It’s smart to take a few minutes to give yourself a status check.

Get into a quiet place and ask yourself some serious questions.  Here are fifty questions that will make you think.

1. What does your life look like, right now?
2. What will it look like in five year’s time?
3. How happy are you?
4. What is stopping you from being happy?
5. Why not get happy sooner?

If you read Kiyosaki’s “Conspiracy of the Rich” and realize that the world has changed dramatically, now is a very good time to take stock of your life.

It’s Time To Get Rich and Have Fun

Those who stumble along blindly from paycheck to paycheck, sinking deeper into debt, numbing their senses with tobacco and booze, living vicariously through sports teams, avoiding reality, and channeling their passive aggression into liberal politics, are in for a sudden and rude awakening.

You don’t have to join them in squalor and servitude. It’s time to get rich and have fun.

It’s Not To Late

Most people only make changes in their lives when they exceed their pain threshold – the pain of remaining where they are is exceeded by the pain of change – or when forced to do so by external circumstances.

But the frog in boiling water never looks at the temperature as it rises, and he cooks before he can escape.

He misses the train to success. You don’t have to miss the train. It’s not too late.

When Is It Too Late?

It takes guts to leave the ruts, to walk away from the comfortable, the familiar, the “safe”. It’s easier to stay aboard the Titanic than to leap into a bobbing lifeboat in freezing seas. Easier to deny reality and “hope for the best”. Problem is, when it’s too late, it’s simply too late.

25% of the white population has left South Africa since 1995. When we left, friends said,

“We’ll see how it goes – we’ll wait a bit – we’re comfortable.”

Now it’s too late for them – they’re too old, their world is crumbling around them, and they’re stuck on the sinking ship.

Others viciously attacked us for leaving; they accused us of taking “the Chicken Run”, and stopped talking to us when they heard we were immigrating (this only happens in South Africa – not in other countries).

Now they’re living in one of the most dangerous third world countries and regretting their choices.

You Need Four Things to Change Your Life:

1. You need to objectively and rationally evaluate your options and circumstances. Get advice from people who have already created what you want, not those more screwed up than you are. Fat fish in small, stagnant ponds can’t tell you what it’s like to fly freely in the mountain air – in fact, they think it’s impossible. So talk to eagles. Life is short – you deserve the best.
2. You need to do due diligence before making changes. Take time to do this, but don’t wait until it’s too late!
3. You need mentoring, guidance, support, and a clear action plan. My support system was Rika, and hers was me. YOU are your best, ultimate support system, but the more successful people you have helping you, the better. Learn from their mistakes. Find people who are richer, smarter, and more motivated than you are.
4. You need serious motivation, which means you burn your bridges, close the back door, and commit unconditionally. Create a bulletproof mindset. The only South Africans who return to South Africa after immigrating are those who couldn’t make it in their new homes, and most of the time they kept property or money in South Africa – they “kept their options open” – they never really committed. Small wonder they failed.

Your Best Option is to Use Joint Ventures

Ninety-seven percent of our problems, pain, and restrictions can be solved with money.

When we realize how much we can achieve with money, and take into account the way the world is changing, the best option is to use Joint Ventures to acquire financial freedom.

This article is important to those who want to achieve great things.

Any successful athlete will tell you how important momentum is in ther training. Consistency, focus, momentum – you can’t serve two masters,

“because you will love the one and despise the other”.

Compromise and distraction, laziness and pride all decrease momentum. An aircraft requires 95% of it’s power to ascend, but only 65% while cruising.

Build Momentum to Build Real Wealth

Many so-called “entrepreneurs” spend their time swinging between feast and famine, chicken and feathers. They spend their money in the good times and suffer in the bad times, forgetting that business is cyclical.

Joan Welsh said,

“If you’re coasting, you’re either losing momentum or else you’re headed downhill.”

In order to build real wealth and get to a place where you can cruise, you have to build momentum in the right areas.

Business Is A Relationship With Money

Anthony Robbins said,

“The most important thing you can do to achieve your goals is to make sure that as soon as you set them, you immediately begin to create momentum. The most important rules that I ever adopted to help me in achieving my goals were those I learned from a very successful man who taught me to first write down the goal, and then to never leave the site of setting a goal without first taking some form of positive action toward its attainment.”

And you have to keep on taking that positive action. Business is a relationship with money, just like your relationship with your spouse – remember that.

Build A Bullet-Proof Mindset

At any given point in your day, on a regular basis, ask yourself,

“Is what I am doing now taking me towards my goal or away from it? What is the return on investment from this choice?”

It’s sad to see many people join DollarMakers and take off in a flurry of promises and activity, and then to see them quit at the first sign of difficulty. Others get overconfident and sit back, riding on the backs of others, and before they know it, they’re cut loose.

The smart ones build a bullet-proof mindset and are consistent, disciplined, focused, and reliable. They build relationship and momentum, and they get rich.

Time – Your Most Valuable Resource

Michael Korda said,

“One way to keep momentum going is to have constantly greater goals.”

By building relationships with strong entrepreneurs whose goals are aligned with yours and with whom you have “overlap”, you will find yourself staying on track.

Once you lose momentum, it’s hard to build it again, especially since one often loses credibility in the process, and that diminishes trust and closes previously open doors.

Sporadic, emotional bursts of ego-driven activity seldom achieve long-term results. You can’t chase two rabbits or ride two bicycles.

Manage your time carefully – it’s your most valuable resource.

Consistency and Momentum  - The Essential Components of Success.

Set your goals and action plans carefully, remain flexible, continue to add income streams and dollarmakers, and remember who your friends are.

Consistency and momentum are not options – they are essential components of success.

Winners hang in there through the tough times, make the hard choices, apply self-discipline, and get rich.

If you have read Ayn Rand’s prophetic “Atlas Shrugged”, you will know that we are living in turbulent times, and that this book is the capitalist’s guidebook and map, our survival tool.

It puts things into perspective, and helps the reader to see through the illusions, deceptions, and lies fed to us by the collectivist powers that be.

As a capitalist, a producer, and a creator, there is no way one can find common ground with collectivists and mystics – that compromise will kill you as sure as trying to make friends with a rattlesnake will.

The alternative is Galt’s Gulch.

A Speculative Form of Galt’s Gulch

While I don’t recommend a literal Galt’s Gulch, in which the producers in society physically leave the wretched world of parasites and looters that has been subjugated and enslaved by the statist government behind, and form their own

• lifestyle,
• governance,
• and territory,

a figurative, allegorical or speculative form of Galt’s Gulch is, in my opinion, the only way to prosper in a socialist/communist environment.

A Grand Solution

Understanding the dynamics, requirements, benefits, and parameters of Galt’s Gulch as presented by Ms. Rand allows one to formulate the mindset and philosophy that is necessary to emulate such a grand solution metaphorically.

By realizing the implications and consequences of socialist world government, one can avoid the looting of the slackers, the incompetent, and the moochers, financial rape by government and the mystics, and, ultimately, the complete loss of personal freedom.

Creating a personalized, representative Galt’s Gulch means carefully selecting and teaming up with like-minded producers who share one’s:

• philosophy,
• ideology,
• motives,
• and beliefs,

and operate with the integrity and congruency to be found among some intelligent, rational capitalists.

A Formula for Success

With the understanding gleaned from Ayn Rand’s work and my experience of life and business, along with a realization of the way the world is moving, I started DollarMakers as a type of “filter” to find people who fit the Galt’s Gulch model.

Far from being a conspiracy theorist or alarmist, I am a realist and an Objectivist, and practical common-sense that is free from the mind-numbing poison of collectivism and mysticism dictates that I create a Galt’s Gulch, since success occurs when preparation meets opportunity, and forewarned is forearmed.

Having seen what has happened in Africa, Europe, the United Kingdom, and now America, the proverbial writing is one the wall.

• Do you find that although you’re honest, loyal, hard-working, committed, and conscientious, yet you’re not making money?
• You attend the seminars, read the books, and apply the principles, but nothing seems to work?

Don’t worry; there is a rational reason.

Your Values Determine Your Value

Why do you employ people? For each of them to produce value, resulting in net profit in excess of the amount you pay them.

Why would you accept less than that? I know some of us are saddled with unions, relatives that work for us, people we’ve inherited and can’t easily get rid of, and many other excuses, however here are a few pointers that I think will help.

Remember, getting the job is the first job of someone who wants to be an employee. After that, every day, they have to prove to you why you should still hire them. and not give them the sack.

1.   Link their income to their production.

Work out what your real net profit is, your incremental profit, and a way to measure the output of every employee. This takes some analysis and a spot of Work Study (Organization and Methods), but it is well worth the exercise.

• Don’t be too generous, and remember you’re not a socialist organization. People should get paid according to what they produce, not what they need.
• Set traps to catch rats. Take a really good look at productivity, shop your own business, record phone calls, restrict Internet use, use Secret Shoppers, send one employee on leave for a week and see if the others cope. If they do, get rid of the worst one.
• Educate your employees about profit and business.
• Look after your champions, and remember that people change.

2.  Increase the production of your salespeople.

Teach your salespeople to sell, make them accountable, don’t accept excuses, have a sales meeting EVERY day, and fire your worst salesperson on a regular basis. Focus on results, not pipe-line, reputation, branding, market share – just the bottom line. Get them all onto a commission-only basis. Beware of  “sales trainers” – they usually can’t sell.

3.    Weed out the leeches and parasites.

Make their job unbearable if necessary; simply give them lots of work that they hate and micro-manage them. They’ll soon leave if you do it right. You’re in business to make a profit, and you don’t owe them anything.

4.   Learn to Delegate.

The best program I ever attended to learn about management was the Dale Carnegie Management Course. I learned a lot of valuable information about delegation, and I highly recommend it. Most “managers” have no idea how to manage, motivate, or discipline people. Your people need to set their own goals, report to you how they’re doing and how they will improve, and be accountable for their commitments. No excuses acceptable.

5.    Understand Joint Ventures.

In my business, everyone I deal with is a JV partners. I run my company with no employees, no risk, no cost, no overhead and little time. So I make a lot more profit and I don’t have to deal with losers and users. Lean and mean. Learn how JV’s work.

6.    Don’t hire socialists, smokers, or people who don’t need a job.

If you need an explanation for this one, you have a problem.

7.   Reward innovation, honesty, loyalty, and ambition.

These qualities are hard to find. Look after your champions and lock them in with residual commissions and long-term incentives.

8.    Familiarity breeds contempt.

Don’t be their “buddy”, maintain your distance, be strict, hold people accountable, and lead by example.

9.    Set up a “Dress and Grooming Code”.

When people look good, they feel good, and they do better work.  Set and maintain high standards in every area of your business.

10.    Train them, train them, train them.

Especially in the Joint Venture mindset.

What ten things should you look for to determine whether or not you should consider accepting a Joint Venture proposal? What criteria should you consider?

Here are some guidelines that I have used successfully over 22 years as a Joint Venture Broker.

1.    The Person:

Your potential JV partner needs to be thoroughly checked out and investigated before you JV with him or her. Look for clues and do your due diligence. Look at:

• whom they associate with,
• their level of professionalism and punctuality,
• their dress and grooming,
• preparation,
• philosophy,
• understanding of JV’s,
• and attitude.

Don’t be afraid to decline any JV at any stage – the more selective you are, the more money you will make.

Be sure who the real decision maker is – often it’s a spouse or lover or business partner behind the scenes, making the bullets for the front man to fire. ALWAYS, Only deal with the top guy, and never with the minions, managers, and puppets.

Don’t deal with new entrepreneurs who still have an employee mindset if you can avoid it.

2.    The Product of Service:

Avoid products that are really trends, fads, gimmicks, or new on the market, since these are usually vastly overpriced and will soon appear in Wal-Mart at a fraction of the price, which will embarrass you and diminish your reputation and status as a JV Broker.

They usually have a short lifespan, and people make money on the front end and pay for years on the back end for the damage done.

3.    The Past (history) of the Person and the Product or Service:

Past behavior predicts future behavior.

• How long has this person been doing JV’s?
• How long has the company and product been around?

Google, Google, Google, talk with their competition, and use a private detective if necessary.

Watch out for people who arrive new on the scene from far away – they’re often running away from something, or too many people know them in the town they left.

4.    The Pressure:

• Are you being pressured to implement it?
• Is your JV partner under financial pressure?

These are signs of desperation, and red flags to any JV Broker.

NEVER deal with a JV partner who has financial problems or is cheap (tight-fisted). You need confident, secure, relaxed, professional, mature JV Partners.

5.    The Potential of the JV Financially:

• How much money can you make?
• Is it really worth your time and effort?

Always include the back end and new relationships when evaluating the financial potential of a JV.

Look at the big picture, but also the time required and the cash flow component.

6.    The Potential of the JV Timewise:

• How long will it likely last?
• Is it a flash in the pan?
• Will it take ages to take off and then die a fast death?
• What is the track record, if any?

Avoid new inventions and start-ups like the plague.

7.    The Positioning or Fit within the Whole:

That means how it fits with your:

• other JV’s,
• database access,
• interest level,
• gut feel,
• your existing JV Partners,
• and experience.

You should feel comfortable, confident, excited, and secure with your new JV partners and the products / services involved. There should be a natural fit, especially on the back end.

8.   The Complexity:

• How Problematic is it?
• How complex, involved, convoluted, and abstruse is it?
• Or is it simple, straightforward, easy to implement and track?

Keep it very simple – often, the more complex, the more problems are being hidden. Complexity is often the sign of hidden dangers and agendas.

9.    The Pace:

• How quickly can you implement and integrate it with your other JV’s?
• How soon will it make you money?

Be realistic about your predictions.

10.    The Progress:

Once you have implemented the JV:

• …is it making progress?
• …are your JV partners doing what they said they would do?
• …is it working as well as you expected it to, or does it need to be either fixed or ditched?

Don’t be afraid to walk away at any time – you have millions of JV opportunities out there.

It’s Shawn here, Technical Director of JVWisdom.com.

Robin J. Elliott’s video ‘Creating a Bulletproof Mindset’ has been available to purchase as a DVD for 65 bucks.  For the next 15 days it will be available to view at no cost.

The feedback we’ve gotten on this DVD has been incredible.  Some people have told us they’ve watched it over 5 times in the course of a week.  It’s been a solid seller since it’s release, and we feel it’s one of the best pieces of ‘mind mastery’ material we’ve seen.  Obviously we’re a bit biased however, so I encourage you to see for yourself.

Bulletproof Mindset Video – Free for 15 days

We actually released this video at a Bootcamp Robin did in Edmonton.  We played the trailer (http://www.jvwisdom.com/bulletproof) and then before we could even give anymore info people wanted to buy their copy.

The thing was, we were only taking pre-orders because we hadn’t even gotten them printed yet!

95% of the attendees ended up pre-ordering their DVD.  We had a special price for them that day, but I can guarantee you the special price wasn’t what it is right now (nothing).

Like I said above, we’re only keeping this up to watch for the next 15 days.

http://www.jvwisdom.com/bulletproof

Oh, and have an EXCELLENT weekend everyone in the great country of the United States of America.  Enjoy your Independence Day – it TRULY is a great thing to live where the ‘American Dream’ was born!

Till Next,
Shawn Christenson
Technical Director
JVWisdom.com
JVBlogger.com

Joint ventures and Strategic Alliances are vastly different than traditional business. If you are approaching Joint Ventures with the same old habits and mindset, then you’re bound to fail. This streaming Video succinctly lays out the behaviors business people take for granted which may be holding them up in their Joint Venture Success.

This is a must watch for updating your business approach for the New Business Age, and truly changing your business outlook to that of a powerful Joint Venture Broker and Entrepreneur.