The Dog who got hit

Years ago an old wise man shared with me a fabulous proverb I have lived by to this day. He told me, "If you throw a rock towards a pack of dogs, the one that yelps is the one that got hit." What he was trying to say is that when someone confronts another about a questionable subject and the person instantly jumps to defend him self, then he usually is guilty. So many people who are 24/7 arguing against every accusation are usually guilty. Those who scream all the time of their innocence are the dog who got hit. If you are not guilty of what you are accused of, why engage in an argument? If that is their opinion, why invest so much energy trying to correct their wrong? Live life like you play chess. If you are attacked, don't invest your energy defending yourself if you are innocent, continue play your game. Stay on the offensive towards your goals and plans to succeed. Now if it is your family that is accusing you, then you have another issue to deal with (smile). That’s for another blog.

I AM ONE

I am only one, but still I am one.
I cannot do everything, but still I can do something.
Just because I cannot do everything will not stop me from doing something.
I am only one, but still I am one.
I do not have everything, but still I have something.
Just because I don’t have everything will not stop me from using what I do have.
I am one, but still I am one.
I do not know everything, but I at least know some things.
Just because I don’t know everything will not stop me from learning more.
I am one.

Character does matter

Back in the early 1990's when Bill Clinton was running for president, many of the "left wing" media covered for Clinton's exposure with his sexual expiates by suggesting “Character doesn’t matter” with regard to leadership. News organizations like CNN, NBC, CBS and the New York Times all reported the same mantra; “Character doesn’t matter.” After eight years of Clinton’s administration, being impeached for lying and a host of other “character” flaws, the media still turned their heads. However, after Clinton left office, the nation was slammed with one corruption after another from Wall Street and Corporate executives that to this day our nation is still suffering. Now in 2009 with over $10 Trillion in debt and twice that lost in scandals, corruption and fraud who would dare recant the mantra, “Character doesn’t matter?” Let me ask you, who would you rather stay and watch your 3 year old little girl, a man with no character, or a man with impeccable character? Yeah, I thought you’d say “Character DOES matter.”

Is this a Get Rich Quick Scheme?

I’ve had so many people through the years to ask or scoff, “Is this a get rich quick scheme?” What they are doing is simply reciting a mantra from skeptics and doubters about the possibility of economic success in their life time. Some attempt to ask, “Is this a non conventional way of becoming wealthy? Others are more pessimistic in asking, “Does your system or business plan require me to get off my couch and actually do something about my own economic future?” I used to answer by saying that it was not a get rich quick scheme and then try and explain the details of the business opportunity. However, I don’t do that anymore. For those who ask me, “Is this a get rich quick scheme?” I answer, “You better hope so, because you don’t have the time to get rich slow and long.” Truth is, you only have a few decades to become “rich.” And if you go the route that the “conventional” nay-Sayers propose, you’ll be working, still punching a clock at age 70.

How much is $1 Trillion?

If you started a business at the birth of Christ and you stayed open 365 days out of the year and you LOST $1 Million dollars EACH DAY until right NOW; you could stay in business another 700 years before you lost your FIRST $1 Trillion dollars. Just this year, our government has printed, spent and allocated through legislation nearly $3 Trillion setting our National Debt to over $10 Trillion dollars. WOW, that’s a LOT of broke, busted and disgusted couples, children and grand children (Hag 1:1-9).

Techniques to Win Economically #3

Efficiency The first thing everyone must do in slow down times is become more efficient with their time and money. Years ago, a man came to me for counsel. His wife was a Nurse Practitioner which made about $80,000 a year. After ten years of marriage and then having a baby, she chose to stay home. His income was about $30,000 a year. To say the least, their income was slashed to a fourth and their debt went through the roof. With tears, he asked, “What do I do?” I said, You either triple your income or you lower your expenditures to meet your present income. No more eating out, twenty get a way weekends, or buying stuff because they’re cute. In these times, people should sell their late model car that has a high monthly payment and buy a used car for a cash price. Shut the cable off, no more buying anything except living expenses and stop eating out. There are a dozen ways for you to become more efficient and frugal with your money.

Techniques to Win Economocally

2. Multiple Streams of Income

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to add things up in an 8.6% unemployment rate in America with prospects of that reaching 15%. Today, no one has a secure job. The “One Income Source” job is MAD (Mutual Assured Destruction). Today, you need to have multiple sources of income. Do a quick Google search and find out that the wave of the future financial success will be from entrepreneurs, Home Based Businesses (HBB) and Multi-level Marketing (MLM) businesses. It is easy to get involved in a HBB or MLM enterprise today with little to no money out of pocket to start. Through entrepreneurial thinking, you can sell your talents, skills or knowledge to others by helping them succeed. For example, I put up $500 for a friend to remodel a boat which he did and then put it on eBay and we split the profit where I almost doubled my money. Another example, my son used his and my building knowledge to start a Home Inspection business that he inspects a house to two a month. You can learn to use eBay or Craig’s List to buy and sell items and make $100’s a month.

3 Techniques to Win Economically

Today’s economy is in a mess. While some are not worried, others are being put out on the streets. While I do not advocate “mere survival,” there are techniques that you can use to ensure you will not end up on the bottom in this down turn economy. Here are just a few of the most proven ways to keep making money, no matter what state the economy is in.
1. Leverage Debt

The proper use of debt is one of the best ways to avoiding being sunk in this economic storm. Regardless of today’s financial failures, if you are making money from several different avenues, you’ll stay off the bottom if not climb to the top. If you’re simply relying on only one paycheck, you’re at a much greater risk of losing everything if something should go wrong. You say, Tim, what do you mean? Let me use a couple examples: 1) Mortgage – You own a house and pay the mortgage. Can you rent out a room for $400 a month? Or convert your garage into an efficiency to rent out. You therefore used your mortgage to earn you an extra $400-500 a month. 2) Buy a used car at a bargain price, drive it a year and sell it for the same price you paid for it. You therefore used your car loan to drive FREE.

to be continued ...

A walk across the street

Years ago, I was having lunch with a well known named pastor who I was contiplating doing a short business transaction with. As we sat at lunch doing some small talk and trying to get to know one another, he began asking me what I believed and if I still held to the Biblical tenants that I have for a few decades. I laughed at him and said, "Funny how so many of you guys in your club think that those outside of your club are a wrong." I then asked him, What are you so afraid of that is outside your club? I then proceeded to explain to him that if he just had enough nerve to step out from behind his closed world, and walk across the street, he'd see that there is a whole big world out there. I then challenged him that if he would dare leave his comfort zone and walk across the street, he'd never come back. My argument to him is what I propose to you; namely to step out from behind your closed fearful world you've created to keep you safe. True, some things we need to keep safe. But to spend 10, 20, 30 or 40 years in the same mind, knowledge and paradigm is not safe, it's stagnant. Like this pastor, many in the Christian world and even in the secular world have locked themselves in a 4x4 room of repeatable quotes and secure excuses. This is not safe at all, its merely maintaining the status quo. Break out of your narrow self for once and open your ears long enough to see and hear something you've never heard or see before. Perhaps if you do, you might see or hear something new that could change your life for good forever. Thank God the woman at the well walked across the street and talked with a person she was told her whole life she should never talk to. It changed her life forever.