Some of you have actually been emailing me, wondering when I'm going to spill the beans on how to access the hundreds of thousands of dollars in business credit cards that you'll be getting.
After all, getting unsecured business credit cards are actually the easiest thing to get when it comes to business credit provided that you put the time, effort, and appropriate energy into fixing/rebuilding your personal credit to get yourself over that 680-FICO score threshold.
Now, since getting unsecured business credit cards is quite easy to do and it's much easier than you think to get several of these cards that are collectively worth $100,000 within a very short period of time, you're probably wondering how to use this credit as a down payment on a property, for instance.
Many of my students have asked me..."Can I just give escrow my credit card for the down payment?"
Um...no. You can't.
What you can do is this:
1) If you plan on having and operating a functioning business (say a distribution business, for example) then you'll get something called a "merchant account." This merchant account will allow you to be able to charge credit cards which can include your own. (There is a restriction against this in the merchant agreement about running your own credit cards but that's a risk you'll have to take.) It's recommended that you have a different business set up than the company that you are establishing business credit under in order to successfully pull this off without a hitch.
2) You can "pay yourself" through PayPal. For example, if your spouse has a PayPal account and you (or your company that has the business credit established, which is preferred) have a PayPal account, you can have your spouse do a "money request" or send a PayPal invoice for services for whatever amount (cash) you want to take off your business credit card. You can easily get the money off your cards this way. It's recommended that your spouse have a PayPal account set up under a different business name than the one you have business credit under, particularly with a different tax ID number. You don't have to have a corporation to go to the IRS.gov website to get a tax ID number for a "sole proprietor" business. (For example, your spouse could "start" a company called Terry's Flowers and go to the IRS.gov website to get a tax ID for this company using his/her personal social security number to secure this tax ID number. This tax ID can then be used on the PayPal account where the money request is coming from, thus "shielding" your spouse (who probably has your same last name) in the transaction as being someone who is related to you; this makes it look like there is no relation between you and the establishment who requested the money for services from you.
3) Cash advances are limited but are also available for some of your business credit cards. You can "max out" on the cash advance limit for each of your credit cards.
Since getting $100,000 in unsecured business credit with multiple business credit cards is quite easy to do within just a few months' time, you can easily extract $30,000 or more of that money without anyone (mainly your credit card companies) really being any the wiser to what you're doing. And getting a whopping $30,000 is a decent amount of cash if you're buying a "quad" or if you need that 10% down on a commercial SBA loan.
Also, when paying for due diligence (property inspections, appraisals, etc.), you can use these business credit cards to directly pay for these services in many cases as well.
When you borrow this business credit, make sure you have the means of paying it back. If this money is going toward a cash flow property, make sure you understand the interest rates on the down payment money you are borrowing off these credit cards to make sure the property still cash flows. Also, make sure you take more cash off the cards than what you need for the down payment so that you can wait the first 45 to 60 days to start seeing the first of your cash flow after closing without being strapped for the money to pay your credit cards.
The other day I promised to lay out the exact steps you need to do to get the type of business credit I was able to line up recently with my relatively new company. In order to do this, though, it's only fair that I break it down into 2 parts since getting this type of credit requires seemingly "separate" things in place.
Now, before I tell you exactly how this is done, I need to first make it clear why business credit is where it's at. Building personal credit alone won't get you to those unsecured six-figures (and one day seven figures) as I indicated in my last email when I was showing you the difference between my 2 Bank of American unsecured credit cards that I got in the same month: my personal card yielded me a pitiful $5,000 unsecured credit card while my new business's unsecured credit card is $30,000! Big difference!
Why the difference?
Think about it from the bank's perspective.
If you were Bank of America and you were analyzing a personal vs. business credit application, the first think you'd wonder is...what's someone getting a personal credit card going to do with it? Then, what's someone getting a business credit card going to do with it?
When someone wracks up debt on a personal credit card, they quickly get into financial trouble. It many cases, it can become the financial "death" of them within a very short period of time. And it almost doesn't matter how good their personal credit is now. A small (and even temporary) financial off-balance (i.e. loss of job, high medical bills, etc.) can sometimes lead to getting into a lot of debt...and fast.
In business, "debt" isn't only accepted...it's expected! Many businesses use credit to balance cash flow against giving clients and customers extended credit terms (like net 30, 60, or 90 accounts). And business owners need a means of balancing their incoming cash flow which is where credit comes in.
This may seem obvious but one thing you probably didn't know is this: while banks drew back on giving out personal credit ever since our recent banking collapse, they've been virtually forced by the government to keep offering up credit to businesses.
Why is this?
The only difference between the Great Depression in the 1930s and our complete economic demise by 2008 is one thing...and one thing only: credit to businesses.
That's right.
The reason so many businesses folded in the 1930s to the point where they had to close show (thus offering no employment to people which makes the economy go around) is that banks completely stopped giving out any type of credit to business owners.
When businesses can't stay open for business, they shut down. When people are out of work, they don't get a paycheck. Without a paycheck, they stop buying. Then the economy shuts down.
The government didn't want that to happen...again.
Now, I don't know exactly how it went down but I imagine it played out something like this. Imagine the bank is a lower-echelon thug and the bank is a gangster named Bruno, dwarfing the thug in size.
Bruno to thug: "Come here!"
Bruno drags thug forcefully by his ear into a dark alley, probably around 1am.
Bruno: "Now, I just want to make sure we have an understanding here. We don't want a replay of the Depression so, no matter what, we're going to keep lending money to businesses to keep the economy from collapsing completely."
Thug: "Or else what?"
Bruno: "Or else I'll make your life very miserable."
Thug: "And how's that?"
Bruno: "You don't wanna know. So...do we have an understanding?"
All the while, during the conversation, Bruno was punching his hand the whole time to drive the point home.
And that's how I envision that it went down. Take it or leave it, that's a symbol of how it pretty much went because nobody can quite pinpoint what the threat would have been but suddenly, around 2010, banks not only started offering business credit but they were raining it down on businesses whether they needed it, wanted it, or not!
Of course, there was a single criterion to giving out this money to businesses. Based on the major reason we had the credit collapse to begin with (which was non-qualified individuals getting loans on houses they couldn't afford in the first place), the banks had to be careful with lending out business credit.
And no, it had nothing to do with having business gross receipts (i.e. "business activity"), businesses that were "well seasoned," or businesses with a lot of built up business credit.
And it definitely had very little to do with whether the business had a Dun & Bradstreet profile with built business credit either. (Surprised??)
Unlike the "old days"(just a few years ago), personal and business credit now go hand in hand. You have to boost your personal FICO to about 720 or above ("mid" score) in order to fully qualify for endless amounts of business credit.
Yet surprisingly, this is fairly easy to do!
So, I'll quickly lay out the very simple steps of bolstering your personal credit before delving into the business credit part.
1) Pull your "tri-merge" credit report. I recommend using Experian.com and paying the $39.95 to pull all 3 reports which will include the FICO for each. (Don't fall for the $1 bait-and-switch deal because they'll bill your credit card forever for some monthly monitoring service that you don't need.)
2) Dispute everything that's negative. This includes "hard" inquiries. In this step, you'll also fix personal information including phone numbers and addresses to make sure your account is current.
3) Start rebuilding personal credit at the same time by getting yourself a car loan or lease (if you don't have one) and getting 2 credit cards: these can be secured or unsecured depending on what you qualify for in the present state of your credit. Use the credit cards and never exceed 45% of the total credit line in charging activity. Pay your car payment each month on time. This process will automatically build credit for you while you're chiseling away at the negative things on your credit reports.
4) Keep disputing and disputing and disputing while using other critical strategies to get these negative things removed off your credit reports. The more consistent you are with the process (by disputing every 35 - 40 days), you'll have Triple A credit within a few short months...especially while rebuilding at the precise same time. (That's the key!)
In the meantime, you can start the process of building your business credit at the same time. This also can be done in just a few months.
Here are the steps:
1) Get yourself a corporation. Yes, it helps somewhat that you have some "seasoning" which means the age of the corporation. Two years seems to be the "magic number." So, if you already have a corporation that's 2 years or older, you're ahead of the game. If you don't, that's okay. You can consider getting a "shelf" corporation that's already seasoned 2 years for you or you can start from scratch (incorporating right now) if you have a long way to go with your personal credit (i.e. just filed for personal bankruptcy). By the way, your corporation needs to be in your home state and not in Nevada (unless you live there or you are foreign to the U.S.).
2) Once have your corporate resolution documents (after incorporating), get an EIN (employer identification number) with is equivalent to the "social security number" of your corporation. You can get this number at the IRS.gov website.
3) Open a business bank account with a large bank like Wells Fargo or US Bank. You need your EIN in order to do this.
4) Get your first business credit card. If you're still working on your credit, go to Wells Fargo and get a secured business credit card. They are the only bank that offers this program right now. Otherwise, get something like a Chase Ink credit card or other business credit card that's unsecured if you have at least a 680 mid FICO score.
5) Use the hell out of that single business credit card. Use it, pay it off, use it, pay it off. Keep doing this. All activity will be reported to Experian Business using the company's EIN. Use this card for 6 months and wait until you get a business credit card offer in the mail. (Always fill in the application and mail it in. Never apply online. It's weird but when a human being has to type in your application information, it usually gets approved. When you apply online, a computer makes the decision on your credit worthiness...and they are pretty hard to surpass because one minor "glitch" on your credit report can throw you into a "decline" as far as the computer is concerned.)
Within a year, you'll have tons of unsecured business credit cards, adding up to at least $100,000. By having (and using then paying off) these credit cards, you'll qualify for all kinds of unsecured business loans.
Now, I have one secret for you that a lot of my students have been asking me about for years and it goes somewhat as follows:
"So, if I have $100,000 in business credit cards, how can I tap into that money to use the cash as a down payment since most credit cards don't allow for huge cash advances?"
And I have a secret. And no, you won't show up at a closing with a MasterCard telling the escrow officer to "put it on this card." (It doesn't work that way.)
In the next entry, I'll tell you exactly how to tap into that credit card cash. (I think it'll surprise you.)
The other day I sent you an email about my recent Bank of America experience with a personal vs. business credit card.
And I think I proved that you'll always get more -- much more -- when it comes to business credit, even if you have a fairly new business.
Here's an example of the power of taking a conscious effort in building business credit for your company:
Because of all the promotional materials, ad space, trade show booths, equipment, raw materials, and printing I have to do for my newest company (which is only 2 years old), I've been using my business credit cards a lot.
On the other hand, Global Success is over 5 years old but I've used my business credit for that particular business minimally due to wanting to stay as solvent as possible.
Britney at US Bank talked me into a business credit card for my newer company and for Global Success. Since I was doing other banking business there I said, "Sure, why the hell not?"
Both companies were instantly approved for business credit cards except...Global Success got approved for much less! What?!
Let me reiterate: The older company with more "seasoning" that has made millions every year (as per our annual tax returns) is approved for...less? Much, muchless?? WTH??
Then I put 2 & 2 together in almost an instant.
Because I've been consciously building credit for the new company (because I know what the hell I'm doing due to plenty of practice), the new company has kick-ass credit while the other one never had the need for credit and therefore didn't build it up well enough.
The newer company is only 2 years old. Two years and 3 months, to be exact. There is only one good tax return (for 2012) that actually showed that the company did decent (but still not as well as Global Success). The year before was at a lossdue to its first year being in business.
I didn't start actively building business credit for this new company until I got anAmerican Express card for it last summer. Then I got a 2nd American Express card for the company about 6 months later.
I used those credit cards to death and all of the activity was immediately reported to my Experian Business credit report (through the company's EIN).
Last month I applied for a Chase Ink business credit card for the new business. It was instantly approved for an unsecured credit line of $18,000. (In the meantime, I can't get approved for a personal unsecured credit card for over $5,000 if my life depended on it!)
And I just mentioned that Bank of America just approved the company for an unsecured credit card with a credit line of $30,000.
Meanwhile, Britney at US Bank is shoving a $250,000 unsecured loan down my throat that I really don't need but I think I'm going to take it today. I can use the money to build up more credit simply by borrowing it and then paying it off within 6 months...or less, and never really using the money at all for anything.
Between this new loan and a small handful of business credit cards, I'm at $313,000 of unsecured credit not including the one American Express that has no pre-set spending limit.
And I pulled this off in less than a year without busting my ass or anything like that. All I did was get a couple of business credit cards, use the hell out of them, and...that's basically it! That's all I did!!
Okay, so there are a few other steps that I didn't quite mention. But it's all simple stuff that you have to work on regularly and religiously.
In the next entry, I'm going to break it down to you so you know exactly what you need to do to gain access to this type of credit and then, after that, I'll tell you how to access the credit for things like down payments on apartment buildings. (My strategy for accessing this credit, especially unsecured credit cards, will probably surprise you.)
I have this perpetual battle with some of my students who don't quite "get" how important both personal and business credit is in this day and age...
Yet they wonder why a bank won't finance them to buy a stick of gum because they have a 425 personal FICO score.
And it actually shocks and amazes them.
But think of it in terms of this:
If you were a bank and someone wanted money for, say, a $10 million apartment complex and yet they had no assets, no personal credit, no business credit, and can barely "vouch" for the fact that they're an American citizen (if they can even do that)...would you give up the money?
I didn't think so.
Remember the giant credit debacle of the 21st century? Remember when lenders were giving home loans with 100% LTVs (and even over 100% LTVs) to people who had "stated" income...meaning they simply "stated" what they made and they were financed?
And remember where that got us, right?
Yes, exactly right. Foreclosure-ville-galore!
And the banks don't want a replay of that. At least not quite yet. At least until they've forgotten about the 21st century lending debacle, that is.
So, in the meantime, it all boils down to credit.
I've been working diligently on my credit since I filed bankruptcy back in 2003. I've fought with creditors, even sued a couple. I've chiseled all the bad marks off my credit reports, even having hard inquiries removed.
Fixing and rebuilding personal credit came first. My personal credit was so bad that I had to get secured credit cards in order to start building credit. Between those and getting a car loan, I was on a fast rebuilding track for my personal FICO score. Within a year I dramatically increased my FICO just by doing those 2 things.
Once I got my FICO above 720, a whole new credit world opened up for me but...
It wasn't about personal credit.
You see...
I now have excellent credit. In fact, I have a banker by the name of Britney who calls me literally every other day to give me business loans. She called me yesterday (for the 3rd time this week) when I was standing in the middle of Universal Studioswondering what the "status" was of my considering her latest loan offer...which was somewhere in the neighborhood of $250,000.
I told her to call me back on Monday. I don't need the money. But maybe I can use it for something to keep building my credit. Or I'll just borrow the money, stuff it into a bank account, and then pay off the loan in 6 months to beef up my Experian Business FICO score.
One of the biggest changes with business credit is DNB vs. Experian Business. I've noticed a huge change in how to build business credit over the past couple of years. Building business credit used to be an endless chore that would be equivalent to holding down a part-time job just to keep up on it since DNB (Dun & Bradstreet) requires you to build (and maintain) your own credit profile.
And that sucks.
Plus they have limitations on which types of creditors you can have.
That sucks even worse!
Then Experian Business came along.
And it's freakin' seamless to work with.
For example, you have a Social Security number. You apply for a personal credit card and the bank uses your SS# to tie you to your credit profile. When you use the credit card, all of your activity is reported to your Experian, Equifax, and Transunion credit reports via your SS#. This happens automatically.
Experian Business works much the same as the above scenario except using your company's EIN (employer's identification number) to tie your business into its own credit profile. Therefore, any business credit card you use with the EIN attached will automatically be reported to your Experian Business credit report.
Automatically without you doing a damn thing except for using and paying your business credit card.
Told you...freakin' awesome!
So, why tinker around with DNB -- building profiles, fighting with a customer service rep over which accounts you can add to your profile, arguing with them over your tax returns -- when you can have Experian Business build credit for you? Just by using a business credit card??
DNB has its place in the food chain. But it's not really something you concern yourself with until you start needing higher dollar amounts such as $500,000+. Then you need to have some type of built up DNB credit.
Until then...you build business credit the easy way!
I have a 4-month Personal & Credit Mentorship Group starting on Wednesday, August 7th. It's my last group for the year.
This group will show you, step-by-step, how to fix and rebuild your personal credit while building business credit at the very same time.
And yes, you can still do this if you don't have a business that has "gross receipts" or tax returns. You can do this if your business is brand new!
In my next entry, I'm going to tell you how my newer company gained access to over $300,000 in unsecured business credit while my older company didn't...and why. (It'll actually surprise you! What'll surprise you more is how easy and quick it was for me to build up so much business credit with my new company in less than a year!)
A couple of days ago I laid out how awesome it would be to have someone fund your deals with 100% LTV but I think I may have skirted over something that's rather important.
It's awesome to be able to have access to these 100% LTV financial resources in my new2014 Motherload Resource Directory but, since these are private investors that you'll be working with, they're not just going to write you a check for any deal.
You do have to prove that your deal is a cash flowing investment. This is done through an executive summary and, in some cases, a mini business plan.
Each private investor has different requirements to what they want to see (and they let you know in full detail what that is).
Here's a few tips for you if you're interested in using these investors for your deals:
1) When doing your numbers on a deal in the CFE (Cash Flow Evaluator), make sure you account for a higher interest rate on a 100% LTV loan. This can range from 9% to 16% on average and these loans are typically interest only which means no principle is ever paid. If you borrow $1,000,000 you'll still owe that same $1,000,000 in 10 years from now.
2) Make sure you're targeting deals that are slightly underperforming where you can still get a deal on the asking price. You don't want properties that are at a 50% occupancy level and you don't want to pay top dollar for a fully occupied property either otherwise the numbers won't work on both accounts.
3) You will need to have a solid future proforma of the property regardless of how it's performing right now. Even a 100% occupied property (today) will still have a higher cash flow value in the years to come provided that you find the right value-add opportunities for the property. The more you can show a higher future cash flow value, the faster you'll be able to get private investors and lenders to write checks to cover your 100% LTVs.
So, again, private investors and lenders won't lend to you based on you knowing how to pick up a phone to call them and on the sheer fact that you're flapping your lips to hit them up for money.
You have to show them that you have a solid cash flowing deal.
Here are some ground rules when you get the 2014 Motherload Resource Directory:
1) Do not call any of these people unless you have a deal. Period. Otherwise they won't talk to you. (And I don't blame them because without a deal you're wasting their time.)
2) Make sure your deal has at least an 8% CAP rate at a 100% LTV.
3) The "hotter" the area, the faster these people will write checks for your deals. They love Florida, Texas, California, Arizona, New York, and most other states. Believe it or not, they're not seeing value in areas that are still borderline "depressed" such as Memphis, Atlanta, Detroit, and Las Vegas to name a few.
The deal on the Motherload is running out. Click on the link below to check it out:
The other day I saw this picture of a mansion in a magazine that some celebrity was on the verge of purchasing and I thought to myself...
How could someone -- anyone -- go from wherever they are in life and be able to purchase a mansion like this in 12 months or less?
Of course, my initial answer is that it would be improbable for most people to pull it off simply because they don't realize or believe it's a possibility unless they win the lottery or some great uncle who is a multi-millionaire kicks the bucket and leaves their entire fortune to them including a mansion, of course.
Then there are those out there who want this level of success, believe they can attain it, and even have a viable means of grasping onto it but...they don't follow through, work hard enough, execute their plan properly, or give up at the wrong time.
But what if...?
What if -- in addition to you already knowing the bona-fide path to financial success (i.e. real estate investing as a means of passive income) -- you had a means of getting 100% of the cash you need to invest in real estate?
And no, I'm not talking about transactional "wet" funding for flipping either.
I'm talking about being able to hit up someone like a long-lost rich aunt who is willing to shell out any type of funds for you on any real estate deal ranging from $250,000 to $100,000,000 provided that you can show her that the deal will make money (vs. being a loss).
And the terms?
Don't worry. She's not going to ask for a stake in any of your deals. She won't be asking for a piece of the monthly cash flow or a percentage of the gained equity.
All she wants is to be paid back...plus interest.
And because you've shown over the years through some wavering on what you wanted to do with your life, maybe a couple of failed businesses or stupid business ideas, and perhaps thumbing your nose at some of your creditors, your aunt isn't going to charge you the lowest possible interest rate. She's going to charge you between 9% and 16% depending on the deal and how risky it is.
But...this isn't a problem. Right?
After all, she is giving you 100% of the money needed for your deal so paying a higher interest rate isn't that bad of a deal, especially since she'll be forgiving of your past credit problems that may still be reflecting on your personal credit history.
If there was such an aunt in your life who could pull off everything I mentioned above...and knowing what you know now about how powerful passive income real estate investing is in MHPs, apartment buildings, and commercial-commercial properties...how long would it take you to be able to afford that mansion I was talking about at the beginning of this email?
A year? Six months? Less?
It would take as long as it'd take you to buy up as many properties as you could to buy the mansion and where this mansion would be. Obviously a mansion in Malibu is a lot more expensive than a mansion in Tulsa of equal square footage.
The bad news...you don't have an aunt who can do all of this.
The good news...I now have lenders who can!
It seems that we have fully economically "recovered" when it comes to the confidence coming back in the real estate market because I've seen some changes so powerful in the past couple of months that didn't even exist back in 2005.
And what is that? 100% LTV financing for commercial and residential-commercial real estate.
These programs are brand new, available through only a handful of private lenders, and the benefit to them is getting a higher interest rate on a market they now believe is "secure" based on the newly found strength in our economy.
Plus, this is also based on a demonstrated current and future value of the property you are investing in which means you aren't going to be going after vacant REO apartment buildings (not that there are many left anymore anyway) that need millions in rehab.
And yes, some of them are forgiving if you've had personal credit issues. (When I say "forgiving" I mean they'll accept minor or older credit problems provided that you've shown you started fixing and rebuilding your credit. I don't mean they'll accept you with a recent bankruptcy with 10 foreclosures piled on top, all in the past 12 months. No one -- not even God Himself -- would finance you with credit that bad. If that's your story, find someone --anyone -- to "partner" in with you until you get your personal credit squared away.)
For the first time ever, I'm able to present these sources to you in my 2014 Motherload Resource Directory. I have 6 of these 100% LTV lenders. I have 1 lender who works exclusively with Florida commercial properties. I have a lender that is actively and aggressively looking to fund properties at a 100% LTV but they want to be part of your deal as an equity partner.
Plus I have several more new lenders and brokers with a wide variety of different exciting loan programs available for the first time in my 2014 Motherload Resource Directory.
If you've purchased a prior version of the directory, you'll get an "upgrade" discount. Otherwise, you'll still get a discount for my 4th of July Blow Out which is ending soon.
If you've missed any other offer I've ever done before, this isn't the offer you want to miss out on. Period.
Everybody knows that the world of real estate investing is all about other people's money (OPM). Anyone with a rich aunt or an endless supply of money can easily make money provided that they're smart enough to know the appreciation value of real estate (instead of blowing the money on dope and hookers...or some other such nonsense).
If you've been struggling with getting money for your deals and have been frustrated with the lack of resources due to the "dry spell" our economy has undergone in the past 7 to 8 years, here's your lucky break. (Finally!)
I have a short audio seminar about this phenomenal new Resource Directory athttp://www.monicamain.com/motherload_resource_directory/.
This deal ends very soon and once it's over...it's over!
This morning I took my daughter Brie to breakfast at a local restaurant that we often frequent. This was the second day in a row that I took her since she's officially out of school for the summer.
Yesterday morning and this morning I saw these 2 people in an old Pinto with 2 dogs. As with most people who feel they are in an uncomfortable situation, you tend to quickly skirt past people who are down on their luck, especially in a neighborhood like mine that is considered upper-middle class. That's what I found myself doing yesterday.
This morning was different...
They had this little puppy who we eventually learned was called Zippy. Brie wanted to pet the little pup and I let her. They had a much older dog called Blue, I think.
My heart went out to these people. Here they were in the parking lot wedged between a restaurant and a discount hotel/motel and this older couple (probably in their 60s) had everything they owned stuffed into this small beige beat up 70s car. With 2 dogs.
It's not my job or right to judge anyone and I don't. But these types of situations always make me ask myself..."What happened to these people that they ended up like this?"
I asked the man politely if I could offer him some money to help him out. I mentioned that I didn't want to be disrespectful but I wanted to offer him something. He said it would help get the dogs some food and he graciously accepted what I would offer.
I reached into my purse and counted out five $20 bills then handed the cash to my daughter so she could benefit from the joy of helping someone out. (This would be her second experience in 2 weeks giving money to someone who is less fortunate.) He thanked me and we went into the restaurant.
While we were sitting at the table, Brie started asking me questions about them. She asked about why we gave them money and I mentioned to them about how they didn't have a home. They were homeless and lived in their car.
This was the first time she was introduced to the word "homeless" and what it truly meant. And it made her sad. Her sadness touched my heart because she didn't understand why someone wouldn't have a home in a world (that she knows) as being abundant. It didn't quite register.
Both Brie and the homeless people are correct in the reality of their life.
Brie is correct in that life is abundant and has the ability to give everyone anything they want if they go for it.
The homeless couple are correct in that life is lacking because somehow along the way they chose that lifestyle or chose to believe that poverty is a reality.
During breakfast I pondered how someone like that could possible get out of that situation. What could you do if you're not given a break by anyone? How could you possibly shift out of that and into something better?
I thought of the possibilities.
Maybe collect cans for cash. Maybe get a post office box as an address. Maybe scrounge around Good Will to find some things you can sell on eBay. Maybe buy a cheap camera and use the computer with an Internet connection at a library to start a small eBay business.
At least that's what I would do.
Unfortunately, it's not just the mechanics of pulling out of their circumstance that's holding these people back. It's the heavy black cloud that looms over them day in and day out, blocking out any possibly hope they could ever have about their future.
Which is why they have 2 dogs. These dogs brighten each day for them and are critical for their survival. Those dogs give them the hope that they need each day.
As we left the restaurant, the man (who apparently didn't realize I gave him $100 before) was ridiculously grateful and said "thank you" over and over again. His wife (I presume) was actually sitting in view this time (since she was hidden in the driver's seat before) also profusely thanked us for the money and said something about being able to get her car registered. I quickly glanced at the tags of her license plate and saw that they expired at the end of this month...in a few days.
I looked at the woman. She looked somewhat glamorous and reminded me of Loni Anderson (if you remember who she was). If she was cleaned up and dressed up, she could easily walk a red carpet anytime anywhere.
What the hell happened to these people?
I told her "God bless" and I said that I hoped things got better for them very soon. She started wiping tears away and my heart dropped because I knew the truth...
This can happen to any of us.
Once upon a time these people were probably considered "normal" by society's standards and they hit a rough patch. And now they live in a car in a restaurant parking lot.
Again, none of us are immune to this possibility.
When you travel through LA (as I frequently do) and see a matted-haired homeless person pushing a shopping cart and wearing every bit of clothing they own on their back in 90+ degree weather...talking to themselves; what do you think?
Do you ignore them as a crazy person?
Or do you think..."What the f#@* went wrong?"
Do you think they came out of their mother's womb as a total whack job that talked to themselves and aspired to live on the streets of LA, talking to themselves?
No, my friend. Something snapped at some point in their adulthood. They couldn't handle the pressures of everyday living and their brain shut down in parts. Talking to themselves is a means of coping.
I am sometimes condemned by family members for giving money to strangers. Other people who think they "understand" why I do it think I do it as a form of tithing.
Both sets of people are wrong.
I do it because life has beat the sh** out of me many times and I understand the very real possibility that any one of us (including myself) can end up like those people.
I do it because I would want someone to help me, even a little bit, if I were in that situation.
I do it for "brownie points" because I hope the Universe will give me a "pass" and not shove me into a situation like that against my will.
And the main reason I do it because the only people who feel truly grateful for what I can give to them -- even if it's a few dollars -- are those who have been humbled by the severity of the worst that life can dish out.
The only time I ever feel a sincere blessing from anyone is when I can give to someone who is in need the most. And I need to feel their genuine blessing as much (if not more) than they need a few dollars.
Why?
Because when you're someone with money, everyone who contacts you (including and especially "friends" and family) wants money. And when they get it from you, they want more. And when they get more and you finally tell them to f#@* off after several years of the financial abuse, they immediately come to hate you and everything you are.
And it makes you feel sad because you are who you are after a time.
And that's where I'm at.
So...how does someone who is seemingly living a normal life spin out of control and end up living in a Pinto in a restaurant parking lot with 2 dogs when they should be retired, playing with grandchildren in the backyard, and watching Jeopardy every night?
The truth is this...
The mind/brain goes first. And when I say "go" I don't mean that they snapped or went crazy or anything like that. I mean that there was a slight shift in the thought process. Somewhere along the way they lost focus and maybe one or more things occurred in a short time frame that flushed their confidence down the drain where before they believed they could take care of themselves.
It happens a lot. Someone loses a good job. Then they lose their house. They find themselves living in Mom's basement. There are no job prospects. They take to drinking. Mom kicks them out.
Or there's a divorce. Or someone close dies.
Or some other such scenario.
Bottom line: something throws them off kilter and they lose confidence in themselves.
What am I getting to here?
It's simple.
Just as easily as you could be thrown off kilter, you can shift into a different direction to get what you want in life.
How?
It's so ridiculously simple that you'll probably discard it as being insignificant but here it is anyway.
1) Decide: you have to first decide that you're ready to go into a different direction in your life. To "decide" actually means "to cut off" other alternatives. It essentially means get off the fence and go in one direction with confidence while letting go of another possibility or reality. You also have to decide what that different direction will be (obviously).
2) Know-how/mechanics: once you decide which direction you want to go into, you need to get the proper know-how or mechanics (in order) that have to happen in order to achieve what you're doing. This includes education which needs to ultimately turn into a step-by-step action plan that you can follow in a specified order.
3) Action: do it. Period. Sitting on your ass thinking about it, talking about it, and dreaming about it will get you absolutely nowhere quick! My "smarties" or those of you who have high IQs, advanced degrees, or just think too much at 2am instead of sleeping end up thinking yourselves right out of success because you have trained your brains to weigh the "cons" against the "pros." And no action ever happens. So, do me a favor and "dumb yourself down" so you can take action and stop thinking about all the "what ifs" that will probably never happen.
I have to admit that in 2011 I started losing focus. When you find that you're losing focus, it usually means that something big is going on (positive or negative) or you're just done with how you're spending you life (i.e. sick of your job, business, etc.). In my case, I was getting a divorce then getting married all within about 90 days. (I know, probably not the best plan.)
No matter what I tried to do to snap my focus back, it continued to wane.
This is when I discovered that it was also time for a life change as well. Welcome to midlife crisis-ville.
In order to continue growing as a spiritual being, you sometimes have to shake things up a bit and venture out to do other things otherwise your soul starts to die.
Last year I was able to get my "groove" back with my new business.
I first started my new company to demonstrate how easy it was to set up a New Wealth Ninja business to become my own "case study" for my students.
Then this little "project" turned into a lucrative business venture.
I started to notice something weird happening...
My students knew about my new business (through my New Wealth Ninja trainings) and started to hit me up about how they could do it to.
And this is never a good sign when my students want me to talk about a completely unrelated business at a real estate investing seminar. Or maybe it is a good sign because I decided to have an Underground Secret Event solely on this Aggressive Income on Steroids and Speed method that I sort of stumbled in as a side project.
Little did I know that this side project would not only be incredibly profitable but it also saved me from careening off balance (where bad things could have happened to my financial and business future).
You'll not only discover a completely new and highly profitable business model that I've never fully explained or laid out but you'll also learn how to avoid the many pitfalls that I barely survived in this business. You'll also learn the multi-faceted realm of distribution of products from having a small home-based Internet business to having a major multi-million-dollar empire.
There's also going to be a very special guest speaker who can tell you about some incredibly profitable (and cheap) products including insider information on which of these types of products sell the most.
Ronnie will also be talking about his views of the business, the pitfalls he had to overcome, and how to quickly catapult yourself to success with some strategies that made all the difference.
Last night I found out that my Aunt Pam passed away at 65 years of age
due to a brain aneurism while she was getting a lung transplant. She
was a heavy smoker for the majority of her lifetime so...what can anyone
including myself actually say? If you abuse your body all your life,
you can't expect it to keep putting out in a positive way for you.
This made me think of my mom's death. It'll be 8 years in July since
she's been gone. Between alcoholism, heavy smoking, and drug abuse
here and there paired with the worst possible diet imaginable, here
again we have an instance of...what else can you expect? My mom died
at 52 of a brain tumor that housed the most aggressive form of cancer
imaginable.
I've taken a quick glance at the last couple of years in my life and
I'm realizing how many changes I've made for a couple of different
reasons:
1) Changes in the economy have altered the way I have to do business.
2) Personally I've determined that changes are required due to the
lack of desire for doing the same old things for the rest of my life.
The more people I've spoken to since about this time last year (mostly
women, I should add) I've been able to see that there is this same
"theme" that is running through most people's lives right now.
People want to do something different with their lives. A lot of
people (including myself) who kept "planning" on changing their diets
and implementing an exercise program finally are (like I have).
Those who lost their jobs or businesses are reinventing themselves...
and are much happier than they ever thought possible.
It also got me thinking about something else too...this one pestering
question that comes up time and time again:
What do we really need to be happy?
For the majority of my adult life, I've been extremely successful
financially. And 100% of that success has been derived from being
an entrepreneur of many different hats, as most entrepreneurs are.
What bothered me as I was delving into the "whys" and "what ifs" of
life was this...the more I got financially, the more I felt like I
had to get more of in order to be "safe and secure." And because I
didn't feel that feeling of "safety and security" that I thought I'd
feel being at certain stations in life (including where I'm at now),
I'd start to panic and really tumble off balance.
It got me thinking about the times when I didn't have anything and I
worried about how I'd pull off certain business and investing projects
I was working on.
Yet, somehow, it always worked out.
Looking back, those were actually the most peaceful and happiest
moments in my life. Certainly not because I worried about the outcome
but because there was nothing to lose.
Somehow when you accumulate a lot in your life and you have something
to lose, now you're worried about (1) maintaining what you have, (2)
getting more, and (3) possibly losing what you got.
Talk about making anyone a stress basket.
All of the above has thrown my health into a combination of stomach
ulcers, not eating enough (or well enough), and migraine headaches
while sucking out any possible energy I would normally have to do
basic day-to-day things. (At least I keep exercising though.)
I had a recent opportunity to participate in the building and managing
of a pretty large entrepreneurial project (and I won't tell you what
it is) that would have netted me somewhere in the ballpark of $20 to
$30 million after everything was said and done...in about 8 years from
now. This would have also included going back to my 65 to 80 hours
per week.
And this is where I declined.
Most of you already know that I have a daughter. She will be 5 next
month.
Most of you know that I just turned 39 last week.
And many of you are perhaps thinking that these are the 2 major reasons
why I turned down such a lucrative project.
Maybe. Maybe those are the reasons I turned it down.
After all, how often would I actually see my daughter working 80 hours
a week? I am 39 and I've "been there done that" with overworking for
many years and I don't quite have the desire to do that anymore.
(Youth gives us energy solely on motivation and enthusiasm...which I
don't have for certain things anymore.)
But for a $20 to $30 million payout in 8 years? What kind of mental
tardo would pass that up??
Me...that's who.
And it's because I've "been there done that" and I took a very close
look at what I really "needed" to exist happily on this planet.
Surprisingly, my monthly household bills don't exceed $10,000 a month.
On average, I make about 5 to 7 times that in any given month. In
some months, I make up to 14 times what I actually "need."
So, since it's pretty clear that I'm already making what I "need" by
amounts that dramatically exceed my $10,000 monthly requirement, what
the hell is $20 to $30 million parked in a bank account going to do
for me that will justify me giving up watching my daughter grow up?
I had a recent phone conversation with a student of mine. I'll just
use her initials as to not "out" her...Her name is L.D. She's an
incredibly independent woman and I admire her quite a bit for her
strength and character.
The problem with L.D.?
No problem at all except within herself.
Each time I talk to her, she has a very "heavy" energy about herself.
She's usually depressed and only wants to focus on what isn't working
in her life.
Okay, yes, she went through some major turbulent calamities in recent
months including a divorce. (Hey, I'm an expert on that one!) She
has a variety of different "issues" that she's been working through
most of her life.
And this is when I finally had to stop her before I went insane during
the phone call!
You can't move forward as long as you keep glaring into the rearview
mirror!! Past is past, baby. Nothing you can do about it.
In fact, Ronnie almost hit a box truck pulling out of a parking lot
yesterday that he was driving into because he was too busy focusing on
the police car that was riding up behind him.
You'll get hurt focusing on the past. It'll never do you a damn bit
of good either.
And this was L.D.'s problem. She was too busy not only focusing in on
the past but all of the worst things that happened...
Including...how she's in her 50s and isn't where she thinks she needs
to be financially. And how she's a few paychecks away from being on
the street.
Guess what L.D. (and everyone else out there)! I am too! We all are!
Just because I have a significant amount of assets squirreled away
doesn't mean that I am immune to a variety of different financial
storms that can come in and sweep it all away. This can vary from a
lawsuit to IRS issue to anything that may come up that I can't
possibly predict.
How many millionaires have woken up one day to realize that all their
assets were seized by the government due to the fact that we're really
all "guilty until proven innocent."
I once had $8,000 taken out of my bank account due to a clerical error
at Bank of America. There was a state tax lien on one of my accounts
because my business name closely matched another business that owed
the state of California.
What if it wasn't $8,000? What if it was $80,000 or $800,000? Or more?
I could have woken up and had all my assets frozen due to a clerical
error at the f#@&*** bank!!
And it took me 10 days to sort it all out. I would have been cashless
for all that time until the "guilty until proven innocent" system worked
in my favor.
One thing about L.D...she's a brilliant and highly regarded Registered
Nurse. She is literally the right hand woman to operating room doctors
that depend on her for her skills and talents.
She has been taking care of herself all of her adult life as a strong
and independent woman.
Yet she wouldn't see any of this (until I pounded some sense into her).
Instead she just wanted to keep focusing on what she didn't have going
on in her life. She went on and on about "what if I slip and fall and
can't work?" And I'm not in the same boat somehow??
It's just as ridiculous as a multi-millionaire who lives in San Diego
worrying daily about being kidnapped by a Mexican cartel and being
beaten for 3 days straight while his family comes up with a $5 million
ransom.
Who thinks like that?? Who worries about ridiculous negative nonsense
such as that??
Listen...absolutely none of us are at the stage in life that we expected.
None of us. Myself included.
Yet what I've learned and discovered is that I have perfectly balanced
my life to get what I need. I know that I'm talented and brilliant
enough with a strong enough skillset to start over (as I have multiple
times before) if everything is taken from me overnight. I am grateful
for these abilities and skills that I've developed to allow me to
take care of myself.
And you need to start being grateful for your abilities too.
Stop thinking about what you don't have. Stop worrying about things
that only have a 0.000000001% chance of ever happening in your life.
Start celebrating who you are, what you really want (is it really
$20 million in a bank account?), and all of the skills and talents
you have right now to get there!
(Sorry L.D. for "outing" you. You're an awesome woman. Start giving
yourself the credit you deserve!)
First things first, start identifying the negative thinking. (Hint:
it's usually about how much you're not making, how you hate your job,
how you've "failed" at doing certain things, etc.)
Now, start identifying and celebrating every skill you have. This
can be something as little as being able to whittle a whistle out of
a piece of wood. It can be your confidence. Your ability to talk to
people. Your ability to draw cartoon characters.
The more confidence you give yourself, the more action you'll take on
your action plan.
Now, the action plan...
I don't care how many self-help "attraction" books you read; you'll
never get anywhere with positive thinking until you actually physically
apply it somewhere in the world of economics.
Basic law, folks: sell a product or service and extract money from
people while offering something of value to others.
Anything that falls out of line with that simply won't work. (How
far have those lottery scratchers really gotten you in life?)
Here's what I've learned: It's very easy to quickly get past your
psychological shortcomings and negative thought patterns by developing
new thought patterns. You can only do that by moving in some type of
direction to change your life.
It's easy to sit around the campfire and talk about doing something
"someday" but "someday" never comes if you never pound out a short list
and start taking action!
Now is your time. Do something. Even if it's not something through
me, you need to really funnel your goals, desires, and dreams (starting
with what you really want in life), create a very short action plan
list (up to 10 simple items) and start working the list every day while
suspending any possible negative beliefs you have about the items or
the plan.
And there's your secret to getting anything you want.
The other day, Ronnie and I were talking through a "what if" scenario
about creating and distributing an alcoholic product.
Now, just to give you a spark of inspiration; I had a student who got
involved with my Distribution Profit System earlier this year. He took
interest in my example about how you can take an ordinary product like,
say, vodka, for instance. Then you can put a different "spin" on it
by maybe putting the vodka in skull-shaped bottles and sell them. This
is what one entrepreneur did and he became successful so I used it as
an example in my course materials.
This student of mine by the name of Nick was inspired by this to the
point where he did it. But instead of creating large vodka bottles
that would be sold in a grocery store, for example, he instead decided
to create different types of bottles for different liquors that were
small...like the ones you'd get on an airplane. Well, maybe a tad
bigger than those.
One was...yes, you guessed it: a skull. He has others. One is shaped
like a pistol. Another is shaped like an alien. I only remember those
three from the picture he emailed to me.
Nick sells these through distributors to convenience stores and gas
stations. And he sells them cheap.
The liquor, of course, is no top shelf alcohol. It's the lowest form
of well liquor you can possibly imagine.
And he reported that in the past few months since launching his product,
he's already grossed just over $150,000.
Not bad for an idea he ripped off from me (that I ripped off from
someone else) and basically filling bottles he bought in China with
sh***y well liquor.
My prediction for Nick, provided that he stays on this same track, is
that he'll be pulling in about $700,000 by the end of this year and
grossing over $2 million by the close of 2014.
Go Nick!
So, back to my conversation with Ronnie. He said that if he were to
churn out some type of alcoholic beverage, he'd completely turn his
back on any top shelf liquor. (This was before I told him the Nick
story.) Instead, he'd bottle up and sell the cheapest, most vile
and revolting alcohol he could get and call the product "Gut Rot."
I'm like..."Gut Rot"?!
He said, "Yeah, it's a catchy name. It'll be super cheap and it'll
sell really well in not-so-great neighborhoods. As long as people get
a buzz and it's cheap, they won't care about the name."
Even worse, I actually liked the entire idea and name of the product.
Why?
Because he had a point. As he said during the conversation, it's
a stupid marketing plan to create some expensive $300-per-bottle
liquor where you can only sell to high-end customers when you can
churn out a high volume selling hundreds of thousands of units to
low-end "party" stores, even if you're only making a buck or two
per unit.
Which would you rather have?
Your "clothing line" in every Walmart in America where you're "only"
making about a $1 per shirt or pair of pants that's sold?
Or your "clothing line" in a handful of mom-and-pop boutiques across
the country where you're making about $50 per shirt or pair of pants
that's sold? Except that you're only in about 25 mom-and-pop joints.
Oh, wait...Did I to mention that there are 4,663 Walmarts in the U.S.
and 10,857 Walmarts worldwide?
I'll opt for Walmart all day, folks! And yes, at "only" a buck a crack.
Okay, sure, there are higher end department stores like Macy's and
Nordstrom's but it's getting harder and harder to break through buyers
in these types of stores vs. getting into higher volume stores.
Plus, you actually have to create a higher cost product which is a pain
in the ass.
Instead, service our "get-stuff-cheap" highly consumable Walmart society
by going China, getting a pallet full of stuff, and distributing it here.
And it's just as easy as that, too.
Here are some facts:
1) No matter what, manufacturing is never coming back to the U.S. I
don't care what Obama or anyone else says. We can't make things cheap
enough with the cost of having a warehouse/plant, employees, health
care, insurance, and on and on and on...it's not affordable.
2) The Chinese have anything and everything you could ever want to
sell. What they don't have, they can make for you. And it's all cheap.
3) What the Chinese don't have is the ability to distribute here in
the United States.
And that's where you come in...and make millions in the process.
Now, of course, certain things you absolutely cannot get in China
such as consumables like herbal supplements or anything edible.
(You can still have the packaging manufactured there.)
But everything else? You can have made overseas, bring it over,
throw it into the distribution network, and rake in all the cash you
could ever want.
The other day I had this eye-opening phone consulting session with a
student on "what to do" with his real estate investing business/career.
It seems that there is a fashionable trend these days of my students
roping me into a 30-minute time-wasting phone consulting session just
to have me whip out a crystal ball and act like Dionne Warwick of the
Psychic Friends Network.
You see, nobody seems to know what they want to do with their lives and
yet I'm supposed to be the one to tell them.
And I can't do that.
How am I supposed to know which type of real estate investing you have
a liking for? I'm not you!
This is a big reason as to why I have different mentorship groups. This
allows you the opportunity to "try it out" without fully committing your
entire life to it. It allows you to get "real world experience" within
that type of investing to see if it suits you...or not.
And if it doesn't? Go with another group! It's that simple.
The other ongoing trend with my students is that I'm supposed to
"guarantee" their success somehow.
Well...there's a minor problem with that. How am I supposed to
"guarantee" that you'll become successful when there is a chance that
you'll be guided through the entire process (by me) and yet nothing
will be followed through on (by you)?
The only person's success that I can guarantee is my own. That's
because I know what I'm capable of -- not just with the education I've
acquired by being in the real estate investing trenches day in and
day out -- but because I get off my ass every day and actually follow
through with my goals and commitments to myself and other investors.
And if you're anything like me (self-motivated and a self-starter) then
you can guarantee your own success by (1) gaining the education needed,
and (2) following through until you succeed.
It's really no more complicated than that, folks.
There are a multitude of different types of income real estate methods.
Most of what I teach fall into the "passive" income category. However,
there are some aggressive forms such as SFR flipping. Since my last
SFR Mentorship Group started already, there are only groups that are
geared toward passive income.
I have my most successful signature group (Apartment Building Cash Flow)
starting next Wednesday. If you haven't had the opportunity to join this
group, I strongly suggest that you give yourself the gift of becoming a
real live apartment building real estate investor for 8 weeks. This
group is 100% online and you'll be put through the entire process of
exactly how to become an apartment building investor.
But only you can know if this is something you want. I can't tell you
if this is what you should be doing with your life.
I will tell you this: investing in multi-family residential properties
is the best type of investing there is, giving you the most lucrative
cash flows. And by taking this course, you'll be more educated than
many of the doctors, dentists, and lawyers that I consult with on a
weekly basis who are in a "help me" state of mind because they bought
property, didn't do the proper cash flow analysis before they bought,
and now they're consulting with me to figure out what to do.
("Sell that bitch and cut your losses" is usually my standard reply.)
Imagine being smarter than my doctors, dentists, and lawyers who
frequently consult with me because they got involved in real estate
investing half-assed and backwards.
You can do this but only if you believe it's up your alley. And I
can't be the one to tell you if it is or isn't. Only you know that.
