We bought a washer/dryer at Sears. The salesman came round to my house in his own time to disconnect the water pipes at no charge, the night before delivery of the new appliances. He had a great, friendly, helpful attitude. He recommended I buy longer pipes and a longer drainage pipe so that it would fit better, which I did. When the machines were installed, the installers forgot to remove the supports, so when we turned the appliances on, they leapt around like kangaroos. The salesman came over, fixed everything, and arranged a $100 discount.

This salesman used his own, private time, got his clothes dirty, never complained, went the extra mile, and made sure we were happy customers. Amazing service. Would I want to help him, send him business, and support him in any way I could? You bet I would. Did he have to sell me anything, pitch anything, or ask for anything? No. My daughter is about to buy a new fridge. I called her and suggested she give this salesman her business.

I have an amazing insurance / financial planning guy who has been a great benefit to me and to strong businesspeople for who I have lots of respect. I refer him to people and he gives them a complimentary consultation. He saves me thousands in tax – why would I not refer him? He didn’t have to ask me to do so, because he went the extra mile. He’s reliable, honest. Astute, professional, always on time, and responds fast. You will probably e-mail me and ask for his telephone number. I’ll be glad to pass it on (if you’re in Canada.)

When you take the time to go into the forest to chop the wood, meticulously prepare the fire, get your hands dirty, and make sure the thing blazes away, you deserve to enjoy the heat, but not before. Entitlement, arrogance, socialism, shoddy service, and impatience robs many people of excellent referrals in business. It’s not about the money, honey. I don’t even know what I paid for the washer/dryer stuff – I just chose the most expensive and bought it. It’s all about the service.

“If you want a friend, BE a friend” – good advice. If you want benefits, you have to contribute. When the contribution stops, losers don’t understand why they’re not still enjoying the benefits. Create massive, unexpected, glittering value, and you can rest assured smart people will reciprocate. We bought expensive hardwood flooring from Home Depot and had it delivered and unpacked. Then we sent it all back again three days later since the floor was too uneven. They collected it and didn’t charge us a blue cent. They even paid the delivery and the installers. They didn’t have to. Now we’re loyal customers, and this article will be read by thousands of people.

Yes, what goes around comes around. Keep your promises, deliver on time, be friendly and helpful, and you will have little competition. Give additional service and go the extra mile, and your success is all but guaranteed if you’re serving good people. If not, you’ll wake up one morning to find you have been replaced by someone who understands this. We help those who help us. The good news is that you can use Joint Ventures to create MASSIVE additional value that your competition can never equal, at no cost to you.

Robin J., Elliott
www.JVWisdom.com

Too many people take advice from people who should not be permitted to give advice. The blind, it seems to me, spend far too much time leading the blind. This is particularly true when it comes to small business. People sign up for government-run “Self Employment Programs”, often conducted by low-paid people who failed in business themselves. How can a business failure who earns $3,000 per month in a government job teach you how to succeed in business? You’ve go to be joking.

Jim Addison said, “never take advice from anyone more who is screwed up than you are”, so entrepreneurs pay “Business Coaches” and “Consultants” a fortune to sink deeper into debt and despondency. The key is to find a coach or consultant who is actually capable of running your business better than you do. Think about it. Jim Stovall said, “Only learn from people who already have what you want.” We asked a very wealthy friend for his advice and it earns us over $10,000 per month in passive income. A bum on a bench will not give you the same advice as a judge on the bench. Your bank manager has no idea how to run a successful business, since she is an employee. What ask for her business advice? After all, she works for you.

Find people who are very successful in the area yin which you wish to prosper, and learn from them. Find richer, smarter, more successful people than you are to learn from. And please do your due diligence and check them out first. Anyone can tell you a wonderful story and exaggerate the facts. Insist on proof. In many cases, it’s “Big hat, no cattle”. Don’t be impressed with their smart, leased car and their home that is mortgaged to the hilt. When someone has to tell you how wealthy they are, they usually have no money. “I live in West Vancouver”. Yes, in a rented room someone else’s house. A shiny business card and expensive brochure doth not make the man. Take your time before seeking advice. The oracle may just turn out to be an ox.

At DollarMakers, we tell it like it is, we keep it real, and we build solid relationships with people before hopping into business bed with them. That’s why we encourage people to attend meetings and participate in the conference calls, Bootcamps, and the Cancun Convention. We’re excited to have some wonderful Members and as we grow you get access to more and more exceptional people.

I was in bad trouble. I was about to lose everything, and those I had expected to help me (family) were not coming to my rescue, in spite of the fact that I had never approached them before (and never will again.) The bank was about to pull all of my credit, and things looked darkish. My panicked decision was to sell my house and rent in order to get out of debt, so I called in on my smart, successful friend and asked for his advice.

When you’re in a deep, dark hole with slimy, steep, slippery sides, and the water is pouring in, you usually only admit that you have a problem when the water touches your nostrils. Until then, you live in denial, hope for the best, write pathetic “business plans”, hide, and make weak excuses that nobody believes.\

Many small business owners flock to “business networking meetings” where they desperately try to sell stuff to other broke people, or dig their hole even deeper with ineffective advertising. Worse still, they hire unemployed business failures who label themselves “Business Consultants” or “Coaches” and charge an arm and a leg to steal the last money you can borrow. (They’re also in a debt hole!)

Some people have lots of money, but they have no time and their debt is time. Either way, when your money, credit, or time is flowing out faster than it is flowing in, the murky, smelly water rises until it’s high enough to get our attention. At that point, we try to make a logical business decision while in a state of panic. That’s when we start to understand the old saying, “desperate people do desperate things”. Situational Ethics kicks in faster than a speeding bullet. And I am now addressing the people who are in this very situation, or who have the courage to see that it is approaching like the proverbial oncoming train.

When you see you’re finally about to drown in the hole you so carefully dug, who do you call? A three-year-old with a pink, plush toy? Do you call over to the “life coach” in the hole next door? Do you invite an advertising salesman over to pour a few extra barrels of water into your hole? Or sign up to sell real estate or life insurance? I know this sounds familiar to some of us, since I have been there myself. How did I very narrowly avoid certain bankruptcy on one scary occasion? Not by doing what I had always done, I assure you. Not by second-guessing people who were capable of saving me, and not by resorting to the arrogance born of fiery fear.

Here’s what I did, and what you might want to consider if a few lungfuls of water is not your cup of tea: Find the most successful, competent, insightful, straight-talking people you can, and give them a vested interest in helping you out of your hole. Follow their instructions to the letter, or they’ll throw you back like the minnow you are, faster than you might imagine.

I Listened To Every Word My Friend Said

Gerald Voutsas took an objective, relaxed look at my ridiculous plan, showed me that it definitely would put me deeper in the hole, and offered an alternative solution as quickly and easily as passing me another ginger biscuit. I did exactly what he told me to do, and he saved my asset. It took a few months, and lots of hard work, but I learned my lesson and I never put myself into that situation again. I avoid those dark holes like the plague, an the way I teach Joint Venture Brokering is based in part on avoiding that kind of deep, dark hole.

OK, I know you’re going to ask me, “But where do I find these experts?” That’s why we created DollarMakers. I wanted a decent financial planner, so I went to a very good friend who is also my Joint Venture Partner, very wealthy, and a successful lawyer, and asked him whom HE uses for his financial planning (insurance). Now we use the same insurance guy. Birds of the feather. Successful people know other successful people. And only someone who is happily not in a hole can help you out of the hole. “The blind leading the blind” is an everyday occurrence in business, masterminding with the mindless…

Elicit, then follow the expert advice of real experts to the letter. And don’t you dare second-guess, question, or slack off. I listened to Gerald, and I didn’t drown.

I discovered something about myself a long time ago: when I get really angry, I learn something about myself.

Let me give you some examples of this. I had someone in my business who would give me a ride to my hotel in his red car when I flew into town. By the time I got out of his car, I would be furious, every single time. When I am writing an article or a book and I get interrupted, I get angry. When I deal with people who pretend to be business coaches or consultants, I get hot under the collar. Why?

A Thieving Leech

In the first instance, I realized that the person in my business was a parasite and a thieving leech who was a two faced, lying SOB who only had his own back pocket in mind. Why did this anger me? After all, there are many two faced leeches around. He was sabotaging my business, undermining me, building relationships with my enemies. After I fired him, he joined forces with the biggest con artists in the city. Here’s the root of the matter: he was hurting my people, the Members of DollarMakers, and abusing his position. I am very protective of my people. I learned that I am a lot more protective of my people than I thought I was.

Interrupting Me While Writing is a Sin

Why do I get angry when I am interrupted whilst writing? I had to read the book, “The War of Art” that Shawn Christenson gave me,  to understand this. I was being interrupted when I am at my most creative, and my train of thought was simply derailed for no reason at all. I am obsessive compulsive. I focus absolutely when I write. When I am interrupted, I have to start all over again. I learned that I regard my writing as my most valuable offering, my most important contribution, a part of myself. I am brutally honest in my writing: I open my heart. You would do better to slap me hard in the face than to interrupt me when I am writing.

Too Many False Coaches

Why do I get angry when I meet sly snake-oil salesmen who sell themselves as coaches and consultants? I’m not talking about the tiny handful of them who can actually do the job - I’m talking about the arrogant, big mouth losers who bought a coaching course and now waste other peoples’ time and money, giving them silly and often dangerous advice. I saw one of them lose eighteen good clients in a row. Why do I get angry? I care about honest, hardworking entrepreneurs who want to be successful and blindly trust shakedown artists.

Which brings me to my conclusion. When you are truly passionate about what you do, you will be good at it, you will believe in it, and you will jealously protect it, like a mother cougar protecting her young. You will get very angry at anyone who threatens your work and your mission. And your anger will cement your understanding and belief. If there is no passion, you’re probably just another mercenary sociopath playing the role of an entrepreneur. See the passion? Feel the heat? There is a scripture that goes, “So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.” Anger points to passion, and passion points to perfectionism, progress, and prosperity.

Last night I surprised my lovely wife when I dramatically changed my strongly held opinion on a certain business opportunity.

We’re all faced with choices, opportunities, and options on a regular basis. We approach it all with a healthy dose of skepticism, as well we should, and we find it important not to rush blindly into new ventures or take up certain options. We’ve been around long enough not to get swept up into every scheme and scam around, and that protects us from the con artists and from losing our proverbial shirts. All good. Except when we throw healthy babies out with the bathwater, miss the train, and overlook the diamonds in the mud, that is.

We’re masters of self-deception, and we diligently seek evidence to support our dominant beliefs and justify our choices - it’s only human. We hate to be proven wrong or admit that we missed a lucrative  opportunity, and we trot out endless streams of “reasons” why we were right. It takes courage and humility to change one’s opinion, even reverse it completely. It’s hard to say, “I was wrong, I missed it, and it cost me money.” You can be “right” or you can be rich. Business is not about feeling important, infallible, and ingenious - it’s about making money. The most successful entrepreneurs I know fail on a regular basis. Babe Ruth struck out more than anyone in baseball history, I’m told.

The scary thing is that we lose a lot of money with wrong decisions, and usually it’s our fear, ego, conditioning, bias, and pig-headedness that makes the decision instead of a calm, objective, rational business brain. That’s why it’s important to put the old ego on hold when evaluating one’s options. Looking back, I have lost a lot of money by missing opportunities. And I know a lot of others who have lost a lot, and even some right now that are going to miss huge opportunities that they are being exposed to through DollarMakers. I could name names, but I won’t - their skepticism is going to rob them blind, and they don’t know it yet.

I attended a meeting this week where I met a character that had been a Member of the DollarMakers Club when it first started, but he lapsed his Membertship and never got really involved. He’s a typical. lazy, west coast specimen who has no idea how much money he could have made through DollarMakers had he stayed with us. I know of at least a dozen specific, lucrative opportunities that would have funnelled thousands into his bank account, had he simply showed up at our events and stayed active. But I guess pot, beer, and ice hockey got in the way. The same applies to people offering website services, computer services, financial services, and real estate who were involved with us, but their desperation for a quick fix and easy money had them scampering off to greener grass, only to find it growing over a cesspit. By the time they limp back to us with their tails between their legs and a big bag of excuses, their spot has been taken by a smarter person; we don’t want them back. (”Where were you when we needed you?”)

Decisions cost money or make money, and because nothing stays the same, we need to have the courage to revisit past decisions, if it’s not too late for tears, which it often is. Better still to make the right decision at the outset by aligning yourself with real entrepreneurs who think rationally, and not relying on advice from your loser relative or an unemployed has-been or jumped-up kid that calls himself a “Business Coach”.

Last night I was more interested in making a lot of honest money than feeling embarrassed by telling Rika, “I was wrong, the situation has changed, and I have changed my mind.” Think of it this way: to go faster in your car, you need to change gears. Change is good, and we should embrace it like a warm puppy.

1. TAKE ACTION!!
2. Read “Atlas Shrugged” by Ayn Rand
3. Get Out There and Meet New People
4. Make a List of Goals
5. Forget About The Opinions Of Others
6. Compliment Those That Deserve It
7. Learn to Listen
8. Break Away from Fear
9. Stop Worrying and Start Doing
10. Listen To Your Inner Voice
11. Stop Watching TV
12. Delegate your C items, only do the A and B items.
13. Eat Healthy
14. Be True To Yourself
15. Drop Your Bad Habits and Enhance Your Good Habits
16. Get Up a Half Hour Earlier
17. Implement Daily Affirmations - Repeat Your Affirmations Any Chance You Get
18. Be Your Biggest Fan
19. Remember Good is the Enemy of Great
20. Always Keep Learning
21. Focus Your Energy - Be a High Powered Laser
22. Don’t Be Cheap - Invest in the Tools You’ll Need to Succeed
23. Have Integrity.  REALLY.  People Catch On Fast.
24. Keep a Journal - Carry It With You Everywhere
25. Follow Great People - read their blogs, biographies and anything else.
26. Never Give Up. Never Surrender.
27. Trust In God, and Tie Up Your Camels.
28. Subscribe to a “Word Of The Day” Email.
29. You Can’t Do It All Yourself - Find Great Partners
30. Watch What People Do, Not What They Say They Do
31. Give Referrals, Ask for Referrals
32. Sleep When You’re Dead
33. Send Thank You Cards

“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.

Those who mind don’t matter, and those who matter don’t mind.

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? 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?

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. How can you reduce or prevent the risk? 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.

Analyze You Fear - Find Out How Bad It Really Isn’t

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.

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.

All You Have To Fear Is…

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 i 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.

I recently had a jumped up seminar junkie once again disgorging his unsolicited advice about how to run my business. One flower of success in the midst of a murky myriad of failures has convinced him that he is the business oracle before which mortals such as I should gratefully prostrate ourselves. One swallow does not a summer make, my young friend. Buying overpriced business courses does not make you a Donald Trump - it merely makes you a customer of the Donald. The smartest people I know only offer their advice when asked, and even then they humbly qualify their contribution.

Taking advice from people, as Mr. John Addison says, “who are more screwed up than you are”, is not one of my many failings. I am acutely aware of the limits of my knowledge and experience, but I have never benefited from the advice of someone who is clearly inexperienced, arrogant, and stupid into the bargain.

When I discovered the Average IQ was 100, I was Appalled (and then relieved!)

When I discovered that, on a bell curve, the average person has an IQ of 100, I was at first appalled, then relieved, when I found forgiveness in my icy heart for the average plebe who disguises himself as an entrepreneur and doles out his noxious counsel to other equally inept pretenders - the blind blissfully leading the blind, and laughing all the way to the bankruptcy court.

When Jim Stovall said that we should only take advice from people who already have what we want, he should have been awarded the Nobel Prize for Wisdom. Imagine an entrepreneur taking advice from an academic, a bank manager, or a socialist. Ridiculous, I know. Yet the sheeple continue to be sheeple, and we don’t have to follow them over the edge of the cliff.

Seek out TRULY SUCCESSFUL Mentors and Follow their Advice Carefully

Let us carefully select a good pair of effective earplugs and install them as soon as we are approached by one of these tormentors. Let us not confuse the symbol for the real thing. If I was a detective looking for a psychopathic conman, the first suspects on my list would be religious leaders, seminar presenters, consultants, and coaches, suffering from delusions of grandeur and fed by brainless sycophants who pay too much to join their cults.

I seek out truly successful mentors and follow their advice carefully, all the while retaining my reason and a good dose of skepticism, and cautiously weighing their recommendations before grabbing my wife’s checkbook. Empty barrels do, in fact, make the most noise. And still waters run very deep.

The Buddha said,

“Don’t hurry to believe in anything, even if it has been written in the holy scriptures. Don’t hurry to believe in anything just because a very famous teacher has said it. Don’t believe in anything just because the majority has agreed that it is the truth. You should test anything people say with your own experience before you accept or reject it.”

Let me add this final piece: When you find yourself in any meeting, seminar, or presentation where group dynamics and mass hysteria, group-think and emotional manipulation are at work, do not spend more than $500 or commit yourself to any amount over $500. This will prevent you from waking up with a terrible, haunting question the next morning: “WHAT HAVE I DONE?” The offer will still be there the next day, believe you me, and it might look very different.