Good or bad, right or wrong, I love Boardroom Classics. Theirs is one of the few newsletters I subscribe to. Their books fascinate me. If I had the time and money, I would read them all.
They market relentlessly, but I accept it all with a smile and a fond save-to-bin.
Today, I received an email with the founder’s Secrets of Success. These secrets were good enough for me to want to share here.
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Martin Edelston’s Secrets for Success in Life
hen I founded Boardroom Inc. in the basement of my home more than 35 years ago, I started with just $5,000 and a dream. Today Boardroom is one of the world’s largest publishers of consumer newsletters, as well as one of America’s largest publishers of hardcover nonfiction books, reaching many millions of readers…
The strategies I have followed over the years have helped my company to be successful in good times and resilient in bad times. They also have enriched my personal life. In this difficult economy, these strategies are more important than ever…
Seek out the top experts, and get their advice. …I also go directly to the experts themselves with my questions, and I have taught my children to do this as well…
Think big… plan carefully… execute perfectly. …Our planning paid off. On a Friday, we closed the New York office. The movers, transition team and computer team worked all weekend — and on Monday, the computers in the new Connecticut location were up and running, and all employees’ boxes were by their new desks. Out of 75 employees, all but two stayed with us…
Follow up and follow up again to be sure that it’s done right and on time…
Never accept “no” — and make it easy to say “yes.” …I got a 24-by-36-inch piece of poster board from my art department, handwrote a giant-sized letter and had it delivered to the executive by messenger. He replied to that letter, and we began a very successful business relationship…
Keep it simple. There is a tendency to make things way too complicated, adding bells and whistles without adding efficiency. I don’t believe in using a complex system when a simple one will do…
Seek constant, incremental improvement. For the past 20 years, we have used an employee suggestion system that we call I-Power… The ideas generated have saved us substantial amounts of money…
Show appreciation. I am always on the lookout for opportunities to show people how much they matter. This applies to employees, vendors, freelance writers, friends and family. …It’s important to say thank you…
Never compromise integrity. We stake our reputation on accuracy and integrity. I have excellent editors — and after all these years, I still personally read every page of every issue of our newsletters…
I have an attitude of healthy skepticism. No matter how well-known a source is, if he/she has nothing substantial to say, we won’t run the article. Our readers trust us, and I do everything I can to continue to earn that trust…
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Bottom Line/Personal interviewed Martin Edelston, founder and chairman of Boardroom Inc., which publishes Bottom Line/Personal, Bottom Line/Health, Bottom Line/Wealth, Bottom Line/Retirement, Bottom Line Natural Healing, Bottom Line/Women’s Health and numerous books, including The World’s Greatest Treasury of Health Secrets, Stamford, Connecticut. www.bottomlinesecrets.com. He is author of I-Power: The Secrets of Great Business in Bad Times (Boardroom Inc., 800-678-5835).
