Let’s take a look at the normal anatomy of human beings. We all have a head, arms, legs, feet, toes and the list could go on and on. Every part of the body has it’s own purpose and functionality. The legs carry the body from place to place, the hands grip and pick things up with the help of the arms but when it all comes down to it, the head is what controls the body. If something happens to the head, the other parts won’t function right, if at all.

So what happens if the arm wants to take control and do something different than what the head wants it to do? No matter how hard that arm tries to influence the head, it’s still the head operating the arm. Slap the head too many times and the head doesn’t work right, thus, neither does the arm. Beat the head to death and the arm kills itself in the process. Kill the head….the arm dies along with it. A body without the head, the mind, is nothing but a skin covered bag of bones!

What I mean by the analogy, is during certain periods of my Entrepreneur life I thought I was the head. I thought I was the one in control of the arms and legs of my business. The truth was, I was just the arm trying to turn the head the way I wanted it to go. It doesn’t work that way. An arm is just an arm and is controlled by the head.

My point…..is to always be the head of your enterprise. As long as there is a franchise, an owner, a co-owner or something with equal or more authority than you in your enterprise, you will never be the head. You will never have complete control of your financial future. Because…..say it with me….what effects the head, effects the entire body. We all know that a healthy mind equals a healthy body. It filters down…not up.

Make sure you are the one influencing the arms and the legs of your enterprise, not the one being influenced. If you are to ever achieve success and TRUE independence, you must be the head and only the head. Don’t settle for anything less. But that means that you must stop thinking like the arm or the leg, and start thinking like the head. Once you reach that point, you’ll know….and you be much, much happier and all of this will simply be a reminder.

Next up to bat in the 5 Categories of Success is the fourth and most sought after category, Financial! I don’t really know anyone, anywhere, that would say “no” to making a little more money. Some pursue money as if it is the very thing they depend on to sustain life, money being the very air they breathe. Success to many means having lots and lots of money and plenty of time to spend and enjoy having all that money. It’s all about being the P.I.M.P. with the 20 inch rims, the huge mansion and money all over the place. It’s amazing to see someone rise to the top and become wealthier than they have ever been, become the high roller they had always wanted to be, spend all of their money, and end up broke, depressed and out of luck.

Having a mansion, cars, boats, atv’s, planes, maids, employees, nice clothes and all that can dress up your appearance is NOT financial success. Financial success is about having assets. An asset is something of value, or something that can bring your more income…consistent income. The only thing in the list I just mentioned that may be an asset is the mansion. Everything else is a depreciating deficit…..things that cost you more money. Having the cars, boats, atv’s, planes, maids and nice clothes are results of having assets, if you so choose to accumulate those things.

Now, I know many people think that once they achieve financial success that all the other categories will fall into place. They will then have the time and money to improve themselves, their families and their spirituality. To most people, the money fixes everything and makes everything possible. Not the case! If you were a broke, miserable person before falling into financial success, you will eventually become a broke, miserable person again unless you change you! The financial success comes and STAYS because of who you are being. If you have not become the millionaire in your mind first, then you will not remain a millionaire for long, because your money thermostat is set much, much lower than that. To learn more about how to reset your thermostat, read “Secrets of a Millionaire Mind” by T. Harv Ecker. Great read!

Now, financial success to me, is after all of my expenses (ie bills, groceries, mortgage etc) I still have plenty of money to put a portion away for savings, donate a portion for a good cause, invest some back into strengthening my assets and to live an abundant lifestyle. That’s financial success. It’s not about having  just enough to get by. That’s three months away from homeless should tragedy strike. It’s true. How many people have lost homes because they were making just enough to get by and tragedy struck, they lost their job? Too many! I apologize, but I have to recommend another book here. It’s “The Richest Man in Babylon” by George S. Clason. That short, little book will teach you a bit more about what to do with the money you make.

The portal to creating financial success is Entrepreneurship. You must become an entrepreneur. By doing so, you are in control of how much or how little you earn, and the cool thing about entrepreneurship, is you can make a lot of money doing exactly what you love to do. If that is eating donuts all day, you can own a donut shop. If you enjoy teaching kids how to play basketball, you can organize basketball camps and three on three tournaments. If you enjoy it, chances are, you will do well. It’s about finding a way to make it happen. Most likely, things won’t be laid out perfectly for you with ABC instructions on how to create success. To me, that’s the exciting part of it all. You get to take ALL the credit for what you create!

If I can give you a few tips of advice in creating your financial success, it would be this:

1. Know what you want. Get very clear. Be creative with your ideas. Be different.
2. Mastermind with those people who have the results you desire to have.
3. Persist without exception until you get what you want. Learn that “The Buck Stops Here!” To learn more about that you can read “The Travelers Gift” by Andy Andrews.
4. Burn your boats, meaning, leave no escape routes or back doors. Play with all out MASSIVE action. Play small, get small results. Play big, get big results.
5. Be extremely consistent.

Anyone and everyone that has a desire to succeed and the willpower to pursue their dreams has to potential to achieve them. One of the most important concepts that I have learned on the path of financial success, is to simply “Enjoy the Journey!” Life is good and because of you, it will become better and better. Money isn’t everything. Money is a tool, or a gateway to achieving greater things in life. Use it to bless your life, the life of your family and the lives of others in a positive way…….and guys, there’s plenty to go around!

Gear up, get ready, do whatever it is you are going to do. If you plan on starting an internet business, home based business or expand your internet presence for your current business, now is the time to take action.

As the holidays come to an end, reality starts to set in for those who had the last week or two off. They start to think of having to go back to work on Monday, and for most people, that’s not what they want to be doing. So what do they do? They start looking for something else that will create a change in lifestyle. Something that will create a little more freedom with their schedule. And you know, most people know there are opportunities in existence that would allow them to work less and make more, yet, they have no idea where to find them or lack the courage to get started. For some, it’s like trying to find a grain of sand in a box of Malt-O-Meal or Cream of Wheat. But even though they have no idea what they are looking for, they will be looking.

Seriously, if you think about it, what time of year do people receive the most desire to change? It’s the beginning of the New Year, and if you’re anything like me, I start to reflect a bit on the past year. In doing so, I find stuff I don’t really like about it, so I set goals to change it. One of the most sought after changes is MONEY CHANGES. People want to make more money, ALWAYS. Money means comfort, lifestyle, family time, freedom, stuff, toys and so on.

I can tell you, being a home business entrepreneur has some amazing perks at the beginning of the year. The other day I had a conversation with someone I know who works for GoDaddy. They mentioned that GoDaddy hasn’t experienced a dip in business AT ALL. They are flourishing! Why?

It because people are looking for other ways to generate extra income, internet based. There is a rush coming. I can promise you that. Find yourself an opportunity that suits you and take advantage of those who will be searching you out. Now is the time to take advantage of the New Years internet business boom. Don’t wait. Get started!

You will rarely achieve any degree of significant success by sticking with the masses. Now I know this may be a difficult concept to understand for those of you who are currently in the masses. You might say, “I measure success in a different way you do.” Or, “Just because I choose to work a job doesn’t mean that I am part of someone else’s vision.” Or, “It doesn’t mean that I’m not successful because I choose to work a job.” And those are all valid points, however, there are “Degrees” of success. The success I am speaking of involves more than success in just a few areas of life, but success in ALL areas of life….family, self, business, time, community, religion and the list goes on and on.

The masses, meaning the majority of the worlds population, are living someone else’s vision. That vision includes you, not as the main role, but as an extra in their movie. To truly achieve your dreams, a higher degree of success, everyone else must be the extra in the movie you write. You are the Individual. You are the main character in your own movie. When it all comes down to it, the difference between an “A” or a “C” grate average depends on YOU. The individual.

If you think about all the different components of a car that have to work together to make it work, there are a ton. The main goal of all those car parts is to make a vehicle that works. The vehicle, the car, is it. Everything else is just part of it. I mean, if you want to be the rim, the gas pedal, the steering shaft or the radiator, you can fit into that position very nicely and will probably do a great JOB in making that car work…….but you’ll never be the car. When you get into your car, you don’t say, “Man, I love the radiator, the gas pedal and the rims that make up this car.” No! You say, “Man I love this car!” The car is the thing that exists, and as a component of the car, when you break, you are replaced with a better working part. The car still exists. It was always about the car, not the parts.

Are you getting my point here? Sometimes I feel like I get too thick in the analogies, but I think that’s how my brain understands best. And since my brain works that way, so should yours, right!?

You must, and I say MUST, separate yourself from the actions that seem most common in order to get uncommon results in your life. And the uncommon results, are the successful ones. Very few people ever get the joy of truly accomplishing their goals. Very few people ever live out their dreams. But the people that do, have learned to single themselves out as individuals and have created their own path to follow, their own movie and their own car.

Point blank, individuals succeed. Masses do what they are told!

What is one of the main causes of discouragement for an entrepreneur? Rejection is. Throughout the process of creating success in any given business opportunity lies opportunities for rejection. When you apply for a business loan, you may get rejected. When you out in a quote for a job, they may reject your offer. When you make your sales calls, most likely, you will get rejected before you make a sale. Heck, you will probably get rejected over and over again.

Rejection is a natural part of the process of success in any venture, even in a job setting as well as an entrepreneurial venture. How many job applications and interviews does a person have to go through to find the perfect job? How many “No’s” does an entrepreneur have to sort through to find the yes? That’s the key! The more “no’s,” or rejections you get, the closer you are to the “Yes’s!” In addition to a thought out business plan, a great location, a proven system and a customer base, that’s all business is. It’s the process of sorting through the “no’s” until you find the “Yes.”

Discouragement from rejection comes to entrepreneurs who don’t have a strong enough goal, or vision for where they are headed. Rejection can get monotonous, repetitive and quite annoying. It’s easy to look at rejection as failure. Failure brings a lack of motivation, poor mindset and very little progress. It’s grounds to think about the forbidden “Q” word. QUITTING! Which is why it takes a lot of self motivation and ambition to succeed as an entrepreneur. It’s all on your shoulders, success and failure.

What you have to realize is that rejection is not personal. The person on the other end of the phone line, directly in front of you, behind the application, looking at your product or whatever it may be, may reject your offer because of them, not you. Rejection is something that happens when a person doesn’t understand the value of your product or service in their life. That’s it! They don’t say no because of who you are. It’s not a personal attack. It’s just the process of sorting. Success happens when your product or service finds customers who can see it’s value in their own life. That’s who you are sorting for.

So the more “No’s” you get, the better. You can’t treat every potential customer like they are the only potential buyer you will ever see, as you drool with dollar signs in your eyes. That’s insane. They are either a no or a yes. That’s it. As long as your presentation, display, product or service provides value and is presented properly, you will make the sale. Don’t read into it too deeply. Don’t get your feelings hurt when you encounter rejection because it will happen. Learn from it and move forward until you find that “Yes,” again and again and again. If you can do that, then welcome to Entrepreneurship!