The How-To EntrepreneurThe Inspiration, Motivation and Success Blog

During April 2008, University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School students were invited to visit Warren Buffett in his hometown Omaha, Nebraska. A reported from Fortune Magazine also accompanied them.

“How do you get your ideas?

I just read. I read all day. I mean, we put $500 million in PetroChina. All I did was read the annual report.

What advice would you give to someone who is not a professional investor? Where should they put their money?

Well, if they’re not going to be an active investor – and very few should try to do that – then they should just stay with index funds. Any low-cost index fund. And they should buy it over time. They’re not going to be able to pick the right price and the right time. What they want to do is avoid the wrong price and wrong stock. You just make sure you own a piece of American business, and you don’t buy all at one time.”

READ THE FULL ARTICLE

Ken Heebner, 67, is a founder of CGM Funds.

INVESTOR’S BUSINESS DAILY:

“One of Heebner’s secrets? He bets on a few companies tied to a gauge he can follow such as commodity prices or monthly same-store sales.”

“Beyond noting that intelligence, friends laud Heebner’s honesty and work ethic. He reads religiously, going home with stacks of analyst reports and obscure trade publications like China Metals Weekly.”

“Heebner shorted tech stocks amid the burst bubble of 2000.

He bet on home builder stocks in 2001, and they soared the next three years.

In 2005, he doubled down on commodities like copper and oil.

By 2007, he was selling short mortgage companies such as Countrywide, foreseeing the credit crisis before it filled headlines.

Those sectors contributed to last year’s 80% return in his CGM Focus — 2007′s top fund in the country.”

READ FULL STORY

John Burbank is a founder of San Francisco based Hedge Fund – Passport Capital. Since 2000, he says he’s netted investors the 40% annualized gains. Investors in his flagship hedge fund, $2.5 billion (assets) Passport Global Strategy, ended 2007 up 219%, even after his 1.5% management fee and 20% cut of profits. Impressive!

FORBES:

“With housing all the rage in 2004, home lenders were throwing money at people with lousy credit. Confident the market would eventually crack and intent on cushioning his global portfolio when it did, Burbank began shorting the stocks of U.S. subprime lenders.

Housing continued to go up. So Burbank doubled down by purchasing credit default swaps that would pay bounties if securities backed by subprime mortgages went into default.

“There’s no way you can make 30% returns being long the S&P 500,” the scruffy 44-year-old says of his swing-for-the-fences investing style. “If you’re going to hit that kind of return, you have to go places where it can happen.”

READ FULL STORY.

April, 2008 issue of Inc. Magazine featured entrepreneur Butch Stewart in its How I did it section. Butch Stewart is a founder of Sandals Resorts in Caribbean. I found the story very inspiring.

Read the full article here. Also read on Sandals history here.

On February 07, 2008 Warren Buffett traveled to Toronto, Canada to promote the launch of Business Wire in Canada. Business Wire, a wholly owned subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway, is the global market leader in commercial news distribution. Read the interview here. Also watch the view below.

Headquartered in Orlando, FL, Coleman Technologies, Inc. was founded by Jeff Coleman in 1980. CTI mainly engaged in information technology and systems engineering services. I came across to this company when I was searching for who was the installer of Cisco’s VoIP telephones in corporate offices throughout FL.

Anyways, on their website I found Jeff Coleman’s Laws and Management Rules that he used to build his huge business. Here they are:

Jeff Coleman’s Laws:

1. No one is smart enough to be a dictator.
2. The only real power one has is the power of persuasion.
3. The less you know about something the simpler it seems.
4. Important decisions require at least one night’s sleep.
5. Decisions made without all the facts are guesses.
6. The most important thing a manager does is people picking.
7. Lies are hard to remember.
8. There is nothing more critical to true success than openness, honesty and integrity.
9. Those that don’t solicit and listen to advice are destined to be unsuccessful.
10. What is given cannot be taken away.
11. Meddling after responsibility is delegated and accepted, provides a built-in excuse for failure.
12. Unwritten agreements are soon forgotten.
13. Time is not a good decision maker.
14. You must look successful to be successful.
15. Cash flow is more important than profit.
16. Grow or die.
17. The only people that are not making mistakes are those that are not doing anything.
18. Don’t bite off more than you can bite off.
19. The most important and most difficult trait to identify is the ability to get things done.
20. A manager with a full calendar every day isn’t delegating properly.
21. A full day spent in meetings is 40% wasted.
22. A pat on the back is the ultimate in cost effectiveness.
23. A manager that takes the credit for the work of the troops should be made a member of the troops.
24. A manager unwilling to take risks is destined for mediocrity.
25. Twenty percent of the people do eighty percent of the work.
26. People that feel comfortable in their job are more productive.
27. All contracts end.
28. The prepared bird gets the worm.
29. An unfilled position is better than one filled by the wrong person.
30. The killer of the bearer of bad news quickly joins the ranks of the uninformed.

Jeff Coleman’s Management Rules:

1. Don’t dictate – persuade.
2. Project a can-do attitude.
3. Delegate then don’t interfere, but be available to help.
4. Learn to accommodate a wide variety of personalities.
5. Don’t tolerate bickering, blame, throwing, or covering up – insist on harmonious teamwork.
6. Be tolerant of mistakes – up to a limit.
7. Be intolerant of incompetence.
8. Encourage constructive dissent.
9. Never miss an opportunity to pat someone on the back.
10. Be honest, but gentle when appraising someone.
11. Give individuals a voice in their job assignment.
12. Make sure an assignment is understood and accepted.
13. Set high standards.
14. Be selective in hiring.
15. Be consistent.
16. Be open.
17. Don’t lose your temper.
18. Don’t ever take credit for others’ work.
19. Speak out.
20. Be inquisitive.
21. Write it down.
22. Don’t give the appearance of vacillating, but avoid the extreme of bullheadedness.
23. Be accurate – don’t exaggerate.
24. Keep your boss informed.
25. Don’t criticize one of your employees in front of others.
26. Cherish your personal integrity.
27. Keep your appearance neat.
28. Set a good example.
29. Take pride in everything you do.
30. Make money for the company and have fun doing it.

Elance.com blog published an interview “3 Questions with Serial Entrepreneur Mark Fletcher”. I have not heard about Mark Fletcher before. After reading his interview and his blog, I learned that he was the man behind Bloglines and ONElist (now Yahoo Groups). Read the interview here.

I added new category called “Investing”. There I will be sharing my thoughts on long-term value investing in stock market and other investment related ideas. Here is an interesting video of Warren Buffett speaking at the University of Florida.

Also you can watch the video by parts below:

I am a small business owner, consultant and software developer. I have tried my hands on both small and big companies. I had a lot of fun working on my business and other small businesses. 3 things fascinate me the most: entrepreneurship, investing and technology. In this blog, I will be talking about the best entrepreneurship stories, mavericks who create meaning and change the world, investors who think like businessmen and create value for themselves and their investors, how small business owners can utilize technology to improve the flow and efficiency of the their operations. Please, subscribe to my blog and check back often. Feel free to drop me an email to suggest future topics that should be covered here.

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