And all I ended up with was a pat on the back and a cheap gold watch!

Money is an issue for everyone. Unfortunately, most people find themselves in a situation where they have more month at the end of the money than money at the end of the month! Maybe you find yourself connecting with this thought; I know I did in the past. Why is it do you think that most people, in fact 95% of the population, will reach retirement age and be broke, relying on the government for some sort of pension or welfare payment? Well, let me ask you: where do we get our financial education? Typically, the only thing we get taught about money is how to spend it on things we don’t need, and we learn this message every day when we see advertising commercials and credit card ads which suggest easy repayments and low interest rates. We get loans for cars and mortgages for houses, and then we consolidate everything into a home equity loan before we repeat the cycle! Before long, we discover that we are working ourselves into the ground just to make the interest payments, let alone repay the balances!

Surely this isn’t what life is supposed to be about? Well there is another way. It is possible to live a life where you have enough money to take care of all your needs as well as provide you with extra with which you can enjoy the finer things. Unfortunately, many people are so far down the slippery credit and loan path that this seems like a distant dream. They begin to lose touch on what is important and settle for a job that they don’t truly enjoy. Remember this key phrase:

You should always increase your income to meet your goals, rather than lower your goals to meet your income!

So what do most people do when they need more money? They either work longer hours or take a second JOB. Why is that word in capitals? Well it is actually an acronym, rather than a word, and it stand for Just Over Broke! People with jobs are usually less than 3 months away from being broke if they stopped working. Think about it, if you lost your 1 stream of income today, how long could you survive whilst maintaining your current lifestyle? For some of you that is a scary realisation!

So what is the answer? Two words… PASSIVE INCOME! I was introduced to this term only a couple of years ago and it blew my mind; the idea of getting paid but not having to work for it! If you haven’t done already, you need to read Robert Kiyosaki’s Rich Dad Poor Dad book, which clearly explains the different forms of passive income. Maybe you could have a business, a network marketing company, some positive Cashflow property or some dividend paying paper assets. Whatever your vehicle of choice, its something you should start today!

The problem with most of these options however is that wealth is accumulated exponentially! What does that mean? Well, in short it means that in the early stages, it can mean quite a bit of work with minimal results! This is enough to cause people to quit and give up. However, the beautiful thing about exponential results is that, after the critical mass point, your wealth will increase than any linear compensation model such as a wage or salary. The magic is that after a while, you can be earning as much with your part time business as you are with your full time job! The challenge therefore, is how do you stay with something long enough for it to generate the cash you require?

2 things to remember here! Firstly, get in touch with your WHY. What is your motivation for that extra money? Is it to provide a better life for you and your family? Is it to avoid the pain of falling short on your mortgage payments month after month? Is it because you are fed up with saying “I can’t afford that“? Whatever your reason, it needs to be clear and compelling enough to keep you taking action.

The second thing is COMMIFTMENT. Some of you are looking at that carefully and thinking “there is no ‘F’ in commitment!“ and you are absolutely right! For most people, they just give up, they are not committed enough to making it happen. You have to be prepared to work through the slow growth phase to get the results that the exponential section offers. Promise yourself that you will stay with whatever you have chosen long enough for it to pay you. Don’t just jump over to another plan and get involved in the same process again. This is the trap that most people fall into, and they only ever find themselves in the beginning of something as opposed to the part that really gets the results.

Your challenge today is to discover a method of increasing your income either as a business owner or investor. Choose something that you enjoy and then commit to make it work at it until it works for you! There are even a few ideas in my links that may be able to provide you with exactly what you are looking for!