How To Realize Your Home-Based Business Expectations.

"I want to be a millionaire!" 

Not only is this the title of a popular TV series, it's the thought lighting up the eyes of eager entrepreneurs. The prospect of wealth isn't always the driving force for the entrepreneurial spirit, but it is always present. Without a little wealth, no business can succeed—even non-profits.

Droves of entrepreneur wannabees flock to countless MLM programs, the Internet, new franchises, and many other business opportunities that can be operated out of their homes. Most of them expect early riches and, so, are quickly discouraged and quit.

Many will repeatedly try new programs with the exact same results.

What is wrong? Why won't success come to all who want it?

Would-be entrepreneurs are often unwilling to treat their new endeavor as a real business. It's true working for yourself provides as much flexibility as you want, but required activities must be completed no matter what. Running a business requires patience to allow customers to find out about you. Willingness to put in the time and effort to learn how to run your business is a necessity. The more you learn the more you earn.

The budding entrepreneur must be willing to assume risk. Your product or service may be something no one wants! You won't know until you've given it a passionate all-out try. Some amount of money must also be put at risk. Personal service and many hours of effort may reduce the actual cash outlay, but a little money must be available.

Perhaps the worst thing a newbie will do is try to completely re-invent the wheel, comprised of the actions of very successful people, millionaires. You don't need to do all that again. Just copy the actions of millionaires, and you very likely will become one. A lot has been written about this, beginning with Napoleon Hill and his mastermind group.

To understand what rich people do differently requires a lot of reading and analysis. What eventually should strike anyone researching actions of successful people is there are things done by every single one of them:

• They give away some of their money. A common figure is 10%. This is not the biblical tithe. It's giving something back to the community to thank them for helping with your success.
  
• They have a mastermind group. This is so important. We're all told from birth that we can't do this or that and we must do certain things to succeed. That's mostly rubbish. A mastermind group of open-minded people will show you new ideas and ways to succeed beyond your dreams while not discouraging you with negative thought.
  
• Take some action toward your goals. You may not know enough or have enough money but do something anyway. Inaction breeds failure and discouragement.

Sydney Smith said "The greatest of all mistakes is to do nothing because you can only do a little. Do what you can."

• Persist in your efforts. Never quit. If your plans aren't working, tweak them until they do work.
  
• Don't think in terms of "I can't afford to do that." Wealthy people say "How can I afford to do that?"
  
• Develop passive recurring sources (streams) of income. This won't come immediately, but it will come if you work toward that goal.
  
• Continuously educate yourself. Knowledge is the power that will make you wealthy and financially independent.
  
• Set a goal to become very wealthy. The things you will have to learn and do in the process will make you a better person. You will overcome fears and learn how to do many worthwhile things. All of this will help you to help others through your knowledge and ability. That's why we are here: to help others.
  
  
• Become dedicated to what you intend to do. Many sales trainers and MLM companies have programs stressing a spiritual approach to marketing. Some of these are very religious in nature. The dictionary defines spiritual as "relating to the spirit" which in turn has a definition of "a mental disposition characterized by firmness or assertiveness." In other words, success is often related to how dedicated you can become to your goals.
  
• Use your money to buy assets rather than liabilities. Anything that takes money away from you is a liability. Your house and your automobile are liabilities; they take money away from you every day. An investment in your business or a stock plan are purchases of assets. Assets put money in your pocket.
  To gain financial independence one must purchase many more assets than liabilities. We can enjoy toys that are liabilities after we attain financial independence.
  
• Use your subconscious. Simply go to a quiet place before bed, early in the morning, or anytime you need help with a problem. Tell your subconscious what help you need and exactly when you need it. Then forget about your problem until you need to solve it. You'll be amazed at the solutions presented to you.
  
• Read Think And Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill. This book has energized the lives of many millionaires. It's something every entrepreneur should examine over and over.

Just reading this article will not give you a plan for success. Use these ideas to further your study of the successful efforts of others. After a while you will begin to see what actions are useful to you and how you can incorporate them into your business efforts.

All the millionaires you will study have certain books and magazines they read on a regular basis. What does this tell you? It's often stated as "the more you learn the more you earn." These people also pay attention to motivators and experts in business psychology. The one most often mentioned is Napoleon Hill. Close behind are Stephen Covey, Tony Robbins, Zig Ziglar, Robert Kiyosaki, and a host of others. 

To utilize these people without being overwhelmed, because there are so many of them, you can review what several of them are saying. Then pick no more than three to study at any one time. Absorb what you can from these and then move on to three more. You'll find an endless supply of fresh ideas, and some will be just what you need to solve a problem you have. Other ideas will be radical and hard to accept. Keep your mind open and always think outside the box. Our present society is subjected to so much rapid change, old ways become obsolete and ineffective every minute.

In addition to the Napoleon Hill book, let's discuss a few others relating to ideas we have mentioned. First, though, a caution: My richest girlfriend got her millions the old fashioned way—she inherited it. One of her fondest expressions was "who cares how much money someone has or how they made it? They aren't going to give me any of it."

I completely agree with her. There are thousands of books, articles, and courses for sale wanting to tell us "How I made a million dollars in 15 minutes." Any written material that includes "How I did..." usually is just a lot of fluff. I never read them. What I do read is material covering concrete ideas and how I might use them to improve myself or my business. These few books discussed here are ones that have been of great interest and help to me right up until the present time. I suggest them to you.

Most important to me of all has been Think And Grow Rich. It gives a plan built on the ideas of numerous, very successful people beginning with Andrew Carnegie. The importance of this book is confirmed by its continuing popularity. It was first introduced in 1928 and through several reprints, Think And Grow Rich is still, at this writing, number 291 on Amazon's sales list.

Having the second most profound influence on me is The Power of Your Subconscious Mind by Joseph Murphy. Using ideas in this book can unleash powers you already have within you. The results can be amazing. After reading this book, I've personally used my subconscious to get rid of a person who threatened my life and members of my family. It also was the main medium used to bring someone very close to me back from almost certain death. If you study nothing else, please pay attention to this book. Its significance shows because it has been around for a long time and still is currently number 884 with Amazon.com. Your subconscious is a powerful assistant you can never leave behind even if you try. Use its power to achieve unbelievable results.

There are many writings about the value of giving away a portion of one's wealth. The Biblical tithe is not what we are talking about. That's considered an obligation by many. The giving we're discussing comes from wanting to give back a portion of the blessings one receives from society. One recent discussion of the merits of giving is The Greatest Money-Making Secret In History! by Joe Vitale. I particularly like the author's emphasis on anonymous giving. The real benefit derived from giving is not in being recognized, it's from the feeling of just doing it.

The idea of spirituality in your efforts is discussed in a former best-seller also from Joe Vitale, Spiritual Marketing, which can be downloaded for free at the IAHBE Website. This book deals with clearing obstacles to success from your life and replacing them with positive reinforcement. One meaning of "spiritual" is something that relates to the spirit. "Spirit" is further defined as "an animating or vital principle held to give life to physical organisms." Spiritual Marketing explores ways to introduce animating and vital principles into your marketing efforts to help your business succeed.

Most of the ideas in this article are discussed in detail by Robert Kiyosaki and others in Rich Dad's The Business School For People Who Like Helping People. An unexpected feature is the emphasis on MLM and Networking. Many home business entrepreneurs are involved in these kinds of businesses and this book is very helpful in its discussion of the values and opportunities presented by this relatively new business model.

Continuous and recurring streams of income must be present for the home based entrepreneur to begin to enjoy the fruits of his labor. Failure to build these streams reduces your state to being a slave to your own ambitions and desires. An excellent discussion of the streams of income principles may be found in Multiple Streams of Income: How to Generate a Lifetime of Unlimited Wealth by Robert Allen. Some ideas in the book may be difficult for many people but the idea of income from many sources is sound. Increasing prominence of the Internet has opened opportunities for average people to profit from a number of recurring sources of money.

You are reading this because you are one of my readers.  You have literally hundreds of different ways to make money. My suggestion to everyone is to utilize some of these income streams.

Use the ideas already used by successful people as guides for action rather than fixed blueprints for action. What others do may not exactly work for you. But some of them will work. Choose actions you think will be useful and modify them to fit in your plan.

Don't reinvent the wheel. Adjust it to help you move forward!