Tom and Nick Karadzas Rock Star Inner Circle

I Almost Peed In My Pants At My Desk…

I used to work in a large software sales organization at Oracle Corp. It was probably one of the more aggressive, successful and entrepreneurial organizations in software during the late 1990's and early 2000's. Our division was doubling it's sales staff every six months for several years. It was tough, difficult, stressful and amazing all at the same time. When I first moved into this sales department I was a "Sales Consultant". Which meant I helped the sales team answer technical questions, provide software demos to potential customers, map out software architectures etc. I didn't actual...

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The Speed of Your Success is Determined by the Quality of Your Strategy

(Photo: mattmiz)

Let's go back in time... In 2007 we were at a conference in Chicago. It was the type of event where 15 speakers get up on stage over three days, share some content and then pitch you on a product for $995. The product was usually the "next shiny marketing object that would transform your business overnight". And during those three days, we watched hundreds of business owners and would-be-business-owners run, with VISA card in hand, to the back of the room. Today, four years later we're at a similar type of conference in Dallas, Texas where we bumped into some of the same people. The U.S...

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Two Monks Lost in Corporate Communist Canada

Many of you know that we were both "stuck" in corporate Canada to varying degrees as we started to build our real estate portfolios and our real estate brokerage. Literally for years I would walk around like I was sleep walking as I strolled through rows of blue/grey cubicle walls. Although we both had always spoken of wonderful ideas for new businesses we felt trapped in our 9-5 ruts. And it was so difficult to break out of it because the pay was so good. Golden handcuffs if you will. It was a "guilty pleasure" to consider changing course and doing what I really wanted to do. I always told myself that I had had "responsibilities" to produce for my family. Reflecting back on it all somehow I think I got lost. I'm not sure where but I took a major wrong turn somewhere. As a young adult in University I had these big dreams of...

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So Hey, What’s Your Number?

(Photo: eye/see)

So I recently killed the atmosphere at a dinner party pretty nicely. Everyone was having fun until I opened my big fat mouth. The conversation turned from which wine is better ... Italian Barolo's or French Bordeaux's ... to how much money a Canadian person/couple/family needs for retirement. Knowing how much income you need to live your life is pretty liberating so I pressed on with the conversation even when dessert was served and everyone was trying to ignore me. We chatted about tracking expenses so that you know how much money you spend. You know, actually creating a little spreadsheet that tracks all your expenses. The kind of the thing we all hate doing but k...

The Turtle Wins The Race – Our Accountant Said So…

During the downturn in the economy many people were using quotes from people like Warren Buffet that explained why scooping up smart investments, while other people are running from them, can often be a good idea. And who can argue with the Buffet? This chart shows the performance of the Berkshire Hathaway, Buffett’s holding company that purchases investments. You can see that his company has consistently outperformed the market.

It is especially insightful to see the small losses he has taken during the last two market downturns. One knock against Buffett has been that his principles are old and outdated, that the economy has changed to a point where his philosophies don’t a...

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Rock Star Inner Circle Member Event Thursday October 6th, 2011

All Rock Star Inner Circle Members are invited to the next RSIC Member Event on Thursday October 6! We are filling up FAST so if you haven't saved your seat yet reach out to the office or email the office ASAP. And if you're not a RSIC Member yet then what are you waiting for? Come out to our next FREE Introductory Training Class this Thursday to learn more about us ... you can register by clicking here!