Keys to Wealth: Leveraging S E N T $
By: Clinton Swaine
If you want to be rich and happy then don’t go to school! That was the name of the first book by Robert Kiyosaki, author of the best selling book Rich Dad Poor Dad and a series of books on becoming financially free. His book changed the paradigm of hundreds of thousands of individuals from working hard for money to have their money working hard for them. There are many ways to build financial freedom and a key concept in nearly all of them is the power of leverage.
There are five key elements in earning income. They are Skills, Energy, Network, Time and Money ($). It is how these skills are used to generate money that makes the difference between the poor, the middle class and the ultra wealthy. Let us examine the four different areas.
Skills.This category is the highest direct paying of all the five areas. Skills represents the actual talent, expertise, knowledge and resources that go into completing a transaction. For a factory floor employee this might mean pushing certain buttons or picking out bad items for Donald Trump it may be the knowledge to structure a deal with multiple parties, using tax advantages and market timing to create another billion dollar project. I cannot emphasize this enough your skills are your most valuable assets. This is far more important than money in any bank. The concept that a millionaire can lose his money and make it all back again and more is based on the competence and skill level acquired by the Millionaire.
Energy. This is the back breaking physical, mental and emotional energy spent during the task. Using energy, especially physical is a log, hard road to success. Ask how many physical laborers are multi millionaires and you will get the idea. Blood, sweat and tears alone is seldom the path for the financial success for 99% of the Fortune 500.
Network. It has been stated by a number of experts that your net worth is equal to your network. It is becoming ever increasingly evident that the number of people who know you and respect you is a key indicator of income and success. Your ability to leverage your network especially in the network marketing and infopreneuring world will be a key indicator for your rise to success. The old days of who you know are dead. It is not who you know but who your network knows when you need it that matters. Nurture your network, value your network, keep them active and most important keep growing your network and watch the abundance of the universe flow back.
Time.This is the lowest paying category and yet critical in the equation. There is a common misconception that Time is Money. The biggest mistake an entrepreneur can make is to trade time directly for money. Once that hour is gone, it can never be repaid. The objective is to create income streams for infinity from time worked so that the income climbs the longer you remain working. Most hard working people are paid based purely on time rather than performance. It has been estimated that most people spend less than 50% of their work hours actually working, the rest being spent in lunch breaks, tea breaks, useless meetings, talking and generally wasting time. A time for money mentally is recipe for poverty as very few employers will pay people over $500 per hour or $20,000 per week or $1,000,000 a year on a wage or salary plan and yet this money can be made by entrepreneurs who avoid this paradigm.
Money ($) This is the last category and for some a highly lucrative way of becoming wealthy without having to spend energy and allowing you to build wealth. Most people never become wealthy because they never put any money into their work and expect money out ie a paycheck. Without having any risk there is little chance of gain.
The biggest key to great wealth is being able to leverage all four SET$. The most money is earned by the people with the highest skills who also leverage others peoples skills (OPS) and resources. By employing people you are able to use others peoples time (OPT) and energy (OPE). As time is a highly limited resource from a personal point of view, the more you can outsource lower earning activities while maintaining the higher earning activities the greater the wealth you will create. Donald Trump does no empty his own trash, wash his cars or mows his lawn. These tasks are low paying jobs and a poor use his Skills, Energy and Time.
We often hear of no money down and that a sound entrepreneur guards his cash and uses other people’s money (OPM) wherever possible. There are many others who would love to earn 8-12% on their money allowing an entrepreneur to use their money more effectively where it can earn higher returns.
The bottom line is every time you take out the trash, mow your own lawn, do your own dishes or do anything which could be outsourced to someone else you are stealing from yourself not only at that time but by the law of compounding years into the future. How many millions have you frittered away doing the dishes?
Clinton Swaine is the creator of the game ‘The Millionaire’s Market’(R) which is designed to teach people about building passive residual income. For more information he can be contacted at 909 578 5824 or visit http://www.frontiertrainings.com or at clinton@financialfrontier.com