One of my favorite features of network marketing is the lifestyle we get to live. We are fortunate to have flexible schedules and plenty of opportunity to earn awards, vacations and in general, all the perks that make for a 'prosperous' life. Network Marketing is the promise of full-time income for "part-time" effort - it has "leverage" over our time and finances.
Here's the thing though (and it is a thing!) there are many successful network marketers that no matter how much money they make, they still have "too much month at the end of the money".
The same psychology applies to winning the lottery, did you know that a very LARGE percentage of winners are right back to where they started 2 to 5 years later...regardless of the size of the win...? It is what my teacher T. Harv Eker calls our "money thermostat" and is the reason why in my country, there's a program for lottery winners that teaches them some fundamentals about managing their new-found abundance. If we do not "turn up our thermostat" in other words, learn what to do with the money, we'll go right back to our old setting.
An entrepreneurial training program's key and most challenging course is how to manifest and maintain "abundance"...notice I didn't say "money". Financial literacy (also a thing!) is critical for the naturally free entrepreneur.
When people start making money, they often simply do not know "how" to invest or prepare for the future. Their life-long programming and thoughts about money are often counter to "having it", let alone doing "good things" with it.
What if you already have enough, maybe even more than enough, right now as things are? Most do, and yet they continue to tell their stories of "lack". What they do with what they have is the difference between the "haves" and "have nots".
Did you know almost half of our (American) workers have less than $10,000 saved for retirement?
Here's another "thing", the insane statistic that 50-year-olds and up have less than $50,000 in their retirement funds? How did we end up here?!
One of the best things I did with my time and money when I was fresh out of Corporate a dozen years ago was to nail down my path of education for going forward. I needed to learn all the "real stuff" that so far I hadn't been taught in any of my "schools". I chose a "street-smart" business training company's 4-year program then run by T. Harv Eker and quickly learned how much I had to unlearn about the money game!
12 years out, I can show you a financial graph that tracks not only the assets of my estate and the balances of my bank accounts, it also represents my life's journey and my personal growth - or not!
We ARE our money, up or down, it goes where we do. What we focus on expands, are you looking at your lack or your prosperity?
I cannot possibly count the number of books I've read, audios I've listened to, seminars and webinars I've attended, coaches I've hired, and I always feel like I am just getting started. I came to network marketing after a successful corporate career for over 20 years - the last 9 of those years in my own time, I remained focused on what was "more and better" for me. At 42 I took the golden handshake and set out on a path to become an entrepreneur and to create freedom, I set out to learn how to "own myself".
I have yet to nail the 7-figure brass ring that is the reality of this crazy, incredible business model of Network Marketing, and I can authentically say I have surpassed the results I achieved in my best corporate years - on my own time, from my humble home surrounded by friends and family. My priorities have been re-assessed and my preferences for living no longer resemble what worked for me in the past.
At the end of the day, using simple math, if we are spending more than we make, then we remain broke.
What if the solution is a shift in thinking and a couple of new habits away?
A good portion of my calling is to assist network marketers and entrepreneurs in general to get smarter about the money they inevitably make if they put forth the effort to "change".
Don't beat yourself up too long for "not knowing" as much as you should about money, it's really not your fault. Our schools have yet to teach financial literacy, children receive little to no education on making and managing money! A few of us have been lucky to learn it from our parents, (me too) but in general, it is something we are left to figure out along the way by trial and much error.
And then, is it a wonder after all, that our world is a mess financially? Hello?
There's a lot of focus in the web-o-sphere of Network Marketing on how to SPEND money, many company cultures are promoting lavish lifestyles - all great and fun of course, more money means more choice and many have just had the whole buffet put before them for the first time ever, something I call "winning the lottery" slower.
If you’re making $10,000 a month and you are spending $11,000 – somewhere you ran out of month!
The end to my means is not all about money, however from a very young age, I figured out that more of it gives me more and better choices. I grew up with my basic needs barely met, if I wanted something "more or better" I had to find a way to get it myself.
This belief gets challenged along my way now and again, but for the most part I have lived life "knowing" that "there is always more than enough to live the life I choose, to enjoy myself, to give and invest."
All journeys start with a decision to take it. I made mine in 1994 as a newly single Mom wanting more and better for my son and I. It wasn't more money I wanted, I wanted more TIME. Time to be with him for that precious young phase in his life. I wanted a way to keep the income I was making going - without - having to report to my employer!
I remember my financial world opening up in 1998 as I walked a picket line around my place of work - wearing a protest sign. My upline had just given me a copy of Robert Kiyosaki's brand new book "Rich Dad, Poor Dad" and I thought it a perfect opportunity to read while I walked! I look back on that scene from here now and giggle at the irony...hey it was worth $100 towards my bills, and an opportunity to spend time with my co-workers!
The money game isn't about how much you make, it's about how much you keep and flow. I have learned how to smooth out the inevitable roller-coaster ride the entrepreneur's journey can be, how to live within MY means, and how to expand my means. The nest-egg I set aside over 25 years of employment has been there to catch me on the occasions I have fallen - a couple of times I wondered about getting up again, having sound and healthy guidance to do so has been life-saving!
Do you know all the advantages of a home based business? The red carpet is waiting for you to capitalize on this opportunity! Most don't understand the difference in how much we get to keep at the end of the year for the effort!
Do you know how to keep the records you need for tax purposes? This isn't something we need to do a whole lot of as an employee, but as a self-employed entrepreneur, it creates enough of a difference to rebuild another nest egg!!
Do you know if you live your life like a business, you can write off meals, gas, travel, meetings and a home office - which is a percentage of all your home expenses like internet, heat etc.?
Understanding this can help you start getting caught-up and re-building some savings for the future - 'cause it's going to happen with or without you guaranteed! Use the leverage of financial literacy to your advantage.
For those of us at "mid-life", we're going into the second half with this advantage available! Make it spectacular! We have all the wisdom of the first half to bring with us and experience on fire trumps knowledge on ice every time.
What are some of the things your Network Marketing Leadership team will recommend you do with your new money?
- Make an extra payment of $1000 each year and you could payoff your mortgage 5 years earlier
- Scattered debt – pay off smallest debt first. Then payoff the next smallest debt and keep going
- Set aside 6 months minimum living expenses for “peace of mind” - the new "security"
- Start funding your retirement now, no matter what, tithe yourself at least 10%, give at least 10% to "others"
- Teach your kids and/or grand kids about money
- Get good financial advice - make sure you take it from someone that HAS what you want
Finally KNOW It’s never too late!
I hope you use this information as a cue to join us for a journey and an investment in your future. The money game is supposed to be fun, there's never a shortage of it, more gets printed everyday, come get yourself some and learn how to make it last!
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