First of all I think we need to take a look at the overall effect. The economy in this country has been built with the middle class being the main crux of the economy. Many of our jobs in our economy have fallen in the middle class for quite some time. Many of our self-employed individuals also fall into the middle class. Our economy relies on the middle class to make the economy function how it should. So, what is going to happen as the numbers in this income bracket disappear? There will be definite ripples in our economy and perhaps we are already seeing the results masked by the current “recession” we are experiencing.

The other factor is the personal factor. If you fall into this income range, you will see some of the effects. Even if your job remains in the middle class, many things will change as there are less people in this range. We are all intelligent enough to realize that the wealthy will often remain wealthy because they understand the concepts of money that got them to where they are. Part of that is the creation of passive income streams which will sustain them through any income changes. On the other end of the spectrum, those that struggle with money will also have a tendancy to stay in that state due to the thought processes again that got them there. The middle class was created by people that were willing to work hard either at a job or their own business. What happens when this shift happens? What happens when hard work isn’t enough? What happens is those that don’t have the correct thought processes in place will slip into the lower income brackets and have a difficult time simply keeping food on the table.

What are you doing to change your thought processes? Many of us don’t have direct relatives to learn the “wealthy” thought processes from, so where do we need to turn? It is important to study the differences between the middle class and the wealthy thought processes. It is also important to do what you can to change that thought process to more closely align with the wealthy. What are you doing to create passive income streams? Property investment? Independent business? It’s important for you to start thinking this way if you are going to emerge from this drastic shift in the economy.

So, what do the truly wealthy spend their time focusing their energy on? They certainly don’t spend it trying to find a higher paying position. The wealthy spend their time focusing on creating PASSIVE streams of income. They are not looking for opportunities to raise their salary, but rather to create income that streams in even while they sleep. They are looking for ways to increase those streams to the point where the passive income streams exceed their expenses. Why? It is at that point that you can say you are truly financially independent. Most of us spend most of our lives focusing on increasing our income to create a lifestyle. This will actually derail you from where you want to be tomorrow. If you work to create a passive income that can outpace your expenses, then you will be financially independent and on your way to true freedom. How much do you have coming into your bank account in passive income? What are YOU doing to increase that?

This time of year I have a tendancy to refelct as well. What happened to the time of my youth when I “thought” I was busy? When Jody and I would go on walks or simply sit down and enjoy a movie together? When I would take the time to read books I enjoyed (which by the way if you know me at all is not fiction but rather self-improvement). Now it appears that by the time of day we get everything accomplished on the lists (which by the way does it ever get done?) and get all of our brood in bed, we are doing good to keep our eyes open long enough to acknowledge each other’s existence much less make it through a movie.

Take this time of year and use it as a chance to refocus on what is really important to you. It’s too easy to get caught up in the hustle and bustle of life. Remember what Jim Rohn said “you can make a living or create a life”. It’s so easy to get caught up in making a living that we forget we are the captain of this ship (with God in charge of all of course) and we can chart our own course. I would love to hear what you are refocusing on this year.

Anyway, it is so important for us all to remember the real reason behind this holiday that we observe religiously each year.  It’s so important for us to remember the sacrifices that were made (and continue to be made) so we can enjoy this freedom.  There are plenty of documents floating around the internet this weekend that give a great accounting of the sacrifices made by those involved in the signing of the declaration of independence.  Many of them faced financial ruin or even death!  They made an extreme sacrifice.  We also have soldiers today that pay that ultimate price so that you and I can enjoy the freedoms that we often take for granted in this country.  Freedom is not free. 

It’s also about taking a minute to think about your personal freedom.  Perhaps Jim Rohn said it best when he said “If you don’t like how things are, change it! You’re not a tree.”  Do you enjoy personal independence?  If not, why not?  What is stopping you?  Many times we fear making major changes in our lives as we don’t know what they may bring.  Sometimes we hesitate to make changes we know we need in our lives, because we don’t know what steps to take or even where to start.  Are you where you want to be?  If not, why not?  Independence Day…What does it mean to you?

This video is DEFINITELY worth the few minutes it takes to watch and listen to a truly inspiring true story. This is amazing how his true story is even more impressive than the movie he wrote and starred in. Here is to each of us creating a story for ourselves better than this one.

Kiyosaki on Network Marketing

You owe it to yourself to view this video with an open mind.  I’ve read most of Robert’s books, and find them simply fascinating.  I’ve recently started reading “The Business of the 21st Century” and am finding it totally intreging and in his usual fashion, he describes what is going on in our economy with amazing accuracy and more importantly in a simple format we can all understand.

Most people invest (or start a business) for Capital Gains.  In other words they are looking for the investment value to go through the roof and make a large sum of money.  This is similar to the get rich quick scheme mentality.  However, the other result of investment can be cash flow.  The benefit of the cash flow approach is it can actually allow you to accumulate more assets as you take the cash flow and invest that in another true asset (if you haven’t read Kiyosaki, you need to check out how his view of an asset is different than what most people consider assets.)  In his book “Who Took My Money?” he presents an icon of Why the Rich Get Richer that lays all of this out in a simple easy to undersand graphic.

What are you doing to create cash flow in your life?  Are you creating passive and even phantom income?  What are you doing to win in the game of money?

Make it a great day!

Why is it most people spend more time planning their summer vacation than they do their lives? Think back on your last year and compare that to the time and effort you spent planning your last vacation. I would venture to say most of us spent a considerable more amount of time planning out that vacation. Take the time to put a little effort and planning into your life. Choose the direction you would like to go. Too many of us spend our time relying on the income from a job that is very much out of our control and quite frankly in these economic times could be gone tomorrow. What are you doing to take control of your life over the next year?

It is absoulately vital that you find a friend you can rely on. For many people, that person will be your sponsor at least in the beginning. I know I’ve been taught this from day one in this industry, and trust me I have to be constantly reminded with situations that have arisen in my career. I’ve had many instances where for various reasons, my sponsor or upline friend needed to be replaced.

One of these instances is a classic case of what has and can happen in this industry. I was paired up with an individual because we were both looking to trying to find a company to utilize another friend’s software that had been developed to help build a great business. This individual I was paired with was a “heavy hitter” in the industry in that he has created a huge income over the years in the industry. He has the gift of being able to build very large groups in a very short amount of time. (Which leads into a blog topic for another day on the different types of individuals in the MLM industry – but back to our main topic.) We spent months looking for a good fit for the software. We investigated companies, we talked to executives, we met with distributors, we flew to visit headquarters, the whole spectrum. We ended up joining a few companies we were positive about because the reality is you can’t really get to know the inner workings of a company until you can see it from the inside through experience. Through this whole process we found some great companies and great people. During this search we found our current company, and our upline friend, decided to move on. My wife and I decided that our best course of action was to stay with our current company. That lead us to go in search of finding a new “friend”. In all honesty we had to go upline quite a while before finding a good fit.

When you find that person, you need to find ways to keep in contact with this person. There are so many great ways with current technology to accomplish this. There are conference calls, phone calls, email, Twitter, Facebook, blogging, etc, etc, etc. The key is you need to keep in touch with this person and allow them to help you. One thing missing from many “organizations” in this industry today is a solid SYSTEM (which is a topic for another time again or this posting will get much too long! This is the first key in creating a successful team is to create the communication that allows you and your upline friend to be on the same page.

Do you have an upline friend?