by Elisabeth Donati | Oct 21, 2010 | Financial Literacy, Media Attention, Uncategorized
This guest post was written by P. J. Van Hulle. PJ is a real estate investor and entrepreneur that I have had the privilege of getting to know over the past year and I really love her stuff. I thought you’d enjoy this article she sent out on passive income.
To learn more about PJ and what she’s up to, please check her the links at the bottom of the article. Enjoy…
The Truth About Passive Income
I’ve been to more seminars and read more books about passive income than I can count. They make it sound so easy. When you set out to generate more passive income for yourself, you may find that these seminars and books have left out some critical information.
First, it’s important to know what passive income is and what it isn’t.
Passive income is income that comes in whether you’re working, sleeping or playing. The America Internal Revenue Service defines passive income as income from “trade or business activities in which you do not materially participate.”
Some examples of passive income are:
• Rental income from real estate
• Earnings from a business that doesn’t require direct involvement or participation from the owner
• Royalties from publishing a book or from licensing intellectual property
• Earnings from internet advertisement on your websites
• Dividend and interest
• Interest on private mortgages
• Income from vending machines that you own
• Income from an online business that you have put on autopilot
When I heard about passive income for the first time, my whole world changed. I started looking for ways that I could buy or create assets that would generate passive income for me. If I wanted to buy a car, I stopped focusing on saving money to buy the car. Instead, I focused on generating enough passive income for my assets to buy the car for me.
At the time, I didn’t have a lot of money. But everyone has to start somewhere, right? My first experience of passive income, other than interest on my savings account, was buying a candy machine, filling it with M&Ms and placing it in the lounge at my fencing club. I calculated the cost of a single M&M and figured out how many M&Ms I would give the other fencers for their 25 cents. Since I then knew my profit margin per sale, I discovered that I was making an average $25 per month in passive income after donating 10% back to the junior fencing program.
Some people think they are receiving passive income when they are actually receiving residual income. For example, an insurance agent may earn residual income as her clients renew their insurance policies. However, if the insurance agent leaves the company, that income goes away.
If you’re involved in a networking marketing or multi-level marketing company in which you have to continue to work the business in order to receive income, that’s not true passive income either. If you can stop working the business all together for as long as you want and still continue to earn income, that’s passive income.
The big myth about passive income is that once you buy or create an asset that produces passive income, you’re done. You may be under the impression that you don’t have to spend any more time on it or manage it.
The truth is that there are varying degrees of “passive.” For example, you can receive passive income from rental real estate, but real estate can be extremely time-consuming. Typically, when you buy a property, there is an initial stabilization process that can include anything from doing repairs to finding and screening new tenants. Once the property is stabilized, you may be able to sit back and just receive rent checks for a while, but then a tenant moves out, or the water heater breaks or a tree falls on the roof, and you have to spend time on the property again.
That’s very different from a certificate of deposit at the bank where you buy it, and that’s it. Of course, your potential income on the rental property is much higher than the potential income on the certificate of deposit if you know what you’re doing.
Be conscious of the difference between passive and residual income, and of how exactly how “passive” an investment really is.
Why is passive income important?
Imagine if you didn’t have to depend on a job, a spouse, your family, the government or anyone else for money. That’s what passive income can provide for you.
In many traditional financial planning models, you’re encouraged to figure out how much money you’ll need by the time you want to retire. Upon retirement, you spend that money. This plan has some serious flaws. First of all, what if you live longer than you expect and outlive your money? Second of all, what if after putting in so much energy to save that money, you would prefer to leave it as a legacy instead of spending it?
The key to financial independence is this:
PI > E
When your passive income (PI) is greater than your expenses (E), you are in complete choice about what you do with your time because your assets will continue to pay for your lifestyle whether you work or not.
The truth is that to be financially independent, you don’t need to be debt free, pay off your house, make a ton of money or be a millionaire. You just have to have more passive income than expenses.
It’s that simple.
Passive income allows you to have MORE CHOICES. You can choose to live out of joy and freedom instead of debt and obligation.
On a more serious note, what if something terrible happened and you couldn’t work anymore. How would you pay your bills? When you have enough passive income, you also have more peace of mind.
There are two parts to this formula. To become financially independent faster, you can increase your passive income, and you can also examine how to decrease your expenses.
So how do you get more passive income?
There are two main types of passive income. The first type is passive investment income. In order to receive passive investment income, you need to have funds available to invest in passive income vehicles. If you have funds available to invest, you need to focus on doing an appropriate amount of research and due diligence to decide which passive income vehicles are best for your situation and risk tolerance.
The second type of passive income comes from creating your own passive income vehicle with little or no money. For example, you might start a website that generates revenue from ads or join a network marketing company that will allow you to continue to receive income when you are no longer actively working the business. Or you might start your own business or become an affiliate of someone else’s business.
If you have money to invest, you will probably be able to generate passive income more quickly than someone that doesn’t. If you don’t have any money to invest, you have to be willing to contribute time, energy, skills, resources, creativity or all of these.
In my experience, the most realistic way to build passive income is to focus on incremental growth. Start by taking one small step. Don’t try to generate an additional $10,000 per month in passive income right this minute. Focus on what you can do to generate $10 per month in passive income and go from there.
What are 10 things that you could possibly do in the next 30 days to generate $10 per month in passive income? What’s one action you can take this week?
PJ’s E-zine
Top 5 Keys to Financial Success Report
21 Client Attraction Video Tips
by Elisabeth Donati | Oct 18, 2010 | Financial Literacy, Latest News, Uncategorized, What you can do
I was having a conversation with a friend yesterday who has gained more weight than he is now comfortable with and he was trying to figure out what went wrong. Where had his life changed to accommodate this extra weight?
He came up with several major changes in his life that had happened in the past 9 months and vowed to lose the weight. Well, since my first love and passion is to help people with their health before helping them with their money (even though it often is all wrapped up in one big snarled mess that needs unraveling), I talked to him about one of the strategies that I have used all of my life to stay fit and lean.
Decide Before You Need To Decide
I call this strategy Pre-Deciding and pre-deciding works great in any area of your life where you need a little (or a lot) more self-discipline in order to get where you say you want to get yourself to in life!
Here are some of the areas where YOU can use pre-deciding in your life. I’m going to give you an example or two from my own life so you get the idea. Then, create a couple of pre-decisions in each area and see how much easier it is to be in control of yourself.
Fitness Pre-decisions
Let’s face it, America as a whole is pretty out of shape. A huge percentage of us sit in front of screens all day long, not moving out bodies, messing up our eyes and changing the way our brain works.
For me, it’s a little easier because my background and first love is movement and fitness but I do have some pre-decisions that help.
First, I almost always move my body in the morning before I do anything else. And by the way, there’s no use in saying you will ALWAYS do something. Give yourself a wee bit of a break for when something comes up and you can’t ALWAYS…
In other words, I make MY body a priority before I take care of any one else’s. At the very least I do 20 minutes of yoga. At the most, I walk 3-4 miles, ride my bike 10-15 miles or swim a mile. Now the only time I’ll veer from this path is when I travel early in the morning or I know I’m going to swim at lunch (I love the sun on my back!) or walk with a friend later. But even then, I still get up and do some yoga.
So you see, I never have to decide to exercise. I just have to decide WHICH type of exercise I want to do that day. And if you think THAT decision is going to get in your way, then set a schedule for yourself so you know exactly what you’re going to do the next day.
TIP: Set out the clothing and things you need the night before. If you’re going to walk, put your walking clothes and shoes and socks right there in plain sight. If you’re going to go swimming, get your swimming gear together. This way you don’t forget your goggles! (Ask me how I discovered this little tip:-).
Eating/Nutrition Pre-Decisions
This is one of my favorite areas to help people with. As an animal, we are very prone to eating emotionally and making sound pre-decisions in regard to food can make or break your ongoing health. Here’s some of my pre-decisions.
When I’m flying, I always order tomato juice. Never pop (don’t drink it hardly ever anyway), never alcohol, never anything with sugar in it and definitely never anything with caffeine in it. Tomato juice is low in calories, high in nutrition, no added sugars and I have found it to be so refreshing.
I only drink calories with a meal if it’s really good (note the qualifier) wine, and rarely do I even do this. My mom always said in regard to milk, “Milk is a food so if you’re thirsty, drink water.” I loved this and have taken it even further. I don’t drink milk either…I think it’s only good for baby cows but that’s a whole ‘nother blog.
I don’t put salad dressing on salads. I can’t stand the slimy, oily, fat all over my yummy, healthy vegetables. I know…there are doctors who can help me with this problem but you know…this one pre-decision has saved me from eating thousands and thousands of unwanted fat calories.
Anyway, you get the idea. Pay attention this week to the food situations where you are prone to make unsupportive choices and make some pre-decisions about how you will choose from now on.
Financial Pre-Decisions
OK, you knew I would get to this eventually, right? THIS is area that so gets in the way of our being able to have more than enough money to live the way we want to live. You see, to me, having just enough money isn’t enough money at all. ‘Just enough’ is what causes stress, causes us to do things we might not otherwise choose to do. Sometimes ‘just enough’ is worse than ‘not enough.’
So here’s the thing…unless you make some pre-decisions with your money, you will most certainly never have enough or more than enough. So here are a couple of my money pre-decisions.
First, you have to understand that I am not a shopper in the typical girl sense. I don’t give a hoot about little black dresses (though I do have one that I found at a thrift store for $5!), multiple pairs of shoes (unless they are flip flops or tennies) or purses. I don’t even have a purse!
Given that, it might be a little easier for me to have the decisions I have but you can make pre-decisions that work for you.
I put my change in a change jar when it gets full in my wallet and when that change jar is full, I wrap it and put it in the bank or use it for vacation spending. NOTE: I do NOT give 10% of it away by letting some machine count it for me. Use this as a great family activity. And please don’t use those stupid machines that only give you a gift card. Completely obliterates the point of saving in the first place.
I rarely buy food when I travel. For instance, I’m sitting in a hotel right now and have a meeting in a few hours and I have eaten a homemade gluten-free muffin I brought from home and a couple pieces of fruit. And last night I had a protein bar and something else I don’t remember. The point is, I don’t spent excessive amounts of money in hotels or airports because I take my own food.
The challenge always comes at the end of the trip but I have even found ways to handle that. If I can get to a grocery store, I can buy a couple of things or even grab a subway sandwich for the trip. There are a ton of ways to save money when traveling (remember the $1 iced coffee tip I gave you a couple of weeks ago?:)
I take my own cup and a tea bag when I meet people in a coffee house for a meeting…ESPECIALLY if the meeting has to do with financial education. I love to practice what I preach and it’s great to know you are setting the best possible example for those around you. This is how we REALLY teach, by the way.
Now here’s my favorite pre-decision of all but it’s actually a question that I’ve pre-decided to ask myself every time I’m tempted to buy piddlyjunk. I simply ask, “Can I do without this today?” If the answer is YES, I walk away. And I have to admit, the majority of times, the answer is Yes. And the funny thing is that we rarely even remember what it was that we wanted to buy a couple of days later. Try it!
CLOTHING TIP: When you buy a new piece of clothing, do this…staple or paperclip the receipt onto the tag (leave the tag on) and hang it in your closet or put in your drawer. See how long it takes you to wear this new item. If you don’t wear it immediately, TAKE IT BACK. I’ve done this many times and am always grateful that I have this tip.
And here’s a financial (and sanity) pre-decision I made when the iPhones came out and yes, I am an Apple girl. I decided that I do NOT want email on my cell phone!
I see all you people lost in your phones and your texting and your websurfing and everything else, often missing a multitude of opportunities in front of you to connect with others, notice and smell beautiful flowers, chances to see things you haven’t seen before, and I know I have made the right decision. AND I know it saves me hundreds of dollars every year.
OK, your turn. Think about those areas where you have a little less self-discipline than you’d like and make a couple of pre-decisions of your own:
Fitness Pre-definion #1
Fitness Pre-definition #2
Fitness Pre-definition #3
Food Pre-definition #1
Food Pre-definition #2
Food Pre-definition #3
Money Pre-definition #1
Money Pre-definition #2
Money Pre-definition #3
Now make one GRAND Pre-definition about your life in general and see how easy it really can be to have the life you want and be the person you want to be.
As always, just something to think about!
by Elisabeth Donati | Oct 14, 2010 | Financial Literacy, Latest News, Uncategorized
So there you are, approval in hand from your local school board to find a financial literacy curriculum, excited that you finally have the green light to teach your students about money and investing. But where do you begin? How do you compare one program with another? What should the ultimate financial education curriculum contain in terms of topics and lessons?
These are all great questions and finding the right financial education program can be daunting if you don’t know what a great financial education should contain in the first place. Let’s see if I can help make it a wee bit easier for you to find the program you need to prepare your students to handle money wisely.
Financial Education
Don’t Make This Mistake – Remember…Context before Content
Most people start thinking ‘content’ before anything else. What does the program teach, what are the lessons, etc. Wrong, wrong, wrong.
The first question you need to get answered about any financial education curriculum is, What is the delivery system used for the curriculum? Let me explain.
There are hundreds of money curriculums available for kids and teens, both offline and online. The problem with most of them is that they are BORING! And boring doesn’t lend itself to learning or engaging students or instilling the critical money lessons and habits kids need to master their money as adults.
In our Train-the-Trainer programs, we refer to this as the CONTEXT. When you create a powerful learning context (i.e., environment) within which your students will learn and apply the lessons, you have a better than average chance of them actually learning AND retaining the information.
First Requirement – The Context Must Be Fun!
What exactly makes financial education fun? Well, music for starters, and a playful atmosphere and colors and activities. Think back to times when you had the most fun. Do you remember the event in a lot more detail than events that weren’t so much fun? Exactly. And here’s the thing about combining FUN and MONEY…it makes the topic seem less stressful to your students.
The majority of kids in America understand that money can be a stressful substance…they watch their parents fight over it, stress over it, experience the lack of it in many ways. What a wonderful contrast to show the kids that money can be looked at as a game with rules and if you learn to use the rules, you can win the game…regardless of which side of the railroad tracks you grew up on, so to speak.
Second Requirement – Assets and Passive Income
Many financial education programs focus more on NOT getting into financial trouble than how to ensure that you always have plenty of money for everything you need and want in life.
Don’t get me wrong, we do need to teach kids about credit cards, credit and debt but not just the bad aspects of it. In our Camp Millionaire programs, we have a debate called Good Debt/Bad Debt where the kids are given a bunch of items that have been purchased using credit/debt. They have to decide which ones are good debt and which ones are bad debt.
Oh, you want to know how you know? Well…it’s easy. Bad debt is debt YOU are paying the debt down (that last pair of jeans you put on your credit card is bad debt) and good debt is debt that other people pay down for you (the rental income on your rental property or business income that pays your business credit line). Too many kids are only taught that debt is bad. This often keeps them from knowing how to take advantage of great investment opportunities later on.
So, in addition to teaching kids how to stay OUT of trouble, teaching kids about investing in assets that produce passive income is the main road to financial freedom is a critical lesson. Steer clear of any financial curriculum that is missing this important component.
Third Requirement – Focus on Getting A Job – NOT!
Most of us were brainwashed in school to think that we had to grow up and get a job to support ourselves and our families but this is not what a great financial curriculum espouses. It must incorporate some type of focus on entrepreneurship and business skills.
Raising adults that think that the only way to have money is to earn it (as opposed to making it) is abuse. It shuts down their creativity, puts them perpetually in a ‘gotta have a job’ mentality and makes them dependent on having a job for the rest of their lives.
Instead, why not teach our kids that having a job (being an employee) is just A way, not THE way, to be financially successful and in my opinion, it’s the least appealing way. Why? Because as long as you have an employer, you can never really call your own shots.
Now we all know adults who have no desire to own their own business. They like going in at 9 am and leaving at 5 pm and having the weekends off. But lots of these people also complain about being chained to their jobs.
What if kids were raised thinking that they could create their own way from the get go? What if we encouraged their creativity in terms of coming up with products, programs and services that serve humanity? Just imagine how different the world would be. Fewer whining adults screaming for jobs and more adults who just went out and created the money they needed to live the lives they wanted to live.
Fourth Requirement – Movement and (e)Motion
Let’s face it, human being learn best when they are moving and emoting. Our most vivid memories are events we remember in our bodies…this is called learning kinesthetically. So much education is delivered auditorily (lecture) yet studies show that less than 11% of us learn best this way. We learn best by doing and seeing, i.e., visually and kinesthetically.
If the programs you’re looking at are primarily lecture based, with a worksheet or two, leave it be. Your students will be bored and won’t remember much about the lesson except that is was boring. One of my favorite sayings is, Physical is Memorable. The more physical your programs and lessons are, the more memorable they will be to your students. And the more your students remember the lessons, the greater the chances that they actually apply the critical financial lessons to their own lives.
Fifth Requirement – Content
OK, now we can talk about content. Great financial education programs should include basic saving and investing topics/lessons and a whole lot more in my opinion. I’m going to use our Money Game Principles (aka, rules to the money game) to share with you what I think every financial program needs to contain. I’ve left the principles blank (and given you the answers) as this is one of the contests we do in our programs. All of these principles are printed on 11 x 17 laminated sheets and put on the walls. The first student who gets all of the answers (they are up, moving around the room with upbeat music going) gets five moola!
1. Financial freedom is your _________. (choice)
2. You are the CEO of your life; financial _________ is your responsibility. (freedom)
3. Your thoughts, __________ and attitudes determine your wealth potential. (beliefs)
4. Being _______ is a temporary financial condition, being _______ is a state of mind. (broke, poor)
5. _________ it, _________ it, ___________ it down. (see, say, write)
6. Life is an adventure; let __________ be your guide. (passion)
7. To be financially successful, learn the _____________ of money. (language)
8. Money is a ___________ to reach your dreams. (tool)
9. Money buys you stuff, not _______________. (happiness)
10. Make money grow by putting it to ___________ for you. (work)
11. Pay yourself _____________. (FIRST!!!)
12. To create financial freedom, ______ the “energy” of money wisely. (invest)
13. People don’t _____ to fail, they fail to ______. (plan, plan)
14. It’s not how much money you make that’s important, it’s how much you _______. (keep)
15. If you can’t afford it in _______ , you can’t afford it at all. (cash)
16. Save early, save __________. (often)
17. Financial success comes from managing __________, not avoiding it. (risk)
18. Interest is only ___________ when you’re _____________ it. (interesting, receiving)
19. Don’t put all your financial ___________ into one basket. (eggs)
20. Invest with your head, not your __________. (heart)
21. Assets ________ you, liabilities ________ you. (feed, eat)
22. It is better to tell your money where to _____ than to ask where it _______. (go, went)
23. Only ____________ money when it’s going to ________ you money. (borrow, make)
24. People aren’t judged by their _________, but by the sum of their _________. (abilities, choices)
25. If you don’t know where you’re ___________, any road will take you there. (going)
26. Creating Financial Freedom is simply a matter of developing the right _______. (habits)
Extra Credit – Accelerated Learning Techniques
If the program you’re looking at contains the first five requirements above, you’re well on your way to finding a great program. They ARE out there.
But…if you want the best possible financial education experience for your students, regardless of whether they are kids, teens or adults, make sure you can teach the program using accelerated learning techniques. We talked about this above (visual, auditory and kinesthetically) and I can’t emphasize enough how important teaching this way is to your program’s success. For more information, check out our webpage on accelerated learning.
In all of our Creative Wealth Financial Education Train-the-Trainer workshops, you not only learn the Camp Millionaire program and how to teach The Money Game, you also learn the high-powered, highly-effective teaching techniques that make our programs work so well.
Summary of How to Pick a Financial Education Curriculum
1. It’s gotta be fun.
2. It’s gotta teach kids about investing in assets.
3. It’s gotta teach kids that getting a job is not THE option, but A option, i.e., entrepreneurship is a must-have component of your financial education program.
4. Make sure the program is full of movement. Activities that produce different types of emotion help ingrain the lessons in the child’s cells.
5. Make sure the program is full of great content.
6. Bonus…by using accelerated learning techniques to teach the program, you will be light years ahead of the pack.
Hope this has been helpful. Though we are quite biased when it comes to our own programs, there are others out there that meet these requirements. Good luck in your hunt and we’re always happy to answer any questions about Camp Millionaire and our newly launched The Money Game.
Now go out there and change some lives!
by Elisabeth Donati | Oct 7, 2010 | Financial Literacy, Latest News, Uncategorized
As is often the case, as we get older, the things that we do begin to blur together into bigger questions about why we’re on the planet, how we can best use our time and how we wake each morning and make the most of our day.
Today’s words share what I’ve been up to for a week and a half, beginning on a Sunday around 4 pm when my girlfriend, Marilyn, and I went to visit Theresa, age 95, who I hadn’t seen for months.
Money Lessons from Older People
SHORT STORY TO BRING YOU UP TO SPEED
I began my long friendship with Theresa when I worked at a local fitness club. She was in her 80’s then but I was inspired by her continual activity level and one day, out of the blue, asked if she’d like to meet me at the beach for a walk.
She was surprised and shocked that the ‘Fitness Director’ wanted to walk with HER but she didn’t understand…I was the one who was honored!
We walked often after that and then my husband at the time and I began to visit her every Sunday. I was intrigued and fascinated by her stories of war-torn Germany and her resiliency throughout.
Our walks weren’t always easy, however. She was very hard…very German, very negative about how things were in the world, especially in America. I often wanted to suggest she go back to Germany if she didn’t like it here. But, I knew our visits gave her something to look forward to and she enjoyed our company so we continued to walk every Sunday.
WHAT CHANGED
Then, when I went through a divorce (about 9 years ago), I just couldn’t handle the negativity of her being. I’d go to visit in a good mood and leave terribly upset and depressed. In my vulnerability, I seemed to absorb her words and attitude. As I know now, everything IS energy and things DO affect us, especially if we’re not strong enough to maintain our boundaries.
My ex-husband, John, continued seeing her for awhile but, eventually, Theresa’s grandson made her uncomfortable with visitors and John stopped seeing her as well.
Time went on…
Oh, the grandson? That’s where this story starts being about money.
When I first started seeing Theresa, her 52-year-old daughter, Gerda, who had had multiple aneurisms, had managed to dig up the son she gave away for adoption several decades prior. When Gerda passed away at 55, the grandson stepped into the picture…to wait for his inheritance…and wait he has done.
WHEN THE UNIVERSE SPEAKS
Early this summer, Theresa re-entered my mind and my heart heavily. So much so that I stopped by to check on her one day. What I found was exactly what I was afraid of finding…a lonely 95-year-old woman whose grandson had never stepped in as one who really cares. Oh, she had called him but he never answered his cell. Here’s the trip: HE LIVED RIGHT BEHIND HER!!
That afternoon, I spent quite a bit of time with her. She was overjoyed to see me (didn’t even ask why I stopped coming around thankfully…at 95 I guess you don’t care about those things) and I promised to come see her after I got back from Oregon.
LAST SUNDAY’S SHOCK
Well, as is often the case for me, coming back from vacation and getting re-situated into life can take a few days. It took me almost two weeks to get back to see Theresa. When my girlfriend, Marilyn, and I went to see her around 4 pm a week and a half ago but her front door was closed, I knew something was wrong. She NEVER closes her front door if the weather is nice. “The kitty likes the fresh air.”
We drove away for an errand but my heart was sick. At the store I called her number. She answered, obviously weak and sick. My breath caught and I told her I was coming back and to please answer the door.
When we went back to the house, I had to call her again to open the door. When she finally did, oh my goodness, what we found. She had a huge wound on her lower leg and needed to go to the hospital immediately. I believe she would have died within a few days from the systemic infection that was starting to move through her body.
WHERE WAS THE GRANDSON?
He was waiting for the money. She knows it. A great-granddaughter drops food off occasionally but that’s about it. No one takes care of the yard or visits her at all.
WHERE ARE WE NOW?
I have been working in two visits to the hospital each day. Why? Because I must. Because when she sees me she smiles. Because the grandson isn’t. It took him 3 days just to realize she was in the hospital and I didn’t call on purpose because I wanted social services to see for themselves…and they are.
THE MONEY LESSONS
Theresa’s expressed a lot of feelings and thoughts over the past many days and I wanted to just share what has been coming up for me about what she has shared. Not that what you’re about to read is new…just reminders for us all.
1) Money doesn’t make you happy. She has been lonely for a very long time with few, if any, friends who visit. Daily she tells me she just wants to go to sleep and die.
LESSON: Invest in friendships as much or more than you invest in financial assets. Friends feed you when you’re hungry, not money.
2) Blood relationships don’t equal love and care. Theresa would really love it if the grandson (in his 40’s) would take better care of her, tend the property that he lives on for free, and show some appreciation of what he is about to inherit.
LESSON: Money, or the anticipation of it, doesn’t buy you love. Only true friendships bring you love.
3) Always listen to your intuition. For whatever reason, my gut knew I needed to go back and tend to her. I’m grateful beyond belief to have this time with her.
LESSON: We often second guess our intuitive thoughts and feelings. We do this in every aspect of our lives…and we do it too often with money. If an investment feels wrong…don’t do it. And if someone close to you has a gut feeling about something you’re about to get yourself into, take the time to listen.
I think the biggest challenge for me this past week and a half is my realization of how our culture doesn’t seem to appreciate and value the older, wiser versions of ourselves. Theresa moved from the hospital to a skilled nursing facility on Monday and I am overwhelmed by the many individuals who need some tender touch and conversation. I walk by their doors and ache to spend a few minutes with each one.
WEALTH WORK:
The next time you’re feeling lonely or down or depressed? Just go visit a few older people and see what happens. Gather your own lessons to share and know you’re doing a really wonderful, purposeful thing. And on that day, visiting those people IS your purpose.
Just something else to think about…
by Elisabeth Donati | Oct 4, 2010 | Financial Literacy, Latest News, Uncategorized
You know how sometimes someone writes something in such simple language that you just have to share it with the people you care about? Well, that’s how I feel this morning about my daily Note From The Universe. Here is is for you to enjoy. And if you’d like to get them sent to your email box each day, just click here to visit their website.
START….
Simply put, the reason there are things you want that have not yet appeared in your life,
is because you’re just not used to thinking of yourself with them.Sorry, kind of wish it
was more complicated.
Just keep practicing.Happy Monday –
| It’s the same for things you have, that you don’t want, but in reverse. |
by Elisabeth Donati | Oct 2, 2010 | Financial Literacy, Latest News, Uncategorized
Every fall, it seems that droves of youngsters are sent out on the street to peddle chocolate bars, magazines or coffee subscriptions to raise money for their schools.
Kids usually despise having to sell piddlyjunk* but as a parent or business owner, you can quickly and easily turn those anxiety-filled sales experiences into valuable entrepreneur lessons. See how I transformed a petrified 11-year old into a smiling revenue-producing chocolate-peddling young entrepreneur.
Setting the Scene
Yesterday, when I stopped at the bank, I spied a typical fund-raising scene…little table, big box of chocolate bars, mother giving moral support and the daughter (aka sales person) behind the table wishing they were anywhere else but there.
As I walked out of the bank, I realized I could help. I stopped and, while mom watched on, provided unsolicited, yet welcomed, coaching to a sweet, blonde-haired, blue-eyed eleven-year old girl named Sydney. She was from a local school and was raising money by selling big chocolate bars to unsuspecting adults who hate saying no to children but don’t really WANT to buy a candy bar.
I looked at her as if to say, “So, are you going to ask me or what?” I finally said it out loud which I think shocked her a bit! I asked her what she was raising money for and she mumbled THREE TIMES the name of her school. Her mother finally had to clarify.
I sighed, “Oh, my dear…you’re never going to sell much this way. Would you mind if I butt in and show you a few things about selling stuff?” I have always found it helpful to admit you’re butting in.
She shrugged her shoulders as if to say, ‘I’m really shy and don’t know what to say’ so I started in on a bit of subtle sales coaching.
After introducing myself to her, and learning that her name was Sydney and where she went to school, the first thing I shared with her was the importance of enrolling her prospects in what she was doing. I suggested she ask each person a question to gauge their interest. She WAS asking, “Would you like to buy some chocolate?” Yuk.
We settled on, “Do you like to do things that help kids?” Not many adults can say no to that!
Then, if they said, “Yes,” she’d say something like, “Great. I’m raising money so the kids in our school can still experience music and art every week.” Again, not many adults disagree that these skills often give kids an edge in life.
Sydney smiled and I could tell she was eating it up. I asked if I could coach her a little more? She happily agreed this time.
The First Impression Lesson
She was standing very shy-like up until now…her hands behind her back, head down, shoulders slumped…a very protected, scared sort of stance. I told that people make an instant judgment about whether they want to talk to her by the way she was holding her body.
I suggested that she put her hands at her sides, plant her feet shoulder-width apart, pull up her head and chest and OWN that little money making stand! She loved it. She stood right up there and took command as soon as I instructed her how.
I then told her I was going to go to my car and we were going to role-play the whole scenario. She was eager. She asked me if I liked to help kids. I said, ‘Yes.” She told me what she was raising money for. I asked, “So what are my options?” I choose the chocolate bar with almonds and I gave her a five dollar bill.
The Counting Money Back Lesson
This is the where the next lesson happened. She hadn’t a clue how to count the three dollars in change back to me. Her mother helped from the other side of her little stand and we taught that little girl how to count the money back…even to the point of making sure the faces on the money were all pointed in the same direction. She glowed.
Upselling 101
Then came the final lesson. I said, “OK, now I’m going to show you how to do your best to sell TWO bars to each person. Want to learn how?” Her eyes and head nodded YES quicker than a shooting star.
I instructed, “What you do is this…when someone hands you their change AND they’ve given you enough for TWO bars, ask this question: “Who else do you know that would love a yummy bar of chocolate?” She just smiled at this little tip. I could see her brain starting to really get it.
Networking Opportunity Lesson (for YOU)
I then introduced myself to her mom, told them about my upcoming Camp Millionaire event for kids, gave them a card and asked them to visit our website so they could sign up.
I proceeded to get into my car and move on with my day, knowing full well that the ten minutes I had just spent with that young lady, and her mother, would have a profound effect on the rest of their lives.
If it’s one thing I know it that you can’t simply tell children (or their parents) how to do things. You have to catch them at a time that I call teachable moments…a time when they’re motivated and open to learning and growing. This little girl, and her mother, were both in that space.
Sydney had just learned how easy it could be to raise money for her school…something very important to her. Just imagine how much easier it will be if she ever needs to raise money for a gadget that could change the planet for the better.
Coaching Opportunities are Everywhere
Next time your children are asked to sell stuff to raise money for their school or some other project, use this opportunity to empower them with sales skills, communication skills, and financial skills and watch their self-esteem grow by leaps and bounds.
Word of caution for parents: PLEASE DON’T DO THEIR JOB. I see adults trying to ‘help’ their children all of the time by doing most of the work for them, and it’s not just homework. Well-meaning parents ‘help’ with projects, chores, and other responsibilities that the child is supposed to do. Kids don’t learn anything if you do it for them. Refrain from helping and instead, teach them each step of the way. Better yet, on the side, ask a friend who you know has the skills you want your child to learn, to just happen on by and give coaching as I did.
It may just be the most valuable lessons your children take with them through life.
p.s. What did I do with the candy bar? Well…I was on my way to have a birthday dinner with a girlfriend at a local steak house and I gave it to the waitress to share it with the staff. I knew my girlfriend didn’t want to be tempted by it either!
*Piddlyjunk: stuff that goes down in value, or has no value, once you buy it.
