2012-02-16T03:30:02.222-05:00

By: Roshawn WatsonYour vision of the future will be a powerful influence on your finances. For example, why would one save, invest, and practice frugality if he is certain that his efforts are futile anyway? It is the hope of a better financial future that modulates our behaviors. However, in a pessimistic world, developing and maintaining this hope can be a real challenge. Here are 6 ways to see a bright financial future. Start Small Don’t despise small beginnings. It doesn’t matter whether it is purchasing your first stock or bond, starting a side hustle, or launching a product in a test market. The point is you started. Systematic progression towards your goals is key to seeing a bright future. For instance, Mary Kay Ash, founder of Mary Kay Cosmetics picked 6 things that she wanted to accomplish every day and methodically completed them. This 1 habit has been called pivotal in her establishing her billion dollar brand. �Don’t trivialize action. Even if the action is as simple as investing what the typical American household spends monthly on a car payment, that would yield a couple million over a working lifetime (and if the assumptions are half wrong, you’ll still be a millionaire). Rome was not built in a day, and neither is your financial future. Keep Perspective When you are attempting high goals, sometimes it pays to keep perspective.Recently, someone recounted an interesting story. A lot of construction was being performed, and a traveler saw a worker and asked what he was doing. The worker said “I am hauling rocks from one location to another.” The traveler was unsatisfied, so he asked another worker what he was doing? The second worker replied that they were “building a wall.” The traveler still sensed that there was more to the project, so when he saw a third worker, he asked what he was doing. The third worker said “we’re building a castle.” Now, all of the workers were doing essentially the same tasks on the same project; however, �who do you think would be more motivated to be excellent in his work: someone who was hauling rocks or building a castle? If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music, or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, here lived a great street sweeper who did his job well. Dr. Martin Luther King Map it Out Architects are wonderful models for achievers. Architects are skilled in design, vision, and oversight. Similarly, we can design the lifestyles that we desire. One of the best ways to ensure that your life will move in the right direction is to see and plan your future in advance. Now, some see a world of abundance whereas others only see lack, and they are both right. Think you can or think you can’t, in either case you are right If you desire to change the level of your life and your finances, what future do you see? It is difficult to move past your convictions, so hopefully you are persuaded to pursue financial independence. We’ve already been empowered. There is more information now than ever before, and modern technology and other advances have literally made it possible to have business at nearly the speed of thought. Apparently, you can even earn a million dollars a year by being a YouTube star. As the architects of our own lives, it is now incumbent upon us to create a plan of what we want the next 3-5 years to look like. Begin with your desired end in mind. The dream is the fuel, but the plan is the map! Engage Others No man is an island onto himselfIn general, successful people want to engage other successful people. It doesn’t matter whether you call it your inner circle, your cabinet, or your mastermind group; recognize that your dream will likely require the impartation, �the participation, or at the very least the encouragement of another. In fact, if your dream can be accomplished alone, then one must wonder why have[...]

2012-02-09T04:00:05.530-05:00

By: Roshawn WatsonPerhaps one of the biggest ways to effect change financially speaking is to alter your belief system. I know �we would rather focus on the mechanics of personal finance, but that typically only represents 20% of the problem. After all, if people could solve their financial issues with simple mechanics, then they would not likely be in such messes to begin with. We need a conscious shift from the underlying causes of financial misbehavior. Here are four ways to reshape your views regarding money. Acknowledge That Those Who Have Money Often Serve Myth: Those who have money are greedy.Entrepreneur Daniel Lapin has a unique perspective regarding the relationship between money, greed, and service. He calls money certificates of appreciation or performance. For instance, when you get paid, that is the market’s way of rewarding you for your efforts. Thus, your level of income is often related to the problem you have chosen to solve. A garbage man may get paid $10-$15 per hour whereas some corporate attorneys will get paid in excess of $200 per hour. They may both be very good at their jobs, but they solve different problems for which the market assigns different value. Does this mean that people can do valuable services and not be highly rewarded? Of course. The opposite also occurs, as is the case with lottery winners. Nonetheless, professor Walter Williams sheds intriguing light on this issue. “Take out a dollar bill and look at it. Now pat yourself on your back because you are looking at a certificate of performance. If you did not rob or steal from anyone to obtain that dollar, if you neither defrauded �anyone nor persuaded your government to seize it from a fellow citizen and give it to you, then you could only have obtained that dollar in one other way: you must have pleased someone else.” When I hear of people wanting more money, I don’t automatically think “they are greedy.” In fact, their desire for wealth is cause for celebration because hopefully, it means they are also ready to serve. Wealth, like happiness, is never obtained when sought after directly. It comes as a by product of providing a useful service - Henry Ford Recognize That Money Is Not Evil Myth: Money is evil.Money is not evil. Never again say “cold, hard, cash.” Instead, try “warm, soft, blessing.” In fact, why would you want more of something that you deem evil? After all, it is hard to move forward confidently if you believe you are on an ill-fated path. Over the weekend, I was listening to a former owner of a very successful Chrysler dealership. His company had reached very high levels of profitability, and he had never dreamed of making that much money. However, he eventually began to feel bad, as did his employees. He realized that he was conflicted. Deep down, he had picked up the belief that it cannot be good for him to be so prosperous. Granted, this is certainly a good problem to have, but resenting your own success is a problem nonetheless. Even some of his employees began to have doubts regarding him: “how can he have record-breaking month after record-breaking month and not be personally affected?” They began to deliberately slack with regards to sales, not because they wished their boss ill-will but because they didn’t want to lose the kind-hearted boss that they had grown so accustom to. Likewise, I think we have to be very careful that we are not subtly sabotaging our own successes due to negative feelings regarding money. It hard to pursue high goals with passion if deep down we believe we are headed to destruction. The lack of money is the root of all evil. - Mark Twain Don’t Try to Buy Happiness Myth: More money will make you happy.Money only increases what you already are. In other words, if you were miserable before you had any money, then you will be more miserable afterwards. However, one Princeton study found that $75,000 was the critical income with regards to happiness: salary increases b[...]

2012-02-01T04:00:12.936-05:00

By: Roshawn Watson What is the most resilient parasite? Bacteria? A virus? An intestinal worm? (No, it’s) an idea. Resilient... highly contagious. Once an idea has taken hold of the brain it's almost impossible to eradicate. An idea that is fully formed, fully understood,... sticks. Inception Oh how we love great ideas! In fact, we are sometimes obsessed with proving them right. �On the surface, that may seem like a good thing; however, sometimes we are so focused on the idea that we forget that the real goal is winning the game. Many have become phenomenally successful without ever originating a single great idea themselves. In short, the idea is the starting point at best; accordingly, don’t assume that the outcome is a foregone conclusion. Instead, ensure the outcome by giving your idea legs. Here are 3 myths regarding the “great idea.” Myth 1: The Idea Is Enough Visionaries, dreamers, and builders are all too familiar with the euphoria associated with coming up with world changing ideas. However, if you fail to properly implement these ideas, your genius will often go unrecognized.� Implementation is key. There is only so much credit one gets for conception. For example, you cannot even patent an idea. You typically patent is the method of implementation of an idea. �There are many innovative businesses that have been buried by well-capitalized competitors savvy enough to exploit easily reproducible models. These “new” models often only have slight modifications but are heavily promoted as improvements and sometimes coupled with other offerings (i.e., extensive catalog, network, or infrastructure) to provide “added value.” Soon the originators become an afterthought, and their competitive advantage dissipates. Technology is riddled with examples of this, such as Friendster, Myspace, and Propeller (and its parent company AOL).Unfortunately, the implementation is sometimes the least desirable part of the process. For instance, it may be fun creating talks and speaking to audiences of over 10,000 while collecting $30,000 honorariums per talk; however, it may not be pleasant honing those speaking skills at your local rotary clubs and dealing with "peanut gallery" critiques. I recently heard one speaker say that his flagship annual conference, which draws 100,000 attendees, requires a minimum of 10 months of preparation by his team. He recognized long ago that the greatest resource to any visionary is often sweat equity. Similarly, do not underestimate the key steps needed to bring your dreams into fruition. Don’t be so obsessed with the idea that you never give it legs. Wealth rarely falls into the hands of the person who originated the idea partly because he is often so focused on the idea that he never take the steps to make it reality.In short, the idea may open the door, but it is what you do next that decides if the door remains open. Myth 2: You Must Originate The Idea � I can think of one mistake in particular that I am still paying for years after the fact. I thought I knew the correct path. I had a track record in other areas that I believed would be transferable to this arena. I was royally wrong. My backers rightfully disengaged from me. Years later, I am still haven’t achieved what I had adequate resources to accomplish long ago. Quite honestly, it’s embarrassing and painful to even think about. I understandably don’t like discussing it. Nonetheless, I believe in do overs. I’m still very hopeful, particularly because I’m gaining significant traction and am much better prepared now than before. However, boy did I pay a price for being “right!” Sometimes we fail to implement winning ideas because we did not originate them. Perhaps, the most interesting aspect of my aforementioned adventure is that the very thing that I was vehemently opposed to, I now do to an even greater extent than was originally suggested. That’s because the “first mover” [...]

2012-01-25T10:06:55.441-05:00