In the world of business, there are some truths in the marketplace and the Power of Broke is one of them. The Power of Broke written by Daymond John of FUBU and seen on the Shark Tank was published by Crown Publishing, NY, 2016. The Power of Broke is how empty pockets, a tight budget and a hunger for success can become your greatest competitive advantage. In Business and life, we all want to ensure we have enough money so we do not have to worry about the basics plus. If your pockets are empty, then worry about your next meal is a concern. However if you have some money, a tight budget will make you creative. You will need to be creative to leverage the tight money into something bigger – partnerships, researching and trying to stretch the money to wholesale prices rather than retail. When you can do this and more, that is a competitive advantage for you.

Damon wrote the book to help your business whether you are doing very well or just starting out. In some ways, just starting out on a shoestring budget is better, however if you can retain the attitude while having more than a shoestring budget- life will seem better. Mr. John wrote some principles on the Power of Broke

# 1  Use all the resources available for you.

Everyone has resources, some people’s networks are better, but we all have resources. How to use them – social media has made it easier is the trick. You have a great idea or at least believe you have, you eventually need OPM or Other People’s Money to help you. Learning to tap Other People and eventually OPM is using the resources available.

#2  Keep it Real

No matter what you do you must be authentic or sincere in everything you do. The reason is the more humility and integrity you put into the world, the more people will want to help you and want you to succeed.

# 3  Learn and (embrace) the Power of Optimization

Everyone has heard there are only 24 hours in a day, try to make the best use of your time, energy, actions, opportunity costs and capital.

#4  Understand that you will be reward for solving other people’s problems or filling holes in the marketplace.

The reason why anybody will buy your goods or services is it solves their problems. If you are solving a problem they do not know they have, it will be a tough sell. If you solve a problem that people have, buyers will come. As you look around where you live or work, bring the actions you do to what problem you have solved. Start simple – you turn on the light to see in the dark. When you think about your business what problem does it solve?

Linking to dividend paying stocks, ideally these stocks know where their profits are coming and they come every year. How they are managed is where Mr. John’s principles fit in. If the company is throwing money at a problem to fix it, eventually it will waste a lot of money. If the company goes through the steps and solves the problem with creativity and less money, then as a shareholder you win and that is what you like to see.

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions.