15 Ways To Stabilize So Your Dreams Can Materialize

As an aggressive entrepreneur, I was ready to conquer the world at a very young age. My plan was to out-work, out-innovate, and out-run my competition at all co sts until I was financially free. I started a lawn mowing business then a custom T-shirt business and then a motivat ional poster business After several years of intense entrepreneurship, I had reached my mid-20 s and I wa s still broke . Stabilize Your Finances Financial stability starts with steady income and low expenses, NOT with agreat investment or the next great entrepreneurial idea. It took me awhile to realize this, but it s only when you have a strong base to standon that you can take big r isks. I always wanted to put risk before stability, but it s actually the other wayaroun d. In America, we re romanced by the stories of great entrepreneurs. We learn that you have to take risk toreceive reward. What isn t on the front pages is that mos t of these success stories started with a strong base. Without the security of s table finances to fall back on, these entrepreneurs wouldn t have been able to wea ther the ups and downs ofentrepreneurship and investment. 1. Get/Keep Your Income A Job is not necessarily bad As a free spirit, I ve always hated workin for the man. Every time I had a J-O-B, I d reamed about setting up a business and leaving that place behind. The feeling wa s overwhelmingand eventually, I would succumb I d put in my resignation and set out on my next business adventure. Unfortunately , because I d jumped ship too early, I d be right back at the job after several mont hs. Entrepreneurs: Don t Jump Too Soon As an entrepreneur coach, I see the same situation over and over again. People c ome into my office, ready to start a new life. They say, OK, I quit my job now wha t? My advice is always something they don t want to hear: Try to get your job back Realize that entrepreneurship is risky. The Moat Theory Risk is not something we want to takeuntil we have a stable foundation. Mitch St ephen, a friend and author of the book My Life and 1000 Houses calls it The Moat T heory. Get your basics covered and surrounded by a moat before you set off over the draw-bridge with your horse and joust. Then if you re not successful you can just retreat back to your little castle, pull up the bridge, and regroup. Financial Gravity The fact is: you have a much better chance of being successful if you re operating form a place of security as opposed to a place of desperation. It spart of financ ial gravity people can smell it when you re weak. 2. Take Inventory As Painful as it Might Be The vast majority of people have no idea where they are financially. They might have a vague feeling of I m broke , or I ve got some extra money but if you asked for the r net worth or cashflow statement, they d just give a blank stare. It can be a painful process to pull together all of your statements and fillout a financial statement but the end result is liberating. Even if it s bad news at least you know where you are! Finally, you can start takin g steps forward. Here s the gist of financial statements: Balance Sheet (Your Net Worth) Add up all of your assets and then subtract your liabilities. Assets (find the current value of the items below if you were to sell them today ) Home

Savings Accounts Stocks & Bonds IRA/401K Life Insurance Businesses Owned Personal Property Liabilities Home Mortgage Credit Card Debt Student Loans Auto Loans Other Loans Other Debts/Collections Income Statement (Income Minus Expenses) Income: W2 Income Real Estate Cashflow Interest Earned Business Income Expenses: House Payment Car Payment Utilities Insurance Food Entertainment Miscellaneous Expenses 3. Increase Income/Axe Expenses until You are at Least$200/mo Cashflow Positive Whew, that feels better Now that you know where you are, you can take the first step toward tightening u p your finances. If the bottom line of your income statement was positive great! You can move to t he next step (as long asyou keep it positive!) If your bottom line was negative, it s important to get it into positive territory as soon as you can. Increase your income and/or decrease your expenses until yo u ve got an extra$200 a month. Be Strong This is where #13 Get Rid of Insecurities really kicks in If you re an insecure person, it will be hard to get rid of luxuries in order to b e cashflow positive. You have to dig deep and realize that you are making shortterm sacrifices for long-term gain. 4. Make a Pact Never to Decrease in Net Worth Again Now that you ve proven to yourself that you can maintain a positive monthly cashfl ow, it s time to commit. As long as you always make more thanyou spend, your net worth will always increa se (provided you don t invest in risky assets see The Equity Goose and Cashflow Gol den Egg) Take time at the end of each month to fill out your balance sheet and income sta tement. Check to see that you have a positive number on the bottom line of your income statementand your net worth is higher than it was the month before. Even if your net worth only increases by $100, you are always moving forward. It s much harder to catch up from a loss than it is to make a small gain. When you stabilize, you will notice that your net worth will begin to accelerate . 5. Pay your savings and bills theminute you get your paycheck Here s a tip that really helped me do away with surprise bill payments. Each time yo u get your paycheck, make the following transactions in this order: 1. Put at least $200 in your untouchable savings account. 2. Pay all of the bills you owe for that pay cycle.

3. Take out a budgeted amount of cash for all of the day-to-day spendingyou will incur until your next paycheck. 6. Build a $1,000 Emergency Account I owe Dave Ramsey for this powerful tip: Save up to $1000 in your emergencyaccount before you make any other financial move s such as paying down debt or making an investment. It took me awhile to see the wisdom (again, I was thinking too hard ), but it s very p owerful. There is no way you can predict all of the expenses that will appear in your lif e. Most people spend every dollar they have, and when something unexpected happens , they have to borrow to pay for it. Once you realize that unexpected expenses are a part of life they will no longer be unexpected. 7. Get Your Credit Above 700 After you stabilize your income statement and put away an emergency account, you can start working on your credit. DISCLAIMER: We re not building creditso that you can buy more stuff. Credit is a fra gile tool that we can use to buy income-producing investments. There s a complex formula (that s wayabove my head) to increasing your credit score. Trying to figure it out willonly confuse you. I would recommendfinding a reputa ble credit consultant who can work on your credit on your behalf. (Be careful, t here are a lot of credit repair scams out there.) 8. Focus on Building Your Equity Goose Once you ve built up to a 700 credit score, you can start building your net worth with assets such as real estate. The idea is to buy an asset such as a house at a discount, fix it up, and either rent or sell it. If you ve bought the asset correctly, you ll make $20-40,000 every time you repeat t his process. Never Touch the Goose! Take those chunks of $20k and put them back into the system Never live on the equity of your investments (the goose), only the cashflow (the golden egg). Stabilize Your Life I started this article by writing about finances. My intention was to keep your attention, not to suggest that finances are the most important part. Most people like the tangibility of financial advice so that they can apply in their life. But, the reality is: your financial fitnessoften mirrors your social, physical, and spiritual fitness. If you re struggling financially, it may be an indicator of an imbalance somewhere else in your life. Even though these areas can be harder to measure than finances, ultimately they are the entire reason we seek more money in the first place. 9. Exercise at Least Three Daysa Week The easiest and most immediate way to see improvement in your life is to improve your physical fitness. All of theother areas of your life (including mental, so cial, and spiritual) are affected by your physical being. The trick with fitness is simple: Consistency is more important than intensity. Getting some moderate exercise threetimes a week for the rest of your life will do more for your overall well-beingthan jumping into intense exercise cycles tha t will eventually burn you out. A good book to illustrate this point is The Compound Effect by Darren Hardy. He po ints out that massive changes can be made in your life by making consistent, sma ll efforts. 10. Realize that You ll Be Fine No Matter What Happens When I face great stress in my life I always resort to something I learned early in my adulthood: After all is said and done you re going to be fine. Look back at times in the past when you ve faced trials and tragedy. In theend, yo u were okay. It takes an amount of spiritual maturityto realize it; but even if the worst sce

nario you can imagine happens you re going to be okay. Take some time to ponder and meditate on this concept and it will free you to fa ce life with more vigor and confidence. 11. Seek Guidance As a strong self-determinist , I thoughtI could create wealth on my own through reading books and brute force It wasn t until I had a few years behind me that I re alized the immense power of seeking guidance and results started to follow. Intelligence vs. Wisdom I ve always had a very strong intellect (I thought that was all that I needed). Wh at I didn t realize is that intelligence can actually be an obstacleto success wit hout wisdom. The difference between intelligence and wisdom is similar to the difference betw een leadership and management.To borrow from one of my favorite books of all tim e, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by StephenCovey; the managers are d own in the jungle, sharpening the blades, organizing a work schedule, motivating the workers, innovating new tree-chopping techniques The leader is the one who climbs the tallest tree surveys the land and yells, Wrooo ong Jungle! Wisdom Comes From Experience The reason it is so important to seek guidance is that wisdom cannot be manufact ured through sheer brain-power alone. It can only be found in the minds of those men and women who have been there before. The great thing is that it doesn t haveto come from your own experience you can ski p the learning curve if you are open-minded enough to listen to the advice of so meone who has been successful. Find someone who is in the financial, social and spiritual position you want to be in and ask them for advice. Pride It was hard for me to ask for help in my younger years because I let my pride ge t in the way. I wanted to become successful on my own . When I started to seek guidance frompeople who where more successful than me, my own success increased exponentially . The World Is Immense I ve had the blessing of being well traveled (I would recommend it to anyone). The more I traveled, the more I realized that the world is larger than a human brai n can comprehend. It is almost guaranteed that someone has faced the same obstacle that you are fa cing now thousands probably have. Instead of trying to figure it out on your own, it makes much more sense to lear n the wisdom of those who have already overcome. 12. Set Your Intention The easiest part for me was always knowing what I wanted I read books on visualiz ing my goals and I became good at it. I was able to create the feeling of achiev ing the objective before I even began on the journey. Having a clear picture of what you want is important to establish in the beginni ng. Take some time and imagine who you would like to be. It doesn t have to be some grand dream If you re having trouble with a goal, start wi th something simple likefinishing a good book or smiling more at work. Engrain it in Your Head Once you ve got an idea of what you want, it s time to engrain it in your head by se tting your intention. Realizethat thoughts are fleeting it takes real discipline to engrain a thought in your head. Here are a few ideas on how to set your inten tion: Write it down the act of writing crystallizes your thoughts. Leave notes everywhere on your bathroom mirror, computer monitor, steering wheel, etc. Meditate on it clear your mind and visualize it as if it were real Keep a symbol in your pocket every time you reach for your keys, you ll bump into t hat rock or figurine Create a vision board make a collage of magazine clippings symbolizing what you w

ant to become It s important to Begin with the End in Mind , (as Stephen Covey would say); but it s a lso important not to getstuck living in the future dream space.Once you ve set you r intention, set it aside and get back to working on yourfoundation. 13. Get Rid of Insecurities Insecurity is a huge obstacle to success. Most people hold some level of insecur ity in some aspect of their life. Those who learn how to manage and overcome the ir insecurities are much more likely to succeed. A person who is secure with his or herself is able to give to others and create win/win relationships. An insecure person is always taking from others, attempti ng to fill a seemingly endless void. Read Sings of Insecurity for more onthis topic. 14. Participate in Your Hobby at least Once a Week In today s fast-paced society, work and making money consumes us more and more. Ma ny people can t remember the last time they took time to enjoy a hobby. Taking time to shut off the work thoughts in your head and enjoy yourself resets t he neurons in your brain, making you more efficient whenyou return to work. When your brain is always engaged, it becomes weaker. Read The Power of Full Engagement for more on this topic. 15. Take Time Each Week to Visit with Friends and Family What good are possessions or experiences if we don t share them with someone? The relationships we make and maintain are the greatest investments we can make in our lives. Be sure to spend quality time with loved ones as a part of your we ekly schedule. In Conclusion When working on personal development, it can be tempting to jump straight to the more glamorous activities such as investing, entrepreneurship, and shooting for the stars. None of those things matter unless we have a stable base to stand on. Start by s tabilizing your life and finances before you move on to more aggressive investme nts.