Do not for a moment think to yourself that if you do a good job for your clients, they will automatically give you more money. That’s not a business plan. That’s a delusion. If you want more money, ask for it.

I know now looking back that one surefire way to be successful in one’s career is to find something you love so much you can’t wait to do it each and every single day. Find an avocation that is so much fun, nothing can equal the joy and the sense of accomplishment you derive. I keep reading polls and articles about how many people dislike their jobs. Maybe that’s why workmanship and quality don’t seem top notch anymore. Nobody cares enough to get good. How could someone possibly want to dive into a job he didn’t like? If you love what you are doing, congratulations. You are on your way to becoming great.

I find it almost shocking that there are only five weeks left in 2009. Nonetheless that’s the case. I urge you to begin right now defining and writing down your goals for next year. Goals must be well thought out. Do not wait until the last minute to initiate this vital task. Get on it right now.

Vietnam was a very expensive war, as was Lyndon Johnson’s War on Poverty. Medicare was authorized by the Social Security Act of 1965. Medicaid was created in 1965, as well. Government spending began to really ramp up in the 1960’s. All appeared well. Then in 1972, the stock market suffered its worst crisis since 1929. Not too long after that, the bond market crashed. The Prime Rate in 1980 was six times higher than it is today. Right now interest rates in America are as low as they’ve been since 1953. What if, in your wildest dreams, the stock and bond markets tanked simultaneously? How would you do business? Could you do business? Don’t write the scenario off to impossibility. Figure out now what you’re going to say if and when.

When you walk out of Mr. Big’s office without opening the account, what’s changed? You didn’t have his account when you walked in and you don’t have his account when you walked out. Nothing’s changed. What’s so frightening about that?