Your profitable quote: Wallace Wattles on prosperity

"There is a thinking stuff from which all things are made, and which in its original state, permeates, penetrates and fills the interspaces of the universe.

A thought in this substance produces the thing that is imaged by the thought.

I can form things in my thought, and by impressing my thoughts upon formless substance, can cause the thing I think about to be created.

In order to do this, I must pass from the competitive to the creative mind. I must form a clear mental picture of the things I want. And, I must hold this picture in my thoughts with the fixed purpose to get what I want, and the unwavering faith that I will get what I want -- closing my mind to all that may tend to shake my purpose, dim my vision, or quench my faith.

I am ready to receive what I want when it comes, and I am acting now upon the people and things in my present environment."

-- Wallace D. Wattles

Three cheers for the prosperity mindset!

Are "profits" and "wealth" falling out of fashion?

Our society is ill because the economy has been rigged to reward those who speculate rather than support those who demonstrate innovation and initiative.

For the individual that comes face-to-face with this harsh reality , the concept of "voluntary simplicity" or "simple living" can seem like a way to take back control of one's life. A concept popular in Europe and Quebec, this downsizing trend is spreading across the US and Canada as a reaction to the overconsumption mania of the last few decades.

The danger that I see in trying to reduce one's life to fit one's means is that it can lead to a trap. Living small or thinking small is not a virtue if it takes away the joy of living, if it makes fear and guilt the driving emotions of life. I prefer another path: instead of reducing consumption in order to live within my means, I choose to increase my means in order that I may live my full potential. Instead of "voluntary simplicity", I choose "voluntary prosperity".

We have a duty to be prosperous: to generate all of the resources necessary to live to our full potential, so we can do good for ourselves, our family, our community, our environment and our planet.

Living a monk's life by shirking our responsibilities is a selfish luxury at this moment. The challenges facing humanity and the planet are far too big and too important to sit cross-legged and contemplate the universe. The intertwined futures of humanity and the planet depend on how we create wealth from now on.

Even one of the inspirations of the simple living movement, Buddhism, celebrates prosperity. According to Buddhist teachings, you are entitled to as much wealth as you want, provided it is created in an ethical manner, "like bees create honey without harming the flowers". The wealth you create must then be reinvested to benefit as much others as oneself. Therefore, proper wealth, resources created the right way, is a tool to do good. (1)

Many of the economic problems we face today come from the fact that people are clinging to their gains as if they were an acquired right. They fear losing their riches, because wealth is finite, and you must grab your share now before there is none left.

Scarcity thinking is at the foundation of classical economics: that homo economicus is driven by the core emotions of greed and fear: less a resource is available, demand then increases because people want to hoard it for fear of missing out, and prices increase. Those who control the production of the resource can then speculate and "earn" their paycheck.

But deep down, is it still true, especially today?

Although we live on a finite planet with limits to our natural resources, this does not necessarily mean that there is a limit to wealth. The economist Paul Zane Pilzer in his book "The Next Millionaires" (2) postulates that each time we face a crisis due to the lack of a natural resource, humanity usually figures a way to solve the problem.

According to Pilzer, it is not resources that determine wealth, but rather the creativity and innovation of the human brain, combined with the initiative to take action, what Pilzer calls our "technology". The fundamental equation of the economy becomes:

Wealth = Resources * Technology

Now that our knowledge and imagination grows at an exponential rate thanks to the explosion of interpersonal communications, our ability to create wealth also accelerates at breakneck speed.

My definition of success is "to create a life experience that allows us to live our full potential." With the voluntary prosperity mindset, wealth is created when deploying our resources, our innovation and our initiative to do good for ourselves, others and the environment so we can all live to our full potential. More we act to create success, more those who are positively affected by these actions are prepared to invest their time, energy and money to live even more success. This becomes a virtuous cycle.

The voluntary prosperity mindset means choosing to engage with others, to communicate, learn, innovate and take action to confront the obstacles that we face and overcome them in a constructive manner.

The voluntary prosperity mindset is to create projects that help our community and our environment to live their full potential.

The voluntary prosperity mindset is having a sense of optimism, aiming for the stars with big ideas and bold plans, but acting with feet on the ground, to generate positive and powerful results by maximizing the resources we have available right now.

Ultimately, the question we must ask ourselves is this: What is our attitude towards material possessions? As an acquired right and a reward that flatters the ego, or as tools to advance our mission, our vision and our values and create a positive difference around us? Our emotions with respect to the resources available to us, will determine our ability to succeed in adopting a voluntary prosperity mindset.

The more we give, the more we put into circulation the ultimate power, that of passion,which creates a win-win benefit for all: an experience of life that allows each one of us to express our full potential.

And this is the true imperative: living to our full potential. This is why it is so important to stop downsizing our lives and start adopting a voluntary prosperity mindset, one that encourages each one of us to take action and create a happy, healthy and wealthy future for all.



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(1) "The Buddha's Teachings on Prosperity: At Home, At Work, in the World" by Bhikkhu Rahula Basnagoda and Arthur C. Clarke

(2) "The Next Millionaires" by Paul Zane Pilzer

Basic money math for self-employed shoppers

Pop quiz: When you put $100 on your credit card because you don't have the money to pay cash now, how much income do you need to earn to pay this back?

a) $100
b) $1000
c) more than $1000

The answer is (b), and possibly (c). Why?

First, you put the amount on your credit card, because you don't have the cash. So the cash to pay it back has to come from future earned income.

Next, assuming your other basic expenses (food, rent, car, insurance, etc) stay the same and can't be cut back, so the amount to be reimbursed needs to come from the difference between your income and your expenses for the month (assuming there is a positive difference at the end of the month). So let's say you have a 10% surplus at the end of the next month. This is optimistic, but let's postulate this.

So the income needed to pay off the $100 in credit card debt then comes from the following:

income needed = the debt (divided by) surplus income percentage
$100 / 10% = $1000 is the income needed to pay off the principal
Plus the 12% credit card interest rate (if you're lucky)

The big mistake that most people make is that when they put something on credit, they assume that they can pay it back from future gross income. But when there is nothing left from that next paycheck, the amount rolls over to the next month, the next and the next, and eventually grows (because other charges add to the card) and becomes too big to pay back.

Salaried employees are stuck because the only way they can generate a surplus on their income is by cutting back expenses, because their income is fixed. Because people are not conscious of the true high price of debt, which is the ability to pay it back, they have been digging themselves deeper and deeper into a hole which is impossible for them to climb out of.

As solos we have an ability that wage-earners lack, that of being able to adjust our income upward to quickly absorb debt and pay it off. Which means first we need to have surplus income, and second, the ability to increase it by getting more clients more efficiently.

Failure to understand the simple math of debt is why the economy is tanking. And this is the mistake I made with my first business. I started putting business expenses on my cards, expecting to pay the balance with the income generated by new clients. But I didn't realize that the reason I was putting expenses on cards is that I did not have surplus income, so there was no way I could ever pay back the principal. And I eventually had to play the bankruptcy card to get out of a six-figure debt. Luckily I learnt my lesson and am much smarter about debt now because I know the million-dollar question: how does this expense increase my income so it pays for itself?

This means that every time you whip out that Visa or Mastercard, ask yourself: "How many more clients do I need to get, above and beyond what I currently have, to pay off this debt?"

As a business person I want to minimize my liabilities (money goes out) and maximize my assets (money comes in). For every expense, I want to make sure that it doesn't just pay off the principal, but it also generates its own income, a "return on investment" (ROI).

ROI = (income generated by the investment) / (cost of the investment)

And I aim for at least a 100% ROI for every expense: that it not only pays for itself but also generates an additional amount equivalent to its cost. So for that $100 debt, what I really need is to be able to generate $2000 additional income. That expense better help me to generate that increase in income!

So please, please, please shop smart this holiday season. Don't dig yourself so deep in debt buying that you compromise the stability and prosperity of your business in the New Year. Don't burden yourself with liabilities, instead, start accumulating assets.

The more you focus on ROI each time you spend, the smarter you will shop and the more profitable you will be.

P.S.: The book that taught me so much and that in my opinion is REQUIRED READING for everyone is "Rich Dad, Poor Dad" by Robert Kiyosaki (www.richdad.com) .