Taking responsibility for your actions

We all make mistakes, but a responsible person takes responsibility for what they do.  They take responsibility, and they make it right. Your life is what it is because of who you are.  Everything in your life exists because of you, because of your behavior, words, and actions. Being self-reliant helps you build trust in yourself and helps decrease the fear of acting on opportunities alone. 

    Think about a basketball coach; when his team loses, he takes responsibility for the loss even though he wasn't actually playing in the game.  He does this because he is the leader, and to be an effective leader, you have to take responsibility and set an example. Like they say in the movie Spider-Man, "With great power comes great responsibility."  You'll never have success or power if you don't take responsibility for things.     

    Consider the interpersonal relationships in your life.  These are relationships with neighbors, friends, loved ones, co-workers or anyone else with whom you share something in common.  We have breakups and a variety of disagreements with people. Even in the most obvious situations where you may not have any responsibility for something that may have gone wrong, take responsibility.  This is a character trait of world-class performers. Relationships are all 50/50, so without at least two people involved, a relationship wouldn't exist. As long as you were associated with something, then you had some influence over the situation.  Not accepting responsibility for things robs you of the opportunity to learn and grow as a person.

    If you think about an X partner and consider the reasons why you broke up, such as she was too jealous.  If you just accept it as a fact that the other person deserves 100% of the blame, then you’re always going to find fault in other people and never look at yourself.  Instead, you should self-analyze the situation and say to yourself: “OK she was jealous, but I wasn’t at home very much. On top of that, I worked with a lot of attractive women, and I had lunch with them every day.”  Maybe, if you try to go out with this person again or with your next girlfriend, you should try to see things from her point of view. Try to understand the situation better rather than just dismiss it as her fault. Dismissing everything as someone else’s fault will weaken you.

For more entrepreneurship tips, check out my latest Amazon book.

How to Become Rich and Successful. The Secret of Success and the Habits of Successful People.: Entrepreneurship and Developing Entrepreneur Characteristics

Develop Good Habits

We all have our vices, but choose them wisely; limit their impact, and don't let them run your life.  Avoid cigarettes, drugs, alcohol, sugar, bars, unhealthy food, being overweight, and oversexed as much as you can.  These vices all detract you from your goals, waste your time, and drain your budget. For every drink of alcohol you consume, you lose 15-30 minutes of your life expectancy.  If you drink a few days a week, you're talking about shaving years off your life. For every pack of cigarettes you smoke, you lose five hours of life. When you eat five servings of vegetables and fruit a day, you add two hours to your life.  Eating a serving of red meat makes you lose thirty minutes of life expectancy. For every two hours you spend watching television, you lose thirty minutes of your life. For an hour of exercise, you gain one and a half hours of life.  

    If you consider these numbers; the healthier you live, the longer you'll live, and the more productive you'll be.  So living an unhealthy lifestyle will cost you a lot of money, due to decreased productivity caused by illness. Learn how to cook; this is an invaluable skill and a very easy skill to acquire.  Learn how to use a crockpot, they are effortless to use and are great for busy people. You can basically set it up and leave it cooking all day while you're at work. When you come home, the food will be ready to eat whenever you want.  

    If you don’t know how to cook, then watch some YouTube videos on how to make some of your favorite dishes.  Preparing meals at home will allow you to manage your caloric intake much easier, prevent overeating of unhealthy foods, and it’s much less expensive than if you eat out.  Consuming less meat (chicken, fish, pork, beef, all types of meat) is better for the environment and reduces your grocery bill, allowing you to invest that extra money instead, and to save on medical bills due to better health.  An ovolactovegetarian diet is an ideal diet to follow.  

    Regular exercise is a must.  Exercise helps promote mental clarity, endurance, and discipline.  You’ll be much more productive if you’re strong and healthy. When I read autobiographies of the most successful people, most of them exercise regularly and frequently early in the morning.  The harder you work on yourself, the better the results you’re going to see in your life. It’s not just physical, spiritual, or mental. It’s a combination of all that which will make you successful.  

     Being successful is like weight training.  You can weight train for months and be in excellent shape, but as soon as you take a few days off, you'll notice a difference as your muscles shrink.  You have to keep exercising your whole life to stay in shape. To be successful, you have to continually work on your habits while learning and sharpening your thinking skills.  That will help you not only to build wealth but also teach you how to keep your wealth. There are countless stories of people who have become successful, then lost their self-discipline, and ultimately lost everything because they didn't keep up the principles and daily habits that brought them success in the first place.  You don't want to have success once in your life, you want to have constant success throughout your life. The only way to do so is to be consistent and build on your good habits and discipline. People who have some success in their life and then lose everything, often forget to keep up what made them successful in the first place.  Success is like rent, and rent is due every month; success is not given; it is earned.

For more entrepreneurship tips, check out my latest Amazon book.

How to Become Rich and Successful. The Secret of Success and the Habits of Successful People.: Entrepreneurship and Developing Entrepreneur Characteristics

Being Generous To Others - Why is generosity important

My grandmother Pauline used to say, "If you want bread to come to you, then you need to put bread on the water."  Many years later, I googled the phrase as it was one of my grandmother's favorite sayings. I found a verse from the Book of Ecclesiastes in the Old Testament: "Cast thy bread upon the waters: for thou shalt find it after many days."  It basically means to give generously without worrying about what you will gain from it, or what the people will do with what you give them, and that God will reward you.  

    Be charitable with strangers, friends, and family.  Being generous raises your positive energy and brings abundance into your life.  Being selfish will create a scarcity mentality, which makes it harder to grow wealth in your life.  Don't be one of those people who doesn't offer to pitch in or pay for things, because you're saving.  If you go out with friends or family, be generous, take a gift, pitch in, clean up, or pick up the tab.  If you don't have any money, then join in to help in other ways. This kind of mindset is a natural confidence builder, creates happiness in your life, reduces stress, increases your lifespan, and helps diminish self-hatred.  People around you will also respect you more, want to be in your company and want to help you when you need it. I've met some of the most influential and powerful people in my life doing volunteer work. Dedicate some of your time to helping people and the planet.

    Don’t just give back, just give!  Give to someone you don’t know without expecting something in return.

    My cousin Barbara Gabriel taught me some essential lessons in generosity.  I've always enjoyed sharing and giving, but there's more to it than that. First, show appreciation for generous words or acts towards you, say thank you and accept what they say or give.  Don't say "No thank you" or "I can't accept this" that diminishes the kindness the person is showing you. Learn to accept this act of love from others by accepting their kind act; you are giving them love back by being appreciative and also allowing them to show you their appreciation for you.  Avoid comments like "It was no big deal," "Don't worry about it," or "It was nothing," that devalues the generosity and appreciation they are giving back to you. Remember that generosity takes at least two people and is mutual. Acts of kindness can include, smiles, kind words, compliments, material gifts, time, anything that you think might be special for the person.    

    I recently woke up at 6 am on a Sunday morning so I could surprise my two cousins by cheering them on along the course of a marathon.  They were so touched by the act that we all cried. Even though it was a simple act, I have to say that none of us will ever forget it.  I was so proud and touched to share in their big experience, and they were moved to be able to share it with me and grateful for being supported.

For more entrepreneurship tips, check out my latest Amazon book.

How to Become Rich and Successful. The Secret of Success and the Habits of Successful People.: Entrepreneurship and Developing Entrepreneur Characteristics

How to be mentally tough - Mental Toughness is the way to go!

Perseverance is mental toughness, the ability to overcome doubts, fears, and surpass circumstances that prevent you from succeeding.  Being scared to fail is going to be your most significant barrier to learning something new and achieving it. It's not going to be an intellectual gap, but an emotional lapse that is going to block you from being successful.  Learn to tame your greatest fears, and you will remove the greatest waste of your time. 

    In 2015, I was assaulted by two men who had broken into my home.  I ended up in the emergency room on Valentine's evening. Luckily it was a hospital where I had friends working, so I knew I would get the best treatment possible.  The emergency room physician told me that I was family and they were going to take good care of me, but that they had to amputate my left leg that night because of all the damage, which included my lower leg being broken into thirty-five pieces.  

    I refused, and over the next few days, I suffered a pain I had never before experienced in my life.  To find a way to save my leg from amputation, I had my x-rays sent to the six best surgeons in Los Angeles for this type of injury.  All six doctors refused to try to reconstruct my leg because the prognosis was abysmal, and they all recommended amputation as well. Fortunately, I found a young forty-two-year-old doctor named Jonathan Saluta who agreed to attempt the surgery; and if it didn't work, he’d amputate my leg.  He told me I could die if the leg wasn’t amputated, but I refused. I still declined and visualized that I only wanted to live out this life in a whole healthy body. If not, I would reincarnate and start over. The surgery was a success, and Dr. Saluta told me I'd be bedbound for six months, then in a wheelchair for two years as I recovered.  I decided I’d recover in half that time. So I worked mentally to overcome and to recover faster from my multiple surgeries. I ended up spending three months in bed, two months in a wheelchair, and four months on crutches. In total, I recovered in nine months versus the predicted two and a half years. My partner left me, I almost went bankrupt, I lost my jobs, and had lots of different challenging experiences. 

    But in the end, I accepted responsibility for everything that happened to me and just pushed forward.  To be successful you must commit to accepting responsibility and facing everything that happens to you in your life.  Don’t shy away from problems that will only make them grow larger and more complex and they’ll end up costing you more time and effort to resolve.  The Law of Indirect Effort can also be applied to a challenging problem. If you’ve tried everything you could think of to resolve the issue, then switch your attention to something else and come back to the issue later.  Now, this depends on how much time you have to resolve the problem; sometimes you have months, weeks, days, or on some occasions only seconds to find a solution. Nonetheless, take time away according to how much time you can spare.  Dealing with issues immediately allows you more time to think things through and develop the best solutions. When possible, I like to sleep on an issue. The next day, all of a sudden so many options will open up to resolve the issues at hand.  Solutions that were not obvious the day before will present themselves when you give yourself some time to think things over.             

    Successful people don’t allow feelings to get in their way.  Instead, they use those emotions to power themselves and get ahead.  I concentrated on my recovery goals and my plans for success. I visualized my goals and kept focusing on them only.  I didn't allow negative self-talk or the other problems in my life stop me from succeeding. This is what you must do to overcome the obstacles in your life and move forward with all your plans.

    After this incident, I cleared my mind, forgave everyone involved, and thanked God for the experience, and the valuable lessons I learned.  That part of my life was closed, it was history. Stress and struggle make you tough. If you remove all the adversity from your life, then you would remove all the learning.  Teach yourself to appreciate the tough times that come your way; see them as teaching tools, and your fears will disappear.

    Think about climbing a hill, and then climbing the same hill over and over, but every time you climb it, 5 lbs are added to your backpack, and you have to carry the weight up the mountain with you.  That climb is going to get harder and harder every time. That is what your life will be like if you allow emotional baggage to build up in your body. Every time you have a challenging experience, overcome it, resolve your feelings towards the experience, and move on without adding more weight/emotional weight to your backpack.  This will make it easier to enjoy life with less of a load to carry, and not allow the past to dictate your future happiness or success.     

    When you get into a tough situation, I want you to think about the movies Bourne Ultimatum or Mission Impossible.  When Jason Bourne or Tom Cruise get into situations that seem impossible to escape, they always stay calm, don't complain, cry or panic and a solution always appears and they survive.  Your life should be the same; never accept that you're at a dead-end, instead calmly think your way out of things. The way to do this is only to see possibilities. Don't waste your time thinking about the failures; it will only attract them into your life.  Be confident that a solution will present itself; it always does.

    Retrain your mind to be mentally tough.  Teach yourself that it’s OK to be uncomfortable and insecure about the future.  Avoiding risk will stymie your growth, opportunities, and prevent you from becoming successful.  Think about your job; if you go to work every day and do what you're supposed to do, you’ll probably have a job for a while and you’ll be able to pay your bills and continue your life as is. 

    Instead, make a list of things you’d like to do, but haven’t done because you’re scared or have been procrastinating.  Start taking small risks and build up to larger calculated risks, that will lead you to achieve your goals. The more you get used to taking risks, the easier it will be for you to take them, and the more you’ll be willing to take them.

    For example; imagine you get an idea for starting a business selling shoes online.  You’ve never done it before, so you’re scared and worried that, if you invest all your money and go into debt and your business fails, you’ll upset the balance of your life and put yourself in danger of losing your apartment, car, or even your job.  We all fear the unknown, and it’s normal to have these feelings. In fact, the riskier the venture, the more fearful you’ll be.  Your ego may try to save you by making your boastful to others about what you’re doing, making you compete with people who could help you, and triggering your scarcity mentality convincing you that there isn’t enough to go around.  When the first uncomfortable situation comes up, you become frustrated, quit, and see yourself as a victim. You see yourself as a victim because it’s easier to blame your failures on something else instead of taking responsibility for what happened.  This is a typical scenario for someone who is operating from fear, scarcity, and lack of confidence. So, instead of putting yourself through this, you’d rather avoid new things and taking risks. These feelings are all false and are the reason most people don’t try pushing themselves to do new things and build success.       

    An alternative approach to this same opportunity would be to embrace it, be grateful, and give your best to make the most of the opportunity.  You manage your risk by taking small risks little by little and building up towards the ultimate goal. In your mind, you know that security doesn’t exist and you’re willing to sacrifice safety for growth.  As an uncomfortable situation comes up, such as, how to transport your shoes to the customers and still be able to make a profit, you remain calm, study the situation, and look for solutions to solve it. As you develop the problem-solving abilities for these unique situations, you start to teach yourself how to solve these problems better and more efficiently.  You get better and better at it, and instead of having a scarcity mentality and hiding your solutions from others, you build your abundance mentality and start another business in transporting shoes, and you start teaching and helping others how to have the same success you’ve had. You’re not seeking wealth, you’re seeking success. But your vision and your problem-solving skills have just solved a problem that many shoe salesmen have had, and for providing that service and solving that problem for others, they are willing to pay you for it and you become extremely wealthy.  

    If you stay confident about yourself and believe in what you’re doing, a solution will present itself and you’ll problem solve along the way.  This simple example is what you must do every time to erase the training you’ve received all your life to be safe. Instead, train yourself to be successful focusing on the possibilities of success, not on the possibilities for failure.  This mindset will change your life. Embrace your vision, operate from love and abundance.

For more entrepreneurship tips, check out my latest Amazon book.

How to Become Rich and Successful. The Secret of Success and the Habits of Successful People.: Entrepreneurship and Developing Entrepreneur Characteristics

How to avoid the Sense of Entitlement

How to avoid the Sense of Entitlement

I’ve met some talented people who were limiting themselves, because of their perception of reality.  I remember speaking to a colleague who was from a small town in the Midwest and had recently relocated to Los Angeles.  He told me that he did not like this city because he was having trouble finding a job. We had low unemployment and he had a college degree in a very sought after field, so I was surprised to hear about his difficulties.  I asked him why he thought he was having issues finding employment? He said because they didn’t offer the pay that he wanted; he had requested 50% more than the job customarily paid. So I asked why he was asking for so much more?  He said, “because I’m very smart, unique, and no one is going to find someone like me with my talents to work for them.” I asked if he had considered working for them at their entry-level rate so he could get some experience and show them how valuable he was.  That way he would have more leverage and be able to request additional compensation. He said he would not consider that as an option, because he was smarter than probably all of the people interviewing him, and that he would not lower his standards to make other people happy.

     From my interaction with this colleague, it was evident that he was intelligent.  However, it was also evident that he had very little success because of his sense of entitlement.  Americans and people under thirty-five years old tend to demonstrate the most entitled behavior. Avoiding this type of behavior would significantly increase the probability of you being successful.  

    Life used to be much harder, and people had to be more independent from a younger age to succeed and survive.  As the world gets wealthier, it becomes more comfortable and easier for everyone. Consumerism has taken over the traditional concept of earning to get what you need.  Social media and materialism are conditioning people to look for the easy way out, not to struggle, and that they’re entitled to certain privileges. Some people think they deserve things, and those who stand in their way of getting it are wrong.  It’s now considered normal to be saddled with credit card debt and to live beyond your means.  

    Entitlement is a negative form of self-love because it hurts the people around you, and yourself in the long term.  A sense of entitlement is a belief that we’re more important than the people around us. Therefore something is wrong when our needs and desires are not met.  Narcissism is a mindset that develops when we don't learn that there are also other special people in this world and that we’re here to work together. Other people don’t exist merely to serve us and cater to our needs, they also have a right to their dreams. 

    Some of the behaviors you’d want to avoid include:

1. Seeking to dominate or making yourself superior to others. 


2. Imposing unrealistic demands on people around you, including family, friends, employers, acquaintances, lovers, and/or employees.


3. Being manipulative, abusive, vain, boastful, or egotistical towards others.


4. Believing, that to be successful, you have to do so at the expense of others.  


5. Seeing other people as competition or threats.


6. Demonstrating difficulty with negotiating or compromising.


7. Believing that you deserve happiness, even if it’s at the expense of others.  


8. When things don’t go your way, you feel sorry for yourself and seek attention and pity from others.  


9. Attention and recognition seeking. 


10. Act out aggressively (physically/verbally abusing) or passively (gossiping, silent treatment, spreading rumors).


11. Having double standards for interactions with others.  For example, no one can be late, but you can. You can talk down to others, but they can’t to you.


12. Taking more from relationships than you give. 


13. Generally offensive towards others. 


14. Always looking out for your needs and desires and ignoring those of others.


15. Believing that you’re more important than others and that you should always come before others.


16. Assuming you are smarter and more important than others.  Therefore others should recognize this and treat you special. 

    Having a sense of entitlement will hurt your career.  It will make it difficult for others to work with you, and it will not allow you to grow because you will tell yourself you already have everything and are the best.

    To rid yourself of this self-destructive behavior, remind yourself that the world doesn’t owe you anything and neither do the people around you.  Think of all the people on the planet. You are not entitled to more than the cleaning lady, the busboy who cleared your plates after lunch, or the bus driver who took you to work. 

    Actively work to get rid of any of the behaviors on the previously-mentioned list that you may be engaged in.  Grow up, stop expecting people around you to cater to your needs. Change your mindset, stop depending on others to bail you out, and stop blaming others when things don’t go as you’d like.  Take responsibility for everything that happens to you. Stop waiting and expecting others to do things for you. Be grateful for what you have, what others do for you, and reciprocate.   

    Once again practice humility, Albert Einstein said: “More the knowledge lesser the ego, lesser the knowledge more the ego. “

For more entrepreneurship tips, check out my latest Amazon book.

How to Become Rich and Successful. The Secret of Success and the Habits of Successful People.: Entrepreneurship and Developing Entrepreneur Characteristics

One Life No Regrets - TOP 3 Regrets in life

 I have been blessed with the opportunity to work with thousands of people who were sick, many died, and several died with me at their bedside talking to them or listening to them sharing their last words.  From these folks, I’ve learned what many people fear and regret when they reach the end of their lives.  

    The three biggest regrets:  The first one is having an estranged family member or friend.  I remember a gentleman who cried and told me he was so sad because he was dying, and he wanted to make contact with his brother before he died.  This person knew he would die in the next day or two. I suggested that he call his brother and he cried more and shared, “I don’t know where he is, and I don’t have his phone number because we haven't spoken in thirty years.  I think he lives in Germany, but I don’t know.” When I asked why they hadn’t spoken, he said, “I don’t even remember why we don’t talk, it’s been so long.” 

    Sometimes things can get out of hand, or go somewhere you don’t want it to go.  So it’s best to resolve issues that may come up between you and family or friends.  People who carry rancor, carry a heavy burden till the day they die. Conflict is common and is part of life.  Conflict resolution is a fundamental life skill that will help you live in peace, accomplish goals, and have better relationships with others.  Resolve your differences with others, don’t let petty things occupy your mind and waste your time.   

    The second regret is not living the life you wanted to live or accomplishing things you wanted to do.  Although it’s number two, it’s probably the most impactful in people’s lives. I had a patient tell me about his life before he passed away and he had a lot of regrets, the biggest being that he did not live the life he wanted to live.  He said his parents pressured him into studying to be an engineer, so he did, and he worked in this profession his whole life, but he always hated it. He said he wanted to be an architect, but his parents did not approve and thought he would be wasting his time studying architecture.  So he did what they wanted to make them proud, but he spent his whole life regretting it.  

    This is a burning, long term, sinister regret that permeates your everyday life.  Although your life is short, not following your dreams will make your time on earth seem very long.  Seek knowledge and understanding, but at the end of the day, make your own decisions for your life. Don’t let other people’s opinions overrule your plans.  Be someone who decides things and follows through, instead of someone who just talks about doing great things someday. If you decide to do something and you fail, you’ll still feel better than if you didn’t do it because someone told you not to.  Because you’ll have the satisfaction of knowing that you tried and you had the opportunity to learn from it. And even though it didn’t work out, you will feel complete knowing it was mentally resolved.

    The third biggest regret is not having traveled as much as you may have wanted.  This is subjective to every person’s desires to travel as some people are fulfilled traveling close to home and prefer to avoid long-distance travel out of fear of the unknown.  For more suggestions, I recommend reading “How to Travel the World and Live with No Regrets. Learn How to Travel for Free, Find Cheap Places to Travel, and Discover Life-Changing Travel Destinations.”

    Gather information, learn, sharpen your skills, and definitely act on whatever it is you want to do.  Don’t live with regrets.   

For more entrepreneurship tips, check out my latest Amazon book.

How to Become Rich and Successful. The Secret of Success and the Habits of Successful People.: Entrepreneurship and Developing Entrepreneur Characteristics

How to pay less taxes

While in graduate school working on my MBA, one of my favorite classes was Tax Accounting.  The professor was one of the best ever, and I remember his words: "If you want to be rich learn how to do your taxes." He was right!

How to pay less taxes

An easy way to get started and learn the ropes is using tax software such as TurboTax to do your taxes. These programs are straightforward, inexpensive ($50-$100), and user-friendly; they are one of the most accessible programs I have ever used in any field.  They have made what used to be an intimidating and complicated process straightforward and educational. The program has tutorials throughout the process in case you would like to learn how things work, and it makes recommendations depending on your tax situation. Understanding the tax implications of my behaviors has helped me make better decisions and plan how I spend throughout the year. 

    Stay organized throughout the year, have different folders labeled for each category of spending.  If you're short on time, have someone help you add up and categorize all of your receipts; this is what takes the most time.  Once you finish your taxes, you can pay $50 for TaxAudit.com audit insurance. This is a worthwhile investment. I buy this insurance every year and have had to use it when I was being audited twice. The company assigns you a retired IRS agent, and they help you through the entire process. If necessary, they attend meetings with the IRS on your behalf, meet with you, handle all communication, help you organize, and help you fix errors you may have made.  I had one agent assigned to me for six months on the first audit and another for nine months on the second audit. We came out of both audits without paying additional taxes or any fines. The total cost was the $50 membership per year, and that's it.  

    The second service I would suggest, if your taxes are complicated or you just want a second opinion, is a tax review service that ranges from $50-$80 dollars, or you can find freelance tax experts on UpWork.com.  I've also hired a CPA for $550 (same fee whether he does my taxes or reviews them) to review my taxes. In retrospect, it wasn't worth it; tax software is, and a tax review is usually enough to help you reclassify items to help you save more on taxes.

    Try using the Hurdlr application.  It helps self-employed people keep track of their earnings and deductions to save them on taxes.  The more you can save on fees, the more you are basically increasing your income. Whatever field you are in, learn as much as you can about how taxes work.  If you have an accountant or tax person, work with them to understand your charges and how you can change your behavior for the following year. Develop strategies and plan accordingly.  This should guide investments and spending throughout the year.

 

For more entrepreneurship tips, check out my latest Amazon book.

How to Become Rich and Successful. The Secret of Success and the Habits of Successful People.: Entrepreneurship and Developing Entrepreneur Characteristics

Having a budget and a financial plan benefits - Organize monthly bills

Having a budget and a financial plan benefits - Organize monthly bills

Creating and keeping a budget will allow you to balance your spending and saving, to help ensure that you have enough money available for the things that are important to you, and for reaching your goals.  Budgets also help you stay out of debt, or help you get out of debt if you're in debt.  

    A financial plan tells you how to spend and invest the money you have budgeted to reach business goals.  When driving somewhere that you're not familiar with, you use a map, or in these days a mapping application, to get to your desired destination.  This helps you get there the fastest, safest, and the most efficient way possible. Without a financial plan, you're going to waste money, make it much slower than you probably could, and put your money at unnecessary risk.  Create a budget with your current income and liabilities. Then make a written financial plan with short and long term financial goals that you can reference regularly. Having a business plan will give you a map to reference and to help you stay on the right path.  It's like using a workout routine when you go to the gym; without a plan, you can get hurt from overtraining, or not get the physique you want for the beach.

    One strategy to use is the 50-30-20 method.  Senator Elizabeth Warren helped develop this plan while at Harvard. This is how you can organize monthly bills:  The biggest piece, 50% of your take-home income, should go towards essentials and basic living expenses; food, housing, and transportation.  The second is 30% for flexible spending on discretionary expenses; clothing, travel, and entertainment. The last 20% goes towards helping you meet your financial goals of paying down debt and saving. 

    First, look at all your sources of income and determine how much you have available to spend each month.  This will be your total income and this is what you're going to divide up into your 50/30/20 budget plan. If you are self-employed, you’ll need to track your wages more closely and base your plan on your average monthly income.     

    Second, keep track of all of your spending and divide it up into the three categories of essentials, flexible spending, and financial goals.  Now, if you’re overspending in one of the categories, adjust it so you’re falling into the 50/30/20 parameters. 

    For example, if you’re making $3,000 a month, your budget should be $1,500 for essentials, $900 for flexible spending, and $600 for financial goals.  If you're spending $2,000 on essentials, then you have to cut it by at least $500. The easiest way to do this is by cutting the big three: transportation, food, and housing.  One suggestion is to add a roommate who pays $750 a month, this way you're covering the extra $500 you went over on your essentials category, and now you have an extra $250 to go into one of your other categories, like financial goals.  

    There are several ways to save on transportation, like carpooling, riding a bike, or using public transportation.  

    Food is tricky because you want to save on the sources of food but not on the quality.  For example, a friend of mine and his wife really wanted to buy a nice house so they decided to organize monthly bills and started eating top ramen every day for a year.  They saved a lot of money and bought a house. But I don’t believe that the collateral damage from the high salt and low nutrition was worth it, because they ended up with high blood pressure.  Instead, keep eating high-quality organic fruits and veggies, and cut back on eating out and substitute with economical options.      

    Overall the strategy is to cut as much as you can from the essentials and flexible spending categories so you can add more to the financial goals category.

  The 50-30-20 Rule works, because it’s simple and everything is clearly defined, making it much more likely that you’ll stick to your plan and meet your financial goals.  It also allows you to adjust percentages to help you meet your goals faster.

For more entrepreneurship tips, check out my latest Amazon book.

How to Become Rich and Successful. The Secret of Success and the Habits of Successful People.: Entrepreneurship and Developing Entrepreneur Characteristics

How to save money each month - Reduce your fixed expenses

Go over your fixed expenses such as rent, food, phone service, mortgages, transportation, insurance, memberships, cable, and any other services you may have.  Start eliminating, reducing, negotiating down the price, or searching for competitors with lower rates. Reducing your fixed costs can make more of your income available to you for investing or saving. It's like hidden income that all of a sudden becomes available to you.  We had AT&T for $60 per phone line and switched them all to MetroPCS for $25 each. With five phone lines, it saved me $2,100 a year. With that extra money, I bought additional solar investments with Swell Investing. Shopping around periodically for car insurance, mortgage, fire, and health insurance can save you thousands a year as new insurance companies or existing ones are always competing for customers.  

    With this in mind, don't try to save money by being underinsured or trying to go without things you need.  My friend James wouldn't buy WiFi, because he wanted to save money and drove instead to the library close to his house to use the WiFi whenever he needed it.  These types of strategies are a terrible idea and will end up costing you more money in lost productivity.

    I see people of all ages in hospitals every day who tell me about the financial disaster that their stay in the hospital is going to cause them.  No one expects to get hurt or sick; it just happens, and if you're not insured, it can be a disaster and end up costing you much more in the long run.  

    I once saved over $300 a month, because I did some reading and discovered that, if you have over 20% equity in your home, you can call and have your property mortgage insurance (PMI) removed from your mortgage payment.  I had to remind some of the banks I dealt with that I had the option to call the State Insurance Commissioner's office or the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) if they couldn't assist me. Most of the banks were very accommodating; some checked the value of my home online, others made me pay $500 for an appraisal.  Either way, it was worth it. Once they establish that your home is worth at least 20% more than what you owe, also known as the loan-to-value ratio (LTV), they will remove your property mortgage insurance (PMI) from your payment. PMI is mandatory for Federal Housing Authority (FHA) loans, which are the majority of mortgage loans people have in the USA.  PMI is 0.5-1.0% per $100,000 a year. So, if you have a $500,000 loan, your PMI would be $2,500 to $5,000 a year on your loan or $208.30 to $416.17 a month added extra to your loan for the life of your 30-year loan, unless you call to have it removed. I once took a credit card loan for $20,000 at 3% for 18 months and paid it towards my mortgage. This allowed me to remove a $350 a month PMI, saving me $4,200 a year for the life of the loan.  I saved up and slowly paid back the $20,000 on my credit card over the next 18 months.

    There's also a free website called AskTrim.com which is an artificial intelligence (AI) program that will analyze your expenditures, find ways to save you money, and even negotiate down your bills for you.  Billshark.com will also help negotiate your bills down by you sending them a copy of your statements, and they'll negotiate down your bills for you. They get 40% of the savings that they save you on your invoice.

For more entrepreneurship tips, check out my latest Amazon book.

How to Become Rich and Successful. The Secret of Success and the Habits of Successful People.: Entrepreneurship and Developing Entrepreneur Characteristics

How to be humble and confident - Why living a humble lifestyle is good

Why living a humble lifestyle is good

Live below your means and try to figure out ways that you can cover your living expenses with extra income so that you can invest all your primary salary.  A minimalist lifestyle is much more rewarding than the standard consumer lifestyle. The more you can save, the more you fund investments and take advantage of compound interest to grow your investments.  

    This style of living is often referred to as the Spartan lifestyle.  Spartans were known for living a minimalist, simple, and frugal lifestyle.  They didn't spend money wastefully, ate only what they needed, and kept their bodies fit.  Living a Spartan lifestyle will teach you humility and appreciation for simple things. 

    My father always chose to live a Spartan lifestyle.  When we were kids, and he would get behind on his bills, he would sell his car and walk six miles round trip to work for months.  When he managed to save enough for another used car, he would buy one. Otherwise, he walked to work or hitched rides, and in Los Angeles that was unusual. 

    Humble people tend to be better leaders because they are better able to focus on the needs of others versus only focusing on their own needs.  For this reason, they tend to be better liked, which helps them to be more effective in their leadership roles. Humble people have a low sense of entitlement, so they don't think they are owed anything.  This leads to a less prejudiced view of the world and increased tolerance of people who are different from them. Humble people tend to be more helpful, generous, have better relationships, and be team-oriented versus egotistical people.      

    My maternal grandfather was a successful gynecologist here in Los Angeles, and my grandmother was paid well for working at a meatpacking startup.  Thanks to their hard work, my mom had a very privileged childhood with nannies, new Cadillacs every year, and abundance all around her. She had a childhood full of wealth and comfort.  

    As a kid, I can remember both of my parents hustling to keep the household going.  My older brother Bobby and I used to drink a gallon of milk each at dinner time and milk throughout the day.  We even had individual 50-ounce Big Gulp cups from 7-Eleven that we used for drinking milk. One day, I found my mom in the kitchen diluting the gallons of milk with half water, because she didn't have enough money to buy milk for us that week.  I remember the sad look on her face as she explained what she was doing and why.  

    Despite her embarrassment, I had a sense of admiration for her perseverance and ingenuity solving the issues at hand.  This taught me to take the initiative to problem-solving, rather than sitting on my hands. This experience, amongst many others, reminded me that I didn't want to live a life of struggle; but that when and if I ever did, there would be no shame in it.  No matter who you are or aren't, be humble and remember you are the same as other people. Being humble, helps you stay grounded. When a challenge arises, it'll be easier for you to do what's necessary to be successful instead of having to fight yourself and your ego over whether or not you can engage in or complete activities that others may see as being beneath them.  Humility allows for continuous learning.

For more entrepreneurship tips, check out my latest Amazon book.

How to Become Rich and Successful. The Secret of Success and the Habits of Successful People.: Entrepreneurship and Developing Entrepreneur Characteristics

Delayed gratification when needed

Delayed gratification

My-sister-in law Natalie bought herself a brand new Tesla because she works hard and she says she deserves it.  The only issue was she was paying almost 20% interest on the debt she was carrying on her credit cards. Natalie was carrying about a year's worth of her salary in debt on her cards.  She was also studying and decided she wanted to have a baby her last year of school, instead of finishing school first. She ended up never finishing school and lives with her mom, as she had to file for bankruptcy because of all the debt she had and couldn't pay.  

    We all have strong desires, want kids, cars, hamburgers, etc.  But stop and think about the consequences of your behavior. Holding off on particular desires can reap huge rewards for you in the long term.  Having the self-discipline to wait on things for the sake of your future, will yield you the lifestyle you want.

    According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the average cost of raising a child from birth to age seventeen is $233,610 in 2019.  Multiply that by several kids and the missed opportunity costs and you are talking about millions in potential losses. Of course, we can't monetize everything. But, if you could hold off a few years till you finished school, bought a house, or maybe got your business going, you’d be better able to provide for your kids.  I'm very grateful for what my parents gave and provided for me. However, both my parents stopped pursuing their careers to work to support us, and I’m sure they stopped pursuing things they wanted in their lives as well.   

    Throughout our lives, we will be faced with temptations of all sorts.  Getting married, having kids, buying cars, working more, and going to school less to buy stuff, etc.  Don't be in a hurry to grow up, enjoy your time. Delayed gratification will set your future up.

For more entrepreneurship tips, check out my latest Amazon book.

How to Become Rich and Successful. The Secret of Success and the Habits of Successful People.: Entrepreneurship and Developing Entrepreneur Characteristics

Have Faith, Don't Be Afraid to Take Chances or to Fail

 Don't Be Afraid to Fail

Failures are your best teachers in life.  Don't miss out on the opportunity to learn from mistakes.  Don't take things too seriously. The world is not going to end if you're not as successful as you would like to be, or if you make a mistake.  Winners learn from experience; they move on, and if another opportunity comes up, they go for it. Sometimes people are on the right track, but they become gun shy because of a few setbacks.  That causes them to miss success, and they never know exactly how successful they could have become. The biggest achievers in life are the people who persevere and are easily able to overcome adversity and move forward.  Don't get stuck worrying about the past.

    Remember that there is a risk premium for taking risks.  You get paid for risking yourself, risking your money, and risking your health.  During the Cold War, the U.S. Government hired think tanks to figure out how to effectively invade Russia if a war broke out.  One company designed a plan where thousands of American bomber planes would swarm Russia, each carrying a nuclear bomb. The Russians would then try to defend themselves by shooting them down.  Due to the large volume of planes, the Russians would only be able to shoot down a few. The aircraft that got through would allow the Americans to win the war by dropping their bombs. The problem was the military did not want to sacrifice pilots, because human life is invaluable.  However, they figured out that, when you take on more risks, you should be compensated $10,000 more for every 1 in 10,000 increase in the risk of death.

    I don’t recommend jobs that are dangerous, because if you die, then it's not worth it.  But you should know you can get paid more if you take jobs like roofing. 

    When I was in college, I remember that just before summer flyers would go up all over campus advertising jobs in Alaska, working on salmon fishing boats and in salmon canneries. They paid $10,000 a month; at that time the minimum wage was $680 a month.  I worked for minimum wage at a pet store, so every summer I thought about going to Alaska and basically earn a year's wages in one month. So I did some research to find out why they were paying so much, and the reason was risk premium. There was a higher probability that you could fall off the ship and die in the freezing water.  Also, because you are in international waters, the laws are different. Ships are not responsible for picking you up if you fall overboard which increases the likelihood that you could die at sea. So I decided to pass up the risk premium and stay in summer school, choosing instead to invest in future earning potential by finishing school sooner.

    In the end, almost everything we do is based on faith.  There is no guarantee that the sun or the moon will rise tomorrow, but we have faith that they will.  We don't know if someone actually landed on the moon, or that our parents are really our parents, but we have faith that what we're told is true.  In fact, everything you learn from books and everything in your life has an element of faith in it. Faith is the complete confidence and trust in someone or something.  If you believe in anything, you should have faith in yourself and your abilities to do anything. Your mind is incredibly powerful, train your brain to have unwavering faith.  When you face a stressful situation or experience failure, if you don't have faith, your mind will start drifting towards negative thoughts. Having confidence will gravitate you towards the positive, attracting, and illuminating a positive path for you.  This will help you to easily overcome anxiety, fear, and stress in whatever situation comes up in your life.

For more entrepreneurship tips, check out my latest Amazon book.

How to Become Rich and Successful. The Secret of Success and the Habits of Successful People.: Entrepreneurship and Developing Entrepreneur Characteristics

Making assumptions examples - Why assumptions are bad?

Making assumptions examples - Why assumptions are bad?

In business, communication is always better than an assumption.  We make assumptions when we don't really understand something. It is a natural reaction to make up our own story to fill in any missing information.  We do this to try to make sense of people and situations. The problem is, most of the time our story is wrong, and it causes lots of issues and limits our understanding.  The truth is, we don't know what the truth is unless we ask.

    This understanding was branded into my brain one night while I was sitting in class listening to a lecture at the University of Southern California (USC).  I sat in a graduate class with about eight other students listening intently to my professor, when a man ran into our classroom and started cursing and arguing with our professor.  In fifteen years of university, I have never had an experience like this one, and I certainly did not expect it at a top university like USC. Every one of us sat with our mouths open, stunned, and staring at what was unfolding before us.  I stood up and approached them as the disagreement got heated. I wanted to be able to break them up in case they started getting physical. As I approached, the guest pushed my professor in the chest, yelled some profane words, and ran out the door.  My professor then turned and told everyone to pull out a pen and paper and without anyone talking describe what had just happened. After about five minutes, he told us to put our pens down, and he called on us one by one to read our description of what we had just seen.  It seemed like a silly question, because we all saw the same thing, and it had just happened. Why would we describe the obvious? As we went around the room and I heard explanations about gay lovers quarrel, gambling debt owed, professor having sex with the guy's wife, and extortion.  No two people had the same description.  

    The professor's staged activity made its point; no matter what you feel you know about someone, you'll never know what or how they think.  I looked around the room surprised that everyone saw something so totally different. I figured we were all around the same age, studying the same topics, at the same school.  I thought we would think the same, but we absolutely did not. This understanding has carried over to every part of my life and helped me enormously with interpersonal communication.  This type of insight is what can make you an outlier filled with overwhelming success.

For more success tips, check out my latest Amazon book.

How to Become Rich and Successful. The Secret of Success and the Habits of Successful People.: Entrepreneurship and Developing Entrepreneur Characteristics