Dawn, Daniel, Trades Descriptions & Direct Talking

A very early start on Saturday, to fly to Manchester to spend the day with an early client of The Money Gym, reviewing his business and investments and planning the next year for him. He’s asked me to meet up once a quarter as he finds a coaching relationship very motivating! Now this man does not need motivating, let me tell you, but I’ve decided he’s an entrepreneurial personality type so he thinks while he talks. And he values having someone objective to talk to! We definately came out of that day with a focused “to do” list for each of his “Lanes of the Wealth Highway”.

A lovely meal with my client and then I waved him off and had an early night at the rather nice Radisson SAS hotel, which was full of well behaved football supporters rather than hunky tough soldiers. Trades descriptions act, anyone?

Then to the Tower Thistle to speak for WIN Investing’s “Build Your Wealth” event. Very strange day, as while the response was very positive, nobody took me up on my offer, whereas with much smaller crowds in London, they’ve been beating my door down. Lots of sidling up and trying to get my private contact details as well, which was very odd.

A lovely lunch with Daniel Priestly of Triumphant Events, who I’ve heard a lot about but never met before. He caught the end of my talk and was intrigued, and I loved his presentation on Wealth Dynamics profiling, which of course we are big fans of at The Money Gym. Judith and I are Creator/Star/Mechanics (no!) and Steve is a Lord/Accumulator/Mechanic. Any Deal Makers or Supporters out there?

Then off to Manchester Airport which I always find most entertaining, where I got chatted up by a barrister en route for somewhere else. It took me a while to realise it was happening, as I’m a very friendly and outgoing type generally, but by the third compliment in thirty minutes (vivacious, lovely eyes, nice coat, warm personality etc etc) I was starting to twig. Ooo-er, what to do? Being a wimp, I couldn’t say “no” outright when he asked for my number but I figured if I took his, then at least I would be able to screen the calls. The man has a live-in lover for heavens sake, where do guys like that get off? He probably reads this ezine by now, my profile not being exactly low key, online, so, if you do, you were very nice but I’m not interested in breaking up homes OR playing second fiddle. Don’t you watch “Mistresses” – it ALWAYS ends in tears.

Talking of possibly ending in tears, check out my article on business and taking responsibility for your money, as nobody cares as much about your cash as you do. It’s a theme that Judith and I are very keen to make sure you are aware of, as the news gets grimmer and grimmer on the TV. It’s not just about jobs being in the firing line, but businesses too. And that may have a knock on effect on your earnings, your savings and your investments. Not to doom-monger but to encourage you to be aware, be pro-active and make plans for a different world than it was last year!

Back to work and it’s all been about the Property Extravaganza Day this week, with bookings pouring in. We are nearly half sold out so if you are thinking of coming along, book your place at http://www.themoneygym.com/events/property – it’s only £25, all going to the Big Issue after we pay the VAT, and eight great speakers. Loads of lovely networking and re-charging your wealth creation batteries.

This week, Judith and I interviewed the very lively Anthony North, who is the Head Fundraiser for The Big Issue, and an entertaining and moving hour it was too! I broadcast the interview on BlogTalkRadio, I’m going to podcast via the blog here on iTunes. You can listen to Anthony’s story here

I did a quick look on YouTube to see if the Big Issue had much up there already – perhaps their own channel, as they do Big Issue tours and events. Not a sausage on YouTube except some piss-taking videos of Big Issue vendors doing their best to bring a bit of Christmas cheer to their selling activities.

So I’m given myself the rather tedious job of breaking the interview down into six x ten minute segments, and getting it up on YouTube as video too. If Anthony gives me the go-ahead, I’ll create The Big Issue their own channel, so they can add our videos and those of some of the bands who have been on their tour.

While there I found an interesting video of Big Issue founder John Bird, talking about Ethical Business at the British Library and you can view that here >>>

And then I did a search on Google for John Bird and found this interesting article where John says the only solution to the homeless problem is to ……lock up the homeless!

I’m amazed at how this whole Big Issue thing is touching me actually, must be a “there but for the grace of god, go I” element creeping in. There have been many times in my life when I needed to move and have been housed by family and friends and I couldn’t help thinking yesterday, when listening to Anthony’s passion for his job, what would I have done without anyone to help and support me?

Off to London Friday ready for the next Membership Club Magic “Bonus” Workshop. All the people who signed up in September at Brett’s event are coming and the new people who signed up via the free online webinar presentation or via the Build Your Wealth events. Old friends, some not seen since 2003, and lots of new ones – marvellous.

Now, we are starting to think about taking on an intern for 6 months to a year. This would be someone, probably a college leaver or gap year person, who wants to learn how to become an internet marketer, run an online business, organise and host real world events, and discover how to develop information and software products. There would be no pay, for the internship, but all expenses covered, and the chance of a job with us, or someone we know at the end of it. I don’t think you would need to live near Sussex, as we could work remotely most of the time but the South East would probably save you some travelling.

Skills would include a thorough knowledge and use of the online world, for example, use of Bebo, MySpace or Facebook a must, and if they can use spreadsheets and type fast with good English, that would be a great advantage. Self starter, goes without saying, and outgoing with an eye for detail. Must be willing to learn HTML, blogging, shopping carts, autoresponders etc.

More to follow, as we thrash out the details, so watch your email. This is how Steve found out I was looking for someone to run the hotel, so you never know…

As he always says, he rues the day he opened that email, but he’s still here so… LOL

Audio Article – The Shower That Wasn’t

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (6.2MB)

Today I’m delighted to share an article about something rather wonderful that happened in the Money Gym google Mastermind Group recently to S, one of our buy-to-let investors.

Time to listen 6:44 or read the written version here >>>

[podcast]http://www.themoneygym.com/audio/2008aashowerstory.mp3[/podcast]

Audio Article – Your Return On Investment

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 10:57 — 10.0MB)

Audio Version

[podcast]http://www.themoneygym.com/audio/2008aareturnoninvestment.mp3[/podcast]

Written Version:

When you first get interested in Wealth Creation one of the first questions is ‘So how do I find these investment, property or business opportunities’?  A little bit later, you will find that you are overwhelmed with all the possibilities and opportunities are jumping out at you from every corner.

So how can you tell which ones to pursue?

If you have read Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki, you will know about the ‘Does it Eat Me, or does it Feed Me’ question and it’s a really useful first yardstick of how good a deal may be.

Does it put money in your pocket or take money out of your pocket?

How long will it tie my money up for?

If you have to invest some money to get to the opportunity, how much, for how long, and what will your return on that investment be by the end of the first year?  This is known as your Return On Investment or ROI.

We are often asked, by potential clients, what their ROI will be, on our membership fees, and how fast will they recoup them.  Before I tell you our answer to that, let me go into “return on investment” a bit further as it’s important that you understand this fully.

The useful thing about the ROI model is that it can be used to compare any potential wealth creation activity, to compare a property deal with a business deal, a stock market investment with an internet opportunity.

If you can see that something will be putting money into your pocket within a year, and there is another deal that won’t, which one will you go for?

If you can see that one deal will return you 10% within a year, and one will return 30% , which deal is the more attractive?

What about one deal where the return will be 30% but will take you longer than one year, and be harder work, against a deal that will return 20% but start returning in six months and is safer?

This is where many new investors and entrepreneurs come unstuck.

The first way they come unstuck is because they don’t set a value on their time.  Because they have a lot of it, but not much money, they don’t tot up how many man hours they will be putting into a new business.  They don’t work out what else they could be doing with those hours (earning some cash!) and so they discount their real investment into the business and value it at zero.  Bad move!

They don’t work out their strategy and stick to it;  so they alternate between fear and greed, much like the stockmarket shows signs of occasionally, and go for the riskier, harder deal for a bigger return, instead of the safer, easier deal with a slightly lower return.

Think about how many of the second kind of deal could you do, with less effort, less stress and the faster returns?

The other thing they do is try to ‘bend’ a deal to work for them, rather than just going to look for another deal that does, effortlessly.

My ex-business partner, inspirational speaker Gill Fielding, says that she would always rather have the easier deal, leaving her time to get her nails done, rather that one big difficult deal where she would have to really work for her money.

And as someone who has ‘bent deals to fit’ on many occasions, I now have to agree 100%.

CREATE YOUR ROI YARDSTICK

The first thing to do is create a yardstick for any deal you are considering.  The ROI figure can be applied to anything and you can compare like for like, even if the deals are very different.

How much profit will a deal make in the first year, multiplied by 100, divided by the amount of money you are going to have to invest (or the value of the time you will be spending), to acquire that profit.

That, roughly speaking, is your return on investment expressed as a percentage.  A house that costs £50,000 and will generate £2400k per annum of rental income profit, after expenses, roughly generates a  4.8 % return on investment.  (Not to be confused with rental yield, which is different again).

If you think that the property may grow in value by 10% that year, then add £5,000 to the £2400 rental profit, to find that your ROI is now 14.8%.

Compare that with a similar deal, where you can buy a business card printing machine franchise generating £25,000 per year profit and you have to put in £75,000 to acquire the business.  33.3 % ROI and you have to go round emptying the money.  Worth it for those returns, you say?

But what if you had an 80% mortgage on the property, and the interest repayments were covered by the rent, still leaving you with the same rental profit per annum?

You have spent £10k to acquire that profit, you have a profit including capital appreciation of £7400k so your ROI is now 74%.

And no work for you, in the form of the money collection.

But whichever way, both returns are a bit better than the building society returns and both are “Feed Me’s”.

Use your yardstick, don’t change the goalposts and choose opportunities to fit your strategy or plan.

IN BUSINESS ALREADY?

If you already have a business, think about the startup costs and how much time you spent setting it up.

Are you getting a 35% return on your investment, year on year?
Will you get a 35% return on your investment in ten years even?

What is your exit strategy?  Are you going to work in your business till you drop, or will you eventually sell it?

Would anyone invest in your business right now?  Would you?

Would it sell today and if not, why not?  Would YOU buy it?    If not, why not?

These could be some of the most important questions you ever ask yourself about your business.

We have a visual “Return On Investment” model in the property module at The Money Gym Club – you can adapt it for using to evaluate business opportunities.  In fact, you can use it to compare any opportunity – like with like.

If you are thinking of setting up a new business, think about the projected return on your investment and what your exit strategy will be – how will you get your money out again?

Most entrepreneurs think that they have to sink everything into their business in terms of time and money; this shows commitment after all. A serious businessperson, however, would be planning to get their money out again as soon as possible, with a good ROI, while leaving the business to thrive healthily and continue to pay them dividends based on profits.

Buy “E-Myth Revisited” and “Rich Dad’s Guide to Investment” and devour them.  Make notes, underline, and take on board their wisdom.

Your business will never be the same.

THE MONEY GYM ANSWER

So, what is our answer to the Money Gym ROI question?

Judith says “By the time they ask this, I usually know quite a lot about them, and the things I am looking for are

1.   Are they bright enough to understand what we teach

2.   What is their preparedness to take action (motivation) for
whatever reasons

3.   Do they have any time – to do the work and take the action – are they willing to read some books and turn the television off?

4. Do they have any equity – so can afford to get into property
investment – which depending on how much they’ve got can ensure their financial security and ROI overnight often

5.   Could they develop maybe, an enthusiasm for learning how to trade the stockmarket, which could soon match their take-home pay if they are in a job, or

6.   Are they self employed  or do they already have an
under-performing business which we can teach them to run much, much more profitably

So my short answer is “how long is a piece of string” and I tell them that, and why.

Then I go on to give them examples of the girl who made her boyfriend over £18,000 in pure profit in under a week after learning what we know about the internet, the chap who made over £80,000 in one lunchtime by just chatting to another member.

I tell them about the woman who is making in one week more than she used to earn in one month from her old business, and she’s doing it in under half an hour a day, rather than a 12 hour day, the dentist who had enough equity to become a multi-millionaire almost overnight – he actually did it in under six months – and who still asks us when he sees us “Am I a millionaire yet?” laughing as he does so!

What about the chap who recouped his entire Money Gym membership fees for a year, within 12 days of learning something at his first workshop, that he immediately applied to his business?

Most people get thousands of per cent ROI on their membership fees!  Judith says she’s STILL getting a return on her investment in Money Gym membership from 2003.

And a lot of the time we can show them how to pay for their Money Gym fee from OPM “other people’s money” so their ROI is infinity!!

An infinity return on investment!  That’s what the property investors get, when they are able to force up the appreciation of a property, re-finance it and get their cash out again.

O yes, that’s still possible, even in this difficult market.

The only people who don’t’ get an ROI, are the ones that don’t come to the calls, don’t do the homework or who take no action.  The one’s who don’t listen, who hang onto their limiting and negative beliefs or allow others to influence them accordingly.

The one’s who don’t show up, in fact.  But Judith’s getting tougher at weeding those clients out at the beginning!

If you think you would show up, we would love to work with you in 2009.

http://www.TheMoneyGym.com/gold

Warm regards
Nicola

why not secure your Money Gym Gold place for 2009, at 2008’s membership fees, and be one of the 20 people to get the special bonus “Membership Site Bootcamp” worth £1750.

Join people like Shaun and Jody who are creating their very own membership sites right now at

http://www.WiiHealthZone.com
http://www.TheBlazingBBQ.com

Money Gym Live 2008-10-15 – Audio Version

Here’s the streaming or downloadable audio from today’s Money Gym Live TV show for your iPod.  Join Money Gym founder Nicola Cairncross as she answers questions live every Wednesday, from Money Gym subscribers.

[display_podcast]

Click the “Wealth Surgeries” link above to watch the TV show archives or submit your question for next week.

The Money Gym | Chapter 3

The Money Gym, Chapter 3, read by Nicola Cairncross

The Money Gym | Chapter 2

The Money Gym, Chapter 2, read by Nicola Cairncross

The Money Gym | Chapter 1

Hi there!  I’m learning how to podcast via my Wordpress blog rather than using previously trusty Hipcast, as I’m having issues with the Hipcast podcast not going into the right catagory, then the players disappearing when I manually change the catagories.  With thanks to Mike Stewart for his great tutorials and software downloads on audio and video blogging with Wordpress!

Amazing Offers, Radiowaves & Outer Space

So who moved the Bank Holiday from the traditional last weekend in August to this weekend then?  First I knew about it was when GM.tv started wittering on about DIY for the Bank Holiday!

It’s been a weird week without the kids – this year I’m coping better because I’m getting out and about more – except NOT down the beach obviously!! I’m playing poker live around various venues in Sussex.  For £12 a night, you get two games and your dinner and last night at the Montague was a great night all round, with a fine home-cooked Shepherds Pie with peas (yum) or chicken korma with rice.  It was odd going back there as I spent a large part of my teenage life upstairs in The Montague, they used to run a fantastic soul night there, and co-incidentally, this week on Facebook, I was contacted by Steve MacMahon, an ex-Worthing boy, who is now a DJ in New York, whose very sister used to run that soul night!!

Lee the landlord of The Montague is incredibly entrepreneurial, and is running a great pub there, with “cocktails & karaoke”, comedy and cabaret nights in addition to the biggest Texas Hold’em game in the area, up to four tables now.  There’s two computers with fast internet connection, there are notices on the bar telling us who our barstaff are, and lockers to put your drink in if you need to go outside to smoke (not me!).  Join The Montague’s “University of Poker” (M.U.O.P) Facebook group here http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=23133628865

It’s the last day of the Grand Wealth Giveaway – Kathy very kindly extended the deadline by two days, so if you haven’t downloaded your free gifts – and there is some great property investing stuff in there, Kathy having made her money in real estate, go and get them now, as the offer is closing at midnight tonight.
http://tinyurl.com/wealthgiveaway

As a list building exercise, participating in the Wealth Giveaway was a great event for the Money Gym adding over 300 new people to the Money Gym MVS system.  I’m hoping that many of those are internet marketers who will be interested in re-branding and giving away my free reports on their websites and blog.

I’ve had a frustrating week with technology, but we figured out why the admin area of the blog was running so slow – it was a rogue plugin.  After deactivating them all, then reactivating them one by one, it’s now running along nicely.  Having issues with my podcasts from Hipcast though, as soon as I post one, then go to change the catagory, the player disappears!  I’m going to dig out Mike Stewart’s tutorials on podcasting direct from the blog later today.

New at The Money Gym is a great special offer for just £4.97, where we are bundling a great load of stuff, some audio including the first three chapters of the Money Gym book, as read by the author, four reports, the UK’s first Wealth Conference audio and a 30 day trial of the Money Gym Club site…..and folks are signing up in droves!  You can get your bundle here http://www.themoneygym.com/offer/

As I say, I’ve been recording the Audio version of The Money Gym book – listen to Chapter 1 here at http://www.MoneyGymRadio.com .  I’m a reading kind of gal, but I know 30% of the population like to listen to stuff in the car or while exercising, so I’m working my way through the book, and the audio version will be available by next week as an option.

It’s made me realise that I need to rewrite it and update it – I’ve learned SO MUCH MORE since I wrote it.  I think I will lose the “Day by Day” format too, and make it flow more.  Must talk to Debs and Joe at Bookshaker about a relaunch…..”The Money Gym Revisited” here we come!

As part of the run up to the re-launch of the Money Gym Silver Club membership, I’ve been experimenting with some BlogTalkRadio shows.  I’m veering between a “Smashy & Nicey” kind of voice, through to a “late night talk show” voice and it’s a struggle to talk normally.  I’m having an issue with my headset making my voice very quiet too, but I’ll try holding the receiver today (for half an hour?) and see if that helps.  Not quite brave enough to open the lines to phone in’s yet, but there is a chat facility….committed to doing a show every day till the end of next week, then I’ll swap to weekly, probably on a Wednesday at 1pm.  Check it out at
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/TheMoneyGym

The sewing hobby is going well too – I’ve made two linen shirts for me, a pair of gingham short shorts for Phoebe, and cut out two nighties ready to sew this weekend.  I’ve been listening to Frank Kern videos while I’m sewing so it’s not taking me totally away from the computer, but nearly!

I had lunch with Greg Ballard yesterday, and had a good old chinwag, catching up on all the news, and a look round their new offices, which used to be those of my accountant, Mark Nicholson from Spofforths.  It was great to hear that, in spite of the credit crunch, Passive are still picking up lots of great bargains for their clients.

Steve is working his way diligently through John Reese’s Traffic Secrets 2.0 which is excellent and very thorough.  He’s missing the kids but is also getting out and about more with his golf, having bought himself a driver and putter on eBay and a new pair of golf shoes, as the old ones were giving him terrible blisters!

And I’ve been enjoying wandering around the Scienceray blog – check out these AMAZING pics of outer space here http://www.scienceray.com/Astronomy/A-Handpicked-Collection-of-Ultimate-Space-Pictures-3.216589 and look out for the pictures of the planned “doughnut” space station to house the whole human race if we do end up totally destroying the planet, god forbid!

Now, don’t forget to book your tickets for the very exciting two-day “Money Gym Presents….Brett McFall” event on 20th and 21st September – just £25 and all of it (ex the VAT) is going to Great Ormond St Hospital.  It’s the must-attend event for aspiring internet entrepreneurs and We can only fit 300 of you in, and we have 80-odd on our VIP pre-register list, so if all those buy two tickets…..get yours here at http://www.themoneygym.com/brettmcfall

Have fun, we always are!

Nicola

The Money Gym | Chapter 1

Wealth Coach & Founder of TheMoneyGym.com, Nicola Cairncross, reads Chapter 1 of her book "The Money Gym: Wealth Building Workout"

Marcus De Maria Taken By Surprise

When we arrived at Tim Brocklehurst’s Freedom Class last week, at 8am on a Saturday morning, imagine my surprise when we bumped into Marcus De Maria from Investment Mastery and his team!

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