Success mantra = Learn, Unlearn and Relearn

ref:

http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/231535

http://www.finerminds.com/personal-growth/7-tips-to-transform-any-failure-into-fuel/

Success is liking yourself, liking what you do, and liking how you do it

Success breeds success across all walks of life & the main ingredient of success is having success. Critical element of success is self-confidence; you don't need other people's approval. Success can make you smarter, and more able to think of new ideas. Anyone can experience success; It's all in the mind !

Failures are a part of life. They are an essential element to moving forward, and going after what you want. If you’re not failing, it means you’re not in action or being bold enough! So, expect failures. Welcome them in. It means you’re growing, stretching and trying new things. In order to create room for the things we want in life, we must be willing to release what hasn’t been working (ie. failures) so we have room to invite things that will work. If there’s no room for all that, it will always be waiting for you, off in the distance, until your past failures are released. You can't fly if your wings are holding the baggage of yesterday. Let go and Fly !

Have someone on your side that you can count on for honest feedback.  Find out what you could’ve done better, what needs a little sharpening, and what areas you may have missed.  We all have blind spots, and we need someone else to shine a light on them.  Once you know what to focus on, apply apply apply !

Never get too comfortable in your last success…that is the biggest failure. Always push for a new benchmark and a new “top.”  Pushing your comfort zone, stretching and challenging yourself is the key. 

I failed, and I'm still alive. What worse could happen? Let's take another risk and see ...

Leadership lessons ...

ref: http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/241160

If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader. Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other. Leadership is all about doing the right things.

1. Be a great communicator - someone who's both an inquisitive conversationalist and an engaged, active listener.  Everyone wants to be heard. connect to people by asking more open-ended questions, such as "Tell me, what did you enjoy the most in today's Tech-Talk?"

2. Trust people - Trust is everything. Delegate responsibility, trust people and make them accountable .. Miracles happen .. At the end of the day, it's all about people !

3. Continuous learning - Leaders who are continuously learning are challenging their own assumptions and bringing more knowledge to the table each time they converse. Self-learning is the key. The day you stop learning is the day you stop living.

4. Stay positive - High-performing leaders understand that staying positive not holding grudges, dwelling on problems, or spending time focusing on negative influences  is an integral part setting and accomplishing their goals.

5. Meticulous Time management - As a leader, you may be frequently interrupted or pulled in different directions. While you cannot eliminate interruptions, you do get a say on how much time you will spend on them and how much time you will spend on the thoughts, conversations and actions that will lead you to success. 

6. Build momentum incrementally - Don’t be intimidated by the scope of your idea; create smaller checkpoints that build up to your bigger achievement. Resilient leaders push themselves to accomplish their goals, but allow some room to change or improvise as they go.  

  

7. Constructive failure handling - We have all experienced failure, but there are ways you can learn from these obstacles and channel them into something even more fulfilling. Disciplined leaders who aren’t afraid to fail, and who take time to recharge and help others are well on their way to long-term success.

8. Be a Entrepreneur - Hardworking, driven, competitive, collaborative, imaginative, a people person or a problem-solver .. An innovative leader is always on the lookout for new opportunities and prospects and points of view, wherever they go. A successful entrepreneur knows they can't go it alone and that there is always something new to learn. 

9. Consistent good habits - exercise, eat healthy, read voraciously and network, network, network ...

Leadership is the art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it.

Success Quotes ...

ref: http://www.inc.com/lolly-daskal/100-motivational-quotes-that-will-inspire-you-to-succeed.html

"Take up one idea. Make that one idea your life - think of it, dream of it, live on that idea. Let the brain, muscles, nerves, every part of your body, be full of that idea, and just leave every other idea alone. This is the way to success." - Swami Vivekananda

"Success is walking from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm." - Winston Churchill

"Success is liking yourself, liking what you do, and liking how you do it." - Maya Angelou

"Opportunities don't happen, you create them." - Chris Grosser

"If you don't value your time, neither will others. Stop giving away your time and talents start charging for it." - Kim Garst

"Happiness is a butterfly, which when pursued, is always beyond your grasp, but which, if you will sit down quietly, may alight upon you." - Nathaniel Hawthorne

If you want to achieve greatness stop asking for permission.

Just when the caterpillar thought the world was ending, he turned into a butterfly.

Building strong teams ...

ref: http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/241216

A strong team is never satisfied. They know they can do it better than they did it yesterday, and they are excited to come to work every day saying, How do I do it better?

Company Work Culture:

Peter Drucker quote - “culture eats strategy for breakfast”. It's really the people that make any company the kind of company it is. It's the shared values and practices of the company's employees. It's all about laying the groundwork for a strong, unified, communication-driven, supportive and fun culture. Culture actually drives the value of the business. 

Know the team:

Know your team personally and professionally. Spending more time with people and socializing with them, you will learn more about your team. More you engage with them personally, they become engaged professionally. Facilitate to Identify the strengths and weaknesses of the team, then fill in the gaps.

Engage the team:

People are engaged with leaders who share, communicate and hold themselves accountable when they did not make the right decision. Set short term goals that employees can hit quickly and accomplish the joy of being successful. People who succeed have momentum; the more they succeed, the more they want to succeed, and the more they find a way to succeed; Fail fast, learn fast and innovate.

Trust and Accountability:

The secrets to successful teamwork: Trust and accountability. Trust and respect are two essential elements for building relationships in the workplace and beyond. It’s all about the relationships you have with people which does not necessarily mean friendships. Relationships are built over time, when one person has respect for another. Gradually, trust begins to build, too. You don’t have to be a close personal friend with everyone at work, but you do always need to show each person respect and professionalism.

'The Start-Up of You' by Reid Hoffman: a brief

Differentiate or Die:

In a world where "a million people can do your job", chart a career path that sets you apart from other professionals. You  don't need to be better than all professionals. You just need to be better in a local, professional niche.

3 pieces(one that does not work without other) of comprise your position in the market:

1. Assets: What you have going for you now. Your soft assets (like knowledge, skills, connections) and hard assets(like cash in the bank)
2. Aspirations & Values: Where you might like to go in the future
3. Market Realities: What people will actually pay you for

One way to upgrade your competitive position is by upgrading your assets - i.e, investing in yourself.

Plan to Adapt:

Entrepreneurial career planning and adapting is about being flexibly persistent; always ready to adapt, but also persistent in driving towards set goals. You will never have complete certainty; identify areas of incomplete knowledge about yourself or your industry and make plans that will help you fill those gaps.

Prioritize learning over profitability, so should you prioritize learning(soft assets) over cash salary(hard assets) for the majority of your career. In the long run, you will likely lead a more meaningful life, as well as make more money.

Craft a experimental Plan A, an alternative Plan B, and an unchanging, certain Plan Z:

• Plan A: What you are doing now. Your current implementation of your competitive advantage.
• Plan B: You pivot to B when your plan is not working or when you discover a better way toward your goal.
• Plan Z: You shift to Z if something goes seriously wrong. It's the lifeboat you can jump in if your plan fails and you need a re-load before getting back in the game.

People you spend time with shape the person you are today and the person you aspire to be tomorrow. Finally, remember that relationships are like any living thing; if they are not getting stronger, they are getting weaker. Strengthen relationships by sending articles, making introductions, collaborating on projects, and staying in touch.

Conclusion:

Start tapping into your network. Start investing in skills. Start taking  intelligent risks. Start pursuing breakout opportunities. But most of all, start forging your own differentiated career plans; start adapting these rules to your own adaptive life.

ref:

The Start-up of You: Adapt to the Future, Invest in Yourself, and Transform Your Career by Reid Hoffman - https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B_hC-3L4eq17dF9EX0MyQ1MtcjQ/view?usp=sharing_eid

Best Indian Financial Blogs ...

1. Subramoney(P V Subramanyam) - http://www.subramoney.com  

 
2. SafalNiveshak(Vishal Khandelwal) - http://www.safalniveshak.com/
 

3. Financial Literates(hemant Beniwal) - http://www.tflguide.com/
 

4. Capital Mind(Deepak Shenoy) - http://capitalmind.in
 

5. Jagoinvestor(Manish Chauhan) - http://www.jagoinvestor.com
 

6. Financial Planning Demystified - http://www.raagvamdatt.com/
 

7. One Mint - http://www.onemint.com
 

8. Basu Nivesh Personal Finance blog - http://www.basunivesh.com/
 

9. Be Money Aware blog - http://www.bemoneyaware.com/blog/
 

10. Get Money Rich - http://www.getmoneyrich.com/
 

11. Investment ideas - http://myinvestmentideas.com/
 

12. Ajay Shah's economic matters - http://ajayshahblog.blogspot.com
 

13. Graham & Doddsville (Value investing) Best Financial Blogs - http://www.grahamanddoddsville.net/?page_id=28

Equity Portfolio Construction .. Checklist

ref: http://www.safalniveshak.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/Interview-with-Stable-Investor-PDF.pdf

Good equity investment should leave you with a lot of free time, which you can spend the way you like, instead of worrying about where the business is headed. Questions to ask every time you look at a business that can potentially become a part of your equity portfolio:

1. Is this business inside my circle of competence?
2. Is the business simple to understand and run? Complex businesses often face complexities difficult for its managers to get over.
3. Has the company grown its sales and EPS consistently over the past 8-10 years? Consistency is more important than speed of growth.
4. Will the company be around and profitably better in 10years? This suggests continuity in demand for the company’s products/services.
5. How well has the company done in retaining its earnings?
6. Does the company have a sustainable competitive moat? Pricing power, gross margins, lead over competitors, entry barriers for new players.
7. How good is the management given the hand it has been dealt? Capital allocation, return on equity, corporate governance, performance against competition.
8. Does the company require consistent capex and working capital expenditure to grow its business? Companies that have to spend continuously on such areas are like running on treadmills, which is not a good situation to have.
9. Does the company generate more cash than it consumes? Cash generators have a higher probability of surviving and prospering during bad economic situations.

DuPont Model's three key factors that determine the quality of a business - 

1. Generating profits (net profit margin)
2. Managing assets (asset turnover)
3. Finding an optimal amount of leverage (financial leverage).

ROE(Return on Equity) = (Profit margin)*(Asset turnover)*(Equity multiplier) = (Net profit/Sales)*(Sales/Assets)*(Assets/Equity)= (Net Profit/Equity)

Note:

Profitability is measured by profit margin

Operating efficiency is measured by asset turnover

Financial leverage is measured by equity multiplier

Killer lessons from World-Class Entrepreneurs

ref:

• http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/239950
• http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/240510
• http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/236687

1. Success comes from handling difficult situations well - All you have to do is ask for new challenges. Do one thing better. Pick one thing you're already better at than most people. Just. One. Thing. Become maniacally focused at doing that one thing. Work. Train. Learn. Practice. Evaluate. Refine. Be ruthlessly self-critical, not in a masochistic way but to ensure you continue to work to improve every aspect of that one thing. Financially successful people do at least one thing better than just about everyone around them.

2. Absolute clarity and an eye for unexpected opportunities - Take responsibility of your life. Don't blame the economy, your company, location and lack of resources. You should realize that it's you and your jaded focus that has to change for good. The moment you get clear on that, your life will shift from complexity to simplicity.

3. Shifting your circle of influence - There comes a point in your life when you realize who really matters, who never did and who always will. Once you get clear on who you are and what you want, you must re-evaluate your "Circle of Influence". Who you associate with is who you become. The term "role model'' is not used enough in our society. It’s extremely important to have role models. A role model will raise your standards. A role model will not let you get complacent. Finding a role model or mentor will spark your mind because they are playing the game at a higher level than you are. If you hang around five confident people, you will be the sixth.

Keep Startup Alive <=> Keep Creating Value

ref: 

• http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/238779 
• http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/240480
• http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/237422

value proposition = creating enough incentive for someone to take action

A business valuation is a set of processes and procedures used to determine the economic value of an entity or set of assets. You must have strong value for your customers or, well, you won’t have any. But beyond that, you must provide substantial value to multiple other parties involved in the life cycle of your business in order to attract and retain employees, partners and capital.

1. Create value
The first stage in the value cycle is to design and market a product that consumers are eager to use because it meets their most important NEED better than competing products.

2. Capture value
The second stage of the value cycle is choosing business activities so that customers are willing to pay for a product at a price high enough above the company's costs to generate sufficient PROFIT and create a return for shareholders after compensating employees and suppliers.

3. Renew value
The final stage in the value cycle is filtering out the noise from the market signals (from changing customer needs, upstart competitors and changing technology) to identify how a company must ADAPT to stay ahead of competitors.This value renewal is the most difficult part of the value cycle for startups trying to survive over the long term.

The SUCCESS 25's Legends in Personal Development

ref: http://www.success.com/article/the-success-25s-legends-in-personal-development

1. Maya Angelou (1928–2014)
2. Dale Carnegie (1888–1955)
3. George S. Clason (1874–1957)
4. Stephen Covey (1932–2012)
5. Viktor Frankl (1905–1997)
6. Paul Harvey (1918–2009)
7. Napoleon Hill (1883–1970)
8. Charlie “Tremendous” Jones (1927–2008)
9. Og Mandino (1923–1996)
10. Orison Swett Marden (1850–1924)

The 3 Things You need to land Venture Capital

ref: http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/238933

The first thing is to know WHO IS YOUR CUSTOMER

• What compels customers to buy this product or service?
• What problems does this product or service solve? Why is it better than the alternatives?
• Why is it worth the price?
• Does it compel you to tell others about your experience?
• Are your customers asking if they can invest in your company?

The second thing is to know about YOUR TEAM

• Passion - The entrepreneur must demonstrate a contagious excitement about their vision for the company.
• Tenacity - The entrepreneur must prove they have the stamina and willpower to stay with their vision through thick and thin.
• Flexibility - The entrepreneur must be willing to reevaluate and refocus their plans when things don’t work out as anticipated.
• Commitment - The entrepreneur must be willing to invest enough of their own money into this project to convince investors they are serious.

The third thing is to know about existing OPPORTUNITY