How SSS may be Killing Dreams

Whether you want to hit it big financially, physically or just plain want to be famous, SSS may be the cruel “killer” of your dream! What is SSS? It’s simply the perceived notion of instant or overnight success in anything. It stands for “Super Star Syndrome”.

Believe it or not the super quick success of people like Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook fame or the late, great Steve Jobs of Apple Computer can kill your big time dreams. How? Because what you see and read can make it seem like the billionaire ranks were made virtually overnight. So this kind of super-fast success gives too many people the idea that an overnight fortune, instant fame, super quick weight loss or getting into Olympic shape can be accomplished almost overnight. Those thoughts and ideas are stimulated and reinforced through so much clever advertising.

You’ve seen it many times–those promoters that have something to sell can be pretty enticing with their promise that you can lose 25 pounds in 30 days “guaranteed!” or make a fortune in 6 months with their “Sure Fire System”. Of course then they always show you several examples of people who used their method with tremendous success so even though you don’t know if those few testimonials are really true, their suggestion that it could also happen to you is brain washing you into thinking you will have that kind of success. You just have to buy into what they’re selling and it will happen!

The big problem is that some people do really reach super success nearly overnight and, yes, it is possible … for a very few, very select people in the world. Such success is so insanely rare and often more of a fluke of luck or timing—a combination of circumstances with aspects these people had no control over—that made it happen! But for 99.9999% of people it just ain’t gonna happen! And if you keep holding onto the thought that overnight success is just going to drop in your lap, that waiting game will eventually kill your big dream. Your dreams take action, not just more dreaming.

For the vast majority of people super success in virtually all things in life are achieved one step, one deal, and one hour at a time. If we burn that message into our brains we will keep moving forward knowing that success can be and will be ours in the long run. My wealth hero’s that gave me inspiration and motivation were guys like Conrad Hilton, J.W. Marriot, and McDonald’s Ray Kroc or more recently, Warren Buffet. It took these people many, many years and one step at a time to reach the point of “Super Success”.

To me, the real key is fully understanding that it takes lots and lots of baby steps, but those baby steps will eventually take you great distances. If we understand that principal and apply it daily it helps keep us going. So let go of the idea that you will end up with your dreams realized by sheer chance or by some guaranteed system or product. Do the work, one little step at a time and it will happen!

A Meaningful Life Means Having Meaningful Work

Last week I started talking about the importance of that one thing we all love to complain about but need so badly as well—Work! We don’t need it just for the money either!

In the book I brought up last week, “When All You Ever Wanted Isn’t Enough “, Harold Kushner lists  the many super benefits to working. He notes “that we work for meaning as much as for money. We work so that our days will not be empty of meaning … but the key to our happiness, to our being able to find pleasure in our work, is the sense that we are using our abilities, not wasting them, and that we are being appreciated for it. Whatever it is in your power to do, do it with all your might.”

Wow … there is real wisdom and truth in what he is saying and of course that’s a big reason we all should be involved in the kind of work that we have a real passion for, even if that kind of work doesn’t pay much. Kushner says “If we are lucky, we will find ourselves at a place in life where we can derive pleasure from our work. Some of us, if we are lucky, will see ourselves launched on new careers in mid-life which will give us that elusive feeling of pleasure”.

Kushner is a Rabbi and he loves what he does, even when the work he has to do involves a sad event. “In a strange way, I feel good when I am officiating at a funeral,” he says. “For years, I couldn’t understand that feeling. I thought there might be something perverse about me, to enjoy such moments. But I understand it now. At times like that, I feel alive and engaged. I know that I am not merely present but that I am making a difference.”

Harold Kushner, paraphrasing lines in Ecclesiastes in the bible, says “If you are not going to win a Nobel Prize for your work, if it is not going to make you rich and famous, it still can give meaning to your life if you take it seriously and do it with all your might”.

I am absolutely convinced that work is a powerful and wonderful thing for our lives and makes us feel so much better about everything. As the novelist Wallace Stegner said “More people than would probably admit it find in work the scaffolding that holds up their adult lives.”

So yes, after learning–or I should say re-learning–all this about work, I have begun to re-dedicate and re-motivate my life to the work I love to do. Of course, we all need a break and so I will keep playing and traveling but these will be part time activities, because let’s face it, you can’t realistically play tennis, work out, hike in the mountains, watch movies or even have sex for 8 to 10 hours a day but you can work that long! You can dump all of your boredom and find great fulfillment in your accomplishments with hard work. You can also meet more fascinating people, contribute to humanity and, as an added bonus, even make a bit more money along the way. That’s a win-win-win from every angle!

 

The Answer to Boredom: Work

Yesterday day I had lunch with a very good, longtime friend. He had recently retired from working at the business he owned and we talked a lot about that transition from being a full time worker into a retiree. We talked about some of the big challenges a person faces when they hit retirement. It’s something that most people look forward to their entire working lives, but it’s a huge trap or at least it can be and not a very nice one.

The bottom line of our conversation was summed up in my friend’s comment “I am bored out of my mind!” And believe me, I know exactly what he is feeling! Been there, done that–twice. The first time was when I had made quite a few million dollars and just turned 40 and thought “Wow, I don’t have to work anymore. I think I will retire.” So I did but quickly discovered that I was, yes, bored out of my mind! I found I craved that meaningful purpose that having an occupation gave me so I jumped right back into work and what a relief that was! I instantly felt so much better.

My second retirement was just about 2 years ago when I turned my company over to my kids and decided to play more tennis and travel more. That was great for the first 2 or 3 months but then I started feeling unfulfilled and constantly found myself wandering around the house and driving my wife crazy. I knew something was wrong and my brain kept saying “Ok … you are no longer an entrepreneurial business type guy and as you’re not doing much writing any more you aren’t much of an author, so just what the hell are you?”

I tried to busy myself with more tennis, workouts, mountain hikes and travel and, yes, that helped but it just wasn’t enough. Then quite suddenly something motivated me to pick up an old book that I had read a couple of times before. I did this as part of my philosophy learned from my late great mentor, Paul J Meyer, that philosophy being that you should pick a few dozen or even a hundred of the very best books you’ve ever read then read them multiple times. Since we all forget so much of what we’ve read and learned at any one time, rereading is necessary.

I began reading Harold Kushner’s wonderful book “When All You Ever Wanted Isn’t Enough: The Search for a Life That Matters” It was while reading this that the key to solving my struggles with retirement and boredom hit me full in the face. What was it that Kushner said in his book that was such a breakthrough for me? It was simply uttering that good ole four letter word “WORK”!

Don’t laugh. This really is the answer to boredom and does give one a major power lift to the soul, the mind, and the body as well as a big time enhancement to self-worth. And yet that was the very thing we think we want to leave behind. But that thinking is wrong. We need work. And for more than just a paycheck!

Next week we’ll talk more about this concept of work being so very important to us and why. But for now, whether you are still working or retired, realize that having a purpose each day is what makes life fulfilling and that the idea of retirement should be an opportunity to work as you like, not to stop working altogether.

In Search of the Right Income Property

Don’t let the title mislead you—there is no such thing as the perfect property, just as there no such thing as the perfect spouse, car, child or job.  But there are certainly “good” properties and even some “great” properties as well as “good” financing and “great” financing.  By the same token there are some real bad properties around, waiting to snare you. I want to steer you in the right direction towards the right property for what you are after and keep you from ever giving the bad ones a home in your portfolio.

First, decide exactly what it is you want out of your investment. Why are you buying a piece of income property?  Be specific.  Are you after a lucrative cash flow? Or do you want a profitable overall return? Is it for the cash flow in addition to the tax savings and what you might get after you do some “fix up” work?

In addition, a novice investor must understand the alternative types of real estate investments available to him or her.  Of course, there are the residential types of investments including houses, duplexes, apartment, rehabs and others but there is a myriad of other income-producing properties which fall in the category of “beyond residential”.  A few examples would include gas stations, small strip malls, mini storage, motels, and retail shops.

This second category is too often overlooked by beginning and even experienced investors.  If you’re looking only at the residential properties in your area, you’re missing the entire menu.  There are commercial properties that fall into the lower ranges but because commercial is often thought of as being for the big time investor, the smaller guys don’t look there. But think about it … why would there not be smaller commercial investments just as there are smaller residential investments? It doesn’t matter what kind of property is it, just that it’ll get you the best return for your investment dollar.

Also consider that property that might have been residential or commercial when you bought it can be converted to take advantage of better income producing options for the area. Vacant gas stations have been leased to counties as libraries; motels have been converted to office buildings or housing for the elderly; mini-warehouses have been built out of other commercial spaces behind sub divisions or trailer parks where storage space is scare and small warehouses have been converted into loft type apartments or duplexes.  There are many potential gold mines in commercial or “beyond residential” property.

I’m certainly not saying that commercial or “beyond residential” property makes a better investment than residential. I’m merely trying to point out that when you go looking for the perfect income producing real estate, don’t limit yourself to the residential category alone. Look at the full menu.

And lastly, don’t forget now is a particularly great time to be buying income real estate because prices are near historical lows relative to income and interest rates, even though they have moved up a bit in the last month, are still at very low! So doesn’t hesitate. Get out there, look at all the options and put your money to work!

 

Your Own Financial Genius

Years ago after writing my first book How to Wake Up the Financial Genius Inside You people started calling me a “financial genius”. My typical response was “Thanks, but I am no genius or a financial genius! I am just an ordinary guy who got through high school with a “C” grade average.” I would then explain that the millions of dollars I made were due to following a simple formula that my multi-million dollar mentor, Larry Rosenberg, shared with me–the same formula that I have shared with you in my book.

Fast forward many, many years and many more millions of dollars. I was recently shocked when, just for fun, I Googled the words “financial genius” and saw my name come up just above Warren Buffett and Albert Einstein (since I first looked at this Google page, I moved from top of the list into second slot and Warren Buffett was replaced by Alan Greenspan.) My name was there as part of Amazon’s website and shows my original 1976 edition of How to Wake Up the Financial Genius Inside You, available for $12 dollars and the revised edition called The Next Step In Waking up the Financial Genius inside You, available for $24.50.

Seeing my name and book listed so predominately on the Google search has motivated me to offer all of my blog readers a REAL DEAL! The timing of this is particularly, serendipitously and financially very, very important. Why? Because right now with today’s much reduced prices combined with the incredibly low interest rates, you would have a tough time finding a better period in modern history to apply my simple but highly effective “million dollar strategy” ,which really is the strategy that wakes up anyone’s financial genius.

Right now is the best opportunity for buying properties you can fix up and flip or just rent with huge rates of return. Go ahead and Google “financial genius” right now and see for yourself the comments on the old book like the one Jason from Colorado sent saying “The numbers are from 1976, so add a zero to most of them and it translates well into modern day.” Or from Dallas, Texas W.E. Wyatt’s comment “Change the numbers and this book could have been written this year. The principals remain the same.” And folks, that’s comments about the 1976 book!

Let me tell you about the revised book The Next Step in Waking up the Financial Genius inside You. It’s bigger and better and if you or someone you know wants help with making a fortune, I will help you out right now.  Email me at moh@reincome.com or call the office at 801-307-2787 and ask for Malinda and I will send you the new edition for only $9.95 with no shipping or handling charges—if you want both the old edition and the new—add 5 bucks.  You need to get started right away since interest rates are beginning to slowly climb as are prices of properties!

 

Get Out to Get Re-Motivated

Most of us get really excited when we project ourselves into the future and see ourselves reaching lofty goals. Whether those goals are huge money goals or super health goals or incredible success in singing, dancing, acting or winning a big golf or tennis tournament, they motivate and energize our lives.

But if you are a normal human being from time to time you do get down and discouraged, sometimes   even hitting a big time depression because you didn’t quite reach a goal that you set for yourself or because of a personal or family problem or challenge.  The good news is there is a very simple and virtually cost free cure, a re-motivation method that takes only an hour or two to get you back on track!

You have most likely have used this method before.  It’s not a huge secret. So in this blog I’m just going to remind you about it and ask that you use this simple routine more often than you have or maybe even on a regularly set basis to get you back, and keep you, in the game. And believe me, you aren’t alone in neglecting this. I’m preaching to myself here too!

Yesterday, after having a nice lunch with a very dear friend of mine, Radd B, I happened to drive by the cemetery where my dear sweet 16 year old daughter Kristin was buried 27 years ago.  I stopped for just a few minutes but those few minutes brought back a rush of memories surrounding her death that pushed me suddenly over the edge into a pit of despair, self-pity, sadness, and depression.

I quickly drove home and told my wife I was a wreck and was going to take a long walk.  I drove up the canyon and began hiking up through the pines with all the sights, sounds and smells of Mother Nature around me.  An hour and half later my brain, attitude and outlook for life and the future were completely transformed.  And that, my friends, is the simple, cost free, cure and re-motivator that we all know works … getting out into the natural world where things are balanced and calm.

With all we have going on in our lives, we too easily forget how powerful and effective Mother Nature can be in bringing us back to a composed and stable baseline. Getting out doesn’t have to be in the mountains or on a beach either. It can simply be a walk around the neighborhood, in a park or out in the more rural areas of where you live. The key is to get out of the house and as close to nature as you can. It really is amazing how a small thing like spending time outdoors away from our hectic world can re-adjust our heads and re-motivate our souls!  Mother Nature always knows best!!

 

Develop Your System, Delegate the Details

Last week I wrote about the mafia guy Sam “Mooney” Giancana and how he used systems to build and manage a huge, albeit illegal and vicious, financial empire. I’m not encouraging you to use his particular systems but it is a wild example of just what can be done when you have good systems in place. So the question now is, what kind of systems will work for you to allow you to dramatically increase your income and at the same time give you more free time to do whatever you like and enhances your life?

Before we can go over what a system is and how you develop it, you must understand this:

Grand Strategies Pay Huge Dollars and Details Drain Your Time.

Look at most people’s lives and you’ll find that they spend the majority of time wrapped up in the details. No, that’s not the way they planned it, but it’s so easy to get sucked into that habit. One big footnote here is you must realize that some people thrive on detail. And that’s okay, it’s just that if you really like the detail then you probably need to accept the fact that your road to huge automatic streams of income will be much harder for you. On the other hand, it’s these kinds of super detail loving people you need to hire to do the details for you.

If you’re a big ideas person, the struggle may be keeping focused. Ever notice how, when you’re away from home and business, usually on vacation, you can come up with some darn good strategies and systems for success? But then, when you get home, the details of your life and business pull you away and you lose focus of those great ideas you came up with when you were away from it all. So the number one strategy needs to be a plan to back away from it all, to get a clear mountaintop view of your business and your investments or potential investments. You must be able to see your own financial big picture.

Once you have that mountain top view and you figured out what your grand strategy is going to be then you need to start getting systems into place. When I started out to dramatically increase my income and net worth, my grand strategy was to build my fortune with income producing properties. To speed up the process I decided to find “dirt bag” properties that I could fix up and sell for a good profit. I found out very quickly how the details can just suck up your time so my first “grand system” was to start delegating these details to other people. Everything from using dozens of real estate agents to look for properties that fit my criteria to very inexpensive workers to do the hard labor required for the face lifts the properties needed.

I clearly remember the first apartment building I bought. It was twelve super dumpy, dirty, rundown units. That’s where I learned my big lesson about systems, especially about details and delegation. In the beginning I thought it would be smart to save a few bucks since I was way short of cash and take over as the resident manager even though I didn’t live on the property. Wow, was that ever stupid! Fortunately, within a few months I realized that the details were not only driving me crazy but, more importantly, they were sucking my time and energy which was destroying my outlook on buying more properties.

So you see, right here is the biggest rub. If you’re handling all the details and you hate it, why would you ever want to buy more properties which will only bring you more frustration and problems? Of course the answer is that you wouldn’t. Always remember, if you want to double or triple or even gather 5 times your income, you will always need to delegate the details!!

It’s all in the System

Ridiculous! Most people won’t believe the next sentence, but it can be absolutely true if you want it to be: The average person can increase their income by 5 times and spend less time working than they do now.

Yes, that’s true, and I can prove it in just a few minutes. Then you can go out and do it.

A few years ago as I lay basking on the beautiful Poipu Beach in the South Pacific, I was reading, Double Cross, the story of Sam “Mooney” Giancana. Sam ran the Chicago Mob for years, involving “the outfit”, as they called it, in prostitution, numbers, vending and protection (a nice word for extortion) of legitimate businesses ranging from garbage collection to barber shops. They also were involved in running drugs, money laundering, motels, restaurants, night clubs and hijacking, to name just a few more.

How did Sam find the time to manage, direct and control such a vast cash generating empire? Sam was not even what you would call an educated man, so how did he do it? He saw the big picture and knew the key to his own personal success was in the “systems”. Nobody has more than 168 hours in a week to get things done–so to expand or clone yourself you must devise “systems” that work automatically, whether you are awake, asleep, working in Washington or playing tennis in Tangiers. And Sam had developed just such systems, systems that, once set up, would run on auto pilot most of the time. When the system slowed down or broke, he would fix it. Granted, his methods to fix the system were more than a little harsh. For us non-criminals when our tenant, broker or employee makes a mistake we might want to put them on some kind of probation or fire them rather than break their leg or rub them out.

Can you see the vision here? If you organize your life and business to run automatically without you–with income constantly coming in, especially from one source, then that gives you free time to work on other ideas, dreams and develop more income sources. Then you can literally increase your income by 2 or 3 times and even by 5 times and work less than you do now!

Personally, one of my initial driving forces was the thought or question of how my family would get along if I died the next day. So I went to work with that somewhat negative motivation and in a very few years I had arranged more than 95% of my income to flow in on auto pilot which gave me lots of time to work on more income streams. How was that done? In a word, Systems.

This week I just wanted you to take away the idea that you can make more money and work less by simply developing systems that can bring in automatic income. Next week I will tell you what kind of systems I used and that you can use to increase your income or just to give you more time to do other fun things.

 

Life Lessons for People Young and Old

A few nights ago I presented 2 Cottonwood High School Senior scholarships. 27 years ago I set up the Kristin Haroldsen scholarship fund in honor and in memory of my daughter Kristin, who died suddenly at age 16 from an eating disorder.  I told the 400 or so high school seniors and parents how shocking and painful it was to lose a child and sadly a few families already knew from experience the deep sorrow parents, families and friends suffer.

But then I tried to explain the huge “life lesson” I learned from that tragedy. And yes, it took years for me to learn this big life lesson.  I tried to convey to the audience and especially these wonderful young, senior high school students what I consider the great secret of a happy, fulfilling and productive life. Here are those 2 messages:

LIFE’S BIG LESSON:  It’s not what happens to you during your life but how you react or respond to what happens to you. You have to remember that whatever happens, you have choices and you determine the quality of your life by the choices you make.

LIFE’S BIG SECRET:  To have a happy, fulfilling and productive life, you must monitor, control and program your self-talk and constantly make positive affirmations to yourself, inside your head. Talk  to yourself by saying simple things like,

“I can handle any situation.”

“I am happy and healthy.”

“I am positive and upbeat.”

“My life is working out beautifully.”

“I love people and I listen to them.”

Based on the many comments I received later that night from these wonderful teenagers I think they got the message, The real key, however, is how long they will remember it and live by it. That goes for their parents too. And for you and me!

The Big Goal Boost

Anyone that knows me knows that I’m a huge believer in setting goals. Of course that’s the major them of my book How to Ignite Your Passion for Living. Goal setting grabbed my attention in a very big way even back when I was in high school.

As a pole vaulter then and in college my goals were in feet and inches. As soon as I reached a certain height, I would set a new goal a few inches higher–from 10 feet 6 inches to 10 feet 9 inches then 11 feet. After a ton or work, trying over and over again, I finally was consistently clearing 12 feet and eventually I peaked out at 14 feet 1 inch. Back then, in 1962, the world record was just over 16 feet, so I wasn’t doing too badly. But, no, I didn’t set the world record. Still setting those goals kept me completely engaged and excited about life. Such physical, self-competitive goals aren’t the only goals that can do that for you. Just about any goal will do that for you if it’s something you really want.

To get that jazzed feeling every day, be sure to constantly set goals for yourself. It will keep you passionate about your life and living and of course there is a Big Bonus in that you end up accomplishing so many things. So my message this week is push yourself to set more goals, and tough goals, in all parts of your life –physical, mental, family, charitable and, yes, don’t forget financial goals. I promise you as you do this you will enjoy each hour and each day more.

By the way, as you may already know, it helps to tell people that are close to you (as long as they are positive people) what goals you have set for yourself because when you know they are watching, you are more likely to stick with them and they also can act as a cheer leader for you. I myself have been sharing with you my goal of working out every day until I turned 70 and just knowing I told you about that makes even more dedicated. I just can’t let you down.

So you know. I am still on track with that goal which is 46 weeks from now. I was sick one day last week and hurt my back on another day but I still got a work out  in. Yes it hurt physically but, wow, I sure got a huge mental boost from sticking with my goal! That’s 83 out of 84 days that I have kept up my work outs. Pretty good! Now, what goal do you have?

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