Category: Life Lessons

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I want good Filipinos to be wealthy

Today, I heared one of my mentors said, "I want good Filipinos to be wealthy." Then she added, the reason God entrusted you those blessings is because He knows you will take care of them.

While thinking about my mentor’s dream, I realized it is my dream too.  The reason I started this blog, Rich Money Habits by akosiallan.com is because I want to share the lessons I learned in my financial journey with you.  I want you to be inspired by the stories from this blog so that you can take action in pursuing your own financial goals as well, knowing that if I and many others were able to make it so can you.

My mentor’s statement made me reflect on my experiences over the past few years ever since I embarked on this journey of financial literacy.  I remember how in 2003 I read the book Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki. That book changed the way I see how money works.  Interestingly, whenever I meet people who are also very successful in business, they somehow came across the same book and that has also started them to the path of financial freedom.

From the get go, I knew pursuing this path is not going to be easy.  But  anything worth pursuing in life needs commitment, hardwork and persistence to achieve.  All I knew was that God wanted me to be in this situation for a purpose.  Just like Steve Jobs, I too simply hoped that somehow in the future, the dots will finally connect to make sense of all the experiences I’ve had to go through.

I ventured into a lot of things ever since my mind was opened to the idea of business and investing.  In the pursuit of financial freedom, I devoured hundreds of books in the same topics, invested tens of thousands in attending various seminars, met friends and mentors in real-estate investing, internet marketing, network marketing, stocks investing and business.  Some of my ventures failed while some earned me decent income.  Until finally, I came across something that has allowed me to quit my job of almost a decade as IT consultant for a multinational company.

More than a year ago, I embarked on a journey I call "Project 100".  My simple goal at that time was to help 100 people earn at least $100 a month.  One thing I realized is that it is easier said than done.  It is easier to do it for yourself than teach it to others so they can do the same.  I learned that it takes a team to make it work.  I realized the value of the saying, "when the student is ready, the teacher will appear." Most of the time, I was the student.  I needed to learn how to lead people and build a great team to make my dream work.

technomarine

Fast forward today, more than 104 people from all over the world have earned $40 – $600 a month as part of the project. One of them even reached $1,000 a month.  It feels great to have been part of the journey of these amazing people.  What I am most proud of is that they have earned those blessings with integrity, legally and ethically without the need to compromise their principles on what is right and wrong. God knows they deserve these blessings and more.  It’s about time good people become rich as well so that God’s blessings can reach out to more people who need it. 

Inspired by the success of the original project, I decided to launch a new and enhanced Project 100.  During the past weeks, it was in soft-launch mode to a few of my inner circle friends.  Now, it is finally being launched and opened to you.  The goal of the new and enchanced Project 100 is to help 100 people earn at least $1,000 a month.  One person I have helped coach has already made it.  There are 99 slots left.  If you think you have what it takes to be part of the 99 people who can earn $1,000 with the right opportunity and right mentoring, you can click here to find out how to be part of the project.

P.S. One of the great things about what I do now is it allows me to travel whenever I want, wherever I want, with the people I want to be with.  I don’t have a boss so I don’t need to wait for approval or file a leave.  I can take off for a week and leave on a Wednesday morning when most people are still busy working.  Of course, I also get a chance to meet you if you happen to be in the same place where I am going.  I will be in Hong Kong this coming March 20 – 25 to attend a business conference.  If you are curious on what I do and you are in HK, let’s have coffee and chat.  Add me as friend in Facebook and PM me for my itinerary.  I may have limited time to check my email and Facebook during my stay in Hong Kong so please be kind if I am not able to respond to you immediately. God bless you.

P.P.S. Still thinking whether Project 100 is for you or not? Click here to read more about Project 100.

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5 Things You Need To Know Before You Quit Your Job

Do you ever ask yourself “is this all there is to life?”

Have you ever dreamed of getting out of all the mediocrity in life to pursue your own bliss and start a new adventure?

If you answered yes, welcome to the club!  I was in a similar stage more than year ago…and what I can tell you looking back, pursuing the new chapter in my life is one of the most exciting, most fulfilling adventure I’ve had in years.  I’m glad I took the leap of faith and pursued my own bliss.

But it didn’t start out that way.

When I started working I was contented.   My idea of a simple life back then was that I was able to feed myself, had a nice place to sleep in, and had a work to go to every day.  I didn’t mind riding on a raging tricycle going to work which was always zig-zaging on a busy street, driving against traffic.  I was scared of course, but still contented.

When my company sent me to the US, I enjoyed riding an airplane for the first time.  For the next 6 months, I enjoyed a very very comfortable life.  For the first time, I was able to drive my own car to the office, swim in a jacuzzi every night with friends, have my own TV inside my room, and to top it all have an stay out house cleaner who came by once a week to clean the house.  My situation jumped from being contented to being overwhelmed in an instant.  I didn’t know a life like this was possible.

I wished it were like that forever.  But after 6 months, my stay in the US was over.  I went home to the Philippines and suddenly something changed in me.  Now, I felt like I have been short changed.  In my mind, I was practically doing the same thing when I was in the US as I was back home in the Philippines, but the pay was not reflecting the same.  Suddenly, I felt like it is no longer OK to have the kind of results that I was getting from my job.  The irony was that my work back home in the Philippines was even more exhausting than when I was in the US.  It dawned on me, I had to do something about my situation if I want to have a chance of experiencing the comfortable life I’ve had in the past 6 months again.

It’s true. Until you feel you are losing out on something, you will not feel the urge to do something about your own situation.

It took me around 3 years before I realized this is not the life I wanted to do.

It’s been a year since I quit my job of almost a decade working for a multinational financial services company.  Looking back, it’s one the single biggest decision I’ve had to face in my career. I’m glad I took the plunge for I have been having the best time of my life. I feel I have grown more as a person mentally, emotionally, financially and with a deeper appreciation of all the blessings that life has to offer.

Many people ask me how I came up with the decision to give up my comfortable job in order to pursue starting my own business.  Most often than not, I end up seeing more confused faces after telling them my story. I can’t blame them.  They haven’t gone through the same experience I’ve had.  They didn’t go through the same seminars that opened up my mind.  They have different goals than mine at this point in their lives.

Perhaps one of the greatest realization I’ve had over the past year, is a deeper appreciation on how unique each one of us really are.  We have different hopes and dreams.  But we are also very similar.  We all want a better life.

Here are some of the realizations I’ve had that has helped me get through all the challenges and appreciate the blessings along the way.

1.  There’s no perfect time to quit your job

I’ve waited for years to get the green light before finally tendering my resignation.  There were countless hours in the wee hours of the night I’ve spent with my wife, trying to gather the courage to do it.  In the end, I realized, the lights on a street will never go green all at the same time.  Something will come up.  Something will change your plans.  If you don’t do it, it will never be done.  There’s no perfect timing to doing something worthwhile.  All you need to do is trust that all the dots will somehow connect when the time comes for you to look back.  And when that happens, almost always, it will point to a decision you made years ago that has changed the course of your life.

2.  Having an emergency fund helps

The key to quitting your job is to prepare as much as you can, hold your breath, dive in and plunge into the unknown.  It is risky but in order to manage the risk, you should have an emergency fund equal to or more than 6 months of your monthly expenses.  If you ask me, 6 months may not even be enough.  So prepare as much as you can.  The more emergency fund you have, the better, especially if you’re burning your bridges from employment.  The 6 months emergency fund was designed that way because it normally takes 6 months for a normal employee to find another job in the event that he loses his job.  But you are different.  You quit.  You are not going back to employment.  You have to be prepared to have other sources of income apart from your job because it can take a while until you get the time or financial freedom that you dream of.

3.  It’s best to get a loan before you quit your job

Getting a loan from the bank as a business man is a lot harder than being an employee.  When you are an employee, the bank is essentially approving your loan based on the stability of the company and in the hope that your company is stable enough that you will have a steady source of income to pay off your monthly payments.  Even if your business is earning twice than your pay from your current job, it is possible that the bank still won’t approve your loans, because now they are essentially taking a risk on you, not on your company’s earning capability.  So if you can, much better to get a loan before you quit your job for big ticket items like house or car (after assessing your own financial situation of course.)

4.  Master your emotions instead of the other way around

They say you should never make a decision while on an extreme state of emotion.  If you’re very sad, don’t make a rushed decision.  When you’re very happy, don’t make a decision you will regret after the excitement subsides.  The thing about extreme emotions is that it can cloud your judgement.  Getting a decision to quit your job or not is not a spur of the moment kind of thing.  It is a deliberate process of preparing yourself mentally, emotionally and financially until the day comes that you say you are ready. It takes a lot more courage to get through the state of mediocrity.  They say companies pay just enough so employees won’t quit; and employees do just enough so they don’t get fired.  I think there’s a certain degree of truth to that, that’s why it’s harder to quit when you can still convince yourself that enduring is better than quitting.  Understanding your own emotions helps prepare you to the challenges ahead.

5.  The hardest part is not financial

The hardest part of quitting your job is inside your head.  It’s not the money that will get you.  It’s the thoughts in your head wondering every second of the day whether you made the right decision or not…whether clinging to a steady paycheck is better than risking it all to pursue time and financial freedom.  The hardest part is breaking through the decades of mind conditioning from families, friends, and schools that earning money by getting a safe secure job with benefits is the way to go.  It’s normal to cling to job security.  Unfortunately, we all know job security is no longer possible at this time of information age.  It is in finding yourself against what is normal sometimes that you get a chance to discover enough courage within you to venture out and pursue the taste of freedom.

It’s been more than a year since I’ve last held a job.  There were a lot of challenges.  There were a lot of blessings.  One thing is for sure, if I had to do it all over again, I would do exactly the same thing.  No one truly knows what will happen after the decision is made, we only make the best out of it with all the available information we’ve had at that moment.  That makes life very interesting and full of exciting surprises.

Living your dream takes a decision.  It is not luck.  It is pursued.

The easier route is to do the same thing you’ve done for the past x number of years.  While it is certainly up to you whether to go that route or change course, I definitely agree with Albert Einstein that doing the same things over and over again and expecting a different result is insane.  You need to do something different to achieve something different.  You need to do something out of the ordinary if you are aiming a life that is better than what you have right now.  And for that you need guts more than anything else.  God is an abundant God that has blessed your heart with that dream to pursue and see you through to its completion.  All you have to do is take that first step in faith.

P.S. Are you tired working for your job?  Do you want to quit? Looking for other options?  Click here to contact me.

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Prequel to the Greatest Miracle in the World

I can still remember as if it was just yesterday.  After trying to have a baby for almost 4 years and patiently going back and forth to our doctor’s appointments, I can still remember how anxious we were, hoping and waiting for the good news on our goal to have a baby.

I can still feel the heart ache my wife went through when well meaning loved ones were asking her why we don’t have a baby yet.  I can only imagine the pressure that she had to go through every time she hears the same question over and over again. That’s why I am very proud of my wife. Through all the challenges, even when her faith was failing her, he kept holding on to her dream, our dream to have a baby.

Our well meaning friends and relatives told her not eat too much for her to lose weight to have a better chance of conceiving.  Of course, they don’t know that my wife was having a hormonal imbalance…and that having a voluptous figure can be because of other things not related to overeating.  In fact, she has already done that, eating only “half-rice” at every meal.  On top of that, she even went through a strenous dance class  in the hope of shedding a few pounds which only made her cry and trembling in exhaustion after a few gruelling sessions.  If it were me, I may not have the emotional strength to go on and continue with what she went through.  My wife is a strong woman.  In spite of her fun-loving, amiable and high-spirited front is a fragile lady with a loving heart full of dreams.  She’s the first miracle in my life.

The First Glimmer of Hope

After years of trying, my wife went through the next stage of the work-up as advised by her doctor.  She was told to take a medication, which she had to inject on herself everyday for the next week or so.  One injection is worth PhP 3,000, and when I last counted, it was 10 injections that she had to take.  Not only was it painful physically for my wife…but also painful financially. That’s when I realized that if you have a dream big enough, you really don’t mind spending more than you normally would.  It is an emotional thing.

Finally, the good news arrived.  My wife was tested positive!!! Yehey!!! We’re finally going to have a baby.

But the good news didn’t last for very long.  The next few days were some of the most trying times of our lives.  Everyday for the next week, she had spotting. She was losing blood.  Exactly 7 days after, I had to take her to Medical City at 3am in the morning. I remember vividly holding her tight as we walked and asked a cab in EDSA Mandaluyong to take us to the emergency unit of the hospital.  She was losing blood, a lot of blood.  In the end, the baby was lost.

Without sleep, depressed, numbed from the whole experience, my wife and I went out of the hospital past noon with no clue what to do next.  All I can remember was that we took a cab and went to my in-laws’ house to deliver the bad news.

While in the cab, I remembered that I had a scheduled appointment at 3pm on the same day with a friend of mine.  At first, I really didn’t want to go, but as luck would have it, that appointment would pave the way for God’s healing and the greatest miracle to happen in our lives.

The Making of the Greatest Miracle in the World

After some chit chat with my friend, she showed me what she was busy with at that time. My friend even introduced me to her mentors. That meeting proved to be a turning point in my life.  I didn’t recognize it at first, but luckily I suspended my disbelief long enough to have a clearer view of what it really meant…and soon 6 months after the greatest miracle happened in our 4 years of married life.

It was March 2011 after having gone through the tragedy when my wife and I decided to temporarily stop the work up consultation with our OBGYNE doctor.  At times, I would see my wife, still feeling the emotional stress from the whole event, crying at her own corner feeling depressed.  It pricked my heart seeing her so sad.

My wife stopped going to the doctor, stopped taking medications, and sometimes even stopped going to work in days she could not contain her emotional depression. As a loving husband, all I could do was watch her helplessly go through deep emotions that only a woman who losed a part of her own would know.

When my friend recommended a weight loss program for us, we really didn’t expect any result from it.  In fact, because my wife was depressed, there were times we would not be able to follow the program and eat out heavily in an eat-all-you-can restaurant.  Until one night, my wife accidentally saw our anniversary pictures on her laptop.  On that same night, we were really surprised to see the difference in her.  I was so excited, I asked her to put on the same dress and voila, here’s the picture I got. 🙂

That encouraged us to take a deeper look at what we have stumbled into. Because of the miscarriage, my wife and I were extra careful in what we were taking.  In order to prepare the body for conceiving, it is important to have a healthy lifestyle especially for the 9 months the baby is inside the womb. Also with all the medications she was under as part of the workup, she’s afraid it would take its toll on her kidneys and liver. We discovered that nourishing your total body health is important, and taking a high-quality vitamin supplement like Cellsentials is key especially nowadays that eating healthy is so hard to do. We learned that Omega 3 is good for those wanting to get pregnant, so we decided to take it.  We learned that Coenzyme Q10 is good for those with ‘hormonal imbalance’ and those wanting to enhance fertility, and also took some of it.  And so on..

After 6 months, my mother-in-law who is already a senior-citizen and still without a grandchild, prodded my wife for us to try again.  My wife, being a very obedient child who can’t say no to her parents, obliged on one condition – that she won’t have to go back to the same clinic and doctor again.  My mother-in-law referred another doctor to her. My wife went to the doctor bringing with her her very long medical history of PCOS (Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome). The doctor did a new ultrasound scan, and much to my wife’s surpise the doctor said, “Oh, normal ka naman. Ok na siya. Wala nang PCOS” (You’re normal, there’s no longer any PCOS). My wife was stunned.  She couldn’t believe it. She kept going back to the past 6 months and asked herself what changed.  All she could think of were the healthy lifestyle changes that we went through.

The doctor advised her of the timing, and when she can do a pregnancy test.  My wife was so excited she did the test a week early.  One morning, she woke me up crying while holding on one hand the pregnancy test kit result.  I was still half-asleep when I checked the test kit from her hand.  I don’t know if it was because I just got off from sleep, I saw one solid line and I thought I saw another very faint one but wasn’t really sure.  I couldn’t ask my wife because she was already crying profusely at this point. I didn’t have the courage to ask her whether she was crying because it’s already positive or she was crying because it’s negative again.  All I could do then was hug her and not utter any word.

Another week passed and my wife did another test on the day the doctor advised us to do so.  The lines were more pronounced at this point so we were getting very excited.  After another week, we went through the doctor and it was confirmed! We are going to have a BABY!!! We were so ecstatic!!!

Past forward more than a year after, my son is now 5 months old.

Sometimes I still can’t believe I am now holding my own child in my arms while he lay soundly asleep.  I still can’t believe that what was only a dream a year ago is now a reality.  Truly there’s no impossible to the Lord.

Everything happens for a reason. Even tragedies have a purpose. When I look back, perhaps it was really meant to be for us to experience feeling the loss so we will know how to value what we have when the blessing finally arrives.

I feel really blessed.  My son Ethan Gabriel is the Greatest Miracle in the World in my heart.  Everyday, when I see my son smile back at me, it reminds me how much God loves me and my family. Amidst all the financial blessings that we have received, truly there are blessings that are PRICELESS.  This is one of them. No amount of money can compare to the happiness my wife and I feel every time we see our son Ethan Gabriel smile.

All glory to God in the highest!

P.S. I hope Ethan’s story inspires you in your journey as you experience the greatest miracle in your life.  Hold on to that dream for God would not have put it in your heart if it was not meant to be fulfilled in its own proper time.

P.P.S. If you want to know more about the products we took that has helped us improve our health to have a healthy baby after 6 months of taking them, you can contact me here.

P.P.S. If you want to try out the products and avail a 20% discount, you can CLICK HERE.

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Work Smart

Today, we will temporarily take a break from our ongoing Baby Steps to Financial Riches Series to give way to a guest article ‘Work Smart’ by one of my friends Sha Nacino.  Read on and enjoy!

Work Smart
By Sha Nacino

We always hear the phrase “work hard.” Yes, working hard is very important. However, I think working hard is not enough. One needs to work smart as well.

I am a poor singer. My father and brother would always tease me when I sing. When I was in High School, I auditioned for our school choir. No matter how hard I practiced, I didn’t pass the audition because I was tone deaf and my voice was sintonado. In fact, I was lucky if I could finish a song without revising its tune.

John Maxwell said, “Don’t work on your weaknesses”. By weaknesses, he is referring to our talents and skills. For example if you rate yourself 3 in singing in a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being the highest and 1 being the lowest, then pursue another career other than singing. Because companies only reward excellence! Assuming that you work hard to improve your singing and you raise your score by 2 points, your rate is just average at 5.

It’s the same thing with work. You may be doing a job that is not in line with your skills. No matter how hard you would try, the best that you could achieve is an average performance.

It may also be that you want to augment your income because you want to provide a more comfortable lifestyle to your family. So you decide to work overtime on weekends. Then you begin to think about rewarding yourself for your hard work. You then treat yourself to a nice movie or a sumptuous meal, or an expensive watch. You are too busy and tired to realize that though you’re earning extra from your overtime, you also spend a lot.

I therefore suggest that you work smart aside from working hard. If possible, try to commit working only 5 days a week. Use the one day to feed your mind regarding financial management and the other one day to bond with your loved ones. Read lots of financial books from best-selling authors. Look for mentors and take time to talk to them and learn from them.

Speaking of books, I wrote an eBook titled How to Earn While on Vacation with a Foreword by Bo Sanchez. You can visit http://seminarphilippines.com/free-ebook/ to get the eBook for FREE.

I wrote this eBook because I wanted more people to know about passive income and how it is earned. I am giving this book away for free. If you don’t have a copy of the eBook yet, you may log on to http://seminarphilippines.com/free-ebook/.

About the Author:
Sha Nacino is an author and a blogger. You may visit her at www.seminarphilippines.com or www.happysha.com.

 

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Is Earning Passive Income for Real?

This is the first article of the “Baby Steps to Financial Riches” series. Today, I’d like to share some insights on whether earning passive income is indeed for real, or not.

My first thought when I first heard about earning passive income was…is this for real? Aren’t these one of those ‘scams’?

I can understand how a rental apartment can earn passive income…but translating that into the online world or to other unusual  income streams seemed like “too good to be true” for me.  One thing that has served me well, is allowing myself a moment to suspend disbelief if only to keep my mind open to more ideas. I imagined, what if it’s true? What’s the worst thing that can happen if I decide to check it out.

With that in mind, I decided to give myself a chance and check it out.  I am thankful to this day for that moment of disbelief because it started my journey of earning passive income.

No, I haven’t reached the level of Mark Zuckerberg or any of those young billionaires, nor have I reached millions in passive income yet.  I believe, however, that I will eventually get there…for the journey has already begun, it is only a matter of time.  My hope is by sharing what I learned with you, you will soon too.

Active Income vs Passive Income

Before I go on any further, I want to make sure we are on the same page when I refer to “passive income”.   It will be easier to define passive income by differentiating it from the more popular source of income which is active income.

The most notable example of an active income is the salary you get from your job.  Each month you have to go to the office, render work for a specified number of hours, and at the end of the month, you will be paid your monthly salary.  If you decide to not go to work, you will not get paid.  In short, no work, no pay.

Passive income on the other hand is income you derive from rental properties, licenses or royalty income from your books, songs, or other information products, or income from businesses that requires little or minimal amount of your time.  If you can leave your business for one whole year, and when you come back you can find it still standing, chances are, that business is a source of passive income.

How can you earn from passive income?

There are many ways to earn passive income, whether online through the use of the internet or offline through rental income from real-estate or royalties from books, or even the license income from using the Angry Bird characters in commercial products.  In the advent of the information age, the number of ways multiplies each day as new ways are being developed by the continuing improvement of business systems.

Of all the ways you can earn from passive income, however, one thing is common to all of them – a BUSINESS SYSTEM.

A rental property may be in the form of real-estate, but it is earning money as a business.  There are systems involved, like marketing systems when the owner advertises through the local newspaper or in the neighborhood; or the collection systems when the owner or his assigned collector collects rental from its tenants every month.  The rental income is passive income.

Books have an entire publishing industry composed of different systems like financial systems issuing royalty checks to authors, production systems printing the books, as well as fulfillment systems distributing the products to the different bookstores.

Online businesses have their own sets of systems.  Each company has its own different way of earning income.  Facebook for example is earning through advertising.  Google as well.  Amazon is like a big bookstore in the digital sphere.  Apple creates amazing products and earns from the sale of those products.

A network marketing business also has its own systems in place to train new distributors, market the products to users, as well as seamless technology systems to make sure commissions are computed correctly and credited to the distributors, and more.

In order to earn passive income, then, you need to learn about business systems, and how the different business systems work to create for you a passive income stream.  In the coming weeks, I hope to give you more information on how you can create your own business system or buy into an existing system so you can also earn from passive income.

How not to be scammed?

Obviously, the upside of earning from passive income is very big.  However, with the many opportunities sprouting left and right, sometimes, it is very hard to distinguish which one is legitimate, and which one is illegal or a scam.

This, unfortunately, has led many to fall into get-rich-quick scams.  People have the tendency to go for the easier route.  Passive doesn’t mean it’s easy.  Passive doesn’t mean no work.  Passive doesn’t mean money will come to you without doing anything (at least in the beginning).  Everything in this world comes with a price.  It’s up to you to know what that price is, and to decide whether you want to pay for it or not.  There’s no such thing as free lunch.

More than any other industry, the network marketing industry has had its own fair share of get-rich-quick scams, pyramiding or illegal activities.  Some people may even have their own stories to share.  I feel for those people.  Sadly, scams do exist, not only in the network marketing industry, but in all kinds of businesses.  In the hope of helping you discern if a network marketing business you want to get into is legitimate or not, you can read my article “5 things you need to know before joining a network marketing business.”

In addition, you can also read my article about the MYTHS & REALITIES about PASSIVE INCOME.  The article contains helpful tips you can use to guide you in determining whether an income opportunity presented to you could be a scam or not.

In the end, having integrity, being professional, truthful and ethical is still the cornerstone from which all great businesses are built.  In the same way that there are no shortcuts to success, doing good, while it requires a higher level of integrity, is still a sound long-term business strategy.

How have others earned passive income?

Now that you know online/offline passive incomes are REAL for those who work on it, I’d like to share with you stories on what these passive income streams have earned for some people.

A good resource for earning passive income through the internet can be found in Pat Flynn’s blog Smart Passive Income.  Pat fully discloses what he earns every month from his blog.  You can see a sample of his income report here.  He is averaging around $20,000 – $30,000 every month.  That’s what some people earn in a year or even two years in the Philippines. Obviously, it took him a LOT of work in order to get to where he is now.  But the great thing about it is, nobody can fire him because he doesn’t have a boss, and when one stream of income dries out, his other income streams pick up the slack. I’m not sure about you, but I think that’s a better way to earn than just having a single income stream called a job.

Closer to home, I learned about the house that blogging bought in the Philippines a few years back. This was when earning from the internet was still at its infancy in the Philippines. I was surprised to say the least.  I believe the income was used as  down payment for the house and not the whole payment. In any case, it really doesn’t matter.  It just shows you that there are indeed passive income streams from the internet, and the good news is, you too can earn from it even when you’re in the Philippines.

I’ve also interviewed a few young entrepreneurs in this blog, and learned how they’ve earned passive income in their different ventures.  I’ve had the great priviledge to get to know and interview some of the successful young entrepreneurs like the young Real-Estate Millionaire and Rent-To-Own specialist Ms Eden Dayrit, the internet marketing expert Mr Jomar Hilario and a good friend of mine, the owner of the most popular real-estate investing site, Foreclosure Investing Philippines, Mr Jay Castillo.

I have also personally gotten to know and received mentoring from several successful people in other types of businesses, especially in the network marketing industry.  In the past year, I have had the priviledge of being mentored by one the most ethical and professional group of leaders in the industry I have known (XTRM 1-11 Inc), while building my own network marketing business.

I will share more about the things I’ve learned in the next coming weeks. Perhaps, in the future, I might even interview and feature one of my mentors here.  I understand, some people have a lot of misgivings or even violent reactions when network marketing in the Philippines is brought up.  I can’t blame them for I was once very skeptical at first.  If you’re thinking of getting into the network marketing business in the Philippines, my only tip for you is to allow yourself the moment to “suspend disbelief” but to match your decision not only with sound business practices but with your gut feel of the people you will be working with.  Network marketing business, more so than other types of businesses, is about being able to relate well to people.

Personally, I have had my share of success and failures tinkering with all the income streams, from earning a few dollars here and there, to a few thousand pesos from offline/online ventures as well as my network marketing business.  As they say, a picture can paint a thousand words.  So to save effort, here’s one of the fruits of those income streams.  This is my first car, and until now I still can’t believe that a day will come that I will drive my own car.  Thanks to “suspending disbelief” and allowing myself the chance.

Cheers to your success!

P.S.  Watch out for the next articles in the series “Baby Steps to Financial Riches” in the coming weeks as I go into detail on how I earned from each of the income streams.  If you’re curious to know how I managed to buy the car in just a year, feel free to email me or add me as friend in facebook.

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Life Lessons Life Updates

The Greatest Miracle in the World

It’s been a really long, long time since I last posted an article in this blog. There’s been a lot of great things happening in my life that I haven’t really found the time to write all about it.  One thing I realized is that when you’re having the time of your life, it can be a challenge to take a moment to reflect and appreciate everything.  Now, I finally found the time. 

Today, I’d like to share with you THE MOST SPECIAL blessing I’ve received in my entire life…the birth of my first born son, Ethan Gabriel.  This early our baby boy Ethan Gabriel is growing up to be a strong and healthy kid, thanks to a lot of prayers and a miracle from God.

The past few weeks has been a whirlwind adventure of holding on to the promise of God’s hope, of witnessing a great miracle, and of experiencing a deep and profound appreciation of all of God’s blessing of time and spending it with your loved ones.

Last April 10, 2012 marked the day a series of unexpected events started to happen.  It was my wife’s birthday.  And it happened to be the same day as her prenatal checkup.  To celebrate her birthday, I treated her to an early lunch at the Heat Restaurant in EDSA ShangriLa.  We had a really great time, enjoying the sumptous meal together.

After our date, we went to the clinic for her prenatal checkup.  It was supposed to be the last prenatal checkup before she’s due to deliver.  She was 36 weeks pregnant, a week away from being full term at 37 weeks.  It was supposed to be like any of the other almost a dozen prenatal checkups my wife have had the past 9 months.  Nothing could have prepared us from what’s about to happen next.

While doing her checkup, the doctor noticed my wife’s unsually high blood pressure.  It was 140/120. My wife also thought it was just a mistake because her blood pressure was normally at 110/70 on her previous checkups.  She was not feeling nauseous or anything.  She felt normal.  When her doctor asked her to have her blood pressure taken again to make sure and to take a urinalysis test, my wife was worried to say the least.  And when the doctor explained to her that if her blood pressure is really that high then she might have to be admitted to the hospital right away.  My wife was shocked.  And it showed very clearly.  My wife’s blood pressure shot up to 160/120 in an instant. She never imagined that she’d get admitted to the hospital and might get into labor ahead of time.  My wife’s doctor diagnosed her with pre-eclampsia, a rather critical condition for pregnant women.  The doctor asked us to immediately get admitted to the hospital.  So, with shocked and worried faces, we went directly to St Luke’s Medical Center in Global City. 

My wife was admitted to the High Risk Pregnancy Unit of St Lukes.  She was immediately given medication to stabilize her blood pressure, the hours went by which seemed like a very very long time…each time her blood pressure is taken, my heart stopped. I held my breath as I await the next reading of her blood pressure.  Still high at 160/100…and then getting even higher at 180/110…my heart bled in worry as if each moment was being frozen in time.  I was worried.  I knew my wife was worried not only for her sake but more for our baby’s condition.

After more than a day of torture, my wife’s blood pressure finally stabilized.  The doctor even contemplated of sending her home.  But because a pre-eclampsia condition is very critical, not only for my wife but also for the baby, the doctor requested staying for a few more days.  This way, my wife and the baby’s condition can be closely monitored.  I thank God to this day that we heeded the doctor’s advise and stayed in the hospital. 

The following morning, everything seemed normal.  Little did we know that the nurses were already getting a bit worried.  At about an hour before noon, the attending nurse seem to check my wife and the baby’s vitals signs a little more frequently at about every 10 minutes or so. Each time the nurse came by, a little bit of worry crossed my mind, curious why suddenly the nurse’s actions looked a bit more hurried.  I wanted to ignore it so that my wife won’t be concerned.  After another hour, the nurse once again entered the room but this time to hand me over the consent form for my wife’s emergency caesarian delivery.  Panic-stricken, I managed to ask why.  She explained that the baby’s heart rate has been dropping every 10 minutes or so and our doctor advised an emergency caesarian delivery right away.  All they needed before proceeding was my signature for the consent form. 

After signing the document, the nurse hurriedly prepared my wife for the emergency operation.  Everything happened so fast.  Next thing I know, my wife was already being transferred to the delivery room and I was trying to put on the scrubs on to be with her in the delivery room.  I was scared.  But I needed to be strong both for my wife and our baby.

I tried to reassure her that everything will be alright.  We both needed to have faith.  Perhaps, I needed it more than she did so I can have the courage to go through what’s about to happen next. 

When the baby came out, I was both relieved and anxious at the same time.  Relieved because my wife has safely delivered our baby. Finally, my wife can now sigh a relief and concentrate on recovering from the operation.  Anxious because when our baby came out, the baby was under a lot of stress.  Our doctor said that the umbilical cord of the baby got entangled on his neck causing him a lot of stress during the delivery.  Considering that he has not yet reached full term, it was very critical that he becomes stable first.  When the doctor tried to make our baby cry, his crying was very weak and his skin color was not very good.  Our baby was handed over to the pediatrician right away.  Our baby was having a hard time breathing because of all the stress that he went through.  After our baby stabilized and was able to breath better, he was weighed in.  He came out at 2,190 grams which is only a little over 4.8 pounds. After another 5 minutes, the pediatrician heared a little murmur from our baby’s heart.  The pediatrician decided to consult a cardiologist right away and transfer our baby to the Neonatial Intensive Care Unit of the hospital.  My initial sigh of relief was flustered with a very worried face.

After what seemed like a lifetime of waiting, the cardiologist did a 2D Echo on our baby’s heart and the look of worry came over his face along with all the other doctors once they saw what was happening.  I was trying to calm myself down but I couldn’t have imagined going through something like this in my life.  The doctor asked to speak with me in a room so he can explain it to me better.  Good thing my in-laws were there with me when the doctor explained it to me.  At the end of the conversation, my face turned from worry to desperation.  The doctor explained that his diagnosis is pointing to a problem in our baby’s heart described as coarctation of the aorta and he might need to undergo surgery to solve the problem.  My father in-law mustered enough courage to ask what were the chances of the baby surviving an operation like that.  The doctor responded with a reassuring voice that it’s probably around 70/30.  He explained that it’s a very delicate operation because it involves the veins of the heart, and also because the baby’s veins are very tiny.  To which my father in-law asked again, how much would the operation probably cost? The doctor answered, "perhaps around P700,000 or so."  I couldn’t even utter a single word at that point.  I was shocked.  I didn’t know what to do.  Not only because of the HUGE amount, which is also shocking, but more for the well-being of our baby and my wife who was still in the recovery room at that time. There were so many "what-if" scenarios, fears and worries going through my mind. I didn’t have the strength to speak a single word after that.

The next few hours were the most trying moments in my life.  I was advised by the doctors not to share the information with my wife because it might trigger her high blood pressure to shoot up once again.  She needed to be stabilized first.  At this point, I didn’t have anyone to turn to.  I had to be strong both for our baby and my wife.  But I couldn’t help myself.  There comes a point in your life when you can’t do anything else other than to TRUST GOD that HE KNOWs what you are going through, and HE WILL MAKE A WAY.  I excused myself from my in-laws and went to the hospital chapel alone.  Not only to pray but to cry out for help from the Lord.  I was like a helpless child crying out to his father in heaven to "please help our baby".  It was all I could do.  I wish I could say I was strong, but I was not.  I was scared as hell. 

The hours that passed seemed to take a life of its own.  Our cardiologist was searching from the different hospitals and his contacts for a hard-to-find medicine that would temporarily help our baby’s heart and prevent it from crashing down.  He wanted to transfer the baby to Philippine Heart Center that night, but after checking out the baby’s condition at the NICU, and a rather very fortunate event of him being able to get hold of the medicine from another doctor of PGH, he decided to postpone the transfer until the next morning.  At about 8pm that night my very kind brother-in-law helped drive me to PGH to buy the medicine.  He even offered to lend me the cash because I was still in state of shock aimlessly trying to look for an ATM to withdraw from.  I don’t know if it was divine intervension, but I realize looking back that God’s miracles was already working it’s way at that point in time, and that perhaps that doctor in PGH was a god-sent angel from heaven.

After two-hours of waving through traffic going to and back from PGH, we arrived in St Lukes with the medicine on hand. The medicine was given to our baby immidiately.  At 11PM, we asked if there’s someone from the St Lukes Chapel who can help us bless our baby boy Ethan Gabriel.  Fortunately there was a resident pastor who’s available at that time.  Pastor Chris came by and together with my sister and brother in-law, we prayed over our baby and for God’s healing to be upon him.  Pastor Chris and I chatted a little bit afterwards and his message of hope for our baby was very reassuring.  Up to this day, I am grateful for Pastor Chris for being there in our most trying time.  Our friends in XTRM 1-11 also came by to visit and offered to pray over baby Ethan Gabriel and my wife Anna as well even if they couldn’t enter the room because it was already 2AM in the morning.  Sleep-deprived. Shocked. Restless. I tried to rest and sleep aftewards but my mind and body was simply too worried to get a decent sleep.  At 8AM, my mom who recently arrived from an overnight trip all the way from Ilocos came with me as I visited our baby in the NICU.  When we arrived, the cardiologist was busy doing another 2D ECHO on our baby, and he signaled for us to wait outside and he’ll speak with us after checking our baby’s condition again that morning.  While anxiously waiting for the result, I was busy praying under my breath for our baby’s miracle recovery.  After seemed like a lifetime of waiting, the cardiologist came out of the NICU, his face beaming with delight as he puts his 2 thumbs up sign and walks over to where my mom and I were standing.  He said, "Great news! It looks like your baby doesn’t have to go through surgery anymore." All I could say was "THANK YOU LORD!!!"

The cardiologist explained that overnight our baby’s condition improved significantly to a point where the initial diagnosis of coarctation of the aorta was no longer evident.  The narrow nerve that was supposed to be operated on improved and was now pumping blood from the heart normally.  It looked like the medication that they gave to our baby helped improve his heart’s function overnight.  All I could utter at that point was, "THANK YOU LORD", over and over and over again.  When the cardiologist waved goodbye, he said, it looked like OUR PRAYERS WORKED! And it worked indeed! Up to this day, I still don’t know what happened.  It was a MIRACLE! To God be the Glory!

Until now, I can’t seem to thank God enough for giving us a GREAT BLESSING in our first born son Ethan Gabriel.  Prayers really work.  To our family, friends, and all other people in our community, my in-law’s Lifers community, my brother-in-law’s Light of Jesus community, our XTRM 1-11 family, and all the countless people who helped prayed with us that night and continued praying for our baby’s recovery, my heart will be forever indebted to you for your kindness.  God bless you!

The experience reminded me once again, that every blessing comes from God.  Each moment that we are living is a gift from the Lord. No matter how prepared you think you are, no matter how confident in your abilities you may be, no matter how financially secure you believe you are, God can take everything from you in a snap of a finger.  Every riches, financial or otherwise, are only an accessory to the real riches we have in each of us all — a loving God who knows the desires of our hearts even before we are able to speak them.

My hope is that our baby Ethan Gabriel’s story help encourage you to hold on to God’s promise of hope in whatever challenges you are facing right now.  God knows the desires of your heart.  And just like a father who loves, He will surely bless you in ways you can never imagine.  Miracles do come true.  God bless you.

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The Hidden Cost of Having a Job

Just recently I received news that some of my friends were being let go by their company simply because the business could not support the cost of doing some of its projects anymore.  Nothing personal, it’s simply a fact of doing business that sometimes people have to be let go.

While reflecting about the unfortunate turn of events, I remembered a similar experience that happened sometime in 2008 and early 2009 in the middle of the financial crisis, back when I was still working in Malaysia.  To tell you the truth it is not the most encouraging sight in the world, getting to work everyday, always wondering if today your boss will ask you to come to his office to talk to you because it’s now your last day at work.  No, I didn’t get fired.  I was prepared to receive another blessing.

Looking back, I felt very lucky to have been open to other opportunities, even when at that time, I didn’t seem to have a need for one.  I was comfortable with the life that I had. Event then, I simply stayed open for more. Now, I have more options.

Before I say anything else, I want to make things very clear.  I have nothing against employment. And I will always be forever grateful to all my previous employers.  They taught me important lessons in life, working with other people in my 9 long years of IT career that proved very valuable in building my own businesses.

In the process, I discovered 3 hidden treasures that my job was costing me without me realizing it at that time.

1) Freedom.

Financial and time freedom.  The freedom to enjoy the fruits of your labor.  One thing I realized after a few years working is that even when you have the financial capability to buy the things you want, if you don’t have the time to enjoy it, it really doesn’t make any sense.  If I tell you I would give you 1 million peso as a reward for working 24 hours a day for 1 month straight, would you take it? Maybe. Perhaps some would try.  But most would consider it ridiculous.  Who would want to risk their life for something like that?  Educated as we are, you would think we would see the insanity of sacrificing our health, rendering lots and lots of time working for money only to use the same money paying for our hospital bills after your body collapses in exhaustion.

Freedom to fire your boss any time you want.  One of the things I realized early on is how big a bully big companies can be.  When your boss says come to work on a weekend, you have no choice but go.  When your company says render more hours so we can tell we are cheaper than other companies, then you have no choice but to work more hours.  When they say you have to work even while on vacation or an important family event, then you have no other choice but to do so.  Why? Because you have no other choice.  You simply can’t say no.  Otherwise, what will you feed your family with?  How will you pay for your house’s mortgage?  How will you pay for your mounting debts?  How will you pay for your kids schooling?  There’s too much at stake to be even thinking of saying no.  It’s perfectly understandable.  I’ve been there and I know how it is to be afraid.  I know how it feels like thinking you’ve been “bullied” into doing what you don’t want to do simply because they know you don’t have any other choice.  That’s one of the reasons I remained open for other opportunities, I simply wanted to have the option to say NO.

2) Time.

You get paid for your time.  Yes, some people get paid more than others.  Doctors get paid a lot more than a simple minimum wage earner.  But the reality is, both of their incomes are tied to the number of hours they can render.  To increase their income then, they would either need to increase their hourly rate or render more hours.  Increasing your hourly rate is sensible but you would have to invest time & money to upgrade your skills.  If you’re a doctor, perhaps you would have to undergo a sub-specialization, or if you’re an IT professional take a certification for a specific skill.  Both requires time and money to do.  You can render more hours by doing over time at work, but the reality is you can only go so far.  We only have 24 hours in a day.  You can’t go beyond that.  Simply said, if your time is limited, so will your income be.

When my grandfather died, I remembered reading a passage from the bible noting that a man only lives up to 70 or 80.  When he goes beyond that, it is already a great blessing from the Lord.  We sleep for 8 hours.  We go to work 8 hours, or 10 hours considering all the commuting and other stuffs.  That leaves us 6 hours per day to do the things we want to do.  Perhaps you spend 2 hours watching TV, another 2 hours surfing the internet or reading your friends’ updates on Facebook or Twitter, and 2 more hours for playing with your kids or reading the newspaper.  The sad reality is that when you have a job, you will have less time spent working on your business and investments.

In life there are two basic assets that you have, your time and money.  Most people only know of money as asset. Time is an asset just like the saying “Time is Gold.” When you think about it, time is actually better than money.  Because you can get back the money, but not time.  In fact, you cannot even save time, you can only spend it.  So spend it wisely if you want to become rich.

3) Opportunities.

The more time you have to spend in your job worrying about other people’s businesses, the less time you have to mind your own.  Unfortunately, the odds are against you when you’re only building other people’s businesses.  At some point, you have to build something that you can own.  Not to become a boss, but to become an owner.  Otherwise, you’d end up locked up with a job on your own company, instead of building a system where you can leverage other people’s time, money and effort to multiply your results.

Why do you think Henry Sy can make millions more than an average person even when both have the same 24 hours in a day?  It’s simply because Henry Sy is leveraging the time of thousands of his employees to build his business empire. Yes, he has the money to spend to pay for those employees now. But a long time ago, when he was starting he didn’t have the money, all he had was time on his hands and his ability to take advantage of whatever opportunities available to him.

When opportunities come and you don’t grab it, it might not come back anymore.  It’s not something you can just buy in a grocery store.  If you’re spending your time thinking too long, the opportunity may have already passed.  Successful people have the habit of deciding fast and changing their decision slowly, if at all.  Unsuccessful people take too long to decide, but once they get a decision they change it too quickly.  Ironic, but it’s true.

These are just 3 things that I discovered in my journey so far — FREEDOM, TIME and OPPORTUNITIES.  There are more things that you can think of I’m sure, but these are the things that have really created a HUGE impact on how I live my life.  There’s more to life than money, business and investing.  There’s time with your family.  There’s leaving a legacy to those people you care most.  There’s living a great life to glorify the one who made you, your God.  I wish that in your journey of discovering the true treasures and riches outside of your job, you will find it in your heart the courage to stay true to what you believe in and improve the lives of many people in the process.

Lastly, I want to leave you with this quote on a picture of me and my wife living the life of our dreams, simply because we stayed open.  Hold on to the promise of HOPE.  God bless you.

P.S. Are you tired and frustrated with your job or your boss? Feeling underpaid?  Scared of getting fired? Are you looking for other options? Here’s your chance. CLICK HERE to email me and find out how.

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Your best blessings are on their way…

I feel blessed.  I’ve always felt very lucky, as if the great stars have all aligned when I was born.  Perhaps it’s really true.  God plays favorites. That’s why He made me. 🙂 Don’t worry, you are his favorite too.  🙂

Whether you agree to it or not, it really doesn’t matter. As one of the most profound thinkers of our time, the late Jim Rohn once said, "it’s not what happens that determines your future, it’s what you do with what happens." In short, what matters is how you look at life.  Do you feel blessed?  Or do you feel cursed? The choice is yours.

As for me, it’s easier to just show you proofs than to explain.

Proof #1. When I was about to enter high school, I remember guessing the last 50 questions of my entrance exam and ended up getting the highest score. I must have been really lucky that day…or perhaps, I was not the only one guessing?!

Proof #2. When I was attending christmas parties, I would almost always win raffle prizes.  Grocery items.  Chocolates. You name it.  Except the high-ticket items like LCD TV or trip for two to the US…I’m still waiting for the next christmas party for those. 🙂

Proof #3. When I was old enough to marry, God gave me a beautiful and loving wife to be with me until the day I die. I must be the luckiest guy in the world!

I have always felt blessed.  And this time I feel it even more…I feel God’s greatest blessings are always under way. 

I would sometimes say, "This is the best gift I’ve ever had! There’s no way God can top this! This is awesome"…and then with a smile, God simply answers back, "Watch me! You ain’t seen nothing yet!"….and gives a me a gift that would top everything I’ve received thus far. 🙂

Today, I’d like to share with you a really short story. 

One day, two people fell in love.  They got married and planned to bring a child into this world from the first day they became one.  Every month, they watched with excitement for any sign of good news.  But the angels up the heavens are saying…"no, it’s not time yet."  Months passed…and still no sign.  Months of waiting slowly turned to years.  The couple are praying for the good news…but the reality still looms in.  Depression begins.  Life stops and desperations set in..

Until finally…out of a seemingly ordinary series of events comes the beginning of the journey where an extraordinary gift awaits. The gift of life.  Literally. 

That’s me and my wife’s story…and the beginning of the story of God’s greatest gift to us.

With great joy and pride…I’m sharing with you, the first of many pictures to come of my 3 and a half month child happily giggling in my wife’s womb.

 

Just like all the best things in life…this one is priceless!

Cheers to God’s blessings!

P.S. If you’re curious what those series of events are…or know someone who has been in the same situation of waiting and would like to help, feel free to email me. 

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Business Investing Life Lessons Money Mindset

How Can A Janitor Be Better Off Financially Than A Doctor?

A humble low-income earning janitor became better off financially than a highly successful doctor. It happened…only in the Cashflow 101 game.

Last weekend, I had the great fortune to host another round of Rich Money Habits Cashflow Workshop.  And I couldn’t have prepared myself for the suprise that I was about to witness — a janitor beating a doctor in the cashflow game.  It happened.  It really happened.

How did it happen?  Simple.  The janitor took advantage of the opportunities that came his way, even though he had little money to begin with.  In the end, he got out of the rat race and achieved his dream.  The doctor, on the other hand, was a little bit more careful and took his time investing in opportunities.  While he was able to generate a lot of passive income, in the end, he wasn’t able to get out of the rat race.

Of course, it helped that the janitor only had minimal expenses, so he only needed a few extra passive income to get out of the rat race.  But then again, he also did not let his meager paycheck affect his willingness to invest in income-producing assets.  Even when the deal was “too big” for a janitor’s income, he still managed to face his fears and take advantage of the opportunity.  In short, he invested in income-producing assets and when the market turned up, he sold those assets and got a hefty sum that allowed him to invest some more.

The doctor, on the other hand, wasn’t doing bad financially at all.  In fact, he actually acquired more properties, earning him more passive income than the janitor.  How many? A lot more, I would say.

Why then was he not able to get out of the rat race?  Reason? He had a high expense.  That high expense spelled the difference.  Because of the high expense, he needed to do a lot more than the janitor.  Whereas the janitor needed only 2 properties to get out of the rat race, the doctor was only half way to getting out after acquiring about 10 properties.

It appears a story like this happens only on fairy tales.  A happy ending.  A triumph of David vs Goliath.  But the message is clear.  It isn’t so much about how much money you make.  It is also about how much you spend, and how you invest the difference so you can get out of the rat race faster.

Taking this important lesson to real-life, here are things you can do to help you get out of the rat race.

1) Take charge of your cashflow

As my good friend Jay Castillo mentioned in one of his popular articles, you should become the CFO (Chief Financial Officer) of your own financial life.  You have to treat yourself as a business enterprise.  You have to look at your finances from an eye of a business tycoon.  How much money is coming in (salary, side businesses, investment income, etc), how much money is going out (rent, food, car, starbucks, etc), and how you are going to invest the difference.

2) Take the right mindset

Having the right mindset will help you build the right money habits which will lay out a good foundation to your financial journey.  It is not about getting rich quick by taking advantage of other people.  Nor is it getting rich winning the lottery. It is not about getting rich being a crook, or a dishonest politician, or an evil-villain in movies or soap operas.  It is about being rich with integrity and honesty by providing value to a lot of people.  It is about being rich so you can bless more people.

3) Take baby steps

One of the most dangerous things you want to get your mind off is the idea of winning a one-time BIG-time fortune.  It just doesn’t happen that way.  Take baby steps.  You start small.  You learn.  You grow.  Once you learn the lesson, you’ll be able to handle the responsibility when the BIG fortunes come your way.  Having the BIG fortune when your not ready can even be detrimental to your growth.  Ask any of those who won the lottery and ended up poorer a few years after winning.

4) Take your time

Be patient.  It will not happen overnight.  It takes time to learn the right mindset, to develop yourself to be able to do the things that you need to do to provide value to other people.  You will go through a lot of discouragements.  But all people who have accomplished great things have gone through trials.  It just makes the victory even sweeter.  Just like wine, the longer the wait, the tastier it becomes.

5) Take responsibility

One thing all great people have in common is that they take responsibility of their results.  If you fail, it’s your fault.  If you succeed, it’s also your fault.  There are no excuses.  We are dealt with the same lemons every now and then.  It is up to you to take those lemons and turn them into a lemonade.  It’s never a question of being lucky or being dealt with a fair amount of challenges.  Time and time again, the thing that makes people great is never in the amount of challenges they have to face.  It is in the realization that they have a tremendous power to take on those challenges, if only they believe in themselves enough and the God who made them.

Go out there and be rich with honesty, integrity and humility.

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Life Lessons Money Mindset

5 Reasons Why Time Is Gold

I’ve never really undestood what the saying “Time is Gold” really meant until I learned a little more about the world of money.  Time is an abstract concept that doesn’t really exist, just like money.  But the sheer mention of the word ignites a lot of emotions from different people.  Those without it, are stressed out.  Those with a lot of time on their hands are either bored or dreaming.

While pondering this old saying, I realized there are actually 5 things that explain why time can be considered Gold.

1. You can never get it back

The only thing in this world that you cannot get back (aside from life itself) is time.  When you’ve spent 30 minutes of your time, you can not get it back, however you desperately want it.  You can invent the greatest time machine all you want, but at this point in human evolution, there’s just no way of turning back time.  That’s why the emotion of “regret” is very powerful.  If only you could turn back time somehow, you would give everything just to have it.

The ironic thing is, all the material things we trade our time for can be taken back.  I know of someone who lost her home to foreclosure, but managed to get it back years after because of her determination.  Donald Trump, the billionaire real-estate magnate lost a lot of money, but managed to get it all back and more.  Unlike material things, once time passes you by, you can never bring it back.

2.  You only have 24 hours in a day

This is really an amazing equalizer.  Everyone gets the same chance at life.  We all have 24 hours in a day.  Even the richest people on earth only have 24 hours in a day.  The poorest of the poor also have 24 hours in a day.  The only difference — they use their 24 hours very differently.

If you don’t like what your life is right now, there’s only one thing you need to do — change the way you spend your time.  You don’t need to place your hope in winning the lottery, or deceiving other people for your own financial gain.  You can get rich with integrity by learning to value your own time, and valuing other people’s time as well.

3.  You can trade time for money

You can trade your time for money.  How? Simply get a job and watch the next 40 years of your life traded for a monthly salary?  How much is your time worth?  Are you earning enough?  Is your time worth that much?

It doesn’t matter whether you are CEO or an entry-level employee, you still trade your time for money.  When you don’t go to work, you stop earning.  Unless of course, you are investing that time to build your own business, or investing your earnings on income-producing assets, that, hopefully someday allow you to hire other people to do the work for you and you can then spend your time playing with your kids, doing the things you love to do.

4.  You can leverage your time

Why is it that even though everyone only has 24 hours in a day, some people can get a lot more done than others? Reason? Leverage.  Henry Sy employs thousands of people to run his business empire.  By so doing, he multiplies his time by thousands.  With that thousands of hours, millions is earned by his businesses each single day.

Compared that into a one-man show employee.  His single-handed efforts, without any form of leverage, can only get to 24 hours, no matter how strong or skilled he may be.

5.   You can make the most of what you have

The hard truth is that your time is limited.  You never know when your time will end.  But one thing is for sure, you can make the most of the time that you have.

Spend your “golden” time with your loved ones.  Take care of them.  Enjoy what life has to offer.  Remember that we are just passers by in this world we call life.  When you live your life by the moment, you leave a long-lasting impression into the lives of other people…and your life’s meaning would be fulfilled.

P.S.  If you are searching for ways to earn passive/residual income so you can enjoy more time with your family, CLICK HERE to email me.

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