By: Stefan Aarnio
Freedomway.ca
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https://twitter.com/stefanaarnio
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Get Stefan Aarnio's book "Money People Deal: The Fastest Way to Real Estate Wealth" at MoneyPeopleDeal.com!

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Jim Rohn, an american entrepreneur, once said "If you don't design your own life plan, chances are you'll fall into someone else's plan. And guess what they have planned for you? Not much."

I always struggled with the idea of getting a job. Some people call their job a J-O-B which stands for Just, Over, Broke.

From age 17 to 24 I struggled every year with employment. When I was in university, every summer, I had to go out and "get a job" to pay for next year's tuition. Every year I would procrastinate, the idea of a job bored me, and I felt in my heart that I didn't want to work for someone else. Every summer was different, I worked at Tim Hortons, local restaurants, odd painting jobs, and even had a short taste of direct sales. Nothing felt good and every year as the summer would approach I felt myself feeling depressed.

In 2008 when I graduated from university with an Arts degree, the game was over. My parents and society both agreed that it was time to leave the fantasy world of school and join the "real world" and get a "real job".

I had made most of my money in university by teaching guitar lessons out of my mother's living room and had made a good little cash business out of it. I also played numerous music gigs throughout the city and had experienced the life of being self-employed. Now that I was done school it was time to "wake up", shut down my little business and join the real work force.

I followed the advice of my parents, society and the status quo and got a real job in telephone sales. I worked in the middle of the night, on straight commission and although I was one of the top performers in the office, I only made about $10 an hour selling on the phone. My life was completely upside down, I was making less money at my "real job" than I was making it my guitar teaching business, my quality of life was the lowest it had ever been, and I was isolated by working the graveyard shift.

After a few weeks of working my real job, I fell into a depression. Everything I had done was "right". I went to school, got a degree, and got a job, but I was living a miserable life and was making less money than I made in school doing things I enjoyed less.

What was wrong with me?

Looking back, I realize that I was living a life of convenience, not a life of choice. Everything that was in my life came to me by way of convenience. Nothing was consciously chosen by me and this was the source of my unhappiness.

They say there are only two sources of unhappiness in the world:

#1 is not getting what you want
#2 is getting it (not what you want)

When we get something we do not want, unhappiness ensues.

The downward spiral of unhappiness and dissatisfaction continued for years until I learned to take control of my own mind and use it towards endeavours of my choice.

As the great Napoleon Hill writes in his book "Think and Grow Rich":

Everyone comes to this world with the privilege of controlling the power of his mind and directing it to whatever ends he may choose.

At birth, everyone carries the equivalent of two sealed envelopes:

1. The RICHES You May Enjoy If You Take Possession Of Your Mind & Direct It To The Ends Of Your Own Choice.
2. The PENALTIES You Must Pay If You Neglect To Take Possession Of Your Mind & Direct It

In the contents of the first envelope named RICHES are the following blessings:

• Health
• Peace Of Mind
• A Labor Of Love Of Your Own Choice
• Freedom From Fear And Worry
• Positive Mental Attitude
• Material Riches Of Your Own Choice & Quantity

In the envelope labeled PENALTIES are the prices one must pay for neglecting to take control his/her own mind:

• Ill Health
• Fear & Worry
• Indecision & Doubt
• Frustration & Discouragement Throughout Life
• Poverty & Want
• The Evils of Envy, Greed, Jealousy, Anger, Hatred and Superstition

For many years I allowed others to take control of my mind and I drifted through life living a life of convenience with very few elements being of my own choosing. After I hit "the bottom" through depression, poor health, fear, doubt, worry and debt, I began to design the life that I wanted.

Today, I have made drastic changes and every aspect of my life has been chosen by me. Perhaps there are parts that are not 100% of my choosing, but every single aspect is improving steadily towards my vision and my ideals.

All of the improvements in my life came from having a concrete vision of what I desired. I began to write down my goals, my wants, and my vision. I began to reverse engineer and design the life that I wanted. I am very happy to enjoy the blessings that Napoleon Hill names above and be free of the penalties he warns against.

In your own life, ask yourself: Are you living a life of convenience or a life of choice? If you are living a life of convenience, begin to write a vision plan detailing every aspect of your ideal life. When your vision is put into words and written down, the subconscious brain will begin working towards the life of your dreams.

Thanks for reading,
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!

Remember: 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 enjoyable

What do the world's top athletes, actors, and salespeople all have in common?

They are the three highest paid positions in the world.

No one makes more money in a JOB than actors, athletes and salespeople; and contrary to popular belief, Actors, athletes and salespeople have much more in common than the average person may think.

What stands out to me when I think of top Actors, Athletes and Salespeople is that each of these top level positions requires more than 10,000 hours of practice to compete at the top level of performance.

All of these positions are PERFORMANCE based and at the starting level, the pay is absolutely ZERO.

Ask yourself, when was the last time you hired a rookie actor to entertain you? The answer is likely never.

When did you last hire a rookie Athlete to endorse your product or service? Likely never.

When was the last time you paid a fat commission cheque to a rookie salesperson who doesn't know how to sell? Likely never.

However, when was the last time Nike hired a PRO athlete do endorse it's products? Everyday.

When was the last time that Disney or 20th century FOX hired a PRO actor for a production? Everyday.

When was the last time a top level sales performer cashed a huge commission cheque for dominating his or her market? Everyday.

There are people making obscene amounts of money in these positions everyday. However, most people perceive these roles as feast or famine.

Why not feast everyday?

Most parents will encourage their young children to be Doctors, Lawyers or Accountants because they can grow up and earn a high guaranteed rate of pay.

Parents overlook actors, athletes and salespeople as REAL jobs because these positions are perceived as "risky". Of course, all parents generally hate risk when it comes to their children.

Many people attribute success in acting, athletics or sales to politics, luck, good looks, genetics or connections.

The truth is, success in Acting, Athletics and Sales takes all of the above, but most people overlook the hard work, preparation, hours of study, and persistence that separate the top from the bottom.

Success is a science that needs to be studied and engineered on a daily basis. However, most people are too "busy" to bother studying success.

For myself, I have become a student of success early in life and have achieved marginal success in acting and athletics. However, I have achieved professional success in sales by becoming a national sales leader very quickly after entering the field.

What made me different?

What makes anyone different?

I had the very fortunate experience of being coached by a veteran salesman who had sold kirby vacuums door to door for years: 

If you can show up at someone's house unannounced and sell them a vacuum that they do not need or want then you can sell anything. If you can do this consistently over many years, you are a sales professional.

Unfortunately, most salespeople today, namely realtors, don't know how to sell kirby vacuums. In some ways, the study of sales is a lost art-form.

I had a great respect for my veteran coach; he showed me how to engineer success in sales and create a science out of the mysterious "sales art-form".

My coach was a left-brained engineer who was NOT a natural salesperson. Most natural sales people are right-brained, conceptual, outgoing people (the exact opposite of an engineer). In many ways, my coach was a greater teacher than most because he was NOT naturally gifted in the field. He had to learn, practice and prepare for success on a daily basis. Since he had learned to prepare every day for decades, he taught me how to PREPARE for success on a daily basis and manipulate my results.

PREPARATION: HOW TO STACK THE ODDS IN YOUR FAVOUR:

The first thing my coach taught me to do was write down the following:

LESSON #1

actions = money
money does not equal actions

What he meant by this statement was that if we analyzed our daily actions, we could find which actions made money and which ones didn't.

In sales and in business, actions equals money.

However, the opposite is not true. Money does not equal actions.

If you tell someone to make $1,000,000, often they cannot figure out which actions generate the money...

Money is not an intrinsic motivator and should never be used to motivate a sales person - or any person for that matter.

If you figure out how much money you want to make, and figure out which actions make money, you can reverse engineer the amount of actions required on a daily basis to create the dollars desired.

For example, 50 phone calls (actions) will generate 10 conversations which will generate 2 meetings which will generate 10 meetings a week. 40% of the meetings will results in a sale valued at an average sale of $20,000... 4 average sales a week will generate an average of $80,000 a week.

If I consistently made 50 calls a day, annually I would generate $4.16 Million dollars for the company, of which I would get 3% or $124,800 annually. If I made 50 calls a week for 52 weeks, that totals 13,000 calls. $124,800 annually divided by $13,000 calls is $9.60 per call JUST FOR DIALLING THE PHONE.

All I needed to do was:

1. Be prepared on a daily basis
2. Call 50 people a day
3. Book 2 meetings
4. Conduct 2 meetings
5. Close 4 per week

The actions that drive the whole model are CALLS. I could directly control my income by the number of CALLS I made. 

CALLS = ACTIONS = DOLLARS

If most people legitimately collected $9.60 per number DIALLED on a daily basis, I guarantee that most people would be dialling numbers until exhaustion.

Years ago, some scientists hooked a rat up to a button that released dopamine (a pleasure drug released by the brain). The rat would push the button consistently until it would die of exhaustion. The rat wanted the dopamine so badly that it would sacrifice it's well being to get the pleasure-drug. As humans, we are exactly like the rat. When we earn money, dopamine is released. If we know that dialling the phone generates money, in theory, we would be dialling the phone until we drop dead... correct?

Incorrect.

In reality, we do not dial the phone until we die of exhaustion because:

Average people hate sales, they are scared of sales, they freeze and won't pick up the phone.

They freeze because they have not associated dialling numbers with pleasure (aka dollars).

The average person thinks that they make money when they CLOSE a sale, however, they actually EARN money when they dial phone numbers.

CLOSING IS AN EFFECT
DIALLING IS A CAUSE

Life is CAUSE and EFFECT.

To get an EFFECT, we must create a CAUSE.

No matter how good of a salesperson you are, you cannot close every sale. This is a fundamental truth of sales. However, you can always make another call or dial another number. Control your actions, because actions are the only things you actually control. If you control your actions, you will become the master of your results.

The most important action in the business of sales is calls. Every time we call, we increase our probability of winning. It's like buying another lottery ticket, except the lottery ticket is free and has much higher chances of success.

Sounds too good to be true, but it isn't.

If we understand the science of success in sales, then why would athletics or acting be any different?

All fields take preparation and can be reverse engineered into daily actions that compound over time.

The trick is to understand which actions create results that move us forward and move us backward and waste our time.

To obey the 80/20 rule. 20% of our actions create 80% of our results. We must find the 20% and ONLY do the 20% to increase our success.

In the sales example, my coach taught me that CALLS were the 20% that drove the business. Without calls, you may as well go home.

Take a moment to think about your business or your job and find your 20%. Which actions bring you your results? How can you do more of these actions? How many dollars do you make per action?

Know these numbers inside and out and the next level of success is yours to be had.

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
http://www.facebook.com/stefanaarnio

"Pressure makes diamonds" - General George S. Patton.

What do you do when you are under pressure?

Do you crack? Do you fold? Do you avoid and hide from the world?

Or do you stand up, get stronger, and push harder to persist?

Pressure makes diamonds... but it can also crush people.

Years ago, when I attended my first Real Estate seminar, the speaker asked "And what about stress...? After you have made your money, do you think the stress goes away?"

Almost every hand in the room went up and the room was silent.

After a long pause, the speaker continued "Stress never goes away, and you must learn to manage it. Just because you have more money, does not mean that your stress levels change."

Throughout my life, I have constantly placed myself in high pressure situations. I played music at a professional level, I was a national leader in direct sales and I'm currently playing the highest risk/reward game in the world: entrepreneurship.

Somehow, I have always been attracted to high pressure situations because I am naturally a competitive person and have always wanted to compete and work with the best.

For me, the pressure has always been necessary for me to push to the next level: pressure makes diamonds.

Of course, being under pressure is extremely uncomfortable and it can take it's toll on your sleep, your comfort and over all quality of life. But looking back on my life so far, the greatest, most exciting, relevant moments have been the ones of greatest pressure and greatest importance.

In contrast, my most unhappy, joyless, depressing moments have been the moments of absolutely no pressure.

We all remember the days of high school where we would have an exam in 3 weeks...

3 weeks would go by and we would neglect to study.

30 hours before exam, we would still neglect studying...

8 hours before the test starts we are up all night trying to learn Calculus while trying not to over dose on caffeine.

Somehow pressure can bring out the best in people.

Pressure brings clarity, decision and action to people who normally have confusion, indecision and passivity.

Pressure shows us who we really are and can bring out the hero OR the wimp inside of us.

Pressure lets us know what we are made of and lets us know how far we can be pushed so that we can see where our limits truly are.

One of my favourite things about pressure is that it brings out our natural instincts.

Instinct is not a common topic of conversation in our modern world because we think of feral cats, wild dogs or rabid beasts as having instincts - not civilized people!

Civilized people do not have instincts...

Or do they?

Kathy Kolbe is a theorist and educator who developed a test called the Kolbe index.

The Kolbe index is a series of short questions that measure your instincts show you what your strengths are when under pressure.

For myself, this information has been unbelievably helpful. It also explains why I am happiest under pressure.

The reason why I am happiest under pressure is because I am forced to become my natural self. 

Pressure brings out my natural instincts and allows me to pursue the "best version of myself".

My Kolbe index tells me that under pressure I "improvise". People with instincts similar to mine make great salespeople, public speakers, on camera people, radio hosts, interviewers, storm chasers, video game designers and non-conventional educators.

All of the above "careers" are high pressure, performance based career paths that require little or no formal training to achieve success.

This would explain why I am least happy in low-pressure situations and most happy in high-pressure situations. 

Pressure forces me to become who I naturally need to become.

Pressure is what turns coal into diamonds and it also turns a raw undeveloped average person into a refined success.

I would encourage you to take your Kolbe index and find out what your instincts are and find out how you work under pressure.

Find out what your natural skill sets are, where you are happiest and then focus your whole life and business around that skill set.

For myself, I need to "improvise" all day long to feel full-filled and happy. I have re-organized my entire business around myself being able to "improvise" while key team members around me handle all of the other tasks.

By pursuing this strategy, I have seen greater success, experienced more fun, and felt more excitement. All of this can be had from selecting the tasks and roles that excite my instincts.

Please take a moment to invest in yourself, learn about your instincts and harness your talents. You're worth it.

Thanks for reading,
Stefan Aarnio
Freedomway.ca
http://www.facebook.com/stefanaarnio

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By Stefan Aarnio
Freedomway.ca

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

In October, 2012, I had the wonderful opportunity to spend the day with George Ross in Chicago. George Ross is Donald Trump's lawyer, right hand man and business partner on select deals. George became famous on the hit TV show "The Apprentice" and although he has written books on negotiation, closed some of the world's most exciting real estate deals, he is more famous for sitting in Trump's board room than anything else.

George has been practicing law for more than 50 years and has closed more deals than any other lawyer. He has taught university courses on how to negotiate hard deals and has written two books on negotiating. With a lifetime of accomplishments behind him, George has lived a somewhat anonymous life until he fired a few "kids" on "The Apprentice". After being featured on the Apprentice, George is famous for firing people with Trump.

George Ross has dedicated his life to negotiation, it's a topic that has fascinated him and it is one of the most important skills required to be successful in business.

The two skills that most entrepreneurs fail at, according to George Ross are:

1. Time Management, and
2. Negotiation

Those are the two skills that separate the top from the bottom in entrepreneurship.

One study on negotiation that George shared with us was "the Top 3 traits desired by CEOS for top negotiators"

THE TOP 3 TRAITS FOR NEGOTIATION

Years ago, 150 CEO's were contacted and were asked for the top 3 personality traits desired for the company's best negotiators. The Top 3 desired traits were indeed very surprising:

1. Personality
2. Knowledge of human nature
3. Ability to organize information

Negotiation is a people game and all of the traits above are all people skills. These results surprised George when he saw them. However, when we look deeper into each trait, we can see why these traits are highly desired.

NEGOTIATION TRAIT #1: PERSONALITY -  if people don’t like you, they won’t negotiate with you. Successful negotiation depends on whether or not the other side likes you. Negotiations are PEOPLE TO PEOPLE. Before the days of cell phones, Ross used to ask “can I use your telephone to make a quick call?” Once inside his opponent's office, George would take a peek at items on their desk so he had subjects to talk about like golf, wives, mistresses, baseball etc. In one office, George saw a huge fish on the wall and Said “you must love deep sea fishing”. The man he was negotiating against said “I do!”… George said “I Love deep sea fishing too” (George knew nothing of deep sea fishing, but ran with it. )


TIP: Google a person before you engage with them so you know a little bit about them them before you try to talk deals. Try to learn as much as you can about the other side.


NEGOTIATION TRAIT #2: KNOWLEDGE OF HUMAN NATURE - People are basically predictable with what they do. Due to human nature, you can see what they do and rely on it. If you use this, you can see patterns in behaviour and predict a person's next move. 

Typical human nature: Everyone loves a "Freebee" such as "buy 2 get one free". This tactic exploits human nature and people end up with 3 things they don’t want. 


Exclusivity: Everyone wants what they can’t have. This is why “limited edition” is so effective. 


Scarcity: “Last 2 items" and Time sensitive offers are extremely effective negotiation tactics: “this deal is no good after 10 days” or "70 day supply for free, just pay the shipping." George reminded us that NOTHING IS FREE, especially in negotiation.


Another pillar of human nature is "The AURA OF AUTHENTICITY" which is the tendency people have to look at something and believe that it is true. If something is in print, people believe it to be true: “I read it in 'The Times' therefore it’s true". Of course, a reporter’s opinion is just an opinion, "but if it’s printed in 'The Times' then IT’S TRUE".  Celebrities are often used to endorse products for “Truth”. 

In retail environments, the Aura of Authenticity is often used with a tactic called "Suggested Retail Value". Often you will see something like this in a retail store:

1. RETAIL VALUE $700, 
2. today’s price $500, 
3. you save $200, 
4. SALE THIS WEEK ONLY $450 
5. you think “I’m making money by making this purchase, how can they afford to sell me this item?" people are convinced that the price is real because the price is in writing. Car dealerships have the suggested retail price that is ridiculous, no one ever pays that. The brochures look so amazing and beautiful, you believe it.  These are negotiation tactics that are slanted against you.

The third key negotiation trait is the ABILITY TO ORGANIZE INFORMATION: Most people are bad at organizing information and this makes them bad negotiators. Most people use sticky notes to store information and can’t organize them. 


Years ago, George took a course in time management and the professor said "ALWAYS KEEP a spiral notebook and leave it on your desk, everything you do goes in that book". George thought this idea was a "crock" until he saw a spiral bound notebook on Trump’s desk: Keep a log of daily events. 


PRIORITIZE… when orders/papers/statements/tasks come to you, make 3 files A, B ,C:

1. The "A file" - everything that has to done quickly goes here.
2. The "C file" -  everything that can wait is C
3. The "B file" - everything that is nether an A or a C goes in the B file

Eventually everything in the files will be sorted and done. Ignore the things that are not important. 


Pay attention to the 80/20 rule, 80% of your income comes from 20% of your clients. Concentrate on the 20% and forget about everything outside of the 20%. THE REST IS NOT WORTH IT. 


Don’t waste time in tasks that will not create a tremendous reward. 


Don’t try to grab every dollar, just get the first 20 cents, that’s where all the money is. 


After spending time with George Ross, I have since purchased a few books on negotiating and am becoming a student of negotiation. Everything we do in life is negotiation and we must study negotiation to be successful in our endeavours.


What are you doing to improve your understanding of negotiation?


How can you become a better negotiator?


Which of the three traits are you weakest at?


Thanks for reading,
Stefan Aarnio
Freedomway.ca


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By Stefan Aarnio
Freedomway.ca

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

Entrepreneurship has never been easy...

 Every entrepreneur has to manage hundreds of variables from inner problems such as fear, vision, doubt, and passion to external problems such as the economy, markets, suppliers, employees, banks, customers and competition.

There is often a paralyzing amount of information every day that the modern entrepreneur needs to sift through just to compete and stay alive.

Succeeding at an endeavour like entrepreneurship can seem impossible when we consider the variables and look at the well-known published statistics:

90% of new businesses fail in the first 5 years of operation. Of the businesses that survive, 90% of the survivors fail in the second 5 years.

If we only look at the statistics, success in entrepreneurship looks absolutely bleak. 

With such low chances of success, why would anyone want to become an entrepreneur?

"Lies, damned lies, and statistics" is a phrase popularized by Mark Twain. 

Statistics can always "lie" and be manipulated to paint a skewed picture of the way things really are.

Although the statistics look bleak, Entrepreneurship is truthfully a simple numbers game. If we can follow a simple formula, then success if extremely likely and maybe even guaranteed.

If you look at the numbers for any business, industry or sales cycle, patterns can found in the numbers. Through the numbers, we can find the path to success.

For example when I was in sales, I knew that I had to make 50 calls to have 10 conversations. From these conversations, I would book 2 meetings. If I booked 10 meetings, I would close 4 customers and earn a predictable amount of profit.

If I wanted to earn a consistent income, I had to make 50 calls a day. My actions determined my results. There was no luck in this game.

Most people, when they enter "the sales world" think that "luck" is a factor. They think that there are "good days" and "bad days" when in fact, every day is the same. The question is, "did you execute your daily repeatable actions to create success over time?" 

There is no luck in this world but the luck we make for ourselves.

A wise man once said "the harder I work, the luckier I get".

The same laws of "actions repeatable over time" apply to entrepreneurship as they do to music, sports, chess or any other real world activity.

THE POWER OF 10.

10 is a very powerful number in entrepreneurship.

Since 9/10 businesses fail, an entrepreneur must create 10 businesses to guarantee success. It's simple mathematics.

Business cycles run in 10 year increments. To see real profits in any business or buy-and-hold real estate, you must commit yourself to a period of a minimum 10 years.

Years ago, I used to study the world's most famous and successful rock bands. I was always intrigued by their start-up phase and how the bands became successful. For most bands, it takes at least 10 years of operations to become nationally recognized and reach commercial success. 

However, most bands quit after 1-2 years of grinding in the bar circuit.

The most successful athletes are the ones who put 10 years of time into their sports before their competition can catch up. Think of Wayne Gretzky hitting the ice at age 3 or Michael Jordan shooting more free throws than anyone else.

10 years is a standard business cycle and there is no variation to this principal.

Israel Asper, a very successful entrepreneur had a rule. The rule was; if he wasn't successful in a venture at the 10 year mark, then he would re-evaluate his position. In his life, Israel was successful at Media, Politics, Law and many other endeavours. With each endeavour, he committed a minimum of 10 years to his path and he was successful every time.

Most people quit after 1-2 years of no success, but they are too early in the cycle to even dream of being successful.

You can only reap what you sow. If you plant a seed in the ground and expect to have delicious fruit in 2 years, you may have to wait. It takes much longer than 2 years for any endeavour to bear delicious fruit.

To go with the theme of 10 years until success, Malcolm Gladwell, a man who has studied success across many fields has a rule: The 10,000 hour rule.

To quote Malcolm, "it takes 10,000 hours to become a phenom. To be so freakishly awesome, to be such a standout among your peers, that sometimes your first name is enough to tell people who you are: Peyton. Tiger. Venus. Kobe. Oprah."

10,000 hours and 10 years seem to line up perfectly, because  10 years is the amount of time it takes for most people to put in 10,000 hours.

“To become a chess grandmaster also seems to take about ten years. (Only the legendary Bobby Fisher got to that elite level in less than that amount of time: it took him nine years.) And what’s ten years? Well, it’s roughly how long it takes to put in ten thousand hours of hard practice. Ten thousand hours is the magic number of greatness.”

In my own personal cycle, I have only been doing real estate for 3 years and have already achieved a measurable level of success. I know that if I want to achieve substantial or "phenomenal" success, I have at least 7 more years to commit to Real Estate.

However, as an entrepreneur, I have always had a side business running and when I measure the time and hours I have invested as an entrepreneur, I am likely further ahead of other "3 year real estate entrepreneurs" in my 10 year development cycle.

The combination of being 3 years into my Real Estate cycle and perhaps 5-6 in my entrepreneurship cycle may explain why my Real Estate success has come faster and easier than past endeavours. 

I can speculate that my past knowledge has compounded  and I have learned from my mistakes in my past businesses mainly in Music, T-shirts and debt-buying.

If we are to measure my success by the "power of 10", I am on my 4th year in my real estate business and have 7 more years to commit to my cycle before I have matured as a real estate entrepreneur.

When you get a chance, analyze your own business experience and try to find your position in the 10 year business cycle. Examine the "power of 10" rule and figure out  where past experiences have fed your current experiences and how many more years you have before you reach the 10 year mark.

Measuring myself by these metrics has been extremely valuable for understanding where I am at today - and where I am going. 

I can gain perspective on my position when I apply the "power of 10 rule", I can see how much longer it will take to achieve guaranteed success in entrepreneurship.

In my mind, there is no such thing as failure. Failure only happens when you give up.

Thanks for reading,
Stefan Aarnio
freedomway.ca

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 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

Today I spent the day in Edmonton with one of my money partners at the Fast Track SuperConference hosted by Darren Weeks. Darren is the Canadian Rich Dad, one of my mentors and a man who taught me a lesson that has made me successful to this day. I owe much of my success to Darren because I developed a skill set that very few people have (and one that is almost impossible to obtain because so few people teach the art of raising capital). When I worked for Darren I learned 1) How to sell and 2) The art of raising capital.

Darren Weeks is an extremely successful Canadian entrepreneur. His company, the Fast Track Group has been in the top 100 of the fastest growing companies in Profit magazine 3 years in a row, and when I worked for Darren, his team was the 40th fastest growing company in Canada. In my opinion, Darren's personal talent is his ability to identify and assemble groups of amazing people and with unbelievable talent who are motivated by a mission greater than themselves.

Contrary to traditional business models, The Fast Track Group was built around giving out "more education than anyone in the industry". There are few businesses who give first and receive second.

Darren prides himself on the fact that he provides more FREE value to the market than anyone else. To some people, giving out FREE information and building a business around it sounds insane, costly and risky... but I think that consumers nowadays expect FREE gifts and services before they buy - it's the trend in modern business. 

Business models that revolve around FREE gifts and services are especially strong in the financial and real estate sectors right now.

When I was 22 I attended the Fast Track Super Conference in Edmonton, I was absolutely blown away by the calibre of the company. I loved the mission, I loved the people and I loved what the company was doing for Canadians. I wanted to be a part of the group, I could feel the energy and it was infectious.

One thing Darren always used to preach when he was educating his audiences was "if you want to get rich, work for FREE." He would often pick out a young man or woman in the audience who would be just entering the work force and ask them "can you afford to work for FREE?"

Almost every time, the young man or woman would say "absolutely not!" and then Darren would teach the lesson.

The difference between the rich and the middle class/poor is that the rich do not work for money, they work for FREE. This may sound completely ridiculous to your belief system, but hear me out:

Lets consider two scenarios. 

In my personal life, when I was in my early twenties, I had two jobs at two different times. At my first job I worked for money, at my second job I worked for FREE.

MY FIRST JOB (WORKING FOR MONEY):

At age 22 I worked at Frito Lay Canada and my job was to merchandise (which is a fancy word for putting bags of chips on the shelves at 4 in the morning at Wal-Mart).

My primary motive for working with the company was the salary and the hours. I was truly chasing the dollar in every sense of the word. I wanted a salary so I could get mortgages to buy real estate. I took that job for the wrong reasons, didn't learn the proper skills in the field and it became harder and harder to get out of bed every day when I worked there. I had no passion for the industry and felt that there was nothing to learn.  

When I left the company, I had maxed out my purchasing power for properties and but had acquired ZERO skills towards building my own business. Since I had chased the dollar, I had a small cash reserve on hand, however, I had built NO SKILLS or contacts. Although I had made a little bit of money, I had built no human equity in myself, no skills and had no way of propelling myself forward towards my goals, hopes and dreams. In a way, I had traded time for money, lost my time and had crippled myself in a way.

Most people don't consider the skills they learn at work. My advice to young entrepreneurs is to leave their job once they stop learning the skills required to do it. Always work to learn. Move from job to job until you have all of the skills required to run the business of your choice.

Lesson: When it comes to work NEVER chase the dollars, find what excites you, find where your heart is and chase your passions. The money doesn't matter and it always gravitates towards the most enthusiastic people.

MY NEXT JOB (WORKING FOR FREE): I had heard Darren Weeks say on stage "If you want to get Rich, work for FREE". I took his advice, although it challenged my belief system, but I had nothing to lose so I and volunteered for his company whenever he was in town.

Every time Darren was in town, I would dress up in a suit, show up early, leave late, pack and unpack books, process paperwork, seat people, help out with sound-production and do any task that was required of me. I expected NO financial compensation and just wanted to be on the team.

I volunteered for Darren for three years and I applied to work for his company three times. Twice I was rejected for the job and the third time I applied I said, "I have been volunteering at this company over the past 3 years, I have applied twice and been rejected, I will keep applying until you hire me".

I then flew to Edmonton and volunteered at a Fast Track Super Conference event shortly after my interview. Darren Weeks noticed that I had flown from Winnipeg to Edmonton (on my own money) to volunteer to work for him. After the event, he personally took the time out of his evening to offer me a job with the company. 

What Darren didn't know was that I had already been hired to start work with the company and on the following monday I was to begin formal training.

Consider the lesson: working for FREE and volunteering had grabbed the attention of the founder of the company and had brought me onto the team OF MY CHOICE.

Now that I was positioned in the only company I wanted to work for, I got paid to learn more about the topics I was already passionate about. I was in heaven.

I got paid to sharpen my skills and become an extremely valuable asset to myself. I learned the art of sales, how to do public presentations, how to run an office, how to recruit good employees, how to fire bad employees, prospecting, sales tracking, databases, securities regulations and public speaking.

Most importantly, I learned how to raise capital and work with investors. This has been my "secret sauce" in my business and it's what sets me apart from other real estate investors who DO NOT have the skill set.

These skills are the base of my empire and the building blocks of my portfolio. I have based my entire career and current business around skills that I acquired by working for FREE.

Had I not volunteered at the company first, I would have had no chance of working with them. I would be of no value to their tribe and I would not have learned the skill set that makes me valuable today.

Every morning, you would still see a wandering soul putting bags of Doritos on the shelf at Walmart at 5:00am. I would have throttled passions and big dreams, but no way of executing them or aligning with other people who matter.

Lesson: Every week I meet young people who are passionate about a certain field or career. Many people say they are passionate about music, art, acting, sports, television, radio etc. and don't know how to break into those "hard to enter" industries. Whenever I study a highly successful person, I notice that almost all of them worked for FREE scrubbing toilets, mopping floors or doing the most pointless jobs at the bottom of the barrel just to be a part of the industry of their choice. Unfortunately, young people today do not see such opportunity.

Steven Spielberg began his brilliant career in film by just "showing up" to the movie studio, wearing a suit and pretending to be a director in an abandoned office. He was a film student who pretended to work there and snuck into the studio every day. The people at the studio assumed he worked there and eventually his passion for film brought him an opportunity to make his first film.

Steve Jobs of Apple was too poor to pay for his college education so he collected aluminum cans on campus and would cash them in to eat his next meal. Jobs had no money, so he would sit in the university classes for free and let his mind absorb the information. The FREE classes he attended for no credit became the building blocks of the apple philosophy. Steve was genius who blended liberal arts with technology. If he were paying for the classes and chasing marks/credits, he would not have been so creative and open in his approach.

Trent Reznor, the frontman of of the iconic band Nine Inch Nails, got a job as a janitor at a recording studio where he mopped floors and poured coffee for 8+ hours a day. He shared an apartment with a friend and ate peanut butter sandwiches for years just so that he could earn studio time to make his debut record in the middle of the night when the studio was vacant.

The most brilliant people in the world, the people who are at the top of their game and dominate their fields with enthusiasm, passion and leadership often started at the bottom working for FREE.

The reason why working for free is so powerful is:

1. It gets you in the door, an employer can't say "no" to free labor
2. You make contacts in the industry of your choice immediately
3. You learn the business form the "ground up"
4. When a job opens up, you are first in line because you are at the business and eager to work anyways - you are the best choice!
5. If you aren't passionate about the industry you won't last long, you will weed yourself out to find your true passion
6. Over time you gain experience and you will either be hired by the company you are volunteering for OR A COMPETITOR of theirs. This is a no lose strategy if you stick with it.
7. You free your mind from "chasing the dollars" which can limit your creativity. You will approach the industry with a creative, fresh perspective. This is priceless in the long run.

If I lost everything tomorrow, had no skills, no money, no contacts and no experience I would re-discover what I am excited about and offer to work for FREE in the industry.

Of course I would need some income to live, so I would get a job at McDonalds for 8 hours of the day (or another McJob) that is not too stressful, then work for the company of my choice for FREE in the other 8 hours. I would continue this 80 hour a week routine until I am hired by the company of my choice and then I would quit my McJob.

I would then gain all of the skills I need to be successful in my industry and re-evaluate my position. I would likely find a way to start my own business in the same industry and leave as fast as possible as soon as I stop learning.

Exercise: Take a step back from where you spend your time on a daily basis. Ask yourself: Are you chasing dollars? Or are you building valuable skills in an industry of your choice? Is your work based on passion and enthusiasm? Would you keep working there if they stopped paying you?

I used to say when I was in the music industry "You know you're in the right industry when you can work 18 hours a day, lose money and still wake up the next day to do it all over again." Follow your heart and make a choice of passion and NOT logic.

Thanks for reading,
Stefan Aarnio
Freedomway.ca

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

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

It always amazes me to see the thought patterns of novice and intermediate real estate investors. In Winnipeg (my home market) properties are relatively cheap compared to the rest of Canada. Properties are even considered "affordable" when compared to other markets in Canada. Winnipeg scores very well on the national affordability index.

But here's the downside of being so affordable...

Since properties are "affordable" in Winnipeg, many novice and intermediate real estate investors get lazy and actually use their own cash and lines of credit to buy properties. Eventually they will always run out of cash or credit and then they either stop growing or change their mindset. What I have seen happen in Winnipeg is that we have a good number of investors who have decent day jobs, between 1 and 10 doors (depending on the age of the investor) and their resources are usually tied up or close to maxed out.

To grow the real estate business further, it's time to think outside the box.

I started out in real estate investing at the age of 23 and had NO CASH from day one. So if I wanted to play the game, I had to operate with NO CASH. Every dollar that comes into my business is re-invested... but not into properties, because I play the game of NO CASH.

So where does my money go when I earn it? What do I buy instead of saving up for down payments? How do I operate a real estate business with NO CASH?

There are two things that I think every entrepreneur/real estate investor should be purchasing with their hard earned dollars - and it is not more property!

If you want to grow your business at an exponential and geometric rate you must buy two things: Time and Talent.

There is a term in investing and business called Velocity. Velocity is the speed at which money moves. When I started out in Real Estate investing, I was focused on doing 1-2 deals a year. I was a very low velocity investor and I actually tried to use my own cash and credit (which didn't take me far because I had virtually none).

At the time of writing, I am considered an intermediate investor (classified by one transaction a month) and I'm heading towards advanced investor (classified by 100's of transactions a year). The velocity of novice investors, intermediate investors, and advanced investors varies greatly and is the key to moving forward in your career. 

What separates the "men from the boys" when considering intermediate vs. advanced investors? In a general sense, there are only two things differentiating the two: time and talent.

In the past, my mentality would be to use my resources to save up or raise funds for a slow buy and hold. Today my mentality is to use my resources to create lead generation, websites, brands, videos, blogs, articles, photos, seminars, billboards, employees, teams of bird dogs, databases, referral programs, books, social media campaigns to build a web of influence. This web grabs large amounts of leads and maximizes the dollars generated per lead.

All of these bells and whistles attract properties, money partners and strategic partners to me. I have access to the best opportunities and have exponentially increased my chances of success.

To create and maintain this web of influence, I need time and talent. There is no way that I can build all of these things with my limited technical knowledge and finite time.

I buy time by outsourcing a lot of my tasks. Digital tasks are outsourced on eLance.com or crowdSpring.com. Purchase time in depressed economies where you can get time and talent for pennies on the dollar. Physical tasks are outsourced to local contractors or delegated to strategic partners who take a share of the profits.

I buy talent in the same way. I make sure to attract the best talent to my teams, pay people what they ask or more, invest in bonus and reward structures and keep my machine well oiled. Coaches and mentors are new addition to my payroll this year. Free advice is too expensive for me now. You only get ahead in this business by paying and you get to choose between blood, sweat, tears, time and money. You can pay in any way you like and I've already paid in blood, sweat and tears... 

Paid coaches are extremely expensive, but the knowledge and foresight I get from spending time with people who have reached the "advanced" level of investing is ABSOLUTELY PRICELESS. I often see investors scoff at the prices that some coaches and mentors charge, but I think that it is worth every penny. Why re-invent the wheel? Just hire someone onto your team who knows how to build the wheel - it's really simple. I know that I cannot do everything myself and must purchase Time and Talent to reach my goal of "advanced investor".

My goal is to do 100 transactions in 12 months, realistically starting in January 2013 and ending January 2014. It won't be easy, but with the right thinking, systems and coaches, I don't think it will be too hard either. The biggest challenge will be to think differently than I have in the past, because I have already achieved a degree of success, but not the level that I want. I can guarantee that I will not be painting suites or driving around looking at properties every day if I am going to achieve my goal, that is far too inefficient with my time and resources. Instead, I will be purchasing massive amounts of time and talent to execute my strategic plans.

Before we finish reading, ask yourself: Are you purchasing time and talent in your business? If you are, are you purchasing enough? What are you missing? Who are you missing? Who do you have to hire to get you to the next level? How do you need to change your thinking? Please share your thoughts in the comments below.

Thanks for reading,
Stefan Aarnio
freedomway.ca

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

By Stefan Aarnio
Freedomway.ca

Every single person who ever goes into business "for themselves" has felt the feeling of not earning what he or she is worth. Often this feeling is what employees feel at their jobs every day. This feeling is often strongest when good employees open their paycheque to see relatively meagre earnings every 15 days.

When these same people get fed up with their wimpy paycheque, they quit their jobs, become self employed and charge higher rates per hour (the rates that their employer was billing out to clients) to earn more money. However, the next part of the cycle is one of two things:

1) They either run out of time and hit their new earnings ceiling with escalated risk of being self-employed. 

-OR-

2) They begin to lose clients because they raised their prices and earn the same amount as they did in their job but work less hours.

I know this, because I have been in both scenarios and know the crushing feeling of not living up to my potential. So many  Real Estate investors, Self employed small business owners and all business people get the feeling of not earning our potential.

JT Foxx is one of my teachers and mentors and he has identified the "8 reasons you are not worth what you should be worth at this point":

1)   Time management – so many people who become self employed think that they have earned a holiday - every day. They are still in the "time is money" mentality and trade time for money on a 1:1 ratio. Time management is something that really separates the top earners from the bottom earners. Most people waste huge amounts of time because they are programmed to work on the clock. Time needs to be budgeted and leveraged the same way that money is to grow your business and earning potential exponentially.

2)   Fear - Fear of failure or success is a crippling disease. I have often been stopped in my tracks many times from fear of failure and even more frozen by fear of success in other cases. Fear of prices and fear of spending can often hold entrepreneurs and investors back from moving forward in their businesses. Warren Buffet says "Price is what you pay, value is what you get." Remember: It’s not how much things cost, it’s how much value that your purchase produces that matters.

3)   Procrastination- Top earners are action takers who implement everything at amazing speed. Procrastination ties in with time management, it comes from not having a specific blueprint or plans for success. Often a coach can remedy this and build a specific blueprint for you to remedy this common problem.

4)   Lack of Focus- This is something I personally struggle with. Often, effective entrepreneurs have a mild to severe case of A.D.D. and try to implement everything across the board. Richard Branson has been nicknamed "Dr. Yes" by his investment teams because he says "yes" to every opportunity and needs help with focus. Branson has actually hired specific investment analysts to shoot down his ideas and screen the bad ones. He is very happy to pay people to reject his ideas and maintain his focus. In the words of the wise: "do 1 thing 5000 times instead of trying to do 5000 things 1 time."

5)   Accountability- We are often very bad at identifying our own mistakes and punishing ourselves when we don't hold ourselves accountable. People who do not have coaches often have little to no accountability and this makes it easy for us to allow failure and abandonment of goals to occur. Accountability coaches are brilliant for "checking up" on us when we are about to give up. Hire a coach to check on your goals and ensure that you follow through with your intent.

6)   Lack of Funds- Every entrepreneur, business person and investor needs funds to "run the machine". Many times when we start out, we are WAY undercapitalized and as we grow, we need to raise cash. A common myth in business is that funds are hard to come by. However, in reality, it's talent and business acumen that are much more scarce than funds. If you can prove your skills, you will NEVER be without funding.

7)   “I can do it myself”- This is one of the worst sins a person can utter as a business owner or a self employed entrepreneur. "Doing it yourself" is extremely destructive because it keeps you from building the systems and teams required for a saleable business. People who do everything themselves do not have businesses, they have glorified J.O.B.'s and they ALWAYS BURN OUT. It's a fact. I've had the "DIY" disease for the past few years and am extremely liberated to ditch the dirty habit. "I can do it myself" is the battle cry of an ignoramus and a phrase for self enslavement.  It keeps you pinned as a self employed slave and prevents you from becoming the CEO of your own organization. Another common phrase by a chronic DIY'er is "I’ll do it after I’m successful." This is like saying "i'll purchase fire insurance after my house burns down". You have to build your business right from the beginning, otherwise, it becomes exponentially harder and more expensive to demolish it and rebuild it later. You will get trapped if you try to "DIY" it after getting the business running.

8)   "'I'm not sure what to do" - Most people, especially people who have been conditioned to be employees, have trouble figuring out what to do. We are programmed to take orders, not question authority and execute other people's orders like robots. Once you pull the plug on the J.O.B. and come into the real world, you suddenly have to think for yourself. The two things you can never pay an employee or contractor to do are:

1) Think and
2) Do things in the right order

In the land of the free, you are now the #1 thinker, you drive the ship and have to make the calls. Do not let your ship smash up on the rocks. Of course if you're not sure what to do, you will need to find a coach or a mentor to navigate you on your journey to freedom.

When you look at the 8 reasons why you are not earning what you are worth, the same list can be used to identify why people will not do business with you. Go over the list one more time, take an inventory of the reasons why you are not earning your maximum potential and focus on improving your weak categories. Remember: Where focus goes, energy flows and if you can eliminate your weaknesses and change your mindset then you'll eventually be earning what you are worth and you will be pleasantly surprised.

Thanks for reading,
Stefan Aarnio
Freedomway.ca

P.S. Please share if you enjoyed this article!