I once heard an audio autobiography of a great man by the name of Lee Iacocca. Lee Iacocca is one of America's premiere business leaders of all time. Why? Was he lucky? Of course we know the answers to these questions is no. Lee Iacocca is a champion who had the courage to stare adversity in the face until the victory was secure.

Lee grew up during the Great Depression in Allentown, Pennsylvania. At age fifteen, Lee caught the deadly sickness, rheumatic fever. Since the cure included lots of rest, Lee found he had tremendous amounts of time on his hands. To pass the time, Lee began reading books and he developed a passion for excellence. This is a quality Lee would soon discover would pay off nicely in his future.

After Lee had graduated high school, he attended a tough engineering school. He loved it. It was a disciplined atmosphere in which Lee thrived.

During his college years, Lee drove a 1938 Ford automobile. It was a car that had seen better days. Lee joked with his friends, "Those guys need me. Anybody who builds a car this bad can use some help."

Lee received his masters degree from Princeton and in 1946 entered Ford's extensive training program. This program covered the entire making of a car from beginning to end.

After a short time, Lee discovered his love was for people and not machines. He decided to start over again in a low level sales position at Ford's district office in Pennsylvania. Lee's enthusiasm shot him up the ranks in a hurry. Lee learned the fine art of listening. He found that one must compromise to hack out a solution. Great listening skills were a great asset for Lee in every area of his life from personal to professional. The key was to listen and really hear what people were saying even if he disagreed with them.

In 1956, sales at Ford Motor Company were dismal and Lee's district in Philadelphia was the poorest of the poor. But Lee stubbornly looked for the positive light at the end of the tunnel. He found that light with an idea. Lee came up with a plan for long-term financing. It was a huge success. It was a 36-month payment plan of $56 a month. The plan was christened 56 ($) for 56 (1956). Their sales district went from worst in the nation to number one in a month's time. Ford was so impressed they made Lee's idea a national program.

Lee was offered a job at the company headquarters and within four years he became vice president and general manager of Ford Division. Lee then helped develop a car known as "the Mustang." It was a hard sell but Lee and his team pushed it through and on Friday, April 17, 1964, the Mustang hit the market. The Mustang was a HUGE success! In its first two years, the Mustang netted profits over one billion dollars. Lee became a national hero. He and the Mustang appeared on the covers of both Time and Newsweek.

On December 10, 1970, 45-year-old Lee Iacocca became president of Ford Motor Company. This was an exciting time for the Iacocca family. Little did they know that less then eight years in the future Lee would be out of a job.

On July 13, 1978, an insecure second grandson of the founder of the company, by the same name of Henry Ford, fired Lee. The firing came as a complete surprise and with no seeable reason. To this day, Lee doesn't know why he was fired. The humiliation for Lee was overbearing. Lee said the toughest part for him was the embarrassment he felt towards his family. He also felt very abandoned. Not one of his friends from Ford dropped a note or gave him a call. Lee never did understand that.

It didn't take long for the offers to pour in. Lee was a great leader and many, many companies wanted him. But the only industry Lee was interested in was automobiles. It was in his blood.

Chrysler Corporation was in bad shape and they wanted Lee. Lee took the challenge and immediately set about a massive reconstruction of the company. He did it quickly and effectively.

At this time, the nation was in a great recession that cut business in half. This made Lee's job much tougher than it already was but as Dr. Robert Schuller has said, "Tough times never last but tough people do." Lee did exactly that. He got tough!

He went to the United States government and asked them for a loan of one billion two hundred million dollars. Lee convinced the Congress to back his loan. He told them that if Chrysler were to fail the American taxpayer would have to pay $2.7 billion in taxes to fulfill the Chrysler pension payments. Lee told them that they could either loan him $1.2 billion now and hope he paid it back or pay $2.7 billion later with no reimbursement. The vote in the Congress was a landslide in Chrysler's favor.

Next, Lee went to the company. The workers would have to be convinced to take a cut in pay. Lee shocked everybody when he cut his own salary to only one dollar a year. Now that's a champion example! Chrysler then had to gain the public's confidence. Lee instituted an advertisement campaign to accomplish just that. It worked! Lee promised the consumer excellence and that is what they got. The excellence that brought Chrysler back was called "the K car." It was a phenomenal success. Chrysler was back!

On July 13, 1983, Chrysler shocked the nation when they paid back their government loan SEVEN YEARS EARLY! WOW! Chrysler is strong because of championship leadership of a man named Lee Iacocca.

You are a champion too. BE A DREAMER AND AN ACHIEVER! Will there be tough times? Yes! Will there be failures? Yes! But if you keep on dreaming and striving for success, then like Lee your dreams will come true. Just follow the words of Walt Disney when he said, "All our dreams can come true - if we have the courage to pursue them."

*excerpted from Mark Bowser's powerful book Power Nuggets. To order your copy today go to http://www.markbowser.com/about_power_nuggets.htm




WOULD YOU LIKE MARK BOWSER TO SPEAK AT YOUR NEXT CONFERENCE OR EVENT?
If so, contact him at (513)252- GOAL or email info@MarkBowser.com. FREE Audio Clips from Live Seminars on MarkBowser.com.

All of the books that we will ever need to make us as rich, as healthy, as happy, as powerful, as sophisticated and as successful as we want to be have already been written.

People from all walks of life, people with some of the most incredible life experiences, people that have gone from pennies to fortune and from failure to success have taken the time to write down their experiences so that we might share in their wealth of knowledge. They have offered their wisdom and experience so that we can be inspired by it and instructed by it, and so that we can amend our philosophy by it. Their contributions enable us to reset our sail based upon their experiences. They have handed us the gift of their insights so that we can change our plans, if need be, in order to avoid their errors. We can rearrange our lives based on their wise advice.

All of the insights that we might ever need have already been captured by others in books. The important question is this: In the last ninety days, with this treasure of information that could change our lives, our fortunes, our relationships, our health, our children and our careers for the better, how many books have we read?

Why do we neglect to read the books that can change our lives? Why do we complain but remain the same? Why do so many of us curse the effect but nourish the cause? How do we explain the fact that only a small percent of our entire national population uses the library card they possess - a card that would give us access to all of the answers to success and happiness we could ever want? Those who wish for the better life cannot permit themselves to miss the books that could have a major impact on how their lives turn out. The book they miss will not help!

And the issue is not that books are too expensive! If a person concludes that the price of buying the book is too great, wait until he must pay the price for not buying it. Wait until he receives the bill for continued and prolonged ignorance.

There is very little difference between someone who cannot read and someone who will not read. The result of either is ignorance. Those who are serious seekers of personal development must remove the self-imposed limitations they have placed on their reading skills and their reading habits. There is a multitude of classes being taught on how to be a good reader and there are thousands of books on the shelves of the public libraries just waiting to be read. Reading is essential for those who seek to rise above the ordinary. We must not permit anything to stand between us and the book that could change our lives.

A little reading each day will result in a wealth of valuable information in a very short period of time. But if we fail to set aside the time, if we fail to pick up the book, if we fail to exercise the discipline, then ignorance will quickly move in to fill the void.

Those who seek a better life must first become a better person. They must continually seek after self-mastery for the purpose of developing a balanced philosophy of life, and then live in accordance with the dictates of that philosophy. The habit of reading is a major stepping-stone in the development of a sound philosophical foundation. And in my opinion it is one of the fundamentals required for the attainment of success and happiness.

To Your Success,
Jim Rohn

Reproduced with permission from the Jim Rohn Weekly E-zine. To get your free subscription then go to www.jimrohn.com.

Have you read POWER NUGGETS by Mark Bowser?



This is what Peter Lowe has to say about it.....

"...A must read for everyone. This book shows the spiritual and business attributes of becoming a great success."
Peter Lowe
LifeWin Seminars

Read a FREE PREVIEW or purchase your copy today at www.MarkBowser.com.

"Intolerance of the present creates a future."
~ Dr. Mike Murdock

"Be happy where you are, but work towards the future."
~ Mark Bowser

"If what you hold in your hand is not enough to be a harvest, then make it a seed."
~ Dr. Mike Murdock

"An idea is the greatest investment."
~ Mark Bowser

"Giving is proof that you have conquered greed."
~ Dr. Mike Murdock

"Happiness is always created from the inside, not from the outside."
~ Mark Bowser

"Loneliness is not the absence of affection, but the absence of direction."
~ Dr. Mike Murdock

"If you aren't connected with God, then you aren't connected with life."
~ Mark Bowser

"The seed that leaves your hand never leaves your life... but enters your future, where it multiplies."
~ Dr. Mike Murdock

"Quantity of time creates quality of time."
~ Mark Bowser

"Nothing is ever as bad as it first appears."
~ Dr. Mike Murdock

"Unsolicited advice builds barriers, solicited advice builds miracles."
~ Mark Bowser

"You will never be promoted until you become over-qualified for your present responsibilities."
~ Dr. Mike Murdock



MARK BOWSER FANTASTIC ON SITE SEMINAR OFFER!

Multiple One Day Seminars
Multiple Day On Site Seminar Packages

2 Day Seminar Package for only $8,900 (One Seminar, two days long or 2 one day seminars)

3 Day Seminar Package for only $9,999 "BEST DEAL" (One Seminar, three days long: example The Three Pillars of Success, or 3 one day seminars)

For information, email us at info@MarkBowser.com or call (513)252-GOAL.

Commissions are better than wages and profits are better than commissions. Strong statement. But why is this true? Well, with a wage, you make the same no matter how hard your work (at least for the short term and then if you don't work you get nothing.) With commissions, the harder you work, the more receive. The better you get and you receive even more.

Profits are better then commissions because this is where the lion's share is found. There is more risk when you own the potential profits but there is also more reward. You also have more control to change things for the better. Remember, there is no success without risk. Profits are where the fortune is found. I go for the profits and so my fortune is secure. How about you?


Inspirational Thought

"But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was."
~ James 1:22-24 NKJV of the Holy Bible