As kids, America’s richest entrepreneurs dreamt of curing patients, flying jets, writing plays and bagging base hits for the Chicago Cubs. Instead, they started hundreds of companies, employed hundreds of thousands of people and bagged US$1.06 trillion.

In the accompanying slide shows, 21 self-made members of the 2007 Forbes 400 list offer an exclusive, introspective and often playful peek into their best days, worst qualities and hardest lessons.

We also coaxed them into sharing their thoughts on how to invest US$100,000 right now (a few said put it with them); luck’s contribution to their success (95%, says Kenny Troutt, founder of Excel Communications); and the pitfalls of leaving too much to the kids (money man Richard Rainwater says US$50 million is too much, while US$1 billion each works for supermarket and oil titan John Catsimatidis).

They even told us with whom they would most want to share a cocktail–two said “me.”

Sure, there was some ducking and weaving. When asked for the next billion-dollar idea waiting to be exploited, Donald Trump replied, “If I knew, I wouldn’t tell.” Logging tycoon Tim Blixeth’s answer: “Stay tuned to 2008!”

One message came through loud and clear, though: It’s good to be the guy in charge–and the money’s nice too.

The top eight spots on the Forbes 400 belong to entrepreneurs, as opposed to well-paid corporate soldiers or the silver-spoon set. The combined net worth of the top eight hit US$237 billion, or 15% of the whole pie. And of the entire list, 270 (or 68%) are self-made, up from 261 last year. Average net worth of all self-made members: US$3.9 billion.

While their conquests run the gamut, from real estate and oil to media and technology, these billionaire-entrepreneurs also have a few things in common, according to our 20-question survey.

A healthy chunk admitted that they are impatient to a fault. (Patience might be a virtue, but it might not make you rich.) As for guilty pleasures, food was especially delicious–Sandy Weill, former head of Citigroup (nyse: C ), goes for chocolate sorbet and pizza with jalapeños.

Then again, who’s got time for guilt when you’re worth US$2.4 billion? Says media mogul Mort Zuckerman: “There used to be guilt associated with most of my pleasures, and now there is none.”

When it came to best days in life thus far, weddings and births took the cake–with one glaring exception. Casino kingpin Phillip Ruffin’s best day ever: Aug. 10, 2007, when he says he put “US$1.24 billion into my checking account.”

Other answers were all over the map. Favourite books ranged from, yes, War and Peace to The Black Stallion; some even cited books they themselves had written. The group’s study-to-party ratio in college bounced around too–not least because a few didn’t go to college.

Great wealth doesn’t come without a few bruises, and the group was fairly forthcoming–even poignant–when it came to sharing hard lessons learned. Manufacturing titan Michael Heisley had to admit that “wealth is one of the most corrupting influences in my life.” Kenny Trout’s epiphany: “Money does not buy happiness.”

Of all the respondents, though, 86-year-old James Sorenson, the largest shareholder in Abbott Laboratories (nyse: ABT) and a junk-food enthusiast, perhaps best captured the fundamental spirit of entrepreneurship. Asked for the hardest lesson he had to learn, he replied: “To spend my energy and resources investing in my own ideas, rather than those of other people. I need to drive my own vision.”

And that’s why he’s worth US$4.5 billion.

Success does not happen in one day. It is a long list of events and attempts until the objectives are achieved. Yet most of the people forget about this and concentrate on the current results the achiever enjoys. They look at him and say “I wish I could be like him. How luck he is to get such a wonderful reward.” Actually, he is not lucky. He did a series of certain things continuously until he gets those results. He commits himself to the actions that lead him to the status he is having right now. What the achiever has is called “discipline”. We are going to focus on it in this article and learn how to make full use of it in everyday life.

Jim Rohn, a master in personal development science, gives the definition of discipline in his book “Leading an Inspired Life”. He said “Discipline is a constant awareness of the need for action paired with a conscious act to implement that action. If our awareness and our implementation occur at the same time, then we begin a valued sequence of disciplined activity.” What a precise meaning! Discipline again starts in our mind. If we see the need of doing it constantly, we will perform actions. Simple as it is, not many people practice the right discipline. Why not, because doing something means you have to sacrifice doing many other things. This is according to the law of exclusion. We can do only one thing at a time. Besides, practicing discipline means that we need to step out of our comfort zone. We have to risk the uncomfortable state and the failure to immediately get the right results. People can not stand that consequence and therefore unconsciously avoid and cease discipline after doing it for a couple of times. This is normal to the average people. Top achiever, however see discipline as one of the mechanic to lead him to success. There is no shortcut. You may learn some techniques but you still need to apply those techniques into your daily activities. In order to make our discipline last until we achieve what we want. I have laid out five steps in practicing discipline including:

1. Make decision that you are going to be successful. Decide no matter what happens you will not stop. Decision is a father of all actions. Once you make a real decision, you will continue your actions constantly.

2. Have your goals. Know what your major goals are. See the reasons why you want to achieve it. See how happy you are going to be if you achieve your goals. See what you are going to give to your family and your love ones. With strong enough reasons, you will proceed to your goals. Break down your major goals into minor goals. Set up the time for those minor goals. Achieving minor goals will reward you with self fulfillment. You will not stop doing if you feel good during the process. Your discipline will automatically be created along the way.

3. Have your concrete plan of action. Write it in paper. Schedule the activities in details. Do as you plan. Take actions incessantly. Acknowledge that the results may not come easily. Understand that no matter how hard you try, you may stumble once in awhile especially in the beginning of the discipline. Once you start to be able to do it continuously, you will get momentum. You will not want to stop when you start to form a habit on your discipline.

4. Review your performance regularly. See what your weaknesses are during your process and correct them along the way. Do not go blindly without knowing your status.

5. Visualize yourself be successful in achieving your goals. Regular visualization will attract situation and attribute favorable to your goals achievement according to the law of attraction.

Discipline is one of the major tools to everyone success. Five steps to make full use of discipline will help enable us to perform our best to achieve what we want.

In .. NORTH CANTON, Ohio USA.. - Kristina Schneider tried to persuade a customer at the gas station where she works to buy the last ticket on a roll of the Magnificent Millions lottery game.

“I always joke that the last ticket is the winning one, but he said he only had enough money for three tickets,” Schneider said.

This time, her advice was no joke.

The single mother - with nine maxed-out credit cards and $8,500 in debt for her associate’s degree - bought what turned out to a $1 million winning ticket with a $10 bill she found in the store Friday.

“I thought someone was playing a trick on me” when she found the sawbuck, she said.

After showing a customer that she did indeed have a winning ticket, she locked the store while she took a moment to be sick in the bathroom.

“I was numb. I still am,” she said.

Schneider, 32, opted to take 20 yearly payments of $50,000, or $34,500 after taxes.

“If I’d have taken a lump sum, I’d be broke again within five years,” she said.

Speaking of Luck … This clerk has it … Good Luck to her .. And hope she enjoys that lottery cash.

Did you know that, If you have some cash … You can actually manufacture & distribute your own perfume / fragrance line for some really good money.

Although a business like this takes careful planning & researching … It is definitely not impossible to setup one.

What you will have to do is, create your own perfume line, then secure distributing accounts with popular perfume retailers around the world … It is that simple .. The hard part is creating a perfume that is a hit … You will need to make a name for your perfume line .. And the fastest way to do this, is by doing the above .. make something people will love.

You will also need to build a website …. This website will be directed to selling your perfumes to consumers … And also, it must have a special section that sells at cheap wholesale prices to retailers …

MARKETING:
* The best way to make money quickly, is by selling the perfumes at discount prices in fleamarkets & mall kiosks .. Afterall, you keep most of the profits .. Believe me, If your product is good & affordable .. People will buy it in bulk ..
* Get more customers by using ppc advertising … examples are: adengage, adbrite, yahoo ads, msn & google adwords
* Advertise in the yellowpages
* Market your website in directories …
* Advertise your perfume site in health & beauty forum discussions ( chat rooms )
* Market directly to perfume retailers .. sell at wholesaler price to them
* Sell on ebay for sure

All the above are just a few of the things you can do, to establish your business … As time goes on, and you expand .. You can introduce beauty products & more perfumes. …

If you prefer not to start your own line of perfumes … You can always find distributors, that can sell various types of fragrances to you .. This way is a lot more competitive, but you can prevail with hardwork. … The reason is because the profit margins will be too low. ..

Assuming you buy a designer perfume for $30 … Your competition will be big companies that have already bought in bulk and are selling their’s for $33 … Since you will have to make money .. you cant sell that low .. Which makes it very frustrating getting in the retail side of the perfume business.

Well, thats all for now … Do your research and learn more about this business … It can make you rich, If planned well.

If you are in search of a good business to setup …. A retail & online luggage shop might be the way to go.

All you have to do is, search for distributors & wholesalers of travel luggage, school bags, purses, wallets, waist packs, business briefcases, traveling boxes and so on …

Once you find a reliable & cheap distributor … You should now start planning on how you want to run the business … Is it going to be a retail storefront, mall kiosk, flea market spot rentals OR … Online sales.

It is always advisable to add online store sales to which ever offline method you pick. …

Once you have figrured that out… You are ready to run your own luggage shop.

MARKETING:
* Market your business in the yellowpages for company branding
* Use direct mailing
* Distribute flyers to describe your business & list your contact address
* You can sell on ebay for extra cash .. This works well, if you can sell at low prices and still make very good profits
* Google adwords, adbrite, text-ad-links, & adengage are very good places to buying website traffic

With people constantly travelling and needing bags & luggages … You have a potential market to sell to.
You will need to have good products to sell for cheap … This will help you beat big companies like walmart & zellers … Those companies normally carry, cheap crap luggages that never last. .. So buy quality in bulk & sell low .. But make a good profit.

I was actually in search of a travel luggage last year .. I ended up buying from a local little store, that was actually besides thebay & zellers … And, I am sure that, I wasnt the only one who had done this. …

You see, .. The little store’s prices were just about $10 higher than this big retailers … But the quality was better for that extra cash .. So, I bought with them. … This real story is just used to encourage those of you, looking to start a luggage store. .. Dont get scared of the big companies .. Some people actually prefer quality that lasts.

Good Luck.

The business idea for today is,… starting an online sportswear store.
First of all, you need to ask yourself, which way you want to go .. Buying at wholesale prices OR … manufacturing the sportswear to be distributed to consumers & retailers of sports shops.

Which ever way, you decide to go … Making an online website will really help. .. This way, you will have a broader audience to market your business to. ..
A business like this can simply be homebased and started parttime until your customer base has fully expanded.

Buying from wholesalers will cost you less,.. and is easier to startup. .. All you will need to do, is buy in bulk to save money .. Take some very nice pictures of your product,.. and post them on your website for sale. … Add a merchant credit card processing shopping cart .. and you are ready to start making some nice cash.

MARKETING:
* I will suggest you rent a kiosk at the Shopping Mall Or .. Flea market, to sell more … I have personally tried this before .. And seriously, It makes a lot of money.
* Sign up with ebay … Make sure you study the market .. Know your competition and what items sell very well.
* Use google adwords advertising to increase your customer base … This pushes your business forward while you wait for the search engines to find you .. And even if they find you … I will still suggest buying ppc ads to constantly market your biz.
* You can try direct mailing.
* Advertise on billboards in the gyms around your local area.
* Advertise in sports forum discussions & chat rooms .. If you have to pay .. Then PAY. .. You need to test without fear.

There is so much more you can do … I only give the business idea .. Go and do your research & Look for wholesalers … .. Good Luck.

A great type of part-time Or even fulltime business to start, .. is the odor control & odour elimination service business. The good news is that, it can also be a homebased business.

Most homeowners spend lots of money yearly to free their houses of unwanted odors.
These odors are caused by leaking roofs, cats, dogs, pets in general, fire, smoke, cigarrette & floods … The list goes on and on, but for now, these are the main ones that, I can think about.

This is where you come in, .. as an entrepreneur looking to start a profitable business. …
As you already know, .. This is just a business idea .. You will have to search for, … how to setup an odor control service, also search for equipments used in starting an odor controlling business. ..

Once you know enough about what you need to run this lucrative business … You can apply some of the marketing methods below.

MARKETING:
* Search for insurance companies and market your business to them … They will always bring you, good business .. since they own lots of properties.
* Use direct mailing methods to get people to use your service
* Elevator & basement billboard ads can attract apartment owners & renters that have pets
* Market constantly to fire & flood restoration companies … After this sad disasters .. Someone always needs an odor eliminating service
* It wont hurt to build a website describing your business & listing your contact address
* Make business cards and distribute them to the right people.

I hope this helped in someway … Good Luck on your new business venture

Starting an online gift baskets business can be very profitable, if planned well ….

This is what you have to do:
Your main aim, when starting an online gift baskets website, is to focus on a niche … That is; focus on a particular group of people .. Dont spread yourself too thin.

So, lets say you decide to focus on corporate people … You will then need to make 8 - 10 different styles of these giftbaskets .. This makes it easy for you, in the long run. .. Dont go preparing 50 styles .. You will burnout and quit the business, before you even start making money .. So, remember … KEEP IT SIMPLE in the beginning until you have enough cash to employ people. ..

One thing to keep in mind with these different gift baskets, is to, … Put a price range on them .. i.e.. from $30, $45, $60 and up
Dont make them all with one price in mind .. You will need to test-test. .. to study the market.

Building the website is not so hard … Get a freelancer / web-designer CLICK HERE …. Ask them to clone your favorite gift baskets store .. Just a look alike … But make sure, they change the color background, header .. and so on .. Only the easy website navigation is most important. … As soon as your online giftbasket store is complete … Take some very good to excellent pictures of the giftbaskets and paste them up … Add a reliable credit card processor …. And you are in business.

MARKETING:
* You will need to get an ebay account - Use your domain name as the e-bay username for branding
* Email campaigns … research and buy very good leads
* Advertise using adwords … Might be expensive … But with a few tricks, you can still get cheap keywords for sale
* Elevator advertising will work for your city
* If you decide to go the corporate route .. Market your services to companies regularly ( direct mailing )
* Encourage weekly OR monthly discounts

I am sure, there are more ways of marketing your business … if you need more advice on this .. Just leave a comment .. I will reply. …

If you dont know how to make gift baskets .. You can buy them in bulk at wholesale prices. … Just Google search giftbasket wholesalers ..You should find something.

Sample uses of giftbaskets; Flower, easter, baby, fruits (unique), wine, chocolate, wine, get well, gourmet, christmas, romatic valentine, corporate, coffee, sympathy, food, men (focused), women (focused), birthday, spa, cookie, golf, candle, anniversary, halloween, tea & candy, fathers day, mother day, movie.

All this are great themed gift baskets that you can choose to work on. …
Have a nice day.

All over the world … There are millions of babies born in a single year alone. … Can you imagine that.
It means cash .. … Yep, …cold cash.

You can make money with a maternity clothing business …. in 2 different ways.
Design, manufacture and sell to retailers & consumers .. OR … Buy in bulk on wholesale basis to be resold to millions of potential customers.

Which ever way you go … The profit is still there … Manufacturing the maternity wears will make you more money, in the longterm, because it broadens your chances of whom you can sell to.

MARKETING:
* Build a website to sell to your potential customers
* Offer constant discounts that wont cut too deep into your profits
* Market your company in directories
* Advertise in the yellowpages
* Use Adwords to market your business website
* Sell your materniy clothings on Ebay

Remember .. This business, can be started as a brick & mortar retail store .. Or simply homebased online. It is totally up to you, which way you decide to go.

Get more knowledge about running a business

Martial arts is a growing sports, all over the world. …. As the years go by, there are tons of people searching for a unique martial arts training school. .. This is where you come in, as an entrepreneur.

First of all … You will need some cash, because starting this type of business costs money… But of course, the ( ROI ) return on investment is very high.

Pick a fighting niche .. Like karate, kung-fu, kick boxing, capoeira, jujitsu, aikido, taekwondo and so on … There are just so many sports-defense fighting styles .. You shouldnt have a problem picking one.

Partner with a martial arts instructor of your choice, If you know nothing about any of the arts. .. Find a visible location to rent & furnish it … Look for suppliers of martial art uniforms and get a feel on how to order it, for your students . … This is the part that costs money.

To make money … You will charge students on a yearly basis .. Lets say $700 - $800 per year
Assuming you have 300 members signed up for the year … That is $700 x 300 member = $210,000 a year
Your student base, should grow as time goes on.

MARKETING:
* Use elevator marketing aggressively
* Advertise in newspapers … Offer discounts through this medium .. So, that you can know if it works
* The yellowpages should be used to brand your martial arts school
* TV & Radio ads is advisable … Use it once a month Or so
* Build a website for your martial arts school … Describe your service .. People will want to learn about your company
* Distribute flyers all around your location

This marketing tactics should work, if applied right, with careful planning. … Only you, know what your city is like. .. So, follow your heart.

If you have no cash for this, but you have martial art skills .. Then you can start a private martial arts instructions service … Charge your clients on a per/hour basis. … Use some of the marketing skills above .. especially flyer ads & newspaper ads.

I hope this helped .. …. Good Luck