Well it's the beginning of 2008, the start of yet another baby new year.

With every year comes a new-found hope. Hope that this will be the year you will achieve the rank of MogulDom.

But the new year also brings another round of high anxiety. You, like everyone else, want to become the next Tycoon. The problem is that you're not quite sure how to get there from where you are now.

It's not an easy task is it? Yet, it's not completely insurmountable either.

Fret not my friends. The great news is that there are many many ways to become a Tycoon. All you need is a little creativity, a dose of persistence and a hell of a lot of luck!

I'll repeat the formula: A Little Creativity + A Dose Of Persistence + A Whole Lots Of Luck = MogulDom

Based on a totally non-scientific and non-academic study I conducted, here are some of the more popular ways to become the next Tycoon:

• Marry an old rich fogie and wait for them to, uh, pass quietly to the next Mogul realm. But they've got to be really old. It would help if they were also quite feeble and absent-minded too!
• Buy a business that already generates lots of cash flow ... but don't pay too much for it. And it's icing on the cake if the owner is feeble and absent-minded!
• Check your name on the unclaimed property list in every state that has one. You might just be the unwitting recipient of a $10,000,000 inheritance!
• Announce to the world that you're in discussions with venture capitalists and are launching a social networking, mobile content or Internet advertising firm. Ok let's be clear about this. I didn't say to actually launch the firm. Just announce it ... and wait for the multi-million dollar buy offers to roll in!

Last, but not least ...

• Hack into the secret time travel project now going on at the U.S. Defense Department. Send yourself back to 1985. Buy 1,000 shares of Microsoft stock. Case closed!