Start A Financial Freedom Fund (FFF)

Every year when a farmer harvests his crop he leaves some of the seed in the barn to plant next spring. Every pay check that you earn you should be taking some of that seed and putting it in the “Barn” (Your Financial Freedom Fund) so that you can grow more money. When I first started my FFF I thought it would take me forever to make it big enough so that I could do anything with it. After all, at first I could only put very small amounts of money into my FFF. But as it grew so did my obsession with making it even bigger. I had my Money Magnet Jar at home and I threw in anything I could Every Single Day. Meanwhile I studied and studied.

There is a saying that “Success happens when Knowledge Meets Opportunity”. I had acquired much knowledge over the years but everytime opportunity knocked I had no money or very little money. As a result I was afraid to risk what little money I had.

Soon I had $800 in my FFF and I had studied enough that I had decided to spend $300 of it on all I had learned about Foreign Currency Trading. I promptly lost almost a third of it as I realized that trading real money was not the same as trading in a practice account. However, I still had $500 left so I dipped in to it to replenish the trading account because I felt I had learned some valuable lessons. In the next few months I had great success until I got cocky and lost my focus. I still made a lot of money and that helped me pad my FFF. The more money I made the more I put into my FFF. The more seed my FFF had the more I could plant and diversify. I bought stocks, invested in businesses and I quickly learned the secret of how the rich get richer.

“They Don’t Spend EVERYTHING They Earn.” They keep some of it for seed!

What is a Philanthro-Capitalist?

Back in late 2007 when I coined the term Philanthro-Capitalist™ I remember searching Google, Yahoo and MSN for the term and could find nothing. Today I ran a search and there are pages and pages of results for the same term.

The other thing that I did was I put a trademark symbol besides the term Philanthro-Capitalist™ but I knew it meant nothing. In fact I still chuckle when I think about doing it that first time.

While I am tickled that this term is getting all the play that it is receiving I still think that my meaning of the term is very different than what I see out there. So what does it mean to be a Philanthro-Capitalist™?

A Philanthro-Capitalist is a business person who is engaged in giving while creating a profit which in turn allows for more giving or philanthropy while creating even more profit. With this model there is ascending growth so that more and more people are impacted.

On the hand charities operate on a self-liquidation model. They receive money, give it all away and then come back asking for more. Charities also spend a huge amount of time and money raising money. As Philanthro-Capitalists™ become more successful, charities will be the beneficiaries of the funds generated from their businesses.

I write this explanation here to answer once and for all the many people that often approach me and say “Allan Marston – Philanthro-Capitalist – what the heck does that mean? I hope this explanation suffices.

An Instant Noodle Society

We are living in tough times but history has shown that it is during times like these that new businesses get started and succeed.

So as you start to look for business ideas beware of the scam artists and those that would just have you buy information on how to get rich. There are people who know they can prey on the unsuspecting people who have just been laid off and are looking for something new.

In this post and in upcoming ones as well I am going to give you a few clues on what to look for when you make a decision on whether what you are looking at is Too Good To Be True or Too Good To Pass Up.

1- There is no such thing as a Free Ride. If no investment is required – RUN! An opportunity without an investment is called A Job.

2- It is possible to find something that requires very little work and still make money. The cost is usually high for such opportunities. If it requires No Work at all, that is called An Investment. My rule of thumb is that either you use your money to make money or you use your efforts to make money. By being in business you can also leverage other people’s efforts (and expertise) to make money and you can leverage other people’s money to make money. That is why I like business so much.

3- The biggest of these 3 points is this one. If someone tells you they can make you rich in 3 months or some ridiculous time frame – RUN! Especially if the investment is low and the amount of work required is low. The bigger and the more dramatic the story, the more people fall for it.

We live in an Instant Noodle society where most people want to make money now, without working for it and they are willing to pay for it. Knowing this about the current human psychology, con artists gain your confidence with elaborate setups revolving around that theme of do nothing, invest with them and they will make you rich.

When ALL You Have Is Hope

In this post I wanted to start talking about business ideas but I think there is one more topic we need to cover before we go there. And that is the topic of whether YOU think you can actually be in business and whether you think you are actually capable of putting together an effective team.

The title of this post is actually the title of a book I am currently reading about a man named Frank O’Dea. He came from a rich family, got raped 4 times from when he was a young boy until he was a young man. His rapists included an Adult he trusted, a Police Officer and two Priests whom he also trusted.

He became an alcoholic at a very young age and eventually a young homeless man who was continuously beaten by young people looking for thrills and police looking to keep him out of places where well to do people would not be disturbed by his begging for food or money or the look and smell of his vomit and blood stained clothes.

Two days before Christmas, early in the morning while standing on a street corner he said to himself, “If I don’t change, I will die like this!” He did not want to die on the streets, freezing to death or being beaten to death. Die or Change was the only way he saw it. If he died, few would know he was gone and even fewer he figured would care.

Frank O’Dea made a decision that day to change that not only saved his life but saved and improved the lives of millions of people all over the world. Within 10 years he was a millionaire having co-founded The Second Cup, Canada’s equivalent to Starbuck’s in high-end coffee products. However, The Second Cup was way ahead of its time and even Starbuck’s had not come on to the scene when they started up.

When Frank O’Dea dies there will be many who will cry. Who will cry when YOU die? What difference have you made in the corner where you are?

This book is by far one of the most inspiring I have read in a very long time. I keep asking myself every time I put that book down the same question.

“If this guy who was severely abused, an alcoholic and a downtrodden homeless person and could then become one of Canada’s most successful businessmen and philanthropists can do it then why can’t you and I do it.”
Do human beings have to hit rock bottom to be able to Make A Decision to change their lives?

I hope not! If that is the case we would all need to go live on the streets and get beaten up a few times before we are capable of making that decision that will change our lives forever.

Can you make a decision, right now, right where you are at this moment in your life, to change? I really think you can! Maybe your change does not need to be that drastic. Maybe you just need to go from living pay check to pay check to living a life of financial abundance or at least a carefree financial lifestyle.

Frank O’Dea made that decision and then worked hard to stay off the alcohol. He worked hard at menial jobs where he made connections that led to him teaming up with people that led to business opportunities that he jumped on and worked hard at.

The story of Frank O’Dea if summarized in one paragraph might say that he made a decision, worked hard, had a great desire to be a success and looked for opportunity around every corner. He never tried to take the easy road! He didn’t hit the jackpot. His message is simple: Hope – Vision – Action!

Can you do it? Yes You Can!

Businesses Create Millionaires & Billionaires

So how are you making out? Have you got your team together? Have you figured out your game plan? Have you started taking Action? Or are you having some trouble getting started?

The critical thing right now is to get into business. You cannot depend on anyone else and especially not the government. I have news for you if you haven’t figured this out already. The stimulus package of any country does not apply to you unless you are a CEO of a major corporation or are a bank or somebody really important.

If your house is in foreclosure or if you have just lost your job or if you are in any other financial trouble please don’t sit there watching CNN and cursing the government for not doing anything for you.

Get off the couch, kick yourself in the butt and get to work doing something. I gave you some ideas in my last post and if that did not work for you then I have some other ideas in my next post.

The bottom line is this! Either you create a business or you join a business. Either you create a team or you join a team. YOU are the one responsible for making things happen for YOU.

So be prepared to make something happen and come back to read my next post. In fact do yourself a favour and subscribe to these posts. Especially if you find them helpful. In fact tell your friends about this blog as well and maybe Together Everyone (all your loved ones) will Achieve Miracles. I am sure you will not find the kind of stuff I write about here in the regular news media. They thrive off your misery and despair. I don’t! When you do well your friends and neighbours do well. And when they do well your community does well and your city, state or province does well. And the Country soon digs itself out of where it is and I do well.

Just remember that Misery and Despair are optional!

Teamwork Makes The Dream Work

Right now what the world needs is for people to come together and work as a Team. I think it is Mark Victor Hansen, the co-author of Chicken Soup For The Soul Series, who said that T.E.A.M. stands for Together Everyone Achieves Miracles. And Miracles are what we need today with one of the worst economic downturns the world has ever seen, upon us.

Take a deep breath in and out!

Relax into an almost meditative state!

Think about the people around you. Your friends, your co-workers, your neighbours and others you might volunteer with or belong to a club with. What can you do together? Can 4 or 5 of you come together to start a business or join a business or find a way to make some money. Here are 3 things you can do right now to get started:

1- Choose A Team – Make sure each member has a particular strength and most importantly is strong where you or the others are weak. The last thing you want on a team is for everyone to be detail oriented for example. If that is the case everyone will get caught up in the weeds of details. Yet it wouldn’t be very smart to have no detail people on the team. They say that the devil is in the details and it will catch up with you if you don’t pay attention to it.

2- Create A Plan – Most people will tell you to begin with what you like to do and that is true. However you also have to make sure that you are solving someone else’s pain. If there is no pain for someone else there will be no gain for you. If you cannot come up with anything there are two things you could do:
a. You probably need a real creative person added to your team. An idea person is critical for every team. You just need to make sure they are not the leader. Visionaries rarely make good executioners.
b. Go look through Home Business Magazines or books that give you ideas on what businesses you can start. Or search to see what people are doing online but be very careful. Everyone online is trying to sell you something and they appeal to that common thread that runs through most people. They want to be rich – They don’t want to work for it – They don’t want to Pay for it! If you buy into one of those projects you just bought into a scam.

3- Take Action – Over the past couple of years with the popularity of The Secret there are many who figured they just had to think their way into prosperity. The law of attraction is powerful but look at the last 6 letters. Yes that’s right it spells ACTION. Persistent Thought on a Particular Area Plus Persistent and Consistent Action is the True Secret of The Law of Attraction. Every team needs a leader and the number one thing that kills all teams is EGO. A mentor of mine used to say that EGO stood for Edging God Out! I like to say that EGO stands for Edging Good Out! If there are 5 of you and you are trying to dig yourself out of a hole, then stay focused on that. It shouldn’t be important as to who the leader is and who gets center stage. I have often told people with big egos around me “You take the Fame, just give me the fortune”.

Good Teams Make Great Dreams Come True!

Good Times Never Last

It has been more than 2 years since I updated this blog. I guess I felt that it wasn’t needed. People who had great jobs didn’t feel like they were in the Rat Race. And if they were, they figured it wasn’t so bad. The pay was good, they were able to buy a home and jobs were so plentiful that if their boss didn’t treat them right they just had to walk across the street into a higher paying job.

It was an employee’s market for sure!

And it seems to me that when human beings are doing well they think that things will always be so good. They don’t think about digging their well before they need it. They don’t think they will ever be thirsty which is why Americans have the lowest savings of any major country on the planet. China has the highest!

Now people are thirsty and now they are scrambling to dig their wells. But it is very difficult to dig a well under those parched conditions.

So I decided I would come back and help in any way that I can. I have a few secrets that might help you. And for those of you who subscribed to this blog a long time ago I hope you will take some time to review the material here and share it with friends. You will find out why you should share it with friends in the next post. The content is even more valid today than it was in 2006 when things were so good.

I look forward to helping you if you need it!