“Take A Look At Yourself And Make a ….. Change” by Judith Morgan

Every day on our Money Gym forums clients report successes.   They can be tiny. They can be huge. They can be both tiny and huge at the same time.   When we see a client who has worked from November 2008 until July 2009, “following the bloody instructions” as Nicola would say, finally report her first ebook sale worth precisely $17.97, a huge virtual cheer goes up in our Money Gym community.   Why’s that?  

Because Jodie has inspired us all and proved it can be done and, more than that, we are cheering her fortitude, her ability to stick with something for nine months before seeing a result.   Jodie said “I had a squeeze page sign up, and then 10 minutes later my new prospect bought my book!” but we all knew it wasn’t really just 10 minutes, we knew it was ten minutes at the end of nine months’ application.

And Jodie’s not the only one.   We’ve got clients bravely going into Estate Agents and learning to love them, introducing them to the principles of Rent2Own.   We’ve got clients getting their books up on Amazon, a journey of some 2-3 years, we have clients reporting successes with Google Adwords resulting in more income for their businesses, doing property deals even in this climate, raising money from each other to do bigger deals and joint ventures, advising and supporting one other, launching websites, thinking laterally, sharing resources, and getting into forex and foreign investments.   Nowadays, there’s so much of this going on, we almost take it for granted.

Until that is we rub up against someone who puts a pin in our balloon.   Someone who says it can’t be done, the naysayers, complainers, non-believers, slaggers, those who ask for refunds and say our programme is rubbish when I know it ain’t because I’ve been through it myself and it has made the world of difference to my own finances.   I now have properties and businesses and investments which will lead to my eventual financial freedom.  

Now I know how and when I am going to achieve that and am already planning my early retirement to my much-fabled sunshiny tax-free haven.   Just working out now the best way and place to blog the last bit of the journey.   And that’s all down to what I learned from Nicola and what we now teach together in the Money Gym with the help of our wonderful coaches, Steve Watson and our community of past and present clients.

It’s taken me six years and counting.   And I’ve been working at it one way or the other for most of that time and it ain’t over yet.   So what would I say to the faint-hearted, the down-hearted, those who slag Nicola and I off in public forums and in private?

I would say look at our clients, too many to list by name here, but if you are in our forums you already know who they are.  Look at the video of Debbie Bissett on YouTube, look at how much better, more joyous and free Debbie’s life is.   Look how well and happy she looks on it, and she’s one of our most steadfast supporters for the same reason I am – she’s been through the programme, she knows it works and more importantly she’s put the work in.

I always say to those clients joining us at Gold level that this year will be the foundation stone of the rest of your financial life.   I tell them truthfully that I am still building on that foundation six years later.   One very kind client, Kate, told me recently that she thought I had really rocketed in my own journey in the last year and that’s true, but it’s the compounding effect of the work which has gone on in the last six years.   Gold clients are entitled to rock up to most of what we do for free or cost forever.  

Do they?   Some do… well done, you lot!   A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step, often at Silver level of The Money Gym Club.   It takes guts to return to the fold and say I messed up first time, or the time wasn’t right for me, or this is going to make me longer than I thought.   But we love and welcome you to do that.   It’s included in what you bought because we know how long this journey can be for some, for most.

We have discovered recently through our new Silver Elite programme that clients appreciate weekly accountability, a deadline and a kick up the bum along with a degree of hand-holding.   But in the end, it’s all down to you.   There really is only so much we can do for you.  

The Money Gym programme works, but only if you make it important, only if you stick at it like Karen, Claire, Stephanie, Debbie, me, Dawn, Matthew, Yvonne and others too many to count but you know who you are and so do we.   Because you continue to show up and do the work and contribute back to our community and we love and appreciate you for that.

To paraphrase Michael Jackson, and that seems timely, “if you wanna make your financial world a better place, take a look at yourself and make that …….change”.  

And let me know how we, at The Money Gym, can help.

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The Game That Changes Lives

Judith Morgan asks:  Have you read Robert Kyosaki’s Rich Dad, Poor Dad?  It’s about the very first book we recommend at The Money Gym. It’s accessible, and even in my recent cull of personal development books for Children in Need, I hung onto the entire purple Rich Dad series. I probably won’t ever read them again, but I will dip into them for reference when working with clients and it makes me feel wealthier just knowing I have them on my shelves.

But even more powerful than the book and reading the series, is playing the game. In fact, I think this may be Kyosaki’s piece de resistance.

I bought the game ages ago and promised to teach some friends how to play. James was so keen, he couldn’t wait for me to learn the rules so he borrowed the game, read the rules and then taught me! Its the perfect teaching tool. You learn a lot by playing, I often learn just as much by facilitating others as coach and banker.

What did I learn, specifically?

Well the brilliant thing is you get to learn by doing, you can try on the maths and the emotions of investing in shares, properties, businesses and opportunities, just as we teach our clients to do in real life. But often they are scared of actually doing it. Who isn’t? I know I was.

It’s well documented that when I joined The Money Gym I had no intention of investing in property ever again, I had been doing that in the last recession and ended up with two repossessions. However, typical of me, I did attend the weekend where Gill Fielding, Secret Millionaire, taught us how the maths worked. Of course, I got the maths instantly and I must admit it was heart-stoppingly sexy. But nevertheless, my body language was all revealing, I sat with my arms crossed throughout. Nope, not going there.

What changed my mind? Playing Cashflow 101. I knew what I should do but I couldn’t force myself to face my fears and re-visit the property market, such was the residue of pain from 1987-1992 more than a decade later.

But in the game you get to try on what it would be like to dip your toe into any market. You learn how to evaluate an investment opportunity and you see what happens if you do it, and what happens if you don’t. You know what they say, the NLP-ers? Your body can’t tell the difference between doing it and trying it on for size. So you get to feel the real emotions too. All sorts of them, good and bad.

You get to learn about yourself. The first few times you play the game, you play it just like you live your life. Imagine that – how does the dice know to just give you paycheck after paycheck after paycheck with nothing changing in your life? Or send you Doodad (waste of money) after Doodad?

Some complain they just didn’t get the breaks. Yes, sometimes that’s true. But what can you learn from that?

Some ride the roller-coaster from babies to divorce to bankruptcy and bounce back. It’s just the way we are… or can we, should we, change?

We all learn that its easier to get out of the Rat Race if you are a janitor than an airline pilot. And why’s that? Because we all tend to live up to our income whereas the goal in the game as in The Money Gym and in life is to create a gap between your income and your expenditure, and to use that money wisely in a way which creates passive income from investments.

Some people are born knowing how to do this. Most of us are not. But we can all learn and Cashflow 101 will teach you how to do that in a safe and supportive, nay fun environment.

The other day we played it with our crack Women Talk Money team at The Money Gym and three of our six delegates immediately signed up to play more games, so beneficial did they find it – and these are not our beginner clients, still so much to learn.

It’s fun, sure. But don’t let that distract you, there’s some very deep learning going on, frequently on an emotional level. You get to observe yourself play. We allow time for discussing what we are learning as its happening. You get profound lightbulb moments about the way you have always operated and why that isn’t working and how you can change. You discover that tithing, and giving back and helping others brings a speedy positive leg-up for you.

You find out that you are better at maths than you thought, that any idiot can do this stuff. You watch others and see yourself in them – overly timid – overly brave. You see that you live beyond your means and waste your money or conversely that you are scarce. You realise that you have no plan, do not visualise, are easily distracted from your purpose by fun and the social element, you are reminded about focus, going after what you want and yes (my favourite this one) throwing precisely the number on the dice that you want.

Cashflow 101 teaches that collaboration is more productive than competition and that there are so many ways of “winning” the game of money.

I used to run these games once a month at my flat in Canary Wharf where I had room for a dining room table. Then I sold my games to Philly before discovering that I missed playing the game and so I have bought some new games and we have played a handful of times during the last few weeks and am more convinced than ever that this is the best learning tool about money that I have come across during my wealth creation journey.

I am quite a strict teacher. It takes about 4 hours to learn to play. I want people to arrive on time and concentrate, focus on what they want, take it seriously even though we laugh and cry. But I dont want them coming just for the craic – yes, its social and fun, but if you allow yourself to be distracted by that, that in itself tells me something about you. Are you more interested in the people, in the tea and cakes, than learning anything about yourself and about how you are with money?

But have no fear. I really think I am getting to be quite a gifted facilitator now, albeit I need to lean back after the first hour and let you do your own sums and make your own mistakes. It does help to have a coach teach you how to play and help you along the road to financial freedom. I ask people to really imagine what that would feel like, making millions, winning, losing, holding half a million in your sweaty palm. Many of us have never dared to do that, not really believing it could be true for us.

Sorry to bang on again about the wonderfully abundant and ace manifester Janet Swift but I swear the turning point in her life was when she decided to drive from Gloucester to Canary Wharf once a month to play, so determined was she to turn things around. You get the chance to try on new hats, you see. To play boldly, to play timidly, to borrow big, to pay off debt, to collaborate, to go it alone – your body feels the fear and you do it anyway under my somewhat bossy guiding hand!

See what our Money Gym clients say about playing Cashflow and come along and join us for a series of six games January to June 2009 in London SE1 on Thursday and Friday evenings. Book the whole series, there are only 15-20 seats on each evening (four games) max. Nicola and I will teach and facilitate and as you get better, I will invite you to teach others, surely the best way of learning? And surely our cheapest coaching you can buy. Bargain, take it from me, one who learned how to buy her first BTL property by playing the game. And it only took me about a year! Guess what? Now I have six!!!

And here’s a tip. Practice throwing the dice. See the number you want in your mind’s eye, and practice, practice, practice until you can throw it. Visualise 5 spots, and then throw a five. Let me know when you can do it. That should keep you busy over the Christmas holidays!

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON JUDITH’S PERSONAL BLOG AT:
http://www.JudithMorgan.com

Change | Exciting Or Scary?

Fantastic and thought provoking video on the progression of information technology, and the rate of change and how it’s accelerating, researched by Karl Fisch, Scott McLeod, and Jeff Bronman.

I suggest that, while you watch it, notice your reaction – are you feeling excited or scared and overwhelmed?

Change is all around us, change is happening and you have to embrace it and, if you are in business, take advantage of it.  This is the biggest, fastest, most exciting “gold rush” to happen in the history of humanity and you can ride that train if you open your mind.

We all know China is coming online and the bit about China rapidly becoming the biggest English speaking country in the world just blew my mind…..