Are We Robbing Our Business And Personal Wealth?

13. Oct, 2009 Categories: Uncategorised by Dian Joubert 1 Comment

13 October 09, By Dian Joubert

Are We Robbing Our Business And Personal Wealth? (Article for my book)

Through ignorance we rob ourselves blindly, after 20 years we wonder what happened.

Sometimes we have to question conventional strategies with regards to advancing our own financial success in life. Personal Wealth Creation has to be learned. We have to learn to create, preserve and enjoy our wealth.

The protection of wealth is just as important as making it. The moment you create money, the opportunities to lose the money are created too..

What is wealth?

Wealth does not necessarily mean a lot of money. Different definitions and concepts of wealth have been put forth by different authors and in different contexts.

This is the context in which I will discuss it. Wealth is Wellness, having an abundance in every area of life. My definition of wealth does take a bit longer than just going after money, but in the long run it will be well worth it. It relates to health, money (resources), friendships and integrity – spiritually, physically and mentally.

The education system conditioned us into believing that life in abundance is scarce or doesn’t exist.

If you really want to become extremely rich, watch people closely and don’t do what they do.

Income is more important than capital. To build a income stream is easier and more reliable than capital. If you have enough income, you don’t need capital at all. With capital you’ve got a temporal custodianship over it. As soon as you believe that you own the capital, and believe it’s available whenever you need it, is when you set yourself up for failure. Capital is not yours. If the market dips, you’ll be in trouble and might decide the quickest way out, is through the window (and people do jump out of window because of this!).

Belief

If you believe it’s impossible to become wealthy, guess what, you will prove just that. On the other hand if you attain wealth incorrectly it’s almost inevitable that you’ll lose it.

It’s not what we do in life that will determine our success, but it’s how we do it. In life you will realise there are certain ways to do certain things to get certain outcomes. Unless you can identify the risk and growth in any investment or business, it will have a great chance of failure. (Statistics show that 8 out of 10 new businesses fail within the first three years according to MKM Research.).

Identifying risk and growth is a wealth creation law. If you break the law, maybe nothing happens. But the problem comes from habitually doing so. All you need is one bad property or business deal to wipe out 20 years of hard work.

I work on a set of rules that works in any investment type (thanks to one of the greatest mentors I’ve ever had, Hannes Dreyer).

Your Business

What you have to ask yourself…

1. What do you want?
2. What is your intent?

Do you want capital? Or do you want income? Don’t get confused between the two. There is a massive difference!

When do you want it?
What is the outcome?
Why do you want it?

If you don’t believe your answers are possible, it won’t happen. You will prove it to yourself. Get your belief system right.

Focus on your goals for better results. Double the results, require double the focus.

Take action. Unless you take action, nothing will happen.

Take responsibility. We are taught to give away our responsibility to the experts. If you do this, you will make it hard to become rich. I’m not saying don’t use experts, just don’t give over the responsibility. If you don’t take control and responsibility you cannot change the outcome quickly. The more responsibility you take the more control you have (It doesn’t necessarily mean more work). More control is less risk in itself.

Isn’t it funny that the financial institutions teach “the higher the risk, the higher the reward”. How is it that when I invest, the lower risk the higher the reward? (my own investments and businesses with calculated risk and growth).

Have you heard this one, “You must take chances in life in order to become rich”… Don’t take chances in life! or “Entrepreneurs are risk takers”… No don’t be a gambler. I think what people really want to say is, “get rid of your fear and take action on your idea”.

The moment that you know how it works. The moment you figure out how to work out the risk and return. The moment you realise that emotion and a salesman with a suit has got nothing to do with money, you’re off to a good start!

What percentage of the population will own one of these?

1. Understand the risk.
2. Understand the growth.
3. Understand the relationship and variables within the two. Upside and downside.

People out there are buying, investing, refinancing, building capital, creating fancy structures, then refinancing and then one day they wake up without any money and wonder what happened. Serious! That’s why 95% of the population cannot afford to retire at 65!

Let me ask you this, when do you make money? When you buy or when you sell?… When you buy! This is totally controversial. If you don’t make the money when you do a deal, then there is no deal.

Creating income streams has got nothing to do with the entity you use. The experts tell you that the main thing is to start in the right entity. Then you ask, “should I do it in a close corporation, a trust, a partnership, etc” Listen closely, money has got nothing to do with the entity. Did you know that 90% of trust’s are dormant?

Unless you know how investments work, you will lose it. And lose your marriage in the process. 64% of all divorce cases are due to a lack of funds.

Find people that know what they’re doing, learn from them and follow advice that makes sense. If it confuses you, don’t do it! The biggest secret of the financial institutions are to keep you ignorant so you can keep on handing over your hard earned cash for them to “invest” on your behalf. In the meanwhile they sit back and take a commission risk free.

It’s my passion to challenge the old conventional ways of doing business and to show others what I learn along the way.

Lets look at what the financial institutions are telling us. Everyone knows what a balance sheet is. This is how the banks value businesses and people. They advice us to balance the balance sheet. If you ask me, this is crazy. Why would I want to take on assets and liabilities only to have my net-worth equal zero after 20 years? Oh, it’s OK, after all, its nice to say “I’m investing”.

Do you think any expert will tell you not to invest in their products. No! Otherwise they get no commission. As long as the bank feels they’ve got enough security from you, they will give you a loan. Irregardless of what it is.

All these guys love the commissions they get from you.

The first step to financial freedom is to get out of debt (more about that in my free book for subscribers). Rid yourself from any debt placing a burden on your mind to think freely. If you have the wrong property, and you’ve done the calculation to verify that it’s better to sell. Take the hit, and sell! Then use the extra cash you would have pumped into the investment and divert it to something that make sense.

It’s better to have one exceptional deal than 10 mediocre deals.

It’s the risk that kills! Not the growth! Without cash-flow there is no business!

Property is not an investment, it’s a business. I’ve got deals everyday of property 50% or more discounted from the peak price in 2007/8. But, just because it’s a good deal doesn’t mean it suits your goals. Ensuring the management and cash-flow aspect is taken care of is more important than the deal itself. (The deals I get are sourced from Choices, I’m a retained client with them and receive this everyday. To become a retained client they require £1700 and £35 monthly subscription. If you drop me an email with what area you’re interested in, I will send deals your way for free!)

Remember, it’s not what you do but how you do it (If you’re into wierd schemes, this isn’t for you, please don’t subscribe).

I’m writing a book that will follow along the lines of this article. I’m following Seth Godin’s advice to give it away for free. If you’re interested, become one of my valued subscribers

What I will cover through my blog and book is the following fresh content. (I like comments so we also discuss these subjects).

Investments, Entrepreneurship and Business Development

Business Trends, what’s happening right now.
How to use Social Media correctly to promote your business.
Out of the box thinking.
Choosing your business.
How to professionally set-up your business blog.
How to break free from the system of debt.
How to evaluate your position right now to see if what you’re doing now will make you part of the 5% wealthy individuals.
Business Start-up without taking on high risk profile. (how to build a business from what you love doing).
Why Search Engine Optimization is so important but comes last on your list.
The importance of a good targeted list.
You don’t need money to make money – especially now that we have Social Media.
How to manage your list professionally.
Make your choice, what do you really want in business?
Positioning yourself to get exponential growth on your business.
Conventional Business Versus On-line business
Strategically building your vision and goals in life.
The importance of personal branding in your business.
Why it’s wise to burn some bridges.
Make a choice, what is your passion?
The misconception of education.
How to safeguard your business and ensure continuity.
You don’t need to take risk or chances to become wealthy.