How to Become a Better Person in 2012

Posted on February 9, 2012 by ChuckHolmes

In this blog post, I’d like to share 7 ideas to become a better person in 2012.  These are a few things you could do to improve your happiness, develop your potential and become a better person.   Let’s get started.

  1. Cherish Your Spouse and Kids: If you are married and/or have children, don’t take them for granted.  Cherish your immediate family and let them know how much you appreciate them. Spend quality and quantity time with the people you love.  Make a conscious effort to improve your relationships.  Never take them for granted.
  2. Volunteer: I think it’s important to volunteer.  You could volunteer at an orphanage, at church, at a local civic group, a veteran’s home, a food bank, animal shelter or just about anything else.  When you invest your time to volunteer, you experience a great feeling.  There’s nothing greater than helping another human being.   If you’re busy, just commit to an hour a week.  You can always volunteer more as you get accustomed to it.  When you give, you get!
  3. Read More: I once heard that the books you read and the people you hang out with will ultimately determine where you end up in five years from now.  I think this advice is spot on.  I believe that everyone should read 2-4 non-fiction books each month.  You could read books about leadership, communication, influence, people skills, business, entrepreneurship, psychology, or anything that interests you.  When you read, you will improve your vocabulary and learn new skills.
  4. Reflect More: Set aside an hour each week to reflect on the previous week.  Write down what went well, what went wrong and what you could do differently next time.  Give yourself constructive criticism so you can improve your skills and become a better person.  This is one of my favorite things to do each week.
  5. Find a New Hobby: Hobbies are a great way to unwind.  If you don’t already have a hobby, make a short list of 5-10 things that interest you.  Pick one thing and spend 2-3 hours each week working on your hobby.  Popular hobbies include quilting, running, reading, collecting, and traveling to new places.
  6. Watch less Television: Turn that idiot box off.  No one ever gets paid to watch television.  The television and news are filled with so much negative stuff.    I also think television is a huge time waster.  Most people spend 30 hours (or more) per week watching the idiot box.  These same folks tell you they are busy and don’t have time for anything else.  Turn the television off and spend time with your family, read more, volunteer more, or anything else on this list.
  7. Tithe: Make a commitment to tithe a portion of your income each month.  It doesn’t have to be a large amount.  You could start with $20 per month.  Pick a cause that is important to you and start tithing on a regular basis.  When you tithe, you naturally feel good about yourself.  And you help someone else out in the process.

I’m sure there are some other things you can do, too.  But these are my favorite 7 ways on how to become a better person in 2012 and beyond.  What are your thoughts?

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Six Alternative Investment Strategies

Posted on February 2, 2012 by ChuckHolmes

In today’s post, I’d like to discuss six popular alternative investment strategies.  Let me begin by telling you that it is very important to plan for your future.  Failing to plan is planning to fail.  After all, do you really want to rely on the government to take care of you when you retire?  With the way they run the Post Office and Social Security, I wouldn’t count on it.

I truly believe that anyone, regardless of their income level, can save/invest enough money to enjoy a fruitful retirement.  The key to success is to (1) develop a written game-plan, (2) invest consistently, (3) to live below your means, and (4) be disciplined.  Small but consistent investments, over a long period of time, can turn into small fortunes.

I’ve read case study after case study of low income earners who retired as millionaires, because they saved $100 per month for 50 years.  And I’ve also studied high income earners who ended up broke and homeless.   The amount of money you earn isn’t nearly as important as what you do with what you earn.

Most people save for retirement in a 401K, IRA or equivalent retirement account.  Within their account, they buy a variety of mutual funds, bonds, CDs, or stocks.  Most financial advisors will tell you that it is important to diversify.  Unfortunately, most people only diversify in paper assets.  In other words, all of their investments are controlled by the performance of the stock market (stocks, bonds, mutual funds, CDs).

Personally, I don’t like the idea of having all my money tied up in something I have little control over.  I think it’s crazy to have all your eggs in one basket.  And we all know that the stock market can go way up or way down, sometimes without any logical reason.

When you study our nation’s wealthiest people, you will discover that many of them invest in alternative investment strategies, in addition to their traditional retirement account.  The alternative investment strategies help diversify their overall portfolio and creates multiple streams of income.

I’ll cover some examples of alternative investment strategies in more detail below.  These are things you can do, in addition to your retirement account, to help plan for your retirement.

  1. Businesses: You could start a part-time business or buy ownership in another business.  Businesses provide great tax incentives and can produce enormous wealth.  Although most businesses fail, a successful business can create huge wealth for its owners.
  2. Real Estate: Real estate has created more millionaires than any other business model that I know of.  Although it can be risky, real estate investing can provide wonderful cash-flow (especially when a property is paid off).  It also offers great tax incentives and the potential to earn capital gains if/when you sell the property.
  3. Storage Units: Storage Units are awesome.  They have fewer headaches than renting residential or commercial properties.  And they can provide wonderful cash-flow.  Best of all, you can build a pay off your storage unit in a typical 10-15 year window, compared to a 15-30 mortgage on a regular property.
  4. Precious Metals: You could invest in gold and silver.  Personally, I believe that direct ownership is better than buying paper investments of gold and silver.  What’s great about gold and silver is that they are a liquid asset, which is very easy to sell.  Sure, their value goes up and down.  Typically, when the stock market is high, gold and silver are low.  And when the stock market sinks, gold and silver prices skyrocket.
  5. Antiques: This could include antique cars, rare coins, comics, baseball cards, artwork, rare books, or other high quality collectible items that hold their value over a long period of time.
  6. Intellectual Property: This could include patents, trademarks, copyrights, books, and other intellectual property that provides royalties or licensing fees.

You might be thinking where do I get started?  What should I do?  Well, you can start small.  What if you just picked one idea from this list, or brainstormed something on your own?  For example, what if you made the decision to purchase $50 worth of silver coins every month, in addition to funding your retirement account?  What if you did that for a few years and then re-evaluate your portfolio?  And what if you combined a few of these techniques, along with your retirement account?

It’s okay to start small.  Also I recommend you seek professional advice and develop a game-plan for your alternative investment strategies, just like you would do for your regular retirement savings.

If you get nothing else out of this article, I want you to remember this one thing.  What you need when you retire is cash-flow, not a lot of money in the bank!  The reason most people want hundreds of thousands (or millions) of dollars in their retirement account is so they can live off the interest during their retirement years.

If you truly have a diversified investment portfolio of gold and silver, businesses, fine antiques, real estate property, storage units and intellectual property, in addition to your retirement account, you will have a great cash-flow.  And you might not have to touch your money in the bank!

In conclusion, there are many ways to create wealth.  While everyone should fund their retirement account, I also believe there are other alternative investment strategies to consider.  Some of these strategies include businesses, precious metals, fine antiques, real estate, storage units, and intellectual property.  I think it’s a wise idea to educate yourself about some of these alternative investment strategies, so you can develop a strategy that works best for you.

DISCLAIMER: I am not a licensed accountant or financial advisor, nor do I have anything to sell you.  This article is for educational purposes only.  Please consult with a CPA or financial advisor before making major financial decisions.  The purpose of this article is to get you to think outside of the box, not to give you specific investing advice.

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A Tribute to Steve Jobs

Posted on January 26, 2012 by ChuckHolmes

Steve Jobs is one of my personal business heroes.  I’ve studied him for several years now.  He definitely created a legacy with Apple Computers and Pixar.  What I admire most about him is his tenacity, leadership and perseverance.  I’ve decided to share a few of my favorite Steve Job’s videos with you today.  I hope you enjoy them.

The first video is a video about passion.  Here it is.

In this next video, you will learn more about his life.

In this last video, you will see some of his thoughts on life and failure.

Enjoy the videos. RIP Steve Jobs.

 

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How You Should Vote in 2012 and Beyond

Posted on January 19, 2012 by ChuckHolmes

Today, I’d like to talk about how you should vote.  Please know that I’m not trying to tell you which party or which person to vote for. Instead, I simply want to share a few ideas to make you think through the process of how you vote.  I’ve found that most people don’t put much thought into who they vote for.

They base their decision off advertisements, debates, and their political party.  Even worse, a huge percentage of Americans don’t vote at all!   I think every eligible American should vote.  It is fundamentally one of our most important rights.  If we don’t vote, we could one day lose our freedom to vote.

Many people will tell you that their vote doesn’t matter.  If it was just one or two people in America saying this, I would agree.  But, the problem is that tens of millions of registered voters don’t vote, because they think their vote doesn’t matter.  Sometimes you wonder how an election would turn out if everyone did vote.

So, my first challenge to you is to always vote at local, state, and federal elections.  My second challenge is to put some thought into your vote.  Spend a few hours and research the candidates and the issues.  Make a list of things that are most important to you and evaluate the candidates based upon those issues.  To explain what I mean, I’ll share my top 10 criteria I use to evaluate our current candidates.

Here is my list:

  1. Improving the Economy
  2. Balancing the Federal Budget
  3. Controlled Government Spending and Smaller Government
  4. Flat Rate Income Tax for all
  5. Term Limits for all Politicians
  6. Less Government Regulations for Businesses
  7. Reduction or elimination of government social programs
  8. Reform Social Security
  9. The Importance of Individual Rights and Private Property
  10. Modifying our current stand on Foreign Policy

This is the list I use to evaluate each candidate.  Once again, I’m just showing you an example.  I’m not trying to tell you what to think.  Please know that candidates’ views, even in the same political party, can vary greatly.  So, you have to do your research and find out what each person stands for.  You can do this by visiting their individual websites, listening to debates, and reading publications.  Don’t just show up on election-day and vote for someone you know nothing about.

Obviously, what is important to you will be different than what is important to me.  I respect that.  So, make your own list and then do your research.  You might be surprised at what you find out.

You have to remember that the people we vote for “run our country.”  So, make sure you select the best qualified person (based on your criteria and values).  I recommend you spend at least 4-5 hours researching ALL of the candidates and evaluate them in accordance with your list.  After you do that, you should have
a great idea about who you should vote for.  Sometimes this person will be in your affiliated political party and
sometimes they won’t.  And remember, your vote does count.

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Why You Need Your Own Mastermind Team

Posted on January 12, 2012 by ChuckHolmes

One of my favorite books of all time is “Think & Grow Rich” by Napoleon Hill.  I credit the information in this book to “transforming the way I think about success.”  One of the principles in this book is the importance of forming your own Mastermind Team.   A Mastermind Team is a group of 3-10 (ideal size) people who share ideas about a certain subject.  The purpose of the team is to help everyone in the team get better results with what they are trying to do.  Here are a few examples of how a Mastermind Team can help you:

  • You want to get in shape this year.  So, you find 3-5 people who are in tip top shape and you meet once a month (by phone or in person) to share ideas with each other about fitness.
  • You own a car dealership.  You find 3-5 car dealership owners in different towns (or states).  You host a monthly conference call to share ideas about finding new customers, generating more sales, increasing profits, etc.
  • You want go on vacation somewhere different.  You find 3-5 people who have traveled extensively, and you get together.  You let people tell you their stories and you get lots of great ideas of places to go.
  • You want to improve the effectiveness of your work group.  You want to do a better job managing people.  So, you find 3-5 managers (outside your company) and you get together for lunch to share ideas with each other.

I could go on and on, but I hope you are starting to get the picture.

Most sports teams use this concept.  They have a head coach and several assistant coaches with subject matter expertise.  These subject matter experts advise the coach so he can make better decisions.
Another example is senior Army leaders.  All Generals have a staff of subject matter experts.  These staff members advise the General of their area of expertise, so he can make an educated decision.

But, you don’t need to be a sports coach or Senior Army Officer to create your own Mastermind Team.
If you are a stay-at-home mom, you could meet with other stay-at-home moms once a month (or periodically) to get new ideas.  You can learn better ways to entertain your kids, time management skills, meal ideas, best places to find bargains, or anything else you want to learn.

The secret to forming a successful Mastermind Team is to find a group of people who want to help each other succeed.  The success of the group must be the important thing.  Everyone must contribute.  It also helps if people in the group aren’t your competition.  In other words, if you are trying to move up the corporate ladder in your current company, you shouldn’t ask your peers (from the same company) to join your Mastermind Team.  In this example, you could find people from different companies to join your group.

You will find that the most successful people in the world have their own Mastermind Teams.  If they do it, shouldn’t you?  The easiest way to get started is to determine “what” you want to focus on.  Once you do that, look for successful people with knowledge on that subject.  Invite them to join your group.  Meet regularly.  Build friendships.  Share ideas.  The results will be worth the effort.  Good luck!

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5 Ways to Improve Your Lifestyle in 2012 (without making more money)

Posted on January 5, 2012 by ChuckHolmes

You don’t always need to make more money to improve your lifestyle.  Sure, having more money
helps.  But, I’ve also discovered that the more you make, the more you spend.  And the more you earn the higher percentage the government takes in taxes.  To me, lifestyle is about having enough money to do what you want AND having the time to do it.  Unfortunately, few people have both time and money.

That being said, there are some simple things you can do to improve your lifestyle this year, without making ANY extra money.  I will share a few ideas with you below.

  1. Calculate How Much You Make Per Hour: Take your total earnings for the year, and divide it by the number of hours you work.  Make sure you include commute time too.  Let’s suppose you work 50 hours per week in your job, and you commute 8 hours per week.  That equals 58 hours per week x 52 weeks (3016 hours per year).  Let’s assume you make $40k annually in your job.  So, if you divide $40k by 3016, you make $13.26 per working hour.  This is frequently referred to as life energy(how much one hour of your working life is worth).
  2. See if You Can Find a More Enjoyable Job, Closer to Home, and Work Less Hours per Week: Let’s assume you could find a fun job working closer to your home.  The pay is only $30k per year, but you only work 40 hours per week (instead of 50) and commute 2 hours per week (instead of 8).  In this example, you work 42 hours per week x 52 weeks (2,184 hours per year).  If you divide $30k by 2,184, you make $13.73 per hour.  In this example, you make $10k less per year, but you make more per hour worked.  Your #1 priority should be to make the most amount of money in the least time possible.  That way, you can get your life back.  Please note that this doesn’t mean having the biggest salary.  You have to factor in your total time worked to earn that salary.
  3. Reduce Your Living Expenses: Another way to increase your lifestyle is to reduce your living costs.  For most people, their mortgage (and misc. housing expenses such as cable, water, and electricity) takes up a large portion of their income.  What if you could save $500 to $1000 per month by finding somewhere cheaper to live?   This means you would need less money to live, which frees up more of your time to do what you want.
  4. Stay Out of Debt: Is your $600 per month car payment (plus insurance, upkeep and gas) really worth it?  Is your ego so important that you have to keep up with the Jones’?  I will tell you that for most people, their car payment is their first or second biggest expense (along with housing).  Personally, I refuse to have a car payment.  Sure, that means my car isn’t as nice as my neighbors, but I’m saving that money each month (which improves lifestyle).  This means I can work less and maintain a similar or better lifestyle.
  5. Go Out To Eat Less: I’ll be the first to admit that I do enjoy going out to eat.  But, it is expensive to visit nice restaurants.  And you can normally make the exact same meal at home for less than 1/3 of the cost.  By going out to eat less, you will save more money, so you won’t need to earn as much.  This will significantly improve your lifestyle.

In summary, I define lifestyle as having both time and money.  Most people think that making more money is the answer to their troubles.  I disagree, because most people who make more, spend more.  Your ultimate goal should be to maximize your life energy, so you can make more per hour, and work less.  That way you have the time and money to do what you want.  The easiest way to do this is to evaluate your current living situation and make small changes to where you live, what you drive, where you eat, and what you do for work.  I hope that helps.

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7 Ways to Make a Difference in 2012

Posted on December 29, 2011 by ChuckHolmes

This is my favorite time of year.  I really enjoy the last few days of each year, because I can spend a week reflecting on the past year and planning the upcoming year.  In 2012, my biggest goal is to try to make a positive difference in other people’s lives.  In addition, I want to help others make a positive impact in other people’s lives, too.   In order to do that, I’m going to share seven simple ideas with you on how you can make a difference in 2012.  Let’s get started.

  1. Spend More Time with Your Spouse and Kids: Make it a goal to spend more quality and quantity time with the people you love.  Set aside a date night each week for you and your spouse.  Schedule time in your busy schedule for activities with your whole family.  Have a game night.  Find fun things you can do without watching television.  Eat dinner together.  Talk.  Visit new places.  More than anything else, focus on building good memories with your family.
  2. Volunteer : Spend 1-2 hours each week volunteering at an organization you are passionate about.  This could be your church, a veteran’s group, an orphanage, an animal shelter or any other cause that excites you.  I don’t know about you, but I always feel good when I volunteer my time to others.
  3. Improve Current Relationships: In addition to spending quality and quantity time with your spouse and kids, why not improve your current relationships with others? Call your own old friends.  Write letters to people.  Do what you can to improve or grow 2-3 relationships.
  4. Be Thankful: Rather than always complaining about what you don’t have, be thankful for the things you do have.  Make a list of everything you are thankful for.    Post your “I’m Thankful for…” list on your refrigerator.  Whenever you feel blue about not having something, take a moment and read your “I’m Thankful for” list.  And stop comparing yourself with the Jones’.
  5. Change Your Routines: We are creatures of habit.  Try to create some new routines in your life. Wake up earlier and read or exercise.  Find a new job where you can use your natural talents and abilities to make a difference.  Drive a different way to work.  Watch less television and spend less time online.  Read more books.
  6. Become a Mentor: Find someone you can mentor, in addition to your children.  This could be through Big Brothers, at work, or in your community.  Invest time helping someone else become a better person.
  7. Compliment Others: Look for the good in others, and give them sincere compliments.  When you see someone doing something right, tell them good job.  When you see someone dressed nicely, give
    them a compliment.  Try to give one sincere compliment to someone you see, each and every day.  And don’t forget to compliment your spouse and kids too.  Just make sure you are paying a sincere compliment, not just trying to flatter someone.

In summary, these are seven simple things you can do to make the world a better place in 2012.  I hope
you will join my movement to try to make a positive difference in 2012!

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Escape the Rate Race: How to Live with No House Payments

Posted on December 23, 2011 by ChuckHolmes

The rat race sucks.  People start working so they can buy a house and get a car.  And then have to be a “slave to the system” for another 30 years, just to make those payments.  I don’t know about you, but I’m tired of it!

I’ve recently started researching a concept known as “homesteading.”  It’s the process of living off the grid.  It’s simple living at its finest.  You still have a home, but a much smaller home.  You won’t have utility payments
and you could probably live off 10% of what you are earning now.   You can even have your own garden.  And best of all, you can get your life back!  You can have time to read, sleep, garden, write, or pursue other interests.

Wouldn’t it be great to live without a house payment, credit card debt or car payment?  Wouldn’t it be
nice to tell your boss “I’m out of here?”  I think so.  I stumbled across this YouTube video on my search for the answer.  I find it absolutely fascinating.  Check out the video and tell me what you think!

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How to Get What You Want in Life

Posted on December 19, 2011 by ChuckHolmes

How do you get what you want in life?  And why is that some people achieve great success, and reach their goals, while most don’t?  I think it really boils down to three things.  I first learned about these principles in Napoleon Hill’s classic book Think & Grow Rich.  So, I can’t take full credit for this idea.  Here is a summary of the secret formula on how to get what you want in life!

 # 1 Desire: All achievement begins with desire. Having desire does not mean you will achieve success.  But if you don’t have desire, you definitely won’t accomplish much.  Personally, I believe that desire is much more important than talent.  I know lots of talented people who don’t amount to much.  More importantly, talent can be learned, but desire is something you either have or don’t have.  And if you have desire and talent, you will be practically unstoppable.

Desire is defined as “a strong feeling as wanting to have something or wishing for something to happen.”
Personally, I think of desire as something you have to have.  It’s something you can’t live without.  You have to want something so bad, that nothing else matters.

 # 2 Plan of Action: This is where the rubber meets the road.  In fact, this is what separates a dreamer from a doer.  To achieve your goal, you need a written plan.  That means that you need to take out a piece of paper and write down what you want to achieve in life.  Once you do that, you must identify the action steps that you need to achieve along the way, in order to reach your goal.  It is said that less than 3% of the population has written goals.  Are you part of that 3%?  Personally, I’ve been writing down my goals for the past 9 years.   I set daily, weekly, monthly, yearly and life-long goals. That single activity alone has helped me become one of the
most productive people I know.

When you have a plan, it’s much easier to achieve your goals.  Even if everything doesn’t go as planned (it won’t) you will have spent enough time thinking through your plan that you will be able to identify alternate routes.  Although your route might change, your destination will stay the same.

# 3 Persistence: I learned a long time ago that anyone can come up with a great idea.  But, it takes a special person to follow through with their idea until they achieve their goal.  We all face obstacles and struggles in life.  Most people give up at the first sign of failure, while the people who make it big follow through until they succeed.  Playing it safe won’t get you very far in life.

I can’t really blame people for being wussies.  After all, we are taught all through school that failing is bad.  Personally, I think failure is good.  Most successful people “failed” countless times before they made it big.
Think about how many times Albert Einstein failed, before he created the light bulb.

In my opinion, these three things will ultimately determine your success in life.  One isn’t more important than the other either.  All three steps are vital to your success.  Unfortunately, I’ve met very few people who have these three things.  But the ones that do always end up on top!

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How to Live a Balanced Life

Posted on December 6, 2011 by ChuckHolmes

If you want to live a happy, successful and fulfilling life, you need to learn how to “balance” different areas of your life.  I’ve met plenty of people who had successful careers, but never spent time with their spouse or kids.  And I’ve met other people with great careers, who also had a great family life, time for hobbies, and a strong spiritual life.  What separates these two groups of people is balance.

I’ll be the first to admit that I enjoy working.  I’ve found that when you love what you do, you don’t feel like you are working at all.  It’s more of a labor of love.  However, even if you love what you do, it’s important to keep things in perspective, and not be so consumed by work that you neglect other areas of your life.

This means you need to make time for your spouse, kids, friends, spiritual life, hobbies, exercise and more.  Sometimes this is difficult to do.  Fortunately, it doesn’t have to be that way.  Listed below, I want to share three useful tips for keeping your life in balance.  Let’s get started.

  1. Set Your Priorities: Your first objective is to set your priorities.  In other words, what is most important to you?  Is it family, kids, hobbies, religion, or friends?  Make of list of what is important to you and then rank these categories in order of importance.
  2. Schedule Your Time: Your next objective is to schedule your time each month.  Personally, I think it’s really important to have a day planner and block off your time.  At the beginning of each month, schedule time for your hobbies, for your spouse, for your kids, religious time, work time, exercise time, etc.  Once you do that, you will have a game-plan each month.
  3. Evaluate Your Progress Each Month: Your last step is to evaluate your progress.  On the last day of each month, evaluate the month.  How did you do with each priority?  Did you spend enough time with your kids, wife, job and hobbies?  Or, was your life out of balance?  If it was out of balance, what are you going to do to fix it this month?

You should follow these three simple steps every single month.  If you ever “drift” from your priorities, you can reel yourself back in the following month.  I’ve found that these three little steps can make a big difference with balancing your life.   What are your thoughts?

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