“Money is the opposite of the weather. Nobody talks about it, but everybody does something about it.” ~Rebecca Johnson

Just like a cat that was placed in a box while growing up, we all have existing constraints on the amount of money we believe we can have. A cat who grew up in a box will always maintain a smaller posture, but we as humans can change our constraints.

Sometimes our constraints come from our childhood, the attitudes of our family and friends, or just what we believe is possible for ourselves. Your money comfort zone affects both the amount of money you earn on a monthly basis, and your net worth.

Are You Stuck In Your Money Comfort Zone?

Perhaps you think that there is no invisible line stopping you from increasing the amount of money that you bring in on a yearly basis, or on the amount of money you have in your bank account. The following are some signs that might indicate you are living a little too comfortably within your money comfort zone.

• Your net worth returns to an original starting point after receiving a lump sum, such as winning the lottery, getting a bonus, etc.
• You start making more money, but you spend the extra and are right back where you started.
• You have money making opportunities and ideas, but you lack follow-through.

My Personal Experience

Four years ago I started getting into goal setting, the law of attraction, and personal development. At that time I set an arbitrary goal to test if all of these new techniques actually worked. My goal was to have $48,000 in my bank account.

Depending on your financial situation $48,000 might seem like a lot or a little. When I set this goal, I had $5000 in my bank account, and was a full-time student. I reached my goal before graduating from University, through a string of events that I never could have envisioned. I got a scholarship worth $10,000, I created a few thousand dollars through passive income, and I made more money than I could have imagined through internships.

You might think that I should set a higher goal, like $500,000. But I’ve come to learn that you need to take this process is one step at a time. You need to allow yourself to become accustomed to the idea of having larger and larger amounts of money.

Money Exercises

First I’ll explain the exercises, and then I’ll explain why they work. Most of these exercises existed long before The Secret came out. Some of these exercises might seem a bit “woo-woo”, but you will understand why they work after you read the next section, so please keep an open mind.

Bank Account Snapshot

“If only God would give me some clear sign! Like making a large deposit in my name in a Swiss bank.” ~Woody Allen

• Low-Tech Version: Use your monthly bank account statement or print out your online account balances. Then apply some whiteout to erase your bank balance, and write over it with your ideal bank account balance.
• High-Tech Version: Take a snapshot of your online bank account statement. Then use image editing software like MS Paint, Skitch or Photoshop, and erase the total balance. Then replace it with your ideal bank balance! Print out your newly edited bank account statement.

Try to make it as realistic as possible, because the more realistic it looks the more likely you are to believe it. The more you believe that you have this amount in your bank account, the faster your subconscious will get to work making it a reality. Place the edited bank account statement in a prominent place and look at it every morning and every night.

Writing Checks

With more money comes more responsibility. Generally speaking, when you have larger sums of money, you need to circulate more of your money. You might write more checks for larger amounts. Remember to VOID all of the checks that you practice with.

• To Yourself: I have experimented with writing large checks to myself. Somehow this technique didn’t do much for me. I did start receiving more checks in the mail, I just didn’t know if it was because of writing checks to myself. I don’t want to dismiss this method entirely, because I think it is helpful for you to see a check with your name on it, no matter what amount it is.
• To Others: Writing checks to others is something you need to get comfortable with. You might practice writing checks with larger sums of money. Perhaps you might write a check to your favorite charity. You don’t need to actually send these checks out, just VOID them. The act of practicing to write them out is what will help you get more comfortable with handling larger sums of money.

Use Pretend Money

“The safest way to double your money is to fold it over and put it in your pocket.” ~Kin Hubbard

Practicing with pretend money is a great way to get used to the feelings associated with handling real money. The Prosperity Game allows you to receive a pretend check every day, for free. You must spend the money, and each day you receive a larger amount of pretend money. You need to keep spending the entire amount, since this helps you push through resistance associated with large sums of money.

Warning: Don’t spend more than you can truly afford. Please note that none of these exercises require you to spend any actual money. If you cannot pay your credit cards off entirely, then you cannot afford the item you want to buy. Please wait until your finances have caught up to your desires.

No Target, No Progress

Setting a “net worth goal” or a monthly income goal is important because you get what you measure. For example, trying to reward students who print their reports double-sided might backfire. When students accidentally print a report single-sided, they will simply throw out the single-sided one and reprint it double-sided to avoid being punished.

Similarly, in order to have more money you need to set a specific goal that cannot be sidestepped, like a vague request for “more money”. Either you want to see more money coming in every month, or you want to see it accumulating in your bank account. You might also want to see more money paying off your debts, or into investments.

Measuring money is straightforward because it is numeric, but you need to actually pick a specific number. You also need to specify where this money will reside, what it will look like, and what it will feel like.

Photo by HaoJan Chang

Your Mind Is Prepared To Make It Happen

When you set a specific money goal, your mind starts to make things happen to make the goal come true. Every day we are inspired and presented with moneymaking opportunities. Yet unless you are working towards a particular goal, you might not recognize that you need to take action.

A flood came and a man had to climb onto the roof of his house. As the waters rose a neighbor in a rowboat appeared, and told him to get in. “No,” replied the man on the roof, “the Lord will save me.” Then a firefighter appeared in a speedboat. “Climb in!” shouted the firefighter. “No,” replied the man on the roof, “The Lord will save me.” A helicopter appeared and the pilot shouted that he would lower a rope to the man on the roof. “No,” replied the man on the roof, “the Lord will save me.” Eventually the man drowned and went to heaven, where he asked God why He hadn’t helped him. “I sent a neighbor, a firefighter, and helicopter,” said God. “What more do you want?”

Conclusions

So what are you waiting for? Take any one of the exercises and take action immediately. If you feel motivated, try all three. You will definitely be feeling some resistance, and maybe a bit of self sabotage when trying to work on these issues. That’s normal, we all have issues with money. Just know that I’ll be right here along with you, sharing my own experiences, and looking forward to hearing about yours.Similar Posts:

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“I like work: it fascinates me. I can sit and look at it for hours.” ~Jerome K. Jerome

If you have yet to cut your typical work week down to 4 hours, like Tim Ferris has in his book The Four-Hour Work Week, here’s how to make your work week work for you instead of against you.

If you often hear yourself or your friends say, “Monday Sucks!”, or “Friday rocks”, you need to read this. Making your work week work for you is more than just work life balance, it’s about reclaiming your daily rituals outside of work.

Here’s a quick run through of what a typical work week might look like for most people.

• Mondays Suck: You hit the alarm button on Monday morning feeling like crap. You played hard during weekend and now you’re too tired to go back to work. But that’s okay because you can take your time gearing up for the week, by reading e-mails at work, or drinking lots of coffee.
• Tuesdays Too: Tuesday is a lot like Monday, except that you might get more work done. You’re getting back into the swing of things, although you still resented waking up. Maybe there is a treat waiting for you at home, like a good television show or a bag of cookies.
• Wednesday is Hump Day: Wednesday is much better, you can see the weekend on the horizon. After noon, you know that you are halfway through the week. You just need to hang tight, pretend to do a bit more work, and you’re home free.
• Thirsty Thursday: Thursday is for celebration with your coworkers. After work, you might go out for drinks, hence why it’s called thirsty Thursday. You’ll be so glad that you’re nearing the end of the week, that you might overindulge and drink a few too many.
• Thank God It’s Friday: The reality of Thursday’s drinking sets in. The good thing is that everyone else is a bit tired too. Fridays tend to be a lot more relaxed and social, so you might not get a lot of work done. You might take a long lunch, or just twiddle your thumbs until closing time.
• Saturdays Are Fun: Saturday you sleep in! You wake up late and head out on the town. You might overindulge in some “special” foods, just as a reward for all the hard work you did during the week. Then you meet up with friends for a bit of fun on the town or a dinner party. When it’s Saturday, it feels like you have all the free time in the world.
• Sunday Means Monday Is Coming: Sundays seem way too short, especially because Monday is looming. You might try to fit in a few chores, work on your personal goals, or see more of your friends and family. No matter what you decide to do, you have a dreadful feeling because you know it all starts over tomorrow.

“The brain is a wonderful organ. It starts working the moment you get up in the morning and does not stop until you get into the office.” ~Robert Frost

How to Reclaim Your Week

It was only after disconnecting from my working life and school life, that I was able to realize how much our “weeks” have been ruling over us. When weeks were created, it was to help us organize our time better. Now it seems that we use these week days and weekend days to create excuses to hide from our true purpose.

While traveling in China, I met a young girl in her last year of high school. Her schedule is very strict, and she goes to school 7 days per week. She wakes up at 5:30am, goes to school at 7:30am, comes home around 9:30pm, and studies until 11:30pm. Her dedication really impressed me! Her only break from school is Sunday afternoons, and that got me thinking about how much we complain about Mondays when others in her situation don’t even get a week-end off.

Photo by Marie M.

Create a Morning Ritual

“I have always felt that the moment when first you wake up in the morning is the most wonderful of the twenty-four hours.” ~Monica Baldwin

The single most effective way to reclaim your week is to devote time to yourself early in the morning. If you are are already waking up early, you might consider going to bed earlier so that you may wake up one hour earlier. If you find it hard to wake up earlier, consider that self-sabotage might be a hint in the right direction. One hour is all it takes. During this hour you should do something similar to the following:

• Drink lots of water: at least one large glass, but more if you feel up to it. Your body is dehydrated from sleeping all night, so reward it by drinking lots of water first thing in the morning.
• Do 15 minutes of rigorous exercise: exercise first thing in the morning is great for your mental and physical well-being. It wakes you up, and energizes you. Try running up and down a set of stairs, or skipping rope.
• Eat something healthy: fresh fruit, or a blend of fruits and vegetables in your blender or juicer. Fruit is energizing, and eating something healthy in the morning sets the tone for the rest of the day. You are less likely to cheat on your healthy diet if you start your day off well.
• Write in your journal, or pursue goals: do something for yourself. Most of the time we are helping other people chase their goals, and creating value for them. Taking the time to write out what it is you feel and experience every day will crystallize your experiences and set you in the right direction. Other times, we might feel confused when thinking of our goals, and first thing in the morning is the most clear thinking time you have.

“You must have a certain hour or so a day, where you don’t know what was in the newspapers that morning… a place where you can simply experience and bring forth what you are and what you might be.” ~Joseph Campbell

Spend Time With Others

After you get home from work, it is not time to pop a TV dinner into the microwave, and sit down to watch lots of television. You should seek out intimate contact with others: family members, friends, or a loving relationship.

The reason you should seek out intimate contact is that truthful, deep, meaningful conversation help you feel alive and on purpose. The more you talk about mundane things, such as who won American Idol, the weather, or who got evicted from a reality television show, the less real you feel.

Try spending time with others who support your goals and your personal growth. Do the same for them.

Photo by Aaron Michael Brown

Map out Your Goals, And Schedule Them In

“I get up every morning determined to both change the world and have one hell of a good time. Sometimes this makes planning my day difficult.” ~E. B. White

Setting goals helps you to see where you are going in the future. Week after week, it may feel like you are not advancing or going anywhere. But if you are actively setting goals, planning out each step along the way, and checking them off as you finish them, you will feel a lot more fulfilled.

Every action you take that gets you closer to your goals will allow you more freedom in the future. You might think that it is a lot of work to take steps toward changing your situation, but the benefits will far outweigh the costs.

It’s all in the attitude you choose to have, and the sooner you make the change the faster your work week will be working for you instead of against you!Similar Posts:

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“The chief value of money lies in the fact that one lives in a world in which it is overestimated.” ~H. L. Mencken

This is a guest post by Peter Normandia from Yin vs. Yang.

Growing up in the in the late 1980s/early 90s, I was taught to do well in school, get a job, and save as much as I could for retirement. Essentially, the concept was to play your cards right and hope to win big.

No wonder I had to learn about money the hard way.

Although it was given with the best of intentions, I have found that advice completely useless in today’s world. Times have changed.

In today’s fight to gain wealth and live a happy life, the rules keep on changing. No longer is going to college and getting a job all you need to do. Information is moving at speeds faster than ever before. It is nearly impossible to count on one business to sustain you for the entirety of your life. The goal of stability has been replaced by the necessity of adaptability.

According to economic experts like Robert Kiyosaki, entrepreneurs need to be able to adapt:

“As entrepreneurs, we need to stop looking at employees from an Industrial Age point of view. In the Industrial Age, employees were rewarded for things like seniority. In the Information Age, seniority is death via obsolescence. In the Industrial Age, a senior employee had more experience. In the Information Age, experience can be a liability.” (source)

In our fight to become wealthy enough to live out our wildest dreams, we all tend to look at everything from a money standpoint. When a business opportunity arises, it always comes down to the money. Money plays a central role in our life, therefore we equate getting a lot of money with happiness. Naturally, this leads to our financial situations weighing in our daily decision making. We look at every opportunity like an accountant, determining the benefit to our balance sheet.

Photo by Eric Hart

Don’t Play By The “Old” Rules You Were Taught

“I have enough money to last me the rest of my life, unless I buy something.” ~Jackie Mason

However, this is not the way to become a billionaire. Actually, as I found out the hard way, it is a good way to go broke.

Not just financially either. It’s especially hard on the spirit. The spirit is what you need to develop in order to achieve your dreams. Without a good spirit, you will run out of gas before you ever get near your goals. All of the answers lie inside of you. It is your dreams, thoughts, actions, and words that shape your life, whether you realize it or not.

Successful women have always known that. For example, look at this quote from Forbes about The World’s Billionaire Women (source)…

“…while there is much to desire about their well-funded lifestyles– shopping sprees, luxury getaways and personal assistants to name a few–it isn’t just their bank accounts that make us covetous. Many of these notable women have influential careers, respected philanthropies and admirable ambition.”

Photo by Darren Hester

Strive to Make Success Your Daily Staple

“Money can’t buy happiness, but neither can poverty.” ~Leo Rosten

Ever notice how successful people tend to be successful in many of the things they do? This is because they understand how to be successful. It is part of their spirit. There is no reason it can not be part of yours.

Everything we do comes from the person we are inside. Working on who we are as a person is the best way to get where we want to be in life. Living out our dreams all starts on the inside when we recognize what those dreams are.

The rest is just a matter of time… You can learn more on how to achieve the inner shifts that will enable your spirit to thrive, and thus come into more money by browsing the Billionaire Woman archives.Similar Posts:

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• Halloween Special: Who Do You See When You Look In The Mirror?

“The face is the mirror of the mind, and eyes without speaking confess the secrets of the heart.” ~St. Jerome

Halloween is one of my favorite holidays, so I decided to take a look at what goes on when we don a Halloween costume. We are essentially trying to be someone else for the night, and that is an interesting concept in itself. When we think of ourselves as someone else, it gives us a chance to look at ourselves more objectively.

When you look at yourself in the mirror, who or what do you see?

Do You See Yourself as Others See You?

Sometimes our self-perceptions can get distorted if we don’t receive feedback from others. You can ask for feedback about your behaviors, your ideas, and even your looks. To ask for feedback takes a lot of courage, but it will help you to form a better picture of your strengths and weaknesses, so that you can be the person you can.

When you know your strengths, you can showcase them and tell others about them, like on a resume, or when you meet someone who you can help you achieve your goals. Knowing your best qualities will also help you to increase your self-esteem, and protect you against harsh comments from less than conscious people.

When you know your weaknesses, you can use a martial arts technique that my instructor once taught me: turn your weakest move into your best move. If there’s something you are not good at, but you really wish to improve on, practice it until it because your best quality. For instance, if you are not good at remembering names, practice this skill until people know you as the one who is good with names.

Photo by Hannah Webster

Do You See Only Your “Bad Side”?

Your bad side might be called the ego, the nagging part of you, and so on. The word ego is so overloaded in today’s world, so I am going to call it the Inner Parent. When you look in the mirror, do you hear the voice of your nagging Inner Parent, telling you what’s wrong with you? If you give in to these thoughts, not only will you start believing that you are as worthless as your inner parent says, but it will affect your whole day, and maybe even the direction of your life.

Talk to your Inner Parent. Have a conversation with your inner parent, and ask him or her how she feels about you. Be open to receiving both praise and constructive criticism. This information is coming from within you, and you should be able to trust it enough to act on it.

Or, Do You See Your “Good Side”?

“Life is just a mirror, and what you see out there, you must first see inside of you.” ~Wally ‘Famous’ Amos

If you tend to be a carefree spirit, you might see your inner child when you look at yourself in the mirror. Asking your Inner Child to come out and play is a worthwhile activity that you might want to work into your busy schedule. There are different ways to make your inner child come out and play. When people connect and really share good times together, it is generally when both of their inner children are out and playful.

Sell Yourself to Yourself Script

The book The Magic of Thinking Big had many great ideas, but the one that really struck me was the idea of writing a script to sell yourself to yourself. Advertisers write ads to sell stuff to you all the time, so why wouldn’t you use their techniques, which work really well, to sell yourself to yourself?

The concept is to write something that really makes you feel good about yourself, that extols all your good qualities (this would be a good place to put a weakness that you want to turn into a quality), and that puts you in a great mood. Read it out loud to yourself in front of a mirror, at least three times per day. Within 3 weeks you won’t need to read it out loud, just looking at yourself in the mirror will bring out your great mood and confidence!

Photo by Nina Hiironniemi

Do Something Fun

One way to get your inner child to come out and play is to do something fun that you enjoy doing. For some it could be dancing the night away, knitting, building model toy-kits, painting, exercising, playing in the mud, etc. Think back to your childhood and find an activity that still gets you excited, and see if you can go back to that time and place and have fun as your ageless self!

Call One of Your Favorite People

Let inner child realize it is safe out here in this crazy world, and call a friend who often has their inner child out to play. If you laugh a lot when you are together, or if you just feel good, then connect with this person often! Try to find more people like these to share experiences with, since this type of mastermind group can really transform your life.

Laugh for No Good Reason

Laughing is so good for you, it’s not even necessary for anything to be funny. If you feel down, or just need your inner child to say hi: laugh. I’ve learned that it is possible to force yourself to laugh, even if it sounds fake at first. If you are in a group, everyone else’s fake laughter will be enough to cause you to really laugh. Laughing keeps us healthy, tones our stomach muscles, gets the blood circulating, and boosts our mood. If you can’t force yourself to laugh, watch a funny movie or listen to comedians.

Look At Some Inspiring Photos

The inner child gets inspired to come out when there are breath taking views to look at. If you can’t climb a mountain and watch a sunset, the next best thing is to look at some stunning photography. These breath taking scenes are enough to melt away your worries, and can increase your inner child’s confidence.

Read a Motivational Book

Reading a book is a relaxing way to ponder on life’s great mysteries. When you read a book, you are essentially letting the author take you by the hand and guide you through their version of reality. This is kind of like talking to a good friend, except through time and space by way of print. Let your inner child connect with the inner child of the author, and enjoy the ride!

Play Challenging Games

Competition may be something that comes naturally to men, as opposed to women, but it is still good to practice this skill. When you play a game against someone else, you are testing your limits, and discovering more truths about yourself. Playing traditional board games or creative word games is enough to get your inner child out of its shell. Just don’t let the inner parent interrupt the fun, if the competition is getting too fierce.

Do something Creative

Creative self-expression is one of the most fundamental needs of human beings, once our most basic needs are met. When you express your innermost thoughts and desires through such forms as art, music, writing, dancing, and so on, you are releasing a flood of good emotions. You are also releasing many feelings and ideas that may have been bottled up inside of you for a long time, so just be aware that it might be uncomfortable at first. The more you allow yourself to express your creative side, the better it will feel.

“There are two ways of spreading light: to be the candle or the mirror that reflects it.” ~Edith Wharton

Try doing any of these exercises and then looking at yourself in the mirror, I guarantee you will experience a different You looking back!

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“Let your food be your medicine and your medicine be your food” ~Hippocrates 460 - 359 BC

This is a guest post by Robin Li.

Taking vitamins and not eating fruits is the same as killing puppies! Not getting my logic? I sure hope not. Allow me to explain in detail. Some people like to argue that since oranges have lots of vitamin C, and vitamin C is good for you, then popping lots of vitamin C pills is just as good as eating lots of juicy oranges.

Introducing The Puppy Analogy

This logic sounds pretty good at first sight. Let’s apply it to a cute fluffy puppy. What makes a puppy so cute and lovable? Let’s apply the “vitamin logic” to a puppy’s furriness: if I give you a tuft of fur, you don’t get benefits of petting a puppy. Similarly, puppies always have those signature innocent puppy eyes, but do you really want me to spell out the outcome of applying the “vitamin logic” here? This kind of reductionist logic might be good when studying physics, but it does not work in a complex setting such as the interaction between the human body and food.

We have been trained through the Western science mindset, where the world is modeled to a set of distinct entities and the interactions between them are defined as a series of cause-and-effect relationships. The paradigm is excellent when studying physics and chemistry, since in a lab environment, different variables can be strictly controlled.

For the majority of the studies, it is crucial to have only one variable, with all the other factors fixed. With this kind of control, the variation in the result can be directly attributed to the change in a single variable. When there are more than one variable, how can we distinguish what exactly caused the result?

Since everyone is trained to think in this fashion, we naturally try to understand everything in life in a straightforward cause-and-effect fashion. However, we are ignoring many crucial differences, especially when it comes to the human body.

The human body is a vastly complex system with countless variables that are completely beyond the comprehension of modern science. With such a complex system, how can we study the effect of a single factor?

Photo by Luke Cox

When it comes to nutrition, we can first look at what the really healthy people eat the most. Say, they eat a lot of oranges and fruits, then let’s find out what is in the oranges that makes the body function so well. Scientists in a lab then find there are chemicals called vitamins and one especially seems to have a crucial function in the metabolic process, namely, vitamin C.

Based on conventional wisdom, it would mean that consuming more vitamin C in a pill form would be the same as eating a bushel of oranges, which brings us back to the initial argument.

Vitamin C in a Pill Versus Vitamin C in an Orange

• Taste: The pill doesn’t taste as nice. It might not be a health consideration, but as a connoisseur, I find it important to warrant a spot at the top of the list.
• Absorption: The pill form is not treated in the same way as the orange. Our bodies evolved to absorb nutrients from whole food, not from concentrated pill forms. Without all the other ingredients that constitute an orange, our body cannot process vitamin C as efficiently when ingesting a pill.
• Balanced: Just because vitamin C is good for us, that doesn’t mean all the other things are not. By eating an orange, you get the whole package, the entire fluffy puppy, not just getting a bunch of hair or a pair of gory eyes. Just because science finds them to have a less prominent effect than vitamin C, it doesn’t mean we don’t need them at all.

The Science Behind Nutrition

“I no longer prepare food or drink with more than one ingredient.” ~Cyra McFadden

For all the science lovers out there (including myself), I am not attacking all scientific studies. All experiments conducted without bias are good science, no matter how wrong or ridiculous the conclusion might be. I am, however, attacking how science is interpreted by the media and in advertisements.

Some people might pride themselves as having a good understanding of the science of nutrition, such as “carbohydrates make you fat” and “vitamins are good for you”. Yet few people have actually read the scientific studies beyond the title or the summary. To be honest, most of the scientific papers are rather boring, because they are not written for an audience of non-professionals. They are performed under controlled circumstances, it is impractical to apply them to everyday life.

However, companies are only too happy to take the results out of context and sell their products. The health supplement industry has been booming, yet people don’t seem to be getting any healthier. It is not really health the pills are supplementing, but the bank accounts of their creators and marketers.

The real answer to overall well-being has already been discovered and has been in the produce section at your local grocery store all along. Dr Campbell’s book “The China Study” has more in depth information about eating whole foods.

The Influence of Media on What We Eat

Today, consumers are exceedingly controlled by the media and the media are increasing its indoctrination to make sure the consumers do not awaken from the mind-spell. Consumers are taught that there is nothing they can do to change, and an external savior is the solution to all their problems.

Often, we hear a treatment or a medicine hailed as the miracle cure that we have been waiting for, yet it dies down just as fast as it soared into stardom. Only the consumers are left with fewer dollars in their pockets and more in the coffers of big companies.

However, the myth that marketing propagates is about to be shattered. The human body is capable of great things without any external influence. I don’t think the term “placebo” is too foreign an idea for everyone. It is generally cast in a negative light, though there is really no reason for such accusation. The placebo effect means when a person gets better after taking a sugar pill (placebo), and was told that the pill is a drug that is supposed to make him feel better.

It is not well-regarded by the medical community as it is out of their control, which would mean they cannot profit from it. It is actually quite a marvelous effect as it represents the power of one’s mind over one’s body. The mind can heal the body without any external influence, why shouldn’t it be encouraged?

Photo by Koen

Eat Whole Foods or The Puppy Gets It

Many alternative medicines try to trigger the internal defense system to fortify the human body, which is often scorned by the Western medical science as completely bogus because it cannot be differentiated from the placebo effect. My response to that is, if it works, does it matter whether it is the medicine or the mind that did the trick?

Furthermore, the body’s self-defense can save you from the numerous side-effects so “well-studied” by all the big drug companies. Health is in our own hands, not in the hands of doctors and greedy drug companies.

If you want to get healthy, believe in yourself and eat healthy. You are your best miracle cure and you don’t need a TV commercial to tell you otherwise. Next time you are tempted by a pill, think of a cute puppy and remember the favor you would be doing it by eating a whole orange.

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“Certainly, travel is more than the seeing of sights; it is a change that goes on, deep and permanent, in the ideas of living.” ~Miriam Beard

When thinking of billionaire women, living a luxurious lifestyle, you might imagine lots of international travel. In truth, traveling has both upsides and downsides, as most people who travel often can attest to. Spending hours at the airport, lugging heavy baggage, getting lost, and not being able to communicate with the locals, are just some of the problems you might encounter during a trip abroad.

Of course, we all want to escape our day-to-day routines, and explore the rest of the world. So what exactly can you do to make your travel experience a success? How do you make travel more than just a sight-seeing checklist? As with most endeavors it starts with goal setting, planning, learning to let go of the things you can’t control, and just enjoying the journey.

Itching to Travel

“Own only what you can carry with you; know language, know countries, know people. Let your memory be your travel bag.” ~Alexander Solzhenitsyn

• Travel Daydreams: If have been daydreaming about far away destinations, then chances are you have already set some subconscious goals about traveling. Sometimes travel goals are born through conversations with travelers, advertisements, by reading a good novel, or after seeing some mesmerizing photographs.
• Travel Motivation: Sometimes you might not feel a pull to any particular travel location. You might feel extremely comfortable exactly where you live, talking only to people like yourself, living the same experiences as you. However, you should consider that traveling expands your horizons, since it pushes you out of your comfort zone.
• Travel Goalsetting: Do your research before settling on a final travel destination. Stopping by at a local travel agency will give you much of the information that you need to get started. Flipping through a few travel brochures, will give you a feel for the type of vacation you are looking for. Keep in mind that most of these advertisements may be depicting a facade of the location that you will be traveling to.
• South East Asia: My goal to travel to South East Asia began almost 7 years ago. I was attending an international boarding school where it was common for students to make friends with those from other countries. Two of my good friends came from southeast Asia: one of them from Beijing, China, and the other one from Seoul, Korea. At the time, we had promised each other that we would all go back to southeast Asia in 2008. The date 2008 had been chosen because that is when we would all be graduated from University. We didn’t know the Beijing Olympics would be taking place at that time.

Photo by Cynthia Tuan

Setbacks Are Inevitable

“Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful, we must carry it with us or we find it not.” ~Emerson

As with most things in life, there will be obstacles along the road. Keeping in touch with my high school friends kept my goal alive. I met my boyfriend, a native Chinese living in Canada, and we decided to visit his family in China. In 2006, I had the opportunity to travel to China with him. However, for whatever reason, the trip was not meant to be. I was working in New York City at the time, and I wasn’t able to get any vacation time to travel.

Sometimes I think that not going to China in 2006 was a blessing in disguise. Since I am currently set to visit China for 4 months, and it is a much more worthwhile trip than a 2-week excursion. I arrived in China 4 days ago, and already I am in love with the culture, the people, the sights, the history, and the differences in thought. I believe my good experiences stem from a positive mindset.

During most travels, you’re bound to find yourself being challenged. Sometimes you will need to use your imagination to communicate with locals. Other times, you might realize that you desperately need a particular object that you can’t necessarily find abroad. It is always good to keep an open mind, and practice offering your help to others, knowing that someone else will lend a hand when you need it too.

Travel Is More Than a Destination

“Happiness is not a station you arrive at, but a manner of traveling.” ~Margaret Lee Runbeck

In preparation for my 4-month trip to China, I readRolf Potts book Vagabonding. I realized that most of my travel experiences have changed me personally, just like Potts described. Being faced with all the interesting situations that you can get into when you’re traveling internationally really helps build character.

• Expanding Horizons: When you’re traveling, you learn more than just taking pictures at tourist destinations. You get to know a new culture, make new friends, and think a little bit differently. You might learn a new language, eat something exotic, or listen to colorful music. Each of these different inputs help you to understand the world better.
• Empathy & Understanding: If everyone traveled abroad, we would be a lot less likely to enter wars with each other. It’s much easier to go to war with another country when you haven’t marveled at its rich historical heritage and natural beauty, haven’t met the people, and don’t know their culture.
• Your Comfort Zone: Traveling takes you away from your usual environment. It removes everything that you associate with you, leaving only the bare necessities. This makes you think of yourself completely differently. You are no longer defined by the stuff you own, the television shows you watch, or the people you hang out with. You only have yourself, and possibly a few traveling partners. This forces you to reevaluate who you are, and to delve deep inside.
• Independence: Traveling forces you to know that you are enough, that you can be happy without material things. Traveling internationally, with all of the figurative and literal baggage, builds self-esteem.

Photo by Prescott Pym

Returning Home to Find What You Were Looking For

“A person travels the world over in search of what he needs and returns home to find it.” ~George Moore

What I learned from my travels, is that you don’t quite realize how much traveling has changed you, until you return home. As Rolf Potts said in his book, when you return home after a long trip, you will inevitably begin every sentence with “In China…”. Those around you might not understand how you think anymore, because nothing in their life has changed while you were gone. The world keeps turning without you. Except that so much has changed for you, through your travels, and your interaction with the world at large.

As in the book The Alchemist by Paolo Coelho, we often return home to find exactly what we were looking for when we left. The true purpose of travel is to meet ourselves, to enjoy the journey, and to discover our inner purpose. Sometimes the journey can be stressful, but as long as you remember that you are the one who brings the happiness, you will return home fulfilled.

Thank You For Being a Part of Billionaire Woman

I created Billionaire Woman in January of 2008, and it has since grown into something much greater than I first anticipated. I am so grateful to everyone who has subscribed or followed the development of this blog. I thank every one of you for your support, your comments, and your friendship.

Personal Update

I will be blogging about my adventures in China at my personal blog NathalieLussier.com. I will also be posting pictures there, if you want to get a taste for travel in China. I will do my best to continue posting at Billionaire Woman, but the frequency of posts might become a bit unpredictable, and may include some guest posts. I hope you understand, and I’m sure you will realize life itself is more fun when it’s unpredictable!

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I was lucky enough to receive a review copy of Steve Pavlina’s book Personal Development for Smart People. The book comes out on October 15, 2008, and you can pre-order it on amazon here. Of course you might want to read my review first!

As you would expect from Steve’s blog, his book is very down to earth and it feels as though he is talking directly to you. The premise is that there are three simple guiding principles that you can apply to every aspect of your life in order to make the most of it. They are: truth, love, and power. Each of these guiding principles can be combined to form a total of seven ideals:

Truth, love, power, oneness, authority, courage, and intelligence.

First Impressions

When I first saw the cover of the book, I’ll admit that I wasn’t really blown away. As the saying goes you can’t judge a book by its cover. The title of the book came as no surprise, having read Steve Pavlina’s blog on and off since 2005. However, after reading the chapter on intelligence, I discovered that there is more to Steve’s notion of “being smart”. He believes that by being more conscious, we are living more intelligently.

Readability

The book is really easy to read. If you’ve read any of Steve’s articles on his website, you will easily recognize his writing style. What I really like is that Steve opens himself up completely and shares with us his most private details. After reading just a few chapters, I realized how much I have in common with Steve. Maybe that’s why a lot of people can relate to him, since he is able to create a large following through shared experiences. What made this book even more fun to read, was a few of Steve’s most candid moments and jokes.

Highlights

The following are some highlights that struck me when reading this book. Hopefully each of these points will help you on your quest to personal growth, and motivate you to take a closer look at Steve Pavlina’s book.

• Decision Making: Steve teaches us how to make decisions from a higher consciousness, which he says tends to lead to better results. When you make a decision from such a high place you know that you can trust yourself when doubts start to creep in.
• Practical Exercises: The book includes simple exercises after each chapter, which are very practical and easy to do.
• Prodding Questions: Steve also offers many moments of contemplation, where you need to ask yourself some questions. These questions are very honest, and will enable you to see the truth about your current lifestyle and direction.
• Call to Conscious Living: Many people have observed that we seem to be suppressing ourselves. We stuff ourselves with junk food, keep ourselves busy with idle entertainment, and pursue empty goals. Steve suggests that by focusing on our power we can live the life that we deserve.
• Entrepreneurial: Steve writes from the perspective of an entrepreneur. This makes the career and habits section of the book more applicable to people who run a business, or work for themselves. For example, someone who works at a 9-to-5 job would have a hard time taking a vacation on a whim, taking a nap, or going for a run between tasks.
• Oneness: The definition for oneness that Steve shares is different than most. Putting yourself first will also benefit the greater good, since we are all connected. One small change will improve the whole.
• Law of Attraction? It was interesting to learn about Steve’s view on the Law of Attraction. He believes that the law of attraction requires action. If you think about it, the word attraction includes the word action.
• Courage: The word “safe” is both a noun and adjective. The adjective means “being free from danger”, whereas the noun means “an enclosed storage container with a lock”. Steve explains that trying to live a safe life means locking yourself up in a cage, trying to have this feeling of security that you can never have.
• Daily Habits: One of the most interesting habits was to reclaim other people’s wasted time. For example, reading a book or writing a to do list, during a dull speech.
• Scarcity vs. Abundance: Steve explained to be scarcity mindset and the abundance mindset in a very interesting way. I had never considered these topics in this way before, and everything suddenly became so clear to me after reading these passages. These concepts alone are well well worth reading the book.
• Relationships: It was interesting to find out that Steve and his wife Erin are very similar to my boyfriend and I. We seem to use the same communication channels, and this led me to wonder whether all men and women communicate through same communication channels or not.
• Fear of Rejection: When you ask for something you might fear being rejected. Steve explains that oneness helps us eliminate this fear. If we ask and we are turned down, the person or project was incompatible to begin with.
• Spirituality: Steve shares the idea that spirituality at an individual level can bring peace at a global level. Instead of focusing on the differences between religions, if we focus on the core beliefs that every religion preaches, we will find common ground.

Photo by Julie

Will This Book Change Your Life?

We all want to change our lives for the better, but sometimes we actually cling to our current circumstances. I truly believe that the book Personal Development for Smart People will help you let go of your current situation, to grow as a person. The concepts that Steve covers seem so basic, but if you actually apply them to your life, I can almost guarantee that you’ll see a major shift in your life.

Assuming you can actually integrate the principles of truth, love, and power into your life, you will probably never need to read another self-help book. Unless of course, you feel that the book will help you align better with these principles. Steve’s approach is at a much higher level, which gives you the big picture for your life. Personally, I can see this book and these principals impacting many of my future decisions, and even rippling out throughout the world.

Do I Recommend This Book?

Absolutely! Although my boyfriend is not much of a self-help person, he has agreed to read this book. I believe he will find many interesting concepts in it, that will help him grow as a person. I also believe it will help our relationship, our finances, and our health.

If you’ve read a lot of self-help books, you will definitely gain from reading this book. I’ve read a few dozen self-help books, and this one definitely stood out from all the others. Although there were exercises after each chapter, I didn’t feel overwhelmed by the number of things that I had to do in order to practice what Steve was recommending.

I feel that after reading this book, I can start living life just a bit better than I had been previously. Over time I know that I will be able to integrate these principles into my life even more deeply. Soon, we will all be a bit more conscious thanks to Steve’s writings. Similar Posts:

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“Love yourself, for if you don’t, how can you expect anybody else to love you?”

The missing ingredient to success is Self-Esteem! Self-esteem is a mix of confidence, positive feelings about yourself, and an ability to grow as a human being. Self-esteem is really one of the most important things you can cultivate in your life. Your life can essentially be condensed to how you feel about yourself, because it often permeates throughout the rest of your life.

People with high self-esteem perform better in life, are happier, and have more fulfilling relationships. But developing self-esteem is harder than you might imagine, because it means battling your inner demons.

It also means trusting yourself, instead of trusting the opinions of others. It means putting your goals and dreams before those of others. That might sound selfish, but until you feel fulfilled and proud of yourself, you won’t be able to help others.

We Are All Born with High Self-Esteem

Little kids are very confident, and they hold themselves in high esteem. It is only after they grow up that they start to lose their innate power. Self-confidence really is power. Children hear other people talk about themselves negatively, and they start to ask themselves questions about their own worth.

Children are then exposed to advertising, which convinces them that they are not whole and complete beings until they buy certain products. How many times have you seen a child beg for a toy, and a few minutes later tell their parents that they are bored? It’s not that the toy is bad, it’s that he was convinced that he would be able to find joy from an outside source.

Finding joy within yourself, no strings attached, is the first step to greater self-esteem. Continually chasing some outward form of reward, will only leave you depleted inside.

Comparing yourself to other people is another way that your self-esteem can be undermined. You can compare your physical body to those of models in commercials and movies, but you will never feel better about yourself. Self-esteem is something you build on your own, from within.

Photo by Megan Steen

How To Get More Self-Esteem

Choose the People Around You

“Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don’t matter and those who matter don’t mind.” ~Dr. Seuss

To increase self-esteem, spend time with those who make you feel good. Being around people who support you is one of the best ways to increase your self-confidence. If there are people in your life who do nothing but complain, compare themselves to others, and make you feel inferior, it is time to let them go. It can be hard to change your circle of friends, but it is so much better to be with those who accept you for who you are, and who will encourage you to grow as a human being.

Self-Employment

You can build more self-esteem through self-employment, but it takes a bit of self-esteem to start down the road of self-employment. This might seem like a catch 22, but once you have enough self-esteem to get self-employed, it’s a beautiful cycle. The better your entrepreneurial ventures go, the better you feel about yourself and your ability to provide for yourself. You will realize that you don’t need to depend on outside sources in order to earn money, because you are a worthwhile being who can provide value to others.

Don’t Compare Yourself to Others

“Why compare yourself with others? No one in the entire world can do a better job of being you than you.”

Reading women’s magazines and comparing yourself to the models and superstars does nothing to improve your self-esteem. The same goes for comparing your material wealth, or even your moral choices to those of your neighbors. The more you judge others for what they do wrong, or for the possessions they have, the more you weaken your own self-worth. Accepting yourself for who you are, without judgment is one of the hardest and most rewarding things you can do.

Love Yourself

“You yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe, deserve your love and affection.” ~Buddha

Self-esteem starts with love, and if you don’t love yourself then who will? I have seen love transform people many times in the past. One man I know decided to take care of himself, and really tune into his best qualities, thus loving himself more. Suddenly the was pulled into a loving relationship, got a job offer, and moved into a better apartment. Loving yourself is so powerful that it will literally transform your life, starting by increasing your self-esteem.

Remove Yourself From the Hands of Advertisers

Advertising is bad for your self image. It erodes your self-confidence, makes you feel inferior, and depletes your bank account. Advertisers and companies spend billions every year trying to convince you that you won’t be happy until you buy their products. Starting out with the attitude that you are enough, that you are a worthwhile human being, and that you contribute to society, is a great way to stand up to advertising.

Set Goals and Achieve Them

“Nothing builds self-esteem and self-confidence like accomplishment.” ~Thomas Carlyle

Setting small goals that you can easily attain will help you build your self-esteem. Once you have managed to attain the simplest goals, continue to push the goals outside of your comfort zone. Each of these small successful events will begin to compound. Soon you will realize that you are a powerful human being, and there is nothing stopping you but your imagination. Just remember that there is a clear difference between achievement and fulfillment.

Self Awareness Is Necessary

In Louise Hay’s book You Can Heal Your Life, Louise has written about the need to dig deep into ourselves. Sometimes it can be scary to look deep inside yourself, and can even cause you to sabotage your personal growth. But taking a deep look inside of yourself, warts and all, is much better than allowing dangerous emotions to fester.

You can see what’s going on inside of you by doing some meditation exercises. You can also find out what is stopping you from achieving a higher self-esteem, by asking yourself a few questions. Most of the problems we encounter were formed in our childhood, and could have come from the beliefs of our parents.

• What do I feel that I should be doing right now?
• What would people think of me if I …?
• What is stopping me from doing the things that I want to do?

Photo by Valeria Duque

Self-Esteem Is An Ongoing Process

I am always working to improve my own self-esteem, as should you. I highly recommend Louise Hay’s book You Can Heal Your Life. I felt some self-sabotage while I was trying to work through the exercises. But I discovered that this type of sabotage was actually a good thing, because it meant that I was on to something.

So whether you decide to delve deep inside and clean out your mental closet or not, you should realize that building your self-esteem is an ongoing process. We are always bettering ourselves and we are always growing as human beings.

This was the third and final article in the series of Selfish Ways to Financial Independence. You can read the previous articles here: Self-Employment, and Self-Sabotage. If you enjoyed this article, subscribe to receive notification of upcoming posts!Similar Posts:

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“Self-sabotage is when we say we want something and then go about making sure it doesn’t happen.” ~Alyce P. Cornyn-Selby

Have you ever been so close to success that you could smell it? And then something happened to take it all away? We all have these types of moments, but what we need to recognize is that sometimes we are responsible for our lack of success. That’s self-sabotage.

I would like to suggest that self-sabotage is not an entirely negative experience that we need to avoid at all costs. On the contrary, self-sabotage has some merits, but you need to learn how make self-sabotage work for you and not against you.

Why You Need Self-Sabotage to Succeed

Now before you ask the question, I’m going to answer it. Isn’t self sabotage a bad thing? I’m going to suggest that it’s not necessarily a bad thing, as long as you know how to handle self-sabotage when it comes up. Trust me, it comes up as soon as you start making changes in your life to become a more successful person.

Sometimes self-sabotage is actually a good thing. You need to be able to recognize that when you start sabotaging yourself, you are really on to something. If you feel resistance or you catch yourself trying to sabotage your own plans, you know that the goal you’re going after is the one that is going to help you grow as a person.

Staying in your comfort zone means that everything is safe. When you start to expand and grow as a person, you will definitely find obstacles in your way. Some of these obstacles come in the form of your own resistance to change, and sometimes through self sabotage.

Types of Self-Sabotage

“Procrastination is, hands down, our favorite form of self-sabotage.” ~Alyce P. Cornyn-Selby

• Procrastination: Procrastination is one of the most common types of self sabotage, and one that I happen to fall prey to. When you’re procrastinating you feel like there are always more important things to do, besides the ones that will get you closest to your goal. We all know about the 20/80 principle where 20% of our efforts give us 80% of the results. Yet procrastination seems to stop us from doing that 20%. Is it because we don’t want to be successful?
• Sudden feelings of hunger, or tiredness: Your self-sabotage can take on physical symptoms. After deciding to get some work done to achieve your goals, you are suddenly overcome with a craving for some particular food, or to take a nap, or even clean the house. All of these things seem so hard to fight that you just end up doing them instead of the work you know you should be doing.
• Lack of interest when the going gets tough: Have you ever experienced a situation where you were about to get something monumental done, but suddenly you feel overwhelmed or unable to focus. It happens to everybody, and it’s just one of those other ways that self sabotage gets in the way of our personal, financial, and relationship goals.
• Constantly changing priorities and goals: For anyone who has tried to follow a certain diet, or a new business venture, this is pretty common. You start out motivated, thinking that you finally found the answer to all your troubles. The problem is that you can’t seem to stick to the new diet or business idea long enough to get any results. That’s just self-sabotage holding you back.

Photo by Hilary

Typical Self-Sabotage Scenarios

• You have a big presentation, but you can’t fall asleep the night before the big day. The next morning, you decide to put off the presentation, or go anyways and underperform. Your worrying caused you to short-change yourself, and you will never know how well you could have done.
• Everything in your life has been going great for the past few weeks or months. The more you think about how great everything is going, the more you wonder if it’s going to last. Soon enough, you find yourself having a car accident, or falling down and injuring yourself, or you pick a fight with one of your friends.
• There’s a time specific goal that you want to pursue, like a scholarship application, a manuscript, or a resume. You work hard on your entry. Then as the deadline looms you lose interest, give yourself excuses as to why you won’t win. All of this convinces you that you’ve wasted your time (again!) and that you had better get back to real life. You’ve just thrown away your chances of success, without even letting anyone else see your potential!

Why Do We Self Sabotage?

• Staying in our comfort zone is easier. We all have a range of acceptable outcomes, and we live our lives to stay comfortably within these invisible guidelines. It is easy to get a promotion or make a new friend, when that is within your comfort zone. But if quitting your job to pursue a greater opportunity, or meeting your future spouse seems impossible, then you are experiencing the pressures of the comfort zone.
• Fear of success. Sometimes the goals we choose come with greater pressures, once they are attained. For example, when you become wealthy you have more responsibility, more taxes to pay, and people will certainly treat you differently. If you aren’t ready to be in this situation, then you will do everything necessary to make sure you don’t succeed. No matter how much you tell yourself you want this goal, you could be subconsciously stopping yourself because of things you consider to be negative about your goal.
• We want comfort and understanding from others. When you fail, you generally get to complain and tell your story to those around you. Many of us go through our lives making “complainer friends”, where we share the same setbacks and comfort each other. It is essentially the case of an unpopular student who wants to fit in with the “cool crowd”. Where he willingly fails an exam so that he can relate to the cool kids and be accepted.
• We prefer to be average like everyone else. Being average is easy, it is almost what everyone expects of us. Having to persevere or push ourselves is rarely rewarded, except if others think you actually have a shot at success. Unless you have decided that you want to prove other people wrong, you will most likely play right into their expectations. So using self-sabotage keeps you in the average group, where you know everyone and feel comfortable.

Photo by Luis Sarabia

How to Make the Most Out Of Your Self Sabotage Habits

So how do you deal with all of the self sabotage? Now that you know it exists, and which forms it can take, you can catch self-sabotage red-handed. Once you’ve gained awareness of this type of resistance to your goals, you will be able to push through them.

• Sometimes all it takes is a little bit of tough love, to get yourself to finish what you started. If your goal is causing you some resistance, you can re-evaluate the goal. Maybe you are associating some negative outcomes with the goal, in which case you should either accept them or find a goal that suits you better.
• Other times you might realize that you are already being too hard on yourself, with unreal expectations for your goals. In this case you need to deal with the self-sabotage, and reframe your goals into more doable bite size pieces. Inch by inch, it’s a cinch.

This is the second article in a series about the power of selfishness. Read the first article about Self-Employment here. You should also subscribe to get the next article as soon as it is posted!

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This is the first in a series of 3 articles about how to achieve success and financial freedom through selfish means. You should subscribe to find out what the next two ingredients to selfish success are, because the self-employment step is not enough on its own.

It’s Wrong to Be Selfish

We learn at a very young age that being selfish is a bad thing. We are taught to share, and especially as women, we are taught that we should put other people’s needs before ours. As women, we are the providers, the mothers, those who make sure everything is good for our family members. But what if being selfish is actually a good trait?

Now don’t get me wrong, I don’t want to suggest that you start stealing toys out of your neighbors’ hands, or go on a shopping rampage. Yet, I would like you to consider the benefits of being selfish. As Barbara Sher recommends in her book Wishcraft, being selfish about your goals makes you happier and more fun to be around.

Think back to your childhood. How many times have you felt guilty for the sacrifices your parents made for you, your education, and your well being? I’m sure we can all remember times like these.

Now imagine if instead of coming home to your overstressed mother, who had cleaned the house, and cooked dinner, your mother was showing you her great new painting? Or, if your father did not come home frustrated trying to put food on the table, but instead played a sport with you in the backyard?

We can all manage to get by without a squeaky clean house, provided that our inner desires are fulfilled. This applies to other areas of your life, as we’re going to be exploring in the rest of the Selfish Series.

Quick History of Self-Employment

• Today most people are employed with a company. Although there’s nothing wrong with this fact, this isn’t how it always used to be. In the early days of America, there were many family owned businesses. Most people were expected to either work for the family business, or branch out and start their own. With the Industrial Revolution came the need for more workers, and everyone stepped away from their own businesses to work in factories and shops.
• Society now frowns upon self-employment. What we are left with today, is the result of a new way of thinking about work. It is very socially acceptable to work somewhere, and to have a job. However, many people will raise their eyebrows if you say that you are self-employed. There are exceptions to the rule, like famous writers, movie stars, and other well-known entrepreneurs.
• Working for someone else gives the profits to others. When you work at a job, you are generally working for someone else’s profit, and not so much your own. Of course you get paid for your time and efforts, but at the end of the day, you are creating wealth for the company you work for. On the other hand, by working for your own small business or organization, everything you do is for yourself.
• Your time or your money? Remember when we used to think that all of these great advances in technology would allow us to work less hours? Well, according to the book Affluenza, the companies we work for decided they want us to keep working, despite exceeding production. So although we would have enough of everything if we worked less, we are stuck in this work more mentality. Given a choice between a raise or shorter working hours, which would you choose?

Photo by Hannah Webster

Self-Employement Role Models

• My dad. I was lucky enough to be raised in a family where my father had his own business, a hair salon. Sometimes while I was growing up, I felt less confident than my peers, because my dad didn’t have a traditional job. Now, as I enter the workforce, I am realizing how lucky I was to have an example of an entrepreneurial man in my life.
• Tina Su. Tina is a young woman who recently quit her job to follow her dreams of self-employment. She works on her web site Think Simple Now, and she also has other profit centers like her Photography business. She is a great inspiration for other young women.
• Oprah Winfrey. Everyone knows about Oprah, but we don’t tend to consider her as self-employed, really. But taking a closer look, it is obvious that she is running her own business and making a huge impact on the world. I greatly admire her, and will be showcasing Oprah in an upcoming Billionaire Woman post. Oprah is the first female African American billionaire.
• Millionaire Mommy Next Door. Jen is just a regular next-door type of woman, except that she happens to be a millionaire. She amassed her wealth through frugal living and voluntary simplicity, while running a small business. Her husband is also self-employed. You can visit her blog, where she gives advice to achieve financial independence like she did.

I like My Job, I Don’t Want to Be Self-Employed

Whether or not you love your current job, you should actually consider adding a slice of self-employment to your life. Barbara J. Winter suggests that you think of your current full-time job as just one of your profit centers. This allows you to see your life in the grand scheme of things, and not just in terms of one source of income. Learning to create multiple sources of income is one of the most useful skills in today’s less than stable economy.

As Pamela Slim noted on her site Escape From Cubicle Nation, many people who lost their jobs due to banking problems recently, must have felt a tremendous stress. Yet if some of them had a side income coming in, they probably didn’t feel as much pressure. I’m not suggesting that you are likely to lose your job, but I am suggesting that by creating more than one profit center, you are giving yourself a backup plan and increased security.

What Does Self-Employment Give You?

• Sense of freedom. You are in charge, you are the boss. You can do things the way you like to do them, and that means a lot. You are also more nimble, and can follow your dreams.
• Variety of work. If you get bored with one project, you can shelve it and work on something more exciting. If you would prefer to work with people, you can network and build a team. On the other hand if you rather stay home, you can do solo projects.
• Diversity: not putting all your eggs in one basket. If one source of income dries up, you can create new ones. By create multiple profit centers, you give yourself something that no “stable” job could ever give you. Don’t put all your faith in one company, when you can diversify your income.
• Improved health. In the book How to make a living without a Job, by Barbara J. Winter, case studies show that people who are self-employed are healthier, and live longer. That’s probably because most people who are self-employed can decide to do something that they actually enjoy doing as a job.
• Self-Expression, creativity, and purposeful work. You choose what is most important to do with your talents: save the rain forest, write fiction, or plant a garden. This as opposed to working in a cubicle, where you are producing something that might not stir your creative juices, or cause you to be fulfilled.
• Confidence. With self-employment comes a strong sense of confidence. After all, if you can earn a living on your own without a steady job, then you can do anything! You don’t depend on your boss to give you a raise, you depend only on your own abilities.
• Flexibility: ability to choose where and when you work. Wear bunny slippers to work at your computer, or travel all over the world. You have the choice.

Photo by Khalid Almasoud

I Don’t Have Any Skills or Anything to Sell

Everyone has skills, whether you realize it or not. Creating new profit centers, and becoming a little bit more self-employed, is easier than you think. It’s as easy as turning one of your hobbies into a profitable venture. The following is a short list of ideas to get you started.

• Gardening: Sell your produce. Local and organic farming is big, and you can command a good price for your fruits and veggies.
• Give tours of your area: Set up a walking tour, and give out the best information. Meet great people at the same time as promoting your home town.
• Freelancing: Find something you are good at and offer your services to others. This can be anything from illustrations, photography, to writing.
• Create content sites or products: Write a book or start a web site about a topic you are passionate about. If you have knowledge others might be interested in, share it!
• Babysitting and petsitting: If your passion is people or pets, capitalize on it. Offer your services and spend time getting to know your new friends.

What Other Ideas Do You Have?

If you’ve been thinking of adding a slice of self-employment to your life, by creating a new profit center, now is the time! What ideas are brewing in your mind? Don’t forget to stay tuned, because there are two other steps to the selfish financial freedom strategy, and they aren’t pretty!

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