Act in Faith
Quote of the Day – “Faith is thinking something is true to the extent we act upon it. ” W.T. Purkiser
Act in faith is a principle that must be learned by experience. Faith without works is dead. Most people, regardless of their faith, are familiar with that verse of scripture in the Bible from James. However, the idea of blind faith is ridiculous. However that is a far as many individuals ever get. They have no idea that James was talking about having faith in God. Faith in faith doesn’t work. Faith in the power of the living God does work.
You have to place your faith in something powerful enough to accomplish the goal you have in mind. You can place your faith in self but self is limited to your knowledge and experience.
Faith in God is unlimited and it makes more sense to trust in an unlimited power instead of the limited power of self.
Self might be able to accomplish a few task on this earth but still it is limited.
The key to accomplishing a major goal an impossible goal is to trust in the living God to help you accomplish the goal. You can’t accomplish anything without first having faith then act in faith.
You can’t jump off the highest building in the world and expect to live. However, if you get a glider, parachute, or a small plane to fly off the building with you will accomplish your goal. First you must have the power greater than self a glider, parachute or a small plane. Second, you have to trust the tool to get you to the bottom safely. You will never accomplish your goals with just faith or with just the act.
You want to get to the bottom of the building but you must first have faith in the power or tool then act on the faith.
I think I might be complicating this subject. Maybe not, act in faith. Have faith in a power greater than self because self is limited. Trust in self you will accomplish little chores. Trust in God and you will move a mountain.
Faith in action is critical to accomplish any goal in life. I want you to take a faith test. Pick someone you think you can trust. I dare you to try little faith test. Have someone stand behind you. You face away from the person and close your eyes. Ask the person to catch you as you fall backwards into their arms. Can you do it without flinching. I can’t do this very well because I have a trust issue with people.
To be honest, at times I have a trust issue with God. Yet, in order to move forward in my life I have to trust others and trust God to catch me when I fall.
Remember faith requires actions.
By: Dr Bob Wilkerson
How to Keep Your Emotions in Check When Achieving Success
As you go about developing yourself in your business or in your career, you will have moments when you feel on top of the world, and other moments when you think that everything is falling apart around you. The good news is that this is a natural part of being human. But knowing that your emotions may go up and down on your journey to success is not the same as and actually keeping your emotions in check.
Success can take many different forms. It can be a successful family, a blossoming career, or a booming business. Whatever success means to you, it is important to always remember that it is an impermanent thing. Success is not a constant state of existence, and as such, when you feel that you have achieved success, you haven’t ‘gotten there’.
I have read many self help books, business books and religious books, and all the inspired authors recognise one truth – that the good comes with the bad. What this means is that with every success comes failure, and with every failure comes success. The two feelings and subsequent emotions are intrinsically tied. And as such, appreciating each emotion you have on the journey to success is important, but not as important as not getting carried away by them.
In no way should you deny yourself the chance to feel and experience the joy, happiness and excitement that comes from achieving a dream. It is everyone’s purpose to experience these feelings for themselves during their life, and to help others experience these emotions too. But, as with any process of learning and experiencing, there will come a time when the feelings will fade, the experience will change, and you will be presented with more challenges in your life that will cause you to think that you have not succeeded.
So, whilst you are enjoying the emotional highs during a period of success, recognise that future challenges will come your way. This will help you to remain respectful of others and their current situation as well as appreciate your present moment even more.
The reverse can also happen. People can feel depressed or worried when they are achieving or have achieved success. The phone is ringing, things are going your way, and you begin to think “When is this going to end? When is the bad news coming?” It surprises me that some people have this tendency, but it can and does happen.
If this has happened or is happening to you, then remind yourself of this universal truth – this too shall pass. What this means is that every experience you have ever had has come and gone. All the past good AND bad experiences have come and gone, and your current situation is no different. It is not permanent – by its very nature, achieving success is an impermanent thing and it will pass.
So, you most likely will experience future challenges after success, and you will achieve success after challenges. If you make efforts each day to live the best way you can with what you know, look to improve yourself through education and taking risks and helping others in the process, then success will come your way. And when it does, remind yourself that whilst it is a wonderful feeling, it too shall pass.
5 Tips to Expand Your Money Blueprint
A lot of buzz is created every time there is a winner in a lottery. Many believed that this is the grand solution to almost all their entire problem. So it’s a normal sight to see a long line of wishful thinkers with high hopes of being chosen as the grand winner in every lottery.
So what if you do win? What are you going to do next?
Look at the event in a different perspective. Do you know that it’s a known fact that 90% of all lotto winners lose all the money they won (no matter how big) within just a period of five years? That sounds crazy, doesn’t it? But that’s the truth. Now that’s a good reason why you should NOT be lonely if you did not win.
Now how could that be?
The reason for that is simply this… the minds of most lotto winners are not yet programmed for success. This money programming is what we call as a person’s “MONEY BLUEPRINT.” If your money blueprint is designed small and you start receiving a huge amount of money, you will automatically engage in sabotaging behaviors to lose that money. It can be compared to a small drinking glass that is receiving a huge volume of water and so what happens is the water will just flow out of the small glass. The small glass just can’t hold a gallons of water being poured into it! So what this lotto winner needs to do if he wants to sustain and continuously grow his money is re-design and re-construct (his mindset) to LARGE. Otherwise, he will just lose everything real fast!
This principle applies to everyone on the face of this planet. Until you can program your mind for success, you will continue losing everything that you get or earn. So before going for any dream or goal, why not take the time to discover first how you can recondition your MONEY BLUEPRINT to LARGE.
The question now is “How can you start redesigning your Money Blueprint?”
1. Invest in your learning - Look for self-help financial books that will give you an insight on what you are right now as a person when it comes to money. Most if this learning are not taught inside the classroom, if it is, evaluate the credibility of the teacher. It must be written and explained by people who are credible and have created substantial results in wealth. Most of what we know came from advises of poor and broke people around us. In return, that became the programming of our mindset and ultimately our reality. But don’t worry because it’s never too late to start unlearning and acquiring new knowledge.
“If you think education is expensive, try ignorance” – Ben Franklin
2. Join a mastermind team - One of the greatest secret in building wealth is associating and surrounding yourself with wealthy people. It may not be materialistically wealthy people but people having a wealthy mindset. These are the people who will lift you up to success and will always encourage you to set goals bigger that yourself. It makes your dreams easier to get because other people can think of other possibilities in attaining your dreams that you would NOT normally thought of when you are just alone.
3. Practice BEING – Being poor or broke starts from a strong belief so as with becoming rich. Even though you don’t see physical manifestations of wealth around you yet, form the belief in your mind that you are already wealthy. By doing so, your subconscious mind will look for ways and opportunities around you to create wealth. Becoming aware that you have an infinite potential inside you waiting to be unleashed is your ultimate key to success.
4. DO IT! – There are two kinds of habit, DOING and Not DOING. There is no such thing as TRYING. When a great idea comes that will expand your money blueprint, seize the moment and DO it right away. Never wait for opportunities to be perfect because it never will. Making as many mistakes while doing what you thought of is your footbridge towards your dreams. Remember that knowledge that is never applied is meaningless.
5. GIVE what you want to Receive – Always remember that abundance is everywhere. Money does not run out, it only circulate. Start by donating to a worthy cause in your society and you will be blessed tremendously. Whether money or opportunities, you will always get what you always give.
Investing in Real Estate Vehicle for Wealth Building
Real estate is one of the best vehicles of building wealth. Historically real estate has outperformed other asset classes like stocks or bonds, and is reasonably predictable and less volatile. There were times when real estate went down and there were times where it went up but on an average it has given a sizeable annualized return Development report, the price of an average single-family home has gone up from $22,300 in1968 to $206,100 in 2003, an increase of 824% in a span of 25 years
There are many ways to invest into real estate. With 100 percent financing options, low interest rates and good credit it’s fairly easy to get started. Numerous articles and books have been written about investing in real estate and success stories are a plenty.
Here, in a nutshell, are some of the most important reasons for investing in real estate.
Appreciation. Traditionally real estate has been viewed as a “buy and hold” type investment vehicle. Real estate has recovered from cyclical declines and regional corrections and it may continue to do so in future, primarily because of tight supply and demand. Land is finite and housing is a necessity. According to the U.S. Census Bureau: the nation’s population is projected to increase to 392 million by 2050 – more than a 50 percent increase from the 1990 population size. These factors presents a bright outlook for real estate investors. The fact that land is finite, and population is growing will cause most real property to rebound even if there is a market decline.
Properties can be bought and held for appreciation provided one has the staying power. To avoid occasional declines, a smart investor should buy properties below market value by using creative acquisition techniques and realize a gain by quickly turning around and selling for a reasonable profit. Of course, properties bought below market value can be held for cash flow and long-term appreciation as well.
Leverage. Leverage in real estate means making money on borrowed money. The power of real estate resides in using “other people’s money.” One can buy a property with zero down (100 financing) and make a profit upon sale as if it had been paid off entirely. Let’s assume you decide to buy a duplex worth $500,000 with 100 financing. Income properties have been appreciating at an average of 7 percent per year. With a 0 percent down your property at the end of the first year is worth $535,000. At the end of the second year, it’s worth $572,450. By using leverage or borrowed money to purchase a larger income property, you have increased your profit by $72,450 in just two years. A 14.49 percent return on a borrowed amount of $500,000. This is the power of leverage. Leverage coupled with appreciation can yield high profits.
Tax Benefits. There are numerous tax benefits of owning real estate, gains from sale of primary residence up to ($250,000 for single, $500,000 for married filing jointly) is tax-free. IRS allows taking deductions for depreciating real estate assets. Legitimate expenses like interest, depreciation, insurance premiums, management fees, legal fees, repairs etc are all tax deductible. You only pay taxes on net profits.
Real estate investing is an extremely rewarding process, but it needs perseverance and knowledge to achieve success. There are several proven techniques to make quick money but the key to success resides in buying properties below market value and selling them at the market or higher market price. Great deals can be found in foreclosures, fixer uppers, distressed properties and auctions etc.
Developing Multiple Streams of Income
Experts now tell us that multi-tasking is not an efficient way to work for most people. When starting a new business it is best by far to select one stream of income and work that method of making money until it is successful (or has proven to be a failure) before starting another new venture.
Once the first business process is systematized and delegated to others then it is time to go on to another venture. A small business is quite vulnerable until there are multiple streams of income. What happens if the first business dries up or becomes subject to legal or technical restrictions that didn’t exist initially? Unless a business is using multiple strategies it is too prone to losses if the first business strategy loses favor with customers or faces stiffer competition.
How do you select the next stream of income? Within the field of real estate investment here are several approaches:
1. Analyze the strategies that other investors have found successful in your market and implement one of those strategies. For example, if you are primarily a Short Sale investor, look also at the possibility of wholesale investing in bank owned property. Areas that have a lot of Short Sales also tend to have a lot of shadow bank inventory and it will probably take several months to years longer to clear these than the Short Sales from the current glut on the market.
2. Analyze your own strengths and weaknesses and find streams of income that complement your strengths and do not require large output in areas of your weakness. For instance, if you have no construction ability and don’t want to manage contractors, don’t become a rehabber. If you hate to supervise and don’t like to deal with tenant issues, then don’t become a landlord because you’ll either be handling tenants and toilets yourself or you’ll be supervising the managers and maintenance people who do. If your strength is marketing then any wholesale technique requiring a constant pipeline of buyers and sellers should fit well with your skills and interests.
3. Find multiple streams of income that are easy to systematize and delegate or that bring in customers and cash on autopilot. Look for strategies that scale well so that you can easily ramp up to larger quantities of work and income without sacrificing personal time or quality of service. Some combination of these characteristics is necessary in order to add more income streams without stretching your own resources too thin.
There are tons of ways to make money in real estate, but all of them are useless unless you have a steady flow of motivated sellers and qualified buyers coming into your business. When you have a solid pipeline of prospects, you pick and choose the best of the best and finally take control of your financial future. Find out the most effective ways to get your real estate investing business roaring and turn it into an absolute cash engine.
By: Bob Massey
Stop Being the Finder, Minder and Grinder in Your Business
Most entrepreneurs try to bite off a little more than they can chew hoping they’ll quickly learn how to chew it. They take on the multiple tasks of not only marketing and running the business and dealing with customers, but operating and maintaining the “machine” as well. They find it hard to let go and release control, and in this way, hinder the evolution and growth of their enterprise.
Successful entrepreneurs understand that unless they learn how to let go of the mundane tasks, their business will not grow. They know how to leverage the efforts of their teams and the knowledge of the people around them. By building business systems that can be operated by the team and having procedures, policies and check lists to support the management system, winning entrepreneurs enjoy total freedom, wealth creation and a lifestyle to boot.
Being the finder, minder and grinder in your business is an exhausting and emotionally draining exercise. Decide first why your business exists, identify your goals and then design your role to suit your business’ purpose. If you go against the flow and decide to be the grinder then you are only doings things as they come without direction or purpose. You are a “human doing” as oppose to “human being”. In other words you are replaceable. Should you opt to being the minder then you are a manager not entrepreneur. You manage and direct the grinders in your business and your existence depends on having grinders in your business to manage.
The best possible position for an entrepreneur is at the top of the pyramid. Being the finder means that you do not do real work in the business but ensure that all strategies of the business are aligned are being implemented the minders and executed by the finders. You rely on your internal network of people to realize all initiatives, projects and orders created by your extensive network of contacts who you spend most the time in their company dining a=wining and playing golf.
Ask yourself; “Am I building an enterprise or a job? Is what I am doing now moving me closer towards my goals? If not, then it is moving you away from your goals of enterprise building.
Stop being the finder, minder and grinder in your business. Leverage other peoples’ time in the operation of your business.
But, you may say, my business is me! I am it! I do not have a team! In this case, you must establish a virtual team of independent contractors who can help look after the core of your business such as:
- Bookkeeper
- Accountant
- Marketing Copywriter & Product/Service Manager
- Graphic Designer, Photographer
- Personal Assistant
- Webmaster and Online Shopping Cart Manager
- Special Projects Manager
- Google Ad words and SEO Specialist
Clients tells us that one of the biggest differences we made in their business was helping them build their team or “virtual team” which allowed them to enjoy a better life with great freedom while working strategically on the vision and future of their businesses!
BY: Michael Yacoub
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