Welcome To The Top: Secrets to Success from Leading Entrepreneurs

"Welcome to the Top puts business mastery at your fingertips. Learn the secrets of top CEOs and entrepreneurs that will help you quickly break through financial and business barriers to achieve unprecedented success."

— William R. Patterson, CEO, The Baron Solution Group, wealth coach and bestselling co-author of The Baron Son

"Welcome to the Top is filled with valuable stories and brilliant tips that will catapult entrepreneurs to leap forward to success. Each of the business owners in this book passionately shares their personal story including their honest to goodness mistakes. The wisdom they each share is profound and will shorten the learning curve for readers and save them from making a boatload of costly mistakes. Monica Davis’ Welcome to the Top is a masterpiece and absolute must read for entrepreneurs and for those starting a business. This book should be mandatory reading in every business school."

— Chrissy Carew, Hall of Fame Master Certified Coach, founder, Insightful Player LLC, and author of Insightful Player

"Wow, I simply love this book. I couldn’t put it down; each page was inspiring and led to the next. I love the fact that Monica Davis took the time to compile an impressive list of exceptional people and their empowering stories. I was empowered by this tome of collective wisdom and insights. Welcome to the Top is a must read for every Black American who is serious about leading a fulfilling and productive life. My heartfelt thanks go out to Monica for providing us a clear way to manifest our destiny."

— George C. Fraser, CEO, FraserNet, and author,

Success Runs in Our Race and CLICK

"Monica Davis’ Welcome to the Top: Secrets to Success from Leading Entrepreneurs proves once again that no matter from where you begin, you can reach the top! The path is made clear in this book by experts who provide information, how-to tips, and their own success stories to light the way. Ms. Davis interviewed countless entrepreneurs who had first-hand knowledge of the challenges and setbacks, near misses and successes. As an interviewer, she is like Diane Sawyer and Oprah Winfrey rolled into one. She not only gathered little-known facts and details about what makes entrepreneurs successful, she delved into their personal lives to find the secrets of character and perseverance that made the difference for them. Whether you are a solopreneur going it alone, an entrepreneur with staff, or a small business person Welcome to the Top can give your business a boost if you choose to put the secrets you find here into practice. This book belongs at the top of your list of must-read books."

— Jo Condrill, President, GoalMinds, Inc., recipient of the Ford Tribute to Business Women Leaders Award,

and bestselling author of 101 Ways to Improve Your Communication Skills Instantly and Take Charge of Your Life

Welcome to the Top is a remarkable book for entrepreneurs, business owners and executives alike. Read it, apply it, and watch your business prosper.

— Dr. Patrick McNally, Ph.D., therapist and business strategist, and bestselling author of How to Live an Amazing Life

Welcome to the Top

Secrets to Success from Leading Entrepreneurs

Second Edition

Monica Davis

An Atela Productions, Inc. Book

Copyright © 2020 by Monica Davis

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system without written permission from the author, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in a review.

Published in the United States of America by Atela Productions, Inc.

Visit us on the web at https://www.secretstosuccessbooks.com

ISBN: 978-1-7348699-2-7

Ebook ISBN: 978-1-7348699-3-4

Library of Congress Control Number: 2012955087

Second Edition

Table of Contents

Preface

Acknowledgements

Introduction

Using Keys to Gain Access to Unlimited Possibilities

Be Thankful and Pass It On

Believing Is Receiving

Step Out Into the Unknown

The Mind

How You Can Use This Book

Business Success

Bama Does It Right

The Golden Apple

Envision It and Then Do It

Section 1: Strategies for Business Success

Key Tips for Operational Success

Trust and Respect! How Do You Run Your Company?

Key Tips for Operational Success

A Style for Every Occasion

14 Key Tips to Get Your Business Started

Section 2: Sales and Marketing

6 Key Strategies to Dominate the Female Market

A Sales Genie Outside the Bottle

Section 3: Customer Service and Loyalty

What You Need to Do to Keep Happy Customers

A Stellar Reputation for Customer Service

5 Surefire Steps to Gaining Customer Loyalty

Build a Relationship with Your Customer

Keep a Positive Attitude

Show Concern

Make Them Feel Like Family

Offer Creative Solutions, Even If They Don’t Ask

Section 4: Networking and Relationships

3 Dominant Keys to Build Valued Business Relationships

World’s Foremost Networking Expert

Section 5: Gaining Market Share

Keys to Quickly Gain Market Share

Rebelizing the Way We Do Business

Keys to Quickly Gain Market Share

A Unique Value Proposition Equals Success

Section 6: Employees and Management

Keys to Attract the Right Employees

Organizational Clarity: Effectively Manage Your Business

Creative Staff Perks for Small Business Owners

Section 7: Negotiating: How to Get What You Want

8 Secrets to Effectively Negotiate Anything

A Candid Conversation with The Master Negotiator

Section 8: Public Relations

7 Key Steps to Creating a Great Press Release

Public Relations Expert Helps Entrepreneurs Get in the Spotlight

Get in the Spotlight: Additional PR Tips

Section 9: Inspiration and Self-Empowerment

3 Key Elements to a Balance Life: Tom Ziglar

7 Keys to Achieving Wealth: William R. Patterson

A Mastermind at Helping Others Create Wealth

Find Valuable Lessons in Life’s Setbacks: Willie Jolley

An Attitude of Excellence

Keys to Programming Your Mindset for Ultimate Success: Dr. Clint Pearman

Section 10: Other Success Stories

Competitive Analysis and Research: A Necessity for a Good Business Foundation

London’s Green Entrepreneur Achieves Success with Climatecars

Living Your Passion

Are You Living Your Passion? Take a Leap of Faith!

From Rags to Riches

The Sweet Smell of Norway, Part I

Running a Business During an Economy Downturn

The Sweet Smell of Norway, Part II

The Unexpected Challenges of Running a Business

How I Turned My Dream Business into Reality

A Winning Attitude Makes a Difference

Joyce Robinson Agu Wins an Extraordinary Race: A Lesson in Humility, Faith, Perseverance, and Teamwork

Striving for Excellence

Integrity and Values Helped Her Earn a Six-Figure Income

Important Information for Purchasers of This Book

Opportunities for Business Growth

Media Mastery

Increase Your Influence and Profits with Your Compelling Story

About the Author

A Message from the Author

Your Action List

Preface

My goal in writing this book is to inform, educate, inspire, and provide invaluable resources to help you build your business in a way that will enable you to achieve the greatest amount of success in the shortest time possible.

This book features amazing success stories and articles collected from interviews with top business leaders, CEOs, industry experts, and entrepreneurs who have been featured in Exceptional People Magazine.

The personal stories in this book will give you ideas about the endless possibilities you can use to grow your business. Woven into these stories are advice and powerful insights to personal power, influence, and wealth.

The advice of these individuals is based on many years of proven experience. They know what works and what doesn’t. They have helped thousands of success-minded individuals reach unlimited potential.

Acknowledgements

I will first thank my parents for preparing me to become independent by encouraging me to be confident, become an action taker and visionary, and be self-assured in my thinking, actions, and behavior.

Thank you to my sister Beatrice, who has supported me unconditionally as I began my journey as a magazine publisher. You have played an important role in the success of the publication since its inception.

Special thanks to all the guests whom I’ve had the pleasure of interviewing and featuring in Exceptional People Magazine. Thank you for sharing your personal stories and extraordinary business insights. They have inspired me, and I am thankful to have the opportunity to share them with my readers. Your stories have had an amazing impact on lives around the world.

Thank you to all my contributors and writers who have been an integral part of my endeavor to change the lives of thousands of people.

Thank you to Betsie Miklos whose generosity to help edit this book was a wonderful surprise.

I also thank all my readers. Without you, there would be no Exceptional People Magazine. I consider each of you to be exceptional in your own way.

Introduction

As I began writing this book, I reflected upon my life’s mission which has remained unchanged since childhood. My life’s purpose is to help others discover the best that is within them, guide them to reach their potential, and fulfill their vision in whatever they choose to do.

This book, although focused on business, is built on that premise. It provides resources and tools for professional and business growth. It also provides powerful insights to achieve that growth in a way that will save your most precious resources – your time and money.

This book shares essential components that can give you the power to create unlimited possibilities in your personal and professional life as well as your business. It will also help you develop a pattern of success and view your life and your business from a new perspective.

I thank you for taking the time to read this introduction and for exploring the pages that follow.

Using Keys to Gain Access to Unlimited Possibilities

Keys are made to give you access to things you ordinarily cannot access. The keys to success are not always evident. They come in many different forms. When you develop a mindset for growth, abundance, and prosperity, you’ll learn how to identify keys to success that may often be hidden from others.

The keys to success can be presented to you in various ways, such as gaining information, meeting people, and even obtaining passwords. Integrity, hard work, and perseverance are also keys to success.

It is often said, When one door closes, another opens. But in order for it to open, someone must be on the other side or you must have the key to unlock it.

Every day we each hold a set of keys that can unlock opportunities we never realized. At the end of every day, take time to think about the keys you were given and how you can use them to unlock doors of opportunity for yourself and share them with others.

This book is filled with keys that can help you achieve greater success in your business and professional career. I encourage you to use this information to recognize and unlock your true potential to achieve a lifetime of success.

Success means we go to sleep at night knowing that our talents and abilities were used in a way that served others.

Marianne Williamson

Be Thankful and Pass It On

We are each blessed every day with the gifts of life, knowledge, talent, sight, hearing, and more. The list is much too long to mention.

We’re also recipients of gifts from others such as friends and colleagues who give us ideas we didn’t have before. They may give us an encouraging word when we least expect it, or they may lend a helping hand during hard times. These are all forms of gifts, and we must learn to recognize and appreciate them. It is never the size of the gift that matters, but the spirit in which it is given. Accept each gift with gratitude. It is not enough to receive and be thankful for life’s gifts, but you must pass them on so that others may experience joy in their lives.

There is no gift too small. Small blessings often mean a lot. I encourage you to be a blessing to someone every day. Recognize and develop the talents you have as an individual and as a business owner and share them with others.

Be not afraid of life. Believe that life is worth living and your belief will help create the fact.

William James

Believing Is Receiving

Though intangible, there’s amazing power in the mind. Your mind is a resource that is more precious than any other resource on earth. It allows you to determine your own future. It gives you the power to change someone else’s life. It will allow you to conceive ideas of gold and lead you to endless possibilities.

Do you believe you have the power to change your life? Do you believe you can achieve amazing success through your business? Almost everything that we see and touch comes from the power of the mind. Someone thought of it and they created the belief within them that they could make life better for others and for themselves.

What is your belief system?

If you believe in yourself, your abilities, and God-given talents and use them correctly, you shall reap the benefits. Believing is the first step to getting results.

Step Out Into the Unknown

Life is full of unknowns. This will always remain a constant. The fact that you made the bold decision to start a business means you have the courage to face many unknowns.

You’ve heard people say, This is the way it’s always been done. Why should we change it? It is this kind of thinking that limits their true potential and success. I encourage you to break away from the status quo. Be bold. Step out of your comfort zone and fearlessly approach the unknown.

In a world that is changing more than ever before, doing business as usual can often lead to stagnation or a lack of intended results. You are remarkable. You have the power to use your mind to be creative, develop new ideas, and think well beyond the box.

Don’t be limited by the thinking of others. Do not stagnate your own thinking. Explore new horizons and dream big.

The Mind

By Monica Davis

The Mind. A masterpiece when molded and sculptured to focus on success.

The Mind. An ingenious tool;

when used constructively,

will allow you to conceive ideas of gold,

and lead you to endless possibilities.

The Mind. A state

that brings one to his knees in depression;

but allows the same one to be

elated with happiness.

The Mind. When refreshed,

can absorb enormous amounts of information, but when fatigue sets in,

it reacts to words without comprehension.

The Mind. A time bomb

that when triggered by the evils of society, can lead your body and soul to total destruction.

The Mind. An intangible source which lets you choose your destiny.

How You Can Use This Book

Your success does not depend on what’s happening in the economy. Your success solely depends on you. If you had the opportunity to talk to an expert about your business, what questions would you ask? You would probably ask questions that could help you learn the whys and hows of their successes and failures. You could also seek advice that would help you learn how to quickly expand and dramatically increase your bottom line while minimizing costly mistakes.

This is exactly what Welcome to the Top will do for you. This book includes extraordinary profiles and candid interviews with CEOs, award-winning experts, successful entrepreneurs, and professionals who dramatically changed their lives by following their passions and starting their own companies. Many started with nothing and have built multimillion-dollar businesses.

This book provides business solutions to your questions through riveting personal stories and experiences. Each story is filled with golden nuggets of wisdom and ideas that you can apply to your business and your life today. Even if your goal is not to become a multimillionaire, the lessons provided in this book can help you boost your bottom line and achieve extraordinary results.

Now you can learn their strategies and secrets. You can gain invaluable lessons from CEOs, celebrities, and everyday people who turned their ideas into multimillion-dollar entities. You can learn how to avoid the same mistakes they’ve made, apply many of their ideas and lessons to help you increase your sales, develop long-lasting business relationships, and build a remarkably successful business.

Welcome to the Top provides information to help you save two precious resources you can’t afford to waste—your time and money. The information provided in this book can help you achieve your goals much faster while avoiding costly and unnecessary mistakes.

Gain first-hand advice from business icons like Tom Ziglar, CEO of the Zig Ziglar Corporation, who shares success insights that he employs every day to help open new doors of opportunity for hundreds of thousands of people. You will also gain invaluable wisdom from William R. Patterson, the number one wealth and business coach, who shares seven key elements to achieving wealth and business success.

These remarkable people candidly share the experiences and success strategies that they have applied to their own businesses. They talk about how they built their companies, how and why they decided to quit their jobs, and how to get and keep loyal customers. They share key elements to achieving overall success, how to effectively network and establish successful business connections, how to effectively negotiate to get what you want, and much more.

Each of them has many things in common with you. They didn’t start out rich, but they had an idea. They all had an idea, a vision, and the belief they could become successful. Then they acted and became successful with a little hard work. They succeeded through trial and error and have graciously shared their experiences with me. Now I’m sharing many of their stories with you.

Your experience may not be exactly the same as theirs, but their life experiences can be used as proven examples as you pursue your business goals and dreams. Although each of them achieved success in their own way, their advice and wisdom will help you make better decisions. The lessons and insights you will gain from this book can provide you with a significant advantage by allowing you to do things better and faster.

Welcome to the Top can serve as a mentor to help you take your business to the next level.

Note: Throughout this book you will see bullets. These bullets identify specific information that I believe is of great importance as these experts and successful people share their powerful insights and advice. These insights helped them become mega- successful CEOs, entrepreneurs, and executives.

Although most of their experiences may not be related to your own, there are many lessons that can be gleaned from them to help you achieve success in your entrepreneurial endeavors.

Business Success

It’s about more than just selling a product or service. Here are some