HOW TO MAKE MORE MONEY: THE SIMPLE STRATEGY THAT OUTPERFORMS STOCKS AND SHARES, REAL ESTATE, AND SUPERANNUATION by Christine Sutherland SMASHWORDS EDITION * * * * * PUBLISHED BY: Christine Sutherland on Smashwords How to Make More Money: The Simple Strategy that Outperforms Stocks and Shares, Real Estate, and Superannuation Copyright © 2011 by Christine Sutherland Smashwords Edition License Notes This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person you share it with. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then you should return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the author's work. * * * * * HOW TO MAKE MORE MONEY: THE SIMPLE STRATEGY THAT OUTPERFORMS STOCKS AND SHARES, REAL ESTATE, AND SUPERANNUATION Forward: Income Acumen – What You Were NEVER Taught at School or University My son sat at the table, head in hands, anguished at his struggle to provide for his family. Finally he blurted out “Will somebody just tell me how to earn real money and I’ll do it!” This book is for all those people who simply don’t have enough: enough to live on, enough to escape debt, enough to fulfil dreams, enough to retire in real comfort. This is how to never have too little ever again. Some people end up with a lot of money in spite of having no income acumen. For instance a person may marry a very wealthy partner, be given money by their parents, win the lottery, or be paid millions for a talent. You could pin your hopes on that, but that would be pretty much leaving things to fate rather than taking control. That kind of “roll of the dice” way of becoming wealthy is not what this book is about. You might be relieved to hear that this book is also NOT about internet marketing and I hope by now you realise that this is for obvious reasons – except for a lucky few, that’s a pretty dumb way to go about achieving and maintaining wealth because no matter how you automate it, it’s still a job. And it’s notoriously fickle, with great ideas going from “flavour of the month” to “yesterday’s garbage” in a blink. This book is designed to deliver the crucial knowledge of wealth creation and maintenance that hardly anyone is ever taught, and which was certainly not part of any diploma or degree program you may have studied. In a nutshell, this book outlines the 4 options for making money, and demonstrates that 3 of them are either a poverty trap or leave you exposed to risk, and only 1 of them is simple, rapid, and risk-free, as well as holding the single biggest potential for you to quite literally choose your income, and choose whether that is hands on, or totally passive income. Will you do this simple strategy? Pretty much 100% of people COULD do this strategy because you don’t need any special skills or knowledge to start out – it’s just that most people don’t, and as you read more you’ll see why, and you’ll also understand why anyone with an ounce of pro-activity does so well. However I can guarantee that 99% of the people reading this book will either not take action, or will not take correct action, and are not open to even free learning OR ASSISTANCE to take action using this simple strategy. Read on and decide for yourself whether you are one of the 1% who will benefit from this simple strategy. (Co-incidentally, studies show that by age 65 less than 1% of people will be wealthy. With pensions and superannuation likely to crumble as governments seek to support the baby-boomers as they move into retirement, this is a figure that you need to take very seriously.) HOW TO MAKE ANY MONEY YOU WANT How Much Money Do You Need or Want? Some people have small dreams and some people have enormous dreams. If you were to sit down and make a list of every hope, desire or goal that you had, without once thinking in terms of money constraints, what would be on that list? Are you happy to live with those kinds of constraints, or in your heart of hearts would you prefer to have more choices, and be able to confer the same benefits on your children when they were ready to handle that freedom? The amount of money that you need or want in order to feel that you have “enough” will be different to what someone else requires. If you feel that you can live on a few hundred dollars a week and you feel confident that your current savings can generate that in your retirement, or if you feel confident that your pension or superannuation fund will pay that out in retirement, then maybe you already have all that you require and this book is a waste of time for you. Pass it on to someone else. However if you know that you need or want more than what you already have, if you want to get rid of debt, or if you have hopes and dreams that require more cash, or if you want to be able to help your children more, or help a worthy cause dear to your heart, then this book is perfect for you. Likewise if you are currently in a situation that is causing pain because you don’t have enough power of choice in how you spend your time, if you’re being torn from the people who need you because of a job that controls you, then this book is perfect for you. The big message in this book is that unless you already have an adequate, secure source of residual or passive income, then you need to find a way to get that. Most of us have been taught that we need to spend the whole of our working lives accumulating a lump sum investment which will continue to deliver an income into your retirement and cover all of your increasing expenses over that time. If we go along with that view, then depending on the risk level of your investment, you’ll receive somewhere between 4 and 10 percent interest, less whatever tax level you’re categorised at. For most people the nest egg which can be accumulated will be somewhere between $500,000 and $1,000,000 dollars, providing an income between $20,000 and $100,000 per annum. How long would it take you to save that amount of money? How old would you be by then? What are your chances of getting hold of that cash if you continue doing what you’re currently doing? Is there really a faster way that can short-cut years of arduous saving? Let’s take a look Option 1 – Get Another Job or Win a Raise You can increase your current income and save more money by: • Getting a second job • Having your spouse get a second job • Studying for a better qualification and getting a better job • Winning a raise in your current position • Getting a promotion to a higher-paid position You may be able to increase your income by perhaps $10-20,000 per annum with this strategy, minus tax at a higher rate. You should be able to save maybe an extra $7-15,000 per annum with this strategy, and if you did this for 20 years without ever dipping into it, the accumulated savings and interest would be somewhere between $300,000 and $893,000. At the end of 20 years, that would generate a passive income of between $12,000 and $89,000 per annum, less any taxes payable. Of course, in 20 years that money won’t be worth anything like what those sums represent right now! For the overwhelming majority of people, this is nowhere near enough to live on, with any degree of comfort, let alone freedom. But it’s a choice that the majority of people make, and for some people it may be all that they’re capable of. What usually drives people away from the employment scenario is the pain of not having enough money to live the life of their choice, and also not having control over their time, having to literally ask permission of a boss before making decisions about where to be, and for how long. This latter issue was brought home to me very loud and clear when a colleague described having to take holiday leave in order to visit a critically ill brother. Unfortunately as it turned out it became clear that he was going to pass away in the relatively near future and of course every shred of her being wanted to be there with him and the rest of the family at such a tragic time. My colleague was put in a position where she actually had to call her boss and literally beg to be allowed to stay, and it was then that she realised she’d been living the life of a slave, where her time was not her own. Never again. Option 2 – Start a Business Only this morning I was looking at a list of our State’s top 100 wealthy people and what stood out was that invariably they were entrepreneurs, and invariably they had made money in businesses associated with engineering, mining, oil and gas, or large hospitality or education holdings. Nowhere was there anyone who’d made big money in small business. Nevertheless it’s quite surprising how many people think that starting their own small business is a smart way to accumulate wealth or to build an asset which has real value. The cold hard facts are that something like 90% of small businesses fail, and that most business owners don’t actually own a saleable business, but instead have “bought a job”; one that pays poorly and robs them of personal and family time, as well as providing a whole lot of stress. If you’re lucky enough to survive the first 3 years, you certainly will not have made a profit in most cases. Most businesses don’t even break even in that time. Starting a business, whether buying a business or building a new business, is a high-risk strategy that could lose everything you have worked so hard for. Option 3 – Learn to Invest in Property or Shares Really I should put these in 2 different categories because property investment is so much more secure than investing in shares or trading in shares. But one only has to see how property prices have plummeted in the United States virtually overnight to realise that even this has its risks. Lots of people think that this wouldn’t happen in Australia, but despite our mineral wealth we are absolutely at the mercy of our international markets. If China crashes, or no longer needs our minerals because it has its own (and it currently owns 100% of a massive mining operation in Western Australia and is about to build another, plus it is working on alternative sources in developing nations where they can secure supplies more cheaply) then our resources sector would crash overnight. In relation to share trading there are “outfits” (I won’t dignify them with the word “organisations”) which promise to teach you to make money on the stock market whether it is doing well or poorly. If this were true then don’t you think the most skilful and highly-experienced brokers in the world would be doing it for themselves? Sure there are success stories, but most people waste their multi-thousand- dollar training courses and lose money on the stock exchange as well. Money they didn’t have. So while investing in blue-chip stocks may be wise, and while prudent property investment may be wise, both of these require substantial cash or assets in order to secure the shares or property, and both take time to return an income. Plus both carry risks, particularly in today’s economic climate. My advice is to look at them, but don’t use them as your main source of income because that would make you 100% exposed to risk. You need another “iron in the fire” in order to both accumulate wealth, and assure a continuing, growing income over the years, one that keeps coming whether you work or not, which you can sell or bequeath to your children as you see fit in your declining years. Option 4 – The No-Risk or Almost-No-Risk Residual Income Strategy Only about 1% of people do well with this strategy and that’s because 99% of the population: • Make the wrong choice because they don’t do proper due diligence • Won’t even look at it because they presume they’re all the same (most times having had only the most appalling experiences of it and watched loved ones lose money and more because they “bought a dud”) • Won’t even look at it because they think they have to sell, and “selling” is a dirty word. In fact if you have to “sell”, it’s a dud! • Are not prepared to stick to a simple plan • Think they have no time, when in fact if it’s the real deal they can do it on 1 hour a week • Have an attitude problem and are simply too negative to be involved in a strategy that relies on authentic relationship building • Won’t ask for help The strategy I’m talking about is network marketing. Now put away your garlic and crosses and listen up. A few years ago I wrote a book called “Why 98% of Downlines Fail” in an attempt to protect people involved in network marketing, simply because the problems in the industry were so appalling and so many people were getting hurt. I set up a web site with free membership to accompany this free book so that people could get the help they needed, regardless of which company they’d joined. I wrote the “MLM Code of Ethics” because despite the industry peak body having brilliant ethics, these weren’t being translated to the coalface, except within a handful of model companies. So I am a fan of the industry in general for the reasons you’ll shortly see, but a pretty loud critic of the bad practices I’m sure you’ve come across. The reason I’m a critic is that I see too many companies that operate more like pyramid schemes than bona fide businesses, and especially too many companies that have products that are over-priced or which people don’t really want. The reason I’m a fan is that this is truly the most egalitarian business model in the world, where the guy at the bottom can earn more than the guy at the top, if the compensation plan is fair. And it’s an industry where it really is possible, provided you pick the right company, to build a sustainable residual income that can deliver any level of wealth that you choose. The good companies provide incredible support and resources and literally work alongside you every step of the way to give you the expertise you need, and the information you need to reach that success. It’s also an industry which can deliver wealth where there has been poverty, and can protect troubled economies from the impact of local catastrophe. It’s an industry that can make every business person a global business, competing easily on a world scale. But it’s about picking the right company, and here’s a simple list of due diligence items that should always be carefully checked but almost never are. You can ignore these and just go by gut feeling, but do that at your peril. If you want to achieve wealth, you need to have a professional approach to the selection of your company, and the execution of their proven business building strategy. HOW TO PICK THE RIGHT COMPANY 1 – You need to have a product or products which many people strongly desire, which is not available any other way or anywhere else, and which is affordable and competitively priced. Wow, that’s a lot packed into one heading, but I urge you to consider each aspect very carefully. If there isn’t a proven, ravenous market for the product then you’ll be pushing the “proverbial” uphill every time you show people. If it’s a common thing they can get anywhere, they’d rather keep doing that than change their purchasing habits and buy from you. If it’s not affordable, or priced above what people are already buying, then again it’s going to be hard going. However if the product is one that people are crazy for, if it’s a complete monopoly and they can’t get it anywhere else, and if the price is terrific, then you know you’re not going to have to do any selling or convincing. It’ll just be a matter of sharing it and people will be making up their own minds and pulling out their credit cards. Many companies claim that their products are “the highest quality” or “the most natural”. These days that is nowhere near enough! The world is absolutely awash with completely natural, highest possible quality products and this is no longer a competitive advantage! You need a degree of exclusivity which is way above this in order to really succeed. Why waste your time on boring or dud products when you can be involved with products that are so exciting and unique that people think of you as their new best friend? 2 – Again regarding products, there must be proof of any claims The health and wellness industry is awash with claims that are merely vague inferences, or are backed up by invalid or low-grade scientific references, or aren’t backed by anything at all. One slimming product had a scientific study that was done in a third-world country by fairly unknown academics. Don’t do business in this industry unless there are rigorous 3rd-party studies by scientists who are regarded as being at the top of their field and are associated with respected universities or laboratories. 3 – Don’t let them “nickel and dime” you I often see companies with products or services that merely deliver a few cents or a few dollars per transaction, per person. This means that you need to find hundreds or thousands of customers before you break even. If you can’t show your prospective downline how to make money quickly, why would anyone look twice at your company? Sure they’ll tell you that you need to build a big team in order to get LEVERAGE that will multiply those cents into hundreds or thousands of dollars. Why not combine this principle of leverage with a decent amount of income per transaction? Don’t settle for a few cents or dollars per transaction because you don’t have to! Make sure the flow of income is substantial even for beginners. 4 – Don’t stock big inventories or do monthly orders of stuff you don’t need! I’m always horrified when people show me companies which require people to carry large stocks, or to purchase advance orders of stock they don’t personally need. Some time ago a dear colleague asked me to review an opportunity he was assessing. There were several things wrong, but a key fault was that they required him to purchase over $300 of stock per month which he was expected to onsell. In some businesses that wouldn’t be such a big problem but this one was in a competitive market where people could already get an equivalent product cheaper. He had to find 150 new customers or a regular retailer who would put it on the shelf at a wholesale price higher than they were already selling other product at retail. It was total madness. 5 – Don’t get involved in businesses where you’re running around delivering to customers This is another of my pet hates and I regard it as completely unprofessional of the company to require its distributors to do this. In fact I get angry when I see competent business builders have their time wasted in this way, let alone being dumped with the delivery costs which the company should be handling! 6 - The product/s should be immune to technological supersedence We can never be totally sure with technology whether something is going to last, or whether a company is going to stay at the forefront and therefore survive and thrive. If the product/s carry strong patents and it would appear that no-one can duplicate or improve on it, then you’re onto a winner. If it’s communication technology for instance and you can see that pretty soon it’s probably going to be free or almost free and offered all over the place, then you sure wouldn’t base a business on it! 7- There should be a flow of consumables via automatic monthly delivery that pretty much every customer WANTS If you have to constantly find new clients, instead of having clients that buy and buy again automatically, then it will be a struggle. There’s no leverage in that. By having products that people really WANT regularly, and which attract a significant discount and other rewards by being on auto- ship, you’ll ensure continuity of that income stream, as well as eventually a huge raft of customers who rave about your products to others and literally act as your happy sales team! 8 - The age of the company is a good indication that it’ll be around for a while yet! You might be surprised to know that thousands of new network marketing companies start up every year, and thousands die. The younger a company is, the less of a track record it has, and the more risk you are taking on. This doesn’t mean that all young companies should be avoided, or that all old companies are a good choice, but it’s an indication. If you’re in your 20’s and have got time to get it wrong, you can afford to take more risk. If you’re 30’s or above, you should more likely stick to solid companies that have exceptional track records. 9 – The founders and chief executives should be people of excellent repute This may surprise you but there is a strong prevalence of business failure, lousy ethics, and even criminality in this industry mainly because it’s seen as a “get rich quick” scenario. It attracts the worst of people as well as the very best of people. Check carefully that you are joining a company led by the best of people. 10 – The team you are joining matters almost as much as the company you are joining You can pretty well sum up the team you are joining by the calibre of the person who has presented the opportunity to you. They may be new, and may not have developed much expertise or have a track record, but even if that’s the case they should be able to point out those individuals who form the team, and those who lead the team, so that you can see there is solid guidance, training, and support to back you every step of the way and assure your success. If you’re talking to someone who can’t at least get you on the phone or on Skype with a successful team member who is also keen to work with you, this is probably not an indication that you’re joining a quality team. Successful teams are successful because they’re doing it right and it makes sense to stick with winners. And success is not an individual pursuit. Success is a team effort. 11 – Financial strength of the company Being debt free isn’t everything, but if a company is genuinely debt free and asset rich, and can demonstrate increasing sales, especially if it’s publicly traded (so that its finances are transparent) and if it has an excellent credit ranking, then it’s probably a company that has tremendous financial strength. 12 – Physical location of the company It should go without saying that if a company does not have a headquarters at a known physical location, with contact details readily available, then don’t even give it a second glance. That type of business can and has disappeared overnight leaving many thousands of people in the lurch. Check the physical location and make sure it’s real and substantial, not just a garage at someone’s house. 13 – The money must keep coming even long after you’ve retired There are only a handful of companies where the business you build is an actual asset which you own, which continues to deliver high residual income even after your death, so that your children and grandchildren can benefit, and which you can sell, put a manager in, or even borrow money on. Make sure that when you stop working, the company is still working for you. Otherwise it’s no different than a job, where the money stops if you stop. 14 - The compensation plan I put this one last because it’s possibly the least important, despite what you’ll be told. If everything else is right, the compensation plan barely registers on the scale of significance. In any case most compensation plans are extremely complex and for good reason, because if there is a strategic error in the compensation plan it will lead to activities that don’t promote sustainability or growth. For instance compensation plans that pay for recruitment tend to lead to failure. Essentially, commissions should only be paid when product is purchased. If you avoid starting with the company until you understand the compensation plan, you will never [...]... it That s why the top companies often won’t even get into any detail until you join, and include that in the training process of new people As you get to know and understand the compensation plan better, you’ll see just how exquisitely intelligent and strategic many of them are when it comes to encouraging the exact activities that lead to the most success for the distributors What Will You Need to. .. these words and seen the relevance of them for you and your circumstances, it’s worth exploring a little more and asking for a face -to- face or Skype meeting with the person who’s recommended this book on to you Once you’ve had that meeting and you’ve had a chance to explore the company as well as a chance to assess each other to consider whether you could work well together, the next step may be to view... you so that you can learn without pressure, until you feel 100% confident of doing that yourself Your sponsor will help you to sign up your first few customers/downline, and will continue to meet with you, face -to- face or by phone or Skype, to support you and to help you achieve the goals that led you to join the business in the first place Your sponsor will seek to refine their own skills and knowledge... step of the way and have shared so generously of their experience, knowledge and expertise and most certainly allowed me to enjoy a level of personal and professional success I could never have dreamed of These days, to be able to share that with others is both an honour and a partial repayment of a debt that quite frankly I feel will never be settled because the love and support from my sponsor and team... and allowing people to make up their own minds Your second job, when you feel ready, is to become a leader, working personally with others to help them achieve their goals and dreams Hopefully you’ve chosen the right opportunity where that is actually possible How Much Money Can You Make with a Network Distribution Business? As you can imagine, this is something that varies enormously from person to. .. the products and company, or to attend an introductory event, or to fill out a questionnaire that will seek to determine if you’re suitable for the opportunity Keep in mind that we know that not everyone will be successful, and we also very much appreciate the value of our own time No-one wants to invest precious time, energy, commitment, and might I say friendship, in someone who doesn’t exhibit the. .. meeting with you and their own expert upline so that everyone gets to move ahead in their abilities Thanks to Skype, even that can be done extremely well anywhere in the world Your first basic job, with the help of your sponsor, is simply to share the products or opportunities with people who identify themselves as interested in doing that You won’t be selling and you won’t be trying to convince anyone... to Do to Be Successful with a Network Distribution Business? First up, although in time you’ll want to be an expert on your products, your initial attention needs to go into learning exactly what is the duplication model used by the business You’ve got to understand the business first and get cracking with the close help of your sponsor Your sponsor will help you set your financial goals for the business,... you set your financial goals for the business, and determine how much time can be devoted and when Your sponsor will help you make a list of people who may be interested in seeing the products or who may, like you, be open to evaluating options other than what they’re doing Your sponsor will show you how to easily set up appointments, as well as a very simple structure for running an interesting presentation... for success The primary things we are looking for are a positive attitude, good humour, and a clear willingness to be coached If you have those, despite any other deficits that may exist, you can trust we’re going to give you every possible assistance on the exciting journey we’ll be sharing together As I’m writing this book, I still give thanks for the continued support of my own sponsor and team who’ve . BY: Christine Sutherland on Smashwords How to Make More Money: The Simple Strategy that Outperforms Stocks and Shares, Real Estate, and Superannuation Copyright © 2011 by Christine Sutherland Smashwords. HOW TO MAKE MORE MONEY: THE SIMPLE STRATEGY THAT OUTPERFORMS STOCKS AND SHARES, REAL ESTATE, AND SUPERANNUATION by Christine Sutherland SMASHWORDS EDITION * * *. then you should return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the author's work. * * * * * HOW TO MAKE MORE MONEY: THE SIMPLE STRATEGY THAT OUTPERFORMS STOCKS