How many of us are in the rat Race?...?...?!...!?

• Are you ready to move past your money problems and create lasting wealth?
• Are you tired of being in the same financial situation year after year?

If you are like the majority of people living within this world, than it is most likely that you are encapsulated within a reality that is known to most as the Rat Race. The Rat Race was a term used to great effect in the now very successful series of books written by Robert Kiyosaki entitled Rich Dad Poor Dad. Within this series of books Robert points out how many of us are trapped within a Rat Race of sorts, where we go through a cycle of weekly and daily struggles that never seem to end. We are teased with promises of quick and fast money, however for most of us this only leads to a dead end of false promises and lies. It just seems as though there is no pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. Robert calls it “Being in the Rat Race.”

Can we make a change and run out from the Rat Race?

Surely, the answer has to be a YES!
We have to .....

• Learn why the idea of creating wealth by building assets (by having a home, car, clothes and jewelry) is a myth and how one simple shift in your thinking can change your financial life.
• Learn the secrets of cash flow and how to never worry about money again.
• Learn how to achieve your dreams, how to stop the financial "bleeding", how to become financially secure, and how to get out of the rat race forever.

YOUR FUTURE IS CREATED BY WHAT YOU DO TODAY, NOT TOMORROW

Robert also quotes : "We go to school to learn to work hard for money; but I write books & create products that teach people how to have money work hard for them!"

Three tips talk yourself to financial freedom

by Cathy Goodwin, PhD

Feeling trapped by lack of funds? We can learn from those who live comfortably and retire early. They speak a different language from those who are stuck in a scarcity process.

1. Banish the word "expensive" from your vocabulary. Replace with, "That's not a priority for me."

"Expensive" is relative.

In my town, a group of people get together every day for coffee and conversation. My neighbor, Jane, refuses to participate

"Two dollars for a cup of coffee? " she sniffs. "Expensive!"

When you work at home, you need a break and you want to talk to other like-minded people. The value of coffee is table rent and support. We want to keep the café open so we'll have a place to hang out.

My friend "Laura" used to get her nails done every week while she was unemployed and broke and had no interviews lined up. Impractical? Frivolous? Expensive?

For Laura, manicures were a symbol of where she had been and where she will be in the future. She spent money for her priority with no regrets.

2. Banish the sentence "I can't afford it." Replace with, "That's on my wish list."

Adding an item to your official wish list makes a statement. Do you really want a new car, kitchen set or vacation? Or do you realize you already have what you "can't afford?"

Looking around my eclectic collection of living room furniture, I can dream of spending lavishly for designer furniture, ceramic artwork and crystal lamps. I also know these items will never appear on my wish list.

Even the best-mannered cat will deposit an occasional surprise on the couch, and the dog's exuberant personality can leave a trail of broken glass. Regardless of politics, many of us empathized when the wife of newly-elected Governor Jeb Bush admitted," When you have pets you can't have an elegant home."

Saying "can't afford" puts you in a one-down position. Creating a wish list generates abundance and clarifies values. I'd put "three cats and two dogs" on my wish -- but not "designer furniture."

3. Forbid all talk about what you don't have. Replace with appreciation for what you enjoy now.

Hortensia complains about her lack of money . True, her salary is not high by any standards -- but her job offers security, generous vacation time, and excellent retirement benefits. Her location allows her to hike in the woods and fish in the lakes.

An image of abundance will enhance your strengths. Most of us have more than we realize -- in real as well as abstract terms. I encourage clients to meet with a financial planner, especially if they're facing experiencing career transition. Often a professional review helps people realize they're better off than they realized.

Talking your way to financial freedom -- simple? Yes, but effective.

Try these steps for a week and notice a difference -- first in your thoughts, soon in your life.

Network Marketing-It's an Asset, Not a Job !!

- Robert Kiyosaki -


Delayed Gratification and Emotional Intelligence

One of the beauties of network marketing is that it focuses on developing your emotional intelligence as well as your business skills.

Emotional intelligence is an entirely different matter from academic intelligence. In general, someone with high emotional intelligence will often do better than someone with high academic intelligence but low emotional intelligence. That explains, in part, why some people do well in school but not so well in the real world.

The ability to delay gratification is a sign of higher emotional intelligence. In a recent study of emotional intelligence, it was found that people who could delay gratification often led more successful lives than those who could not.

This is why the educational system inherent in a good network marketing opportunity is so important. It's the emotional education or emotional intelligence aspect of their programs that I find so valuable for people.

Many people write me and tell me they loved my book, Rich Dad, Poor Dad, but I fear that many of them don't get the most important point of the book: Lesson #1, "The rich don't work for money."

Once I have built or bought an asset, that asset works hard to make money for me. But I will not work for money - I will work only to build or buy assets. Those assets make me richer and richer, while I work less and less. That is what the rich do. The poor and middle class work hard for money, and then buy liabilities instead of investing in assets.


What Kind of Asset is a Network Marketing Business?

Remember, there are two reasons required to be successful in network marketing: to help yourself, and to help others. Reason number one means helping yourself get to the B side of the quadrant. What about reason number two?

The beauty of most network marketing systems is that you don't really make much money unless you help others leave the E and S quadrants and succeed in the B and I quadrants. If you focus on helping others make this shift, then you will be successful in the business

If you only want to teach yourself to be a B quadrant and I quadrant person, then a true network marketing system won't work for you. You may as well go to a traditional business school, which focuses only on your becoming a B quadrant person.

The beauty of a network marketing business is that your goal is to create assets, which are other B's working under you - and their job is to create other B's working under them. In traditional business, the focus is for the B to have only E's and S's working for them.

The type of business I was taught to build is a business with me at the top and E's and S's at the base. I really don't have room at the top for many other B's, which is why in my businesses, I strongly recommend that all my employees look into network marketing as their own part-time businesses.

The traditional corporate system really is a pyramid, because there are a few B's and I's near the top, and more E's and S's at the base. A network marketing system is a reverse pyramid: its primary focus is to bring up more and more B's to the top.

One type of pyramid, the traditional type, has its base on the ground; the other type has its base in the air. It's a pyramid that pulls you up instead of pushing you down. A network marketing business gives everyone access to what used to be the domain only of the rich.

This passage is excerpted by permission from The Business School for People Who Like Helping People, by Robert T. Kiyosaki, with Sharon Lechter, CPA, authors of Rich Dad, Poor Dad."

Robert Kiyosaki explains that building a network marketing business....

... is a revolutionary way to achieve wealth.

... makes it possible for anyone to acquire great wealth.

... is open to anyone who has the drive, determination and perseverance.

This passage is excerpted by permission from The Business School for People Who Like Helping People, by Robert T. Kiyosaki, with Sharon Lechter, CPA, authors of Rich Dad, Poor Dad."

Network Marketing - It's an Asset, Not a Job !

I am sometimes asked, "Why do so few people make it to the top of their network marketing system?"

The truth is, the top of the network marketing system is open to everyone-unlike traditional corporate systems, which allow only one person to reach the top of the company. The reason most people do not reach the top is simply because they quit too soon. So why would someone quit short of the top?

Most people join only to make money. If they don't make money in the first few months or years, they become discouraged and quit (and then often bad-mouth the industry!). Others quit and go looking for a company with a better compensation plan. But joining to make a few quick dollars is not the reason to get into the business.

The Two Essential Reasons to Join a Network Marketing Business

Reason number one is to help yourself. Reason number two is to help others. If you join for only one of these two reasons, then the system will not work for you.

Reason number one, means that you come to the business primarily to change quadrants-to change from the E (Employee) or the S (Self-employed) quadrant to the B (Business owner) or I (Investor) quadrant.

This change is normally very difficult for most people-because of money. The true E or S quadrant person will not work unless it is for money. This is also what causes people to not reach the top of the network marketing system: they want money more than they want to change quadrants.

A B quadrant or I quadrant person will also work for money, but in a different way. The B quadrant person works to build or create an asset-in this case, a business system. The I quadrant person invests in the asset or the system.

The beauty of most network marketing systems is that you do not really make much money unless you help others leave the E and S quadrants and succeed in the B and I quadrants. If you focus on helping others make this shift, then you will be successful in the business.

As a B or an I, sometimes you don't get paid for years; this, a true E quadrant or S quadrant person will not do. It's not part of their core values. Risk and delayed gratification disturb them emotionally.

watch this video...... or search for "Robert Kiyosaki Network Marketing".

You will surely be enlightened!

............ to be continued tomorrow ...........

The disappearance of the physical barriers of time and distance in today's business world coupled with the convergence of telecommunications and computing technologies, doing business and making extra income on the Internet is now easily within the reach of any individual regardless of location, age or social status.

One of the rapidly booming and expanding businesses is the online promotion of third-party merchant products and services. There are currently several thousands of brick and mortar companies and webmasters who offer affiliate programs to website owners to promote their businesses and products and refer clients for a fee. The choice of which product or service to promote and what market to penetrate covers an almost limitless spectrum making the affiliate marketing opportunity a wise choice for people seeking to generate an extra, or even a main, income stream.

Typically, signing up for an affiliate marketing program entitles you to receive a unique affiliate link with a unique affiliate ID that allows you to market the merchant's product or service. This includes the code of a banner link, text box or a button, which you display on your website; whenever a visitor to your website makes a purchase through your affiliate links, your affiliate account is automatically credited with a certain percentage of the sale.

Below are simple 1-2-3 Steps to get you started on an affiliate marketing business:

1. Join an Affiliate Program
Find an affiliate program that closely matches your interests. One of the best places to find an affiliate program is Clickbank.com; there are several thousands of merchants/sellers at ClickBank looking for people to promote their e-books and other related information products. However, before signing up for any affiliate programs, always do your own research to find out which products are most popular. Visit the seller's websites to determine if their sales letters are convincing enough to be able to generate sales and find out the product's hit to sales conversion rate. A product with a conversion rate of 5% is good enough since this translates to 5 sales per 100 visitors.

2. Create your own Website
The best way to promote an affiliate program's product or service is through your own website. Why? Websites are available 24/7! Nowadays, creating your own website to promote your affiliate programs is easy. With very little technical knowledge, almost anybody can create his or her own personal website using readily available website builder tools. Yahoo! Small Business solutions is one resource to visit to find out more on how to register and create your own website complete with all the necessary enhancements and tools to get you up and running in a few days at the most.

3. Fill your Website with Relevant Content
Whatever the type of affiliate marketing program you decide join, the website where you will promote the product or service must contain relevant and directly related content. Regardless if you are promoting e-books, services or conventional merchandise make sure your website content is related to what you are selling or promoting. No product or service dramatically generates sales overnight without promotion, it takes time and effort. If you have no interest in what you are doing, then it logically follows that you will soon neglect or forget all about it.

Simply following these basic steps will get you off and running to a good start on any affiliate marketing program.

This is a guest post by Sayeed, a senior manager in one of the multi-national corporation in Penang. Sayeed is an experienced property investor. Here, he shares his financial journey with you, unselfishly.

The journey for my financial world have been a tough one, after graduating we (my wife and I) got into huge debts, simply because a few mistakes :

1. We got married a year after graduation, the wedding cost was much higher than we can afford, so loans and credit card debts started to pile.

2. Purchase a house (was not a mistake) but at a wrong place where the appreciation was not great and we went on to renovate for huge $$, again more personal loans +credit card debts.

3. We didn’t have a clue about income and expenses, as long as it was within our salary its okay.

4. We had our 1st baby girl, again we were clueless about the $$ we need to set aside for the expenses of a baby.

Looks very foolish and maybe some of you are thinking, which planet we came from. How can we be so stupid? Well, first, I wouldn’t put up excuses of why we were like that, or lack of financial knowledge. We had big dreams and were pushing hard to achieve them when we were not really ready yet. That’s not all, then we have had our 5th mistake - this is a classic.

Five major financial mistakes

In midst of all the financial woes, we were struggling badly. One of our office mates saw us and asked us if we would be interested to make some additional income while keeping our current job….OH YES…that’s what we wanted.

He came to our house and ask us this question “What would you like to achieve in the next 5 years?”, the rest is history, 6 years we spend slogging and working hard in network marketing, we spend more than we made, (not the network marketing’s mistake, but we weren’t selling products to make money). After 6 years, we were exactly where we started. ZERO base.

Strategies to turn the situation around

Nothing to cry about, we regroup ourselves, rethinks of strategies: (from our lessons learnt by putting our pride a side for a while)

1. Resolve our finance loans and stop all our credit cards transactions, buy everything cash.

2. Sell our property and make money, invest in cheaper units and stay there until we are back up (downsize ourselves)

3. Plan our bill before going out to purchase groceries.

4. Focus on career instead of MLM to grow higher in corporate, only to earn more so that can have more income.

5. Help out some part time work with translations, tuition etc to make additional income.

6. Stay at home - at in laws house during weekend and eat at home.

7. Start to pay ourselves (saving) every month from our monthly salary…start with minimum as we could move up to 10%.

All these ideas came out with few simple activities:

a) Keep our dream intact, but 1st keep a short term goal and a 5 year plan.

b) Read a lot of books (I mean a lot).- started with Robert Kiyosaki…Azizi Ali…Milan Doshi…Peter Yee…now, KCLau.

c) Strategize our short term goals and then put a time line to it.

d) Monitor our account statements, income and balance sheet.

Magnificent Results

The results: (what we achieve in the last 6 years of planning).

1. Promotions in career, I still work but in a higher management as a Senior Manager. My wife left her job as a manager and went into her passion business earning similar to her “job” income monthly.

2. We have 6 properties, 3 of those rented, 2 currently in construction (for appreciation) and 1 we stay in

3. Our savings have reached 6 digits past 1 year.

4. Total net worth is 890K as of Nov 2009. (asset : properties, mutual fund, savings ASBN & business investment)

5. Total net saving monthly (income - expenses) is 15% without taking into consideration my wife business income.

Now we are focusing on the next 5 year plan:

Net worth 2.5M with target of saving accounts alone $1M.

Of course it didn’t simply worked out for us, there were mini strategies that we worked on and move towards this direction, while keeping our jobs. Here I am writing to give hope to those who are in financial crisis today, that you too can succeed, with effective planning.