An unexpected way to reach your dreams

Most people focus on their strengths and try to avoid their weaknesses. This is very much how we have been brought up. But to my mind, the real breakthroughs come when you focus on your weak areas.

Why?

Because otherwise your life is more of the same. Today is much the same as yesterday and tomorrow will be much like today. Because you are approaching it in the same way. You are playing to your strengths and your weak areas just get weaker.

But Wealth Creators want to make positive changes that help them reach their dreams! And I have found personally that one of the best ways to do this is to get stronger in my weak areas.

Let me give you an example:

Nearly three years ago I started my challenge - to make R10 million in less than 5 years with an investment of less than R1000 (UPDATE: I made around R1 million net income in Year 1, and R2 million net income in Year 2, not including the capital valuation of my businesses, and I have invested only 79c!)

One of my decisions when I began this challenge was to do a lot of writing in English (I made a commitment to write the mentorship lessons at http://www.hannesderyer.co.za/).

Sounds simple, doesn't it?

Actually, no. English is my second language and I always avoided it in the past. And I do not consider myself to be a good writer. I find writing difficult and spelling almost impossible.

Let me tell you a secret – making R10 million is nothing, when you know how to do it. But WRITING! In ENGLISH! Now that was a REAL challenge!

I wrote the first 100 or so mentorship lessons which range from 4 – 15+ pages, one a week. Then I found a professional writer to help me polish it and all my writing from then on.

Not because my own writing was not working ... it was! No, the reason was simply
because I believe in the Kaizen principle – constant and never-ending
improvement.

During this time my own writing has improved, or so I am told. My confidence in English has grown tremendously. I know that I can take some pride in what I have achieved. One of my goals has been achieved. A goal that was a big one, for me.

And so my own journey of wealth creation has progressed.

I cannot tell you how wonderful I feel about this!

And you can feel this way too!

So if you are experiencing any of these feelings ...

Trapped, stuck, bored, on a treadmill, insecure about the future or your job, disappointed about not getting closer to your goals ...

You can replace them with these wonderful feelings!

Successful, getting somewhere, achieving what you want to, getting to your goals, happy, full of positive feelings!

And you can do all this just by choosing a weak area in your life and focusing on it so that it becomes strong! If you want quick results, choose something small to begin with. Like writing a bit every day if writing is your weak spot. Bigger things, like relationships and wealth creation, take longer, though even there you should start to see the signs of improvement from quite early on, even if in small ways to begin with.

You need to know that working on your weak areas will be a bit uncomfortable at first – like exercising when you are not yet fit. You could feel some aches and pains! In fact, it’s a good sign.

A final word: in a world in which so many of us are trapped into living lives not of our own choosing, mostly without even knowing it, giving yourself positive experiences of power in your life is very, very important.

By doing this you give yourself a vision of how you can reclaim your own dreams and your own future. It really matters! You can go to www.kaizenchallenge.co.za for more on these positive daily experiences, if you like.

Why you need this blog!

A lot of my students tell me that their wives or husbands, colleagues, family and friends, do not know what they are going on about with this wealth creation thing.

This makes me think back to my own early days as a Wealth Creator. I remember when I was starting to realize the truth about conventional retirement planning (in other words, that it cannot and does not work ... see www.retirequickly.co.za! ). I would attend meetings or drink coffee with my fellow life insurance salesmen and I would listen to their talk and I would realize that I was moving off in another direction to them, and that the gap was widening. I was starting on my own wealth creation journey, but they were not.

I could see that they did not ask themselves the kind of questions I did. I could see they did not wonder about any of these things ...

Why they had to work so hard, month in, month out, until retirement age ...
Whether even after retiring they would really be able to relax and enjoy the financial ease and comfort they expected ...

At the time when I worked in that office I restructured the way I worked so that I was still able to sell some of the traditional products, like life and disability cover, the ones I did (and still do) believe in, and avoid selling people products I no longer believed in, such as RAs and annuities. And in this way I remained a highly successful salesman but did not compromise my own principles of needing to believe in what I was selling!

So I knew that I could adapt my own outlook on life and fit into a conventional system and do just fine. But in the end, I think I always knew I’d be happier finding or creating an environment which was more aligned with who I am. And this is what I did. I now work in what I consider to be the perfect environment, with people who are on the same wavelength.

The lesson here is ... if and when your old environment stops fitting so well, you can initially adapt so that it works for you for as long as you need it to, but in the long run, you should start seeking and creating the surroundings and relationships that really do fit in with your new approach as a Wealth Creator.

What’s this blog got to do with your environment?

Well, a very important aspect of your environment is the people you surround yourself with.
Not all of the people in your life today are moving at the same pace as you are.

Some of those people you may leave behind, others you do not want to, such as the people close to you. These people need time to catch up, but first they must build trust in the process.

This is absolutely fine. Everyone needs time. But what about you, perhaps feeling rather alone for the moment? You need to connect with others like you, who face the same challenges and are starting to get excited about the same insights.

You need to discuss ideas, experiences and insights with people like you. You will always need to.

Part of the creative process in human beings is what you might call “bouncing” ideas off other people. You need those ideas to bounce back to you, reflected off the other person’s mind. They may come back with new ideas, new perspectives, things you haven’t thought about before. Or they may simply come back feeling good because they’ve been shared.

Either way, as long as they come back, you feel better, stronger, confirmed in your journey. The one thing you do not want to do is see them vanish into a void. When people don’t understand, they look blank, they do not add anything, or even encourage or confirm. They do not understand and so they can’t.

We all need encouragement and confirmation. But when we don’t get it we tend to shut up and retreat. And this does not help us grow or feel supported.

That’s what this blog is here for. Because even though you and I may not speak personally, I read what you have to say, and I think about it.

Sometimes I can help you, other times (many times) you help me.

I’ve learned a lot about the importance of teamwork during my challenge. I see you as part of my team. And I know that because there is a rule that says what you put in is what you get out, by simply sharing your experiences, questions and thoughts with me and with others, you will receive back in equal measure, what you need to help you with your own wealth creation journey.

That’s why you need this blog. And that’s why I need it too.

Some thoughts on being “free”

Most people never get beyond basic survival pressures. Their days are filled with the hunt for money. When they’re not earning it, they’re spending it. And I am not talking about poor people. I am talking about those who earn very good salaries.

When you have got beyond this level (sadly, few people do, no matter how much they earn) happiness and fulfilment in life come from growing as a person and giving back to the world (5th and 6th Human Needs). Everything that I do today, I do to fulfil these needs, hence my passion in life:

My passion in life is to teach willing people how to create wealth.

This is my passion because in my years as a financial planner and still to this day I see so much suffering, so much waste, so much strife and stress, all caused by money worries.

And yet I know that having money plays only a small role in the TEM$™ formula (the inputs you need to create wealth) ...

T = time
E = energy
M = mindset
$ = money

Out of all of these inputs I would rate Mindset by far the most important, followed by Time and Effort. Money comes in last because you really do not need much of it. Mindset is what we are discussing today.

I know that all the people I see racing around madly trying to make money already have what they need to succeed (yes, even the money), they just don’t know it.

They just don’t know it ...

And so I came to see that ignorance is the main reason why people stay tied to a job, and stuck in unnecessary debt.

So it would seem simple then to help people become financially free: just give them the education they need.

But this is human nature for you: I have tried this approach many times. And people seem to get very little benefit. They go straight back into the mess they were in before.

They get no benefit because they place no value on something that is given for free.

I saw this over and over in my previous career. I would help someone out of deep financial trouble and he would be very grateful. Six months later he would be back where he started, maybe even deeper in trouble. Why?

He learned nothing from what I did because he did not have to pay me.

Has anything changed since those days? Sadly, no! Just recently I had the same experience with Retire Quickly™. With our unique approach, people were getting financial planning, at a fee, that was making and saving them millions, literally millions, and getting them to their dream at breathtaking speed.

Nevertheless, most people still did not see the value, because they are conditioned to expect financial planning for free. No matter how often I explained the real, hidden cost of the “free” planning (for example on an average policy, the “free” session easily ends up costing you more than R18 000 in commission and costs, AND it does not even get you to your financial goals!). Go to http://www.retirequickly.co.za/ for more about this if you are interested.
What have I learned in the process?

What I’ve learned over the last year is that there is no point trying to force change in the mindsets of people. It just does not work. So we have changed our strategy. From now on we will “give” people free advice – but although in the end it is costing them more, they are not actually paying for the service out of their pockets – so it does not bother them that it is costing them more – as long as they do not have to pay any cash UPFRONT! That’s human nature.

Now that I have restructured this product so that people get the free financial planning they expect, it works out costing them more in the long run, although still nothing like what they would pay the financial institutions, and of course, in our case the financial planning actually works, whereas the financial institutions’ versions can’t and don’t – it is impossible (see the website for more!).

What is the lesson?

1. There has to be a cost in order for people to learn.
2. Our understanding of words like “free” has really been messed up thanks to advertising and our conditioning. We think certain things are free because we are told so, when in fact they are ruinously expensive. And we are suspicious of things that are genuinely free.

We value the “free” financial planning we get from institutions (because their adverts tell us it is valuable)

... but we do not know how much it really costs us and we would be shocked if we did
... and yet when we are offered real value we reject it
... we prefer our expensive “free” session!

As a Wealth Creator I recommend that you think about the word “free” and examine how free it really is. How transparent is its use? How honest?

My policy

I offer certain products that have great value, like BOSS, for free. I do this not because they are not worth much – but because in spite of the confusion, people still respond to the word “free”.

I want as many people as possible to find out about what I offer, but I have a miniscule fraction of resources in terms of the publicity and advertising the financial institutions buy. They spend many millions indoctrinating the public to believe that their products are trustworthy, effective and safe. Indoctrination is a strong word but it is not an exaggeration – you would be amazed at the many subtle ways this mostly hidden indoctrination reaches you. (But that is another story, for another day!)

In the meantime, you need to know that your expectations about financial planning come from these multi-million Rand organizations whose loyalty is to their profits and shareholders, not their policyholders (i.e. you!).

The antidote is education

This is what I am up against and the antidote to the poison is education. Free products like BOSS are useful, and they draw people to me, but I know that the real gold is the education I offer, and how this changes people’s mindsets and sets them free of financial slavery.

So I am happy to develop and give away useful tools, advice, etc. because they can help draw people to what I consider to be the deepest and most lasting value of all – the education I offer that creates mindset change.

I know that only a certain percentage of the people who read this will really understand and be able to see and set aside the immense weight of the load of conditioning they carry around unknowingly.

• These people are well on the way to wealth creation and they eagerly embrace the education I offer.
• They know that the cost is a measure of their commitment and a part of the TEM$™ formula, and they know they are lucky to pay me a tiny fraction of what I have spent in terms of educating myself as a Wealth Creator.
• They know that Mindset is the most important part of TEM$™ and that it is the application of their knowledge that makes the difference.
• In this way, some of them are making upwards of R9 000 000 a year from what I have given them for free!

If you are one of these people, congratulations and welcome to the ranks of true Wealth Creators! You can truly benefit from the education and systems and business opportunities that would otherwise cost you millions of Rands to access!

Others are still not sure ...

• They are still wondering why, if BOSS, the Quick Cash Flow Optimizer Program and my other giveaways are so great, they’re for free.
• They are wondering why, if education is all that’s required, they can do all the courses and read all the books in the world and still not create wealth.
• They are wondering if my courses and programmes are really worth what I am charging for them, in spite of the fact that I have distilled 25 years of experience and self-education which has cost me literally millions of Rands, so that you don’t need to spend that kind of time and money to achieve similar results.

I understand

If you are one of these people, I understand your dilemma and my advice to you is, keep thinking, keep questioning, keep reading, take nothing for granted, and most of all, try and read up about the epidemic of conditioning in society and what it is doing to our ability to think for ourselves (some names to research: Stauber and Rampton, Bernays, and a BBC documentary called the Century of the Self).

To give you an idea of how brainwashed we are, do you know that if you ate breakfast cereal this morning, it’s because you have been conditioned to do so? And if you give it up for health reasons and go back to bacon and eggs ... well, that’s conditioning too!

Don’t stop!

I wish you luck, and assure you from my own personal experience that as long as you are searching you are sure to find answers – the really important thing is, don’t stop!
I hope your path will soon intersect with mine again!

The trick is never to think that you are immune!

It is said that Warren Buffet and other successful long term investors have systems in place to control their emotions. I, too, have put systems in place, and I find that they work very well. The trick is never to think that you are immune!

If you ...

... know yourself well enough to see that your decisions are all powered by emotion

... are humble enough to know that you are not superhuman or immune to the power of your emotions

... are wise enough to put proven systems in place that make sure emotion cannot negatively affect you

... are disciplined enough to stick to them no matter what people say or what the markets do

... and if you are also clever enough to make emotions work for you, in alignment with your goals (i.e. through Powermorphing)

... then you will be a more advanced investor than 99% of investors out there

... in fact, you will be a Wealth Creator because you have the tools and the know-how to create wealth from nothing over and over again.