It Only Takes 6 Steps to Change Your Life

Hope is the foundational principle for all change. People change because they have hope, and if people do not have hope, they will not change. You are responsible for the changes that you make in your life. The good news? You can change your life if you really want to. You can improve it, make it better. And it all starts with changing the way you think. So are you ready? I am going to walk you through a six-step plan for achieving positive change.

Here’s how you give yourself a little hope:
 

Step 1: When you change your thinking, you change your beliefs.

Change begins with the mind. Beliefs are nothing more than a byproduct of what you have thought about long enough, something that you have bought into—always remember that. What you believe, what you think, is just a collection of continual thoughts that have formed themselves into a conviction. When you break down the process of thinking into a manageable number of steps, you reduce the perceived risk associated with change.

Step 2: When you change your beliefs, you change your expectations.

Belief is the knowledge that we can do something. It is the inner feeling that what we undertake, we can accomplish. For the most part, all of us have the ability to look at something and know whether we can do it. So in belief there is power… our eyes are opened, our opportunities become plain, our visions become realities. Our beliefs control everything we do. If we believe we can or we believe we cannot, we are correct.

Step 3: When you change your expectations, you change your attitude.

Your expectations are going to determine your attitude. Most people get used to average; they get used to second best. Nelson Boswell said, “The first and most important step toward success is the expectation that we can succeed.”

Step 4: When you change your attitude, you change your behavior.

When our attitude begins to change, when we become involved with something, our behavior begins to change. The reason that we have to make personal changes is that we cannot take our people on a trip that we have not made.

Step 5: When you change your behavior, you change your performance.

Most people would rather live with old problems than new solutions. We would rather be comfortable than correct; we would rather stay in a routine than make changes. Even when we know that the changes are going to be better for us, we often don’t make them because we feel uncomfortable or awkward about making that kind of a change. Until we get courage and get used to living with something that is not comfortable, we cannot get any better.

Step 6: When you change your performance, you change your life.

It is easier to turn failure into success than an excuse into a possibility. A person can fail, turn around and understand their failure to make it a success. But I want to tell you, a person who makes excuses for everything will never truly succeed. Don’t you know some people who just have an excuse for everything? Why they could not, should not, did not, would not, have not, will not. I promise you, when you excuse what you are doing and excuse where you are, and you allow the exceptions, you fail to reach your potential. It is impossible to turn excuses into possibilities.

Source: http://www.success.com/article/john-c-maxwell-it-only-takes-6-steps-to-change-your-life

How To Overcome Laziness In 4 Steps

In life you can get only as much as you are on the other side ready  to give!

Zero work means zero results. Zero time invested means zero results. Zero risk invested means zero results. Zero faith, confidence, perseverance and patience means zero results.

View a short video that will show you how you can start the day with small steps to overcome laziness and will thus transform you into a highly productive person.

22 ways to earn passive income

Making money while you sleep. Has a nice ring to it, doesn't it?

After reading books like "Rich Dad Poor Dad" and "4 Hour Work Week," I became obsessed with making passive income. Whenever someone needs additional income, the stereotypical suggestion offered is to “get a part-time job.” But what if you don't have the time or energy to put in all those extra hours? I know I didn't. Plus that wasn't as appealing as making money while I was trading time for money. For that, you may need some passive income ideas — ways to make money with little investment of time and effort on your part.

Here's a list of quite a few passive income ideas, so it's likely that you'll be able to find at least two or three that will work in your situation.

 

1. Try out index funds.

Index funds provide you with a way to invest in the stock market that is completely passive. For example, if you invest money in an index fund that is based on the S&P 500 Index, you will be invested in the general market, without having to concern yourself with choosing investments, rebalancing your portfolio, or knowing when to sell or buy individual companies. All that will be handled by the fund which will base the fund portfolio on the makeup of the underlying index.

You are also free to choose a fund that is based on any index that you want. For example, there are index funds set up for just about every market sector there is — energy, precious metals, banking, emerging markets — you name it. All you have to do is decide that you want to participate, then contribute money and sit back and relax. Your stock portfolio will then be on automatic pilot.

 

2. Make YouTube videos.

This is a venture that is growing rapidly. You can create videos in just about any area that you like — music, tutorials, opinions, comedy, movie reviews — anything you want . . . then put them on YouTube. You can then attach Google AdSense to the videos, which will overlay your videos with automatic ads. When viewers click on those ads, you will earn money from AdSense.

The keys will be to create compelling videos, to promote those videos on social media websites, and to create enough of them that your income will be coming from multiple sources. There's a good bit of work that goes into creating videos, but once a video is done it can become a completely passive cash flow source for a very long time.

Don't think you can find success with YouTube? You sure can. Emily Eddington used her love for makeup and YouTube to quit her full-time job. She has received over 66 million views on YouTube. This former morning news anchor took her passion — makeup — and turned it into a phenomenal success.

 

3. Try affiliate marketing and make sales.

This is a passive income technique that is better suited to people who have blogs and active websites. You can sign up to promote certain products or services on your site, for which you will be paid either a flat fee or a percentage of the amount of the sale completed. This isn't as hard to do as you might think, since there are thousands of companies in the world who want to sell their products in as many places as they can. You can find affiliate offers either by contacting vendors directly, or on dedicated websites, such as ClickBank. It's always best if the product or service is one that you are either very interested in or is highly relevant to your website.

4. Put your photography to work on the web.

Do you like photography? If you do, you may be able to convert it into a passive income source. Photography websites such as Shutterstock and iStockphoto can provide you with platforms to sell your photos. They may offer either a percentage or a flat fee of each photo that is sold to a site client. In this way, a single photo could represent a cash flow source since it can be sold again and again. You simply need to create your photo portfolio, put it on one or more photo platforms, and then the activity becomes completely passive. All the technicalities of the photo sales are handled through the web platform. And yes, that's me in a stock photo you can purchase from iStockPhoto.com. My good is a photographer and has uploaded a few hundred photos to their platform and makes a good residual income from it.

5. Purchase high dividend stocks.

By building a portfolio of high dividend stocks, you can create regular passive income at an annual rate that is much higher than what you get on bank investments. Just as important, since high dividend stocks are stocks, there is always the potential for capital appreciation. In that way, you can earn passive income from two sources — dividends and capital gains. You will need a brokerage account to purchase these stocks and complete the research needed.

 

6. Write an ebook.

This can be a lot of work upfront, but once the ebook is created and marketed it can provide you with a passive revenue stream for years. You can either sell the ebook on your own website or offer it as an affiliate arrangement with other websites that provide content related to your ebook.

 

7. Get cash-back rewards on credit cards.

There are credit cards that provide cash-back rewards ranging anywhere from 1% to 5% of the amount purchased. You're going to be out shopping and buying anyway, right? Rewards will give you an opportunity to earn some passive “income” (in the form of reduced outgo) from doing what you would do anyway. We recently started being mindful of collecting reward points on our cards especially since we like to travel. In the past year we've been able to use our reward points to pay for 9 round trip flights and few nights in a hotel. Now that's what I'm talking about!

 

8. Sell your own products on the internet.

The possibilities here are endless — you can sell just about any product or service that you like. It could be a product you have created and can manufacture on your own or it could be digital in nature (such as software, DVDs, or even instructional videos). You can set up a dedicated website for this product or service, unless of course you have a website or blog already in place. Alternatively, you can also sell it on an affiliate basis, either by offering it direct to websites and blogs related to your product or service, or through a platform such as ClickBank.

 

9. Invest in real estate.

This probably falls more in the category of semi-passive income, since an investment in real estate is always at least a little bit of an active venture. Still, once you have a property that is established and fully rented, it's mostly a matter of managing the property and keeping it performing well. Additionally, there are professional property managers who can manage your property for you, usually for around 10% of the monthly rent. This professional management can make the investment much more passive, but will take a bite out of your cash flow.

According to Brandon Turner, an active real estate investor and co-host on the popular BiggerPockets Podcast, The key to success with rental properties is buying smart. Not every property is going to provide a good return or prove to be passive. Understanding how to analyze potential real estate opportunities is incredibly important. As the old adage goes — you make your money when you buy!

Another benefit of investing in rental properties is the loan pay down. If you obtain a loan to buy the property, each month your tenants are paying off part of the loan. Once the mortgage on the property has been paid off, your cash flow will increase dramatically, allowing your mediocre investment to skyrocket into a full-fledged retirement program. It wouldn't take many paid-off properties to provide a pretty great, and mostly-passive, future for you and your family.

 

10. Buy a blog.

Thousands of blogs are created every year, and thousands are either completely abandoned by their owners sometime afterward. If you can buy blogs with a reasonable amount of web traffic — as well as a demonstrated cash flow — it could be a perfect passive income source. Most blogs employ Google AdSense, which provides a monthly revenue stream based on ads that Google places on the site. There may also be affiliate programs generating additional revenue. Both income sources will be yours once you purchase the blog. From a financial perspective, blogs usually sell for 24 times their monthly income. So if the site generates $250 a month in income, you can likely buy it for no more than $3,000. Translation: a $3,000 investment will buy you $1,500 per year in cash flow. You may even be able to purchase the site for less than 24 months' earnings, if the site owner is particularly anxious to get out. Some sites have good “evergreen” content that will continue generating revenue even years after the site has gone silent.

Bonus tip: If you were to buy such a site, and then to reinvigorate it with fresh content, you may be able raise the monthly revenue enabling yourself to sell the site at a later date for substantially more than what you paid for it. Finally, instead of buying a blog, you might want to create your own blog. You can make some money either way!

 

11. Pay off a credit card (or two or three).

Reducing a fixed expense is the financial equivalent of creating passive income. This is certainly true when it comes to credit cards. Let's say that you owe $10,000 on a credit card, on which there is a monthly payment equal to 2% of the balance, or $200 per month. By paying the card off, you'll be free up $2,400 per year in cash flow that would've gone to the monthly payments. That's like getting a guaranteed 24% return on a $10,000 investment. Good deal?

 

12. Write a book and collect royalties.

Much like writing an ebook, there's a lot of work upfront. But once that's done, and the book goes into the sales stage, it becomes a completely passive venture. This is especially true if you can sell the book to a publisher who will pay you royalties for the distribution and sale of the book. You'll get a percentage of each sale made, and if the book is fairly popular, the royalties could be substantial. Just as important, the royalties can continue flowing for many years. Mike Piper from OblivousInvestor.com did just that. He wrote a book, Investing Made Simple, which was sold strictly on Amazon. He had decent success with the first book that he created an entire series of book. Those books now net him over 6 figures per year. Not too shabby.

 

13. Set up a website selling a product.

If there is a product that you are particularly knowledgeable about, you may be able to sell it on a dedicated website. The technique is similar to what you would use for your own product, except that you will not to be concerning yourself with product creation, but only with the sale of someone else's product. You may even find after a while that you are able to add other products that are related. Should that happen, the site could generate substantial revenues. If you are able to have the product drop shipped to customers directly from the manufacturer, you won't even have to get your hands dirty. That may not be 100% passive, but it's darn close.

 

14. Invest in real estate investment trusts (REITs).

In #10 we talked about investing in real estate. But let's say that you want to invest in real estate, but do it in a truly passive way. You can do that through a real estate investment trust. This is something like a mutual fund holding various real estate projects. The fund is managed by professionals, so you never have to get involved. One of the big benefits of investing in REITs is that they typically pay higher dividends than stocks, bonds, or bank investments. You can also sell your interest in a REIT anytime you like, which makes it more liquid than owning real estate outright.

 

15. Become a business silent partner.

Do you know of a successful business that needs capital for expansion? If so, you can become something of a small-time angel investor and provide that needed capital. But rather than offering a loan to a business owner, you instead take an equity position in the business. In this way, the business owner will handle the day-to-day operations, while you will act as a silent partner who also participates in the profits of the business.

 

16. Become a referral source.

Every small business needs referral sources in order to maintain sales. Make a list of small business providers that you use on a regular basis and feel you can recommend to others without reservation. Then contact the owners and see if they have any kind of cash referral offers available. You can do this with accountants, landscapers, electricians, plumbers, carpet cleaning services — the list is endless. Keep a list of these businesses, and be ready to refer them to your friends, family and coworkers. You can earn a fee on each referral just from talking to people. Don't overlook referral programs at work either. If your company offers a referral bonus for either new employees or for new customers, then take advantage of that plan. It's easy money with virtually no work.

 

17. Rent out unused space with Airbnb.

Airbnb is a concept that has only been around for a few years, but it has exploded around the globe. Airbnb allows people to travel all around the world and to stay in accommodations that are a lot less expensive than traditional hotels. They do this by staying with participating Airbnb members who rent out part of their homes to travelers. By participating in Airbnb, you can use your residence to accommodate guests and earn extra money just for renting out space in your home. Paula Pant, cubicle renegade AffordAnything.com took a stab at making extra money renting out locations exclusively through Airnbnb. Her Airbnb experiment netted her an extra $19,000 in revenue and 1 police visit! How much you will make will depend upon the size and condition of your home and your location. Naturally, if your home is located in a high cost city, or close to a popular resort, your income will be much higher. It's a way of earning money on space in your home that might just be sitting empty otherwise.

 

18. Build an app.

Apps can be an incredibly lucrative income source. Think about how many people today have smartphones. Come on, it's just about everybody! People are downloading apps like crazy — and for good reason . . . Apps make people's lives easier. Whether it's an app that helps people put together nice pictures for their blog or an app that keeps track of tasks, there are helpful apps out there for everyone. You might be asking if there are so many apps out there, why would you want to attempt to create an app? Isn't there a lot of competition? Well, yes, but fresh, creative ideas can win. If you can come up with something unique, you can make quite a bit of money. Simple — yet unique — apps can be pretty passive. Don't know how to code? No problem. First, you can learn. Check out Nathan Barry's success in his inspiring article, "How I Made $19,000 on the App Store While Learning to Code." Nathan also put his design expertise to work in an ebook teaching others how they can design their own apps. Second, you can hire a developer to build your app based on your idea. This could end up being an expensive option, although it will probably yield a professional-looking app.

The end result is an app that has the potential to make you some relatively passive income. Don't downplay the idea to build an app — it's a good one!

 

19. Create an online course.

Everyone is an expert at something. Why not create an online course about your passion?

My buddy Ramit Sethi at IWillTeachYoutobeRich.com is an expert at creating online courses. He has made an insane amount of money selling his lessons. Most people would be happy making a fraction of what he makes online. There are a number of ways you can produce and host your own online course. One very simple way is to use a website like Udemy.com. Udemy as over eight million students and is a great way to get your content in front of others for their consideration. Once you create an online course, it can work for you while you sleep! What do you put in your online course? Good question. You can add video lessons, checklists for completing steps you recommend in your video lessons, small ebooks to supplement the lessons, audio files for people listening while traveling, informative interviews with like-minded experts, and a whole bunch more! In fact, you can create several packages at different price points. Some people will want everything, so you can include ‘the works' for the highest price point and then have two lower price points so that you can receive the largest possible volume of orders.

 

20. Make an online guide.

If writing articles or creating videos isn't your thing, and you want to make money online, try creating an online guide. A good example of this comes from Pat Flynn's website, SecurityGuardTrainingHQ.com. On the website, he has a map of the United States that allows someone to click on any state to see the security guard requirements for that state. By providing specific information in a guide-like format, you can make money through some of the means already addressed: advertisements through Google AdSense, affiliate links, and even memberships you can sell from your online guide. It's a fantastic idea!

21. Outsource most if not all of your business needs.

If you're spending too much of your time on an existing business running it yourself, why not outsource most if not all of your tasks? Yes, it will require you to give up some control, but in many businesses it's the only way to free up your time so you can focus on other tasks that will result in more income. If you don't want to hire employees, consider hiring freelancers who work as contract laborers. Look for freelancers with a strong work ethic who provide quality results.

Here's a list of tasks that you might want to outsource:

Bookkeeping

Writing

Web design

Editing

Task management

Social media marketing

and so much more!

Yes, many people can turn their existing businesses into passive income businesses. As long as the main product or service isn't something only you can do, you can transform your business into a passive moneymaker.

 

22. Make money for tasks you'd do anyway.

Yes, you can make some money doing some of the things you're already doing.

For example, InboxDollars allows you to make money by playing games, shopping online, searching the web, and more! Swagbucks also allows to make money doing similar activities. It's amazing. Take advantage of these websites and make some extra money! I've purposely provided a long list of passive income ideas in the hope that there is something on this list for everyone.

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/ways-to-earn-passive-income-2015-12

One of the life rules...

You are the avarage of 5 persons you hung out with the most. So choose carefully your friends. If you would like to be financially successful the recipe is very simple – find 5 persons who are already financially successful and spend as much time as possible with them.

Why buying a home is not a good investment?

Should you own a home? Unless you have 20 million bucks in the bank, in cash, you have no business buying a house.

People think the only way to save money is to buy a house. Suzy Orman thinks you have no way to earn any real money for yourself, so she advises you to buy a house as the only way to get your money. You will get your home paid off when you are old. Who wants to wait until they are old to have money?

A home is not an investment because it doesn't pay you every month. In fact, you have to pay it every month.

That's why a house is not an asset, it's a liability. Nothing is a good deal if you have to feed it constantly.

People ask, "Why would you pay rent when you could buy?" Because you can't leave. Who wants to go to jail for 30 years? You can be mobile and nimble if you rent. Mobility is a great thing in today's world. Why settle down? Invest the money in yourself or your business. Your money needs to be free!

I have been investing in multi-family real estate for over 25 years. If you want a great opportunity to create income for yourself, realize that America is becoming a nation of renters.

How many reasons do you need to buy multi-family real estate? Apartments offer high cash yield, build equity, give tax advantages and let you use leverage. A $400,000 purchase can be bought with 25% of the price allowing you to leverage $100,000 to control four times the value in physical property. Stocks or gold can't touch that!

The house, much like a college education, has been fed to you as the American dream. Really, it's a middle class myth perpetuated by outdated thinking, politicians and mass media. Buying a house may have worked for previous generations but old ways of doing things aren't viable in 2016. We are not in the 1950s, things have changed and people refuse to adjust.

A house is not an investment.

I want to give you three tips to making true investments.

1. Invest in yourself

I do a weekly talk show called Young Hustlers where I talk to millennials about all things money, career and sales. I always emphasize the need to invest in yourself, no matter what your age. When I was 25 I made a $3,000 investment to buy a sales program for the purpose of becoming better at my job. Becoming a better you will never fail you.

2. Focus on income

Whether you have a house or not is irrelevant to how well you are or, will be, financially. So many people are concentrated on savings but their real problem is they just don't make enough money. I encourage the millennials on my Young Hustlers show to spend their energy on this one thing — getting their incomes up high enough where they can actually make a real investment.

3. Invest in something that pays you

Only after you have enough income can you start to think about investing. As I mentioned earlier, buying a home to live in is not going to pay you. Whether it be multi-family real estate or something else, a true investment will not cost you money. There are so many real estate agents out there giving false information. A home needs to be fed, it won't feed you.

If you start investing in yourself, focus on growing your income. Put that growing income into an investment that will pay you, then you will be living like the rich do, not like the middle class.

Most Americans have been made to believe the myth that getting rich is almost impossible or not important. If you look at the world you will see that the only group of people that are safe are the rich. The rich didn't get rich "buying a house."

Blame them, hate them, resent them, but they are safe and everyone else is at risk. They will be able to survive inflation, housing busts, tight credit, high unemployment rates and whatever else is thrown at them. They have investments that pay them.

The middle class idea of just "being comfortable" is a risky venture in 2016. If your hope is in a house, you will be disappointed. I'm all for education, but how many people have gone to college and into massive debt and found themselves unemployed? How many of them are paying that debt back for 10, 20 and 30 years?

Don't get caught in the idea that a house is your ticket to wealth. A house, along with a college education, has been fed to this country as the way to financial prosperity. It may have been true in the past, but today it's all a myth.

Source:  www.businessinsider.com/why-you-shouldnt-buy-a-house-20162?utm_content=buffer6df42&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer

9 things you can do in your 20s to be a millionaire by 30

Becoming a millionaire by 30 is possible.

Plenty of regular people have done it, such as Grant Cardone, who went from broke and in debt at 21 to self-made millionaire by 30; Daniel Ally, who became a millionaire in less than five years at 24; and Tucker Hughes, who generated a million dollars in commissions in one of the most competitive industries out there — real estate — by age 22.

To help you reach the seven-figure mark, we rounded up nine lessons from Cardone, Ally, and Hughes, who shared their advice on Entrepreneur.com. We can't guarantee millionaire status, but doing these things won't hurt your odds:

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/things-you-can-do-in-your-20s-to-be-a-millionaire-by-30-2016-2?utm_content=buffer791ef&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer

When will people do business with you?

In order to be more successful in business, your every word, action and posture should inspire confidence in your interlocutor or business partner.

Every little thing counts

I will reveal you one very important rule in life:

"Success is created through the implementation of a few small everyday actions that will eventually accumulate and reach results that go far beyond anything you could have ever imagined."

But what is here the problem? The problem is that this small formula for success is so easy to do on a daily basis that most people think that it will not change anything. And therefore people simply don't do it. Outgrow such thinking! Every little thing counts on the road to success!

Financial Choices | Cashflow Quadrant - Robert Kiyosaki

If you want to become financially free it is crucial, that you understand how the business model works. Check out this video and if you want to know how to reach the forth quadrant as soon as possible, I have the answer for you.

Wise Words From Jack Ma

These are for sure strong words from one of the richest persons in the world, Jack Ma, founder of Alibaba. Some poeple might not agree with him, but usually poor people are not very open minded and this is also one of the most important reasons for their economic situation.

If you want to be successful you have to start from your mindset. Be openminded, be positive, take risks, believe in yourself, go outside your comfort zone, be brave to face your fears, challenge yourself!

Which are the 6 basic rules of success?

Do you agree with these 6 rules? Or would you change/add some other rule? I will be very happy with your feedback.