SKY IS THE LIMIT...

'One could not count the moons that shimmer on her roofs,
or the thousand splendid suns that hide behind the wall.'

'Eye for an, tooth for a tooth. Tell her she is the noor of my eyes and the sultan of my heart.'

'Mariam is never very far. She is here, in these walls they've repainted, in the trees they've planted, in the blankets that keep the children warm, in these pillows and books and pencils. She is in the children's laughter. She is in the verses Aziza recites and in the prayers she mutters when she bows westward. But, mostly, Mariam is in Laila's own heart, where she shines with the bursting radiance of a thousand suns.

As she walks to her desk at the front of the class, laila thinks of the naming name they'd played again over dinner the night before. It has become a nightly ritual ever since Laila gave Tariq and the children the news. Back and forth they go, making a case for their own choice. tarik likes Mohammad. Zalmai, who has recently watched Superman on tape, is puzzled as to why an Afghan boy cannot be named Clark. Aziza is campaigning hard for Aman. Laila likes Omar.
But the game involves only male names. Because, if it's a girl, Laila has already named her.'

At one time, Donald Trump was over one billion dollars in debt. One of the bankers who was sent to demand their money back told me the story of how meeting actually went. Despite the fact that they were there ti shut him down, Trump welcomed them in style and set about persuading them to give him more time to get the money back. They agreed to let him try, but only if he was willing to put a tight leash on his spending.

Trump refused! He told them that if they wanted their money back, they were going to need to support him in the lifestyle to which he had become accustomed. He insisted on hundreds of thousands of dollars a month 'allowance' and full access to his private jets - in other words, to continue living his life on his own terms. Within a year, he had not only paid off the banks, he was also back to being hundreds of million of dollars in profit.

Until you actively reprogram your mind, your past will be an excellent indicator of your future.

Remember your mind is like a computer...

Imagining unlimited wealth

1. Think about how much money you have in the bank and notice what you imagine. Do you envision piles of bank notes, stacks of coins, a bank statement or something else?

2. Next think about how much money you have coming in over the next year and again notice what comes to mind. Do you see cheques, notes, bank statements, enveloppe, or number going up on your home computer?

3. Now, imagine double, triple or even quadruple the amount of money coming in. You might see more notes piling up, the figures on the cheques are bigger, or the number on the screen are increasing more quickly. have fun with this!

4. Next, imagine that this flow of wealth increases every year for the next twenty years. imagine stack after stack of bank notes being added to your account, making the piles bigger and bigger, or watching the numbers on your bank statement dramatically increase. again, let your imagination run wild and enjoy it!

5. When you are done, let your mind settle on a image that feels expansive and rich to you, making sure that you always finish with more wealth in your mind than you had when you began.

Cranking up the heat on your income

I have a friend who is a highly skilled corporate trainer who was convinced that he had reached the upper limit of what was acceptable to charge for his services. He was complaining to me that in order for him to make as much money as he wanted to make he would need to work 350 days a year! I asked him what he charged and he said £1.200 a day. So I strongly suggested to him that he add a zero to the very next proposal he sent out. He looked at me as though I was crazy.

No matter how hard he tried, his brain simply couldn't comprehend the idea of being paid £12,000 for one day's work. after watching him struggle with this for a few moments, I said 'OK, what if you just charged double what you used to? Worst case, they'll negociate you back down to your normal day rate.'

I saw a smile begin to form on his face. 'I could do that' he said.

Of course, had I suggested to him to double his day rate at the beginning, he would have found that difficult. But once the nind has been sufficiently stretched, it will never return to its original limitations. And once his mind had expanded to consider the possibly of earning £12,000 a day, only charging £2,400 a day not only felt easier, it felt like a relief from the exertion of trying to contemplate the large number. 

Here's a variation on what I did with my friend that you can do for yourself right now ...

The income expander

1.Whatever you currently earn, imagine being paid double that for exactly the same account of work.

2. When you can imagine that, double it again.

3.How high can you go? When you've reached the absolute upper limit of what you can currently imagine being paid, think about what else you could do for that money and see if you can make the number go up even higher.

4. When you really can't go any further, think about your current income and imagine increasing it by only 10 per cent. How possible does it feel?

each time you repeat this exercice, you will find it easier and easier to imagine the changes and more and more comfortable to do so.

Give me a boy and I will give you a man. Jean Piaget

Creating an alternative past

We are about to do one of the important techniques in this entire system. Strange though it may seem at first, this one technique can make all the diference in the world.

In a moment, we are going to create an alternative childhood for you - one where you you grew up with all the advantages of being surrounded by rich thinkers who believed in you, believed in your potential and had the financial means to put that belief into practice. this process is simply a way of providing your unconscious mind with some new alternatives, so you will no longer be constrained by the limits of your old wealth programming.

I am now going to ask you to close your eyes and vividly imagine having had richer life. The more detail you are willing to go into, the more impact the exercice will have. Keep experimenting with it until you really get a strong sense of exactly what it would have been like ...

Read all the way though the exercice first so you know exactly what to do. Then when you're ready, go back through, really taking the time to imagine each scenario in great detail.

1. Imagine being born into a wonderful home where, from the moment you enter the world, you absolutely know that you are loved, you are wanted and there will always be enough - a truly rich environment.

2. What is it like to be a small child knowing that wherever you go and whatever you do, you are loved, wanted and there is always enough? What kinds of presents would you get for your birthday? What kinds of friends would you play with? What kinds of positive messages and advice do you receive in this rich environment? What kinds of beliefs do you form about what's possible growing up in this rich world?

3. What would it be like to be a teenager having grown up knowing that from the moment you were born there was always enough money to do whatever you truly wanted to do? Who would you want to hang out with? where would you want to travel to? What kind of hopes and dreams might you have for your future? How secure and confident do you feel?

4. how about as you are making the transition to adulthood - what kinds of things do you want to do? Who do you want to do them with? Where do you choose  to live? How do you feel about yourself? How do you feel about life, knowing that no matter what happens there will always be enough?

5. What kinds of things are you drawn to your twenties?

6. In your thirties?

7. In your forties?

8. In your fifties?

9. In your sixties?

10. In your seventies?

What is it like to grow old having spent a lifetime knowing that you were loved, wanted and have always had enough money to do whatever you wanted to do? What have you learned?
If you like, you can write yours answers as though you are writing your autobiography. For example:

In my twenties, I realized that because I had such a privileged upbrinking, i had a responsability to give back to the world in whatever way i could. while I continued to do the work I love in the art world and run my businesses, I also began advising andultimately contributing large sums of money to charities that focused on offering education as well as financial support to young people.

As I grew older, I knew I might lose touch with what it was like to have the whole of my life ahead of me, so I wanted to support organizations that could get to people before life had a chance to knock the hope out of them ...

'I've always been someone who does what they want to do. I've been able to make my own choices frrom an early age. I always loved sport at school through, especially tennis. I never liked being second-best, so when I was playing tennis, I was competitive. if I lost points or games, I'd end up chucking my racket on the ground. I always thought I'd get to Wimbledon, and I wanted to be the world's best tennis player.

I'd spend every spare minute hitting a ball against the house wall pretending I was at Wimbledon. My mum had to put her earplugs in. I went back to state school and then, from the age of 11 until I was eighteen, I played tennis seven days a week. I played UK competitions all over the country. Even though I knew tennis was just a game, I still really wanted to win.

Tennis is an intelligent game. in many ways tennis is similar to business. The skills I learned playing it have helped my career. In tennis you've got to work out your tactics, understand your playing partner and size up their game. It's important to have confidence from the moment you walk onto the court. There is however a key difference between tennis and success at work. Business is not about winning at all costs. At work you need to find ways where you both benefit. It's not like tennis where the winner takes all. I don't want to do a deal with somebody and walk out thinking, 'Ah, got them'. That's not how I work. Being  successful is about teamwork and working together towards a shared goal. At work I want my colleagues to be happy, and for me to feel exactly the same. In tennis the last thing I want to do is walk off a court when somebody else has won the match. i'm out there to win. In business I want both of us to win.

My first company built computer systems and provided computer support. It did well during the 1980s, but I lost sight of the most important part of running a company. I got carried away with with my own success, thinking it was easy, without seeing the risks. I was supplyings goods to customers on credit without making sure they could pay. At some point there was going to be a problem... and there was! For a while, I hoped to save my company. I think it took 24 hours to realise that I couldn't. I was 29 and I had lost everything. I had nowhere to live, so I moved into the office building where I started and thought about how I could start again. I was thinking, 'Well, I've got myself into this, so I'm going to get out of it. It's as simple as that. I've lost my BMW, my Porsche and my house. I've lost everithing. Well, it's not the end of the world.' Very few people have a smooth ride getting to the top. Often the most succcesfull people are those who have lost a job or a business, and have learned from their mistakes. 

The main lesson from the collapse of my company was that I had got too caried away with making sales and had not looked at the bigger picture. Once I'd learned that lesson I never made the same mistake again. After that I always made sure that I had insurance to protect my business. Even successful people make mistakes. That's how we learn. The important thing is to pick yourself up and not make the same misatkes again.

In 1998 I started a telephone company. It was clear to me that everybody was soon going to be walking around with a mobile phone. I worked with a factory and bought a large number of phones to supply to smaller businesses who couldn't afford to buy them in large numbers. I knew mobile phones would make me wealthy, but I had no idea they would make me tens of millions.

There were a lot of similar businesses starting then, but what we did was different. Nobody else had decided to supply just one type of phone and build a name based on one product. So I formed a good relationship with the makers of the phone and we became the only company to supply that phone. That way we could buy a lot more phones, which meant we could both buy and sell them more cheaply. as a result, we became one of the fastest growing businesses in europe. Was I lucky? I don't think so. I saw an opportunity made a plan, and worked very hard. That made me successful. Having a clear idea of what you want to achieve and believing in yourself are some of the most imporatnt assets in life. 

getting the right people wasn't easy because at that stage we were just a small company. We wanted local people, so we looked around and talked to people with energy and drive. i always knew having good people was going to be key to our success. Good people doesn't just mean efficient people. It means people who have a great attitude and who will put everything they've got into the company. Finding and working with great people has always been, and still is, a big part of my success.

Here are ome of my tips for success:

1. Enjoy your work
Personally, I'm not interested in putting money into a business and just letting it go. I am not a gambler. I don't throw my money around. When I'm in the dragons' Den I ask myself 'Does it grab me?' Then, finally, 'Can Peter Jones make a difference?' Because, if I can't offer something new to a project I am involved with, what's the point?

2. Think about it
Think carefully about whether your goals are really possible. Think everything through. This is my key piece of advice: do your research. Look into what money is available and start thinking about your budget. In other words, dream big, but do your homework. You need to know that you can turn dreams into reality. This takes research, groundwork and realistic figures.

3. Look out for big ideas
Work out the upside, how big an idea is. Ask the question: How successful could this be? I like to know how big the market for the product or service could be. Is it international? When I know the scale, I can then assess how much profit it could deliver and how much money I could take.

4. Be passionate and persistent
Once I have invested in a business, or started it, I'm passionate about making it work. You need to keep that passion to help you commit to getting things done.

5. Develop your instinct
I am not academic. I struggled at school. But that doesn't matter. To succeed in business you need a nose for a good opportunity. Often you have to let your gut feeling guide you.

6. Presentation is all-important
How you look, how you speak, and how clearly you can explain your product all contribute to how seriously you will be taken.

7. Know what you want to achieve and focus on results
Imran Hakim is a good example of a businessman who knows what he wants to achieve. He saw that 'kids are getting older, younger,' and that they want the same kind of technology their older brothers and sisters have. So Imran came up with the idea of a soft toy with a screen in its belly. He believed that his iTeddy would be the next bestselling toy at Christmas. He gave us figures that he thought he could achieve, told us who he thought he could sell it to, and who would buy it. He told us why people would want it. He gave us an example of why iTeddy would be succesful, because it would be based around cartoon or bedtime stories downloaded directly to the teddy. People would come back to buy more. For me it was a great idea and I couldn't wait to do the deal. I liked the amount of energy Imran had put into understanding his product and what h wanted to achieve.

8. Timing is all-important

9. You need drive and confidence to succeed

I knew I was going to be a businessman from a very early age. With telephones sales, you have to be able to cope with rejection and develop your own style, your own personality and confidence. I quickly got the hang of this and it soon became second nature to me.

I went on to work for three recruitment agencies. I did this to get experience of different businesses. One day, a client, a financial services company, was recruiting sales people. The sales director was impressed with the way I'd understood their requirements. He took me out to lunch and offered me a job as recruitment manager of his company.

Where there's a will, there's a way.

I was 24 when I started my first comapny, Alexandwer Mann. the name was my own invention. Indeed I did everything myself. The idea behind Alexander Mann was to find staff for middle management jobs by headhunting. It was a great success because I found a gap in the market, took a simple idea and then really promoted and developed it. Building a company is like watching a  child grow.

One week-end I went to the house of one of my sisters and she gave me samosas. I suggested that she make some and sell the. 'What have you got to lose?' I asked her. So that Sunday she made 250 samosas, and by noon on Monday she had sold them all. Less than a month later she told me that she was making 1,000 and that they were sold as soon as they were ready. Seeing the potential, I put up the money for her to develop the business with aproper space and the right machinery. Now the business is called Nisa, and she makes 50,000 samosas a week. It just can't meet demand! It's great!

I think taking risks is a big part of being successful. He who dares, wins. You may think like me, or you may not. Everyone is different. But I do have some rules, or tips, that I believe can help people achieve the success they want:

1. Belief
I believe that, if you have determination, if you're pasionate, then you can make something work. Attitude is the key.
 
2. People, not product
I value honesty and integrity in the people I work with above everything else.

3. Be original
If you want to be successful, then yopu must be prepared to think differently to everyone else.

4. Presentation

5. Clear, calm communication
Confidence in yourself inspires people to have confidence in you.

6. Learn fron failure

7. Sacrifice
It is your attitude that will help you reach the heights!

'I was always going to run my own business. It never entered my head that I was ever going to work for anyone else. When I was 7 years old I set up a flower stall at our gate, stocked with flowers I'd picked from our garden. I soon realised that the location was wrong because everybody was driving the wrong way. So I then moved my stall to our neighbour's gate - much to her disgust! Finding the right location was a vital lesson when it came to holiday parks, so I'm glad I learned it early.

I am a very confident person and I think that confidence is the key of the success. People buy from confident people. Remembering people was a key to my success. In a day I'd probably see a thousand people. I tried to recognise and remember most of them. If I couldn't, I learned to look as if I did. Recognise people and make them feel valued, and they will remember you. The customers needs a reason to choose what you are offering rather than the place next door. It's all about environment. You need to create  a place where people feel confortable. If someone was starting a business I would say. 'Why would the custmer choose you?' In the same way, at a job interview, you need to know why the employers should pick you over anyone else.

My next step was to join my parents in running amusement arcades. Again, the focus was on creating a palce where people felt confortable and on giving a good service.

Throughout my career, I'd been building up a picture of how people wanted to spend their leisure time. When the chance came up to buy a struggling holiday park, I went for it. I was confident that I knew how to improve the holiday parks and provide what people wanted. The location had to be special. We built indor swimming pools, restaurants, , clubs, tennis courts and adventure playgrounds because, in this country, the weather is always going to be a problem. By buildings things inside we could extend the holiday season. We managed to keep one of our parks open for 48 weeks, which was a record. In 1999, I sold half my stake in the business in a deal worth £33 million. 

I like to get involved in a project right at the very beginning and enjoy really being able to make a difference. Most of all, I love success and successful people and I get a real buzz out of seeing a business I am involved in succeed.

I think my greatest strengths lie in sales, marketing and understanding people. As a result of this I have invested in a research company, whatever your line of work, it is a key to success. If you are thinking of starting a business, then you need to find out whether there are people wanting to buy that product or use that service. You can find out all the things you need to know quickly and without any hassle. The key is to make sure your research is useful and don't get distracted!

Sales and marketing are not as complex as some people make them seem. You need to think about the customer buying your product or using your service. Work out the types of people that buy your product, Then you need to think about where you could find them and how you can talk to them. It is vital to have a clear idea of your typical customer, and I want to be clear about their age, style, marital status, hobbies, leisure activities, music taste, what newspaper they would read and so on.

You must be confident to be successful, and you must always want to improve. A lot of people think that passion is enough, but it's not- and being passionate too early can be a mistake. At the start you need to be able to take a step back from the project and see if it is working. When I'm making business decisions I can be quite dispassionate. On TV my face is deadpan and, yes, there is a coolness there. I have ever been called an 'Ice Queen', but that must be by somebody who hasn't seen the laughter lines! 

1. Be honest
Investors, employers and anyone worth knowing in life will know when someone is talking rubbish. trying to pull the wool over their eyes is a dangerous game to play. decent people invest in people they trust. Understanding that is your first step to success.

2. Do what you do best the best way you can

3. Make a plan
A step-by-step plan with time scales and milestones is an excellent idea. It is like creating a map to your goals. Think where you want to go, use your knowledge and research.

4. Know your stuff

5. Present yourself well

6. No whingeing