What can i do, how can i contribute?
I prayed to God for Wisdom and Guidance everyday...
Proverbs 3:5,6
5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding;
6 in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.
And while having a hot shower, the idea flashed into my head.
Using NLP I heave learnt, i can simplify it and use it to boost the USF.
My Life, My Dream, My Destiny
Monday, January 19, 2009
Friday, January 16, 2009
Someone's Opinion of You does not have to become your reality
Are you lazy, hopeless, timid, unlucky, untidy, mediocre, ordinary, slow in learning etc?
If you should have any negative beliefs about yourself, you got to start asking, who told you that?
One of the top motivation speakers, Les Brown was diagnosed to be mentally retarded when he was young. He was removed from the 5th grade and put into the 4th grade and proceeded on in life slower than "usual".
He walked into a classroom one day and was asked by the teacher to go to the board. Les Brown refused and told the teacher that he couldn't do it becasue he was mentally retarded. The teacher looked at him in the eye and said, "Don't ever say that again young man, Someone's Opinion of you does not have to become your reality."
That was a turning point in his life.
If you should have any negative beliefs about yourself, you got to start asking, who told you that?
One of the top motivation speakers, Les Brown was diagnosed to be mentally retarded when he was young. He was removed from the 5th grade and put into the 4th grade and proceeded on in life slower than "usual".
He walked into a classroom one day and was asked by the teacher to go to the board. Les Brown refused and told the teacher that he couldn't do it becasue he was mentally retarded. The teacher looked at him in the eye and said, "Don't ever say that again young man, Someone's Opinion of you does not have to become your reality."
That was a turning point in his life.
Financial Freedom College
If i teach you how to become Financially Free, will you apply it?
I can hear a loud and clear "Of Course!" That is what
Life Improving Business
In a short span of less than 2 years, i have accumulated effective, results producing strategies in all major areas of my life, namely, Wealth and Financial Strategies, Physical Appearance and Wellness Strategies, Relationship Strategies and Personal Mastery Strategies.
Most of these strategies are obtained through studying of people who are a;lready successful in these fields and capturing the essences of ther strategies. In some instances, i formulated some of my own personal strategies.
On the course of learning these strategies, i found that i love to share these strategies with people around as it excites me to know that these people i care for can change the quality of their finances, physical state and relationship when they apply them.
Most of them time, i managed to get them hyped up momentarily and was disturbed after checking on them some time later and realised they have not taken action.
This is when i soughted new strategies to find out how to make people TAKE ACTION. I found NLP - Neuro Lingustic Programming.
This is a very logical technique that makes use of individuals' exsisting resources within themselves to produce results that they want. In fact, this is one of the major "presuppositions" of NLP practitioners. A presuppositon is a conveinant belief or assumption that we NLP practitioners choose to hold because having that belief enable to produce better results.
This belief works beautifully for everyone i have met, simply because in the course of our lives, we have accumulated a whole lot of variety of experiences that generates different emotions. And we must realise one thing, it is emotions that causes us to take action. In whatever we do, we do because we either want to get good emotions, or avoid negative, lousy emotions.
So logically, we should not smoke, take drugs or eat too much, but why do we do that? Answer: It makes us feel good instantaneously.
For people who do not smoke, is because they want o avoid feeling lousy in the long run...
Wait a minute, am i contradicting myself? Since smoking gives you both good and bad feeling, don;t we choose based on logic?
The reason why someone choose to smoke or not, is really which "feeling" or "emotions" is more REAL right now.
Someone who sees a ciagerette box and sees the warning "Smoking Cause Cancer" may in their mind picture the endstate of having cancer and feel disgusted. Thus they drop any idea of smoking.
Another individual on the other hand sees the same box but continue to smoke anyway because they feel the "urge" which reminds them of how good they would feel after some deep breaths of nicotine...
This theory works is applicable to all things, be it snacking, procasinating etc...
In my life chaning business, i have all the effective strategies what once anyone applies them consistently, would very likely produce the results. It is like a series of recipes for success. Now, with NLP applied into the programs, I can increase the chance of people actually applying the strategies and fill their lifes with joy and passion!
Most of these strategies are obtained through studying of people who are a;lready successful in these fields and capturing the essences of ther strategies. In some instances, i formulated some of my own personal strategies.
On the course of learning these strategies, i found that i love to share these strategies with people around as it excites me to know that these people i care for can change the quality of their finances, physical state and relationship when they apply them.
Most of them time, i managed to get them hyped up momentarily and was disturbed after checking on them some time later and realised they have not taken action.
This is when i soughted new strategies to find out how to make people TAKE ACTION. I found NLP - Neuro Lingustic Programming.
This is a very logical technique that makes use of individuals' exsisting resources within themselves to produce results that they want. In fact, this is one of the major "presuppositions" of NLP practitioners. A presuppositon is a conveinant belief or assumption that we NLP practitioners choose to hold because having that belief enable to produce better results.
This belief works beautifully for everyone i have met, simply because in the course of our lives, we have accumulated a whole lot of variety of experiences that generates different emotions. And we must realise one thing, it is emotions that causes us to take action. In whatever we do, we do because we either want to get good emotions, or avoid negative, lousy emotions.
So logically, we should not smoke, take drugs or eat too much, but why do we do that? Answer: It makes us feel good instantaneously.
For people who do not smoke, is because they want o avoid feeling lousy in the long run...
Wait a minute, am i contradicting myself? Since smoking gives you both good and bad feeling, don;t we choose based on logic?
The reason why someone choose to smoke or not, is really which "feeling" or "emotions" is more REAL right now.
Someone who sees a ciagerette box and sees the warning "Smoking Cause Cancer" may in their mind picture the endstate of having cancer and feel disgusted. Thus they drop any idea of smoking.
Another individual on the other hand sees the same box but continue to smoke anyway because they feel the "urge" which reminds them of how good they would feel after some deep breaths of nicotine...
This theory works is applicable to all things, be it snacking, procasinating etc...
In my life chaning business, i have all the effective strategies what once anyone applies them consistently, would very likely produce the results. It is like a series of recipes for success. Now, with NLP applied into the programs, I can increase the chance of people actually applying the strategies and fill their lifes with joy and passion!
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
The Money Tree Formula by Robert G. Allen
The Money Tree Formula
by Robert G. Allen
I've got some good news and I've got some bad news.
First, the good news.
If you’re like the average person, earning at least $25,000 a year, then, in your lifetime over a million dollars will flow through your fingers. That's a lot of money. In other words, you’re a lifetime millionaire.
Now, for the bad news. If you're like most people, you'll spend it all, and, after a lifetime of earning, will end up with almost nothing.
How can that be?
Frankly, nobody teaches us about money. We receive no formal education in the most critical of all life skills--how to become financially successful. Did you ever attend a class in all of your public education entitled, "Money 101?" Why isn't there such a mandatory class in every elementary school?
How have you learned what you know about money? You picked it up, a piece here....a tip there. You absorbed attitudes from your parents, from the media. You observed the examples of friends. You proceeded through trial and error....the school of hard knocks. What you learned was haphazard, mostly wrong, certainly out of context. Most of the books you read about the subject probably overwhelmed you with details or bored you with useless facts. If you're like most, you're confused and frustrated.
Yet, money is one of the most important subjects of your entire life. Some of life’s greatest enjoyments and most of life’s greatest disappointments stem from your decisions about money. Whether you experience great peace of mind or constant anxiety will depend on getting your finances under control. Your relationships will be greatly affected. 90% of all divorces in our society result from disagreements about money. Understanding money--how to make it and keep it-- is absolutely essential to your life, to your relationships, to your happiness, to your future.
Still, there are some people who seem to be naturally good at managing money. The same million dollars flows through their fingers, and, they seem to know how to keep some it and even make it grow. In some cases, a hundred fold more than the average person.
Do these people work 100 times harder? Are they 100 times smarter? Of course not. They just know how to play the game. You see, money is a game. A very important game. If you know the rules, you win. If you don't know the rules, you lose. As someone said,
"Wealth is when small efforts produce big results.
Poverty is when big efforts produce small results."
In this book, you will finally learn how to play the money game...and win. If you follow these simple strategies, you can retire a multi-millionaire...while enjoying a banquet of prosperity throughout your life. You will learn a simple system for controlling your finances. You will learn how to invest your surplus funds without losing sleep at night. You will learn how to create multiple streams of lifetime income. You will learn how to oversee your growing financial empire on as little as ten minutes a day. You will learn how to leave a financially secure future to your family and loved ones.
You may wonder how I quality to be your instructor.
I started myself in the seventies, perhaps just like you, with a dream of becoming financially independent. After graduating with a Masters Degree in Business Administration (MBA) from Brigham Young University in 1974, I began investing in small real estate investments and parlayed a tiny nest egg into a large multi-million dollar net worth in a few short years. Along the way, I also suffered my share of setbacks. I've not only made millions but lost millions....and made them back again. I know from the school of hard knocks what works and what doesn't.
I shared my powerful systems in the #1 New York Times bestseller, Nothing Down: How to buy Real Estate with little or no money down. This book became the all time real estate investment classic used by beginning investors ever since.
I also wrote two other major bestsellers, the #1 New York Times Bestseller, Creating Wealth, and The Challenge. In promoting this last book I made the bold statement:
"Send me to any unemployment line. Let me select someone who is out of work and discouraged. In two days time, I'll teach them the secrets of success and in 90 days they'll be back on their feet with $5,000 cash in the bank, never to set foot in an unemployment line again!"
The Challenge is the true story of how I selected 3 people from the unemployment lines of St. Louis, Missouri and taught them the secrets of financial success......and, yes, they were able to achieve incredible success in 90 days. One of the couples went on to earn over $100,000 in the next 12 months. To celebrate, I took them on Good Morning America with me.
What I am about to share with you is the result of having worked with thousands of successful people over two full decades. I have seen people go from living on the streets to living in mansions....from driving a taxi to being driven in limousines.
Although my most famous book is about real estate investing, this book will show you how to create wealth in many different ways…from multiple sources. Actually, there are three great wealth creation mountains. I call them Money Mountains. Each mountain is distinct from the others, and yet, each share similar characteristics. The mountains are: the Investment Mountain, the Real Estate Mountain and the Marketing Mountain.
From this mountain range of Money Mountains, there are at least 9 separate and distinct streams of income flowing into your growing reservoir of wealth. Each stream was carefully chosen using a formula I use call the Money Tree Formula. In this book, I will teach you the 9 characteristics of the ideal stream of income. Then, I will teach you exactly how to profit from each of these streams. The goal is for you to add at least one new stream of income to your life each year. Eventually, these streams will overflow your life with prosperity and freedom.
The first question people usually ask at this point is, "Why Multiple Streams?"
The Wisdom of Multiple Streams of income.
How many streams of income did it take in the 1950’s for a family to survive? One. Today, very few families can survive on less than two streams of income. And that won’t be enough in the future. It’s a volatile future. You’d be wise to have multiple streams of income flowing into your life.
Prosperous people have always known this. If one stream dries up, they have many more to support them. Ordinary people are much more vulnerable. If they lose one of their streams, it wipes them out. And it takes them years to recover.
In the future, people will need a portfolio of income streams -- not one or two -- but many streams from completely different and diversified sources. So that if one streams goes, you barely feel the bump. You’re stable. You have time to adjust. You’re safe.
Do you have multiple streams of income flowing into your life at this time? Maybe it’s time to add another one.
The Power of Residual Streams of Income
So let’s assume that you’ve decided to add another stream of income to your life. You could always get another part time job, but that’s not the kind of income I’m talking about. You certainly don’t want to get stuck on somebody else’s treadmill. You want the kind of streams that you can own.
I’m talking about residual income. That’s a fancy term for a "recurring" stream of income that continues to flow whether you’re there or not. I’ve heard too many small business owners say, "I haven’t taken a vacation in 5 years." There’s something wrong with that picture. I don’t have anything against hard work. But after a few short years of hard work, you should be free to have your streams of income forwarded to your mailbox in Tahiti. Get the picture?
Two Types of Streams: Linear and Residual
Not all streams of income are created equal. Some streams are linear, and some are residual. Here’s the question that tells you whether your income streams are linear or residual:
"How many times to you get paid for every hour you work?"
If you answered, "only once," then your income is linear. Income streams from a salary are linear. You only get paid once for your effort. And when you don’t show up for work, neither does your paycheck.
With residual income you work hard once, and it unleashes a steady flow of income for months or even years. You get paid over and over again for the same effort. Wouldn’t it be nice to be compensated hundreds of times for every hour you work?
For example, as I mentioned earlier, I published a book in 1980 called Nothing Down: How to Buy Real Estate with Little or No Money Down . I put in over 1,000 hours of hard work writing Nothing Down before I earned a single penny. Teenagers working at McDonald’s earned more than me. But, I wasn’t looking for a salary. I wanted a royalty. So I was willing to sacrifice. It took over two years before the money started to flow. But it was worth the wait. I’ve now earned millions of dollars in royalties. And every six months I still get nice royalty checks. That’s the power of residual income…it keeps flowing and flowing and flowing.
Here’s another example. Have you seen that tiny battery tester on the Duracell battery? I’m told that the inventor presented his idea to the big battery companies. Most turned him down, but Duracell saw the genius of it and agreed to pay just a few pennies per battery pack for his idea. And now he makes millions, because those residual pennies add up. In essence, he invested many hours of his time to create the concept, to package it and then to sell it. And now it generates a raging river of residual riches to him and his family. And the best part about it – HE DOESN’T HAVE TO BE THERE! It flows without him.
Linear vs. Residual. Do you see the difference?
The secret of the wealthy is not that they have more money but that they have more TIME freedom. Because many of their streams are residual, they have time to spend on anything they want.
When you view people’s lives through the filter of residual income, many groups of people aren’t as wealthy as they appear. Doctors and dentists don’t earn residual income from their labors. Their income potential is capped. They can only see a fixed number of patients in a day. And they have to be there for every single one of them. That’s linear.
The same holds true for top sales people, chiropractors and attorneys. Most of them don’t enjoy the power of residual income either. They may appear to be rich but they’re on a treadmill just like the rest of us.
What percentage of your income is residual? If you’re smart you’ll start shifting your income streams from linear to residual. This will give you the time freedom to do what you want when you want. And that starts with turning on at least one new residual stream this year.
There are many, exciting new ways of creating residual income
Do you know who Warren Buffet is? He’s the smartest stock picker in history and the wealthiest investor in the world with a net worth in the tens of billions. What if Warren Buffet himself were to call you on the phone and give you a hot stock tip. He tells you to sink every penny into a certain stock. He says that he’s invested a couple of hundred million of his own money and he feels the stock is a sure bet to double or triple in value. What would you say to him? "Sorry Warren but I like to pick my own stocks by throwing darts at the Wall Street Journal!" Would you listen to the master or continue to do things your own way?
Well, I’m no Warren Buffet, but through my books and seminars I’ve probably helped to create more millionaires than he has. If I were to guess, it’s probably in the thousands of millionaires. And this book contains all of my "hot streams" for the new millennium.
It’s where I’ve sunk a huge amount of my own time and effort. What I am about to share with you are the best opportunities I’ve seen in 20 years. They are certain to create many residual millionaires in the next 10 years. You could be one of them.
The Money Tree Formula
The first step to picking the right income streams is to pass them through the filter of the Money Tree Formula -- the 9 essential characteristics of the ideal income stream
Having a money trees assumes that you have an exhaustible, effortlessly generating, stream of cash flow which doesn’t require your presence. In order to do this, you must be in a position to create, control and own that stream of income. Another way of saying the same thing, is you must become an entrepreneur…..a business person. You may still retain your employee position, but on the side, as a way of protecting your long term financial future, you need to create additional streams of income. ASAP
I remember watching TV recently as a couple was being interviewed about being laid off from a long term job position. The wife looked into the screen and said, with tears in her eyes, "For 17 years we worked hard for our security, and now we’re out in the cold. It’s not fair." I wanted to reach through the television set and tell her, that for 17 years she had the illusion of security. She wasn’t secure, she just thought she was. Working for someone else, unless you own a piece of the profits, is not security. It’s just the illusion of security.
The Money Tree formula
If you’re going to become a home based entrepreneur, you’d better learn which businesses have the potential for creating lifetime streams of income and which ones are just a dead end way to make a few extra bucks before they peter out and die. I’d like to teach you a formula for the perfect business in the next century. I call it the Money Tree formula and it will be very easy for you to remember because it spells the word MONEY TREE...
M in the Money Tree formula stands for Multiple Streams of Income
Multiple Streams of Income
The first goal in starting your own home based business is to add another stream of income to your life as a safety net for when other of your streams of income dry up. But the home based business you select should be a source of more than just one stream of income. It should eventually be a source of multiple streams of income all by itself.
For example, suppose you’re considering buying an existing restaurant. What possibility will you have to grow? Can you add more shops? Is your idea franchisable? Can one of your food entree’s be sold nationwide as a frozen item? Can you license your special cooking secrets to other restaurants. Is there a cookbook in there somewhere? What about bottling and selling your special sauces? Get the drift? Don’t even consider a business that doesn’t have expansion potential for additional streams of income. That’s why the first M in the formula reminds you of Multiple Streams of Income.
The O in the Money Tree formula stands for outstanding.
Outstanding product or service
If your product, service or information isn’t distinguishably excellent it will eventually become a casualty of competition. The goal of creating a money tree is to do the work once and to have the money flow for the rest of your life. What good does it do to create a business and eventually have it succumb to competition. In order for your source of income to survive through the next ten recessions…..as there will be many more recessions in your lifetime….you must select a product, service or source of information that has the possibility to be permanently and perpetually profitable. When times get tough, people gravitate either to price or to quality. Don’t get stuck in the middle. That’s a sure formula for disaster. And don’t compete with the rest of the world on price. Make sure the quality of your produce is outstanding…..the best in the world at a fair price. And you have a good chance of succeeding long term.
The N in the Money tree formula stands for Nothing Down.
Nothing Down
Why nothing down? Well, it doesn’t have to be completely zero down…..but as little of your own money as possible. If you’re like most people, you probably don’t have a couple of hundred grand lying around to invest in your business. But what if you do have a nice chunk of cash. Should you run out and find a business to match your money and launch in? I think that one of the greatest curses is to have a lot of money to put into a new business.
Suppose you want to buy a hot franchise. It might cost you $100,000 and that’s just for the franchise rights. Then, you need to purchase inventory, leasehold improvements, special equipment. And what do you get? For most franchises, you get the right to be tied to a business 12 hours a day, to manage a lot of undereducated, under motivated employees, and make a steady paycheck for yourself. In a sense, you are just buying yourself a job. Why spend tens of thousands of dollars of your own money just to buy yourself a job…with a lot of risk?
I’m going to show you businesses that you can launch with little risk, little or no money down and the possibility of creating what I call "walk away" cash flow --money that flows to you whether or not you show up.
The E in the Money tree formula stands for "Employee-resistant."
Employee-resistant
That’s right….you don’t want employees. Employees are dangerous! They begin to feel they are entitled to their jobs. ("You can’t fire me. I own this job." ) The rapid increase in employee/employer litigation should be enough to convince you that you want to find a home based business that can be done by yourself, with a very low employee to income ratio.
I used to be the president of a seminar company with over two hundred employees. I made the decision to downsize when one of the employees sued me for age discrimination. He was in his late sixties when he came to work for us and when we layed him off during an economic downturn, he slapped us with a $500,000 lawsuit. We settled out of court for $2,000 but that was the last straw. I decided to never again put myself in a position where one disgruntled employee and his smart attorney could take it all away.
Today, I have zero employees. I make as much today as I used to make with 200 times less hassle. I like it that way. All of my streams of income can be monitored from a telephone anywhere in the world on only a few hours a day.
A friend of mine, Dan Kennedy puts it this way, "When it comes to employees, hire slow and fire fast." Most business people do just the opposite. They hire fast and fire slow. I say, try to find money tree businesses that don’t require any employees and then you don’t have to worry about either hiring or firing.
The Y in the Money tree formula stands for the world "Yield"
Yield
The streams you choose should be high yielding, high profit cash cows. Five years ago a friend of mine, Collette, started such a home based business. In less than a year she was making about $10,000 per month. What’s more, this business was a money tree business. It generates cash flow even if she stops working! But why stop when she is having so much fun? Today, after five years, she has grown her business till she now earns over $500,000 a year net, net, net.
What’s the yield on that kind of income? It’s the equivalent of having TEN MILLION DOLLARS in the bank earning only 5% interest! That’s my idea of yield. In this book I’ll be sharing exactly how Collette did this…..as well as other business that meet the same kinds of money tree characteristics.
The T in the Money Tree formula stands for the words Trend and Timing.
Trend and Timing
Starting a business against the trend is like swimming up stream against the current. . Running a business is hard enough without trying to swim upstream. But when you choose a business that is with the trend it’s like floating downstream with the current. How do you select a business that’s on trend?
The first time I started a business was just after college. I started buying real estate…and as luck would have it….it was the exact right time. The baby boomers wanted real estate and the demand drove prices upward. Anyone who owned property made a killing. You could almost do no wrong.
Then, I started teaching people how to buy real estate with little or no money down. My little classified ads brought hoards of calls. It was a feeding frenzy. I was on trend. My seminar businesses took in more than a hundred million dollars in the next decade.
The secret is to get in front of a trend and ride the wave. The biggest wave of our century is the Baby Boom – 76 million people. This generation is four times the size of the previous generation. As this mass of humanity rolls forward through time it creates a huge demand wave. Picking businesses which are at the leading edge of this age wave has created thousands of fortunes. You need to make sure that your new business is leading this trend and not following it. It can make a huge difference in your lifestyle.
The R in the Money Tree formula stands for Residual
Residual Income
We’ve already talked about the importance of this part of the Money Tree formula.
But to emphasize this concept even further, let’s compare it to an escalator. Have you ever walked up a down escalator….the wrong way? When you walk up the down escalator, you have to walk fast just to stay in the same place. And to get to the top, you have to walk at double speed. People on the Up escalator don’t have to work hard at all. They just stand there holding the hand rail and the escalator takes them to the top.
These two escalators represent the two kinds of income that you can earn…..linear income and residual income. Our economy is a down escalator. You work hard for your money but with inflation you have earn 3-5% more next year just to stay in the same place. But this puts you in higher tax brackets. The more you make the more they take. It seems you work harder and harder without making any progress. Your bank account balance earns 2% and your credit card balance costs you 20%. You’re going in the hole 24 hours a day. You wonder why you can never catch up. And if you stop….the escalator just takes you right back down to the bottom.
That’s what it’s like to earn linear income. When I think of this kind of income I think of how they catch monkeys in Africa. A native takes a coconut and cuts off one end to make a small hole just the size to allow a monkeys fist to enter. To the other end of the coconut they attach a long cord. They place a few peanuts inside the coconut, place the coconut in the middle of a clearing and hide behind a tree to wait for the monkeys to come. The monkeys come and smell the peanuts inside the coconut shell. One monkey reaches inside the shell to grab the peanuts, but with the peanuts inside, his fist is too large to escape the hole in the coconut. And then the native yanks on the cord and hauls that silly monkey to captivity because the monkey will not let go of those peanuts to save his skin.
Are you working for peanuts?
If you’re walking up the down escalator, you are caught in a Monkey Trap. What you want is Up Escalator Income. Which escalator are you on?
Here’s a list of the many types of residual income that you want to be exploring:
Savers earn interest
Song writers earn royalties on their songs.
Authors, like myself earn royalties from their books and tapes.
Insurance agents get residual business
Securities agents get residual sales.
Network marketers get residual commissions
Actors get a piece of the action
Entrepreneurs get business profits.
Franchisors get franchising fees
Investors get dividends, interest and appreciation.
Visual artists get royalties from their creations
Software creators get royalties.
Game designers get royalties.
Inventors get royalties.
Partners can get profits.
Mailing list owners get rental fees
Real estate owners can get cash flow profits
Retired persons can get pensions
Celebrity endorsers get gross percentage profits
Marketing consultants get % of profit or gross revenue
When you go to bed tonight, ask yourself this question, "What percentage of my day did I spend creating residual income?" If the answer is zero, you’re in trouble. You’d better wake up tomorrow and get busy. More on residual income later. I hope now you see why it’s such a vital part of our money tree formula
The E in the Money Tree formula means Essential to Everybody Everyday.
Essential
Whatever you sell, try to pick something that’s essential or is perceived as essential by a large and very motivated segment of society. Let me give you the real reason that real estate has always been a great wealth creation vehicle and a prime source of residual income for hundreds of thousands. It fits the Money Tree formula. Check it out for yourself and you’ll see why..
Whatever product you choose to market just make sure it’s essential. The more people need it and the more often they need it, the more successful your business can become.
The final E in the Money Tree formula stands for Enthusiasm.
Enthusiasm
You’ve got to love what you do. If you hate what you sell, you’ll never be any good at it. The prime admonition from Gary Halbert one of the all time great marketing gurus is this; SELL WHAT YOU LOVE. Truth is, you’ll never be truly great unless you do.
Well, there you have the 9 major characteristics of the Money Tree formula. These 9 characteristics are essential to the kind of hands off, hassle free businesses that create lifelong streams of cash flow.
In this book, we’ll be exploring in depth the 9 practical business which fit this formula perfectly.
As a final note.
In the book, Multiple Streams of Income, I start with the basics, and help the reader build a strong foundation for wealth. Then, I expand into the nitty gritty strategies and techniques for developing 9 separate streams of income. Finally, I finish with strategies and techniques for protecting these burgeoning streams of income.
Like Nothing Down and Creating Wealth, I believe that Multiple Streams of Income will become a long term, perennial bestseller. I’m anxious to bring it to the large and growing audience which is desperate for these solutions.
by Robert G. Allen
I've got some good news and I've got some bad news.
First, the good news.
If you’re like the average person, earning at least $25,000 a year, then, in your lifetime over a million dollars will flow through your fingers. That's a lot of money. In other words, you’re a lifetime millionaire.
Now, for the bad news. If you're like most people, you'll spend it all, and, after a lifetime of earning, will end up with almost nothing.
How can that be?
Frankly, nobody teaches us about money. We receive no formal education in the most critical of all life skills--how to become financially successful. Did you ever attend a class in all of your public education entitled, "Money 101?" Why isn't there such a mandatory class in every elementary school?
How have you learned what you know about money? You picked it up, a piece here....a tip there. You absorbed attitudes from your parents, from the media. You observed the examples of friends. You proceeded through trial and error....the school of hard knocks. What you learned was haphazard, mostly wrong, certainly out of context. Most of the books you read about the subject probably overwhelmed you with details or bored you with useless facts. If you're like most, you're confused and frustrated.
Yet, money is one of the most important subjects of your entire life. Some of life’s greatest enjoyments and most of life’s greatest disappointments stem from your decisions about money. Whether you experience great peace of mind or constant anxiety will depend on getting your finances under control. Your relationships will be greatly affected. 90% of all divorces in our society result from disagreements about money. Understanding money--how to make it and keep it-- is absolutely essential to your life, to your relationships, to your happiness, to your future.
Still, there are some people who seem to be naturally good at managing money. The same million dollars flows through their fingers, and, they seem to know how to keep some it and even make it grow. In some cases, a hundred fold more than the average person.
Do these people work 100 times harder? Are they 100 times smarter? Of course not. They just know how to play the game. You see, money is a game. A very important game. If you know the rules, you win. If you don't know the rules, you lose. As someone said,
"Wealth is when small efforts produce big results.
Poverty is when big efforts produce small results."
In this book, you will finally learn how to play the money game...and win. If you follow these simple strategies, you can retire a multi-millionaire...while enjoying a banquet of prosperity throughout your life. You will learn a simple system for controlling your finances. You will learn how to invest your surplus funds without losing sleep at night. You will learn how to create multiple streams of lifetime income. You will learn how to oversee your growing financial empire on as little as ten minutes a day. You will learn how to leave a financially secure future to your family and loved ones.
You may wonder how I quality to be your instructor.
I started myself in the seventies, perhaps just like you, with a dream of becoming financially independent. After graduating with a Masters Degree in Business Administration (MBA) from Brigham Young University in 1974, I began investing in small real estate investments and parlayed a tiny nest egg into a large multi-million dollar net worth in a few short years. Along the way, I also suffered my share of setbacks. I've not only made millions but lost millions....and made them back again. I know from the school of hard knocks what works and what doesn't.
I shared my powerful systems in the #1 New York Times bestseller, Nothing Down: How to buy Real Estate with little or no money down. This book became the all time real estate investment classic used by beginning investors ever since.
I also wrote two other major bestsellers, the #1 New York Times Bestseller, Creating Wealth, and The Challenge. In promoting this last book I made the bold statement:
"Send me to any unemployment line. Let me select someone who is out of work and discouraged. In two days time, I'll teach them the secrets of success and in 90 days they'll be back on their feet with $5,000 cash in the bank, never to set foot in an unemployment line again!"
The Challenge is the true story of how I selected 3 people from the unemployment lines of St. Louis, Missouri and taught them the secrets of financial success......and, yes, they were able to achieve incredible success in 90 days. One of the couples went on to earn over $100,000 in the next 12 months. To celebrate, I took them on Good Morning America with me.
What I am about to share with you is the result of having worked with thousands of successful people over two full decades. I have seen people go from living on the streets to living in mansions....from driving a taxi to being driven in limousines.
Although my most famous book is about real estate investing, this book will show you how to create wealth in many different ways…from multiple sources. Actually, there are three great wealth creation mountains. I call them Money Mountains. Each mountain is distinct from the others, and yet, each share similar characteristics. The mountains are: the Investment Mountain, the Real Estate Mountain and the Marketing Mountain.
From this mountain range of Money Mountains, there are at least 9 separate and distinct streams of income flowing into your growing reservoir of wealth. Each stream was carefully chosen using a formula I use call the Money Tree Formula. In this book, I will teach you the 9 characteristics of the ideal stream of income. Then, I will teach you exactly how to profit from each of these streams. The goal is for you to add at least one new stream of income to your life each year. Eventually, these streams will overflow your life with prosperity and freedom.
The first question people usually ask at this point is, "Why Multiple Streams?"
The Wisdom of Multiple Streams of income.
How many streams of income did it take in the 1950’s for a family to survive? One. Today, very few families can survive on less than two streams of income. And that won’t be enough in the future. It’s a volatile future. You’d be wise to have multiple streams of income flowing into your life.
Prosperous people have always known this. If one stream dries up, they have many more to support them. Ordinary people are much more vulnerable. If they lose one of their streams, it wipes them out. And it takes them years to recover.
In the future, people will need a portfolio of income streams -- not one or two -- but many streams from completely different and diversified sources. So that if one streams goes, you barely feel the bump. You’re stable. You have time to adjust. You’re safe.
Do you have multiple streams of income flowing into your life at this time? Maybe it’s time to add another one.
The Power of Residual Streams of Income
So let’s assume that you’ve decided to add another stream of income to your life. You could always get another part time job, but that’s not the kind of income I’m talking about. You certainly don’t want to get stuck on somebody else’s treadmill. You want the kind of streams that you can own.
I’m talking about residual income. That’s a fancy term for a "recurring" stream of income that continues to flow whether you’re there or not. I’ve heard too many small business owners say, "I haven’t taken a vacation in 5 years." There’s something wrong with that picture. I don’t have anything against hard work. But after a few short years of hard work, you should be free to have your streams of income forwarded to your mailbox in Tahiti. Get the picture?
Two Types of Streams: Linear and Residual
Not all streams of income are created equal. Some streams are linear, and some are residual. Here’s the question that tells you whether your income streams are linear or residual:
"How many times to you get paid for every hour you work?"
If you answered, "only once," then your income is linear. Income streams from a salary are linear. You only get paid once for your effort. And when you don’t show up for work, neither does your paycheck.
With residual income you work hard once, and it unleashes a steady flow of income for months or even years. You get paid over and over again for the same effort. Wouldn’t it be nice to be compensated hundreds of times for every hour you work?
For example, as I mentioned earlier, I published a book in 1980 called Nothing Down: How to Buy Real Estate with Little or No Money Down . I put in over 1,000 hours of hard work writing Nothing Down before I earned a single penny. Teenagers working at McDonald’s earned more than me. But, I wasn’t looking for a salary. I wanted a royalty. So I was willing to sacrifice. It took over two years before the money started to flow. But it was worth the wait. I’ve now earned millions of dollars in royalties. And every six months I still get nice royalty checks. That’s the power of residual income…it keeps flowing and flowing and flowing.
Here’s another example. Have you seen that tiny battery tester on the Duracell battery? I’m told that the inventor presented his idea to the big battery companies. Most turned him down, but Duracell saw the genius of it and agreed to pay just a few pennies per battery pack for his idea. And now he makes millions, because those residual pennies add up. In essence, he invested many hours of his time to create the concept, to package it and then to sell it. And now it generates a raging river of residual riches to him and his family. And the best part about it – HE DOESN’T HAVE TO BE THERE! It flows without him.
Linear vs. Residual. Do you see the difference?
The secret of the wealthy is not that they have more money but that they have more TIME freedom. Because many of their streams are residual, they have time to spend on anything they want.
When you view people’s lives through the filter of residual income, many groups of people aren’t as wealthy as they appear. Doctors and dentists don’t earn residual income from their labors. Their income potential is capped. They can only see a fixed number of patients in a day. And they have to be there for every single one of them. That’s linear.
The same holds true for top sales people, chiropractors and attorneys. Most of them don’t enjoy the power of residual income either. They may appear to be rich but they’re on a treadmill just like the rest of us.
What percentage of your income is residual? If you’re smart you’ll start shifting your income streams from linear to residual. This will give you the time freedom to do what you want when you want. And that starts with turning on at least one new residual stream this year.
There are many, exciting new ways of creating residual income
Do you know who Warren Buffet is? He’s the smartest stock picker in history and the wealthiest investor in the world with a net worth in the tens of billions. What if Warren Buffet himself were to call you on the phone and give you a hot stock tip. He tells you to sink every penny into a certain stock. He says that he’s invested a couple of hundred million of his own money and he feels the stock is a sure bet to double or triple in value. What would you say to him? "Sorry Warren but I like to pick my own stocks by throwing darts at the Wall Street Journal!" Would you listen to the master or continue to do things your own way?
Well, I’m no Warren Buffet, but through my books and seminars I’ve probably helped to create more millionaires than he has. If I were to guess, it’s probably in the thousands of millionaires. And this book contains all of my "hot streams" for the new millennium.
It’s where I’ve sunk a huge amount of my own time and effort. What I am about to share with you are the best opportunities I’ve seen in 20 years. They are certain to create many residual millionaires in the next 10 years. You could be one of them.
The Money Tree Formula
The first step to picking the right income streams is to pass them through the filter of the Money Tree Formula -- the 9 essential characteristics of the ideal income stream
Having a money trees assumes that you have an exhaustible, effortlessly generating, stream of cash flow which doesn’t require your presence. In order to do this, you must be in a position to create, control and own that stream of income. Another way of saying the same thing, is you must become an entrepreneur…..a business person. You may still retain your employee position, but on the side, as a way of protecting your long term financial future, you need to create additional streams of income. ASAP
I remember watching TV recently as a couple was being interviewed about being laid off from a long term job position. The wife looked into the screen and said, with tears in her eyes, "For 17 years we worked hard for our security, and now we’re out in the cold. It’s not fair." I wanted to reach through the television set and tell her, that for 17 years she had the illusion of security. She wasn’t secure, she just thought she was. Working for someone else, unless you own a piece of the profits, is not security. It’s just the illusion of security.
The Money Tree formula
If you’re going to become a home based entrepreneur, you’d better learn which businesses have the potential for creating lifetime streams of income and which ones are just a dead end way to make a few extra bucks before they peter out and die. I’d like to teach you a formula for the perfect business in the next century. I call it the Money Tree formula and it will be very easy for you to remember because it spells the word MONEY TREE...
M in the Money Tree formula stands for Multiple Streams of Income
Multiple Streams of Income
The first goal in starting your own home based business is to add another stream of income to your life as a safety net for when other of your streams of income dry up. But the home based business you select should be a source of more than just one stream of income. It should eventually be a source of multiple streams of income all by itself.
For example, suppose you’re considering buying an existing restaurant. What possibility will you have to grow? Can you add more shops? Is your idea franchisable? Can one of your food entree’s be sold nationwide as a frozen item? Can you license your special cooking secrets to other restaurants. Is there a cookbook in there somewhere? What about bottling and selling your special sauces? Get the drift? Don’t even consider a business that doesn’t have expansion potential for additional streams of income. That’s why the first M in the formula reminds you of Multiple Streams of Income.
The O in the Money Tree formula stands for outstanding.
Outstanding product or service
If your product, service or information isn’t distinguishably excellent it will eventually become a casualty of competition. The goal of creating a money tree is to do the work once and to have the money flow for the rest of your life. What good does it do to create a business and eventually have it succumb to competition. In order for your source of income to survive through the next ten recessions…..as there will be many more recessions in your lifetime….you must select a product, service or source of information that has the possibility to be permanently and perpetually profitable. When times get tough, people gravitate either to price or to quality. Don’t get stuck in the middle. That’s a sure formula for disaster. And don’t compete with the rest of the world on price. Make sure the quality of your produce is outstanding…..the best in the world at a fair price. And you have a good chance of succeeding long term.
The N in the Money tree formula stands for Nothing Down.
Nothing Down
Why nothing down? Well, it doesn’t have to be completely zero down…..but as little of your own money as possible. If you’re like most people, you probably don’t have a couple of hundred grand lying around to invest in your business. But what if you do have a nice chunk of cash. Should you run out and find a business to match your money and launch in? I think that one of the greatest curses is to have a lot of money to put into a new business.
Suppose you want to buy a hot franchise. It might cost you $100,000 and that’s just for the franchise rights. Then, you need to purchase inventory, leasehold improvements, special equipment. And what do you get? For most franchises, you get the right to be tied to a business 12 hours a day, to manage a lot of undereducated, under motivated employees, and make a steady paycheck for yourself. In a sense, you are just buying yourself a job. Why spend tens of thousands of dollars of your own money just to buy yourself a job…with a lot of risk?
I’m going to show you businesses that you can launch with little risk, little or no money down and the possibility of creating what I call "walk away" cash flow --money that flows to you whether or not you show up.
The E in the Money tree formula stands for "Employee-resistant."
Employee-resistant
That’s right….you don’t want employees. Employees are dangerous! They begin to feel they are entitled to their jobs. ("You can’t fire me. I own this job." ) The rapid increase in employee/employer litigation should be enough to convince you that you want to find a home based business that can be done by yourself, with a very low employee to income ratio.
I used to be the president of a seminar company with over two hundred employees. I made the decision to downsize when one of the employees sued me for age discrimination. He was in his late sixties when he came to work for us and when we layed him off during an economic downturn, he slapped us with a $500,000 lawsuit. We settled out of court for $2,000 but that was the last straw. I decided to never again put myself in a position where one disgruntled employee and his smart attorney could take it all away.
Today, I have zero employees. I make as much today as I used to make with 200 times less hassle. I like it that way. All of my streams of income can be monitored from a telephone anywhere in the world on only a few hours a day.
A friend of mine, Dan Kennedy puts it this way, "When it comes to employees, hire slow and fire fast." Most business people do just the opposite. They hire fast and fire slow. I say, try to find money tree businesses that don’t require any employees and then you don’t have to worry about either hiring or firing.
The Y in the Money tree formula stands for the world "Yield"
Yield
The streams you choose should be high yielding, high profit cash cows. Five years ago a friend of mine, Collette, started such a home based business. In less than a year she was making about $10,000 per month. What’s more, this business was a money tree business. It generates cash flow even if she stops working! But why stop when she is having so much fun? Today, after five years, she has grown her business till she now earns over $500,000 a year net, net, net.
What’s the yield on that kind of income? It’s the equivalent of having TEN MILLION DOLLARS in the bank earning only 5% interest! That’s my idea of yield. In this book I’ll be sharing exactly how Collette did this…..as well as other business that meet the same kinds of money tree characteristics.
The T in the Money Tree formula stands for the words Trend and Timing.
Trend and Timing
Starting a business against the trend is like swimming up stream against the current. . Running a business is hard enough without trying to swim upstream. But when you choose a business that is with the trend it’s like floating downstream with the current. How do you select a business that’s on trend?
The first time I started a business was just after college. I started buying real estate…and as luck would have it….it was the exact right time. The baby boomers wanted real estate and the demand drove prices upward. Anyone who owned property made a killing. You could almost do no wrong.
Then, I started teaching people how to buy real estate with little or no money down. My little classified ads brought hoards of calls. It was a feeding frenzy. I was on trend. My seminar businesses took in more than a hundred million dollars in the next decade.
The secret is to get in front of a trend and ride the wave. The biggest wave of our century is the Baby Boom – 76 million people. This generation is four times the size of the previous generation. As this mass of humanity rolls forward through time it creates a huge demand wave. Picking businesses which are at the leading edge of this age wave has created thousands of fortunes. You need to make sure that your new business is leading this trend and not following it. It can make a huge difference in your lifestyle.
The R in the Money Tree formula stands for Residual
Residual Income
We’ve already talked about the importance of this part of the Money Tree formula.
But to emphasize this concept even further, let’s compare it to an escalator. Have you ever walked up a down escalator….the wrong way? When you walk up the down escalator, you have to walk fast just to stay in the same place. And to get to the top, you have to walk at double speed. People on the Up escalator don’t have to work hard at all. They just stand there holding the hand rail and the escalator takes them to the top.
These two escalators represent the two kinds of income that you can earn…..linear income and residual income. Our economy is a down escalator. You work hard for your money but with inflation you have earn 3-5% more next year just to stay in the same place. But this puts you in higher tax brackets. The more you make the more they take. It seems you work harder and harder without making any progress. Your bank account balance earns 2% and your credit card balance costs you 20%. You’re going in the hole 24 hours a day. You wonder why you can never catch up. And if you stop….the escalator just takes you right back down to the bottom.
That’s what it’s like to earn linear income. When I think of this kind of income I think of how they catch monkeys in Africa. A native takes a coconut and cuts off one end to make a small hole just the size to allow a monkeys fist to enter. To the other end of the coconut they attach a long cord. They place a few peanuts inside the coconut, place the coconut in the middle of a clearing and hide behind a tree to wait for the monkeys to come. The monkeys come and smell the peanuts inside the coconut shell. One monkey reaches inside the shell to grab the peanuts, but with the peanuts inside, his fist is too large to escape the hole in the coconut. And then the native yanks on the cord and hauls that silly monkey to captivity because the monkey will not let go of those peanuts to save his skin.
Are you working for peanuts?
If you’re walking up the down escalator, you are caught in a Monkey Trap. What you want is Up Escalator Income. Which escalator are you on?
Here’s a list of the many types of residual income that you want to be exploring:
Savers earn interest
Song writers earn royalties on their songs.
Authors, like myself earn royalties from their books and tapes.
Insurance agents get residual business
Securities agents get residual sales.
Network marketers get residual commissions
Actors get a piece of the action
Entrepreneurs get business profits.
Franchisors get franchising fees
Investors get dividends, interest and appreciation.
Visual artists get royalties from their creations
Software creators get royalties.
Game designers get royalties.
Inventors get royalties.
Partners can get profits.
Mailing list owners get rental fees
Real estate owners can get cash flow profits
Retired persons can get pensions
Celebrity endorsers get gross percentage profits
Marketing consultants get % of profit or gross revenue
When you go to bed tonight, ask yourself this question, "What percentage of my day did I spend creating residual income?" If the answer is zero, you’re in trouble. You’d better wake up tomorrow and get busy. More on residual income later. I hope now you see why it’s such a vital part of our money tree formula
The E in the Money Tree formula means Essential to Everybody Everyday.
Essential
Whatever you sell, try to pick something that’s essential or is perceived as essential by a large and very motivated segment of society. Let me give you the real reason that real estate has always been a great wealth creation vehicle and a prime source of residual income for hundreds of thousands. It fits the Money Tree formula. Check it out for yourself and you’ll see why..
Whatever product you choose to market just make sure it’s essential. The more people need it and the more often they need it, the more successful your business can become.
The final E in the Money Tree formula stands for Enthusiasm.
Enthusiasm
You’ve got to love what you do. If you hate what you sell, you’ll never be any good at it. The prime admonition from Gary Halbert one of the all time great marketing gurus is this; SELL WHAT YOU LOVE. Truth is, you’ll never be truly great unless you do.
Well, there you have the 9 major characteristics of the Money Tree formula. These 9 characteristics are essential to the kind of hands off, hassle free businesses that create lifelong streams of cash flow.
In this book, we’ll be exploring in depth the 9 practical business which fit this formula perfectly.
As a final note.
In the book, Multiple Streams of Income, I start with the basics, and help the reader build a strong foundation for wealth. Then, I expand into the nitty gritty strategies and techniques for developing 9 separate streams of income. Finally, I finish with strategies and techniques for protecting these burgeoning streams of income.
Like Nothing Down and Creating Wealth, I believe that Multiple Streams of Income will become a long term, perennial bestseller. I’m anxious to bring it to the large and growing audience which is desperate for these solutions.
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Faith as small as a mustard seed...
Matthew 17:20
He replied, "Because you have so little faith. I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there' and it will move.
Nothing will be impossible for you."
What a wonderful promise from Jesus. If we have faith, nothing is impossible for us. When setting out to achieve certain dreams, many things may seem impossible, but Jesus said that if we have just a little faith, all is possible.
Knowing this verse, can we not go out and set huge and seemingly impossible goals? Do we still think that some things are impossible? Well, it may be too big and impossible for man, but nothing is too big for God.
Proverbs 3:5-6
5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding;
6 in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.
He replied, "Because you have so little faith. I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there' and it will move.
Nothing will be impossible for you."
What a wonderful promise from Jesus. If we have faith, nothing is impossible for us. When setting out to achieve certain dreams, many things may seem impossible, but Jesus said that if we have just a little faith, all is possible.
Knowing this verse, can we not go out and set huge and seemingly impossible goals? Do we still think that some things are impossible? Well, it may be too big and impossible for man, but nothing is too big for God.
Proverbs 3:5-6
5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding;
6 in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.
Monday, January 5, 2009
Spook Of Life
Welcome to this blog!
Let me start by asking you a question? Are you happy where you are, with what you have, with whom you are?
The answer to your question would largely depend on what you focus on at the moment, wouldn't it? Lets just take me for example, if i focus on the fact that I have a lovely wife and son and a beautiful home and car, a great physical body, i will say i am happy.
But if i think of the fact that I have not spend enough quality time with my parents and friends, that I have not yet help bring anyone to salvation is Christ and that I still do not feel that I have mastered mysekf and contribute enough, i would say i am not happy.
What am i driving at? At any point of time, we can be happy by just focusing and being grateful with what we are blessed with, but at the same time, there is so much more space for us to grow.
At one point of time, it was my belief that in order to have excellence in one area of my life, it will have to be at the expense of another. E.g. In order to be financially successful, i will need to give up time and that means my relationship with my family, my creator and time to exercise is to be sacrificed. That was the point of time, i have no idea how to manage my spook of life effectively.
As i grow, i realised and learnt that there are success fundamentals which i need to first master before i rush out and make a million dollars or to build a beautiful temple of God (my body).
I subsequently learnt that every Spook of my life is to be managed to enjoy life to the fullest.
Just think about it, can you really be totally joyful and successful if any one Spook of Your life is not handled? Lets face the truth right now, if any Spook is not managed well, it will hinder every other Spook wouldn't it? (Refer to the diagram of my Spook below)
Some of us have already experienced it and faced huge problems because we have not taken an effort to master every Spook. For myself, the first sign of trouble was finances and there is where i went in search of Financial Mastery skills to get me out of the trouble.
And am i grateful for that trouble now that i think of it, because it was then i was exposed to Success Principles and learnt the importance of "becoming" before even "doing" and "having".
What this really means is that we can never become wealthy if we do not first become a wealthy person internally. I am not going into the spiritual realms, but just think about this, who we are, our character specifically is a summation of all of habits. And our daily habits are the things that create long term result isn't it?
If it is your habit to save, invest and create wealth, you are already a wealthy person even if you do not have a lot yet.
But if you are a spendthrift, guess how long your lottery money will last even if you struck a million. Research shows that within a year, 90 over % of lottery winners go bankrupt! Why?
Because they are not wealthy people to began with. By that i mean they do not have the skills, habits and mindset for wealth.
In this blog, i will share with you 2 components which are essential to having total success in life:
1) Success Fundamentals
This is where you learn to "install" important skills to create and handle success. Remember, you got to "become", before you can 'Do' and 'Have'.
2) Spooks Strategies
This is where i will share strategies which i used and achieved tremendous success in areas of relationship, finances, physical health, personal mastery and even spirituality.
So do hang around and do shrae with me your strategies and your thoughts.
Your Spook of Life Coach,
Sean Seah Weiming
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