the 1950s, 1960s, 1970s and even into the early 1980s, people who made things made the majority of money. The Japanese economy boomed, as they could make it cheaper, faster, and better than anyone else. Americans cried foul, as they thought Japanese VCRs would kill their economy. Now, the Americans have learned their lesson: It's not the VCRs that make all the money; it's making a movie that plays on the VCRs that does. In the information age we're living through, it only takes about 18 months for the available information on the planet to double. Just think about that. A century ago it took about 50 years to double our knowledge. And, if you're looking closely, it's the people who have and sell the information who now make all the money. Can't Be Cheaper, Can't Have a Better Product, and Don't Need a Better Product With information moving so fast, people can copy, reproduce, and have ready for sale any product or service in a matter of weeks. In today's world, you can't be cheaper than your competitors for long. You can't be far better than anyone else for long, so you've got to know that information is the key to business success. The only way you can stay ahead of the market is to outthink, outsell, outmarket, and outmaneuver your competitors. Marketing is crucial. You don't have to have the world's best hamburger to sell billions of them. The next time you have a group of people in a room, ask them who thinks McDonald's has the best hamburgers in the world. I'll bet very few people will put their hands up. Yet who sells more hamburgers than anyone else? Then ask the same group if they could build a better sales, marketing, and distribution system for hamburgers than McDonald's. Once again I bet no one will put up their hands. It all comes down to systems and marketing. 12