The 17 Principles of Creating Wealth
Chapters 10-11
Stay Positive and Enthusiastic
Negative dead heads are everywhere. Unfortunately, many of them are the people that love you the most. People don't consciously destroy other people's dreams, but if you're not careful, all the good Samaritans around you will convince you that you cannot get ahead. But don’t be too quick to blame others. In actuality, we are our worst enemies. Lack of confidence, a bad attitude, and self-criticism is more harmful than exposure to negative people, and must be overcome if you expect to find the motivation to master a market niche or climb the obstacles to success.
Recent bestselling books, such as “The Secret,” and “The Law of Attraction,” reflect the continued popularity of this subject. While positive thinking in itself will not make you wealthy, a good attitude peppered with a dose of self-confidence is the tenth step in your success ladder.
In Richard Bach's story Jonathan Livingston Seagull, Jonathan is ostracized for attempting to do things that normal seagulls shouldn't do. His attempt to get ahead and prosper is scorned by the other seagulls until he is banned from the flock. Flying alone, he discovers the joys of life outside the realm of rotten fish and crowded beaches. While this book is about 35 years old, its message is relevant to your pursuit of wealth today. I strongly recommend you buy a used copy from Amazon (by the way, selling used books on Amazon is a great home-based business).
The story is a metaphor for man. Are you struggling to rise above the crowd? Or to separate yourself from mediocrity and failure? The harder you try, the more people will tell you it's impossible. Misery loves company, and the last thing people want is to see you rise above them. Your job is to ignore the negative dead heads and remain focused on your goals.
Where do you get your information? Whose advice do you seek and/or follow? Where and how do you spend your free time? Who do you associate with?
The answers to these questions can be revealing and disturbing.
You may want to adopt these personal rules:
1. Accept business and investment advice only from people who are currently making at least twice what you make.
2. Do not let failures tell you how to succeed.
3. Do not accept the opinions of losers as gospel.
4. Do not spend your time with losers or unmotivated people.
5. Do the most productive thing possible at any given time.
The best way I know to keep a positive mental attitude and stay on track with your wealth building program is to model yourself after successful people. Join clubs like Rotary International, Toastmasters International, The Jaycees, your local Chamber of Commerce, or whatever professional organization is in your community. I'm not suggesting you join them all, just join one or two and become a reliable, active member. You'll rub shoulders with the doers in your community, meet influential people, and see success in action.
An element of positive thinking is the reliance upon luck for your success. While luck has its place in any endeavor, people are often misguided by their definition of luck.
Luck is a nickname for hard work, perseverance, and making the right choices relevant to opportunities. Plain and simple, counting on luck is for losers. I believe luck comes to those who prepare for it. How do you prepare for luck? You prepare for luck by educating yourself about the business and investment opportunities you're interested in, focusing your energies and financial resources on building your empire, and being at the port when your ship comes in.
The bottom line: Don't count on luck to make you wealthy. Successful people make their own luck. They don't wait for it.
Create Passive and Portfolio Income
The true meaning of wealth is freedom. Freedom to choose when and where you will spend your life. Freedom to choose whom you will spend your life with. Freedom to buy the things that make life pleasant, and to travel to the places others only dream about. In short, wealth gives you time freedom.
Wealth is not the money in your bank account, but the freedom that money gives you.
If you ever wish to free yourself from the chains of slave labor you must first establish automatic pilots. Automatic pilots are investments and businesses that essentially run themselves or are run by others while still managing to throw off income to you. Owning a piece of rental property managed by an agent and creating a positive cash flow is an example of an autopilot.
Thus, step eleven in the wealth building process is to create passive and portfolio income.
I know a young man in my community who purchased four single-family homes, became licensed by the county to operate the homes as group homes for developmentally disabled adults, and recruited and trained staff to run the homes. Less than five years later he is a multi-millionaire, and rarely spends more than 10 hours per month monitoring his business. Not every business is suited for absentee ownership, and tight control mechanisms must be put into place; but, the potential for wealth creation in businesses that do not require the owner’s presence is phenomenal.
If you could do something to create an automatic pilot that gave you $100 per month, could you repeat it? How many $100 a month autopilots will it take to equal your current income? Automatic pilots are the true representation of wealth because they provide you with an income, while allowing you the freedom to enjoy it.
As stated earlier, passive and portfolio income is generally created from the ownership or control of assets, including those listed below:
· Income producing real estate
· Stocks and bonds
· Interest from savings
· Royalties from intellectual property
Your challenge in this important step is to figure out how and where to acquire income producing assets. It doesn’t happen by spending more than you earn, failing to save and build a capital base, or spending your saved money foolishly on worthless doodads that depreciate the moment you purchase them.
Creating automatic pilots is the essence of Warren Buffett’s philosophy of investment. While he remains highly involved in the day-to-day activities of his businesses and investments, Buffett has created multiple streams of income, becoming a billionaire in the process.
In a previous principle I discussed how a hypothetical security guard firm could create wealth for the owner. Taken a step further, the business owner could recruit and train a manager to oversee the daily activity of this business. He could also contract with an accountant to do his billing, taxes, and payroll. The long-term success of operating a hands-off business like this will be contingent on the owner’s creation of an operations manual, enforcement of quality standards, and strict billing and payroll control mechanisms. This is a doable, and happens every day in the business world.
Robert Kiyosaki repeatedly makes this point in his Rich Dad, Poor Dad books. According to Kiyosaki, you don’t want to create a job for yourself by opening a business, and then structuring it where you will have to be there to ensure the work gets done. Your objective should be to create a business, and then set controls in place so you can enjoy the profits of that business with minimal personal input.
Using due diligence, start today to find and obtain a piece of real estate that will throw off a positive cash flow each month. Do not accept a negative cash flow situation, as this will stymie your ability to make further investments. Also, do some research on the stock market and find a solid company with growth potential and a history of paying dividends to park some of your money in. Use the positive cash flow from your real estate and stocks to make further investments, and never touch your capital base.
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Copyright 2007 The 17 Principles of Creating Wealth Make Money At Home
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