Happy 2016!  We are only a few hours away.  Here in Maryland, we are having a Green Christmas, with temperature hovering around the 60s, the Cherry Blossom bloomed already.

I am a most happy dude, cause I just published eBook #8 "Zero to Billions: Anyone Can,  48 Hedge Fund Self-made Billionaires: 22 Lessons for Everyone.", ePublished in Amazon Kindle.  I just made it in 2015 with a few hours spare.  What a feeling!  Now this energize me for 2016.  And I expect another very adventurous and productive year. 

The book tuirned out to be quite intensive, even though I have been reading and learning about the top traders in the world since 1998.  The fun part is there is so much to learn, and our world is changing very fast, faster than ever before.  So, excuse my bias here, you are probably ahead of the curve or you are behind the curve. 

Now, I am working on my next project:  eBook #9 "Fashion Self-made Billionaire".  I am not much of a fashion person, but my wife is.  And I follow her around from shopping mall to shopping mall, doing the favorite American activities: "Shop Till You Drop".

It is amazing to me that booksstores have been closing for the past 10 years.  Now Barnes and Nobles is the only on-the-street bookstore around.  I love books and it is sad to see them disappearing.  Here no shortage of shoe storees.  For every bookstore, there are 100 shoe stores. 

Now, it would be fun  to learn about NIKE, New Balance, Columbia, GAP,  Forever 21, Diesel Jean etc.  I only own Columbia clothing.  

I think last week, the founder of North Face died in a kayak accident somewhere in Chile.  He also created Esprit.  Can;'t remember his name now. 

Wishing everyone a Most Happy and Successful 2016.!

Strange Statyistics: 100,000 Cage People, 350,000 millionaires in Hong Kong

Writing Hong Kong Self-made Billionaires is a fascinating and humbling experience.  I grew up in Hong Kong and I thought I knew it all, until I started gathering all the data

Hong Kong has 100,000 Cage People,  these are not homeless, but they live in Chicken Cages, and obviously created quite a stir when viewed by Westerners -- how can people live like that?

But here in US, we have same or similar problems.  Many foreigners tourists came to see the Homeless in America in LA and NY, where in 1 district, you can find thousands of them, quite a scene for the world's richest country.

here is the strange math:
100,000 cage people = let's say sheep
350,000 millionaires = let's say lions

according to Marxist doctrine, the rich exploit the poor, hence the lions will eat the sheep here.

but with 3.5 lions to each sheep, the lions will soon die of starvation.

the Marxist pyramid only works if there is 1 lion to every 50 sheep

1 sweat shop factory owner to 50 proletariats

you can have 3 factory owners to 1 workers.

-- Let's say LA --
My stats shows LA has 300,000 millionaires and 10,000 homeless

Aha, if we tax the rich in LA, then all the homeless will have swiming pools plus food.

Now, please do not laugh, because under Peron in Argentina, this was exactly what happened.
The govt printed money so the poor can have swimming pool.   Similarly, in Nazis Germany, the government built swimming pool for the workers.  I can only call this a Paradox, cause there is no easy answer to solve all our social ills and income inequality.

I heard people say "Occupy Wall Street", or "Occupy Central District" in HK,
but have yet to hear "Occupy Hollywood" or "Occupy Silicon Valley"

On a Record-Breaking pace.

I am happy, happy, happy.  Yesterday I ePublished my 7th book "Zero to Billions: Anyone Can, 43 Hong Kong Self-made Billionaires: Hong Kong as #1".

My goal is to ePublish eBook #8 "Hedge Fund Self-made Billionaires" before 12/31/2015.  If I can do this, I think I am on world record breaking pace.  I would have published 8 eBooks in One Year.
I don't need a gratitude journal. 

First thing first, I need to edit another version of eBook #7 "Hong Kong SMB".  Once published, I found too many things I am unahappy with.  I will spend 12 hours to read over every sentence and rewrite or rephrase all the awkward phrases.  There is always room for improvement.  I plan to ePublish version 2 by 12/3/2015.

It is 1 am on 12/1/15 and I am back to work, or rather to write.

Day Dreaming or Seeking a Co-author!   Another point of view,  another angle of looking at the same phenomenon.   Our world is changing, and change is accelerating. 

This is the main cause of inequality -- those who are ahead of the curve, and those who are followers.   The pioneers face obstacles, failures and disappointment, but also sense of wonder and adventure.  

This is a 2 year journey of thinking and discovery for me.  My original goal was to write 12 books on self-made billionaires in 2 years.  Divided by 24 months, that gives 2 month for each book.

Now I have ePublished 6, and crossed the half-way line, I set a new goal to finish 13 books in 2 years.  Now, it is not about speed or comfort, but about whether I will actually run out of creative ideas.  After all, the reason I am writing is to create a new vision, a new voice and a different way of viewing and experiencing the world.

The simplistic notion of "the rich get richer , the poor get poorer" is dangerously wrong.  I view it as some people realize their true potential, most don't because of inertia, unwilling to take the first step, the second step, the 10,001 steps to an unknown direction and an unguaranteed future -- the road least travel, or the road that has never been travelled. 

Nov 15, 2015 I will finish writing my 7th eBook "Hong Kong Self-made Billionaires."  Little do I know that Hong Kong is Number One in the world for billionaires.  After I finish the book, I will spend 5 days to re-read the book 3 times and make all necessary changes.  So I hope to epublish by Nov 20, 2015.   I know from past experience that as soon as I ePublish, I will find many areas needing improvement.  So I Nov 20 actually is version 1.  Nov 25 will be final version.  I am very tired and exhausted, but filled with a sense of wonder and awe every day by those entrepreneurs who have done the impossible -- to build a business with 10,000+ employees and 10 million plus customers.

Today I just published my eBook #6 "Zero to Billions: 37 Software Self-made Billionaires: Number One Industry in the World." in kindle Amazon.

Software is the world’s Number One Industry in the past 40 years.  I discover this BY ACCIDENT in the course of researching and writing this eBook.  The claim that Software is Number One Industry is not an exaggeration.   It is based on 4 facts.  The software self-made billionaires are (1) the richest (2) the fastest (3) the youngest and (4) the most numerous.

 First, the software self-made billionaires are the richest.  Bill Gates had been the world’s richest man for 17 of the last 20 years.  And this is after giving away more than $30B to charity.  And Bill Gates has plenty of company.  In 2015, of the 10 richest self-made billionaires in the world, 5 of them made it in software.  They are Larry Ellison of Oracle, Jeff Bezos of Amazon, Michael Bloomberg of Bloomberg and Zuckerberg of Facebook.   The wealth gap between software and the other sector is even more shocking than that.  The other 5 sector (Telecom, Fast Fashion, Investment, Conglomerate and Casino) only account for 1 billionaire each.  Software easily beats the next best sector by 5 to 1 margin.

Second, the software self-made billionaires also made their fortunes the fastest.  Bill Gates became the richest man in the world in his early 30s.  In the 19the century, John Rockefeller made it through petroleum or what he called black gold.  While it took Rockefeller more than 25 years to become the richest man on earth, Bill Gates achieved this in about 13 years, or half the time. It is still a world-record.  Software is the speediest industry.  It took Facebook and Google about 10 years to reach users. 

Third, the software self-made billionaires are also the youngest.  In the sample 37 of the world’s software self-made billionaire, the average age is 49.5.  That is more than 15 years younger than the average age of self-made billionaires (about 67).  The youngest self-made billionaire in the world is Evan Spiegel at 25.  Mark Zuckerberg is only 31.  Even Jeff  Bezos, at 51,  is still a very young age for self-made billionaires,  6 of the self-made billionaire are under 40s: they are Evan Spiegel, Garrett Camp, Sean Parker, Teddy Sagi, Mark Zuckerberg and Eduardo Saverin.

Fourth, the software self-made billionaires are the most numerous.  I could have easily picked 100 plus software self-made billionaires from the Forbes list.  That is about 10% of the world total self-made billionaires (1,101).  No other sector comes even close.

This is my 6th eBook on self-made billionaires.  I had been a programmer for 18 years and even once started my own software company.   I even worked for three internet start-ups.  Writing this book gives me fresh perspective to examine this industry as an objective outsider. 

 I adopt a six W approach.  Who are they?  What are their educational backgrounds?  What kind of software did they create?  Did they collaborate?  (Collaborate means multiple founders instead of solo founders), which countries are they from?  Are there any women?  How old are they?  How did they build their empire?

A couple of surprises came out in the course of writing this book.  First, China is already a powerhouse in software, second only to the US, supplying 8 of the 37 software self-made billionaire.  Second, software is a collaborative industry, over 80% of the software companies are founded by multiple-founders.   A few companies such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Oracle, SAP and Bloomberg are founded by four or more founders. Third, software industry is famous for change and innovation.  Today, both change and innovation are accelerating. Accelerated change will continue to favor software.   No other industries can match Software in (1) low startup cost (2) short product cycle (3) scalability and (4) ability to make other industries more efficient.  Looking ahead for the next 40 years,  Software will continue to be the Number One for the next 40 years.

eBook #5 published today.  I am very happy

on Amazon kindle, the title is "Zero to Billions: Born to Win, 14 Black Self-made Billionaires."

now I am planning next eBook

I am writing book #5  Zero to Billions:  Anyone Can, 13 Black Self-made Billionaires
today I am researching on 2 Nigerian self-made billionaires

Orji Uzor Kalu and Abdulsamad Rabiu

Looking at preliminary data: Nigeria is the Land of Opportunity in Africa, South Africa has only one black self-made billionaire, Nigeria has 8, US has 2, Sudan/UK 1, Ethiopia/Saudi Arabia 1

Nigeria, I am impressed. I talked with my friend Bismarck Likambi , he said he was born in Cameroon and went to high school in Nigeria and he gave me some of the reasons for the dynamic growth

This week's research is like a trip to Africa.