One of the things that prevents individuals from seeing success in business are the road blocks they encounter right from the beginning, point A, to the end, point B. For those of you who have ever started a business or attempted to start a business, you know that in doing so, every step of the way isn’t sure. There is no detailed list of steps to take numbered 1 – 100. Even a detailed business plan doesn’t really give the action steps you’ll need to take to accomplish your goal. Based on your research, it’s just an educated guess at what the end result could be. From there, it’s up to the entrepreneur to create that detailed list, one step at a time.

The important thing to realize is that entrepreneurs don’t know all the steps to take. In order to make it to point B, all they know how to do is to simply take the NEXT step. As an entrepreneur, you don’t have to know all the steps, you just have to be willing to take the first step…and then continue taking steps from there, one at a time. By taking the steps we can see today, those steps then create new steps which we can take tomorrow. It’s like going up a staircase that turns at a 90 degree angle. At some point, you can’t really see the top of the staircase until turn that corner and start up the stairs. Same concept. By taking one simple step at a time, they’ll eventually add up, and you’ll soon reach the top.

You see, entrepreneurship is the ability to create something out of nothing, to take an idea and create a reality with it. Entrepreneurs are the most creative, action taking people on the planet. All growth depends on the mind of the Entrepreneur. They create jobs. They create opportunity for those who have no idea how to create it for themselves or are scared to do so. So their course is always an uncharted one. There’s no road maps or connect the dots. The only thing that exists is an internal GPS unit embedded in the heart of every Entrepreneur….constantly pointing in the right direction.

It’s not the end result that makes success so rewarding….it’s all it took to get there. It’s the journey. Would the celebration at the end of the race be a celebration if someone else had to carry you the entire way?

The reward is the knowledge that you did this. No one else did it, you did. And you did it your way…..and because you did, you deserve success, because you literally created it!

“Live today as if it’s already tomorrow!” Lately, this is a motto I have come to know well in my life. Basically, if it’s today, yesterday is already gone. You can’t change it, alter it or get it back. What’s done is done…or on the other hand, what’s not done is just a missed opportunity. It’s gone! So seriously, live today as though you will never have today again…and the crazy thing is, you won’t ever have it again. I know….deep right!?

My point is simple. Yesterday, I listened in on a conversation my wife was having, and it was the most motivating conversation I have ever heard. It brought tears to my eyes to sit there and listen to this man pour out a life of regret. He had spent his life striving to live the dream, business venture after business venture. He started out in the Glass Industry. Instead of running his business, his business ran him. His paperwork kept him at the office into the late hours of the night. He rarely saw his family. Then one day, he decided to build a shop behind his house and his daughter said, “Mommy, I’m so happy that Daddy is building his house so close to our house because we can go visit him now.”

He went on to say that the big house, the nice cars, the huge successful business, the glory and the fame just don’t matter. Looking back on his life now, he realizes that he was never there. The words “I wish I would have” rolled off his tongue as he spoke of his children. He wishes he would have been around more when they were little. That’s all that matters to him now, and now he is full of regret. He can never get that time back.

To me, to hear stories like this, is very, very depressing….yet at the same time, extremely motivating! I don’t ever want to say, “I wish I would have.” Ever! I don’t want to be the guy with 20/20 hindsight. I want to be the guy who lives today as if there is no tomorrow…..and so I do. If I have  and idea or a gumption, I act on it. I don’t wait. Waiting is a waste of time and besides, what are you waiting for? A better time? There will never be a better time in the history of YOU, to act on your dreams.

So just don’t. Don’t be the guy that says “I wish I had!” Don’t live a life of regrets. Don’t put off your dreams for anything. And yes, that includes the lack of knowledge on how to achieve your dreams. That’s no excuse. Live a full and fulfilling life. Every moment counts!

Recently I have had many thoughts and conversations and what it truly takes to create success in a home based business. If we were to look at the statistics of successful home business owners versus unsuccessful ones, I am pretty sure the majority of the numbers would point towards those who have failed, given up or have not yet experienced the success they had expected. In fact, if we look at any business or industry, not singling out just network marketing, the statistics would be in favor of the unsuccessful.

It’s a sad thing, I know…..but in my industry, network marketing, there’s a significant difference between those who succeed and those who don’t. That difference is contained in the word “Expert!” That’s the secret. In order to truly succeed in your home business, you MUST become an expert in your field. There’s no way around it.

Now, I know there are success stories of people who have zero experience that come into a home business and make a ton of money really quickly…..but where’s the rest of the story? Someone can make a quarter million dollars with a good home business opportunity simply by pursuing their warm market….the people they know. But what happens when that warm market is all spent. They are stuck in the mud without  four wheel drive and the momentum they had once before because they have run out of people to talk to about their amazing home business. And guys, I’m not making this up! I have seen it happen over and over again. They come, they have an awesome first year, they halt in income, and they check out. This is one of the reasons you see people doing what we call “Opportunity Jumping.”

The secret to true, prolonged consistent success in a home business, is to become an Expert. And what I mean by that, is to become really, really good at whatever it is you do. To give you an example: You can obviously see my blog, since you are reading it at this very moment. I have some decent traffic coming into this site through the marketing I have done for it. I rank first page on Google, Yahoo and Bing for some of the most competitive keyphrases in my industry. I have a presence on the internet and have generated hundreds of thousands of dollars because of it. Now, a year and a half after starting this business, I had no clue about marketing. I was having someone else do it all for me and was paying them to do it. I distinctly remember not even knowing what a URL was or that it needed an http://. I was clueless.

But you know what happened? The paid marketing fell through and I was forced to learn it all. I studied, I Googled,  I did everything I needed to do to learn how to market. I became and expert in my field. I became really good at what I do and in order to create prolonged success, that’s what it takes. Sure, you may make money by paying someone else to do it all for you, but what happens when that falls through? What happens when your new distributor gets started and your marketing guy can’t take any more clients? Then what? You must become a marketing expert! It’s all about duplication…..and that is able to be duplicated.

When all the smoke and mirrors are gone, the excitement of starting that new business wears off and your warm market is exhausted, your success really teeters on how good you really are in your niche. If you are actively engaged in your self education, you’ll excel and create the success that you deserve…..and you’ll keep it going for a really long time. Become an expert marketer and success will follow you like it has never done before. I promise you that!

To close off the 5 Categories of Success, let’s talk a little about Recreational Success. Sure, I know…you are probably thinking, “What in the #$#@ is recreational success?” Well, we know that recreation is doing something recreational, or something fun. A recreational act is an act designed to amuse, refresh or enjoy.

I like to consider it as a recharging of the batteries….and for those of you who recharge batteries often, you know a few things. You know that if you don’t charge them long enough, they won’t have full power and if you charge them too long, they become weak. There has to be a balance.

The same applies in life. There must be a balance of work and play, otherwise, what’s the point. There has to be those moments where you don’t want to do a dang thing but watch a movie. The times where you just sit to watch the sun go up or go down is healthy for your mind, your body and your soul. Taking that new car down the highway just to see how fast it can go is more of a positive influence on your well being than it is negative….even if you get a huge speeding ticket. As human beings, we thrive on excitement, fulfillment and even a degree of danger, as long as it is calculated danger, posed in our favor. We want to smile and laugh out loud. The healthiest and happiest people in the world are those who work hard and laugh often.

What’s the point of working hard all your life if you can’t enjoy all that you have worked to create. A life lived without some leisure and laughter is a life missed. And in my line of business, Network Marketing, those who can integrate their work into their recreation make the most money and experience the most success. Living your life out loud, the way you want to live it, attracts those who desire what you have. Nobody enjoys hanging around the guy who works all the time. He’s the guy without any friends or in most cases, the guy without a family. Nobody wants to be that guy.

Recreational success makes all that you have been able to accomplish, more fun, and motivates you to achieve more. I know that by doing my work today, I can take time off tomorrow. In most cases, that’s why I work so hard. I work hard so that I can play hard. What a great philosophy. Work Hard, Play Hard.

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!