Doggone It, People Like Me!

Remember Stuart Smalley? You know, the guy on Saturday Night Live who'd gaze in the mirror and, with a plastered smile, recite aloud, "I'm good enough. I'm smart enough. And, doggone it, people like me." Don't let this spoof put a bad taste in your mouth about using affirmations: They really do work--when you do them properly.

Ask Ken Gootnick, 36, president and founder of It's All Greek To Me, a Simi Valley, California, company that develops imprinted products for promotional, collegiate and souvenir markets. Gootnick regularly uses positive affirmations to cultivate a mind-set that pushes him toward his goals. "When you repeat affirmations, you feel more positive about your life and the day ahead," he says. "You foster self-esteem and a feeling of confidence, and people want to be around you. Everything begins to come together."

"Come together" it has for Gootnick, who started his company at age 19 as a sophomore at UCLA. He's since grown it into an enterprise with 230 employees and projected 1999 sales of $30 million. He gives a lot of credit to his own consistent use of affirmations.

This article was originally published in the May 1999 print edition of Entrepreneur with the headline: Doggone It, People Like Me!.