Do you give from a full heart?

I am a HUGE fan of supporting worthwhile charity organisations, in fact I work with a number of animal welfare groups whenever I'm given the chance to do so.

It's also no secret that giving to those in need is absolutely a part of being wealthy. Truly wealthy people know that when you give, the "Universe" sends good things back to you. In a way it's all about creating really great karma.

In fact research has shown that the wealthiest people are usually the ones with the biggest hearts, and who share the most. Whereas poorer people usually have the opposite beliefs about giving to those in need. Isn't that quite a bit of food for thought... how often do you help others in need?

No matter what I do, I always make sure to share at least 10% of my earnings with welfare groups (but in all honesty, it usually ends up being more). Though I believe you should never give because you feel you have to, it should be something that comes naturally, from a full heart.

This December the wife and I decided to renovate our bedroom... part of which includes our walk in closet, and if I'm being truly honest, we have A LOT of clothes we don't wear. So I made it my mission to drastically reduce what we own.

This is actually a process I have done for a long time. Every now and then I get a "bee in my bonnet" and decide to donate a large chunk of my wardrobe to those in need. As a tween and teenager I donated my clothes to child welfare. I would clear out my closet and call them and they would arrange for someone to come and collect my bag of old clothes and toys.

As I grew older, I would do the same, but find a local clothes drop off bin that supports a charitable cause. It's nothing that anybody ever made me do, it's something I've always done out of my own, and to be honest I've never really thought much about it until now.

I realized I hadn't gone through the process in five years, and it was more than time for the big clean out. I also really enjoy the anonymity of it. I like the idea of helping without others really knowing that I've done it. In fact one of the biggest lessons I wish to learn in my life is to "Learn to give without expecting to receive anything in return". It really us a big goal of mine.

A part of me feels that getting recognition for helping others is a bit counter productive, giving to help others is something that really should come from the heart. If you are doing it for the praise and applause, then you're definitely in it for the wrong reasons.

I have also decided to make this a point that I really want to focus on in 2019, to learn to really just give and help others, without saying "hey it was me". If the universe is going to be giving me all the karmic reward I deserve in return, then well, that's enough for me.

But in all honesty, even though I aim to expect nothing in return, I must admit that I really enjoy seeing how the process of giving really works. In the years when I have done the most giving, and helping others, those usually turn out to be my most abundant and successful years. It's not something I've ever aimed to do intentionally, but I cannot deny the evidence for myself.

If you really and truly want to be prosperous and abundant... 

then give... A LOT!

A really great book worth reading on the topic "Giving it all away... and getting it all back again. The way of living generously". It goes into much more eloquent detail on the process. Click on the image below to read it now!

 

The Breakthrough Company

In this week's book review, I'm featuring "The Breakthrough Company - How everyday companies become extraordinary performers" by Keith R. McFarland

In this book Keith McFarland and his team research exactly what it is that makes companies breakthrough the threshold from being a small to medium sized company and into a large, and successful one.

He goes through such in-depth research that they performed over a number of years in order to try to find the process, as it were, that causes companies to become extraordinary. It's a topic that could easily become intensely boring, but he writes it extremely well, and he uncovers the truths of these companies in such a way, that you feel like you are unwrapping a gift.

A gift packed full of knowledge, and he explains it in such a way, that even as a small business owner, I can relate to each topic, and see how each process can be applied to my own business practices in order to grow my own company into something extraordinary.

This book is incredibly well written, and I have to say that I recommend it not just to entrepreneurs and business owners, and their managers, but I recommend it it to anybody who wants to be a leader in their field.

He supplies you with powerful action steps, that you can use to develop your business, and to become an industry leader. It really is remarkable how simple some of the ideas are that cause such great success, if only we all knew them...

It really got me thinking about how I go about things, and is packed full of food for thought, and I have to say that not only do I highly recommend this book for all leaders to read, but I recommend that they read it at least two or three times to truly absorb it's message.

Why going digital is the way to go

Just this morning a friend of mine sent me an article on businesses and jobs that will become invalid by modern technology. What we know as “traditional” forms of employment will simply no longer exist, and a lot of types of businesses would have to keep up with the changing times, or simply close down.

Although it was a great and informative article, there’s two things I want to mention. Firstly we love our “old style stuff”, to an extent that for some things there will always be a market for, it may be diminished, but it will become highly specialised, and will be around for a good few generations to come. Things like classic cars, vinyl records, and books are just a few things to name.

Secondly, it’s not a loss to humanity, but a gain. As we evolve, so do the things around us, including future companies and future jobs. One of the greatest inventions of the early 1900’s was the car, it’s just one of those things that changed the world phenomenally. Just 100 years later, in the early 2000’s, and one of the best inventions to have come about was Facebook (yes, it is an invention). Let’s face it, it has impacted the human race hugely, including the way we communicate with friends and family, and even how we operate our businesses and market to clients.

Both social media and the motor industry are worth billions, and hire and create jobs for large portions of the population. Both assist in the creation of small to large businesses, and both are equally impactful to everyone.

I am fairly certain that 100 years from now, another great, never thought of invention will take us even further in our evolution, it might cause old types of employment or businesses to be invalid, but it will more than likely create new opportunities for the generations to come.

Change isn’t bad, it’s just different, and essential in order for us to evolve even further than from where we are now. The human race doesn’t stagnate, we are ever evolving, and so should our investments and income sources.

 

It’s one of the reasons why I wrote the article “Are you planning for a modern retirement”... if you want to have a prosperous retirement, I highly recommend you read it.

This is one of the reasons why I hugely support earning an income from online sources, because ALL areas of our lives need to evolve as we do. There’s a world of opportunities available to us, and it’s just about grabbing a hold of them... and not being afraid of trying something new.

I agree that the “traditional” way of working and doing business is completely changing into something new, and this is one of the reasons why we need to stop expecting to earn and make our money in traditional ways too.

In the “Celestine Prophecy” (one of my favourite books), the author writes about how the human race will begin to evolve and change, they will no longer need to go to jobs to actively work for their money. In fact, he expresses how the human race will begin to simply do the work that they love, they will follow their life’s calling and eventually earning money and working hard for money will no longer be a valid way of being.

Although it was a fictional book, I absolutely LOVE this outlook on life, and I truly believe that it is possible. So much so that I have made it my life’s work to show people how to do exactly that. To help people to understand that they can set up online sources to earn an income for themselves, while they go on, everyday living a life that they want to.

And the best part is that the sources I personally research for you to use to start generating a passive income are absolutely FREE. I especially aim at helping people to find ways of generating income at NO COST to themselves, only their time and skills required. Read my book, and change your life forever.

It all starts with the first step, educating and growing yourself, or as I like to say...

Invest in yourself!

How to set achievable goals

It’s that time of year again where, if you haven’t already, you need to go about setting goals for the upcoming year – but how do you go about setting goals that will stick? Ones that you can actually achieve? Here are my top ten tips on how to do just that.

 Believable goals

The number one reason our goals fail is because they are not believable to us personally. If your goal is to make $100,000 this year, but you truly don’t believe that you can achieve it, well then guess what... you won’t.

If you are going to be setting BIG goals for yourself, then make sure that you believe that you can achieve them. So how do you believe in achieving those big goals? Here’s a great book by T. Harv Eker that I HIGHLY RECOMMEND that everybody reads, especially if you want to aim big!

Make it visual

We all know about vision boards... where we put up a bunch of pictures of what we want to achieve, and place it somewhere where we can stare at it for a few minutes a day (at least), but why are these vision boards so successful?

When we see things in images, it makes it easier for us to actually visualise ourselves reaching our goals and dreams, vision boards are possibly one of the more powerful tools that you can create for yourself.

How do you really feel?

Feeling good about actually achieving your goals is one way to make sure that you will do exactly that. I’m always surprised by the amount of people who are actually embarrassed by the goals that they set for themselves and their businesses.

If you feel shame in the idea of sharing your goals, then either you have to work on changing how you feel about your goals... or change your goals. You should never have any negative emotions linked to your wanting to achieve any goals in your life.

So ask yourself HOW you feel about your goals and WHY you feel that way about achieving them to make sure that you are on the right track.

How much?

Most of us have goals that can be linked to a number. Be specific on that number and focus your attention on it. Knowing EXACTLY what you want to achieve will help you to do exactly that.

How much money do you want to make this year?

How much weight do you want to lose?

How many people’s lives do you want to affect?

Whatever your goal is, there is a number. Pick your number and aim for it.

A back up plan

What if something happens and you are for some reason unable to achieve your goals, or if it seems you might not, do you just fall into a heap on the ground and give up?

Have a plan to get back up and dust yourself off. Are you feeling doubtful about your goals? Well create a plan or strategy that will get you back into the right mindset and focused on achieving those goals again. Perhaps you just need a short holiday, or a glass of wine with a good friend.

Either way if you feel you are failing or have failed, what are you going to do about it?

Measure those goals

Break your goals down! Let’s say that you have decided to give yourself one year to make $100,000. That’s around $8,335 per month or $1925 per week or $275 per day.

Break your goal down to as small a number as you can, then use that as a way to track your performance. If you are averaging $275 per day (some days may be a bit less, others a bit more) but if you are sticking to your average, well then you are definitely well on your way to achieving those goals.

So whatever it is, break it down and use that as a way to measure your performance. If you are not on track, ask yourself why.

Create a plan

What exactly are you going to be doing to achieve your goals? What products are you going to be creating or actions you are going to be taking? Write down 5 things that you will be doing to help you to achieve your goals. You know what your goals are, but now you have to know how you are going to be going about achieving them.

Put time aside every day

Every day, revise your goals. Every morning I like to remind myself what my goals are, and then go over the figures and stats from the day before. By making this my daily practice, I’m reminding myself what it is that I want to achieve, and more importantly, I’m keeping myself on track.

Create a mantra

I love mantra’s. I say mine to myself every day, and as often as possible. Look at your biggest goal, and write it down as a mantra. Place that mantra somewhere where you will look at it several times during the day, and remind yourself what it is that you wish to achieve.

My mantra, that I repeat to myself frequently is based on my biggest goal, and so far it’s quite true, and that manta is “I am the Queen of Earning Passive Income” – because I am, and I do. It should be something short and fun that keeps you believing in your goals.

Journal it!

As you know, I love journaling. Once you know what your goals are and how you are going to go about achieving it, write it all down in your journal. Write down how you visualise yourself achieving those goals. By doing this, you a actually helping to program your brain so that you can do exactly that.

WHAT I LEARNED IN 2018 by Kim Vermaak

When I was a student, one of our lecturers did a exercise familiar to many, but not so readily applied.  He took a large jar and threw a whole bunch of stand in it. Then he took some stones and added in the stone on top of the sand.  But not all the stones fitted into the jar.

  

He then re-did the experiment and threw all the stones in and then threw in the sand afterwards. Surprisingly even with all the stones in the jar, the sand simply flowed through all the stones and everything fitted in beautifully. The aim of this exercise was to show us that when we are focused on the big things, the small things seem to just fall into place.

  

But if we focus on the small things, we find that we are just not able to get all those big things in.

We are all granted the same amount of time in a day, but sometimes we can focus on the small things and then at the end of the year find that those neglected big dreams and big plans come back to haunt us.

As I reflect on the close of the year, I have to do an inventory and look at what I have done with the time I was allocated.

Did I do the big things? Did I follow through on my dreams?  Am I a bigger person (and I do not mean, did I have too much Christmas Pudding?)? 

Did I start working on all those big dreams?

  

Despite the challenges of the year, I took a leap and committed to participating in a new one year supplier enterprise development program.

At the beginning of  the program, when I looked at the calendar I realized that I would have to take entire days out of my business. I would not be allowed to use my cell phone unless during a tea break.  The controlling micro managing part of my brain was screaming out, that without me things could not get done. But actually they did get done. As I committed to growing myself, even when challenges arose, I was there at every event. I noticed that the group size began to diminish. The name tags left out at reception, were of people who committed to arriving, but never actually came. Only a handful of us remained from the original group.

I learned so much about myself and formed a new support group of people who got me through the difficult challenges of 2018.

  

I learned to do things differently than I did them in 2017, because necessity thrust that change upon me and I had to adapt or sink.

  

I certainly do not want to repeat the challenges of 2018  - but I do know this, I have learned more, I have changed more and I realized that when you are ready to change, you can take those big projects.

  

You do not have to do all of them at once, but you can commit to each year, add another big stone.

  

I encourage you to take stock of your life at the end of this year.  Have a look at those big goals and reach out, grab one of those goals and say, this new year, I choose to commit to myself.  I choose to show up.

  

I choose to be a bigger and better me.