Try Something New

The other day I was a little thirsty. Had some work to do so I delayed my short trip to the kitchen as much as I could. After one or two hours, the thirst become really important to me, so I left my home office and went to the kitchen. To my surprise, there was only a small bottle of water left in the house. This is happening extremely rare as I am quite a freak when it comes to water, food and supplies. Well, I took a glass of water, pour the whole bottle in it, then put in on my table and start looking at it.

“If I don’t drink the water, I’ll have this glass full for a long time“, I thought. ”It’s the only water I have in the house, so it’s really precious, must take good care of it“. But after a few seconds I realized I’m still thirsty. More and more thirsty.

”If I drink the water, I won’t be thirsty anymore. But I won’t have any water left in the house. I know in several hours I’ll be thirsty again, and then I won’t have this glass full of water. It will be empty. That means I should really go out and start looking for some fresh water. And I really don’t wanna do this right now.“

Learning To Let Go

I’m sure you laughed while reading the monologue above. You have all the reasons, it’s a weird monologue. A guy talking with his glass full of water is always funny, I know. But as thirsty as I was, I realized this monologue was something very common to me. It’s a monologue I play every time I’m afraid to try something new. Every time I’m on a safe environment and I’m enjoying it and try to squeeze everything out of it. I was really enjoying working on my office and the idea of getting out for some fresh water was really unpleasant.

And I realized I have to do it. As unpleasant as it seemed, it was something necessary for me. And I also realized that every environment is perishable. Each situation is finite. Trying to extend a pleasurable situation beyond its natural boundaries it’s not only useless, but most of the time quite impossible. You must accept this sooner or later. You have to drink the water and accept that you’ll have to find fresh water soon. You can’t rely on a single glass of water to quench your thirst for your entire life.

Keeping your game into a single playground will soon dry it out. If you don’t do something to constantly refresh your resources, you’ll empty your field by using it. If you don’t get out in the wild to get some water you’ll run out of it. (more…)

Creating Value

Have you ever thought about the values you create? Ever crossed your mind to sit back and look out what exactly you give to the outside world in exchange for what you receive? Because this is how we, humans, are functioning: by a continuous exchange of values. The most popular value exchanged being, of course, money.

But despite its popularity, money is not the only value we exchange, is only the most popular. There are a lot of other values growing into our lives, floating around and finding their path, either inside or outside our person. Our society lives by exchange. Our incomplete nature makes for a giant commerce around the clock for getting what we need in exchange for what we give.

In today’s post I’ll share some of my thoughts about the values we create and exchange, especially the number of connections each of these values can have.

Sellers And Buyers

Every time you give something away, you’ll be the seller. And of course, every time you’ll get something back you’ll be the buyer. We play those roles all the time. We give away something valuable to the outside world and get something back in return. Sometimes we’re more in the seller’s shoes, sometimes we’re more like the buyer. And the values we trade are what defines us the most.

We give care to our family and receive emotional bonding and warmth. We give advice and compassion to our friends and get back support and gratitude. We give expertise and know-how to our clients and get back money and recognition. We give time and presence to our employers and get back money and appreciation (well, most of the time). We trade values.

Connection Values

Each of these values behave like an object, it can be picked up and stored, transported and used. And for that, it has handles. Or, to be a little more exact, connections. Each value we trade, either by selling, either by receiving it, has connections.

If you’re starting to look around in circles wandering where are those handles for the paycheck you get last month, stick around a little bit, I’ll try to explain more. It’s easier than it seems now.

The bigger the number of connections attached to each value, the higher the chance to find a potential user. If you create something with a single handle, you’ll be able to use that something only and only by that single handle. If, on the contrary, you created something with more handles, chances for that something to be picked up and used will increase by the number of the attached handles. (more…)

30 Sentences For A Millionaire Mindset – part three

Welcome to the third part of the series about 30 sentences for a millionaire mindset. If you came here by chance, I highly recommend to read the first two parts first:

• 30 Sentences For A Millionaire Mindset (part one)
• 30 Sentences For A Millionaire Mindset (part two)

But, to be honest, those two parts are not mandatory, as none of the sentences here is. You can, and you should, do this in your own way. I’m just sharing my way of creating a mindset that proved to attract money and wealth in exchange for the value I created. So, let’s get started with the last 10:

21. Promote your created value

If you have created something valuable, don’t be shy about it. Never. Even if other people will call you an obsessed freak, go ahead and promote your dream. You will eventually reach the people you want to reach, and those who rejected you will forget about you. This goes for your friends, employees or potential clients: just let them know you have something valuable to offer. If you wait for them to come to you, they will eventually come, but, from my experience, it might be a little late. So, make the first step.

22. Don’t complain, create

If you are in need of something, and you don’t have it, do it yourself. Always. Just a very short story from my personal experience: when I decided to sell the online business, the Romanian online market didn’t have an independent traffic measurement system. And that would have been a serious roadblock in my intentions of selling the company. Because the metrics used for the company performance were poor, or manipulated by other players. So, I decided to involve myself in this, made a personal goal out of creating an independent online measurement system, and I actually worked for almost 2 years with the official NGO that made the measurements for print. During this period we started to establish, create, and promote an independent online traffic measurement system in Romania. Right now, the system, called SATI, is in place and is accepted by the entire market. Which is, in itself, a success. I could have easily complained about the lack of this system and expect for somebody else to do it. I just didn’t.

23. Do it your own way

There are thousands of ways to start and continue a business. Do it your own way, don’t try to copy. There’s a reason why you are like you are. Unique and different. It’s what makes you different that most of   the time provides value. Find you own way to express and provide value, and do it consistently. It’s difficult to do this, because you have only the other people success stories, and you’re not so confident about your own way. But try to remember that copycats are only getting copycats money.

24. Don’t refuse learning

Actually, try to incorporate as many skills as you can into your skill vault. For example, my astrological experience made me avoid some very annoying circumstances as well as going on some very interesting opportunities. There were times when I actually delayed the signing of some contracts because some bad astrological configurations – including the selling of my company assets – and I was right. So, keep  learning and integrate, it can only help you.

25. Wake up early

That certainly seems to be against sentence no. 19: “Get plenty of sleep”, but again, it isn’t. Waking up early is a beautiful way to prepare your start. I always felt some sort of hidden advantage on my side every time I had business meetings in the morning and the other guy was just so sleepy that he could barely speak. But it’s not only about that, it’s about waking up early on your opportunities bells and on your intuition hints. Those are very precious assets and trying to always be the first in front of them is so rewarding. (more…)

30 Sentences For A Millionaire Mindset – part two

Here we go with part two of the 30 sentences for a millionaire mindset series. If you come came here by chance, I recommend  that you start with the first post in the series, which covers the first ten sentences for a millionaire mindset. Just keep in mind that I don’t intend to create another manual of how to get rich, I am just sharing my personal experiences after 10 years of successful online business. Reading this  list can provide you with some food for thoughts, at least. And chances that you’ll get some valuable insights for your own goal toward becoming a millionaire are pretty high also, but remember that you are the only one who can really make that bank account to sky jump.

Without further ado, let’s continue the list:

11. Don’t think at problems, think at solutions

Often forgotten, as we have a natural tendency to insist upon the unpleasant things in our lives, instead upon things that could potentially make us happier. Getting out of the negativity that comes with the whole concept of “problems” and turning it into the whole new concept of “solutions” is in itself a big step in personal evolution, regardless of your intention to acquire a millionaire mindset.

12. Exercise your spending habits

That really means: get used to have a million dollars, if you’re going to have it at some point in your life. One simple exercise for that sentence is: pretend your 100 dollars bill that you’re going to spend today is in fact a one million dollar bill. How are you going to spend it? Do that three or four times and you’ll start seeing some patterns. From my experience, it’s better to identify those patterns before the actual million comes in.

13. Exercise your investing habits

Making money out of money by investing it is the next step once you’ve got enough to support your personal needs, and then a little more. Following the spending sentence above, making some dry tests for your investing capacities is a very interesting exercise. Where would you invest your first million of dollars? Try to invest first lower amounts (1000 to 5000 dollars for three months) and see what happens. It would get easier in time, but only if you exercise it first.

14. Spend as much as you really want, without starting to feel insecure

Spending money is one of your most powerful sources of guilt. If you continue to feel guilt after spending money, you’ll create powerful internal roadblocks on your way to your millionaire mindset. Your unconscious mind will tell you each time you’re closer to it: don’t get it, because I don’t want to feel guilt after you’ve spent it, you’re better off. Believe me, it works just like this.

15. Be disciplined in your work

Having a million dollars is usually a matter of getting together a million dollars. No, it’s not a mistake, and I’m not joking. If you’re not capable to sustain a disciplined flow of work, I really doubt it that you’ll be able to even count that million, you’ll probably stop somewhere around 100,000 or your first available Porsche. A million dollars is a serious business, so be serious about it. (more…)