In the last couple of weeks, I've continued on with the Battle of My Staff...actually, not with my "staff" but rather with one single person on my staff.
Most of you know that Lea is great. I have not one beef with Lea. She's the most dedicated and loyal person I've ever known and I know I made a big mistake by offering her the option of retirement; instead I should have kept my mouth shut because I'll never be able to find anyone else as awesome as she is.
No...we're not talking about Lea here. We're talking about that Jeanine chick that was the individual that pushed me over the edge. What edge? That edge where I was on the fence of "Should I?" or "Shouldn't I?" keep marching on with Global Success.
So, what else is happening in the world of Jeanine?
Let's see. It started off with giving her a simple set of instructions on what I needed with a postcard mailing -- and telling her precisely what to do twice -- and having her not only completely screw it up but to drag another employee to help her fix her screw up for several hours...making me pay more than double her rate of pay to do the work that she should have done correctly the first time.
But mistakes I can handle. Even if they're stupid mistakes. They get fixed and we all move on, right?
It's the attitude and the sense of self-perceived entitlement that really gets to me.
It's never about "Hey boss, how can I be of more value to you and your company?" Instead it's more like "You owe me a living so...how dare you suggest that I'll be out of a job soon!"
In which case my comeback is, "You're lucky you've lasted this long to begin with considering the attitude problem and lack of worth ethic."
You see, one thing about Jeanine. She has a dream about becoming a hairdresser. (Or so I thought.) What I've told her time and time again -- multiple times, in fact -- over the course of the past year is, "Sign up for beauty school already!" And I've been barraged, time and time again, with a variety of excuses which were exactly that and nothing more: excuses with no basiswhatsoever.
I never mentioned it to her but, if she was serious enough and showed some level of commitment to becoming a hair dresser, I would have paid for beauty school for her. Except we never got that far because I couldn't even get her to pick up the phone and get brochures from local beauty schools. Without seeing any level of commitment (including the easiest task of calling about or going online for a brochure or catalog), I didn't have an "in" to offer her my assistance in any way because it was pretty clear that she didn't want to follow through with all the jibber-jabber she was spewing out to us about becoming a hair dresser for the past solid year.
Then I realized something critical here.
You're either a destined "worker bee" for somebody else. Or you're not.
Nobody -- including a magic genie -- can "undo" or remove the worker bee mentality. Perhaps, if you're one of those people who has dreams about doing something else with your life but you haven't picked up the phone for the simplest task of getting a brochure, then the cold hard truth is that you're a worker bee. You're not an entrepreneur. And that's the way it'll probably be for the rest of your life.
Are you ready to face that as your true reality?
Or are you ready to make some major changes in your life, even if it means swimming against the "currents" of your trained mentality?
By the way, I can't make that decision for you. Only you can make that decision for yourself. However, once you make that decision, you have to start working your action steps immediately, even if it's only ordering a brochure, reading a book, adopting the correct education you need, or starting the bite-size action steps toward your goal. Talking about making the steps is verydifferent than actually doing the steps!
If you're not willing to do anything about your current circumstances, be a man or woman and admit it to yourself rather than continuing to fool yourself with a dream that you know damn well you will never pursue.
Otherwise, start taking some action already!
Now, I'll be the first to admit that I don't have the answers to everything. And, of course, all of the tools that I give to my students aren't the end-all be-all solutions that fit everyone's dreams and lifestyle requirements. And that's okay if this is how it is for you. That's just reality.
But back to Jeanine...
So, after the screw ups and yet, on top of that, the expectation that I give her another raise (when, in reality, she's got the skills of a minimum wage employee yet makes much more than that...and still expects/wants more), she's going to start expressing (behind my back) her dislike in my decision to shut down my warehouse on September 30th to my alcoholic brother of all people (who she's met all of 3 times) with one question: "What about me?"
What about you?
Her argument is that nobody is thinking about her in all this.
"Hmmmm...you got 5 months warning that the warehouse is closing. This gives you ample time to secure another position elsewhere or go to beauty school. Neither of which you will intend to do, it seems."
My argument: nobody is thinking about me and how long I've had to run on a treadmill that I could have ditched several years ago due to my commitment, dedication, and loyalty to my staff, namely Lea. And to my students. I didn't need to be on this treadmill because of smart investments and multiple streams of income I've created for myself. But I stayed on because of my sense of loyalty. But I realized that some changes needed to occur to keep my sanity before I end up in a rubber room.
And now that Lea will be retiring, it's time that I step off the treadmill and start living a more stress-free life before I crack at the seams completely.
If your life isn't working financially, it's not the way the system is rigged that's deeming you a failure. It's you that's putting you in a failed position in life. Hard nut to crack, isn't it?
When I see people on the news complaining about the economy or watch journalism shows on the woes of people losing their homes because of the "economic downturn," I shake my head. The only reason they had a house to begin with was that they lucked out on a good-paying job and then...lost it, thus losing the home and everything else.
Here's the New Reality of the New Economy, folks! Each one of us have to think differently about how things are. We have to create our own opportunities. Blaming everyone else (former employer, the government, etc.) for your personal economic disasters is not taking personal responsibility for something that is onlyyour responsibility.
I don't know about you but I really like the concept and idea of being able to "write my own check" in life. I can make as much or as little as I want month-to-month. And if you haven't yet figured out how to do that, you may want to sit your ass down and start making some big decisions about where you want to go now.
Otherwise you become another Jeanine...actually suggesting that it's someone else's obligation to ensure that they have a successful life without taking a stitch of personal responsibility for it.
And I don't know about you but I have a personal and financial responsibility for the well-being of only one person in this world and that's my daughter. For everyone else -- especially those of you who are able-bodied adults -- time to "man up" (and this includes women), get off your ass, and start doing something to enhance your life in a positive way because neither I nor anyone else has the obligation to take care of you. You take care of you.
Funny thing about deciding and taking responsibility. Once you understand that only you are responsible for you (and your family), the seas will start to part for you. It's nobody else's obligation to take care of you in any way. With that understanding, you are granted freedom. The sky is the limit...meaning that there is no limit at all.
So, what am I getting at and is there a point to this endless rambling?
Of course, there's a point.
This summer is going to be my most exciting ever because I'm releasing my "New Wealth Warrior" series.
Here's what it looks like:
Installment #1: Kindle Cash Flow System - This power-packed complete course shows you how I've been able to rake in a consistent monthly cash flow with Amazon Kindle books and how anyone, with the right set of knowledge, can do this. If you have the right priced books, the right subject, the right cover, the right title, and you use the right pen names for each "grouping" of books you want to write then you can make $10,000 to $20,000 a month doing this!
Installment #2: Direct Mail Cash Flow System - How a simple "money numbers" spreadsheet changed the way I did business through direct marketing. Once I started over from scratch (and yes, I completely started over with my direct mail business), I did it in a way of working only from the numbers meaning that I can generate as much as I want based on how much mail I want to mail out to specific buyer mailing lists. I have a successful health supplement company where direct mail marketing is a huge money-maker for me.
Installment #3: eBay and Amazon Cash Flow System - eBay isn't what it used to be, as it seems that most of the riff-raff has been tossed out and they've made it a much more strict (and less profitable) platform for home-based biz oppers. Now that the rules have become more stationary, for those who figure out the rules can profit anywhere from $20,000 to $80,000 per month. When you add selling products on Amazon in the mix, you have a serious business with a serious cash flow. But not all products are good to sell on eBay and Amazon. In this system, you'll learn what sells and what to avoid.
And...I've had some students ask me about creating an Information Publishing Cash Flow System. Depending on how well the other New Wealth Warrior installments go, I may add this as an Installment #4 because it's yet another stream of income that I've made an untold fortune with. So, I'll keep you posted on this installment.
Right now we're on Installment #1 and I'm giving my students a kick-ass deal on it. It's so kick-ass that I don't think I priced it right. It's too low but...what the hell.
I know. Totally weird, isn't it? Sometimes I have to ask myself if I haven't fallen off the deep end yet.
In case some of you haven't quite figured this out yet, I realize that I'm working on "borrowed time" here and I have a sole interest in getting as much out there to my students as possible before I step back behind the curtain. Again. (I did this once before years ago and basically fell off the radar for about 4 years before coming back to teach students again.)
Hopefully most of you understand how my Total Wealth Building Strategy works. If you need a refresher, here it is:
1) Set up an Aggressive Income Business (which is typically a home-based enterprise that generates a lot of cash with no/low overhead.
2) Sink your extra cash into property deals.
3) Make Passive Income from your acquired cash flowing real estate deals.
4) Acquire enough properties to meet (and beat) your Financial Freedom Point.
5) Retire and sail off into the sunset (or whatever you want to do) in less than 36 months.
6) Enjoy an increased cash flow after you pay off your properties; ideally you'll have done this in under 10 years.
7) Rents double in 15 to 18 years on your cash flowing properties so you'll get another boost in your retirement income at that time.
8) Never sell those properties; in fact, put the properties in a trust and make it very clear to your kids and grandchildren that, if they sell, all the proceeds from each property sale goes to a specific charity (or set of charities). So, this forces them to manage the properties and enjoy the benefit of the cash flow rather than being stupid fools, selling the properties, pissing away the money, and being broke a couple years after that. (What can I say? That's what these dummy kids do these days!)
Okay, so now that I outlined my Total Wealth Building Strategy, now I get to tell you something kind of special that will help you kick off the first item in the list above.
At my last seminar in March, I talked about a really hot money-making topic with Amazon Kindle. In fact, it was so hot that my sh** competitor decided to come out with a bull**** course on Amazon Kindle right after he got my seminar videos and watched them. (That's what these losers do. I have 2 competitors that do this and it's not flattering at all. It just sucks all around.)
What sucks about this one particular competitor putting out a course on making money with Amazon Kindle is that he knows absolutely nothing about the subject because he doesn't practice what he preaches. (He also doesn't invest in apartment buildings either as he claims he does so...what else can I really expect? Right?)
Anyway, back to what I was talking about: I did a lengthy presentation on Amazon Kindle in March, revealing things I never revealed about this very unique Aggressive Income Strategy. I intended to specifically mention to my seminar attendees exactly how and why I knew as much about Kindle as I do.
Except something happened when I was up there speaking. I sort of chickened out and never mentioned what I was doing with my own Amazon Kindle activities.
I had a couple of my students ask me what I did with Amazon Kindle. I mentioned it to 2 of my female students and let 1 guy sort of guess. I think he was too embarrassed to come out and ask me what it was that I did with Amazon Kindle.
So, what is it? I talk about it in a "mini" audio seminar I did yesterday. Here is the link to it:
http://www.monicamain.com/kindle_cash_flow
It is along the lines of what one of my online cohorts sells. What does she sell? A set of very short "sex" books that make her over $20,000 a month.
Yes, you read that correctly. And no, these aren't the Dr. Ruth type of sex books either.
She makes over $20,000 a month just from one of her book sets. (She has others; this lady is raking in about $35,000 a month from Amazon Kindle.)
Many of my students over the years have asked me why I don't put more real estate books up on Kindle. (I only have one book on real estate.) Answer: I don't want to. That's why. I have no interest, don't need the money, and would rather focus on some of my more creative right-brained outlets since I knew, even 2 years ago, that I was stepping back and out of training.
And that I did. Again, check out this...rather surprising admission of what I've been doing with Amazon Kindle and how I was able to get a Kindle business going from scratch to fully up and running in just under 5 months. Here's the link: http://www.monicamain.com/kindle_cash_flow
Yes, I'm sort of "embarrassed" to reveal this little secret because I never planned on telling anyone. (My staff doesn't even know about this...although they will now!) But I'm revealing this little secret because I thought it was important for you to know how and why I know so much about the money-making power of Amazon Kindle and how easy it is to capitalize on this opportunity by doing some very simple easy-to-do things.
Don't judge me too harshly. After all, it's just creative writing.
I hope I don't insult anyone with this email but...wait. Who the hell am I kidding?! Bottom line: no matter how delicate I try to write an email, I'm always insulting someone so...to hell with it. I'll call a spade a spade. Or the ghetto a ghetto...because that's what it is, folks. Like it or leave it.
So, a couple of days ago, I gave you a break-down of an actual deal I'm doing with an investor partner where he's coming in with $190,000 cash to cover the entire price of a building that the seller dropped from $260,000 because we were paying all cash (and because the property was on the market for 7 months with no offers to date...except ours!)
Here's another one I'm working on for one of the 3 investors I was telling you about that felt a little jilted because he wasn't "selected" to participate in the kick-ass $9,479/monthly cash flow of the other deal.
This other deal is smaller. If you remember the $190,000 deal is 28 units. This other deal I'm working on is only 12 units. It doesn't mean it's any less spectacular though. The seller wants $200,000 for it. (Yeah, right!) It's 50% occupied and is grossing $28,800 per year as of right now before I do anything with the building.
My plan (and I haven't put in the offer yet but I'm actually drafting it today) is to offer the seller $140,000 cash.
Now, let me explain a couple things about this property.
1) It's a class C building in a class D area. Basically, it's in the ghetto. (I won't state where but most of you know where I tend to invest in Michigan.)
2) I've been given the preliminary docs (financials) on the property and...you won't believe this. It's been verified that the expenses are at 25% of the GOI. Freaking wow! Expenses are at about $7,200 per year right now.
3) I "walk in" with a cash flow of $1,640 per month at the paltry 50% occupancy level.
4) If I drag ass and take a full year to bring it up to, say, 90% occupancy, my cash flow goes to about $3,800 a month or almost $46,000 a year. (Some people don't even make that a year.)
Why would I bother with a crappy property like this?
The building is "newer" for this area. It was built in 1975. They just replaced the roof, windows, balconies, and carpet in all the units. And about 4 years ago they replaced the boilers. It just needs a little boost in the occupancy level.
Here are some "rules" for investing in a Class D ghetto-like area:
1) Make sure you do not buy on a "board up" block. This means that every other house or property is boarded up. Wrong move.
2) Make sure the building is still standing and not actually burned down. It takes Google Earth sometimes many years to "catch up" to the real street images in places like these so...make sure there's still a building there instead of just assuming that, because there's a picture on LoopNet.com, there must automatically still be something there. Sometimes it looks like a building is there until you see that the roof is all burned up. Not a good investment.
3) You usually can't go wrong if your apartment building is located on a very busy street. Yes, people still can get murdered there but your potential tenants would rather live near a busy street than in the middle of the woods where nobody can hear them yelling for help. (That's a joke...actually, maybe not. Truth is, your tenants want to live near grocery stores or the "party store" since many of your tenants won't have vehicles.)
4) Make sure there isn't any major structural damage, foundation cracks, parts of the interior building exposed to the elements, or major water (or storm or any other) damage that will take a fortune to fix. If there are units in the building that aren't rented, make sure they are aren't vacant because they are unrentable for reasons such as black mold, severe fire damage, or other pain-in-the-ass crap that you don't want to fix because it'll take a haz-mat and/or demo team just to deal with the unit.
5) This is the most important: make sure the property is still in service. Any out-of-service or 0% occupied property is a no-no! Now and forever! Understand? Even a 20% occupancy is still workable. However, try to stick with 50% occupied or more as a beginner.
And, of course...
6) Never offer the seller anything remotely close to what he or she is asking. This is one of these areas where you can still get away with being like Monica...the Lowball Queen! Don't feel like you're "insulting" the seller with a lowball offer because, if you think about it, their building being in existence is a insult to begin with. Isn't it an insult that the seller is putting up a property that he/she has done no work on in the last...who knows how long? Or that there's massive trash surrounding the property? Or that it looks like you'll need an African bush tribal dude with a machete to clear some of the "forest" that they've allowed to accumulate in the back of the property?
Now that's an insult to any prospective buyer! How dare they list something like that without at least cleaning it up? So...don't worry about insulting them with a lowball price of at least 25% off the asking price.
I've gotten a few emails from students over the past couple of weeks that basically asked me the same thing in a nutshell: "What is the key to success in real estate investing?"
The answer is pretty simple: Money!
Without money, particularly OPM (Other People's Money), you'll have a hell of a time buying passive income real estate. In fact, it'll be impossible to buy real estate unless you come out of cash 100% for all of your deals. And that's not only unlikely, it's a piss-poor way to leverage your money if you happen to have this type of cash lying around to begin with in the first place.
The first thing you're probably thinking about are banks and lenders. While this is all well and good, it's not where I get my money for real estate. (Surprising, isn't it?) The qualification standards for getting a bank loan from a bank like Bank of America, for instance, is so strict that I'm not really sure who would ever qualify for that type of mortgage, especially for a commercial investment.
I've been investing for a long time. Most property deals I put offers on (and eventually close on) reveal information about their primary lender. Of course, I'm dealing with commercial property in every instance but I have yet to find a deal where the seller has used one of the "Big Boy" banks like Chase, Bank of America, US Bank, etc. Most instances, these sellers have financed through a small local bank or through a private lender. (In the majority of the cases, it's the latter.)
What a lot of people don't know is that private lenders act as "small banks" but even better because their lending criteria isn't next to impossible to meet. In fact, qualification is a cinch in comparison to traditional banks. Since lending is their primary (and usually exclusive) means of cash flow, the more loans they dish out, the more money they make on interest and on loan transfer/sale agreements with small banks.
Only the naive real estate investor actually thinks he or she will get a bank loan for an investment property. All of us experienced investors understand that, well...almost nobody qualifies for a commercial loan through a regular bank. Bottom line: don't waste your time!
I've had loan success with small local banks in different regions of the country, especially when investing in Florida and parts of the Midwest where they're the only ones that believe in their economy (while everyone else in the country believes they're on the verge of a state bankruptcy). I've even gotten LTVs as high as 85% with a local bank and yes, even in states like Michigan!
But the "secret" to getting money (and even 100% LTVs...especially 100% LTVs) is going to be through private investors. Period!
Nobody needs to twist an investor's arm to tell him that the economy is getting better by the day and that real estate is the place to invest...unless the investor is pretty stupid in which case, he's probably not a real investor.
So, if you have a property in your "farm" area (or area of the country where you want to invest which can be either local to you or 3,000 miles away from where you live), if you present a strong enough "mini" business real estate plan/proposal, you'll be able to get 100% of the cash needed to acquire your property.
Without a bank. Without a lender. Without a credit check. Without jumping through hoops. Without a loan/mortgage.
Sounds like heaven on earth, doesn't it?
Except there's a small catch. If you come to the table with nothing except for a "mini" business plan/proposal and the promise of executing a kick-ass management strategy while the investor sits back, you have to split the deal with the investor. Pure and simple.
Now more than ever, there is a demand for property. Especially among the "mass wealthy" (like your doctors, dentists, lawyers, etc.) who have the cash but have zippo/zero time in executing a deal or managing anything.
And how awesome would it be for them to come across an investor like you who can basically "do everything" for them while they just write a check? And they get to financially benefit from both equity gain and cash flow on a property deal? Without doing anything at all but writing a check??
Now most of you know that with my new Apartment Building Cash Flow System 2015, I'm a strong advocate for small apartment buildings of 24 units or less. And, in many areas of the country, this means you're dealing with properties that are less than $500,000.
One building I'm going into contracts on this week was listed at $260,000 but since I'm going in with 100% cash with a private investor, I was able to get the seller down to $190,000 for a quick 2-week close (which you can easily do with an all-cash offer).
What kind of building can you get for that type of money?
I'm not going to tell you exactly where it is but I will state that it's in the Midwest, it's 28 units, but it's severely underperforming at a 35% occupancy. (You can get underperforming properties but it's never recommended that you get a 0% occupied property anymore.)
So, what type of cash flow is a POS property like that even worth?
Right now (upon immediate acquisition as a 100% cash-out deal), we're looking at a $2,505 monthly positive cash flow. Once I bring the occupancy up to 95% within 1 year, we're looking at a monthly cash flow (after expenses and taxes) $9,479 per month!
And this is for a Class C- POS property in a less-than-savory neighborhood.
But after I presented the "before-and-after" numbers scenario to about 4 different investor partners I use for many of my deals, all 4 of them wanted in on the deal. I had to pick and choose which, unfortunately, put me in a bad situation with 3 of the 4. (This is why you need to select your investor partner wisely and pick only 1 off the bat.)
The good news for the other 3 is that, because there is at least 8 - 9 more properties that fit the above criteria in that same general area, I'm in the process of building new business plans for those other deals so that I can essentially "sell" the deal to the other 3 investors.
I put $0 out of pocket for each deal and they will be "financed" at a 100% LTV with all cash and no mortgage through private investors.
This is my newly discovered "niche" for getting private money and cashing out the deals with 100% cash. They are easy to "sell" to private investors even though they are in "shady" parts of town because guess what?Theynever have to deal with the property. Ido. You do! Everyone else but them!
How was the $9,479 per month deal set up?
Here's what I arranged:
1) 60% goes to the investor partner; 40% goes to me.
2) These are 10-year deals which are highly unusual for investor partnerships (which are typically 3 to 5 years in length); the stipulation is that I will cash them out on just their investment plus a 10% straight-line interest on the original cash they put into the property.
3) The investor partner will make approximately $633,000 in cash flow over 10 years PLUS will get the $190,000 back with 10% interest.
Why wouldn't they want to "cash out" by selling the property and taking out the gained equity?
Because of these reasons:
1) The property is in a shitty part of town and...truthfully (if the building is still standing), it won't ever sell to another investor. If it does, it'll be for a fraction more for what we paid for it...if we're lucky. Why do this when I can keep raking in the cash flow?
2) This allows the investor partner to be completely off the hook without having to wait for years (in most cases) if ever to sell that type of property. They'll get their cash flow, their money out of it, and walk away without breaking a sweat.
3) I get the property. It becomes mine 100% with or without a loan attached (depending on how well I managed my cash flow on this and other properties) and, conveniently, rents will nearly double in another 5 years after the property becomes mine. Providing I don't have a loan on the property, I'm looking at a monthly cash flow of at least $15,000 on this same POS property that's "worthless" on the real estate market as a property sale but is a freaking cash cow that would make a drug dealer drool. (Actually, at that time, I could probably sell the property to a drug dealer who probably lives in the same building!)
And this is how you get rich in real estate.
Let's review:
1) You'll get OPM on a POS property that no other investor wants by paying 100% cash for it.
2) You'll cure any vacancy problems, start bringing in a kick-ass cash flow, and keep your investor happy while he never touches, manages, or deals with the property.
3) You cash out and separate ways after 10 years. Everybody is happy and you get the property 100%. Even though it's a POS...who cares? It's making $15,000 a month free and clear.
And here's the clincher...
You do this times a minimum of 10 deals.
Unless you're mentally challenged (and even Rain Main can calculate this), you can see what 10 x $15,000 a month can bring you.
What is that a year? That's $1.8 million a year, bozo. From a pile of POS don't-want properties in the "shady/questionable" part of town that you can get for cheap that you ain't even paying for!
But you have to know how to tap into this money. And I'm about to show you right now.
I have an upgrade on my Raising Capital Complete System for 2015...but that's not even the best part.
I have my last ever Raising Capital Mentorship Group which is actually a new group. It's a 10-week ass-kicking group that will teach you every trick in the trade on raising quick money using the exact cash-flow scenario I outlined above.
And my deal?
Well, I'm offering a deal on both the course/system and the group. I'm so sick of my students not investing in the course materials for my groups before taking a mentorship so I'm packaging these two (2) essential elements up into one kick-ass deal that will probably make you crap your pants.
Am I really serious about this being my last Raising Capital Mentorship Group?
Afraid so.
In fact, for those students who have been calling my office, bugging Lea about the "new list" of groups for the remainder of the year well, guess what? There is no list. I told you folks that I was taking you through the middle of 2014. And here we are. In the middle of 2014...or just about damn near anyway. And I have no more groups slated once we hit mid-year.
Other than my Distribution Profit Mentorship Group (starting tomorrow), this last Raising Capital Mentorship Group (10 weeks) starting on May 28th, and a Change Your Life Mentorship Group starting June 11th.
And that's it!
Does this mean I'm never doing mentorships again? I don't know. I don't want to commit to anything so...rash. But it looks like I'm done with them for now and for the rest of this year as far as I can tell.
(I do have something freaking incredibly amazingly awesome coming up in September! I can't wait. But my lips are sealed about this "top secret" thing that's happening until the first week of June.)
So, what's the "deal" with this Raising Capital Mentorship and the 2015 upgrade/update of the course?
If you have any questions, just call Lea. You know the drill. It's preferred that you go to http://www.monicamain.com/rc_offer to check out what's going on first before eating up Lea's phone time.
There are only a few times of the year that really hit me hard and this is one of these times, right around Mother's Day.
My mom passed to the other side...gosh, it's been almost 9 years come late July!
For those of you who don't know the story, my mom died of brain cancer. She had a seizure on February 28th, 2005 and, after a short burst of surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy, she quickly spiraled downhill...ended up in hospice care then died late morning on a rainy July 26th of that same year. She was only 52 when she passed away.
I wasn't there when she passed. My brother was there.
My mom was such a giver, even after "the end." She was a donor and wanted to make sure she could still give after her death. The problem with giving organs as a cancer patient is, well...you can't give your organs. But there is one body part they can take. A part of the eye.
Within an hour after my mother's death, they came to take her corneas. Then they took her.
I'd like to think that someone today is seeing the world through my mother's eyes...as it was her last gift she gave. And if they are seeing the world using a parts of her eyes, what they would see is the best in everyone.
Most mothers are givers. And I never realized just how much my mother gave until I had my own daughter. But it's a selfless, giving and endless love that you have for your children. The prospect of giving, from a mother's perspective, is that it's out of pure unconditional love. It's not work or based on obligatory responsibility.
I never considered my mom "smart" when it came to financial matters or business. But it's during the time that I have to recollect my life lessons that I discovered she gave me the very best financial and business education I could have ever hoped for.
For one, my mother was street wise. She grew up in a very abusive household. Her dad died when she was only 13 and then, just after, her mother sunk into a deep depression that included excessive amounts of alcohol consumption. During this time, her mother was in and out of different mental institutions since, back then, this is how psychological problems and alcohol abuse was dealt with at that time.
This left my mother alone to basically grow up on her own with the handful of "brat pack" friends she acquired in junior high and high school. This also made her both street wise as well as able to get along with anyone. Yes, she had this gift where she would and could converse with anyone from a street bum to a multi-billionaire and everyone in between...and people just responded to her.
My mom forced me to become self-reliant, independent, and to listen to my gut pretty early on. No, she didn't neglect me but she did encourage me to work through problems on my own. This would be my first life lesson that would prove to be integral when it came to business and wealth building.
She also taught me how invaluable it was to give. I didn't grow up with a lot. In fact, I grew up pretty poor and didn't realize how poor until I was able to see a different world when I moved to California in junior high school when I got to see how the "other half" lived.
But with as little as we had, she showed me that you always have something to give whether it's a couple of dollars or your time to someone in need. When you give, you're always taken care of. It makes the energy of the "universal wheels" turn in your favor when you give unconditionally and with the true intent on helping someone else while getting absolutely nothing out of the deal and expecting nothing in return.
Another vital lesson she taught me was to always stand up for myself.
I remember being in the 8th grade and this girl -- Nicky Maltabon -- started picking on me the day right before our 2 week Christmas vacation. She essentially ruined my entire vacation because I was worried about whether she'd still keep picking on me after I returned to school in January.
Well, she did keep picking on me until one day I came home crying. My mom told me to kick her ass. Plain and simple. And she said that if I didn't kick her ass, my mom would kick my ass.
So, I went to school and kicked Nicky's ass. In front of at least 30 kids. I remember how hard my knuckles were hitting her head to the point of them cracking.
Not only did I never get picked on again for the rest of junior high by anyone but the news carried over into high school the following year. Nobody messed with me and a few smart-ass boys called me "Sugar Ray" here and there.
My mom was the one who told me to take care of my personal credit. She taught me that people who have good credit have leverage. And she taught me never to over-extend myself. Don't buy things you can't afford.
I see myself passing a lot of my own lessons onto my little girl. I found myself recently telling my daughter that I like the Disney movie Brave because it demonstrates that a woman doesn't need a man to have an awesome successful life of "happily ever after."
Yes, I have different lessons for my own little girl. I think we would like to all aim for making the next generation better in some way...better than how we had it as children.
But it all starts with mom...our entire existence on this planet, good or bad.
So, to all you mommies out there, thank you for everything you are, all the strength it's taken you to get to this point through the roughest patches life has pushed you through, and everything you've been passing onto your little (and sometimes big) kids to, ideally, make our world a better place.
We are looking for distributors for our convenience store and gas station supplement wholesaling business.
Right now we have a handful of students who have been working with us for the past several months. One of our students is making about $30,000 per month in pure profits working as a wholesale distributor for us!
Other students are doing exceptionally well, too, ranging anywhere from $5,000 a month and upwards.
The other day, a student of mine sent me an email about how my competitor (who reads these emails, by the way) suddenly has a course on how to make money on Amazon Kindle.
Interestingly enough, this is after I did my seminar on Aggressive Income Strategies in March where I did a very lengthy and mind-blowing presentation about making a minimum of $20,000 per month on Amazon with KDP Select through the Amazon Kindle program.
(And I also have something else coming out on Kindle soon since I've been doing incredibly well with it writing erotica novellas under an assumed name!)
Hmmmmm...seems like my desperate and pitiful competitor, whose name I'll definitely name in a quick second, is at it again.
And who is it, you may ask? The guy who I thought (or rather hoped) had jumped off a bridge by now since I hadn't heard from him in several years. (And again, he pops up like a bad penny.) In case you don't know who I'm talking to, it's David Lindahl...the loser that sued me back in 2010...or 2011. Don't quite remember when. All I remember is that I kicked his ass. Then he disappeared like a dog with his tail between his legs...like the dog that he is.
Now he just copies me what I do because he's been reduced to a pitiful slug. Even worse, he doesn't actually make money with Amazon Kindle. Sure, his books are converted to Kindle but by taking a look at his ridiculously priced Kindle books, I can tell 2 things: (1) he doesn't sell many books at that price point since he violates all of the rules of Amazon publishing (because his publishers have listed the Kindle books and he had nothing to do with them, making him an "expert" on exactly nothing regarding Kindle), and (2) he understand KDP Select. (More about that on another day.)
I've also had a slew of emails in the past couple of weeks since I told everyone I was closing the doors in the upcoming months between December and January. You all even "outed" me to the very employee (Jeanine) who opened my eyes to this final decision with her entitlement tirade about her hourly pay when you guys started calling my office and actually telling her that I'm shutting the place down. (No, she didn't know...and she certainly didn't know she was the culprit behind it all. Now she does. Thanks, guys!)
Anyway, you guys and gals are asking me (and some of you are actually panicking) about my shutting the office down!
(You guys are soooo cute!) :-)
So, here's the deal, since it's evident that I wasn't clear about what's happening here.
I'm done having employees and overhead and the rest of the headaches that come along with having a business.
And what type of "guru" would I be to keep teaching you guys about making Aggressive Income, shoveling all your cash into Passive Income Assets, and retiring in 36 months if I didn't walk the talk?
Oh wait! I'd be just like David Lindahl, wouldn't I? (LOL!)
And that, my friend, is not what I'll ever become!
In the very beginning of my teaching career, I had a handful of students (who are still with me, by the way) who anticipated "great" things for me. Apparently many of them had this idea in their heads that I was going to become the next Robert Kiyosaki. You know, the Rich Dad, Poor Dad guy?
And I made it very clear from the beginning. I don't want to stand next to "them" and become one of "them."
What did that mean?
Most of those gurus are full of sh**. They don't practice what they preach and they certainly don't do what they tell other people to do. And I absolutely refuse to even stand in the same category as they do simply because people will automatically assume that I'm on the same snake-oil-salesman-level that they are.
But mostly it's because I simply didn't have time to be the full-fledged "guru" that those other guys are. I actually go out, do real estate, have other businesses (for Aggressive Income), and only have a tiny bit of time for the "guru" thing.
Furthermore, even though I've been offered book deals by major New York publishers and have already been afforded the opportunity to become "one of them," I've turned down these publishers time and time again simply because I don't want to become the female poster child of financial freedom. Instead, I'd rather focus on teaching the few of you (who are serious about this) what I know, let you become successful, and we both then move on our merry little ways.
But over the past couple of years, my life and teachings have become contradictory. Since I started teaching my students Aggressive Income Strategies around this time in 2012, I've been showing my students how to not have overhead and not have employees and not have the stress of a regular business while enjoying the benefits of stuffing $20,000 or more per month in pure profits right into your pocket.
Yet I have the stress and obligations of overhead.
In the beginning, it was enjoyable. I had a mission. I needed to train people to become financially proficient and self-sufficient so the minor frustrations here and there of having a business didn't bother me. I was built to do it, having so many businesses for so many years. People management comes easy to me. And the minor frustrations I can bulldoze over, for many people, would be viewed (and felt) as insurmountable obstacles that would give them an instant one-way ticket into the loony bin.
But then something happened a little more than a year ago...
I had a powerful "shift."
At first I thought it was a "mid-life" crisis. Just a bit early. I figured since I had a hard life and always figured things out much earlier than most people, maybe I was going through the mid-life crisis thing earlier than most people do. This would explain the BMW thing and me carving up my body with a mural of tattoos on my back. (Yes, my entire back is all tattooed up.)
Then recently I figured it out. I figured out what was happening when I watched a video called The Shift by Dr. Wayne W. Dyer. (You can watch the video on YouTube.com by searching for it...and have at least 2 hours available to watch it front to back without distractions. Highly recommended video! Here's the link: http://youtu.be/Yo_UA2l9ZkY)
I realized that I was going through The Shift and that it was time I did something about it.
Each one of us only has a certain number of days on this planet. And life is too short doing stuff you can't stand.
That applies to you, too!
And me, too!
It applies to everyone.
Now, many of you know that I've been "fake" retiring since last year. It wasn't really a false alarm but rather me mentally and emotionally preparing myself for the "real deal" that I knew was eminent in my future. (I just didn't know when it would happen, exactly.) Just when I was ready to step out of the spotlight, I'd freak out. I didn't want to let go of my students, my staff, my office, and what had become my "life."
Then the situation with Jeanine happened a couple of weeks ago that made me realize that this whole situation has become like an old snake skin that I've shed last year but that I've been too stubborn to want to let go.
Now it's time to let go.
So, let's clarify what's happening so that there are no misunderstandings:
1) I'm moving my successful distribution business to the outskirts of Detroit, Michigan where Ronnie will operate the business (and I won't be operating it anymore).
2) Instead of closing down my office/warehouse in the preliminary set time frame of December/January...I decided to shut it down by Halloween. And I'm pushing to move it up another month to make it September 30, 2014. By August, my warehouse will be empty since I already have a "Pod" being delivered the second week of the month for all warehouse "stuff" to fill it for it's final destination in Michigan.
3) I have a handful of very highly lucrative Aggressive Income Businesses that include (a) an Internet business, (b) a direct mail order business, (c) making money on eBay/Amazon, and (d) with Amazon Kindle. These operate on autopilot and bring in anywhere from $30,000 to $50,000 per month, pure profit cash in my pocket (that's on auto-pilot) with very low overhead obligations that include nothing more than website hosting, domain registering, a post office box fee, and an answering service. It's stress free and that's what I need right now.
4) I have a slew of income properties that are managed by proficient management companies; I'm about to start picking up many more apartment buildings in Michigan that have a mind-blowing cash flow.
5) I'll continue with Global Success on a very minimal basis. I still want to teach and provide profitable information to my students but there won't be an office you can call. You'll have email access and all courses will go to download. (This will be cheaper for you, by the way.) And I'll be able to offer you bigger discounts on everything since I won't have to support the traditional Global Success overhead.
While I'm sitting at my office managing staff and overhead, I've found lately that I don't even have the energy to facilitate these property deals. And our last little "window" is going to close by mid-2015. I'm not missing that window because I'm too busy checking student emails.
When there is too much on your plate, you have to eliminate the sh** that is wasting your time so that you can focus on the sh** that is worth it to you. It's called the 80/20 Principle. This is a true concept outlining that 20% of your "work" yields 80% of your results.
Everything else...you have to ditch before it eats you alive.
Last week I saw this guy driving around my cul-de-sac in a white truck with a freezer on the back. He saw me standing outside and stopped to dish out the sales pitch of how he had top quality meat on his truck at lower-than-wholesale prices.
Not a good pitch to someone who is mostly a vegetarian. (I only eat fish once in awhile and that's the limit on my "meat" intake.)
But I will tell you this...
I have a soft spot in my heart for hustlers. Especially this guy who was up there in age. Here it was, nearly sunset and nearing 8pm and this guy is still out selling meat from the back of a truck.
At first I told him no...that is until he hit my neighbor up across the street (you know, the jealous one?) and she sharply told him "No!"
So, right in front of her, I had to say, "Well, what kind of meat do you have? I'm having a big BBQ party in my backyard next weekend. I could probably use some meat."
I got the sales pitch right then and there like he was selling a Sham-Wow or Oxiclean. Of course, he almost lost me in one part of the pitch.
Mind you, it wouldn't be the part where you have to wonder..."How safe or good is meat from the back of a truck?"
But it was the part of the sales pitch he had to slip in where he said this:
"I'm doing this now because I used to be an accountant and all the work dried up since the economy went to hell. Now I have to do this."
What the %$&* kind of sales pitch is that? And how easy would it have been to completely leave that part out?
First of all, nobody has to do anything unless somebody else has a loaded gun pointed at your head and the alternative to not doing something means your brains will end up blown out on the nearest wall of proximity to you.
Second of all, in case anyone hasn't noticed, the economy has been ramping up (slowly but surely) in a noticeable fashion for even your Average Joe to notice by at least late 2012 or, if you are especially dense, you would have noticed sometime last year that things are getting better...even if it is very nominal.
And lastly, we live in a country of great opportunity. Unfortunately, it seems that those who are foreign to our great land of opportunity are the only ones who seem to notice that the opportunity is not only still here but it's even greater now than it was decades ago when their parents and grandparents talked about our amazing country with streets paved in bricks of gold.
So, as I'm staring at this old white guy who is making excuses, yelling at myself inside my head to not say anything, and wondering if I should bother going through with my off-the-back-of-a-truck meat purchase, I made an immediate mental note to make sure I remind my students something very important: Money is everywhere; money is easy to make...but you have to actually do something to sell something that everybody wants to the public.
Now, apparently this concept was foreign to this guy who is essentially a salesman in the rawest door-to-door form. But I couldn't help but to think of how much more money he would be making it he wasn't working for a company in Orange County schlepping theirmeat almost 90 minutes north where I live, door to door, when he could be claiming 100% of the profits for himself if he was selling meat he bought wholesale from a local butcher.
I found out he sold only $500 in meat that day but his normal days are between $1,000 and $1,200 per day. Not bad for having no overhead if you were operating your own wholesale business out of yourown truck. I'm guessing his profits would be a minimum of 50% but probably more in the area of about 65%.
But...he was too busy telling himself (and everyone else) the daily lie that he has to do this "low-life" type of job just to "get by" because "all the work dried up."
The only things that dried up were his will to exist in a profitable marketplace along side of, perhaps, his brain cells from so many years of negative and disparaging thinking patterns.
So, what is Business 101?
The first step (which may not be all that obvious) is to actually see the opportunity right in front of your eyes. That's right. Peel yourself from American Idol for one freaking minute and consider how much money is just "floating around" out there, whizzing by your ears so fast that you can't even see it or hear it. Yes, since most of our currency is "in the air," passing through you at viper speed through wireless networks, money actually moves past you in mid-air!
Amazing!
Now you have to stop and catch some of it!!
One of my most powerful methods I teach is by cashing in with my Distribution Profit Income Strategies. This falls on the Aggressive Income side of the spectrum and helps a whole hell of a lot when you want to rake in huge amounts of dough to put down on some Passive Income retirement vehicles, such as apartment building real estate.
So far, since I've been teaching my Distribution Profit System Strategies since the fall of 2012, I've had some of my students do the following:
Become a part-time distributor/jobber for our product (and a few other c-store product manufacturers) and now makes $30,000 a month with no overhead.
Create an invention from scratch that was molded last fall and was just accepted into every Bed, Bath, & Beyond in the country, set to launch in their stores everywhere this summer.
Formulate a new (yet effective) hang-over shot that was launched earlier this year and is reporting gross sales of $22,000 a month since February.
Create a line of skin care products that are manufactured in France that are being sold through high-end spas in the southwestern region of the United States, making my student an average net profit of about $11,000 per month...and growing rapidly since its launch last summer!
Private label a weight loss supplement that is being sold in the Vitamin Shoppe nationwide, making this student about $40,000 a month!
And anyone can accomplish this if they want to!
If you want to watch tv, watch the show Shark Tank. This is the stuff I do with my distribution company. We create a product and sell it wholesale to warehouses nationwide. And we're making a killing doing it!
I decided that, since I'm going to be shutting down my office/warehouse very soon (and the selected date has been brought forward from December 31st to Halloween...and will probably be pushed forward again to September 30th...and yes, that's 2014), I'm trying to get my students on board with the most profitable Aggressive and Passive Income Strategies out there before my teaching days are over.
I recommend you guys and gals learn what you can like some of my other students have (who are making anywhere from $20,000 to $85,000 per month in pure profits) from my Aggressive Income Strategies.
P.S. I told Lea that I'll be shutting down the office/warehouse by the end of the year and gave her my preliminary end-date as September 30th (or as late as Halloween) but gave her the option to keep working with me as an assistant...or to retire. Lea is choosing to retire when I close my office here in California. So, if you guys and gals who routinely call my office actually talk to Lea, enjoy your last days being able to talk to her because she's going to retire out completely this fall!
I think we all get to the point when we know something is over, done, finished!
Here are some indicating factors of when you're completely through with something:
1) Every time you look at your spouse or significant other, you feel like either (a) belting him/her in the head with the first sizeable blunt object you can get your hands on, or (b) puking into the nearest garbage can or other workable containment device.
2) Each time you get on the freeway to go to work, you think about pulling out the speaker wire to your sound system to use to strangle yourself to death before you get there or hope you have a massive heart attack in the parking lot before you have to get out of the car.
3) Instead of another rep or workout class in XYZ Gym or one more round with the Zumba Wumba instructor with the thick accent you suddenly find that you'd be "okay" with being (or turning into) a 500-lb. fat ass drooling slob with cottage cheese thighs that puts the craters of the moon to shame.
4) Just the thought of spend another moment [fill in the blank] makes the prospect of jumping off of a building or a very high mountain seem like a much more desirable choice...without even putting a fraction of a thought into choosing the latter.
If you're feeling this way about any part of your life at all, it's time for a change. Dragging it out for another few days, weeks, or months (or the worst possible scenario...years) is just hurting yourself and everyone else involved.
And, most devastatingly, it's crushing your soul and spirit all at the same time.
What to do...
Listen, I happen to be sharing something with you right now. We're both in the same "boat," so to speak.
Most of my students have a variety of different "normal life" challenges they have to deal with which runs the gamut with what we all (unfortunately) have to experience by being alive on the earthly plane of existence.
Just because I do well financially doesn't make me exempt from having to deal with stuff.
A couple of days ago I gave you an honest blow-by-blow account of what's going on with my office/warehouse situation here in Valencia, California where I run the daily operations of Global Success.
And as I sit here typing out this email, I am contemplating whether I'll actually show up here for the rest of the week...or not. After all, I can accomplish much more at home when I'm not being suffocated with the neediness of my staff and the immense overhead I've collected here over the years.
This is the only facet of my business that doesn't match with the stuff I teach my students. You see, I had an interesting trade-off to consider years ago. If I was going to share success strategies with people on a larger scale, it was going to require some sacrifices, including taking on the responsibility of an office and staff. Again. And I made that sacrifice because, back then, it seemed like a good idea. I had the energy for it. I was committed. And I was ready to take on the world.
As we age, learn, grow, and emerge as new people, our needs change. Our perspective changes. Our requirements to continue to grow, learn, and change is altered as we move along. And things that were a "good idea" months or years ago suddenly seem like they're not meshing with your "new" requirements as a growing/evolving spirit. That means they've got to go!
If you're one of those people where you know damn well that it's time to move forward but you don't know what to do, listen up. You can't keep talking yourself into schlepping yourself to that job each day if you're so sick of it that you instantly start dry heaving when you think about it. Same goes for marriages, relationships, and other "things" you find yourself doing that you can't stand doing anymore.
Years ago I got this Nightingale-Conant audio set called "Jump and the Net Will Appear." While I remember absolutelynothing about what the audio set was about, I always remembered the title. In fact, it's the only Nightingale-Conant course title I can recall on any subject.
If you think about the concept: Jump and the Net Will Appear!
What an empowering concept!
Part of jumping includes making a concrete decision that you know you won't back down on only because you can't "go back" to the prospect of living in "status quo" anymore. You just can't; otherwise your soul will shrivel up and die before the end of the summer...and you know it.
Over the years, the biggest obstacle for success that my students have had to battle is their lack of belief in themselves. They start the process of working the very basic step-by-step action plan that I set up for them and, at some point -- whether they're on the first step or the very last step -- they'll talk themselves out of success. And they don't go through with it.
But the really cool thing about being in the position where you are absolutely sick of the way your life is...it puts you in the mind set of saying to yourself, "F*** it! Let's do this sh** because what's the worst that can happen? I may actually get the life I want finally?!"
And then you do it! Without fear. Without man-made obstacles. Without the devil on your shoulder talking you out of it.
Just a clearpath to victory in the shortest amount of time possible.
When you're ready, it'll happen. When you're so sick of the way things are, you'll just do it. You'll finally do the things you've dreams but were too afraid to follow through with.
So, congratulate yourself if there is any aspect of your life that you've found you can no longer tolerate anymore. In fact, drink a beer or glass of wine right now and toast yourself for finally getting to the I-can't-take-it-anymore stage.
For tomorrow will be a new day...a day in which you can start making all of your dreams come true.
Most of my students have challenges with work, their business, or making money in general. So, for that, I'm going to help you close that gap to finally getting that financial freedom...and as early as the end of this year if you play your cards right.
Yes, that's right. You'll be able to tell your fat ass boss to shove it up his ass once and for all because you, my friend, will be raking in at least $10,000 to $12,000 per month in net cash flow from your multifamily properties.
Listen to it while you're drinking your beer or glass of wine and toasting yourself and toasting your new future because tomorrow is the beginning of your New Life!
This is one of the reasons why I tell all of my students who are working their Aggressive Income Strategies (via a home-based business, preferably) to avoid having a staff (employees) at all costs for several reasons:
#1: Different personalities = different results of what you'll get from work ethic to personality "meshes" (or clashes). And to find someone that perfectly "blends" while sustaining an acceptable work ethic is equivalent to finding a single person out of a 10,000,000 prospective employee haystack. Most of the time you'll find these people eating away at the clock while they chat endlessly about their weekends (either the past weekend, the upcoming weekend, or both) or texting their friends/family...all on your dime, of course. And if you do happen to get someone who is actually working on the clock, you'll be lucky that they aren't screwing something up.
#2: Liability. This is a strong work that indicates a variety of things from wondering if your employee will rip you off (now or later...and how little or how much) to a potential lawsuit for a variety of things (from wrongful termination to Worker's Comp to something out in left field like sexual harassment). The other liability factors fall into the not-doing-their-job-correctly category which can result in a customer getting hurt in some way (physically or financially), which you sustain the liability for. Or, even worse, hurting the integrity and reputation of the company you've worked so hard to build for years.
#3: Cost. To have an employee extends beyond what you actually pay them by the hour. A lot of people (who haven't had a business) don't realize that an employee costs a lot more. (And we're not speaking of the "liability" issues as discussed above.) Not only do you have to pay by the hour (whether they're actually working...or not) but you have to pay for Worker's Comp insurance, unemployment, and health insurance. So, add about 25% of what you pay them and you'll get a more accurate assessment of what you're actually paying them. This means that you're actually paying a $15/hour employee about $18.75/hour.
#4: Entitlement demands. This is when your employee feels that he or she automatically deserves more money just because they've been there longer. Forget about the fact that they never bothered to increase or bolster their personal skills such as taking a class in keyboarding (to type faster) or the newest Microsoft Office Suite or Quickbooks...or to improve their skills in any other capacity that I could potentially use to enhance my business. No. Just because they were sitting their dead ass in a chair longer than, say, someone else (i.e. a newer employee coming in) must mean that they are entitled to a raise. After all, we're Americans. We're automatically entitled to "stuff" and more money just because...just freakingbecause, I guess!
And my conflict with one of my staffers fell squarely into Item #4 above.
You see, I've had this one employee who started about 8 months ago. So, no, she hasn't been here for even a year. Yet suddenly, she felt she needed a raise. Fine. On Monday, I upped her an additional $1 an hour.
Fast forward to Wednesday...yes, this past Wednesday which was merely 2 days after the issued $1-per-hour raise, when this very same employee literally blows up at me for hiring an additional person who I will be starting at $2-per-hour more than what she's making.
Forget about the fact that this person has many more usable skills that I readily need to operate and expand my business to the capacity I'd like it to be at; these skills include being very apt with Quickbooks, tying much faster, and knowing all of the Microsoft Office Suiteprograms with great aptitude. (All of these things far surpass those skills of the complaining, self-entitled employee I'm speaking of.) Also, this new employee will be helping me build website and doing other online marketing that I need done, not to mention some of the "personal assistant" stuff that's been thrown to the wayside since I had to get rid of Cindy almost 3 years ago.
This whole nonsense about bringing in someone new "from the street," which she kept bitching about, makes about as much sense as someone working as a janitor for 21 years for the same company bitching that the newly hired CEO is making $500,000 per year more than he is.
Uh...let me break it down: different skills + different job description = different pay.
Seems pretty obvious to me...and probably to you. But it wasn't to her.
Then it made me realize..."Monica, what the hell are you doing?"
All of you know that I'm in my "shut down mode" right now. My "I Quit" date was December 31, 2013. My "shut down" period was to extend to my 40th birthday which is this coming June 14th.
But I have one other little complication that's bringing me to having to wait until December 31, 2014 for my real "I Quit" date. And that is the lease on my office/warehouse space here in Valencia, California.
I don't like backing out of contractual agreements or doing the midnight-move-out plan where I stiff someone on an arrangement I made with them. (I believe that brings in bad karma and negative energy that I just don't want right now.) So, as I continue cutting back mentorship groups, consulting, and other things that have been taking up a lot of my time, I realize that I've already been in "shut down mode" since the lateral part of last year.
I've also found myself focusing on the things that are truly important to me including writing and real estate investing.
Then, I asked myself a question. "Why do I need an office, overhead, and a staff when I could lose all of the above and double my monthly profits?"
Yes, it's a rhetorical question because the answer is prettyfreakingobvious.
I kept hanging onto this office because of fear. Fear of letting go. Fear of not making the right decision. Fear of what my employees would do without a job here.
And now the fear is gone. It took a blow up with an employee for me to realize that my days of running the shop are long over.
Now, the problem for me has always been how important my students are to me. This is why I keep training. Then I realized..."What the hell do I need an office and employees for to keep training and teaching my students?"
I don't need an office/warehouse and the stress of dealing with a staff to continue giving you guys and gals the information you need to continue building wealth.
With that said, I've decided that I'll be shutting down my office/warehouse this coming December/January (when my lease ends). My other company (Brie Labs) will be moving to its new home in Detroit, Michigan. I have a warehouse and a kick-ass office manager lined up (who I personally won't be managing). (I've even more recently considered shutting everything down on September 30th, 2014 while paying off the remainder of my lease until the end of the year as an effort shorten the misery of this huge overhead burden just a little more.)
And I haven't been this f****** excited in a very long time!!!
What does that mean for my awesome students?
I've decided to carry on with my trainings and information to keep you on track with what you need to do to build wealth with both Aggressive and Passive Income Strategies but I'll be doing this on a smaller scale.
Truth be told, I can't live without my students. You guys and gals give me a purpose and meaning for being here on this planet. I enjoy showing people how to build wealth. I really get a kick out of helping people change their lives.
And I never want that to end. Period.
But, because of the stress of having the overhead I have (staff, warehouse, etc.), it's been bleeding my energy dry and zapping all of my enthusiasm to do the things I really want to do with my students. The moment the energy-zapping stuff disappears, I'll be able to give you the enthusiasm, energy, and even more kick-ass strategies to drive you to the financial future you've always wanted for yourself.
So, this is a benefit to both of us. This change will benefit me and you.
With this change, I'll be able to offer more free videos, reports, audio seminars, and mini-courses as well as super low-priced (yet high quality) information products for you to continue on your path of building both Aggressive and Passive Income.
And I can't wait to be able to do the things I've wanted to do for my students without any of the office politics and the stress that I've been going through for the past several years with Global Success.
So, what do you get to learn from all this?
As I mentioned many times before: start a business and/or do your real estate investing activities without having your own employees and without having overhead. Period.
And the only way that I know how to pull this off is through a highly successful Aggressive Income home-based business and Passive Income real estate investing, preferably with multifamily properties.
There's something I want you to listen to in reference to the Passive Income side...
