Jim Garland's Blog

The Money Myths™

The “money myths” are beliefs that exist in the minds of many people in society today about money and finances.  Most of these were learned from our parents and shame on them.  Everyone has heard the expressions, “money is the root of all evil”, “money doesn’t grow on trees, money doesn’t bring happiness”, the list goes on.  Hearing these things ever since we were kids, starts to have a psychological impact on us that may cause us to think that money is bad and evil.  If that is the mind set we have then we will never be able to attract money.  We must change this thinking.

Myth:

Only educated people who attend Ivy League schools or come from wealthy families can become wealthy (millionaires).

Reality:

I know three people, none of whom has a college education (one of them never graduated from high school) who all started their businesses from scratch and are now multi‐multi millionaires. They all came from lower‐to middle class families.

Myth:

It takes money to make money

Reality:

When I started my business, I had no financial help and about $100 in my checking account.  My company today generates $3,500,000 in annual revenue. There are endless stories of people who started with nothing, or even greatly in debt and were able to create wealth.  Bill Gates started in his parent’s garage.

Myth:

If you become rich, you will become too good for others. Rich people are greedy, rich people are snobs, rich people are selfish.

Reality:

If you are a wonderful, loving and generous person and you become rich, you will become even more wonderful, loving and generous; however, if you are a sarcastic jackass and you become rich, chances are you will be‐come a bigger sarcastic jackass. It is not the money that creates the person, the person already is who they are before and after the money.

Homework:

• Write down everything you were taught about money when you were young.  Was it positive or negative?
• Did your family struggle financially or was money always abundant?
• How do you currently perceive money?
• Do you hang around people who make more than you and encourage you to make more as well?
• What annual income level would you need to reach to be completely comfortable and have extra money left to help others?

Join me next Tuesday to learn more about your Money Beliefs™ and your money relationship and how this currently affects your income and earning power.  This was part two of an 8 part series.

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Your Financial Future

This is the 1^st of 8 blogs I will be sharing over the next few weeks all relating to money and finances.  This is a topic of concern to many right now.  In my research I have learned that money issues are the #1 cause of problems in relationships.  I know this was true in my family growing up.

I was astounded when I recently looked at household income statistics and distribution in the United States.  Take a look.

U.S. Household Income

28% earn under $25,000 (with 10% of the total population living below the poverty line)

27% earn $25-$50,000

18% earn $50-$75,000

11% earn $75-$100,000

16% earn over $100,000 (with only 1.5% of the population earning over $250,000)

I am currently reading a book called Secrets of the Millionaire Mind by T. Harv Eker.  In his book Mr. Eker produces a simple formula that may explain why some people earn great fortunes in their lives and others are destined to always struggle financially.

P-past programming T-thoughts F-feelings A-actions R-results

Your past programming is what you where taught about money, usually by your parents.  This generates certain thoughts in your head about money, which in turn cause you to have certain feelings.  These feelings then cause you to take certain actions, which produce financial results in your life, good, bad and sometimes ugly.

We will begin working through this tomorrow when we discuss the past programming of your financial mind.  I can’t wait, this is great stuff!

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Simply put, the book is about learning to think differently about all aspects of your life.  Your time and how your spend it, your health, finances, relationships, adventure, your kids and your future.  It costs $20 and takes about 3 hours to read.  I guarantee it will have you thinking differently before you finish the first chapter.  The text below is from the first page of chapter 1.  This book is not about a bunch of feel good self-help non-sense; if you want that, this book is probably not for you.  This book is about real concepts and tools that have helped me through my 19 years as an entrepreneur, business owner, husband, and father — this stuff has all been put to the test!!

__________________

Chapter One

Are You Living the Life of Your Dreams?

“Go confidently in the direction of your dreams, live the life you have imagined.”

Henry David Thoreau (1817‐1862)

American author, poet, and philosopher

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Are you living the life of your dreams? What would the life of your dreams look like? How would you envision it? Many people shy away from these questions because they are so direct; they really hit you in the gut and make you start to think and that is the idea. I want to get you thinking about what the answers to these very direct questions should be and how you would describe, in detail, the life of your dreams. You must know what you want and where you want to go. Answering these questions is where the journey begins.

By the end of this book you will have developed a new strategy for how you look at life and a game plan for deliberately designing the life you desire on every level. The subjects on the following pages will help you define what it means to have a truly exceptional life. As you read, think about how these subjects relate to your daily life.

Listen to this audio and don’t act like Napoleon Dynamites’s Uncle Rico!!

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You must use the past as a tool to learn from, not as a hammer to beat yourself up with.