Thursday, November 20, 2008

Discover the Possibilities That Financial Freedom Can Give You

Hey gang, Mike Roberts here again. Today's, how to rich guide, I am going to talk about starting a business. In a few short minutes you will have discovered how to unlock your mind and raise your financial IQ.

How to Rich: If you are interested in making money then you need to do one of four things. Win the lottery, Inherit a bunch of money, Invest (real-estate, stocks, etc.) or start your own business. Though inheriting money sounds easier than the latter, it's unlikely that will happen. This reminds me of a story I once heard. One day a reporter came to this wealthy man and asked him how he had made such a large fortune and how he had managed to make it through the great depression.

His reply was, I data recovery service had 10cents to my name and so I bought an apple. I spent all day polishing that apple and then I sold it for 20cents. The next day I bought two apples and polished them and again doubled my money. By the end of the month I had made a small fortune of $1.50. Then the following month my father died and I inherited millions. So, I guess inheriting money would be a much easier route to go but probably won't work for most of us. Anyway, tangent over, let me get back to today's How to rich guide. Really pay attention to these words and let them sink in. There are four types of people; the Employee, Self-employed, Business Owner and Investor. Each category has very distinct mindsets and once you learn about these categories you will begin to notice right away what category your friends, coworkers, boss, etc. are in.

One of my many brothers is very smart. He can read and write better than I can, most likely is better at math and has some pretty amazing accomplishments, such as a master's degree just to name one. Despite all of this he has a limit on his income because he has an Employee mind set. Now I am not saying that he is poor or that you can't make money in anyone of these categories but the Employee category and Small Business owner category have by far the most obstacles and you just aren't going to buy that 100' yacht that you want. Though, my brother makes a decent salary, he cannot come up with creative ways to increase his income. It is fixed and his income is completely dependent on his boss. He must always keep his boss happy and perform his best to insure slow steady raises. Also as an employee, he does not have true financial security. If the economy drops he could lose his position tomorrow. His boss has the ultimate decision over his financial future. Now if this sounds like the situation you are in please continue reading.

The Self-Employed mind set or small business owner is the second tear. This is the person who is head strong, generally does not like working for someone and has a very specific skill. Self-Employed people have some more freedoms that an employee doesn't have because they are their own boss, and typically can make more money. But the problem with a self employed person is, well, the statistics. Around 68% of businesses fail in their first year and 90-95% fails in the first five years. Also, a self employed person, think dentist, fairer, layer, etc., generally is the heart of their business.

They have a specific skill they can provide and if they don't show up to work they don't make money. Now besides these two categories not making as much money or having true financial security they also pay much much more in taxes. I just watched a clip on You Tube the other day about Warren Buffet. He was showing the reporter how he pays less in taxes than his receptionist. His receptionist was paying an average of 31% a year in taxes while Warren only paid near 16%. Wouldn't you like to pay half as less in taxes and make twice as much? Have you noticed yet that the Employee and Self Employed are hindered? Do you know these people? Are you one of them? Now, as you become aware of these people you can open your mind and begin to change your thought patterns.

When I was 19 I had an employee mindset. I was struggling to pay the bills, buy groceries, put gas in my truck or take my girl friend out on a date. I eventually got a decent job with full benefits, but as I grew my financial education I eventually wound up quitting my job and made the leap from Employee to Self-Employed. I thought I had made the leap to Big Business owner mind set or Investor mind set but I hadn't. I started a cleaning company. Got a good client base and eventually had 12 employees working for me. I thought I had made it into the big leagues. I mean I was only 22 at the time, give me a break!

The thing was, I was paying less in taxes as I did as an employee but my tax rate was still high. If I wanted to take a day off, I generally paid a huge consequence (I didn't have anyone trained to replace my specific job role in the company), and I was working more than I ever did before. I was getting up at 6am and would get home at around 9pm with the occasional midnight or 2am panic cleanings to get a house ready to be showed. It was a hard business. I eventually fell into the pit fall that most self employed people run into. I started to become lazy. I was so busy working in my company I had no time to work on my company. I stopped growing my financial IQ and I stopped thinking of creative ways to grow my business. In the end I wasn't even as secure as I thought. I eventually lost a major account as the housing market in the area crashed. Believe me I am glad this happened. Often times we can let the day to day stress kill our desire for more, and wear us out, but as hard as it is, you must persevere.

Growing your financial IQ is the only way that you will make more money. So you can get out of the rat race and work on your terms doing the things you enjoy. Plus affording a yacht is just a perk! The last two mind sets are the Big Business owner and the Investor. My definition of a Big Business owner is someone who can leave their company for an entire year, and still have the company run smoothly and grow in sales. The personal way I have achieved this category is through websites. I have a few various websites out there that I haven't touched in months, but they have actually increased in size and my monthly revenue from them have slightly increased as well. There are several ways to achieve this category!

The last category is the Investor. The investor has his money work for him! The Investor generally has real estate (or stocks) going up in value. He uses a little bit of money to leverage large assets, and can creatively generate income out of thin air. Sound hard to believe? Let me give you a quick example. Let's say this super creative Investor, not going to name any names, purchased a commercial building. The down payment drained his bank account but he wanted to buy another commercial building. The average person might say, well the first one is making you enough money you greedy bastard or say something like "looks like you are going to have to pass the second building up and just save your money and buy something else in the future." Right? WRONG!

What the "I" person does is thinks creatively and creates money out of nothing. This particular Investor went down to his new commercial building and met with his renters. During his visit he noticed two things, one, the renters had a pile of stacked up boxes (not enough storage), and two, there was a small to mid-size parking lot behind the building that was not being used by any of his tenets. So he saw an opportunity. He kicked off the cars that didn't belong in the back and went to work building a few storage units. He got a few bids and used what money he had left to have them built. After they were finished he let his tenants rent a few of them and the rest he filled up by running an ad in the paper. Once all of these units were full he had the bank come back through and re-evaluate the properties worth now that the cash flow was even higher. The bank allowed him to take an additional $50,000 of equity against the property. He only used $10,000 cash to have the storage units built, so in essence he created 40,000 dollars out of thin air. (This allowed him to buy the second building he wanted.) Just picture this for a moment...You have an opportunity to travel the world but you don't have enough money. As an employee or Self-Employer you have little to no options, but as a Business Owner and Investor you can create opportunities that generate substantial wages in as little as one month! Be creative, raise your financial IQ, read books, play educational games, subscribe to financial RSS feed and stay up to date, don't settle for low wages! You can have the financial freedoms that you desire! You deserve more, you just have to reach out and get it.

Starting your own Self-Employed business is a start. Once you learn the techniques on how to transform a small business into a big business you will have more financial success than you can dream. If you're like me then you won't settle for an average income any longer. How to rich blog will be offering a course in the very near future on starting up your own business. If you are interested please visit our site and click the "Contact Us" button on the left. We want to help raise your financial IQ so you can be just as free as we are.

Thank you,

Mike Roberts How To Rich http://www.richhowto.com