This is part 2 in the series of “How to Succeed in 2007.” This series is about my thoughts on the CNN Money Article “How to Succeed in 2007.” You may want to start with part 1.

Eric Schmidt
CEO, Google
SUCCEED WITH SIMPLICITY

“Silicon Valley companies have a tendency to develop these systems that rely on complexity. But it produces things like the personal computer running Windows. Google from the beginning focused on the simple search box, the simple search page.

We have the tiger by the tail in that we have this huge phenomenon of personalization. Now we need to make it simpler for people. We are trying to shape the innovation going forward from here and get things more integrated, make Google more integrated. [Read more →]

CNN Money has posted an article called How to Succeed in 2007 – “We asked 50 of the brightest minds in business how they do what they do – and how you can cash in on their advice in the year ahead.”

I though it was interesting, so I’ll posting a few of my favorites (and my comments on them) over the next few days.

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Rachael Ray
Chef, Author, and Entrepreneur
Turn Your Passion Into an Empire

“You have to be open-minded when those early opportunities present themselves. Take advantage of them, whether they’re going to make you a lot of money or not. I did 30 Minute Meals for five years on local television, and I earned nothing the first two years. Then I earned $50 a segment. I spent more than that on gas and groceries, but I really enjoyed making the show and I loved going to a viewer’s house each week. I knew I enjoyed it, so I stuck with it even though it cost me.

[Read more →]

A few days ago I posted an article called Going to School Pays Off. I talked about what people at certain education levels can expect to earn throughout their lives. It really made me wonder what the opportunity cost was of going to school for 12 years.

Opportunity cost is is the cost of something in terms of an opportunity forgone (and the benefits that could be received from that opportunity), or the most valuable forgone alternative, i.e. the second best alternative. For example, if a city decides to build a hospital on vacant land that it owns, the opportunity cost is some other thing that might have been done with the land and construction funds instead. In building the hospital, the city has forgone the opportunity to build a sporting center on that land, or a parking lot, or the ability to sell the land to reduce the city’s debt, and so on. – Wikipedia

Around here a high school graduate with no degree can earn around $7.00 per hour without trying too hard. So let’s create a basic scenario. We have 2 guys. One graduates high school at the top of his class, goes on to a prestigious college, then goes on to medical school, graduates and makes it to his residency and his fellowship and is a full fledged medical doctor after 12 years. Guy number 2 graduates high school and goes on to get a job at your favorite fast food chain making $7.00 per hour. [Read more →]