A business card is a given but in this day and age you need to hand people more than just a phone number. They will expect an email, a website and other online information. If you haven’t done so already, build a solid online presence, even if it’s just a one page website with basic information and links to other things you or your business are involved in. I also suggest looking into getting a LinkedIn account, creating a Facebook page, starting a Twitter account, or writing a blog. You’ll need to investigate which options will work best for what you’re doing and then spend some time forging them into the ammunition you need.

If it makes sense for your business, consider investing in promotional items. It can be anything from pens, magnets, or small gadgets related to your business that are easy to carry and hand out so people have a reminder of you and what you do. When at shows or conventions, have informational materials ready for those times when you can’t get in much more than your tag-line.

In addition, be ready to give back and help others. The more you assist others in their personal or business goals, the better they will remember you and the more willing they’ll be to assist you in your endeavors. Nothing in your arsenal will have more of an impact than a little gratitude and a positive image. Put this together with a solid on-line presence and plenty of ready contact information and you will have a truly well loaded business gun.

What did I do to make this happen? I just put myself out there, willing and actively trying to connect with new people. It’s all about how you present yourself and the words and ideas you put out there that will stick in people’s memory after you’ve parted ways. Be confident, be attentive and let people know what you do. Let them see your passion.

In other words, just leverage yourself, making yourself available to meet new people wherever you are. Use your personality to make an impression and keep a keen ear open whether it’s at a party, a business function, or just standing in line at the grocery store. You never know what it will lead to or how it might help you achieve your goals that much quicker.

Keeping yourself surrounded by your friends is about more than just having a good time, it’s essential to our wellbeing. POW survivors consistently talk about how having a buddy to talk to, to lean on, and to share their pain and hope with was one of the top reasons they were able to survive. Being with friends keeps you from feeling isolated, helps you keep life and what is truly important in perspective, bolsters your immune system, reduces stress, and gives you the energy and mood boost to get through demanding times.

I know we get so busy sometimes with work, errands, and family that we just don’t seem to have time to get together with others. But with all the benefits you get from having your friends around, it really should be a top priority. If you haven’t done so recently, gather together with those friends that are a positive and supportive influence and be sure you put regular gathers on your calendar and to do list. You should never be too busy to surround yourself with the very source that will help you climb your mountains and inject the kind of joy into your life that you are working towards.

Studies have shown that people are four times more likely to have a sense of contentment from work than they do from watching TV. That’s a pretty impressive statistic and yet, the majority of people (especially in the good ole U.S. of A.) spend huge amounts of time watching the tube. So why do we choose to watch TV rather than get to work on things that would further our personal and professional goals as well as provide us with more contentment?

It’s because work is hard. Worthwhile and challenging tasks usually take the proverbial blood, sweat, and tears and sometimes end up being a constant uphill struggle. Instinctively, we want to avoid what is difficult and TV can fill our time without taxing our brains or body. But it is the difficult work, the complicated and challenging goals we face in our day job or the effort we put into building a dream, that makes what we accomplish so satisfying. Watching TV, on the other hand, accomplishes little if anything and is not, at the end of the day, very fulfilling.

You probably enjoy games of some sort—tennis, golf, chess, sodoku, etc.—and you play because of the challenge and the way you get lost in it, looking forward to seeing what you can accomplish or motivated by that potential win. Likewise, in your work, if you take time to set difficult and complex goals and totally throw yourself into reaching those objectives, you will find that your contentment and happiness will soar, buoyed by your progress and that potential, if not actualized, win.

Bottom line: set up some very tough challenges for yourself, pushing yourself to do more complex and novel things (whether you’re a millionaire now or still working on it!). It’s the work that will lead you to a richer and more satisfying life and make the down time by the pool much more enjoyable.

Take, for instance, Daddy Bruce Randolph, a philanthropist and restaurant owner who, at the age of 60, after many years of hard times and failed businesses, scraped together enough money to open a BBQ joint in Denver. A year after he opened, not that much better off financially, he started serving free Thanksgiving dinners to the down and out in his community, a tradition that would last almost 40 years. He would also give away what he could to help the less fortunate on Christmas, Easter, and even his own birthday. Every year his generous events would get bigger and harder to finance but he’d still keep doing it. It gained him admirers all over the country, many of whom jumped in to keep the charitable events going as they grew well beyond his means. Because of his generosity, he had to live modestly but still, he was happy.

When asked why he gave so generously, Daddy Bruce said, “You can’t beat love. Nothin’ beats love. If you give one thing, you get three things back.” He was, in the truest sense of the phrase, a very successful investor. He invested in what he believed in most and gained the love and appreciation of thousands of grateful Denver citizens as well as the admiration of people from all across the country. Not that he was after the admiration, I’m sure, but if he was getting three times what he gave, he was certainly one of the richest men of his time, living a full, passionate life through bettering the lives of others.

I understand that kind of passion. I may have amassed significant personal wealth but the real joy in it has not been what I can buy but how I can use what I have to help make positive changes in other people’s lives. It’s why I wrote my book “How to Ignite Your Passion for Living”. It doesn’t matter whether your dreams involve increasing your monetary wealth or enriching the lives of others, the key is to live well and let your passion lead you.

No matter what kind of goal you are working on or how far along you are, there is always someone out there who can make it easier, help you accomplish it quicker, or simply make the process more enjoyable. Networking, at a minimum allows you to expand your circle of supportive friends. It also gives you access to new ideas as well as views that offer insight into yourself and even your goals. Many times, a solution you are searching for comes to you through someone you meet incidentally, someone who has access to the people or resources you need. There are also those serendipitous moments where you end up meeting your next project collaborator, investor, or coach all because you reached out a hand and said hello. Networking is an amazing thing.

What’s more amazing about it is the impact you can have on others. You could be the good friend, solution resource, idea person, instigator of change, or next business partner someone has been looking for. But none of these wonderful things can happen if you don’t get out there and let fate and chance play their part. You don’t need to have a specific idea about who or want you want from your social networking, you just need to go out and see what pops up. The interaction alone will enrich your life. The opportunities you will open yourself up to could be invaluable.

The answer lies primarily in the risk level of the investment and how much your time is worth. For instance, investing through a broker takes little time but the pay back is either very uncertain or very small. Small businesses often take years to turn a profit and your time investment, which may seem cheap or free initially, can be very expensive if you consider how much you could have made working more hours or a second job. Just think, if you could have gotten $25/hour working a second job, then that 20 hours a week you spent over 6 months getting the business up and running cost you $12,500 in lost income! How long will it take you to recover that investment through your business?

In real estate, you invest both a significant amount of time and, sometimes, money (see last week’s post and page 184 in my book “How to Ignite Your Passion for Living” on how to get others to fund your investments) but the outcome is far less risky. The added bonus is that real estate will not continue to suck your time the way a small business often does, and the returns will inevitably be greater and more secure than stocks. This is why I really encourage you to look at real estate if financial freedom is a primary goal of yours.

I’m not saying you shouldn’t open that storefront you’ve been dreaming about or support your favorite budding green business with a capital investment—there are many factors beyond time and money to consider when deciding what investment is right for you—but just don’t pour your all your time and money into something that is not going to help you reach your financial goals in the near future. Keep an eye on the big picture. Because after you make your first million in real estate, you can pay someone to do all the hard work to get that business off the ground or invest in whatever you like. That’s the beauty of financial freedom.

Of course, the first question you are asking yourself is, where do I find the money to invest? The common belief is that you need to be making big bucks in order to have extra money to invest. But the fact is, it doesn’t matter how much you make. All you need is a plan and a little discipline.

If you have ever had a big jump in salary you may have been amazed 6 months into getting those fat paychecks that you were not able to save any more money than before. That’s because we tend to spend at our income level or beyond it so if you make more, you feel like you can, or even should, spend more. Nicer dinners, more expensive clothes, a few more nights out, a pricier car or vacation and the “extra” money you are making is gone. So how do you get around this tendency?

You can do this by putting away 10% of every paycheck—automatically, without exception, every pay day–then pay yourself (i.e. pay your bills as well as earmarking money for essentials like groceries and gas) before spending on any non-essentials. This will keep you within budget and on track to gathering a sizeable sum that you can then invest and start making even more money from. In today’s economy, real estate is an accessible and wise investment opportunity that you should really be taking advantage of. And starting with this smart savings tactic will get you there far sooner than you think.

You can read more about the potential of real estate investments on pg 191 of How to Ignite Your Passion for Living as well as on page 31 of Waking Up The Financial Genius Inside You (write me directly to order this book for just the cost of shipping).

I know this can often be very difficult and some days you just want to throw your hands up in surrender. Well don’t. No matter what is happening you really can help the people you care for, keep making progress on your own goals, and keep sane all at the same time. The way to do this is to use that “L” factor I talk about in Chapter 8 of my book, How to Ignite Your Passion for Living–list making.

Lists are the ideal life line for when things get hectic so be sure you make a list of what you want to get done for yourself and others every day. Then when the proverbial wrench gets thrown into your plans get the issue resolved or the interruption wrapped up as soon as possible and return to your list. Don’t worry if it takes hours to get back on track or even the next day. The important thing is to keep the list as the guideline for your day so you don’t get sidetracked or lost in the chaos.

You will also find that if you complete the items according to their priority for that day that even if you are interrupted, the most important things still get done. Anything left undone should be transferred to the next day’s list and made a priority for that day. If one or two of your top priorities are steps toward accomplishing your goals, you are certain to make the progress you need to keep up your enthusiasm and eventually accomplish what you are after. Because, in the end, it’s not how quickly you reach your goal but that you have something to strive for that fuels your passion and creates a life worth celebrating.

The thing about multi-tasking is that we can’t actually do multiple things at the same time, not fully. Our brains are built to focus, not run multiple programs at the same time the way a computer can. This means that when we have multiple things going on but we aren’t fully experiencing any one of them. We are not “living in the now” but rather in a shallow, half-realized moment. How much do you fail to notice while multi-tasking? What personal connections do you miss out on? What amazing moment in your child’s life will you never have a memory of to cherish because you are half focused elsewhere?

In our high tech, fast paced world, it might not be fashionable, but taking time to slow down, put the high-tech toys away, and become completely aware of your surroundings, the conversation you are engaged in, and the way you are feeling at the moment may actually be the ‘edge’ you need to keep up with the rat race. You will be more content moment to moment, probably much less stressed, and certainly happier with your life and your progress because you would know exactly where you are and where you have been. So next time you are ambling through the great outdoors, attending a family gathering, or even just talking on the phone, turn your focus and your full awareness on where you are and what is most important at that moment. See if it doesn’t make a huge difference in the quality of your work and the quality of your life.