Why Personal Development Is Very Important (Part 2)

In our race to accumulate more money and more things, often through external sources so as to find the financial security and freedom we mostly long for, we tend to forget that we are sitting on the hottest stock we could best have put our money into: YOUR INTELLIGENCE AND POTENTIALS! Everything that we do for ourselves is an investment towards our future, whether it's learning a new skill or brushing up on an old one; mastering a language, or starting an exercise program; eating healthier; practicing spiritual principles or even making the efforts to meet new people or opportunities.

 Investing in ourselves is about finding the talents and gifts and abilities that lay dormant within us and putting them to work for us in a way that can bring us both financial and personal GAINS. If we want to succeed in life, we really must first learn how to succeed at being ourselves, What is it we love to do? what is it we believe in? what would make us hold our heads up taller; make us walk a little more confidently? Each of us has the potential to do and be whatever it is we dream of. if we can but put our minds and our hearts into it. By simply changing our thinking, we change our lives, and often those changes begin with simple things, such as taking a new class, or joining a church or professional organization. Investing in yourself doesn't always have to be serious. Sometimes, it can be taking yourself out to a movie or to get a relaxing massage. Or buying a book you've been dying to read and then actually taking the time to read it. Investing in our pleasure makes us happier people and happier people make for a happier world. Who can argue with those kinds of returns?

The idea is to never stop growing, to keep increasing our self-worth, which in turn increases our net worth. We have at our fingertips so many resources for investing in ourselves – many of them are inexpensive, or even free. They include Libraries, adult school classes, spiritual retreats, church classes, lectures, reading News papers and seminars. Even hobbies and leisure time passions such as gardening and sailing can be considered an investment worth putting time and money into,especially if these activities reward us with peace of mind, better health and more beautiful surroundings.

Every investment we make in our own lives and in our dreams helps us to grow and expand beyond our current limitations, just like the interest on a mutual fund helps the initial deposit grow and expand. The more we invest, the more interest we earn, and the greater the rewards will be in all areas of our lives.

Many of us are so busy with jobs and family demands, we just about have time to get home from work and make a sandwich. Maybe call our stockbroker once a month to see how our money is doing, if we even have a stockbroker. After all, we're doing OK, aren't we? We're surviving, aren't we?
 Whether or not you believe in reincarnation, this is the only life you get RIGHT NOW, so why not make it the best it can be RIGHT NOW? We tend to trust our financial advisers more than we trust our own inner adviser, our intuitive mind. We put more stock in the mutual fund than in ourselves.
We must stop the busyness of life and ask ourselves – WHAT IS THE MOST IMPORTANT ASSET I OWN?

 If you say your house, your car, or your stock portfolio, you are bound for disappointment, for those are things that can be taken away at any time. An author once said, "Man's greatest folly is in not realizing that the true riches are within himself already, if he could but just bring them forth." This is the kind of self-investment I'm talking about, the kind that pays fabulous dividends. The amount of undeveloped and wasted human potential on this planet is tragic. We seem so sure that our fortune lies somewhere outside of us,  we forget everything we need is already within us, just waiting to be nurtured and released. Don't forget, "You are already your most valuable property, and investing in property improvement is the smartest move you can make in productively using your money and time."

 We invest in repairing and remodeling our houses, why not our lives? Imagine that you are a bank. In fact, you can call yourself "THE BANK OF YOU – Open 24 Hours." Every coin or note you deposit into your "account" is a positive action, a new skill, a developed talent, a self-empowering experience. The more you deposit, the more options and opportunities you create for yourself, building upon your own wealth the same way the money you put into your real bank account builds upon the investments and interests of the accumulated accounts of that particular institution.

Investing in the real stock market is important and something everyone should be Involved in, and you really can build future wealth for yourselves and your families. But don't forget that life is lived in the now, and that by investing in yourself, you improve your Present, and your distant futures. Who can afford NOT to invest in themselves, for isn't that really all you have when all is said and done?

Banks can close, companies can downsize and go bankrupt, and the stock market can crash tomorrow and not recover for months, maybe years.

But you are always a gold mine of treasures that never lose their worth. You are a bright, shining light that should not be "hidden under a bushel." You are connected to an inexhaustible and unlimited resource of Universal wisdom from which new ideas and wonderful concepts continuously spring forth.  Your talents, skills, passions and desires are fuel for success. Your creativity and ingenuity are blueprints for achievement. Your thoughts and how you choose to use them is really all that stands between you and the wealth and freedom you long to experience, the true wealth that comes from being in the flow and living a life filled with purpose and meaning.

All you need to do is put some time and money into the business of YOU. Take that risk now and make those investments, however big or small they may be. There's no better time than the present to invest in YOURSELF. Have a wonderful day. 

 

Read Part 1 Here.

4 Tips To Manage Home Business Cash Flow Effectively (Part 2)

1. GET AN ACCOUNT ANALYSIS STATEMENT
How do you know how much money (bankers refer to this as "balances") to leave in your checking account to pay for bank's services? That's a question that more business owners should be asking themselves.
(1) First, get a price list which shows how much your bank charges for services like account maintenance, checks deposited, checks paid, stop payments and wire transfers.
(2) Ask the bank to send you a monthly "Account Analysis Statement."  The analysis statement contains the average balance levels for the month -- both the ledger and the available balance -- as well as a listing of
services used, their transaction volumes and cost. This statement should be obtained in addition to the regular monthly bank statement.
(3) Look at the account analysis to see whether you are overcompensating the bank. Then pull out any excess funds and invest them in a high-yielding money market mutual fund, for example. A word of advice:  Smaller banks may not know what you are talking about when you ask for an account analysis.  Larger banks often offer such a statement, but you have to ask for it. And don't let them charge you for this kind of statement since it is only an invoice.

2. INVENTORY IS NOT CASH
Every item you have sitting on your shelf should eventually be transformed into cash in your bank account, and the sooner the better. As long as it's inventory, it's basically dead weight.  If it is not moving, you're not having cash flow. Here are six recommendations to minimize the cost of your inventory:
(1) Attempt to forecast as accurately as you can the day, week and month what you expect to sell.
(2) If you are dealing in more than one item, determine which item accounts for 80% of your sales.  Then minimize ordering other items that are selling poorly or infrequently.
(3) Determine how fast you can get inventory, once you order it.  Try to order as late as you can.  Some firms can use "just-in-time" inventory which enables them to receive their order the day they need it.
(4) Determine your economic order quantity and don't order too much inventory just to save a few pennies.
(5) Shop around and make sure you are getting competitive prices.
(6) Develop a policy for determining what is obsolete inventory, and how you can get rid of it. The best way to get rid of dead inventory is to sell it whatever you can get for it, even if that's only 10 percent of what you paid for it.  At least it will generate cash flow.

3. DON'T FORGET CONTINUITY SALES
Once of the most exceptional ways of controlling and improving cash flow well into the future is by employing something called continuity of sales or services. Continuity sales are simply a contract to purchase products or services on an installment basis for a fixed period of time. That may sound complicated, but in practice, it actually is not. The best example of a continuity sale is a magazine subscription. 12, 24, or 36 issues delivered each month for X amount of dollars. The bigger the subscription, they better deal you get. The publisher gets more money up front, and the customer gets a better deal in the long run. Continuity can apply to anything. Let's say you own a dry cleaning business.  How about an annual deal to clean 5 shirts or blouses per week for set amount  of money?  Get people to pay your for the entire week up front for a lot of fast cash flow. You'll trade a discount for getting business, but you'll ensure a steady cash flow for months to come. Continuity works with just about any kind of product or service you are offering, from dry cleaning to to your personal consulting service. You can structure payments for continuity sales on almost any basis, but it's best by far to go for complete payment up front. After all, the discount is based on a customer's commitment, and they'll be a lot more committed with their money on the line.

4. LICENSING AGREEMENTS
After all is said and done, if you were to list the assets of the company you have created, you'd probably include your inventory, equipment, accounts receivable, equity, and so on. But by this time, especially if you have been reading carefully, you have something more -- something that is not necessarily a physical "thing" such as cash or inventory. If you've been a clever business person, you have come up with certain ads that have out pulled your competitors.  You have developed policies and procedures that have kept your returns and refunds the lowest of any around.  Or you may have come up with a money-making technique that is completely unique.  If so, you are potentially sitting on fast source of cash. You can license the rights to use any of your specialized techniques or assets to other non-competitive businesses. You can do it for a flat fee, a percentage of profits, on a royalty basis, or any other way that makes sense to you.   You can also conduct seminars to teach your techniques to other would-be work-at-home entrepreneurs and charge whatever the market will bear. It's easy to generate an extra $5,000 a month and much more on the lecture circuit. While you are getting paid to spread your knowledge, you will be drumming up more business. The knowledge you have in your head right now could very well be worth a lot of money. It's only a matter of you looking within yourself and a your successes to see how you can transform it all into real, hard cash. All the best.

Read Part 1 Here.