By: Stefan Aarnio
Freedomway.ca
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 "All I know is that I know nothing"
-Socrates

Why is it that in life, the smarter we become, the less we know?

When I was 7 years old, I was the smartest person in the world. I knew everything there was to know about space, the planets and the solar system.

When I was 7, the facts of the solar system were as follows:

1. We have 9 planets
2. A sun
3. A bunch of stars

If I knew these basic facts, I knew everything there was to know about outer space and received a gold star.

With this limited knowledge, I knew 100% of what there was to know about space and was an expert until junior high when suddenly, the subject of outer space expanded and became more complicated.

I started to learn that I was no longer an expert on outer space because now we had to know:

1. That the sun is made of gas
2. Gravity holds the solar system together
3. The planets have multiple moons that orbit them etc.

Suddenly, I went from being a 7 year old expert to a 12 year old ignoramus who had to re-learn the facts of the universe.

When I was 7 I knew it all, when I was 12 I suddenly became ignorant about the universe.

In high school, I ran into the same problem. New information about the universe flooded my context through physics and chemistry. My knowledge base exploded and I could not keep up with all of the new information. With each new level of proficiency, I learned that in-fact, I knew nothing about the universe.

With each new level of information,  I knew less and less. The more I studied, the less I knew.

Today I know virtually nothing about space and the solar system.

Even facts that used to be true are suddenly un-true. For example: We used to have 9 planets and now there are 8. 

Pluto is no longer a planet... what changed?

What I used to know is no longer relevant in today's world. 

As Einstein says: "change is the only constant in the universe".

How is a person supposed to keep up with all of the new information that is introduced to us every day in this brave new world?

We become experts in a field, learn everything there is to know and suddenly the information changes, the market changes, or we find the "next" level in our field.

No matter what we do, we know nothing.

ENTER ZERO BASED THINKING

Zero based thinking is the concept of always knowing nothing. 

In zero based thinking, we are always at the beginning... we forget everything we used to know.

The reason why we must forget our prior knowledge is because what we knew yesterday no longer applies in our current context. 

The same concept applies when we want to take our business or our life to the next level and bring it into the future.

"If you do what you have always done, you will receive what you have always got."

Zero based thinking applies when we want to take our life and our business to the next level.

For example, when you are a child and begin to earn money, you are 2 figure earner or a 3 figure earner. You get a paper route, work part time, save up your pennies and make dollars.

When you're in high school, you have a part time job babysitting or flipping burgers and become a 4 figure earner working 2 or 3 months of the year at a summer job. Becoming a 4 figure earner is a different process than becoming a 3 figure earner.

Of course, the chain continues...

To become a 5 figure earner, you enter the world of "full time employment". Through promotions and proficiency in the corporate world, you can transform into a 6 figure earner. However, this is where most people get stuck.

When we become 6 figure earners, our context usually becomes frozen. We think we know everything there is to know and our egos keep us from learning how to get to the next level.

To jump to the next level, we must use Zero Based thinking and forget everything we used to know about earning money because a 7 figure earner follows a completely different process than a 6 figure earner.

Usually a person can reach 6 figures by pure effort and energy. Hard work, blood, sweat and tears can produce 6 figures quite easily these days and many people achieve this accomplishment.

However, to reach 7 figures is completely different. 7 figures is a different set of actions and a wildly different mind set. Hard work alone will not allow a person to jump from 6 to 7 figures.

To become a 7 figure earner, we must "build a business", build a team, build systems, build marketing campaigns, manage people, sell, and essentially run an enterprise.

We must unlearn what we used to know as a 2 figure, 3 figure, 4 figure, 5 figure and 6 figure earner stages because 7 figures is a completely different ball game.

Naturally, the chain continues. 8 figures is completely different from 7 and 9 figures is completely different from 8.

But what is the lesson?

No matter what "level" we are on in life, we must always employ Zero based thinking and approach our situation with fresh eyes. We must deconstruct what we used to know and re-learn the new facts of the world as they become relevant to us in a new context.

Unfortunately, egos and pride stop us from using zero based thinking consistently and often, we need outside personal help from a coach or mentor to expand our context and allow us to see outside of our tiny "box".

For myself in my business, I have completely changed my thinking this year from January 2012 until now December 2012.

I started off with a 5 figure mindset and through coaching and mentoring, I have been able to expand my context. This year alone, I have expanded to a 6 figure mindset and am now approaching a 7 figure mindset.

All that I have to do is execute actions based on my mindset and let the results catch up to my thinking. This process will likely take 12-24 months.

What is wonderful about expanding the mind through Zero based thinking is that: "an expanded mind never returns to it's original size".

What becomes challenging throughout the process, however, is to keep the Zero based mindset and to refrain from becoming a "know it all". 

This year I have re-built my website 4 times, re-designed my business cards 6 times, changed my business model 6 times and will likely re-brand before the year is over.

I am constantly "back at the beginning" in my learning process and this is where major growth comes from.

If you are interested in taking your business to the next level,  using Zero based thinking can be a simple process.

Find someone who is more successful than you and get them to coach you to the next level.

To become 6 figures, you must learn from a 7 figure.
To become 7 figures, you must learn from an 8 figure.
To become 8 figures, you must learn from a 9 figure etc.

The chain never ends and goes on forever... this is the beauty of life.

The real question is, where on the chain do you want to stop?

Thanks for reading,
Stefan Aarnio
Freedomway.ca
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https://twitter.com/stefanaarnio
http://ca.linkedin.com/in/stefanaarnio

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By: Stefan Aarnio
Freedomway.ca
facebook.com/stefanaarnio
https://twitter.com/stefanaarnio
http://ca.linkedin.com/in/stefanaarnio

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In life, there is no such thing as a guarantee.

Everything we do always has an element of risk, however, we do not consider every day things like driving to work or crossing the street to be “risky”.

Today I googled “the definition of risk” and this definition came up from thefreedictionary.com:

risk  (rsk)

n.

1. The possibility of suffering harm or loss; danger.

2. A factor, thing, element, or course involving uncertain danger; a hazard: "the usual risks of the desert: rattlesnakes, the heat, and lack of water" (Frank Clancy).

3.

a. The danger or probability of loss to an insurer.

b. The amount that an insurance company stands to lose.

4.

a. The variability of returns from an investment.

b. The chance of nonpayment of a debt.

All of the definitions above involve some form of loss, hazard, suffering and an element of variability, probability or chance.

What I find to be interesting about risk is that every single person I meet has a different subjective definition.

Often, when I am discussing risk with another investor, I will ask what their personal definition of risk is.


More often then not, investors will define risk as the chance or probability that he or she loses on an investment.

This definition is sufficient, but I find it to be a very unsophisticated definition of risk.

Robert Kiyosaki says that intelligence is the ability to make distinctions. The more distinctions we can make, the more intelligent we are.

For example, there are over 7500 variations of apples in the world. When it comes to apples, I am not unsophisticated and can only name a few variations: red delicious, granny smith, crab apples, and Macintosh. When it comes to apples, I am very unintelligent. A person who can name 100 variations of apples is much more intelligent than I am on the subject of apples.

When I hear a person’s definition of risk, I can immediately find out what their sophistication level is when it comes to business and investing.

My personal definition of risk has changed many times throughout my life. I used to believe in luck, and now I do not. All I believe in is actions performed and numbers. Life and business are a numbers game, if you can produce the volume and hit the numbers, you will succeed every time. There is no luck.

My definition of risk is:

Risk: Take an inventory of the elements that are under your control and compare them to the elements that are out of your control. Then ask yourself: am I ok with this? If you are ok, then proceed with the risk. If you are not ok with the degree of control, then do not proceed.

My definition of risk has two primary distinctions that the average person’s definition does not:

1)   My definition of risk assesses your degree of control in a situation

2)   My definition asses your emotions and how you feel about your level of control

Notice that I eliminate “probability” or “chance” from my definition of risk. In my world, there is no such thing as probability because failure is not an option.


Naturally, there are things that can happen outside of my control, and I must address and mitigate all contingencies before proceeding. Should something outside of my control become an issue, the question is: how do we recover form this position?

In my world, I understand that in life and in business, plans fail, people fail, systems fail, markets fail and what is more important than relying on all these imperfect elements is to understand how to recover and “fix” the failures.

I build failure and multiple contingency plans into my ventures and understand that failure and recovery is part of the game.

In real estate, between 5% and 10% on the balance sheet will be factored in for vacancy on multi family buildings.

Restaurants and traditional businesses will build theft into their balance sheets.

Sophisticated business people understand that failure; loss and recovery are all part of doing business and factor it in to their projections and balance sheets in advance.

My definition understands that there are elements in our control and out of our control. There is no luck; only degrees of control. If you are ok with your degree of control, then proceed with the “risk”.

Of course, there is always that moment where we must “take a leap of faith” and no amount of due diligence can protect us from the elements that are out of our control.

What is most important when entering an endeavor with risk is to ask ourselves “how do we escape if we want to exit?”

For myself, I love real estate because no matter how bad things go, there is always a large tangible asset attached to the venture that can be liquidated to recover my investor’s capital.

Again, we come back to elements under control and elements out of control.

When raising capital from an investor or considering a “risky” venture take them through the following scenarios to asses if the venture is right for them:

1)   The best case scenario – everyone loves this scenario, and it rarely happens.

2)   The realistic scenario – this is the likely outcome

3)   The worst case scenario – this is second most likely scenario

4)   The nightmare scenario – this is as bad as it gets, you don’t want to find yourself in the nightmare scenario.

For myself, I have a low risk tolerance and I always say to my capital partners “if you are ok with the nightmare scenario, then we are ok to do business”

At the end of the day, risk is all about emotions. If we are emotionally ok with our degree of control in the risk and how the nightmare scenario would affect our life, then we are ready for the risk.

If we cannot handle the elements out of control and would not be able to live with the nightmare scenario, then the risk is not for you.

There is a famous saying “nothing ventured, nothing gained” and we must all take calculated risks in our pursuit of success. The question is, after exploring a few definitions of risk, how do you personally define risk going forward?

Your personal definition of risk is extremely important because it will define which risks to take and which ones to avoid. To paraphrase Sun Tzu, know yourself and know your enemy and you will be victorious in every battle.

Thanks for reading,

Stefan Aarnio

Freedomway.ca
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https://twitter.com/stefanaarnio
http://ca.linkedin.com/in/stefanaarnio

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By: Stefan Aarnio
Freedomway.ca
facebook.com/stefanaarnio
https://twitter.com/stefanaarnio
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In the early 1900’s, an author by the name of Napoleon Hill was commissioned by Andrew Carnegie (The steel magnate) to interview the top 500 richest people in the world and create the common formula for great riches. After many years of hard work, Napoleon Hill published his masterpiece “Think and Grow Rich”. The book contained the formula for great riches and Napoleon Hill became very wealthy himself by teaching people around the globe the secret to creating great wealth.

Throughout history, many people have searched far and wide for the formula for riches. Some people would call it the Philosopher’s stone (the stone that could turn lead to gold) or the fountain of youth.

The truth is, Napoleon Hill’s formula for great riches is all of the above. It can turn lead (or even thin air) into gold and can also preserve youth and beauty if used correctly.

Man has scoured the earth for these arcane abilities and yet, everything a person needs to know about success is in the book “Think and Grow Rich”.

Relatively recently, a Canadian entrepreneur and author by the name of Doug Vermeeren studied the formula for wealth and decided to do a modern study of Napoleon Hill’s work.

Doug interviewed the top 500 achievers in the world including CEO’s of major corporations, sports stars, actors, athletes and many types of people that were excluded from Napoleon Hill’s list (which were mostly industrialists, inventors and entreprneurs).

Throughout Doug’s study, he has been able to add extra insight to Napoleon Hill’s work and in some circles Doug Vermeeren has been given the title of “the modern day Napoleon Hill”.

I recently had the privilege of spending a day with Doug Vermeeren and I was fortunate to have him pass on some knowledge to me.


One concept that Doug shared was “the 3 pillars for achievement”.

Throughout Doug’s studies, he found that there are 3 things that top achievers all have:

THE 3 PILLARS FOR TOP ACHIEVEMENT:

1)   Affectionate Loving Parents

2)   A supportive partner

3)   A deep religious faith

The common denominator between affectionate loving parents, a supportive partner and a deep religious faith is that every one of the “pillars” supports achiever in the mental, physical, emotional and spiritual realms.



In other words, the top achiever is not succeeding alone, but has extra support in all aspects of life. This person has the power of many, but is perceived as succeeding alone.

To paraphrase T Harv Ecker, money is created in the physical realm because it is a “print out” of the mental, emotional and spiritual realms.

Wealth and riches are created inside of us in intangible realms and the results are manifested through physical success. We see the results of the wealth physically, but do not see the mental, physical, emotional changes, shifts and support systems that manifest physical wealth, money and success.

When we examine the three pillars for top achievement, we can easily see why top achievers have a higher probability of success if they possess all three pillars.

AFFECTIONATE LOVING PARENTS: Affectionate loving parents are very important for top achievers because parents form the base of a child’s self esteem. Self-esteem is crucial to becoming a top achiever because it allows a person to take a risk. I call self-esteem “emotional capital” and people with high self-esteem are able to take risks and withdraw from their “emotional bank account”. People with abusive parents or absent parents may have depleted emotional bank accounts and will have a much harder time taking risks. Unconditional love from a parent is very important when taking risks because the risk taker will know that no matter how bad they fail, their parents will always be there to support them emotionally, physically, mentally and spiritually.

A SUPPORTIVE PARTNER: When Warren Buffett was asked to give advice to a graduating class of Ivey League students he bluntly offered one pearl of wisdom: “Marry the right person”. When a top achiever is going to “put it all on the line” and chase their dream, they require their partner/spouse to do one of two things:

a)   Actively pursue the dream with them OR

b)   Passively support their partner emotionally, physically, mentally and most importantly, spiritually

Top achievers will go through hell and back to become the best in their field. There is an unwritten law in the world that states, “When you push on the world, it pushes back” and oftentimes, people who pursue excellence in their field are met with great adversity at every turn. Whether it is jealous peers, rivals or other unsavory people, the road to the top is not easy. Emotional and spiritual support from a primary relationship is absolutely essential for success to take place. Without this key support, a person will easily be crushed when faced with enough pressure and adversity. A supportive spouse will make a top achiever twice as strong and twice as resilient when “the world pushes back”. If you are single, make sure you heed Buffett’s advice and marry the right person.

A DEEP RELIGIOUS FAITH: Faith is a key ingredient to great success and achievement. I have shifted my spiritual belief system many times in my life but have always retained one key factor called “faith”. Faith is an extremely important part of success because faith allows a person to make leaps in logic.

For example, if we want to be the best salesperson in the country, but have only made a handful of sales, logic would tell us that our outcome of becoming the best to be very unlikely. If we listen to logic, we will always give up without trying.

However, if we feel it in our heart, guts, mind, body, and soul that we believe that we will become the best salesperson in the country, then faith will allow us to leap over the logical argument and pursue our vision with burning determination.

Faith is one of the most powerful techniques that top achievers use because it can help us to achieve things that are unbelievable, improbable and super-human. Faith allows us to harness the greater invisible spiritual forces around us that some would call “the power of intention”, “infinite intelligence”, “the universe” or “god” and use these forces to achieve our wildest dreams against all odds.

WARNING: Although faith can be extremely powerful in the positive sense, faith itself is a double-edged sword. Faith allows the user to leap in logic, which can be used in a positive way to achieve greater goals with no prior experience. However, faith can also leap logic in the wrong direction and create a closed off mind that can completely cripple a thinking mind. Use faith wisely and consider the cause and effect of such a wildly powerful tool. As the label often reads on potent substances: read the manual, consult a professional and use with extreme caution.

Although we often see success in it’s physical manifestation, true success is first created in the non-physical realms of the spiritual, mental and emotional. Only once “inner” success has been found can “outer” physical success be manifested through wealth and riches.

Having a strong support system in the intangible realms through loving parents, a supportive spouse and a strong religious faith are the foundation of the structure that is required to reach the stars and become a top achiever.

Take a moment to take an inventory of your life and your support system. Ask yourself “Which parts of this system do I have today?” and “which parts are lacking?” find ways to strengthen your deficiencies and create stronger relationships.

In the end, no one succeeds alone and great relationships can make the difference between wild success and crushing defeat.

Like grass, relationships require watering and maintenance. Take care of your relationships, water them, fertilize them, manicure them and watch them grow. Consistently be mindful of your support network, treat your support network better than gold and your results will be startling.

Thanks for reading,

Stefan Aarnio

Freedomway.ca

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https://twitter.com/stefanaarnio

http://ca.linkedin.com/in/stefanaarnio

P.S: Please share this article if you found it helpful!

By: Stefan Aarnio
Freedomway.ca
facebook.com/stefanaarnio
https://twitter.com/stefanaarnio
http://ca.linkedin.com/in/stefanaarnio

Remember: Please share this article if you found it helpful!

Two men are laying brick, and one man is miserable. He lays brick after brick and curses each brick as it’s laid upon mortar. The other man is excited and filled with joy to be laying the exact same brick.

What makes these two men different?

One man has vision: he is building a beautiful cathedral.


The other does not: he is merely laying brick.

These men are identical men, performing an identical task in an identical way, but one is energized and overjoyed while the other miserable and depressed.

I recently hired a coach to take my life and business to the next level. The first thing my coach had me do was fill out my “vision” board. I was unprepared for a vision board because I had not spent much time creating a vision for my business and myself.

After being assigned to create a vision, I started to spend serious time to thinking and took action to construct the vision that will fuel my life and my business.

What do I want my life to look like? What do I want my home to look like? What do I want my health to look like? What do I want my bank account to look like? What do I want my workday to look like? Etc.

The list goes on.

Vision is so powerful because once we have a great vision, we can literally reverse engineer our reality from the blueprints of a great vision.

Just like the two men, one can see the lines of a cathedral in his vision and he feels like he is contributing to a larger mission and a beautiful creation.

The other man can only see bricks and mortar. Each brick he lays is painful, his body is exhausted and he works like a slave.

Which man would you rather be?

After becoming more conscious of vision and spending some time to create my own “vision plan”, I feel like I can no longer offer advice to the people who ask me for advice.

When someone asks me for advice, I always ask, what his or her vision is.

It startles me to find out that very few people have visions for their lives. Most people are satisfied with just laying brick. Only a very select few are building a cathedral.

Many people have goals, hopes, and dreams but few have a vision. The vision, in many ways is more far more powerful than transactional goals, baseless hopes and action-less dreams.

The reason why I prefer a vision plan to all of the above is because a vision can be reverse engineered into actionable steps that can be executed each day.

Goals are often one-dimensional, hopes are for the hopeless and dreams are for dreamers. However, a strong vision that has been reverse engineered into daily actionable steps is unstoppable.

We must create the vision of our cathedral and then begin laying brick – one brick at a time.

If we are consistent and persistent in our “bricklaying” actions, eventually our Cathedral will begin to manifest and the vision will come to life.

The people with the strongest visions are the leaders in all facets of life. Visionaries like; Steve Jobs, Gandhi, and Henry Ford all saw the world differently and worked towards their vision.

Through a powerful vision, reverse engineering of that vision into a blueprint, and execution of the small actionable steps of the blueprint, the world can be changed one “brick” at a time.

The future belongs to those of us with strong visions, clear blueprints for achieving the vision and a specific plan of daily actionable steps.

In your life today, are you laying brick or building a cathedral?

Whose cathedral are you building? Your own? Or someone else’s?

Thanks for reading,

Stefan Aarnio

Freedomway.ca

facebook.com/stefanaarnio

https://twitter.com/stefanaarnio

http://ca.linkedin.com/in/stefanaarnio

P.S. Please share this article if you found it helpful!

By: Stefan Aarnio
Freedomway.ca
facebook.com/stefanaarnio
https://twitter.com/stefanaarnio
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In investing, there are two schools of thought; Fundamental Investors and Technical Traders.

In real estate investing, the best example of a Fundamental Investor would be someone who does long term buy and hold properties. These investors are looking at the market on a macro level and rely on the underlying fundamentals of the market rather than the technical price of the asset.

A technical trader is someone who “flips” properties. These investors are generally trading properties that they hold for no longer than 6 months at most. They buy, force appreciation and sell in a short period of time. These traders are more focused on the buy and sell price of a specific asset than the underlying market fundamentals.

Both strategies can be successful and both can make a lot of money. In the end, Fundamental and Technical strategies should be used together to create cash both immediately and in the future.

The most important thing about choosing a strategy is that we understand the pros and cons of Fundamentals and Technicals. We need to know how to find value in each strategy and know which strategy to use in a given market.

In real estate investing, a fundamental investor will look at market fundamentals such as:

1)   Industry – Industry is important because Real Estate is only valuable when there are jobs around to pay for it. This is why a city block in Detroit can sell for $1 and a single high-end tiny apartment unit in Manhattan sells for $20 million dollars. Detroit has a troubled economy because the local industries have disappeared and so have the jobs. Manhattan on the other hand has an abundance of jobs and that is why real estate in Manhattan is worth obscene prices. Jobs and industry are one of the most important fundamentals of real estate.

2)   Net Migration – Are more people moving into a geographic area or are they moving out? If more people are moving in, demand goes up and prices will rise. In markets where oil is discovered, real estate skyrockets because of all the new people that move in to take on the new jobs. Western Canada is littered with oil towns that have steady positive net migration because of the “black gold rush”.

3)   Transportation – Is the market we are considering accessible or not? Can you transport goods in and out of the market? Northern Canada is filled with useless real estate because there has been no transportation-established far up north. If people cannot easily move to and from the piece of property, chances are, it’s worthless.

Investors who play a fundamental game have the benefit of slow moving markets and can make educated choices based on slow and steady research. Over time, if chosen correctly, fundamentals can make create insane profits with very little work. When I do buy and holds I always pay very close attention to the fundamentals to make sure that I am parking my money in the best way possible.

Technical investors are much different from Fundamental investors. Fundamental investors care about the:

1)   Short term technical movements in the market

2)   Specific entry and exit prices of the market

3)   Specific short time frames.

Technical traders do not really invest in a market, but rather trade in a market. When I flip houses, I think like a technical trader: I look for a distressed or under valued asset, force appreciation and make a calculated speedy exit.

Since the positions are short in technical trading, I don’t have to worry as much about industry, net migration and transportation that move slowly over months and years. All that matters is the entry price, exit price and that the market holds while I own the asset. Since real estate is a slow game, especially in my market (Winnipeg), I usually don’t have to worry about a sudden downturn in the market.

What is more important in flipping houses is making sure that the end user (the customer), desires to purchase my product and that they can afford it. Many flippers/traders get stuck because they flip in areas with no demand or areas where the end user does not want to live. Pay very close attention to the customers, and specifically the customers with money. Always give them what they want.

In my career I have switched many times from a “cashflow” (fundamental) strategy to a “cash” (technical) strategy. Depending on the needs of my business, I will switch strategies as required so that I take advantage of opportunities as I find them.

If I were to start over in real estate, I would start with a “cash” strategy and convert to “cashflow” over time. The beauty with real estate is that there is something for everyone and the more creative you get with a strategy (generally) the more money you can make.


Thanks for reading,

Stefan Aarnio

Freedomway.ca

facebook.com/stefanaarnio

https://twitter.com/stefanaarnio

http://ca.linkedin.com/in/stefanaarnio

P.S. Please share this article if you found it helpful!

By: Stefan Aarnio
Freedomway.ca
facebook.com/stefanaarnio
https://twitter.com/stefanaarnio
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Retirement for many North Americans is a dream that many people wish to have. The first wave of baby boomers is starting to retire in the next few years, however, many of them are not prepared to stop working.

The definition of retirement is “to take out of useful service” and what happens to so many hard working people is that they die shortly after being “taken out of useful service”.

Working at a job is a a social pursuit that can add purpose and meaning to a person’s life and so many people highly value the social aspect of working.

If a person decides to retire and loses the social environment that they have been in for the last 10, 20 or 30 years, they can suffer a serious blow to their happiness and life can become very difficult.

If you look at human history, there are virtually no examples of societies that have a “retirement” with golf courses, meal plans and retirement homes.

Life spans have been short throughout history and people generally worked until they died. In some cultures, the elderly would live with their children and help out around the home, but they still did a considerable amount of domestic chores and kept “working” without retirement.

Many baby boomers have the vision of retiring on a golf course like their parents did and sadly, I don’t think this will be a reality for most of them. My opinion of the “golf course” retirement is that it has been an anomaly that only one generation in human history has been able to enjoy.

Unfortunately, the “golf course” retirement has been artificially created by the WWII generation before the baby boomers.

The WWII generation financed their “retirement” on debt and fiat currency. Like most debts, they have been able to pass the bag onto their children (the boomers).

Historically speaking, the “golf course” retirement was created early in the industrial age and it was mathematically engineered by highly skill actuaries. They calculated that for every year a person worked after age 55, the worker’s lifespan decreased by a proportionate amount of years.

“67” is the magic year because it the shortest amount of retirement that the company would have to pay. Age 67 is the year that the average worker would statistically die after working until age 65.

What this means was that many retirement plans were designed around a worker working from age 18 to 65 with a 2-year retirement followed by a quick death at 67.

“Retirement” plans were never designed to support people and their families into their 80’s, 90’s and 100’s. These retirements span 20, 30, 40 or even 50 years and they were fundamentally designed to support 2 years.

Most companies with defined benefit plans were betting on their employees dying 2 years after 65. Statistically today in North America, both men and women live to be nearly 80 years of age and the number is climbing as healthcare improves.

I saw a statistic the other day that said that between Obamacare, social security and medicare, the United States has 80 Trillion dollars of unfunded liabilities. The amazing thing is, 80 Trillion dollars is more money than the entire world’s money supply.

No one can pay this liability, not even the USA with it’s unprecedented money printing abilities.

The USA could print their way out of the problem, but would completely devalue their currency into oblivion in the process.

Many of the pension funds, retirement funds and mutual funds that the Boomers are relying on for retirement are all invested in the paper assets that are extremely vulnerable to market fluctuations.

Furthermore, these assets are all timed to liquidate at the same time. The baby boomers are the largest demographic in North America and in other parts of the world as well. These people will be selling their large family homes at the same time (in specific suburban sub-markets), liquidating their stock portfolios and will begin systematically withdrawing from the markets in 2016.

What happens when everyone reaches his hand into the cookie jar? Although there should be, there are not enough cookies in the jar for everyone and some of us won’t get a cookie. The stock market works like this and when everyone wants to sell, values deflate and many people will not get their full (inflated) value on their assets.

When the baby boomer garage-sale begins, who will be in line to absorb these large suburban family homes, stock portfolios and other assets?

My prediction is that the younger generations, namely the echo boomers, will not have the purchasing power to absorb their parents’ assets. There has been a large shift in the middle class and the entire middle class workforce has migrated from North America to Asia.

As well, the purchasing power of the echo boomers has been damaged by long term no-value university programs and many do not enter the work force until mid twenties or later.



Furthermore, many echo boomers are loaded down with student debt racking up into the hundreds of thousands.

It is common for students nowadays to leave school with a houseless “mortgage of student debt”.

What is most unfortunate is that these students cannot go bankrupt to get out of their debt obligation.

I don’t have a crystal ball to predict how these demographics, fundamentals and laws will pan out, but there will be chaos and chaos brings opportunity.


If you are a savvy investor, you will be able to find some serious bargains on assets in both Canada and the USA.

However, if you are on the other side of the equation and expecting to retire in the next few years, you may need a back up plan to hedge against your current investment portfolio.

I don’t want to preach doom and gloom; I prefer to be optimistic about the future. However, we are set up for a perfect storm in the next few years and I truly believe that we will see a major transfer of wealth.

It’s up to you to get educated on the things I have written about in this article and do your best to prepare for the perfect storm… Otherwise, it may be better to die at 67.

Thanks for reading,

Stefan Aarnio

Freedomway.ca
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By: Stefan Aarnio
Freedomway.ca
facebook.com/stefanaarnio
https://twitter.com/stefanaarnio
http://ca.linkedin.com/in/stefanaarnio

Photo: Stefan Aarnio and Doug Vermeeren

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Yesterday I had the pleasure of spending some time with Doug Vermeeren. Doug is a very successful entrepreneur who has studied and worked with 400 of the world’s top achievers. Fox News calls him the modern day Napoleon Hill because he has studied the secrets and formula for wealth. He created the sequel to the movie “The Secret” called “The Opus” and has been able to turn $1 into $1,000,000 in six months.

I spent the greater portion of the day yesterday with Doug and my colleague, Shaun Furman from Millionaire Mentors Today. As we helped Doug set up his event in Winnipeg, he shared a short questionnaire that he used to interview the top 400 achievers in the world.

One question that I felt was extremely relevant to wealth generation is:

“A million dollars cash for you is on the other side of a field of explosive land mines. What do you do?”

A) Stay put

B) Make a run for it and hope for the best

C) Go slow and steady

D) Follow someone who knows the safest route

My initial reaction for what I have done in the past was; “B” make a run for it. In my career, I have earned my education at the “School of Life” and have paid my tuition with blood sweat and tears. I have stepped on a few “landmines” on my journey and fortunately, have not been wiped out by doing so.

THE 4 WAYS TO CROSS THE MINEFIELD TO WEALTH

Option 1: STAY PUT

If a million dollars were sitting on the other side of a field filled with explosive land mines, most people would stay put. For most people, any sort of risk is too much risk and they would rather have total safety and security. Unfortunately, you cannot become wealthy by just “staying put”. You must take action, make moves and make mistakes to cross the field. People who stay put never become wealthy.

Option 2: MAKE A RUN FOR IT AND HOPE FOR THE BEST

Making a run across a field of landmines, regardless of the reward is absolutely reckless. You cannot “make a run”, take a blind risk and “hope” that it works out. Hope is for the hopeless. People who “make a run” in real life will take on so much risk that they end up getting hurt or financially wiped out. Some of these people may start risky businesses that they do not understand or “put all of their eggs in one basket”. Although this strategy could pay off, and pay off big, I do not personally recommend it. I have made a few “runs” in my life and have risked everything on some deals. In hindsight, making a “run for it” has far too much risk and there are so many better ways to cross the minefield of wealth.

Option 3 GO SLOW AND STEADY

Going slow and steady across the minefield is much lower risk than “making a run for it”. However, you may not be able to cross the field in time. Time is the most important currency in life and in wealth. Wealth is not actually measured in dollars, but in time. If you spend all of your time being cautious, and not crossing the field fast enough, you may not ever cross it. Caution is always important in the pursuit of wealth, but we need to balance caution and action so that we get to our destination on time.

Option 4 FOLLOW SOMEONE WHO KNOWS THE SAFEST ROUTE

Finding a coach or a mentor who has crossed the field is the option that most wealthy people have chosen to build their wealth. This is the option that I have chosen to pursue (after trying to “make a run for it”). Coaches and mentors can show you where the landmines are. They can also show you where they have failed and can get you across the field safer and quicker than you could alone. HOWEVER, to have the advantage of a mentor or a coach, there is always a cost to this. Usually you have to pay your coach or mentor either in time or money.

NOTE: Paying for success in time or money is much easier than paying in blood, sweat and tears. Mistakes can be very costly and the stress is never worth it.

Find the person that has what need to cross the minefield and find out what they need to educate you. Life is very simple when you understand who you are, what you want and who can help you get “across the field”.

I find it interesting that most wealthy successful people all answer the previous question the same way. There is a formula and a code for wealth and when you study enough people, we can see that there is no such thing as luck and that success is a choice.

In life, we are all faced with a minefield that stands between where we are today and where we want to be. The two questions we must ask ourselves are;

1)   How will we cross the minefield? and

2)   What will you pay to get to your destination?

Thanks for reading,

Stefan AarnioFreedomway.ca
facebook.com/stefanaarnio
https://twitter.com/stefanaarnio
http://ca.linkedin.com/in/stefanaarnio


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By: Stefan Aarnio
Freedomway.ca
facebook.com/stefanaarnio
https://twitter.com/stefanaarnio
http://ca.linkedin.com/in/stefanaarnio

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Last weekend I was in Vancouver for the Western Canadian Top Investor Awards hosted by Canadian Real Estate Wealth Magazine. It was a fantastic event with hundreds of Real Estate investors, service providers and other professionals.

The event was broken down into two major rooms:

1.            A room stage

2.            A room with a trade show

I attended the event with a friend of mine. My friend is a Real Estate investor who started his career this year in July. My friend has done very well for himself and has already acquired a handful of properties in record time. His rapid action and success have earned him a nomination for an award at the show in the category for "Newcomer of the Year" - very impressive indeed.

To myself, the show was rich and abundant with opportunity. Absolutely everyone I needed or wanted to know was at the show. There was ample time for networking, looking at new markets, new business models and creating connections. The event had tremendous value to me.

What I found interesting was that my friend did not see the same kind of opportunity.

I saw tremendous opportunity in every person I met at the show through potential future relationships or contacts. To me, the show was a great way to find industry players, form relationships and create value for everyone.

My friend did not perceive the show the same way. He did not see the same level of opportunity and could not see the connections. 

Were we attending the same show?

Physically, we were attending the same show. Mentally, we were not in the same universe.

I have been to countless events this year, and since June, I have really sharpened my networking skills.

However, If I had attended the trade show 6 months ago, I would not be able to see or find opportunity in the room.

What changed?

My friend, who could not see the immediate opportunities was essentially looking at the room through the eyes I had 6 months ago. He is a novice networker, has no system for networking and lets all of the opportunity slip through his fingers.

My friend walks in the room, says hello, smiles, introduces himself and expects opportunity to fall into his lap.

Unfortunately, the world does not work this way.

In reality, we have to create connection, create value, create opportunities and create relationships much like we create great deals. Great deals are not “found” or “bought” they are made. The same is with relationships and networking.

How many people do we know who are on the dating circuit who are running around trying “Find the right person”? In reality, a relationship with the “right person” is right in front of them in people they interact with everyday. The “right person” is merely a great relationship with ANY PERSON made over time. There is no such thing as Mr. or Mrs. Right, you have to find a “Mr or Mrs. Good enough” and develop the relationship into “Mr. or Mrs. Right”. This is how effective relationships are made.

Business, dating and networking are all the same. We must create and engineer our own opportunity.

Networking is an extremely complex subject that is made up of many moving parts. Everything from dress code, etiquette, 3-second approach, 30 second commercial, triangulating introductions, when and how to give out a card etc. are all subjects for great study. However, today I will focus on sorting.

SORTING AND THE ABC’S OF NETWORKING.

When I approach a room to network and meet people, I like to sort them into “bins”. For myself, I am a real estate investor and there are generally three types of people that I meet: A’s, B’s and C’s.

·      A’s are people who have money or access to money. They are likely very successful and accomplished in a field of choice. These are potential money partners or have access to potential money partners in the future.

·      B’s are people who have deals or access to deals. They are also successful in their field and can be potential deal partners in the future.

·      C’s are people who have no money and no deals. These people may or may not be successful and are potential fans. Fans are people who like you, like your products, like what you do but will likely never become a customer. Fans are very important because if you utilize them effectively, they spread your circle of influence and exponentially grow your network. These people can be great connectors and in some ways they are the most valuable. They can also graduate into the A or B categories in the future.

After you get good at introductions and talking to a new person for for 5 minutes or less, you can quickly estimate which “bin” to categorize your prospect into.

NOTE: I want to make it very clear that I am not placing value judgments’ on these types of people and that A’s, B’s and C’s are all very important for my business. I categorize people so that I know what I can offer to them to connect, bring value to them and form relationships.

It’s very important that you can put a new prospect into the appropriate bin because a conversation with an A will be different than a C. These people are all looking for different things.

For example, an A with money is looking for a place to put his money. It may be appropriate to ask him where he has placed it in the past and why. It may also be appropriate to mention how I generate returns for investors and get verbal permission to contact him in the future when I have a great deal looking for funds. It may also be appropriate to discuss none of the above and “start slow” with the relationship. Etiquette is very important when courting money and you have to play this by ear.

If I encounter a “B” player, it may be appropriate to ask him about the kinds of deals that he has in his inventory. Find out about his market and his product. I may do some research on his market in the future and find out if I want to be bring my business into his niche later. I may have connections that he is looking for and may offer him some of my connections.

If I encounter a “C” player, it may be appropriate to ask him where he wants to be in the future and discuss ways I can help him get there. Does he want to be an active investor or passive investor? Is he open to purchasing training, coaching or mentoring? C players may or may not be looking for information and I may connect them with my blog or another information source to help them become a B or A player in the future. I will integrate these people into my social media programs to stay in touch because some of the best deals I have ever done have come from “C” players. These people may become fans and provide invaluable social capital to your organization.

TIP: Follow up for the A’s, B’s and C’s will be different because they are all looking for different things. 95% of people fail to follow up at all after a networking event. If you have a good sorting system, you can send each type of person an appropriate follow up channel and bring value to them on an ongoing basis.

It takes all types; A’s, B’s and C’s to make a successful business. A’s provide money, B’s provide deals and C’s provide social support. I have become a firm believer that every type of person can contribute value to my organization and have found a way to provide value to everyone and in return see opportunity in everyone I meet.

If I could change one thing about the event on the weekend, it would be lack of C players in the room. There was a ton of A and B players (which is fantastic) but hardly any C players. Although many investors do not like C players because they think they are a waste of time, I find them to be the most valuable in many ways because of the indirect opportunities that come from bringing them into my network.

Your skill as a networker, in my opinion, is gauged by your ability to bring value to any person in any situation.

6 months ago, I had no system for sorting or follow up and I could not find opportunity in a room packed with of people. Now, I can see the opportunities that most people miss and it’s all because I have spent time studying networking and have created ways to connect and bring value to A’s, B’s and C’s.

Since implementing this type of sorting system, I have seen exponential success in my business and have made my life easier by leaps and bounds. I would recommend that you study the ABC’s of networking and find ways to bring value to everyone, regardless of their status in the alphabet.

Thanks for reading,

Stefan Aarnio

Freedomway.ca
facebook.com/stefanaarnio
https://twitter.com/stefanaarnio
http://ca.linkedin.com/in/stefanaarnio

P.S. Please share this article if you found it helpful!

By Stefan Aarnio
Freedomway.ca
facebook.com/stefanaarnio

In nature, male frogs attract female frogs by croaking loudly in mating season.

From the female perspective, a deeper croak equates to a bigger frog. Female frogs want the biggest male possible to mate with to produce the biggest offspring. In mating season, female frogs listen for the deepest, loudest croak they can find.

If you are a big frog with a deep, loud croak, you get access to any female frog in the jungle. However, if you are a small frog with a small croak, attracting a female can be very difficult.

So what is a small frog to do?

Small frogs can be smart frogs.

A small frog, who is a smart frog, will hop into a drain pipe or a large cavernous space. Once he's inside the pipe, he will croak as loud as he can. The cavernous pipe amplifies the sound of his croak and makes him sound deeper and louder.

Suddenly, the small frog sounds like a huge frog and he can attract an endless stream of ready and willing females.

Although life is easier as a big frog, not everyone is a big frog. 

What if you are the small frog in your business? 

What if you are already a big frog and want to be a gargantuan frog?

We can learn a lot about business when we study the mating patterns of frogs.

5 FUNDAMENTALS THAT MAKE HORNY FROGS INTO MARKETING MACHINES:

1) MINDSET - You don't have to be a big frog to win like a big frog. Think big, find ways to get the results that the "big frogs" get while still staying small. Play the game like a professional from day one and practice thinking big.

2) AMPLIFY - Small frogs use leverage to make their croak bigger, deeper and louder. Whether you are a small frog or a big frog, we all need to amplify our message to reach the market. Find your message and amplify it to your audience. Objects always appear larger from far away and use every broadcast channel to your advantage: Radio, TV, social media, email, youtube, google etc. to broadcast your message.

3) ATTRACT - Smart small frogs know that chasing females is a complete waste of time. Instead, they know how to attract and seduce prospects. Why chase? Let business come to you. Set up your branding and marketing so that you have a laser focused message that attracts the right qualified prospects so that you never have to chase again.

4) OVERSELL - A great marketer once told me "always oversell... even if you have the goods, always oversell". Create a frenzy by playing to the emotions of your audience and oversell your inventory. Use scarcity: If you have 3 items to sell, sell 6. Manipulate supply and demand to create a frenzy by overselling.

5) DON'T PLAY FAIR - Exploit your unfair advantage over your competition and play the game on your terms, not theirs. Find out what your "secret sauce" is and pour it on everything. Make the game unfair so that the odds of success are stacked in your favour and set yourself apart from your competitors. Make your products and services the only choice in the market by differentiating yourself with an unfair advantage.

In business and in the jungle, it's always survival of the fittest. However, whether you are the fittest or not is completely irrelevant when you play the game like a horny frog. Have the mindset of a big frog, amplify your message, attract your audience, oversell, and never play fair.

Find ways to apply these principals in your business and begin dominating your market. Whether you are a small frog or big frog, find a pipe to croak in and watch your prospects line up for a chance to work with you.

Thanks for reading,
Stefan Aarnio
Freedomway.ca
facebook.com/stefanaarnio
https://twitter.com/stefanaarnio
http://ca.linkedin.com/in/stefanaarnio

P.S. Please share this article if you found it helpful!

Remember: Please share this article if you found it helpful!

Photo: My colleague's condo that is not selling.

By Stefan Aarnio
Freedomway.ca
facebook.com/stefanaarnio

Today I was flying from Winnipeg to Chicago with a colleague of mine and we were talking about business building and namely flipping houses for profit.

My colleague mentioned that he was having trouble selling his condo that had been sitting on the market for quite some time.

He initially put his condo on the Winnipeg MLS with a competent realtor at $120,000. The condo is between 400 and 500 square feet, 1 bedroom, located in downtown Winnipeg and has no parking.

The comparables for the condo indicated that it could be sold for $120,000. 


Since Winnipeg is a semi-hot market, the realtor listed the condo at $99,000 hoping to get a bidding war.

However, the condo has sat on the market for 5 months with little to no interest. 

There is absolutely nothing wrong with the condo, it's cosmetically appealing, priced well and should theoretically sell quickly on the market.

However, serious buyers have avoided this condo for 5 months.

The price dropped from $99,000 to $95,000. Next it dropped from $95,000 to $89,900 firm. Yesterday, my colleague got an offer for $80,000 and his realtor was suggesting that he close at $85,000.

What went wrong with the well priced, cosmetically appealing condo in Downtown Winnipeg? It hasn’t sold even though it is priced $20,000 under comparable value.

I asked my friend if the condo had parking, he replied “no”. Immediately, I knew what the issue was.

I asked him what the demographics were like in the building and he said that it’s composed of mostly students who take the bus to the local university.

At $99,000 or less, this condo is very well priced and a good product, however, no parking and the downtown location create two problems:

1)   Downtown locations have no peripheral street parking.

2)   If the condo doesn’t come with parking, there is nowhere to park the buyer’s car.

People who can qualify for mortgages have jobs, which usually require cars, which require parking. No parking is a huge issue and limits the profile of buyers who would find this product attractive.

Further, the purchasing power of a person looking to buy a condo in the $100,000 to $150,000 range is too great. There are far too many options in the condo market in Winnipeg in that price range and a buyer can easily get a new condo, with parking, in a location of their choice.

My colleague’s product is a nice product, however, his audience is very limited and the people who would like to purchase the product (namely students) do not have the money or purchasing power to buy.

A rule I have learned in my career thus far: The people who are very enthusiastic about buying usually have no money. 

I used to see examples of this rule all the time when I used to rent out my affordable luxury rental suites. People that were the most eager to buy had no purchasing power. Another challenge was the people who actually had cash had a wide range of options and really needed to be sold to buy.

To capture a person with purchasing power, you need to offer the best product at the right price and make your option the only option in the category. My friend with no parking will have a very hard time competing in his category.

When I began my business career, I would create a product I liked and would attempt to build or engineer an audience for it. This formula was extremely painful for me. I lost money numerous times and felt the crushing defeat of failure after failure while trying to create markets for my products. Creating a market and demand for a product is very expensive, very intense and very risky. I would not recommend it to anyone.

 

BUSINESS RULE: Do not try to create an audience, find an audience and give them what they want.

Today in my career, Instead of creating a audiences, I find audiences who are looking for specific products and offer them what they are looking for.

This subtle difference has made the difference between the failures of my past and my current successes.

For example, 2 years ago, rental vacancy in Winnipeg was 0.7% so I built affordable luxury rental units to fill the demand. The units were quickly absorbed by the market and have been 100% occupied since day one. I found an audience and gave them what they wanted.

In January this year I noticed that there were a local investors looking for good cash flowing Real Estate Deals. I made it my mission to find them Deals, partnered with them and have done 12 Joint Ventures this year. Finding partners has not been hard because I fill the demand of the audience.

In the Real Estate Investor world I am approached weekly for mentoring, coaching as well as speaking. I did not get into Real Estate to be a speaker, coach or mentor, but I have started offering services as the demand dictates. If the audience wants coaching, I offer them coaching, if they do not want coaching, I do not offer them coaching. I absolutely hate risk, so I will not invest my time into something that people do not want.

I have also noticed that there is a huge audience of investors on the Internet searching for information. To feed this demand, I have been providing valuable, organic daily blog content to the audience and the results have been overwhelming. My blog has become my secret sauce.


The lesson that I have learned from my experiences is to know your audience inside and out. Know what they want, know what they don’t want and make sure you deliver at the right price. I no longer create speculative products and services because the risk is too high and it’s the formula for failure.

The formula for no risk profits is very simple. Find an audience, connect with them, find out what they want and deliver it at the right price.


You don’t have to be a genius to figure out the formula above and that’s why the best entrepreneurs in the world are middle school/high school/college dropouts:

Business is a simple game, keep it simple.

Thanks for reading,

Stefan Aarnio

Thanks for reading,

Stefan Aarnio

Freedomway.ca
facebook.com/stefanaarnio
https://twitter.com/stefanaarnio
http://ca.linkedin.com/in/stefanaarnio

P.S. Please share this article if you found it helpful!