5% More

Chapter 1How to Give 5 Percent More—or Less

Asking for 5 Percent More and not following up with action won't work. Dreaming about being 5 percent richer, or your kids being 5 percent higher in their class, or being 5 percent smarter doesn't just happen. I always tell people that dreams are for sleeping. Goals are for achieving. And you achieve your goals only by taking action.

Since my last book, I have had a lot of my close friends confide in me that they wanted to do something, or that they had a goal or an idea but never did anything about it. One of those friends whom I grew up with is named Lonnie. When I lived in the projects, we lived in a duplex; I lived in 13 and he lived in 11. Over the years, we have stayed in contact. He made a great life for himself and his family: he has a beautiful wife, two beautiful kids, a great house, great job, a boat, and many other material things. One day while talking about what I have accomplished and built through my business, he said that he “wanted to do something, wanted to make something, wanted to do something great.” Well, Lonnie is one of the handiest guys I know. He can fix and pretty much build anything. So one day while he was working in his yard hauling things from his back yard to the front yard, mostly leaves and other debris, he came up with an ingenious way to move that type of stuff quickly, efficiently, and effortlessly. He came to me and showed it to me; then he created some videos showing the utility of it, came up ...