DON’T BE A VICTIM OF THE SHRINKING MIDDLE CLASS
DON’T BE A VICTIM OF THE SHRINKING MIDDLE CLASS
Anyone who hasn’t been living in a cave is seeing a shrinking Middle Class. There was a Harvard Study that came out a couple of months ago that found that during the recent real estate gold rush, actual incomes went down 1,500 a month, while the cost of living went up by 4,500.00. That means that the actual cost of living went up a net $6,000.00 during the period of supposed economic boom. House prices, gas prices, and food prices, all went up during that time. While it’s everyone’s dream to get ahead, its getting harder and harder all the time.
Those of you who have read Robert Kiyosaki’s cash flow quadrant understand that there are four basic ways to make money 1) as an employee; 2) as self employed; 3) as a business owner; and 4) as an investor. To sustain long term wealth, you must create a business. Statiscally 95% of the people work on the left side of the quadrant as Employees or Self Employed. 5% of the people make their income on the right side of the quadrant as Business Owners or Investors. The people who work on this side of the quadrant make 5% of the money. There are a few distinct differences in these: quadrants 1) Mindset, or how you think; and 2) time leveraging. People who make money on the right side of the quadrant are able to leverage time, people and money to build fortunes, while the people on the left side of the quadrant depend on an employer or themselves for their living. In todays economy, with the rising cost of living, I actually believe that the left side of the quadrant is making less money. As a result of technology, downsizing, right sizing, offshoring, and outsourcing, there are fewer opportunities for employees, and there is more competition for a fewer amount of jobs. So the only way to keep up, let alone get ahead, is to become a business owner and how to use a system of duplication that allows you to leverage your time, money, and the efforts of others. The rich build systems and networks,, the poor trade time for dollars.
The concept of franchising is the best business model of system duplication. There are problems with franchises, though; the initial investment may be high, it may be difficult to raise the capital; due to the mortgage meltdown people who were unable to start businesses by taking equity out of their houses can’t do it; the TARP and “Stimulus Package” have proven to be only a welfare program for the banks. Due to the tightness or lack of credit market, its going to be more difficult to start a small business of any kind.
The best system of duplication out there today is Network Marketing. Yup, that’s right. Once the poor stepchild of business, it has evolved into an economic force with as yet untapped potential. The best system iof duplication we call the TEAM. In most network models, there are some big kahunas that learned some basic skills but were able to build massive downlines by the sheer attractive force of their personalities. In a system of duplication, you can’t duplicate or copy someone’s personalilty. You can only follow the proven formula for success and develop your own personality. A lot of people think that joining a netwrok marketing company is giving up your individuality, or even worse, joining a cult and becoming a mindless zombie. It’s simply not true. A great network marketing company provides you with business and personal skills you could not learn anywhere else. At the same time, you are allowewd and encouraged to develop you own skills and talents. You have to add value to yourself by reading, learning and association, and then you can add value to others.
