My Friend had a Tortoise...

My friend had a tortoise ... and so did I ... It was the 70's so we were allowed.

You might not believe it but our little tortoises had completely different personalities. Her's was called Fred, he was a lovely little chap who plodded a long, managing to bi-pass her swimming pool (generally).... which is no mean feet when you understand he didn't know how to change direction. Honestly! On a daily basis my friend and her siblings had the job to find the tortoise and turn him around. One day he did plop into the pool, luckily the cover was on so he didn't perish, after which they fenced off the hazard. Lucky little fellow to have a family that cared so much for him!

My tortoise was called Winnie. Now Winnie had a real sense of adventure. We lived in a bungalow in Suffolk, which had a 'C' shaped layout, leaving a tree and a piece of lawn in the centre. A hallway ran along one side and had big windows so we could look onto this little haven. This became Winnie's home...We fenced off the other end to keep her in and keep her safe. .... but Winnie wasn't having any of it! Winnie was a digger and a climber... Winnie was an escapologist and a swashbuckler.
No matter what we did Winnie would go walkabout. Thankfully the word got out in our village and if ever Winnie wandered off over the fields and far away, someone would eventually call and return her to her rightful home. 

You would think that a tortoise would not wonder far, or be gone for long... not Winnie. Once she was missing for a whole winter... once she was found 2 miles away. On she would pootle, no matter what got in her way!

I hadn't thought about Winnie and Fred for a long time. Yesterday their little ways came to mind. I was going over my years worth of social media training notes and having a chat with Pam about our search for the next deal. We were both feeling that things are going too slowly for our liking.

Sometimes life feels like a plod, sometimes we need to continue on our journey, watching the scenery pass by slowly. We need to wait for the the pieces to fall in place, to meet the right person, read the right thing, put the plan together neatly. Then suddenly the pace changes and we are speeding along and we wonder if we can keep up.

Have a great day ... plodding along or speeding... whichever... so long as it's towards your goal... so long as you are on your adventure. Enjoy!

Tania xx

Live on a Beach and eat mangos!

 

Have you made the decision to quit your job, live on the beach, eat mangos and drink rainbow colored alcoholic drinks all day? Well before you turn in your two week notice or just decide to give your boss one day notice cause you just can't take it anymore there are some things to consider and put in place before you buy a one way ticket to paradise. These 8 tips will help anyone to start setting up the life they desire.

1. Mindset
You don't have to wait until you're retired, you can travel and enjoy life anyway you chose now if you put a little planning into place and stay focused on your goals. It takes less money than you think to start enjoying the life you desire. Dream big and believe that can change your life.

2. Goals
Set clear goals with a deadline.Just setting a goal puts you ahead of the crowd. Write down your passions, what you like to do and what you are good at. How you achieve your goals may change over time, that's life.

3. Time and Productivity
Time is not a renewable resource. How are your spending your time?
Track how you are spending your time. You can use a calendar or excel spreadsheet to track how your activities. Figure out what you're wasting time on and start doing activities that help you achieve your goals.
Create a vision of how you would ideally spend your time for a day, week or month.
Have fun with this exercise by writing it down and be as detailed as possible.

4. Money and Finances
Stop buying things you don't need- If you want to live a location independent lifestyle you must get control of your spending. Think about all the things you spend money on that you really don't need. Do you really need the latest smartphone, flat screen TV or $6 cups of coffee?

5. Track your expenses
Write down everything you spend money on for a month. Create a budget after tracking your expenses for a month figure out where you can cut back on your spending. Create a budget for your monthly living needs, long and short term saving, retirement, and money to splurge every once in a while. Living expenses should be 50-60% of net, all other categories should be at least 10% of net each.

6. Get out of debt
Pay off the balances with the highest interest rate first, when they are paid off add that money to the minimum payment of the next balance and repeat until your debt load is more manageable.

7. Optimize your accounts
Set up bank accounts that pay you interest, get rid of high interest credit cards, choose credit cards that give you awards or some other type of incentive.

8. Start an emergency fund
Once you have your financial situation in order try to put away a set amount of money every time you get paid. Strive to have at least six months living expenses in the bank for emergencies.

Making the decision to become a lifestyle entrepreneur can be a scary and adventurous path to follow. To make the transition from being a cubicle drone to a world-traveling mobile business owner there are a few things to consider and vital steps you must take to make the journey a little easier. Working on your mindset to change your thinking is the first and biggest step.
Then you will be well on your way to creating and living the lifestyle you desire, a lifestyle by design rather than a mundane template lifestyle most people accept without question.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/expert/Sid_L_Owsley/1517674

How to Get Rich with Billionaire Mindset

This weeks theme is 'Building for your future'. 
Watch the clip below to for info on how to focus on your passion and love what you do. Have a vision to serve as many people as possible.

How To Become Wealthy - A 3 Step Formula

The most certain way to become wealthy is to model genuinely rich people. When you struggle financially, it is almost natural to think of the quickest and easiest way out of your financial mess, which often makes you a potential victim of get rich quick scams.
If you often wonder whether one can get rich without cheating, stealing or winning the lottery, I have an answer for you and it is a big yes.

To become wealthy, you need discipline, determination, and very clear financial goals. You must also be ready to work hard at achieving your goals. Here are three steps that can lead you to a life of sustainable wealth:

Step 1 - Change your attitude towards wealthy people.
Most people from poor or middle class backgrounds have been programmed to believe that rich people are greedy dishonest crooks who take advantage of the poor. Now think about this for a moment. Is this not a perfect excuse for your subconscious mind to sabotage your wealth creation efforts? However much you may want to become wealthy, deep inside you would want to be known as a rich greedy crook that takes advantage of the poor.

Step 2 - Set financial goals and work steadily towards them.
You may have heard this before and you will tell me that you have New Year's resolutions that you have never gotten round to implementing. The goals I am talking about here are financial goals and by setting these, you are able to set the strategies that you will adopt to achieve them.
To become wealthy, you need to know specifically how much money you want to make and in a given time frame. For Example 'I want to make $500,000 in the next six months using all the tools at my disposal, selling widgets' is a clear goal. Once you set a goal like this, it is easy for you to measure your progress along the way.

Step 3 - Invest in your financial education.
How much money do you spend on books, seminars and workshops that teach you how to earn, save and invest your money? Any money you spend on these activities is certain to bring you a return at some point in time. Investing in your financial education can never be a waste of time and money.
For instance, you attend a real estate investment seminar that costs you $2,500. In this seminar you learn how to buy property without having to come up with a large down payment, and you take action based on your newly acquired knowledge.
Two months later, you own an investment property worth $250,000. Suddenly the $2,500 does not seem to be significant, given your return on investment.
Many people resist buying books because in their opinion, the only people getting rich are the authors. If you have such an attitude, you will never be able to move to the next level, because if you are not learning, you are not growing and if you are not growing, you are dying.

No one creates and sustains wealth by accident.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/expert/Augustine_Mwanje/826851

Top Wealth Creation Strategies For Financial Success

Building Your Property Investment

As you start your real estate investing business or continue to grow as an investor you will soon learn that building a solid team is a top priority. Many people I talk to go to several seminars each year, are always reading a real estate investment book and flat out spend thousands on education trying to learn everything there is to know about real estate. All of this is great but once you have done all the training you still need to put it into action and get going on finding a real deal and getting a team together.

 One of the most brilliant things I have ever heard originally came from Henry Ford. Once upon a time he was giving testimony in court and did not know how to answer several questions about his company. The attorney asked him how he was able to run such a large and successful company without being able to answer basic questions about its operation. He responded with something similar to "I don't need to know the answers to these questions, I just need to know who to call to get the answers"

If you understand what he is saying here this should eliminate 99% of anything that is holding you back in real estate. The key is not knowing everything but building a solid investment team to give you advice or provide the services you need to prosper.

I can't tell you how nice it is to know exactly who I am going to call no matter what the issue is that comes up. This virtually eliminates stress from my life and allows me to handle any problems no matter where I am.

Here is a partial list of professionals that will help ensure your success:
· Estate Agent
· Mortgage broker/banker/other funding sources
· Solicitor (you might have several)
· Accountant
· Insurance broker
· Contractor/handyman
· Property manager

Here is a quick list of important qualification when choosing team members:

They invest in real estate- You need someone that understands what you are doing and that has experience in the industry. Just because your neighbour is an estate agent with 20 years experience does not mean that he understands investing and the different strategies that will help make you rich. People who are doing what you are doing will be the best to give you sound advice.

Care about your goals - When you speak to a possible team member see if they ask you about your goals and what it is you are trying to accomplish. Someone who does all the talking and none of the listening is obviously in the business for their benefit and probably does not care if you reach your goals or not. Occasionally Travis or I will tell a client that the deal they are working on is not a deal at all. We walk them through the numbers and show them why they need to pass. Often they get angry at us because they are emotional about the deal but will call us several months later to say thank you. Be sure the potential team member wants you to succeed and is not just trying to get a commission.

Qualified - This is pretty self explanatory. If they say they are a Realtor you may want to be sure they are. I like working with the best so often times I will ask for referrals and verify those and inquire about how long they have been in business. They best way to find team members is referrals from other successful real estate investors.

Reasonable fees - Don't be cheap but don't pay someone more than the going rate for their service. This should be easy to verify online. When I say don't be cheap I mean it, many times you will get what you pay for. There are expenses related to running this business just like any other business so be prepared to pay your team members.

Chemistry - You are not getting married here but you want to work with someone you can stand to be around. Ask yourself if you like the person and can handle spending time with them. Do you feel the feeling is mutual? You will also want to ask if you can trust them.

So, what are you waiting for... go get your team!

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/expert/Kevin_Amolsch/725898