Tony Hsieh of Zappos

I just watched a video of Tony Hsieh (CEO of Zappos) talking about how he grew Zappos from a small start-up to a billion dollars in sales. Very interesting in that a lot of what he talked about my husband and I also did in growing our company from zero to a multi-million dollar business.

What I took away from this hour was that key principles are always what success comes down to - get those wrong and nothing seems to work.

One of the other things I took away from this video was Tony saying (paraphrasing here) "get out there and meet other business people, and not just those who you can find a business connection with." You never know what a conversation will yield, now or down the road. Or what golden nugget you'll get from someone outside of your industry.

And never stop learning...at the Q&A after Tony's talk Joe Polish stood up to ask a question. Now Joe Polish is an incredibly successful person himself, a person who knows Sir Richard Branson and Bill Clinton and any number of notable people, but here he was at this conference, learning and asking questions.

I'm going to a conference at the end of this month to see the Dalai Lama, Sir Richard Branson, Stephen Covey, Tony Hsieh, Frank Kern, Eben Pagen, and about 20 other notable speakers. http://bit.ly/3clfrr

I watch dozens of business oriented and self-development videos, but I find seeing and hearing people speak in-person is incredibly powerful. But any way you do it, keep on learning and growing.

Scam Warning From the IRS and State Scams

This is a reminder for everyone that the IRS NEVER uses e-mail to correspond with taxpayers. There are scams that use e-mail to make it appear that the IRS is requesting information from you - don't fall for them.

Here's a link to the IRS site that warns about one particular scam that is going around http://bit.ly/FVkIN - but it's not the only one. So spread the word and don't be caught.

And if you're a business owner be aware that there are several regular mail scams that happen regularly. They come in very official looking envelopes and look very "real" telling you that your Statement of Information for your state is due and to immediately fill out the form and remit $XXX - and many, many people get deceived and send the money.

Before you submit any form that you get in the mail, go on the State website and look to see what the real requirement is...in California it is a simple form and a $25 payment. I've seen bogus forms requesting $100 - almost $300 - Don't get caught!