Rika loves garage sales. It’s a beautiful spring day, and we go for a walk. Along the way, we see… A GARAGE SALE! Suddenly, as we meander along past the tables laden with other people’s trash, we both notice something on one of the tables that once changed our lives.

The Program that Changed Our Lives

Many years ago in South Africa, we imported the Anthony Robbins Personal Power Program from America. Because of the exchange rate and import duties, it was expensive, and it took a long time to receive it. We were very excited and listened to it over and over again. It changed our lives dramatically and resulted in personal understanding and choices and a video program that made us tens of thousands of dollars. We still live by the principles we learned from that wonderful program.

Throwing Away a Fortune

And there it was, in all its glory! The Anthony Robbins program, in pristine condition, with the little workbook and everything, at a garage sale!  That’s like putting your most precious, inherited, priceless, irreplaceable family jewels on a garage sale.

I was stunned. Rika and I both reached forward simultaneously to grab the program.

I looked at the character behind the table, early fifties, torn T-shirt, and asked him. “Why are you selling this fantastic program?”

His reply should have been expected, but I was still shocked. “I didn’t even finish listening to it - I don’t believe that stuff - that a 20-something could make all that money - it’s rubbish.”

When I recovered I asked, “So how much do you want for it?”

“I paid $139″, he scowled,”But you can have it for eight - say five dollars.”

On the way out of the garage sale, clutching my treasure, I noticed that the event was held at a Co-op housing place.

Most Never Even Cross the Finish Line

Naturally, I am re-listening to the entire program and loving every minute of it, and on the first tape Tony Robbins mentions that only 10% of the people who invest in the program will finish listening to it.

There’s a reason why that loser lives in government subsidized co-op housing. He was handed the keys to a magnificent mansion in the form of the Tony Robbins program, and he discarded it, probably in favor of a joint and a hockey game on TV. It was “too good to be true”.

Guess when he started scowling? When he saw my DollarMakers ball cap. Bitter and twisted, trapped in his cynicism, and poor.

It’s NEVER Too Late To Break Free

Although I was disgusted at this specimen that devalued something as life-changing as that Tony Robbins program, I really do pity him, and deep down inside I know that it’s not too late for him to break free of his present situation, if, indeed, he wants to break free. Many people have missed the boat, and yet they could still escape their compromised lives if they had the tools, given that they want their freedom from serfdom, mediocrity, and lives of quiet desperation.

As I type this, I have just finished writing my latest book, “Break Free!” and it will soon be available. Perhaps it should be very expensive, instead of the usual $20, since $139 didn’t get the attention of a young man who held his future in his hands all those years ago.

The truth will set you free, and the source is unimportant. When the student is ready, the teacher will appear - even in the form of an old audio tape program at a garage sale. It’s never too late to start living and to break free.

Logically, if one continues to accept the beliefs and philosophy that got one into a pickle in the first place, one’s trajectory won’t change. Any rational person accepts that if we keep on doing the same things, we will keep on getting the same results.

Change Starts in the Mind

To break free we have to change a few things, starting with one’s understanding of money.

All change starts off in one’s mind. Believe it or not, we don’t have money problems; we have thinking problems.

5 Simple, Doable Steps to Freedom

When our lives are so complicated and scary, when we’re sleep-deprived, drained, and weakened, complicated, time-consuming solutions are not the best medicine; one needs simple, quick, cheap, doable fixes to build a ladder out of the dark, dank dungeon of dejection, rung by rung.

First, take personal responsibility for your predicament, and accept full responsibility for the solution. Then, start climbing the ladder to laughter, light, and luxury:

Rung #1: Visit www.JVWisdom.com and consume as much as you can about Joint Ventures. You will find heaps of valuable, free information and videos. Share this information with your family.

Rung #2: Choose a Joint Venture strategy that you feel comfortable with, and start taking consistent, focused action.

Rung #3: Accept that some of your Joint Ventures will work, and some won’t, but since they take little time, and given that they entail no cost or risk, you have nothing to lose and everything to learn and gain, so don’t quit – keep on keeping on.

Rung #4: Surround yourself with successful people and kick the pessimists, losers, and parasites out of your life. Start reading “Atlas Shrugged” by Ayn Rand.

Rung #5: Repeat rungs 1 though 4 until you emerge, victorious, into the glorious sunlight, having broken free from financial slavery, and breathe the fresh air of freedom, peace of mind, and security. I did, and you can, too. It’s not too late.

Many years ago, I was on the brink of bankruptcy. It’s a very scary feeling, unless you’re a dyed in the wool sociopath. I will never forget the sleepless nights, having to plead with bankers whose arrogance was exceeded only by their ignorance, and how the only way out was hard, 24/7 WORK.

Why did I totter on the brink of a flaming financial furnace?

High overhead, all my eggs in one basket, relying on other people, and refusing to confront reality; we all like to hide our heads in the sand at times. And when you extract your head from the sand, you find that the house has burned down around you. Fortunately, I managed to escape the jaws of bankruptcy, and I swore that I would never put myself in that position again.

Falling Hard with a “Successful” MLM

It’s interesting that pride always comes before the fall.

We knew a fellow in Edmonton a few years back who was making big money selling a magic health juice through an MLM company. Naturally, they made wild, silly claims about their juice, which was soon replaced by another juice from another company. Different packaging, same snake oil.

Well, as with most products and services, the juice ended up in Wal-Mart for a fraction of the price, and that was the end of this fellow’s arrogance and swollen head.

He lost pretty much everything, because, typical of the nouveau riche, he felt he had to lease expensive cars and buy the bling to convince other dumb people that he was making money.

It Happens in Traditional Business Too

I know someone in the UK who put every ounce of his energy and every penny he had saved into building a business. He had a great reputation, delivered excellent service, and was admired by many.

One day, a big customer showed up and started giving him large orders that required that he expand his premises and increase his production and overhead in order to cope.

Soon, the new customer brought him 85% of his business.

Slowly, this powerful customer insisted paying on him after 60 days instead of 30 days, then 90 days, thereby putting the squeeze on his cash flow.

One winter day, the customer showed up with an offer to buy the business for a mere pittance.

He was offered two options: “Sell me your business for pennies on the pound, or I will take all my business away and bankrupt you.”

This is not an unheard of story. He ended up in debt and despondency after selling his business, having to start all over again at the age of 63.

Job: Selling Your Life for “Security”

Having a boss is the same thing – handing over the control of your life, income, security, and dreams to one or a few people is crazy.

Many entrepreneurs are glad to sell themselves into slavery and bondage for the promise of enough money, and they forget that while power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely.

Don’t buy a golden leash – it might look impressive to your cranky old mother-in-law, but there’s a slip knot on it, and it can end up choking the life out of your finances.

Be Willing to Work for It… And Then Work SMARTLY.

It amazes me how easily vulnerable people will commit themselves to large amounts of money, debt, and suicidal indenture for the sake of a free trip, accolades, and false hope. I think the main reason why people will gamble their future financial freedom is the idea of a quick buck – greed and indolence at work.

Hard work is not something most people are comfortable with, even when they know that working hard for a year can allow you financial freedom for the rest of your life, if you’re moving in the right direction.

What It Takes to Weather the Storm

The combination of arrogance and greed with having all your eggs in one proverbial basket is a recipe for failure. Today’s expensive fad is mass produced and sold in malls tomorrow.

Companies, competition, and economies come and go, and people come and go. Floods, fires, changes in laws and governments, offshore competition, new technology, and the blatant disregard of patents by certain nations means we live in a changing, dangerous world. Nothing lasts forever, and business is a series of cycles, like the seasons.

Those who spread their income and risk and maintain a low overhead can weather storms; when one section or area of business suffers, another prospers. That means no feast or famine, chicken or feathers, rollercoaster cash flow.

Why Joint Venture Brokers Have It Made

Joint Venture Brokers can participate in multiple different markets, products, services, and cultures simultaneously, with no cost, risk, overhead, or limitations except their understanding of profit, value, and business.  Typically, they are very selective, and they maintain a mature, objective approach to business.

Everything they earn is 100% profit, and they don’t have to allow themselves to be manipulated or ripped off, since they always have other options due to the nature of their business. They have the money as well as the time to enjoy it.

Savvy Businesses Use Joint Venture to Explode Their Bottom Line

Business owners who understand how Joint Ventures can be used to leverage existing resources can significantly lower their overheads and advertising and marketing budgets, while at the same time building multiple additional income flows at 100% profit. The more sophisticated operators use their front / primary businesses as “feeders” for their lucrative Joint Ventures.

Your Most Valuable Asset

The most valuable assets you have in business are your relationships, and those who understand the power of synergy, leverage, and Joint Ventures seldom walk away from good relationships or allow greed and ego to steal their futures. Together, we can do amazing things, and it’s always better to have 5% of millions than 100% of $1,000 with no support or leverage.

Keeping all your eggs in one basket is tantamount to Russian roulette.

Sailors beware! Pirates, storms, and rocks! Let this short article be your lighthouse.

Save much time, money, frustration, disappointment, and even bankruptcy, while speeding up your progress and making a lot more money by sailing your ship past these sandbanks and dangers. Avoid these ten risks, landmines, and pitfalls in business, and you can navigate a successful voyage to your Treasure Island.

After 22 years of working with thousands of business owners, I have discovered that you can definitely learn from the mistakes of others.

Risk #1 - Things Susceptible to Undercutting or Short Life-Spans.

Avoid fads, trends, gimmicks, and products that can be duplicated, knocked off, reengineered, and produced cheaper. Remember, the Chinese provide no patent law protection. “Today, it sells for a fortune – tomorrow, it’s in Wal-Mart.”

Look for long-term stability and growth.

Services usually provide higher margins and more stability.

Risk #2 - Selling Your Time.

Selling your time is not smart, unless you’re a famous film star or sports star. Remember that time is your most valuable, irreplaceable resource.

Be a general and work strategically, not a soldier in the trenches. Use your head, not your hands. Use leverage. DollarMakers teaches people how to use leverage through Joint Ventures.

Risk #3 - Bad People.

Jim Rohn famously said that:

“there are only eight bad people in the whole world, but they get around a lot.”

Sociopaths and scam artists are usually very friendly and convincing. Do your due diligence and work on referral.

DollarMakers Joint Venture Broker Club Members that are dishonest get fired when we discover them. Your reputation and fortune are at stake. “When my enemies become your friends, you, too, become my enemy.”

Don’t choose the wrong people to work with. Evaluate them carefully.

Risk #4 - Buying a Franchise or a Distributorship.

We teach our students how to get the same benefits, and more, at no cost whatsoever!

Risk #5 - “Investing” Schemes.

Avoid “Investing” in “Foreign Currency” schemes and other spurious, “Tax Break” schemes and dreams - don’t let urgency and greed blind you to obvious rip-offs.

Risk #6 - Start Ups.

Avoid buying mass-marketed real estate properties that aren’t built yet, especially in third world countries, is very risky.

The same goes for business start-ups and new inventions – I don’t even consider them. Their failure rate is extremely high.

Risk #7 - Having All Your Eggs In One Basket

Keeping all your eggs in one basket is probably the most risky thing you can do in today’s business world.

As a Joint Venture Broker, you can build multiple income streams and diversify across different industries, products, services, economies, and countries.

Risk #8 - Being Lead by the Blind.

Taking advice from the wrong people  is just plain silly.

Never take advice from someone who is more screwed up than you are, and always learn only from someone who already has what you want. Poor people can’t tell you how to get rich, and more than a bank manager can.

Risk #9 - Poor Thinking.

The wrong philosophy about life and money will sink your ship faster than ten giant torpedoes. Maintain the right attitude and mix only with winners.

Risk #10 - Quitting.

Quitting too soon is the mark of a loser. Most people give up three feet from the gold.

Avoid Risk by Becoming a Joint Venture Broker

In spite of warnings, the best motives and intentions, and well-planned strategies, the future is unpredictable, and things go wrong in the real world.

DollarMakers teaches people how to create unlimited wealth, financial freedom, and peace of mind through the use of Joint Ventures regardless of your background, age, experience, or circumstances, and whether you have a business or not.

Joint Ventures is the best way I have found to create financial success.  I run DollarMakers with no cost, risk, overhead, employees, inventory, or risk. This is a great business to be in.

I am a bit of a Luddite compared to many people.

Friday afternoon I decided to rent a GPS along with a car to get from Calgary Airport to my hotel. I had never used a GPS before, and I was amazed at how it guided me effortlessly and faultlessly on  35 minute trip through Friday afternoon traffic, rain, road construction, etc., in a city that I had never had the dubious pleasure of driving in before. It revealed an analogy to me…

DollarMakers is designed to be your retirement GPS system. Here are some interesting analogies:

#1 - Linking to Current Conditions

The GPS System is linked to satellites, and has up-to-date information on the roads.

Many so-called “Mentors” and “Coaches” are regurgitating outdated ideas that don’t work. DollarMakers is on the cutting edge of Joint Ventures, partnered internationally with very successful mentors and business leaders, and well aware of current conditions, opportunities, and pitfalls.

#2 - You Are Never Alone

The GPS system talks to you and customizes your route. The voice is impersonal, relaxed, objective, and rational. When, on two occasions, I missed the turnoff route, it simply said, “Recalibrating…” and issued an alternative. I was never alone or left hung out to dry. It was very forgiving.

DollarMakers is a successful, 22-year-old company, and our JV partners are successful people. We’re not scraping the barrel for a quick buck or pressuring naïve and unsuspecting victims for their money. Our motive is to help you achieve your goals by reaching your destination, because, as Zig Ziglar said:

“You can get anything you want out of life if you’re prepared to help enough other people to get what they want.”

#3 - Arriving by The Shortest Possible Route

You can rest assured that the GPS will guide you to your destination by the shortest possible route. Learn from our mistakes, avoid the landmines and the rip-off artists, and fast-track your success. I didn’t second-guess the GPS, believe you me. We have realistic expectations and the experience to guide you.

#4 - A Trusted Partner

You have a trusted partner with you on your journey, not some fool who is holding the wrong,  outdated map upside down, can’t find his reading glasses, and expects you to turn after you passed the turnoff ramp, while giving you conflicting instructions and belittling you for wasting gas and time, and ending up parked in the middle of nowhere, out of gas and in a bad temper, where he picks your pocket and then blames you for his poor guidance.

#5 - Adjusting for Conditions

When the traffic was heavy or I missed a turnoff, the GPS would adjust it’s arrival time accordingly. It didn’t tease me or rebuke me for taking longer than expected – it was patient and persistent.

In life and business, things don’t always work out perfectly – one hits traffic lights, construction sites, accidents, wrong turns, and bad weather, but one doesn’t abandon one’s car in the middle of traffic and flounce off down the road, blaming the GPS system for one’s lack of character and intelligence. That’s what losers do, and we have met our share of them. It doesn’t change the fact that the GPS is correct.

#6 - A Customizable System

The GPS took me to MY destination, not the destination of the GPS – it didn’t have some hidden agenda, and it customized my route specially for me. DollarMakers is a customizable system, with flexible options and multiple opportunities.

DollarMakers is Your Retirement GPS

DollarMakers has all you need to succeed, and we are continually innovating and creating new material, tools, support, and connections for our valued Members and Joint Venture partners. We walk our talk.

If I decided to buy a GPS system, I would buy the most expensive one available, and I would commit myself to following its instructions to the letter, resting assured that as long as I did so, I would arrive, eventually, at my destination.

If you want to retire and achieve financial freedom, and you’re prepared to do whatever it takes and follow a proven system without quitting, DollarMakers can be your personal GPS - your own, personalized guidance system.

Jim Rohn once talked on an audio tape about how one could theoretically complete an entire university degree while commuting to and from work, simply by listening to tapes.

Putting “Time Vampires” to the Stake

If you work out how much time we waste watching mindless TV shows and sport, and listening to brain dead DJ’s and media propaganda on the radio, it’s amazing how much time we waste. And time is our most valuable, irreplaceable resource.

Get rid of what Dan Kennedy calls “Time Vampires”. If every minute cost you $100, would you spend it so easily? Yet it is worth far more than that.

“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma - which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of other’s opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.” ~ Steve Jobs

Avoiding a Bitter Ending

As we get older, we start to realize the value of time, and how much we have wasted. Kids grow up, we get old and fragile, and time moves inexorably on.

We don’t want to live in regret, like those who wait to enjoy their lives, and when they finally have the time and money, their health is gone. NOW is the time to enjoy your life, because who knows what tomorrow brings?

Before you know it, you’re old and bitter, your strength and vitality is depleted, and your relationships soured. You can avoid that.

Joint Venture Brokers Use Leverage - Not Time!

The big thief of time is working too hard and too long to make too little money. This can be solved by becoming a Joint Venture Broker, where you can leverage other peoples’ time, resources and money in order to become financially free. Work smart, not hard. Instead of selling your time like a paid slave, use your brain and leverage.

“For every minute spent in organizing, an hour is earned.”

Linking Problems with Solutions

Time well spent is a great investment in your future, and in terms of money, the beauty of being a Joint Venture Broker is that you can work any time of the day or night, using the phone and the Internet, while driving or waiting for things.

There is no more excuse for JV Brokers to say, “I didn’t have time”, because you’re not selling time – you’re linking people and opportunities, delegating, introducing, and managing relationships, like  general in the army, rather than a soldier in the trenches.

The meetings you do have in person can be worth a thousand times what an employee or time salesman can earn in an hour.

Break Free with Your Own Joint Venture Broker Business

I can run my JV Broker business from anywhere in the world, in one hour a day. Sure, it takes time and work to get to that level, but isn’t it worth working hard for one year on your brokerage, and then working one hour a day to maintain your freedom? Better, I think, than working like a slave until you drop dead, which is the future for many people, especially in this new economy and with the direction governments are taking us.

You Only Get Today ONCE

Don’t be a clone and a robot – break free, so that you can spend your own time as you wish, where you wish, with whom you wish. Today is the first day of the rest of your life, and it will never return. Life is not a dress rehearsal – you only get today ONCE. One life. One chance. It’s not too late to change.

A sparkling new week smiles at us, pregnant with exciting new opportunities, unlimited wealth, and wonderful experiences. The future beckons kindly with the offer of beautiful dreams, fun, and growth.

• Will you take up your sword, slay your dragons of fear, and boldly step up onto the stage of life? You can, you know.
• Or you can remain, as Roy Williams suggests, in the small pen of your choosing and compare yourself to littler men.

A New Perspective on “Failure”

Perhaps you fear “Failure”. In fact, you don’t fear failure per se – you fear the opinions of other people.

Tell me, if there were no other people in the world, would you still fear failure? How do you define failure, anyway? Here’s a good way:

“I only fail when I decide to quit, and if I decide to quit, I haven’t failed – I have simply got bored and chosen another goal.”

You can change your plans and your method of achieving your goals, it’s your life, and you can change your mind any time you like.

Getting Boxed In By Goal Setting

Too many people think goals are limited entities, such as “I want to lose twenty pounds.” While it’s important to have measurable, specific, time-sensitive goals, the REAL goal is to lose weight and feel healthier and more energetic, isn’t it?

Ultimately, your goal is freedom, happiness, integrity, health, good relationships, and congruency.

The world is flexible, changing, and dynamic. Don’t get hung up on the details. We have to adjust and ride the waves of life with our own values as our guiding light.

Being the best we can be, without compromising our values and guided by our philosophy, is what it is all about. Enjoy the ride of life. It’s short.

Start Living It Your Way

We create wealth to enjoy freedom, not to create wealth.

We create freedom so that we can live congruent lives.

Living according to our own values is what makes us happy – doing what is important to US, not some boss or witchdoctor or politician. It’s not about a hockey team or a disgruntled, resentful, jealous relative – it’s about YOU. It’s YOUR life, and you only have one, and it’s running out, and it’s time to start living it your way.

Moving Ahead Boldly

Exciting goals make exciting lives.

• Watch the movies, “Yes Man”, and “Patton”.
• Read the book, “The Fountainhead”.
• Face your fears, remove the victims, snakes, and parasites from your life, and move boldly ahead.

This is your time. You don’t have to explain, justify, or pacify anyone. Those who truly love you will support you and encourage you. They will want you to be happy, and we can only be truly happy when we are in charge of our own lives.

Happiness For Me…

Happiness for me is spending time with my loved ones, PG Tips tea with a ginger biscuit, skiing down a mountain, helping others to help themselves to make their dreams come true, and wondering in a forest.

I live according to my own philosophy, not someone else’s agenda.

I achieve my own goals if and when I want to, and I answer to nobody. I am a soldier, not a politically correct, passive aggressive sycophant. I freely, frequently, change my mind.

Freedom is Your Right and Privilege

Don’t deny yourself the joy of emotional and mental independence and freedom – it is your right and privilege.

Rise from the stupor of negative conditioning.

Break the cotton candy bonds of timidity and embarrassment.

Smash out of the fragile bubble of limited thinking and false guilt, take up your shiny sword of purpose, and skip feely down the winding daisy path of self-fulfillment.

You deserve it.

Start to question, “Are You Happy With Your Life?”

In order to achieve a new situation in life, we have to remember that a mind once stretched will never return to its original dimensions, and that all meaningful change starts with a question.

We have to ask ourselves if the status quo in our lives is what we truly want, and if our present philosophy and world view is going to get us to where we honestly and deeply want to be.

We have to ask ourselves just:

• how free we really are,
• how free we want to be,
• and how our perceptions and beliefs will have to change in order to facilitate the new journey we wish to take.

Beware: We’re Programmed to Not Question

Because the seething herd of humanity is programmed to viciously ostracize those who question the feasibility, indeed the sanity, of blind faith and conformity, we have to summon the courage to ask these questions.

Anything that threatens the current, outdated beliefs of true believers who doggedly hold on to medieval myths, legends, and superstitions is quickly suppressed. You should be aware of this.

The outright rejection of logic and rational, independent thought is the hallmark of the established system of paid slavery, the oppression of freedom, and mass mind control by the media and the mystics, which are owned by banks and managed by their puppet politicians.

Beware:  We’re Programmed to Believe What We’re Taught

We believe what we have been taught to believe, not what we personally, independently  deducted from the facts all around us. We have been told lies to keep us bound, blind, tired, in debt, and afraid:

• “You have to risk a lot to make a lot.”
• “Money doesn’t grow on trees.”
• “The root of all evil is money.”
• “You have to work hard for many years in order to be financially free.”
• “You don’t deserve to be rich.”
• “Keep up with the Jones.”
• “Serve your country.”
• “From each according to his ability, to each according to his need.”
• “Self sacrifice is good. “
• “You need to be educated by the existing educational structure.”
• “Don’t question your leaders. We know what is best for you.”
• “Toe the line.”
• “The nail that stands up gets knocked down…”

Nonsense.

Question everything.

Krishnamurti said:

“All authority of any kind, especially in the field of thought and understanding, is the most destructive, evil thing. Leaders destroy the followers and followers destroy the leaders. You have to be your own teacher and your own disciple. You have to question everything that man has accepted as valuable, as necessary.”

Dependency, exploitation, and attachment are forms of slavery. Only parasites, sluggards, and masochists revel in slavery.

Question everything.

Don’t wait until you’re too old, too scared, and too weak to change. Question now.

Anyone who says, “Mine not to reason why; mine but to do and die” is already dead. Blind faith is not laudable – it’s stupid.

The Path to Freedom

The path to real freedom is not to be found in a cult or a college. Krishnamurti said:

“Most of us begin with certainty and as we grow older the certainty changes to uncertainty and we die with uncertainty. But if one begins with uncertainty, doubting, questioning, asking, demanding, with real doubt about man’s behavior, about all the religious rituals and their images and their symbols, then out of that doubt comes the clarity of certainty.”

Perhaps it’s your time to question, to rethink, and to redirect your life’s path.

When it comes to money, DollarMakers is here to help you achieve freedom through the symbiotic, synergistic, rational, interdependent system of Joint Ventures.