Built from Scratch
by Bernie Marcus and Arthur Blank ( the founders of The Home Depot).
Publisher: Random House.

For you home depot fans this book will have some fascinating reading.

You will have a hard time believing that two guys with very little money built the worlds largest home improvement chain. They had a lot of knowledge from working in the home improvement business and lots of guts but short on funds.

This book is very inspirational if you're a small business owner who dreams of growing his business larger. Or if you're working the night shift and have a side business that you hope to make a full time career one day. Built From Scratch will show you how sheer determination along with a lot of good luck and good lucky financial planning can make your goals come true.

The best place to purchase this book is right at The Home Depot. Of course it's about 25% less than at the book stores.

McDonalds: Behind The Arches
by John Love
Publisher: Bantam Books.

This is not an easy book to find, but it can be ordered from Amazon.com.

We love stories of the little guy who is doing ok in life but wants to do better. This is like The Home Depot story but instead of taking place in the 1980's, it takes place in the 50's.

Ray Kroc is the owner of a company that makes mixers for shakes. His machines can make up to 6 at a time but his market share is declining. If only he can find another business to invest in.

Mr. Kroc travels to San Bernardino to visit two brothers who own a restaurant that only makes hamburgers, fries, cokes and shakes. Also, the brothers want to buy 12 shake machines!

So starts the incredible story of McDonalds, the McDonalds brothers and Ray Kroc.

Although the McDonald brothers did help to pioneer the fast food industry, they also get an F for investment acumen. In the early 1960's the brothers McDonald's lease with Ray Kroc was coming to an end that would allow him to be the only agent to sell franchises for their McDonalds chain.

Mr. Kroc spent the better part of the late 1950's putting together McDonalds as we know it today and didn't even take a salary until 1960. The brothers both demanded $1 million each plus the taxes to be paid on their sale in order for Kroc to take over McDonalds.

That same $3 million in McDonalds today would be worth billions.

The next two books are both from the CEO's of the same company but from different time periods. We recommend them to the point that you should read them back to back to get the full flavor of the times.

Walt Disney
by Bob Thomas
Publisher: Hyperion

You will never be able to appreciate anything with the Disney name on it until you realize that Disney almost never happened.

Bob Thomas actually interviewed Walt and many of the people involved in the formation of the company and the building of Disneyland. He weaves a great story of a person whose desire in life is to turn out the highest quality family entertainment, no matter what the cost.

This attitude not only almost put the company out of business many times, but almost made Walt and his brother Roy sell out to the likes of Columbia Pictures and brought the Disney brothers to the point that they only communicated through memos.

Work in Progress
by Michael Eisner
Publisher: Hyperion

This book should be called The Walt Disney Company, Volume 2! If you want a Continuation of what happened at Disney after Walt dies in 1966, this is a must read.

Mr. Eisner does an excellent job explaining the 1984 take over battle for Disney, the people behind the scenes who have brought such tremendous growth to Disney and the internal conflicts with the likes of Jeffrey Katzenberg.

As a side note, this book was banned in the press for Mr. Eisners lack of candor about the inner workings at Disney and what actually happened with Mr. Katxzenberg. If you recall, Mr. Katzenberg departed Disney after not being awarded the presidents position and then won a law suit with Disney worth over $100 million .

The reviewers who wrote those articles more than likely never read this book in which Mr. Eisner is more than candid and talks about all the facts that matter.

About Jeff

Jeff Seidel is the publisher of Financial Career Newsletters, a new newsletter and web site to be previewed soon -first on the Buck Investor. If you have an interest on how to become a stock broker or career insurance agent let him know.

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