Want to buy an island?

There’s plenty for sale. All over the world. Really. People sell entire islands. Can you imagine owning one? Your own private island??

Well, I want one.

I was talking with my boss not that long ago. Obviously, being a courier isn’t a life-long career aspiration. I want to build my own business. He thought that was good. He said that his generation was filled with lots of entrepreneurs — but not so much with this (my) generation. He said it was his generation’s own fault. They worked hard, made money, and taught all their kids to “go to school, get good grades, and find a nice, stable, secure job with benefits.” Sound familiar?

Very few people in my generation really think about starting or owning their own business. Most people in my generation are just looking for a safe, secure job. As if such a fantasy existed somewhere. Well, maybe a government job. But that’s another story.

He said it worried him, to be honest. He wasn’t sure how that was going to affect the economy in the long-run. Eventually his generation was going to die off, and who would be creating all the new jobs and new opportunities? Some people, yes, but there needed to be more.

So we had a good chat about entrepreneurship and all that.

“I don’t want a job for the rest of my life,” I told him flat out. “For one, I’ll never make any money.”

I’m barely paying the bills as it is right now. What happens if I ever get married? Have kids? Need to buy a house or new car or something?

“Some day,” I told him, “I want to own a house in Maui.”

He gave me a surprised look, almost laughed, but smiled instead. “Well, good. Some people, like me, dream of buying a home up in Santa Clarita,” he said. “Other people dream of living on Maui.”

I dream no small dreams.

Small dreams do little to inspire the soul or stir it to action.

So while most guys my age are looking for that next higher paying job, or trying to figure out how they’re going to score with that hot new chick … I’m busy searching for answers.

Answers to different questions.

How can I be fulfilled? How can I earn a living doing what I love? How can I create wealth—real, lasting wealthy—that’s aligned with my morals, values, passions, and interests? What way can I give and contribute to the world in a meaningful, fulfilling, and personally rewarding way? What do I really, really want out of life? Who am I and what do I want my life to be about? What kind of mark do I want to leave on the world? How will I, personally, make it better?

I really think about this stuff.

I mean, sure, I think about lots of other stuff too, like sex and other things. I mean, hey, I am a guy after all. lol. We humans all have certain needs and desires. I think about work, relationships, where I want to live, new computers, new movies I want to see, taking vacations out and away in nature, and all that stuff.

But I also ask myself, a lot, about how I’m going to define my life, what goals and dreams I want to achieve, and how I’m going to get there.

Without a dream, without something to look forward to, life can get a little…meaningless or stale sometimes. We should always be growing. And I think a good dream is a vision of where we’re going.

I also dream of the kind of relationship I’m going to have with my soul mate.

That’s another dream I will continually grow towards; a relationship I will continually improve upon.

I dream about what kind of spiritual and loving person I want to become; a vision of the kind of heart and soul I want to continually develop and expand upon.

I also dream of wealth—real wealth, which includes financial and all other areas. Health, love, spirituality, sense of meaning and purpose, fulfillment, etc.

Getting a “better paying job” is not the answer. I’m making $11/hr now. Say I make $15, no $20, no $1000/hr at some other job. Even at $1000 per hour, say I worked 60 hours per week, that’s a little over $3 million a year! Not a bad income at all.

That is, if I only dreamed of a nice house in suburbia somewhere.

But I don’t.

I want more. And I’m going to find a way.

There are some people who make twice that kind of income.

Ten times that kind of income.

One hundred times that kind of income.

A survey of America’s top wealthiest people found that about 50% of them went to college; the other 50% didn’t. But here’s the interesting thing. All of them were business owners.

None of the truly wealthy had jobs. They were investors and business owners.

The ironic thing is, any one can be an entrepreneur, or business owner, or successful investor. The problem is, very, very, very few of us are taught how to be.

We were all taught to go to school, get good grades, and find a “nice, safe, secure job” … oh, with benefits too! Our public school system taught us, over and over again, to show up at a certain time, do what we’re told while we’re there, and go home at a certain time. We’re taught, over and over again, that there’s only one right answer for every problem; that there’s only one (or maybe just a few) right ways to solve any given problem.

In America (and many other parts of the world) today, almost anybody can become incredibly rich … or at the very least, financially well-off and stable.

But we’re not taught that. We’re not trained to be that.

So many, many of us suffer and struggle, working hard, barely eeking out of mediocre living.

If any of us are to become extremely wealthy, we have to stumble into it by chance, or find a wealthy mentor to teach us, or spend a lot of time reading books and attending seminars to teach ourselves. We have to re-train and re-teach ourselves.

Since you’re reading this, I’m going to give you a small HUGE — phenomenally HUGE — secret to creating and building massive wealth.

It’s simple, but incredibly powerful.

Here is it:

+ + + ADD VALUE + + +

Why is Bill Gates so rich? Because he invented a computer? Because he coded an operating system? Because he’s a good-looking, nice guy?

No.

He added immense value to both regular consumers and businesses. He developed software that made using a computer easy and accessible. He made life easier (at least in theory) by providing software that could write and format documents, that could keep track of our schedules and remind us of upcoming meetings and appointments, that displayed and edited pretty pictures, that allowed us to communicate with each other in new and more efficient ways… He added value to our lives, through something we now take for granted every day.

Something that didn’t even exist 20 years ago.

The guys at Google. Why are they so rich? They added value to our lives. They developed a search engine that allowed us to quickly and easily find exactly what we were looking for online.

Dell. How’d he add value? Now we can pick and choose, and have custom pre-built, our own computers before they’re even shipped to us. I can get exactly what I want, and pay for exactly and only what I want.

AOL. You’ve got mail. Instant messaging. Anyone see any value here?

MySpace. Just another way we can connect, communicate, and share with one another. Huge value to us.

Look, a much simpler example. Why do I have a job right now? Because my boss gives value to our clients. They need their packages shipped now — and delivered within the hour. My boss provides that service. They feel its valuable. They keep paying him. In turn, I provide some value by safely driving through L.A., delivering that package on-time.

I provide a little value to my employer — value that translates to around $11/hr. My employer provides slightly higher value to his customers — about $30 to $100 or more, depending on the urgency and distance. Those customers are creating movies and TV shows, which add value to our lives — entertainment value. We pay the cable company because we enjoy watching those shows. We buy movie tickets because we need to connect with the characters, escape from reality, or have somewhere to take our hot date.

Money is just an exchange of value from one person to another.

If you’re getting something you want or need (value), you give something they want or need (value).

Usually it’s you getting a product or service, and them getting money.

So just flip it around. Offer something of value. Some kind of product or service. Have others, who value it, pay you for it.

Add value.

That’s the secret to getting rich. In fact, in today’s day and age, you can’t get really rich (or stay really rich) unless you’re giving a LOT of value to a large number of people. You can’t cheat your way to wealth nowadays. You can’t rip off people and expect to stay rich long-term. It just doesn’t work that way any more.

There’s too many competitors. Too many alternatives. Too many lawyers.

You can’t win, you can’t win big, and you can’t win long-term unless you’re providing a significant amount of value to the general public — or whoever you paying customer is.

You can get wealthy with just a small handful of customers if you offer each of them A WHOLE $HITLOAD OF VALUE. lol. If your product or service is worth at least a million dollars each, you can expect they’ll pay you at least a million dollars each.

Think about it. If someone could help your business go from making $100,000,000 (one hundred million) a year to $1,000,000,000 (one billion) a year … is their service worth at least just one million to you? Hell yes! Because they made you, and your business, worth an additional 900 times that! They added $900,000,000 dollars value to your business, per year! You’d pay them a million dollar fee in a heartbeat for that.

Because their service is that valuable to you.

So if you want to get rich, or at least financially better off than you are now, think about how you can add value to others.

J.K. Rowling is a billionaire (in U.S. dollars) now, thanks to a little wizard who could named Harry Potter. She’s a book author. But you know what? She added a whole lot of value (entertainment value for one) to a whole lot of people.

Harry Potter got kids excited about reading — and those books ain’t short!

Harry Potter also taught kids the value of friendship, perseverance, honesty and loyalty. Stuff like that.

Harry Potter created more jobs by spawning movies, merchandise, and skyrocketing sales at bookstores.

That’s a lot of value to a lot of people. And J.K. Rowling, the creator of it all, received value in exchange. She got fame, she got money, she got awards and honors. She gave value, she got value.

This works in ALL areas of life, including financial.

But not just financial.

Want better love, greater relationships? Add more value to your relationships. Give more love to those around you.

Want respect from others? Give respect to others.

Want support? Give support.

Want anything good? Give something good.

It’s the Law of Reciprocity. Simply stated, it says, whatever you give, you get.

What you sow is what you reap.

As you do unto others, so shall be done unto you.

Treat others as you want to be treated.

Karma.

The Law of Attraction.

Whatever you want to call it — you get what you give. And if you want to get more, you have to give more. But this is important: give honestly, give from the heart. False generosity — giving just to get — rarely brings back much, if any at all. Give to give. Give because you love to give. Give because you desire to add value to others.

And added value will be returned back to you.

We’re all heard this before. Sometimes it just helps to be reminded. :)

So, let me wrap this up. If I want to be a millionaire, if I want to own a home in Maui, if I want to buy my own private island some day — all those things costs money, all those things require significant value.

More value than I’m giving to the world right now, serving it as a courier.

So I’m asking myself, what gifts and talents do I have — what ways do I want to serve — that I can give and add value to the world?

Fulfillment is incomplete without giving back and contributing somehow.

It’s not enough just to “get rich” or “get everything I want.”

At some point, you have it all. It’s not enough. To really feel fulfilled, to really be your all… at some point, you’re going to have to find your own meaningful way to give back and bless others.

I used to think a business was a way to make money. So I used to ask myself, what would people be willing to buy that I could sell?

But now I see things a little bit differently.

Now I ask myself, how can my business create and add more value to as many people as possible? A business, I now believe, is a vehicle for making the world (starting with individual lives) a better place.

McDonalds didn’t ask, “How much will people pay for these hamburgers?” No, McDonalds isn’t in that business. They’re in the business of offering cheap, fast, convenient food — and that’s why you see them at every major intersection, offering ready-to-go food for a few bucks or less.

That’s valuable to a lot of people in our culture. And the clown’s bank account shows it.

But you don’t need to do anything that big or fancy to add value.

You could create custom greeting cards. Or write an inspirational song. Or teach people how to use the computer. Or take their clothes to the dry cleaners and walk their dogs while they’re at work. Maybe you can help them prepare a resume, learn how to eat healthier and exercise more effectively, or have a happier, healthier, more enjoyable relationship with their spouse.

You can give people a valuable product. You can give people a value service. You can teach people valuable information.

They determine the value. If it’s something they want, or something they need, or something that somehow benefits them and makes life more fun, easier, happier, less stressful, more time, or whatever — that’s valuable to them.

Add value.

Add enough of it to enough people — and you can have anything you want. Your own private island included. ;)

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Thanks for reading. I hope you got something of value from it.

Either way, I appreciate your readership. Thank you.

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Namaste, blessings,

your friend ~ David Michaels

blog.spiritualsmarts.com

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