Having lived an extraordinary rags-to-riches story, Jessie now shares with you her invaluable lessons and wealth-building secrets.

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An Excerpt from Nightmare Nation

INTRODUCTION
Wealth and Want: Don't Burn the Furniture to Heat the House

Donald Trump said the "F" word to me. On national TV. In front of twenty million people.

"You're fired!"

Just like that, I was off season one of The Apprentice. I was also utterly devastated.

For a few days. Until I realized that I'm not defined by anyone's opinions, especially an opinion based on choppy editing and measured by television ratings.

After that experience, I went back to my successful start-up businesses and went on to become much more successful than I ever could have been as anyone's apprentice. So thanks, Donald. You actually did me a favor.

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What I did get from The Apprentice was a little more knowledge about the way the world works, and, because I've always believed that knowledge is power, I soon realized that I didn't need to follow in someone else's footsteps to be successful. I'd create wealth using my own experiences, ingenuity and opportunities of my own making-just as I'd been doing all my life.

During childhood, I sold chicken eggs and gathered porcupine quills in hopes that every penny that jingled into my piggy bank would someday make me wealthy. Sounds like one of your grandfather's stories? Well, I'm only 24 years old.

Through hard work and careful investing, I turned those early dreams of wealth into my reality and in a short time went from nothing to something a lot more substantial.

I may be young but I've already got a lot to say about the pursuit of financial freedom and I understand that changing your perspective about money helps you see the difference between material wealth and actual wealth-it also helps you realize and reach your true goals in life.

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Fame may only last fifteen minutes, but my eyes have been pried open irreversibly. Following my appearance on the show, I've spoken in over seventy different cities from coast to coast. Every week, I travel to a new area and stay at a different hotel, yet I somehow see the same people. Well, not literally the same…but they're in the same situation. I'm talking about Americans who are living off borrowed money and borrowed time in a desperate attempt to sustain a lifestyle that doesn't make them any happier. Americans are drowning in their own debt. They're putting temporary wants in place of true wealth. Rising interest rates, job insecurity, lost pensions and a shaky housing market are just a few of the factors creating a potential disaster for the average American. Consider this statistic: In 1980, there were 1.27 personal bankruptcy claims per 1,000 Americans. By 2004, it had increased to 5.32 out of every 1,000; that's a rise in personal bankruptcy of 320%. Then in 2005, right before tougher bankruptcy laws were passed making it harder to wipe out personal debts, filings went up another 30%, reaching an all-time record high of 2.1 million bankrupt Americans. This is a trend you can't afford to be a part of.

The latest statistics since February 2006 show that the number of bankruptcies is rising again, with 79% of those filing citing medical bills and job loss as the major causes. Obviously, a lot of Americans are being caught financially unprepared without any savings in the bank to fall back on.

Young Americans (25-44) are the second-highest demographic filing for bankruptcy, spending 24% of their income on debt payments-that's a quarter out of every dollar they earn that they're just giving away each month to credit card companies. Just think about that. Remember the shock and horror when you got your first paycheck and almost 25% of it was given straight to the government in the form of taxes? Nowadays, young people are willingly handing over the same amount to credit card companies (and Uncle Sam still gets his piece of the pie)! That kind of debt ensures starting out your adult life at a tremendous disadvantage.

But by coming to my seminars, people are finally trying to find a way out of the vicious cycle of spending and borrowing that has led to their overleveraged, precarious financial position.

Our parents and grandparents have experienced large corporate layoffs, been affected by bursting economic bubbles, seen their pension plans evaporate and let their short-term wants dictate their lives. They are now wondering how they will afford to retire or, in many cases, if they will retire.

This book is for the 75 million people out there in their 20s to 40s who witnessed the financial instability that beset previous generations and are determined not to let themselves get sucked into the same black hole. It is for people who are ready to redefine wealth in their lives and, by doing so, redefine their lives.

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I didn't have a TV when I was a kid but I know that for most people of my generation, ever since you saw a Cabbage Patch commercial, money has been ingrained in your head as being plentiful and "stuff" is the primary symbol of status. I say "money," you hear "Manolo." Our generation has grown up in a world where wealth is defined by your handbag or the jeans you wear. But what happens when you have your own family who is dependent on you for basic needs? Will you still satisfy all of your wants with a little piece of plastic that has a nasty habit of charging 20% interest rates? How long will it take before you see yourself going down the same path as previous generations?

I may still be young, but I've weighed the opinions of others who have more experience and knowledge than I do and I've worked hard all my life to create my own wealth. Nothing has ever been handed to me and maybe that makes me appreciate it that much more. I grew up with no running water or electricity, lived in an orphanage in Mexico and didn't get a college education. But these experiences have given me a unique perspective of wealth from both sides-a perspective that has helped me earn financial freedom at lightning speed.

Before you go out to test drive that new BMW, I want to caution you that this book is not some get-rich-quick scheme; rather, it's a get-rich-smart guide to changing your entire perspective on wealth, finding your true passion and obtaining and maintaining economic independence. It will help you get started today on crafting a game plan for your future so you don't have to worry about how you'll dodge the pitfalls that come with financial insecurity. I mean, between airbrushed models and plastic surgery ads, don't we all have enough insecurities as it is?

I may be just twenty-something, but my unique life experiences, which include both amazing successes and my share of failures, have helped me craft a strategy for success in seven steps that will make you think twice about your time, your money, your future and what you really want out of life. You can get all the things you want without losing sight of what really matters. And doesn't that "trump" all?