J.F. (Jim) Straw The eldest son of a farmer/aircraft worker, born in Oklahoma and reared on farms in Oklahoma, Missouri, and Kansas, Straw began his long, successful career in business at the age of nine; when he sold his first cans of Cloverleaf Salve and copies of "GRIT" newspaper. Even at that early age, he had the unique talent of recognizing an opportunity, implementing a plan, and making a profit.

Straw's career has progressed through direct selling, service contracting, wholesale merchandising, entertainment (he was a professional Trumpet player, vocalist & Radio Announcer), freight forwarding, import/export, retail merchandising, warehousing, real estate, electronics manufacturing, finder's fees, closeout merchandising, financial brokerage, business consulting, steel fabrication, gold & coal mining, offshore banking, mailorder, writing, and publishing.

Over the past 37 years, J.F. Straw has written well over 700 books, booklets, manuals, reports, courses and articles about doing business -- all based on his own personal, hands-on experience. His writings are "specific" methods, techniques and approaches to doing business that anyone can use to start or expand their business.

As a mailorder marketer...with over 700,000 customers worldwide ... Straw has sold over five-hundred million dollars ($500,000,000) worth of products and services by mail. Everything from Beauty Supplies to Heavy Equipment ... Burglar Alarms to Sleeping Bags ... Fishing Lures to Women's Wigs ... Automobiles to Wheelchairs ... Investment Opportunities to Seafood ... Consulting Services to "How To" Courses.

But ... Straw's BIG MONEY has always come from a few hundred known buyers and a few good deals each year.

Today, Straw is making a new ... bigger ... fortune on the Internet.

As a member of "Mensa," with a lifetime of proven success in marketing, Straw justifiably identifies himself as a "Marketing Genius."

"When you're the best...admit it!"

Do you know how long 50 years really is?? Think about it. -- I just did. I was sitting here at my desk this morning re-reading my "You Can Be A Millionaire ... " course (geez, it's good) when it hit me that I've been doing business successfully for over 50 years. -- My Gawd that's a lo-o-ong time in anybody's book. But, I hadn't really stopped and thought about it before ... 50 ... 50 ... 50 years! Back when I started, automobiles only had one headlight on each side ... gasoline was 14¢ a gallon ... milk was 25¢ a gallon ... cigarettes were 11¢ a pack; $1 a carton ... and grown men worked 40 hours a week for $44 - but - you could buy a full shopping cart of groceries (enough to last 2 weeks) for about $25. -- My first telephone number was 29W3. When I was in High School, there were 33 students in my class ... 16 boys; 17 girls. Being an absolute democracy, the girls won every issue we voted on ... unless Curt could get Linda to vote our way. I went to college carrying a double-major; music and mathematics. Dropped out my sophmore year when the Dean of Men found out I was making more money than the President of the college and advised me to "just go do what you do and hire some of the students we graduate." Went into the Army ... I was the oldest man in my unit; even older than the Captain. Served in Viet Nam ... lots of good memories there. Then, I remembered the o-o-ld business men who had shared their experiences with me and taught me how to do what they had done ... couldn't have done it without them. Over the years, I've had more money than I could count - and - I have been totally, completely broke - but - I have never been poor (poverty is a state of mind; not the state of your pocketbook). Learned my most valuable lessons from my failures ... my successes never really taught me much of anything. -- My successes were simply based upon what I had learned from my failures. All in all, it has been a wonderful 50 years. I'm looking forward to the next 50.