Growth is the increase of wealth. I also like the idea of seeing the glass half full instead of half empty. This is what allows you to accept what you are right now; it is what allows you to accept your situation. You stop being in denial of your situation and you stop spending beyond your means to try to prove that you are rich while you are not. You accept your situation. It is very important that you accept your current situation, to be able to move forward.
So, when you don’t see lack, when you see yourself as a work in progress, when you see yourself as a wealthy person today, that you are wealthy, even if it is only a little wealth, it is wealth, then your glass is half full. You are growing your wealth. You start appreciating who you are, and through appreciating the success you’ve got this far, it inspires you to greater success. It is very important that we appreciate our small successes. They help us value ourselves more, which will result in wealth through the creation of value. This is what will help us grow as human beings and to achieve more wealth. Life is good, and it can always be better.
It is never what you do but how it is done, and how you can share it with other people
It is very important to know this and to understand that no matter what you do, if you can find a way to relate it to other people through your marketing, you will find success. People must only relate to what you do for you to be able to make money from whatever you do. Value has evolved to the point that everything can be placed for sale. Value, just like beauty, it is in the eyes of the beholder. Because of this, anything can be valuable; anything can be placed for sale and be sold, as long as a person who sells it can find a way to relate it to other people. It is not important what you do. The most important part is your ability to relate what you do to other people. When you can sell whatever you create to other people, you find success. The more people you share your values with, the more money you make; that’s the only way you will find wealth.
You can be anything you think of and have an interest in. There is always a way to make a fortune out of it. Take for example, a cleaner, someone who is fascinated by hygiene and likes cleanliness. How can he make a fortune out of it? By creating a cleaning product or machine that has the potential of making a fortune. It is never in the job you are in; you might look at your interest and think that there is no way you will achieve your dream car and dream house doing this, as much as you like it. But if you start opening your mind to the fact that you can make more money than you will ever need by doing just that, you will start having ideas on how to make it work, and how to make a fortune out of it. It is about taking what you do to the next level. That’s how you achieve financial success.
People ignore their interest and strengths because they think that there is no way they can make money doing them. They are wrong; there is a market for everything. You can develop a whole new market for your product or service. That’s where brilliant ideas are expanded from. The same things that seem to be of no value to some people can make a fortune for other people. What do you think the idea about Facebook might have sounded to you if you had thought of it first? Would you have taken it and done anything about it? If you have a negative mindset, and if you don’t believe in yourself and your mind, and the ideas that flow in your mind, I doubt that you would have done anything about it. It would have just sounded like a crazy idea. You know, the one you can’t even tell your friends about. Know that money exists in those crazy ideas in your mind. Put them to actions, you will see…
This is a big obstacle for a lot of people. They just don’t want to start a new trend; they just want to follow trends. They forget that the trends they are following are started from scratch by other people and those people are making a lot of money from their following. Stick to what you do best and show your uniqueness. Start new trends – open new markets, develop your own market and enjoy a market with less or no competition. Own your market and see success follow you around.
It’s not about what you do
It is how you can relate it to other people’s value, and how you can sell it to them. A lot of things in the marketplace these days would have been ludicrous to try to sell to other people a decade ago. People are sold on ideas, lifestyles, and values. Anything can be valued. People pay millions for a painting and for memorabilia, or for a perfume or clothes worth thousands. There is an endless list of things people pay for. Your head will spin if you try to justify the price.
Gold and diamonds have so much value but they are still stones. Someone managed to create a market by convincing people of how they could use them to feel more beautiful, or more important, or whatever value they got from those stones. They are still stones; it is just the value that people place on them that makes them this valuable. So no matter what you do, as long as you can relate it to any of the human needs or wants, as well as their feelings and what they value, you will be able to create wealth for yourself.
Out with the old
It is in with the new, every time. There are no new ideas; ideas are just expanded on. Old ideas and values are constantly replaced by new ones, which have been expanded on from old ideas. People who are aware of these trends make a lot of money by just watching the trends. They know their strengths; they’ve chosen their field of specialty, and they just watch the trends replace each other and invest their time, energy and money in their strengths. They invest in the new trends and make their money.
Here is an example. The fashion designer studies the fashion trends around the world, and what people are talking about in the media and on the streets. He then designs his clothes according to the trends, constantly using older designs to create new ones and new ideas. It has been like that forever. We still buy the same clothes and the same food; they just change in style, presentation and difference given the access we have to different cultures. We generally have the same needs. Human needs stay the same; the only thing that changes is the forms in which our needs get met. Through the expansion of old ideas, our needs are met by undergoing a process of modernisation and becoming faster, easier, comfortable and safer.
If you can renew or renovate any old services or products, by just studying their failures and adding your natural strengths, you will be able to be unique and be successful at setting trends and creating new markets.
Renew or innovate, riding the wave
As much as things seem to change, they stay the same. When choosing your career or values to express, you must look at the trends. What is becoming popular and what is going out of fashion? You must study the trends and position your values accordingly. It doesn’t matter what values you produce. It will fit in with the trends, and you will be able to place yourself well in the market based on your knowledge of the trends.
We are in the business of exchanging ideas. People buy ideas, and you have to know that old ideas are always replaced by new ideas. Old ideas are always renewed and improved by people for a better position in the market, to stay relevant to their customers, to take new opportunities as they come and do well in the market- place. Keeping to the trends will also help you position yourself well in the customer’s mind. Their perceptions about what you do are very important. How you present your product; knowing your market; what people your values are aimed at and setting trends; all these factors will help you a lot in your quest for success.
Infinite money creation ideas
There are infinite ideas in the world to create money. It is in the infinite mind that this is realised, when you believe in infinity, and that everything is as infinite as the universe itself. Everything shares the same characteristics as the universe; your thoughts, your beliefs, your love, everything, is infinite. You can always have more than you have.
So are the ideas of creating money. There are many of them. Lots and lots of these ideas have not been used yet. They are just waiting for you to start relating your strengths to human values, by using your strengths to be valuable to human beings, and by meeting human needs and wants. Then you realise that you also have somet
hing to offer to this world. It might be something that seems similar to what others are offering out there but believe you me, it is never the same.
What makes your ideas unique is the fact that we are all unique in our own way. If we could all sing, listen to the music and you will realise our different characteristics and values. Our rhythm is different. Each and every value we create will relate to some people who are naturally pulled towards our personalities and the values we create. That’s why when you listen to other people’s choice of music, you wonder what they are hearing. If you look at other people’s choice of colour, food, and so on, you will notice how unique we are and that there are people who always share the same interests, and people who dance to the same rhythm. This is why there will always be someone who appreciates your value, and who will buy your product or services. You must know that to be able to create money for yourself, you must not think there are limited ideas to creating wealth. They are infinite.
There’s always room for growth
Especially when you are just starting a career, don’t mind about starting as small as you can. People want to start being masters at what they do, forgetting that everything is learned. You must go through all the stages of growth as it applies to your physical growth. It is the same for your career and financial growth. You will improve at what you do as time goes by; the longer you do what you do, the better you get at doing it and the more you master your craft, which will result in wealth. Don’t get into the habit of running in circles. Give yourself room to grow. No one starts out by being an expert and you must stick to your career to achieve the highest level in what you do. That’s how you achieve wealth.
The ladder of success
There is a ladder of success from employment to ownership, to self-employment. You must climb up the ladder; don’t find yourself sitting in the same position year after year. Desire growth in whatever you do, as this is what will bring you the success you want in your life. You need to climb up the ladder, you need to be concerned when things in your life are not improving, and you need to make changes. You must love to see changes in your life. Always aspire to your life changing for the better.
It also gives other people a chance to climb up the ladder when you don’t sit on one position in your career. It is by going up that young people are given a chance to climb up too. When you are stuck in an entry-level job, you are blocking the way for other people to climb up and learn the skills to grow into self-employment.
In other words, you are causing unemployment by not climbing the ladder. You are causing poverty when you are stuck in one position at an employment without moving up. When you grow and change your position on the ladder, you give other people a chance to take the position you had in the company. You grow into independence, starting you own business and hiring more people which further reduces unemployment and provides more room for growth.
This helps to grow the economy and will guide you to leadership as time goes by. Leadership is what everyone must strive for. This is how you achieve notable success. You must move from junior to senior. It is a circle of life; don’t block it.
Like the circle of life, there is a circle of success. We are all on that ladder. Some are climbing up, some down, while some are just keeping the same position on the ladder. Where are you? Are you moving up the ladder of success or keeping the same place, or moving down? This is how you must treat all your activities; you must aim to go to the next level. As I’ve said, we live to change our lives for the better. We are happy when there’s growth and when we move to the next level, so it is important that we focus on our own growth.
You must also treat your work as a step in a ladder. Treat employment as a step towards your dream and success. Don’t wait there; don’t relax on the step otherwise you wouldn’t reach your destination which is wealth and true independence. You need to keep working on it to make it to the next level. Don’t jump the steps either, otherwise you will fall; ask yourself what the next level is from here, from where you are, and work towards it.
Commitment to your career
Choosing a career is a life commitment. Just like marriage, once you’ve made your choice, it helps to be committed for your career to be successful. You need to be committed, which is why you should take a reasonable time thinking about what you want to do with your life. There is no life purpose that will fall from the sky. You must choose your life purpose, and what you want to do with your life. Think about it, explore, experiment, be adventurous and try things out to see what clicks with you; what you are prepared to do with your life.
Staying with one career helps a lot when it comes to your marketing and your development in what you do. You grow and become a master of your work and you become an expert when you stick to one career and develop it to the highest level. Be successful in the highest levels available in that career. This is what will bring you wealth. You will have developed a brand for yourself, and people will know you for what you do. It will define you and make it easy to do business. This is how important it is to stay committed to your career and aim to reach the highest level in your field of business.
As far as commitment goes, and this applies to everything discussed in this book, everything in life is give and take. You have to maintain a balance in your decisions. What I mean by this is every piece of advice needs to be put into balance. Too much of anything can be bad for you. For example, in commitment, you can’t be too committed. When you know passion has died and you hate what you once loved, you don’t have to do the same thing even when you feel it is not working. Just because I said you must be committed, it’s your life; you are the judge, and only you will know when commitment is needed and when is time to divorce your career. Just use these pointers as guidelines so that you don’t run in circles from one career to the other without achieving any real success.
A career, like marriage, is a commitment. Commitment to your career leads to success. You stand a better chance of being successful when you have a career and follow it for as long as it takes for you to reach the highest level in that career. You must be sure about what you choose as a career and stay committed to it, as this allows you to grow and mature at what you do. You can’t change careers every time you meet challenges, as every career or business has its own challenges. The grass is as green on the other side as it is on this side so you just have to face the challenges.
Without commitment, you end up running in circles, from this career to that career, and from that career to the other career. You get frustrated because you know you work hard but you have nothing to show for it since you are not committed to one thing and seeing it through, and maximising the achievement available in that career. So it is better to commit to a career and move through its levels until you reach the highest level of that career. That is success.
You have to commit to your choices. You have to give your career your all. You can’t give 99 percent; you must give it your best shot. The only way you can give it your best shot is to commit to your dream and your goals and maintain an unshakable discipline. Stay focused on your goals. Commitment helps strengthen will-power. It is nice and valuable to know that when you set yourself a goal to do something, you do it; that is caused by commitment, when you commit yourself to your activities. You become productive and successful when you give everything you do your best, when you commit to your choices.
Stand your ground
Stick to your plans; don’t be easily shaken by life circumstances. To see your plans through, try not to make your choices based on outside circumstances because they are never stable. Make your choices based on your plans. It helps to stick to your plans. It will be hard, and you will have to make some sacrifices in respect of your plans, but this is just how it is. To make sure your plans come true within a reasonable time frame, you will sometimes have to give up some opportunities for your plans. You must have some loyalty towards your plans. Be loyal to your dreams, as that’s what determines if you will achieve them.
I said dreams come true, but the problem is that people change plans too often. This results in not achieving your dreams. Take New Year resolutions for example. How many people really follow through on what they declare? A lot of people don’t stick to their plans, which are their dreams. This is why dreams don’t come true. This is the basis of failure to achieve our dreams. Something will always come up to change you from your plans; there will always be circumstances that will try to distract you from your plans. People who achieve their dreams make sure that they must not be shaken by outside circumstances as they know that the moment they put their plans on hold for something else, they start failing to achieve the dream they set out to achieve.
Sometimes these people act in a way that common people will never understand. They go all out to make sure that what they said they want to see happen in their lives does happen. That’s the spirit. You need commitment. You must be loyal to your dreams, and don’t allow outside circumstances to shake you. Some of the things that will shake your focus on and loyalty to your dreams look like opportunities, but to be loyal to your dreams means letting go of some opportunities.
Money- Wealth Creation Guide Page 21