What is the value of money?  Well it’s the value society assigns to it.  What’s the value of a five dollar bill?  Can you really explain it without thinking of what you can purchase with the bill?  A five dollar bill is just a peice of paper.  A thousand years ago it would have been worthless.  However today especially in America it has value to it.  How come?  Because as a nation we decided to give it value, we decide it to use to facilitate the exchange of goods, it’s a system of trust we agreed upon.

With the falling economy, the falling value of the dollar and the tough financial times many are wondering whether the dollar will become worthless one day.  I think that’s the wrong question.  Because the dollar is just a peice of paper.  I think one needs to focus on the work and effort that goes into making a dollar.  That work and effort is the real value.  As long as one is willing to work hard and create value for others then they will get value back.  So the question should be, am I creating value for others?  or how can I offer more value to others?

Often when starting a business one is very concerned with his/her great new business ideas, sometimes even tries to keep it a secret and not share it so it’s not stolen.  I used to think the exact same way but then one day I realized that business ideas are worthless.  Here is why…

What really makes a business idea good or bad isn’t the idea itself rather it’s the result.  When youtube decided to launch their website, and then later one became successful a lot of people foolishly looked back and thought oh they had a clever business idea.  No they didn’t.  In fact youtube wasn’t even the first online video sharing site.  What YouTube had was great execution.  They build an easy to use, intuitive video portal that anyone without any technical skills could look at and instantly understand how to use.

Still think business ideas are important?  Well let me give you another example Google.  When google started their were already two huge major search engines (yahoo and msn).  So google’s idea wasn’t original by any means rather it was how they executed their idea.  They build a much more accurate search engines than anything else at that point in time.

So what’s the poing of all this?  Next time you get a business idea you gotta start executing right away, it’s the only way you’ll know whether it’s good and bad.  Often you don’t even have to worry about people stealing it, because people will only think it’s good once it’s a success at which point you will be on top anyways.

It shocks me how finances are one of the most neglected aspects in many people’s lives.  Fortunately I grew up with a family that taught me how to manage my finances well from a young age.  I also got my first job when I was 15 years old which I think helped make me more responsible with money.  Once I realized that it takes hard work to make money I started being more picky about what to buy and what to spend on.

I was surprised when I learned that for most people credit card debt is the norm.  It seems like there are more people who don’t pay their credit card balance on time than those who do.  Now I’m not juding anyone, I don’t know everyone’s situation or circumstances.  However in my own life I know I’ve worked my butt off to make sure I don’t get in debt.  I always had the feeling that if I owned anyone or any company money they would basically own me the only exception being getting a mortgage to buy a house.  To avoid debt I workd 35 hours a week while managin a full time class schedule in all of my 4 years in college.  Guess what?  I didn’t go out with friends much, I was generally either at work, at school or at home doing homework.  Yes it was hard and at times left me feeling a little depressed.  But once I graduated I reaped the rewards.  I had no college loans to pay and no financial pressure.

After hearing Jay-z’s interview from Brooklyn to the Boardroom, I had to take some notes and share them with everyone.

• Jay-z himself didn’t think he would be a great rapper, he was on “his hustle” trying to make some quick money when he came up with his first album.
• Every single record company turned down Jay-z at first.  He had to start from the ground up.  He used to sell cd’s out of the back of a truck since no record label would sign him up.  He founded rocafella in order to launch his first record.
• Jay-z noticed crowds copying his clothing styles, they wore brands and colors he wore when he performed.  So Jay-z approached a brand name clothing company trying to make a deal pointing out his fans as the market.  The company wouldn’t go for it so Jay-z started his own clothing company just like he did with the record label.  He called it Roca-Wear.
  • They basically got 2 sawing machines, and started making clothing
  • Their offices had rats at nights, so they always had to be out by 5pm
  • Roca-Wear went from making $0 - $90 million in one year
• Jay-z and his group are all about creating multiple streams of income since music and hip-hop as a business model can be very shaky at times
• Jay-z is on the board of directors of the New York Nets
• Jay-z also signed contract with Reebok to produce his lines of sneakers
• Jay-z also is got his 40/40 sports bar in Manhattan
• Jay-z is even got his own vodka
• Jay-z basically created a lifestyle

This lead to the question of why it is that many rap and hip-hop artists including Jay-z, Dr Dre, Eminem, Lil Wayne, & 50 Cent become very successful and rich, coming from rags to riches.  On the streets they learn how to do business (sometimes from selling drugs), how to handle relationships, overhead, costs, deal with customers, complaints, and competition.

“Truths Trumps Intelligence” - A quote said by Jay-z, not sure if it’s his or if he was quoting someone else.  He indicated that if he doesn’t understand something, he admits it and asks for help, instead of trying to be smart, and do it himself the wrong way.

Jay-z indicate that a big key to his success in the music business is that he didn’t know how it worked in the first place.  He said that everyone else in that business thought they knew it all and were all trying the same tactics, and techniques.  Jay-z on the other had followed his intuition, he would see a large crowd of people somewhere he would show up and start rapping.  “When you have a manul infront of you, you are restricted, you are in a cast” - Jay-z said he didn’t have that which is why he was successful.

“I don’t think it’s based on making music” - Jay-z talking about how everything he does is part of him, he’ll never pretend or try to be something he’s not, he’ll never advertise something he doesn’t like, he’s very authentic, and real in many ways.

Wanna become a millionaire? All you gotta do is create value for others.  Whether you want to create the next cool electronic gadget, the next best selling book, the next medical break-through, or simply help others just for the fun of it, all you gotta do is work on creating value for others. Creating value is simply building or creating something that others find valuable.  Something that improves the quality of their life, helps them break a bad habit or simply gives them pleasure.  And here are all the tips you need to create value.

1. Understand Value.  Value is in the eye of the beholder. What you think is valuable is great, however others might not necessarily care for it So how do you create value?
2. Target a Group.  Since value differs from one person to the next you need to focus.  Focus your efforts on a group that has a certain need.  Maybe they want to lose weight, learn Irish-dancing, get a date, travel the world, or stop smoking.  Whatever need that group has, focus on that need, and create value with that group in mind. What would they find valuable?
3. Put Others Needs First.  Once you’ve focused on a group, you need to put the group’s needs first before your own.  Let’s say you decided to help lame guys - myself included - get a date. While it would be pretty funny to take them out and tell them to approach women with some obscene comments, and see the women’s reactions, guess what? That will probably traumatize the guys.  Instead you need to try seeing things through their eyes, see what they need and offer it.
4. Master the Skills.  In order to help that guy get a date, you have to be able to get one first, I know it stinks but talk is cheap You have to lead by example. However you don’t need to master a skill before you can start.  If you can get more dates than the average guy, then you can start helping average dudes.
5. Don’t Judge.  In creating value you have to be very open minded.  If you have a lot of judgments, no one will listen to you, or want your help.  If you look down on those you’re trying to help, this will become obvious sooner or later.  So how do you become more open-minded?
6. Walk in Their Shoes. Whatever group you are trying to help, you must really know and understand very well before you can create anything of value for them.  An easy way to do that is to frequently speak with members of the group, hang out with them, or even spend a whole day with one them.
7. Become Creative.  Maybe you want to help others lose weight yet you realize that there are already tons of books, diets and programs out there.  How could you create value in such a crowded market? While there are many solutions, guess what? Most people are still overweight, so obviously most of the solutions out there aren’t working.  So what’s missing? That’s what you need to figure out.
8. Laser Focus. Maybe trying to help others lose weight sounds like a huge project. This is why you need to focus your efforts. Maybe you should help new mothers drop the weight they gained during pregnancy.  Now that’s a much easier project for you to focus on and learn about.
9. Start Reading. Once you picked a group of interest, and narrowed your focus down, you need to start reading about that group.  Find out what solutions are out there for their need, and find out if those solutions are working.  Often times you will find that there are many solutions, yet none of them is very effective.  This is when you know you found an opportunity
10. Offer Free Help.  Since you are no expert, no one will probably be willing to pay you for help. Lucky for you, people never turn down FREE help.  So you have to pick your first victim I mean client and offer them some help. Maybe you remember that your cousin’s wife just had a baby and is now trying to drop off those last few pounds. So next time you talk to her, you let her know that you would like a walking partner, and go for walks with her. During the walks you can get to find out about her experience dropping off those pregnancy pounds, and even give her some tips from some of the books you read.
11. Start a Support Group.  Once you have had some success helping someone, then start helping others, eventually create some kind of a support group. This could be an online forum, a group that meets over dinner at a restaurant, or even a group that has a teleconference.
12. Take Notes. Take notes on what you learn about your support group members.  Their needs, techniques that helped them succeed, their frustrations etc. This will help you create a valuable product for them in the future.
13. Start Creating Your Product. Based on what you learn start creating a product that would help the group you chose to focus on.
14. Use Your Skills.  Creating a product might sound like a big deal yet it’s a lot easier than most people think.  You can simply write an ebook or create a video.  Going back to helping new mothers drop off pregnancy pounds, all you need to do is get a personal trainer from your local gym to come up with a custom workout based on your findings/research etc.  You can even videotape the personal trainer performing it, and that could be your product.  You can outsource the video manufacturing and copying, just do a quick google search and you’ll find many duplication services.
15. Test Your Product. Before selling your product, or investing a lot of money in creating a 100 units of it, test it within the support group you created.
16. Listen to The Feedback.  Listen to the feedback you get during your product testing and adjust your product accordingly.
17. Finalize Product. Once you have created a more ideal product that members of the support group enjoy, it’s time to go live.
18. Do Not Become a Perfectionist.  You should not be aiming for creating the perfect product, rather one that’s good enough.  You can always improve it later.
19. Get Some Free Testimonials.  Have some members of your support group try out your product, and get some testimonials from them.  This will help you in making your sales pitch.
20. Start Selling Your Product.  Make a sales pitch, present the product to investors, or even sell it directly to potential customers.

I realize that this is rather a quick outline of how value is created.  However if you are interested in learning more about this topic, provide me with your first name and email, and I will explore it much deeper.

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