The Dream

- Key
Lessons
from the
worlds
youngest
self-made
millionaire
February 2010

Personal Details G
$ Name: Gurbaksh Singh Chahal
$ Known as: G
$ DOB: July 17, 1982
$ Profession: American entrepreneur, author, TV personality,
motivational speaker, and self made multi-millionaire
$ Education Qualification: High School (drop out)
$ First Company: Started his first venture, ClickAgents (On
December 15, 1998 at the age of 16). Sold the company for $40
Million at the age of 17.
$ Second Venture: Started BlueLithium (on January 12, 2004 at
the age of 22). Sold the company $300 million in cash to yahoo
on October 15, 2007.
$ Third Venture: formed gWallet, a virtual currency platform for
social
media, in September 2009.

The Dream
This is the most interesting book on
management lessons and an biography, I
have ever read.
I have already recommended this book to
everyone in my network.
In order to spread the key lessons from the
book, I tried to put them into this
presentation.

Hope you will enjoy them, but

still recommend you to read
the book too!!!

Lesson 1
Always surround yourself with people who
want you to succeed. That seems simple on
surface, but when you get out there, in the
real world, you will discover that most
people are rooting for you to fail.
STAY AWAY FROM THEM

Source:

Lesson 2
Whatever you do, wherever you are, never
forget that GOD IS WATCHING.

Source: Flickr

Lesson 3
People tend to think that in order to start a
new business they have to come up with
something new and dazzling, but thats a
myth and its often propagated by venture
capitalists.
A company can be similar to the
competition as long as it has the right
people and right leadership, as long as
IT IS COMMITTED TO BEING BETTER
THAN ALL THE OTHER PLAYERS.

Lesson 4
One dont need to start a company with a
new idea. In fact, if you start with something
thats too different, people might have doubts
about your untested model. It might be a
brilliant idea, and you model could very well
be ahead of its time, but if the investors cant
relate to it theres a good chance youre not
going to get funded.
It is advisable to work with something they
understand, then
it into
you
Its aturn
mistake
tothe
try model
to
envisioned inREINVENT
the first place.
THE

WHEEL when youre coming

out of the gate. Start slow

Lesson 5
Never do anything for money or, at least,
solely for money. Of course, one want to
make money, but if thats the only goal, it
will adversely affect all of your decisions.
They will be colored by greed.
SO DONT LET MONEY DEFINE THE
BEGINNING OF THE JOURNEY; MAKE
MONEY THE RAINBOW THAT COMES AT
THE END.

Lesson 6
If you genuinely want something, dont wait
for it teach yourself to be impatient.
PATIENCE MAY WELL BE A VIRTUE, BUT
IMPATIENCE HAS ALWAYS WORKED
BETTER FOR PEOPLE.

Lesson 7

The biggest lessons come

from the biggest
mistakes. Never put
yourself in a position of
vulnerability.
ALWAYS OWN YOUR
MISTAKES

Lesson 8
Dont tell people what they ask you, tell
them what they need to hear to FALL IN
LOVE WITH YOU.

Lesson 9
Dont chase the money. Chase substance.
If you have substance, the MONEY WILL
FOLLOW.

Lesson 10

FIX THING
BEFORE IT
BREAKS,
rather than dont
fix it if its not
broken.

Lesson 11
DONT BE JEALOUS.
Jealousy is one of the most useless emotions
on the planet.

Lesson 12
Some people are like crabs. If they cant get
over the wall, they will PULL YOU DOWN
TO KEEP YOU FROM CLIMBING OVER.

Lesson 13
Most people think that they need to know
exactly what they want to do when they
start a business, but theyre wrong. If you
go into something with a very specific
plan. You might be so focused on your goal
that you would not see the PROMISING
OPPORTUNITIES that present themselves
as you make your way along.
Take the blinders off. Look around.
Dont be afraid to go off on all
sorts of unusual directions, since
thats where you might just find
the MOST INTERESTING

Lesson 14
Being cheap is good for
the company and for the
stakeholders, but dont
be too cheap.
NEVER BE CHEAP WITH
YOUR EMPLOYEES. If
one of them is a rock
star, pay him or her a
rock star salary.

Lesson 15
Failure is not an option. Anyone who even
enterains the idea of failure is already
doomed. Whenever you set out to do
something, large or small, you have to
believe in your heart that its going to
happen, and
you
have
to
keep
moving
Its really all about forward
toward the goal.
movement like riding a bicycle.
If youre standing still, its not
easy to keep your balance, but if
youre moving forward, theres
nothing to it. That holds true for
business and for life. So KEEP

Lesson 16
Learn to move on when
its time to move on.
Bite the bullet. Let go.
START FRESH.
Dont look back. Its
not as easy as it
sounds, but make the
effort its worth it.

Lesson 17
DONT LOSE YOUR
MORAL BAROMETER.
Lies and obfuscation
might give you shortterm success, but they
make for very unstable
relationships.
Never compromise your
morality. We all need to
live by a moral code.

Lesson 18

CRITICISM is the best

form of discipline because
it makes you look at
yourself.

Lesson 19

If youve got
nothing to hide
and you should
never have
anything to hide
DONT SWEAT
THE PROCESS.

Lesson 20

He who knows when

HE CAN FIGHT
AND WHEN HE CAN
NOT,
will be victorious.

Lesson 21
If the company had $200 million in the bank,
money it could have been investing in
manpower, products and technology but
everyone was so risk-averse that they
refused to touch it. When you have $200
million in cash available, you should be doing
something with it, not simply enjoying the
interest youre collecting.
The interest on that chunk of change for the
companys operation, and then some, of
course but it wasnt growing the company.
ON YOUR
MONEY IS
Instead,SITTING
the company
was stagnating.
NOT A STRATEGY; ITS AN
ABSENCE OF STRATEGY.

Lesson 22

LISTEN TO YOUR
HEART. We tend to
do well at things we
love, so find
something you love
or learn to love
what youre doing.

Lesson 23
Forget noble motivations. Success comes
from wanting to win, so youve got to want it
bad you really need that killer instinct. At
the end of the day, no matter what they say,
its not about how you play the game, but
about winning.
WINNING IS NOT EVERYTHING. ITS THE
ONLY THING.
(Vince Lombardi, American football coach)

Lesson 24
ADJUST YOUR
ATTITUDE.
Without the right attitude,
youll never succeed. You
have to believe in
yourself, often to the point
of madness, because until
you prove yourself the
only people who believe in
you are your parent. If you
have any doubts, get out
now.
Source:

Lesson 25
FIGURE OUT WHAT YOURE GOOD AT.
Very few of us are gifted, so we need to work
with the gifts we have.
If youre five-foot-two and you love
basketball, let me be the first to tell you. Its
probably not going to happen (but dont let
me to stop you.)

Lesson 26

Yes

Yes

NO

Yes

TRUST YOUR GUT.

We are complicated
creatures. That
inexplicable feeling you
get sometimes well, it
tends to be right a lot
more often then it is
wrong. Try not to over
analyse it. Some
mysterious inner you is
trying to help by pointing
you in the right direction.

Lesson 27
DO YOUR HOMEWORK. BEFORE YOU
START ANYTHING, make sure you know
exactly what youre getting into. Ignorance
is dangerous. What you dont know can and
will hurt you.

Source:

Lesson 28
Be frugal. The only person YOU NEED TO
IMPRESS IS YOURSELF, and youll be
impressed by success.
When it comes to staffing your company,
however, dont be frugal. Find the right
people for the right jobs, and pay them what
theyre worth. We all love and need rock
stars.

Lesson 29
DONT EXPECT PERFECTION from
yourself or others, but never stop striving
for it, and try to inspire others to strive for it
too.

Lesson 30
LEARN TO LISTEN. Everyone has an
opinion, and everyone is entitled to an
opinion, and even wrong-headed opinions
can open your eyes to things you might
otherwise have missed.
So listen, even to people you disagree with
and may be to them more than others. Then
process what youve heard and have the
courage of your convictions.

Source: www.zazzle.com

Lesson 31
Own your mistakes. At the end of the day,
every decision you make, even if it was
inspired by misguided advice, is your
decision.
NOBODY WINS
WHEN YOU START
LOOKING FOR
SOMEONE TO
BLAME.
Let it go. Keep
moving. Forward
movement is
everything.

Lesson 32
Never lose sight of the
competition. While youre
playing, someone else is
working and catching up, so
learn to play with one eye on
the competition.
YOURE NOT GOING TO BE
ON TOP FOREVER.

Source: www.rblewis.net

Lesson 33
DONT
PROCRASTINATE.
Procrastination is just
another work for
wanting to fail. If youre
not hungry enough, if
youre too lazy to move
forward, youre never
going to get anywhere.

Lesson 34
Dont do anything by half measures.
Remember: MEDIOCRITY IS FOR LOSERS.

Lesson 35
ALWAYS NEGOTIATE FROM A POSITION
OF STRENGTH. If you need something from
the other guy, youve already lost. People
want what they cant have.; become the
thing people want.

Source: www.salestrainingelearning.co.uk

Lesson 36
EXPECT THE
UNEXPECTED.
If youre ready for
anything, youll still be
unpleasantly surprised
but at least youll get
through it.

Lesson 37

PERCEPTION IS
REALITY.
What they see is more
important than what is, so
show them what they
want to see and tell them
what they want to hear.

Lesson 38

Dont get emotional.

LOGIC AND
EMOTIONAL
DONT MIX.

Source: mountcope.wordpress.com

Lesson 39

BE FEARLESS.
The road to success is
paved with failures. If
youre afraid to fail,
youll never succeed.

Source: schoolnet.gov.mt

Lesson 40

PICK YOUR
BATTLES.
The fighting never
really ends. Dont let
the meaningless
skirmishes sap your
strength; you are in
this to win the war.

Lesson 41
Grow a thick skin a very thick skin. People
will question your ability to succeed and the
loudest among them might make you doubt
your own talents, so youll need a thick skin
to drown out the noise.
THE SILENCE WILL HELP YOU FOCUS ON
YOUR OBJECTIVE, AND YOU WILL
PREVAIL.

Lesson 42
TAKE CHANCES. Without risk, there is no
reward. But make sure its intelligent risk.
Only a fool bets against Tiger Woods (until it
is time to bet against Tiger Woods)

Lesson 43
When you commit, you really have to
commit. BECOME UNSTOPPABLE AND
DONT QUIT.

Lesson 44

There is no need to
reinvent the wheel.
You simply need to find out
that CAPTURED YOUR
IMAGINATION, and then
you figured out how to do
it better than the next guy.

Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/terva/2072247720/

Lesson 45
SUCCESS IS REALLY ABOUT MAKING IT
HAPPEN.
Its about dreaming. Its
about finding that one thing you love above
all others and then figuring out how to do it
better than anyone else.

Reference
The Dream by Gurbaksh S. Chahal (Palgrave
Macmillan 2008)
www.chahal.com
Pictures source
Google Images
Flickr