DON'T GIVE UP

The Beginning Is Always The Hardest

This past week I’ve had at least seven people tell me about their startup dreams. All of them were at the very beginning stages of what they wanted to build, and as such, they all seemed scared and afraid and unsure of what to expect when taking the forsaken path towards a life that only a few brave souls would ever dare to take.

But the exact same theme kept on coming up over and over again.

They all wanted their startup dream to be an overnight success.

Without putting in any work and without ever having been exposed to the very disappointing and brutal reality that is startups and fortunes and online fame.

… le sigh …

When my wife and I decided to start our first business (we have two now, plus a few side gigs) we had no idea how things would work out. No money, no market research and no idea as to whether or not it will work.

Just good intentions and a lot of faith.

And because of that we had to sacrifice so so much. We moved back in with my parents, lived on less than $200 a month (crazy, right?) and didn’t see any real money come in only after two years of a lot of hard work. I was stressed out of my mind.

Often doubting whether we made the right choice.

Desperate to make a quick buck so that all of my family and friends wouldn’t think that i’m an absolute fucking failure. That was the worst part. The fact that others around you had fancy jobs while you were the crazy one chasing your dreams.

Or when you met an old friend and they ask you ‘What do you do?’ and you’re all like… ‘hmm… I like, have this startup I’m working on’… and they’re like… ‘oh, that’s cool’… but you know all too well that they are laughing at you on the inside.

But anyways.

We persevered and kept learning and kept working hard towards making it a real business that makes money, and now, thank God, I couldn’t be more blessed.

Here’s the thing.

The beginning is always the hardest.

Don’t let anyone ever convince you that it will be easy.

And if you’re just starting out, you need to know that there is absolutely nothing glamorous about this path. It’s just a lot of cold nights and a lot of hard work.

That’s all it is.

There’s no way you will make it unless you are fine with sacrificing pretty much everything and anything that you perceive as comfortable. You’re not supposed to be comfortable on this path, which is why I cringe every time I hear people tell me that they have a brilliant idea and that all it takes is some money and an investor.

As if the entire world will fall in love with you overnight.

That’s bullshit.

And this idea is dangerous and will never exist.

Money won’t solve your problems.

Because people won’t care or be able to attach themselves emotionally to you or your startup if you have money. No one cares about that. The only thing they care about is how valuable your product is to their life, how your startup will help solve a problem that they are faced with daily, or how it will significantly make them feel better about themselves… and this can only be created by the years of effort and intention you bring to the tables. Because building a product that can do any of these things takes years of experience and understanding and deserved authority.

The late nights of tears and frustrations seamlessly translate themselves into a story worth being told and shared. Your passion for your product carries it’s weight in gold when you have to explain to peers or potential customers what you or your startup does and why you’re unique. These little things add up and make all the difference.

    You need to sweat, to bleed, to cry, to fight daily, to persevere, to doubt…

And through all of that, you need to have a whole lot of faith.

Faith that it will all work out in the end…

It’s a shitty place to be.

But being put in that position is necessary in order to mold you into the type of person who will do whatever it takes to make their dreams in life come true. I guess that my main point here is that startups are not easy. Yes, doing your own thing is ‘the dream’ for most people, but the last thing I want to do is to give you a false sense of hope that it’s a walk in the park. It’s not. It’s freakin hard man. And you have to be ready and willing to sacrifice it all.

That’s the key to startup success. A lot of hard work, and no guarantees.

The story of my life.

Here’s the thing.

In 2016 my goal is to become as valuable as I possibly can to those who have a hard time dealing with the things that I have personally gone through. I’ve failed so many times that it’s not even funny, and been at the beginning stages of building something more times than I can even count. I’ve learnt so much from these dramatically disappointing experiences, and continue to do so on a daily basis.

And below, are the main things that I would have told myself if I was starting out again a couple of years ago, with nothing to my name but a dream and a vision. If you’re in a similar place that I was a few years ago, then I hope this will help.
Marketing Is Your Best Friend

I’ve started so many business with no clear idea as to how I will get the word out there and get people to use my freakin product. And this was my biggest problem. And also the main reason why they failed (even if they were good ideas).

If you’re starting out, make sure to have a legitimate and realistic marketing plan in order to be able to start attracting customers as soon as (or even before) you launch.

I just can’t stress how important this is.

Define your business (service-based, software platform, digital information, whatever it is…) and figure out what you need to do in order get people to use what you make.

As an example, if you were to offer a one thousand dollar translation service, you could write a list of fifty companies who might want what you offer, and send out five emails a day for ten days. Simple marketing right there. If you’re working on an app, then define your category and see what high-profile blogs might feature you.

Never wait for your customers to come to you, as that will never happen. Take a week off to write a solid marketing plan and stick to it like your life depended on it. Marketing is everything when it comes to getting it in the hands of the people.

Side Note: Obviously there are like a million ways to market your startup, so the above are just very basic examples. Because of this, I’m working on an article titled ‘297 Ways You Should Market Your Startup To Success And Profits In 2016’. I think that it is by far the best article out there on all of the different ways you can market your startup for success. Feel free to join my newsletter to be notified when it’s out.

It should be ready end of January.
Think Less, Do Way More

When I first started out on this journey, I would spend months thinking about an idea without really taking any action to make this idea because a solid reality. This is dangerous, as it’s fun to think about all of the success, but depressing to imagine all of the work it takes to get to where you want to be. And sometimes you can get addicted to the feeling of being able to imagine what success feels like. That’s a really bad place to be!

Instead, try to stay humble, keep your head out of the clouds and just get to work. Stop thinking and planning and scheming and just start working.

Just put in the fucking work.
Effort > Having Capital

If there’s one thing I’ve come to learn when it comes to startups and business and success, it’s that everyone will respect you and give you a chance if they see that you are putting in real effort. My wife and I get so many requests from people who want to ‘be featured’ or ‘sell their product’ on our platform without them having put in any work. All they want is a way to make a quick buck on the backs of others.

We will never be able to respect these people or take their requests seriously. On the other hand, when asked to feature an app we both knew that the founder had spent fourteen months of his life developing and working on, we were more than happy to help out. Psyched even. Because anyone who puts in mad effort and dedicates their everything to make it work, will indeed eventually succeed.

And there’s no better feeling than knowing you contributed in a small way. If you put in the effort, people will want to give you a chance. Simple.
Ideas Don’t Mean Shit

I think that I probably have a few hundred billion dollar ideas in my note pad. Pretty much everyone I know has a few billion dollar ideas.

But so what?

Ideas don’t mean shit.

Ideas on their own never manifest into products or services or startups.

That’s insanity.

When you’re starting out, you don’t need more ideas or better ideas… and as if this theme didn’t come up enough, all you have to do is put in the fucking work. A great idea will never amount to anything with poor execution, but even a shitty idea can be successful with solid execution. Focus on taking action and you’ll be fine.
Your Intention Means Everything

And last but not least, intentions really do matter.

Call it fate, or destiny, or karma, or whatever you want to call it… but having the right intentions when building your startup is more important than we care to admit. And when you’re just starting out, your intention is what will keep you going.

If you’re in it just for the money or because you want to get rich quick, you’ll end up doing whatever it takes (cheating your customers, lying to investors, making false claims) to make it happen. And these types of people are never in business for long.

What’s more, money in itself is not a big enough motivation to get you moving, especially since there won’t be any money coming in for the first year or two.

But when you approach your startup with firm intentions, with a mission that serves a purpose far greater than what any single individual could accomplish on their own, then you are setting yourself up for an adventure where you will do whatever it takes to make those intentions come true. You will be more determined. More excited.

And better equipped to take the first step to making your dreams come true, all because you have chosen yourself to be the one person out there who will finally solve the problem of whatever your intentions are set out to accomplish.

As an example, my personal intention for this blog is to create work (writing, videos, whatever) that will help re-define your greatest potential. It’s a very simple mission.

But it consumes every single aspect of the work that I do. And because I am fully aware and clear of my intention for this work, I’ve been writing for over a year without making any money from this blog. But I really don’t care because I love every second of it. Every time I started a blog for the sake of ‘making money’, I’ve never been able to maintain it for more than a month. Doing your own thing just takes way too much work, and if you’re not excited about your intention for doing it in the first place, then you’ll never have the drive to keep it up in the long-term.

…

If I could go back to a few years ago and do things differently, these are the things I would change. I would make these ideas and philosophies my top priority. I wouldn’t take back being broke.

I wouldn’t want to replace the feeling of having to choose between buying food or keeping the heater on. Of wearing the same clothes and shoes for years on end.

Because those things have made me stronger. A better founder.

More humble. A little less cocky.

The beginning is always the hardest.

And that’s a damn good thing.

Because success will only ever be handed to those who deserve it.

TWELVE THINGS TO REMEMBER

STEPS TO SUCCESS INVESTMENT

Why is Investment Important?

 

“Save for a rainy day” goes a wise old saying. While saving worked in the past, today, you need to invest. If you believe that saving and investing imply the same thing, think again.

While saving is a part of your income that you put away regularly, it does not necessarily provide returns and it can only meet your short-term needs. Investing on the other hand, provides returns and helps you grow your capital, which in turn, will help you fulfil your financial goals.

Now that you are convinced that investing is a ‘must’, getting started is the next challenge. Everyone needs some motivation to get started. It is more tempting to spend what you have today than put it away for the future. Our needs for today seem far more pressing than tomorrow’s. Here are five reasons that will change the way you think and make you more determined to invest:

Be prepared for emergencies:
A sudden medical emergency or unemployment can cause a financial crisis. For instance, do you have the means to provide for your family if you were hit by unforeseen circumstances such as an illness that makes you unable to work, or an accident that immobilizes you? Investing helps you create a financial cushion for your family. Ideally you should have investments to the extent of at least six months’ income at all times. Debt-oriented Unit Linked Insurance Plans (ULIPs) will help you accumulate the funds you need for this purpose.

Financial security:
Your financial security depends on how much you invest and how efficiently you do so. Investments can help you build a corpus so that you can generate a large cash reserve. A large cash reserve means no anxiety about your financial security and more empowerment. Investing regularly in equity-oriented ULIPs over the long term has the potential to help you build a sizeable corpus to fulfil this purpose.

Fulfilling financial goals:
Buying your own home, or a bigger home, buying a new car, your children’s education and their marriage are some goals that are important to you. To fulfil these goals, you need the right type of investment plans. Depending on when the financial goal will come up for fulfilment, you can select investment-oriented insurance plans. For goals that will arise in the near future (say 5-7 years hence) debt-oriented or balanced ULIPs would be suitable. You could also choose investment-oriented traditional plans such as endowment plans which mature at around the time the goal comes up for fulfilment or money back plans which provide funds at fixed intervals of time (these are usually suitable for children’s education needs). For goals that will arise in the distant future (beyond 7 years), equity-oriented ULIPs would be more suitable since these ULIPs have the potential to provide you higher returns over a longer period of time.

Wealth creation:
In order to create wealth you need investment options that add an element of growth to your money. Equity-oriented ULIPs have the potential to help you build your wealth kitty over an investment horizon of 7-10 years and beyond.

Fighting inflation:
Inflation eats away at your savings. With each passing year, prices keep rising. Investments help you protect your capital against price rise. A good way to beat inflation is to park your money in investments that offer returns that are higher than the rate of inflation. Equity-oriented and balanced ULIPs come to the rescue here. Historically, equity investments have given returns that are higher than the inflation rate thereby providing investors real returns (real returns = investment returns minus inflation rate).

    The figure below show how you can invest

Conclusion:
Whether it is planning for your children’s needs or for your own, investing is essential for your future.

MAINTAIN YOUR HAPPY TO DAY

 

     Dear my friends it is my hope that every one would like to be happy always, unfortunately many people lost their happy.
      What is happiness

 Happiness is that feeling that comes over you when you know life is good and you can't help but smile. It's the opposite of sadness.

Happiness is a sense of well-being, joy, or contentment. When people are successful, or safe, or lucky, they feel happiness. The "pursuit of happiness" is something this country is based on, and different people feel happiness for different reasons. Whenever doing something causes happiness, people usually want to do more of it. No one ever complained about feeling too much happiness.
   
ince you only go around in this life once, then why not do what you can to make it a good one? Notice that none of these principles are dependent upon your outward circumstances, but on your inward decision of the heart daily.

The 8 happy Bible verses are below:

1. Proverbs 3:13 – “Happy is the man who finds wisdom, And the man who gains understanding;”

According to Proverbs 9:10, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.” I define the fear of the Lord as honoring, reverencing, and respecting the Lord enough to first pay attention to what He has to say and then to do what He says!

Imagine that you have authority over someone. If that person disobeyed your instructions constantly, would you say that person honored and respected you?

In the Lord’s case, His desire is to work all things together for your good. If you really believed that God’s intentions toward you are good, then why deprive yourself of that good? Obedience is good, even if that obedience may feel uncomfortable to your flesh in the short-term.

The other specification for happiness is knowledge of the Holy One. As you walk with God in your daily life, your relationship with Him deepens. You grow in knowledge of His character, not just His acts. Growing in the knowledge of God is the essence of eternal life that Jesus died to give us.

It always amazes me that the same God who created the Earth, the moon, stars, and mountains wants me and you to know Him personally!

2. Deuteronomy 33:29 – “Happy are you, O Israel! Who is like you, a people saved by the Lord, The shield of your help And the sword of your majesty! Your enemies shall submit to you, And you shall tread down their high places.”

You become happier when you meditate upon your identity in God through Jesus Christ. You have been saved from the wages of sin, which is death. You are no longer a slave to sin.

Sin does not have dominion over you for you are not under law but under God’s grace (see Romans 6:14). God’s grace gives you power to overcome. Hallelujah! Once you believe that you have all power over the enemy through Jesus according to God’s word, then you have power to tear down any “high places” in your life.

In the Bible, the high places were those places used to worship idols. Today, I think of the “high places” as mental strongholds comprised of any thoughts that you have failed to take captive to the obedience of Jesus Christ. I also think of high places as anything in your life that you put before God.

Even something good, like food, can become a high place if you find yourself running to it for safety and comfort rather than running to God.

It is hard to be happy when you feel out of control in any area. But the good news is through the Holy Spirit, you have the fruit of self control. But like any muscle, you need to exercise self control to make it stronger. You can’t just wish for it; you need to work for it. Your recipe for ultimate success is to start with something small and then build upon that.

3. Psalm 146:5 – “Happy is he who has the God of Jacob for his help, Whose hope is in the Lord his God,”

The God of Jacob is a God of blessing! Genesis 32:22-32 records the story of how Jacob wrestled with God and said, “I will not let You go unless You bless me!” Today, we don’t have to wrestle a blessing out of God. God’s blessings are bundled in His word, in His promises.

You are happier when you acknowledge God as the source of your blessing and your help. So you seek God first through effective prayer whenever you experience fear and distress in your life. And you have strong confidence that He will respond to your faith.

4. Proverbs 3:18 – “She is a tree of life to those who take hold of her, And happy are all who retain her.”

The “she” this scripture is talking about is wisdom. Are you sensing a theme here? Scripture says that wisdom is a tree of life. It is ironic to me that the enemy told Eve in the Garden of Eden that eating from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil would make her wise. But the truth was, she already had the source of wisdom available to her – God!

All Eve had to do was ask Him and He would have given it to her, for James 1:5 promises: “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him.”

In the natural, wisdom is the ability to select between 2 or more choices and then take the best course of action. You don’t consider just what you think is good now; you are able to consider the future at the moment of decision.

If you are making unwise choices in any area of your life and you know that, then you cannot be happy. Ask God for wisdom through prayer and He will teach you wisdom.

 5. Proverbs 14:21 – He who despises his neighbor sins; But he who has mercy on the poor, happy is he.

God commands us to love our neighbor as ourselves. In addition, 1 John 4:20 challenges us with a critical question:

    If someone says, ‘I love God,’ and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen?”

 So again, if you have hate in your heart towards anyone, then you are disqualified from being a happy person.

 This scripture says that you can be happier through having mercy on the poor. If you see a person in need and have the resources to help that person, through prayer and/or supplying their material needs, then your care and generosity to them can increase your own happiness.

6. Proverbs 16:20 – He who heeds the word wisely will find good, And whoever trusts in the Lord, happy is he.

Because the Lord magnifies His word above His name (Psalm 138:2), then I believe the highest respect you can give the Lord is to honor and obey His word. Jesus Himself is the Living Word, so you honor Jesus when you abide with Him through hearing and doing the Word.

That is why it is critical that you take time each day to study God’s word, meditate upon it, and do it until it becomes part of you. You are called to renew your inward man day by day and you only do that by renewing your mind through God’s word.

God’s intent for His people is that we bring glory to Him through reflecting His character to others. It is a high calling indeed! Deuteronomy 4:6 says this about God’s word:

    Therefore be careful to observe them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples who will hear all these statutes, and say, ‘Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.’”

 Evidence of trusting in the Lord is obeying the Lord. As Pastor Charles Stanley says, “Obey God and leave all the consequences to Him.”

7. Proverbs 28:14 – Happy is the man who is always reverent, But he who hardens his heart will fall into calamity.

Reverence is a sense of deep respect for the Lord. It is recognizing with humility that you serve One who is greater than yourself. In old movies in which a person entered the presence of the King, they would bow before Him and address Him as “Your Grace.”

I love how someone once defined humility: “Humility is bowing low enough to allow the Lord to work on you.” Specifically, the area God wants to work on is your heart. Scripture says that every issue we have originates in the heart.

Most people don’t want that. They want God to fix their outward circumstances and get them out of pain, while leaving their hearts untouched. Why? Because sometimes God’s heart surgery can hurt!

But that is the very thing you need if you want God to heal your life. Sometimes you can resist doing the thing that you need  to do the most!

If you harden your heart to God’s word and refuse to receive from Him, then your destiny is calamity not happiness.

8. Proverbs 29:18 – Where there is no revelation, the people cast off restraint; But happy is he who keeps the law.

With revelation comes illumination. You need God’s viewpoint on situations because without it, you are left to your own understanding. Your own understanding will most often lead you to acting without any self control, just doing what feels good to you at the moment regardless of future consequences.

So it is wise to ask God for revelation if you lack restraint in any area.

Finally, scripture says that you are happy when you keep the law. Jesus fulfilled every requirement under the old covenant. But Romans 13:10 tells us what we do to keep the law in the new covenant: “Love does no harm to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.”

You are happier when you love people. Again, we are called to love our neighbor as ourselves. So you can only love your neighbor to the degree that you love yourself. And you can only love yourself when you can receive God’s love for you and believe the truth of your identity in Him.

In summary, you can see the pattern for God’s way to happiness. Again, none of these are dependent upon your outward circumstances, but on your inward decision of the heart daily:

Gain wisdom and understanding, which is found in honoring, reverencing, and respecting God; Find your identity in God and trust in Him as your source; tear down high places in your life; exercise natural wisdom and self control; love your neighbor as yourself and show mercy to others; heed God’s word and obey God’s word.

Attend to these principles each day consistently and greater happiness will be yours!

Be blessed in Health, Healing, and Wholeness,

LEARN HOW TO OVERCOME STRESS

1.Indulge in Physical Activity

Stressful situations increase the level of stress hormones such as adrenaline and cortisol in your body.

These are the “fight hormones that evolution has hard-wired into our brains and which are designed to protect us from immediate bodily harm when we are under threat.  However, stress in the modern age is rarely remedied by a fight or flight response, and so physical exercise can be used as a surrogate to metabolize the excessive stress hormones and restore your body and mind to a calmer, more relaxed state.

When you feel stressed and tense, go for a brisk walk in fresh air.  Try to incorporate some physical activity into your daily routine on a regular basis, either before or after work, or at lunchtime.  Regular physical activity will also improve the quality of your sleep.




2 .Get More Sleep

A lack of sleep is a significant cause of stress. Unfortunately though, stress also interrupts our sleep as thoughts keep whirling through our heads, stopping us from relaxing enough to fall asleep.

Rather than relying on medication, your aim should be to maximise your relaxation before going to sleep.  Make sure that your bedroom is a tranquil oasis with no reminders of the things that cause you stress.  Avoid caffeine during the evening, as well as excessive alcohol if you know that this leads to disturbed sleep. Stop doing any mentally demanding work several hours before going to bed so that you give your brain time to calm down. Try taking a warm bath or reading a calming, undemanding book for a few minutes to relax your body, tire your eyes and help you forget about the things that worry you.

You should also aim to go to bed at roughly the same time each day so that your mind and body get used to a predictable bedtime routine.

More on sleep:

    What is Sleep? and How to Sleep - The Importance of Sleep provide more information about how to improve the quality of your sleep.
    You can assess your levels of daytime sleepiness with the Epworth Sleepiness Scale.

3. Try Relaxation Techniques

Each day, try to relax with a stress reduction technique.  There are many tried and tested ways to reduce stress so try a few and see what works best for you.

For example, try self-hypnosis which is very easy and can be done anywhere, even at your desk or in the car. One very simple technique is to focus on a word or phrase that has a positive meaning to you. Words such as "calm" "love" and "peace" work well, or you could think of a self-affirming mantra such as “I deserve calm in my life” or “Grant me serenity”.  Focus on your chosen word or phrase; if you find your mind has wandered or you become aware of intrusive thoughts entering your mind, simply disregard them and return your focus to the chosen word or phrase. If you find yourself becoming tense again later, simply silently repeat your word or phrase.

Don't worry if you find it difficult to relax at first. Relaxation is a skill that needs to be learned and will improve with practice.




4. Talk to Someone

Just talking to someone about how you feel can be helpful.

Talking can work by either distracting you from your stressful thoughts or releasing some of the built-up tension by discussing it.

Stress can cloud your judgement and prevent you from seeing things clearly. Talking things through with a friend, work colleague, or even a trained professional, can help you find solutions to your stress and put your problems into perspective.




5. Keep a Stress Diary

Keeping a stress diary for a few weeks is an effective stress management tool as it will help you become more aware of the situations which cause you to become stressed.

Note down the date, time and place of each stressful episode, and note what you were doing, who you were with, and how you felt both physically and emotionally.  Give each stressful episode a stress rating (on, say, a 1-10 scale) and use the diary to understand what triggers your stress and how effective you are in stressful situations.  This will enable you to avoid stressful situations and develop better coping mechanisms.
6. It is better to Take Control

Stress can be triggered by a problem that may on the surface seem impossible to solve. Learning how to find solutions to your problems will help you feel more in control thereby lowering your level of stress.

One problem-solving technique involves writing down the problem and coming up with as many possible solutions as you can. Decide on the good and bad points of each one and select the best solution. Write down each step that you need to take as part of the solution: what will be done, how will it be done, when will it be done, who is involved and where will it take place.




7. Manage Your Time

At times, we all feel overburdened by our 'To Do' list and this is a common cause of stress. Accept that you can not do everything at once and start to prioritise and diarise your tasks.

Make a list of all the things that you need to do and list them in order of genuine priority. Note what tasks you need to do personally and what can be delegated to others to do. Record which tasks need to be done immediately, in the next week, in the next month, or when time allows.

By editing what might have started out as an overwhelming and unmanageable task list, you can break it down into a series of smaller, more manageable tasks spread out over a longer time frame, with some tasks removed from the list entirely through delegation.

Remember as well to create buffer times to deal with unexpected and emergency tasks, and to include time for your own relaxation and well-being.




8. Learn to Say ‘No’

A common cause of stress is having too much to do and too little time in which to do it.  And yet in this situation, many people will still agree to take on additional responsibility.  Learning to say “No” to additional or unimportant requests will help to reduce your level of stress, and may also help you develop more self-confidence.

To learn to say “No”, you need to understand why you find it difficult.  Many people find it hard to say “No” because they want to help and are trying to be nice and to be liked.  For others, it is a fear of conflict, rejection or missed opportunities.  Remember that these barriers to saying “No” are all self-created.

You might feel reluctant to respond to a request with a straight “No”, at least at first.  Instead think of some pre-prepared phrases to let other people down more gently.  Practice saying phrases such as:

    “I am sorry but I can’t commit to this as I have other priorities at the moment.”                         
    “Now is not a good time as I’m in the middle of something.  Why don’t you ask me again at….?”
    “I’d love to do this, but …”



9. Rest If You Are Ill

If you are feeling unwell, do not feel that you have to carry on regardless. A short spell of rest will enable the body to recover faster.

The history life of PresidentDonald Trump

Trump was born on June 14, 1946, in Jamaica, Queens, a neighborhood in New York City. He was the fourth of five children born to Frederick Christ "Fred" Trump (1905–1999) and Mary Anne Trump (née MacLeod, 1912–2000).[9][10] His siblings are Maryanne, Fred Jr., Elizabeth, and Robert. Trump's older brother Fred Jr. died in 1981 from alcoholism, which Trump says led him to abstain from alcohol and cigarettes.[11]
Ancestry
Trump family coat of arms

Trump is of paternal German ancestry and maternal Scottish ancestry. His mother and all his grandparents were born in Europe. His paternal grandparents were immigrants from Kallstadt, Germany, and his father, who became a New York City real estate developer, was born in the Bronx.[12][13] His mother emigrated to New York from her birthplace of Tong, Lewis, Scotland.[14] Fred and Mary met in New York and married in 1936, raising their family in Queens.[14][15]

His uncle, John G. Trump, a professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology from 1936 to 1973, was involved in radar research for the Allies in the Second World War, and helped design X-ray machines that prolonged the lives of cancer patients; in 1943, the Federal Bureau of Investigation requested John Trump to examine Nikola Tesla's papers and equipment when Tesla died in his room at the New Yorker Hotel.[16] Donald Trump's grandfather was Frederick Trump who amassed a fortune operating boom-town restaurants and boarding houses in the region of Seattle and Klondike, Canada.[17]

The Trump family were originally Lutherans, but Trump's parents belonged to the Reformed Church in America.[18] The family name, which was formerly spelled Drumpf, was changed to Trump during the Thirty Years' War in the 17th century.[19] Trump has said that he is proud of his German heritage and served as grand marshal of the 1999 German-American Steuben Parade in New York City.[20]

Education
 
A black-and-white photograph of Donald Trump as a teenager, smiling and wearing a dark uniform with various badges and a light-colored stripe crossing his right shoulder. This image was taken while Trump was in the New York Military Academy in 1964.
Trump at age 18 at the New York Military Academy, June 30, 1964

Trump's family had a two-story mock Tudor home on Midland Parkway in Jamaica Estates, where he lived while attending The Kew-Forest School.[21][22] He left the school at age 13 and was enrolled in the New York Military Academy (NYMA),[23] in Cornwall, New York, where he finished eighth grade and high school. Trump was an energetic child; his parents hoped that the discipline at the military school would allow him to channel his energy in a positive manner. In 1983, Fred Trump told an interviewer that Donald "was a pretty rough fellow when he was small".[24]

Trump participated in marching drills, wore a uniform, and during his senior year attained the rank of captain. He was transferred from a student command position after the alleged hazing of a new freshman in his barracks by one of Trump's subordinates; Trump later described the transfer as "a promotion".[25] In 2015, he told a biographer that NYMA gave him "more training militarily than a lot of the guys that go into the military".[26]

Trump attended Fordham University in the Bronx for two years, beginning in August 1964. He then transferred to the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, which offered one of the few real estate studies departments in United States academia at the time.[27][28] While there, he worked at the family's company, Elizabeth Trump & Son, named for his paternal grandmother.[29] He graduated from Penn in May 1968 with a Bachelor of Science degree in economics.[28][30][31]

Trump was not drafted during the Vietnam War.[32] While in college from 1964 to 1968, he obtained four student deferments.[33] In 1966, he was deemed fit for service based upon a military medical examination, and in 1968 was briefly classified as fit by a local draft board, but was given a 1-Y medical deferment in October 1968.[34] In an interview for a 2015 biography, he attributed his medical deferment to heel spurs.[26] In 1969, he received a high number in the draft lottery, which would also have exempted him from service.[34][35][36]

Business career
Main articles: Business career of Donald Trump and The Trump Organization
Real estate
View of the jagged facade of the Trump Tower in New York City.

Trump Tower's distinctive jagged facade in Midtown Manhattan

Prior to graduating from college, Trump began his real estate career at his father's company,[37] Elizabeth Trump and Son,[38] which focused on middle-class rental housing in the New York City boroughs of Brooklyn, Queens, and Staten Island. During his undergraduate study, Donald Trump and his father, Fred Trump, used a $500,000 investment to successfully reopen the foreclosed Swifton Village apartment complex in Cincinnati, Ohio.[39]

After being promoted to president of the company in the early 1970s (while his father became chairman of the board), he renamed it to The Trump Organization.[40][41] In 1973, he and his father drew wider attention when the Justice Department contended that the organization systematically discriminated against African Americans wishing to rent apartments, rather than merely screening out people based on low income as the Trumps stated. An agreement was later signed in which the Trumps made no admission of wrongdoing, and under which qualified minority applicants would be presented by the Urban League.[42][43]

Early Manhattan developments

Trump's first major real estate deal in Manhattan was the remodeling of the Grand Hyatt Hotel in 1978, located next to Grand Central Terminal. The building was remodeled from an older Commodore Hotel, and was largely funded by a $70 million construction loan jointly guaranteed by Fred Trump and the Hyatt hotel chain.[44][45]

In 1978, Trump finished negotiations to develop Trump Tower, a 58-story, 202-meter (663-foot) skyscraper in Midtown Manhattan, for which The New York Times attributed his "persistence" and "skills as a negotiator".[46] The building was completed in 1983, and houses both the primary penthouse condominium residence of Donald Trump and the headquarters of The Trump Organization.[47][48] Trump Tower was the setting of the NBC television show The Apprentice, and includes a fully functional television studio set.[49]
An outdoor skating rink with many people on the rink. There are skyscrapers in the background. This is the Wollman Rink in Central Park.
Wollman Rink in Central Park

Repairs on the Wollman Rink in Central Park, built in 1955, were started in 1980 by a general contractor unconnected to Trump. Despite an expected  2 1⁄2-year construction schedule, the repairs were not completed by 1986. Trump took over the project, completed it in three months for $750,000 less than the initial budget of $1.95 million, and operated the rink for one year with all profits going to charity in exchange for the rink's concession rights.[50]

Trump acquired the Plaza Hotel in Manhattan in 1988 for $400 million, and tapped his then-wife Ivana to manage its operation and renovation.[51]
Palm Beach estate
Main article: Mar-a-Lago

Trump acquired the historical Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, in 1985 for $5 million, plus $3 million for the home's furnishings. In addition to using the home as a winter retreat, Trump also turned it into a private club with membership fees of $150,000. At about the same time, he acquired a condominium complex in Palm Beach with Lee Iacocca that became Trump Plaza of the Palm Beaches.[52]
Atlantic City casinos

Harrah's at Trump Plaza opened in Atlantic City, New Jersey in 1984. The hotel/casino was built by Trump with financing by Holiday Corp.[53] and operated by the Harrah's gambling unit of Holiday Corp. The casino's poor results exacerbated disagreements between Trump and Holiday Corp.[54] Trump also acquired a partially completed building in Atlantic City from the Hilton Corporation for $320 million. When completed in 1985, the hotel/casino became Trump Castle. Trump's wife, Ivana, managed the property.[55]
The entrance of the Trump Taj Mahal, a casino in Atlantic City. It has motifs evocative of the Taj Mahal in India.
Entrance of the Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City
Later in 1988, Trump acquired the Taj Mahal casino in Atlantic City in a transaction with Merv Griffin and Resorts International.[56] The casino was opened in April 1990, and was built at a total cost of $1.1 billion, which at the time made it the most expensive casino ever built.[57][58] Financed with $675 million in junk bonds[59] at a 14% interest rate, the project entered Chapter 11 bankruptcy the following year.[60] Banks and bondholders, facing potential losses of hundreds of millions of dollars, opted to restructure the debt.

The Taj Mahal emerged from bankruptcy on October 5, 1991, with Trump ceding 50 percent ownership in the casino to the bondholders in exchange for lowered interest rates and more time to pay off the debt.[61] He also sold his financially challenged Trump Shuttle airline and his 282-foot (86 m) megayacht, the Trump Princess.[59][62][63] The property was repurchased in 1996 and consolidated into Trump Hotels & Casino Resorts, which filed for bankruptcy in 2004 with $1.8 billion in debt, filing again for bankruptcy five years later with $50 million in assets and $500 million in debt. The restructuring ultimately left Trump with 10% ownership in the Trump Taj Mahal and other Trump casino properties.[63] Trump served as chairman of the organization, which was renamed Trump Entertainment Resorts, from mid-1995 until early 2009, and served as CEO from mid-2000 to mid-2005.[64]

During the 1990s, Trump's casino ventures faced competition of the Native-American owned Foxwoods casino in Connecticut. In 1993, Trump made controversial comments in his testimony to a Congressional committee, famously stating that the casino owners did not look like real Indians.[65][66] But despite that well-publicized quote which related to the Mashantucket Pequot Tribe, Trump became a key investor who backed the Paucatuck Eastern Pequots who were seeking state recognition.[67]
 
Bankruptcies
Main article: Legal affairs of Donald Trump § Use of bankruptcy laws

Trump has never filed for personal bankruptcy, but his hotel and casino businesses have been declared bankrupt six times between 1991 and 2009 in order to re-negotiate debt with banks and owners of stock and bonds.[68][69] Because the businesses used Chapter 11 bankruptcy, they were allowed to operate while negotiations proceeded. Trump was quoted by Newsweek in 2011 saying, "I do play with the bankruptcy laws – they're very good for me" as a tool for trimming debt.[70][71]

The six bankruptcies were the result of over-leveraged hotel and casino businesses in Atlantic City and New York: Trump Taj Mahal (1991), Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino (1992), Plaza Hotel (1992), Trump Castle Hotel and Casino (1992), Trump Hotels and Casino Resorts (2004), and Trump Entertainment Resorts (2009).[72][73][74] Trump said, "I've used the laws of this country to pare debt ... We'll have the company. We'll throw it into a chapter. We'll negotiate with the banks. We'll make a fantastic deal. You know, it's like on The Apprentice. It's not personal. It's just business."[60]

An analysis of Trump's business career by The Economist in 2016, concludes that his "... performance [from 1985 to 2016] has been mediocre compared with the stock market and property in New York", noting both his successes and bankruptcies.[75] A subsequent analysis by The Washington Post, whose reporters were denied press credentials by the Trump presidential campaign, concluded that "Trump is a mix of braggadocio, business failures, and real success."[76]
 

Further developments
Trump International Hotel and Tower in Vancouver

Trump acquired an old, vacant office building on Wall Street in Manhattan in 1996. After a complete renovation, it became the seventy-story Trump Building at 40 Wall Street.[77] After his father died in 1999, Trump and his siblings received equal portions of his father's estate valued at $250–300 million.[78]

In 2001, Trump completed Trump World Tower, a 72-story residential tower across from the United Nations Headquarters.[79] Trump also began construction on Trump Place, a multi-building development along the Hudson River. He continued to own commercial space in Trump International Hotel and Tower, a 44-story mixed-use (hotel and condominium) tower on Columbus Circle which he acquired in 1996,[80] and also continued to own millions of square feet of other prime Manhattan real estate.[81]

Trump acquired the former Hotel Delmonico in Manhattan in 2002. It was re-opened with 35 stories of luxury condominiums in 2004 as the Trump Park Avenue.[82]

Most recently, The Trump Organization has expanded its footprint beyond the United States, with the co-development and management of hotel towers in Chicago, Honolulu, Las Vegas, New York City, Washington D.C., Panama City, Rio de Janeiro, Toronto and Vancouver.
Name licensing

Trump has licensed his name and image for the development of a number of real estate projects including two in Florida that have gone into foreclosure.[83] The Turkish owner of Trump Towers Istanbul, who pays Trump for the use of his name, was reported in December 2015 to be exploring legal means to dissociate the property after the candidate's call to temporarily ban Muslims from entering the United States.[84]

Trump also licensed his name to son-in-law Jared Kushner's fifty-story Trump Bay Street, a Jersey City luxury development that has raised $50 million of its $200 million capitalization largely from wealthy Chinese nationals who, after making an initial down payment of $500,000 in concert with the government's expedited EB-5 visa program, can usually obtain United States permanent residency for themselves and their families after two years.[85] Trump is a partner with Kushner Properties only in name licensing and not in the building's financing.[85]
Golf courses
A wide, sprawling golf course. In the background is the Turnberry Hotel, a two-story hotel with white façade and a red roof. This picture was taken in Ayrshire, Scotland.
A view of the Turnberry Hotel, in Ayrshire, Scotland

The Trump Organization operates many golf courses and resorts in the United States and around the world. The number of golf courses that Trump owns or manages is about 18, according to Golfweek.[86] Trump's personal financial disclosure with the Federal Elections Commission stated that his golf and resort revenue for the year 2015 was roughly $382 million.[87][88]

In 2006, Trump bought the Menie Estate in Balmedie, Aberdeenshire, Scotland, creating a golf resort against the wishes of some local residents[89] on an area designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest.[90][91] A 2011 independent documentary, You've Been Trumped, by British filmmaker Anthony S. Baxter, chronicled the golf resort's construction and the subsequent struggles between the locals and Trump.[92] Despite Trump's promises of 6,000 jobs, in 2016, by his own admission, the golf course has created only 200 jobs.[93] In June 2015, Trump made an appeal objecting to an offshore windfarm being built within sight of the golf course,[94] which was dismissed by five justices at the UK Supreme Court in December 2015.[95]

In April 2014, Trump purchased the Turnberry hotel and golf resort in Ayrshire, Scotland, which is a regular fixture in the Open Championship rota.[96][97] After extensive renovations and a remodeling of the course by golf architect Martin Ebert, Turnberry was re-opened on June 24, 2016.[98]
Other ventures
Sports events
Trump at a baseball game in 2009. He is wearing a baseball cap and sitting amid a large crowd, behind a protective net.
Trump at a baseball game in 2009

In September 1983, Trump purchased the New Jersey Generals, an American Football team playing in the United States Football League (USFL), from oil magnate J. Walter Duncan. The USFL played its first three seasons during the spring and summer, but Trump convinced the majority of the owners of other USFL teams to move the USFL 1986 schedule to the fall, directly opposite the National Football League (NFL), arguing that it would eventually force a merger with the NFL, which would supposedly increase their investment significantly.[99]

After the 1985 season, the Generals merged with the Houston Gamblers, but had continuing financial troubles. The USFL, which was down to just seven active franchises from a high of 18, was soon forced to fold, despite winning an antitrust lawsuit against the NFL.[100]

Trump remained involved with other sports after the Generals folded, operating golf courses in several countries.[100] He also hosted several boxing matches in Atlantic City at the Trump Plaza, including Mike Tyson's 1988 fight against Michael Spinks, and at one time, acted as a financial advisor to Tyson.[100][101][102]

In 1989 and 1990, Trump lent his name to the Tour de Trump cycling stage race, which was an attempt to create an American equivalent of European races such as the Tour de France or the Giro d'Italia. The inaugural race was controversial, and Trump withdrew his sponsorship after the second Tour de Trump in 1990, because his other business ventures were experiencing financial woes. The race continued for several more years as the Tour DuPont.[103][104]

Trump submitted a stalking-horse bid on the Buffalo Bills when it came up for sale following Ralph Wilson's death in 2014; he was ultimately outbid, as he expected, and Kim and Terrence Pegula won the auction.[105] During his 2016 presidential run, he was critical of the NFL's updated concussion rules, complaining on the campaign trail that the game has been made "soft" and "weak", saying a concussion is just "a ding on the head." He accused referees of throwing penalty flags needlessly just to be seen on television "so their wives see them at home."[106]
Beauty pageants
Further information: Miss USA, Miss Universe, and Miss Teen USA

From 1996 until 2015,[107] Trump owned part or all of the Miss Universe, Miss USA, and Miss Teen USA beauty pageants. The Miss Universe pageant was founded in 1952 by the California clothing company Pacific Mills.[108] Trump was dissatisfied with how CBS scheduled his pageants, and took both Miss Universe and Miss USA to NBC in 2002.[109][110]

In 2006, Miss USA winner Tara Conner tested positive for cocaine, but Trump let her keep the crown, for the sake of giving her a second chance.[111] That decision by Trump was criticized by Rosie O'Donnell, which led to a feud in which Trump and O'Donnell exchanged public criticisms.[112] In 2012, Trump won a $5 million arbitration award against a contestant who said the show was rigged.[113]

In 2015, NBC and Univision both ended their business relationships with the Miss Universe Organization after Trump's controversial 2015 presidential campaign remarks about Mexican illegal immigrants.[114][115] Trump subsequently filed a $500 million lawsuit against Univision, alleging a breach of contract and defamation.[116][117]

On September 11, 2015, Trump announced that he had become the sole owner of the Miss Universe Organization by purchasing NBC's stake and that he had "settled" his lawsuits against the network,[118] though it was unclear whether Trump had yet filed lawsuits against NBC.[119] He sold his own interests in the pageant shortly afterwards to WME/IMG.[107] The $500 million lawsuit against Univision was settled in February 2016, but terms of the settlement were not disclosed.[120]
Trump Model Management

In 1999, Trump founded a modeling company, Trump Model Management, which operates in the SoHo neighborhood of Lower Manhattan.[121] Together with another Trump company, Trump Management Group LLC, Trump Model Management has brought nearly 250 foreign fashion models into the United States to work in the fashion industry since 2000.[122] In 2014, president of Trump Model Management Corrine Nicolas, other managers, and the company were sued by one of the agency's former models, Alexia Palmer, alleging racketeering, breach of contract, mail fraud, and violating immigrant wage laws.[123] Palmer alleged that Trump Model Management promised to withhold only 20% of her net pay as agency expenses, but after charging her for "obscure expenses", ended up taking 80%.[124] The case was dismissed from U.S. federal court in March 2016 in part because Palmer was a Jamaican immigrant on a H1-B visa sponsored by Trump, and accordingly was required to file labor complaints through a separate process.[124][125]
Trump University
Main article: Trump University

Trump University LLC was an American for-profit education company that ran a real estate training program from 2005 until at least 2010.[126] After multiple lawsuits, it is now defunct. It was founded by Trump and his associates, Michael Sexton and Jonathan Spitalny, and offered courses, charging between $1,500 and $35,000 per course.[127][128] In 2005 the operation was notified by New York State authorities that its use of the word "university" violated state law, and after a second such notification in 2010, the name of the company was changed to the "Trump Entrepreneurial Institute".[129] Trump was also found personally liable for failing to obtain a business license for the operation.[130]

In 2013 the state of New York filed a $40 million civil suit claiming that Trump University made false claims and defrauded consumers.[129][131] In addition, two class-action civil lawsuits were filed in federal court relating to Trump University; they named Trump personally as well as his companies.[132] During the presidential campaign, Trump repeatedly criticized judge Gonzalo P. Curiel who oversaw those two cases, alleging bias because of his Mexican heritage.[133][134][135] On June 7, 2016, Trump clarified that his concerns about Curiel's impartiality were not based upon ethnicity alone, but also upon rulings in the case.[136][137]

The Low v. Trump case was set for trial in San Diego beginning November 28, 2016.[138] Shortly after Trump won the presidency, the parties agreed to a settlement of all three pending cases. In the settlement, Trump did not admit to any wrongdoing but agreed to pay a total of $25 million.[139][140] The settlement was agreed to just an hour before a hearing regarding Trump's latest request to delay the trial until after the inauguration. Jason Forge, the attorney for the plaintiffs, said he "definitely detected a change of tone and change of approach" from the Trump representatives after the election.[141]
Foundation
Main article: Donald J. Trump Foundation

The Donald J. Trump Foundation is a U.S.-based private foundation[142] established in 1988 for the initial purpose of giving away proceeds from the book Trump: The Art of the Deal by Trump and Tony Schwartz.[143][144] The foundation's funds have mostly come from donors other than Trump,[145] who has not given personally to the charity since 2008.[145] In 2016, investigations by The Washington Post uncovered several potential legal and ethical violations conducted by the charity, including alleged self-dealing and possible tax evasion.[146] After beginning an investigation into the foundation, the New York State Attorney General's office notified the Trump Foundation that it was allegedly in violation of New York laws regarding charities, and ordered it to immediately cease its fundraising activities in New York.[147][148][149] A Trump spokesman called the investigation a "partisan hit job".[147]

The foundation's tax returns show that it has given to health care and sports-related charities, as well as conservative groups.[150] In 2009, for example, the foundation gave $926,750 to about 40 groups, with the biggest donations going to the Arnold Palmer Medical Center Foundation ($100,000), the New York–Presbyterian Hospital ($125,000), the Police Athletic League ($156,000), and the Clinton Foundation ($100,000).[151][152] From 2004 to 2014, the top donors to the foundation were Vince and Linda McMahon of WWE, who donated $5 million to the foundation after Trump appeared at WrestleMania in 2007.[145] After winning the presidency, Trump announced his intention to give Linda McMahon a cabinet-level position in his administration, as Administrator of the Small Business Administration.[153]
Branding and licensing
Main article: List of things named after Donald Trump

Trump has marketed his name on a large number of building projects as well as commercial products and services, achieving mixed success doing so for himself, his partners, and investors in the projects.[154][155][nb 1] In 2011, Forbes' financial experts estimated the value of the Trump brand at $200 million. Trump disputed this valuation, saying his brand was worth about $3 billion.[174]

Many developers pay Trump to market their properties and to be the public face for their projects.[175] For that reason, Trump does not own some buildings that display his name.[175] According to Forbes, this portion of Trump's empire, actually run by his children, is by far his most valuable, having a $562 million valuation, with 33 licensing projects under development including seven Trump International Hotel and Tower "condo hotels".
Income and taxes
See also: § General election campaign

Pursuant to the FEC regulations, Trump published a 92-page financial disclosure form listing all his assets, liabilities, income sources and hundreds of business positions.[87] According to a July 2015 campaign press release, Trump's income for the year 2014 was $362 million.[176] However, Trump has repeatedly declined to publicly release any of his full tax returns, citing a pending IRS audit, despite such an audit not prohibiting him from releasing his current or past tax returns.[177][178] In doing so, Trump broke nearly 45 years of precedent of candidates for the general election releasing their tax returns to the American public.[179]

In October 2016, it was revealed that Trump had claimed a loss of $916 million on his 1995 tax returns. As net operating losses from one year can be applied to offset income from future years, this loss allowed him to reduce or eliminate his taxable income during the eighteen-year carry forward period.[180] Trump acknowledged using the deduction but declined to provide details such as the specific years it was applied.[181]

The New York Times found that some accountants considered Trump's tax deduction methods in the early 1990s "legally dubious."[182] Independent tax experts stated that "Whatever loophole existed was not 'exploited' here, but stretched beyond any recognition" and that it involved "sleight of hand", further speculating that Trump's casino bankruptcies were probably related to Trump's 1995 reported loss.[183]
Net worth

Trump was listed on the initial Forbes List of wealthy individuals in 1982 as having an estimated $200 million fortune, including a share of his father's estimated $200 million net worth.[184] He was absent from the list from 1990 to 1995 following losses which reportedly obliged him to borrow from his siblings' trusts in 1993.[184] Trump told campaign audiences he began his career with "a small loan of one million dollars" from his father, which he paid back with interest.[185]
A tall rectangular-shaped tower in Las Vegas with exterior windows shimmering with 24-karat gold. It is a sunny day and the building is higher than many of the surrounding buildings, which are also towers. There are mountains in the background. This tower is called the Trump Hotel Las Vegas.
Trump Hotel Las Vegas, with 24-karat gold infused glass[186]

On June 16, 2015, when announcing his candidacy, Trump released a one-page financial summary stating a net worth of $8,737,540,000.[187] "I'm really rich", he said.[188] Forbes believed his suggestion of $9 billion was "a whopper", figuring it was actually $4.1 billion.[189] The summary statement includes $3.3 billion worth of "real estate licensing deals, brand and branded developments", putting a figure on Trump's estimate of his own brand value.[190] The July 2015 FEC disclosure reports assets worth above $1.4 billion and debts above $265 million. According to Bloomberg, Trump "only reported revenue for [his] golf properties in his campaign filings even though the disclosure form asks for income", whereas independent filings showed his European golf properties to be unprofitable.[191]

After Trump made controversial remarks about illegal immigrants in 2015, he lost business contracts with NBCUniversal, Univision, Macy's, Serta, PVH Corporation, and Perfumania, which Forbes estimated negatively impacted his net worth by $125 million.[192] The value of the Trump brand may have fallen further during his presidential campaign, as some consumers boycotted Trump-branded products and services to protest his candidacy.[193] Bookings and foot traffic at Trump-branded properties fell off sharply in 2016,[194][195] and the release of the Access Hollywood tape recordings in October 2016 exacerbated this.[196] After winning the election, however, his subjective brand value rebounded sharply.[197]

In their 2016 annual billionaires' rankings, Forbes estimated Trump's net worth at $4.5 billion (113th in the United States, 324th in the world)[3] and Bloomberg at $3 billion,[191] making him one of the richest politicians in American history. Trump himself stated that his net worth was over $10 billion,[176] with the discrepancy essentially stemming from the uncertain value of appraised property and of his personal brand.[191][198]

THE HISTORY OF DR. JOHN POMBE MAGUFULI

THE HISTORY OF  DR. JOHN POMBE MAGUFULI CV

DR John Pombe Joseph Magufuli was born on October 29, 1959. He holds a PhD in Chemistry from University of Dar es Salaam.He has been a Member of Parliament (MP) for three terms, that is 2010 - 2015, 2005 - 2010 and 2000 - 2005 and has been a member of the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) since 1977.
He has held various ministerial positions and currently is serving as the Minister of Works, the position he took up since May 4, 2012 until October 30, 2015 Other ministries he has served are Fisheries and Livestock Development, Lands, Housing and Human Settlement Development.He had also worked as the Deputy Minister for Works. Dr Magufuli started his education at Chato Primary School from 1967 to 1984 and went on to Katoke Seminary in Biharamulo for his secondary education from 1975 to 1977 before relocating to Lake Secondary School in 1977 and completing in 1978.He joined Mkwawa High School for his A levels in 1979 and completed 1981 and that same year he joined Mkwawa College of Education for a Diploma in Education (Sc.) Chemistry, Mathematics and Education.In 1985 he was enrolled at the University of Dar es Salaam where he graduated and earned a B.Sc Ed. (Hons) in Chemistry and Mathematics in 1988 and went to earn a Masters Degree in Chemistry from both the Universities of Dar es Salaam and Salford in the UK in 1994. He currently holds a PhD in Chemistry from the University of Dar es Salaam.Dr Magufuli has also held various posts and he is currently the also Co-chair World Urban Forum with UN-HABITAT (III) since 2006 and a member of Tanzania Chemical Society from 1993 to date.He has authored various publications including: Mulokozi A. M.; Akwilapo, L.D.: Buchweishaija, J.; Magufuli J. P., and Kyobe, J. Securing the Mechanism of the Decomposition of CaCO3 by the Thermodynamics of the Reaction¿, East and Southern Africa Environmental Chemistry Workshop, pp 71-83, 1st 5th December 2003, Dar es Salaam.Magufuli, J. P., Funding requirements for the EAC Road network project the East African Community Roads Development partners Consultative meeting 29th  30th April, 2003 Arusha Tanzania.30 Apr 2003 Magufuli, J. P., (MP) PIARC First Delegate and Minister for Works of the United Republic of Tanzania.¿ Access to Mobility a basic Social Service, Special Trunk Roads project, Design and Build Tanzania model, XXIInd World Road Congress, 25 October, 2003 Durban, South Africa. 25 Oct 2003 Mulokozi, A. M., Kyobe, Magufuli, J. P. and R. Whitehead.A New Rate Equation for Solid State Decompositions and its application to the Decomposition of CaCo3. TCS Inaug.Conf. Proc., 11 - 16 July, 1999, p162 - 183. 16 July 1999 Magufuli, J. P., Background of the Mtwara Development Corridor Meeting of the head of States from Malawi, Tanzania, Zambia and Mozambique during the Rounding of the Mtwara Development Corridor, 15 December, 2004, Lilongwe Malawi.Africanjam is website that came into service December 2013(with another domain) and on April 2014 the new domain Africanjam(dot)com came into use. It was found by John Kapela who is currently in Dar es Salaam Tanzania. This site provides news from Africa and all over the world in Politics, Sports, Entertainment as well as Technology tips and some Amazing Facts. We also provide Football updates from all over the world. Visit this site everyday for being in touch with everything happening in Africa and the whole world.
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THE OUTLOOK FOR THE GROWTH OF ECONOMIC TO SOME OF NATIONS IN THE WORLD

Global: View from the Top

Goldman Sachs’ Chief Economist Jan Hatzius expects global growth will accelerate to the top end of the 3%-3.5% range that’s prevailed for the past five years, largely driven by a positive impulse from financial conditions in the US and parts of the emerging world.

US: Under New Management

With the US economy already at full employment, Goldman Sachs Research’s Jan Hatzius sees above-trend growth and potential fiscal stimulus causing a modest overheating in 2017 and 2018, putting upward pressure on inflation, interest rates and the dollar.

Europe: Fiscal Policy at the Helm

European economies will continue “muddling through” in 2017, with 1.4% growth driven almost entirely by fiscal stimulus. GS Research’s chief European economist Huw Pill says these modest gains won’t be sufficient to address the institutional and structural weaknesses that have kept Europe locked in a low-growth range.
China: A Balancing Act

Goldman Sachs Research’s Andrew Tilton expects continued fiscal and credit stimulus in support of a 6.5% GDP growth target, adding to the tension between China’s near-term growth goals and longer-term financial imbalances and risks.

Asia: Deceleration Meets New Domestic Growth Stories

China will remain the growth engine for emerging Asia in 2017 albeit growing at a slower rate, says Goldman Sachs Research’s Chief Asia-Pacific Economist Andrew Tilton, with potential for additional gains from productivity improvements in India, Indonesia and the Philippines.

SAMSUNG MAKING BETTER

Samsung profit estimate surges despite Note 7 battery fiasco

    6 January 2017

    From the section BusinessSamsung Electronics has reported a 50% profit surge in its guidance for the fourth quarter despite the fiasco with its flagship Note 7 phone.

The earnings estimate is higher than analysts predicted and would mark its highest quarterly profit since 2013.

In October, the world's largest smartphone maker had to scrap the Note 7 after batteries caught fire and even replacement devices went up in smoke.

The strong results are due to Samsung's semiconductor and display businesses.

The South Korean tech giant said it expected to post 9.2tn won ($7.8bn, £6.2bn) in operating profit for the months from September to December.

"When you look at the headlines over the last couple of months it's always been about exploding batteries and doom for Samsung," Bryan Ma, technology consultant with IDC told the BBC.

"But we've got to keep in mind that that's not their only business - what's really driving these earnings is strong demand for memory and displays. And they are really, really profitable businesses."
Note 7 profit hit

In an earlier profit forecast for the fourth quarter, Samsung had said it expected the Note 7 recall would mean a $2.1bn hit to their profits.

The company first issued a recall for the Galaxy Note 7 in September following complaints about exploding batteries.
Image copyright Brian Green
Image caption This Samsung phone led to a flight being evacuated

After replacement devices deemed safe were also found to overheat and catch fire, the company scrapped the phone entirely.

"Yet the end of the day, what happened with the Note 7 - as painful as it was - bounced right off of Samsung because all their other business helped offset it," Mr Ma said.

Samsung said that it will "very soon" share details of its inquiry into the cause of the Note 7 problems.

The company will disclose a detailed earnings release for the quarter in late January which will give more insights into the performance of its individual businesses.

MJENGO WA KISASA CHUO KIKUU CHA AFYA MHIMBIRI

Indian actor Om Puri dies aged 66

Indian actor Om Puri dies aged 66

   Veteran Indian actor Om Puri, star of British hit East is East, has died aged 66, a family member told the BBC.

Puri suffered a heart attack at his residence in Mumbai early on Friday, reports say.

Om Puri, who acted in both mainstream and art films, was known for his gritty performances in a number of landmark Indian films in the 1980s.

He also appeared in the British TV series Jewel in the Crown and the film City of Joy.

Puri was awarded an honorary OBE for his contribution to the British film industry in 2004.

He was known for his performances in critically acclaimed films like Ardh Satya and Paar and the satirical Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro.

Puri also worked in a number of foreign films, including The Reluctant Fundamentalist, East is East, and most recently in The Hundred-Foot Journey.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's office led the tributes to the actor:

DIAMOND PLATNUMZ KUIMBA NYIMBO ZA INJILI 2017?

MWANAMUZIKI MASHUHURI Diamond Platnumz KUIMBA NYIMBO ZA INJILI 

Hili ni swali nimeulizwa na kijana mmoja akihoji je, kunasiku inaweza kutokea Mwana muziki maarufu huyu kuimba nyimbo za injili? 

Jibu lake ni rahisi sana ni ndiyo inawezekana kwani kuwa msanii hakumzuii msanii huyo kumtumikia Mungu, tujifunze kwa Pastor emmanuel Mgaya  (Msanja mkandamizaji ) yeye ni msanii na bado ni mhubiri wa injili .

 

MCHEZAJI WA SOKA CHIPUKIZI TOKA NIGERIA ANUNULIWA NA Leicester City kwa £ 15m.

Leicester City kumchukua mchezaji wa Nigeria Wilfred Ndidi

    Saa 6 zilizopita

 Ndidi aliwasaidia Genk kufika hata ya muondoano Europa League

Leicester City wanatarajiwa kumnunua kiungo wa kati wa klabu ya Genk ya Ublegiji Wilfred Ndidi kwa £15m.

Klabu hizo tayari zimeafikiana kuhusu kuhama kwake na kilichosalia pekee ni kibali chake cha kufanyia kazi Uingereza.

Chipukizi hiyo wa miaka 20 kutoka Nigeria atatia saini mkataba wa miaka mitano unusu atakapokamilisha uhamisho wake.

Leicester, kwenye tovuti yao, wamethibitisha kwamba klabu hizo zimeafikiana na kwamba Ndidi amefanyiwa uchunguzi wa kimatibabu.

    Arsenal wapewa Bayern Munich Ligi ya Mabingwa

"Ndidi anatarajiwa kukamilisha utaratibu wa kuhamia kamili Leicester City baadaye wiki hii."

Ndidi aliwasaidia Genk kumaliza wa kwanza kundi lao la Europa League msimu huu na kufuzu kwa hatua ya muondoano.

SERIKALI YA NIGERIA KUTOA POSHO YA KILA MWEZI KWA RAIA WAKE

Nigeria yaanza kuwapatia fedha raia masikini

    3 Januari 2017

 Serikali ya Nigeria imeanza kusambaza mpango mpya wa kuwapa fedha za kila mwezi, watu milioni moja maskini na wasiojiweza katika jamii.

Serikali ya Nigeria imeanza kusambaza mpango mpya wa kuwapa fedha za kila mwezi, watu milioni moja maskini na wasiojiweza katika jamii.

Hatua ya kwanza ya kutolewa kwa mshahara huo, ambapo kila mtu atapokea dola 16 kwa mwezi, imeanza katika majimbo tisa kati ya majimbo 16 nchini Nigeria.

Kabla hajachaguliwa kuongoza Nigeria mwaka 2015, Rais Muhammadu Buhari, aliahidi kutokomeza umaskini na kukabiliana na ufisadi.

Lakini, wasiwasi juu ya ufanisi wa mpango huo, ni kwamba hamna tarakimu ya sasa ya idadi nzima ya watu wote wa Nigeria.

Inakisiwa kuwa taifa hilo lenye idadi kubwa zaidi ya watu barani Afrika lina zaidi ya watu milioni 170.

Uchumi wa Nigeria umeporomoka pakubwa baada ya kuanguka kwa bei ya mafuta duniani.
      Chanzo cha habari BBC

HOW TO FIND OUT MARKET FOR YOUR PRODUCT

Create a Sales Plan
First, define your market as accurately as possible so you have a deeper understanding of exactly who you're selling to. For example, instead of all women, it may be working women with above-average incomes and kids under age 5. Instead of all men, it may be divorced men in their 40s with six-figure salaries. The more specific you get, the more accurately you'll be able to target your sales and marketing efforts, choosing the sales channels most receptive to your product.

Next, you'll need to develop a sales plan. Before you groan, "Another plan," understand this can be a simple document for your eyes only that'll help you organize and think through your sales strategy. Write it in a way that makes sense for you. Typically, it should include the following:

    Sales goals: These goals should be specific and measurable, not something like selling a million units. Base them on the nature of your product and try to break them down into manageable parts. For example, sell 50 units to end-users in 30 days and sell 100 units to local independent retailers in six months.
    Sales activities: These are your tactics--how you plan to make the sale. You may say you'll sell direct-to-consumer through a website or via craft shows, for instance. Or this part of the plan may include activities like developing a sell sheet to send to independent retail stores.
    Target accounts: Your sales plan should also include the accounts you want to sell to. If it's end-users, for example, plan how you're going to reach them through eBay, classified ads or your website.
    Timelines: Put dates to all of the above elements so you can define your steps within a realistic timeline. Don't forget that your timelines should be fluid--if you're underachieving, your sales plan can help you figure out why and define the corrective steps you need to take.

Finally, follow a proven process for growing sales over time. While it would be fabulous to have Wal-Mart carry your product right out of the gate, it may not be realistic. Most large retailers want to see a track record of successful sales before agreeing to take on a new product.


Build Your Market
To learn how to bring a product to market, begin by selling directly to end-users. This'll give you confidence that there's demand for your product and will also create referenceable customers that you can contact for product and packaging feedback before you hit the bigger leagues. So where can you reach your end-users?

The web is one highly effective channel, and you can reach your market through your own website or via a site like eBay. You can also tap into your own personal network as you begin. Host a home party to share your product with friends and friends-of-friends, sell through local community groups and e-mail your network.

Once you get feedback directly from your customers, refine the packaging and price point before approaching your next market--wholesalers. You'll probably start with small, independently owned, local stores. It's a good idea to start with them before hitting larger chain stores because it's easier to get in touch with the direct decision-maker, and they're more inclined to take on new, unique or hard-to-find items to differentiate themselves from larger stores. To sell to these retailers, be prepared and bring a product sell sheet, photos, product samples (if possible) and a succinct introductory letter to explain what's in it for them, highlighting your product's profit margin, features and benefits, and proven sales record.

Expand to New Markets
Once you've established sales strength with independent retailers and are ready to support new markets, it's time to sell to the big guns. Of course, exactly who those big guns are will depend on your product. For some, it's powerhouse general mass retailers, like Wal-Mart and Target, while other products will fit more specialized but equally powerful retailers, like Williams-Sonoma, The Sharper Image and Sephora.

Note that when dealing with these major accounts, the sale is just the beginning of the deal. Handling fulfillment, returns, rollbacks, slotting fees, advertising and more will require strengthening your business's infrastructure and resources.

But back to the sale. What's the best way to approach a larger retailer? Here's a quick cheat sheet:

    Get the correct buyer: One of your biggest challenges is finding the right buyer within a large organization, so do your homework. If you're experiencing roadblocks, consider hiring a distributor or manufacturer's rep who already has established relationships in your industry.
    Be prepared: Develop a presentation and have professional-looking sell sheets ready. Your product should also have packaging that's ready to go.
    Know your target: Understand what products they already carry and how yours will fit in. Don't waste your time pitching to a retailer who's unlikely to carry your product.
    Take advantage of special programs: Some mass retailers, such as Wal-Mart, have local purchase programs that give managers authority to try local items. And other retailers may have different initiatives, such as minority business programs.