This is the fifth article in a series of articles revealing the Myths that Keep Your Broke. In these articles, I will uncover the many myths that too many people believe. These myths can prevent you from creating wealth and financial freedom. Let’s start destroying them.
Myth #9: Do It Yourself
One of the biggest lessons I learned in becoming wealthy was that it was a team effort, not a solo effort. Too many people think they can become successful and wealthy by themselves.
This lesson hit me hard when I was the angel investor in a start-up when I did not have the experience to properly evaluate the business venture.
Learning along the way was very expensive. After investing over $200,000 I was able to sell the company for $25,000, thereby earning 12.5 cents for each dollar invested.
There were three books I read after I made the investment, and one of them was excellent. But by that time I could see the company was going to go down the tubes along with my money. (That excellent book was Disciplined Entrepreneurship by Bill Aulet.)
My art gallery business was a failure because I did that alone (and the economy was very bad).
My pension company had two other partners: We were profitable, and we were able to sell it to a public company. I reaped a handsome return on my time and money.
My real estate business became very profitable and I had two other partners. Each of us had our areas of expertise and mostly stayed in our own lane. This took me from broke to multi-millions.
When I studied other successful businesses, I could see the same pattern. In every one of them, from Apple to GE, from Pay Pal to Tesla, from Berkshire Hathaway to Facebook, there was at least one vision master and one execution master.
Most people have heard of Warren Buffet of Berkshire Hathaway, but few people have heard of Charlie Munger. Warren is the vision master and Charlie is the execution master. Of course, there are far more people involved with the success of Berkshire Hathaway, but the minimum starts with two people, not one.
And others on your team can be your CPA, or an attorney, or a banker, an accountability partner or coach. The point is, do not try to build a successful business by yourself.
Who do you now have, or want to have, on your team?
Myth #10: Thoughts Are Powerful
Let me explain what I mean when I say it is a myth that thoughts are powerful. In one respect they are powerful if they lead to an action. Unfortunately, most of the time a good thought is cancelled out by feelings that might be uncomfortable, or feelings come up that are more powerful.
Actually, feelings are ten times more powerful than thoughts.
Perhaps you had the thought that you were going to start working out at the gym at the beginning of the year. Maybe it was one of your resolutions. How did that work out for you? Did you have feelings that you could do this later? Maybe it doesn’t really matter how often you go. Maybe you needed to wait until your sore muscles felt better.
The point is, we all have thoughts, and we all have feelings. And our feelings are more powerful. What I have learned is that when you tap into something bigger than your feelings you can then take action on your thoughts.
You might ask, what is something bigger, or more powerful, than your feelings?
It’s your values. The values you operate by are what you fall back on when push comes to shove.
If you are someone who values arriving on time, and you can see you will be late, you would notify someone you’re going to be late.
If your value is integrity, and you give your word to someone that you will show up to an event, you will show up.
If you value family, you will do whatever it takes to care for, and provide for, your family. And it does not matter how you feel.
Starting on page 26 in my Wealth On Any Income book is an exercise to support you in identifying your values. The values you can lean on when you are discouraged or you’re not sure what to do next to move forward. If you want a copy of this exercise, just send an email request to me.
The point is; thoughts are not all that powerful. To produce results you need to understand your values and get into action.
To Your Prosperity,
Rennie
Often in the media and in a recent TEDx Talk, Rennie Gabriel supports individuals and business owners to create work as a choice, instead of a requirement, just as he did for himself. Rennie had gone broke twice (two divorces), but using the same concepts published in his book, Rennie created more wealth in each recovery than what he had prior.
As a highly rated instructor at the University of California in Los Angeles (UCLA), Rennie uses his award-winning, best-selling book, Wealth On Any Income, to teach effective money skills from both the emotional/psychological aspects as well as the practical components. His book has been translated into five languages. Rennie is a retired Chartered Life Underwriter (CLU) and Certified Financial Planner® (CFP®) and often adds BFD to his credentials.
His extensive knowledge of real estate and finance is useful not only to those who own or invest in real estate but to anyone striving for a better life by trying to achieve financial freedom.
His clients range from financial professionals, like CPAs, stock brokers, and financial planning firms, to entrepreneurs in the transformational space (coaches, authors, and speakers). He also works with large organizations like the FBI, American National Insurance and Toyota Motors.
After 40 successful years in financial services, Rennie now works to donate 100% of the profits from his speaking fees, wealth programs, books and business coaching to charities, the primary one is www.ShelterToSoldier.org where dogs are rescued, trained and donated as service animals for soldiers with PTSD and TBI (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and Traumatic Brain Injuries)