Beliefs of Millionaires

There are millionaires in every industry, from computer software to even shoe shiners. Millionaires come from all walks of life. Some were immigrants like Andrew Carnegie and some have even been bankrupt several times such as Mark Victor Hansen. Then what made them eventually come out on top? All have earned their wealth in different ways, but all of these millionaires that I've described to you share at least 7 essential core beliefs, and I've outlined them for you right here.

1. Millionaires Believe in Having Balance in their Lives

Most millionaires work only a few hours a week every few weeks at a time, how? Millionaires do first things first. They ask themselves, "What is the most important thing that I can be doing right now?" or what Brian Tracy asks, "If I were to leave tomorrow for a month with nobody having a possible way of getting a hold of me, what would I be doing right now?"

Example: Tim Ferris, author of the New York Times Bestseller The 4-Hour Work Week goes on vacation for two months at a time travelling the world. After his 2-month vacation, Ferris comes home, works a little for about a month before leaving on yet another two-month vacation.

2. Millionaires Know They Can't Make it on Their Own

Millionaires leverage the power of the mastermind group. Millionaires surround themselves with other like-minded people to help them achieve far more than they could have done on their own or thought possible. Mastermind groups help brainstorm new ideas to generate wealth and also help with networking through potentially thousands of influential people and companies.

Example: Andrew Carnegie studied the life of Jesus in the New Testament and the impact Jesus had on the world and what He was able to accomplish in only 3 years of His ministry. Carnegie saw that Jesus had surrounded Himself with 12 men and called them "Apostles", so Carnegie gathered around him a group of men and called them "executives". Carnegie knew nothing of the steel industry initially, but through the help of his executives became one of the wealthiest men of all time through that same industry.

3. Millionaires Believe They Have No limitations

Millionaires don't believe that the sky is the limit; that would be silly to believe such a thing. Millionaires believe there are no limits. The only limitations we have are the ones we put on ourselves. Millionaires also understand that all roadblocks to success are mental roadblocks. All problems and solutions rest within our own minds.

Example: Robert G Allen and Mark Victor Hansen wanted to do what nobody has ever done before and that is pre-sell one million copies of a single book. Everyone thought they were crazy, but they did it. By the way, that book is the One Minute Millionaire.

4. Millionaires Believe They are the Makers of Their Own Destiny

Millionaires choose to live and run their own lives. They do this by not letting setbacks and unwelcomed circumstances hold them back. Millionaires have a winner's way of thinking; they go forward with the attitude that "Failure is not an option". Robert G. Allen has referenced himself many times asking, "Could I do it if a loved one depended on me accomplishing this task or goal?" and you'll find that the answer is always a resounding YES.

Example: The number of millionaires have nearly doubled in the past decade and nearly 80% are self-made millionaires. Do I really need to give a specific example?

5. Millionaires Believe in Giving

Millionaires believe in the law of abundance. Millionaires know that there will always be plenty to go around. They also know that as they give, the universe will give back to them in greater abundance. Millionaires believe the more they give of their time, talents, knowledge, and wealth, the universe will give back exponentially to what is given.

Example: Mark Victor Hansen donates a minimum of 10% of his earning each year to various churches and non-profit organizations; on top of that each of his Chicken Soup for the Soul books has a charity attached to it. Hansen and his business partner Jack Canfield currently hold the world record for selling more books than any other author in the history of the world.

6. Millionaires Believe That at the Root of Every Problem is a Seed of Opportunity

Millionaires believe they can turn any negative situation to a positive situation. Whether it's personal, family, or financial; they see problems as an opportunity of improvement.

Example: When computers were first created they filled an entire room and required a group of trained individuals to run them. Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs saw this and sought to fill the void by creating the first personal computer and as a result the Apple I was invented.

7. Millionaires Believe in Education

Millionaires don't believe in having solely college education, they believe also in self-education. The average person reads less than one book per year; the average millionaire reads two books per week. I'm not talking about books such as Harry Potter either, rather, books such as Think and Grow Rich and 7 Habits of Highly Successful People. Millionaires become successful through their reading habits.

Being a millionaire first starts by changing your mindset.   Click here for one of the best ways to change your mindset about money and success!     It's way cheaper than any other success program we've discovered.

The Grand Re-Entry

Wow, I realize it's been over a year since my last blog post.   To be honest, I think I lost a bit of my motivation and drive over the course of this time.

We created a new skin care product called Deliciously Sexy, and we became a little disappointed when the product didn't take off quite as fast as we hoped for on Amazon.     In meantime while we were trying to get our brand going, we also made the mistake of neglecting the other products we had available for sale on Amazon.

Needless to say that it was a pretty down year for us as an Amazon retailer, but it was actually a blessing in disguise.   In some odd way, you actually gain a much better understanding of business when things aren't going well.  

We've also taken this time to realized that we are more committed than ever to make our dreams a reality.    During this past year I've consumed myself with studying people like Gary Vaynerchuk, Tony Robbins, Peter Voogd, Ramit Sethi, and other high performers.     One of the biggest shifts for me came after I read the book "Secrets of the Millionaire Mind" by T Harv Eker.    There are 50 million other books out there that tell you to have a positive mindset when dealing with money, but somehow this book really made me start to think about money in a positive way.

One of my biggest takeaways from reading about other people is that they always invest in themselves.   This is probably one of the biggest differences between rich and poor people.   Rich people are willing to invest in themselves, and that's what I've started doing.

In that same spirit, I also went to a Tony Robbins one-day event that featured Gary Vaynerchuk and Robert Herjavec from "Shark Tank".  It was the best $150 I ever spent.   I left that conference feeling like a new man, and it was the best money I ever spent.     I've also invested in one of Ramit Sethi's courses (Success Triggers) and I'm investing in the Power Quadrant System which includes interviews with people like Tony Robbins and Stephen Covey.

My wife has also decided to pursue a career as an erotic photographer after we signed up for Power Quadrant and Success Triggers.   I've also become a certified NLP Practitioner, and I'm currently studying on how to become a successful life coach.

2017 is going to be our year!!!!    We are committed to making our dreams become a reality, and I hope everyone out there can take at least one small step towards your dreams this year.    Even if you only spend 15 mins trying to get one step closer to your goal, it's at least 15 more minutes than you did the previous week.

$4000 in One Month from Amazon FBA - Happy New Year

It's been a pretty productive month for me on Amazon, but it's also been very frustrating.   For the Christmas season, I've made a little over $4000 this month counting my $1600 bank deposit early in December.   I think this is  pretty successful for me considering I didn't know what I was doing for the most part, and I just started in August.

As I sit here typing this, there's about 40 minutes left before it's officially 2016 here on the West Coast.    There were definitely a lot of mistakes made and lessons learned this year from doing business on Amazon, and I plan to do much better next year.   Anytime you can make some extra money on the side with doing minimal work, it's always a plus.

Now to the frustrating part.  I literally could have made anywhere from $8k-$12k in December if I had enough inventory to sell.    Some of it had to do with this being my first Xmas shopping season and I had no idea just how much my sales would increase.    The other part had to do with delays in shipping from China, delays with UPS, and delays with the Amazon warehouse.    One thing I didn't keep in mind is that the manufacturers in China also have a big increase in orders, so it can take them a week longer to process your order.

Most of my orders from China I have shipped by DHL.   Before the Christmas season, I always received my orders in about 3-4 business days once the manufacturer finishes production.  The package is shipped to me, and then I ship it to the Amazon warehouse.   One thing that sucks about Amazon is they ALWAYS make me ship my packages to the East Coast.  I use Amazon's cheap UPS ground shipping rates, but that also means it takes 5 business days to get to the Amazon warehouse.

In business, time is money, and this process was costing me money.   I thought I would be "smart" and try to work with a freight forwarder in China.  This way, they could just pick the package up from my manufacturer and ship it directly to Amazon.   The first freight forwarder I found wasted a week's worth of my time until he finally told me couldn't ship the package because the product contains batteries.   So I finally just ended up having the package shipped to me.

On a different product, one of my shipments actually sat in the DHL warehouse a full week before it was shipped to me.  Another shipment was lost in DHL's warehouse and I had to be reimbursed for my costs.   

Then it was UPS's turn to screw everything up.  They weren't able to keep up with all of the shipments, and it caused a big backlog in their shipping process.   So my shipments that normally took 5 business days sometimes took 7 business days, once again costing me money.   The Amazon warehouses also started getting behind.  Normally when my products are delivered to the Amazon warehouse, I get a notification within 24 hours that my package has been received, and they will then work on processing my inventory.   During Xmas season, Amazon may take up to a week sometimes just to acknowledge that your package was delivered, and then it may take another 3 business days to put your items into their inventory.

There were times this month where I was completely out of stock on literally EVERYTHING because the Amazon warehouse was so slow.  You can tell from the screenshot I posted that I hardly have any sales for this past week, and I'm pretty much out of stock on everything.
  
If that's not bad enough, Amazon just announced they will be raising their rates for sellers in February.   As if they don't make enough money off of us already.  Also I think for next year, Amazon won't be my sole source of retail income.   I should seriously think about creating my own retail website and selling items myself, but I don't know if I want to bother with having to ship the items myself and/or dealing with customers.

As much as Amazon FBA has been a pain in the neck at times, I still think it's a great way to make a living.   I made $4000 with maybe 8 hours of actual work the whole month.   Sure as hell beats my regular job by a long shot.

My goal for 2016 is to have at least $30k in deposits by the end of the year.  If you're one of those people who has dreamed of being their own boss, now is the time to start.  Don't let fear hold you back any longer.  If you have any questions or wonder how I got started, please don't hesitate to ask.

Good luck in 2016

 

$1200 in One Week on Amazon

So my last Amazon deposit on Nov 25th was $788.   It was my highest 2 week total to date, and I was super pumped about making that much in just two weeks.

So now I have a problem.   In less than one week, I already have over $1200 waiting to be depositing into my account on Dec 8th.   Basically I'm on pace to have over $4000 deposited into our account for the month of December.  So what's the problem?

I've pretty much run out of stock on my 5 most popular items.   Three of my items come from one particular company in China, and they just happened to be moving locations when I placed another order with them.   This caused a week long delay in the production of my items, and they still haven't been shipped to me.   This means I'm losing tons of money while my items are out of stock.   I actually made over $800 in just 2 days, and the sales have been dwindling down since I don't have many of my items in stock.

Also, like most first-time Amazon sellers, I use the profits I make to restock my items.  Since I did this, I can't really order more items until after my next deposit around Dec 8th.  Then of course I run the risk of not getting the items to Amazon before Christmas.  I wish someone had told me just how much your sales will grow during the Christmas shopping season.   I'll just consider this a lesson learned.   Next year I'll be sure to start stocking up on things around October.

First $1000 Month as an Amazon Retailer

Took a few months to get there, but it looks like I'm finally going to make over $1000 this month.

  

I still have two more days to go until the balance is deposited into our bank account, so there's a good chance I can make over $1100 this month.   I'm spending about $150 a month on advertising so that's eating into my profits some, but I think that's a fair trade-off.  

Also I've decided to stop labeling my own products.   I figured by the time I buy labels and take the time to print them all out and individually label each product, I can just have Amazon label the products for me. (For a fee of course)   This really cuts down the amount of time I have to spend getting everything organized.  Now when I get a product delivered from China, I just perform a count to make sure there isn't a missing item.   I print off the shipping label and I drop it off at the UPS Store.   This also allows me to replenish my stock much faster.  I'm dabbling with the idea of starting to send some of my products to the Canadian Amazon site to see if it will increase my sales.

I decided to take the plunge and started selling an expensive item on Amazon.  My most "expensive" item before now was just $19.99.    The product that I'm selling now retails on Amazon for about $149.99, but I decided to sell it for $109 just to try and generate some sells.  

What's strange is that I have an item selling for $13.99, and Amazon charges me a fee of $4.99 to sell it, which equates to Amazon charging me 36% to sell the item.  Conversely, Amazon only charges me $13.21 to sell my $109.99 item.   So Amazon is only taking 12% for this item.   I wish I had known this sooner, I would've started selling more expensive items a long time ago.

For those of you selling on Amazon, I highly recommend that you make sure you are stocked up on your items for all the Christmas buyers.  I'm hoping to break the $3000 mark for the month of December.      

Single Females = Flakes

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Amazon Business - $500 Barrier Broken

Most of you who read my blog know that I've recently started selling products on Amazon.   I'm happy to say that I finally broke the $500 barrier this month!  Almost $350 will be deposited into my account tomorrow, which makes my total for the month $530.59.

I don't even know how it happened, because there were some items that I basically gave away for 75% off to try and get people to buy my new product.  Not to mention having to pay another $39.99 for my monthly seller fee, and the cost of shipping my products to Amazon.  I'm pretty pumped to see what my sales will look around Christmas time.

On a side note, the wife and I have started the process to trademark the name of our new product.  While I'm happy about the money I've made so far, I think this product will have a lot of potential.  The biggest mistake I've made so far is choosing products that only need to be purchased one time.  I won't be making that mistake with our new product.

To those who are thinking of getting started, I'd recommend picking a product that customers will have to buy repeatedly.  Think about the different items that you buy on a continual basis.   Razors, dish soap, printer ink, baby wipes, etc.   These are all products that are bought repeatedly, so once a customer likes your product they're highly likely to buy it again.