© Elliot Essman 2005. All rights reserved.

These pages contain the complete 2005 revised text of Building Yourself, public speaking trainer Elliot Essman's guide to living the successful life.

Elliot Essman Public Speaking Training
Building Yourself Table of Contents
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• Avarice and happiness never saw each other, how then they should become acquainted. Benjamin Franklin (1706–1790)

Greed has no place in the successful person's wealth profile. The fact that someone you know sold a condo for twice the original value doesn't mean you should try for the same. These feats are difficult to duplicate. Your friend might have been lucky. We know you can work with luck, but only over the long term using the law of averages.

If you come to know an investment area better than most people you can probably get better returns—perhaps spectacu­lar returns now and then. But, over time, your long term growth is more important. And your spectacular returns are based on savvy, not on wishing, hoping and greed.

The question of greed is an important one to come to terms with. We spoke about those evil businesspeople in the popular imagination. Well, on television, they kill with regularity, committing half the on‑screen murders. Money is always the motive. In real life, businesspeople are rarely associated with violence. They work very hard creating wealth for themselves and everybody else.

There is so much conditioning against wealth in our popular culture, that those who embrace wealth often see it as plain accumulation. In going after financial gains, they have a residual guilt. Something inside them tells them the activity is unwholesome. Of course, it isn't.

You now understand how antipathy toward wealth, on the one hand, and greed, on the other, are merely two sides of the same guilt coin. They each reflect an unrealistic attitude toward money and wealth. The attitude is widespread. You see the image of the slick “operator,” making “a killing” in the market, throwing money around. You want to imitate it. It's a mistake. Like the quiet millionaire who invited you out to dinner at the local diner, you'll find droves of quiet, successful investors behind the flashy hotshots. They value money, think long term, and work steadily to increase what they have. They think for themselves and take full responsibility.

Once you reach your goal of being an intelligent investor you have to walk a fine line. You'll make some investments that you'll hold for many years. Other investments are for the short term, some speculative. When you do contemplate selling, watch out for that demon greed popping up again unexpectedly. Follow the advice of this section: “Always take your profits too soon.” When you reach a better than average return, sell and be immensely pleased. Only a clairvoyant can time the exact market high. There'll always be profits you could have made. Regret gets you nowhere in investing. You have many future investments to make.