The American Dream

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The American Dream
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Defining your own American Dream

• The phrase the American Dream came into the
  American vocabulary starting in 1867 when writer,
  Horatio Alger came out with his book Ragged
  Dick. It was a rags-to-riches tale of a poor
  orphan boy in New York City who saves his
  pennies, works hard and eventually becomes rich.
  It became the model that through honesty, hard
  work and strong determination, the American Dream
  was available to anyone willing to make the
  journey.

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Dream Makers

• If one advances confidently in the direction of
  his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which
  he has imagined, he will meet with a success
  unexpected in common hour.
• - Henry David Thoreau

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Horatio Alger

• Born in Revere, Massachusetts, January 13, 1832,
  Horatio Alger, Jr., grew up in a Calvinist home
  with a strong focus on education and religion. He
  graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Harvard Divinity
  School in 1852.

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Horatio Alger

• In recognition of individuals who have achieved
  the American Dream, no other organization has
  done more than the Horatio Alger Association Of
  Distinguished Americans.

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Abe Lincoln

• The question is asked over and over again. How
  was it possible for a young boy born into poverty
  in a log cabin in the backwoods of Kentucky with
  little formal education to rise up and become the
  16th President of the United States, and perhaps
  Americas greatest President ever?

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Abe Lincoln

• 22 Failed in business.
• 23 Defeated for Legislature.
• 24 Failed again in business.
• 25 Elected to Legislature.
• 26 Sweetheart died.
• 27 Had a nervous breakdown.29 Defeated for
  Speaker.
• 31 Defeated for Elector.
• 34 Defeated for Congress.
• 37 Elected to Congress.
• 39 Defeated for Congress.
• 46 Defeated for Senate.
• 47 Defeated for Vice President.
• 49 Defeated for Senate
• 51 Elected President of the United States

• A Lifetime of Persistence
• Age Challenge

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Henry Ford

• Ford suffered two unsuccessful attempts to build
  his dream with the Detroit Automobile Company and
  the Henry Ford Company. Then, in 1903, along with
  other investors including coal merchant Alexander
  Malcomson, Ford and his team contributed 100,000
  and incorporated as Ford Motor Company. Henry
  Ford became chief engineer and vice president and
  later bought out his partners.
• In 1908, Ford realized his ambitious dream of
  building an automobile for Americans that was
  reasonably priced, efficient, and reliable with
  the introduction of the Model T. To meet the
  increasing demand, Ford moved to a larger factory
  in Highland Park, Michigan. It was here that Ford
  put to work his innovative, assembly line,
  bringing the automobile to the worker, thus
  saving tremendous time and resources. Within the
  span of ten years, half the cars sold in America
  were Model Ts.

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Henry Ford

• Failure is the opportunity to begin again, more
  intelligently.
• Whether you think you can or think you cant
  you are right.

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Franklin D. Roosevelt

• How was it possible for a man with polio, who
  lost the full usage of both of his legs,
  courageously overcame his limitations and became
  the only President of the United States to be
  elected to four consecutive terms?

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Franklin D. Roosevelt

• Let me assert my firm belief that the only thing
  we have to fear is fear itself.
• It is common sense to take a method and try it.
  If it fails, admit it frankly and try another.
  But above all, try something.

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Thomas Edison

• I didnt fail ten thousand times. I successfully
  eliminated, ten thousand times, materials and
  combinations which wouldnt work.
• The three great essentials to achieve anything
  worthwhile are first, hard work second,
  stick-to-itiveness third, common sense.

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Thomas Edison

• Born in 1847, in Milan, Ohio, with a great deal
  of curiosity in his blood, young Thomas Edison
  was an inquisitive child at an early age.
• While Thomas was just seven years old the family
  decided to move to Port Huron, Michigan. He
  attended school for only three months where the
  teacher labeled him a slow learner, quite
  possibly because of his early hearing problems.

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Sam Walton

• From humble, hard-working roots, Sam Walton built
  Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. into the largest,
  fastest-growing, and most profitable retailer in
  the world.

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Sams Rules for Building a Business

1. COMMIT to your business.
2. SHARE your profits with your associatesand treat
   them as partners.
3. MOTIVATE your partners.
4. COMMUNICATE everything you possiblycan to your
   partners.
5. APPRECIATE everything your associatesdo for the
   business.

1. CELEBRATE your success.
2. LISTEN to everyone in your company.
3. EXCEED your customers expectations.
4. CONTROL your expenses better than
   yourcompetition.
5. SWIM upstream.

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Reflections

• Your dreams are your creative vision of your life
  in the future.
• Dream as if youll live forever. Live as if
  youll die today.
• The future belongs to those who believe in the
  beauty of their dreams.
• Each persons destiny is not a matter of chance
  its a matter of choice. Its determined by what
  we say, what we do, and whom we trust.

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Reflections

• Most people are looking for security, a nice,
  safe, promising future. And theres nothing
  wrong with that. Its called the American Dream.
• Nothing is as real as a dream. The world can
  change around you, but your dream will not.
• Whatever the mind of man can conceive and believe
  it can achieve.

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Chinese Stowaways die while trying to enter the
U.S.
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It all begins with a Dream . . .

• You see things and say, why? But I dream things
  that never were and I say why not?

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• The great danger for most of us lies not in
  setting our aim too high and falling short but
  in setting our aim too low, and achieving our
  mark.
• What is your dream?

God Bless America
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America The Land of Opportunity

• Nygrens Mens Wear
• Journey Inn Rentals
• Hansel and Gretel
• Ragedy Ann
• Red Hot Pants
• Burger King
• Hallmark Cards
• Pengo Wireline

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America The Land of Opportunity

• Val-Pak
• Chick-Fil-A
• Italia Factoria
• Lubricators
• Valley View
• Corn Roasters
• Commercial Properties