Your choice of word certainly impacts your success..

I am speechless...

To succeed you have to keep trying and never doubt yourself..

Small Business Guide

Found this rather interesting website which promotes small business ideas; Start Own Business Guide. Single income is no longer viable in this ever rising cost of living. Unless you are a high income earner..then that's good for you. Unfortunately, most of us are stuck in the middle income group and trying to jump over to the high income group seem impossible. This is especially true if you are an employee. Hoping for annual increment of 10% and work for another 10 years? Will you even make 10k per month? By then, is 10k even enough? This is the reason many decide to take immediate action by either getting a second job or start a small business from home. If you are not business savvy it's advisable to invest a little in enhancing your knowledge in whatever business you wish to embark. There are plenty of business books written by business owners which you can leverage on so that your learning curve can be shorten. Attend business seminar, convention and exhibition to widen your knowledge in business. Speak to industry experts and don't be shy to seek for help. Once you have decided the type of home business to embark, start small. Test the market of your products. Learn the business one step at a time. First hand experience is the most important because we tend to remember what we experience ourselves instead of what we read.

Which type of employee are you?

Based on my personal experience, I would classified employee into 2 main categories;

1) Those who treat their jobs as something on the side and needed to make money so that they can live their personal lives. This category of people usually will stay long and loyal to a company as long as their employers can provide them secured jobs. Job is just something they need to do for money. Their main focus is their family  and personal lives. Even if they are not happy with their jobs, chances of them staying is still pretty high because to them it's just a job. They would do whatever being asked by their employers in order to keep their jobs.

2) The 2nd category will be people who treat their jobs as their lives. These people are more likely to hop around between jobs or even embark a business venture. Job equals them. Job is not something they do just to keep live going but they do it because it makes them proud. They need to feel the sense of achievement in whatever job they do.

The difference between these 2 categories of people boils down to the objective of their lives. The first one are more focus to personal lives while the second to career lives. The first type sees job as a tool to make money just to keep life going while the second sees job as an achievement. 

The life of everyone is equal...

The recent aviation accidents involving Malaysia Airlines has attracted worldwide attention. Everyone was angry at the perpetrator of the accident. Some to the extend of writing hatred posts on social medial. Thousands of condolences wishes were posted or broadcasted via social media, newspaper or radio station. The radio stations even have a program specially made for this tragedy.

But.. more people have died in the past years and never once the deceased were given so much attention let alone condolences. I have never seen that many RIP messages in Facebook until the MH accidents happened. Do you know that:

1) 21,000 children die every day around the world?
2) More than 500 Indian migrant workers have died in Qatar since Jan 2012? These workers are
   involved in the building of infrastructure for the 2022 World Cup.


There are many more tragedies or conflicts which sadly caused death of human life. One such example will be the recent Israel attack on Gaza, which has caused the death of over 500. However, if you look at the 2 examples I have brought out, these 2 issues have caused more death than the recent aviation accidents but I hardly hear anyone speaks about it. Is it because of the lack of media coverage? I don't see any RIP messages or radio station talking about it. Everyone loves football and billion of dollars transacted on betting alone. But nobody seem to care how those stadiums were built. Anyone loss his life due to this billion dollars sport entertainment?

Shall we just blame on the media for low coverage on not so important news? News which cannot sell?
Remember, the media only broadcast what sells? What everyone wants to hear? So are we not interested to find out why 21000 children die everyday? Are we not care about the welfare of the migrant workers who die in the name of football? Why the missing MH370 and the down of MH17 caught the attention of so many? Is it because it is something which doesn't happen often and hence we should fell pity and sad for? The death of 21000 children daily is just too common?

A healthy mind leads to a happy life.

In the late 1960’s, Dr. Herbert Benson of Harvard Medical School conducted scientific studies to test the health benefits of meditation. (As an aside, his findings motivated me to begin my own meditation practice.) He determined that meditation could be used successfully in treating physiological problems, such as high blood pressure, heart disease and migraine headaches, as well as autoimmune diseases such as diabetes and arthritis. As they meditated, he found that his test subjects heartbeats and breathing had slowed, their blood lactate levels decreased, and their brains had increased in alpha activity, which is a sign of relaxation. Dr. Benson also found that meditation was helpful in stopping or slowing obsessive thinking, anxiety, depression, and hostility.

Resetting the Set Point
In the “Set Point Study,” scientists found that each of us has a natural “set point” in our brains for both good and bad emotions. The study found that people accustomed to being happy have more activity in the front portion of their frontal lobes. Meanwhile, the right side is more active in people who worry or are anxious. Even when major events occur in a person’s life, such as winning the lottery, scientists have found that brain chemistry shifts back to its normal, or set point within about six months.
One of the most dramatic examples of what can be called “resetting the set point” was a study done with people who had suffered paralysis from spinal cord injuries. Although they could no longer walk and often suffered from depression in the short run, within six months of the accident, these individuals had returned to their normal mental set points and their original state of happiness. In other words, no matter what happens in a person’s life, the shift back to the set point inevitably takes place.
The good news is that you CAN change your set point through meditation. One study demonstrated that after only eight weeks of meditating for approximately one hour each day, six days a week, test subjects reported they had become happier. Follow-up tests showed that these individuals’ set points had changed—to the extent that their normal level of mental happiness had been raised. In addition, they had become better at picking up emotional cues from others, and they reported developing more empathy towards others’ emotions. On the physical level, the researchers found that the meditators’ immune system responses had improved.

MRI’s and Meditation
In a recent UCLA study, researchers used high-resolution magnetic resonance imaging (MRI’s) to scan the brains of a group of subjects who were long-time meditators. They found that these individuals’ brains were larger than their non-meditating counterparts. Another study found that aging people who meditate regularly don’t lose their gray matter as fast as non-meditators. Apparently, the meditators’ brains have noticeably thicker tissue in the prefrontal cortex, which is the region of the brain responsible for attention and control.

Imagine the implications of these discoveries! Not only can meditation prevent brain cells from dying, which typically happens as we age, it can boost a person’s brain size in several crucial regions. Furthermore, researchers have concluded that meditation can actually make a person more intelligent. Evidence is also demonstrating that people who meditate regularly are able to focus more deeply and deal with stress better than non-meditators. 

 

This Article was published on September 15, 2013 by Robert Puff, Ph.D. in Meditation for Modern Life

 

The pursuit for happiness goes online.

Digital Age has changed the way all of us do things. Most of us spend a minimum of 2-3 hours daily on the internet. With the introduction of broadband, the usage of Internet has surged by many folds. Information highways connecting everyone; everywhere. With just a few clicks, we can find out the weather for the next few days, read the news, pay bills, buy stuffs and even find our life partners. The internet has bridged the gap between people. Everyone is connected some how via social networks such as Facebook. Hence, it's not unusual some of may use the virtual world to find our other half.

Most singles no longer want to be match made by their parents as it is deemed old fashion. Arranged marriage only exist in certain part of the world. With increasingly busy work schedule, most people especially city dwellers use online dating as a viable solution to find their mates. The golden question is; Does Online Dating work?

Online dating is a virtual world for all singles with similar objective, which is to meet some one to date and hopefully become soul mate. The first key to a successful online dating is having a great profiles picture and description. Profile picture is a very important element in online dating. It could be the deciding factor if your message will be responded or decline. Good profile pictures for men and women are not the same. Below are some statistic you should take note in order to have a successful and fun online dating:

1) A study finds women get 60% more attention if photo is taken indoors.
2) Men get 19% more attention if theirs is taken outside.
3) Full-body photos boost both sexes success by 203%.
4) Men get 8% fewer messages if they put up selfie.
5) Writing using :-) smileys gets 13% more responses - but :) gets 66% fewer.
6) Talking about kids and exes gets men more messages but women fewer.
7) A full-body image will boost both sexes' messages by an average 203%. Meanwhile women should aim to take their pictures indoors, as this gets them 60% more messages. Men on the other hand get 19% more messages if their pictures are taken outside.
8) Posing with animals or your best friends might seem cute but it actually reduces your popularity by 5% and 42% respectively - for both sexes.

In addition to a good profile, online dating is definitely a number game. Many singles got discourage after not getting any response. According to a study by social scientists, with increasing number of choices provided by online dating sites, online daters become picky. This scenario is called paradox of choice whereby increasing options decrease satisfaction. Both single women and men tend to dismiss any individual with the slightest imperfection. Having such huge choices in online dating sites, many singles tend to browse through profiles speedily choosing surface characteristics instead of more detail personality traits hidden in the profiles. Online daters should instead take their time going through the details of the profiles to find out the personality traits of the person to make the connection.

There are also many who complain on the number of fake profiles and scammers in online dating sites. Free sites are flooded with scammers trying to steal critical information out of you. Hence, for serious daters, paid sites are better option. Most paid dating sites have moderator to weed out fake profiles. They provide better customer service to assist any complaint lodged by their members. In addition, some paid sites have voice and video webcam features. Such features reduce the number of fake profiles by many times. It protects the member from scammers.

In conclusion, the success of online dating really depends on you; having a great profile, not being too picky and certainly using the correct dating site. Soul mate searching in the pursuit for happiness has gone virtual. While old school courting are sill effective but not many of us have the time to be spent at bars or cafe just to find a date. The number of date to dollar ratio is certainly higher with dating sites. With online date, you don't have to spend money on drinks, tit bits and taxi.

(This article is an extract from http://www.perfectcasualdate.com)

  

Statin Risks

This article appears on FDA's Consumer Update page, which features the latest on all FDA-regulated products. Updated: January 31, 2014

FDA Expands Advice on Statin Risks

If you’re one of the millions of Americans who take statins to prevent heart disease, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has important new safety information on these cholesterol-lowering medications.
FDA is advising consumers and health care professionals that:

• Routine monitoring of liver enzymes in the blood, once considered standard procedure for statin users, is no longer needed. Such monitoring has not been found to be effective in predicting or preventing the rare occurrences of serious liver injury associated with statin use.
• Cognitive (brain-related) impairment, such as memory loss, forgetfulness and confusion, has been reported by some statin users.
• People being treated with statins may have an increased risk of raised blood sugar levels and the development of Type 2 diabetes.
• Some medications interact with lovastatin (brand names include Mevacor) and can increase the risk of muscle damage.

This new information should not scare people off statins, says Amy G. Egan, M.D., M.P.H., deputy director for safety in FDA’s Division of Metabolism and Endocrinology Products (DMEP). “The value of statins in preventing heart disease has been clearly established,” she says. “Their benefit is indisputable, but they need to be taken with care and knowledge of their side effects.”
FDA will be changing the drug labels of popular statin products to reflect these new concerns. (These labels are not the sticker attached to a prescription drug bottle, but the package insert with details about a prescription medication, including side effects.)
The statins affected include:

• Altoprev (lovastatin extended-release)
• Crestor (rosuvastatin)
• Lescol (fluvastatin)
• Lipitor (atorvastatin)
• Livalo (pitavastatin)
• Mevacor (lovastatin)
• Pravachol (pravastatin)
• Zocor (simvastatin).

Products containing statins in combination with other drugs include:

• Advicor (lovastatin/niacin extended-release)
• Simcor (simvastatin/niacin extended-release)
• Vytorin (simvastatin/ezetimibe).

Liver Injury Called Rare

FDA has found that liver injury associated with statin use is rare but can occur. Patients are advised to consult their health care professional if they have symptoms that include unusual fatigue, loss of appetite, right upper abdominal discomfort, dark urine or yellowing of the skin or whites of the eyes.
Statins work in the liver to reduce the production of cholesterol, a waxy substance that can form plaque on the walls of the arteries and keep the heart from getting the blood it needs.
Egan explains that there had been signals in early clinical trials of possible liver damage tied to statin use, so health care professionals were advised to regularly test their patients’ liver enzyme levels. However, she says, such damage is rare, and the tests are not effective at predicting or preventing who will develop this rare side effect.
So FDA is now recommending that liver enzyme tests be performed before statin treatment begins and then as needed if there are symptoms of liver damage.

Reports of Memory Loss

FDA has been investigating reports of cognitive impairment from statin use for several years. The agency has reviewed databases that record reports of bad reactions to drugs and statin clinical trials that included assessments of cognitive function.
The reports about memory loss, forgetfulness and confusion span all statin products and all age groups. Egan says these experiences are rare but that those affected often report feeling “fuzzy” or unfocused in their thinking.
In general, the symptoms were not serious and were reversible within a few weeks after the patient stopped using the statin. Some people affected in this way had been taking the medicine for a day; others had been taking it for years.
What should patients do if they fear that statin use could be clouding their thinking? “Talk to your health care professional,” Egan says. “Don’t stop taking the medication; the consequences to your heart could be far greater.”

The Risk of Diabetes

Diabetes occurs because of defects in the body’s ability to produce or use insulin—a hormone needed to convert food into energy. If the pancreas doesn't make enough insulin or if cells do not respond appropriately to insulin, blood sugar levels in the blood get too high, which can lead to serious health problems.
A small increased risk of raised blood sugar levels and the development of Type 2 diabetes have been reported with the use of statins.
“Clearly we think that the heart benefit of statins outweighs this small increased risk,” says Egan. But what this means for patients taking statins and the health care professionals prescribing them is that blood-sugar levels may need to be assessed after instituting statin therapy,” she says.

The Potential for Muscle Damage

Some drugs interact with statins in a way that increases the risk of muscle injury called myopathy, characterized by unexplained muscle weakness or pain. Egan explains that some new drugs are broken down (metabolized) through the same pathways in the body that statins follow. This increases both the amount of statin in the blood and the risk of muscle injury.
FDA is revising the drug label for Lovastatin to clarify the risk of myopathy. The label will reflect what drugs should not be taken at the same time, and the maximum lovastatin dose if it is not possible to avoid use of those other drugs.

Patients and health care professionals should report negative side effects from statin use to FDA’s MedWatch Adverse Event Reporting Program.

Happiness comes from having good communication with your love one

Article Source 

Communication 

Communication is a vital part of our lives: a typical day involves many interactions between ourselves, our work colleagues and clients, our children, our friends, our ex's, future relationships, etc. This interaction takes place where we live, work, relax, socialize and wherever we perform routine tasks. 

Communication skills are critical for building healthy relationships, especially when one realizes that one of the most common causes of relational breakdown is a lack of communication. Just as communication can be the most important part of a relationship; arguments can be the most destructive aspect - the closer we are to someone, the more easily we can bruise or be bruised. There is very little truth in the saying: "Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can never harm me." It's not what we say, but rather how we say it, that most often hurts another person.
Communication is a complex process; of which speaking only makes up for 10-20%. The other 80-90% is made up by facial expressions, body language, tone of voice, etc
Communication is the art/ science of transferring a thought/ idea/ information from the mind of one complex human being to the mind of one or more complex human being(s). For communication to be effective, it must be a two-way process. 

Dynamics of Interpersonal Communication
1. Facts: are both people communicating about the same set of facts? Try to separate the facts from thoughts or feelings.
2. Interpretations, Thoughts or Perceptions: Each person interprets a fact differently based on their belief system, personality, values and experience.
3. Feelings: how we are feeling, our current mood and frame of mind, etc can sub-consciously affect decisions and thoughts.
4. Intentions, Needs or Wants: hidden agendas; are we looking for comfort, clarification, information or simply a chance to interact? We judge ourselves on our intentions.
5. Actions: choice of words (is the intent to create harm?) + tone of voice + non-verbal speech = body language, posture, eye contact, facial expressions, etc.
"The medium is the message" => the way the message is delivered is the message itself.
6. Self: The communication centre, which includes the issue, topic or conflict at hand, has been "filtered" by the facts, interpretations, thoughts, feelings, intentions, and choices of behaviour / actions. 

Listening and Feedback 

Did I say what I meant to say? - Invite feedback to clarify communication.
Someone who's not listening lets their mind drift and is already preparing the next argument or opposing thought; inaccurate feedback or limited eye contact.
Listening is an active, not a passive process. When two people argue, they only hear "what they want to hear", not what's actually said. This equates to the accusation of "not listening". Most couples start arguing and within 5 minutes are arguing about the way they are arguing.
Don't argue when you're angry - you will not be able to listen objectively. Give yourself time to cool down and then broach the subject when you are in a more reasonable frame of mind.
It's important to give feedback - checking and confirming. Did I understand you correctly? Is this what you mean? I heard you say this: am I right? Feedback can be verbal / non-verbal e.g. a nod, smile, silence or a cold shoulder. No feedback is in itself a form of feedback.
If the words and actions contradict each other, it is better to believe the actions! 

Conflict Resolution
Conflict resolution can either be Constructive or Destructive.
Destructive Style - hinders or inhibits the conflict resolution process:

• Confrontational (win or lose, blaming)
• Sabotage (focus on weak points, shaming)
• Manipulation (blackmail, withdrawal)
• Giving in (passive, submissive)
• Avoidance (denial, withdrawal)

Constructive Style – trying to minimize the issues and avoiding the difficulties in resolving the problems:

• Compromise (meet halfway, understanding)
• Accommodate (open discussion, communication without confrontation)
• Partnership (solutions, forgiveness, honesty)

When trying to resolve conflicts, try to clarify your goals, as you will probably share many of the same goals despite of your differences. Avoid bargaining, as this may lead to each party taking a rigid position which in turn can flare tempers. 

When resolving conflicts, remember that their causes may run deep. Sweeping issues under the carpet isn’t going to work in the long term, as old baggage will be brought up each time an argument starts. Try to fully resolve each issue as it comes along. You may find the following method useful: 

1. Ask the other person for their feelings. Your conflict probably isn’t about the issue that caused it to start in the first place. Don’t forget that your goal is sorting out the problem, not winning an argument!
2. Ask the other person to define the problem. Stick to solving one problem at a time, that way you can understand each problem as the other person sees it.
3. Express your own feelings. Be careful to word them carefully, for example use phrases such as “I feel…” rather than “I think you…”
4. Define the problem as you see it. As your feelings come out, the solution may become clearer. Remember that by you listening to the other person; you will have set the tone for them to listen to you.
5. Create multiple solutions. Don’t go back to your original agenda. Aim to find alternative or creative solutions that reduce emotions and tension.
6. Rate the possible solutions. Remember that no one can force an unacceptable solution on the other.
7. Combine and create a mutually acceptable solution. Create something acceptable to both parties, if this doesn’t work – go back to step 1 and ensure both parties are being totally honest.
8. Be sure both parties agree to work towards resolving the issue.

19 Steps to Effective Communication 

1. See communication as an opportunity to praise, build-up, affirm, heal, support and give positive reinforcement, rather than to correct, criticise, tear down, hurt, wound, lash out at. Praise opens doors to further communication, while criticism shuts them down.
2. Remember that actions speak louder than words; non-verbal communication usually is more powerful than verbal communication. Avoid double messages in which the verbal and the non-verbal messages convey something contradictory. (Credibility gap)
3. Define what is important and stress it; define what is unimportant and de-emphasise or ignore it. Avoid fault-finding.
4. Communicate in ways that show respect for the other person’s worth as a human being. “Avoid statements which begin with the words “You never …” or “I think you …”.
5. Be clear and specific in your communication. Avoid vagueness.
6. Be realistic and reasonable in your statements. Avoid exaggeration and sentences which begin with “You always …”
7. Test all your assumptions verbally by asking if they are accurate. Avoid acting until this is done.
8. Recognize that each event can be seen from different points of view. Avoid assuming that other people see things like you do. (Perception)
9. Recognize that your family members and close friends are experts on you and your behaviour. Avoid the tendency to deny their observations about you – especially if you are not sure.
10. Recognize that disagreement can be a meaningful form of communication. Avoid destructive arguments.
11. Be honest and open about your feelings and viewpoints. Bring up all significant problems even if you are afraid that doing so will disturb another person. Speak the truth in love. Avoid sullen silences.
12. Do not put down and/or manipulate the other person with tactics such as ridicule, interrupting, name-calling, changing the subject, blaming, bugging, sarcasm, criticism, pouting, guilt-inducing, etc. Avoid the one-upmanship game.
13. Be more concerned about how your communication affects others than about what you intended. Avoid getting bitter if you are misunderstood.
14. Accept all feelings and try to understand why others feel and act as they do. Avoid the tendency to say, “you shouldn’t feel like that.”
15. Be tactful considerate and courteous. Avoid taking advantage of the other person’s feelings.
16. Ask questions and listen carefully. Avoid preaching or lecturing.
17. Do not use excuses. Avoid falling for the excuses of others.
18. Speak kindly politely and softly. Avoid nagging yelling or whining.
19. Recognize the value of humour and seriousness. Avoid destructive teasing.

Uphill Climb to Kg Kidding, Sarawak

True happiness is the result of suffering

Some people have characterized Buddhism as a negative religion that identifies all that we experience as suffering and does not acknowledge happiness at all. This, however, is a misinformed view. It is true that Buddhism speaks of our usual, ordinary happiness as the suffering of change. This means that this type of happiness is unsatisfying: it never lasts and we never have enough of it. It is not true happiness. If, for example, eating ice cream were true happiness, then the more we ate of it at one sitting, the happier we would become. But soon we reach a point at which the happiness at eating ice cream changes into unhappiness and suffering. The same is the case with sitting out in the sun or moving into the shade. This is what is meant by the suffering of change.

Buddhism, however, provides many methods for overcoming the limitations of our ordinary happiness, this suffering of change, so that we reach the everlasting joyous state of a Buddha. Nevertheless, despite the drawbacks of our ordinary happiness, Buddhism also explains the sources for achieving that kind of happiness. Buddhism provides this teaching because one of its basic axioms is that everyone wants to be happy and no one wants to be unhappy. And, since everyone is looking for happiness and, as ordinary beings, we do not know of any type of happiness other than the ordinary, usual kind, Buddhism tells us how to achieve it. Only when that wish and need for happiness has been fulfilled on the most basic level of ordinary happiness can we go on to aim for deeper, more satisfying levels of it with more advanced spiritual practices.

Great tips by Super Blogger John Chow

John Chow has made over $500k by just blogging 2 hour per day in 2009. View his blog and get great tips from this super blogger. http://www.johnchow.com/bloggingtips

RIGHT TIME AT THE RIGHT PLACE…

There is a saying “Right time at the Right Place”. While you cannot control the Time, you can certainly control the Place. Being at the right place is all it takes for you to succeed. Being at the right place and putting your whole heart into the Action will eventually create the result you desire when the right time comes.

Opportunity for us to succeed is always around. However, in order to get the right opportunity you need to commit yourself and take the action. Opportunity will not wait for those who procrastinate and merely sit and wait. Only those who dare to take the first step will land themselves with the right opportunity. You don’t need to see the entire stair, just take the first step as said by Martin Luther King Jr.

LIFE’S FORMULA…

What is the formula to succeed? Do you agree that:

 

Action = Result?

If there is no Action, obviously there will be no Result. Simple. However, let me ask you one question: “Between Action and Result, which is more important?”

90% of people will say Action. Let me ask you another question: “Will you work for a job which pays you little but it’s an easy job or you prefer to work for a job with great pay and you are willing to learn whatever the job requires you to do?”. 

We are by nature Result oriented. If the Result is not attractive, we will not even waste our time doing the Action. As a student, we focus in getting the Result we want. We target to get 10A’s in the final exam and we will do whatever it takes to get those A’s. We may dislike History, Geography or Additional Math, but we will learn those subjects and succeed in the exams.

Flexible Time versus Time Freedome

Do you know the difference between flexible time and time freedom? Flexible working time simply means your working time is flexible. No 9 to 5 office hour. No need to rush to office early the morning (trying to beat the traffic jam) just to clock in. But, you still need to trade time for money. Stock trader, home based business, real estate agent and insurance agent are some examples of jobs/businesses with flexi hour. Less working hour but still need to do some work to earn money. Stock trader needs to monitor the chart and news daily before taking a trade position. Off course once that is done, the trader can sit back and monitor the trade. Still no time freedom. Imagine the stock trader is hospitalized... who is going to trade for him? Can he leverage his trading task to someone and still make money?

Time freedom on the other hand means you don't have to work anymore. All the ground work for your business has been completed. You just sit back and enjoy the fruits. The only way for you to achieve time freedom is by utilizing the power of leverage. This will require you to delegate any task required to make money to someone else. Leveraging on the skill and labor of someone else. That's the beauty of a network marketing business. Leverage on the downlines. Remember, every downline in your organization represent a future time. What? Well.. your organization is not built in a single day. Hence, every level down basically means someone join your organization in a certain period. The lower the later. Still confuse? Say your organization grows 1 level every month. That means it takes 5 months to have an organization of 5 levels deep. That means on the 5th month, your team mates who join your organization on the 4th Month is helping you to grow your organization without having you to do anything. That's a future action. And only with future action you can have time freedom. So, which one do you prefer? Flexible time or Time freedom?  

Residual income revisit.

Employee works over time either to get promoted or earn extra money. The idea of trading more time for more money is so deep into their head that they have little clue on what is passive or residual income. To them, residual income is for lazy people. It's for those who don't like to work and expect money to come into their pocket. Let's revisit the idea of residual income.  

Residual income is income that does not require your direct involvement. For example owning rental property, royalties on an invention or creative work, and network marketing. If you want to earn more, work less, and have a decent retirement, you're going to have to start creating income streams that do not require your direct involvement. Whether you're just starting your business, or you've been running it a while, the sooner you start thinking about how you are going to shift your business model to create more residual income, the sooner you can achieve personal and financial freedom.

Let's look at two basic types of passive income, and a third type of income that, while technically not passive, is a key strategy for earning more and working less. What sort of profession can give you residual income? 

• An insurance agent who gets commission every year when a customer renews his policy
• A network marketing or direct sales rep's income from her direct customers when they reorder product every month
• An aerobics instructor who produces a video and sells it at the gyms where she teaches
• A marketing consultant who creates a workbook and sells it in e-book format on the Internet
• A photographer who makes his photos available through a stock photography clearing house and gets paid a royalty whenever someone buys one of his images
• A restaurant or retail owner who has grown to the point of hiring a trustworthy manager

Another example of residual income is called leveraged income. This income leverages the work of other people to create income for you. Some examples of leveraged income include:

• An e-book author selling her e-book through affiliates who promote the product
• A network marketer who builds a downline and receives commissions on the sales made by people in his downline
• A general contractor who makes a profit margin on the work done by sub-contractors
• Franchising your business model to other entrepreneurs (the ultimate leveraged income)

It is not uncommon for someone to have multiple residual incomes. For example, an insurance agent may get involved in a network marketing business and earn income from both his insurance policy commissions and the commissions from the sales of his downline. Many successful businessmen have multiple residual incomes. This is possible because they are not trading their time for money. With time freedom, they are able to embark in extra businesses which generate extra income. 

Trying something new...

Trying something new especially in a business venture requires some courage (not a lot really.. ) and leap of faith. Over analysing won't get you anywhere simply because there is no such thing as perfect business venture. It is just how hard you try. I bum into an article on the psychology of trying new things written by Alex Lickerman M.D. and below is an excerpt of the article:

1. Trying something new often requires courage. And needing to summon courage is itself a benefit. Once it's released it will, like its second cousin once removed, anger, indiscriminately engulf everything in its path. How wonderful to open a flood of courage and be carried on its waves to destinations of unexpected benefit.
2. Trying something new opens up the possibility for you to enjoy something new. Entire careers, entire life paths, are carved out by people dipping their baby toes into small ponds and suddenly discovering a love for something they had no idea would capture their imaginations.
3. Trying something new keeps you from becoming bored. Even I, the most routine-loving person I know, become bored if I'm not continually challenged in some way. And it's not the new challenges I'm eager to take on that represent my greatest opportunities for growth—it's the ones I'm not.
4. Trying something new forces you to grow. We don't ever grow from taking action we've always taken (the growth that enabled us to be able to take it has already occurred). Growth seems to require we take new action first, whether it's adopting a new attitude or a new way of thinking, or literally taking new action. Thrusting yourself into new situations and leaving yourself there alone, so to speak, often forces beneficial change. A spirit of constant self-challenge keeps you humble and open to new ideas that very well may be better than the ones you currently hold dear (this happens to me all the time).

source: http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/happiness-in-world/201004/trying-new-things

How to decide which Network Marketing company to join?

Choosing the right network marketing company to join is very important. The number 1 criteria is the product. Network Marketing is a long term business venture. Hence, if the company has no good product which can sustain in the market, chances are the company will not last long in market. Many successful network marketers lose everything they have built when their company closes down. There are plenty of companies embark in network marketing business model just to get quick bucks. They don't invest any money into RND of their products. These companies simply use any generic product in the market and engage network marketer to build them a fortune. Remember, when you recruit people into your organization, you are putting your trust and reputation at stake. Choose wisely.

The 2nd criteria will be payment plan. This decides how you will be paid. While most network marketing companies have similar payment or compensation plans, there are a few which stands out. Learn these jargons well: Break Away, Vertical Compression & Horizontal Compression. Break Away is a No, No. A company that practises Break Away compensation plan basically has the right to "chop" off a certain part of your organization when "certain" criteria is not met. One example will be rank achieved. For example, one of your downlines has achieved Director Rank, same or higher than your rank, you may not be able to earn any commission from him and the rest of his organization unless you uprank. With such scenario you will be constantly trying to out rank your downlines. You will never be able to retire because the moment you stop there is a possibility that your downlines will over take you and you lose all the commission.

So remember these 2 criteria when deciding which network marketing company to join. The ranking of the company in Forbes are not so important. Joining big network marketing company does not guarantee you big result. In fact, joining not so well known but good company has the advantage as you will have more opportunity to build your network.

The Power of Leverage will set you free.

A great article by Emlyn Scott on the power of leverage. As mentioned on my previous post, Time Freedom is the main objective for most of us. We want to travel, spend quality time with family, charity & get into a hobby. These activities require time. Time freedom can only be achieved with Financial freedom. When you don't have to spend your own time making money, that's financial freedom. So what does Leverage got to do with all this? Read on...

It is absolutely necessary to use leverage if you want to become wealthy. In fact you need to use massive amounts of Leverage. The more leverage you use the more leverage you need to use. Before you think that I've lost the plot and only recommending that you borrow money until you drown under the weight of debt, let me explain myself clearly.

A common misconception is that leverage refers only to borrowing money (also known as gearing). Leverage is so much more than just borrowed money. In fact there are 7 forms of "leverage" and the more of the seven that you use and the more you use them the wealthier you'll become.

What is leverage?

Leverage is the ability to control a lot with just a little. It gives you the ability to utilize more than just you. Through leverage, you can effect change much more rapidly. Leverage equals speed, or velocity. The more leverage you have, the faster your journey to wealth.

The 7 forms of leverage
So what are the seven forms of leverage? Well, they are:

1. OPM (Other People's Money)
2. OPT (Other People's Time)
3. OPW (Other People's Work)
4. OPE (Other People's Experiences)
5. OPI (Other People's Ideas)
6. Scalable Production & Distribution
7. Scalable Customer Base

Let's briefly look at each of these in turn...

OPM:

OPM or gearing is simply the use of debt. It's what you put in the liabilities section of your personal balance sheet.

Why use gearing? Can't saving make you rich? The only way saving alone will make you wealthy is if you have a very good income, very low expenses, and the tenacity and ability to save over a long period of time.

For example, if you're 25 and plan to save until age 65 (40 years) and can manage to put away $650 per month and achieve a 5% compound return after tax on your money, you'd have a retirement pot of almost $1 million. While this is commendable, it's certainly not clever and takes an extraordinary amount of time and effort. Also, while $1 million may sound like a lot it really isn't, especially in 40 years from now. In fact, with 3% inflation your $1 million will be worth about $300,000 and produce an annual income of about $21,500 in today's money. Not a very wealthy retirement!

If you want to become wealthy you need to save hard and use money from other people to move you to your goals faster. OPM lets you buy assets earlier, at a faster rate, and control a larger amount than saving the whole amount. These three characteristics of financial leverage enable you to become wealthier faster.

If you saved $10,000 per year and borrowed at 90%, after one year you could buy an investment property that cost $100,000. If you waited until you saved $100,000 then it would take you 10 years and the price of the property would likely be much much higher.

It's generally true that "you need money to make money." However, it doesn't need to be your money. OPM allows you to fast-track your wealth creation program.

OPT:

There are numerous companies, small businesses and individuals that will sell you their time. These range from laborers to professionals specializing in a particular field.

I have an accountant, lawyers, insurance broker, mortgage agent, and so on. I use all these people, as they save me time and money. They save me money because they free up my time to make more money, and their knowledge helps me.

OPW:

This is similar to OPT, but now you employ people to leverage their time. Bill Gates applies enormous OPW style leverage. He leverages the time and effort of 65,000 staff. OPW (and OPT) essentially allows an individual to capture the time and effort of many. It allows you to produce quickly what you couldn't produce in one or more lifetimes.

OPE:

One of the best resources or leverages available to you is the experiences of others. It's an enormous waste of your time and totally unnecessary to try and learn everything you need to know by trial and error. You can learn from the experiences, knowledge and mistakes of others.

This may be via a mentor, OPT, OPW, books, seminars, CDs, school, college, etc.

There's no point learning by trial and error what someone else has already learned and can impart to you.

OPI:

This generally refers to learning and copying good income-producing ideas. Franchise and networking businesses are testaments to the power of OPI - learn a proven method and replicate it yourself.

The process of wealth creation is the ultimate use of the leverage of OPI. The system of wealth creation is the same today as it was yesterday, last week, last month, last year, last generation. Sure, the technology changes and systems become refined and improve, but the fundamentals don't change. The process is tried, tested and works every time without fail. You just have to learn it and diligently apply it. No trial and error. No wasting your precious time. Just OPI.

Scalable production and distribution:

Can your product or service be easily scaled for production and supply? A book can be easily scaled as it can be printed as many times as demand requires. Compare this to face-to-face teaching which isn't easily scalable. Can a book be easily supplied anywhere? Well until the Internet came along it couldn't. Now it can be bought and distributed easily via the post to anywhere. But that's nowhere near as easily produced and supplied as an ebook, which is just bits of information that you can instantly download from anywhere in the world.

Scalable customer base:

A restaurant or a corner store doesn't have a scalable customer base. It can only service customers in its local area. People from all over the world may want your product or service but if they don't know about you or can't get to you then it's as if they don't exist.

Let's look at the dot com companies of the late 90's. The internet gave companies a true global customer base for virtually no cost. Their potential customer base was highly scalable, which is why they were so highly valued. The problem was their production and distribution was not highly scalable as they still had to deal in physical products...they were very old economy after the "sale". People forgot this. Those companies that dealt in non-physical products had both scalable production & distribution and a scalable customer base. These are the real new generation companies that the internet truly empowers. You probably recognise a few of them - Google, Yahoo, Ebay, E*Trade, Facebook, and so on.

With leverage, you're not alone. You can tap the strengths of all the resources you need around you. You can vastly multiply the effectiveness of one person. Through leverage, systems of production and sales can run and grow independently of the inventor or owner. Leverage allows you to create systems that run themselves. Leverage is essential to create wealth. Those who want to become wealthy or are on the wealth path must focus on understanding, mastering and fully utilizing leverage.