A lot of people believe you only have one shot at success. But that's just not true. What is true is that many people don't even take that one shot -- out of fear of failure, inexperience, lack of motivation or just not knowing where to begin.

Daymond John, one of the stars of ABC TV's "Shark Tank," wants to change all that. He has written "The Power of Broke: How Empty Pockets, a Tight Budget, and a Hunger for Success Can Become Your Greatest Competitive Advantage," a terrific book devoted to getting you ready to take at least one shot.

As Daymond says, his book is "all about substance over flash. It's about creativity over certainty. It's about taking a shot over playing it safe."

I've never met Daymond, but I'm a big believer in studying successful people. That's exactly what Daymond does in his book. Each chapter centers on individuals who excelled professionally and personally and the traits that got them there, such as direct marketing whiz Jay Abraham, who talks about agility, and world-renowned DJ Steve Aoki, who talks about resourcefulness.

Daymond is a case study by himself. He started selling home-sewn hats on the streets of the New York City borough of Queens. His initial budget was $40, which necessitated devising some very innovative ways to promote his products. His entrepreneurial exercise developed into the FUBU brand, which is now a $6 billion company.

He credits his success with starting out broke, which made him think more creatively. As he says: "It forces you to use your resources more efficiently. It forces you to connect with your customers more authentically and market your ideas more imaginatively. It forces you to be true to yourself, stay laser focused on your goals, and come up with those innovative solutions required to get noticed and make a meaningful mark."

Daymond has an interesting take on innovation. He believes it starts from the bottom up, rather than the top down. He makes a good point, when you think about it. Break dancing, rap music and slam poetry happened in organic ways and grew.

He says: "People either respond to it or they don't, and it doesn't matter how much money you throw at it, how much you try to dress it up, it is what it is."

As the author of "Swim With the Sharks Without Being Eaten Alive," I was intrigued by Daymond's "SHARK points." Using the SHARK acronym, he writes:

-- Set a goal. His key points are that goals are much like what I preach -- goals must be realistic and in writing. "Aim too high and you're bound to be frustrated, disappointed," Daymond writes. "Aim too low and you might leave some opportunities on the table."

-- Homework, as in do yours. You have to know your product as well as your competitors'. Daymond says: a "shark doesn't attack unless it know its prey; here on land a 'shark' needs the same mix of insight, instincts and information to keep out in front."

-- Adore what you do. The subtitle of my second book is "Do what you love. Love what you do. And deliver more than you promise." You have to have a passion for what you do.

-- Remember, you are the brand. Daymond writes: "You are what you eat. You are what you wear. You are what you drive, where you love, what you drink, how you vote, what you stand for ... It all starts with how you carry yourself, what you put out into the world, the way you interact with your audience, your customers, the marketplace. It's on you. Just you."

-- Keep swimming. Daymond says that even when sharks are asleep they are "swimming, scheming, getting ready to attack -- which is pretty much the approach you have to take when you're starting out in business. You have to be relentless, nimble, moving ever forward. ... If they don't keep swimming, they die."

Perhaps the reason this book resonates with me is that I started my envelope company with much of the same enthusiasm: a big dream with very limited funds, antiquated equipment and not nearly enough experience, but an overwhelming desire to succeed and a willingness to work tirelessly.

Broke is just a starting place. It's up to you to take the next steps.

Mackay's Moral: Being broke isn't the same as being broken.

This story is often told about Harry Houdini, the master magician whose proudest claim was that he could escape from anything. During a tour of Scotland, Houdini agreed to be locked up in the strongest jail cell available, boasting that he would escape from it.

The magician was searched, his hands placed in steel handcuffs, and he was chained to a bench in the jail cell. The jailer shut the cell door and walked away, confident that Houdini would never wrest free. Left alone, Houdini quickly shed himself of the handcuffs and the chain binding him to the bench. Then he went to work on the cell door.

He tried every trick in the book to pick the lock on the jailhouse door. After an hour, he was dripping with sweat, apparently defeated. Totally discouraged, and near exhaustion, Houdini accidentally leaned against the door and it swung open easily, sending him tumbling into the corridor. The jailer had forgotten to lock the door.

Even if this great story isn't true, it carries an important message. You can waste a lot of time and energy trying to open an unlocked door or solve a problem that someone else has already solved.

Call it reinventing the wheel, but trying to solve a problem that isn't really a problem is what you ought to call a giant exercise in futility. Before you try to spend hours looking for a solution, make sure you have a legitimate problem. In other words, don't overlook the obvious.

As a quote attributed to Henry Ford has it, "Nothing is particularly hard if you divide it into small jobs." And I would add that you also avoid making a problem even larger by taking small steps first, doing the least amount of damage. So often, a little tweaking is all it takes.

We can't all be like Sherlock Holmes, solving life's mysteries and problems by uncovering the smallest detail. But we can learn to be more observant and train ourselves to look at problems from new perspectives.

"I do not fix problems. I fix my thinking. Then problems fix themselves," said Louise Hay, the inspirational author and speaker.

I like the approach that Malcolm Gladwell espouses in "The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference." He writes: "A critic looking at these tightly focused, targeted interventions might dismiss them as Band-Aid solutions. But that phrase should not be considered a term of disparagement.

"The Band-Aid is an inexpensive, convenient and remarkably versatile solution to an astonishing array of problems. In their history, Band-Aids have probably allowed millions of people to keep working or playing tennis or cooking or walking when they would otherwise have had to stop. The Band-Aid solution is actually the best kind of solution because it involves solving a problem with the minimum amount of effort and time and cost."

In other words, don't make a mountain out of a molehill.

Here's another story: A crowded airline flight was canceled. A single agent was rebooking a long line of inconvenienced travelers. Suddenly, an angry passenger pushed his way to the desk. He slapped his ticket down on the counter and said, "I HAVE to be on this flight, and it has to be FIRST-CLASS."

The agent replied, "I'm sorry sir. I'll be happy to try to help you, but I've got to help these folks first, and I'm sure we'll be able to work something out."

The passenger was unimpressed. He asked loudly, so that the passengers behind him could hear, "Do you have any idea who I am?"

Without hesitating, the gate agent smiled and grabbed her public address microphone. "May I have your attention please?" she began, her voice bellowing throughout the terminal. "We have a passenger here at the gate who does not know who he is. If anyone can help him find his identity, please come to the gate."

Mackay's Moral: When the answer is right in front of your eyes, don't blink!

Because I have a birthday coming up, I get plenty of ribbing about getting older from my peers. (For the record, I usually reciprocate.)

But one of my closest friends recently forwarded an email that took a more serious view of life. It said: "Available for a limited time only. Limit one per person. Subject to change without notice. Provided 'as is' and without any warranties. Nontransferable and is the sole responsibility of the recipient. May incur damages arising from use or misuse. Additional parts sold separately. Your mileage may vary. Subject to all applicable fees and taxes. Terms and conditions apply. Other restrictions apply."

I had to read and reread this several times. This got me thinking about how fragile life is. I usually don't pass along messages about personal feelings, but this email really resonated with me.

What does this have to do with business? Nothing -- and everything. As the saying goes, "Don't spend so much time making a living that you forget to make a life."

Sometimes, what we care about the most gets all used up and goes away. So while we have it, we should love it, care for it, fix it when it's broken and heal it when it's sick. This is true for marriage, children with bad report cards, aging parents and grandparents, co-workers and anyone close to us. We keep them because they are worth it, because we are worth it.

Life is important, just like the people we know who are special. Do your friends know you care about them? Maybe it's time to let them know how you feel.

When things get tough, are you the kind of person who starts complaining? If you are, you might want to stop and take note of the things in your life that are good, instead of focusing on the things that seem to be going wrong. It's easy to fall into whining. But it can become a bad habit if you don't take stock of the good things in your life once in a while.

The trick is to not take things for granted, and though that sounds simple, people often cannot master this way of thinking. Sometimes this arises from the idea that life owes us better than we are receiving. Sometimes it arises from habits we have mindlessly picked up from other people. But whining and complaining won't likely change your situation or your feelings. When you are stricken by the poor-little-me blues, you can rescue yourself by trying some of the tactics I use:

-- Stop and smell the roses. My sister, Margie, is always telling me this. Take some time out to acknowledge the good things in life. Take the day off and go to the zoo, take a bike ride or a walk to enjoy the beauty of nature.

-- Get up and do something for someone else. If you are lying around your house ruminating about your problems, one of the best ways to get back on track is to find a way to help someone who needs it. Volunteer at a food bank, cook dinner for an ailing neighbor or just give a stranger on the street $5. The point is to change your focus and do something good for another person. These types of activities can radically change your mood.

-- Talk about the good things in life. Even if it feels awkward or even silly, say something positive. Break through the barrier of negativity that you are trapped in. Fake it if you have to, but force yourself to say something positive at least once a day for a week. You likely will be surprised by the power of your thoughts and words on your mood.

One of my favorite "Peanuts" cartoons featured Charlie Brown saying, "I learned something at school today. I signed up for folk guitar, computer programming, stained glass, art, shoemaking and a natural foods workshop.

"Instead, I got spelling, history, arithmetic and two study periods."

Charlie's friend asks, "So what did you learn?"

"I learned that what you sign up for in life and what you get are two different things."

Mackay's Moral: Don't worry about what you could do if you lived your life over; get busy with what's left.