Featured: The Game Plan

There was a time when I hit rock bottom. I was in financial ruin and had no idea what to do. At 22 years old, I was over $40,000 in debt, and had nothing to show for myself. Hadn’t finished school, no student loans, it was just pure ignorance in how to manage money. I had finally collapsed under the unbelievable amount of stress because of my mistakes.

I made a decision to just let everything go. I had lost my give a damn. I had collectors coming after me, and figured, what’s the worst that can happen. I’m already broke, they can’t take anything more from me. Let ‘em all sue me; it’s not like it’s going to do anything. I started thinking bankruptcy was the option.

Something in me made me want to change, although I had gained this persona and made the statements of “who cares”. I still felt like a failure, and I didn’t like that feeling. I made a vow to figure out how to change my life, and to do that, I needed to learn.

This is my story.

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I spent 5 years studying rich people, and I figured out why they seem to have more hours in the day than the rest of us

working

With respect to time, we are all on equal footing. We all have just 24 hours in a day.

In my five year study of the daily habits of the rich, I found that successful people figure out how to leverage time better than the rest of us. They get others to help them pull their cart, in order to move forward in achieving their goals and realizing their dreams.

Ten people working together for one purpose equals 240 hours each day, one hundred equals 2,400 hours each day and so on.

It’s not just time self-made millionaires leverage. They also leverage their limited knowledge and skills through their teams and their relationships. They understand that they cannot possibly know everything or be good at everything, so successful people leverage the knowledge and skills of their teams and their network of relationships. They tap into the collective knowledge and skills of everyone in their inner circle to help them with their goals and dreams.

Leveraging what you have means being aware of all of the assets, knowledge, skills, time, and relationships at your fingertips in order to get what you want and need so that you can achieve all of your goals and realize all of your dreams.

“But I am only one person,” you might object. I have no employees. It’s just me.”

All is not lost. There are still ways to take advantage of leverage. Here are a few ideas that I picked up from my study:

SEE ALSO: I spent 5 years studying rich people, and here's the best piece of advice I can give you about money

Volunteer.


Seventy-two percent of the rich in my study volunteered five hours or more per month. Why is this important? Volunteering helps you build valuable relationships. It allows you to showcase your skill-sets in a safe environment.

It also introduces you to the knowledge and skills of others who might be able to help you with their knowledge and skills.

Plus, the people you meet volunteering bring with them their own relationships, and those relationships could help you with your goals and dreams.



Be part of mastermind groups.


Some of the self-made millionaires in my study were part of a mastermind group. These groups were exclusive groups, typically comprised of no more than six individuals who met regularly (weekly, monthly, or quarterly). The mastermind groups that were the most successful were the ones in which everyone in the group was pursuing virtually identical goals and dreams.

For example, if the self-made millionaire was an automobile dealer, their mastermind group was comprised of other automobile dealers who sold the same product, albeit in a different regional market (i.e. Hyundai car dealers).

At these mastermind group meetings, the participants share ideas on what works, what doesn’t work – their successes, failures and mistakes. They also use these meetings to brainstorm new ideas, new processes, or better ways of doing things.


Anyone, even sole proprietors, can organize or find a mastermind group. Meetup.com is a social networking portal that facilitates group meetings of individuals who are pursuing something in common. Trade organizations often have numerous meetings every year and some have specialized sub-groups who meet frequently.

For example, the New Jersey Society of CPAs has various committees that members can join. Facebook has groups you can join that are specific to your interests. Mastermind group meetings do not require that you physically meet with each other. Freeconferencecall.com, Skype, Google Talk, and many other tools make it possible for individuals in different countries and different time zones to easily get together.



Participate in business incubators.


Business incubators are often sponsored by private companies or municipal entities and public institutions, such as colleges and universities. Their goal is to help create and grow young businesses by providing them with necessary support and financial and technical services.

There are approximately 900 business incubators nationwide, according to the National Business Incubation Association. Incubators share rental space, supplies, equipment, and the much-needed expertise of on-site staff. Many incubators specialize in particular niches.



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

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How Writing One Simple Blog Article Can Change Someone Else’s World Forever

Three weeks ago I wrote an article about my friend who went from being worth $100M to being homeless. When I posted the article, I didn’t tell my friend about it. After the article had been up for a few days, I sent him an iMessage with a link to the article, having no idea what could happen. Would he be angry with me for sharing his story? Would he tell me that some parts were wrong? Or, what I hoped, would it help him in some small way? No one understood his story like I did. No one knew every detail like I did. No one took the bias away and just presented the facts.   So how did one blog article I wrote change everything for my friend? Well, it started when he sent me an iMessage back to say he was deeply touched. That may seem insignificant, but this man is not the sort of person to show any emotion or use these types of words. He then called me that night and told me he really liked the article and that he shared it with his wife who was there when the millions existed, and still there when the money went away. She had seen her daughters have no home to go to and nothing to eat – yet she still had hope. My friend told me that his wife hadn’t seen their story presented in this way before and she was pleased. At the time, it seemed like something had changed just ever so slightly with him. It’s as if the fact that someone other than himself, as well of the millions of Addicted2Success followers, believed in him all of a sudden. Up until this point in time, he was entirely reliant on his own optimism to keep battling through even though he continued to fall behind on his rent, lose another family home, and start all over. The amount of times he hit a rough period of his life just seemed to go on forever. Like I said before, this man is as great and as a brilliant as Steve Jobs, as financially savvy as Warren Buffet, as sophisticated as any CEO of a Fortune 500 company, yet if you looked at him right now, you would never know it. If you saw him in the supermarket struggling to pay for groceries each week, you would never know what he was capable of. You would never know the business genius that is standing before you. Back to what I was saying when I spoke to him it was as if he had a different sense of belief that he didn’t have before. He started to see his hard times as something to celebrate. He then told me in his own way that he was going back to his true passion that made him rich in the first place and he was never going back to anything else.   The universe brings a blast from the past My friend finally had some other people around him that he aspired to and in under a week, his luck already seemed to change. He went to negotiate his first real business deal, nearly got swindled, and then he was saved by an old school friend. I mean what are the odds? The odds that somebody he went to school with would happen to be part of the same business deal as him and give him the one bit of information he needed to make some real money. The deal he was looking at had been looked at by many people before him and everyone turned it down. What everyone before him didn’t know was that this opportunity was a gold mine, but you had to be prepared to look beyond the initial problems of the deal. See, when others are scared to take an opportunity for all it’s worth even with its flaws, and back themselves 100%, that’s when entrepreneurship is truly at it’s highest within a person.   Giving back The next thing that happened took me by even greater surprise. My friend messaged me and asked me about motivational speakers. He didn’t tell me why he wanted to know this information, but he didn’t have too – it was clear. He thought that if Addicted2Success readers saw value in his story, then who else could benefit from it? I know he is now sitting at home thinking about how he can finally follow his passion and help others at the same time. Don’t be surprised if you see him on the speaking circuit soon.   The lesson This is as far as the story has gone in a week but as you can see, all of us have the power to create change and move even the most unemotional people. It’s when you are able to have this effect on someone that you start to feel truly fulfilled. How cool is it that this site has the power to literally change someone and help my friend see himself in a new way? This platform is ever so powerful, and I will continue to use it to create breakthroughs. Like the famous quote says, “be the change that you want to see in the world.” Don’t let life pass you by, stuck in the same pattern day in and day out. Take a moment (through blogging if you want) to observe what you’re doing and how you can genuinely serve others. Bring yourself back to the present and stop trying to escape your reality. It’s taken my friend nearly a decade to escape his nightmare, but even the most horrific situations will heal with time, and help you to rise up to your life’s purpose. He has a long way to go yet but through these dark times, a small pocket of light will always remain. As you ignore the darkness and concentrate on this one pocket of light, it grows bigger just a little bit each day.   The road is long and treacherous for everyone. Whether it is the celebrities that we envy or the social media stars we admire, everyone has the same battles; it ’s just that some choose to be vulnerable and share them with others for the greater good, and others choose to pretend they don’t exist. Either way, we will all have that one day on earth when we come to the realization that we are very powerful individuals and that what we think is what becomes reality. When something seems challenging, choose growth instead of avoiding the situation. When something doesn’t work out how you want it to, choose to think positively rather than getting stuck in the negative thinking that will create more pain for you. Your pain equals your success. Your success is your life story. Change your story, and you will change your life! What has been the most transformational blog post you have read? How did it affect you?

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Everything in life emits sound and energy. From your weary sighs due to a long day’s work, to the cicadas that seemingly invade your ears just before going to bed, the vibrations you feel are truly pervasive. Of course, needless to say, these vibrations can also change the way you feel about things in general. […]

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Raise Your Spiritual Vibrations: 4 Ways to Get Higher Vibrancy

Everything in life emits sound and energy. From your weary sighs due to a long day’s work, to the cicadas that seemingly invade your ears just before going to bed, the vibrations you feel are truly pervasive. Of course, needless to say, these vibrations can also change the way you feel about things in general. […]

Raise Your Spiritual Vibrations: 4 Ways to Get Higher Vibrancy

Everything in life emits sound and energy. From your weary sighs due to a long day’s work, to the cicadas that seemingly invade your ears just before going to bed, the vibrations you feel are truly pervasive. Of course, needless to say, these vibrations can also change the way you feel about things in general. […]

Raise Your Spiritual Vibrations: 4 Ways to Get Higher Vibrancy

Everything in life emits sound and energy. From your weary sighs due to a long day’s work, to the cicadas that seemingly invade your ears just before going to bed, the vibrations you feel are truly pervasive. Of course, needless to say, these vibrations can also change the way you feel about things in general. […]

Raise Your Spiritual Vibrations: 4 Ways to Get Higher Vibrancy

Everything in life emits sound and energy. From your weary sighs due to a long day’s work, to the cicadas that seemingly invade your ears just before going to bed, the vibrations you feel are truly pervasive. Of course, needless to say, these vibrations can also change the way you feel about things in general. […]