By Bridgie Boggan
Now is a great time to make it a habit to manage your financial resources instead of your resources managing you. What is meant by that when we are stating that "Your money manages you"? Here is a well known example:
"There is more month than there is money so that new purchase, trip, or splurging will need to wait a month or two and maybe never. You've opted to instead delay and pay later making the problem much worst and your perceived lack of resources in control." Here are some proven techniques to making financial gains an achievable goal by repositioning and changing spending habits while gaining more control of your situation so that there are available resources and time to spend with friends, family or loved ones.
One of the most overstated, undervalued and available resource accessible to anyone is time. Effective time management when applied consistently is a key element toward making financial progress. Even spare time moments resourcefully used contribute toward steady progress when used in combination with any of the following:
1. Establish investments.
Based on your risk assessment it is determined the best type of investment program suitable for your personality type and financial situation by either doing the research for yourself, by attending that appointment with a financial planner or by inquiring through a brokerage. Purchase examples, of course, are stocks, mutual funds, bonds, money market funds, annuities, etc. Because these figures will fluctuate, fit into your schedule a time to assess your portfolio periodically to check your progress. Your return on your investment can be substantial or relatively consistent with proper selection and combinations.
2. Purchase real estate.
Buying property is another way to invest to create financial gain; and making improvements after the purchase increases the value of the property. Not only do you save money by placing regular payments into your real estate; but if strategically paid ownership accumulation can happen at a faster rate and with very minimal increase to your payment. One such company offering this type of arrangement with no processing cost added is at www.eMortgageManager.net. With this service the mortgage payment is split into two parts. Each half is paid automatically every two weeks. It's very effective and easy to set up. This is a triple win for those who use this strategy with a single purchase.
3. Take classes, take up a hobby or acquire a skill.
How do you spend most of your time? Do you waste valuable hours lamenting in self-pity, bad luck or a disadvantaged set of circumstances? Or will you take active control to resolve the situation?
If there is an interest there is a class for it. And now that there's the Internet taking a class is just as easy as leisurely clicking a link. There are many available classes that are free, or via email and some that may cost a bill or two to enter a site. Or if you'd prefer, take a class at local colleges or universities which offer that immediate one on one support available through that type of arrangement. Your local library or museum may schedule classes or speakers covering a variety of subjects, too. Some locations even award certificates after completion if that is your requirement. Increasing your knowledge or skills over the long term not only provides confidence and mastery of skills developed by use of what is called putting in your "sweat equity" by taking the necessary courses and steps, but it will also provide flexibility by creating for you a new source of income using your newly developed talent(s) or expertise.
You may offer for a fee a service, provide a product (or product line), to sell your knowledge or in any of the combinations listed through your choice of method at a profit giving you unlimited possibilities. When used separately or together the above suggestions work effectively over time giving to you the increase that you've longed desired. Use your spare time moments to work for you effortlessly and automatically... even with family, friends or loved ones.
Showing posts with label Success. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Success. Show all posts
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
5 Keys to Reinventing Yourself
By: Darren Hardy in: SUCCESS
Looking to make a change? Want to start doing what you love, but don’t know where to start?
I know how you feel. I have been there myself… several times, in fact.Over the last couple of decades, I have had half a dozen radically different careers and businesses (real estate, television, online media, software, private-equity investing and publishing). Each new venture required a personal reinvention. Let me give you some field-tested advice about how to do it and do it with success!
1 – Leverage Your Strengths
While each endeavor was completely different, one thing was in common with them all—they needed the strengths I had to be successful…
We are ALL born with unique strengths, talents and advantages. There are some things you do that most people cannot do or cannot do as well as you. Those are your special gifts. Identifying these strengths is the first and most important key to your reinvention. Once you identify those for yourself, focus on them, develop them further and there will be no limit as to how successful you can be.
So ask yourself… what do you seem to do better than most everyone else? What comes easily and naturally to you but is something others struggle with? What attribute, skill or ability do people tend to compliment you on?
Resource: Read Discovering Your Strengths by Marcus Buckingham in the October issue of SUCCESS
2 - Identify What Exhilarates You
Have you asked yourself the age-old question, "what is your passion"? The answer doesn’t have to be grandiose, Earth-saving, life-changing or revolutionary. It might be something simple. What are the subjects, products, markets, people, activities you really enjoy? What things do you find interesting and stimulating? What fills you with energy just thinking about it? The answers to these questions will usually lead in the direction of a rewarding profession.
Now let’s figure out how to get you in the door of the new profession…
Look down the supply chain of that industry or marketplace. What are the businesses, products, services and vendors involved in that trade? Now, what businesses in that marketplace require the skills, knowledge and expertise that align perfectly with your unique gifts? That is your fit! Either start a business performing that function or present yourself to a business that NEEDS the specific skills and talents you uniquely possess.
Resource: Read Finding Your Purpose by John Maxwell in the August/September issue of SUCCESS or Turning Your Passion Into Profits by Valorie Burton on SUCCESS.com
3 - Be Willing to Take 2 Steps Back
To make the leap into a new industry, you may need to take a step back to learn and study. Be willing to be an apprentice for a while. Find someone who has the success you aspire to and seek their mentorship and council. Be flexible, patient and teachable. Nothing worthwhile comes without effort and paying the price of tuition.
Resource: Read Words of Wisdom from one of the great mentors UCLA legend John Wooden
4 - Be Wary of the Naysayers
Your friends, family and peers have known you as you have been. Change frightens most people. To many, it is especially frightening to watch someone else have the courage to radically reinvent themselves and chase their dreams. Why? Because it eliminates their own excuse for not doing the same. It is much easier to try to talk you out of your reinvention rather than act on their own.
Resource: Read Dealing with Difficult People by Connie Podesta on SUCCESS.com
5 – Build Your Support Team
Find models, mentors and a peer group who share your ambition and will be allies in your new adventure. Also indoctrinate yourself with books, magazines (like SUCCESS!), audio programs and seminars that will support you as you build new skills, attitudes and knowledge in your new adventure.
Resource: Read the 25 Must Read Books for Achievers and 27 Resources for Your Success on SUCCESS.com
Looking to make a change? Want to start doing what you love, but don’t know where to start?
I know how you feel. I have been there myself… several times, in fact.Over the last couple of decades, I have had half a dozen radically different careers and businesses (real estate, television, online media, software, private-equity investing and publishing). Each new venture required a personal reinvention. Let me give you some field-tested advice about how to do it and do it with success!
1 – Leverage Your Strengths
While each endeavor was completely different, one thing was in common with them all—they needed the strengths I had to be successful…
We are ALL born with unique strengths, talents and advantages. There are some things you do that most people cannot do or cannot do as well as you. Those are your special gifts. Identifying these strengths is the first and most important key to your reinvention. Once you identify those for yourself, focus on them, develop them further and there will be no limit as to how successful you can be.
So ask yourself… what do you seem to do better than most everyone else? What comes easily and naturally to you but is something others struggle with? What attribute, skill or ability do people tend to compliment you on?
Resource: Read Discovering Your Strengths by Marcus Buckingham in the October issue of SUCCESS
2 - Identify What Exhilarates You
Have you asked yourself the age-old question, "what is your passion"? The answer doesn’t have to be grandiose, Earth-saving, life-changing or revolutionary. It might be something simple. What are the subjects, products, markets, people, activities you really enjoy? What things do you find interesting and stimulating? What fills you with energy just thinking about it? The answers to these questions will usually lead in the direction of a rewarding profession.
Now let’s figure out how to get you in the door of the new profession…
Look down the supply chain of that industry or marketplace. What are the businesses, products, services and vendors involved in that trade? Now, what businesses in that marketplace require the skills, knowledge and expertise that align perfectly with your unique gifts? That is your fit! Either start a business performing that function or present yourself to a business that NEEDS the specific skills and talents you uniquely possess.
Resource: Read Finding Your Purpose by John Maxwell in the August/September issue of SUCCESS or Turning Your Passion Into Profits by Valorie Burton on SUCCESS.com
3 - Be Willing to Take 2 Steps Back
To make the leap into a new industry, you may need to take a step back to learn and study. Be willing to be an apprentice for a while. Find someone who has the success you aspire to and seek their mentorship and council. Be flexible, patient and teachable. Nothing worthwhile comes without effort and paying the price of tuition.
Resource: Read Words of Wisdom from one of the great mentors UCLA legend John Wooden
4 - Be Wary of the Naysayers
Your friends, family and peers have known you as you have been. Change frightens most people. To many, it is especially frightening to watch someone else have the courage to radically reinvent themselves and chase their dreams. Why? Because it eliminates their own excuse for not doing the same. It is much easier to try to talk you out of your reinvention rather than act on their own.
Resource: Read Dealing with Difficult People by Connie Podesta on SUCCESS.com
5 – Build Your Support Team
Find models, mentors and a peer group who share your ambition and will be allies in your new adventure. Also indoctrinate yourself with books, magazines (like SUCCESS!), audio programs and seminars that will support you as you build new skills, attitudes and knowledge in your new adventure.
Resource: Read the 25 Must Read Books for Achievers and 27 Resources for Your Success on SUCCESS.com
Friday, December 12, 2008
The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey
I found this book very interesting and thought I should share the summary of the Seven Habits of Highly Effective People with everybody, and maybe we can all learn a thing or two from it.
Habit 1: Be Proactive
This means taking responsibility for your attitudes and actions. Proactive people develop the ability to choose their response, making them more a product of their values and decisions rather than their moods and conditions.
Habit 2: Begin with the End in Mind
This means living your life with a clear understanding of your desired direction and destination.
Habit 3: Put First Things First
This means organizing and managing your time and tasks around the goals you have identified in habit 2.
Habit 4: Think Win-Win
This means collaborating with people to produce outcomes in which everyone benefits - not just yourself.
Habit 5: Seek First to Understand Then to be Understood
This means really listening to and understanding another person's point of view before communicating your own.
Habit 6: Synergize
Synergy is where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. It results from valuing differences by bringing different perspectives together in the spirit of mutual respect. People then feel free to seek the best possible alternative, often the "third alternative," one that is substantially different and better than either of the original proposals.
Habit 7: Sharpen the Saw
This is the habit of self-renewal.
Habit 1: Be Proactive
This means taking responsibility for your attitudes and actions. Proactive people develop the ability to choose their response, making them more a product of their values and decisions rather than their moods and conditions.
Habit 2: Begin with the End in Mind
This means living your life with a clear understanding of your desired direction and destination.
Habit 3: Put First Things First
This means organizing and managing your time and tasks around the goals you have identified in habit 2.
Habit 4: Think Win-Win
This means collaborating with people to produce outcomes in which everyone benefits - not just yourself.
Habit 5: Seek First to Understand Then to be Understood
This means really listening to and understanding another person's point of view before communicating your own.
Habit 6: Synergize
Synergy is where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. It results from valuing differences by bringing different perspectives together in the spirit of mutual respect. People then feel free to seek the best possible alternative, often the "third alternative," one that is substantially different and better than either of the original proposals.
Habit 7: Sharpen the Saw
This is the habit of self-renewal.
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
10 Rules for Building a Successful Business
I have an online business and sometimes business is so slow it's discouraging! I can't say how many times I've felt like giving up and just closing my business. However, I'm still hanging in there, giving it my all. I came across this and found it very interesting, it actually motivated me to keep on doing all that I can to make my business grow. It also helped me realize that success does not come easy and sure doesn’t happen over night.
Believe it or not a lot of these big time business men and women that we sit down and admire today did not start from the top. They started from the bottom and worked there way to the top, which was not easy, at some point they were where we are today. But Guess what? They never gave up on there dreams, they faced there challenges and found a way to make it happen.....and look at where they are now! I just thought I should share that with everyone. Hope you find it as inspiring as I did.
Sam Walton, the founder of Wal-Mart, grew up poor in a farm community in rural Missouri during the Great Depression. The poverty he experienced while growing up taught him the value of money and to persevere.
Today, Wal-Mart is the world's #1 retailer, with more than 4,150 stores, including discount stores, combination discount and grocery stores, and membership-only warehouse stores (Sam's Club). Learn Walton's winning formula for business.
Sam Walton: 10 Rules for Building a Successful Business
Rule 1: Commit to your business.
Believe in it more than anybody else. I think I overcame every single one of my personal shortcomings by the sheer passion I brought to my work. I don't know if you're born with this kind of passion, or if you can learn it. But I do know you need it. If you love your work, you'll be out there every day trying to do it the best you possibly can, and pretty soon everybody around will catch the passion from you — like a fever.
Rule 2: Share your profits with all your associates, and treat them as partners.
In turn, they will treat you as a partner, and together you will all perform beyond your wildest expectations. Remain a corporation and retain control if you like, but behave as a servant leader in your partnership. Encourage your associates to hold a stake in the company. Offer discounted stock, and grant them stock for their retirement. It's the single best thing we ever did.
Rule 3: Motivate your partners.
Money and ownership alone aren't enough. Constantly, day by day, think of new and more interesting ways to motivate and challenge your partners. Set high goals, encourage competition, and then keep score. Make bets with outrageous payoffs. If things get stale, cross-pollinate; have managers switch jobs with one another to stay challenged. Keep everybody guessing as to what your next trick is going to be. Don't become too predictable.
Rule 4: Communicate everything you possibly can to your partners.
The more they know, the more they'll understand. The more they understand, the more they'll care. Once they care, there's no stopping them. If you don't trust your associates to know what's going on, they'll know you really don't consider them partners. Information is power, and the gain you get from empowering your associates more than offsets the risk of informing your competitors.
Rule 5: Appreciate everything your associates do for the business.
A paycheck and a stock option will buy one kind of loyalty. But all of us like to be told how much somebody appreciates what we do for them. We like to hear it often, and especially when we have done something we're really proud of. Nothing else can quite substitute for a few well-chosen, well-timed, sincere words of praise. They're absolutely free — and worth a fortune.
Rule 6: Celebrate your success.
Find some humor in your failures. Don't take yourself so seriously. Loosen up, and everybody around you will loosen up. Have fun. Show enthusiasm — always. When all else fails, put on a costume and sing a silly song. Then make everybody else sing with you. Don't do a hula on Wall Street. It's been done. Think up your own stunt. All of this is more important, and more fun, than you think, and it really fools competition. "Why should we take those cornballs at Wal-Mart seriously?"
Rule 7: Listen to everyone in your company and figure out ways to get them talking.
The folks on the front lines — the ones who actually talk to the customer — are the only ones who really know what's going on out there. You'd better find out what they know. This really is what total quality is all about. To push responsibility down in your organization, and to force good ideas to bubble up within it, you must listen to what your associates are trying to tell you.
Rule 8: Exceed your customer's expectations.
If you do, they'll come back over and over. Give them what they want — and a little more. Let them know you appreciate them. Make good on all your mistakes, and don't make excuses — apologize. Stand behind everything you do. The two most important words I ever wrote were on that first Wal-Mart sign: "Satisfaction Guaranteed." They're still up there, and they have made all the difference.
Rule 9: Control your expenses better than your competition.
This is where you can always find the competitive advantage. For twenty-five years running — long before Wal-Mart was known as the nation's largest retailer — we've ranked No. 1 in our industry for the lowest ratio of expenses to sales. You can make a lot of different mistakes and still recover if you run an efficient operation. Or you can be brilliant and still go out of business if you're too inefficient.
Rule 10: Swim upstream.
Go the other way. Ignore the conventional wisdom. If everybody else is doing it one way, there's a good chance you can find your niche by going in exactly the opposite direction. But be prepared for a lot of folks to wave you down and tell you you're headed the wrong way. I guess in all my years, what I heard more often than anything was: a town of less than 50,000 population cannot support a discount store for very long.
Believe it or not a lot of these big time business men and women that we sit down and admire today did not start from the top. They started from the bottom and worked there way to the top, which was not easy, at some point they were where we are today. But Guess what? They never gave up on there dreams, they faced there challenges and found a way to make it happen.....and look at where they are now! I just thought I should share that with everyone. Hope you find it as inspiring as I did.
Sam Walton, the founder of Wal-Mart, grew up poor in a farm community in rural Missouri during the Great Depression. The poverty he experienced while growing up taught him the value of money and to persevere.
Today, Wal-Mart is the world's #1 retailer, with more than 4,150 stores, including discount stores, combination discount and grocery stores, and membership-only warehouse stores (Sam's Club). Learn Walton's winning formula for business.
Sam Walton: 10 Rules for Building a Successful Business
Rule 1: Commit to your business.
Believe in it more than anybody else. I think I overcame every single one of my personal shortcomings by the sheer passion I brought to my work. I don't know if you're born with this kind of passion, or if you can learn it. But I do know you need it. If you love your work, you'll be out there every day trying to do it the best you possibly can, and pretty soon everybody around will catch the passion from you — like a fever.
Rule 2: Share your profits with all your associates, and treat them as partners.
In turn, they will treat you as a partner, and together you will all perform beyond your wildest expectations. Remain a corporation and retain control if you like, but behave as a servant leader in your partnership. Encourage your associates to hold a stake in the company. Offer discounted stock, and grant them stock for their retirement. It's the single best thing we ever did.
Rule 3: Motivate your partners.
Money and ownership alone aren't enough. Constantly, day by day, think of new and more interesting ways to motivate and challenge your partners. Set high goals, encourage competition, and then keep score. Make bets with outrageous payoffs. If things get stale, cross-pollinate; have managers switch jobs with one another to stay challenged. Keep everybody guessing as to what your next trick is going to be. Don't become too predictable.
Rule 4: Communicate everything you possibly can to your partners.
The more they know, the more they'll understand. The more they understand, the more they'll care. Once they care, there's no stopping them. If you don't trust your associates to know what's going on, they'll know you really don't consider them partners. Information is power, and the gain you get from empowering your associates more than offsets the risk of informing your competitors.
Rule 5: Appreciate everything your associates do for the business.
A paycheck and a stock option will buy one kind of loyalty. But all of us like to be told how much somebody appreciates what we do for them. We like to hear it often, and especially when we have done something we're really proud of. Nothing else can quite substitute for a few well-chosen, well-timed, sincere words of praise. They're absolutely free — and worth a fortune.
Rule 6: Celebrate your success.
Find some humor in your failures. Don't take yourself so seriously. Loosen up, and everybody around you will loosen up. Have fun. Show enthusiasm — always. When all else fails, put on a costume and sing a silly song. Then make everybody else sing with you. Don't do a hula on Wall Street. It's been done. Think up your own stunt. All of this is more important, and more fun, than you think, and it really fools competition. "Why should we take those cornballs at Wal-Mart seriously?"
Rule 7: Listen to everyone in your company and figure out ways to get them talking.
The folks on the front lines — the ones who actually talk to the customer — are the only ones who really know what's going on out there. You'd better find out what they know. This really is what total quality is all about. To push responsibility down in your organization, and to force good ideas to bubble up within it, you must listen to what your associates are trying to tell you.
Rule 8: Exceed your customer's expectations.
If you do, they'll come back over and over. Give them what they want — and a little more. Let them know you appreciate them. Make good on all your mistakes, and don't make excuses — apologize. Stand behind everything you do. The two most important words I ever wrote were on that first Wal-Mart sign: "Satisfaction Guaranteed." They're still up there, and they have made all the difference.
Rule 9: Control your expenses better than your competition.
This is where you can always find the competitive advantage. For twenty-five years running — long before Wal-Mart was known as the nation's largest retailer — we've ranked No. 1 in our industry for the lowest ratio of expenses to sales. You can make a lot of different mistakes and still recover if you run an efficient operation. Or you can be brilliant and still go out of business if you're too inefficient.
Rule 10: Swim upstream.
Go the other way. Ignore the conventional wisdom. If everybody else is doing it one way, there's a good chance you can find your niche by going in exactly the opposite direction. But be prepared for a lot of folks to wave you down and tell you you're headed the wrong way. I guess in all my years, what I heard more often than anything was: a town of less than 50,000 population cannot support a discount store for very long.
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