Jay Abraham, the multi-millionaire master marketing guru, whom I first met in the early nineties, certainly understands abundance. He says,

“You are surrounded by simple, obvious solutions that can dramatically increase your income, power, influence, and success. The problem is you just don’t see them.”

Now Jay isn’t talking about viewing The Secret or chanting positive affirmations. He is a very practical, rational, bottom-line entrepreneur.

What He Means

Imagine an architect who meets with a builder/developer and a town planner. The developer wants to build a magnificent building. He says, “I have this feeling that I should build something – not sure exactly what it should look like, or what it would cost, or where I would find the money, but what do you think?”

To which the town planner replies, “Well, I guess we could find some space somewhere,  after all, it sounds like a noble cause – we’ll come up with a space, I’m sure…”

…and the architect pipes up, “Well, I don’t want to be too rigid, and the front of the building could look more or less like this, but I have a feeling it will just come together – I’ll check with my psychic…”

…Ridiculous, right?

Do You Have an Irrational Approach?

That’s how most people try to build wealth.

• They rely on the wrong people giving them spurious advice.
• They rely on “gut feel.”
• They have no discipline.
• They spend more time planning a party than their old age, and they live in the moment like animals.
• But the worst aspect of this lack of planning or thought is the real underlying motive –refusal to take responsibility or to be held accountable.

That’s why the masses follow the mystics and witchdoctors of our time, why they live vicariously through sports teams and film stars, why they join cults, and why they become “course junkies”, waddling from seminar to seminar and never applying anything they learn. Cults are great for people who don’t want to have to think or make choices. It’s easier to be a sports fan on your couch, clutching a slice of pizza in your chubby paw, than to actually go and play the game.

If You’re Serious about Wealth Building

If we seriously want to build real wealth, we can’t hide behind silly excuses like “fate”, “destiny”, feelings, gods, demons, angels, spirits, and chance; we need to be very specific and logical.

“Feelings come and feelings go, but feelings are deceiving; I build my life on rational choices – naught else is worth believing.”

The architect builds for the future – the archeologist (like an accountant) looks at the past. Winners look to the future and leverage their past experiences, good as well as bad, while losers blame their past for their slothfulness and use the past as an excuse. Like blaming your failure on slavery that happened hundreds of years ago.

Engineer Your Future

Architects, builders, and town planners are very specific, logical, and realistic about what they do. Engineers building a bridge don’t make decisions based on hope, feelings, fortune tellers, psychics, or mystical expectations. When you want to build a bridge from where to are to where you want to be, you had better understand that bridges can collapse if they are not built properly. There is time, cost, responsibility, and accountability  involved. Without work, persistence and perseverance, no building can be built, and nothing of any real value accomplished.

Your Philosophy is Your Foundation

The foundation on which you plan your future is your philosophy. If your wealth philosophy is wrong, you will end up like most other people – poor, frustrated, resentful, jealous, and bitter.

Rika and I rented a boat last week and spent three hours boating in Howe Sound. It was a wonderful experience. The boat was well prepared, maintained, and full of gas. We had life jackets, a whistle, food, water, a map, hats, sunscreen, and a cell phone with us. We took advice from the people who rented us the boat. We were well prepared for the trip, we knew where we wanted to go, and what we wanted to do, we paid for the boat hire and insurance, and it worked out great. We didn’t wander down to the water and try to cut down a tree with a penknife to build a raft to go boating. Success is not random or ethereal.

If you would like to build wealth, travel to your Treasure Island, and be assured that your philosophy will enable you to accomplish that, DollarMakers is here for you.

“No passion so effectually robs the mind of all its powers of acting and reasoning as fear.” ~ Edmund Burke (1729 – 1797)

One thing that stops most people from achieving their goals is the fear of failure, embarrassment, loss, or anything that they currently have and don’t want to lose.

This fear will prevent them from moving forward – the perceived threat and pain – until the pain of their present condition or their approaching condition exceeds the potential danger that they fear.

By examining the things you fear, you might get perspective and change your mind about whether or not that fear has the power you currently bestow upon it.

• What do you fear?
• How can you diminish that fear?

Fear Failure?  Try This.

For example, if you fear failure, think about this: If there was nobody else in the world but you, no other people – would you fear failure? No, you wouldn’t. Because you don’t fear failure per se – you fear the opinions and ridicule of other people.

And anybody who likes you and cares about you would not ridicule you if you failed – they would help an support you, so why worry about the opinions of people who don’t like you or care about you?

Fear Loss?  Try This.

If you fear loss:

• What do you have to lose?
• What is the risk factor?
• Specifically, what would happen if you incurred that loss?
• Could you cope with that loss?
• Is the reward of facing your fear worth the risk?

Think objectively, not emotionally. Write down the pros and cons. Be rational.

1. How can you reduce or prevent the risk?
2. How can you change the situation, protect your assets, or shift the risk?

Fear is usually illogical and based on our conditioning and self-esteem, instead of hard facts. We assume a whole lot of things that are generally not true.

How a Professional Evaluates Risk

Imagine an engineer, and architect, or a scientist evaluating a risk. Would they cry, wring their hands, get angry, shout, hide, or rant? Probably not – they would get out their calculators and have meetings with other analytical people, draw diagrams, make plans, discuss the situation, and find a solution.

The architect doesn’t start whining, “But what if the bridge falls down? What if the floor collapses? I’ll be so embarrassed!” Analyze your fear, get the input of experts, talk with people who have been that route before and succeeded, and then make a logical, adult decision.

The “What if?” Game

Play the “What if?” game. It works well if you write things down.

• What if that person dies?
• What if this project fails?
• Exactly what would I do?
• What steps would I take?
• What would happen?
• Whose advice I need?
• What would I do?
• What could I do?
• Why would I make that choice?
• What would my alternatives be?
• Exactly what would this cost?
• How do I arrive at that number?

When you view life like a monopoly game or a chess game, you can override your conditioning, bias, self-talk, beliefs, and fears.

When you align yourself with successful, mature people who have experience in the field, it gets even better, hence the Mastermind effect of the DollarMakers Joint Venture Club and the DollarMakers Women’s Club – create a support system that will help you avoid the pitfalls of emotionalism, mysticism, and negative conditioning. Together, we can do amazing things.

Most Fears Never Even Happen!

The things you fear are not always all they’re cracked up to be. Several recent studies indicate that over 85% of all that we worry about never happens. Our minds tend to make mountains out of molehills.

Fear is not bad – it’s a warning light that we should consider, and when the warning light goes on in your car you don’t start crying, get paralyzed with fear, or sell your car; you take it to the shop and get an expert mechanic to check it out, or you take the time to read the manual.

• Sometimes,  an inexpensive item or a small adjustment is all that is required.
• Sometimes, it’s more expensive, but less expensive than a seized engine.

Consider the situation calmly and you will find that all you have to fear, as a smart man once said, is fear itself.

In today’s world, it is more important than ever to determine who is behind the book you’re reading, the course you’re attending, the event you sign up for.

When people can steal any information off the Internet,

• copy anyone else,
• plagiarize the writing of others,
• and buy impressive websites and claim titles,

…you’ll often find yourself dealing with someone who is not capable of supporting you or steering you in the right direction.

Who stands behind the screen?

I have just spent some time on a website all about Joint Ventures, offering memberships and chat rooms and you name it, but one thing has been carefully and strategically omitted from the site – the name and description and contact information of the PERSON behind the site.

There is no information on the JV’s that person has created – only rave reports about the book he completed with plagiarized writings, and I suspect he wrote most of the testimonials himself, using the names of non-existent people.

Shyster or Sage?

I don’t buy information – I buy the BASE and the philosophy behind that information, which comes in the form of a real person, not a twenty-something who lives in his mom’s basement and plays computer games all day. I like to learn from people who have actually done the things they teach and have proof of it.

Conmen and tricksters abound in this world, and there are a lot of seminars and courses being sold to vulnerable, desperate people who don’t take the time to do their due diligence of the leaders of those programs.

Red Flags

When you’re hiding, you usually have something to hide. When you’re not available, your name isn’t even a real name, and you don’t supply physical addresses or telephone numbers, I know there is something wrong, and I don’t accept what you have to teach.

What My Finely Tuned “BS Detector” Tells Me

I live in the real world and I make real money, doing Joint Ventures with real people, and after 21 years of doing this, my “BS Detector” is finely tuned. I always look at the man behind the screen before buying his snake oil or urgent, time-sensitive, one-of-a-kind, discounted, priced to sell, buy-one-get-one-free, “available today only” deals.

My Advice to You

Get to know the man behind the BS screen before you open your wallet, click the BUY NOW button, or run to the back of the seminar room to buy his trash or join her club. Who is John Galt?

If you know what you want out of life, you need to create an environment that will nurture your growth and support you through the realization of your dreams. W. Clement Stone said:

“You are a product of your environment. So choose the environment that will best develop you toward your objective.

Analyze your life in terms of its environment. Are the things around you helping you toward success – or are they holding you back?”

Napoleon Hill said:

“We begin to see, therefore, the importance of selecting our environment with the greatest of care, because environment is the mental feeding ground out of which the food that goes into our minds is extracted.”

The people in your life, the books you read, and the places you go are all important factors in your environment.

The Koi Principle

Remember that the Japanese carp or koi has the natural ability to grow according to the size of its environment. Thus, in a small tank, it usually grows to no more than five to seven centimeters, but if placed in a lake, it can grow to three times that size.

If you have big, important, exciting dreams, you want to be sure to put big people and big brains and big ideas into your environment, and it’s easier than you think.

Who Will You Be in 5 Years?

Charles Jones said:

“You will be the same person in five years as you are today except for the people you meet and the books you read.”

Let’s just focus on these two aspects of your environment for now. But, before we do, consider what Alvin Toffler once said:

“The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn.”

If you’re not ready to learn, unlearn, and relearn, no amount of good books or wise people will have any impact on you.

Meet the Right People

When people who are serious about success approach me for advice, I suggest they meet certain people whom I recommend. Those who do, benefit tremendously.

Your network certainly does determine your net worth.

Great people with great minds can excite, motivate, encourage, challenge, and assist you beyond your greatest expectations. By contributing to their lives first, great people will generously reciprocate, but don’t approach them with your hand out like a beggar.

Read the Right Books

When you have read “Atlas Shrugged” by Ayn Rand, you will want to read all of her books. “Atlas Shrugged” will change your life. Also read

• “Never Eat Alone” by Keith Ferrazzi,
• “Think and Grow Rich” by Napoleon Hill,
• “The E-Myth” by Michael Gerber.

By reading the books of great thinkers, you get to actually think their thoughts. That is a profound revelation for most people.

Engineer Your Environment

Every person, book, Joint Venture, and physical aspect of my personal environment is very carefully selected, and those that no longer work are removed and replaced – fast. I monitor my environment very carefully and consistently. My peace of mind, integrity, and goals are far too important to be compromised.

How about yours? How strict and selective are you about your input, influences, and environment?

Time will tell.

In these turbulent financial times, one sees small signs of panic all over.

But Can You Recognize Your Own Symptoms?

While we’re all aware of the “fight or flight” response to panic, and we recognize the symptoms in others, it is not always easy to see them in yourself. We tend to suppress feelings of panic and deny them, get too busy to acknowledge and deal with them, and in the process start to slip down a slippery slope that includes sometimes irreparable damage to our relationships, health, and financial situation.

Men, especially, want to appear “Macho” and in control, so we tend to cloak panic with aggression and bravado.

A Lotto Desperation

Yesterday, Rika and I sat in a restaurant and watched a succession of men feeding a lotto machine. We were amazed at the tension and desperation we saw in these men. They were gambling precious time and money with extremely low odds of winning anything, yet they probably saw this as their only alternative. Sure, some were just having fun, and some were addicted, but my overall impression was men on the brink of panic.

Men vs. Women

This article tells us why unemployment is hitting men harder than women, and this article tells us that “Unemployment Rate Soars for Older Men with Limited Education”. Women are better equipped to handle stress, and they generally panic less than men do, but we are all vulnerable.

Manipulating the Herd

The herd instinct is much more pronounced in our highly connected society than in past years, and politicians and the media are milking it for all its worth. They know how to manipulate with fear, exaggeration, and spin, and this often leads to mass panic in different degrees. Anyone who believes what politicians, mystics, and the media tells them is living in a dangerous fantasy world.

Scam artists are also very busy tacking advantage of desperate people.

Deadly Panic

Many highly publicized cases of deadly panic occur during massive public events.

• The layout of Mecca was extensively redesigned by Saudi authorities in an attempt to eliminate frequent stampedes, which kill an average of 250 pilgrims every year.
• Football stadiums have seen deadly crowd rushes and stampedes, such as at Hillsborough stadium in Sheffield, England, in 1989. This led to controlled entry gates and stricter rules by the end of the 1980s to regulate seating arrangements.

6 Lifesaving Tips to Keep a Cool Head in Times of Panic

I know what it’s like to feel as though you’re on the verge of panic. From my personal experience, having been exposed to high levels of stress at different times in my 56 years of life, including military combat, business and finances, dangerous situations, fire, marital problems, divorce, and many other things, here are some tips on handling panic:

Tip #1 -Realize Stress Effects Your Perception

Perception is reality. Accept that our perception is never accurate, and that the more stressed we are, the less logical our assumptions, choices, and conclusions.

Realize that you don’t see the whole picture, and that you’re missing a lot of vital information as you develop tunnel vision and see everything through a lens of desperation, scarcity, and limitation.

Tip #2 – “YAHOO!”

Shout, “YAHOO!”

You Always Have Other Options.

The fact that we are not aware of our real options doesn’t mean they don’t exist. Your problem is in your mind, and you need a way to see through the eyes of a rational, intelligent, mature, relaxed, and creative person. As I always say, “You don’t have money problems; you have thinking problems.”

Tip #3 -Discriminate the Advice You Accept

Never take advice from someone who doesn’t already have what you want, or from someone who is more screwed up and stressed than you are. They will drag you further down the slippery slope to panic and loss of control. Taking financial advice from a social worker or teacher, for example, is just plain silly.

Question the motives of people giving you advice, and be especially careful of mysticism – this is a dangerous, irrational, and destructive escape route. Choose your mentors very carefully.

Tip #4 -Get Excellent, Level-Headed Support

It’s hard to cope alone, but help is always available from the right people. When you’re blindfolded, you need to be led by someone who sees the obstacles as well as the exits and solutions until your blindfold can be removed. Things are never as bad as they seem.

Finding a good support group usually means that what you currently have doesn’t work. If everyone around you is panicking, you want to remove yourself from that situation. Pessimists are no help to anyone.

Take note of the people in your life. Are they helping you or hurting you?

Tip #5 -Monitor and Improve your Self-talk

I have found the most tool to stave off panic and maintain a level-headed approach is my self-talk. I have always talked with myself, often aloud, and saying things like:

“This is a piece of cake. I can handle this. So what’s the big deal? What are my logical options? This is no problem for me – a mere hiccup to one of my talents…”

Remember, also, that the questions you ask yourself will determine, to a large extent, where you end up.  Find out more about this concept in my book, Break Free!, coming soon to JVWisdom.

Tip #6 -Is Your Philosophy Helping or Hurting You?

Finally, check your philosophy / world view / religion – it, too, is ether helping you or hurting you, and you have many other options. If a shoe doesn’t fit and gives you blisters, replace it.

DollarMakers is designed to provide financial solutions to any people in any circumstances, as long as they are prepared to learn, work, and persist until they are free.

You probably wonder what has helped you succeed in life, and what has prevented you from succeeding.

Most people blame their environment, circumstances, parents, and others for failure, but mature, intelligent people look in the mirror.

Let me show you the only REAL secret to your past and future successes, and the only TRUE roadblock you ever have, or ever will encounter.

Your Self-image is the Key

Dr. Joyce Brothers said:

“An individual’s self-concept is the core of his personality. It affects every aspect of human behavior: the ability to learn, the capacity to grow and change, the choice of friends, mates, and careers. It is no exaggeration to say that a strong, positive self-image is the best possible preparation for success in life.”

Wow! Read that again five times.

Your self-image is the key to your success and the cause of your failure. Not the systems, the governments, or other people.

You Earn in Direct Proportion to Your Self-Esteem

Self-esteem is the reason why two people in the same business, in the same town, with the same products and services at the same price, selling to the same market, can get very different results.

The reason why one goes bankrupt and the other becomes wealthy is their self-esteem or self-concept – how they feel about themselves and their worth, and what they believe about themselves.

Can You Change?

Here’s the question, though:

1. Can you CHANGE and improve your self esteem?
2. How long with it take?
3. If you change your self-concept, your entire life will change.
4. So how do you do that?

The good news is that there is a rational, effective way to dramatically improve your self-image. I am about to share the recipe with you right here.

Five Simple Steps

Here are Five Simple Steps to creating a great self-concept and ensure your future success:

1. Discipline yourself to honor your commitments. Do exactly what you say you will do, when you said you would do it, in the manner you promised to do it. Never quit – persevere and insist on success. You will admire yourself and start to believe in your abilities.
2. Tell the truth. Don’t try to be tactful, diplomatic, politically correct, and Mr. Nice Guy. Be real, even if people are offended. Live according to your own beliefs and values. You will get to like and respect yourself.
3. Only mix with positive, successful people. Kick the losers, posers, and parasites out of your life. Be like Atlas – shrug them off your back, even if it costs you money in the short term. You will be amazed how good you feel about yourself when you only associate with winners!
4. Make sure all your input (where you go, what you see and listen to, and what information you expose yourself to) is positive and encouraging. See these powerful videos.
5. Get mentored and trained by someone who already has what you want – don’t take advice from people more screwed up than you are.

Follow this recipe, and I’ll see you at the top!

Bob  Carlson writes,

“Not too many years ago, most people did not need retirement plans or help with retirement planning. Retirement lasted only five years on average. Not everyone retired. Those that did retire generally had adequate income from employer pensions and medical expense coverage plus Social Security and Medicare.

All that changed.

• Life expectancies increased, dramatically increasing the length of retirement to 20 years or more.
• Employers reduced or eliminated pensions. Employees save and invest for retirement on their own through 401(k) plans and other accounts.
• Employer-paid retiree medical coverage is greatly reduced, and Medicare raises premiums.

Americans more and more are on their own for retirement and must plan for much longer retirements.

‘Game Changing’ Events that Make Us Re-evaluate

To complicate things, retirement finances have changed and are changing rapidly. Bull markets rapidly turn into bear markets which become financial crises. Investment options change all the time. Taxes, long-term care, medical expense coverage, annuities, life insurance, estate planning, and other aspects of your retirement finances rapidly have innovations and turmoil.

Currently, we are experiencing real ‘game changing’ events that will require everyone to re-evaluate their retirement plans:

• A bear market that wiped out 50% and more of some retirement portfolios in a year.
• Likely tax increases in the next year or two.
• The financial instability of Medicare, likely to lead to means-testing or other major reductions in benefits.
• Questions about the future of insurers that sold life insurance, annuities, and long-term care insurance.
• Low interest rates and dividend reductions that slash the income of retirees.

Where Most Get Their (Poor) Advice

Now there is no shortage of people seeking to be the retirement advisors for tens of millions of Baby Boomers: brokers, financial planners, accountants, insurance agents, mutual fund companies, and more.

Too often these advisers have their own agendas or are so busy marketing and managing their businesses that they do not keep up with the latest news and trends. Cookie cutter approaches and rules-of-thumb dominate too much financial advice. Personal needs, situations, and desires can take a back seat or be pushed out of the vehicle.

Tackling It On Your Own

But if you attempt to tackle retirement planning on your own, you can easily become confused and overwhelmed by the mountain of advice available to you.

Type the search term ‘retirement planning’ into Google and it returns about 13.5 million hits. Type in ‘IRA’ and it returns almost 50 million hits! And most of these hits are for websites that simply want to sell you a particular product, or contain information that’s out of date.”

I Agree Wholeheartedly.

…And those “Advisers” are all asking you spend MORE money, take more risks, and trust them, so that they can earn bigger commissions on your risk!

Surely you’re tired of being ripped off?

Here’s My SOLUTION:

How about creating more income – residual income from multiple sources – with no cost, risk, or selling, no investment, and little time, regardless of your financial predicament, age, or background? That’s exactly what DollarMakers offers you.

Have a look at our website -lots of free stuff, information, and help. No obligation. No spam.

There’s even an e-book on how to retire in one year.  That’s right.  You heard me correctly.  ONE YEAR.

What have you got to lose? It’s not too late to turn your autumn years of scarcity and fear into the best years of your life.