Scotiabank has a slogan, “You’re richer than you think” – I wholeheartedly concur.

Most of us focus on what we don’t want to happen, what we don’t like, our fears, and the bad things in our lives. You only have to open any newspaper (do people still read those?) or turn on CNN to see how bad news dominates the thoughts of the average person.

The fact is that you have access to wealth and prosperity of which you’re probably blissfully unaware.

Bear with me, and you will see both the logic in my statement and the way to turn problems and goals into hard cash.

A Mind-blowing Epiphany for Entrepreneurs

We’ve all heard the truism, “Business is finding a need and filling it”, so people rush out and find a product or service to sell, or they buy or build a business to solve problems. Then they have to sell those products or services.

That’s why 87% of new business fail in the first five years and 87% of the remaining 87% fail in the next five years.

And that’s also why most “business owners” are in fact broke, self employed salespeople, and why most entrepreneurs either have money or time, but seldom both.

The problem is that they are working BACKWARDS.

Make Money Linking Problems to Solutions

The fact is that:

1. Everyone in the world has access to resources, and everyone knows many people who have access to resources. By the same token, everyone has problems, challenges, hopes, and dreams.
2. Every business is looking for more customers and more sales, and every business has excess inventory, perishable resources and other resources, hidden assets, and customers.

There is a proven way to create unlimited, residual wealth by linking supply and demand, solving those problems, and helping people reach their goals, without limitation, cost, risk, lots of time, or even selling – it’s called Brokering Joint Ventures.

I’ve been doing it for 22 years. Very few people understand how to do this, and that’s what DollarMakers is all about – teaching people to make money by simply introducing people to solutions and being paid.

Anyone Can Do It

Anyone, regardless of their circumstances, age, education, or background, and whether they have a business or not, can create wealth by setting up Joint Ventures.

Bill needs what Sally has, so you link Bill and Sally and get rewarded. This is not a new concept, and it can be as sophisticated or as simple as you like.

You Can Profit from What Others Don’t Know

Most small and medium sized businesses operate on about 10% of their potential net profit because they simply don’t understand the concept of Joint Ventures. It’s also why so many of them fail. Joint Ventures give businesses the edge and provide them with a way to dramatically increase their profits, while lowering their risk and overhead significantly.

In a world where we’re constantly told to slow down, dress down, calm down, pipe down, and keep your head down, with the controlled dumbing down of society to the lowest common denominator, let’s review the Winner’s Declaration, which I devised while riding my bike around Rocky Point this morning.

The Winner’s Declaration

“I accept that I am solely responsible for my present circumstances and predicament.

I have chosen my response to and my interpretation of all my options, and will continue to do so.

I acknowledge that my future will be whatever I decide to create through my own volition and choices.

I commit to remain true to my values, beliefs, and philosophy, and determine to advance tenaciously and steadfastly toward my personal goals without being diverted, slowed, or sabotaged by the opinions, words, or actions of other people.

I do not need the permission, endorsement, or agreement of any other person to achieve my objectives – I am the captain and purpose of my own life.

I accept the consequences, both good and bad, of my choices, and I progress confidently, boldly, and joyfully in the direction of my goals.

I believe in myself, I am my own best friend, and I answer only to my own conscience.

I will reach my own fullest potential. I expect to succeed. I am my own moral compass.”

Ayn Rand said:

“I swear, by my life and my love of it, that I will never live for the sake of another man, nor ask another man to live for mine.  A creative man is motivated by the desire to achieve, not by the desire to beat others. Happiness is that state of consciousness which proceeds from the achievement of one’s values.”

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

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

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

Napoleon Hill said:

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

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

The Koi Principle

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

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

Who Will You Be in 5 Years?

Charles Jones said:

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

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

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

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

Meet the Right People

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

Your network certainly does determine your net worth.

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

Read the Right Books

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

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

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

Engineer Your Environment

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

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

Time will tell.

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.

Think of a specific amount of money that would make a dramatic and exciting difference in your life.

Now imagine that you knew, without a shadow of a doubt, that you and your entire family would be tortured to death in a horrible manner (think of the movie, “Saw”) if you didn’t achieve that specific, exciting financial goal within exactly three months.

What would you do?

Could you achieve that goal?

Imagine your beloved kids having their podgy little paws severed, and you’ll quickly start making new choices. (Did that get your attention?)

More importantly:

• What would you do differently?
• What would you change?
• What would you stop doing?
• What would you start doing?
• Who would you call?
• What would you suddenly be prepared to do under those circumstances that you refuse to do now?

Most of us are too lazy, content, comfortable, and timid to do things outside of our comfort zone, and we allow our low self-esteem and fear of embarrassment to keep us from the wonderful achievements that we could accomplish.

It’s About Getting Out of Your Comfort Zone

Instead of sending you to a shrink (who is usually even more screwed up than we are), putting you through a motivational seminar every morning of your life, or chasing you around with a large, spiky stick, I suggest the easier route is to take the time to imagine the terrible consequences of remaining in your comfortable little molehill of mellow, yellow mediocrity.

When you play this game, you start to see all sorts of real options you might not previously have had the guts to confront.

Is It You Can’t or You Won’t?

You see, our biggest barrier isn’t the fact that we can’t accomplish something, but rather the fact that we won’t, because of our fear of other people’s opinions. Scary, I know, but true. We don’t fear failure per se; we fear the reactions of others if we were to fail. “What would they say? I would feel so embarrassed!”

How much more embarrassed would you feel if you learned that you had six months to live (watch “Breaking Bad”), and you had been too bashful, self-absorbed, and apathetic to provide adequately for your family when you had the opportunity?

Try this one: Imagine you get hit by a heavy truck while meandering across a busy street in the rain, so you’re confined to a wheelchair and can’t speak, and your fifty-something, arthritic wife has to work as a shelf packer at Safeway in the day and a cleaner at MacDonald’s at night to support your pathetic asset? (Problem is, there are so many useless men already living off their wives…)

Consider Your Real Alternatives

Playing head games frees us up to consider our real alternatives, to weigh up our present use of time and resources, and to think outside the box. We need to mentally exceed our pain threshold in order to imagine the unimaginable.

Playing this “torturous consequences” game allows us to peek out from under our moldy old security blanket and realize that we’re using around 4% of our potential, and that the lies we’ve been telling ourselves about what we can’t do are really just self delusion.

Think of Ricky Bobby in “Talladega Nights”, when he convinced himself he was paralyzed – a hilarious hospital scene that has a serious ring of truth to it. We all suffer from self-deception. When he stuck a real knife into his thigh to prove his point to his friends, he had a painful awakening.

Make Your Excuse Irrelevant

Yes, you can achieve magnificent goals, and all the barriers are just in your head. DollarMakers teaches how you can achieve any financial goals with no cost or risk, so all those weak excuses are no longer relevant. If only you can believe it to be so. Hence the dramatic imagination game.

If you have a vivid imagination and take the time to really get yourself into this head game, you might be amazed at what you could accomplish. Suddenly, you would do things that you currently avoid like the proverbial plague, not because you can’t do them, but because you fear the opinions of people who really don’t give a damn, don’t care, don’t notice, and don’t matter.

Get over yourself, get over your mental barriers, and get down to the bank to cash in on your grossly underutilized potential. Some once said. “THINK and grow rich…”

Antoine de Saint-Exupery said:

“A rock pile ceases to be a rock pile the moment a single man contemplates it, bearing within him the image of a cathedral.”

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.

• Are we affected by the people with whom we associate?
• Do we learn and lose by “osmosis?”
• Can it be that we earn within 10% of the people we spend the most time with?
• Have you noticed that the level of success of a person determines the level of people they attract into their lives?
• Are we, in fact, mental magnets?
• Is it true that we are being contaminated by our surroundings, input, and associations anyway, whether we like it or not, and that we get to choose our contamination?

Of course it is true.

Like Attracts Like

Like attracts like. Opposites repel. We are rightly judged by the company we keep, because your friends tell me who you are.

When someone hosts a Bootcamp, the people in the Bootcamp are a reflection of the quality of the host. People recruit people like themselves – the automatic mirror effect.

The Dangers of Third Hand Smoke

My wife is allergic to nicotine. She sat in the front seat of a car being driven by a friend, and a smoker got onto the back seat, still stinking of smoke from her last fix. Rika’s eyes were red for two days. Even though the smoker wasn’t smoking in the car, it was enough to contaminate the other passengers.

See this article about the dangers of Third Hand Smoke, and ask yourself if you will allow your children into the home of a smoker. Probably not, if you love your kids.

Input Influences EVERYTHING

I am contaminated by the books I read, the movies I watch, the people I meet, and the communications I handle, whether or not I want to believe it to be so.

• Positive contamination propels me like rocket fuel towards my objectives.
• Negative contamination poisons the well, dilutes my efforts, sabotages my work, and drags me in the opposite direction.

When I spend time with winners, I leave feeling buoyed up, motivated, inspired, and enthusiastic. After spending time with losers, I feel like I need ten hot showers and a mouthwash. Purge your life of leeches.

Do These Two Things

Monitor your input / contamination for a week, then do two things: remove bad stuff and replace it with good stuff.

That simple. Not rocket science. Not hard to do.

• Resign, as I did, from organizations, clubs, and fraternities that don’t share your philosophy and aspirations.
• Break relationships off with losers, whiners, parasites, and victims.
• Seek out champions and producers, and build strong relationships with them.
• Read good books.

Before you know it, you will feel like a million bucks. You’ll have more energy, bigger goals, and less frustration. Atlas, don’t hesitate to shrug when it’s appropriate.

Winston Churchill said:

“I am certainly not one of those who need to be prodded. In fact, if anything, I am the prod.”

There are two kinds of people in the world – the prodders and the prodded.

• 1% are prodders – those who make it happen and sometimes feel like they are pulling a train when prodding others.
• The 99% are the employee type who are much like lazy donkeys – if they are not continually prodded, they stop dead and vegetate, wallowing in putrid justification.

Winners…

Winners take the initiative and strike out, whether followed or not.

• They don’t have to reminded, supported, woken up, encouraged, cajoled, tempted, threatened, bribed, begged, or motivated.
• They are internally motivated.
• They will succeed regardless of the circumstances they face.
• They don’t rely on other people.
• They don’t make excuses.
• They don’t need prodding.
• They like this quote: “For every person who doubts you and  tells you that you will fail, try twice as hard to prove them wrong.”
• They succeed in spite of the losers that let them down and attack them, and they never quit. They are like the little engine that could. They persist in the face of adversity.
• They are the optimists, the creators, the producers, the pioneers.
• They make things happen.
• They don’t wait for permission, support, or the best circumstances.

Winners make the world go round.

They hate prodding the prodded, but they understand it’s a necessity of life, like cleaning the oven.

Losers…

Losers constantly look for excuses to retreat, rest, and relax.

• They quickly run out of energy, ideas, resolve, and hope.
• They love quitting and then blaming other people, their circumstances, and the weather.
• They need prodding to breathe.
• They are the parasites, the leeches, the stone in your shoe.
• They are not in charge of their emotions or thoughts, tossed this way and that by the popular fads and fixes.
• They run with the herd, and are loyal only to comfort and instant gratification, much like animals.

The Prodders versus the ProdDEAD

Winners are loyal visionaries. They remember who helps them (and who hurts them.) They attract like-minded prodders into their lives. They tolerate the prodded only to the extent that they have to in order to accomplish their goals, but they have only disdain for those who choose to be victims instead of victors.

Winners are reliable and professional. They don’t compromise or sell out, and they create wealth, health, and happiness for the world. They are the prodders – the true champions – and they shrug off the vilification of the prodded who benefit from their creations yet attack them out of jealousy. They interpret PROD as:

Produce  Results  Or  Die

They are goal-oriented, creative, and self-motivated.

Be the Prod

If you are a prodder, you will relate to this short article. My purpose is to remind you that you are not alone, and that soon, Atlas will Shrug, and you should strongly align yourself with other prodders to be well positioned for that exciting time. Tolerate the prodded for now – they are necessary for the moment. Galt’s Gulch is waiting. Be the prod - the producer.