The Ten Roads to Riches: The Ways the Wealthy Got There (And How You Can Too!)

12 The Ten Roads to Riches

talk to them.

Their

interests are often harmful to

your

longer-term

vision and your firm's health.

They

may only care about the stock

next week.

Sometimes to do the right

thing

for

your

firm's future, you

must make costly decisions

that

could

hurt

earnings and stock

prices in the here and now. Today's public is often

short-term

ori-

ented. And you can't tell anyone anything in the supermarket you

don't

tell everyone, or you and

your

firm are in legal trouble. So

in the dairy aisle you smile, shake hands,

shut

up,

run

like hell,

and hide .

If

you can, it's best to remain private and see only customers

and vendors at the supermarket.

That

doesn't mean I

don't

like

public stocks. I

do-my

business is built on investing in

them-I

just never want to run one. You shouldn't either.

THE

BIG

BUll'S-EYE

There's

great satisfaction in building an empire and employing

oth-

ers. But there are

downsides-the

bigger you get, the

more

peo-

ple attack you .

The

truly successful develop sharkskin and an ego

requiring scant maintenance.

You're ridiculed from

the

start. Since

your

novelty is new or

different, it isn't from the established

order

.

Most

folks can't envi-

sion it as you do, and will think you're a bit

crazy-until

after your

firm is seen as a success.

Then

you'll be hailed as a visionary.

This

is true

of

almost every radically successful founder.

The

bigger the

success, the more they were ridiculed early on.

On

this road, you will be seen as