel that these things will be much better because if they shop around all the time they're going to run into all kinds of opportunities and then they wonder what the heck is happening. But every minute, there is a millionaire made, right? That's what they claim, right?

Michael: Yes

Mr. X: Well there is no millionaire made every day. And that kind of hype people should walk away from. E-commerce and online stores take a tremendous amount of effort and if they think they can turn it on and turn on the money spigot in one month or three months or one day...

Michael: They're dreaming.

Mr. X: They're telling themselves damn lies. It takes a lot of failures and honing on and honing in before they really hit the jackpot.

Michael: There’s no free lunch right?

Mr. X: There is no free lunch. They'd better be now paying for the books and all the writers and read the prefaces. If people hire a consultant that comes up with a website, whenever you want to change it, how are you going to change it? You should be able to type it and at least to change the papers and add to it too.

Michael: That was one of the most frustrating things to me. I didn't take the time to learn how to do it. Finally I've taken the time to learn Front Page, to learn how to create a website, how to do the copy, how to put it up there, to have total control. When you're enslaved like that you don't want to keep spending money when you want to make changes and you have a far poorer product.

Mr. X: When I saw your Dan Kennedy, what was it?

Michael: The Dan Kennedy file I sent you?

Mr. X: Yes. There was another one too. They were excellent. Even me with all the training in industry. The text that you gave me, because I had to read 300 pages, every bit of them meant a lot to me. I summarized them into a very simple list, again a checklist. Then go over it again and again. When I walk around I have that in mind. Without that, I just read I understand that's a very foolish thought. Even what you understand to internalize and then put that in practice. Then you can give somebody else the job to do it for you. Otherwise you are getting enslaved to that guy again. There is no money you put out to that guy that's going to make you succeed at all because that guy can manipulate against you.

Michael: It all comes down to you. You know one of the visions I have for this site and as we talk about a business plan is always changing, at first this site started out as a portal for me to buy and resell used marketing materials. It really started out as a passion for marketing. You read my story; I got into selling on eBay, and one thing led to another.

Mr. X: I read it.

Michael: But I think the vision now is I would like to create a tremendous source for say disadvantaged people or people who want to learn, who have the passion and who want to learn what it's really like in business. Not what the professors teach you at school but like with this interview with you that a college freshman can listen to about what it's going to take for him to succeed and what it's really like; an honest interpretation of real-world experience of what it's like in business, what you need to succeed, how you need to think, what sacrifices you're going to make and I want to have this available for free for anyone who wants it. This interview here, you’re going to be just one of maybe a thousand. If I can do a couple every day over time it adds up and I think it will be tremendously beneficial to anyone who wants to access this information.

Mr. X: Thank you for the opportunity. Business success is not something that can come around just because somebody tries. It needs a lot of luck; it needs a lot of persistence all combined together. In the end it is not success, money and all of that that's going to keep you happy at all. It’s really something you deliver to society that people use. I get on the airplane and I see people use the telephone that I have installed on airplanes too. I have done that project too. So the money I made was so much, about $8M or $9M just from that. It didn't matter at all. It is what I sold. And people, when I go to hotel and trade shows and corporations I can see them using my product. And the beautiful part is at every corner of the product I gave my heart and body and soul to make it better than others and really wouldn't quit on them in the middle of the operation. I see those products; I don't care who says what, I am really proud of those products people are using. That's when the satisfaction comes. When I die I can carry nothing with me. Even when they give me the clothes I was told they have no pockets.

Michael: It's true.

Mr. X: So I see what I've done. I also see what I can do now. But I am still looking for one more revolutionary product that is a breakthrough, a leading edge product I want to deliver to the market. That takes lots of passion, agony and ecstasy which is very short, but long agony.

Michael: What would you tell a guy who's thinking about retiring?

Mr. X: There is no retirement with lily in his mouth in a little coffin. There is no retirement like that. If you could step into a coffin and get all the lilies in the world when you retire, there is no retirement. The only retirement is enjoying by creating something. That's the retirement. If you play golf all the time, you can only spend four hours a day, you can't play any more golf, and you just can't do it. So creating something that people can enjoy and benefit from, it's best to do that. Go read "Think and Grow Rich" by Napoleon Hill. It will teach you only one thing and that is every second should be spent on something that will bring you one step closer to your goal and ambition. Unless we live with that, it's not worth it. Eating, having sex, making money alone, there is no end to it. The growing and creating something and then seeing people getting jobs out of your efforts and then seeing them create families and sending children to school because he works his ass off in the company and got a better salary and he worked so hard he made it better than others.

Michael: Who have been your biggest influences in your business career? You speak about Napoleon Hill positively. Has he influenced you? And what other teachers have you been influenced by either here in the United States or where you're from?

Mr. X: One of the most important things I have learned is to look for reference groups. If you want to be a lawyer you wake up you've got to go to where lawyers are or hang around. If you want to be a businessman there is a segment, industry, market segment, specialization and all that. Go to them. Live, sleep, wine and dine in there, not anywhere else. If you want to go to school, don't get your eyes off the ball. If you want to sleep, sleep near the school, go to the campus every day. Don't ever walk away from school. What I am saying is that until the guy really masters why other guys succeed in, you have to learn not to walk away from them, to live with them, dine with them, breathe their air until you master and succeed just like them. Then you can find ways to do better than they have. It is different from model; the little guy that succeeded last year after this year is already outdated. There is a new model. New changes are required. To excel and to transcend last year's success is to learn very in depth the secrets of success coming from reference groups. It is a very serious matter. You can read all the Napoleon Hill you want but if you don't try to identify and focus on that reference group and learn everything they offer and you excel and you conquer, you dominate and are the best performer in it, there is no success. People don't realize it. You can be inspired by reading the great guys but in the absence of the latest secrets of success modified by the ever-changing dynamically changing marketplace is quite a difference. Does that answer your question?

Michael: Yes, that was very good.

Mr. X: Thank you.

Michael: One more question and then we're going to wrap it up. In business and in being "successful" whatever one's definition is, there is always a trade-off, and that trade-off is time. Sometimes in some people's lives the trade-off with time between business and work and family, and sometimes there is a dark side to that. Maybe many people end up divorced because they were work-a-holics or because they were going after their passion so much. What advice from any experiences you can share could you give to somebody about how to balance that time between your career or your passion or success and your family?

Mr. X: Okay, two concepts. One is partial response; the other concept is total response. When you want to achieve something you should use total response. Partial response is going to give you the chance to lose the opportunity. To bring up a business you may have to burn everything you have from both ends of it, like a candle, for about five years. If you don't succeed within three years, it is not a problem. If you don't start seeing a cash flow within six months it is a problem. There is no success without a monthly short-term resources maintainable from the operation. Between that reaching too high in the short term of maintenance success is a mistake. Young generations must now learn how to focus. If you can sell, you've got to do the marketing and sales even to your wife who married you. "Honey I want your ass here by 5:00, 6:00, or 7:00; otherwise I'm walking away from you.” You have the wrong crowd. If you can do great marketing and that lady is going to say "For five years I'm going to forget you. You go do what you can. I'm going to keep the family going and I'm here to support you any way I can.” And five years later you'd better make it; otherwise you didn't do it right. You need to have a marriage even centering around the business too because any husband who can get respect from wife and is succeeding and she doesn't care about success, then you've got the wrong wife. So what I'm saying is to succeed is to give totality, total response to it, complete mind, body, soul, bones, bone marrow, and flesh, everything you've got should be given to the start up. You take time off, yes, but you never walk away from that business even weekends. You may have your body with your wife but your mind should still be with your business. The number of hours you're going to have to negotiate with your wife, "Honey you want five hours every night, I have only two hours or one hour with you". You have to negotiate with her. But that's only three years and five years. I think it is a negotiated total response; otherwise, I have to maintain my hours with my wife. Even 24 hours is not enough a day.

Michael: That totally makes sense. Well Mr. X, I want to thank you for taking this time. We've been talking for just over an hour and I really appreciate you giving your advice. You've done a great job in sharing some of your beliefs and passions and I think it's going to affect somebody. Who knows who, but maybe this talk will influence some young mind to be a great business leader and I appreciate you giving back.

Mr. X: Well I wish I could be of help because the society is built because of people's contributions. Mine is very little; I learn humility every day and I laugh at myself every day.

Michael: You have to don't you?

Mr. X: Yes and I say "Oh you're foolish" to myself every day!

Michael: It's been a pleasure. Once I get this edited down, I'll post it up on the site for your eyes only and only with your permission will I post it on the site for my listeners.

Mr. X: If there are any corrections to be made or improvements, I will help you with those too.

Michael: Sure and maybe later on down the road we can do another talk and we can add it as part two.

Mr. X: Sure.

Michael: Take care and thanks so much. Bye.

Mr. X: Bye.