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Wednesday 31 December 2014

Using Guerilla Warfare To Win

The first step in making guerrilla management work is to establish the right conditions in your company. The second step is to use those conditions to strategic advantage.

So what are those right conditions to make your company operate at peak capacity?

1. Stay Lean and Mean. Just as heavy equipment can impede an army in its battle with guerrillas, fixed assets can be a drag on companies in fast-changing industries. Fixed assets not only lock companies into technology that is soon out of date, but they can also be a drain on your most important resource, management energy.

Acquiring fixed assets is always a temptation, though, because on paper at least, it seems to cost less than contracting work out. Indeed, perhaps the biggest hidden cost is the management energy that goes into setting up such operations. Management is our scarcest resource, and I want it directed only toward those things that are most essential to cash flow generating. Period.

For More:  Using Guerilla Warfare To Win

Thank You,

Monday 29 December 2014

Building Your Midas Touch

“Entrepreneurs are all unique. One way to build a business and turn it into a brand is to know who you are.” – Midas Touch

Spoken from a true wealth creator…. So how do you really build your “unique” brand today given all the noise out there?

I thought I’d share those few tips with you in light of my own personal experience over the last 30 years.

1. Be yourself :

Your personal brand is just that–you. If you try to manufacture something that’s not genuine, it will be obvious to others and immediately make you less compelling. Instead, focus on your unique talent or passion whether people like it or not.

Virgin founder Richard Branson is a great example of this. He has said that his brand revolved around “finding new ways to help people have a good time.” Branson didn’t go to college, his ideas are unconventional, and his business goals are over the top.

He has though consistently stayed true to his brand, ideas, personality, and unique genius. His focus on keeping his business brand aligned with his personal brand has helped him become a huge success.

For More: Building Your Midas Touch

Thank You,

Wednesday 24 December 2014

Why Regime Change in Syria is the Only Option

I am afraid our military intervention in Syria is too little too late….but better late than never.

We did not intervene when the rebels were strongest, the Assad regime most fragile, and limited U.S. support to the then dominant moderate rebel factions might well have pushed Assad out of power without dividing Syria along sectarian and ethnic lines.

We clearly allowed Iran to move in and al Qaeda to penetrate. Assad is now far stronger and the rebels are fractured and have stronger Sunni Islamist extremist elements than ever.

We have also chosen the wrong red line. The key challenge in Syria is scarcely to end the use of chemical weapons. The real challenge is some 120,000 dead, another 200,000-plus wounded, and as many as 20% of its 22.5 million people have been displaced inside the country or are living outside it as refugees.

For More:  Why Regime Change in Syria is the Only Option

Thank You,

Tuesday 23 December 2014

The Evidence vs Politics

Blaming North Korea for the Sony breach may be like blaming Benghazi on a video. The Sony breach may be much larger than is being admitted and It may affect your household.

Everyone is agog at the recent breach at Sony Pictures in Hollywood.  Movies that have yet to be distributed were downloaded and put on peer to peer sharing sites called torrents. Emails were leaked that showed far left Democrats insulting Obama and making some pretty nasty racist jokes about him. Angelina Jolie was called a no talent bitch and other actors, like Leonardo DiCaprio and Will Smith’s children, were also insulted.

The FBI quickly blamed North Korea with absolutely no evidence and later doubled down after saying they had investigated the case. President Obama condemned Pyongyang.

For More:  The Evidence vs Politics

What The Street Protests Really Mean For Business

The public reaction to both the brazen killings of two New York City policemen sitting on duty in their patrol car by a gunman asserting revenge for the deaths of Michael Brown and Eric Garner blamed on police, and the original Brown and Garner deaths, is revealing a sharp class divide in Western information society.

The dividing line is not what you might suspect.

The street protests, sometimes as violent as any seen in the United States since the urban looting during the three-day Great Blackout of 1977, may be using the cited reason of alleged police brutality as a pretext. Careful observation indicates the protests are physical group exercises (sans yoga mats), expressions of rage, very much in search of a cause. The undercurrent behind the scenes, the back-chatter, reveals something else.

The new class consciousness has a fault line. But we theorize it is not socioeconomic. It is not class. There is something else at work here. 


Thank You,

Monday 22 December 2014

Branding your Non- Profit

It is clear to anyone in the nonprofit sector today that fundraising is maybe the most important activity out there if you want your organization not just to survive but also to thrive.

Most charitable nonprofits rely today upon the generosity of donors for some or all of their funding and many fundraising focused businesses and consultants help nonprofits identify and cultivate individual donor prospects.

All good.. but what about branding? Do nonprofits at large pay enough attention to it?

I believe not.

For us though at the Financial Policy Council, branding is more than just a logo; it is the image and impression that sits in our donors mind when our organization’s name is mentioned.

For More:  Branding your Non- Profit

Thank You,

Thursday 18 December 2014

Living a Full Life

I don’t care what you’re doing in your life but you’re walking around with a safety net underneath it. Most everyone is. The safety net keeps you from pushing your limits, your comfort, your ability to see consequences.

Don’t be stupid and live like you’re going to die tomorrow. Go to work. Love your family. Be good and do good to others. But don’t spend a lot of time on backup plans or “recovery mechanisms”.

I am finding out that there is nothing more perverse than to speak the truth.

Far too many people do not understand how profound the real honest truth really is, so they make up stories, lies, and other fictions to cover their perceived lack of interesting thoughts and events.

I read once that dumb people talk about people, average people talk about events, smart people talk about concepts and ideas. Geniuses talk about “meaning”.

For More: Living a Full Life

Thank You,

Wednesday 17 December 2014

Wealth Creation 101

There is not one day that passes without I hear of someone who lost his job, his money or has involuntary ended his career because of some idiot employer who decided one day to drop the ball.

Well let me tell you something…. No matter what your current circumstances are, you have the Power to create a new reality for yourself, and for your family.

The best revenge is creating “Wealth”…. All the rest is nonsense… So start being in control of your life instead of a lackey to some moron who thinks he knows better.

It doesn’t matter how “broke”, “beat down”, “frustrated”, “poor”, or disadvantaged you may feel in your current situation.

You, and only you, can shape your future- and MUST.


For More:  Wealth Creation 101

Tuesday 16 December 2014

Mr. President: Consider this

Mr. President, I am admittedly no diplomat; but I was born and raised in Lebanon, I became a U.S. citizen in building my own firm on Wall Street, and I have access to intelligence sources as part of my work monitoring the global oil markets that are shaped by OPEC and the Middle East.

So herewith, some candid advice from a Wall Street financier who truly cares about America’s role in the world and have been at Middle East geopolitics for a couple of decades now.

For a starter, I believe any successful strategy should consist of tackling all 10 fronts below at the same time… Anything short of that will not be effective. Indecisiveness and “leading from behind” brought us here. Our sworn enemies like Iran and its puppet Assad are not going to help us.

For More:  Mr. President

Thank You,

Monday 15 December 2014

Time To Wake Up America

There’s a legitimate debate right now about what America should do about ISIS, Syria and the Middle East at large.

No one in Washington though wants to talk about the real reason we’re there in the first place: Oil.

We’re dependent on foreign oil and OPEC has it, so keeping peace in the Middle East has been our top foreign policy priority for over 30 years. Over the last decade alone we spent more than $4 trillion and lost thousands of American men and women on military missions to protect Middle East oil.

For More:  Time To Wake Up America

Thank You,

Friday 12 December 2014

What I really Want To See in my Lifetime

As Steve Jobs once said ” Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice.

And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary”

Well let me start saying that I am a pragmatic person always dealing with the realm of the practical. So I am not going to wish away things like eradicating poverty or world peace during my lifetime cause this is unlikely to happen. What I’m rather shooting for is something that doesn’t sound unreasonable and which has a real potential of getting fixed.

For More:  What I really Want To See in my Lifetime

Thank You,

Thursday 11 December 2014

Closing Oil Derivatives Related Transactions

1. Seller issues a Full Corporate Offer (FCO) on his letterhead for review and due diligence by buyer along with a satisfactory refinery supply letter including his perivalko agreements or a letter that he has perivalko in place.

2. After satisfactory due diligence by buyer, Seller issues a contract for signing .

3. Buyer signs and returns contract to Seller following contract’s conditions .

4. Seller issues a DLC for one month shipment as contract requires that will revolve for the duration of the contract and upon satisfactory delivery of seller.

For More:  Closing Oil Derivatives Related Transactions

Thank You,

ISIS In Iraq

I presume we in the US would have a terrorist group as our ally against Iran.  Oil fields in the region would be gravely threatened, leading to uncontrollable spikes in oil prices.  That, in turn, could really put pressure to move to solar, domestic natural gas, wind and coal for our energy needs.  Hello electric cars!

Or maybe that would finally heal the rift between the US and Iran, much to the chagrin of Israel and Saudi Arabia...which could lead to a second wave of oil shocks.  Turkey on the other hand may get alarmed enough to carve out enclaves in Syria for refugees and try to counter ISIS.  That could cause other headaches for NATO...

For More: ISIS in Iraq

Thank You,

Wednesday 10 December 2014

What can I Do to Best Help you Monetize Your Skills and Network?

First off, thank you for being part of my social media “inner circle”…. You are in here because we have much in common and I always appreciate your insight.

As we’re entering the latter part of the year, I thought I’d share and explore with you ways I can best help you “monetize” your skills and network and see where we go from there..

Basically,

1. I am one of the Founding Partners, President & CEO of Blackhawk Partners, Inc. a private “family office” that is in the business of originating, structuring and acting as equity investor in management-led buyouts, strategic minority equity investments, equity private placements, consolidations and buildups, and growth capital financings, and trading key physical commodities


For More:  Monetizing your skills and network

Thank You,

Tuesday 9 December 2014

Business Lessons Learned in 2014 - It’s OK to Fail

Looking back I can humbly say that 2014 was one of the highlights of my life in terms of learning about myself and how to make big things happen.

What did I exactly learn?

I learned that no matter what happens, or how bad it seems today, life does go on, and it will be better tomorrow. I’ve learned that making a “living” is not the same thing as making a “life.” I’ve learned that life sometimes gives you a second chance.

I’ve learned that whenever I decide something with an open heart, I usually make the right decision. I’ve learned that every day you should reach out and touch someone. I’ve learned that I still have a lot to learn. I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.

For More:  Business Lessons Learned in 2014

Thank You,

Thursday 4 December 2014

The Big Boys

Thanks to the Internet, entrepreneurs today across the board can disrupt slow moving industries like never before.

This process is also creating billionaires the world over faster than any time in history and I believe this is just the beginning.

It is clear the winners in the business world today are very quickly becoming those that know how to adapt and innovate, not those with the deepest pockets as anyone with the right commitment and burning desire to succeed can turn a good idea into a functioning business overnight, and find customers all around the world.

So when somebody approaches me with a new business idea, I ask them three questions to evaluate the idea:

For More:  The Big Boys

Thank You,

Monday 1 December 2014

How to Run a Business - 13 Tips for Young Entrepreneurs

I talk to and meet close to 500 entrepreneurs a year – from the true maverick game changers to the guys as arrogant and dumb as can be -

I believe what differentiates a killer serial entrepreneur from the rest of the crowd is frankly how they operate – no matter what product they are offering.

With around 30 year experience on Wall Street backing over 125 companies worth in aggregate over 10 billion dollars during the time period, I thought I’d share with you some of my thoughts in this regard.

1. Get smart: Killer entrepreneurs get a customer before they even start their business… Rookies raise money based on an idea. Now if you still decide to raise money and find it difficult, then your idea is probably incapable of raising money. If it’s easy, then take as much as possible.

If it’s TOO easy, then sell your company (unless you are a potential Facebook, Twitter, etc).

For More: 13 Tips for Young Entrepreneurs

Thank You,

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