To retire by the age of 35 was my goal. I wasn't sure how I was going to get there though. I knew I would end up owning my own business someday, so I figured my challenge was to learn as much as anyone about all businesses. I believed that every job I took was really me getting paid to learn about a new industry. I spent as much time as I could, learning and reading everything about business I could get my hands on. I used to go into the library for hours and hours reading business books and magazines.

If you've got $25,000, $50,000, $100,000, you're better off paying off any debt you have because that's a guaranteed return.

I learned how to become wealthy because I asked the right questions when I was broke.

We can't ever forget that the Internet now is just a staid utility. The exciting platforms are software applications that are very, very simple.

Having the ability to be brutally honest with yourself is the greatest challenge you face when creating a business model. Too often we oversell ourselves on the quality of the idea, service, or product. We don't provide an honest assessment of how we fit in the market, why customers will buy from us, and at what price.

Sales is the most important aspect of a company, which in turn is about how well you treat your customer and stay ahead of your customer's requirements.

Do the things that make perfect sense to you, [and] don't be afraid to shout it from the mountain tops just because it's outside the box or against the grain in your industry. More often than not, you're probably going to be right.