It was lots of fun getting into the studio and guesting on Todd Schnick’s radio show “Marketing From The Streets“.

Our topic: “Kicking Fear’s Ass”, as an entrepreneur and in business.

Is fear helping and motivating you? Or is it stopping you?

Listen to the show online now.

Thanksgiving 1932

Before Tim Ferriss. Before Gary Vaynerchuk. Before Tony Robbins. Before Tom Peters. There was Dale Carnegie.

Carnegie is best known for writing the book, “How to Win Friends and Influence People“, which has sold 15 million copies since it was published in 1937. Its lessons are timeless. And applicable to social media and business today.

But this post is about one of Carnegie’s stories from a lesser known booklet, one that I’d wager few people have ever heard of, let alone read. And pure awesome.

In 1989, I was given a rare copy of  “Dale Carnegie… as Others Saw Him”, put together by Rosemary Crom (the daughter of Dorothy Carnegie, Dale’s second wife). Lost for two decades since. And to my knowledge, no longer generally available.

But I recently found this gem tucked away in a box in my basement.

Here’s a short excerpt, with my favorite story in which Dale Carnegie recounts a visit to China in 1932. Reading this story, I think of today’s economy. How each of us responds. And the Thanksgiving holiday this week.

Dale Carnegie

“In the summer of 1932 I took a trip to China. Conditions were tragic in America. bread lines were a familiar sight – men roamed the streets in thousands, begging for work – unemployment stalked the land.

I, like many others, had lost most of my savings in the stock market crash of 1929. Economic conditions were so bad that I feared I might no longer be able to make a living organizing and conducting classes in New York City. However, in the three years since the crash I had saved a new though small nest egg.

Spring 1932 found me unable to organize any classes until the fall. With nothing to do for four months I refused to sit around New York stewing about the future. I knew that summer would never come again. I had always longed to see China and that nothing would ever rob me of the memories of that trip. Besides travel was cheap to the orient; so I bought a steamship ticket and headed out for the far reaches of the Pacific.

When I arrived in Shanghai I realized that America didn’t have the foggiest idea of what a depression was. But it was in the Orient that I learned one of the most rewarding lessons of my life.

For thousands of years China has never known anything but cruel grinding poverty. A hundred million people in China seldom know where tomorrow’s rice is coming from. About two million Chinese die each year from floods, pestilence and starvation. Even in the great cities, I saw coolies working fourteen hours a day for a wage of seven cents. In Peking, I saw a girl picking up and eating watermelon seeds that a man spat on the dirty sidewalk as he ate. In the harbor of Hong Kong, I saw Chinese in little boats swarming around our big ship fighting over the empty boxes that were thrown overboard and holding up nets to catch any bits of food that might be coming out of the slop that was thrown out of the ship’s kitchen.

And I thought I had troubles! “Why even if my last dollar goes,” I said to myself, “I can always manage to earn a living. I used to wash dishes for my mother back on the farm and if hunger drives me to it I can wash dishes in a restaurant. I lived in furnished rooms for fifteen years, and if I lose my home I can live in them again. Better still I can go back to my father’s farm in Missouri and raise corn and milk cows.”

When I stepped off the ship in San Francisco I felt like dancing in the streets. I could have whooped for joy! Suppose I had lost my life savings in the stock market? So what? I was alive. I was healthy. I could eat all I wanted. I didn’t have to sleep on the ground. I could take a drink of water without fear of cholera. Suppose my classes did fail and I had to go back to milking cows? It would be a veritable Vale of Kashmir in comparison to the poverty, disease and misery that four hundred million Chinese were enduring in the Orient.

Yes, that trip to China was certainly my greatest adventure in living. It taught me not to over emphasize the importance of my own troubles, to enlarge my vision and my sympathies, and to be thankful for the opportunities and benefits that were mine, before I indulged in the luxuries of self-pity and worry.”

Today, no matter the economy. The job market. So-called problems. Know that this Thanksgiving will never come again. Make the most of it.

This article was originally published November 25, 2010.

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What do YOU think? Share your Thanksgiving thoughts in the comments section below.

And if you like this story, please share the link with a friend!

More Awesomeness from Around the Web:

• “Why Dale Carnegie Would Be an Awesome Blogger…“ By Courtney Pemberton
• “What Would Dale Carnegie Think of Humanity in the 21st Century?“ By Jackie Kellso, PointMaker Communications
• “How to Use Social Media to Win Friends and Influence People“ By Paul Chaney, MarketingProfs
• “Tony Robbins – 5 Keys To Thrive (Thanksgiving Message)“ By Tony Robbins
• “Floaty Croc + Balloon Dog + Flying Pig = Best Parade Ever“ (Photos of Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade 1932)

Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade 1932

I interviewed the “Godfather of Videoblogging”, Steve Garfield, on the official publish date of his book, “Get Seen: Online Video Secrets to Building Your Business“. In this video Q&A:

• Steve talks about how he went from idea to market with his new book.
• Shares his advice for someone looking to get started with online video for their business.
• Reveals the mindset that enabled him to do the work on the book – without it feeling like work.
• Identifies the most important things you must do online for your personal brand.

In addition to knowing his stuff about online video, Steve is one of the nicest and most genuine people in social media, and he’s someone you should get to know.

What do YOU think? If you’re not already building your business with online video, what obstacles have been in your way? If you’ve already started, what are some of the key lessons you’ve learned?

I recently interviewed Sarah Lacy, BusinessWeek reporter, Tech Ticker host and author of the book “Once You’re Lucky, Twice You’re Good: The Rebirth of Silicon Valley and Rise of Web 2.0″ (scheduled for release tomorrow).

Sarah and I had an in-depth conversation about her new book, life in Silicon Valley, Twitter, her infamous SXSW interview, and much more.

You have a new book coming out, could you tell us more about it?

The book is called “Once You’re Lucky, Twice You’re Good: The Rebirth of Silicon Valley and Rise of Web 2.0″. While it’s about Silicon Valley, it’s really written for people outside Silicon Valley who heard all about the dotcom bubble, heard all about the bust and then heard nothing about Internet companies for a long time. Then out of no where we started hearing about MySpace, YouTube and Facebook, a lot of these modern Web 2.0 companies. And there were a lot of misunderstandings about what this wave of companies meant. There were a lot of stories saying it’s like 1999 again, but it couldn’t be farther than 1999 again…

I’ve covered start ups in Silicon Valley for about 10 years. Stayed in close contact with a lot of my sources after the bust. I had a front row seat as a lot of these companies were bubbling back up. When it started to become a big story and I felt like I was seeing it was being reported on so wrong over and over again and people didn’t really get it, I felt like I was in a unique position to be the person to help these guys tell their story.

So what are some of the things you and the entrepreneurs you write about see as different than 1999?

I think one of the biggest things is you look at who was the most important person in a Web 1.0 company vs. a Web 2.0 company? In the dotcom days, it was the business development guy. The Internet then was all about doing these big content deals or revenue sharing deals with all the old economy companies. And it was really common in San Francisco to see a lot of business school drop outs wearing blue shirts and khakis and hanging out at the champagne bar, called the Bubble Lounge, they order a bottle of Cristal and smoke cigars and being mini ‘Masters of the Universe’. None of that is happening now.

The most important person in a Web 2.0 company is the engineer. I think that it makes sense, because if you think about these companies the bulk of their content and the bulk of what makes these sites special is the community of users that are really providing what’s important on the site. If you look at Facebook or LinkedIn or something even more extreme like total user generated content like YouTube or blogs, you don’t need a bizdev guy because this isn’t a deal like AOL-Time Warner, we’ve got this big portal let’s go put some content on it. Obviously those plays didn’t work when we look back at it.

This is a phenomena that is driven up by the users. People at these companies just need to build the best design, the best user interfaces, the best networks to make sure scales to make sure it’s robust and intuitive and easy to use and beyond that get out of the user’s way.

On the topic of culture in Silicon Valley, you’ve got a chapter in the book called “F-ck the Sweater Vests”. Interesting title, tell us more what that’s about.

That’s Jay Adelson, the CEO of digg that’s his rallying cry. By sweater vests, he refers to old school business people venture capitalists, gate keepers. Jay started a networking company and he had a brutal experience during the bust. He got screwed over by a lot of people he trusted in the industry. That’s where “F-ck the Sweater Vest” came from. That sense is a large part of why these companies were built the way they were, using angel money, using cheaper or free open source software not having to go to the sweater vests until you had something so great that they had to do it on your terms.

For people who are not in Silicon Valley who are reading this book, what do you hope they take away from it?

I wrote the book for those people. I try to give a real flavor of Silicon Valley. The launch parties get a lot of attention. But this is really just a place where people who are nerds, people who love building stuff, people who can’t work for anyone else, who are just misfits and they feel this immediate sense of home and belonging and as bruising as the bust was, that’s why so many people didn’t leave.

There are a couple of scenes in the book of parties at people’s houses, not these big launch parties or company parties. These guys forge these deep relationships because of what they go through socially, what they go through emotionally, it’s something that’s very unique in the valley. Just being able to relate to each other. There’s this deep glue that holds these people together. So it’s not surprising that a lot of these guys back each other’s companies, even if they’re competing with each other, there’s some way in the Valley that work and friendship are able to co-exist.

There’s also a certain way of doing business in the Valley and I take people through raising a funding round in an easy to understand way, demystifying all the terms and technical jargon.

When you live and work in the Valley you see so many times at a movie theatre, two guys run into each other and they ask what they’re each doing. And maybe that chance meeting turns into an angel investor investing in his friend’s company. Or maybe that other friend ends up working on something and they end up being partners.

There are thousands and thousands of these throw away moments in Silicon Valley life that lead to why these companies wind up being hugely successful. It’s something you have to live here to experience. It’s the magic of Silicon Valley.

Well those are the upsides, what are some of the downsides of Silicon Valley?

It’s probably the personal toll that it takes on you. It’s a brutal, brutal life here. Even for me, and I’m not even starting a company, there’s this expectation, this macho thing in Silicon Valley that you’re going to work 48 hours each day, that you’re going to find a way to carve out another 24 hours and get stuff done.

Things move very fast here and you have to be on top of it. Not just if you’re starting a company but if you’re investing in one, if you’re writing about them, if you’re an attorney.

It’s an all consuming scene here and that can get very exhausting for people. It’s obliviously not a really healthy work life balance.

But also, these guys can go from being a nobody to being on the cover of business magazines in such a short period of time. It’s very hard when you’re a single guy to date in that situation. It’s hard to make friends with people in that situation. That’s why these guys cling to each other.

You go from someone who’s really shy and doesn’t necessarily want to go to a lot of parties or talk to a lot of people to not wanting to go to a lot of parties or talk to a lot of people because you get mobbed.

These guys become celebrities just as much as anyone in Hollywood. They don’t start out with that goal. Sometimes there’s the sense that ‘I didn’t want this.’

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Related Links:

Go2web2.0 (Orli Yakuel): An Interview with Sarah Lacy Regarding her New Book

The NEXT web: Once You’re Lucky, Twice Your Bloody Lucky!

CNET TV: Loaded: Once you’re lucky, twice you’re good

TechCrunch: 10 Signed Copies of Sarah Lacy’s “Once You’re Lucky, Twice You’re Good”

CenterNetworks: Sarah Lacy on Fox Business Explains What Web 2.0 Is and Why LinkedIn Is Hot

The Secret Diary of Steve Jobs: Smoking hot Sarah Lacy has a smoking hot book ranked #1 on Amazon

AllFaceBook: Mark Zuckerberg, Sarah Lacy Interview Video