Hello! David J here again bringing you more of the steps on my journey toward financial independence.
As I write this post today - Feb 11, 2010, I'm listening to Jim Fleck's webinar for his mentoring program.
As he was speaking, the thought flashed through my mind, "What Is Financial Independence?"
What does "Financial Independence" mean?
Well, it might mean different things to different people.
To some, Financial Independence might mean having all the money you'll ever need.
That might be someone who won a multi-state lottery of several hundred million dollars, netting them, say, $100+ Million after taxes. How often does that happen?
It might be someone who inherited a huge fortune like the "poor little rich girls", the Hilton sisters. How often does THAT happen?
It might be someone who develops a product that turns out to take over the consumer market. How often does THAT happen?
To others, Financial Independence might mean having the knowledge and systems in place to generate your own income and not be dependent on an employer, perhaps even being an employer.
When I say "Financial Independence", that's what I mean by it: being able to create one's own income without depending on someone else's company or someone else as your employer.
As I'm reading "The Four Hour Work Week" by Tim Ferris, I'm finding an amazing explanation of the difference between working people who don't want to be working people and financially independent people who already appear to have what the working people want.
I see myself as being in the transition from being a working person to a financially independent person. So, I reflect some of the working person's paradigms, and I already understand some of the financially independent person's paradigms.
For example, working people who want for more may say that they would like to be their own boss. The financially independent person, on the other hand, will say that they prefer to employ others as part of their team.
Yes, I want to have control of my own work time.
However, I also have a coach, and will probably seek out more coaches to help me reach my ultimate financial destinations. At times, the coach is the boss because they are directing me where I need direction. I know I need direction in many areas so I seek out coaches to help direct me and help me find what I need to learn and ways to learn it.
At the same time, there are those I will need to do things for me and who I will pay to do what they do. The team will include, among others, real estate sales agents, appraisers, contractors and handymen, title companies, and more.
In short, I just wanted to clarify what I'm talking about in this blog. When I say "Financial Independence", I mean the ability to provide my own income and lead my team to achieve my financial and personal goals.
Clarity, focus and being specific are always important. For example, a goal of "having more money" is too ambiguous. You need to specify a target amount and a time frame. For example, to have $10,000 within 90 days is a specific target and one can hit that easily.
Define your goals clearly and define your targets specifically. In order to reach the target, we need to see it clearly.
I hope this helps you in your goal setting and in preparing you to join me on the road ahead.
We'll talk again soon!
Take care - be well!
Much Success!
Monday, February 15, 2010
Wednesday, February 03, 2010
Too Good To be True?
Hello! David J here again bringing you more of the steps on my journey toward financial independence.
Just got an e-mail from my coach which turned a light on in my head.
He mentioned "dream-stealers", including our own internal skeptic. You know - that voice inside which tries to remind us, "If it seems to good to be true, it probably is".
Well, I can't do much about the people around you who try to tell you, "That won't work!", and "You can't do that!" or "That's unethical or illegal!". Unless these people are significantly better off than you are - unless they are financially independent - they probably don't know what they're talking about. They just want to steal your dream so you don't look better than they are. It's their way of asserting "power" over you by trying to dissuade you from something potentially lucrative, but which they may view as a scam or something underhanded, exploitive or otherwise dishonorable, or they are just plain jealous.
THERE IS NOTHING UNDERHANDED, EXPLOITIVE OR DISHONORABLE ABOUT ACHIEVING FINANCIAL INDEPENDENCE!
As for your own internal skeptic, let me make this crystal clear: There is NOTHING "too good to be true" about achieving financial independence.
Achieving financial independence takes:
- guts: courage and a staunch, unshakable commitment
- a willingness to do what others won't
- a willingness to hang tough in the face of obstacles and adversity
Whatever strategies you choose to employ in your own personal journey, remember that there are no "plug and play" systems out there for acquiring income. If anything, they'll be "plug and pray". Any one who offers you a guarantee of any kind should be considered suspect. Even the FTC is getting into the act requiring that the various gurus who present their material on the web provide disclaimers that the results they are touting are exceptional and not necessarily typical. As they say, "your mileage may vary".
Expect to learn pieces of strategy that others have used to achieve their own financial goals. It will be up to you to assemble your own strategies based on the results and examples of others.
This is why individual results can vary so greatly. Here's an example:
If you've never seen the movie, "The Karate Kid" with Ralph Macchio and Noriyuki "Pat" Morita, find it on your favorite rental source and give it a look. Part of the story includes a Japanese (Taiwanese, actually) American who is an expert in "Kara Te", as he pronounces it. He is asked by a high school student to teach him self-defense. So, he instructs the student to do as he says without question, and arrive at his home early the next morning. Then, and on subsequent mornings, he gives the student a series of tasks to perform: one day waxing some old cars, the next day sanding the floor of the wooden walk in his yard, the next day painting the fence and the next day painting the house. After painting the house, the student is still there when the master returns from a fishing trip. The student asks when he will start learning to defend himself and becomes impatient with the master's answer, where upon the master explains that the student HAS been learning, and then offers quite a surprising demonstration of what the student has learned.
When it comes to achieving financial independence, some folks have a better than average knack for seeing how the various strategy pieces fit together and work to develop a synergy which produces a desirable result. It comes naturally to them. So, they take for granted their own abilities and the results they achieve believing that it is reasonably expectable that everyone can do what they have done.
Others - like me - need a bit more help seeing how the various pieces fit together and what nuances are unique to the individuals employing those pieces and strategies. For the rest of us, it doesn't come naturally - we need to learn it. We need a master who can break it all down into pieces, even if it's not immediately obvious just what each piece is, and how it all fits together.
That poses a challenge to the gurus. It is a rare talent to be able to break a strategy down into small, easily understood pieces. Not all - in fact, quite few - of the "gurus" can do it. They don't teach us "wax on - right hand, wax off - left hand", "sand the floor, big circles", "paint the fence, up - down", "paint the house, side - side", because they don't know that they should or why they should. They only know what worked for them, and that it worked for them.
That is to say, they can see the forest, and can tell us how to find the forest but have less awareness of the trees and how to deal with them.
Truly being able to teach successful strategies to others takes being able to understand both the forest AND the trees.
How successful I will be in passing my knowledge on to others remains to be seen. I hope you'll leave comments for me and tell me how I'm doing.
We'll talk again soon!
Take care - be well!
Much success!
Just got an e-mail from my coach which turned a light on in my head.
He mentioned "dream-stealers", including our own internal skeptic. You know - that voice inside which tries to remind us, "If it seems to good to be true, it probably is".
Well, I can't do much about the people around you who try to tell you, "That won't work!", and "You can't do that!" or "That's unethical or illegal!". Unless these people are significantly better off than you are - unless they are financially independent - they probably don't know what they're talking about. They just want to steal your dream so you don't look better than they are. It's their way of asserting "power" over you by trying to dissuade you from something potentially lucrative, but which they may view as a scam or something underhanded, exploitive or otherwise dishonorable, or they are just plain jealous.
THERE IS NOTHING UNDERHANDED, EXPLOITIVE OR DISHONORABLE ABOUT ACHIEVING FINANCIAL INDEPENDENCE!
As for your own internal skeptic, let me make this crystal clear: There is NOTHING "too good to be true" about achieving financial independence.
Achieving financial independence takes:
- guts: courage and a staunch, unshakable commitment
- a willingness to do what others won't
- a willingness to hang tough in the face of obstacles and adversity
Whatever strategies you choose to employ in your own personal journey, remember that there are no "plug and play" systems out there for acquiring income. If anything, they'll be "plug and pray". Any one who offers you a guarantee of any kind should be considered suspect. Even the FTC is getting into the act requiring that the various gurus who present their material on the web provide disclaimers that the results they are touting are exceptional and not necessarily typical. As they say, "your mileage may vary".
Expect to learn pieces of strategy that others have used to achieve their own financial goals. It will be up to you to assemble your own strategies based on the results and examples of others.
This is why individual results can vary so greatly. Here's an example:
If you've never seen the movie, "The Karate Kid" with Ralph Macchio and Noriyuki "Pat" Morita, find it on your favorite rental source and give it a look. Part of the story includes a Japanese (Taiwanese, actually) American who is an expert in "Kara Te", as he pronounces it. He is asked by a high school student to teach him self-defense. So, he instructs the student to do as he says without question, and arrive at his home early the next morning. Then, and on subsequent mornings, he gives the student a series of tasks to perform: one day waxing some old cars, the next day sanding the floor of the wooden walk in his yard, the next day painting the fence and the next day painting the house. After painting the house, the student is still there when the master returns from a fishing trip. The student asks when he will start learning to defend himself and becomes impatient with the master's answer, where upon the master explains that the student HAS been learning, and then offers quite a surprising demonstration of what the student has learned.
When it comes to achieving financial independence, some folks have a better than average knack for seeing how the various strategy pieces fit together and work to develop a synergy which produces a desirable result. It comes naturally to them. So, they take for granted their own abilities and the results they achieve believing that it is reasonably expectable that everyone can do what they have done.
Others - like me - need a bit more help seeing how the various pieces fit together and what nuances are unique to the individuals employing those pieces and strategies. For the rest of us, it doesn't come naturally - we need to learn it. We need a master who can break it all down into pieces, even if it's not immediately obvious just what each piece is, and how it all fits together.
That poses a challenge to the gurus. It is a rare talent to be able to break a strategy down into small, easily understood pieces. Not all - in fact, quite few - of the "gurus" can do it. They don't teach us "wax on - right hand, wax off - left hand", "sand the floor, big circles", "paint the fence, up - down", "paint the house, side - side", because they don't know that they should or why they should. They only know what worked for them, and that it worked for them.
That is to say, they can see the forest, and can tell us how to find the forest but have less awareness of the trees and how to deal with them.
Truly being able to teach successful strategies to others takes being able to understand both the forest AND the trees.
How successful I will be in passing my knowledge on to others remains to be seen. I hope you'll leave comments for me and tell me how I'm doing.
We'll talk again soon!
Take care - be well!
Much success!
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