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From Welfare To Wealthy

There are two quick things that I would like to preface this article with:

1) You don’t have to be on welfare for this article to be helpful. That’s just the title that I happened to choose.

2) Realize that if you are a little down on your luck at the time that you happen to read this that you are not alone. Not only have others been in situations similar to yours, and worse, and survived, but many have moved on to end up better off than they ever were before.

I too have experienced my own share of setbacks in life and times when I was down on my luck; and a little later I’ll share one such experience with you.

One of the things that I love about the home business field is that it gives me the opportunity to help others in a way that I would otherwise be unable to. Rather than giving a handout or temporary Band-Aid, I can show someone how to truly turn their life around and get on track toward a better financial future. And a home business can do the same for you, whether you are wanting to help others too, or whether you are the one who happens to need a financial boost at the moment.

People contact me on a daily basis from across the country and even from other parts of the World. All have in common a desire to succeed in a home business, but everyone comes from his or her own unique background and circumstances.

Most of the people I deal with are hardworking middle class Americans from all occupations and walks of life. Some are already successful financially, either in a home business or some other field. Not too infrequently, however, I also hear from those who are, for whatever reason, not so well off at the time we happen to cross paths.

Because I am absolutely not involved in this field for the, “fast buck,” sometimes I tell a person what I’m sure they probably don’t want to hear, which is that I would really advise them NOT to consider investing in a home business at this particular time in their life. That’s especially because, as pointed out in my article titled, “Budgeting For Your Success,”

http://www.abcincome.com/budgeting-for-success.html

even if someone chooses a business opportunity with little or no startup costs, there are almost sure to be at least some additional startup costs!

Whenever someone calls me who is a little down on their luck I always try to tell them what I point out at the beginning of this article: They are not alone. Others have been there and gone on to be much better off. Likewise, I find that sometimes people are, perhaps understandably, embarrassed about their current situation, whatever it may be. Here again, please realize that out of the many thousands of people that I’ve talked to and worked with, it’s rare that I hear something that I haven’t heard already before. I say this because I don’t want anyone reading this article and thinking that I’m talking about them specifically. I’m not.

For instance, in the business coaching classes that I teach I often cite examples. Examples of successes, failures, things TO do, and things NOT to do, etc. One time a gentlemen attending the class mentioned to me in a private conversation afterward that he noticed that, “I’d been using him in my examples.” He had spent $10,000 in the 8 months before coming to ABCIncome.com without having made any money ( a situation we remedied within a matter of weeks ). In other words, he’d lost quite a bit of money that he couldn’t afford to. He wasn’t complaining. I’d never mentioned him by name, and there was really no way for anyone to know who I was really talking about. Was I talking about him specifically? Well, not really, because what he didn’t realize is that sometimes I might talk to people three days in a row who all have the same story. It’s really not uncommon at all.

I talk to people who have been millionaires and lost large portions of what they had. People contact me who have been senior executives with Fortune 500 companies, but were downsized, laid off, whatever, and now they want to start their own business to have better control over their own destinies. And, I also talk to people who simply work an ordinary job, but lost it for whatever reason and now they are down on their luck. I’ve talked to people who are divorced or getting divorced. Sometimes I get a call from someone at risk of losing their home, or having their car repossessed, or maybe these things have already happened to them. Certainly not everyone who contacts me is down on their luck, and I don’t want to give that impression because it would be far from the truth. However, I did want to set the stage before offering some examples because I don’t want anyone reading this and thinking that I’m specifically talking about you, as in you personally. If it does happen to be your situation, then hopefully what follows will be helpful to you in getting back on the right track.

The first advice that I can give you if you are down on your luck is, please, don’t spend money that you don’t have, and cannot afford to spend.

It truly saddens me when I hear from someone who has gotten involved in a new business opportunity that they obviously couldn’t afford, AND their upline (the person who signed them up) was aware of their situation at the time. I like to give the benefit of the doubt by assuming and hoping that that person’s sponsor was simply too inexperienced themselves to know any better. However, the reality is that often people are just out for the “fast buck.” They don’t really care if a person literally spends their last dime that they cannot afford to lose on something that can’t possibly work out for them under their current circumstances.

A spouse losing their job in a two income household can often be the reason for people being down on their luck. In just one case out of many, I received a call from a woman whose husband had been laid off, thus throwing the family into hardship. Unfortunately, in their efforts to improve their situation, they had signed up with a network marketing company at an initial cost of $500, which they did not have, so they used the money that had been intended for their mortgage payment.

Next they started trying to sign up all of their friends and family which, while being one of the first things that most companies will tell you to do, typically yields far less than spectacular results.

Also, another thing that you will learn from the , “Success Books & Videos,” section of ABCIncome.com, is that the old saying, “you are the company you keep,” is indeed very true. Certainly not always, but more often than not, if you are down on your luck and/or just getting by, then it is very likely that many of those you associate with will be in a similar position. If you want to be successful, start associating with successful people. In the meantime realize that, if you are currently not profitable in your venture, the friends and family route may be especially difficult for you because if most of the people you know are just barely getting by too, they won’t have any money with which to invest or successfully start a business either.

Back to the couple in our example, next they were going to fly all the way across the country to attend their company’s annual convention or rally.

So, let’s summarize: This couple took $500 and instead of paying their mortgage they tried to start a home business, and they made NO money. Despite this, they were then planning on paying for the additional costs of attending a convention located two thousand miles away.

Granted, attending a company convention or rally can be a wonderful thing. It’s certainly a great way to get motivated and maybe learn more about your company and its products. However, is it likely to put immediate dollars into your pocket? In most cases the answer is, NO. Again, company conventions and meetings are great, but ONLY if you can afford them, and, ideally, pay for them out of the profits that you make. The ideas and information and/or training that you may get at such a convention may indeed help you grow your business. However, especially if you are new to business and this is your first business, it’s highly unlikely that you will put immediate dollars back into your pocket as a result of attending.

When I explained it this way to the person on the other end of the phone she started to understand what I was trying to say. And then I asked this simple question: “If you attend this convention, where is the money coming from?” She immediately further clarified the situation herself by saying that, “they didn’t really have the money, but were hoping to take it out of their next paycheck.” Keeping in mind that the mortgage had already gone unpaid. You get the picture, and so did she. Because by now, on her own, she realized that trying to attend such a convention under the circumstances (by spending more money which the family did not have) was simply not practical.

Someone else who called me on another day was in a similar situation, though the particulars were different. She had held a professional white collar job, but lost her job due to corporate politics. Thus, with a bad taste in her mouth about what had happened at her workplace, she was determined not to go back to work, but instead wanted to start her own home based business. However, her unemployment was running out soon and her car was due to be repossessed in two weeks.

In both of the cases above the people involved probably either did have or could have scrapped up enough money to get involved in one of the lowest cost business packages that I’m able to offer. However, there is no way in good conscience that I could advise them to do so.

First, they really needed the money for other, much more pressing, things, and to meet obligations and commitments they had already made. Things like mortgage payments, car payments, utilities, etc.

Second, even if they had managed to scrape up the money, they still would have had additional expenses before they could realistically expect to become profitable. If they used every available dime just to sign up for a business, they would have no operating capital with which to work afterward, which means the new business they just signed up for wouldn’t do them any good anyway.

Third, in the cases above, none of the people involved had any prior experience running their own business, whether a traditional business or a home based business.

My job, and responsibility, is to tell people the honest truth, and what will best help them get where they want to go. Unfortunately, that may not always be what they want to hear.

You might be thinking by now, gee, isn’t this guy supposed to be telling me about how, “I can make it,” how, “I can make enough money in my new business to get me out of this situation and better myself?” Well, kind of.

You see, this last point where we left off, business experience, plays a HUGE role in whatever advice I might give, and in whatever you decide to do regardless of my advice.

Let me give you an example and you’ll immediately agree with what I’m saying here.

Have you ever been to the hospital, or perhaps taken a child or family member?

What if the doctor told you that only last month he’d been a truck driver, or a plumber, etc., but that he decided on a career change and chose to become a doctor instead. So, he’s been a “doctor” for all of a few weeks. Of course, this is only a hypothetical example, as doctors may be in medical school and training for as much as 8 years before going into fulltime practice. And, no, nothing against either truck drivers or plumbers, as there many fine professionals in those and many other fields. I could have just as easily used as an example an airline captain earning $100,000 a year. Would you want someone who was flying planes a month ago to deliver your baby or perform open heart surgery on you this week? [further realizing, with all due respect to my friends and clients who are doctors, that these are of course two completely different specialties : ]

Get the idea?

Likewise, if you don’t have prior home business experience, and especially if you haven’t made any money at it before, it’s probably not realist to start a brand new business and expect to make enough money right away to meet your financial obligations. At least not under the kinds of financial pressures and extenuating circumstances mentioned above. That’s really more like gambling, and we all know that’s not a great way to invest your money.

If you DO have some kind of prior experience being in business for yourself, and you have ALREADY demonstrated the ability to earn the kinds of money that you absolutely have to make, then at least you have some basis for assuming that you could realistically earn the amounts of money that you need to make within the timeframes that you need it by. Even so, a stable job is probably a more realistic choice for most people in the above circumstances.

For more information about how to balance your job and your business, you may be interested in reading my article titled, “Don’t Quit Your Day Job!”

http://www.abcincome.com/don-t-quit-your-day-job.html

The good news is that if you are down on your luck at the moment you’ll be glad to know that the tools that you may really need the most right now are those that will probably cost you the least. That’s because, as you’ll see as a recurring theme throughout ABCIncome.com, the most important key to your success is YOU and YOUR ATTITUDE. And all that it takes to change is A POSITIVE MENTAL ATTITUDE, your own will and determination to do so, and the right tools and information.

For some of the best tools and information to help you get started see the article titled, “The Psychology Of Success - Success Starts With Your Mindset.”

http://www.abcincome.com/success-mindset.html

As pointed out in my article titled, “The Greatest Gift,”

http://www.abcincome.com/the-greatest-gift.html

even if you are already in a business, and perhaps even if you are already making money, that still doesn’t guarantee success if you don’t yet have the right mindset.

Remember, “Income seldom exceeds personal development…”

BUT, with the right mindset, you can achieve almost anything! And, there are countless examples.

I love the way business and success philosopher and speaker extraordinaire Jim Rohn,

http://www.abcincome.com/success-resources.html#jim-rohn

likes to recount his own personal story (and apply it to others down on their luck) of having, “pennies in his pocket, no money in the bank, and creditors calling.” Having grown up as a poor farm boy in Idaho, dropping out of school, working as a mere clerk in a store, barely able to support his family at age 25, Jim Rohn’s future seemed less than bright. Then, one day, seemingly at just the right time, he met Earl Shoaff, an entrepreneur who had made a fortune in the vitamin and nutritional industry. Mr. Shoaff told Jim Rohn that his future would look exactly like his past -- unless he changed his mindset.

For starters Mr. Shoaff told Jim Rohn that his philosophy was, “all wrong.” That he was literally preventing himself from succeeding!

Here are a couple of the countless gems of wisdom that Jim Rohn likes to share:

TO HAVE MORE THAN YOU'VE GOT, BECOME MORE THAN YOU ARE

and

UNLESS YOU CHANGE HOW YOU ARE, YOU'LL ALWAYS HAVE WHAT YOU'VE GOT

That was at age 25. Jim Rohn went to work for Mr. Shoaff, was mentored by him, followed his advice, and within 6 years, by the age of 31, Jim Rohn had earned his first million.

Jim Rohn is one of my favorite examples because he teaches people to do exactly what he did, and what he does. However, he is far from the only example. History is filled with examples of people who started with little or nothing, even, “pennies in their pockets,” quite literally, and truly made something of themselves.

Secretary of State Colin Powell, and his “rags-to-riches” story, is certainly to be counted among them, along with one of his quotes, “Don’t let your past predict your future.”

One individual, who I won’t mention by name, overcame her circumstances of being a single mom on welfare to become a member of the United States Congress.

Perhaps the most famous “rags-to-riches” story in modern times, of another single mom who was once on welfare (though she dislikes rumors of how bad it was on welfare, such as that she wrote her stories in a café because her flat had no heat, which is untrue), is that of JK Rowling, author of the Harry Potter series of books and movies. The title of this article is, “From Welfare To Wealthy.” However, JK Rowling isn’t “just” wealthy. According to Forbes Magazine, she’s actually a billionaire.

Of the individuals mentioned above, the success of Jim Rohn and JK Rowling are easily those that you and I and any of us could most easily emulate. Not everyone can attain high political office, regardless of how hard they strive, how qualified they are, etc. There are too many “political” factors involved, no pun intended. It’s often much the same in corporate America. You may indeed be very good at what you do, but various factors can still thwart your success.

In contrast, people like Jim Rohn and RK Rowling demonstrate the sheer power of what one can accomplish almost with the will of the mind alone. Jim Rohn changed his mindset and became a millionaire. RK Rowling not only cultivated a mindset of positive attitude and determination, but she also demonstrated that opportunities abound in the modern information age within which we all now live. Neither created their wealth in the “old money” style of building factories, manufacturing plants, or huge offices. Rather, they literally became wealthy through the power of the mind and the information that can flow forth from it. The exact same power that rest within your mind now, regardless of your current circumstances.

Oh, earlier I promised that I would share one of my own experiences with you. By profession I am a consultant in the computer industry. I also happen to love the outdoors and small towns, as opposed to the rat race pace and rush hour traffic of large cities, which I’ve lived in also.

One of the problems with small towns, especially in the days before the World Wide Web, was that it could be difficult to drum up enough white collar, high-tech business to make a living. After all, in sparsely populated areas where the population might range from under 1,000 to a few, to even a “town” with just a few buildings, especially in the 1980s you can see how carving out a living could be a little challenging for a high-tech entrepreneur in the pre-Internet era.

According to Census population data available for the 10 years closest to the time period above, the population in that small town “grew” by only 8 people in a decade! It’s not uncommon for people to move away from small towns rather than flock to them, precisely because of the greater opportunity and bigger job markets usually associated with larger cities.

I already had several clients in the area and had entered into a partnership with one of them. Having purchased a modest home on the water I was counting on receiving the final payment of $36,000 on my consulting contract with my client in making the final transition.

Unfortunately, unbeknownst to me until I had moved there, I learned that this person had a reputation for cheating people, and, as it turns out, that’s exactly what happened to me. He not only reneged on paying me the $36,000 owed, which having just moved I was really counting on, but he also took the rather sinister additional step of stealing ALL of my computer equipment and software. Though I filed a police report I never did see any of those items again. If you are not a computer person this may not seem significant to you, except that, because I am, my entire life and livelihood was contained within what he stole. Even the manuscript for a book that I was writing. Even my computer games that I played in my personal time were gone! He even managed to discover the offsite location at which I kept backups of everything, and he took those to. Everything was gone!

So now, here I was, newly relocated to a place very difficult to make a living in to begin with, under difficult circumstances, without even the tools that I used to make my living ( computer hardware and software ). $36,000 might or might not seem like a lot of money to you. However, in the 1980s, under my circumstances, it was enough to make a critical difference, especially in light of the fact that I was now absent computer equipment and hardware worth equally as much. I also happened to be an advocate of being debt free, so going to the bank or getting a loan wasn’t an option that really crossed my mind at the time.

I ended up moving back to the city I had moved from, Grand Rapids, MI, where I had roots, family, connections, and a much, much bigger market within which to try to recoup my losses. However, having never experienced anything as traumatic, I found myself rather, “bummed out,” depressed, whatever you want to call it. Without my computer equipment and software to ply my trade I temporarily took a “menial” sales job while I decided what to do.

I already feel this tale is making this article too long. However, as a kid my dad had helped me start a lawn mowing business when I was around 8, which I then grew into a very successful commercial all-season operation that I kept through my teenage and early adult years. Mind you, by this time it was far from just, “mowing lawns,” with commercial contracts with the City, County, and State. But, the reason that I mention the above is because I was sufficiently bummed out that I seriously even thought about going back to, “mowing lawns.’

That’s when a man who had been one of my mentors, the man who introduced me to Jim Rohn, a man named Gerry Brown, “adjusted my thinking.” By that time I’d already been exposed to the success mindset. I had learned from Gerry and other mentors. At that time in my life, however, I was still at a low point. Despite everything that I’d learned, everything that I knew, and everything that I’d accomplished up to that point, I had still lost my confidence.

Gerry didn’t take pity on me at all, nor did he sympathize much with my situation, because he knew that, with the right mindset, I could easily change it. First, he chastised me for taking a menial sales job that was beneath my abilities. Then he asked me: “So, you’re saying that you are ready to throw away your passion and talent for computers, your training, your experience, and everything you’ve accomplished, and go back to mowing lawns?” He said that he didn’t think my situation was as bad as I thought, and that he thought I could do better.

So, I quit the menial sales job and set my mind to the task. I made the rounds of the computer stores and vendors that I’d worked with, explaining to them my situation. They kindly extended me credit terms and office space from which to work while I recovered.

When I moved I had even closed my bank accounts in town. So, I reestablished those relationships as well as those with previous and prospective new clients. Within only three months I had not only replaced all of the stolen equipment and software with newer and better versions, and paid cash, but business was better than ever.

With the help of a friend I managed to recover a secret “offsite” backup of the stolen data literally from right under the thief’s nose. He had taken everything from my location and even an offsite backup strategically located at a home where I had it stored. However, he never thought to look right under his own nose. When I learned that my partner-to-be was an unscrupulous person and I saw the writing on the wall I actually stored a backup of all of my data right in his office, thinking it would be the last place that he would think of looking, and I was right!

Between a friend who helped me retrieve it, and two other friends, the owners of two very successful computer businesses in Grand Rapids, who helped me retrieve the data, I recovered most of what had been stolen, including the manuscript for my book. That book later became one of the best selling books prior to the Dummies series of books, and only a few short years later my small computer business received its first million dollar order. (Which, by the way, fell through at the very last possible moment, but this article is already too long, so that will have to be another story…)

The point is, when life throws you lemons, you can either get a sour face and pout, or you can acquire the right mindset ( an attitude adjustment ) make some pretty good tasting lemonade!

If you don’t have a success mindset today you have only to start thinking about it, feeding your mind with the right information, and associating with the right people to get there. And, remember, don’t let your past predict your future!

I hope that you enjoyed this article... Also, if you have not already done so, please read the information that you'll find at the link below:

To Your Success!

Phil Covington
Founder of ABCIncome.com