Fifty-five years ago, Dale Carnegie wrote a great book that has shaped many business careers over the years: How To Win Friends and Influence People.

A similar book was created, more recently, by a set of California businessmen: Dragon Spirit: How To Self-Market Your Dream—A Zentrepreneurs Guide by Ron Rubin and Stuart Avery Gold. They have written a number of similar, business-related books, also published by Newmarket Press: Success @ Life - How To Catch and Live Your Dream; Tiger Heart, Tiger Mind – How To Empower Your Dream; Wowism: Words of Wisdom for Dreamers and Doers and The Zentrepreneurs’s Idea Log and Workbook.

Rubin is CEO of a company called The Republic of Tea, which is based in Novato, Calif. Gold served as the company’s chief operating officer for a while but now runs TargetWOW, a consulting operation that advises firms about change and achieving excellence. Rubin lives in Clayton, Mo.; Gold lives in Boca Raton, Fl.

Rubin bought The Republic of Tea in 1994 when it was a two-year old company. It was founded by the same people who created The Banana Republic. Shortly thereafter, Gold, a marketing expert, joined Rubin in the company's mission to create a Tea Revolution. The Republic of Tea calls its employees “ministers,” its customers “citizens” and its sales outlets “embassies.”

Many of the authors’ ideas seem to come from time they spent in China finding resources for high-end tea for sale in the United States. For instance, the title “Dragon Spirit” comes from this Chinese proverb: “If you ignore the dragon, it will eat you. If you confront the dragon, it will overpower you. If you ride the dragon, you will take advantage of its might and power.”

After delivering fascinating (and sometimes amusing) commentary on the business world, authors Rubin and Gold ultimately say that entrepreneurs need to draw upon their own personal “dragon spirit” if they want to launch a successful business. They go on to focus on today’s business world and offer presidents and CEOs ways to persevere with discipline. They offer suggestions on how to maintain faith in the face of “dream killers,” create a recognizable visual identity, build buzz about their business, work to give back to the community, and, most of all, enjoy the journey through a business operation from start to finish.

Rubin and Gold’s version of “building buzz” resonates strongly with Dale Carnegie: “‘Buzz’ is not motivated by personal gain,” they write, “but is roused by the satisfaction of helping friends, colleagues, or like-minded individuals find great products or services. ‘Buzz’ is the marketing message that emanates from the most efficacious endorser possible – the customer.

“The operative word in that sentence is ‘customers’,” they continue. “It is customers who have us in their power, at their mercy. You may live alone above the store, but it is they who have the ability to flick the switch on your "OPEN" or "CLOSED" sign. Understand: ‘buzz’ is all-powerful because it is the language of the customer, not the seller. For many, ‘buzz’ is the truth. But it is up to you to make it happen.”

Dale Carnegie came up with a set of rules for influencing people. This was No. 7: “Let the other fellow feel that the idea is his,” which sounds a lot like Rubin and Gold. Carnegie also borrowed from the Chinese, in detailing Rule No. 7: “Twenty-five centuries ago, Lao Tsze, a Chinese sage, said: ‘The reason why rivers and seas receive the homage of a hundred mountain streams is that they keep below them. Thus they are able to reign over all the mountain streams. So the sage, wishing to be above men, putteth himself below them; wishing to be before them, he putteth himself behind them. Thus, though his place be above men, they do not feel his weight; though his place be before them, they do not count it an injury.’”

Rubin and Gold cover a lot of different aspects of starting and doing business. For instance, Chapter 3 is about perseverance. “Every single successful product or service that exists was started by a person with an idea and a strong capacity to deliver the idea. … Perseverance is a continued effort. It is also the process of being in love with what you want to do. … Too often too many quit because they believed that their ultimate goal was not reachable, failing to understand that it is the process rather than the product or service that actually gets you there.”

Chapter 9 of Dragon Spirit, “Doing Good,” also reflects some of the philosophy of Dale Carnegie. Rubin and Gold write a lot about how businesses need to connect with their communities. “ By aligning your business with a social cause, community service, or charitable concern, you can avoid many scars of the marketplace, differentiating yourself from the competition by creating an emotional, even spiritual bond that resonates and captures the attention of customers. … Pledge to practice generosity and grace.”

They conclude the chapter by writing, “Once you allow the heartening energy of goodness to become part of your bottom-line, you become more than a marketer of product and service. You become a purveyor of ideals and hope. To be sure, in business and life, a person needs both to survive.”

Entrepreneurs who follow the wit and wisdom of Rubin and Gold, as well as that of Carnegie, might help the world be a better place. Their message: if you’re starting a business, go for it with lots of energy. But respecting your clients and customers and understanding their needs is just as important for success as setting a price and making sure you’re profitable. Businesses have two absolutely critical assets: employees and customers. They must be treated the same way you would want them to treat you.

James Vowell holds an MBA from UCLA. He served as president and publisher of the Pasadena Weekly in the mid-1980s. He owned, operated, and edited the Los Angeles Reader newspaper in the 1990s, which he helped found in 1978.

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