“Nothing is more difficult, and therefore more precious, than to be able to decide.”
- Napoleon Bonaparte

Strong and successful entrepreneurs make decisions fast and stick to them. They don’t wait for the cat to fall out of a tree or Grandma to buy a new dress. They don’t have twenty committee meetings before they decide whether or not to order the Beef Wellington.

• They say, “Yes” or they say, “No.”
• They are fast on their feet.
• They don’t find excuses to procrastinate.
• They will weigh the information, do their due diligence and decide.

You don’t have to run after them for a decision, either; they will get back to you when they say they will. They are winners.

“All I needed was a ‘Yes’ or a ‘No’.”

One seminar attendee gave me SEVEN reasons why he wouldn’t be able to attend an event. At the end of his whining, I said, “All I needed was a ‘Yes’ or a ‘No’.”

Winston Churchill put it this way: “They are decided only to be undecided, resolved to be irresolute, adamant for drift, solid for fluidity, all-powerful to be impotent.” And George Canning said,

“Indecision and delays are the parents of failure.”

Those who vacillate, dither, hesitate and flounder are simply fearful of making ANY decision. They are afraid of the consequences of agreeing and equally terrified of the results of disagreeing. As Tony Blair once said of a certain politician, “Weak, weak, weak!”

Be willing to make decisions.

The chairman of Mesa Petroleum said,

“Be willing to make decisions. That’s the most important quality in a good leader. Don’t fall victim to what I call the Ready- Aim-Aim-Aim Syndrome. You must be willing to fire.”

Any decision is better than no decision. “I’ll get back to you” and “I’ll think about it / discuss it / review it” usually means, “I’m too scared to decide – please leave me in my misery and go find a real man”. Let us decide to decide. Let us be warriors and Eagles. Let us be confident, courageous and focused. Time is money and the window of opportunity doesn’t wait. Seize the day!

I asked the bell captain to call a cab for me to get to the train station for my trip to Ottawa. He replied that, with all the freezing snow Montreal was enjoying that morning, a cab would take 45 minutes to arrive! Shock and awe – what was I to do? I had meetings and a seminar lined up in Ottawa – carefully planned down to the last minute. I couldn’t afford to miss that train!

Then I realized that the bell captain was still there, talking. He was saying, “But, Mr. Elliott, why not take the underground to the train station? It’s right around the corner, here.” In only twenty minutes I was at the station via the underground, saved money on the cab and enjoyed a great, relaxing train ride to Ottawa.

Has Conditioning Got in the Way?

When he walked into the huge seminar venue in the Toronto hotel, he seemed pretty professional and successful Well dressed and groomed, poised, aware. He handed me his business card and I was impressed. Thirty minutes into my seminar, I asked the audience, “How many of you think this looks ‘Too good to be true’?” and the same man put up his hand. Shock and awe! It was hard to believe that this sophisticated businessman was, in fact, seriously handicapped by his mental conditioning. We all are. How many wonderful opportunities have we all missed, because our conditioning got in the way? We all have mental programming that hampers and restricts us.

We don’t have money problems, we have thinking problems.

The same goes for technology – I searched for YEARS to find a way to record sound bytes on my computer at home and then to e-mail them. It only took one e-mail from Member Andrew Cavanagh in Australia, and within ten minutes I had the solution, which has been working great ever since.

We don’t have money problems, we have thinking problems. And the same goes for everything else. We already have whatever we want and need – it’s all in the way we think. Understanding that we have mental blocks is the first step on the road to overcoming all obstacles on our way to success.

The Fastest Way I Have Discovered to Get Over Blocks

Other people know things that we don’t know. They have different perspectives and they know how to get to the train station. The fastest way I have discovered to getting over, under and around mental blocks is by associating with a wide variety of Eagles through our DollarMakers Joint Venture Forum.

Hundreds of ethical people around the world with a Joint Venture Mindset are available to help me to succeed in a win/win way. They have different frames of reference, experience, skills, connections, access and resources that are readily available. We help each other to see through the mental blocks and solve problems. Together, we can do amazing things.

Einstein told us,

“We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.”

And we tend to subconsciously seek evidence to support our dominant beliefs. So we get stuck in a loop – we continue to look for proof that we’re right, so we don’t change what we believe, so we don’t change. Then we complain that nothing changes. Well, our circumstances won’t change until WE change what we believe to be true. How do we do that?

Sabotaging Future Success

We created our beliefs by gathering evidence to support those beliefs. For example, Uncle Patrick was dishonest in business, Lonny ripped us off and Sam lost his savings in a bad business deal. And, as a result, we believe that business owners are dishonest and that we will lose money by getting into business. This can sabotage your future success. Or you’ve had six bad relationships and two divorces so you believe there are no good men in the world. That’s simple human nature: once bitten, twice shy. Seven times bitten…

Brainwash yourself

Actually, it’s easier than we may think. The best way I have found to change my own beliefs is to immerse myself in evidence that produce empowering, uplifting beliefs. If I had a bad experience in business, I can:

• Read the biographies of successful entrepreneurs
• Spend a lot of time on a regular basis with successful business owners
• Watch movies like “Tucker”
• Read business magazines
• Read “Atlas Shrugged”
• Read “Think and Grow Rich” and other good material
• Listen to podcasts and CD’s

Eventually, inexorably, my beliefs will change and my life will change.

If you had bad experiences in relationships, how about only mixing with people who have great relationships and marriages, read books about good relationships, work on yourself and concentrate on flooding your mind with positive information on relationships.

Brainwash yourself – wash out all the silly, weak, disempowering beliefs with good, clean beliefs! Focus on your input. Strategically plan to change your beliefs. Take massive, passionate action. You can dramatically change your life by changing your beliefs.

You talk to yourself at a rate of 600 words a minute. Even when you’re talking to yourself out loud, you’re talking with yourself internally as well. You’re constantly evaluating your circumstances and choices, based on your frame of reference and conditioning.

Choosing a New Program

Many of the confusions we jump to are automatic; conditioned responses based on past experiences which were often painful. So, many of the choices that we make are guaranteed to keep us in a negative loop, unless we consciously and actively stop the downward cycle and interrupt the negative pattern. Here’s a proven and simple way to do just that.

Asking Better Questions

Have you noticed that you always answer your own questions, and that the question determines the answer? And that we act on those answers?

• If you ask yourself, “Why am I so stupid?” You’ll get an answer that confirms that you are stupid, by telling you why you are stupid.
• If you ask, “Why do I have to work so hard?” you’ll trigger the same, negative response to confirm and support a negative belief or paradigm.
• “Why can’t I get out of debt?” will elicit an automatic, programmed response that will keep you in debt.

Break Free with This Recipe

The way to break free and escape this trap is to consciously and purposefully construct and ask questions that are designed to break the mold of pessimism and failure in any area of your life. In order to break disempowering habits, one fast way is to constantly ask yourself the right questions.

Write down the questions and be sure to ask yourself these questions (out loud, if possible) at least seven times every day. Try these for a start:

1. How can I double my income?
2. What is great about my life?
3. What do I like, respect and admire about the person I just met?
4. How can I add more value to the products and services I sell?
5. What am I grateful for?
6. How can I do more in less time?
7. What am I happy about? What is great about this situation?
8. Why do I have so much energy and joy?
9. How can I joint venture with others to make my dreams come true in a fraction of the time?
10. What can I do to increase the happiness and comfort of those I work with / my vendors / my family?
11. What did I learn today that will help me for the rest of my life?
12. Why am I such a great person? Why do people like and respect me?

Tips to Manage Your Mind

Tailor your questions to overcome mental and emotional challenges in your life. Focus on good things, solutions and events that you’re grateful for. Focus on what you want, not on what you don’t want. Create vivid mental pictures of your goals. Manage your mind and thoughts and everything else in your life will improve. Most of all, mix with Eagles instead of turkeys – Eagles will help you, support you and encourage you. Want to know where to find them?  Check out the  DollarMakers Joint Venture Forum at www.jvwisdom.com.

When you’re ready to start doing Joint Ventures, you should look at opportunities that fit the following criteria:

1. No Cost & Risk

There should be no cost or risk to you and it should not involve a lot of time, and definitely no selling.

2. Worth Your Time & Effort

The deals should be able to create enough money per deal to be worth your time and effort.

3. Pick Excellent Partners

You should only work with people you like and trust, who take action and are reliable. Don’t deal with whiners, losers or flakes.

4. Quick Turn-around Time

Look at the turn-around time. If you’re bringing leads to realtors or financial planners (insurance salespeople), for example, their deals generally take a long time and often fall apart, whereas certain deals are time sensitive (like a seminar) and people have to make fast decision, so the deal happens or it doesn’t in a shorter period of time. We want high-return, no risk (to EITHER party), little time invested, no money invested, and a quick turn-around time.

5. Multiple Complementary Income Sources

Structure your multiple income sources to complement each other. Instead of a “feast or famine” scenario, have different businesses with different busy cycles in the hopper, so that you get an even flow of income. Also look for synergies between the different demographics and buyer needs so that the same customer can buy from more than one income source.

6. Put it in writing!

Put the deal in writing - who does what, how they do it, when they do it, how payment takes place, the exact amounts or percentages paid, when payment takes place, etc., the more detail the better so that there are no misunderstandings later on. Do you get paid on the first transaction or on ongoing transactions?

7. Get Educated!

Attend the DollarMakers Joint Venture Forum Member meetings and conference calls and attend Bootcamps so that you stay connected and keep on learning. Remember, if there’s no risk to either party and a deal doesn’t work out, nobody gets hurt, so don’t be afraid to fail. Also, some people will not want to Joint Venture with you. Don’t take it personally; they simply don’t understand value yet.

8. Come Prepared

Create an action plan and be prepared to do some research on people whom you intend to approach. For example, what are their profit margins, underutilized resources and needs? What kind of reputation do they have? Google them, check the Better Business Bureau, run a credit check, ask around.

9. Maintain Your Confidence & Strength

Be upbeat and optimistic when approaching potential Joint Venture partners, but never be desperate. You don’t need them. Be prepared to walk away from any deal at any time.

10. Think Big & Take Action

Finally, business is a numbers game. The more people you talk with, the more you try, the more you fail,  the bigger you think, the better. Joint Ventures is the fastest, best and most fun way to make an unlimited amount of money with no risk, little time and no money, that I have ever seen. Make it happen!

When you sell your time, you sell your life. You might as well be a slave or a mercenary – or an employee.

You cannot get rich selling time unless you’re very highly qualified or a rock star or film star. That’s why most consultants and coaches experience peaks and valleys - “chicken or feathers” – their income is seasonal and they work harder and harder for less and less.

Make A Money Machine Instead

When I meet with my Joint Venture Forum Members, I always tell them that they should have each Joint Venture they consider fit within the following parameters:

“No time, no risk, no cost, win/win.”

That doesn’t mean a Joint Venture won’t take time to set it up, or a little expense up front – it simply means that ideally, the JV should run like a money machine, without your presence or time. The idea is to utilize and leverage underutilized resources and create links as a broker would. You get paid a percentage of resulting business. You link supply with demand and piggy back distribution and advertising.

How Much Is Your Freedom Worth?

The average consultant or employee (a consultant is simply an employee with many bosses) doesn’t realize that his hourly rate is not what he actually earns. When you look at your real profit, you should also consider what your freedom is worth to you.

• Are you free to do what you like, when you like?
• Are you free to go skiing or hiking when the weather permits, or when a boss permits?
• Are you really like a child in a classroom who has to ask permission to go to the little boys’ room?
• How much is time with your family worth to you? What will you sell it for?
• Do you really want to have a boss decide whether or not you’re allowed to take your wife on holiday or go fishing with your friends?
• How old are you, anyway?

Maybe it’s time for your personal Independence Day.

Fire Your Boss

Other peoples’ time, money, resources, equipment, expertise and access is freely available to smart JV experts. We don’t have money problems; we have thinking problems. Let us understand that we don’t have to sell our time. Fire that boss, once and for all. Fire your consulting and training clients like I did. They don’t deserve you. You family and loved ones deserve you.

One phone call can earn a good JV broker more than the average employee earns in a month or more. Attend our Joint Venture Broker Bootcamp and find out how you can have all the time and money you want.  Contact Us to attend one yourself.

“I do not think there is any other quality so essential to success of any kind as the quality of perseverance. It overcomes almost everything, even nature.”
– John D. Rockefeller

Are you experiencing a difficult time and perhaps considering giving up? The key to real, lasting success is Perseverance.

The Hallmark of Eagles

Champions win because perseverance is part of who they are, and it is reflected in every aspect of their lives. It separates the men from the boys. It is based on a strong foundation of self discipline. Eagles will never tell you, “I’ll TRY”. They don’t make excuses. They make it happen. Samuel Johnson said:

“If your determination is fixed, I do not counsel you to despair. Few things are impossible to diligence and skill. Great works are performed not by strength, but perseverance.”

Look at the lives of successful people and you will find a steel will; a steel fist in a velvet glove. They know the secret to success is to persist and persevere. These people don’t doubt their own ability and they expect to win.

Be an Unstoppable Force

“If you want to get somewhere you have to know where you want to go and how to get there. Then never, never, never give up.”

- Norman Vincent Peale

When you decide that nothing and nobody is going get between you and your goals, you have already won! It has to happen in your head and your heart and deep down in your gut before you will take the necessary action and get the results you want.

There are two people in your life:

1. Those who will encourage you, challenge you and inspire you, and
2. Those who will discourage, depress, sabotage and undermine you.

Get rid of the latter. Remove them from your life. They are poison. They usually hide behind “I care about you”, smiles and “tact”, but believe me, they are hell bent on your failure.

The former, on the other hand, will stand by you, support you and remind you when you slack off. Seek them out. They are headed in the same direction that you are. Team up with them – Joint Venture with them. They don’t even consider the possibility of failure, and neither should you.

Insist on Winning

Napoleon Hill said:

“Persistence is to the character of man as carbon is to steel.”

Demand that of yourself. Insist on winning. Do not give in to greed, sloth, attachment or fear. Be resolute and firm. Do not take “No” for an answer, and you will join the Eagles who always end up winning. They may be bloodied and scarred from battle, but they are the victors. Don’t quit – you deserve to win!

“I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.”

– Thomas Edison

I was approached by a man who had unsuccessfully been trying to sell his franchises for four years. We looked at what the market really, really wanted and then doubled the price of the franchise and added a free trip for two to Disneyworld. I sold all the franchises in four months. When we added a free television set for anyone who bought a house from us, my wife, Rika, and I sold more houses.

People Want to Play

Why do they have conventions in Las Vegas instead of some unknown, small town? Because people want to play. They want an excuse to buy toys and have fun. Instead of thinking about what YOU want all the time, think about what your prospects want. Instead of hidden costs, try obvious perks. Trips, toys and trinkets are proven to work, especially when there’s a choice. People don’t want points or money or discounts as much as they want toys.

Justify Fun & They’ll Buy It

A man wants to buy a PDA. His wife says he should rather pay down some debt or buy a new refrigerator. He is then offered the opportunity to attend one of two seminars – one is for $800 and the other one costs $1500 but includes a “free” PDA. Guess which seminar he will attend. Some people need to justify toys and fun and when you give them the opportunity to do so, they’ll grab it.

Try This

Try adding a digital camera to your product or service and increase the cost of the product or service by the price of the camera, and see what happens. Give your customers an excuse to have fun.

• “Belinda, I know sales are down and I need to clean the garage out, but you know I have to attend that sales convention in Vegas and the river rafting “team building” will really help our sales.”
• “Bob, I know the kids are sick and you’re busy, but you’re just going to have to play Mom for a week while I take my sales team down to Hawaii for our convention. I need to train them up to increase sales and the spa treatments will help us bond.”

“Free” Gift

Free gifts also work really well. My friend buys a Mercedes from the same dealership every time because they always send his wife a huge bunch of yellow roses. Get creative and think about giving people a great excuse to buy from you.