Just like an insurance policy you can cash in when accidents happen; I propose that being your own boss is like creating income insurance during your working years.
If no one offers you a job – be your own boss. If you have a job, but it is only part-time hours, and part-time pay, make your own job that fills in the blanks. If you have a full-time job that you hate, that you hate going to every day and hope one day to leave, make your own job so you can be your own boss and create an exit option. If you have the greatest job in the world, but you cannot guarantee that company never merges, closes, cut costs, lays off people, fires you – be your own boss in your spare time and work on that project when you can, or with help from your family and have it in the background, just in case.
Bosses not hiring, or hiring for part-time only
Joblessness, and inadequate hours or income still plagues world economies. An April 23, 2012 article that featured on Yahoo, titled “1 in 2 new graduates are jobless or underemployed” those who just racked up serious debt to earn an education, may not have that job opportunity waiting for them upon graduation.
A friend of mine just lost his job, and even then, it was not a job he even liked. Working just to pay the bills, in a job you hate – is survival. Working at something you love, job, or not – is living. These days though, it seems the only way to create that option and keep it – is to become your boss.
If college students cannot be guaranteed a job, or income enough to sustain a minimal life, then the future looks grim because college students ARE the future leaders. There is a generation of poverty being created right now as those who should be building the network, the income, and the experiences to lead the next generation, are being denied those things. Unemployment is not just a financial issue, it is a serious emotional one as well. Families are being stressed and destroyed. Hopes and momentum are dashed to the curb as historical fantasies.
Ready to BE your Boss?
Here are some Entrepreneurs who became their own boss. Listen in to DEBT FREE WEALTH RADIO topic
Check this out. If you want to raise the bar and get involved in the totally fun, very prestigious, super SEXY, somewhat exclusive business of gold and silver – collecting assets as you build your wealth (my favorite), then Click Here.
Are you responsible for marketing your business? Are you hoping for internet traffic and exposure? Then your online presence MATTERS! Improve your chances of being Googled!
Marketing is a strategy for creating buzz about your business. Effective marketing will lead to an increased audience, and very often, increased sales. Marketing in the traditional sense can be very expensive. Print and media advertising works, but when a TV commercial costs $3.5M per 30 seconds to run during the Super Bowl, only a handful of mega corporations can afford that kind of publicity.
Start-ups, and even existing businesses on a budget need to get creative about letting their target audience know they exist and what they offer, and social media marketing is proving to be an inexpensive way to go viral.
Social Media Platforms
Google,Yahoo and Bing social media sites have replaced the telephone directory. Your potential client is looking for your product and service, but they won’t see your business as an option if it isn’t offered as a search response on pages 1-3 on these popular search engines. Learn how to dominate Google’s first few pages here.
Pinterest has taken on the social media giants and has become a site to reckon with. There are ways to influence SEO that go beyond tweaking your website codes and content. So let’s start with what you already know. The coveted page one spot on top social media sites like Google, Yahoo. Bing or other search engines is available to anyone. How to get on page one is trade secret protected, and the algorithms for how these search engines determine relevance and preference for your site changes frequently. When customers do a search for the word or group of words that match your offer, statistically, if your site is not on pages 1 to 3, then you have almost no chance of being an option for consideration.
Search Engine Optimization or SEO is simply a manipulation of your website content and codes to ensure it meets more of the criteria for relevance with search engines and other social media sites. You can pay professionals to help you with your website, but even when they have totally tweaked your site to its absolute maximum potential, SEO manipulation alone is not enough for Google. Today, many sites offer the opportunity to build a website for free and those free sites already have the point and click options set to ensure your site is very professionally optimized, so if you do not already have a website, strategy # 1 is to get one. If you do not have a website you are not an option to anyone except those you know personally.
Jessica Higdon offers workshops and webinars to give you step by step details on how to work with Facebook pages, Pinterest, and more to expand your social network of people you want to reach with your product or service message. Jessica has earned some fame for her course because she has successfully used these social media sites to meet brand new people and recruit them into her primary network marketing business opportunity. This course is generic however, so no matter what your product or service offer, this course will help you understand how to use social media sites to expand and entice your audience to take a look at your offer.
So as far as our zero to low cost Social Media Marketing Strategies go
The good news is, Facebook (FB) is probably the easiest, and free way not only to have a website presence, but to have one that is already socially friendly. You will need to have a personal account first, but then Facebook allows you to create a professional page for your product or service, which is then just a click away from the millions of FB users. The website link to your facebook page will count as your website that you can offer to search engines using the other strategies I will share later in this show. Even if you have a fancy website, fully optimized with SEO tricks, you will still want to create a FB business page, so this is step one for everybody.
There are FB apps now that can literally bring your website directly into FB. Do a FB search for Static HTML iFrame tabs in FaceBook or for My Webees to pull your existing website with all its links directly into Facebook
Advertise on FaceBook Social Media
Last but not least, FaceBook advertising. Be sure to choose Pay Per Click (PPC) over Pay Per Impression (PPI) to maximize your advertising dollar. FB PPC allows you to target your audience within very specific parameters, gender, age, interests etc. You can tell FB your daily budget, and while FB will suggest a bid price per click, it will often accept lower bids. So you set your bid price per click, and you set your daily spending limit. For example, if you set your bid to pay $0.50/click and your spending limit is $10 per day, then the first 20 clicks from people who match your criteria will not only be from your preferred target audience, but will be limited to your spending budget.
So Facebook ranks #1 for its ability to give you free web and social exposure, it is well loved by Google and you can get very cheap effective advertising.
#2 let’s talk Blogging:
Blogging is another free to cheap way to dominate your online presence and is an effective social media marketing tool. If you have a SEO expert working for you, they will probably strongly recommend that you get yourself a WordPress blog. Google, loves WordPress and WordPress offers a free platform for your content creation. Chances are when you do a google search, the informational article you read is on a WordPress blogsite. The WordPress platform is available directly from WordPress as well as other website hosts. If you are new to blogging, or want to jump on a blog site that is already considered an authority site, then you do want to check out my resource link for you on Empower Network.
It costs $25 per month to use Empower Network, but because it is set up as an affiliate resell, you could end up earning back the $25 you spend plus more. Empower Network is not just a WordPress blogging platform, it is a complete Blogging system with training on blogging, marketing and how to make money reselling the system. To understand the power of blogging, when you visit the Empower Network site, you will have access to a free course on how to blog and how blogging will create content, backlinks, and exposure for your offers of products and services. In a nutshell guys, you need to blog and you need to blog consistently. Fresh content regularly posted about your stuff causes Google and the other search engines to be reminded to revisit your site. The more content on your site, and the more vists from Google, the more your site is on its way to being the authority on that topic. There are many other factors that go into optimizing blogs, but blogging has revitalized many nearly dead companies. Empower Network has a very low Alexa Ranking. Alexa is just a ranking site that scores your website value to search engines. The lower your Alexa Score, the more valuable your site. Hosting your blog on Empower Network immediately helps your brand new site get a huge position boost for your topic.
Twitter has been around for a while, but it only recently received respect as a way to create viral buzz for your product or service. Twitter of course limits your communication to 140 characters, but that is enough for quick sharing. However, what you may not know is, Twitter is also a search engine of sorts. The HashTag or pound sign (#) placed before your search term makes it findable on Twitter. So for example, I did a Twitter blast about the radio show a few hours before airing it, and in addition to the show title, I put within my 140 characters #Social Media, and another blast with #Tampa, FL so if anyone searched Twitter for those terms, my link has a chance of being offered for them to click on.
We have all watched them and when you do, you will noticed statistics right there telling you how many times that video has been viewed and how many LIKES it has received. The statistics are part of the social endorsement that Google loves –and in case you didn’t already know, Google owns YouTube. YouTube happens to be the #2 search engine globally as people use YouTube to look up things almost as much as they use Google. So with Google owning the #1 and #2 spot for internet searches, and since each site is influenced significantly by social interaction on your website or video, social influence via social media is ever more important than ever before. Smart marketers know that YouTube videos will also outrank your blog. I am now up to 18 video postings, but I intend to increase that having learned this fact. You can go all out and produce an expensive video, but so far, my videos have been at zero cost to create. Create YouTube videos about your product, training, or service. It really is not hard to do. My senior business partner in my gold and silver business has more than 250 YouTube videos and trust me, he is popping up on Google, Yahoo and Bing’s page one all the time, helping him be the #1 earner in our company. By the way, if you join the gold and silver business opportunity, I will personally introduce you to him and expose you to the same juicy stuff he produces to help you be successful in your business. I have learned a lot from him and he is available to everyone in his downline or team.
ahhhh Pinterest. To be honest with you, while I do have an account on growing social media site -Pinterest, I am yet to maximize its potential for my business, however, discovering its value was my inspiration for doing this blog. Please check out this Ebook What Pinterest Could Teach Christian Business Owners that Ebook is available for sale at http://www.christ-in-business.com/ Yeah – I read it. It not only is enlightening on Pinterest, but on an approach to business that outlines Pinterest meteoric rise to popularity.
Pinterest, is a social media site, and as it’s name suggests is a site to pin the things that are of interest to you on your page. Your friends can now get a better glimpse into your likes and dislikes, your style etc. Gift giving should be easier and you can also see how much more you have in common with those you associate with. Pinterest is becoming so popular that all the social sites are taking notice. Pin your blog, your website, pictures of your products and so on, for easy sharing with your friends and their friends. Check out Michael’s book What Pinterest Could Teach Christian Business Owners, or visit WorkwithJess.com
Another social network that I think is under-rated in its ability to move your social influence is #6 -LinkedIn. Unlike Facebook, it is not easy to make new friends on LinkedIn. LinkedIn is a professional site where professionals hang out. There are few if any jokes posted. What you will find on LinkedIn are resumes, discussions, and professionals grouped in areas of interest. Unless you know someone’s email, you cannot connect with them by sending out a friend request as you can on Facebook, however, if you do a search for your area of interest, there may be LinkedIn group that you can join.
Group administrators decide the membership opt in requirements, but once admitted to the group you can now extend an invitation to connect with other professionals who share the same interest as you do. For example, I am a member of the MLM Pros group, as well as the Christian Entrepreneurs Connect and Gold Bullion groups to name a few. Within these groups we engage in topic appropriate discussions and this is a treasure trove of insight into how professionals in this genre think. Once you are part of a group, you may see a post saying, how do I recruit new people into my opportunity, at which point, you could send that person a link to your webinar that trains on that very thing. Or you may see another post within a group saying, we are looking for a vendor that offers carpet cleaning in the Seattle Washington area, and you may just have that resource. If you are looking for marketing approaches, you only have to follow a few discussions and if there is a problem that needs solving, and you have the solution, you just position yourself to earn a stream of income.
Because I work from home, I do not get to physically interact with professionals as much as I would like. Facebook is a lot of giddy chatter that often feels like time wasting if you are trying to use it to have any kind of meaningful discussion – but not on LinkedIn. Once I gain a new connection on LinkedIn however, I invite that person to connect with me on FB. The reason for that is, FB allows for more real time chat and a better chance at moving that professional relationship into the friendship zone for easier communication.
So now that you have an arsenal of effective social media tools to use, how do you know how often to use them, what is working for you, and just how much social influence you are exerting on the search engines to trigger your sites to be offered higher up on the first few page options?
Building Social Media Influence
Building your social influence, is to expand your opportunity for income as more potential customers will be able to find you and your offers.
This is where I tell you about the most exciting gamification of social influence ever! Creating YouTube videos, blogging, chatting on FB and Tweeting your latest blast are all important, but just how important? How do you know if what you are doing is effective? Two FREE membership sites that you absolutely must join will help you quantify that information. Empire Avenue and Klout are two sites you must consider joining.
Empire Avenue puts the whole online social experience into a game-like experience, so you will hear the term gamification a lot as you move around on the internet. Sign up for Empire Avenue and quickly get the social interaction Google and other search engines are looking for to validate a reason to offer your website on the first few pages of the search response. Join for FREE
Once you sign up for free membership to Empire Avenue (EA) via the link I have offered you, from there on, everything you are already doing online, sending FB messages, uploading YouTube videos, sending Twitter blasts, LIKING pages and blogs and so on will be tracked and scored. Because this site has others just like you, seeking to build social influence, you can boldly ask for and receive visitor traffic, LIKES and other social interaction with your videos. Blogs etc. Google’s new algorithms are favoring sites with social interaction and validation. That means that having a video on YouTube is not enough now, and a YouTube video with more visitors and Likes will supercede one that has fewer visitors and likes, even if they are on the same topic. Same deal for websites, blog, and Tweets. On Empire Avenue, with virtual edollars called eaves, you can create missions paying other EA members in eaves to do your bidding. With the many millions of EA members supporting each other with likes and visits, you will increase your EA score, but most of all, you will increase your Klout score.
Klout is similar to Empire Avenue, except it does not help you increase your social influence score, it simply tracks it. At first, I could not see the reason to join Klout as I assumed I would just be duplicating my efforts that I was already being scored on with Empire Avenue.
There is a big difference between these two platforms. Klout is the true tracker of your online social influence score and it carries klout or weight with Google. Your activity on Empire Avenue will increase your Klout score but you wont know that if you are not on Klout. The Empire Avenue score is only good at Empire Avenue, but your Klout score is good with Google. Again, Klout does nothing to suggest or help you improve your Klout score, it simply tracks your score from zero – 100. The higher your Klout score the more Klout you have. But Klout scoring is a combination of factors including your true reach, your amplification and your network. So if you have a membership on Empire Avenue working to maximize your friendships and social validation, your Klout score will have no choice but to follow a similar path of your empire avenue chart.
I really do want you to access these links via this website because doing so is part of the process that helps move each of us along the ladder of social influence. My ability to even bring you this blog, and Debt Free Wealth Radio is an example of the use of social media to expand my audience, and I would love it if you guys would do me the favor of clicking the button to FOLLOW this show, and clicking LIKE when you visit any of the websites and resources I mention.
Here is jingle to the tune of Twinkle Twinkle Little Stars as a strategy for increasing my keyword density:
Social media is the way
to get social right away
social media feels like play
social media every day
social media 123, is as easy as can be.
Social media, social media, social media, social media, social media, social media, social media, social media, social media, social media, social media, social media.
This content was covered comprehensively on our Debt Free Wealth Radio show and has more on the audio than is here in this text due to the question/answer format of the show with our guests Florida Attorney Lizbeth Potts, and CPA Anthony Holbrooke. This show is PART 1 of a two part series. When part 2 is recorded, it will also be posted here. Enjoy!
According to Wikipedia, Divorce (or the dissolution of marriage) is the final termination of a marital union, canceling the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage and dissolving the bonds of matrimony between the parties (unlike annulment which declares the marriage null and void).”
The legal process for divorce when appropriate, may also involve issues of debt creating triggers such as spousal support, child custody, child support and division of debt.
Today, american couples owe a staggering amount of money. With mortgages loans for car loans and the use credit cards for both real emergencies and “emergency” luxury purchases; the debt that seemed inconsequential when you are enjoying wedded bliss becomes a thorn when the marriage falls apart. So the big question is: who gets left holding the bills?
A friend of mine told me of her secret plan to divorce her husband, long before she clued him into the fact that she planned to leave. She deliberately kept it secret because she wanted to use that time before he closed total communication with her, regarding any possible assets she may have been able to tap into from the business he owned. She contacted me because I am a licensed Real Estate Broker, and she wanted an unofficial evaluation of the value of the marital home and so on. As she was investigating what of the assets she may be able to take from the marriage, I reminded her, that it may not be as simple as she takes the couch; he takes the refrigerator, because in addition to the asset split, the courts would also consider the debt coming out of the union. Armed with that new information, uncharacteristically of her, she started checking out credit card balances and pretending to care about debt, started talking to her husband about paying down the debt balances. Once she felt she got most of those things taken care of, she unleashed the full force of her despise for him that lead him to cooperate in the divorce. My friend took this route because after 14 years of marriage, she had not worked and her husband was always controlling of the money so she always felt like she was one of the children rather than his equal partner when it came to financial matters. It was the handling of finances during the marriage that significantly contributed to her desire for a divorce.
Here are the questions issued to our experts. Not all of them were covered in Part 1, so please be sure to check this page again, or visit Debt Free Wealth Radio archives in case you miss the live airing of Part 2.
Divorce Debt
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When the United States government decided to honor each state and territory with a coin of its own, they began by minting 5 coins a year. Production of each design was strictly limited to just 10 weeks. The vast majority of these quarters were released directly into circulation, which impairs (or destroys) their long-term value.
This is a limited edition set of a coin series that, by law, can never be produced again. In fact, when the program ended, the government had to destroy all the remaining coins which had not been released. This set represents the top 1 or 2% of all the coins in this series ever minted. Each of these quarters is layered in pure 24K gold.
What you are getting is a set that there can never be more of.
Here is an option to listen as this content was the topic of our Debt Free Wealth Radio show: Listen to internet radio with dfwb2011 on Blog Talk Radio Write Your Own Paycheck! The Entrepreneur is You! Time has … Continue reading →
Audio option. Listen or read, or listen and read: Listen to internet radio with dfwb2011 on Blog Talk Radio Get Wealth Building Habits Now! A habit is an action that happens naturally and without effort. Habits do not require … Continue reading →
{EAV:3859699b7a9646c1} The Social Network Google ranking is a big deal in helping to bring new customers to your website and your business door. While the algorithms to get ranked on the first three pages of Google are a secret, some … Continue reading →
Birthdays, anniversaries, celebrations galore. Gift giving is an ongoing expense. The government, economists, brick and mortar, and online stores are hoping you will spend and spend and spend – and they are creating advertising and incentives to loosen your wallet. … Continue reading →
So you have a job, and a decent one too. No worries right? Hmmmmm, not quite. In a stable economy without a job shortage, being handed a pink slip is always possible. Nepotism, favoritism, competition, personal performance, missed quotas, too many absences, and so on.
Now fast forward to the current economy where the national statistics for unemployment are at a record high; having ANY job almost seems like a privilege. Hate it or not, you put up with all sorts of unacceptable conditions so you keep collecting a paycheck. Any of this sound like you?
Prepare, or suffer the consequences! Failing to plan, is planning to fail, and the day you come home without a paycheck to face your wife and children telling them you can’t buy groceries next week, all hell will break loose.
While you have an income, now is the time to plan for the JUST IN CASE scenario. If you have a hobby, now may be the time to investigate it’s income potential. If you have an interest, now may be the time to pursue it beyond the fun zone. Even then, start ups from scratch will take lots of time and money to create time saving, and implementation systems – that it may make more sense to look into easier turnkey operations that can get your creative juices flowing, and give you that ‘I am in control of my destiny’ buzz.
Here is a quote I took from a USA Today article: “When Carl Edmunds’ division at a corporate printing company was on the potential chopping block, the West Windsor, N.J., resident morphed an interest in household repairs into a new career as a home inspector and energy use auditor. ”It’s time to take control of my own destiny!” Edmunds, 56, wrote in his submission to USA TODAY. “I will not continue to live in constant fear of the inevitable arrival of the proverbial ‘Pink Slip.’ “”
Never Fear the Pink Slip Again!
Job security is a historical phenomena, and the average turnover of employees is approximately 3 years on any job. That being said, if you are currently employed, having that additional stream of income is a darn good idea!
An additional stream of income will increase your current source of funds, allowing for:
more quality of life experiences (vacations, fun purchases etc)
increase your savings and retirement funding
deleting current debt
pursuing your dream(s).
So…the big question is,
How to Protect Against the Pink Slip
The irony is, the less you fear the pink slip, the less of a chance one will come your way. Confidence in your finances and knowing you have an alternative exudes an intangible something that sets you apart from the desperate. It is almost like applying for a loan at the bank; the ones who get approved are the ones who could prove they can afford it. The desperate, no matter how much they grovel, are shown the exit.
Those who don’t fear the pink slip usually have alternatives. It may be a sure job in daddy’s corporation, or an open offer from a competing company. Most of the time the alternative comes from having a side-income that has the potential to replace the income from the job if you suddenly found yourself with extra time to work it.
Regardless of your decision, here at Debt Free Wealth Building Corp – the sponsor of this End Money Problems Now blog, our goal is to help those who desire it; delete debt, build wealth, and protect family assets. The looming pink slip is an unfortunate reality for everyone who has a J-O-B. Protect yourself against the financial fallout should one land on your desk, and create an alternative income stream now, before desperation makes it impossible to think clearly and move forward with confidence.
So my suggestion is check out these resources here and see if any tickles your curiosity. If you have a dream to be financially free and willing to pursue that, then I would invite you to check out the gold and silver business opportunity. Gold and silver is a sexy business. It is hard to be around the stuff, or in the business and feel anything but wealthy. The shiny stuff just has the innate ability to project this sense of security, prestige, and power.
Listen to internet radio with dfwb2011 on Blog Talk Radio Many who struggle from paycheck to paycheck get so distracted by the daily urgent money demands they cannot afford; a distraction so great it takes them away from re-assesing their … Continue reading →
Listen to internet radio with dfwb2011 on Blog Talk Radio Painful – Being Broke! Pleasure filled – Having Debt Free Wealth ! Are you really tired of being broke? Really? If you are tired ENOUGH you will take action! If … Continue reading →
Contributed by Kenneth Parkar kenneth.parkar83@gmail.com NOTE: Contributions by other writers to this site have been randomly vetted (but not edited) for genre. The views expressed may not be shared by Trudy Beerman, nor Debt Free Wealth Building, Corp. We do … Continue reading →
Everyday, people exchange their cash for goods and services. Very often, these things are consumed and no longer exist beyond the moment; and those that do – very often decrease in value over time. As per this chart, $100 US … Continue reading →
Listen to internet radio with dfwb2011 on Blog Talk Radio Take a look at this clock. What time is it right now? var flashMap = new SWFObject(“http://24timezones.com/timescript/clock_final.swf”, “main”, “150″, “150″, “7.0.22″, “#FFFFFF”, true) flashMap.addParam(“movie”, “http://24timezones.com/timescript/clock_final.swf”); flashMap.addParam(“quality”, “high”); flashMap.addParam(“wmode”, “transparent”); flashMap.addParam(“flashvars”, … Continue reading →
The staggering unemployment figures have driven the US working class into a dizzying spin. According to data from the US Bureau of Labor, overall, US unemployment now stands at 9.1%. Rather than sit around, many unemployed Americans have headed back … Continue reading →
Debt Free Wealth! It is not just a nice thought. It can be your reality, and depending on your dedication to that goal, it could be sooner than you think! If two people earn $2000/month, but one has bills that … Continue reading →
Click to Listen to an Audio version of this blog Do-it-Yourself (D.I.Y). D.I.Y? Or use a Pro? That is the question! The answer is always personal, but since this blog is about ending money problems so you can have debt free … Continue reading →
Know Your Debt A 51 year old client of mine brings home $50K per year after taxes or approximately $4166/month . His family’s living expenses (mortgage, car, groceries etc.) actually only total $3600/month so theoretically, he could set aside/invest $566/month … Continue reading →
Prefer to Listen than read? This blog content was featured on Debt Free Wealth Radio: Listen to internet radio with dfwb2011 on Blog Talk Radio Saving on purchases of products and services means there is more money available to you … Continue reading →
Prefer to LISTEN than read? This content was the topic of Debt Free Wealth Radio. Click to listen: Listen to internet radio with dfwb2011 on Blog Talk Radio The holiday season is now officially here. The government, economists, brick and … Continue reading →
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Second Incomes: Another job, or a home-based business? Want to listen rather than read? This topic was the covered on my radio show. Click to listen: Listen to internet radio with dfwb2011 on Blog Talk Radio No job. Fewer … Continue reading →
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Because we are in an election year, those up for re-election are going to want us to think things are improving in the economy.
The economic warnings from the experts spell doom and gloom on the financial front dispelling all ideas that the recession is over. A Jan 4, 2012 article in the Market Oracle titled US Economic Forecast for 2012 and the Presidential Election Year Cycle says: ““The head of the International Monetary Fund, Christian Lagarde, recently stated that we could soon see conditions “reminiscent of the 1930s depression” and that no country on earth “will be immune to the crisis”…. “There is no economy in the world, whether low-income countries, emerging markets, middle-income countries or super-advanced economies that will be immune to the crisis that we see not only unfolding but escalating”
Also according to the Wall Street Window: Back on Nov. 2, the Federal Reserve Board raised projections for unemployment through 2012, and said the European debt crisis also poses a significant risk for theU.S. economy going forward.
On Monday (Dec. 19), Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond President Jeffrey Lacker said earlier predictions by the FRB that the economy would grow more than 3 percent in 2011 were “overestimated,” and that annual growth likely will be closer to 1.75 percent.
For all those who are already struggling, please do not wait on the government to hand you any hope because the changes that have come so far have not been impressive. Be prepared to make your own changes and hope they work.
As my 9 year old poured the food for our bird, he asked me why I wouldn’t release my caged parrot to the wild? I explained that a caged, domesticated animal does not have the skills to survive in the wild and depends on us to bring to food to him if he is to eat at all.
As those words escaped my mouth, I could not help but think about all the people who have grown to depend on food stamps and panic when they think it will be withdrawn or reduced. Think about it – the homeless line up for soup kitchens, prisoners don’t buy their meals, and the poor get food stamps. Is this where you want to be, or remain? Counted among the likes of the homeless, prisoners, or the below poverty line poor?
I am sure my parrot looks out of his cage and dreams of freedom, but the fact is, the only time it did manage to escape, I was able to get it back within three days because he never went further than the nearest tree and came back when he could no longer withstand the hunger.
Well the soup kitchen lines are long, and according to these news clips I just read – they may get longer and I truly hope that none of you listening to this will be in those lines. If you are there now, decide right now to make 2012 the year you take action to bring prosperity into your life. Knock knock.Opportunityyear here. Open up!
Financial Freedom
I hate to tell you this, but the Bible makes a clear distinction between the life experience for the saved and the unsaved in the year of heat. Jeremiah 17:7-8 reads:
“This is what the Lord says: “But blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him. He will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.”
Folks 2012 looks like a continuation of financial heat, but for those who trust in the Lord and put their confidence in HIM, even when the heat comes our leaves will always be green and we will never fail to bear fruit. This is a CONDITIONAL promise. First it is promised to the person who trusts in the Lord AND, repeat AND whose confidence is in Him. If there was ever a time to have confidence in the Lord – it is absolutely now. If you have no idea what I am talking about, please contact me and I will be happy to share the message of salvation with you.
Today we are going to work on a blueprint and groundwork for debt free wealth for 2012 and beyond.
My husband is a certified building contractor so I have been around for the process of client consult, design sketches, blueprints, groundbreaking, construction and finish for building projects. When it comes to creating financial prosperity, the process is incredibly similar.
Blueprint sketches start with an idea, a vision, and if you have ever worked with an architect, you will know there will be many edits before the final drawing will lead to a build-able product.
An architect wont draw you a shed if your plan is a mansion. The goal determines the plan. So defining your goal is key. Hitting a target is not as easy as it sounds, and if you have ever tried to shoot a gun, or a bow and arrow, you may appreciate that. Snipers are excellent shooters and know that the only way to make a kill on one bullet is to get the target or goal just right.
If your goal is more money, then your end product may just be more money. But if you managed to make a $1M per month but spent $1.25M each month – within a year you would be in DEEP debt. Or, if money is your goal you might find that you work and work and work and work because if you stop the money would stop.
If your goal, let me repeat that, if your GOAL for this year is to make more money – let me suggest you abandon that goal immediately!
I observed something I could only have noticed because of the current economy. People who lost their job and had a severance package, or an unemployment check, workman’s comp payout, or even cash assistance – found themselves in a state of life that permitted them to experience what it was to have time, and money all at the same time. These are the people that found it most difficult to accept a job even if it came their way because it meant giving up freedom. Freedom is extremely precious and more valuable than money and it was going to take a significant financial package to get them to even consider exchanging that freedom for money. In fact, I came across many in this situation that gave every excuse why the job offers were not going to work. I quietly listened to this rant as a person borrowed my computer to comply with the new requirement to legally attest, under penalty of law, that they had applied for at least 5 jobs that week before being able to collect yet another unemployment check.
So, in truth, money is not a really good goal at all, because while it is a motivator – freedom is a bigger motivator.
Rather than making more money be your goal, I propose for 2012 that you make financial freedom your goal. If your blueprint is designed for financial freedom, thenyou may NEED less money than you think.
The people who get that the first time around are ready for the next step – , but let me repeat it for the slower ones who are still brave enough to keep listening. If your blueprint is designed for financial freedom, then you may NEED less money than you think.
If you still think you just need more money, without grasping the concept of financial freedom, then you are doomed to work aimlessly. Working and working and working – exchanging more and more of your time for money. As long as you are exchanging TIME for money – you will have LESS TIME! If you have less time, then clearly, you have no freedom to enjoy goof off days, lounging on the beach time, hanging with your friends experiences, pursuing your dream, and so on.
Financial freedom is the real key to enjoying life and, yes, money can definitely help you achieve that – but to experience financial freedom to its fullest, you would first have to understand that money is simply a TOOL, not an end result. As my favorite comedian Chris Rock puts it – money gives you options!
If what you want is financial freedom then what you do not want is another boss. While another job may be a short term fix; it is definitely not a debt free wealth building strategy.
So how to do achieve financial freedom? Well, before you start looking for ways to get more money, the very first thing you absolutely MUST do, is review your spending for ways to CUT SPENDING! No use asking the government to balance the budget when that would be a magical thing for us to do in our own lives.
Once all the ‘ear marks and pork’ has been stripped from your balance sheet, you might just find it easier to balance. Living within, or even better – BELOW your means is the first step to financial freedom – regardless of your income. You will never have wealth if every dollar you earn is expended. Wealth is derived from an accumulation of income and assets.
Successful implementation of this strategy includes the use of a budget. For ideas on setting up a budget, first check your online banking tools; you may just find a free option there that syncs with your accounts. Otherwise, check out Mint.com which is a free resource from Quicken that I strongly recommend.
After you have trimmed the excess from your lifestyle and spending, created a budget for existing below, or at least within that budget – now, or simultaneously, you can start looking for ways to add income to speed up the debt deletion and wealth building process.
Here is the thing, taking on another job – even if it is part-time and flexible; means punching another clock away from all the things that make it worth heading out to work in the first place. A part-time job may be a quick, budget friendly way to dig down debt as long as you (a) can find such a gig that will work around everything else you got going on, and (b) you keep the long term goal in view so you jump off that every spinning hamster wheel that goes no where, as fast as possible.
So, you guessed it – I am strongly encouraging you to look into starting a home based business.I know people who have turned their beloved hobby into a massive income stream, why not you? Play music? Practice, then ask your friends and family to hire you for their next event. Good at writing? Blog for cash at paying sites. For a starter list I endorse, visit my blog endmoneyproblemsnow.com and look for the article on second jobs or home based businesses. There you will find links to various opportunities that may be just right for you, or at least get you thinking about what might work for you.
The best and worse thing about a home-based business is, you do not have a boss. So if you are not a self-starter,build some accountability insomewhere. For example, tell your kids, that if they help you get your business going ( or behave so you can get it done) then you will reward them with…(fill in their favorite thing here). I did this once for an incentive trip on one of my biz adventures, and my kids kicked my booty out the door, and snitched every time they thought I was goofing off.
So you have trimmed the excess, deleted some debt, padded your bank account, simultaneously, and continuously – protect all that, so you can go enjoy it all, stress free.
Make sure you don’t have all your eggs in one investment basket, that you have life insurance, a will, etc. Yep, I got resources for that too. Please visit my Debt Free Wealth Radio show page and look up the show title INSECURE SECURITIES AND WHY I WONT SELL IT. Also, visit www.debtfreewealth.org and check out that website.
I will go into more specific detail on tips for getting cash, deleting debt, multiplying your money and protecting family assets in other radio shows and blogs. So please be sure to join us on Debt Free Wealth Radio every Friday morning at 10am EST.
So let’s wrap this show up talking about push and pull factors because I know, despite all the nods of agreement, many of you still wont do a thing, and next year will roll around and your situation may not change or get worse.
Which is easier? Pushing a weight up a hill, or having it pull you down the hill? This is a Duh moment right? Clearly it is easier to have that weight help pull you down the hill. Well, in your groundwork for designing a successful 2012 and beyond, you have to avoid push and create pull.
If you want to lose weight and every cupboard has chips, candy, and for dinner you are served French fries then losing weight under those circumstances are like trying to work in a push environment.
If however, you cleaned out your cupboards and refrigerator, stocked it with your favorite fruits and veges. Cooked healthy meals going easy on the processed carbs and so on, you are now in a pull environment because everything about this environment moves you or pulls you along to your goal. It takes less effort to lose weight when everything around you supports and contributes to that goal, instead of you having to fight and push toward it.
If what you really want is financial freedom, then let me be the first to tell you what others wont - stop the whining. Stop the wishing. Stop the waiting. Look for ways to build pull factors into your life. Get on the road to debt free wealth and true financial freedom now!
You will never leave where you are, until you decide where you would rather be. So, where would you rather be? To your prosperity!
We did the right things – at least as they were taught at the time. We had a very nice nest egg and things were looking pretty secure. We planned to retire early. We trusted the experts to help make the decisions, we contributed to the 401K, we saved, we invested in real estate, we bought gold, we lived below our means, we shopped frugally.
With the recession brought on by the housing bubble, our real estate investments were upside down, our 401 K was depleted by 75% and we cashed out the remainder as we needed cash to exist. My husband lost his job and my real estate business had crawled to a stop.
However, our gold and silver was up, and our habits were refined. So, we re-invented ourselves, paid off or down most of our debt, saved even more, shopped more carefully, learned more about money and took matters to rebuild our nest egg into our own hands. From here on, we were going to be more hands on in protecting our nest egg. It felt like an overdue divorce. Our nest egg and the financial experts went separate ways.
Become more involved in the Nest Egg Protection process:
I took courses and trained as a Paralegal, learned how to Day Trade, got licensed in insurance, and took the course in securities, and hunted till I found a way to earn money in the precious metals industry. If anyone was going to lose our hard earned money again, it may as well be me. The experts did a horrible job, yet they bankrolled while I lost. That not only p….d me off, but it made me wonder how that was possible.
It turns out, these investment Brokers make money on the transaction, regardless of the performance of their investment decisions. The more transactions they process, the more money they make. Cha ching! They don’t really need to care if they make us money or not. The good ones will. Their reputations are on the line, but even then, there are few guarantees with teeth in this business, so even money invested with Warren Buffet Brokers still lose money from time to time.
To have a nest egg is important because if you live long enough you will get old. Feel free to quote me on that. With age comes the need for labor free income and this is when you begin to cash in on your retirement fund. In order to protect it, there are some action steps I strongly urge you to consider and implement, whether you are doing it yourself, or using a financial planner.
Protecting your nest egg:
Identify and Inventory. What are your treasures? Whatever you are likely to say, rethink it through the eyes of a Katrina, or home-fire victim. Now, let me ask you again. What are your treasures? Is the answer different this time? If you decided that there are some trinkets, pictures, locks of hair, first tooths and any other items that matter to you, then as you identify and inventory your treasures – include ways to preserve these as well. Of course, the traditional stuff like jewelry and land titles count as well – but I just wanted you to think this through, because protecting your nest egg is the process of protecting your legacy. For the Christian, this is an important question to ask and answer because the Bible says Luke 12:21 “So is he [ a fool] that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God”, and in verse 34 “For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.”
Diversify. I agree with Tony Robbins’ suggestion to have 3 buckets: (a) your security bucket; with low risk investing (b) your growth bucket; with riskier, higher returns promised adventures, and (c) your dream bucket; where you put money toward the cool, just because stuff you want. Your risk tolerance will determine how you divide up that money, but do not ignore this strategy. The all your eggs in one basket – no matter how sure a thing it is, may as well be called gambling. The game here is PROTECTING.
Learn about Money. You don’t have to be an expert at art to know I am telling you garbage if I say blue and red make yellow. Basic fundamental knowledge will allow you to have your ears and mind ready to filter out the industry noise and know when you are being sold ice even though you live in Alaska. Have you heard the saying, when the rich and the experienced get together, the rich get experience and the experienced gets rich?
You know what level of risk you can tolerate. You know the goals you have for your nest egg money. Even if you use a professional, you have every right to dictate how they handle your account, to demand a review of their stewardship, and to hold them to a higher standard. There is no reason to avoid learning how to handle your money yourself. I strongly urge you to consider using that professional as a consultant, rather than the handling broker and pay them to teach you, and help you review your own progress.
Insure. Well, stuff happens; and if you are insured, you are covered! Insurance is one of the area many are tight fisted about, and unless mandated (as in auto insurance), some would never voluntarily buy insurance. Too late is the cry if you find yourself in a situation where insurance would have saved you from absolute loss; what is worse, with a crisis in your history, you may now find it impossible to find insurance no matter how much you are willing to pay. Insurance is JUST IN CASE protection, and no matter how much you pay into it, if your policy ever has to pay on a claim, the claim is usually way more than you put in, and way less than you would need to be out of pocket. Fast, Free Life Insurance Quotes Online at Efinancial.com eHealthInsurance – FREE Instant Quotes! Compare car insurance quotes – easy and quick.
Buy gold and silver. Cash is devaluing faster than you could fill a bath tub. Use your money (cash) to buy money (gold and silver), to make more money (profits as the value holds against the dollar, or increases) – just makes sense. Almost any portfolio will have investments in some form of gold and silver today. Personally, I hold the actual asset and not the paper printed ink version called a statement from some institution. Numismatic coins, bars and ungraded coins are tangible, easy to liquidate, and portable.
Secure it. Owning your nest egg assets via a Trust; keeping your valuables and important documents – such as your will, deeds, gold, etc, in a bank safety deposit box, or a home safe, or keeping it off shore in a secret, investment friendly country are just some of the strategies you should consider.
If no one offers you a job – be your own boss. If you have a job, but it is only part-time hours, and part-time pay, make your own job that fills in the blanks. If you have a full-time job that you hate, that you hate going to every day and hope one day to leave, make your own job so you can be your own boss and create an exit option. If you have the greatest job in the world, but you cannot guarantee that company never merges, closes, cut costs, lays off people, fires you – be your own boss in your spare time and work on that project when you can, or with help from your family and have it in the background, just in case.
Joblessness, and inadequate hours or income still plagues world economies. An April 23, 2012 article that featured on Yahoo, titled “1 in 2 new graduates are jobless or underemployed” those who just racked up serious debt to earn an education, may not have that job opportunity waiting for them upon graduation.
There are ways to influence SEO that go beyond tweaking your website codes and content. So let’s start with what you already know. 
The legal process for divorce when appropriate, may also involve issues of debt creating triggers such as spousal support, child custody, child support and division of debt.
