Tis the Season Without Going Broke!

HI!  Did my readers miss me?  How’s your millionaire journey going?  Did some of you fall off the bandwagon at Christmas time?  Did you forget all common sense and spend money from your savings?  Did you buy gifts for people you don’t even like?  It’s okay we can get back focused!   Let me tell you how I made this Holiday season one of my best (financially).  First of all I spent not one penny of my savings or paycheck.  I used my bonuses/tips/gifts to spread the holiday cheer.  I used gifts from previous holidays or birthdays that I hadn’t open to give this year.  You may call this regifting…I call it smart gifting!  Second I used all my monetary gifts, including gift cards to buy other presents for people.  Even my bonus I spent on those special to me.  However I did purchase one big gift for myself but this item still is a part of my millionaire journey.  For those with curious minds…it was a laptop.  Lastly what I did and what u should be doing also if you want to get back on track is NO FRIVILOUS AFTER CHRISTMAS DAY SHOPPING!!!!  Use your gift cards wisely.  Think about any birthdays/anniversaries coming up that you are going to have to buy presents for. Use your gift cards for these purchases and store up sale/clearance items to be given at the right time.  I also took my Visa/MasterCard gift cards and purchased groceries and gas for the week!  A whopping weekly savings of over $75!  Simply just don’t buy that 50th pair of shoes or upgraded phone just because you can.  Aren’t we trying to stop living paycheck to paycheck?  Aren’t we tired of being hundredaires?   Well holidays aren’t an exception and there’s no day off to blow everything that we have been striving for. Believe me some people have increased their debt for this one day and now lost ground on the journey to being millionaires!

What would people pay you to do for them?

Hello my readers!  It’s been a few wks since I have blogged but I hope during this time of absence you all have been working on those millionaire ideas!  I have (to be disclosed at a later date)!  I would like to suggest two magazines for reading…Black Enterprise and Entrepreneur.  These two magazines have great ideas and real life stories of self made millionaires.  Get a yr subscription since its less expensive than buying one at a time at the stores.   One of the stories in the magazines featured Russell Simmons and his climb to the top.  One of the things he said was “Find what people need and/or don’t have and give it to them”!  Hmmmm do you have a special talent or hobby that you do and people would pay you for it?  For instance are you very organized and enjoy doing that sort of thing?  In this busy world I’m sure there are those that would pay you to organize their closets, files even grocery shop for them.  Do this on the weekend.  Not only will you be making extra money but anyone who hires you for this type of duty has a great network to sneak into.  You get me?  I want to hear back from you readers.  Tell me if you need some ides on how to make some extra cash using your talents.  In the meantime you all better be working on those books, cds, screenplays, companies and inventions.  If you want to be a millionaire bad enough all your thoughts should be being consumed with how to make it happen!  We all have inside of us everything we need.  It’s just believing in ourselves and the drive to go after it!

Do what you are good at!

I know we all have heard of “do what you love doing and it will bring you money”.  Do you believe this?  Let’s say you love singing but you aren’t good at it.  Do you think then you will be able to make money singing?  Heck no!  I’m not going to give you that BS cause we want to be millionaires.  This journey is about being realistic and not just living on dreams so we have to be truthful to ourselves.  Now if singing makes you happy then do it in the shower or to your family and friends.  Thats why I love people like American Idols, Simon Cowell, he tells it like it is!  Okay so hopefully we all know what we enjoy doing and if you don’t I suggest you spend a day to think about it.  If what you enjoy doing also matches what you are good at..then we have a hit!!  The Williams Sisters love playing tennis and by golly they are fantastic at it.   Tiger Woods can’t imagine life without golf and he is phenomenal at it.  Paula Deen loves cooking and she is a natural and the most entertaining at it.  You see the pattern here?  If what  you are good at in life isn’t something you enjoy doing but you can make lots of money doing it, then still do it!  And it’s time to change professions  if what you are doing now you have pleasure doing but it’s not bringing you the mula you need. What’s our goal?  We want to be millionaires!  I am a Nanny and though I love children, I don’t think I’m going to become a millionaire doing this job.  However I can take my love for children and go another route that will reward me the kind of money I desire.   For instance, I just sent out manuscripts of my Children’s Book that I recently wrote.  Wish me luck!   I’m giving you all a project for this week.  Write down what you are currently doing as a your main source of income.  Ask yourself  “Will this job/career make me a millionaire?”   If your answer is yes then why aren’t you one already?  If it’s because of your spending habits then you need to read my other blogs.  But if your answer is no (like I’m assuming for most of us) then write down what are you good at that you can make more money doing.  Remember, I’m not just only asking you if you love doing what you do. If you work as a cook at  Olive Garden and hate it but you know you are an excellent chef than become a Private Chef.  Whatever additional classes that you need to take or licenses that are required get it done.  Print some business cards (now can be done cheap on your computer) with your contact info to be ready to hand out.  Put an online classified ad or simply use word of mouth.   Rent a banquet hall and have a food tasting.  Charge $5-10 a person and that will pay for your expenses and you will get your name out there.  If you are wondering with ideas like this why I’m not more successful let me just say this.  After my father lost all our money, my family was flat broke.  No we were poor!  Not $100 dollars to live on.  We all separated here and there.  My mom went to live with her mother.  My younger brother(whom was still in highschool) went to live with his best friend.  And I went to live here and there among the streets (again that story is being saved for a movie deal).  I worked as a waitress for years and we know that is fast cash and thats what I needed.  I ate Ramen noodles and drank water for 3 meals a day.  Can you say surviving?  Eventually I got a job in a daycare through a temp agency.  I worked so well and impressed many parents that they offered me a job as their nannies.  That transition was about an increase of $300 MORE  a week= $1200 MORE a  month!  So you see I did and am succeeding but now it’s time for a higher level.  And we all will get there if we stay on track!

Think It & Be It

Hello my “Hundredaires” .  It’s the weekend and what do you have on the agenda?  I hope it’s not involving spending too much money.  Get a few close friends over and rent a movie.  Pop some popcorn, chip in on some beverages and enjoy some good conversations ( like my blog)!  Now one thing I did want to reiterate or mention (if I hadn’t in previous posts) is keeping company that motivates and stretches you to be the best that you can be.  I once heard someone say that you shouldn’t be the smartest one in the group. It’s time to find some new company if you have some nay sayer’s and those complacent with living paycheck to paycheck.  Also start hanging out where the rich socialize.   Even if you are just getting a glass of wine or coffee at a high scale restaurant.  Sit at the bar and listen to the conversations taken place.  This step will ultimately start to change the way you think.  We want to keep wealth on our minds!  We want to begin  networking with people that we want to become like.  And please stop labeling yourself as “broke” or “struggling”.  We no longer want these words in our thoughts.  Read books by or about  self made Millionaires/Billionaires.  We want to reach a point in our everyday lives where our thoughts are producing actions to help us achieve wealth.   Are you following me?  Here’s a personal example….I was at the movies one day (manatee cause it’s cheaper) and there was a couple with a screaming child in the theater.  Immediately I didn’t think to complain about their kid but rather took out one of my business cards and handed it to them.  I told them I am a Nanny and do babysitting on the side!  See I’m thinking about making money at all times and you too have to reach this point.  It begins with thinking it and then being about it!

First Things First; Cutting Back

Okay so we have admitted we want to be rich.  Before we start brainstorming on what new inventions to make or jobs to seek out, there’s one thing we must do.  We need to make a list of all our unnecessary spending.  Maybe you have cable…I don’t!  There’s digital t.v. now with loads of channels and are you really home enough to watch alot of shows.  If you answered yes, that’s about to change since we are on a journey to be millionaires and have no time for excessive television watching.  If you must watch movies join netflicks and treat yourself  to one movie a week.   Or get the basic cable package available and I mean the $25 deal!  Do you have a home phone and top of the line cell phone ie. Blackberry?  One has to go…I chose my landline.  I can do everything( even internet) and call anywhere with my cell phone.  If you have to have a landline for alarm systems or internet then you must have a basic cell phone.  We are talking a prepaid ie. MetroPcs or a $35 deal from a major network.  SACRIFICES folks!  If you are a talker return calls on your home line or just stop gabbing so much.  If you are a texter, start calling more!  No more $100 cell phone bills and $60 dollar home phone bills!  What!? Do you realize just the first two cutbacks that we have mentioned could save you at least $150 a mos.? That in a year is $1800.  For me that’s almost a month of my bring home pay!  4 extra paychecks a year!  Hello do you hear what I’m saying?  Another cut back is dining out.  We all do it because we are too lazy to go to the grocery store once a week and buy everything we need and cook!  Don’t give me the excuse of not having enough time either.  Cook and store up on the weekend for the week.  I am single and realized I was spending around $75 a week eating out.  If I felt I wanted to party on the weekend, that total could easily rise to $200!  Hmmmmm I wonder where all my money was going?  I want you to do something for me.  Starting today, whenever you read this post.  Get and keep your receipts in an envelope for everytime you buy something to put in your mouth.  Whether its snacks at a gas station, or a taco, or a beer/glass of wine and your grocery store visit.  I guarantee after 7 days you would have spent more than $200 and that’s for a single person.   Buy groceries and alcohol (if you must drink) at a store ONCE a week and only go out for special occasions or invites.  And sorry to say people but we are all going to have to start saying no to attending every party, concert or social gathering. The cutbacks that I listed are just a few of the major unnecessary spending that alot of Americans do.  I’m sure as you sit down and look at your own personal situation, you will discover more things that you can do without.  Be honest with yourself.  This journey isn’t for the weak.  We must change the way we think and live our lives.  Remember our focus…we are not satisfied being hundredaires.  We want to be millionaires!!

Journey to Millionaire!

This is my first ever blog.  Oddly I am a writer but never felt compelled to begin blogging until today!  I called out sick from work ( yes I didn’t feel well) and as I lay in my bed I thought about where I was in life.  I thought about my past, present and what I wanted for my future.  I had a very pampered childhood where I don’t remember wanting for anything.  My first car was a 450 sl Mercedes at the age of 15. I went to private schools and lived in a gorgeous house with a 6 car garage, basketball court, swimming pool and jacuzzi. Do you get the picture?  Well some unfortunate circumstances involving my father occurred and we lost it all and then some!  I won’t get into that because that’s a story waiting to be sold for a movie deal:)  But today, 18 yrs. later, I thought to myself I want to have money again!!!!  Yes I admit it…I miss being rich!  I’m not saying money brings happiness but it sure helps solve some problems that prevents happiness.  I, like most Americans are pretty much living paycheck to paycheck.  Let’s call ourselves “hundredaires”.  After paying for our necessities we may have a hundred dollars left over out of our paychecks!  Well folks this isn’t cutting it for me!  And if you feel the same let’s begin our journey together.  A journey for more MULA!  It’s not going to be easy because I have seen how some of the rich make and keep their money.  But I’m up for the challenge.   Are you?