Tuned Into Business:

The business of finding that special someone has become ridiculously profitable for dating companies. And it doesn’t matter if you are a big fish or a one-man band.

Consider the proliferation of dating sites like PerfectMatch.com and MingleCity.com. TV commercials have been cropping up for Chemistry.com and, for a hot minute, I noticed that Dr. Phil had hung his shingle up at Match.com. Meanwhile, Marcus Frind, founder and CEO of Plentyoffish.com, has managed to take the free dating site he’s been running out of his apartment since 2003 to the top (Number one in Canada, number one in the UK and number three in the U.S.) using artificial intelligence. He probably figured, why buy the cow when you can develop an AI to run your site for pennies on the dollar? Frind, a 29-year-old computer programmer who appeared on The Today Show last summer, works a measly 10 hours a week and rakes in net profits of about $10 million a year. Clearly he’s struck a nerve worldwide. So, from what I can see, dating and the search for love represent a culture on the rise that doesn’t appear to be slowing down any time soon.

Another observation is the growing trove of TV shows such as The Bachelor and Flavor of Love, not to mention the copycat spinoff shows now airing. I suppose people need something to talk about at the water cooler, eh?

Have you noticed that matchmakers are now the “new kid” on the TV chopping block? I suppose it’s time for them to bask in their 15 minutes of fame. I’m wondering whether some TV exec is going to get the ax when the first matchmaker show fails. Here’s a snapshot of the shows already airing:

Millionaire Matchmaker recently premiered on Bravo, starring third-generation matchmaker Patti Stanger. Boy is she a pistol! One minute she’s complaining because the chicks she’s selected aren’t what she considers hot (a seven on a scale of 10). Then she’s exasperated when her Gulf Stream-clad bachelors only want to date bombshell beauties (duh).

The other matchmaker newcomer is the tempestuous Patti Novak, star of A&E’s Confessions of a Matchmaker. Novak runs her business from her Buffalo (New Yawk) office and was recently seen on Oprah as “America’s Toughest Matchmaker.”

Based on most of what’s out there in the world of dating, my first reaction was, “Is that all there is?â€� I was feeling unfulfilled about the whole thing—I would compare my research to eating Chinese food; I was hungry an hour later. But I kept thinking, “There’s got to be a better way!” And there is. In fact, in my next blog post, I’ll share my findings about MatchMatrix.com, an exciting new relationship website that’s like a magic bullet for identifying your perfect match. You may want to take advantage of getting a free communication report at MatchMatrix.com.

If I were you I’d get a second free report for the person you are interested in to see if both of you share the same style of communication. I can’t wait to tell you how I personally tested MatchMatrix on myself as well as several friends, associates and a couple of journalists.

Your feedback is always a plus. In fact, some of my best ideas come from people like you. So keep those comments coming. Your feedback lets me know which topics are important to you.

Cheers!
Michelle

When Donny talks, it’s time to listen up. And when he gives the sort of endorsement he did recently, you really wouldn’t want to miss it. But just in case you did, Donny turned the reins over to the very talented and capable Carla Harris for his signature “Millionaire Secrets” segment. She may not be a household name to you, but she is a powerhouse. The show didn’t have my total attention until he shouted out, “You wouldn’t get a meeting with Carla Harris in a hundred years.” Harris is a managing director in global capital markets at Morgan Stanley.

Here are Harris’ tips from The Big Idea, along with some of the incredible things the Harvard grad has done.

1. Bring your authentic self to work. Make sure you leverage what makes you, you. Your competitive advantage is who you really are.
2. Be a risk taker. The person who is going to be rewarded in any environment is the person who is willing to think out of the box. Failure brings you a gift, and that gift is experience.
3. Live in your power. Understand your strengths and your weaknesses.
4. Perception is the co-pilot to reality. How people perceive you will directly impact how they deal with you. Think of three adjectives that are consistent with who you really are.
5. Be the author of your own agenda. It’s your life, and it’s your career. Do not manage your career based on someone else’s path.

Prior to her current position at Morgan Stanly, Harris was a senior member of the equity syndicate desk and was in charge of initial public offerings for UPS, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, Ariba, Redback, the General Motors sub-IPO of Delphi Automotive and the $3.2 billion common stock transaction for Immunex Corp.

Honors

• Fortune magazine’s list of “The 50 Most Powerful Black Executives in Corporate America”;

• Black Enterprise magazine’s “Top 50 African Americans on Wall Street”;

• Essence magazine’s list of “The 50 Women Who are Shaping the World”;

• Ebony’s list of “15 Corporate Women at The Top”;

• Network Journal’s 2005 list of “25 Most Outstanding Women in Business”;

• “Woman of the Year 2004″ from the Harvard University Black Men’s Forum.

She rocks, and my biggest regret is that what I’ve written doesn’t capture her enthusiasm. I felt like I wanted to go for a run after listening to her.

Troy Dunn was very entertaining on The Big Idea and had lots of great ideas that anyone can use to raise a self-sufficient kid. He should know. He’s a self-made millionaire and the father of seven children. His daughter, who is 10, has cancer.

Dunn’s Tips from his book, Young Bucks: How to Raise a Future Millionaire:

• Believe your children are capable of greatness.

• You don’t have to be a millionaire to raise one

• Identify your child’s business talents

• Light the learn-to-earn fire

• Start the startup

If you are wonderig who this guy is, here’s a snapshot:

1. Troy Dunn married his high-school sweetheart, Jennifer, and together they are raising seven beautiful children.
2. In 1992, Troy and his partner self-published their first book, The Locator, which drove revenue in excess of $10 million over the next eight years.
3. Troy enjoyed 14 years of national television appearances as “the reunion guy” on virtually every talk show on TV. From Good Morning America and Live With Regis & Kelly to 48 Hours and 60 Minutes.
4. He consults four corporate clients a year.
5. He’s the author of Young Bucks, a straightforward, practical and entertaining manual that debunks a number of parenting myths that work against financial independence, such as allowances.
6. Besides being a successful businessman, he is a public speaker, radio host and writer on the subject of financial success and personal happiness.

Tonight on the Big Idea, Dani Johnson shared her secrets of success. What’s interesting is that Johnson was homeless at the tender age of 21 and, while living out of her car, she turned her life around. By the time she was 23 she was a millionaire.

Johnson’s Millionaire Secrets:
1. Prepare for a marathon, not a sprint.
2. Weigh your ego with your bank account.
3. Prosper where you’re planted.
4. The marketplace pays for value.
5. Create results.

Johnson has written a wonderful book, Spirit Driven Success: Learn Time Tested Biblical Secrets To Create Wealth While Serving Others. While in her early 20s, she made her first millions in MLM. Today, she is founder of Call to Freedom International, a coaching and seminar training company that she and her husband Hans operate. I had the pleasure of meeting Dani, Hans and her family shortly after I profiled her for my book, Weekend Entrepreneur: 101 Great Ways to Earn Extra Cash.

If you want to be more and do more, or you are stuck and need a reality check and a roadmap to succeed beyond your wildest dreams, Dani Johnson is one of the finest trainers on the planet.

Start-Up Junkies, filmed over a nine-month period, focuses on the recently established Seattle-based company Earth Class Mailâ„¢, a global service that delivers postal mail online, much like an electronic post office box. It airs Thursday nights beginning tonight, January 24, at 10 p.m., ET/PT.

Last October I interviewed Ron Wiener, CEO of Earth Class Mail, and I have no doubt that he is on his way to stardom. This startup has generated so much buzz in the venture capital world that it attracted the largest venture capital fund in the Pacific Northwest and broke the all-time record for raising money from the world’s largest group of “angel” investors.

Tune in to MOJO HD over the next couple of months for a great adventure.

The series is part of a new programming block every Thursday, “MOJO Money Night,” that also features two original MOJO HD series about financial investors and venture capitalists: Wall Street Warriors (9 p.m. ET/PT) and Bobby G: Adventure Capitalist (9:30 p.m. ET/PT).

Wall Street Warriors’ season premiere is Thursday, January 24 at 9:00 p.m. ET/PT. This 10-part documentary series profiles six driven financial investors, fiercely battling to generate as much money as possible while worldwide markets vacillate.

The series also kicks off a new programming block every Thursday entitled MOJO Money Night, which includes two new series about maverick entrepreneurs and investors: Bobby G: Adventure Capitalist (9:30 p.m. ET/PT) and Start-Up Junkies (10 p.m. ET/PT).

The entirely new cast for the second season of Wall Street Warriors is composed of six ambitious players who deal in billions:
Larry: Buying and selling commodity futures on orange juice crops that haven’t even been harvested, working in the midst of the frenzied trading floor.
Brett: Co-founder and owner of a private equity firm focused on investing in and growing small and medium-size businesses. He also established a charity group that focuses on cancer and education, issues personally important to him.
Jessica: A cotton commodities broker who feels that being a woman on the floor works to her advantage and expresses her need to be mentally tough to succeed.
Jim & Lance: A pair of high-energy stock brokers who oversee a team of competitive young brokers building portfolios for high net-worth investors.
Laetitia: Just starting out (viewers join her at her graduation and first job interview) and trying to find her way into an entry-level desk trader position.

The Wall Street Warriors are followed throughout the trading day, beginning with the opening bell. Whether buying and selling on the exchange floor, networking the night away or working intensely to meet their monthly targets, these “players” are driven to win.

Wall Street Warriors was created by Scott J. Gill and Sean Skelton for Radius Productions Inc. Executive producer for iN DEMAND is Emilio Nunez. Siobhan Graham is supervising producer.

About MOJO HD (www.mojohd.com)
MOJO HD was created exclusively for the discerning upscale male, with attitude, wit and style.It is among the most widely distributed HD networks on cable. The company has been a pioneer in high-definition TV since 2003. Original shows are about wide-ranging men’s interests, including high tech, finance, comedy-reality, adventurous travel, music, cuisine and spirits.

“Crank That (Soulja Boy)” was the breakout hit of 2007, and it doesn’t seem to be losing momentum with time. Yesterday, two worlds collided when Regis and Kelly tried to snap their fingers and move their feet to this tune on Live With Regis and Kelly.

For seven weeks, “Crank That (Soulja Boy)” was a number-one single on the Billboard Hot 100 list. That may explain Kelly Ripa’s rationale for letting her kids–Lola, 6, and Joaquin, 4–skip school to be on the show. But wait… Kelly was quick to inform viewers that oldest son, Michael, who is 10, was at school.

The Regis and Kelly finale included a dance lesson from teen rapper Soulja Boy. And the kids,  along with several others, joined in for the festivities.

If you’re wondering, “What’s the big deal?” I’ll tell you. This little rapper Soulja Boy (real name DeAndre Way) is a 17-year-old who started out featuring his music as a download from his MySpace page a year ago. Like many boys his age, he was simply having fun dancing and making music from his bedroom. Unlike his peers, he is cashing in on his talent. He’s gone from irritating teachers at South Panola High School in Batesville, Mississippi, to inking a major record deal.

Here’s a snapshot of his success:

• “Crank That (Soulja Boy)” recently received a 2007 Grammy nomination for best rap song.

• The single’s music video has enjoyed 25 million-plus views on YouTube.

• Animated characters from SpongeBob SquarePants, Dora the Explorer, Barney and the Simpsons to Winnie the Pooh, Bambi and the Lion King have their own unique version of “Crank That (Soulja Boy)” on YouTube.

• You’ll find people from all walks of life, ages and races uploading their homemade version of “Crank It” on YouTube.

• Realizing that people were trying to learn the dance but that nobody really knew how to do it right, Soulja Boy made his own instructional video. He breaks down each move, and it is almost as popular as the song. It has had about 21 million views since being added to YouTube.

• After opening a YouTube account in January 2006, Soulja Boy has posted more than 100 videos.

• His debut album, “Souljaboytellem.com,” pays homage to his internet roots

• Leaving no stone unturned, he has an online store, Souljaboystore.com. Regis and Kelly were each given a pair of his super-sized, white sunglasses to wear when he was on their show.

• After making beats and songs, he started uploading tracks to SoundClick.com. Positive feedback from other artists led Soulja Boy to borrow a cousin’s camcorder to uploaded videos of himself and friends doing their favorite dances.

• No instruments were involved in the making of “Crank It.â€?

• Atlanta producer Michael Grooms, a.k.a. Mr. Collipark (Ying Yang Twins, Young Jeezy), signed him to a record deal with Interscope, whose roster of superstars includes Sheryl Crow, 50 Cent and Gwen Stefani. Grooms heard about Soulja Boy at the park where his sons play.

• The busy high school senior has been touring with a tutor and will be performing in several cities this year.
• It’s been number one on iTunes and a number-one ringtone.

If you need some new steps or a little extra cardio, you can learn the dance. If you want your 15 minutes of fame on YouTube, upload your homemade video of “Crank It.” Or upgrade your ringtone.

Let me know what you think of this viral internet sensation.

If his face looks familiar, it’s because this is the guy who was talking to his son about his vision board in The Secret. What you may not know is that John Assaraf is a high school dropout turned entrepreneur. I met Assaraf several years ago, and he is an all-around cool guy.

Tonight he shared a few millionaire secrets with Donny Deutsch and the gang at The Big Idea. With so much going on, Assaraf has managed to write The New York Times bestseller Having It All. He built four multimillion-dollar companies, and one of them generates more than $5 billion a year in sales. Assaraf’s dedication to help entrepreneurs inspired him to create the company OneCoach. I have to admit, I was pumped up with enthusiasm after seeing him tonight.

John’s 5 Millionaire Secrets:
1. Think like a business millionaire. Start thinking like a business millionaire. You’ve got to upgrade your mental vision of what you are going to achieve. Focus on what you really want, and start acting like you already achieved it (act as if).
2. Is your why big enough? If you have a big enough why the what will be easy. It’s not about the money: It’s who you become along the way that will drive you to do things when it’s hard.
3. Set grand, unrealistic goals that scare you. Unrealistic goals that make you feel doubt and fear force your brain to move to a higher order of thinking.
4. Opinions are free, and they are a dime a dozen. Don’t take people’s opinions that haven’t been there before.
5. Feel the fear and do it anyway.

Click here to check out John’s website, blog, myspace page, videos on Squidoo and his book. I did.

Tell us what you are up to. It could be a tip, a quote or share your business idea with us.

Years ago when Marilu Henner was the host of her own daytime talk show, I was one of her producers. I was looking forward to watching her on the latest installment of Donald Trump’s Apprentice franchise, but I’ve had the flu and missed its debut last Thursday. A few days later I stumbled across a rerun of the show just in time to see the catfight in the boardroom starring Carol Alt, Omarosa and Tiffany Fallon.

Each team was selling hotdogs to raise money for charity. The guys sold $52,000, and the women struggled to bring in $17,000.
Gene Simmons is a smooth operator, so he did what he does best. He called his rich friends. Getting folks to drop thousands of dollars for a hotdog was no big deal for the guys.

The boardroom was pretty predictable. Trump voiced his regret about the failure of Tiffany, a former Playboy Playmate, to call Hugh Hefner for a large donation (duh?). And I think we all knew at that moment how the story was going to end. Tiffany was the first to hear Trump say, “You’re fired!”

Episode 2
Tonight the guys won for their cute Purina commercial. That’s two points for the guys and zero points for the women (sigh). How the women could sit there saying they thought the commercial they produced was better than the guys’ commercial, I’ll never know. Omarosa always has something up her sleeve. She tried to add a little spice to the tiresome boardroom by flirting with Lennox Lewis.

As the camera showed the women sitting around the boardroom table, the sadness on Nadia Comaneci’s face singled her out as tonight’s loser. What happened to this Olympic gold medalist? Clearly she was out of her league and appeared to have run out of steam.

Carol Alt kept tension high in the boardroom. Trump quickly let the model/actress know that she wasn’t getting fired.

Nely Gala’n, who seemed to be skating on thin ice, was overly confident. Nely thinks a lot of herself, and that’s fine. But she never said what she had to offer her team. My advice to Nely, a formerTelemundo executive, is don’t quit your day job.

Celebrity Contestants
Carol Alt - Model/actress
Jennie Finch - Olympic gold medalist, softball
Marilu Henner - Actress/author
Nadia Comaneci - Olympic gold medalist, gymnastics
Omarosa - Season one “The Apprentice” candidate
Tiffany Fallon - Playboy Playmate/Miss Georgia USA 2001
Nely Gala´n - Entrepreneur and former Telemundo executive
Piers Morgan - Editor/”America’s Got Talent” judge
Trace Adkins - Country music star
Gene Simmons - KISS front man /entrepreneur
Lennox Lewis - Heavyweight-boxing champion
Stephen Baldwin - Actor
Tito Ortiz - Ultimate fighting champion
Vincent Pastore – Actor

If you have the answer to my question, “Is anybody watching The Celebrity Apprentice?” let me know, because I have no idea. Or, maybe you want to weigh in on the show. Be my guest.

A world-renowned Beverly Hills stylist is making over businesses like yours. He has styled such celebrities as Cameron Diaz and Eva Longoria and will come to your shop and not only make over you and your family, but your store as well!

Do you and your family own a small business? Are you tired of looking at the faded paint on your walls? Maybe you think it’s time for a new look in your shop. Do you and your family need makeovers as well?

If you think you fit the bill, please send pictures of your family and a brief story of why you think he needs to fix you up!

Here is the link to apply: http://www.realitywanted.com/index.php/latest/1887