Three Assets you can use to become a Millionaire

Now, more than ever, it has become so much easier to set up a company or start earning extra income. All you need is a great idea, some time and effort, and bit of forward planning. Most people are too scared to start their own company because they worry about the massive overheads, the start up costs and potentially losing the security of a monthly wage. However, we all own or are at least renting, three valuable assets that if used correctly could turn you into a Millionaire.

Computer

Chances are, if you are reading this post, you have a computer or a laptop. The computer opens up many doorways to generating income and because of the widespread use of the internet, anyone can set up their own business with very little overheads.

With the internet, anyone can be a shopkeeper. All you need is a website and a great product. Websites such as Ebay or Etsy allow anyone to set up shop and market to their potential customers. Some people have managed to generate a substantial secondary income via Ebay or have even made it their full time occupation. People who enjoy crafts and arts have made it more than a hobby by selling their work on Etsy. Again, some people have managed to make it their full time job.

You may think, well I don't really have anything that great to sell. Find someone that does. If you're into art but aren't particularly artistic, talk to local artists. Most would prefer to get on with being artistic and leave the selling to someone else. You can take a cut from the sales and the artists will be happy that someone is working for them and generating them income.

Perhaps you have a great blog that everyone is reading. If you're getting the hits, why not put adsense or paid advertising on there. You could be earning money whilst you sleep. That way you only need to spend a couple of hours a day updating and promoting your blog, using the rest of the time on another income generating project.

There are loads of great business opportunities that are just a mouse click away. You just need to see the opportunities and take them.

Phone

Nowadays, most people own a phone. A lot of people even own a smartphone. But even with a standard phone you can start to make money. If you have great communication skills, your phone could be worth Millions.

Consider a recruitment consultant. Think about what they do. They phone businesses to see if they are in need of new recruits. Then they look through their directory of business people and phone them up to see if they want the job. They're selling on both sides. They're selling their recruiting skills to the businesses and then they're selling the idea of a new job to the potential recruits. Their phone is their main money making tool. Why isn't your phone making you money? It should be!

Perhaps you're not a great sales person, but you are a great organiser. All you need is a phone and a local directory to set up an event and then attract the right people to it. For example, you could set up a business networking event. All you need to do is find a venue, book a date and then start phoning around businesses to ask them if they want to attend. You can ask business owners to talk at the event. Most would be flattered by the invitation. You can then make money from this by selling advertisement space at the event.

Your phone is costing you money every month and you are not using it to it's full potential. You don't even need to own a smartphone to be able to make money. Being able to communicate could be your greatest asset.

Spare Room

If you have a spare room, or even a corner of the room that is just gathering dust, there is no need to start paying expensive overheads on offices, plus travel, plus bills etc. You are already paying them. Now it's time to start making money from them.

If you think about what there is in an office. A desk, a chair, a computer and a phone. If you're lucky, a good coffee machine too. Well we've already established that you own a computer and a phone. Chances are you have a kettle. It doesn't cost anything to set up an office at home. If you have a laptop, you don't even have to buy a desk, you just need a comfy sofa, and if you have a desktop, I'm willing to bet you have a desk.

You are already paying out each month for your home, whether that's rent, mortgage or even just bills. Why not make that pay you. You won't have any extra costs to set up an office and you can even claim some of it on the business and save money on tax. 

Making money and setting up businesses is about seeing the opportunities that are already there, and not focusing on the obstacles that we come across. Seeing opportunities, even in the downfall is the only difference between Millionaires and poor thinkers. Sure we have to acknowledge the obstacles, but they are there to make us run faster, jump higher and push harder. Most people don't set up a business because they see start up costs as an obstacle, but as you have read, setting up a business doesn't have to cost you anything but time and hard work. 

FM

Millionaires Know How To Cut The Fat

Don't worry, I'm not going to start telling you that in order to be successful, you now have to be on a strict diet and exercise regime. Although I personally use exercise to get me into the right frame of mind to get on with work in the morning... and a lot of caffeine, this post is about time management. Time is our only commodity that you can't buy more of and you can't get back, and it's the greatest commodity we have. So why do most of us waste so much of it?

So many times I ask people how they're doing and the first thing they say is that they're tired and they're busy. I hear far too many people telling me that they have too much to do, they wish they had an extra day or that they never seem to have any time to themselves. I never have too much to do. I have a lot to do but never too much. If you have too much to do, then you're selling yourself short. If you need an extra day, you need to learn how to prioritise and manage your day. If you are too busy, chances are, you're wasting a lot of time.

The most important rule of time management is to cut the fat. If you have clear goals this process should be really easy. If not, perhaps you had better read some of my earlier posts. 

You have to list down everything you are part of, every project you're doing, every club you've joined, every voluntary position you hold etc etc. You may find you have a lot on your plate. You may also find that actually, you don't have as much on as you thought. A good way to really see what it is you're doing is by writing down everything you do in a day, what time you start it, how long it takes etc. If you do this everyday for about ten days, you'll really be able to see how much time you are wasting and what activities you are doing.

How many of those activities are bringing you closer to your goals? Could a lot of things you are doing, actually be done quicker?

People tend to have a habit of taking on activities that actually pushes them further away from their goals. We all have a habit of agreeing to do jobs for people, or helping someone with their own work and often neglect the things we need to do in order to get us closer to what we want. If you look at that list of activities you do, you may find that only a couple of those are bringing you closer to your goals, and sometimes we neglect those activities to do things that take us further away from our goals. If you are not working towards your goals, you are increasing the amount time it will take to get there.

By cutting the fat, you are also streamlining your activities. When something is streamlined, it gets there faster.

If you were to look at a page in a Millionaires diary, you would see that every activity is written down to the minute. The most important activities are prioritised and every activity will bring them closer to their own goals. People with good time management can still do things outside of working towards their goals... but they don't prioritise them. 

You'll also see, that they're doing a lot more than the average person who thinks they are "busy". Most people who say they're too busy, are actually wasting a lot of time... including mine! Millionaires diaries have accounted for every minute of the day. Nothing takes longer than it needs.

Millionaires know that a working day is longer than eight hours. Although you don't want to be working twenty hours a day, if you're leaving work unfinished so you can clock off at five, you're not working hard enough and you're not prioritising your time. You may think that you need some time in the day to rest, and sure it's nice to have an hour or so to relax before going to bed, but remember, Millionaires are in the position of being able to take a month off at a time to go Yachting around the south of France. If you prioritise your work well enough, one day you can too.

Time is our only true commodity. If you value it highly, you won't waste it. Prioritise the things you do in life and push yourself to get things done quicker. If you can do it well, you'll be able to achieve a lot more and will probably find you have more time to spend on hobbies or being with the people you love.

FM

More Posts on Time Management coming soon.

Thank you for reading. I hope you are getting a lot from these posts. If you find them interesting, please share them with friends and colleagues. Please join me on Twitter and help spread the word.

Create Your Tribe Like A Millionaire

It is natural human instinct to want to be part of a group. From the earliest days of civilisation, humans have formed tribes that have sometimes grown into civilisations, states and even Empires. Then within those civilisations and states, more tribes are created. We do this because it used to be a defence mechanism. Very few humans can survive by themselves so we constantly feel the need to be "in the loop" or "part of the gang".

Now, with the internet and social media, a tribe doesn't have to be confined to geography. A tribe can be worldwide. If you think of Facebook as a very obvious example, it started off as a tribe. It was a college website which then grew to incorporate other college students from different Universities. It was a still quite an exclusive tribe and it was only a little while ago that you had to be a student to join. Now it's a worldwide social network. In fact it's got so huge, there are literally millions of different tribes within facebook. Businesses, Artists, Musicians or any random person can create a page and get people to "like" it. These people form a tribe, and every tribe needs a leader....

This is where you and I come in. 

You and I are leaders. This is why you are reading this blog, and why I am writing it. You want to change something, or are changing it and I want to help you change it. I wanted to change something by writing this blog. I was fed up of blogs and websites charging you and making you sign up to their newsletters in order to get information on "being successful". Most times it was a scam because you had to purchase (at a extortionate price) the material which was then mostly a load of hyped up, useless information that wasn't really about allowing you to be successful, but about flattering the ego of the person writing or speaking.

I changed this by writing a blog that's free. I changed this by not telling you who I am. I'm not here to flatter my ego and I'm not here to rip you off. I'm here to do something that may one day have a really positive effect on my readers.

What is it that you want to change?

People confuse Leaders with Managers. You and I are not managers. Managers keep the factory going to the status quo and end up with the same predictable results. Innovation doesn't happen in factories. Managers believe that they can grow their business by simply telling more people about it. Well most people have heard of acid, but who's drinking it? Leaders are there because they are passionate about doing something. They are passionate about making something better or even completely revolutionising something. Leaders don't listen to the people that tell them no and they walk through every obstacle that comes their way. Leaders automatically attract their followers because their followers are people that believe in what the Leader is doing.

Tribes have to grow organically. Most people assume that phenomenons happen over night. They really don't. There are countless stories of how Leaders worked on something for years before anyone even took notice of what they are doing. Phenomenons happen because a Leader works relentlessly on their dream until it happens. Slowly, day by day, more people get attracted to what that Leader is doing. In six months they may have only five people in their tribe, but a Leader carries on regardless because they know that what they're doing is one day, going to have a really positive effect.

I'll use this blog as an example. I have been writing this for only a little while and I have some regular readers. I currently don't have a massive amount of people in my tribe and I know this won't be an overnight success. However, I know that what I'm putting up is good information. I know it's helpful information and I know that even already, some people are getting good use out of it. I know that the longer I do it, the more readers I'll get and the better the content will become, which will in turn attract more readers. If those readers like what I am doing, they may well tell other people about it. It may take a year before I'm getting the amount of hits I would like to achieve, but I will get there because I believe in growing my tribe organically. 

I also believe in strengthening and involving my tribe. This isn't a one way street. This is why you can talk to me directly on twitter. Tell me what you want or what you don't want. I know that the people in my tribes have their own tribes and are Leaders themselves. This is why they are in my tribe, because they want to become more informed Leaders. Success is something that should be shared.

So if you have found any of these blogs useful, informative or even just a bit interesting. Please tell other people. Please RT me on twitter, please link my blog. Help me grow my tribe, and in turn, inform your own tribe.

Many Thanks

FM

Self Evaluation

One of the most important tools we have is Self Evaluation. Anyone who is successful at anything has been through a lot of self analysis and good business person will be constantly analysing themselves and their business.

Kolbs learning Cycle is a graphic that can show us how we analyse ourselves, and whilst most people will look at it and go "well that's completely obvious", very few of us consciously do it as part of our self developing. Our learning experience can start at any point on this cycle and by knowing at which stage we are, on anything we trying to get better at, we can use the cycle to systematically and methodically learn at a greater pace than before.

Kolbs Learning Cycle is pretty simple once you've got a grasp on what each part actually means. I have created a simple exercise for you to follow on any project you are doing right now. This could be running your company, managing a store or trying to bake a cake.

Reflective Observation:

To make this exercise work, we're gonna start at this point on the learning cycle. Whatever project you've got in mind, you need to write step by step what it is you did. Let's say you're tried to get more clients so you ran a promotion, advertised in some local newspapers and leafleted. Think about where you advertised, what was the promotion and where you sent leaflets and write it all down as precise as possible. It seems obvious and basic, but when have you ever done that before?

Abstract Conceptualisation:

At this stage it's time to make some conclusions about what it is you did. I always ask myself two questions at this stage.

What Worked?

What Didn't Work?

Again, this seems really simple, but it's about actually sitting down, asking yourself those questions and writing it all down. Keeping with the same example as before, how many more clients did you gain from the promotion, did the advertising work and did many people take your leaflets? If so, did they ring you or buy your products?

Active Experimentation:

It should seem obvious now to stop doing what's not working and put all that extra focus and work into doing what is working. Let's say the promotion attracted 10 more clients and took very little effort. The advertising attracted 2 clients and took a lot of money, and the leafleting attracted 15 clients but took a lot time. It would seem wise to detract the advertising and put that effort into leafletting, and to carry on with the promotion or come up with a new one.

Concrete Experience:

Now that you have planned what to do... go do it!

Then you can start the whole cycle again.

It's very easy to get into the habit of doing something, even if it's not working particularly well. Very few people sit down and spend a few hours analysing their work and planning how to make it better. Those that do are constantly improving and becoming more successful in different areas in their lives. By developing your skills, your value goes up and employers have no choice but to pay you more, and clients will see the benefits in paying extra for the better quality service or products you supply. I constantly ask myself these three questions...

What Am I Doing?

What Is Working?

What Isn't Working?

Without actively asking yourself these three key questions, you'll find yourself getting stuck in a rut and never improving.

FM

The Three Types Of Income

In The UK, the richest 25% of the population own approximately 85% of the wealth (according to HMRC in 2003). The distribution of wealth all around the world has always been more favourably split to a smaller percentage of people, leaving some people who may work just as hard during the day, struggling to put food on the table, whilst others who seemingly live a life of leisure are never in short supply of cash. Learning about the three types of income can give you a real insight into how they do it, the wealth it can bring in and more importantly, how you can do it too!

Work

This first method of bringing in an income is the most popular and seemingly the first option when looking at revenue streams. You trade hours of your day for a wage or salary that's determined on your skills and education... or work.

The problem with work is that the amount of income you can bring in is completely dependable on the amount of hours or clients you have in a week and the amount of time in a day. The vast majority of people, when looking to bringing in more income, either take on more hours at work or look for better employment. Unfortunately there is a finite amount of hours you can work in a day. Even if you get to higher management or director levels, there is a limit to your salary and you have to spend a lot of your hours in the office working.

Whilst you can be successful at work and it can bring in a level of financial freedom, it is not an easy or sensible option when you are looking to bring in that extra cash and doesn't allow freedom of time.

Investment

People who have created a successful business or perhaps have come across inheritance often choose to invest in other peoples business ventures. Successful investors can see their stocks and shares increase dramatically in the good years and when they sell, can often have a lump sum of money that is far greater than what they put in initially. This can be then used to invest in other opportunities or used to buy the dream house/car/holiday etc.

Investment can be incredibly risky. Although every care should be taken to make sure that all investments are done with the least amount of risk possible and the businesses they invest in have solid business plans, every investor should know that there is a good possibility they will lose the money they invested. On top of this, once you have invested the money, that cash is tied into the business for a few years, and whilst the odd cash dividend can help boost your income, you have to be in it for the long term and can't count it as a regular income. Investment is gambling, and gambling is never a sure way to bring in income.

Passive Income

The people who make serious money, tend to be the people who have a lot of passive income. Passive income is money coming in that doesn't cost any time or extra money after the initial set up. Imagine being able to wake up in the morning, check your balance sheets or bank account and find that you made a thousand pounds or dollars whilst you were asleep.

Passive income can come from lots of revenue sources. It could be a second home that you rent out, it could be advertisement on a website you own or it could be a book you have written that is steadily being sold. Many musicians live on a passive income once their touring days have finished through copyright ownership, many top bloggers live on the income generated from advertising on their blogs and anyone that creates a successful TV show can almost be guaranteed passive income through the selling of show ideas to other countries and TV companies.

Passive income may take a few months to set up, and sometimes can take years to generate income but successfully creating many passive income sources can be your ticket to financial freedom with little effort.

When you're next thinking about creating a different income stream, try to imagine how you could generate money whilst you sleep. Try to visualise something that you could do that people would pay for, making you money for no extra effort. Perhaps there's a book you've written that is just sitting on your hard drive, perhaps your savings could be invested into a second house or flat that you can rent out, perhaps you have a website that is getting thousands of hits a day but there are no adverts on it that could give you an extra income for no extra work.

Thinking in these terms, rather than trading time for money is a rich way of thinking. Being Rich doesn't mean sacrificing time. Time is our most precious commodity and any time spent working, should be done creating more free time and financial freedom for the future.

FM

Get The Most From Your Current Network

Stanley Milgrams study came to the conclusion that we are only six people away from anyone in the world. Knowing about the six degrees of separation and using that knowledge to make the most out of your networks of friends, families and peers can help you find the people who are going to take you that one step further in your career.

With Facebook, Twitter and other Social Media sites making it easier than ever to keep up with friends as well making new ones, you'll be surprised at how close you are to contacting the right people, whether that's Investors, Managing Directors or people working for companies you would like to make a client of.

First of all, start off with anyone you've worked with or for. Ask yourself how well they know you, whether you think they would rate your work highly and whether you think they know people who will be able to help you progress your career, or become a client of yours.

Example: If you were music tutor, think of everyone you've ever come into contact with to do with music. Old teachers, former students, current students other music tutors etc... Write down a list of all these people and write down next to the name of each of these people whether they would rate your work highly or poorly. For everyone on that list that you think would rate your work highly, it's time to get back into contact.

So now you should have a list of a few people who would rate your work highly and it's time to get back in contact with them. Email or write a letter to each of the people on list and simply tell them what you're doing and ask them whether they know anyone who would require your services/can offer employment or whatever it is that's inline with your business or goals. I would avoid ringing as this can seem a bit cold and rude, but a friendly email or letter is fine and you'll either get a response saying that they don't know of anyone but will keep their eye out, or they do know someone.

Something that could take less than an afternoon to do may well change the direction of your career or give you a few more clients.

Do this with your friends and family. If your friends and family are supportive, they will be more than happy to help you find work or clients and the great thing is, word of mouth is the most effective form of advertising... and it's free!!

Now it's time to get methodical!

You'll need a good programme or a very comprehensive address book to do this, but now it's time to research makes notes on everyone you've ever come into contact with. Good Networkers know everything about everyone; where they met, what they do and even what conversations they've had because they organise and note down everything they learn about the people they meet.

Start forming a list of everyone you know on facebook to start off with. Write down how you met them and what they do. You will probably find that the far majority of the people you know, don't have much use to you... but their friends might. By doing this you start to get a feel of the circle of friends you currently move in and develop an awareness of your friends social groups. You'll see which friends are successful, which ones are stuck in dead end jobs and which ones do something that could prove invaluable to you.

Although it's unlikely in this age, some of your friends and family may not be on facebook or other social networking sites. Although this makes it a little bit harder to find out information about these people, it's worth making the effort to find out. You only need one link in the chain to help you find the influential person you need.

Example: You may be an aspiring film editor. You look through your list of friends and find someone who works as an admin... for the BBC. You can make a note about that person and start developing a closer relationship in order to get a foot in the door. You build rapport with their circle of friends and discover who their work colleagues are and what jobs they do. Each relationship you build gets you closer to the influential person that can give you the right opportunity.

In order to network successfully, you have to be this methodical. This doesn't mean that you shouldn't be around people because they have a dead end job. It just means that some relationships are more useful in your careers than others and once you are aware of this, you just need to exploit it.

I mentioned in a previous post that Millionaires hang around with other people they think are Millionaires. This is because they network and build relationships that they think may be valuable to their careers. Although this may seem a bit cold on the surface, in truth you actually meet loads of new and interesting people who have similar life goals to yourself, and can often end up making very good friends for life. By working methodically at your networking and baring in mind, the six degrees of separation, you increase your chances of success and can often gain a happier life with the discovery of new friends.

FM

Identifying Time Wasting Activities

How much did you put in today to achieve your life's dream or goal? How much time did you put it into yesterday and how much time have you put into it over the last month. Chances are, if you've come to this blog, you know you are not achieving the full potential out of yourself and you could actually put a lot more time into achieving the novel you want to write, the business you want to create or the promotion you want to get.

In this post I've identified key time wasting activities that if abolished from our daily lives, have the potential to free up a massive amount of time. Spotting these time wasting activities, eradicating them and filling the time with useful activities is key to achieving a great amount of success and getting through the workload that comes with it.

10 Time Wasting Activities

Internet :

Even I can be a slave to this one. I hear many people say that they often log onto facebook or twitter, and forty five minutes later they realise they haven't actually done anything.

Whether you are browsing the news channels, catching up on your social media or just surfing the web, you can waste hours of your day on pointless exercises. Try to give yourself a limit of fifteen minutes a day on social media sites, or only allow yourself to check the news headlines during your lunch break. If this is hard to do, use your parental control devices on your browser and ban the time wasting sites all together. Although you will know your password, having to put it in will at least make you think about what you are going to achieve by going on the site.

Television:

I cannot see a bigger waste of time than sitting in front of the box. The average American watches 153hours of TV a month. That's over six days of TV, which is nearly a week just sat in front of a box, not achieving anything.

Imagine gaining a week of your life back, how much can you achieve in six days! Start by not allowing yourself to watch TV during the weekdays. Anything you really must watch, you can record and watch at later date when it's suitable for you. Instead of watching TV, dedicate that time solely to achieving your goal, whether it's setting up a business, or writing your novel. If you have six days of writing a novel every month, you could easily have it finished by the end of two months.

Telephone:

There is no bigger distraction than a mobile phone going off when you're in a meeting or getting on with some work. Ignore it! It's very rarely more important that the thing you are doing now yet we automatically put the person ringing us first.

Change your answerphone message to this. "Sorry, I'm too busy to answer the phone right, please leave a message and I will aim to call you back within three working days. If it is urgent, please email me and I will reply at the nearest opportunity"

Nine times out of ten a conversation that can last ten to fifteen minutes could actually have been dealt in a two minute email reply. If it's important you can ring them back, and if it isn't important, they won't bother leaving a message.

Computer Games:

Whilst they are fun to play, and help you relax after a hard days work, they can often take over peoples lives. Set yourself a time limit on the computer or games console. Remember games are there to entertain you and help you relax on your time off. When the games themselves become your ambition, you start to waste a lot of life.

Worrying:

Worrying causes us to be indecisive and prevents us from taking the first steps into achieving our life's ambitions. Try to imagine your life in ten years. What would you tell yourself to do? The answer will either be, go for it or, it's a stupid idea and you know it. Chances are, if you are dreaming of achieving something, and you've thought about it for a long time, it's not going to be a stupid idea, so what are you waiting for. Life is long enough to rectify mistakes but it will run past you if you don't take the opportunity to do something now.

Commuting:

The UK has the longest commute time in Europe, boasting 45minutes a day. This adds up to a day a month just travelling. If you are able to, work out what jobs you can get done whilst on the commute. If you can afford it, hire a driver. You may see this as an expense at first, but if you work out how much you can earn in a day, and how much a driver would cost for a day, and what you can earn is higher than the price of a driver... it makes sense to get a driver.

Hobbies:

It's great to have hobbies, and whilst I would never say cut them out all together, a lot of people spend far too much time on their hobbies. If you are one of those people that obsesses about your football team, or has to play guitar every second of the day, try to schedule in two or three hours a week. Failing that, why not make your hobby, your job. That's what I did and now I get to do all the things I love doing, all the time and get paid for it.

Meetings:

Don't get me started on meetings. Donald Trump says that a meeting shouldn't have to last longer than fifteen minutes and I have to agree. Meetings are disruptive, unproductive and mostly irrelevant to the goals you are trying to achieve, whether that's at work or elsewhere in your life. If you can't get across your point in fifteen minutes, chances are, you don't really have a point.

Next time someone asks you to come to a meeting, ask them what it is about, assess whether it's important, and if it is, tell them that you can spare fifteen minutes for them and explain that you have important work that has a tight deadline. A good boss will appreciate your time management and if it's not important, they may tell you that you don't need to be part of it.

Daydreaming:

There is a big difference between dreaming and visualising. Next time you catch yourself daydreaming, pick up a pen and paper and write down the daydream. Then write down a couple of actions you need to do to achieve what you are dreaming about and schedule those actions in. Now it's not a daydream but a few steps towards achieving something. Now you can stop daydreaming about it and get on with some work!

Planning:

Or more the lack of it. It is one thing to say you want to achieve something during the day, week or month and it's another actually scheduling it. Take five minutes at the start of your day to write a to do list. Work out how long each task will take and schedule it in for the day. Firstly, you are more likely to do something if you've scheduled it in, and secondly, you will realise that some tasks won't take as long as you imagine they will.

Planning like any skill, you will get better at. You will start to get a good instinct of how long things will take, their importance and being able to schedule things in a way that is more efficient and enables you to achieve. There will be more posts about this!

Hopefully, for the majority of these activities, you can see where waste the day doing them. If you total the amount of time you think you waste in an average day doing these activities, you may have some alarming results! Cutting pointless activities out and scheduling in more important tasks will help you make the most of your time, impress the people around you with your productivity and put you well on your way to achieving the big goals in your life.

FM

Developing Opportunities Further Like A Millionaire

If you haven't read the post about how create opportunities like a Millionaire, please do so now. That post will help you get into the mindset of seeing opportunities in the world and developing your mind into one that can see business in everyday moments.

http://secretblogofafuturemillionaire.blogspot.com/2011/01/how-to-create-opportunities-like.html

This post is about how to focus your mind on a creating a business that you will love, and will make you successful.

If you followed the last exercise properly, you should now have a list of at least one hundred ideas for a business. The following exercise is about crossing off those ideas until there is one left behind. This is the idea that you are going to carry out, to start you on your journey to becoming a successful business person.

Choosing Your Millionaire Idea

Firstly, look down the list of your ideas and cross off anything that is illegal. Although I said you could put down illegal ideas, it was simply to get you into thinking about creating opportunities, however, it would be wrong for you to carry any of those ideas out so whilst it was a bit of fun, please cross them out now.

Secondly, cross of anything on that list that you wouldn't enjoy doing day in and day out. Remember, when you set up a business, you're going to have to live and breath that business for a number of years to make it successful. Every waking moment, your business will be at the forefront of your mind, whether it's going well, or struggling for a less profitable time. In order to help you get through those less profitable times, you need to be passionate about what you are doing.

By now, you may well have about seventy ideas left or may only have about ten. However many ideas you have left, that is fine. Just make sure they are all things you are highly passionate about.

So now it's time to ask yourself a series of questions that all good business people should ask themselves when creating their business.

Look down your list of ideas and with each idea ask yourself...

How will this add value to the lives of others?

So let's take one of my previous ideas of Starting a Business Event. I could say that this will add values to the lives of others, by allowing Businesses of all kinds to get together in one place. Here they could network with other Businesses, create new contacts of which to develop their Businesses further or even collaborate with other Business owners to create new Business. The talkers that I have at the events will share their great knowledge and Business Owners can take this knowledge to further grow their Businesses. This is definitely an idea that would enrich and add value to someone else's life. Put a tick next to any ideas you have left that fill this criteria.

Will people pay for this and can I easily provide them with it?

Sticking with the same idea, if I can show people the value of coming to a Business Event, which I can, because I have already answered that question, people will be willing to pay to attend. I can happily provide them with this Event, because I have organised Events before and get huge enjoyment from seeing it all come together, and since I already know the basics of running an event, although a large scale event is always a challenge, it's not outside of my capabilities and I can easily provide people with this. Now put a tick next to any idea you have left that fill criteria.

Is this the easiest and most enjoyable way to become a Millionaire?

Becoming a Millionaire is never easy, but you can make it easier for yourself by doing something that is within your capabilities and making sure it's something you will enjoy. I love putting together events and I really enjoy networking. I would be very happy to put on Business Events and as it is something that is well within my capabilities. I can easily grow the events nationally and internationally, which would increase my turnover and profit and get me well on my way to becoming a Millionaire. Put a tick next to any ideas you left that fill this criteria.

Take a look at all the ideas you have three ticks against. If you've followed the exercise, you should really have no more than five at the most. If you have more that, redo the exercise. If you still have the same amount, it's time to get ruthless and cross off any ideas that you know you would never do or pull off.

With these last few ideas, it's now time for your gut instinct to kick in. Which one of these, do you feel deep down in your is not the Business you will be doing for the rest of your life, or at least the for the next few years. Flipping it, which one do you know is. Which idea attracts you the most, which idea gets you the most excited. Which idea would you do for free if you could.

Spend a few days deliberating on these ideas and if after that, you can't settle on one idea, chances are you haven't yet found the idea that you are looking for. Don't worry, it can take a while for that Eureka moment to happen, but it will now that you in the habit of actively looking for opportunities. Something will grab you and you will know it's the right idea now that you have the knowledge to find and evaluate great business ideas.

FM

How To Create Opportunities Like A Millionaire

All of the blogs so far have been more focused on changing your mindset to a more positive self, either through changing the way you think, dress or act. Whilst if you follow these blogs you experience an instant level of feeling rich, as far as monetary terms go, by following those steps alone, you're not going to be a Millionaire any time soon. So how do people become Millionaires? How do start up companies turn into huge corporations? How can you be one of those people?

The answer is simple.

Millionaires see opportunities every day, and they know the value of their thoughts.

Look around you. The chair you are sitting on was once a thought in someones mind. Now it's a physical product that someone bought and you are sitting on. The screen you are reading from was once an idea. The typeface you are reading was once an idea. The clothes you are wearing, the home you own and everything around you was once someones idea, and someone else bought that idea. Once you start to recognise the value of your ideas, you can start to create business.

Grab a notebook now and number down the side 1-10. The following exercise will you develop your ability to find opportunities.

I want you to think of ten business ideas that you could do and jot them down. They don't have to be anything related to what you are doing now, they don't have to something you're interested in, they don't even have to be legal. This exercise isn't about creating a business, it's about getting into the mindset of seeing opportunities. You should however, be able to explain the idea behind the business in one sentence, and they should all be something that you are capable of doing.

You may find it difficult at first, but just remember that everything around you has made someone money and they all started off as an idea. To help you get an idea of what sort of things you can put down, here's a list of the first ten things I wrote I first started this exercise.

1. Give Music Lessons
2. Creating Wall Art For Homes and Hotels
3. Sell Advertisement Space on my .com's
4. Start a Tutor Agency
5. Design Tee Shirts
6. Buy and Develop Property
7. Open a Cocktail Bar
8. Run Student Events and gigs
9. Start a Business Networking Event
10. Internet Art Shop, Commissioning Artists and Selling Their Works

As you can see, all of these things are very simple ideas. All of them are within my capabilities and all of them have to potential to make money. Some of them more than others. Some of them I could do from the moment I wrote down the idea, and a couple of them I actually did.

You should keep doing this exercise every day for at least ten days. Start to notice what opportunities surround you. Is there anything that you can progress at work that will make more money, is there anything you can do that someone will pay for, is there something someone else is doing that you can do better? Ask yourself these questions everyday and you will start to see the world how great business men and women see it.

After those ten days, besides a sense of awareness for opportunities, you will also have at least a hundred ideas for businesses. Within this list will be a load of things that require investment, some things you're not interested in and some things that you may not be able to get away with. Also within this list, there should be things that get you excited and reflect your own passions. There will also be some ideas that you could carry out right now, so think to yourself, what is stopping you.

Getting into this way of thinking is crucial in business and is the first steps to seeing the world like a Millionaire.

FM

How To Get A Better Job, Now!

Wouldn't you love to be one of those people who enjoy going to work, succeeds at their job and is praised almost daily for their incredible work. Wouldn't you love to feel like you are indispensable and your company highly appreciates you for everything you do. Wouldn't you like to have a millionaires pay check!

Starting right this second you can instantly have a job that is ten times better than your old job, because it is all to do with your mindset.

To Be Valued, You Have To Give Value

The first and only step into having a better job right now is by changing the way you think about work. If you are an employee and you have a contract, you need to change the way you think about your job. It's time to take ownership. If you are self-employed, this still applies.

Instead of saying, I work for these guys, say, I work for myself. You have agreed to give your employers so many hours of your week and in return you are charging them whatever wage you agreed to when signing your contract. Getting into this mindset is crucial into becoming a valued employee and rising the ranks of your company. Tell yourself now that you agreed to that price and in those hours, you will give them value because, if you ran a company, you want all your customers and clients to feel like they have been given value for their money. Working for someone is no different.

Take a moment to let that sink in. How does that make you feel? Now ask yourself, Are you charging enough? Are you giving them value? Do you actually deserve to be valued?

Chances are, the answer to at least two of those questions, if not three is NO.

If you are self-employed these questions still apply.

Now it's time for you to take control of your career. Tell yourself that you are going to be a valued employee/company , you are going to go beyond the call of duty to make a huge difference to that company/client and in time, the company/client is going to throw money at you to make sure you don't leave.

Your job, and your life, is about taking ownership of it. The people that succeed are the people who work hard and give people a great service. They are the people who everyone turns to when something needs doing, and they are the people who everyone will happily pay a lot of money for the service they provide.

If you are a shop assistant, tell yourself that you are going to smash sales targets and leave every customer wanting to speak to you next time they come in.

If you are a designer, tell yourself that you are going to give people their dream designs.

If you're in a recruitment firm, tell yourself that you are going to be the top biller and bring in millions for the company

If you're a mother, tell yourself that you are going to be the best mother their could possibly be and that your children are going to be bought into a world with loving, caring and kind parents.

This type of thinking applies to everything. Why be second rate at anything. No Millionaire has ever thought that they are happy to just let life happen. No Millionaire has ever been content to give a poor performance. No Millionaire has ever been content to come anywhere but first place. More importantly, no Millionaire accepts anything but first rate in any part of their life, including themselves and other people.

If you can get yourself into that mindset, and really push yourself at your job it won't be long until you can start demanding more pay, a better position in the company and more responsibility. What's even better, is that if you will be able to prove your value by the great work you have done so if your company won't offer you those things, another company certainly will.

Get into the habit of being the best and working hard. Don't expect it to just happen when you start your own company. Do it now! Otherwise you will never achieve the success that you desire. First rate workers, get a first rate life!

Next time you walk into work, be the best they have. It won't be long until they recognise it, and if they don't, another company or client will!

FM

How To Dress Like A Millionaire

Today I went shopping. Specifically clothes shopping. The reason I went clothes shopping was not necessarily to get more clothes, but to feel rich. Since the purpose of having more money is so that you can have things or do more activities, there is no easier way to feel a little richer than having a bit of retail therapy.

There is an art to rich shopping and I live by a couple of little rules.

1. Wear Your Best Clothes To Go Shopping in! The Reason for this is that if you already feel amazing, you will be attracted to clothes that keep you feeling that way. Secondly, you can walk into some high end shops and feel like you belong there.
2. Never Spend more than £30 on an item of Clothing. (No matter what it is, you can find something similar for a better price, and you get a lot more for your money!)
3. Clothes must fit perfectly! (On a side note, learn about your body shape and what styles of clothes suit you. Don't just go for what the mannequins or your friends are wearing. By learning this and sticking very closely to this rule, you will look and feel great as well develop your own individual style)
4. Never take less than 10 items to the fitting rooms (How amazing does it feel to take that many items to the fitting room. You don't even have to intend to buy them, but just pretending that you are can make you feel rich)
5. Go into high end fashion shops (Look around, get used to being there, that is where you will be shopping in the future. On a side note, they may have a sale on and you could pick up a bargain!)
6. Never buy anything that makes you look poor (Part of being rich is making people think you are rich. Currently I am wearing a fashionable suit jacket, Ben Sherman Trousers and a fashionable shirt. None of which I paid more than £30 for but all of which make me look like a millionaire)
7. Buy a scent (Smell expensive. Don't buy a cheap scent, it's false economics. Really spend some time working out which one suits you best. Ask for help, most shop assistants really like to show off their knowledge of perfumes, and always buy the biggest bottle once you've found it. It will last a lot longer and you get a lot more for your money)
8. Simple and Sophisticated (Loud and brash clothing scream high street and not designer)
9. Find pictures of wealthy people and buy things that resemble what they are wearing (This is the best way to look like a millionaire with around a fifth of the price tag. Cut out or print off pictures to help you find clothes that resemble what they are wearing)
10. Outlet stores are your friends (Some things never go out of fashion. If you know what to look out for, you can buy some great designer stuff for far less than the normal price)
11. Accessorise! (Buy a good watch, jewellery and wallet. It doesn't matter how great you look, if you bring out a poor looking wallet when you go to pay, you have completely spoilt the illusion)

As well as this, try to learn a bit about fashion labels. You don't have to become obsessed but wouldn't it be great know about Ben Sherman, Gucci, Louis Vuitton etc. If you start to learn about rich things, you will develop an eye for bargains very quickly.

If you follow these rules you'll be well on your way to looking like a millionaire, which in turn makes you feel like a millionaire. Never let yourself be seen looking less than amazing. It's hard to feel down when you look so great. It has it's practical uses as well. Firstly, millionaires only hang around with people they think look successful (it's part of how you become a millionaire and I will talk about this more later) and secondly it's puts out a message to everyone that you are someone who works hard, is successful and take pride in what you do. Start dressing like that to work and see how long it takes for your managers and bosses to take note in what you are doing and show a little more respect.

FM

How To Use A Vision Board To Live A Millionaires Lifestyle

Whether or not you believe in the Law Of Attraction (more will be explained in a later blog), a vision board is a great way to clarify your goals, to discover what it is that is really important to you and help inspire you on those tough days in the office, or those times when it just seems like life is not working out.

A vision board is simply a cork board, or a large piece of card, or even a wall of pictures, statements and symbols representing everything you would like to achieve or obtain. The idea behind the vision board is that if you focus on those things that you desire, you attract them into your life. Now whether you believe that is by Law Of Attraction, or because the focus on these desires is stronger so you start to unconsciously put things into place that help you achieve these goals is up to you. Just know that it does work.

Creating Your Personal Vision Board:

Each vision board is completely personal and should represent you as a person and your own personal desires. Although everyone has different desires, there is a common theme that run through most vision boards, and I would suggest you put these things up for your own happiness and for others.

Health, Great Family, Success

What is the point in being rich if you are unhealthy and don't have some great family or friends surrounding you to enjoy the amazing life style. I also put success because success is such a wide and subjective desire. It can mean a successful business, a successful life or even successful charity work. A vision board doesn't have to be completely selfish (but it definitely should be a little bit because you can't make other people happy unless you are happy yourself).

Now I'm not gonna tell you how to make a vision board, this isn't pre-school and I'm sure you'll figure it out. What I want to focus on is to how to create those images that are completely personal to you. This little exercise I use every month or so and it helps me focus on what it is I want in my life, and then also helps me figure out how I got there.

You need to find ten to fifteen minutes in your day to sit or lie down somewhere quiet and peaceful where you won't be distracted. Then you need to ask yourself these questions.

"It has been the best year yet, all your greatest dreams have been achieved, where do you live, what do your family and friends look like, what car do you drive, what job do you have, how much money is in your bank account, what holidays do you go on, what are you wearing, where do you eat, what objects do you own, who's lives are you enriching by having an enriched life yourself?"

You need to clearly picture this. When you are imagining your life in a years time, take note of whether you are observing yourself, or imagining your life from within yourself. If you are observing yourself, that is fine, look at what clothes you are wearing, what haircut do you have and what your body looks like. Once you have taken a mental note of that, try to imagine your life from within yourself, as if you are actually living that life.

If it helps, try taking this journey. As you do, really imagine what everything feels like, looks like and smells like. Imagine everyone around you is happy for you and happy to know you. You are happy to do what you are doing and life couldn't get any better.

The Millionaires Journey

1. You're at work. What is your job, what are you doing, who works for you?
2. You're driving home. What is your car, how does the steering wheel feel?
3. You pull up in your drive, what does your house look like, what does your garden look like?
4. You open your front door, what does your interior look like, what furniture do you have?
5. People greet you from within the house, are they family, friends, staff?
6. You decide to go on holiday, where do you go, what does it feel like being there?

You can elaborate on this journey as much as you like to focus your own personal dreams and desires. Where ever you go, or whatever you imagine, just make sure it's as vivid as you can possibly imagine. Live that life for fifteen minutes and feel yourself going on that journey. It is important to really feel this dream because your mind cannot tell the difference between what is real, and what is imaginary. Those good thoughts will send endorphins all around the body, which will react positively to all those great images in your mind.

That last part of the exercise is to start collecting images. You can collect them from magazines, postcards, the internet or where ever you come across the perfect image that is as close as possible to the things that you imagined. When you find the picture you should feel excited and passionate about that object or desire. Each time you look at the pictures on your vision board, you should know that somehow, you are going to get everything, and you will get it sooner than you think. When we go further into this, you should feel like you already have it, but that is for a different post.

To help inspire you with your vision board, I'm going to set up a page with my own personal dreams and desires. It will be a mixture of things I already do or am going to do this year and may even teach you a thing or too about my own personality ;)

FM

The First Steps To A Millionaires Mindset

When studying how to become a millionaire, one of the first things I observed is just how positive millionaires are. The vast majority of millionaires are successful in life and not just business. First of all this led me to think that wealth creates positivity, but lets flip that for a moment. It could be said that wealth and positivity go hand in hand. No-one ever got rich by believing that their business will fail. So how about this

Positivity = Wealth

Wealth = Positivity

Positivity = More Wealth

You get the picture?

Positive thinking is the very foundation of rich thinking. I know people who have very negative thinking, they constantly complain about how life is so terrible for them, how they can't find a good job, how no-one helps them and how that will always be the case. Guess what, their lives aren't changing any time soon.

This exercise that I use on a daily basis can change your life almost instantaneously for the better and it's the start of developing your millionaires mindset. The start of positive thinking is to simply be grateful. Seems stupidly simple but it really is. A rich person is rich in all walks of life, not just in wealth, and they are very aware of what is really great in their lives.

Right now, grab some note paper and a pencil. Put at the top of the page, 10 things about my life that I am grateful for. Then (obviously) you need to write down 10 things that you absolutely love about your life. You may find this exercise hard at first, so here are some examples of things that you may love but quite often take for granted.

Being Alive, Family, Friends, Technology, Music, Art, Education, Partner, Education, Home...

and most importantly, Having The Opportunity to have the Best Life Ever!

Everyday I wake up and I name three things I'm grateful for. They can be the same three things or different things everyday, but the point of the exercise is to put you in a positive mood. How good do you feel knowing that you have some great things in your life! Being grateful for what you have is the very start of getting everything you want. You may even find you are closer to getting what you want than you thought!

FM

How To Become A Millionaire

I Know The Secret!!

I am a Millionaire. Well not really, but I really believe that one day, I will be. It's stronger than faith, I just know it! Now before you dismiss me as a crazy fool, I am not the first person to think this, and I'm certainly not the last. Hopefully, as this blog progresses you will understand a little more as to why I believe this and may even start to believe it yourself. These are the same beliefs that have been held by some our greatest and most celebrated Millionaires. Richard Branson, Peter Jones, Donald Trump, Deborah Meaden, Theo Pathitis and many more all share this kind of thinking. A rich thinking. The belief that no matter what happens they will always be rich.

After studying their books amongst many others, one thing I have found in common is that none of them ever showed the fear of being poor. Many of them knew what it was to be poor, but they all absolutely believed that they were rich. This is the kind of thinking I use every day to progress my business and my life. In fact, it is fair to say that since adopting this rich thinking, my life has been a whirlwind of small and growing successes.

It's this thinking, that I want to highlight on the blog, so follow me on my journey into becoming a Millionaire, learn from me, and teach me but most of all, believe that this really works and you too will be a future Millionaire!

FM