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.

This fall, my daughter, Sacha, took me horse riding in beautiful Langley, British Columbia.

My horse’s name was Drifter, and when we trotted up to a lane that led alongside a large field, the stables owner warned me that, as soon as we cantered or galloped, Drifter would… drift.

She said he would veer right into the field, and that he always canters at an angle – side on.

She said they had found that the easiest way to curb his drifting away from the beaten track was to rein him in on the left, while giving him some heel on his right side.

Sure enough, as soon as we started cantering and picked up speed, Drifter started drifting quickly away from the rest of the horses towards the center of the field, and, as predicted, a firm left rein and some good, solid kicks on his right side brought him back into the fold.

Frankly, I would have liked to have given him the freedom to break into a gallop across the field, but one has to stick to the rules.

We had a wonderful morning, and look forward to another outride soon. (I still bounce when we canter, but that hasn’t changed since I first rode at the age of ten, so I guess I’ll always be a “bouncer”.)

Are You an Unconscious “Drifter”?

Many people drift away from their goals, veer off target, get sidetracked, and don’t know how to get back on track.

Now drifting away from the pack is a great thing if the pack is heading in the wrong direction, and we know that the seething herd usually is heading the wrong way, but if you’re working with winners and you’re part of a winning team, here are a few pointers:

1. A strong, successful team will be aware when you drift off course, and they will bring it to your attention.
2. When you’re moving fast, you need to take more drastic, focused action than if you’re ambling along. I had to be strong with Drifter, not whisper sweet nothings in her furry ear.
3. Be aware of where you’re headed, where the rest of your team is, and keep perspective. Horses don’t have a reverse gear. And don’t spend the rest of the ride apologizing and beating yourself up; just don’t repeat the mistake, and if you find yourself drifting again, correct fast. (Like when you’re scuba diving: “equalize early and often.”)
4. Take advice from people who are experienced in dealing with your challenge. Drifter’s owner knew and understood both the challenge and the remedy, and she had the solution for me. Jim Stoval said:

“Never take advice from anyone who doesn’t already have what you want.”

By the same token, when you see that you’ve linked up with a bunch of losers, find yourself a winning horse that drifts easily, and gallop as fast as you can away from them.

• Do You Want Viral Growth for Your Business?
• How About Viral Wealth?

An epidemic, a pandemic – Mexican Swine Flu, Facebook, Twitter – have you considered that all viral growth is based on piggybacking, on Host/Parasite relationships, and on leverage? This is the natural way of fast growth.

Maintaining Potency

Drop some food coloring into a glass of water and stir it – it spreads, but it gets diluted. However, when properly created, viral growth retains the strength of the seed. You can grow your business and create viral wealth fast through Joint Ventures.

Creating Viral Wealth Fast Through Joint Ventures

When you realize that you can use existing resources, distribution systems, and relationships upon which to piggyback your business and wealth, all barriers in respect of time, cost, and risk fall away.

The Mexican Swine Flu uses people, airplanes, subways, and all manner of means to spread and grow. Use this model.

Are you Operating Like a Solider or a General?

Most entrepreneurs are like soldiers – they carry heavy packs and guns, slide around in mud, get shot, go without sleep and food, and are continually at risk.

Joint Venture experts are like generals – they sip tea in comfort while their batman polishes their boots. They use strategy, leverage, delegation, and their brains. They are like chess players.

Real Joint Venture Brokers:

• Don’t spend money, except in return for results.
• Seldom take risks or spend a lot of time making money.
• Focus on relationships, deals, leverage, strategy, and profit.
• Are not egotistically involved in their business – they are objective and rational. They are like Poker players.

You are not your business!

Your business is merely a vehicle for creating profit, not an extension of your body or personality. You are not your business. When you get your ego out of the way, all sorts of options magically arise.

What You Need is Leverage

Every resource you need is easily and freely available through Joint Ventures. You don’t need salespeople, expensive and risky advertising, or so called “Consultants” and “Coaches”. What you need is the understanding of leverage.

• A franchisee is someone who has bought a job and answers to a boss (the franchiser.)
• A Network Marketer has all his eggs in one basket – the company.
• Most entrepreneurs are really just self-employed salespeople. All sell their time like paid slaves, take risks, and limit their income potential by the nature of their business.
• Joint Venture Brokers create multiple sources of residual income in multiple industries with no selling, cost, limitations, risk, or overhead, and little time.

If you own a small business, realize five things:

1. It’s all about PROFIT, not sales, ego, that shiny, leased car, or reputation.
2. You should only pay for RESULTS, not promises, work, activity, show, and obligation.
3. You don’t need to buy and rent stuff that you can borrow.
4. You can use OTHER PEOPLE’S resources, money, credit, reputation, employees, premises, tools, equipment, distribution, sales teams, time, experience, and skills.
5. The real profit is in the BACK END, your DATABASE, and your MIND.

You have to get in the Pool if You Want to Swim

I agree with Ben Franklin, who said:

“Empty your purse into your mind, and your mind will fill your purse.”

What he left out, though, was WORK.

Initially, to learn how to use Joint Ventures to grow virally and create viral wealth, you have to pay to for the training and support, but you also have to work and practice; you don’t learn to swim while sitting in a seat at a seminar or reading a book.

Most “seminar junkies” are losers who are trying to hide from reality and accountability. You have to get in the water to learn how to swim, and it takes time to learn a new skill set. But once you get it, you will never look back.

Advice from Those Who Walk Their Talk

The key here is to learn from people who actually practice what they preach.

• If I spent a fortune on advertising, could I teach you how to grow a real, international business that makes real money with no cost or risk? I think not.
• If I employed people, could I teach you how to run a lucrative JV brokerage with no overhead? No.

Don’t take advice from anyone who doesn’t already have what you want, and never take advice from people who are more screwed up than you are.

DollarMakers is the world leader in Joint Venture training and support for individuals, professionals, and the owners of small and medium-sized businesses. We have a 22-year track record. We walk our talk. We fire Members who don’t abide by our Code of Business Ethics. We grow our own business virally and create viral wealth, and so can you.

Robert Kiyosaki (author of Rich Dad, Poor Dad):

“Being rich is when your passive income is greater than your expenses.”

Robin J. Elliott:

“Being rich is earning the freedom to buy what you want, do what you want, go where you want, when you want, and live according to your own beliefs and values.”

DollarMakers is dedicated to providing YOU with the tools and support to become rich.

Remember what Jim Stoval said:

“Only take advice from someone who already has what you want.”

We live what we teach. You don’t have to participate in this recession. Freedom is at hand, if you really want it.

I’m not talking about a Tony Robbins style “whip them up and jump around” seminar, much as I love Tony’s work. I’m not talking about the scare tactic type of “motivational” lecture we saw in the excellent movie, “Glengarry Glen Ross.” I’m talking a movies that motivate you at your core being and can be watched again and again. “Defiance” is such a movie.

Excellent Motivating Movies

Based on a true story, one cannot help but be seriously motivated to achieve ones goals when you watch this movie. Like “The Last Castle” or “The Shawshank Redemption”, you see people who are totally committed to their dreams. “Patton” is another such movie, which, like Defiance, is based on fact. Your own little obstacles fade into obscurity when you see these giants going for their goals. Naturally, “Slumdog Millionaire” also fits this category of motivational movies.

Why Not Go To The Next Level?

Why not get all these movies: Defiance, Patton, Slumdog Millionaire, The Last Castle, and The Shawshank Redemption, and watch them all in two days?

And then, go to the next level of serious motivation: pick the three most successful, motivated people you know, and build relationships with them. Spend regular time with real winners. You will become unstoppable.

Fix Your Energy “Leaks” Too

Finally, mend the leak at the bottom of your motivation bucket. Pouring in great movies and excellent friends is wonderful, but you must stop the leaks at the bottom of the bucket.

The biggest leak is associating with the wrong people: losers, posers, parasites, and whiners. And the other leak is negative input: CNN, newspapers, politics, bad philosophies, and negative places. Only accept positive, upbuilding input.

Control Your Input and Become Unstoppable

Carefully control your input – what you see, hear, and associate with, and you will build a strong, confident, enthusiastic, unstoppable attitude that will carry you over, around and through every challenge on your way to your objectives. You become like the people you spend the most time with, and what you think about comes about. Focus on what you want, not on what you don’t want. Paul J. Meyer said:

“Whatever you vividly imagine, ardently desire, sincerely believe, and enthusiastically act upon, must inevitably come to pass.”

Take my advice – watch these five, powerful movies ASAP. Start with “Defiance” – you will be seriously motivated.

There’s an old story of a man who heard about a flood on the radio, so he prayed to his god that he would be saved and continued to read his newspaper.

Then his neighbors came by to warn him, but he simply prayed again, and had lunch. The water rose and the cat climbed gingerly onto the cupboard, but the man refused to accept the fact that the flood had arrived. Eventually, he perched precariously on the roof of his house,  surrounded by surging flood waters, and a boat came by to rescue him, but he refused, stating that his god would save him. Then a helicopter came by to rescue him. Again, he declined their help. Finally, he drowned, bitterly blaming his god for his demise.

“An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last.” – Sir Winston Churchill.

The Benefits of Facing Your Fear

Ignoring reality and denying the truth might prolong your false sense of comfort and security for a short while, but the consequences grow exponentially over time. Dealing with festering conflict is not something the passive aggressive types like, but the benefits of facing your fear and confronting issues is increased self-esteem and the peace of mind that follows that brave choice.

Some questions to ask yourself:

• If I continue going the way I am going now, what will my life look like in two years?
• Am I moving in the direction of my goals, or away from them?
• Am I getting wealthier, happier, healthier, and more successful?
• What are the consequences of my current choices?”

Then, shout, “YAHOO!” (You Always Have Other Choices.) Winston Churchill also said:

“Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing ever happened.”

..But Beware Whose Advice You Take

And when you understand that taking action to change your direction is the way to go, be careful whose advice you take.

The blind are the first to step up and offer to lead the blind – empty men with empty promises, who wish to fill their empty pockets with your hard-earned money. Those parasites will lead you down the road to destruction while telling you how much they love you. They are the bloodsuckers and the looters who sell nicely wrapped, glittering garbage to the unsuspecting and naive.

“Don’t take advice from anyone more screwed up than you” is valuable information, but don’t confuse money and fame with integrity.

In a nutshell, wake up, smell the coffee, and turn your horse in the direction of the treasure.

Whether or not you have a business or a job, you can choose not to participate in this rushing, rampant recession. Desperate people will do desperate things.

• Marriages will crumble under financial stress…
• Health will decline…
• Bankruptcies and suicides will increase…
• Net worth will fall dramatically…

… for some.

Some Will Win.  Some Will Lose.

Those who prospered by default in the good times, in spite of their lack of professionalism, ability, or integrity, will be scraped off the bottom of the business world’s shoe. Smart companies will use the recession as an excuse to clean house and fire losers and parasites.

…And those who know how to ride this mighty wave of change will ride it all the way to Treasure Island.

Seeking Recession Solutions

The advice being offered on TV shows and in the media to those suffering from the recession is pathetic.

Some people will hide from reality by enrolling at colleges and universities, convincing themselves and their families that “more education will get me a great job.” What a joke. You don’t need a job; you need more money.

Business owners that were previously too arrogant and egotistical to consider alternatives to their present, limited business models will start to open up to solutions they wouldn’t consider learning about before.

And suddenly, some people will learn that most of what we have believed about money, security, value, business, and the way to create wealth is simply not true.

This is a wonderful time for dispelling myths and setting people financially free, regardless of their ages, backgrounds, circumstances, or education.

Now’s the Time to Harness Leverage

We don’t have money problems; we have thinking problems, and when you understand the power of leverage as it is available through brokering joint ventures, you suddenly have multiple, unlimited, international options that you never knew about before.

Business owners have a huge amount of hidden assets and resources that they can leverage. And smart brokers don’t need a business.

Earn from Multiple Income Sources

After 22 years as a Joint Venture Broker, I know how to run a business with no overhead, little time, no employees, no investment, costs or risk, no selling, and 100% profit on everything I earn from multiple income sources – most of them residual.

Most entrepreneurs, professionals, and the owners small and medium sized businesses are, in reality, simply self-employed salespeople. They might have money, but they don’t have the time to enjoy it, or they have neither time nor money. And most of them operate, in my opinion, at about 10% of their potential net profit. Employees are in an even worse position.

Become a Money Magnet

By linking supply and demand, being the middleman, and solving problems through other peoples’ businesses, products ad services, you remove all limitations from your earning potential.

By removing your ego and realizing that you’re in business to earn the maximum net profit with the least amount of time, cost, risk, effort, and stress, you become a catalyst – and a money magnet.

What Joint Venture Brokers Do

Joint Venture Brokers understand how to convert access, perishable resources, unconverted leads, reputations, excess inventory, relationships, and common sense into hard cash, fast. They see the connections, and they solve problems. They demand that they are paid, on an ongoing basis, for business that they create, and they understand how to set up joint ventures (we call them DollarMakers) and strategic alliances that operate on a capitalistic, win/win/win basis. They get paid for results, not promises, and all the parties involved are better off.

Create More Qualified Leads Than You Can Handle

Entrepreneurs who understand how to use joint ventures easily differentiate themselves from their confused competition by simply adding massive value, at no cost to themselves, which in turn spawn loads of back-end income. They know how to create more qualified leads than they can handle, and why they make more money by sending those leads to their competition.

They live in a world of abundance and opportunity, and they see the recession as a wonderful gift.

Who Are You Listening To?

A smart man once said:

“Only take advice from someone who already has what you want.”

Talking advice from bankers, consultants, coaches, “financial planners”, employees, and accountants about how to make money is ridiculous. They’re all selling their time, and all have a vested interest in telling you blatant lies, many of which they, themselves, believe. Taking advice from people who are more screwed up than you are is just plain silly.

Rich people understand things that poor people don’t – that’s why the rich get richer. It’s not magic, and it’s never too late to learn.

Brokering joint ventures provides a fast track to real money in the real world. While many will become the victims of seminar con artists, ponzi schemes, and snake oil salespeople, DollarMakers offers a practical, proven, creative, legitimate, safe alternative with a 22 year track record.

Does your business resemble this man’s workshop?

A man has a lot of great tools in his workshop. Sharp chisels, bench saws, drills, planes, you name it. He makes wonderful things, fixes things, has fun.

But one by one, the lights in his workshop start going out. He can’t afford to replace the bulbs, so his workbench and working areas get darker and darker.

He starts cutting himself on sharp edges, making mistakes, damaging his creations, and measuring inaccurately, because he can’t see properly in the dim light. He finds he is bleeding from all the cuts and scratches, and he fears that sooner or later, he will lose a finger or worse by working in the dark.

• Do you feel you’re bleeding profits, and the more things you try, the more you hurt your bottom line?
• Are things that once worked well, not working so well anymore, and you can’t see a way out?

Shed Some Light on the Subject

You may feel you can’t afford the things you need to buy to shed some light on the subject, to lighten your load, as it were, but I assure you there are solutions available through the use of Joint Ventures. Let me shine the DollarMakers light on your workbench for just a moment.

Look at Business Through a Difference Lens

When you look at life and business through the lens of Joint Ventures, you suddenly realize that what you thought were barriers and limitations are simply illusions that have been conjured up by the myths sold to us by those with a vested interest and hidden agenda.

Don’t Accept Less from the “Experts”

Banks are a good example; they want you to believe that you are “safe” when you follow their advice and use their “financial planners”. They offer you ridiculously low interest rates, attack you when you’re weak, and lie about money. The fact is that you can use that bank’s money and leverage it, and you can use other peoples’ money, too.

My bank manager tells me she can offer me 3% and I tell her I’m happy with nothing less than 12%. Mutual funds and RRSP’s are a joke to me.

Medical insurance in Canada is also a joke, when I get all my medical expenses tax deductible.

• Look at your return on investment, take a good, hard look at PROFITS instead of SALES,
• …and take the advice of people who actually have money and know how to make it – lots of it - instead of being ripped off by weasels and parasites.

Believe It or Not, You Already Have Everything You Need

Every resource you need is readily available through Joint Ventures – skills, money, time, equipment, advice, relationships, reputation, labor, credit…  There is no shortage out there – just a lack of understanding.

Leverage is what rich people use to get rich.

• You don’t have to buy what you can get for nothing.
• You can pay for results instead of promises.

Selling your time and following the advice of people who are bent on selling you placebo effects and Band-Aids is for those who wish to struggle through the rest of their lives, along with the moribund and the mediocre.

You are much richer than you think you are. You have access to massive Hidden Assets. There are thousands of people who will write you a check any time when you understand how Joint Ventures work.

Why the Pain You’re Feeling is a Good Thing

It is always coldest just before the sunrise, and sometimes we need to exceed a pain threshold before we are ready to look at our businesses from a different perspective. Comfortable entrepreneurs are seldom open to change and learning, but when you’re bleeding enough, you might be ready to call the doctor. Just don’t wait until you have lost too much blood.

Joint Ventures is CPR for your cash flow, and DollarMakers is the doctor with the key to the blood bank, as well as the combination to the bank vault.