People often ask me, "How long will it take to be successful?" Well, that's a good question, and a lot of the people who ask me know that, in my particular case, it was less than three weeks. Less than three weeks after I attended a high-quality seminar that told people how work in the direct response business, which I was interested in, I walked in and quit my job.

Within three weeks, I was retired at 45 years old. Permanently retired-I never worked again.

How long will it take? Well, like I said, it happened to me in three weeks. But you know what? There were years and years and years of striving, desiring, being confused, sending off for those crappy programs that don't work, that you can't make money on. The only people making money on them are the people selling the crappy programs.

My wife was hiding the credit cards, because she always feared that I would do something stupid. Of course, it was kind of hard to, because there wasn't much left on the credit cards at that time.

And then, what happens?

Well, there's a little story I like to tell that occurred during World War II. American troops were flying over certain South Pacific islands and throwing potatoes out to feed the people-you may have heard some of these stories. And so, they were throwing them on the beach.

Well, guess who some of those people were? Some of those people were monkeys. Some of those monkeys learned that, "Hey, you know, this is pretty decent; I don't even have to work!" Welfare, right?

"I don't even have to work. All I gotta do is go down to the beach whenever I hear the bombers going overhead, and they're gonna drop out potatoes, and I can eat 'em."

And so they're eating these potatoes. And of course, what are they doing? They're finding them on the beach. Now, you can imagine that on the beach, they're packed with terrible, terrible tasting, gritty sand. But of course it's better than working for a living.

So what happens? Well, as the story goes one little monkey one day carries her potato down to the water, washes it, and eats it. No grinding, pure flavor. She teaches another monkey, teaches another one, they teach a few more. The multi-level, viral effect is going - and they teach a few more. They're the only ones on this string of South Pacific islands doing this.

And then, at about the time the 100th monkey washes the potato, it neurologically springs embedded in the genes of all the monkeys on all that group of islands. They all duly grab their potatoes, walk them down to the water, wash them, eat them, enjoy them more!

What're we talking about? We're talking about a critical mass. We're talking about a turning point, a tipping point, a straw on the camel's back. We're talking about, how long will it take you to succeed?

If you're right for it, I have seen people make money overnight. I have seen people make vast money in a number of weeks. I have seen people it took several years. I see people who still seem a little bit clueless.

How long will it take? I wish I could tell you. It took Edwin Barnes a number of years. He walked in and got a job as a clerk with Thomas Edison. A few years later, he was a multi-millionaire, a retired young businessman.

How long will it take? Truth is, neither you nor I know or can know the exact answer to that question… There’s a lot of variables.

But you can guarantee me this… YOU know better than I do your own level of hunger, commitment, and desire. You know better than I do the inclinations you want to follow… You know better than I do if you’ll do whatever it takes to be successful…

I know and can offer you the way. YOU must walk it on your own.

No, I don't know how long it will take to be successful – according to your own unique specifications…

But this I can tell you for sure: if you don't start now, if you don't start earnestly, if you don't dive into this Think and Grow Rich philosophy and attempt to make it work as quickly as you can and with passion, it'll never work for you.

If you don’t start now, with passion, how can you ever hit critical mass? How will you ever reach your tipping point?!

Author's Bio: 

Ted Ciuba, a luminary in both the marketing & human potential fields, helps entrepreneurs, salespersons, & small-medium-sized businesses discover & adapt their mindset to success, increasing incomes, multiplying profits, reducing stress, and liberating joy. Get the inside scoop on how you can benefit from Ted’s insights and practices http://www.Sub4MinuteExtraMile.com