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!