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

Get Stefan Aarnio's book "Money People Deal: The Fastest Way to Real Estate Wealth" at MoneyPeopleDeal.com!

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Better than a thousand days of study is one day with a great teacher. – Japanese Proverb

When most people get started on the path to "self made wealth", many of us choose one of the following:

1) To become a real estate investor
2) Start a business with an MLM company aka Multi Level Marketing

Both of these paths are very difficult and there is no easy way to success. For myself, I chose to become a full time real estate investor and dedicated all of my resources towards success in my field. In some ways, I envy the people who start with MLM companies because MLMs are:

1) Cheap to start
2) Come with training
3) Have an "Upline" of information (aka coaches and mentors are part of the system)
4) Build a residual income by establishing a team or downline
5) Offer great and cheap personal development programs

When I look back on the resources, time, money, opportunity cost and risk that I spent to get into professional real estate investing, I am astounded at the "startup cost" of the business. In many ways, an MLM would have been safer, cheaper, and faster than becoming a pure real estate investor. Here is why,

Real Estate Investing is:

1) Expensive to start (down payments are expensive and training is expensive)
2) Mistakes are expensive
3) Risk and leverage can crush you
4) No set path for success
5) Coaches and mentors are hard to find

However, as I advance further into Real Estate Investing, I begin to see more similarities between Real Estate and MLM's than differences.

The first similarity is what I would call an information "up-line".

THE UPLINE

One of the biggest mistakes that I made when starting out in business (first music, then debt buying, then real estate) was that until fairly recently, I had absolutely no informational up line. I define an informational up-line as a coach, mentor or teacher who has more experience in the business, a higher degree of success and has accomplished what I was trying to do. Completely ignorantly, I fumbled around in the dark for far too long making costly mistakes. Appropriate coaches and mentors could have prevented 90% of my mistakes, but I was too cheap to hire one.

"The only way to know the right steps to take is to study with those already taking the right steps. Douglas Vermeeren"

MLM's are smart businesses because many of them come with an up-line of information. The up-line shows you the ropes and teaches you how to achieve success in the business. In real estate investing, I have paid some obscene fees to coaches and mentors to correct my past mistakes and take my business to the next level. What is even crazier than the fees I pay are the results. Although the fees are high, the results are always worth it. If you are in real estate investing, and don't have an "up-line" to help you on your path, I would suggest that you get one immediately. Of course, your "up-line" will have to be paid somehow, so consider paying a fee or give them equity in a deal you are doing. One of the reasons why I love real estate is that it is a blank canvas, whatever you wish to create, you can create. The possibilities are endless.

A mentor is someone who allows you to see the hope inside of yourself – Oprah Winfrey

THE DOWNLINE

In multi level marketing, there is an up-line of experienced mentors to help you in the business, and of course, you have a downline underneath you to push you to higher levels of success. In real estate investing, you must build a downline as well. The downline, in my opinion, is everyone on your team who helps you build a passive income. These people are:

1) Your contracting teams
2) Your wholesalers
3) Your bird dogs
4) Your realtors
5) Your property managers
6) Other investors who invest in you and refer business to you

I have made it my mission to adopt the Coca-Cola philosophy and "pay everyone who touches the product". Anyone who refers business to me, whether it be realtors, bird dogs or other investors, will always get paid in cash or equity because these people make me income, and mostly passive income. It's my job to be the up-line and train everyone on the team to work together, work efficiently and work the way I want them to work. I must educate them so that they can be the best team members possible and help me achieve success.

THE SUMMARY

The more I study the business of real estate investing, the more I see that real estate is the same as an MLM company. If you are not yet started in real estate, I would recommend joining an MLM for the training to learn how to run a business. More investors fail to become professional investors because of a lack of soft skills in general business. Many investors know how to do deals (real estate is very primitive), but have no idea how to run a business. The skills you can learn by joining an MLM are priceless. I chose to bi-pass this education and paid a much higher price for my skills. Looking back, having an MLM business on the side would have saved me a lot of time, money and effort. If you are in real estate today, make sure you have an up-line and build a profitable down-line - It's imperative to your success.

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

Get Stefan Aarnio's book "Money People Deal: The Fastest Way to Real Estate Wealth" at MoneyPeopleDeal.com!

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

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

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

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

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

Anyone who has ever become successful in reaching their dreams has always had a series or roadblocks to overcome.

Whether you are a Real Estate investor who has dreams of building an empire, a Entrepreneur with the next great idea or an Artist with the next great vision, we all have a series of challenges to face before we can become successful.

One common challenge that everyone has to face when chasing our dreams is that somewhere along the way, we require capital.

This is true for absolutely everyone. Whether you are the Real Estate investor requiring capital for buildings, the Entrepreneur requiring capital for a venture or the Artist requiring capital for an Art-form. The requirement is universal and every business/successful person requires funding at some point in his or her path to success.

Unfortunately for many people, raising capital is a "black box of voodoo" that many do not understand. Some of us are held back by limiting beliefs that "we do not deserve" to have capital or that we need to be born with it to be successful.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

Raising capital is a science and an art form. It obeys the law of certainty much like everything else in this world.

If certain things are done in certain ways, certain results are certain to occur.

With that being said, here are 5 Secrets to Raising Capital shared with me by the very-successful capital-raiser JT Foxx:

1. Dress to impress: We only have one chance at making a first impression. The timeframe for establishing a good impression is a very short window between 3 and 30 seconds. As social animals, we are constantly looking for reasons NOT to do business with other people and we will scrutinize every minor detail to disqualify a newcomer. Some key details for dress are: the quality of suit, polished shoes, quality of business cards. Anyone who is idealistic enough to think that these things don't count is delusional. Even legends like Steve Jobs, Richard Branson and Hugh Hefner had to wear suits early in their careers. Dressing to impress is an easy way to ensure success.
2. Pay attention to your branding: Effective branding is extremely important for anyone who wants to raise capital. However, branding is so much more than just a name, a colour and a logo. Branding is a feeling and an emotion surrounded by you and your company. What feeling does an audience get from you? Some easy ways to find out if you have effective branding or not are; Do you show up effectively in Google? Do you have pictures of yourself with successful people? Branding is what separates the top from the bottom in any business and it ensures a potential investor that you are not a fly by night operation.
3. Know your numbers and be conservative: If in doubt, always be conservative. The worst mistake so many people make is that we try make our deal look better than it really is. A savvy investor will always poke holes in your strategy and call you on a plan that is too optimistic. If you appear to be misrepresenting something then you will scare away your investor and their money. Provide a "best case", "realistic case", "worst case" and "nightmare case" scenario. If your investor is ok with the "nightmare case", then you know that you have a deal.
4. Back end is more important than the front end: Congratulations! You raised the Capital! Now what...? In a perfect world, raising the Capital is easy. What is much more important, however, is how you manage the "back end" of the deal. How good are you at "taking care" of the investor's money? Savvy investors are very hesitant to part with their money and you need to show them some accurate monthly reports with precise information. One of the worst things you can say to an investor is "I run the business and I do my own books." Investors want to see audited financials by a certified account. If you can provide this information you show that you are a professional, understand what they need to feel secure and have built a competent team.
5. Make it about more than the numbers: Relationships are always the most important thing in business. When you pitch a deal or yourself based on the numbers, you are selling yourself short. If you are placing all of your value on the numbers alone, you are in big trouble. Don't be known as "the 12% guy", because later when the "13% guy" comes along, you will be finished. Instead, focus your presentation on your relationships, philosophy and results. Sell the vision of the big picture to your investors and have strong, realistic numbers. If you can provide all of the above, then investors will be calling you looking for a good place to put their money.

Raising capital is a skill that very few people have mastered. It's a skill that revolves around sales, marketing, branding, relationships and understanding the numbers. If you can focus on the 5 fundamentals above, then raising the capital required to build your dream will always be easily found.

Thanks for reading,
Stefan Aarnio
Freedomway.ca

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

By Stefan Aarnio
Freedomway.ca

Remember: Share this article if you found it useful!

Today I had lunch with Troy MacDonald, the leader of the local Winnipeg Property Investor's Network and we were talking about mindset.

Mindset is perhaps, one of the most important assets in business or entrepreneurship.

Most people think that money is holding them back from reaching their dreams, but in fact, money does not exist. The only thing holding them back from reaching their dreams is in fact mindset.

When I was 22 years old I made the choice to go into real estate investing. I had literally no money and no experience... all I had was passion, a gut feeling that real estate was where I wanted to go and a very strong reason why I wanted to pursue real estate.

All I had was guts and passion. The little money I did earn as a guitar teacher was invested primarily in real estate education, seminars, and books. Since many of these educational seminars are extremely expensive ($1500-$30,000) and all of my cash from my job went into funding my education, I learned how to operate my real estate business and my other businesses with no cash.

I was on the NO CASH DIET.

If I found a property I wanted to buy, I was unable to buy it because I had no cash and often no credit, so I had to raise the money. I had to learn how to "bootstrap" and keep my operating budgets razor thin. I also had to learn how to motivate and keep team members on the team and working for me with no cash. None of this is particularly easy to do, but I was forced to learn the skills because my passion told me to go into real estate and I "jumped in" feet first.

Cash is never a problem for me today in my business because I started with none, have operated with none, acquired all of my property with no cash, renovated buildings with no cash, motivated teams with no cash, travelled with no cash and have learned how to live with no cash.

My mindset has transformed from a "cash required" mindset to a "no cash required" mindset.

Many people who get into real estate or business think that they need cash for all of the above:

Their mindset is lazy.

Most people think that business is like walking into a McDonald's and buying a Big-Mac. If they want the Big-Mac, they have to buy it cash. If they don't have cash, they can't buy the Big-Mac. Nothing could be further from the truth.

There are many ways to get a no money down Big-Mac, but you need to be creative.

Unfortunately, having cash makes you lazy in your mindset and although I am excellent at operating with no cash, I am not immune to the laziness that comes with having cash.

Whenever I have a windfall profit and suddenly "have cash", I quickly find out how stupid I can be as I spend my windfall profits on stupid, meaningless purchases. I don't go out of control, but I definitely notice that my intelligence goes "down" when my personal cash goes "up".

Understand that money is a drug, the more you have, the more you want. If you have none, money cannot control you. It's very liberating.

In the movie Wall Street 2, there is quote I will never forget. One character asks the other "how much money do you want?" the answer is "more".

We are all programmed to be the same. We always want more money. 

We have some... then we want more, If we have more... we STILL want more. There is no end to the madness and the only cure for the "more" disease is a "No cash diet".

In ancient times, fasting or taking all food out of a person's diet for a few days was a way to purify the body of addictions. It was a way to keep the mind in control of the body and not have the body control the mind with it's cravings and addictions.

Today we have lost the idea of fasting for the most part and let our addictions rule our decision making.

Money is no different. To stop a money addiction, you must fast from money - go on a "no cash diet".

Of course, choosing to be on the "no cash diet" is extremely painful, scary, socially disturbing and many people would rather be dead than live on the "no cash diet".

The truth is, I am no different, I hate being on a no cash diet because it's very painful. However, as Dr. Nido Cubein says: "Pain is mandatory, suffering is optional."

Throughout my life, my passion has forced me into a situations where I had no options but to go on a "no cash diet" to chase my dreams because I literally had no other way.

I wanted to participate in real estate as an investor as a young man, not an old man and refused to become a realtor. I bought the home study course to become a realtor 3 times and have never had the stomach to open it. My only option for pursuing my passion was to operate as a real estate investor with NO CASH.

Since starting in real estate, I find myself in situations over and over again where I am operating a business that is hopelessly undercapitalized but I know how to work the business and grow it to be successful because I have lived on the "no cash diet".

The best way to get on the "No cash diet" is to literally quit your job, have no plans on getting another one and start up a business on nothing but guts and passion. HOWEVER, I do not recommend this for anyone, there is extreme risk with doing something like this... Plus your girlfriend/wife will hate you and potentially divorce you.

I have quit my job with no plans of ever becoming an employee again 3 times and twice I have been forced back into employee-land because I could not assemble a proper business.

The decision to go on a "no cash diet" is a big one, and a decision that 99% of people never choose to pursue because they favour comfort and security over freedom.

Truthfully, I think that many entrepreneurs get themselves into stupid and risky situations that force them into a no cash mindset. I don't think anyone is really born with the mindset because it is too abstract to comprehend. Usually the mindset is created through a combination of the following:

1. Failure
2. Bankruptcy
3. Job Loss/Job Quitting
4. Starting a business blindly on passion
5. Over leveraging to pursue a dream

All of these situations have a pain threshold and have their own risks. However, if you find yourself going through some of those experiences listed above, you will find out that once you get over the initial shock of getting out of your comfort zone and exploring your deepest fears, you will find (if you are mentally tough enough to survive) that you do not need Cash for any aspect of your life.

If you can survive through one of the more traumatic experiences above, you will see money for what it truly is. Money is absolutely worthless and it does not even exist in the first place. 

Money is an enslavement tool that governments print it out of thin air when they need it. Why should governments be the only ones allowed to print? Why don't you print some too?

Once you have removed yourself from being a slave to money and realize that you no longer need it, you will learn to become "the master of money" and see it as a tool build and chase your dreams.

Although no one is born with a "no cash diet", Children who become entrepreneurs often come from parents who are either:

1. Dead, or
2. Incompetent

Dead or incompetent parents forces children into a "no cash diet" early in life and the children never become addicts of the money-drug. These types of children become shrewd, creative and are often wildly successful.

While I type this article at 99 words per minute, off the top of my head, 3 multi millionaire entrepreneurs who had dead or incompetent parents are:

1. Fred Trump, Donald Trump's Father
2. "Rich Dad", Robert Kiyosaki's alternate father
3. 50 Cent

Those of us who learn the "no cash" diet early in life are the ones who have the most time to build and reach for their dreams. I had the luxury of being forced onto the diet at age 22 while many of the men above were forced onto it at age 11 or 12. No matter what your age, consider what a "no cash" diet is and how you can emulate one to free yourself from the money-drug that rules 99% of the population.

Thanks for reading,
Stefan Aarnio
Freedomway.ca

P.S. Share this article if you found it useful!

By Stefan Aarnio
Freedomway.ca

Remember: Please share this article if you find it educational!

What does Coca-Cola, the 59th company on the Fortune 500 and the multi-trillion dollar illegal drug industry have in common?

Both Coca-Cola and Illegal Drugs have:

1. Worldwide organizations
2. Highly addictive consumable product
3. Both have insane profit margins
4. Can operate in areas where governments fail (such as war torn zones and socially unstable areas of Africa)
5. Line ups of customers waiting to purchase a specific product and will accept no imitations
6. There is a concentrated "producer" in both models and a large network of "distributors". Coca-Cola makes it's own syrup and hundreds of "bottling companies" distribute and bottle the mix of water and syrup.
7. Established networks of dealers who get paid to move product

Years ago, I was watching a documentary on a war-torn country in Africa. The government had been wiped out and it was nearly impossible to re-establish a government because of civil unrest. Local warlords were constantly threatening any group that wished to take power and the entire country was in chaos.

The documentary also enlightened me as to why Coca-Cola was able to operate in an environment where there was no government or regulatory body to protect their supply chains from bandits, child armies and criminals.

One African man who worked for Coca-Cola attributed the success of the company to the fact that "everyone who touches the product gets paid". This means that everyone who carries it, sells it, distributes it, transports it or markets it gets paid. Government protection or not, this business can function ANYWHERE.

The multi-trillion dollar network of illegal drugs works in the same way that Coca-Cola does. These organizations face daunting odds and have gone to "war" with formidable foes like The United States of America. However, these cartels function and thrive because they have the same philosophy driving their business:

"Everyone who touches the product gets paid".

The farmers who farm the raw materials get paid, the people who process the ingredients get paid, the drug mules get paid, the networks of dealers get paid etc.

Coca-Cola and Illegal drugs have the exact same supply chain philosophy and can operate anywhere in the world against all odds. Both entities have a "Pay Everybody" philosophy and have created an extremely smooth, well organized, well oiled machine.

But what does this mean for you and your business?

Only 2% of business owners understand Joint Ventures, although most of the Fortune 500 companies derive significant revenues from creating joint ventures. 

A joint venture is where two companies, people or organizations align their goals for mutual benefit.

The most simple joint ventures are referral commissions: If a customer is referred to a company, the company receiving the referral will pay an ongoing commission on all business done between the new customer and the business. This is extremely lucrative for both the referral client and the receiving company. Ongoing revenue is what keeps the relationship strong and creates incentives for the referral client to continuously send business.

Understanding joint ventures is a huge component to becoming the leader in your market or industry. Since only 2% of entrepreneurs truly understand Joint Ventures, you can have an unfair advantage in your market.

In my own business, I have adopted a "Pay Everybody" policy and have had wild success with the program.

I have access to private real estate deals first before they hit the open market, I have access to Capital that I would not normally have access to, my phone rings all day with opportunities for deals and capital and I don't have time to take every call.

This is an extremely good problem to have.

Most businesses/entrepreneurs spend HUGE budgets on advertising and marketing, I spend virtually zero dollars, but I pay for results.

If someone refers me a private deal, they receive a handsome $500 "thank-you" fee. If another investor has a good deal under contract, I will generally pay $1000-$5000 to purchase the contract and take on the deal myself. I have similar programs in every aspect of my business and I don't spend any money on advertising because:

I pay for results, NOT promises.

In the past, I have been murdered on advertising. A year ago I spent $2700 on a print ad that generated ONE PHONE CALL for my business!

One pathetic inbound phone call and NO SALE. Just a $2700 lead.

I was furious, felt like I had been ripped off by the advertising company and vowed to never ever repeat this mistake. I felt like I was the victim of a ridiculous joke and I will be extremely cautious to repeat any form of print advertising.

Nowadays, I spend $0 on advertising and my phone rings off the hook because I have learned a lesson from Coca Cola and Drug dealers... I make sure everyone who touches my product is paid. I make sure everyone is paid well and happy to work with me. If someone doesn't like working with me, I let them leave and work with someone else. I surround myself with a network of outstanding peers and highly competent people who get my phone to ring off the hook.

Unfortunately, so many entrepreneurs are too short sighted or too cheap to pay commissions to keep their people happy. This is why so many companies cannot retain good talent, spend huge dollars on advertising and eventually become weak and vulnerable from attrition to their teams and advertising budgets. There are few things in business that are more expensive than employee attrition and advertising.

Learn from Coca Cola and Drug Dealers and implement the "Pay Everybody" strategy in your business. If you build a good program and stick with it then you will see wild results in 30 days.

Thanks for reading,
Stefan Aarnio
Freedomway.ca

P.S. Share this article if you found it educational!

By Stefan Aarnio
Freedomway.ca

Remember: Please share this article if you found it educational.

Speed is a virtue that has been coveted throughout the ages.

In the jungle, animals with speed would dominate the terrain over bigger slower animals. In evolution, animals that developed to be large with heavy armour always died out to animals that were lighter, faster and with sharp teeth and claws.

In warfare, throughout the ages, the faster more mobile armies were always able to wipe out  slower, heavily armoured forces. Whether we are referring to Atilla the Hun with his mounted archers vs the slow, heavily armoured  Roman Legion; or Hitler in WW2 with his Blitzkrieg forces that dominated the sedentary french and polish troops. 

Speed is a virtue in all arenas and is a key to victory.

Today in technology, companies that can embrace change and implement with great speed are the ones that survive. In the past, a company like Apple was able to innovate with products like the iPod, take the market by surprise and implement new ideas before any competitors could react. Apple would take over and dominate a market long before a competitor could think of stepping in.

Think of iPods... Small children call all music players iPods. A little girl will point to an analogue record player and say "look daddy, that's a big iPod!" - that is the power of speed.

In real estate investing, or investing in general, speed (in my opinion) is the difference between a novice, intermediate and advanced investor.

I was having dinner with a friend of mine tonight and we were talking about our goals for the upcoming year 2013. Every real estate investor, regardless of skill level, always wants to add more transactions and doors to their portfolio.

I mentioned to my friend that I was setting the goal of doing 100 transactions this year. This was way out of my friend's context and he couldn't comprehend that kind of volume or speed. He asked me how many transactions I have completed in 2012: "12-16 by the end of the year" was my estimate. He was impressed with my ambition and wanted to know how I was going to have an 800% increase in my business.

The answer is speed, some experts would say "velocity of money".

The general classifications for Real estate investors can be defined as follows:

1. Novice investors do less than 5-6 transactions per year
2. Intermediate investors do 1 transaction per month or 12+ transactions per year.
3. Advanced investors do 100+ transactions per year

The only difference between these three investors is speed. 

NOTE: There is likely little difference in the quality of transactions between skill levels. There are many astute and careful, slow, novice investors who can earn the same or better returns then an experienced advanced investor. However, the difference between the novice and advanced is that the advanced investor does more deals, executes them faster and utilizes opportunities to compound results. 

The advanced investor is a cheetah in the jungle and the novice is the turtle.

There is nothing wrong with being the turtle, however, the cheetah will be dominant in the market and will have access to the best opportunities and more capital due to visibility.

A problem I have had in my past businesses has been velocity. In the past, I gravitated towards slow "residual" type businesses.

1. One of my first businesses was a self-employed guitar practice where I traded my time for money. This was extremely slow because, although I had lots of clients and low over head, it was very difficult to compound or grow this business. The residual "cash-flow only business model" made it very hard to grow because there was never an injection of cash or credit. Every month I would take 22-25 little cheques into the bank and cash them. There was never a big cheque that could instigate growth.
2. Another business I started in my early twenties was my Debt buying business. Debt buying is a very simple concept. Debt buyers buy charged off, non performing credit cards (or other debt products) for pennies on the dollar and outsource them to collection agencies for residual income. However, this business is also a residual, cash flow business and it was very hard to grow this business without taking on large debt and long term risk as well.
3. My third business was my buy-and-hold Joint Venture real estate portfolio. This business was great because I could Joint Venture with many money partners and have growth every month, but the growth and speed was linear, and again, I was seduced by the cash flow of the business and was not looking at the speed of the business. A deal would take me 1 whole month to find, get under contract, find a JV partner, deal with the financing, deal with the legal, take over the property, fix the problems on acquisition, show the suite to tenants, lease up and then repeat. I became trapped in my own labour and the velocity of this strategy kept me small. I was a turtle.

All of these businesses are functional: However, the businesses above are slow, cannot grow on their own cash, cannot expand easily, cannot gain any market share and have a disproportionate amount of risk and liability when compared to the upside.

The debt buying business and the buy-and-hold JV's also are big and clunky because they rely on debt financing and bureaucratic approval from banks etc. to grow.

These models are the slow and heavily armoured roman legions that were destroyed by the fast moving mounted cavalry of Atilla the Hun. The Huns were fast, mobile, light, hit the battle field by surprise and cherry picked the best opportunities on the field.

My new strategy does not focus on buy and hold, instead it focuses on three FAST strategies:
 

1. Wholesaling
2. Lease options
3. Buy-fix-sell

Because my goal is to have 100 TRANSACTIONS and not hold 100 DOORS at the end of the year, I must focus on fast strategies. Speed is key and I don't want to get weighed down in a slow, long renovation or a long term buy and hold (although these are good models).

Three of the fastest Real Estate strategies (in my opinion) are wholesaling, lease options and buy-fix-sell.

However, to see the effects of choosing fast strategies, lets see the following strategies in terms of TIME so that we can compare them to the slower strategies I used to use.

1. Wholesaling has a time frame of less than 30 days, usually 7-14. It is a fast, no debt, "no buy" strategy that creates fast cash and fast transactions.
2. Lease options have a time frame of less than 30 days to fill or set up. They are fast, can have no debt, are a "no buy" strategy that creates fast cash and fast transactions.
3. Buy-fix-sell has a time frame of less than 90 days (I have completed some buy-fix-sells in 30 days, but that isn't every deal). These deals are fast, carry debt (sometimes hard money), require capital for acquisition but create more profits with slightly more work.

Every single strategy I am using can be executed within a 30 day time frame. Time is the real currency in the market, not money. Money can be manipulated and recreated after it is lost... Time is lost forever when wasted and it is the REAL limiting factor in any business.

Since I have chosen 3 fast, "light on debt and cash" strategies, I am confident that with the right team and systems, I can achieve my goal of 100 transactions and earn the rights to the title of "advanced investor".

If you are interested in working together on a deal for a share of the profits, please contact me on the freedomway.ca contact page and we will see if we have a fit.

In the meantime,

Thanks for reading,
Stefan Aarnio
Freedomway.ca

P.S. Please share this article if you found it educational.

By Stefan Aarnio
Freedomway.ca

This weekend I had the pleasure of flying to Edmonton with one of my partners to hear Robert Kiyosaki, author of Rich Dad Poor Dad speak. Robert is around 65 years old now and has had some very hard experiences in the past few years.

1. He has severed ties with a founding partners of the Rich Dad company. These people were stealing from him and betrayed him.
   
2. He was recently in the media for going "bankrupt" and was sued for breach of an agreement with Learning Annex.
3. CBC Marketplace did a fairly slanted review of his education company in the last few years and really mis-represented his brand in canada.

Life is not easy when you are on top... Everybody wants a piece of you.

Even still, Robert is tough as nails and still able to evolve, grow and innovate his business.

As an audience, we were treated to an entire morning and most of the afternoon with Robert sharing some of his most recent thoughts. Many of the things Robert taught were contextual and very high level concepts that have brought his life into a new level of focus.

Robert's talk today was mostly self development and had very little to do with money at all. He talked mostly about character, context and personal growth (which is in my opinion more important than the nuts and bolts of money).

One book that has recently changed Robert's life is called "Turning Pro" by Steven Pressfield.

Robert has a communication style where he is able to take a hopelessly complicated subject and make it simple.

For example, Robert can explain financial derivatives (a topic that no one REALLY understands) by using the analogy of oranges: Oranges are the underlying asset, orange juice is the derivative, a box of oranges is a package of derivatives that were sold as an "investment". If the oranges in the box are bad, then the juice and the box of oranges are bad. This is how the American real estate bubble was built and collapsed after people found out "the oranges were bad". This analogy makes derivatives so simple a 3 year old could understand it.

People understand oranges, orange juice and boxes, but they do not understand complicated financial concepts. This is why entire countries can get robbed by a few smart white collar criminals and no one goes to jail. It's also whywhy Robert is the king of his field.

Today Robert shared with us a concept from the book "Turning Pro"

In business, or in life, there are 3 types of people:

Professionals, Amateurs and Traitors.

1. Professionals are people who solve problems. These are the people you can call on, hire to solve a problem and it is fixed without any hassles and is done on time and on budget. These people you will want to call again and keep close to you. These people are worth their weight in gold, cherish them.
2. Amateurs are people who create problems. Amateurs are people who are in a field, but cannot fix problems with 100% satisfaction. They often fix a problem but do it incorrectly and create another problem in the process. These people are not professionals because they do not practice the basics and have little discipline. They charge the fees of a professional, they think they are a professional but are NOT professional by any means.
3. Traitors are people who steal life. Traitors can disguise themselves as professionals or amateurs and steal money, time and life from other people. They are often not conscious of their thievery and often mean well. However, either by incompetence, greed or another character flaw, they end up stealing the lives of other people. The only way traitors can get what they want is by stealing from others.
   

Robert shared a story with the group today about a group of AMATEURS he hired to maintain his lawn. Robert paid the AMATEURS a cash deposit and in few weeks his lawn looked worse. He then asked the AMATEURS why the lawn was worse and they said "pay us more money and it will look better"... A few weeks later, the lawn looked EVEN WORSE. Robert said again "why is the lawn worse?", the AMATEURS replied "pay us more money" once again. The cycle went on until the lawn looked terrible and Robert fired the AMATEURS. At the end Robert was frustrated, wasted money, time and had a lawn that was nearly destroyed.

After Robert's lawn was nearly ruined, he hired a PROFESSIONAL and asked him "what will it take to fix this lawn?" The PROFESSIONAL said "$5,000 and five months". Sure enough, in five months, the lawn looked absolutely beautiful. No hassles, no mess, on time, on budget and Robert was extremely happy.

"Your life sucks when you are hanging out with amateurs and traitors, you give them money and you don't get results." Said Kiyosaki.

3 quick questions you can ask a potential business partner to find out if he is an Amateur, Professional or Traitor:

1. What is your goal in your business or working with me?
2. What are you will to do to achieve this goal?
3. If the answer to #2 is "nothing" then this person is not a professional and likely not the best asset to your team.

"Some of the biggest traitors (in society) are school teachers. They don’t have the guts to resign." said Robert. School teachers can steal and ruin more lives through mis-educaiton and mis-information than any other person in society... worse off, they always get paid whether they do a good job or bad.

Professionals practice the rudiments of their art form every day and strive to be better each and every day. Their goal is to become the best in their field and are willing to pay the price required for success. In the words of Nido Qubein success is "Painful", which means you have to PAY-IN-FULL for it. Nothing in this life is free. 

Amateurs are happy with just doing enough, but do not have the drive to be the best. They are happy operating at a mediocre level, posing as professionals and charge people even when they don't get results.

Traitors are people who have to steal to get what they want in life. They may look like amateurs or professionals and have good intentions, but when it comes down to their actions, they become thieves and steal time, money and resources.

One exercise that Robert had us do was to write down 25 people that we spend time with in our personal and professional lives.

Write the word "professional", "amateur", or "traitor" next to each name and find the patterns and associations in the names.

I did this for myself and noticed that I have been running my career as a "Pro", my private life as an "amateur" and have a graveyard of "traitors" that I try not to think about.

More interesting is that all of my "pro's" are associated and work together as a team with me in their respective fields. The "amateurs" are all associated and transact together. They stick together, are tightly bonded and through their daily choices, are committed to mediocrity without even knowing it. I noticed the amateurs in my life referred more amateurs to me who posed as professionals (this was very alarming). The "traitors" were all associated and approached me as a group as well. They were a tight knit group that was like a pack of wolves. Very scary to see a group of traitors aligned in business and all working together, you can get killed if you find yourself working with a pack of traitors. It cost me dearly to deal with these people in the past.

It was extremely revealing to see how my social circles were constructed when measured by this system.

Please take a moment to do this for yourself, you may find out something new about who you are transacting with. You will even find out how you are running the different aspects of your life.

P.S. Don't be afraid to load up the "traitor" category, this a very important category and I overlooked it because I generally do not focus on people who have "screwed" me. This category is in some ways more important than the other two.

Thanks for reading,
Stefan Aarnio
Freedomway.ca

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

By Stefan Aarnio
Freedomway.ca

In the words of the famous poet John Donne:

"No man is an island."

Whether you are a new born baby or the President of the United States, we all rely on relationships and our networks for our basic survival and our ability to thrive.

For those of us who are pursuing entrepreneurship, business or real estate investing; our relationships are our one and only asset.

We all hear the guru's say: "your network equals your net worth", but how do we build, grow and maintain a rich network of people?

The most successful people in society are the ones who can establish, build and maintain a large number of significant, intimate, relationships.

But how do we connect on a significant level?

Most people are fairly adept at establishing relationships with people who are similar to themselves. They can find similar interests and form "intimacy" and bonds with people who are THE SAME as them over time.

However, most people do not understand the rudiments of establishing a relationship. Further, most people do not know how to master intimacy and bring people closer to them quicker.

Mathew Kelly is an author and relationship expert who wrote one of the books that influenced entitled: "The Seven Levels of Intimacy".

I have studied Mathew's work for years and have applied it in my networking, personal life, sales, negotiations and important meetings. It helps me understand people and truly connect with them so that I can find what they need and actually help them.

Mastering the 7 levels of intimacy can make or break you when meeting someone COLD and you know nothing about them. Many of us are talented at working with WARM meetings, but COLD meetings have higher requirements for establishing connection.

I am naturally a "people person" and can connect very easily with people. However, it's not enough to know HOW to connect... we must understand WHY we connect and HOW connection is established.

The 7 Levels of Intimacy are in sequential order:

1. Cliché's
2. Facts
3. Opinions
4. Hopes and Dreams
5. Feelings
6. Weaknesses and Fears
7. Needs

The seven levels of intimacy work in a sequence. You cannot jump to the next level of intimacy without succeeding on the previous level.

For example, conversations flow through the levels of intimacy in sequence from level 1 to level 7 and they do not deviate from this rule - EVER. It's very hard to jump to the "next level" without satisfying the previous level. Furthermore, if you create a disagreement and blockage at a level, you will not advance into the higher levels until you remove the blockage. These levels need to flow and creating conflict at one level will stop the sequence of connecting.

For illustration purposes, I will artificially construct a conversation between two hypothetical people that could accelerate from level 1-7 in less than 3 minutes:

1. LEVEL 1: Cliché's - ME: "hey, how are you?"... YOU: "I'm good!"
2. LEVEL 2: Facts - ME: "Did you get caught in the rain today?". YOU: "yes I did, I can't believe the amount of rain outside!!"
3. LEVEL 3: Opinions - ME: "What do you think about the Winnipeg Jets coming back to town?" YOU: "I think it's great for the city, it really helps put us on the map."
4. LEVEL 4: Hopes and Dreams ME: "It sure does put us on the map! Why were you running around in the rain today? What would you rather be doing?" YOU: "Ugh, I was running around in the rain because I'm making deliveries for my office, I'd rather be travelling the world!"
5. LEVEL 5: Feelings ME: "How would you feel if you didn't have to run around in the rain any more and could travel the world in the way you want?" ... YOU "I would absolutely love that. Nothing excites me more than travelling".
6. LEVEL 6: Fears/Weaknesses - ME "What is stopping you from pursuing your dream? What's holding you back?" ... YOU "I don't want to burden my family with my selfish dream, I need to support them or they won't survive without me"
7. LEVEL 7: Needs - ME "Hmmm... What would your family need to survive so that you can pursue your dream and everyone remains happy?" YOU "well... etc."

Whenever I am in conversation with someone, whether it is brief 5 minute meeting or a long 2 hour talk, I like to know WHERE I am in the 7 levels of intimacy so that I can accelerate and move to the next level if I feel like I need to.

Everyone has needs, and if you can find another person's needs, you can truly help them and create life lasting bonds and relationships. 

NOTE: If you are selling or negotiating, you cannot "close" until you are on level 7.

The majority of the population are pre-programmed to be socially guarded and will conceal weaknesses and needs until you have successfully moved through levels 1-5.

TIP: Once you have hit level 5 (feelings) you have reached an emotional level and connection starts to begin. 

Many newbie networkers, salespeople or negotiators will ask right of the bat "what are your needs, what do you need?". I especially see this in the network marketing community when I get pitched by new network marketers.

TIP: If you are going to meet someone for lunch, talk for 58 minutes to build a relationship and 2 minutes of transactional business at the very end. Get them up to level 7 and close in the last 2 minutes. So many people try to talk business far too early and not use their time to establish a proper connection or analysis of what the other person truly needs. Approach the other person with a "how can I help you?" attitude.

Trying to connect on level 7 without building rapport, connection or intimacy through levels 1-6 is nearly impossible. You will get concealment of facts and lies about levels 6 and 7 until you have established a proper base connection.

At best, your prospect will feed you a lie to deflect your inquiry about their higher level needs and will likely say: "I'm fine, I really don't need anything". 

How often do we hear that on a daily basis from the people around us?

EVERYONE NEEDS SOMETHING, WE ARE ALL LOOKING FOR THINGS. WE ALL NEED THINGS ALL THE TIME. THE QUESTION IS, WHAT DOES OUR COMPANION NEED?

Connection happens when you are able to navigate the conversation through levels 1-7 in the proper sequence, you may find out that (for example) "Their father just died and they're feeling vulnerable. They are the executor of his house and don't know who to talk to about real estate. They are looking for an expert. They don't like realtors and need to sell immediately but afraid of contracts, contracotrs, salespeople and commissions. They also don't want to pay for repairs."

Opportunities come from connecting and being intimate with the people we come into contact with.

All people, rich or poor want one thing... We all want to connect. If you can connect with a person, and move them through the levels of intimacy without creating conflict or blockage in the sequence, you will find what motivates them, what scares them, what their concerns are and finally what they NEED to feel secure to work with  you.

Mathew Kelly has recognized a brilliant pattern in social behaviour and has cracked the mechanical code for human connection. If you can memorize or learn a few key questions to "move through the levels", then you will never be stuck in a conversation with nothing to say ever again. You will never be stagnant and will be a master of connection.

The following questions are ones that I have learned years ago and memorized from  http://www.villagecounseling.net. Knowing a few of these key transition questions will transform you into an instant "people person". I have seen results for years using this method and have been connecting deeper and faster with people than ever before. Please enjoy the following resource:

Questions to Help You Navigate the 7 Levels of Intimacy:

1. Cliché
   • How are you?
   • What have you been up to lately?
2. Facts
   • Non-personal
     • What was the score of the game?
     • What is the weather forecast?
   • Personal
     • What did you do today?
     • What have you learned recently?
     • What have you been reading lately?
     • What is your favorite color, food, song etc.?
3. Opinions
   • What are your preferences concerning…?
   • What are your beliefs about…?
   • What do you think about…?
4. Hopes and Dreams
   • If you could live any way you liked, how would you like to live?
   • If you could live anywhere in the world, where would you like to live?
   • What goals do you have for your life?
   • What area of study would you like to become an expert in?
   • If you could be famous for something, what would you like to be famous for?
   • What would you like written on your tombstone? In your obituary?
   • Who would you like to help? How would you help them if you could?
   • What one thing would make you truly happy?
   • Who are the people you’d like to learn from in life?
   • What personal qualities do you hope to develop in the future?
   • What skills do you hope to develop in your lifetime?
   • What do you dream about being the best in the world at doing?
   • What are 5 things you dream about having?
   • What are 5 things you dream about doing?
   • What are 5 things you dream about being?
   • Who are 5 people or groups you dream about helping?
   • What would you do if you knew you could not fail at it?
5. Feelings
   • When in our life have you felt special to others?
   • Who in your life made you feel safe, loved, accepted? How did they do that?
   • Who in your life made you feel the most rejected, devalued, abandoned, invisible?
   • What are you most passionate about?
   • What do you feel about:
     • Your relationship to God?
     • Your most significant friendship?
     • Your relationship to your parents?
     • Your relationship to co-workers?
     • Your reputation in the community?
   • How secure do you feel in your life right now? (Why, or Why not?)
   • How significant do you feel in your ability to contribute to others, to your community, to the world? (In what way? Why, or Why not?)
   • Do you feel like you are becoming the person you want to be?
   • Do you feel like you belong?
   • Do you feel competent in your ability to build something of value?
   • What are the biggest hurts have you experienced in the past?
   
   
6. Fears, Failures, Weaknesses
• What makes you feel like you don’t measure up?
• What makes you feel like you are unlovable?
• What do you think would make others reject you?
• What are some lies you’ve been told in the past?
• What do you feel you must hide from others out of fear that they would reject you?
• What makes you feel ignored?
• What makes you feel rejected?
• What makes you feel humiliated?
• What makes you feel incompetent?
• What makes you feel like a failure?
• What makes you feel inadequate?
• What is your biggest fear in life?
7. Needs
• Spirit – what do you need to thrive spiritually?
• Soul – what do you need to thrive in your relationships?
• Mind – what do you need to learn and grow in to thrive mentally?
• Strength – what do you need thrive physically?
• When have you experienced great joy?
• Describe what you think constitutes true happiness?
• How do you help others experience joy?
• What do you need in order to be secure?
• What do you need in order to be safe?
• What do you need in order to be significant?
• What do you need in order to be competent?
• What do you need in order to be powerful?
• What do you need in order to belong?
• What do you need to be clear about?
• What do you need in order to build something of lasting value?
• What do you need to know God better?
• What do you need to feel special to others?
• What do you need in order to feel like you are understood?
• What do you need in order to do something great?
• What do you need in order to achieve something that will last?
• What recognition do you need?

If you can memorize a few of these key transition questions to "accelerate" and master conversational intimacy then you will connect every time! You will become a master of creating personal connection with the people you network with, meet, sell and negotiate with. I can guarantee that you will see HUGE results in the depth of personal connection and opportunity in every relationship. If you can master the system above.

I challenge you take some time to study this list and implement it in your day to day interactions, you will not be disappointed.

Thanks for reading,
Stefan Aarnio
Freedomway.ca

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

P.P.S. "The 7 levels of intimacy" is available in the Resource section of Freedomway.ca should you wish to purchase a copy (highly recommended).

By Stefan Aarnio
Freedomway.ca

Two weeks ago I had the pleasure of having dinner with Shawn Shewchuk, Author of "Change Your Mind, Change Your Results" and the #1 results coach in the country (when measured by results and speed of results.)

I was introduced to Shawn because he is currently coaching one of my real estate mentors on his personal growth and business.

Shawn mostly works with high achievers, entrepreneurs and executives to take their "game" to the next level.

Coaching can be a very nebulous thing to many people, it can be viewed as extremely expensive (Often $5000 to $25,000+) and (to the average person) can be viewed as a "rip-off" or a "liability". What I find to be fascinating about coaching is that the world's most successful people have multiple coaches and the more successful a person is, generally, the more coaches they have. 

What I have learned in my short time from working with a paid coach and mentor is that an unsuccessful person will view a coach as a liability, while a successful person will view a coach as an asset.

Of course, not all coaches are created equal; there are good coaches and awful coaches. You must discriminate with extreme prejudice. The best way to choose a coach is to find successful people and gather referrals, ask who is coaching them in their success.

Many coaches focus on one topic such as; business, investment, health, life, and success. What I found intriguing about Shawn was that he has built his coaching practice, business and life around a holistic approach to success. He believes that success must be achieved in all areas of life - not just one. 

Shawn believes that "Success is not available without balance".

As an entrepreneur, shawn has built businesses, sold businesses and has made very good money in his life, but understands that personal, relationship, health and career all have to work together because "money is important, but (it's) not everything."

As a young, driven, aggressive, male entrepreneur, I asked Shawn about balance. I often find myself too focused on business, goals and success. I will sacrifice anything for success (whatever that means) and I challenged Shawn's idea of balance or holistic coaching by asking him about the Dragon's on CBC's hit venture capital show Dragon's Den.

I have studied many of the successful Canadian entrepreneurs on Dragon's Den and have noticed that three of them have stated on television that "balance does not exist" in their lives. The Dragons are all very driven and successful business people who have sacrificed immensely for their success. When I asked Shawn about his opinion on balance when compared to the Dragon's on balance he replied "There is no such thing as balance; balance is what you make it".

A profound answer indeed. I have always thought of balance as being an subjective pursuit. Never did I imagine that balance could be different for everyone. This really challenged my thinking.

While we were exploring balance, Shawn pointed out that one of the Dragon's had lost his family in pursuit of financial success. Family, no matter how difficult they can be are a priceless once-in-a-lifetime experience. Family members are irreplaceable and trading primary and secondary relationships for a few extra dollars is unacceptable in hindsight.

The #1 concept I am learning from my current coach and from talking to Shawn has been that Coaches get you results and collapse time frames.

What may take a person 5 years to achieve alone, may take 6 months with the help of a qualified coach. I have seen results similar to this in my own business just from a single coaching call and a few emails, my growth has gone from linear to exponential and geometric. I used to do one deal a month and now I'm getting bombarded with opportunities and have achieved 3 deals in a week.

Most people are procrastinators, but what is the opposite of procrastination?

Sometimes it can make sense to define a word by it's opposite.

Shawn defines Strategic accountability as the opposite of procrastination. Where the average person will sit on the couch and eat potato chips, Shawn builds strategies with his clients and holds them accountable to their goals and plans.

Procrastination is an absolute killer for most people because it kills ideas, kills actions and ultimately kills dreams. "Most people don't think, they float through life" All ships that float without a navigator end up smashing up on the rocks eventually.

Shawn has worked with over 6000 people in his career and only 3 have not been successful in their pursuits after working with him. What was their key to failure? People who fail with coaches think that they are going to get a magic bullet to solve their problems over night. I used to experience this years ago when I used to teach guitar lessons to young people. Too many of these young people wanted to be sprinkled with a magic pixie dust instead of taking the REAL steps towards success.

After speaking with Shawn for 30 minutes about coaching and the benefits of hiring one, I asked Shawn the $1,000,000 question:

"How many coaches do you have?"

This is the million dollar questions because whenever someone is in a business or industry, I always want to know how much of their own product they consume. It shows integrity and congruence.

Shawn's reply was very good: "I have three." Although Shawn is located in Calgary, his coaches are scattered across North America on the east coast USA, Toronto and Western USA. I was impressed to learn that Shawn's first coach was Bob Proctor; the man behind the hit movie/book The Secret.

I personally have two coaches at the moment and the strategic planning and goal setting alone has made my business explode in the last 30 days. If you want to speed up your rate of success, begin to search for a coach, and don't hesitate to spend some money. Nothing is free in this life and you get what you pay for. Free advice, although attractive at the beginning, is ALWAYS the most expensive of all in the long term.

Thanks for reading,
Stefan Aarnio
Freedomway.ca

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

By Stefan Aarnio
Freedomway.ca

The english language can be a deceiving and confusing tool that can either empower you or cripple you. 

Years ago, when I was earning a degree in English at the University of Manitoba, I learned that words in the english language are actually very flawed and primitive tools that do not really work. 

Words can be a broken, primitive man-made tool. It's common knowledge that words account for less than 10% of our actual communication (I believe the number is around 7% of communication.)

For example: In Canada, we have people who are really self employed that call themselves "entrepreneurs". Realistically these people trade time for money every day, operate their business as technicians, have zero competent employees, take on all the risk and liability and cannot leave their business for a second or it falls apart.

Words are confusing tools: Just because you are self-employed does not mean you are an entrepreneur.

Of course, we are working with the English language and words are deceiving. There is a vast population of self employed people in Canada and around the world who think and believe that they are true "business owners" or "entrepreneurs". The reality is, these people own risky jobs with high time requirements and overhead. 

They have not built any real businesses, and they cannot sell their "business" because there is nothing to sell. However, many of these people think they have a REAL business.

Words do not work to differentiate a legitimate business from a self-employed JOB... for many, this can be a very confusing scenario.

My definition of an entrepreneur is a person who starts businesses. Starting businesses is an entrepreneur's vocation. They start businesses often, likely have multiple businesses at once and are always aiming to start yet another business. This is the entrepreneur's game and few have the stomachs or the balls required to play the game.

The word "Entrepreneur" (to me) is all about the art of the start up. The best entrepreneurs are visionaries and they are brilliant at creating a successful chain of businesses and brands. They often do not stay in a particular business too long because they actually build a competent management teams to take over and grow the business without them.

The best entrepreneurs in the world (Today and in the past) are visionaries: Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Richard Branson, Henry Ford, Thomas Edison and others have all started a chain of ventures and created a succession of businesses. These men were creators who created businesses often and eventually left a vibrant collection of businesses behind upon death.

But how does this apply to you?

One very successful living entrepreneur that I am studying right now is Nido Qubein. Nido is an immigrant from Lebanon who came to America as a boy and has built a succession of businesses valued at over $100 million dollars a piece. I have heard that his estimated net worth is around $500 million dollars (but net worth is very hard to determine).

As a sign of a true entrepreneur, all of Nido's businesses are in unrelated industries. He is able to move from industry to industry and become successful every time. Nido has built successful businesses in the following industries: the banking industry, the bread industry, the furniture industry, the speaking industry and now he's in the education industry at the head of High Point University.

Nido is able to take complicated concepts and make them simple, he is a very talented man at communicating (and english is certainly not his first language).

There are 3 key important factors to consider if you are going to determine if you own a real BUSINESS or just a risky JOB.

Nido's 3 factors are:

1. Sustainability - Is your business sustainable? Can the business be scaled? Can the market support you? Can the business run without you?
2. Consistency - Is your business consistent? Is there consistent money coming in? 
3. Predicability - Can you predict the numbers in your business? Do you track past performance and know your numbers inside and out? A great number to know that most people don't is "what is the cost of acquiring a lead in your business"?

If you do not have Sustainability, Consistency and Predicability in your business - then you don't have a business! Instead you own a job.

Entrepreneurs who jump from being an employee to self-employed always have to make the following decision "Am I going to do whatever it takes to become a real business owner? Or do I quit now and get a good job at the union or with the government?". There is absolutely nothing wrong with either scenario, but there are costs to both choices.

Nido says that everything in life is PAINFUL. What that means is that we have to PAY-IN-FUL for everything and nothing in life is free.

If we quit and get a job with the union, we give up much of our time and consequently the opportunity in life. We trade freedom for security. If we make the leap towards business owner, we risk all security for a chance at freedom.

For those of us that want to be true business owners, the cost is extremely high. Becoming a true business owner may be the most expensive thing a person ever does in their life. It takes blood, sweat, tears, time and money to achieve sustainability, consistency and predicability in a business. 

The real question we have to ask ourselves is; which currency do we want to pay for our success in? The school of life accepts the following forms of payment; blood, sweat, tears, time and money. Please beware that the School of Life also gives no refunds.

Thanks for reading,
Stefan Aarnio
freedomway.ca

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