So I recently talked with a young man named Blake. Blake told me he was looking for a “wonderful job”. So I asked him to describe this most wonderful job to me.

His description included: autonomy, working on his own program, to his own schedule, lots of money, of course, and travel, the ability to use his creativity, bonuses for innovation, etc. He wanted lots of freedom, but he said he works very hard. He also said he was creative, professional, and dedicated. I asked him what kind of boss he wanted. He replied with:

“Someone who really understands me, allows me to play to my strengths, and encourages me”

I told him, “You know what, Blake? You can have a job exactly like that. I know how you can get it. In fact, you can design your own job description, and you can even decide how much you will earn, including rewards for innovation, creativity, and professionalism. What’s more, I have the perfect boss for you - someone who really knows you, and more than that, CARES about you!” He was bouncing off the walls with excitement, begging to hear more.

I said, “The boss is YOU. Your own business. Total freedom, along with total responsibility, no limitations, and the world at your feet.”

At this point he predictably became angry. He said he wanted the “SECURITY” of a paycheck.

I answered…

“You should trust yourself more than anyone else in the world, Blake. Why would you feel more secure handing your life and income to someone else who doesn’t care about you? Is your self-esteem really so low? Here’s the real question, Blake: You know yourself, your abilities, and your work ethic. Would YOU hire YOU? If you would, here’s your perfect opportunity - start your own business - employ yourself!”

Guess what his next objection was - “It’s so risky to start a business.”

I agree completely. That’s why I teach people to start the best business in the world - no overhead, no risk, unlimited potential, flexibility, creativity, income, and freedom: being a Joint Venture Broker. Say no more!

On the news this morning I heard about a Cuban man who has tried to get into the US twenty-eight times , risking his life every time . He has seen many others die in the process. This is nothing new .  Mexicans die every day trying to reach their objective of starting a new life in the US. These brave people literally risk their lives to achieve their goals. They are fully aware of the risk. How motivated are YOU to reach your goals?

Six years ago, a woman sent me an e mail from South Africa (the situation there is far worse than either Mexico or Cuba, and it deteriorates daily.) Her husband had lost his job and couldn’t get another one due to affirmative action, she had been mugged three times, and their teenage daughters were being harassed and exposed to the risk of rape every day on their way to school. They saw their community falling to pieces around them as violence and crime escalated out of control, and they were in financial difficulties. They decided to immigrate to Canada, but they didn’t have enough money, so they were declined. The only way out was more money, so her husband left her a suicide note and blew his head off with a shotgun so that there would be enough life insurance money for them to immigrate to Canada and save themselves. The ultimate sacrifice.

People Risk Their Lives for What We Have.

These are perhaps extreme examples, but they are happening every day. If you live in North America or the UK, you have absolutely no reason not to get rich and make all your dreams come true. We are surrounded by freedom, abundance, safety, opportunity, and ease. Perhaps that’s why so many are obese, lazy, pathetic, weak, smoking complainers. Recently an American toddler was CRUSHED by an obese relative. Our biggest challenge is the Starbucks lineup or finding a parking space at the mall. Other people risk their lives for what we have.

Do you suppose someone who has risked their lives to immigrate will be a hard worker and highly motivated? Better than some loser who is only interested in benefits and smoke breaks, methinks. If we want to seriously stimulate the economies in Canada and the US, we should open the borders to South Africans, Mexicans, and Cubans. They know how to work. But that would be a major threat to the lazy majority, so it won’t happen. The only people complaining about outsourcing to foreign countries and begging to seal the borders are those who don’t see the wonderful entrepreneurial opportunities all around them. Why work in a factory or a job when you can get rich and enjoy the best in the world? But then you would have to risk, take responsibility, and work, like those Mexicans that some so easily mock.

Give yourself a check-up from the neck up. How motivated are YOU? You will succeed in direct proportion to your level of motivation. Or perhaps things have to get a lot worse before you realize your predicament? Crisis brings opportunity. It might kick some people out of their lethargy and wake them up. That could happen, so it’s perhaps wise to be prepared…

Robin J. Elliott

Let’s define a regular business - I’m not talking about being a self-employed salesman, like a financial planner, handyman, gift basket creator, consultant, coach, craftsman, website designer - someone who sells their own time. That is simply stupid, since you have limited time and it’s your most valuable resource, so you should NEVER sell it unless there is a significant back-end with huge leverage, and 99% of these people don’t have that in place. I’m talking about a business like a lube joint, a printing business, painting business, fencing business, restaurant, hotel, retail store, dry cleaner, hair salon.

Most regular businesses involve taking up a lot of your time, huge risk, limited income potential, “Feast or Famine” income cycles, employees, inventory, competition, and silly little profit margins. Most owners of these businesses make little money, or they make great money, but they have too little time to enjoy it. After dealing with thousands of business owners in different industries over many years, I think I have a pretty good idea of their challenges, limitations, and risk.

I Never Met a Dollar I Didn’t Like

I don’t want to deal with employees in a socialistic society where they have more legal protection than I do. I don’t want to deal with the increasing cost of overheads and advertising. I don’t want to deal with customers I don’t like or respect, just because I need their money. I don’t like risk, period. And I never met a dollar I didn’t like, so high profit is important to me. And at 55, living in beautiful British Columbia with a wonderful wife of 22 years, my time is too valuable to spend with anyone I don’t like and respect.

But if I HAD a regular business, I would use Joint Ventures to duplicate and leverage that business through the roof. Then I would sell it, and simply broker Joint Ventures, as I do now. I don’t want a franchisor who is really my boss, to tell me what to do and how to do it. I don’t want to deal with unscrupulous suppliers, off-shore competitors, difficult, brain dead  customers, or be at risk from changes in local laws, environment, buildings, politics, or weather that I can’t control. The world is changing, as you might have noticed. Conventional business has become extremely risky.

Even if you GAVE Me a Business - I Would Turn It Down.

If you GAVE me a business, ANY business, I would simply give it back. Don’t need it, don’t want it. Keep it. Over the years, I have been offered shares in businesses, pieces of business, you name it. Never made any sense to me. I have been that self-employed salesman, too, and I simply had too much self-respect to continue as a mercenary prostitute. I was quite ready to shoot a few of my esteemed “Consulting Clients” and swore I would never be desperate enough (or crazy enough) to debase myself like that again.

The reason why most people get into conventional small businesses is usually because they don’t know that they have an option - that’s why I’m a Joint Venture Broker. I do what I like, when I like, where I like, with whom I like, IF I like. My freedom is simply too important to me.

If you listen carefully to people, you will hear clues that allow you to set up lucrative Joint Ventures, whether they buy or sell. The role of the Joint Venture Broker is to solve problems by linking supply and demand. You need to know what people want in order to solve their problems, and that is accomplished by listening. You can dramatically enhance your listening skills by following a specific track and allowing people to tell you what they want.

The starting point to is to hear them say something about a difficulty, a pain, a problem, a challenge, or an irritation, some barrier they’re facing or some detour that is causing them to lose money. The areas of pain are freedom, money, and work/ business.

Next, get them to elaborate on their challenges by asking them open-ended questions and making notes about their replies. You want them to revel in their pain, recognize that they have a problem, and indicate their level of motivation to solve their problem. Ask how the issue affects them, their feelings about it, the impact on their family and the effect on their future; if they don’t solve the probelm, what consequences will they suffer, with the emphasis on the word, “suffer”? What will their lives look like in a few years if they remain on this slippery slope?

Then, ask them how things would change if you could provide them with a solution, the effect on themselves and their family, their peace of mind and security, and their future. Get them to elaborate and sell themselves on how good things would be if you helped them solve their problem. They are standing in an obnoxious,  mental pool of trouble, excruciatingly aware of it, and looking over the river at the beautiful place they could be, and you’re the bridge - you’re the middleman that is going to use Joint Ventures to solve their problem. They are now motivated and ready to work with you.

Take your time, focus, make notes, and don’t send e mails, watch TV or browse the Internet while listening. Don’t get distracted -  listen for the Hot Button - hear what they REALLY want. Then find a professional DollarMakers Member that can provide the solution, negotiate the money, get the agreement in place, link them up, and get paid. When your JV partners are well educated and ready, you can move fast to provide solutions and create more residual income. This afternoon I set up a trackable, lucrative JV in ten minutes. Why so easy? I know the person whom I called, he understands JV’s, and he does a great job. He’s a Member of DollarMakers, he[’s attended a Bootcamp, and he has a track record of being reliable. The trust is in place, so the JV was set up, win/win, fast. I estimate it will make me on average only about $600 - $900 per month on average, but for ten minutes, I reckon it’s worth it.

Let’s talk trilogies. We’ve all seen the movie trilogies, from junk like Legally Blonde to good stuff like The Godfather. Then you get evil trilogies, like Omorosa, Obama, and Osama (I’d add Absolut Vodka, but then it would be a tetralogy and it wouldn’t rhyme…), and good trilogies, like the boxing trilogies of the Muhammad Ali-Joe Frazier battles and the Riddick Bowe and Evander Holyfield fights. I’m not talking about those trilogies.

What I am talking about is a three-legged-stool analogy - every leg is equally necessary in order that the objective be accomplished. I believe the ideal trilogy is Freedom, Responsibility, and Creation. Simply put, we are responsible for ourselves and our own successes or failures in life. Responsibility means, “My ability and choice to respond to my circumstances, opportunities, and threats in any way I wish. Creation is production. We are creative beings, or, better still, becomings- we are responsible for our own creations and contributions, and we should be rewarded in direct proportion to the value we create. The more value we responsibly create, the more freedom we are granted, because we are (or should be) financially rewarded in reciprocation for our beneficence. Money buys power and freedom. This philosophy is the backbone of capitalism and freedom.

But does this always work? In an altruistic, collectivist society that attacks WalMart for being successful and worships smoking sluts that cavort naked with strange men in public (film stars), where losers, mystics, and parasites are more honored and loved than the CEO’s of companies that provide jobs for tens of thousands of people who are incapable of creative thinking, it’s sometimes hard to believe that we live in a capitalist, free world society in the west. The fact is, if you believe it, you need to MAKE it work. If your philosophy is like mine, you are obliged to live a congruent, uncompromised life, regardless of some of the frustrations encountered along the way.

Once we take responsibility for our pasts and our futures and understand that we are fully entitled to fair recompense for our production, once we demand freedom and insist on being allowed to live according to our philosophy, we shift to the top three percent in society. Then the top one percent. Naturally, that philosophy creates wealth, because a true Objectivist will not accept mediocrity and a second-rate lifestyle, handouts or less compensation than he or she is worth.

Understanding your own weltanschauung, choosing a philosophy that is both challenging and empowering at the same time, and demanding the right to live according to that philosophy, is another triumphant trilogy. The problem that people have with success and money is a thinking problem. The issue is not your circumstances but your world view. This philosophy will attract the enmity an jealousy of masses, as is evidenced on television on a daily basis, as we slowly slide into slimy socialism. But it’s well worth it. In her book, Atlas Shrugged, Ayn Rand clearly shows how it works, and I highly recommend you consider reading it if you are truly committed to success in your life.

As the singer tells us, it’s like love and marriage or a horse and carriage - you can’t have the one without the other; you need all the three legs of the stool - no exclusions: Freedom, Responsibility, and Creation. The motto, “Live Free or Die” appeals to me.

Robin J. Elliott
www.jvwisdom.com

There seem to be few men who have the courage to speak up in our gutless, weak, compromised society. When they do, I like to promote their words, if for no other reason than to strengthen and encourage others to be real. Sadly, one of the strongest has died. Thankfully, people like Glenn Beck is letting people know who Charlton Heston really was - a giant among men. I urge you to listen to (and read) this wonderful speech he delivered in 1999. If you have a smidgen of a backbone, you will love it.

Jeffrey Ressner writes, “And Heston has never shied away from controversy. In 1992, he condemned the infamous Ice-T rap song “Cop Killer,” then released by a Time Warner-distributed music label. Biting the hand that had fed him, Heston showed up at a Time Warner shareholders’ meeting at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel covered by this reporter. He lashed out against the giant corporation whose studio had cast him in so many movies.

He harshly admonished its top executives for releasing the song, then simply, eloquently read the lyrics. Few there had ever heard the actual words before, and as Heston recited the homicidal, anti-police rant inspired by the Rodney King assault, the room filled with his booming baritone. When he finished, the place was so stunned you could hear a pin drop.”

There’s another real man with a real brain out there. Christopher Hitchins is a beacon of hope and freedom. Read some of  his thoughts here. He pulls no punches, thank goodness. He addresses real issues of great importance with courage and panache. He contributes significantly to freedom, reason, sanity, and Capitalism through his great teachings and writings.

Have a look at the physical toll meth has had on these drug users. You can’t believe the changes in their face in such a short while, however the changes to their minds and hearts are even more devastating. This is all about selling out - the sacred exchanged for the profane, selling your birthright for a bowl of soup. The way of the ignorant, the desperate, the indolent; the prostitute, the mercenary. But before you judge, ask yourself what YOUR addiction is.

It all starts with the “Road Less Traveled” - a choice at a crossroads, and then the consistent choice to remain on that chosen path. And though the choice to leave that destructive path may get harder to make as time goes by, the level of pain also increases the motivation available to those who would recover their very souls.

Your addiction may be acceptance (usually from the wrong people), or comfort, or pride (not wanting to appear to fail), or your job - whatever it is, it’s taking you down the wrong road and you need a point of decision, a momentous moment, which is usually initiated by someone stronger and more objective about your present situation than you are. This is crucial; getting advice from a fellow prisoner or junkie seldom works. In the movie, School for Scoundrels, “Dr. P” asks his class, “How many of you read self-help books? You can’t help yourself, because you’ll be getting help from a complete asshole!” Actually, he’s right. We need a good mentor, and we need to continually, consistently, work on getting freed from our addictions. “So cut through the strap and the thong and the rope. Loosen the fastenings. Unbolt the doors of sleep and awake” - the Buddha.

The negative effects of compromising your values and ideals are even more destructive than meth or crack. And the resulting downward spiral of self-destruction can take you to a place where you no longer believe it’s possible to escape, so you cloak your fear and self-loathing in arrogance and cynicism. Your favorite retort becomes, “It’s simply too good to be true - a ripoff. Anyway, I don’t have time.” You’re right, in a way - you’re ripping yourself off and your time is running out. You deserve to reach your full potential. Your family deserves it. It’s not too late.

Come out of hiding. Too many of you are hiding in seminars, programs, dead-end jobs, and other poor excuses for procrastination and avoidance. Pull your head out of the sand and see the abundance of opportunities surrounding you. Get addicted to success.