Startups.com

Most entrepreneurs have at least heard of Napoleon Hill and/or his most celebrated book, Think and Grow Rich. Surprisingly few people I meet, however, are familiar with William Clement Stone,

Stone (seated at right) with President Gerald Ford in the Oval Office

In 1960, Stone teamed up with Napoleon Hill to author Success Through a Positive Mental Attitude. I have found his work and life inspirational for a long time (He lived to be 100 years old!) and I’d like to pass on some of that inspiration to you as a way to remember this great man. (He passed away in September 2002)

The 5 Quotes I Read When I need Motivation (or when I feel frustrated with my business) are all from William Clement Stone:

“No matter how carefully you plan your goals they will never be more than pipe dreams unless you pursue them with gusto.”

“Tell everyone what you want to do and someone will want to help you do it.”

“Try, try, try, and keep on trying is the rule that must be followed to become an expert in anything.”

“Everyone who achieves success in a great venture, solves each problem as they came to it. They helped themselves. And they were helped through powers known and unknown to them at the time they set out on their voyage. They keep going regardless of the obstacles they met.”

“Regardless of who you are or what you have been, you can be what you want to be.”

I don’t know about you but that’s magic. Although I didn’t grow up in the States, I’ve always had that sort of “American Dream” attitude I guess. I’ve always believed that whomever I want to be, whatever I want to do… I CAN do. It’s just a matter of figuring out HOW. How to get there. How to make it work. How to be the man I want to become.

Finding inspiration and motivation can be hard. I have a dear friend who is an artist and he told me recently that he’s been struggling with finding the motivation and inspiration to work. We talked a bit about what’s been going on in his life recently and it occurred to me that he’s closed himself off from the art world.

I got to thinking about how hard that would be for me – to work without a community of folks to bounce ideas off of and to draw inspiration from.

I guess what I’m trying to say is Thanks. Thanks for being here. Thanks for being part of the Startups.com Community. And please… share your stories… your successes… your favorite quotes… with us. We’d love to hear ‘em.

Due to popular demand, I wanted to give you guys the names of some of the books Andrew Warner and I talked about in my interview with him on Mixergy.com last Friday. I also wanted to give you a couple of highlights from that interview, and I wanted to thank Andrew again for having me. It was great to clear up some of mythology around myself and to finally be able to tell my own story about what happened with Gauchonet and some of my other forays into the world of entrepreneurship…

First, a few of the books we talked about, (which I recommend to any business owner, internet marketer or entrepreneur)…

Positioning: The Battle For Your Mind by Al Ries and Jack Trout. This book has long been the industry standard on the subject of Positioning and, in fact, Ries coined the term “positioning” in terms of marketing. Ries has written a ton of books that have been BusinessWeek best sellers and PR Week magazine names him one of the Most Influential People in Public Relations in the 20th Century.

Jack Trout was also an early pioneer of marketing warfare theory. He has written several books… with Ries, Steve Rivkin, and on his own. Most recently, Repositioning: Marketing in an Era of Competition, Change, and Crisis.

Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die by Chip and Dan Heath. The Heath brothers pick up where Malcolm Gladwell left off with The Tipping Point and his idea of “stickiness.” Their newest book is called Switch: How to Change Things When Change is Hard and it addresses the hurdle of enacting lasting changes in our companies, communities, and even if our own lives.

The Autobiography of Andrew Carnegie. Great story of one of the most important philanthropists and

entrepreneurs of his time.

And lastly, for now at least, Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill. If you haven’t read this yet, do it today. First published, over 20 years ago, Hill’s work has affected countless business people and entrepreneurs for the better…

More details from my interview on Mixergy coming tomorrow. In the meantime, if you haven’t watched it yet, be sure to stop by Mixergy and tell Andrew I sent ya.