Phil Town

Phil Town joins elite group of entrepreneurs on AOL Small Business Board of Directors

AOL Small Business has been re-launched by a friend of mine, Rod Kurtz, from the Your Business TV show at MSNBC. Also Rod is the former editor of Inc Magazine.  Rod and I have done several shows together and I’ve enjoyed his banter and brain on every one of them. So when he called about joining the AOL Small Business Board of Directors, I said absolutely! The Board is made up of a number of very successful entrepreneurs including Sir Richard Branson, the legendary founder of Virgin Group,  Bob Parsons, the founder of Go Daddy, Rob Dyrdek, the entrepreneurial skateboarder and Lexy Funk, the founder of lifestyle clothier Brooklyn Industries.

 

Unlike many Boards, this one is quite active. Rod regularly sends us a question or two and we all put our personal spin on answering it. Then he posts the answers on the website.  For example, Rod asked us what we thought about President Obama firing General McCrystal and, by extension, how a CEO should handle a similar situation. Here’s what I said:

 

“If your employee is really a superstar, then you don't let them go over some idle chatter, because you'll be playing against them tomorrow. Have a constructive chat and try to build a more respectful relationship... until you just can't take it anymore. Then you fire them. Meanwhile, start finding their replacement. In the president's situation, personal stardom over military stardom with a superstar on call. No-brainer.”

 

My reply is up there with a whole bunch of other replies. I try to keep it short and keep it on brand - which means I answer the questions from the point of view of a Rule One Investor.

 

Check out the site. The things you have to do to become a successful entrepreneur are the same things your public business should be doing to make your investment successful. The more you learn about what Small Business should be doing, the greater your potential for becoming a better investor.

 

Now go play!

 

- Phil Town

A view from Singapore

I spoke yesterday at an investors conference in Singapore. What surprised me a bit here is the fear level. Asians have been on a roll and Singapore, a financial island in a sea of statist thieves, benefits disproportionately. Good times in Asia are very good times in Singapore. So why all the concern. Perhaps they know something we don't. What if the Dragon is slowing down dramatically? What if the PIGS overfeeding (Portugal, Italy, Greece, Spain) has spread to Hungary, France and others? What if the USA is found to be the biggest Hog of all?

 

Who knows, right? But watch out if you are still not in cash. Lots of red arrows out there signaling money sneaking out the door. Is the theater on fire?

 

Well, there is certainly some smoke. Unemployment numbers are not good. Industrial numbers are sliding. In my opinion, US debt is on a track to hit Greek levels in 2 years and is already 50% above what the Eurozone would consider dangerous.

 

Obama wants more unions, more regulators, higher energy prices. He is now criminalizing oil drilling errors and derivative mistakes on Wall Street. He is penalizing small biz job creation with taxes and health care while misleading the public about GM repaying its loan. The stimulus money created zero jobs net but it nationalized a car company to the detriment of its competitors.

 

The world is watching. And it's starting to get scared of what all this means. What does that mean for us? I think it's time for us to tighten our requirements, know your 4Ms and be happy in cash if you're not certain you are buying $10 for $5.

 

Now go play!

- Phil Town

 

We Learned that in Kindergarten

Jonathan Grubs wrote on my FACEBOOK Page: "I was with Bank of America for many years, but when the Supreme Court announced their ruling on the Kilo case that allowed companies to seize private property for business use and BB&T responded with a press release announcing that they would refuse financing to any company involved in seizing of private property. I sent an email to the president of BB&T letting him know I would switch from Bank of America to BB&T if they ever opened a branch near me in Central Florida. When I saw the BB&T coming soon sign down the road from my office, I was literally the first person in line to open an account at that branch. BB&T is a great bank, they take care of their customers!"    _______________________________________________________________________________

Phil Town's response: "YOU ROCK!!!!  I love people who make decisions by basing the decision on a specific set of values.  Frankly, the Golden Rule is not a bad start for a value system.  For example, if you follow the Golden Rule and you think it is wrong for someone to take what is yours then you wouldn't take someone else's stuff.  Come on you guys. You learn this in kindergarden. So that should be a bedrock value, right?  Don't take other people's stuff.  Simple.

Well, then, apply it to all the decisions you are making in your life, just like Jonathan Grubs does. BB&T follows that value.  Bank of America follows the value of 'mo money mo money'.  Which one do you like better?  Well, some of you like the mo money thing right up until its your stuff they are expropriating and then you don't like it at all.  But I believe that in this world and the next, what goes 'round comes 'round. You go for mo money by taking what isn't yours, you'll pay it back somehow because their is no free lunch. 

You learned that in kindergarden, too.

Now go play.

Phil Town

Phil Town is Tweeting Rule #1

I'm going to start tweeting in earnest pretty soon - in the next few days.  I'm thinking it will be fun to do some pithy, quick and easy bits that might be some help for your investing. 

I'll be tweeting on Twitter about Rule #1, of course, but also about other resources I think would be useful to a Rule #1 investor.  As I come on them, I'll let you guys know with a quick Tweet. 

Also any motivational stuff I see, I'll pop into a Tweet, too.  And I'll put in some good "where to find it" info as I think of it or learn about it.  Where to find better tools for free, for example.  More and more stuff like Twitter is coming on the internet for zippo.  Which is awesome if you know about it. 

And I'll be putting in some companies to keep an eye on that are looking particularly Rule #1-ish.  And any books or articles that are worth a look.  And I'd love to Tweet about any CEO antics you should know about.  So if you want to keep up with this stuff, follow me on Twitter at http://twitter.com/Philbtown.

Now go play.

Phil Town