Lately, I feel like Dear Abby.  Because I can be found under the search term “The Richest People in America”, I get a lot of emails requesting help, usually requesting money.  This week there have been several including from somone who I imagine to be from a Developing World Country. He didn’t mention his country in the email but I would guess based on both how he wrote and what he said he lived in a very poor area. Those who contact me erroneously assume me to be a person of great material wealth. Alas, I am just a person who defines RICH a bit differently.  I was encouraged that he had a great goal even if he felt challenged by his ability to achieve it.  He asked for advice and below are the suggestions I gave him. As I re-read it, I wondered what some of my contemporaries would have suggested. I would love to know what you would have told him. (you can reach his email below - just as he wrote it). Here’s what I wrote followed by his intial email:

Dear Z (short for his real name):

I applaud your dreams/aspirations.  Below are a few suggestions:
1) Network with other like-minded, positive people. Sometimes the people who you associate with can determine your demise or your destiny.

2) Read uplifting, positive books every day (The Power of Positive Thinking, Think and Grow Rich, The Greatest Salesman in the World, and the Bible - even if you aren’t Christian, the principles in Psalms and Proverbs are universal and very wise words.

3) Write down you goals every night before you go to sleep and tackle the toughest one first the next day. Don’t ever feel like the number of goals you have is important. Keep it manageable but stretch yourself too.

4) Never give up -it’s when things they most dire that it is more important than ever to keep trying. The last few strides before the finish line is a great time to really kick it up a notch.

5) Realize that every step (even baby steps) you take toward you goal with more you in the right direction.
Dear Sir/Madam,

I am very happy when i read about your hand works in term of helping societies that  need  help  so much.
I am a young man of 27 years old and frankly speaking has a great deal of interest in helping the venerable and  needy  in my  society  and  beyond. It will be my greatest joy to one day have all it takes to be able to achieve something of the sort. It is an instinct that existed deep inside me that any time i see people in trouble due to the fact  that they are street children, it made me cry. I think God blesses us so that we can also be blessing to others who can not afford.

I am very serious about this project and will not hesitate to start it if the means is available.

The following are my Plans for the future.

* Build a Church and attach to the Church will be a School for the Orphans and street children in my society in the whole country. The School will be from the Kindergarten to  Senior  Secondary  Level and  the  School should  be in position to sponsor the qualified ones to the University level.
* Form a Football Club purposely for the Orphans and the Street Children From Second Division  to the  Premier  Division  level  in order  to build the hidden talent they have inside them and other sports will also be considered.
* Build a hostel as from the beginning to contain about  500 to 800 people and the School Class rooms also the same.

Sir/Madam, the problem I have is that i am not doing the best of work to see myself achieving all this very easily, meanwhile, it haunt me all day long to strive hard in order to be able to achieve all this plans. What  i am trying to say Sir, is that i am not asking you to give me money to do this projects but what i am trying to say is, that i need a push to be able to achieve it.

At the moment, my interest is in Football Development and any help from you to begin something that will help me to accomplish this mission sooner or later will very well be respected

Thank you very much for your anticipated reaction in this regard.

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, healthcare, and financial services. He is founder of the Bill Walter Melanoma Research Fund. For more information on Tim, go to www.TimRichardson.com

Yesterday, was the 10th anniversary of the death of my best friend. Bill Walter and I met the first day of school in 9th grade at Campbell Jr. High School in Daytona Beach, FL. We clicked almost immediately and for next 22 years, we were the best of friends. We surfed together, we skied at his parents lake house, we swam on the high school swim team at Spruce Creek High School and we worked at Treasure Island Inn together as bus boys. We took trips together, we dreamed together, we laughed together and we were best men in each others weddings. I wish there was a way to tell you all the awesome things about Bill. His widow Kathy, his parents Bill and Pat, his brother John and his many friends would agree with my comments about Bill’s love of life, his caring nature, his incredible attitude and his sense of humor (see picture below).  I loved him like a brother and miss him as much today as I did ten years ago today, the day after his death.

Recently, I was going through some old letters and found a card Bill had sent me. Fortunately, I save things that have meaning to me because reading it made me treasure how beautiful it is to have deep friendships. It’s one of the richest things in life. Here’s an exert from the card he sent me almost twenty years ago.

It seems like from the very start, we have always communicated with each other in ways I’ve never communicated with others. We’ve talked about things and share stories and feelings that never were to be shared again. Tim, I consider you my best friend and I want you to know that I care about you more than you will ever know. You are an inspiration to me, and whenever I talk about you to anyone else, I know that I radiate how proud that I am to be your friend.

I was fortunate to have “accidentally” sat down at a table in the school lunch room with Bill. I was fortunate to have him as a best friend for 22 years. I was fortunate to be able to tell him before he passed away what his friendship meant to me. I hope you are as blessed to have had a friendship like the one Bill and I had. In today’s world of Twitter, Facebook, Myspace, and more, I encourage you to reach out to a friend by writing a good old fashioned letter in your own handwriting. Tell that person what they mean to you as you never know when they will re-read your words and treasure them like I did when I read Bill’s card.

Note: This photograph (Bill, his son, his brother and me) was taken just before he lost all his hair because of chemotherapy. Even though he knew what the result of having level 5 melanoma was, he still had a great sense of humor and was always looking for something funny to do or a way to make others laugh. We laughed so hard that day which kept us from crying.

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, healthcare, and financial services. He is founder of the Bill Walter Melanoma Research Fund. For more information on Tim, go to www.TimRichardson.com

Anne Mahlum is one of my new heros. I came across her tonight looking at nominations for  CNN’s Hero of the Year award website. There were many compelling stories of people who are making a difference all over the world but some how Anne’s story and her foundation really inspired me. I can remember seeing so many homeless people walking the streets of Philadelphia while there for a speaking engagement. I bought one guy dinner, helped him get some clean clothes and tried to encourage him to get work. I wondered how much help I really helped this man. Anne helps people like that every day as founder of an organization called Back on my Feet. Anne is an avid runner and most mornings she can be found running the streets of Philadelphia with homeless men and women. If you have ever been an avid runner, you know about the “runner’s high”. What better way to get people who feel hopeless a leg (pun intended) up. Run, Anne, Run.

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. He is founder of the Bill Walter Melanoma Research Fund. For more information on Tim, go to www.TimRichardson.com

When I first started dating my wife, I used to tell her until I met her, I couldn’t buy a date. Had I only known about the power of volunteering! According to an article in the British Journal of Psychology, volunteering is attractive to woman.  Tomorrow I am speaking to a group of high school students about giving back. I’m thinking about telling the young men in the audience about this research. Nay, I’ll let them figure it out for themselves. 

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. He is founder of the Bill Walter Melanoma Research Fund. For more information on Tim, go to www.TimRichardson.com