Choices

I was watching a very entertaining interview with Paul Orfalea, the founder of Kinko's. He is a gruff, irascible man who comes across as someone who doesn't suffer fools easily. I loved it. He built a multi-billion dollar business from nothing using common sense and a commitment to improve things a little bit every day. He achieved an uncommon level of success in spite of having dyslexia and academic struggles.

He suggested that there are 2 ways to achieve financial abundance:

1. Be a great student. Get good grades. Work hard, and become a doctor or a lawyer or an engineer. You can choose to use your mind to be well paid and do valuable work.

2. Be great with your money.

Number 1 is the traditional path that we all hear from our parents and society at large. Get good grades, get a good job, live the American dream. This works for the people that have an aptitude for that kind of thing. Good for you.

Number 2 is for everyone else.

My work is generally focused on the people who fall into the number 2 category, but those of you in number 1 would benefit greatly from the principles as well.

The rest of us, who are not highly paid professionals, need to be good with money. Not just good with money, but GREAT with money. This is our ticket to abundance. We tend to be working with amounts of money that are, shall we say, modest. We need to make the most of our money in a world that demands money for everything. We are immersed in a sea of capitalism that caters to those that "have", and has little remorse for those that "have not".

Instead of lamenting that things shouldn't be that way, we need to accept "what is", and make the most of it. We need to win at the game of money, whether we agree with the rules or not, because we are all playing whether we want to or not. Once we have achieved financial freedom we can rally together and change the world.

So, if you are earning a very high salary and don't need to worry about how to make ends meet, I wish you well. You are in the 1% and I hope you appreciate your state of being enough to not squander it.

For the rest of us, the good news is, you can be financially abundant, you just have to go about it in a different way than our professional, affluent friends. If you are a regular Schmo, like me, your opportunity to be wealthy lies in your ability to manage your money like a wizard. You must become a money management ninja. The cool thing about that is, it does not require joining a secret society or being connected to the right people. It just requires doing a little self-education. You must go out and get the information you need to set you on the right path.

The bookstores, libraries, and internet are bursting with information on how to manage money and how to put your money to work. I have read thousands of books and most of what I have learned about money has been from people who are smarter than me and wrote down their ideas. I love to read, so I used that skill to gain knowledge. I then went out and implemented a few of the ideas and, through trial and error, figured out a plan to be financially free.

I have written books about my methods and people find them interesting, yet I wonder how many people have actually executed the ideas. I created an online course that goes through step-by-step how to build a fortune. I have recommended my top 5 personal finance books that I feel are required reading for anyone who wants to win at the game of money. If you are reading this blog, I assume you are looking for some sort of solution to your money problems. Look no further. There are answers here. There is also answers elsewhere that I can highly recommend.

The point I am making is, if you are struggling financially there are solutions. Do not wallow in self-pity and believe that there is no escape. Climbing out of poverty is not impossible. It can be very hard, and take a lot longer than you would like, but it is actually doable. This is the key concept. IT IS POSSIBLE. The only thing that you have to do is learn how.

When you learn the behaviours, habits and thought processes that lead to financial abundance, the only obstacle in your path is you. You must be willing to go through the hard work and mental dissonance that comes with change. You must be willing to become a different person in order to live a different life. This makes many people uncomfortable. I understand that, but there is no other way. Change is scary and hard, but it is necessary. I like to think of it as "improvement", rather than change as that feels better to me. It am not opposed to improving myself, because it makes me feel like I can do it in digestible bites, instead of an overnight life altering epiphany. I am not Ebenezer Scrooge.

My message is that there is a way to improve your financial circumstances, but it is not easy, fast or magical. This is a bitter pill to swallow for many people, but it is the only way, outside of divine intervention. Maybe you will get lucky and win the lottery. Let me know when that happens. In the meantime, I'll be taking things into my own hands and making it happen, step by step. I feel a little more sure of the outcome that way.