{"id":469,"date":"2009-05-09T14:10:03","date_gmt":"2009-05-09T19:10:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.richestmanintown.com\/?p=469"},"modified":"2009-05-09T14:10:03","modified_gmt":"2009-05-09T19:10:03","slug":"fake-it-%e2%80%99til-you-make-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.richestmanintown.com\/blog\/2009\/05\/09\/fake-it-%e2%80%99til-you-make-it\/","title":{"rendered":"Fake It \u2019Til You Make it"},"content":{"rendered":"

I have long thought that Jesse Kornbluth<\/strong> is one of the finest writers in America. He has a sharp wit, an incisive understanding of the culture and despite his occasional playful grumpiness is a kind writer, too. Vanity Fair<\/em> hasn\u2019t been the same without his powerful pen. And to my great delight, the great writer had some nice things to say about The Richest Man in Town,<\/em> and a few very funny things, too. In his review,<\/a> Kornbluth poses this question:<\/p>\n

Have you noticed that almost no one ever seems to ask the rich about the subject they know best? No, on the Fiddler on the Roof<\/em> theory\u2014\u201cWhen you\u2019re rich, they think you really know\u201d\u2014the rich get to sound off on all manner of topics outside their expertise. We\u2019re regularly served their views on inheritance taxes, wars, medical research and the arts. What\u2019s harder to ferret out: what they know about becoming and staying rich.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Jesse Kornbluth says that my book delivers in this regard, bless him. He does make a little fun of me and my lifestyle, saying, \u201cAs far as I can tell, he [that would be me] has amassed piles of money. In addition to the duplex in Manhattan, there\u2019s a house in Westchester. I doubt his kids have ever been shamed by clothes from the Gap. And his wife needed an operation on her earlobes a while back, thanks to decades of wearing earrings encrusted with massive diamonds. (No. Not really. But you get the idea.)\u201d Very funny, Jesse, and by the way my kids most certainly do wear clothes from the Gap. My wife does have earlobe problems, though.
\nDespite Jesse\u2019s rather regal impression, in truth I am simply faking it \u2019til I make it. After two years of research and hundreds of hours of interviews, though, I am rich\u2014if not yet in extreme wealth\u2014in ideas and inspiration for new business-building opportunities that I can\u2019t wait to execute. Remember that Commandment 3 from my book is \u201cBYOB\u201d<\/strong>\u2014build your own business or buy your own business. Find the founder in you. Kornbluth goes on to ask:<\/p>\n

\u201cSo why aren\u2019t you rich rich rich? For one thing, you may be confused. \u2018It\u2019s good to be rich\u2019 is not the same as \u2018Greed is good,\u2019 but because so many of the visible rich are selfish bastards who would greatly benefit from a stunning increase in the tax rate, it\u2019s easy to think that wealth and bad values go hand in hand. \u2018Yeah, I\u2019ll have no money worries if I get rich,\u2019 you think. \u2018But I\u2019ll also be a jerk.\u2019 Not so, Jones says. Wealth is the byproduct of worthy activity. It\u2019s what happens when you perform a useful service or make a decent product, then market it aggressively and treat customers decently. It\u2019s about Right Livelihood, not pursuit of money. Sharks may score big for a while, say Jones and his interviewees, but over the long haul it\u2019s the good people who win biggest.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I couldn\u2019t have said it better. Well, that\u2019s an understatement.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I have long thought that Jesse Kornbluth<\/strong> is one of the finest writers in America. He has a sharp wit, an incisive understanding of the culture and despite his occasional playful grumpiness is a kind writer, too. Vanity Fair<\/em> hasn\u2019t been the same without his powerful pen. And to my great delight, the great writer had some nice things to say about The Richest Man in Town,<\/em> and a few very funny things, too. In his review,<\/a> Kornbluth poses this question:<\/p>\n

Have you noticed that almost no one ever seems to ask the rich about the subject they know best? No, on the Fiddler on the Roof<\/em> theory\u2014\u201cWhen you\u2019re rich, they think you really know\u201d\u2014the rich get to sound off on all manner of topics outside their expertise. We\u2019re regularly served their views on inheritance taxes, wars, medical research and the arts. What\u2019s harder to ferret out: what they know about becoming and staying rich.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Jesse Kornbluth says that my book delivers in this regard, bless him. He does make a little fun of me and my lifestyle, saying, \u201cAs far as I can tell, he [that would be me] has amassed piles of money. In addition to the duplex in Manhattan, there\u2019s a house in Westchester. I doubt his kids have ever been shamed by clothes from the Gap. And his wife needed an operation on her earlobes a while back, thanks to decades of wearing earrings encrusted with massive diamonds. (No. Not really. But you get the idea.)\u201d Very funny, Jesse, and by the way my kids most certainly do wear clothes from the Gap. My wife does have earlobe problems, though.<\/p>\n

Despite Jesse\u2019s rather regal impression, in truth I am simply faking it \u2019til I make it. After two years of research and hundreds of hours of interviews, though, I am rich\u2014if not yet in extreme wealth\u2014in ideas and inspiration for new business-building opportunities that I can\u2019t wait to execute.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[7,153],"tags":[156,154,155,90],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.richestmanintown.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/469"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.richestmanintown.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.richestmanintown.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.richestmanintown.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.richestmanintown.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=469"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"http:\/\/www.richestmanintown.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/469\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":482,"href":"http:\/\/www.richestmanintown.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/469\/revisions\/482"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.richestmanintown.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=469"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.richestmanintown.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=469"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.richestmanintown.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=469"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}