The Blue Roof

For some time now I have had a growing feeling of frustration.  My life and business is not going the way I want it to go.  And long ago I discovered 2 things:

Hoping and wishing don’t change things;

When things don’t go the way they are supposed to go, or the way you want them to go, it is because you are not doing what you have to do.

So yesterday I took some time out and bought myself some coffee and evaluated my life and business.  I set some new goals, looked at ways to achieve the goals and set some action plans.  One of my dreams is to move to a very remote rural area.

Soon you should notice some of the changes on this blog. 

But what I really want to suggest is that you also take some time out, take a pen and paper and just look at your life and dreams and where you want to go.

It is quite important to creating wealth in all forms.

On a very personal note:  my children often tell of their friends who love to come to our home.  Some say it is like going on holiday to visit with us.  My own children say home is the best place to be.  I am humbly grateful for this.  The interesting thing is, we live a very simple life.  Very little material wealth.  OLD TV, old cars, no (bad) debt, you get the picture.  Some of the youngsters rocking up here come in very fancy cars and obviously has much more material wealth.

Yesterday evening, still thinking about my exercise, I realised that the above paragraph describes bigger wealth than all the money in the world.

Take some time out to plan your life and do it regularly!

Rules for creating wealth. Start a business.

 We have seen that starting a business is a good way to create wealth. Not only do you create extra cash flow, you also create an asset that you can sell. Starting a business could cost very little and then selling a successful business can give you a very good return.

 But starting a business is not without danger. That is why I suggest you start it part-time – use your salary as a safety net.

 Some people like to sow, others like to tend the crop and harvest. The same way there are people who like to start a business, but is not interested in tending and growing it. I think it is important to know where you fit in.

 When you decide to start a business, I think it is important that you start something in a field that you know and are passionate about. If you are passionate about something, it just happens and you enjoy it. The money is secondary. Once again it is a bad example, but I quite often ask myself about blogging. Why do I do it? I don’t make money from it. Yet, I am always thinking about topics to write about. I am passionate about financial freedom and helping people achieve it!

 For a business to succeed, you need 3 skills: technical knowledge (know your product), sales skills (without sales the best product is worthless) and admin skills (you need to control). Learn to sell – it is something that you can learn. And selling itself is a business! You can always sell somebody else’s product! How difficult can it be to get a contract with a wine-farm to sell their wine on a commission basis? Especially if you are some what a wine fundi. But even if you are not, you can still sell the wine! Selling skills are, in my opinion, the most important business skill to develop. There are more than enough products out there.

 Lastly, beware of “big corporate thinking.” I have often experienced how people in top corporate positions think they will walk out and just start a business, and often, with their contacts, they do it successfully. Unfortunately, starting a new small business is totally different! Very seldom, if ever, do you have the big corporate resources to help you. When you start a small business (hopefully growing it to a big corporate), you do not have the finances and relationships with banks and big shareholders (you are the big shareholder!) and you do not have a staff of specialists. You are very much chief, cook and bottle washer! Nothing wrong with that – it can be very exciting and something to tell your grandchildren! But when you step down from a top position at a big corporate, please keep it in mind.

 Lastly, never put something that works at risk to try something new. That means: don’t put your financial security at risk in an effort to start something new that may or may not work. Be very careful before you burn your bridges!