Donald J. Trump is an icon: the very definition of the American success story. Bill Zanker started The Learning Annex with $5,000 and grew it into a $5 million a year company. Together, they're living examples of how thinking big and knowing when to back up your opinions aggressively can help you maximize your personal and professional achievements. Here's an excerpt from "Think Big and Kick Ass in Business":

Chapter One: Do you have what it takes?
People always ask me, “How did you get so rich?” The way I do things has allowed me to succeed financially far beyond what I had expected. I have had a lot of fun, and I have made a lot of money. I have known many celebrities, billionaire businesspeople, and superstar sports figures. It is not easy to explain in a couple of words, but I have noticed that all these successful people have traits that set them apart from the pack: their attitudes, actions, persistence, and passion, plus a whole slew of other qualities that separate the winners from the losers.

To be successful you have to separate yourself from 98 percent of the rest of the world. Sure, you can get into that special 2 percent at the top, and it is not just by being smart, working hard, and investing wisely. There is a formula, a recipe for success that the top 2 percent live by and that you too can follow to be successful.

First, you must be honest with yourself. The only way to get rich is to be realistic and brutally honest. You have to get out of the ideal fantasy world you read about in magazines and see on TV. It is not as easy as they make it look. It is tough, and people get hurt. So you have to be as tough as nails and willing to kick ass if you want to win. Most people are not cut out for this. You have to deal with a tremendous amount of pressure. You have to think large and be creative to solve big problems that scare the crap out of most people. People are going to try to steal from you and destroy you just for the fun of it. You have to stand up to them, fight back and kick their ass. Nobody is going to hold your hand and help you along. You are on your own. You have to be able to bend but never break.

All of the greats in every sport, in finance and business, in the arts, and in government possess something special. A lot of people have it, but frankly, most people do not. Do you have what it takes to think big and kick ass? Virtually all self- made millionaires and billionaires, such as Bill Gates, Oprah Winfrey, and Walt Disney had the ability to think big and kick ass. I see it all the time. The most successful people I have learned from just never take no for an answer. They have all had to endure big challenges to get to where they are. They’ve had to overcome the odds that stop most people from making it big. To do this,  they’ve had to develop the habit of persistence. You are going to learn a lot in this book, but as a small business owner never giving up is the most important attribute you can learn.

To Sum It Up

Winners in life have a special quality that I call the Trump IT quality, which sets them apart from 98 percent of the population. There is a formula you can follow to be a winner in life. But you must be brutally honest with yourself. Getting rich is tough, and people get hurt. You have to be as tough as nails and willing to kick ass if you want to win. Take the preceding litmus test to see if you have the right stuff. Learn about the areas of your life you need to kick up a notch. Read this book and absorb the tough-attitude stories. Then retake the test and you will score much higher.

Excerpted from "Think Big and Kick Ass in Business" by Donald J. Trump and Bill Zanker. Copyright 2007 Donald Trump and Bill Zanker. Reprinted with permission of HarperCollins. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced without written permission from the publisher.

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