Aunty recently joined the Wealth Builders Club (will give more details in a future post) and one of the bonuses of that program is getting Michael Masterson’s new book “The Pledge” in the mail.  I like getting a “real” book, especially if they are hardcover.  Somehow having pages to turn and paper to smell makes it of more value to me than an e-book.

I posted about Michael Masterson before – as the man with many names.  Regardless of how many identities he has had, he delivers, and delivers very very well.

Upon flipping through it to get a sense of what this book was about, a test on page 2 of the Introduction stopped me in my tracks and I knew it was something worth sharing.

The heading of the section was asking the reader how good is their life? and take this test.  The test/questions define the quality of your working life.  The questions are:

1. What will you do?
2. With whom?
3. Where?

Simple questions which we already have the answers to right now.  You are already working or have a career or will embark on a career or path, you already have an employer, co-workers, clients, vendors, partners, and you already are somewhere.

Aunty then skipped to almost the last chapter to get the purpose of these questions.  You probably already know what the questions will evolve into:

1. What would I really enjoy doing?
2. Who would be the best person(s) to do it with?
3. Where would I most want to do it?

This last set of questions do not only apply to your working life, but also your personal, retirement, and spiritual life.

Aunty isn’t the best of readers – finding time in the day to sit down and read is luxury time that I don’t have.  However, Jeff Olson in “The Slight Edge” prescribes reading just 10 pages of a good book per day.  Aunty can do that.  And when I am done with this excellent book, I’ll do a book report/review if it turns out to be as good as I think it will be.

Gavin’s 8 steps for small business leadership was in military speak.  He has used these steps in combat and still uses them today in all aspects of his life.  Planning parties, business objectives, investing – following these 8 steps is the recipe for success.  Although these seem like “duh, I know that already” because you think you know these steps, ask yourself if you actually implement them.  If you do, you are most likely to succeed.

Step 1 is Receive the Mission.  Decide what it is you want to do, what the problem is, what your objective is.  Think about the end state.  Remember METTTC – Mission, Enemy (competition), Terrain (area, geography, place), Troops (support people), Time, and Civil Considerations (customers).

Step 2 is Issue the Warning Order.  This is a pre-announcement to subordinates that something will be happening.

Step 3 is Make a Tentative Plan.  Have 3 possible plans or course of actions, apply the “what ifs” to each, choose the best one.

Step 4 is Start the Necessary Movement.  Give initial directions, start everyone on a process.  Whenever a task is given, it is very important that everyone knows the task and the purpose of the task.  That way your team understands why and can use their own initiative to achieve the result you are wanting to achieve.

Step 5 is Reconnoiter.  This is where you do research, checking things out, doing due diligence.  Whatever is discovered will either confirm or deny your initial assessment.

Step 6 is Complete the Plan.  Have all the pieces in play.  Designate the main effort – the person or team that will actually do the leading, and the others are support.  All orders start with “The purpose of the operation is…” then explain how.  State the end state – what you want to accomplish.

Step 7 is Issue the Order.  Give commands, write it out.

Step 8 is Supervise.  If any unforeseen problems occur, you need to be there.  Always have a contingency or back up plan.

After all this is done, you and your team will have charged up the hill and planted the flag in triumph.  Keep the plans and review them, reuse them if it worked.  Learn from the mistakes.

I can see why Gavin is so respected.  He carries himself with dignity and yet is humble.  If I were in his troop, I would charge when he gives the command.

I have read or tried a lot of excellent techniques on time management, setting goals, achieving greatness, etc.  I start off in one direction, then get side tracked and move in another direction, and many times at the end of the day/week/month, I haven’t done much.  My problem was too much of everything.

Having too many wants, passions, concerns, goals, techniques will pull you in too many directions and your mind cannot handle the chaos of having too many things to do for too many projects.
A powerful way to “realize” the best direction to focus your energies, talents, drive, and resources is by ranking each want/goal/need on a scale of 1-10 in categories of passion, execution, and financial upside.

Being able to pinpoint where your focus should be will help you excel at one new business opportunity or income stream, rather than be mediocre at many.  This technique helps you narrow down all the choices you have and choose the direction best suited to YOU and YOUR GOALS.

Here is how it works:

Create a grid and list three or four (or all) of business opportunities, ventures, or current positions.  Keep these on the left.

Across the top list these three categories:
Passion / Execution (ease and probability of achieving)/ Financial Upside over 3 years (choose your own time frame)

Rank across each opportunity (1-10) in each category.  10 is the high number, i.e. high passion, highly achievable based on how much time and training you will need, high compensation.  Try not to use the same number ranking in any column.  Be true to yourself and rank honestly.

Complete all columns BEFORE you total the rankings in the last column.
Here’s a sample:

Opportunity                           Passion         Execution       Financial Upside       TOTAL

Real Estate Multi-Unit               6                     4                           9                               19
Real Estate single family            9                     9                           8                               26
Ebay sales                                      3                    10                          5                               18
Collectible sales                            4                     7                           4                               15
Tupperware sales                          1                     6                           3                              10
Clothing design                            10                    3                          2                               15
Karaoke singing                            2                     1                           0                                3

From these numbers, I can see that single family home real estate investing is most likely where I should direct my focus, and forget about entering a karaoke contest.  Although my passion is high for clothing design, the financial viability is low, the time commitment extremely high, so that goes on the back burner.

I hope this helps you find your compass setting.  Emotions, opportunities, and financial needs will change constantly.  Every once in a while, retake this “test” so you can stay on track.  I think it will help me stay the course too.

Here’s a thought for you that can hopefully change your mindset about financial well being and action:

Imagine your savings, home equity, retirement funds as being eggs.  If you have your funds in stocks or mutual funds sitting in accounts, they are also eggs.  As a matter of fact, people actually call these their nest egg!  When you need to draw out from these eggs, you will have to crack them or take a bite (if they are hard boiled.)  You then end up with less egg in your nest of financial options.  This goes on until your nest egg is gone.

In money terms, you will be using up your funds each time you make a withdrawal unless your earnings or value increases by more than the amount withdrawn.  You might be able to survive if you have a huge amount of funds to last a good many years, or the amount you withdraw is piddly enough to never diminish the principal.

We have taken our egg (specifically our home equity) and bought a live chicken that lays eggs.  The eggs in our nest accumulate because the chicken keeps laying them eggs.  Now, when we need to draw out funds, we take it from the pile of eggs and leave the chicken alone.  We can even buy more chickens with our ever growing pile of eggs!

In money terms, we used our funds to buy an asset (investment property) that pays out cash flowing rents (eggs).  That cash flow pays our bills and will fund our retirement.  The asset (chicken) remains intact.

That is sweet chicken!

This was passed out to all in attendance at the first Rich Woman seminar held here in Hawaii by Kim Kiyosaki. Kim is a wonderful inspiration – she has built up her own real estate empire, is the beloved wife of Robert, and is really really nice, and rich!

Here it is:

On Commitment

“Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back. Always ineffectiveness.

Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation) there is one elementary truth, the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans; that the moment one defiantly commits oneself, then providence moves too.

All sorts of things occur that would never otherwise have occurred.

A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one’s favor all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance which no man could have dreamt would come his way.

I have learned a deep respect for one of Goethe’s couplets – “Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it.”

– W.H. Murray, “The Story of Everest”

Do I hear an Amen to that?! Amen!