Friday, on Forbes.com the annual list of the 400 Richest People in America was released. 82 billionaires didn’t make the list (poor guys and gals). USA Today reporter Del Jones wrote that over a billion people worldwide live on no more than $1 a day. Unbelievable (to think I spent more tonight taking my wife out for dinner than some people have to spend for months. I am rich indeed!).

If you have been reading this blog, you know that I have been writing about “rich” people too. People who are rich not because of what they have but because of what they give. I figured someone like Del would want to write about it or a major TV show would want to tell the world. So I hired a PR firm to let CBS, NBC, ABC, CNN, MSNBC, FOX, Good Morning America, The Today Show and all the stations in my local market know. While the PR firm did a great job writing the press release and they were a joy to work with, the result was no call from Katie, no email from Oprah, no letter from Letterman. Nothing. Nado. Zilch. Zero. The PR firm warned me that sending the release (below) might not result in a call and she was right. But as I told them yesterday, they certainly wouldn’t call if they knew nothing about what I was doing. So I’ll keep at it. In my own small way, I’ll keep spreading the word about the REAL Richest People in America in hopes that some day someone will think the stories are worth telling and the people are worth writing about.

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Forbes Releases “Richest Americans” List Today Tabulation calls into question who holds the real wealth in this country? Knoxville, TN

Forbes.com posted their annual list of the 400 Richest Americans yesterday. When so many have so little, we should all ask, what really makes a person rich? Is it their house? Is it their car? Is it the amount they have in the stock market?Author and inspirational speaker Tim Richardson says, “No!” to all these questions and calls attention to what really makes a person wealthy with the release of his list: The REAL Richest People. Tim is the author of, “Jump Starts: Wit and Wisdom to Super Charge Your Day,” and co-author of, “Transformation Thinking: Tools and Techniques That Open the Door to Powerful New Thinking.” His list is about the joy of giving back; using your time and resources to make a difference in the world. “True richness comes from the love of giving back to society, and that can happen whether you make $10,000 or $10 million a year,” says Tim. Believing that becoming rich has almost nothing to do with money and everything to do with personal and professional fulfillment, he shows your viewers how to:

• Alternatively view what rich really is

• Value not what you have, but what you give

• Get rich by giving

• Build customer and employee loyalty by making a difference

Nominees include a woman who has devoted her life to helping those suffering in war-torn countries, a twenty-something year old who founded an organization to education children all over the world, a coffee company that uses its profits to help educate people in the coffee growing regions of the world, and a former Microsoft VP who is setting up libraries in remote villages around the world.

The REAL Richest People list aims to redefine richness and focus attention on internal rather than external wealth. After all, according to Tim, “It’s not about how good you are, it’s about the good you do.”

For more information, and to arrange an interview with Tim Richardson, please contact him at: 865-984-2700, or tim AT TimRichardson DOT com

Note: If you are still reading and like what I am doing, feel free to do the following:

• copy this post and put in on your blog

• link to this blog site as well as www.TheRichestPeopleinAmerica.com

• join the blog party - 1000 bloggers connecting the glove for good

• call Katie

Tim Richardson is an inspirational speaker who speaks about how giving increases employee morale, lowers employee turnover, increases customer loyalty and creates higher profits for Fortune 500 companies, associations, and national conventions. He is the founder of the The Worlds Biggest Blog Party an event which will connect bloggers from all over the world to raise money for charity. He is also founder and president of the Bill Walter Melanoma Research Fund. For more information on Tim, go to www.TimRichardson.com