When you turn on your radio, it seems that all you hear are ads telling you how simple it is to become rich or famous (or both) simply by buying a particular vendor’s book and/or seminar.

One of these particular ads is by Donald (“Thanks for the money, pops!”) Trump, who (pardon this) trumpets his combination book/website, saying, in effect, “You wanna be as rich as me? Just send me money and I’ll tell you how!”

The damnable part of all this is the fact that millions of people will send the Donald their hard-earned cash in return for slick, well-packaged glossy brochures, a DVD, and a solicitation to move to yet another level of 'success' (which happens to cost even more money!)

The truth of the matter is far, far away from what Trump and his kind are selling. For just as there is no pill that will make you lose weight and no “quick way” to earn a college degree - success in all things is simply a matter of goal setting and precise execution of all of the steps necessary to reach your goal.

It’s called work. And it includes the need to first build a firm foundation, or infrastructure, upon which you will later build your enterprise.

It’s very similar to creating a Blue Ribbon-winning garden. First, you need to plan. You choose compatible (or perhaps symbiotic) plants. You plant them at the appropriate time and in the best possible mixture of soil, light, and safety. Then, you weed and feed them endlessly --- constantly fighting off all threats to your plants’ safety. Along these lines, you may sometimes have to sacrifice short-term gain for long-term perfection.

I’ve owned eleven operating companies and invested in at least that many since my “retirement” in 1999. I throw out the first three or four companies as they were just learning experiences that enabled me to feed my associates and myself.

I went bankrupt, too. It was the best thing that ever happened to me since it literally beat into me the hardest-earned lessons of them all. Most of the mistakes I made leading to bankruptcy I’ve never even come close to repeating.

Here is some of what I have learned vis-à-vis doing things the right way (e.g., no short-cuts/no “quick fixes”) in the start-up phase  during my thirty-five years as a builder and/or investor in start-up (mostly entrepreneurial) enterprises:

1. Worship your early customers, for they are the ones who once took a chance on you and thus are likely to back you again in the future.
2. The best business you do is the business you don’t do --- so avoid the temptation to “buy” early customers. Always remember that there is no such thing as a “loss-leader” in a start-up enterprise.
3. When investing or starting a business, make sure that all stakeholders truly have “skin in the game”. There is nothing I like better than a CEO with his or her house on the line. This tends to involve the spouse, and there is nothing I can do to motivate a CEO more than the daily “heat” emanating from his or her spouse!
4. If a stakeholder can’t or won’t leave his day job, then how can that person be counted on when things get hot? Remember Cortes? Shortly after reaching Mexico, he burned his ships. This is commitment.
5. A great team beats a great entrepreneur every time. Like all good things, It’ll take time, but you must build a great team.
6. Build infrastructure that can accommodate at least twice the amount of business you plan to do. I know this costs money and I know that this money ain’t coming in … but you must figure out a way.
7. Build products and services that work reliably and consistently. Remember, it’s about 40 times more expensive to fix a problem “in the field” than during the design/prototype stage.
8. Resist “Premature Elaboration” and its associated brethren, “Premature Selling” and “Premature Booking” of sales. Sell what you make, and make what you sell. Discipline any salesperson who deviates even the slightest bit from your agreed-upon pricing and/or product spec sheets.