We just returned from a three-week vacation in Africa fulfilling a dream of ours. What an incredible adventure! We flew first class on Virgin Airways (I highly recommend it - totally luxurious), stayed at 5-star resorts throughout South Africa and Zimbabwe, and enjoyed two photographic safaris as well as a week at the opulent Palace of the Lost City. That's a picture of me next to the Great Fish River on the Kwandwe Private Reserve in South Africa. That's Daliwanga, our tracker...a master of finding lions!
During our journey, I reflected on what life was like before becoming an entrepreneur. John and I lived a life of struggle and adversity. We worked long hours at our jobs, only to be strapped for cash, never having enough and always settling. We made decisions about where we'd go based on how much it cost, bought the cars we had because they were good "deals", lived in a neighborhood we had settled for and worked all the time. We lived the life of trading our time for money. It's really all we knew how to do at the time.
When we learned there was a better way, a way to generate money without trading our life away, we were faced with a difficult choice. We could continue to live the life we were frustrated with because we thought it was "safe". Or, we could take a risk and become an entrepreneur. The results of our decision speak for itself.
Every business owner understands the way to create wealth is through leverage. The reality is, there's only 24 hours in a day. Everyone gets the same 24 hours, it's what you choose to do with it that determines whether you get broke or get rich. Employees trade each hour for a certain amount of money, so as an employee there was a limit to what I would ever make. Being self-employed and employing leverage, my efforts are duplicated creating unlimited income. Along with that comes freedom of choice, wealth and the confidence of knowing I'm in control. It gives me the opportunity to take off for weeks at a time, exploring the world and enjoying my life.
Celebrating Independence Day here in the US last week, I was grateful to celebrate my independence...independence from ever having to work for someone ever again, independence from settling in life and independence from the stress of never having enough. I'm grateful for all those who created and protected this great land of opportunity. I'm grateful for the opportunties in my life and for the decisions, however difficult they were to make, that I made. My life today is one of absolute freedom. The incredible income I generate with our simple business system gives me choices that were never available to me when I worked a job. Choices like going to Africa for three weeks, flying First Class instead of coach and staying at the most luxurious places, rather than choose by price. Now, I get to show others how to claim this life for themselves...that you don't have to settle for trading your life for a paycheck, only to maintain a life you aren't even enjoying. Life is about choices and decisions...the choices you make create your life. So, if you're not happy with life as it is, perhaps it's time to make different, better decisions.
It's incredible to share with people the "secrets" we never learn in school, the simple ways of creating the life we choose. There's so much more out there - a world of endless opportunity. To reap the rewards of it, to live the lifestyle of freedom and prosperity, it's simply a choice. Moving out of the "comfort zone" of struggle into the zone of actually creating your life exactly how you want it is easy.
So, I hope you never buy into the idea that you have to trade your life to just get by. It's simply not true. Making money is easy, opportunity abounds and all you desire is available to you should you reach out and grasp it.
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