A Kindness Lesson from Investing
February 4, 2024 by MarkHaroldsen
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All of us can spread kindness and other good stuff around and many people do but where do they usually start? I think they start right at home with family and friends. But if you want to spread good works and good words beyond that, you probably need to use something I learned about in my many, many years of investing in real estate. That thing is compounding.
Let me try to motivate you with numbers showing how a great idea, a good deed, and/or motivating words can spread and become huge. Let’s call it “good message compounding”.
If any one of us passed on a helpful message or did a kind deed and encouraged the recipients of our kindnesses to “pay it forward” to, say, ten other people and then asked that they also request their recipients to keep it going by passing it along to ten more and everyone kept that going, what potentially could be the results?
Shockingly, if everyone in the chain were to do this and that passing it on continued 6 times or through 6 levels of people, your message or deed could affect more than one million people! If it went through 9 levels of people, you could influence or help more than one billion people!
Of course, not all those first 10 people would follow through and pass it on and even if the first ten people did, we can be pretty certain that not everyone down the line would pass it on. But the point I want to make is that it is possible to end up with huge numbers of people getting your message or being impacted by your good deed because of compounding. If you keep that “huge potential” in mind, it can really be such a super motivator for you and for all of us to push ourselves to do and say more to help others.
So, I would encourage you to keep firmly in mind all those people, up through the 9th level, and the potential of over a billion people that you could potentially help. Even though this “good message compounding might not multiply into a billion, it could certainly multiply into hundreds of good messages and deeds and probably even more than that. And that ain’t too bad coming from one little human on this planet of more than 7 billion people.
In my world, that’s pretty exciting, knowing you, as just one person, can have that big of an impact for good in the world. And it all comes back to you in the great feeling brought on by the happiness you see your efforts bring to other people’s lives.
Pay It Forward
March 13, 2022 by MarkHaroldsen
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This past week, my wife Kimberly and I drove around Salt Lake City to maybe see some houses or office buildings that we had not seen before. As you probably know, the mind craves novelty even when it’s as simple as driving through a new or rarely seen neighborhood.
Kimberly chose to drive down a street where we used to live. We decided we’d like to meet the people living at our old house. When we knocked, a young, good-looking guy came to the door. We told him we used to live there, and we’d like to take a little look around. Before we went into the house, however, Kimberly said, “Hey, Mark, why don’t you go to the car and give him one of your books?â€
I did, and when I gave it to the young man, he looked surprised and said, “I know your name.†He quickly retreated into the house and brought out a book called Pay It Forward, co-authored by Brian Tracy and several other experts, including himself.
What a coincidence! I have known Brian Tracy for years. He was a top-notch motivational speaker at some of my seminars. Not only was he super successful and a superb writer and speaker, but he was also a super nice guy.
The young co-author we meet was Daryl L. Kemsley. His section in the book was “Driven By a New Purposeâ€. In it he writes about taking “Three Steps Forward†which I thought could be very helpful for a lot of people. I’d suggest that you get the book and read about his three steps:
Step 1. Sacrifice helps you embrace what you deserve in life and business.
Step 2. The principles of building a business are consistent.
Step 3. When you listen for it, you will find the people that need you the most.
Pay It Forward is an excellent little book and Brain presents a lot of great subjects in his chapter, “Create Your Own Future†including:
- Think About the Future
- Become a Millionaire
- Create a Five-Year Fantasy
- Imagine No Limitations
- Practice Blue Sky Thinking
- Refuse to Compromise Your Dreams
That is to name just a few of what he writes about that can be so helpful to a person’s life. I sure remember when he spoke at our seminars and how the audience loved what he had to share. You could tell they knew it would be very, very helpful to in their lives. Go out and find the book and buy it. You won’t be sorry.
Live and Leave a Legacy
October 3, 2014 by MarkHaroldsen
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The great Arthur Ashe left a wonderful legacy, not so much as you might think from his champion tennis days but more for his amazing kindness, sharing and selfless giving and his gentle warm personality that moved people to accept that every human being is equal. Believe me, back in his early tennis days, black people were not thought of or treated anywhere near equal. In fact, in some areas it was against the law for a white person to play tennis with a black person.
When you read about Arthur Ashe or watch the documentary on his life, you keep seeing these same words over and over to describe him–thoughtful, kind hearted , great role model, warm, gentle, friendly, fair minded and so very concerned about other people. He made a huge difference in the world and is a great example and role model for the rest of us. But you know what? Anyone of us can do similar things if we set our mind to it. That, believe it or not, brings me to the subject of money. Arthur Ashe used tennis and the fame he received from that as a lever to do good in the world. The same thing can be done with money!
Money is neither good nor bad. I know many people think that money is “the root of all evil” and they claim that this is what the Bible says, but this is not what the bible actually says. It says “the LOVE of money is the root of all evil.” The real key, of course, is what you do with that money. If you let money become your god or the end goal in and of itself rather than a means to the end you might well be in big trouble. I’ve seen this happen many times. Someone will make tons of money and then spend and lavish it all on themselves with high end toys, jewelry, food, drink and drugs and then you see that love of money really does become the root of evil that arises in these people’s lives.
If you want to help humanity for many years to come, way past your own lifetime, then you need to devise a plan that does exactly that. I’m not saying that you have to have huge amounts of money to leave a great legacy fro mankind but it sure helps. I don’t know about you but working hard to make a lot of money–especially past the point of making enough to just live on–is much easier, seems like less work and is more rewarding when I know that the extra cash and net worth can, and will, be directed to others in need. And not just for the here and now but long after I have checked out of this life. Call it extra motivation, extra energy or whatever you want to call it. It’s real and it can help keep you going. That ‘legacy’ can also spill over into the future for many, many years after you are gone and may even get bigger as time rolls on.
Try to pretend that this is the only world there will ever be–as in there is no after or next life. If that were the case–and it might be–and you still really want to live forever, then maybe the only way to do it is through what you do for other people. First your kids and grandkids, then maybe your friends and associates but why not go way beyond that and try to help total strangers and anyone on the planet that you can reach, especially those that are in desperate need. If you can motivate them to make their lives and their kids’ lives and their kids’ kids’ lives a little better, encouraging them to pass it on or ‘pay if forward’ forever into eternity, then I think you may see that you are living forever. Just one person has the potential to make the world a better place for numerous other people and that is one terrific legacy that you can leave as well as live.
Compounding Kindness
August 29, 2014 by MarkHaroldsen
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Last week I talked about my speech in Las Vegas and emphasized how absolutely critical it is to use leverage if you want to make big money in a relatively short period of time. But can leverage be used if you want to spread good words and good works so you can make a huge impact for good in the world? All of us can spread good stuff around and many people do but where do they usually start? They start right at home with family and friends. But if you want to spread good works and good words greatly beyond that you probably need to use leverage.
Let me try to motivate you with numbers showing how a great idea, a great deed and/or great motivating words can spread and become huge. Let’s call it “good message compounding”. If any one of us passed on a great message or did a great deed and encouraged the recipients of our kindnesses to “pay it forward” to 10 people asking that they also request their recipients to keep it going by passing it along to ten more and everyone kept that going, what potentially could be the results? Shockingly, if everyone in the chain were to do this and that passing it on continued 6 times or through 6 levels of people, your message or deed would have affected more than one million people! If it went to the 9th level, you would have influenced or helped more than one billion people!
Of course, not all those first 10 people would follow through and pass it on and even if the first ten people did we can be pretty certain that not everyone down the line would pass it on. But the point I want to make is it is possible to end up with huge numbers of people getting your message or being impacted by your good deed. If you keep that “huge potential” in mind it can really be such a super motivator for you and for all of us to push ourselves to do and say more to help others.
So I would encourage you to keep firmly in your mind that 9th level of over a billion people that you could potentially help. Even though this “good message compounding†most likely won’t multiply into a billion it could certainly multiply into hundreds of good messages and deeds and probably even more than that. And that ain’t too bad coming from one little human on this planet of more than 7 billion people. In my book that’s pretty exciting, knowing you, as just one person, can have that big of an impact for good in the world. And it all comes back to you in the great feeling it gives you and the happiness you see it bringing to others’ lives.
Sharing and The Great Reward
Not too long ago I was in Costco buying an elliptical machine. (These machines are a great way to stay in shape without hard impact on your knees, hips and back.) This 26 year old guy helped us load the machine into the back of our car. I couldn’t help but notice he had a certain sparkle in his eyes and was full of energy. He was so very helpful and friendly I just had to give him a little extra reward so I gave him my financial book The Next Step to Waking up the Financial Genius Inside You.
A couple days later he’d tracked me down via the internet thanking me profusely in an email. He wanted to tell me what a huge impact the book had already made even though he’d only read a few chapters. The very day I gave him the book he went to his bank and took care of some financial things he’d been putting off and he said because of the book he had reignited his life goals and was super inspired to really accomplish what he’d set out to do before but had let things slip.
Well, I couldn’t let his enthusiastic response end there, so I wrote back and invited him up to the house to talk. That day, before he got to the house, I couldn’t help but think of how a couple books I’d read had also hit me like a ton of bricks and changed my life forever. Now my book was making a difference in this young man’s life! Not that this was the only email and success story I’ve heard from those who’ve read my books but I don’t often get to meet them.
We had a great chat. This young man talked about how he has set news goals and renewed old goals and was already acting on them. Not just financial goals either but some very wonderful life and living goals. I could tell that he really got the message that money should be a means to a greater end not the end itself. As I have said many times “with the right formula, combined with drive and determination most anyone can make millions of dollars, especially if you are motivated by a higher and greater cause.â€
As he left I just had to give him a copy of How to Ignite Your Passion for Living. The “passion book” gives you specifics about the best way to set goals with a specific formula that helps you stick to those goals until they are fulfilled.
My great reward–and it truly is a great reward–is seeing people light up and take the necessary action to go out and do what they need to reach their dreams! Whether it’s the huge success story of guys like Dell Loy Hansen–who read my book in college and made a half a billion dollar fortune (his story is in the beginning of the Financial Genius book) or if it’s the beginning success of a young struggling couple that were able to buy their first home along with two small rental duplexes, all these stories warm my heart and help me feel fulfilled, motivating me to keep on “paying if forward”.
A Great Means To a Great End
A few days ago I was at Wal-Mart when a very pregnant lady followed by a little girl kind of cut me off with her shopping cart. She apologized and I said “Hey there’s a little girl following you and it looks like another kid is right in front of youâ€, speaking of her unborn child. This made her laugh.
As I checked out, this same lady with her daughter and husband ended up in line right behind me.
I overheard the husband and wife quietly discussing that they couldn’t afford to buy a pair of gloves that they needed and this on a very, very cold day. So as they talked I casually moved the little bar that separated their purchases from mine, putting about $50 or $60 dollars worth of items on my side.
A moment later, as the casher scanned the items, the mother looked up and said “Wait a minute. That’s our stuff that she’s scanning!â€Â I said†I know it is and I am going to pay for it.â€Â She then had a very puzzled look on her face. I quickly added “It’s ok. It’s just a random act of kindness and I really want to do it.”
After gathering herself for a moment, the mother said in a very emotional voice “Nobody has EVER done something like this for me.†and then began to tear up and so did I.
The clerk had overheard it all and said “That was so very, very nice.” I replied “Thank you but in a way it’s a bit selfish since it make me feel wonderful and I’ll feel that for a very long time!â€Â My impulse actually had more to do with me thinking that they really needed help but the wonderful feeling I got was great extra benefit.
I’m sure you have had similar feelings as you go out of your way to help others. My hope is that we will all step up and do it more and more. $50 worth of goods may not seem like much in the big scheme of things but it doesn’t really matter how much you impact others, just that you do. It will be something they aren’t likely to forget and will forever give them a warm, grateful memory. Knowing that just adds to that wonderful feeling you’ll get to carry around with you as well.
One of the reason’s I decided to make a fortune was that I figured the more financially successful I was the more I could give to others. Money and wealth should be a means to a much greater end–that of giving back. Paying it Forward. By helping others everybody is a winner and that is the way the world should and could work if we all do our part. Let’s all go out and do it!
P.S. I’ll have more in later blogs on clues, formulas and methods to making millions and helping others as you go.
The Rewards of Sharing Success
One of the most wonderful things about what I do—sharing and getting out the information about my success—is that I get to see how my actions affect other people and their lives in a big way. It makes me feel so good to help other people. I certainly don’t need money now and to give a little bit back gives me the best feeling in the world! Here is a recent note I received from a young man who read How to wake up the-Financial Genius Inside You for the first time when he was 18. Now he’s 28 (I was 27 when I started investing in real estate) and ready to take on the world:
Mark, I’m very appreciative to you. You have literally set me on the right path to purchasing property & securing my families economic future for generations. I have a lot of gratitude for that. Since talking to you I have met the right people that have also set me on the right path. I now know what I have to do to start investing right here in Melbourne, Australia. There is a way…there are cheaper run down ‘dirt bag’ houses and apartments out of the city which you could still pick up for 150k-300k and all of your techniques are sure winners to increase value from the get-go. Australia’s population is going to nearly double by 2030 and I’m certain that pricing will naturally have to rise. I would definitely love to purchase property in the US but I think to start nothing’s better than in your own backyard.
I can’t be more expressive of my gratitude to you than to say that you gave me the time, were willing to meet & coach me all at no cost and that is absolute gold. It’s pure.
When I accumulate my wealth I promise to be generous with my time to others wishing to accumulate wealth. I will repay this debt as such and with all of the above said, I think that there is a lot I can do by myself at the beginning to really lay down the foundation of financial success. I’ve started creating a map. So again, thank you and I will keep you updated on my progress.
Mark, I wish you the best. You truly are blessed. Have a wonderful Christmas & New Years. You will be hearing news from me and it will be positive 🙂
Best—Sam Barry