So when it comes to competition, you must love it. It is good, and it gives improvement to value. When there is no competition, value doesn’t improve. It can even get worse, so competition is vital for the improvement of value, and for the increasing of wealth. Saying you can’t start a business because of competition is like saying ‘if I can’t have the whole pie, I am not eating anything’, which is foolish. We improve when we compete. It is vital for success and the improvement of the quality of life.
The influence we have on each other
We all influence each other; whether you admit it or not, you are influenced by the environment you live in and the people you live with. Taking this into consideration, you must try to live in an environment conducive to what you aspire to do. Seek to be surrounded by people and things that inspire you and avoid people and situations that kill your spirit.
Know that the environment influences you, your attitude, your mindset and your actions, and strive for an inspiring environment and people who encourage you. Hang around people who see the best in you, people who highlight your strengths. Don’t waste your time with people who discourage you, and make you feel down. Be surrounded by hope, and by people who help you to be your best self. Surround yourself with success; it will help you find your own success.
Market ownership
Create your market by thinking creatively and focusing on your natural strengths, then develop a value that is unique based on your strengths and seek to start new trends. Do what has not been done in the field that you are in and in your marketplace to have an edge over your competition. You create this by focusing on what it is that you want to create and what has been done in your field, and expanding on it. Then you get to own a new market. The same people who bought the old product will move towards a new one. This is how wealth moves.
Build good business relationships
Treat them like kings and queens; they will build you a castle. This is how you should approach your business relationships. Never curse the hand that feeds you; this will be your customers at your business, who are the people you trade your values with. It is very important that you look to build good relationships for your business, partnerships and so on to have a better chance of succeeding in your life and career. Also use your connections, people you know, as they can play a vital role in you succeeding.
The value chain
Values are exactly what we are exchanging, and money is the tool for exchanging values. In its nature it is worth the same as the value being exchanged. The real business we are here for is to create value and share it with the world to get in return value from the world, from others. It is in being aware of our innate value, and that we matter in the world. Each and every one of us has something to give to this world, and that thing is yourself.
There is a human value chain we need to be involved in to be able to make a living, one way or another. The phrase ‘you have got to be in it to win it’ fits well here. No one has to be on the sidelines. Looking at the relationship between money and value, value is real and money is imagined value. It is fictional value. Money becomes worthless without products or services (value). We must focus on the creation of value. It is human values that we are after, and wealth is human values.
True value or false value
Do you exchange love for love, a spade for a spade? Someone once told me that we are here on earth to trick each other. The ones with the best tricks are the ones who succeed and get whatever they want from other people. This is often true. This is what is happening to many people but the world has taken it the wrong way. It makes the world a horrible place; it turns paradise to hell for some people.
When it comes to exchanging values, whether they are true or false values, it gets tricky because it depends on the two people doing business and exchanging values, to decide what value they place on the things they are exchanging. And some will argue, if the seller and the buyer are happy with the transaction, why does Phillip want to dispute the trade? I will tell you why. It is when the difference in value is obvious even to a fifth grader, when there are tricks like false advertising, like when a drug dealer spikes a drink until you are addicted so that he increases his customer base. This is why one silver spoon will never be worth a cow.
The argument is about what value the person who gets the spoon would derive from the spoon and likewise, what value the one who gets the cow would get. Do the values they each get from their different new possessions match? If they don’t match, one will end up with more while the other will end up with less. That’s the crime. Why? You always know the true value of what you have. You have used it, and you know its worth. Why would you happily accept something that is worth far more than you paid for it?
Because you are a great businessman, and because you are a deal-maker. You get the big deals; you know how to bribe people and how to trick people. Well, these good deals you make are also the cause of lack and poverty. The person who loses in the end is the one you were able to successfully give less to, for more. In any deal we must strive to have a win-win situation. As long as there is someone who loses on the business deal, you have just caused poverty.
With that said, the responsibility lies with both traders to make sure the trade results in a win-win situation, especially for the buyer when it comes to today’s way of doing business. If you also accept something that has less value than you are giving in return, like when you settle for the minimum salary, you are also causing lack. This time, it is to yourself. I must emphasise that this is not a case study on who to blame for poverty. If you act dumb and they treat you that way, you don’t have anyone to blame but yourself.
By just blaming other people you are giving away your power. You acted dumb, now you are acting even dumber by blaming other people for your own ignorance instead of learning from the experience and calling the deal off.
Sometimes the trade is fair, and the values have potentially equal value – for example, trading a barrel of iron ore for a cow. The new owner of the cow goes his way and starts a stock-farming and milk producing business and makes a lot of money, whereas the iron ore owner does nothing, or does something of no value or gets no value from whatever he makes with it and loses out on that deal. You can’t blame anyone here; it was a fair trade. The difference is in what they did with their new value.
The same applies if the iron ore man creates farming machines and finds a market for them, and the buyer of the cow has a braai; it is still a fair trade even when the one man turns out wealthier than the other. You can’t blame anyone for your own circumstances now; it all comes down to your decisions. The only time it is not your decision is when you have a gun put to your head, to give value for nothing or die. I only wanted to reveal that there are also people out there who want to get your money, in a fair or unfair manner. They don’t care; they do whatever it takes to get to the bottom of your pocket. Be on the alert for them, as they will use their knowledge over your lack of knowledge to make more money from you when you are ignorant.
Poverty and lack is caused by ignorance that sometimes results in false and unfair trades. But it is your responsibility to yourself to make sure that you stay clear of false trade. Another false value happens when people exchange material value for things that have no real monetary value, for example feelings. Take exchanging love for money. A fair exchange of value here would be love for love, not love for money. The love itself will not be real, and the person giving out money for love will end up poor at the end of that deal, if not dead for his money.
There is plenty of false trade out there. Some corporates do this through advertising. They will tell you that you need this, or you need that. The more time you spend listening to lies, the more likely you are to start believing they are true. Let’s look at how much advertising you are exposed to these days. You have no choice but to believe you need things you really don’t need. Some useless addictive products are out there to take your hard-earned money for something that is val
ueless and can also kill you.
The only person who can stop this is you, by realising that the world is not that fair play at all. It is not supposed to be fair; it is about fun. In short, there are false values out there, and you are responsible for making sure that you get true value for every transaction you make. From your time to your thoughts, make sure you get an equal value for your values. You do that by knowing the real worth of your values, by seeking knowledge and using your knowledge to get full value for what you buy and get in exchange for your values. Like the iron and the cow transaction, seek to end up with more than you had before the trade.
Human values: what value do people place on things?
What value do people place on things? It is so interesting that some things that are not of value to some people can mean so much value to other people. It is important to know this in the creation of money, and to understand that value can be anything to people. You could be walking on gold while you think it is just stones and dust.
You will give away gold when you don’t believe in its value. Knowingly or not, people do this all the time. They sell things for less than they are valued by the person who buys them. It becomes a great deal for the buyer, as the person who buys them is able to resell them for a better price or even sell up or use them to receive a greater value. We call this person a great businessman. Because of his knowledge, he knows how to get more value for what he buys when he sells it or its produce. The more he can sell up and convince people to buy at a higher price, the better the chances of him making profits and becoming rich, keeping in mind that the market price is controlled by your competition and other market prices are regulated by the government.
It is all about knowledge; you must learn and know the true value of what you are selling. When we look at what people find valuable, some of the things may be worth nothing to you, but you must be aware that what matters is how much they are worth to the market, not to you. We are likely to value less what comes easily or for free to us, like time and our talents. Time is money; it is worth millions to other people when you give yours for cents. Some people think they have no talents or strengths at all because they don’t value who they are. This is one of the reasons why a lot of people become poor. It is also evident in how much people value their brains and their thoughts and what they are capable of.
They usually think they are less capable of achieving things they aspire to. They think that their brains can’t do it, and that they need formal education, which is wrong. You can do anything you set yourself to do, if you start believing in the real value of your mind. It is capable of getting you anywhere you want to go, as long as you put your mind into action and believe in what it gives you, which are the thoughts and ideas and value that it produces. Don’t waste it on useless activities that get you nowhere. To stand a better chance of achieving your dreams you must know what people value. Know the real worth of what people value and value what you produce; value what you do.
People place different values on things. This must be observed to understand that value itself is just perception; it differs from person to person. I can see something useless and the other person can find it useful to the point that he can pay a lot of money to have it. For example, I don’t wear earrings. I like them when they are on women and believe that they do enhance their beauty, but I find earrings useless to other men who wear them. To them they are useful; they see value in them. Maybe they do attract women when they wear them, and so on, but this is my point; value is perception. It is all to do with beliefs, which differ from person to person.
Now because of this, it becomes hard to tell what exact value people place on things. It is different, which is why the stock-market is never stable. It is not predictable, because people place different values on things and change their perceptions anytime they lose interest. When they have that thing in abundance, they start putting less value on it, but when they lack it they place a high value on it. It is important that you know the nature of value, which is the nature of money. No matter what you do, or the business you are in, you will find people willing to trade with you; people willing to share their value, and their wealth, with you. As long as you do something that will meet any human need, you will find success.
Make your life touch other people’s lives
I see myself reaching out further to people in the long run. I need to be doing something that makes me feel alive and useful. This is a great attitude. You need to express yourself to the world. That is called living, so go forth and live.
The exchanging of values relates us to everybody, it makes the world one
We have to fit into the society we live in. We have to have our place in the wider society; you have to relate to the stranger so that we can have a flow and exchange of values. Your relationship with total strangers counts most when it comes to how much of your values you are able to share with them, which results in you being successful and living abundantly.
This is the clue that shows that the world is one. We are all interconnected and what keeps us more connected is the sharing of our different values. It reminds us that we need each other. The people who are able to get the most different values from other people become the wealthiest. The more values you can receive from different people by giving them your value, the more financially successful you become.
Whether we like it or not, we have to have a relationship with a lot of people. Eventually when you start to reap the benefits of connecting with people you will start loving it.
9.FAILURE AND SUCCESS
Failure versus success
What is success and what is failure? When things don’t go the way we were expecting them to go we call them failures; when they go our way, it is called success. Against our will we call that failure. Some people also give up and call it failure. If for some reason I stop writing this book will that be a failure or will that be me just giving up or deciding that this is not what I really want to do? What about if the book is finished and doesn’t do that well in the market – will you call that success or failure? This is tricky because it depends on your own judgement and definition of failure or success.
To me, everything I do has its success and failures, its ups and downs. Failure is not nice but we learn from it. That makes it bad for now but good for the future because I’ve learned something. We are better off as failures than those who never do anything; those people are the real failures. A successful person is a failure who never stopped trying; our failures for today minimise the chances of us failing in the future. We learn from them and knowledge removes any chances of failure in the future.
Failure itself has the ability to expand our consciousness, which helps us grow and evolve; that is the ultimate goal of your soul, to experience life at all levels and evolve. Failure is a good thing. I like failing. Go out there and try things; fail and keep trying. This is how you gather knowledge for success. Success is achieved through several failures but it is worth every failure.
There is a way to manage your failures. First, people try things and fail because they are trying to find themselves; they want to find their purpose and their values, which is who they are. You minimise failure by focusing on your natural strengths. If you are good at cooking you must find a way to make it the number one value you share with the world. Find a way to make it work and help you achieve your goals through it.
To me success is growth. That it is the ultimate goal. Whether the financial results or the recognition is not what I expected, as long as I know that I’ve grown from the experience which is always the case when you do anything, you grow, I am satisfied. I feel successful at this moment after writing this sentence; I feel I’ve accomplished something today whether you get to read this or not.
Focus on acting out your values and expressing your soul; who you are. There are two parts to this; one is you expressing yourself by turning your thoughts into reality, and to existing value. The next is the selling of those values. People will v
alue what you are and what you do. When you first value it you will also be able to sell it if you believe in its value, which is to believe in yourself. I can guarantee you that you will not lose, as long as you are true to yourself. You must be focused; know what you want and focus on it. Don’t be easily distracted from your goals. Once you set your goals, make sure you see them through.
What causes inequality and lack?
Freedom is self-attained; only you can free your mind. You will only be able to practise your free will when you are totally free. What you need to free is your mind. And with freedom comes responsibility. No one has to tell you what to do. You are acting out of free will, and as long as what you do doesn’t affect other people in any unethical manner, you are free to do whatever you want.
The first step to change your money status and move towards your dreams is to take total responsibility for your situation. Be independent; stop blaming the government or your boss, and take your power back. Know that your future is in your hands. It is not up to the government or your boss to determine what quality of life you have; it is entirely up to you.
What causes lack is that people are happy depending on other people. You must desire to become self-sufficient. You must take control of your destiny and stop waiting for a raise or promotion. Take matters into your hands; take actions, make waves. Make things happen in your life. Don’t wait for things to happen, make them.
The more you give your power to other people by depending on them the richer they get and the more you become dependent on them. You become a beggar; you have to ask for everything. Inequality is caused by the difference in what the rich do with their money and what the poor do with theirs. There are still kings and queens; you will always be their servant if you stay broke. You must grow, from servant to king or queen.
Money- Wealth Creation Guide Page 15