President Donald Trump’s Success Secrets

Well BEFORE He Was #45 or #47

About two months ago, I ran across some notes I took at an event in 2004. At that time, I had flown almost 7,000 miles and paid a small fortune to attend a real estate investors conference to hear Trump. Little did I know he was going to share his secrets to his success with the entire audience. The ROI from that single trip to Florida has been tremendous.

I thought I’d share those lessons with you in this month’s newsletter. No travel. No fees. But, don’t just read ‘em, put ‘em to work for you! Oh, one more thing: I did add some of my own commentary after a few of them, based on the last 21 years of experience in applying them. My comments are in italics.

1. Gotta love what you’re doing. If you don’t, your success will be muted
2. Cannot stop. Cannot ever, ever quit.
3. Think BIG. The big deals require less work. Hard to believe, but 100% true! 
4. Stay Focused. Keep “the thing,” THE THING.
5. Be Paranoid. “They” are out to get you.
6. Momentum…Know when it’s going and when it’s going out. Know when it’s not your time. “I lost my momentum.” William Levitt. Look up his story.
7. Passion. You gotta have it. No passion, no energy, no deal…
8. Go Against the Tide. Think with your gut. Scary: The Lion hunts because it’s hungry. We hunt because it’s fun. Whatever the masses are doing, do the opposite.
9. Get the Best People. Hire fast and fire fast. 
10. Good Luck. Make Your Own Luck. Trump told the story about his banker and dinner at the Waldorf Astoria when he was $9.5 BB in debt. He went anyway.
11. Get Even. If someone screws you, screw them back even harder. For me, I take this with a grain of salt. Yes, there are exceptions. It has to be an intentional, egregious act. I’d rather use that energy, which is not infinite, in a better, more productive way. 
12. ALWAYS have a prenuptial. 
13. To be a winner, you have to think like a winner. Shockingly, some people do not. I’d add, if you want to be a winner, surround yourself with people who want to and do win out of habit!
14. Study the markets. ALL of them. Financial, low-end, high-end, areas, etc. READ.
15. Learn from your bad experiences and do not repeat them. This is where it pays to have a memory like an elephant. I’d add, learn from others’ mistakes. Tom has a great saying, “There’s not enough time to make all the mistakes and recover. Learn from others so you don’t have to learn them all the hard way.”
16. If you have to start over, start in Real Estate. I 100% agree with this. Starts slow, but the compounding is insane.
17. Go with the Gut. It’s the main criteria for evaluating deals. If the fundamentals are there, I agree. If they are not there, there must be a massive, undeniable reason to proceed.