How To Succeed in Business

Donald Trump's 63 tips for success from "The Apprentice"

Comrades: Donald Trump Tweeted before Twitter existed.

In every episode of The Apprentice, he gave one tip for success that was ~30 seconds long. They were simple, punchy, Tweet-sized nuggets of common sense business wisdom. In many cases, they foreshadowed his reasoning for firing a contestant at the end of an episode.

If anyone other than Trump uttered these lines, they would be considered smart. “Expert” Harvard Business School professors write long articles and books about the same topics, but Trump is somehow an idiot for boiling them down for the masses. Who do you trust more about business - an academic or a billionaire? Love him or hate him, he is an entertainer who has been transparent and funny for a long time.

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I have transcribed all 63 of these tips below. You will be hard pressed to find anything controversial, wrong, or dumb. They also shed insight on how he operates.

Which ones are your favorites? My top picks are #3, 11, 22, 24, 49, 50, 52, 54, and 62.

You can watch the video compilation here, The Art of the Troll below, and check out the full Business section here.

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1. Location, location, location

I’ve always felt location is important, but the people behind the deal are much more important than location. I’d much rather have a really smart, talented guy doing a deal in a not so good location than an idiot doing a deal in a great location because you’ll make money every time.

2. Don't Negotiate With Underlings

Making deals can be tough. I learned at a young age that you have to deal with the boss. It’s simple. Deal with the boss wherever possible.

3. The Art of the Deal

Negotiation is a very very delicate art. Sometimes you have to be tough. Sometimes you have to be sweet as pie. You never know, it depends on who you’re dealing with. I’ve always said that negotiation is not really learned, it’s almost innate, it’s in the genes. A good negotiator is born.

4. A Deal's a Deal

Once you make a deal with someone, it’s really important to carry it through. If you start developing the wrong reputation, it makes it impossible to make future deals. Once you shake hands, that should be it.

5. Stand Up For Yourself

You’ve always got to stand up for yourself. You just have to fight for yourself. Because basically, nobody else is going to fight for you.

6. Know What You're Up Against

Negotiation is a very, very delicate art. The big thing in negotiation is to try and figure out your opponent. Otherwise, you are going to look like an idiot and lose big.

7. God is in the Details

Many times you hear the expression that God is in the details. When people come in to buy something, especially very rich people, they see details. If something’s wrong, they see it and it reflects in the price. That’s why I’m up early in the morning to check every detail of my construction sites. It’s a little bit like watching someone sell their used car and not wash it. You can spend $10 washing the car and get another $200 for the car. I’ve seen guys selling cars that are dirty and I say, that guy is a loser.

8. Beggars Can't Be Choosers

Never beg when you’re trying to sell something. If it doesn’t work out, take your lumps and relax. But you’ll never sell through the begging route.

9. You've Gotta Believe

You’ve gotta believe in what you’re selling. If you don’t believe it, if you don’t really believe it yourself, it will never work. It’ll never sell and you’re going to be miserable.

10. Think Outside The Box

Thinking outside of the box is something that is very much of a cliche, but if you really want to be successful that’s how you’re going to have to do it.

11. It's Easier To Think Big

It has always been easier for me to think big. It was easier to attract the money and the capital than it would be if I did a small job someplace that nobody cared about and nobody wanted to finance. For instance, I’m building a new golf course in Bedminster New Jersey. The site covers over 500 acres, which is YUGE. When I’m done, it’s going to be one of the best golf courses anywhere in the world.

12. Passion

You can not be successful without passion. If you don’t love what you’re doing, if you don’t have passion for it, forget it. Do something else. You’ll be much more successful and you’ll lead a much happier life.

13. Dog Does Not Eat Dog

The greatest thing that can happen to a business man or woman is to surround yourself with talented people who also happen to be loyal. You never know what makes a loyal person. And guess what, if they are not loyal the first time, don’t give them a second chance because they won’t be loyal the next time.

14. Be Quick But Be Careful

Ideally you want quick decision-makers. However, you can’t make it so quick that the decision’s going to be wrong. I’d rather have somebody take their time and come out with the right decision. But the best combination is good decision making, quickly.

15. Get Organized

If I see that there’s a lack of organization, it drives me crazy. Because ultimately lack of organization is a lack of leadership, and you can’t succeed without leadership.

16. A Penny Saved is a Penny Saved

I focus very, very hard on budget. When people don’t adhere to a budget, it’s only trouble. People go over budget, they’re in big trouble.

17. Be Respected

The word leadership is always hard to define because you see so many different people that are so different and they’re great leaders. But the quality of the great leader that I’ve seen that’s common to all is respect. People have to respect you or you cannot be a leader.

18. Price It Right

The marketplace is totally brilliant. If you price something a little bit high, all of a sudden that don’t buy. If you price it a little bit low, the marketplace comes and eats it alive. You have to find the right price, and if you don’t, big trouble.

19. Know Your Market

When I build a building, or when I build a golf course or a club or whatever I do, you always have to go after a certain audience. You have to be able to pinpoint your market, and if you can’t pinpoint the market, you won’t be successful.

20. Sell Your Ideas

If you think an idea is really good, then just don’t stop. Go after it. Keep selling it. Because some of the greatest ideas were ideas that nobody wanted.

21. You Have To Love It

To represent Donald Trump and the Trump organization, somebody has to be driven, but maybe more importantly they have to love it. If they don’t love it, they’ll never ever be successful. Once they love it and once I can see they enjoy what they’re doing and they’ve got the talent to do it, they can’t stop.

22. Control Your Contractor

Contractors are a whole separate breed. They’re tough, they’re smart, they didn’t go to Harvard or Wharton mostly, but you know what? They are just as smart as anybody that went there. You have to know how to deal with contractors and you have to be tough because they will pick your pockets and you won’t even know what happened.

23. Believe In Yourself

A positive attitude is all about self confidence and self confidence is the whole ballgame. If you don’t have a positive attitude in business and in life, you’ll never ever by successful.

24. Never Lose Your Cool

You should never lose your cool, unless it’s an act, if you’re acting that you’re angry because you want to scare your employees or you want to do something to get them to work harder. Never lose your cool unless you have a reason for doing so.

25. Form Your Own Opinion

I’m a leader that listens to my team and listens intently. But in the end, I form my own opinion. The leader that wants to be popular, that wants to be loved, that leader is ultimately not going to make it.

26. Know Your Enemy

Oftentimes you’ll see an opponent and you’ll say to yourself, this is going to be easy. That’s the worst thing you can do. Never underestimate your opponent. Assume that your opponent is the toughest, smartest person in the world because they can really lead to victory.

27. Winning Is Everything

There’s no better feeling than being a winner. To be a winner you have to think like a winner. You have to be positive and you cannot stop.

28. Perseverance

The best people are the ones that don’t stop until the sale is made. They never give up, they have no quit.

29. Respect Comes From Winning

If you win, people are going to respect you. Vince Lombardi was a little guy, he used to smack around these big football players and they’d cry. The reason he got away with it is because he just won.

30. Lead With Authority

I’ve rarely seen a leader that’s been able to lead by consensus. A leader is somebody who will oftentimes go against everybody. That’s what a leader is. Generally speaking, a leader has to think independently.

31. Never Settle

People settle for mediocrity for one reason. They’re lazy. I’ve seen it so often. People go into something, they don’t want to go that extra step, they know it’s not going to be great, it might be good, it might be ok, it’s not going to be great. They settle for mediocrity. They’re lazy.

32. Instinct

I’ve always felt that my best deals were made with my instinct. Not anything else, but my instinct. My skeptics have always faded away because I produce.

33. Shut Up And Listen

I’ll always want to hear what people have to say. It doesn’t mean you do what they’re saying, but always listen. If you do all the talking, you’re not going to learn a lot.

34. Play Golf

Golf is an amazing game. I’ve seen people become tremendous friends on a golf course, whereas when they go out for lunch or dinner they can’t stand each other.

35. Go Big or Go Home

I always like to think big. There’s an expression, go big or home. I like it a lot. You go for the fences. You go all the way, or just go home.

36. Sell Your Ideas

In life, you can have a great idea but if you can’t get those ideas across it’s never ever going to work. I know so many people that have great ideas, but they can’t sell the ideas. Guess what - they’re not successful.

37. Know When To Fold

Oftentimes you’ll have an idea, and you fall in love with it, but then it turns out to be not such a good idea and you can’t get rid of it. When the idea turns out bad, cut it out of your mind. Get rid of it. Go onto the next thing and let it be better.

38. Let Nothing Get In Your Way

For me, failure is never an option. If you have to go through the wall, you go through it. If you can’t go through it, you go under it, around it, over it. There is no such thing as failure.

39. Pulling All-Nighters

I’ve seen people go 48 hours and even more, days and days without any sleep in order to get a deal done. Sometimes you have to do that. If you don’t have the physical or mental stamina to do it, guess what - you should be doing something else.

40. Can't We All Just Get Along?

Getting along with people is very important to success. If you’re not getting along with people, you may be successful but it’s going to be a lot harder.

41. Be Flexible

In business, it’s important to adapt. And if you don’t adapt, you’re never going to be good in business. You’re never going to be successful. Show flexibility. Be able to make a change.

42. Inspire

Leadership is very important in business. You have to inspire your staff, you have to really make them respect you. People like working for the Trump Organization because I make it fun. I make life interesting. It’s always different, it’s always exciting.

43. Maximize Potential

A good leader has to be able to recognize the strengths and weaknesses of employees. A leader has to be able to see who is strong where and if they don’t do it, it’s not going to work out well for that leader and that company.

44. Money Matters

Money is important for a lot of reasons. It’s a scorecard. How well did I do? How much did I make? How much did the company make? You can do a lot of things, but in business it’s all about money.

45. Take It To The Limit

A successful team has to challenge each other. Push your teammates to be better performers. Keep pushing them, you don’t want to drive them over the edge but push them as far as you can.

46. Get To The Point

When I have a meeting, I don’t waste time. It’s quick, short, to the point, and we don’t play games. There’s only so many hours in the day. The quicker you are, the more you can get done.

47. Loyalty

Recently, I had a man and he came in for his final interview. But this guy started telling me what a creep his boss is. I didn’t like that an employee was talking badly about his boss and I decided not to hire him. If you find a disloyal person, get rid of them immediately. There’s nothing worse than disloyalty.

48. Creative Balance

It’s the great business person that can decide between practicality and creativity. You have to be able to strike a balance. If you don’t strike a balance, it’s not going to work.

49. Be A Gladiator

There are times that the only choice is confrontation. Think of yourself as a gladiator. Think of yourself as somebody that goes into the ring. Confrontation is never really popular, but you know what? Sometimes it’s needed. Do it and do it with gusto.

50. Family

Family is very important in business. Over the years I’ve seen many wealthy people. They’re successful, they’ve got a lot going for them, but they’re not necessarily happy. The people that are the happiest and the most content are the ones with good family.

51. Change The Team

People that are successful always know when it’s time to pull somebody, to change the squad. You don’t want them to fail because probably it’s your team that’s going down with them. So pull that person before they fail.

52. People Are Strange

Life is full of different people. Sometimes you’ll see a person, they’re dressed beautifully, they look great, they’re sharp, they speak well, everything’s perfect, but they’re losers. Then you’ll see somebody that doesn’t look as good, they don’t have the right clothing, they don’t have the right face, they don’t have anything right, but they turn out to be winners. Time shows that they turned out to be winners. You never can judge a book by its cover.

53. Plan B

I’ve seen over the years many people, they’re highly inflexible. They have a straight line, but a lot of times that line has to change. And if you don’t have a Plan B, it’s just not going to work. You need flexibility, or you’re never ever going to be successful.

54. Keep It Simple, Stupid!

In advertising, you want keep your message to the point and simple. When you make it too detailed, too complex, it goes over the head of a large segment of the people you’re really wanting to hear the message.

55. Listen To Your People

A really great leader, no matter how tough, no matter how smart, will always have an ability to listen to smart people that work for them. There are so many great ideas that could come out of your subordinates, and if you’re not listening, you’re not going to get those ideas. So hire smart people and then listen to them.

56. Be Respected by Your Employees

You need the respect of your employees. If you’re not going to lead and if you’re not going to have their respect, it’s over. Give it up, go out, and get a job.

57. Be Decisive

If you’re not decisive, the people that are supposed to be following you are going to say, He doesn’t know how to lead. At the same time, you don’t want to be so big that you make a mistake. So be decisive but make sure you’re not making a mistake.

58. Know Your Customer

My father used to look at buildings and talk to people going into those buildings. And then he’d go and design a building so that it met the needs of these people. Learn your customer, know your customer, it’s a good road to success.

59. All In The Family

Many people have priorities. In some cases it’s family, in some cases it’s business. Have priorities. If you love your family, love them. If you love your business, love it. But there is room for other things. So you could have a great family and also do a great job at business. Try getting them all.

60. Watch Your Back

I view everybody as wanting my job, so everybody is ultimately competition. So if you go through periods when people come after you, go after them, fight them hard, and win. I wouldn’t say it’s a great way to live a life, but you have the advantage of having the top spot. Don’t let anybody take that top spot from you.

61. Deliver The Goods

I’ve seen many people that could talk a good game, but they couldn’t deliver. They’re losers. If you don’t deliver the goods, the talking doesn’t mean anything.

62. Death To Traitors

If you think there may be sabotage from within, find the people that are doing this to you. And get rid of them ruthlessly, viciously. I don’t care how you get rid of them, but get rid of them fast.

63. Work vs. Friendship

It’s always great to have friendships in business, but you can’t let the friendships hurt your goals. You can’t let the friendships hurt your business. It’s really wonderful to have good friends in business, but usually it doesn’t work out.