I ran the Disneyland 1/2 Marathon Today in Anaheim California. While I was running I saw a sign on a local business that said “You Can Get All A’s And Still Flunk Life.” So I decided to take a picture with my Iphone and Write a blog post about my thoughts on this sign.

While I was thinking more about it, I was thinking about our school systems and how they educate us to get good grades so that you can go to a good college to get a high paying secure job. However, they don’t educate us on the concept of Money and how to have a successful career or business.

Of course some people go to school, get straight A’s in advanced courses like Calculus and Physics, but can’t balance a checkbook or have success in their career or in business later in their life. That is why many people are struggling with their finances. The average credit card debt is around $10,000. Many people see their home as an investment when it is actually a liability. Only a small percentage of people will have enough money to retire at age 65.

We could blame our school systems for this or take upon it ourselves to learn How to Manage money and become successful business owners. A great book that you can start with is Robert Kiyosaki’s Rich Dad Poor Dad.

In Rich Dad Poor Dad, Robert Kiyosaki had two fathers. A Rich One and a Poor One. The poor one was highly educated and intelligent. He had a Ph.D. and completed four years of undergraduate work in less than two years. The Rich father never completed the 8th grade.

One Believed in a company and government taking care you you and your needs. The other believed in total self reliance. One Dad Struggled to save a few dollars. The other simply created investments.

Throughout the book, Kiysaki will teach you the following:

-Why You Shouldn’t Work for Money, but have money work for you

-Why Financial Literacy should be taught and why you should learn it

-Why the Rich Pay Less in Taxes

-Why You should not work for money, but work to learn

You can get Rich Dad Poor Dad at your local Bookstore or at Amazon.com. It will be one of the best investments you will make for your financial education that will help you to have success in life.

To Your Success,

10 Reasons a Homebased Business May Beat Having a Job

My Business Partner, Ray Higdon Recently Did a Blog Post about “10 reasons why a Homebased Business May Beat Having a Job.” I liked the post so much that I have decided to re post it to my blog.

A friend and associate of mine, Patrick Snow, wrote a book called “Creating Your Own Destiny”. It is a great book that I highly recommend. In the book, Patrick made a list that he called “The Top 10 Reasons Why Your Job Sucks”. I wanted to take time to go through that list and then talk about how a homebased business may beat having a job.

Should Everyone Have a Homebased Business?

I thought I should answer that question. As much as I would like to say yes to that answer, the reality is, having a homebased business is NOT for everyone. If I could sum up one trait that is critical for someone to have success with a homebased business, it would be the desire of something more. That could mean more time freedom, money, adventure, fun, but more. There are lots of people that have fallen into the mass mediocrity of not wanting more and simply accept that their life is what they are going to get. To successfully work from home, Belief in yourself is absolutely critical. That is a BIG difference between working a job where so long as you can do what you are told, you can have some level of success. So, without further adieu, on to the list!

10. Not Enough Vacation Time

Do you really think your life is meant to be structured to only have one to two vacation weeks a year? Have you ever had to miss an important event due to “not having enough vacation time”?

9. No Tax Deductions As An Employee

When you work for someone else, you get virtually no tax benefits. In a book called “Lower Your Taxes” by Sandy Botkin, a former attorney and trainer for the IRS, he makes some powerful statements. In the first sentence and first chapter of the book he suggests you own a homebased business to enjoy the best tax benefits this country has to offer.

8. Unpaid Overtime And Working on Weekends

This is especially true in this economy. Guess what? When the unemployment rate is as high as it is, bosses and owners know that they can expect more out of you without paying you for it. They know there are plenty of people out there that would LOVE to have your job so the majority of bosses out there are asking employees to work longer and harder hours for the same or less pay.

7. Business Travel Away From Your Family

I have never had a job that didn’t ask me to do some traveling. However, I have never had a job consider my significant other and kids. However, compare that with my homebased business that I have won 6 vacations from in the last year, and, every single vacation, they paid for my significant other.

6. Your Daily Commute

You know what the best thing about an alarm clock is? Not having one. I remember getting up, getting ready and jumping in my monkey suit to drive to someone else’s building to work for someone else’s dream, now, my commute is from my bedroom to my kitchen where I usually have my laptop.

5. No Respect and No Job Security

Security is an interesting thing. Some believe that having a homebased business is too risky. By the age of 25 I had worked my way up corporate America as a project manager and then a database administrator. I saw people getting laid off and losing their job, to me, putting my future 100% in the hands of someone else was too risky. I have never had an actual terrible boss but I do remember defining moments in my corporate career where it was made apparent to me that my opinion really did not matter at all. Most people simply want more respect in life, that is something you don’t typically find working for someone else.

4. Too Little Pay and No Ownership

Most people focus on pay. That is not always the best thing to look at but in this economy, people are getting paid less and less to do what they used to do and, like point 8, they are getting asked to do more than ever. The BIGGER point is no ownership. Why would someone work their whole life on something they will never own. When you work a homebased business, not only are you paid in a more tax friendly way, you also have been building an asset that you own. You never see someone work their way up to a vice president level and then sell their position to their brother…that’s because they don’t own anything to sell.

3. Worrying About Being Laid Off

Here’s the reality, 20 of America’s largest corporations have shut down in the last 18 months. I recall one of the first to go was Bear-Stearns. Bear-Stearns was the 4th largest bank in the world, had survived 2 World Wars and the Depression and in the blink of an eye, one Monday Morning, 14,000 unsuspecting employees lost their jobs. Do you know who also lost their job that day? The Employee of the month. It is not always just the crappy employees that lose their jobs.

2. You work With a Bunch of Stiffs

This one doesn’t really apply to me as I have always worked with people that were fun to work with, however, I know a lot of people can resonate with this. However, owning a homebased business means having the power to pick and choose who you work with. In fact, just this morning I told someone that I didn’t think we could work together. Some confuse working a homebased business with trying to work with anybody and everybody and I simply disagree.

1. Your Boss is an “Idiot”

When I worked for other people, I certainly had my share of interesting bosses. One boss I thanked profusely for learning so much from them, I didn’t include the fact that they taught me about everything NOT to do, just simply thanked them for teaching me so much. Here is a quote from Plato that I think sums this up:

“One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors.” – Plato

I think this pertains to your business life as well. Refusing to own your own business can doom you to be managed by those that are inferior.

If you enjoy this post, please quickly do me a favor and share with others and comment below.

To Your Abundance!

I was listening to the MLSP Wake-up Call the other day. Tracy Walker, a top leader in MLSP was discussing the concept of residual income and comparing it to bank interest. She also threw out some statistics that the average household makes $50,000/year and works 2 and ½ jobs. The average household credit card debt is $10,000.

75 and Working at Wal Mart?

She then went on to talk about her visit to her local Wall Mart where she saw an elderly woman who was between 75-80, sweeping the floor and checking receipts of customers. The Elderly woman was probably working at Wall Mart since she could not afford to retire. I don’t think she was planning to work there 30 to 40 years ago. But things have changed since then.

Jobs Are No Longer Secure

No longer do people work at the same place for 40 years and get a pension and a gold watch when they retire. Most people usually don’t spend more than 2 to 5 years at the same company. They either work there for a couple of years and move on to another company for a promotion or are replaced by someone who is making less money.

Residual Income Vs Bank Interest

Tracy then went on to talk about the concept of residual income and compared it to bank interest. In Network Marketing, you earn a residual income by investing money into a business and learning the necessary skills for enrolling people into your business.

Each month you will pay a monthly fee called an autoship. Sometimes the autoship will be around $100 to $250 per month. I know a lot of people grumble about paying a monthly autoship. But if they learn the skills necessary to retail and recruit people into their business and take action, they can actually break even and make a profit in a matter of weeks or months.

The Power of Residual Income

Here is where I compare residual income and bank interest. Lets say you are in company XYZ paying $250/month on autoship and making $100 in profit (You make enough money to pay for your autoship plus $100 more) every month for 12 months. You are actually making an annual profit of $1,200 your first year in business investing $3,000 over the course of 12 months. That is a 40% return on your investment.

If you wanted to make the same amount of money by sticking your money in 5% savings account, you would have to keep a balance of $24,000 in your savings account all year long. So what do you think is easier sticking $24,000 in a bank that you probably don’t have or getting into Network Marketing, learning the skills and making $100 a month? Obviously it is easier to invest $250 a month, learn the skills and make $100 a month instead of sticking $24,000 in a bank for a whole year to earn the same amount.

The Second Year

Let’s assume that the power of duplication doubles your profit a month to $200 in year two. That is $2,400 in profit which is an 80% return on your investment. Your still only paying $250 a month. To earn that in a bank account with a 5% interest rate will require you to keep $48,000 in your bank account all year long. Many of you probably don’t have that kind of money to stick in a bank.

So What’s the Point

What I am trying to do is educate people whether or not you are a network marketer to understand the power of the residual income in network marketing. Notice that I did not talk about making $5,000 to $10,000 a month. Many people think that they are failing if they don’t make that kind of money. But that is not true. As long as you are making a profit, you are doing better than most people.

Making $1,200 in profit a year off a $3,000 investment is pretty darn good. That beats putting $24,000 in a bank account earning 5% interest. Today you probably have to put $120,000 in a bank account to make $2,400 since most of them only pay a 1% interest rate.

If that 75 Year old Lady would have learned those skills 30 to 40 years ago, she would be sitting pretty spending her golden years on the beaches of the world instead of sweeping floors at a Wal-Mart. JUST THINK ABOUT THAT!

Don’t End Up Like That Poor Old Lady Working at Walmart! Learn How to Make a Residual Income in Network Marketing Today!

Can’t Find A Job?

Have you been laid off from a job and not having any luck in the job hunt? Have you graduated from college and discovered that there are no jobs on the market?  Like many people, you have probably been looking around trying to find a job in this tough economy but have had no success. You have probably been doing this for weeks, months or even years.

What Should You Do?

So what should you do? Should you hope that unemployment doesn’t run out before landing a job? Or Should you look for alternative ways of making money? If I were you I would consider starting a Network Marketing Home Business. Network marketing is a business model where you get paid by recruiting people into your business or get paid by retailing the product. It’s a great business model because you get paid on the efforts of your team instead of your efforts alone. You can even get paid while on vacation.

Starting a network marketing business is typically very low and affordable (Under $500) compared to other businesses. I do recommend finding someone who is on a team of leaders who will help you learn how to market the business. You can market your business both online and offline.

Offline Marketing-The Old School Method

With offline marketing you start out by making a list of your warm market, which are people you know.  You then peak their interest. If they are interested, you will present them with information about the company, which is usually through a conference call, audio CD, or web presentation. The next step is to sign them up, make a commission and help them do the same.

You will eventually blow through your warm market and then have to move onto your cold market. This includes buying and cold calling leads and belly to belly. Buying and cold calling leads takes lots of practice and patience.   You are going to spend a lot of time on the phone, talk to a lot of people and spend a lot of money. Most people have little to no success using this method.

Online Marketing-Attraction Marketing

If you don’t feel like the old school offline marketing methods are for you, consider growing your business using the internet. Using the internet to market your business isn’t that complicated. You just have to plug into an attraction marketing system. Attraction Marketing is about branding yourself as a leader and expert and generating targeted leads. People who are interested in working with you.

You will learn how to do this through a marketing system as well as make money from prospecting. This is the nice thing about marketing your business using the internet. With the old school methods, you only make money with your primary business when signing only 5% of your prospects up.

What To Do Now?

Stop searching Monster.com or any other job search engine for jobs that don’t exist. Start learning how to make an income working from home using the power of the internet. All you need to do is plug into a marketing system and start growing your business today.  You could spend your time growing a business that will keep on paying you even if you don’t work. On the other hand, you could spend your time looking for a Job that you will probably end up losing again. Which would you prefer?

Learn How to Have Success In a Network Marketing Home Business Today

I recently watched Conquer the Internet DVD and would like to write a review about it. Conquer the internet is about people like you and I who are making a full-time income from home using the power of the internet. All of those people come from all walks of life including college drop outs, MBAs, business and real estate professionals, etc. All of those people have the determination to make a difference in their financial situation and have taken the steps to make the changes necessary to have success making money on the internet from the comfort of their own home.

Financial reasons are not the only reasons why people decide to work online from home. Some of the other reasons why people from home include time freedom. Working from home gives you the freedom to spend more time with your family, go on vacation when you want to and work when you want to. You might think that working from home on the internet will give you those freedoms immediately. However, most people never make enough money to walk away from their day job. This is because they do not have the skills they need to conquer the internet and make money online.

Conquer the Internet DVD goes over some of the main strategies you can use to make money on the internet. The first strategy is to create your own product and sell it. This strategy is not the best strategy for someone who is new to making money online. This strategy usually requires a lot of up front capital and months of research and development.

The second strategy is to sell products on sites such as Ebay. Not many people make money with this strategy since it requires you to buy a product and then try to make money selling it. Most of those sites like Ebay charge money to sell your products and end up eating away your income. There are very few people who make a full-time income on Ebay.

The third strategy is Affiliate Marketing which is a great way to make money online if you don’t have a lot of money to spend. Most of the affiliate programs such as Aweber and Host Gator are free to join. You get paid when someone clicks on your affiliate link and then buys the product. The best way for you to have success with affiliate marketing is to set up your own website, generate traffic and build a list of visitors that visit your website.

The final online strategy is Network Marketing. Network marketing is not about chasing friends and family and having hotel meetings. It is about building an organization and making a monthly residual income from the people you recruit. You also make an income from the efforts of the people you recruit as well. You can have an organization of 1000+ distributors and you can make money even if you don’t put time into it. But getting to that point can take months work. It requires time and personal effort.

The DVD goes over 10 elements that you need to have success making money online from home. I will talk about those elements in a later blog post. In the mean time, you can learn how to Conquer the Internet by visiting Conquer the Internet today.