Got fired? You’re in luck! You’re now in the ranks of some of the world’s most successful people. Even better. You’re exactly where they were when they started on their success paths.

You have now joined the ranks of such failures as Joe Torre (manager of the New York Yankees), Bernie Marcus (co-founder and former chief executive officer of Home Depot), Tom Stemberg (CEO of Staples), Larry King (the TV interviewer), Mannie Jackson (owner of the Harlem Globetrotters), Michael Bloomberg (the mayor of New York City) and even Harvey Mackay (the author).

Harvey Mackay has done it again. America’s most prolific writer on success has written about failure. But the best part is that you can gain fortune, and make a fortune, by buying his book, reading it and putting its lessons into your success toolbox.

It’s all in his new book, “We Got Fired! And It’s the Best Thing That Happened to Us.” It’s not about people getting fired — it’s about their response to getting fired. How they took the cards they were dealt, and turned them into a winning hand.

It’s not a storybook — it’s a success book, it’s a lesson book and it contains hundreds of wisdom bites from the people who failed and rose, including the author.

You may know who the people are. Most are household names. What you want to know is what they learned, how they felt, what they risked and how they won. And how you may be able to use that information to help you win.

And there’s more. Real estate mogul Donald Trump, arguably the king of firing, offers advice on how to get hired.

To take advantage of this gold mine, read the book, discover how each of the 28 people Mackay profiles overcame their adversity and then apply the lessons to your present situation. How they overcame their adversity is your opportunity.

Leave it to Harvey Mackay, America’s most insightful business thinker and writer, to take a negative and turn it into a gold mine.

Here’s the philosophy of the book in a nutshell: Great news! I’m fired! Now I can succeed!

“You’re fired” is one of the worst things to hear. (The only thing worse is when your doorbell rings and someone says, “I’m from the IRS and I’m here to help you.”)

It’s unpleasant. Sometimes downright nasty. Your employer will try to sugar-coat it (“Things just aren’t working out as we hoped …”) or be patronizing (“For the best interests of both of us …”). Or they’ll call it downsizing or right-sizing. But the bottom line is you’re out on the street with no income, starting over and angry.

Did Lee Iacocca let getting fired from Ford Motor Co. prevent him from becoming the most celebrated CEO of the 20th century? No. Neither should you.

Did Michael Bloomberg let a firing stop him from establishing a media giant? No. Neither should you.

Here are some Mackay gems that appear in the book:

• Unless you work in demolition, don’t burn bridges.

• There aren’t many rules for success that work.

• The real opportunity for success lies within the person, not the job.

• Success is putting your “knows” to the grindstone.

• Don’t waste your time in bitterness. Visualize acceptance.

There are hundreds of other ideas in the book.

Go get it.

If you work for someone, you are always in jeopardy of “getting the ax,” especially if you think “this place can’t make it without me.” You will likely be the first to go.

The key to getting fired is your response to someone else’s actions. It’s about getting self-inspired instead of self-defeated. And in the end, it’s about energy conversion. Taking the negative energy of getting fired and converting it into positive energy of determination and success.

Harvey Mackay’s new book is not about getting fired. It’s about getting fired up.

Free GitBit: Want more of Harvey Mackay’s wisdom? He has given me permission to post his rules for getting a new job and keeping an existing one. Go to www.gitomer.com, register if you’re a first-time user, and put the word FIRED in the GitBit box.

Jeffrey Gitomer is the author of ‘The Sales Bible” and “Customer Satisfaction Is Worthless, Customer Loyalty Is Priceless” and the president of Charlotte, N.C.-based Buy Gitomer. He gives seminars, runs annual sales meetings and conducts Internet training programs on selling and customer service at www.trainone.com. He can be reached by phone at (704) 333-1112 or by e-mail at salesman@gitomer.com.