How do you decide which Joint Venture Partner you want to work with? After all, we have literally millions of options, don’t we?

If you agree that basically, people don’t change – we change our choices, but not who we essentially are – then their past track record must, to a large extent, predict their future choices.

• I’m talking about a track record that starts early in life, and consistently repeats.
• Also, small decisions and actions give us clues to who people are.

We want to work with winners, not wanna-be’s. The quality of our network will determine our net worth, and we can’t afford to hook up with losers. That means that 97% of people simply don’t qualify to work with us. Here’s a simple checklist:

1.  Their Track Record.

Talk with people about their successes and failures in their lives, from childhood. Winners and leaders will always, like the proverbial cream, rise to the top – in teams, in groups, in organizations, in clubs, at school – wherever they choose, and wherever their passion is. If a champion believes in something, he or she is going to make it work. They have track records of success in many different areas of life. Ask the hard questions.

2.  Their Daily Choices.

Watch their daily choices – do they deliver on time, return calls and emails promptly, dress professionally, groom themselves well? Are they reliable, punctual, respectful, honest, and straightforward? Are they generous? Do they honor their promises and make good and take responsibility when they mess up?

3.  Their Money.

Have they made money? If not, what makes you think that will suddenly change? If they have money, where did they get it? Inheritance? Are they self-made, or Daddy-made? If the boy lives with his parents, is a stay-at-home-dad, has his wife support him, and moves from one financial disaster or network marketing company to the next, how will you benefit from partnering with him? Ask them!

4.  Their Associations.

With whom do they associate? Look at their friends. Birds of the feather flock together. Losers love to team up with each other.

5.  Their Input.

Look at what they read. BIG clues there. Be careful of “seminar junkies” – they flare up fast and fade away even faster.

6.  Their Philosophy.

Determine their philosophy. Avoid mystics, socialists, and altruists. You will discover their philosophy by observing their lives. Do your due diligence.

7.  Their Involvements.

What clubs / groups / cults / organizations do they belong to?

8.  Their Action.

Are they action-takers or procrastinators? Are they overly analytical? Do they embrace change positively? Are they “big hat, no cattle”, or the real thang?

9.  Their Presentation.

How do they present themselves? Their dress, grooming, business cards, car, pen, shoes, paperwork, binders, hair, (men with nose / ear hairs, women who have unruly, wet, or badly cut hair) nails, jewelry, tattoos, piercings… Everything is a clue. Do the women dress act like flirts / sluts? Avoid smokers and drinkers.

10.  Test Their Metal.

Even is all the above are in line, test your potential JV partners in small matters before opening up the store. Give them enough rope to hang themselves, enough opportunity to steal, and enough time to let their masks slip.

Be patient – it’s well worth it. Remember, you’re looking for 3% of people.

• One man lives in a trailer park. He is an obese, unhealthy smoker who seldom reads books of any value and spends most of his time playing computer games and whining about the government, upon which he relies for his income.
• Another lives in a nice home, provides for his family, loves his work, develops his mind, stays in shape, and has big goals.
• They were both abused as children, grew up on the wrong side of the tracks, and suffered hardships.
• They are twin brothers.

Circumstances Reflect Philosophy

In Ayn Rand’s amazing book, “Atlas Shrugged”, which I am reading for the third time, John Galt says that one is “remaking the earth in the image of one’s values”. He shows that the construction of our circumstances is an ongoing process. Our values and beliefs are the result of our philosophy. Your circumstances reflect your philosophy and self-esteem.

The loser in the trailer park didn’t end up there one day, suddenly, buy accident, as if by magic. His philosophy directed his choices, which took him down that road. The winner also built his lifestyle – choice by choice. Millions of volitional choices got both these men to where they are today. There is no mystery.

The Sum Total of Your Choices

Your lifestyle and circumstances are the sum total of the choices you have made in your life. Where you will be in the next few years, and where you will end up, is your choice. You hold your future in your own hands.  Every cent you earn and spend is your choice.

Ask the man in the trailer what he thinks about man’s responsibility, about freedom, the role of government, business, and about “luck”. He will explain his philosophy to you. Look at the books he reads, the places he goes, the things he does, the people he mixes with, what he does with his time, and you will see his philosophy. The same goes for the man who has a good life.

Anyone Can Change

Can the man move out of the trailer park lose weight, and create a life of success and happiness? Of course he can, but his philosophy would have to change. His philosophy makes him happy playing the role of a nicotine-addicted victim. He does what he enjoys doing!

• He prefers the company of drunkards and losers to winners.
• He loves feeling sorry for himself.
• He hates the idea of taking responsibility.
• He doesn’t WANT to change; if he did, he would!

His is a philosophy of collectivism and socialism. He believes the world owes him a living, and he blames his family and the world for the fact that he doesn’t have a nice house like his brother.

We like to believe that people can change, and they can. But we need to understand that most of them WON’T change, because they don’t want to change, and often because they don’t believe they CAN change.

You Can’t Give or Force Change

You can’t solve someone’s financial problems by giving them money; you have to teach them to MAKE their own money.  But you can only do that if they WANT to earn more money themselves. Chances are, they expect someone else to earn it and GIVE it to them – they are parasites.

Change is Simple

If you WANT to change your life, it’s actually simple. Find someone who has what you want, someone who has created a lifestyle that you want for yourself, and then adopt their philosophy.

I personally modeled successful men whom I admired, learned their beliefs and values, and emulated them. I adopted the philosophies of men like Paul J. Meyer, Jim Rohn, Earl Nightingale, Napoleon Hill, and Winston Churchill, and then I refined my philosophy into one of Objectivism, as portrayed in “Atlas Shrugged.”

Watching Richard Attenborough’s “Life of Birds” on PBS last night, I saw a striking example of nature’s socialist counterpart – the Cuckoo. There are so many parallels, and the analogy clearly describes the win/lose basis of socialism.

Nest Intrusion

Female European Cuckoos lay their eggs only in the nests of other bird species. The cuckoo egg usually closely resembles the eggs of the host bird (one of whose eggs is often removed by the cuckoo). The host may recognize the intruding egg and abandon the nest, or it may incubate and hatch the cuckoo egg.

Caring for Someone Else’s Babies

Shortly after hatching, the young European Cuckoo, using a scoop-like depression on its back, instinctively shoves over the edge of the nest any solid object that it contacts, including, of course, the eggs of the host bird! With the disappearance of their eggs and rightful offspring, the foster parents devote all of their care to the young cuckoo.

Frequently this is an extremely difficult task, since the cuckoo chick often grows much larger than the host adults long before it can care for itself. So you see a pair of small foster parents working very hard to keep up with the voracious appetite of an outsized young cuckoo – another bird’s young.

Socialism is Cuckoo!

Socialism tells us: “From each according to his ability, to each according to his need.”

So here we have the Cuckoo, laying her eggs in another bird’s nest, and having someone else raise her offspring, while her baby kills the offspring of the host bird! The producer (the host bird) does all the work, and ends up with nothing, while the parasite (Cuckoo) does no work and simply breeds more losers. Talk about the welfare state!

Here we have a clear, combined example of the perils of affirmative action, unions, collectivism, the dole, racism, statism, and multiculturalism! Scary!

The Perils of Socialized Government

Next time you hear people talking about socialized medicine, “giving back”, “sharing the wealth”, and raising the minimum wage, remember the Cuckoo. Socialism allows the government to steal your wealth and make you work for those who won’t take responsibility for their own lives. It forces you to sacrifice your family and quality of life for the leeches in our society. And it’s partner in crime, mysticism, simply reinforces this poisonous philosophy.

Ayn Rand said, in her wonderfully prophetic book, Atlas Shrugged, “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.”

You deserve the fruit of your labor;  don’t let some Cuckoo politician or witchdoctor steal it from you.

Imagine an architect who meets with a builder/developer and a town planner. The developer wants to build a magnificent building. He says, “I have this feeling that I should build something – not sure exactly what it should look like, or what it would cost, or where I would find the money, but what do you think?”

To which the town planner replies, “Well, I guess we could find some space somewhere,  after all, it sounds like a noble cause – we’ll come up with a space, I’m sure…”

…and the architect pipes up, “Well, I don’t want to be too rigid, and the front of the building could look more or less like this, but I have a feeling it will just come together – I’ll check with my psychic…”

…Ridiculous, right?

Do You Have an Irrational Approach?

That’s how most people try to build wealth.

• They rely on the wrong people giving them spurious advice.
• They rely on “gut feel.”
• They have no discipline.
• They spend more time planning a party than their old age, and they live in the moment like animals.
• But the worst aspect of this lack of planning or thought is the real underlying motive –refusal to take responsibility or to be held accountable.

That’s why the masses follow the mystics and witchdoctors of our time, why they live vicariously through sports teams and film stars, why they join cults, and why they become “course junkies”, waddling from seminar to seminar and never applying anything they learn. Cults are great for people who don’t want to have to think or make choices. It’s easier to be a sports fan on your couch, clutching a slice of pizza in your chubby paw, than to actually go and play the game.

If You’re Serious about Wealth Building

If we seriously want to build real wealth, we can’t hide behind silly excuses like “fate”, “destiny”, feelings, gods, demons, angels, spirits, and chance; we need to be very specific and logical.

“Feelings come and feelings go, but feelings are deceiving; I build my life on rational choices – naught else is worth believing.”

The architect builds for the future – the archeologist (like an accountant) looks at the past. Winners look to the future and leverage their past experiences, good as well as bad, while losers blame their past for their slothfulness and use the past as an excuse. Like blaming your failure on slavery that happened hundreds of years ago.

Engineer Your Future

Architects, builders, and town planners are very specific, logical, and realistic about what they do. Engineers building a bridge don’t make decisions based on hope, feelings, fortune tellers, psychics, or mystical expectations. When you want to build a bridge from where to are to where you want to be, you had better understand that bridges can collapse if they are not built properly. There is time, cost, responsibility, and accountability  involved. Without work, persistence and perseverance, no building can be built, and nothing of any real value accomplished.

Your Philosophy is Your Foundation

The foundation on which you plan your future is your philosophy. If your wealth philosophy is wrong, you will end up like most other people – poor, frustrated, resentful, jealous, and bitter.

Rika and I rented a boat last week and spent three hours boating in Howe Sound. It was a wonderful experience. The boat was well prepared, maintained, and full of gas. We had life jackets, a whistle, food, water, a map, hats, sunscreen, and a cell phone with us. We took advice from the people who rented us the boat. We were well prepared for the trip, we knew where we wanted to go, and what we wanted to do, we paid for the boat hire and insurance, and it worked out great. We didn’t wander down to the water and try to cut down a tree with a penknife to build a raft to go boating. Success is not random or ethereal.

If you would like to build wealth, travel to your Treasure Island, and be assured that your philosophy will enable you to accomplish that, DollarMakers is here for you.

The purpose of DollarMakers is to teach people how to become financially free. In order to do so, they need to free their minds first.

One of the biggest surprises I received in my life was while I was working on a BA Theology at a Bible College and at the same time doing a BA Psychology at university. To my horror, I discovered that I was involved in a cult. At that time, I still didn’t realize that cults take many forms – they are not only to be found in the realm of religion. The more I studied, the more I saw!

Multi-Level Marketing to Belong

For example, MLM can be described as a cult, which would explain this article that claims that the odds of winning from a single spin of the wheel in a game of roulette in Las Vegas is:

• 286 times as great as the odds of profiting after enrolling as an Amway/Quixtar “distributor”
• 48 times as great as the odds of profiting after enrolling as a Nu Skin “distributor”
• 22 times as great as the odds of profiting after enrolling as a Melaleuca “distributor”

Could that explain why people will spend tens of thousands of dollars and years of their lives with no reward, just to “belong”?

What is a Cult?

Here is a good explanation. Read it and look at your life. You might be very surprised. In fact, once we understand group dynamics and conditioning, we realize that some families operate like cults, and that often, child and senior abuse is contingent on a cult-like relationship. Also, understanding cults explains why otherwise intelligent people will believe and do ridiculous things that make no sense to “outsiders” who can view the situation objectively and rationally.

Margaret Singer, Ph.D.  psychologist author of “Cults in Our Midst”, said:

“Deprogramming – that is, providing members with information about the cult and showing them how their own decision-making power had been taken away from them.”

This site exposes a lot about cults, and this is another excellent website to look at.

Breaking Free

It’s hard to accept and realize that one is involved in a cult, but the price of freedom is acknowledging the bars on our cages and confronting our jailers and conditioning.

Without sufficient motivation and determination to break free, however, we might decide that the pain of escape from our comfortable prison is greater than the pleasure of freedom. People can react violently when they’re faced with the prospect that they might be hoodwinked, that their safety is imaginary, and that what they have believed and paid for for a long time is, in fact, a con job. But a small number do break free, and that’s whom this article is for.

I always recommend the book, “Atlas Shrugged” by Ayn Rand, in the hopes that it will free some people in different areas of their lives, as it has me, particularly in the area of our philosophies about business, money, family, responsibility, guilt, altruism, mysticism, and freedom.

Few people have guts to tell it the way it is. Robert Kiyosaki, in this incredible video, says things like:

“Four things make 90% of the people poor: taxes, inflation, debt, retirement plans.”

And then he provides solutions.

He says, “America will become a third world nation – rich and poor. That’s it. Tell me something money does not affect. Most guys are just wimps. Pussies. Cowards. They don’t have it, so they should get a job. It takes discipline.

“Most people would like to have a great body like Charles Atlas, but they’re at Burger King wolfing down a Whopper with fries. I don’t know how you can expect to get anything you want without some degree of long-term commitment. Quitting is the easiest thing to do. That’s why most people don’t make it.

“Everybody has doubts and fear of failing. But look at Tiger Woods or any great athlete: when the going gets tough, that’s when they turn into geniuses and most people turn into wimps. Get off your butt. If you want to be a mechanic, you go hang out with mechanics. If you want to get rich, hang out with rich people.”

3 Things to Succeed in Business

When it comes down to it, you need three things to succeed in business:

1. The RIGHT financial education.
2. Connections with the right people.
3. GUTS. The guts never to quit, make excuses, or run away.

Let’s talk about these three.

1.    Financial education:

Kiyosaki points out in his four quadrants that you can be an employee (quadrant 1) or a self-employed salesman / solopreneur (quadrant 2), and never get rich, or you can be in quadrants three and four. Quadrant three is big business (500 employees or more) and quadrant four is having your money work for you.

Most people who don’t have money think it’s impossible to play in quadrants three and four, whereas DollarMakers shows you how to participate in big business through Joint Ventures and to make money from the investments of other people – anyone can do that. We don’t have money problems; we have thinking problems.

The rich get richer and the poor get poorer. Why? Because the rich keep doing the things that made them rich, and the poor keep doing the things that made them poor.

2.    Connections with the right people:

DollarMakers has hundreds of Members, many of whom have a great understanding of Joint Ventures, in 19 countries – all looking to do a deal with you. And we FIRE dishonest people who don’t abide by our Code of Business Ethics. We are constantly weeding the moochers and posers out. Winners will link you with winners, and losers will introduce you to their loser friends. We provide various platforms and options for connecting with the right people. We’re not a networking group full of broke wanna-be’s.

3.    GUTS.

If you are a weak, politically correct, passive-aggressive, excuse-making wimp, don’t join DollarMakers. Our Members have to take full responsibility for their own success – we’re not socialists or quitters, and we don’t carry passengers or pamper parasites. We’re excited, determined, motivated, and disciplined. Our goal is to MAKE MONEY. That’s why we’re called DollarMakers.

If you’re serious about success and you’re tired of watching your wealth go down the drain, join DollarMakers. Right now.

We all know that due diligence only goes so far, yet we still need to do the best we can to avoid hooking up with the wrong people.

1.   Take note of their mentors.

I know someone whose mentor had no respect for follow-up, didn’t return calls, was undisciplined, and slack. She is following his lead, of course, and will likely wind up with a scary lawsuit.

2.    Take note of their friends and associates.

Birds of the feather – similar values, beliefs, networks, standards, and aspirations. Where do they go? With whom do they spend their time?

3.   Their customers and vendors.

What is their reputation with people who sell to them or buy from them? How about their competition? How LONG have they known this person? Be especially careful of people who are new in the area and have a gray past. In many cases, they’ve run away from their bad choices in the past.

4.    The Internet.

Google, Bing, Facebook, Twitter, their websites and blogs – take the time to check them out. They will naturally have enemies and detractors if they’re well known, but judge the assault by the quality of their enemies.

5.   Their philosophy.

What books do they read, what groups and clubs do they belong to, what religious and political affiliations do they have, where do they live, how do they spend their time? One’s philosophy drives ones motives and choices – it is a good predictor.

6.   Test them in small ways first.

Test them in small ways before opening up the big JV opportunities. Do they return calls and e-mails promptly, do they pay on time, are they cheap, are they well groomed and punctual, respectful, and professional? Are they loyal and honest? “Faithful in little, faithful in much.”

7.    How do they treat others?

Their spouses, kids, friends, the waiter in a restaurant, animals, receptionists, their employees, and colleagues. Listen and watch – observe – because that’s how they will end up treating YOU.

8.   Take your time, there’s no rush.

And don’t take the word of one person referring them – I now a successful businessman who has very little discernment in judging others. Over time, you will find out a lot more about them, good and bad. Over time, you will see patterns and tendencies – people hiding, making excuses, justifying, lowering standards, cutting corners. You will also be able to identify loser traits, like smoking, greed., ego, drinking too much, gambling, womanizing, and other addictions.

9.    Watch Out for These Personalities

Be careful of the too friendly, smiling, backslapping, always agreeing, politically correct funster. Those who are everyone’s friend and promise the world are usually sociopaths, or at the very least passive aggressive back-stabbers.

Watch out for posers and parasites, too – there are many of them out there. If someone agrees with everything you say and has no opinion, he’s weak or dangerous. Either way, watch out.

10.   Look at the track record.

That is a clear predictor of future behavior. Along with that, listen for EXCUSES and BLAME – the sure sign of a victim mentality. In that case, be aware that your prospect lives in the Victim/Persecutor/Rescuer world that denies personal responsibility.

Better to take the time and make the effort on the front end than to suffer later. The cost of discipline weighs ounces, while the cost of regret weighs tons.  I would rather pay a good private detective up front than lose a lot down the road.

When I talk with my incredible wife, we describe people to each other in terms of three descriptions:

1. DISC, or the four personality styles.
2. Commitment – people either have it or they don’t. This goes along with “Staying Power”
3. Do they have a Killer Instinct?

Aspects of a “Killer Instinct”

• People with a killer instinct are fearless closers.
• They don’t understand how to quit.
• They don’t back down, roll over, or wallow in the fetid swamp of politically correct, passive aggression.
• They are loyal soldiers, and they’ve got your back when you’re in a jam. Unlike pansy parasite posers, who will stab you in the back and steal the milk out of your tea with a permanent smile on their faces.

Trump Has Killer Instinct

Donald Trump is a real man. He said this of Revenge:

“There are a lot of bad people out there… if you have a problem with someone, you have to go after them. And it’s not necessarily to teach that person a lesson, it’s to teach all of the people that are watching a lesson, that you don’t take crap.

And if you take crap you’re just not gonna do well. So Be sharp, Be Smart.

It’s all about this (points to his head/brain) you have to have this to start off with. But you can’t take a lot of nonsense from people. You have to go after them. I have always believed it.

When a person screws you, screw them back 15 times over.”

Killer Instinct.

The Difference Between Someone with a Killer Instinct & a Pansy

Pansy: We knew someone who told us how he was going to change the world and create massive wealth. (Perhaps he thought he was his rich daddy.)

Anyway, his very first seminar was a failure because he teamed up with a loser, and he quit almost immediately. At the very first bump in the road, this pansy tucked his scrawny tail between his legs and ran for the hills!

Powerhouse: Winners don’t take “No” for an answer. They hardly even hear it!

I went on a sales call with one of my salespeople years back. We traveled for two hours to get to the prospect’s house, and at 7pm, after listening to our entire presentation, the prospect and his wife told us in no uncertain terms that they would definitely not buy our product. My salesman kept of selling. He closed the sale at 9pm.

When I got home at 11pm, my phone was ringing in my office. The customer wanted to cancel the sale. At 12.30am, and hour and a half later, I had closed him again. He stayed closed after that.

THAT, dear reader, is a Killer Instinct. No excuses, no turning back, no fear.

What kind of people do you have on your team?

The wimps will sabotage your success and undermine your efforts, while frustrating and irritating you.

The winners will make your life easy. They will motivate, encourage, and inspire you with their courage and innovation.

Losers say things like, “I couldn’t help it, it wasn’t my fault, I’ll do my best, I don’t have the time / money, people can’t afford it, times are tough, it’s the recession, my wife won’t let me, I don’t want to offend people, I need my rest…”

Winners take responsibility, seize the opportunity, and make it happen, whatever it takes, no matter how long it takes, 24/7/365.

Read “The Fountainhead” by Ayn Rand, and see an example of a powerhouse who doesn’t compromise, carp, quit, or crawl.