Venture capitalists risk a certain amount of money in order to make more money.  Women risk the complications and exhaustion of pregnancy in order to have the benefit of a baby.  Firefighters risk their own lives to save the lives of others.  Students risk tuition money and years of studies for the potential benefit of a lucrative career.   Entrepreneurs risk the hours, money and dedication needed to start a new business for the potential benefit of a successful business.   Publishers risk the cost of printing and marketing a novel for the potential benefit of a best seller.

Seven Words to Change Your Life: Are You Willing To Take Risks?

Nothing worthwhile was ever achieved without risk.   In fact, risk is unavoidable.  Even if you never drive on busy freeways, never clean guns, never step on sidewalk cracks, you risk death simply by being alive.  You can’t avoid it.  But if you take some care, you can change your life by directing your risk-taking toward the highest potential benefit.

• Don’t take risks for the sake of taking risks. The rush isn’t worth the potential loss. Make sure that you exchange a controlled level of risk for a good potential payoff.
• Take small risks to begin with, to build your confidence and work up to the larger ones.
• Don’t listen to naysayers. Once you’ve done your research and made the decision to take the risk, go forward. Someone is always going to have something to say, but you can’t let it force you into a detour.

Life is a journey of exploration.  Instead of trying to avoid risk, accept that they are an inherent part of the journey.  Make educated decisions about what risks you are willing to take and how you will take them.

This finishes our Seven Words To Change Your Life:

1. Change
2. Choice
3. Truth
4. Trust
5. Ask
6. Decide
7. Risk

Knowing these words, knowing how to use them to your advantage will help you change your life and lead you toward success.  Once you determine your Core Desires, you unleash the Conquering Force that will change your life forever.  Learn how to harness this power now by taking advantage of the over $400 savings on the Conquering Force Audio/Book Package.

Seven Words to Change Your Life: Are You Waiting For Someone To Figure Out What You Want?

Her pride was also a liability, though, because it prevented her from asking for the help she needed.  She took a full-time job in an office, but she also signed on with a network marketing company to sell household products, with the intent of building that into a full-time business.  She liked the products and enjoyed selling them, but when it came to taking the next step in the company, she faltered.

“I know I need to sign people,” she said.  “In fact, I know some people who would do really great at this, and it would help them out.  They already use the products and they love them.”

So why hadn’t she signed anyone?

“I just can’t say it.  I can’t get the words out.”

We’re working our way through the Seven Words To Change Your Life right now, and the word for today is “Ask.”   Your friends and family may love you, and your colleagues may respect you, but that doesn’t mean they can intuitively sense what you need.  They have their own concerns and pursuits, and they can’t read your mind.

Most people aren’t shocked or horrified when someone asks them for something; they simply respond with a “yes” or “no.”  But many of those same people can’t get a request past their own lips.  How can you let go of this  aversion and get the words out?

• First, don’t fall prey to assumptions, even about yourself. Sit down and take the time to define exactly what your needs are.
• Once you know what you want, figure out how to express it precisely, so there’s no room for confusion or error. Practice if you need to, or write the words out.
• Be prepared to feel uncomfortable if you aren’t accustomed to making requests. It isn’t selfish or wrong to have needs or express them; it is the nature of humans to function as a inter-dependant community.
• Be ready to put your pride in neutral. Asking for candid feedback won’t help you unless you’re open to it. Directions won’t help you if you don’t take them. You can’t ask for solutions without exposing your problems.

Asking didn’t come easily to Marian, but her fierce determination drove her forward.  “I started with my sister.  I mean, it should have been simple.  We used to take naps together, for pete’s sake.  I figured out what I was going to ask for – could she host one party.  I had to practice saying it, and then I braced myself for her reaction.  I mean, she wasn’t going to hate me for asking or anything.  It was so hard!”

She was shocked to discover that her sister was actually a little hurt that she hadn’t asked before.  The sister hosted the party, and soon signed on with the company.  Buoyed by her success, Marian was soon able to build a successful business.  She quit her job and enjoyed the benefits of having a flexible schedule and passive income.

It’s time to discover how to activate the Seven Words To Change Your Life, bringing your Core Desires to reality and propelling yourself into the life you’ve always dreamed of.   Learn how now with the Conquering Force Audio/Book Package (save over $400!).

The celebrity had two choices.  He could either (A) pay the blackmailer or (B) allow the blackmailer to come forward with the evidence, destroying his family, his reputation and his career.  He felt frightened and vulnerable.

Seven Words to Change Your Life: Can The Truth Set You Free?

Remember the discussion of choices in my last blog?    Given two choices, A and B, the celebrity chose C.   He pre-empted the blackmailer by admitting his mistakes in the most public forum possible and took the whole situation to the police.  The blackmailer, as I write this, is sitting in jail.

Granted, the celebrity still has the consequences of his mistakes, but he’s not longer imprisoned by the fear of being exposed.  He can meet reality in the face and deal with it directly.  The truth, very simply, set him free.

“Truth” is one of the seven words that can change your life.  Knowing our shortcomings and failings means having to feel uncomfortable and having to decide whether to address them.  To avoid this discomfort, we tend to view ourselves through rose-colored glasses.   But to institute real change in your life, you need to be willing to live in reality.

• Don’t rationalize. If the situation is bad, say it’s bad. If you made a mistake, admit it. If you’re unhappy, face it, so you can change your life.
• Don’t make excuses. In the corporate world, you live by these initials: CYA. But to change your life, you don’t cover yourself to dodge problems – you fix the problems.
• Have at least one friend or mentor who will hold you accountable for honesty and honest effort.

You live in a certain construct of beliefs.  When you’re confronted with facts that disprove those beliefs, you experience something the psychologists call Cognitive Dissonance (knowing two opposing facts for sure).  The human response to Cognitive Dissonance is to make the mind comfortable as quickly as possible, usually by discounting the new facts.   Living in reality – knowing the truth – means staying uncomfortable long enough to find the real facts, and then adjusting your construct to reflect those facts.

Put the Seven Words that Can Change Your Life to work.  Learn how with the Conquering Force Audio/Book Package (save over $400!).

Imagine you live in an oppressed nation.  Your oppressor overtaxes you, reaps the benefits of your hard work, and periodically brings you and your fellow citizens in line with outbreaks of violence.  Must you fight for your freedom?

Are you thinking, “I don’t really have a choice, do I?”

Seven Words to Change Your Life: Do You Have A Choice?

We say that pretty regularly – “I don’t have a choice” – but it’s rarely true.  Work late or get fired?  Take the medicine or die?  Follow the traffic laws or lose your license?  These are all choices.  What we mean to say, of course, is that one of those choices is so undesirable that you feel compelled to go with the other choice.

Not only do you genuinely have a choice – you can pick the less desirable option – but you frequently have alternatives that weren’t even presented to you.   You can pick a choice that wasn’t even presented to you.   Bring in a crew so you don’t have to work late.  Find an effective alternative to the medicine.  Hire a driver so you don’t even have to think about the traffic laws.

In the situation above, a very influential man took another road.  He was presented with two choices – A:  Endure the oppression and B:  Fight for freedom.  He chose Choice C:  Resist tyranny through mass civil disobedience.    His name was Mohandas Karamchand Ghandi, better known as Mahatma Ghandi, and not only did he lead India into freedom from Great Britain, but he inspired other non-violent movements for freedom and human rights across the world.

You have a choice.  With rare exceptions, you always have a choice. “Choice”  is one of the seven words that can change your life, but having a choice is meaningless if you don’t acknowledge it – if you feel constrained to always behave a certain way or make certain choices.

It’s time to live as if you have choices.

• Make sure you have mentors and friends who will give you honest feedback, challenging reactive points of view and self-deception. These are more precious than the most reliable stock tip (and, of course, they’re legal). Cherish them, and seek their in-put often.
• Question yourself. If you find yourself in a situation that you wouldn’t have chosen, figure out how you did choose it. Did you act on a false assumption? Choose impulsively?
• If you find yourself repeatedly in an undesirable situation, don’t vow that you’ll never go there again. Instead, figure out what pay-off keeps drawing you back there. Then you can satisfy that need or impulse so you don’t go there again. For example, let’s say parking is very limited in the area where you work. You’ve accumulated fourteen parking tickets, and just barely dodged having a boot put on your car. First figure out why you’ve gotten the tickets: ex, you don’t have a choice because you don’t have time to look around for a legal parking place. The pay-off for parking illegally is, you make it to work on time. However, that pay-off costs you about $25 a day, plus fines and impound fees if they boot the car. Now, address the pay-off. You’re allotted the same twenty-four hours as everyone else, so what are your other options? Leave home earlier? Take the bus? You do have options, but until you acknowledge that you have a choice, you won’t make a different one.
• Stop and think. At intervals throughout your day, stop and ask yourself whether you’re acting out of habit, or you’re actually making the best choice for the situation you’re in.

You can choose to grow, or choose not to grow.  There are always going to be setbacks, obstacles and external factors that will complicate your progress, but you don’t have allow them to define who you are or where you’re going.  You have the choice.  You can change your life.

Once you determine your Core Desires, you unleash the Conquering Force that will change your life.  forever.  Learn how to harness this power now by taking advantage of the over $400 savings on the Conquering Force Audio/Book Package.

Dave is one of many, many people who made their upline rich as they struggled to make the promises of an

Financial Freedom: Is Multi-Level Marketing A Trap Or An Opportunity?

MLM come true.  It is possible for people to make money, but many don’t.  If you’re considering signing on, keep these things in mind:

• If you don’t believe in what you’re selling, or your Core Desires didn’t lead you here, you won’t succeed. Direct Sales is an excellent vehicle for attaining financial freedom, but it’s not a free lunch.
• 95-98% of multi-level marketing companies fail within 24 months. If you remember our discussion of start-up businesses, then you know that this is significantly higher than the average. You have to be very careful to associate yourself with a thriving, established firm.
• If you want to succeed, you’ll have to be consistent, persistent, and completely dedicated to recruiting others into your organization.
• Like any other worthwhile investment, direct sales is time consuming. Whether you work at another job or not, plan on committing a minimum of 15 hours per week to your new organization.

Multi-level marketing has a stigma, in large part because so many people sign on but fail to achieve their goals.  You may know someone who did just that.  You may have yourself.  There is tremendous potential for wealth in direct sales, but you have to do your research, have a realistic expectation of what is required, and the willingness to commit yourself fully.

As you make your investment decisions, I’d like to help you sort through all of the information.  Success in 5 Minutes a Day will lead you to the wealth that you’ve never thought possible.  Join the affordable program Success in 5 Minutes a Day and learn how you can put leveraging to use.

• You don’t need any particular experience, expertise, or degree to get started. All you need is the CoreDesire to make it
  

  Financial Freedom: How Can You Make Money If You Don't Have a Lot of Money To Begin With?

  happen.

• The best companies have extraordinary training systems in place. If you are determined to succeed, they will give you all of the information, skills and tips that will get you there.
• Your initial financial investment is relatively low – usually under $500.
• By contrast, the potential for building wealth is huge. In a reputable company with a good compensation program, you can definitely achieve financial freedom.
• You have the opportunity to build an organization, made up of people who are building an organization.

Selling is not for everyone, and this may not be the investment vehicle for you.  Read on, because in my next blog I will discuss the drawbacks of direct selling.  If you are considering direct selling, be sure to research your company carefully and find a product or service you genuinely believe in.

As you make your investment decisions, I’d like to help you sort through all of the information.  Success in 5 Minutes a Day will lead you to the wealth that you’ve never thought possible.  Join the affordable program Success in 5 Minutes a Day and learn how you can put leveraging to use.

Paul Elliott of The Motley Fool (www.fool.com) wrote in 2006:

If you had invested $2,000 in Pepsi in 1980 – and not another dime after – and reinvested dividends, you’d now have 2,800 shares worth more than $150,000.

If you’d invested $2,000 in Philip Morris in 1980, reinvesting dividends, you’d have more than 4,300 shares worth just under $300,000.

If you’d invested $2,000 in Johnson & Johnson in 1980, reinvesting dividends, you’d now have over 2,000 shares worth close to $140,000.

Financial Freedom: Can Playing the Stock Market Make You Rich?

So can playing the stock market make you rich?  Here are some of the major plusses of playing the market:

• If you time things perfectly (buy low, sell high!) and bet on a winner, you can make money.
• Historically, the stock market overall brings a return of 8% per year, which is higher than many other investments.
• The mainstream stockbrokers are required to document their work, so they are fairly transparent. This provides you with some protection against having someone abscond with your money.
• In the “Cash flow is queen” department, some stocks provide dividends, so if you have holdings, you may have some regular liquid return.

The stock market is a good illustration of how “it takes money to make money.”  There are many ways to buy into the market with comparatively small amounts of money – mutual funds, for example – but you will also bring in a comparatively small return.  If you go into the market with a great deal of money, you can diversify it well enough to ensure you’ll see that 8% annual return, and you should make a great deal more money.  If not, the stock market may not be the investment vehicle that will take you to financial freedom.  Stay tune for my next blog, where I’ll discuss some of the disadvantages of the stock market.

As you make your investment decisions, I’d like to help you sort through all of the information.  Success in 5 Minutes a Day will lead you to the wealth that you’ve never thought possible.  Join the affordable program Success in 5 Minutes a Day and learn how you can put leveraging to use.

“I thought I’d be my own boss,” wrote Mike.  “They made a big deal about how I was going to control my own destiny.  Then I found out the truth.  I have to buy my supplies through their vendors, so I can’t shop around for the best price.  I have to pay their commission on my gross earnings – so they get paid before Uncle Sam.  It turned out that basically, I work for them as a manager.  Except when I was a manager in a corporation, I wasn’t the one carrying all the financial risk.”

Financial Freedom: Will I Regret Buying Into a Franchise?

Mike had mortgaged his house – put his family’s financial well-being at risk – to buy into the franchise.  Unlike some franchisees, he was able to get out of the business without a substantial loss, but Mike said that even if he’d made money, it wouldn’t have been worth the stress.

If you’re thinking of buying into a franchise, do your research carefully, and know the downside:

• Franchises are expensive. Buying into a franchise may cost you anywhere between $30,000 to $120,000. And what do you get for that money? The right to be a part of the franchise. You still have to acquire the facility, goods and people that you would have to get if you opened on your own.
• In addition to the buy-in cost, the franchise will take 10-15% of your monthly gross revenue.
• You don’t have the autonomy you’d have if you started your own business from scratch. The franchise gets to set policies and procedures, and if you don’t follow them, they can sever their relationship with you.
• Expect to put in the same long hours dealing with employees, management and overhead issues that you would with your own start up.
• As with your own start-up business, you, the owner, are the last one to get a paycheck. You have to pay the bills and your employees first.

Is financial freedom worth the cost and loss of independence that comes with buying a franchise?  It is for some people, and it may be right for you.  But read on as I continue my series on investment options, so you can make an educated decision.

As you make your investment decisions, I’d like to help you sort through all of the information.  Success in 5 Minutes a Day will lead you to the wealth that you’ve never thought possible.  Join the affordable program Success in 5 Minutes a Day and learn how you can put leveraging to use.

Financial Freedom: Could Opening a Franchise Be Your Path To Abundance and Prosperity?

“The nice thing was that I had a built-in mentor,” she said.  “When I got scared or I didn’t know what to do next, I had somewhere to turn.”

Robin found that franchises offer some distinct advantages as an investment option.

• Unlike other start-up businesses, which have a failure rate of 80% in 2 years, franchises have a 95% success rate. They have a proven track record, and are specific about how their business should be conducted.
• Also unlike other start-up businesses, once a franchise is open and advertised properly, the cash flow usually begins pretty quickly.
• The average franchise owner makes $40,000 – 120,000 per year.
• If you buy multiple franchises and hire good managers, you can establish multiple streams of income.

Like Robin, If you buy a franchise, you can avoid the learning curve and begin making income almost immediately.  But there are some significant costs and disadvantages to franchise ownership, as you will see in the next blog.

As you make your investment decisions, I’d like to help you sort through all of the information.  Success in 5 Minutes a Day will lead you to the wealth that you’ve never thought possible.  Join the affordable program Success in 5 Minutes a Day and learn how you can put leveraging to use.

Holly and Jacob Weinstein started a computer sales and service company in February 2007.  Jacob cashed out his 401(k) from work (taking the penalty) and used the money to set up shop in a little store front on a busy boulevard.  “It’s a perfect set up,” Jacob said.  “Holly can watch the store while I’m out doing on-site service and sales, and then when the kids get home from school, I’ll take over the store.”

Financial Freedom: Can Starting Your Own Business Ruin You?

They both worked very hard, and soon they had a small customer base of repeat business.  Unfortunately, overhead was higher than they’d expected.  The service side of their business did very well, but sales didn’t – they couldn’t compete with the prices and features offered by the larger chains.  Their seed money ran out mid-summer.  They borrowed from Holly’s father and ran a big advertising campaign for the holidays, but by January, they closed the doors for the last time.  Jacob went back to work at a large corporation, and Holly took a part time job in a retail store.

If you’re considering starting a business of your own, you need to be very mindful of these things:

• You need to be prepared to “feed” it for 3-5 years. Realistically, you won’t be able to draw out profits and sometimes even a paycheck until your business is well established.
• You’re the last to get paid. You have to pay the bills, and you have to pay your people. So you’re the last one in line when it’s payday, and you have to hope the money holds out until your turn.
• Although you may have more control in terms of scheduling, expect to put in very long days. New businesses tend to be very demanding and labor-intensive.
• Unless you can afford to pay the experts, you will be doing all of your own marketing. And your success will depend on you being good at it.
• Costs for employees and overhead are higher than you may realize or expect.
• 80% of all businesses fail within the first 2 years. Yes. 80%.

Are you one of the lucky/skilled/determined 20%?  Will you be able to keep your doors open?  I’m not suggesting that no one should start new businesses.  Those twenty percent that do survive are immeasurably beneficial to the economy of our nation.  As with real estate, if you are the right person doing the right thing at the right time, you could find financial freedom very quickly.

As you make your investment decisions, I’d like to help you sort through all of the information.  Success in 5 Minutes a Day will lead you to the wealth that you’ve never thought possible.  Join the affordable program Success in 5 Minutes a Day and learn how you can put leveraging to use.