Change Your Mind, Change Your Wallet

Success in business and in life is not an accident, as most people think. “Luck” is not happenstance, and those who think it is suffer from “Lottery-itis.” Most people who win the lottery, in fact, end up broke and worse off than before. That’s because few people realize that money isn’t the solution to their problems; a change in mindset is.

Henry Ford was once asked, “What if you lost everything you own?” He responded without missing a beat: “I’d have it all back and more within 5 years.”

Wealthy people know that wealth isn’t what is in the bank; it’s the ability to produce new streams of wealth based on your knowledge and experience. That’s what Network Marketing teaches entrepreneurs: How to have the right mindset and skills to build true, solid, residual wealth that lasts a lifetime, with a built-in mentoring structure so that you avoid pitfalls and mistakes.

Until you master the following Six Big Ideas (usually with the help of a mentor!), you are unlikely to achieve any kind of financial success:

1. How do you think about money?

2. How do you manage and invest your time?

3. How do you leverage the talents and life experiences you ALREADY POSSESS?

4. Do you have a mentor and coach?

5. Are you generally optimistic or pessimistic & cynical?

6. What do you think is “risky,” and what do you think is “safe and secure”?

Six Big Ideas Explained:nn#1 and #2 link together. Most people spend their money on movies, television, iPods, eating out, expensive mortgages, clothes, cars, and other things that will never set them free. They trade their freedom for things that also require TIME. They’d rather watch other people living lives on a screen, or impressing their friends with expensive possessions they really can’t afford. Thus the endless spinning of their wheels in the rat race of life…losing their health and peace of mind in the process.nn#3 is what most people overlook. Think about this a minute. You can probably name several talents and skills of your best friend, but few within yourself. But ask your friends, and they’ll tell you that you’re good at all sorts of things. These skills that you possess can be focused and put to work for you and for others, but all too often, people let them lie dormant for their entire lives because they just don’t believe in the talents they have!nn#4 ties all of these together. Mentors and coaches have been there before. They had mentors and coaches who have helped them. They know that when people try to do it on their own, they tend to achieve disastrous results.nn#5 and #6 go together as well. Skeptical, pessimistic people look for what’s wrong…they stay in their homes, in their routines, and never venture out. They are so afraid of getting hurt, and look to past experiences of failure as confirmation that the world is a scary place with bad people always trying to rip them off. Only the optimists can truly get ahead in life. They take risks because they see short-term failures as necessary learning experiences on the road to success. Where the pessimists run for cover, the optimists are out in the world, finding coaches, uncovering and using their talents and skills, and making the world a better place.

I suppose overall the biggest entrepreneurial error is lack of action and procrastination; entrepreneurs who have started businesses come across ideas that could move their businesses forward, and yet fail to act on those ideas. Those who are considering a business find ways to convince themselves that “now is not the time.” What these folks don’t realize is that it’s not what you do tomorrow that determines your future, it’s what you do TODAY that determines your future.