I understand where you are coming from. I felt the same way. I started out low on the totem pole in the corporate world. I never graduated from college, so I did not have any special degrees to flash around. So I worked hard, first doing multiple jobs to make ends meet (clothing store, bookstore, pool hall), then as a Spanish-speaking claims representative for an insurance company, and finally as a support analyst and then programmer analyst. After 10 years, I worked my way to the position of department head – Director of Information Technology – in a small company that was doing very well.

Through it all, I had those concerns about paying pills and providing for family. I met my wife the first week I moved to Atlanta, and we fell in love immediately. Our marriage made me an instant father to our then 9-year old son and our daughter came a few years later. So now I had the steady, high-paying job, the family, etc.

But was it really stable?

No, it wasn’t. Even in the position I was in, we were not happy. My daughter and son were frustrated because I was working all of the time. I was stressed from work. We had the money to pay the bills, but what were we really doing? We were living the typical illusion that you work hard, save up, and then create a legacy for your children and retire. That is so popular and common that most people don’t question it …

… even though the statistics are available to prove that the 40/40/40 plan doesn’t work (40 years, 40 hours a week, $40k a year). The majority … not a small portion, not an average statistic, no, the majority of people retire at or near the poverty level.

So, knowing this, and wanting so badly to spend the time with my family I felt they deserved, I started looking into becoming an entrepeneur. Now, I was in the same boat as everyone else – very analytical, cyncical, cautious, had to plot out my course and make sure the factors aligned appropriately before committing to anything, etc. So when I looked at the failure rate for businesses and entrepeneurs, I said, nope, not for me.

But, fortunately, I had learned that to be successful, we must have teachers. So I found teachers. I found people whose lives were the ones I wanted to live – people like Ian King, John Di Lemme, Mike Litman, and Jeffrey Combs. Millionaires but, more importantly, not the money they possessed – but the time freedom they had. See, I could care less if I made $1 if I could make sure I had a safe home to put my family in and spend the time with my children.

So I followed these mentors, and listened to successful businessmen like Robert Kiyosaki, Jim Rohn, Brian Tracy, Steven Covey, John Milton-Fogg, Dr. Joe “Mr. Fire” Vitale, etc. And I really listened.
And here’s what I found.

It’s not about being analytical. 99% of the world is that way, and 99% of the world is not getting what they want. The 1% who are there get out of their head and into their heart. They tap into a passion greater than the fear of “what if.”

It’s not about having your eggs in one basket. Multiple streams of income really is a strategy that is amazing. One of my streams of income paid me weekly during my move, when I did nothing business related except launch my e-Book for 2 weeks, and it has paid me other months when I haven’t even touched that business. Even $100 in a week is like having an interest payout on thousands in the bank.

It’s not about trading time for money. Every successful person I have met has learned to leverage their knowledge and work with others. Examples of leverage include writing a book – you put the effort in initially, but then it is leveraged as it makes sales. See, I don’t have to write that book 1,000 times when I make 1,000 sales – I only write it once. Multilevel marketing is another example of leverage. There are dozens of millions in this legitimate business model world wide, but the majority of people will only listen to the negative myths they hear floating around and don’t take a serious look … which is fine, because the few who do are rewarded by finding out how incredible it can be.

It’s really a lot to do with the word, “courage.” I left my corporate job before I was making the same amount of money on my own. See, most people are so ultra-conservative, if they are making $100,000 per year, they refuse to do anything else unless they can generate that part time. Yes, I know, bills are a reality, etc. Here is the real reality