The 2^nd Principle of RELENTLESS: Relentless CHUTZPAH

“Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm.”

—Sir Winston Churchill

We are living through the worst economic crisis since 1929. History books will someday call this period “the Great Depression II.” The business battlefield is littered with land mines, booby traps, and bodies. For every success story, there are thousands of failures. For every thriving business, there are dozens of vacant spaces that represent lost dreams. For every job opening, there are hundreds of applicants. Unemployment figures are only as low as they are because the government no longer counts those who have given up looking for work, or who are underemployed. The workforce participation rate is the lowest in modern history. And the few jobs being created are almost all crappy, low-wage, part-time jobs. It has never been harder to achieve success and upward mobility.

But in the midst of all this economic carnage, there is hope. It isn’t found in your IQ. Lots of bright people are struggling.

It isn’t found in your education. College grads are drowning in record levels of student debt, and even Ivy League grads are struggling to find decent jobs.

It isn’t found in the energy and creativity of youth. More young people are living in their parents’ basements than ever before.

It isn’t found in fancy titles. Lots of CEOs are now struggling ex-CEOs. In this economy if you lose a job with a six-figure salary, you may very well find that your next stop is working at Gap.

It isn’t found in Dad’s connections. Even children of privilege are struggling. Connections are useless if there are no high-quality, high-paying jobs for anyone.

In this type of miserable economic environment, one thing, more than ever, separates the winners from the losers, the leaders from the wannabes, the dreamers from the succeeders. One thing allows people the world over to succeed against difficult odds. It is The Power of RELENTLESS!

And, specifically, Relentless Principle #2. Call it grit, staying power, stick-to-it-iveness, aggressive action, intrepidity, perseverance, the ability to bounce back from failures like the Energizer Bunny—in short, Relentless CHUTZPAH!

With that one edge . . . that mindset . . . that attitude . . . that way of thinking and living . . . you can accomplish any goal. You can turn the agony of defeat into the ecstasy of victory. You can turn lemons into lemonade. You can turn dreams into reality. Anything is possible.

I EAT “NO” FOR BREAKFAST

My life has been dedicated to the principles and actions I’ll share with you throughout this book. The tools and attitude you will learn have led me from disaster, defeat, and rejection to the life of my dreams. It can lead you there as well.

Today, I am thriving in the worst economy of our lifetime. While so many others are paralyzed by fear, I am excited and enthusiastic about the world of opportunities and possibilities. My life is dominated by rock-solid confidence, while so many others have lost faith. That’s The Power of RELENTLESS.

There is nothing else special about me. I’m not any smarter than the next guy or gal. I’d never make it on Jeopardy. I’m lost without a calculator. I need my two young sons to help me navigate anything difficult with a computer, or on the internet.

I’m not mechanical; I need to call a handyman whenever a light bulb is out. I have no sense of direction; when I’m lost, instead of using the GPS, I call my sons to talk me through it. I’m no athlete; remember that movie, White Men Can’t Jump? I’m living proof. Saying that I can’t dance or sing would be an understatement.

The list of things I can’t do is long. But that list is not the one that matters. What matters is finding what you can do well, then pursuing it with complete disregard for the inevitable obstacles in your path.

Relentless CHUTZPAH is my specialty. It is my “ace in the hole,” the one attribute that makes me special, that separates me from the crowd. I never give up. I never give in. I never let rejection or failure stop, or even slow me. For me, “NO” is just the start of a negotiation. In my mind, every “NO” means I’m one step closer to hearing the one “YES” that will make my day or change my life.

I actually crave “NO.” C’mon, I dare you—reject me, turn me down, tell me that I can’t do something, anything. When you have the power of RELENTLESS on your side, “NO” is powerless. “NO” is meaningless. “NO” just serves as inspiration. “NO” is what gives me that chip on my shoulder. The more I hear “NO,” the more I know I’m on the path to victory. I eat “NO” for breakfast.

Challenges, obstacles, and insurmountable odds don’t stop me. I just figure out a way around them, over them, under them, or I run right through them . . . smashing the stone wall or the glass ceiling to smithereens!

Here’s the great news. With Relentless CHUTZPAH, my story can be your story.

Life is a series of battles. I’ve been left lying bloody on the battlefield many times. Yet I never lost faith. I stayed focused, disciplined, motivated, enthusiastic, passionate, committed, confident, and tenacious. I got back up time and again. Then I charged back into battle. I am unbeatable, unstoppable, and incorrigible. That’s the power of RELENTLESS.

That is how you beat the odds. That is how you overcome challenges. That is how you prove the cynics, critics, and naysayers wrong about you. That is the only way to put the odds in your favor in the worst economy of our lifetime.

For most people, even in the best of times, nothing comes easy. Forget luck or fate. Like 99 percent of all human beings, nothing I’ve ever achieved was because of luck. Sure I’ve had plenty of luck—almost all of it bad. I’ve almost always had to overcome any luck, fate, or coincidence that came my way. But that’s easy with the power of RELENTLESS CHUTZPAH on your side.

The adversity I’ve overcome through the years has been great practice and preparation for dealing with today’s miserable economy. While yesterday this power of RELENTLESS made super-achievers special and allowed them to reach the top, today things are so tough that you need this special power just to keep a job. Today you need this power of RELENTLESS every second of every day just to survive.

Even before today’s “new normal” of mediocrity, extraordinary success never came easy. We often hear the biggest stars in business, entertainment, politics, and sports brag about their amazing success, lives, wealth, and fame. But rarely do you hear about the long journey of hard work, challenge, pain, setbacks, rejection, and failure they experienced to get there. Why? Because to tell the truth would make these super-achievers appear human—just like you or me.

The truth is, celebrities and high profile business leaders pay handlers and publicists to whitewash their faults and failures. Why? To make them appear superhuman, better than you or me, to keep you buying their movies, books, TV shows, their company stock, or their products at your favorite store. They believe that to let you see weakness, to show their struggles and failures, would reveal their humanity. So they don’t.

What makes this so bad is that it discourages the rest of us. As we experience life’s failures, we feel overwhelmed. We feel inferior. We see no hope. The truth is, everyone goes through challenges, adversity, rejection, and failure. The truth is that the winners are just like us—except for the fact they never lose faith, give up, or give in. All that is separating you from these super-achievers is understanding the need to keep the faith, stay the course, and keep fighting with commitment, courage, and the power of RELENTLESS CHUTZPAH. If only our heroes would explain that, it would give millions of ordinary people a desperately needed kick in the butt.

A BLUE COLLAR S.O.B.

I wasn’t part of “the lucky sperm club” (born to wealthy, connected parents). I’m a blue collar S.O.B. (son of a butcher) from a dead end street on the Bronx borderline. I had no special talents. I was not born rich or connected. I didn’t have a dime to start a business. I’ve faced massive amounts of rejection. I’ve failed so many times I’ve lost count. But I had one thing going for me that set me apart from the crowd—The Power of RELENTLESS CHUTZPAH.

My story isn’t unique. In the real world, all of us face challenge and rejection. The odds are rarely in our favor. Most of us are born with no special talents, money, or connections. No one hands you anything. No one sits at the drug store counter and actually gets “discovered” by the CEO of a Hollywood film company. That only happens in a romance novel or fictional Hollywood movie. Fame, fortune, and success don’t just drop in your lap. You have to put in your dues for years to achieve “overnight success.” You have to fight for it. You have to punch and counterpunch. You have to want it badly. You can’t wait for opportunity, because it will never come. You have to seize it. To do that, you’ll need to harness The Power of RELENTLESS CHUTZPAH.

That one trait separates the winners from the losers. That’s the one common ingredient in virtually every success story.

THE NEXT JIMMY THE GREEK

My story started with a dream. I wanted to be Jimmy “The Greek” Snyder. He was the most famous sports gambler and oddsmaker in Las Vegas. When I was a kid growing up on the tough streets of New York, every kid I knew wanted to be “The Greek.” The difference was, I made it happen.

At age sixteen, I hustled my way into a feature story in the local newspapers. They called me “The Next Jimmy The Greek” and “The Betting Whizkid.” Nice start. I stayed focused on my goal. When I met Doug Miller years later and he asked me what my dream was, I was quick to respond, “I want to be Jimmy ‘The Greek.’” The point is, it took twelve more years (from 1977 to 1989) of promotion, hustle, tenacity, creativity, and mind-numbing RELENTLESS CHUTZPAH to achieve my goal. That newspaper story may have started it. But, it took another twelve long years.

Along the way I was rejected by literally thousands of TV, radio, and media experts; thousands more executives, producers, news directors, agents, and consultants rejected me too. For twelve long years.

Along the way, the media called “The Greek” himself and asked him about this young kid Wayne Root. Jimmy said, and I quote:

“You tell Wayne Root that in every city, town, and village in America there are a thousand guys who want to be Jimmy The Greek. Get in line.”

I never stopped moving. I never stopped fighting. I never stopped dreaming. I never lost faith. Thousands of rejections didn’t slow me. Unlike those “thousand guys” with the same dream, in every city, town, and village in America, I was RELENTLESS.

Yes, some really awful and depressing things happened along the way. One ABC television producer, thinking he was talking to my agent, said, “Wayne Root has absolutely no talent. Hell will freeze over before he lands a TV job.” Except I had no agent. He was actually talking to me. Now when you have to hear those words about yourself—said directly to you—that’s a tough day.

One Fox television executive actually saw promise in me. He invited me to Los Angeles for an interview “in the future.” He didn’t know I would take his offer literally. I had less than $500 in the bank, so I spent my last penny to buy a plane ticket to L.A. to meet him. I showed up unexpectedly on his doorstep one month later. The only problem? He no longer had a TV show to cast. The show had been cancelled. I had spent my last dollars on a three-thousand-mile wild goose chase.

I finally landed a big break. I was hired by NBC Radio to talk sports on over one hundred stations. Three months later, NBC spent $15 million to hire Casey Kasem for America’s Top 40. In order to afford Kasem’s big salary and make room for him on the air, they fired me. Only three months into my first starring role, it went up in smoke.

I can laugh about it now. But back then it was painful. However, when you are relentless, nothing can stop you. When you have The Power of RELENTLESS CHUTZPAH on your side, incidents like that motivate you, light the fire inside you, make you that much more committed to achieving your goal. The Power of RELENTLESS pushes you beyond your comfort zone, beyond what you thought possible.

After another year of relentless pursuit of my dream, another year of rejections, another year of disappointment, I finally hit pay dirt. I was hired by CNBC (known then as Financial News Network) as anchorman, host, and network oddsmaker. The interview that got me the job of a lifetime came after I made fifteen calls to the General Manager of the network, Arnie Rosenthal. Fifteen calls over two years, without a callback. I hit pay dirt on call number sixteen. That’s RELENTLESS CHUTZPAH!

Within a few weeks of settling into my new job and life in Los Angeles, my boss asked me to come up to his office. I knocked on his door and opened it to see the most amazing sight of my life. Sitting in front of the desk was Jimmy “The Greek” Snyder himself. After all those years of fighting and struggling to replace “The Greek,” this was the first time I’d ever met him.

My boss said, “Wayne, meet your new co-host. I’m teaming you guys up for your own television show.” There may have been thousands of young guys in every city, town, and village in America waiting in line to be the next Jimmy “The Greek.” But I had just moved to the front of the line! It took twelve years, but I had turned my wild, crazy, seemingly impossible dream into reality. That’s The Power of RELENTLESS.

The way I had done it was even more miraculous. My competition was hundreds of experienced television hosts and anchormen from across the country and thousands more hungry young graduates of broadcast journalism schools.

Yet the guy who landed the job was me! I had never spent one hour on TV, not even on a local cable access channel. I had never taken a single broadcast journalism class. I had never been an intern or assistant at a TV network. I didn’t have one connection in the TV business. Yet I had just become one of the youngest national television hosts and anchormen in America. And, as far as becoming the network oddsmaker went, I’d never spent one day in my life as an oddsmaker either! I’d never even been to Las Vegas.

I was so raw, I didn’t know what a teleprompter was. Remember, these were the days before Obama. This was 1989. No one mentioned that word in those “old days.” The GM had been so impressed by my in-person interview and a videotape of me sitting at an anchor desk that he hired me on the spot without asking my background. He had no idea I’d never been to broadcast journalism school or on TV. My first segment at the anchor desk, on national TV, was one for the ages. Since I’d never seen a teleprompter, instead of reading the words on the screen, I just kept talking. The result? I was so good no one cared. But when I got off the TV set, I was greeted by the executive producer of the network. He congratulated me on a great first thirty minutes, then asked, “Why didn’t you just read what we wrote for you? Why did you ad lib the entire thirty minutes?” I answered, “Oh, those words on the screen? You wanted me to read those?”

The producer flipped. He paged my boss. They held an emergency meeting. They gave me a one-month warning. I was on “probation.” I had four weeks to accomplish two things: a) get rid of my New York accent and b) learn to read the teleprompter. Or I would be fired and my dream would be dead before it started.

Well, what does a kid with RELENTLESS CHUTZPAH do under that kind of stress and ultimatum? He makes it happen. I hired a speech coach, Dr. Lillian Glass, to get rid of my accent . . . and I practiced teleprompter reading day and night in my off time. By the time the deadline arrived, I had no accent. I sounded like a Midwesterner. And I was the best damn teleprompter reader at Financial News Network. That’s The Power of RELENTLESS.

I never looked back. I went from almost being fired to hosting five shows! No one ever threatened my job again. I settled in as the star of the network. I had beaten impossible odds. I had beaten out much more qualified competitors. I had made myself into a professional television broadcaster by learning “on the fly” in record time. I had turned a wild dream into reality. That’s The Power of RELENTLESS.

But as they say in TV infomercials, “Wait, there’s more!”

For me, RELENTLESS CHUTZPAH isn’t just a story or career highlight. Being relentless is a way of life, a way of thinking, a way of acting, a way of living. My never-give-up attitude, grit, and determination have smashed down doors for the past thirty years. The goals were always ridiculously large; the odds against me ridiculously long; the rejections unending. Yet my RELENTLESS CHUTZPAH always won out.

SOMETHING MORE THAN TV

I was just getting warmed up. After two years of hosting five shows for CNBC, I realized I wanted something more than being a TV anchorman. That “more,” I decided, was to turn my skills for picking the winners of sporting events into a business. I set a goal to become the leading sports prognosticator and oddsmaker in the country. I thought I had found what I wanted when I was hired by a Las Vegas handicapping company. I was soon making several hundred thousand dollars a year selling my prognosticating advice. It bought me a mansion in Malibu and a job working from home that would be the envy of 99 percent of all American men. But not me. To me, it was just that, a job with someone else in control of my life. I came to realize that I was a born entrepreneur and would not be happy until I ran my own business and had total control over my life.

Recognizing I would need help in accomplishing that goal, I approached my long-time friend and mentor Doug Miller. He had the business experience that I needed to complement my sales, marketing, and promotional know-how. Behind almost every famous entrepreneur you will discover a behind-the-scenes business partner who “minds the store” day to day. For me, that was Doug.

Now that I had that piece of the puzzle in place, it was time to face the seemingly impossible odds again. They were long indeed. The first thing I needed to do was raise about $10 million. Then I would need to find a national TV network to air my television show, hire and train a sales staff of one hundred employees, build a business infrastructure to handle over ten thousand phone calls per week, and build a website, which in those days was no easy task.

The challenges and obstacles were monstrous. The biggest was the stock market crashing and the internet bubble imploding right at the start of my money-raising campaign. In response, investors simply closed their checkbooks.

But that was only the beginning of the challenges. Numerous “experts” said no TV network would ever pick up my television show because sports gambling was persona non grata on television. At the start they were right—every network I pitched said “NO” to my show.

Wall Street was even colder. They didn’t understand my business plan. I was rejected by dozens of investment bankers and private equity gurus. So-called financial experts said I could never raise one dollar, let alone $10 million.

Both the so-called media and financial “experts” advised me to walk away before I wasted any more time or money. But those experts didn’t understand my RELENTLESS CHUTZPAH.

I knew that in the end if I remained relentless I would accomplish my goals. After about two dozen rejections, I finally found a TV network to air my show. Over the next decade the show aired on high-profile national cable TV networks Fox Sports Net, Comcast Sports Net, Discovery Channel, Superstation WGN, and Spike TV. Luckily I didn’t listen to the “experts.” With The Power of RELENTLESS, you won’t have to either.

In the end I didn’t raise $10 million. I raised almost $20 million! And since the hot shots on Wall Street weren’t interested, I did it the old fashioned way with small investors (one $50,000 check at a time). For every check given to me, I was rejected at least twenty times. That’s a lot of rejection. But I persevered and surpassed my goal. The investment bankers didn’t understand my business model, so I did it without them. The lesson is, “Don’t listen to the naysayers, even if they are so-called ‘experts.’” With RELENTLESS CHUTZPAH, you can accomplish anything.

I won’t tell you it was easy. Raising money one investor at a time is so slow and tedious; the business almost failed because of a lack of money early in the game. Within six months we were at death’s doorstep. We were so close to running out of money that one worried investor asked a high profile “turnaround specialist” buddy of his (with vast experience at saving failing companies) to meet with us. He spent two days with Doug Miller and me. Then he called his buddy (the investor) and said, “Forget about this business. Let it die. Wayne Root can’t succeed. He doesn’t even have enough money left in the bank to make payroll next week. This piece of junk is dead, dead, dead. It’s going down like the Hindenburg.”

He was wrong. A week later, I wrote the payroll check with a personal check. In all my years in business, I have never failed to meet a payroll—although there were more paydays than I would care to remember when I wasn’t one of those who got paid. I have always believed you can’t call yourself a true entrepreneur until the end of the week—when on Monday morning you know payroll is coming up Friday, you don’t have the money to pay it, but you have the confidence you will find a way. If you do, you are an entrepreneur!

The business stayed afloat because I bought us some time with that personal check. I worked hard, caught a break, and closed a financing deal the next week. We turned the business around. It lasted almost a decade, until we sold it to a publicly traded UK company.

As with most small businesses, during that decade we faced crisis after crisis. In pioneering an industry in its infancy we didn’t encounter just those everyday minor crises that are the nature of every business. We faced the kind of crises that put most normal businessmen out of business. We were left for dead at least a dozen times. But I’m creative, resilient, and resourceful. I am a walking advertisement for RELENTLESS CHUTZPAH. I changed our entire business model several times to bring the business back from the dead. I’m like Freddy Krueger of Nightmare on Elm Street. I just keep relentlessly popping back up from the grave.

What’s so crazy is that this story is not unusual. Every business or career I’ve been involved in has required this same level of energy, enthusiasm, focus, intensity, tenacity, creativity, commitment, faith . . . along with an axe, jackhammer, and blowtorch for good measure.

This is what all entrepreneurs face on a daily basis. It’s a nonstop battle for survival against bad luck, bad decisions, bad employees, bad government, lawyers, competitors, thieves, taxes, regulations—you name it, the list is endless. As a business owner, every day is a new challenge. If you don’t have RELENTLESS CHUTZPAH, you have as good a chance of being struck by lightning as you have of long-term success.

I am immensely proud of all the good this one small business did during that decade. Granted, it was good for me. But it was also good for the employees, good for the economy, and good for America. We pumped about $60 million into the U.S. economy during that decade. We paid about five hundred payrolls. We paid salaries and health insurance for one hundred employees for almost decade. This is the American spirit at its best. This is capitalism. This is entrepreneurship. This IS RELENTLESS CHUTZPAH.

Are you starting to get “it”? RELENTLESS CHUTZPAH is hard to define in just a few words, but it’s willpower, it’s mindset, it’s your refusal to give up or give in. You will never, never, never, ever give up. You won’t hesitate to burn your bridges and remove your path of retreat, because there is no turning back. It’s succeed or perish. You know those are your only options.

THE KING OF VEGAS

When I became an anchorman in 1989 at CNBC, I was inspired to create a TV series that I could sell to Hollywood. I spent the next sixteen years pitching a show called The King of Vegas. SIXTEEN YEARS! That’s a long time to stay committed. That’s a long time to stay positive. But when you have The Power of RELENTLESS on your side, it’s a walk in the park!

I was rejected by virtually every TV network in America, some multiple times. I made countless trips to Los Angeles and New York over those sixteen long years—all ending in rejection and crushing disappointment. But in 2005 I finally heard one “YES.” I sold the TV series King of Vegas to Spike TV. With my TV business partner Michael Yudin, I became the creator, co–executive producer, and co-host of the show. It was one of the highest-rated shows in Spike TV history. RELENTLESS CHUTZPAH had just paid off again.

Was it worth it? Like most success achieved through RELENTLESS CHUTZPAH, that first success was merely a stepping stone—a door opener. Today, again with Michael Yudin, I am a co-producer of Ghost Adventures—the highest-rated show on Travel Channel for eight straight seasons. We recently celebrated our one hundredth episode. It drew over one million viewers to an episode and was Travel Channel’s single highest-rated show ever.1 Without sixteen years of pitching King of Vegas it would never have happened. One little bit of success led to a bigger success.

I’m currently busy creating and pitching two new reality TV shows. One is called Vegas D. A. about the justice system in Las Vegas, the high-profile tourist capital of America. I have great hopes for this show. Everything is bigger in Vegas, even the crime! But again, the show would never have been possible without my relentless pursuit. It took me numerous meetings, phone calls, and e-mails over four years to finally convince Clark County district attorney (and now friend) Steven Wolfson to agree to the show. Without RELENTLESS CHUTZPAH it never would have happened.

RUNNING FOR PRESIDENT

It took that same RELENTLESS CHUTZPAH for me to become a national political figure. How unlikely was it for me, with no prior national political experience, to have a chance at the 2008 Libertarian Party presidential nomination?

I was told “NO” (and much worse) by every politician, political leader, consultant, and “expert” that I met. I constantly heard, “A Vegas oddsmaker running for President? Absurd.” That’s why no one should listen to experts. They only know what has worked in the past. They can’t think out of the box. They don’t see possibilities. And they don’t know you or your passion. They don’t understand the difference made by RELENTLESS CHUTZPAH.

Libertarian Party insiders called me “Don Quixote,” meaning I was tilting at windmills with zero chance of success. The media called my goal “impossible.” There’s that word again. That word stops most normal people, but it inspires me.

My main opponents, former Republican Congressman Bob Barr and former Democrat U.S. Senator Mike Gravel, never took me seriously. The Washington Post left me out of their article on the Libertarian Party debate. I was on that stage as one of three leading contenders for the Libertarian presidential nomination. But the photo in the Washington Post only showed two candidates. I had mysteriously vanished through the magic of camera angles. My name wasn’t mentioned in the article about the debate either.

I was ignored, denigrated, and laughed at by the critics and naysayers. But I just kept fighting relentlessly and ignoring the experts and critics.

Eventually, I lost the presidential nomination in one of the closest convention races in political history. The six ballots to determine the winner took all day. The last time that had happened at a major presidential convention was when Franklin Delano Roosevelt won the Democratic nomination in 1932.

But this unknown small businessman and Vegas oddsmaker beat out the former United States senator, ending his political career. I also beat out several lifelong Libertarian activists who had far bigger followings within the party. Congressman Bob Barr ultimately won the nomination and was so impressed by my relentless personality that he asked me to join his presidential ticket. He stepped on stage and asked the delegates to vote for “Mr. Relentless.” The convention delegates then elected me as the Libertarian vice presidential nominee. I spent the rest of the night giving an acceptance speech and thanking the delegates who had just put me on a national presidential ticket.

My critics were flabbergasted. The media was befuddled. Longtime Libertarian leaders were shocked. They kept saying “How the hell did Root do that? What are his qualifications?” Well, my main credential was RELENTLESS CHUTZPAH. That’s really all you need.

I was also bold, brash, confident, full of ideas, and conveyed them with tremendous energy and enthusiasm. I never lost faith, never gave up, and never stopped fighting. I was always willing to roll the dice and gamble everything on my dreams. And I didn’t just talk or dream, I took action. That’s how a “nobody” puts himself or herself on the map and becomes a “somebody.”

Now keep in mind that I was only a third party vice presidential nominee. No, we were never a serious threat to win the presidency. But in the history of the greatest nation in world history (since George Washington in 1789) there have been only forty-four Presidents and fifty-six presidential elections. If you count various major third party candidacies, that means there have been perhaps one to two hundred serious candidates for vice president on the ballot in the history of America. I made it into that super-exclusive club, and I’m in for life. No one can take it away from me. That’s pretty amazing! That’s the Power of RELENTLESS CHUTZPAH.

Generally vice presidential nominees are never heard from again. They are as in-demand as a Maytag repairman. Remember that old TV commercial? Maytag washing machines were supposedly so dependable that Maytag repairmen were lonely because no one ever called. That also sums up the life of a former vice presidential candidate. But a third party vice presidential nominee? Only one word describes them—anonymous. That is, until I came along. I turned my fifteen minutes of fame into a career as a political commentator, author, and national media personality. That’s RELENTLESS CHUTZPAH.

By the way, it’s never easy. It’s like the famous quote attributed to Gandhi. “First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.” Great quote. Gandhi was obviously familiar with my brand of relentless. At first, I was ignored by the media. But I kept hounding and hammering them. I kept pushing and pitching. I kept submitting my articles and press releases. I kept relentlessly promoting myself. I kept suggesting story ideas. I started to get a trickle of interviews. Then dozens. Then hundreds. Finally it turned into thousands of media appearances. About eight thousand of them since 2008. EIGHT THOUSAND.

Today I’m a frequent guest on conservative media, from Fox News to thousands of talk radio stations across the country. I’m a syndicated columnist for a dozen conservative web powerhouses including Fox News and TheBlaze. My opinion pieces appear regularly in places like the Washington Times. All this happened because I never gave up faith in my dream. And it all happened because, unlike any sane person, I refused to accept the word “NO.” That’s the power of RELENTLESS CHUTZPAH.

How did I apply RELENTLESS CHUTZPAH to achieve my goals? By never giving up, never losing my enthusiasm, and never letting my critics or detractors think for a second they’d beaten me. I just kept coming. That’s RELENTLESS CHUTZPAH.

The formula is fairly simple. First, I just wear people out. I keep coming back at them so many times, they eventually give up. Often they agree to the deal just because they are so exhausted from trying to say “NO” to me. When someone like me refuses to accept “NO,” people don’t know how to react, or what to do. So they eventually say “YES.” But, there has to be talent and proven success to back it up. They say “YES” knowing I will bring incredible levels of energy, enthusiasm, action, creativity, and tenacity to the table. They know my energy always inspires superior results. That’s The Power of RELENTLESS.

If I had been at Custer’s Last Stand, outnumbered by Indian warriors, I would have charged the Indians! My guess is they would have been so confused, they would have turned tail and run. RELENTLESS CHUTZPAH isn’t just a mindset, it’s a way of life!

THE RELENTLESS TRIBE

“Chutzpah” is the Yiddish word for audacity (or in my macho mindset terminology: balls). As a proud Jewish American—and a New Yorker, to boot—I come by my RELENTLESS CHUTZPAH naturally.

I am very proud of my Jewish heritage. I am also bursting with pride for the people of Israel. But the question for you is: Can anyone learn RELENTLESS CHUTZPAH?

The answer is a resounding YES. The Chinese are obsessed with learning how to succeed and obtain wealth. Over one third of the books sold in China are about financial success. And a large portion of those books are about Jewish success.

Some of the bestselling business book titles in China in the past decade:

          •    The Eight Most Valuable Business Secrets of Jewish Wealth

          •    The Legend of Jewish Wealth

          •    Jewish People and Business: The Bible of How to Live Their Lives2

The Chinese people aren’t interested in being Jewish. They are interested in what they can learn from the Jews: Learn how to think like they think. Learn their mindset. Learn the traits that have made Jews so remarkably successful. Learn to harness the power of RELENTLESS CHUTZPAH.

It seems to be working well. China is the fastest growing economy in the world. They passed America in the past year to become the #1 economy in the world based on consumer spending. And they are poised to overtake America as the overall #1 economy in a decade or two.³

As Steve Jobs of Apple once said, quoting Pablo Picasso, “Good artists copy, but great artists steal.” The success secret the Chinese are so desperate to steal is RELENTLESS CHUTZPAH.

Now it’s your turn to learn from the most relentless people in the history of the world. This tribe literally invented relentless. This tribe has survived and thrived against incredible odds for over six thousand years with The Power of RELENTLESS. You could say they are the model for this book. They are the Jewish people, and even more specifically the Jews of Israel.

Israel is a nation of some six million Jews. It is one of the smallest nations in the world. Its size is about eight thousand square miles—just about three times the size of Delaware and only slightly larger than Fiji. It is only two hundred sixty miles at its longest, seventy miles at its widest, and nine miles at its narrowest.

Would you be surprised to learn the three countries that lead the world in venture capital dollars are America, China and . . . Israel? Yes, Israel. This tiny country attracts venture capital investment at a rate that’s thirty times higher, per capita, than the entire continent of Europe.

Let’s look at a few remarkable facts about the amazing people of Israel:

          •    Israel ranks third in the world for entrepreneurship and has the number one spot among seniors and women.

          •    Israel has more high-tech startups, per capita, than any nation in the world.

          •    Israel has more biotech startups, per capita, than any nation in the world.

          •    Israel has more business startups, per capita, than any nation in the world.

          •    In raw numbers, Israel has the second most business startups of any country in the world, behind only the United States.

          •    Israel has more companies listed on the NASDAQ stock exchange than any other country in the world, other than the United States and Canada. More than Europe, India, China, and Japan combined.

          •    Relative to its population, Israel is the largest immigrant-absorbing nation on earth.

          •    Israel leads the world, per capita, in patents for medical equipment.

          •    Israel’s has the highest computer-to-citizen ratio in the world.

          •    Israel’s citizens have the highest university-degree-to-population ratio in the world.

          •    Israel leads the world in the number of scientists and technicians in the workforce, with 145 per 10,000, as opposed to 85 in the U.S., over 70 in Japan, and fewer than 60 in Germany. With over 25 percent of its work force in technical professions, Israel places first in this category as well.

          •    Israel has the highest number of Nobel Prizes, per capita, in the world.

          •    Wikipedia reports the Israeli economy is ranked as the world’s most durable economy in the face of crisis. The Bank of Israel is ranked first among central banks for its efficient functioning. Israel is also ranked first in the world in its supply of skilled manpower.

          •    With only seven million citizens, Israel’s economy is bigger than those of her twenty-two Muslim Arab neighbors combined, with a population of over three hundred million.

          •    Israel is the Hong Kong of the Middle East, with a booming economy even in the middle of a global economic collapse. Israel’s GDP growth was 4.7 percent last year.4

So the question becomes WHY? What accounts for all this outrageous economic success by such a small tribe as the Jewish people?

The answer is simple: the Jewish people lead the world in RELENTLESS CHUTZPAH. Throw anything at them: hate them, persecute them, steal their property, enslave them, torture them, murder them, yet they survive. More than survive, they move on and thrive. That’s the power of RELENTLESS CHUTZPAH.

My recommendation to Israel’s enemies: you are far better off studying the Jewish people and emulating them, than fighting with them, because you’ll never win. No one in history has ever defeated the Jewish people . . . and no one ever will. That’s the power of RELENTLESS! If you can’t beat them, why not learn from them? Wouldn’t it be ironic if Israel’s enemies greatly improved their citizen’s lives by becoming more like the Jews?

My many Jewish friends and relatives often lament that God did not bless the Jewish people. They say history shows a pattern of unmatched pain, prejudice, adversity, and tragedy suffered by this tribe. Yet I would argue that all the pain has been a blessing. It has created the most unstoppable, unbeatable, and relentless people in world history. One could argue that was God’s plan all along. Perhaps God was playing the role of Marine drill sergeant. Those hard-asses embarrass, humiliate, exhaust, starve, and often torture their soldiers. But there’s a reason. It toughens them and keeps them alive in the future when they are under withering enemy fire.

Soldiers survive, then go on to thrive because of their hard-ass Marine drill sergeant. Later in life, long after they’ve left the Marines, gotten married, had kids, and lived their lives, soldiers think back fondly on the lessons they learned from the torture dished out by that drill sergeant. The RELENTLESS CHUTZPAH of the Jews was forged by God’s tough love. I guess God was the original Marine drill sergeant!

The Jews, and in particular the Jews of Israel, are Exhibit A for the famous saying, “Anything that doesn’t kill you, makes you stronger.” Fire turns iron into steel. The Jewish people were mentally forged as steel.

Once you’ve been discriminated against, persecuted, robbed, hunted, enslaved, and tortured, something as simple as asking an investor to write a check or refusing to accept NO in a business transaction doesn’t seem like such a big deal.

THE NINE RULES OF RELENTLESS CHUTZPAH

What did generations—actually centuries—of pain, persecution and tragedy teach the Jews? The nine rules of RELENTLESS CHUTZPAH. If you want to be as successful, as entrepreneurial, as disaster-proof as the Jews, these are the rules you have to embrace and make your own:

THE FIRST RULE OF RELENTLESS CHUTZPAH: Accept that you must be relentless to survive.

If you set your mind to be relentless, to never give up or give in, no matter what, no one can defeat you. That mindset has been the foundation of my life.

THE SECOND RULE: It’s good to have a chip on your shoulder. Jews are always the underdog. They are always either ignored or treated with disdain. That’s a big advantage. It drives you, it makes you perform at your best, and it makes you over-perform.

I’ve lived my life with a chip on my shoulder. I’ve gone into every business deal with a chip on my shoulder. I’m always motivated to shove that smirk off my opponent’s face and make him eat crow. That’s my “winning edge” in business and life. Invite the world to disrespect you and underestimate you. Then spend your life proving them wrong.

THE THIRD RULE: Stop complaining. Complaining gets you nowhere. Take action. Do something about your lot in life. Take the time you might have wasted complaining and use that time to take action. You’ll find what a waste of time it was to even consider complaining in the first place.

I don’t waste my time complaining. I always take action (although at times that action is complaining). But I only complain if I believe the complaint will result in action and resolution. Taking action is your best revenge!

THE FOURTH RULE: Life is short, so take action N-O-W. Don’t wait for tomorrow, or next week, or next month. You never know what tomorrow will bring, so do it now. Today is as good a day as any to get started turning your dream into reality. If you put it off until tomorrow, it may never happen.

I always take action—aggressive action—at the earliest possible opportunity.

THE FIFTH RULE: Turn lemons into lemonade. God never promised to make life easy. Ask the Jews. But you can turn each challenge and setback in life into a learning experience.

When something bad happens, don’t give up. Learn from your mistake, get back up, use that failure as motivation and newfound wisdom to succeed the next time.

THE SIXTH RULE: Take control of your life. Jews have experienced what it’s like to be under a tyrant’s control, to be enslaved, to feel helpless. It’s horrible. So Jews learned to control their own destiny by taking personal responsibility and being self-reliant. The only people you can depend on are you and your own family. Never, ever, ever think you can depend on government. The first concern of government—and that includes every elected official as well as every government employee—is not you. It is their own job and well-being.

How do you take control of your own life? You educate yourself to take control of your mind; find a job you love and, if possible, always create your own business; own your own home; invest wisely so you are in control of your own retirement. Let me reiterate: if you can’t find a job you love, stop complaining and create your own. NEVER depend on government or the kindness of a stranger to save you. Remember, as Robert Schuller said, “If it’s going to be, it’s up to me.”

I’ve only had a job with a boss a couple of times early in my life. I learned what I needed to learn, then quickly left to start my own business. I love working for the most generous boss in the world—me!

THE SEVENTH RULE: Be willing to do what no one else wants or is willing to do. Do what others consider “low class” and beneath them. Whatever you do—SELL! Sell homes, stocks, cars, clothing, mortgages, insurance, gold, books, entire companies, or money (banking). Sell yourself. The product doesn’t matter. You get rich by selling something. People who work at Ford Motor Company may think they work for a company that manufactures cars. WRONG! They work for a company that sells cars. You only have the right to make it after you sell it. Otherwise you become that worst of all possible companies—a company with a lot of expensive, worthless inventory.

In the California Gold Rush, more people got rich selling picks, shovels, food, and clothing to the miners than got rich working the mines. Who are the wealthiest people in every society? The business owners and salesmen. Guess who gets the last laugh? The tribe doing that “low class” thing—selling anything and everything!

I’ve been selling products and services my entire adult life. But in each case the number one commodity that I’m selling is me! Selling isn’t “low class.” It’s the best way to make enough money to live a life that is “First Class.”

THE EIGHTH RULE: Be FEARLESS. What’s the worst thing that could happen? It’s hard to get any worse than the infamous Holocaust. Over six million Jews were wiped from the earth after first having their property, homes, businesses, jewelry, and even their gold teeth stolen.

After having something like that in your history, it’s tough to scare you. After torture and the death of the people you love, everything else seems like a walk in the park. Little things no longer bother you. You become fearless. And that’s the key to success in almost every field, but especially in business: NO FEAR. Few people have that trait. Those that are fearless can achieve anything. Those that are fearless can make the impossible, POSSIBLE.

I’ve been fearful about physical challenges my entire life. I don’t like heights. I’m not big on swimming in deep water. I don’t climb mountains. I don’t ride motorcycles. But I’m fearless when it comes to financial challenges. I risk my money on a moment’s notice . . . which brings us to the last Rule of RELENTLESS CHUTZPAH.

THE NINTH RULE: Take risks! The final lesson learned by the Jews from centuries of pain is a tolerance for risk. To be successful in life and earn the serious money you need to be a gunslinger and riverboat gambler. You don’t get rich from a safe weekly paycheck. You don’t get rich by settling. You don’t get rich off a “job.”

To be successful you need to risk your own money. I consider riding motorcycles and jumping out of airplanes stupid risks. That’s risking your life and your health for what, a momentary thrill? A smart risk is putting your money into a business. A smart risk is investing in yourself.

The business world may be brutal, but not compared to the lifetime experiences of the Jewish people. The business world may sometimes seem like war, may sometimes seem bloody, but not when compared to what Jews have lived through.

That is why the Jewish people, particularly the Jews of Israel, have more RELENTLESS CHUTZPAH than any other people in the world. They never stop fighting for their goals; never let a challenge or setback slow them down; never give up or give in. They never stop starting businesses, no matter how many times they have already failed. They never stop asking strangers for money, no matter how many have already said “No.” Like me, the people of Israel see the word “NO” as merely the start of a negotiation. That is how they have managed to produce their stunning record of economic success.