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The Greatest Money-Making Secret in History! Ï Joe Vitale Ï Page 1
The Greatest Money-Making
Secret in History!
by Joe Vitale
Author of the #1 best-seller, Spiritual Marketing,
and way too many other books to list here
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The Greatest Money-Making Secret in History! Ï Joe Vitale Ï Page 2
Copyright © 2003 by Joe Vitale. All rights reserved.
All articles by contributors are used with their permission.
The authors of those articles retain their own copyright.
Cover cartoon by Sean D'Souza of www.psychotactics.com
Proofreading by Jenny Meadows
This publication is designed to provide accurate information in
regard to the subject matter covered. It is offered with the
understanding that the author and publisher are not engaged in
rendering medical or psychological service. This book is not
intended to be a substitute for therapy or professional advice.
NOTE:
You may distribute this e-book freely to
anyone you desire. For actual printed copies
of this book, available in softcover or
hardcover format, please visit
www.amazon.com or www.1stbooks.com
or call 1-888-280-7715
To contact the author of this book,
please email giving@mrfire.com
or visit his website at www.mrfire.com
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The Greatest Money-Making Secret in History! Ï Joe Vitale Ï Page 3
Dedication
This book is dedicated to John Harricharan,
best-selling author, spiritual advisor and dear friend
Ï a man who has given freely his entire life.
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The Greatest Money-Making Secret in History! Ï Joe Vitale Ï Page 4
Table of Contents
Introduction: The Power of Giving by John Harricharan
1. The Greatest Money-Making Secret in History!
2. The Great Secret to Activating the Law
3. The Great Back-Door Secret to Wealth
4. Beware The Great Trap
5. My Great Confession
6. The Great Man Who Gave Away 30 Million Dollars
7. What Is True Giving, or, Do You Have An Equation
Mentality"?
8. Show Me The Money!
9. The Greatest Spiritual Mind Treatment
10. How to Think like God
11. Leo Buscaglia's Big Mistake
12. Does Free Have Value?
13. 47 Limiting Beliefs About Money Ï And How to Release
Them Right Now by Mandy Evans
14. Enlightenment by E-mail, or, How to Make Your Great TUT
Come True
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If ever there is a lack of any kind, whether it is need for
employment, or for money, or for guidance, or even for healing,
something is blocking the flow. And the most effective remedy:
Give!"
-- Eric Butterworth, Spiritual Economics: The Prosperity Process
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The Power of Giving
An Introduction
By John Harricharan
It was a really hot summer 's day many years ago. I was on my
way to pick up two items at the grocery store. In those days, I was a
frequent visitor to the supermarket because there never seemed to be
enough money for a whole week 's food-shopping at once.
You see, my young wife, after a tragic battle with cancer, had
died just a few months earlier. There was no insurance -- just many
expenses and a mountain of bills. I held a part-time job, which
barely generated enough money to feed my two young children.
Things were bad -- really bad.
And so it was that day, with a heavy heart and four dollars in
my pocket, I was on my way to the supermarket to purchase a gallon
of milk and a loaf of bread. The children were hungry and I had to
get them something to eat. As I came to a red traffic light, I noticed
on my right a young man, a young woman and a child on the grass
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next to the road. The blistering noonday sun beat down on them
without mercy.
The man held up a cardboard sign which read, "Will Work for
Food." The woman stood next to him. She just stared at the cars
stopped at the red light. The child, probably about two years old, sat
on the grass holding a one-armed doll. I noticed all this in the thirty
seconds it took for the traffic light to change to green.
I wanted so desperately to give them a few dollars, but if I did
that, there wouldn 't be enough left to buy the milk and bread. Four
dollars will only go so far. As the light changed, I took one last
glance at the three of them and sped off feeling both guilty (for not
helping them) and sad (because I didn 't have enough money to share
with them).
As I kept driving, I couldn 't get the picture of the three of them
out of my mind. The sad, haunting eyes of the young man and his
family stayed with me for about a mile. I could take it no longer. I
felt their pain and had to do something about it. I turned around and
drove back to where I had last seen them.
I pulled up close to them and handed the man two of my four
dollars. There were tears in his eyes as he thanked me. I smiled and
drove on to the supermarket. Perhaps both milk and bread would be
on sale, I thought. And what if I only got milk alone, or just the
bread? Well, it would have to do.
I pulled into the parking lot, still thinking about the whole
incident, yet feeling good about what I had done. As I stepped out of
the car, my foot slid on something on the pavement. There by my
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feet was a twenty-dollar bill. I just couldn 't believe it. I looked all
around, picked it up with awe, went into the store and purchased not
only bread and milk, but several other items I desperately needed.
I never forgot that incident. It reminded me that the universe
was strange and mysterious. It confirmed my belief that you could
never out give the universe. I gave away two dollars and got twenty
in return. On my way back from the supermarket, I drove by the
hungry family and shared five additional dollars with them.
This incident is only one of many that have occurred in my life.
It seems that the more we give, the more we get. It is, perhaps, one
of those universal laws that say, "If you want to receive, you must
first give."
There is a little rhyme that goes like this:
"A man there was, and they called him mad,
The more he gave, the more he had."
Most times, we think that we don 't have anything to give. Yet, if
we look more closely, we 'll see that even the little we have could be
shared with others. Let us not wait for a time when we think we 'll
have lots and then we 'll give. By giving and sharing the little we
have, we open up the storehouse of the universe and permit rivers of
good to come our way.
Don 't take my word for it. Just honestly try to give and you 'll be
surprised at the results. Generally, the returns do not come back
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from those we give to. It comes back from sources we could hardly
imagine. So give your way to riches.
Take a chance on this universal principle. Take a chance on
yourself. Universal principles always work.
Sometimes the return from giving happens very quickly as in
the true story above. Other times, it takes much longer. But be
assured of this: Give and you will receive -- and you 'll receive lots
more than you ever gave.
And when you give, don 't do it with a heart of fear, but with a
heart full of gratitude. You will be amazed at how it all works out.
Open the gates of affluence in your life by giving a bit of what you
have to those in need. As the great Teacher said, Give and it will be
given unto you."
Try it. You 'll like it.
John Harricharan is the award-winning author of "When You Can
Walk on Water, Take the Boat." See a free sample download at
http://www.waterbook.com . Also visit http://www.insight2000.com
and http://www.powerpause.com
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The Greatest Money-Making
Secret in History!
If you want money, you only have to do one thing.
It 's the one thing some of the wealthiest people on the planet
have done and are doing.
It 's the one thing written about in various ancient cultures and
still promoted today.
It 's the one thing that will bring money to anyone who does it
but at the same time most people will fear doing it.
What is that one thing?
John D. Rockefeller did it since he was a child. He became a
billionaire.
Andrew Carnegie did it, too. He became a tycoon.
What is the greatest money-making secret in history?
What is the one thing that works for everyone?
Give money away.
That 's right. Give it away.
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Give it to people who help you stay in touch with your inner
world.
Give it to people who inspire you, serve you, heal you, love
you.
Give it to people without expecting them to return it, but give it
knowing it will come back to you multiplied from some source.
In 1924 John D. Rockefeller wrote to his son and explained his
practice of giving away money. He wrote, "...in the beginning of
getting money, away back in my childhood, I began giving it away,
and continued increasing the gifts as the income increased..."
Did you notice what he said?
He gave away more money as he received more income. He
gave away $550 million dollars in his lifetime.
Some people think Rockefeller started giving away dimes as a
publicity stunt to improve his image. That's not true. The public
relations man who worked for Rockefeller was Ivy Lee. In Courtier
To The Crowd, a great biography of Lee, Ray Eldon Hiebert states
Rockefeller had been giving money away for decades on his own.
All Lee did was let the public know.
P.T. Barnum gave money away, too. As I wrote in my book on
him, There 's A Customer Born Every Minute, Barnum believed in
what he called a "profitable philanthropy." He knew giving would
lead to receiving. He, too, became one of the world 's richest men.
Andrew Carnegie gave enormously, too. Of course, he became
one of the richest men in America's history.
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Bruce Barton, cofounder of the famous BBDO advertising
agency and the key subject of my book The Seven Lost Secrets of
Success also believed in giving. In 1927 he wrote:
If a man practices doing things for other people until it
becomes so much a habit that he is unconscious of it, all the good
forces of the universe line up behind him and whatever he
undertakes to do."
Barton became a best-selling author, business celebrity,
contributor to numerous causes, and very, very, wealthy.
While some might argue that these early tycoons had the money
to give, so it was easy for them, I would argue that they got the
money in part because they were willing to freely give. The giving
led to the receiving. The giving led to more wealth.
I'll repeat that:
The giving led to the receiving.
The giving led to more wealth.
Today it 's fashionable for businesses to give money to worthy
causes. It makes them look good and of course it helps those who
receive it. Anita Roddick 's Body Shop stores, Ben Cohen and Jerry
Greenfield 's ice cream, and Yvon Chouinard 's Patagonia, are living
examples of how giving can be good for business.
But what I 'm talking about here is individual giving. I 'm talking
about you giving money so you will receive more money.
If there 's one thing I think people do wrong when they practice
giving, is they give too little. They hold on to their money and let it
trickle out when it comes to giving. And that 's why they aren 't
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receiving. You have to give, and give a lot, to be in the flow of life
to receive.
I remember when I first heard about the idea of giving. I
thought it was a scheme to get me to give money to the people who
were telling me to do the giving.
If I did give, it was like a miser. Naturally, what I got in return
was equivalent to what I gave. I gave little. I got little.
But then one day I decided to test the theory of giving.
I love inspiring stories. I read them, listen to them, share them,
and tell them. I decided to thank Mike Dooley of www.tut.com for
the inspiring messages he shares with me and others every day by
email.
I decided to give him some money. In the past I would have
given him maybe five dollars. But that 's when I came from scarcity
and feared the giving principle wouldn 't work. This time would be
different. I took out my checkbook and wrote a check for one
thousand dollars.
It was the largest single contribution I had ever made in my life
at that time.
Yes, it made me a tiny bit nervous. But it mostly made me
excited. I wanted to make a difference. I wanted to reward Mike.
And I wanted to see what would happen.
Mike was stunned. He got my check in the mail and nearly
drove off the road as he headed home. He couldn 't believe it. He
even called me and thanked me. I enjoyed his boyish surprise. It
made me feel like a million bucks. (Note that!)
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The Greatest Money-Making Secret in History! Ï Joe Vitale Ï Page 15
I loved making him so happy. I delighted in giving the money
to him. Whatever he did with it was fine with me. What I got was an
incredible feeling of helping someone continue doing what I
believed in. It was an inner rush to help him. I still rejoice at sending
him the money.
And then something wonderful began to happen.
I suddenly got a call from a person who wanted me to co-author
his book, a job that ended up paying me many times over what I had
given away.
And then a publisher in Japan contacted me, wanting to buy the
translation rights to my best-selling book, Spiritual Marketing.
They, too, offered me many times what I had given Mike as a gift.
A true skeptic can say these events are unrelated. Maybe in the
skeptic 's mind, they aren 't. In mine, they are.
When I gave money to Mike, I sent a message to myself and to
the world that I was prosperous and in the flow. I also set up a
magnetic principle that attracted money to me: As you give, so you
will get.
Give time and you 'll get time.
Give products and you 'll get products.
Give love and you 'll get love.
Give money and you 'll get money.
This one tip alone can transform your finances. Think of the
person or persons who have inspired you over the last week. Who
made you feel good about yourself, your life, your dreams, or your
goals?
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Give that person some money. Give them something from your
heart. Don 't be stingy. Come from abundance, not scarcity. Give
without expecting return from that person, but do expect return.
As you do, you will see your own prosperity grow.
That's the Greatest Money-Making Secret in History!
"If you see it, touch it.
If you touch it, feel it.
If you feel it, love it.
If you love it...Give it."
Because NOTHING speaks to the UNIVERSE louder, of your
BELIEF in self, abundance, and love, than giving.
And when the Universe hears, more will be added unto you. NOT AS
A REWARD, but because you truly believed... in self, abundance,
and love.
-- from www.tut.com
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The Great Secret To
Activating The Law
The lady on the phone had a question.
I've been giving money away for years and I haven't seen my
own prosperity grow at all. What am I doing wrong?"
Where are you giving money?"
To my local church."
Why are you giving them money?" I asked.
They need it."
How do you feel when you give it to them?"
Like I am helping them out of a hole."
But how do you really feel when you give them money?"
There was a moment of silence.
Well, it's a pain," she admitted. I cringe when I write them a
check."
Not good.
If you feel lousy when you give money, then you are
associating money with bad feelings," I explained. You probably
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don't want to attract more bad feelings, so you probably won't
attract much more money, either."
Wow. I never thought of it that way."
And if you give because someone asked for it or even pleaded
for it, then you are reinforcing need," I explained. In order for you
to experience increased wealth, you want to give money wherever it
makes you feel good to do so. In other words, giving to someone
who needs it is a noble thing to do. Do it. But that's not the principle
I'm talking about here."
I get it!" she said. I couldn't help but think some other part of
the universe was helping her understand what I couldn't explain.
What did you get?" I asked.
Icve been keeping the church in a begging mode," she said.
My heart wants to give money to wherever I feel spiritual
nourishment. Sometimes that's my church. Sometimes it's not."
You got it!" I said.
And there you have it.
You can give money to any causes you like. I've helped The
Red Cross, the Make-A-Wish Foundation, cancer funds, and more.
But I didn't expect my finances to increase from that giving. That
generosity was helping, yes, but not necessarily activating spiritual
law.
The spiritual law of financial income seems to happen when
you give money freely to wherever you get your spiritual
nourishment, with a small expectation that somehow, some way,
some day, your finances will increase as a result.
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Giving to worthy causes might activate the law if you feel you
received spiritual nourishment from those causes. But if you didn't,
and you give anyway, you are probably just helping people in need.
That, of course, is noble. I say do it.
Again, the subject of this book is the greatest money-making
secret in history. And you activate that secret when you give freely,
joyously, to wherever you currently get spiritual nourishment and
nurturing.
Money is an outer form of spiritual substance."
-- Georgiana Tree West, Prosperity's Ten Commandments
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The Great Back-Door
Secret to Wealth
I received a check in the mail today from a long-lost friend.
The check is for only a portion of the money he owes me. But
since he took almost ten years to send this amount, I am glad to see
it.
Ten years ago he hired me to write a detailed marketing strategy
for him. At that time, I charged a few thousand dollars for such a
service. He agreed to it and said he would pay. I did the work and he
didn't pay.
Because he was my friend, I let the invoice slide. Months went
by. Then years. Then he moved to another state. And I moved to
another city. He went on his way in life and basically dropped out of
my awareness. I went on my own way and fairly quickly became
somewhat famous on the Internet for my books and tapes.
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One day a few months ago I received an email from someone
who wanted to co-author a book with me. He said he knew some of
my friends, and mentioned the one who owed me money.
As soon as I saw my old friend's name, my blood pressure rose.
I felt myself get angry. I felt ripped off. Betrayed. Hurt.
I took some deep breaths and calmed myself down. I talked to
myself. I reminded myself that the universe is a big place (some
understatement) and that wealth can come from many avenues, not
just from past invoices. I decided to forgive my friend. And I did,
mentally. I sincerely let him and his debt go. I didn't need the
money. And I didn't need to be right.
After maybe nine years, my friend sent me an email. He said he
knew he owed me money. He explained that he had tough times,
that he had moved, that he was trying to make it as a professional
speaker. He added that he wanted to bring peace to our old
friendship.
I wrote him a brief note saying we already had peace. I also
invited him to pay off his invoice by sending me a check for a tiny
percentage of what he owed me (about twenty percent, as I recall).
He agreed.
Well, he didn't send me a check. Not right away, anyway.
Several more months passed before I heard from him again. This
time it was another email, and this time he was again explaining his
situation to me.
I remained at peace. I knew I would have money. It didn't have
to come from him. The universe---whatever you want to call that
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power bigger than you or I---would see that money came to me as
long as I stayed in the flow. And being at peace is a good way to
stay in the flow.
And, as I explained in the beginning of this chapter, the check
arrived today.
I have no idea how my old friend felt as he wrote that check. I
hope he did it with a heart full of joy. If so, he activated the money-
attracting principle.
I know when I wrote a check for $500 to my brother, who had
helped me out of a bind twenty years before and I finally paid him
off, I felt exhilarated. Writing that check to Ted made me feel like a
king. And it gave me such an inner sense of peace that that alone
was worth a million dollars.
I'm calling this sense of peace---or forgiveness, if you will---a
back-door secret to wealth.
Where in your life are you holding grudges because someone
owes you money? Or maybe because you owe someone money?
Let it go. Talk to yourself. Allow yourself the heavenly
awareness that the universe provides, not your friends. Money
doesn't come to you from them, it comes to you through them.
Once you can let the grudges go, you free yourself to receive.
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Beware This Great Trap
The article that gave birth to this book was called The Greatest
Money-Making Secret in History," which was a shorter version of
chapter one.
That article became so popular that it was distributed to
thousands of people across the Internet. Ezine publishers reproduced
and distributed it. Content websites stored the article on their sites.
And dozens of people wrote me, most thanking me and praising the
article.
But a few of the emails I received were curious. They were
from people asking me for money.
Apparently they read my article and concluded that I was
someone who would give money to anyone who asked for it. So
they wrote and asked for it.
The problem is, that's not what the article describes as the great
secret for attracting wealth. I never wrote, Ask for money and
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you'll get wealthy." Instead I conveyed the message, Give money
to wherever you received spiritual nourishment and you'll activate
the money-attracting law."
I wrote to every person who had written to me asking for
money. I explained the concept.
None of them wrote back.
I'm bringing this experience up for you to consider for two
reasons:
1. Don't beg for money and expect to get wealthy. Just look
at the beggars on the streets. They are not living
prosperous life styles. They are just getting by, if that. Or
look at the people who do fund-raising. Most of them are
begging, though they would never call it that, and they
never seem to have enough. Is that a clue or what?
2. Don't give money to beggars and expect to get wealthy. I
didn't say don't help the poor, though it's questionable
how much it helps them to hand them things. Instead,
I'm saying don't give money to people just because they
ask for it and expect to turn on the universe's cornucopia.
I see giving money out of a sense of obligation or duty as a trap.
That was always the problem I had with ministers who asked
people to give money because either (a) they needed it or (b) the
Bible decreed it.
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Either may be true. But if you or anyone gives money without a
feeling of joy in your heart, it is highly unlikely that the money you
gave will come back to you multiplied.
The best way to determine where to give money is to ask
yourself one simple question:
Where did you receive the most joy?
And if you want further clarity, or more questions to assist you
in knowing where to give money, try these on for size:
Where were you reminded of your divinity?
Where were you encouraged to go for your dreams?
Who made you feel glad to be alive?
Whatever your answer, that's where to give your money.
Many people have had a psychological block against tithing
(giving), because so many theologians have stressed what tithing
would do for the church rather than what it could do for the
individual."
-- Catherine Ponder, Open Your Mind to Prosperity
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My Great Confession
Okay, I'll confess.
I found it hard to believe I would receive money if I gave
money.
It just sounded like such a con, like a strategy promoted by
people who wanted me to give money to them.
Well, I was too smart for that.
I decided that I would not give money, but that I would instead
give books.
That's right. Books. I had plenty of books. Since I had worked
as a New Age journalist and book reviewer for many years, I had
collected a lot of books. I had more than I needed. Why not give
some of them away?
I still remember making the decision. I was lying in bed in
Houston, where I lived at the time, reflecting on how to get
prosperous.
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I remember thinking, I can become the richest man in America
in terms of books."
And right then and there I decided to try out the giving principle
on books.
Within days I had called a few friends over and let them pick
out books. I didn't let them pick out any books or all my books, of
course. But I pulled a few piles of books out and let my friends take
what they wanted.
Then, over the course of the next few months, whenever I gave
a talk someplace, I also gave out books. I found it a terrific way to
hold attention. Whenever someone's attention seemed to wander, I
announced a free book for the next person who asked me a question.
Everyone in the room perked up.
And when I moved into this country estate where I now live, I
set about 25 boxes of books in the garage. I then threw a house-
warming party and had people come over. I told them that before
they left, they were encouraged to go through the boxes and take
what they wanted. Everyone did. One person took so many books
that he needed a dolly to wheel them to his car.
What was the result of my grand book-giving?
Ever since the day in Houston when I decided to give books to
receive books, I have always had an abundance of books.
And today I own one of the largest book collections in the
world on marketing, and another on metaphysics.
People see my collection whenever they visit here and are in
awe.
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What they don't understand is this:
Books will always come to me because I always give books.
I was activating the great giving principle, but on books.
Today I know to give money to receive money. And as a result,
I have money, far more than I ever did when I lived in Houston.
But in those early days, when I feared losing money and wanted
to hold on to all I had, all I could allow myself to give were books.
As a result, books came.
Listen and learn: Give what you want to receive.
We must not try to fix the avenues through which our good is to
come. There is no reason for thinking that what you give will come
back through the one to whom you gave it."
-- Charles Fillmore, Prosperity
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The Great Man Who Gave Away
30 Million Dollars
I just learned that a famous, colorful and charming American
philanthropist is dead.
I had always loved his book, Ask for the Moon and Get It: The
Secret to Getting What You Want by Knowing How to Ask.
His name was Percy Ross. Maybe you heard of him. Ross gave
away an estimated thirty million dollars to various charities and
organizations. He also wrote a syndicated newspaper column, called
Thanks a Million, for approximately 800 nationwide newspapers for
17 years. The column contained letters from people writing Ross,
telling him their story and asking for his help. It was fascinating.
It was fascinating because Ross could always see through
people. He would read their letters and sense if they were sincere, or
lazy, or begging. And he always replied with words of wisdom---
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and sometimes with a check. He gave checks 120 times per week.
And in 17 years he gave away about $30,000,000.
The thing is, Ross started with two million dollars!
Do you see the giving principle at work here?
Ross began with two million dollars as his source funds. You
may not have that amount, but the story still holds true. In 17 years
Ross gave away thirty million dollars!
Again, giving leads to receiving.
Consider: Have you ever experienced a situation where you
were asked to donate money to a particular cause, and looking at
your shrinking bank balance you were torn between giving money
or not? Many people have told me stories about being in this exact
situation, but after deciding to go ahead and make a donation, these
same people were very surprised when suddenly a sum of money
came to them from some unexpected source to replace the money
they just gave away.
The truth is, if you hold on to your money, you risk losing the
very thing you are hoarding. On the other hand, if you trust good
things flow to those who give freely, you will always have funds
available to suit your needs.
To prove this, look at Percy Ross. He started his charitable ways
with $2 million dollars and yet over the course of 17 years donated
some $30 million dollars!
I miss Percy Ross.
But now you can take his place.
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What is True Giving?
Or, Do You Have An
Equation Mentality"?
I just got off the phone with my dear friend, Dr. Paul Hartunian,
publicity genius, philanthropist and true lover of dogs.
I asked Paul about giving and how he saw it working in his own
life and with his own personal cause. That's when he told me
something truly eye-opening.
Too many people make an equation out of giving," he said.
They give some money and then wait for it to come back to them
ten-fold. That, to me, is not true giving."
This was a shocking statement to me.
What is true giving then?" I asked.
I believe true giving is done anonymously," Paul explained. If
someone gives a million dollars to a foundation because they are
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going to have a building named after them, then that is trading, not
giving."
Paul was bringing up a valid point.
I remember a time when someone e-mailed me, asking what
they should do if they try to give money to their friends and it's
refused. I remember thinking, Why do your friends have to know it's
coming from you? Can't you give in secret?
Paul went on to tell me something even more fascinating.
I think the secret to giving is in not caring if it comes back to
you or not," he explained. Once you don't care, you're in the
flow."
Ah, yes!
That's the secret!
Give without expecting return --- give because your heart
moves you to give --- give because it's your joy to give --- and
you're in the flow of life itself.
All I can say is that maybe the Cosmos handles the rest," Paul
told me. I've been blessed in my life but I didn't give to be
blessed. The cosmos just took care of me."
I love how Paul Hartunian explained all of this to me. He gave
such a practical, level-headed view of giving.
I have no problem with someone being recognized for giving,"
he added. But if you give because you want recognition or you
expect a ten-fold return, then you're not giving, you're calculating."
Paul walks his talk. Around Christmas of 2002 he sent me an
email and asked if I had anything of a spiritual nature he could give
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to the readers of his e-newsletter. He said he always gave them
publicity and money-making advice. Now he wanted to give them
something spiritual.
I suggested he let his fans read the e-book version of my #1
best-seller, Spiritual Marketing. I told him anyone could read the e-
version online at http://www.mrfire.com/spirit
Paul let his readers know. He was very generous to do so. After
all, he didn't make a dime off my book and never would from this
endorsement. He was simply giving.
Now the punch line here is that Paul had, at that time, about
76,000 readers. That meant his gift (and my gift, too) touched a lot
of lives. Paul gave from his heart. I gave from my heart. How this
will come back to us, no one knows---except maybe the Cosmos.
Are you giving?
The law of prosperity, whose first action is giving, comes so close
into the heart of being that we can scarcely expect to weigh and
balance it by numbers and calculations...We must give without
expectation of return."
-- Ernest C. Wilson, The Great Physician
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Show Me The Money!
Am I the only one who really saw the movie Jerry McGuire?
That hit movie starring Tom Cruise had everyone repeating the
famous line, Show me the money!"
I didn't watch the movie for nearly one year after it was
released because I thought it was all about greed. Since everyone
who saw the movie smiled and repeated that one line --- Show me
the money!" --- as if it were some sort of national mantra, I wasn't
interested.
But then one day Nerissa and I wanted to watch something on
television. As luck would have it, Jerry McGuire was coming on the
tube right about then. So we settled in to watch it.
I was amazed. The movie wasn't about greed at all. Yes, Jerry
came from a money-hungry place, but he soon learned that that
mindset wasn't going to work.
Greed was out.
Greed was a dead-end street.
Greed led to a poverty of spirit.
Instead, Jerry the sports agent learns about the power of
passion. When he truly starts to care for his client, to look for and
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activate the heart in the one player he represents (who does the same
for him), then and only then does he start to taste real success and
start to experience real happiness.
Oh, there's no doubt the refrain Show me the money!" is a
catchy one. It's done so well in the movie, and said so often, and
delivered with such upbeat emotion in the one unforgettable scene,
that you can't help but remember it.
But that's not what the movie is about. Not to me. The movie is
about show me your heart, not show me your money.
Giving is like that.
If you give because you want money, you are not giving but
simply trading.
If you give because your heart sings to do so, then you are truly
giving.
It's the difference between Show me the money!" and Show
me your heart."
The universe responds to your heart, not your money. The
money is just a symbol.
Give money from your heart.
When you do, very quickly and in the most surprising ways, the
universe itself will then Show you the money!"
But don't give to get. Don't give as a negotiation with the
universe.
Give to give.
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The Greatest Spiritual
Mind Treatment
May I offer you a gentle reminder of how the principle of
giving works?
I went online and created the following short Spiritual Mind
Treatment" specifically for you. You can go to the same forms I did
and create one even more personal and relevant for you. Just go
online to http://www.wmop.org/Smt.htm
A Spiritual Mind Treatment" or affirmative prayer is "Éa
recognition of Spirit 's Omniscience, Omnipotence, and
Omnipresence, and a realization of humanity 's unity with Spirit..."
(Ernest Holmes, Science of Mind textbook, pg. 149.)
That may be more than you or I can understand, so let's just call
a Spiritual Mind Treatment a formula for getting in tune with the
infinite. Call it magic. Call it a reminder. Call it a lucky charm. It
doesn't really matter.
Treatment is not trying to make yourself believe something
that is not so, but is based upon truth," wrote Robert Bitzer in
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Collected Essays of Robert Bitzer. It is to change your belief so that
you can recognize and accept the truth."
In other words, a treatment is a way to remind yourself of what
already exists. For example, the law of giving already exists. It is
truth. A treatment would be to remind you of that fact.
You can say the words below at night, in the morning, to
yourself, or out loud. Most importantly, whenever you are about to
give money away, say these words (or ones of your own that have
meaning for you):
I know there is an infinite energy system in the universe that is
of me, in me and around me. We are all connected to it, are in it,
and are of it. I am connected to you as well as to everyone else
through the energy that sustains us. I know that when I give
anything into this energy system, it will return to me in kind,
multiplied and amplified because the nature of the system is to grow
and expand. I am grateful for this realization, and for the gifts I
have now, am receiving, and will receive. I trust the process to work
for me, as it does for everyone who activates it with giving. So be it.
It is so!"
As always, how you feel as you say those words is what matters
most. Emotion activates the law.
Feel joyous.
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How To Think Like God
About ten years ago I gave a talk entitled How to Think Like
God." People loved it. The few who were there that day in Houston
still remember it. And last year I put the talk online, where anyone
could listen to it over the Internet. Everyone loves it.
The reason it has such broad appeal is it's so freeing. Thinking
like God" is all about no-boundary thinking. Do you really think
God would have limits? Do you really think God would talk about
lack and limitation? Do you really think God would have excuses
for not doing things?
I don't think so.
In my talk I told stories about Barry Neil Kaufman and his wife,
Susie, healing their son of autism.
I also talked about Meir Schnieder, born blind and diagnosed as
incurable, who now sees and helps others to gain or regain their
vision.
And I talked about my work with Jonathan, the miracles coach I
had worked with years ago. (Most of the stories are in my book
Spiritual Marketing.)
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The point here is this: If you were to pretend you could think
like God, how would you think? What would you do? What would
you say?
I'm pretty sure God wouldn't balk at giving money (or anything
else).
I'm pretty sure God wouldn't worry about how money would
come to Him (or Her).
I'm pretty sure God wouldn't put a limit on what He/She gave,
either.
So: What would you do if you thought like God?
This wonderful question spills over into every area of your life.
How would you act in your relationships if you thought like
God?
How would you act at work if you thought like God?
How would you behave in society if you thought like God?
This is more than a liberating exercise in creative imaging. This
is a chance to expand your heart, too.
How do you think like God?
You pretend.
You pretend you are God.
If you were God, how would you think?
Personally, I don't think with any limitations at all when I start
to role-play thinking like God.
My mind starts to consider anything and everything: Cure
cancer? Of course! Win millions in the lottery? Easy! Solve world
hunger? No sweat!
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Of course, implementing those wide-reaching goals is another
story.
So let's bring it back home, to the individual, to you, and to me.
If I thought like God in my own life, what would I do different?
Well, this book is a good example.
I spoke to John Harricharan on Friday afternoon. He's a dear
friend and spiritual advisor. He was in one of his psychic places that
day and told me I would soon write another book.
You don't have to be psychic to know that, of course. I'm an
author. I'll always write another book.
But something in me triggered when John said another book
was coming. We talked about book ideas for a few minutes. He
pointed out how popular my article had been, the one titled, The
Greatest Money-Making Secret in History." He said a book on that
would help the world, and be very welcome.
While I hadn't told John this before, I had wanted to write a
book based on my article. John's gentle push was all I needed.
I started writing the book the very next day. As I type these
words it is now Monday --- three days later.
In short, by thinking like God, I removed all limits to how long
it takes to write a book.
This one was done over a weekend, more or less.
Not bad.
Back to you: If you thought like God, what would you do right
now?
If it's give money, go give it.
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If it's write a book, start typing.
If it's start a business, get going.
There are no limits.
Just think like God.
In my personal experience, the reasons for tithing were never
explained clearly enough, and there was always so much pressure
from the head of the church that it never seemed like a free-will gift,
given in loving gratitude, but rather just another bill we had to pay.
Because of that attitude, tithing usually doesn't have the effect of
opening the prosperity flow. The attitude, motive and Spirit with
which we give this money back to the Universe is the most important
thing about our gift. Our motivation must be that the money we are
giving away is a gift of love we are giving back to the Universe in
gratitude and appreciation for our gift of life."
-- Patricia Diane Cota-Robles, It Is Time For You To Be
Financially Free!
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Leo Buscaglia's Big Mistake
I met Leo Buscaglia many years ago. He was the charming,
passionate, and colorful author of the best-selling book, Love. He
once said in a lecture, I own the copyright on love!"
He was a loveable man. His words warmed my heart and
inspired my soul. Marian, my wife at the time, and I used to watch
Leo on television. He inspired us.
We were learning about tithing at the time. I was very skeptical.
I still thought giving was a scheme. But Marian was always more
open-minded and trusting than me. She practiced giving more than I
did in those early years.
One day, when Marian looked around to see who she was going
to send money to, she easily remembered Leo Buscaglia. She
wanted to thank him for all his sharing, and for reminding her
through his books and talks to always live a life of love.
So Marian found his address and sent him a check. I remember
how happy she looked as she wrote him a note and mailed him the
gift. Her heart was alive.
But then something sad happened.
A few weeks later, Marian received a letter from Leo Buscaglia.
He had returned her check. He added a note that said he had plenty
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and didn't want or need more, so please give the check to someone
in need.
Marian was hurt. She was offended. She felt rejected. She saw
the refusal of the gift as a dismissal of her. It was a sad moment.
While we could talk about Marian's response to the letter she
received, my point here is more about Leo's action. I think Leo
made a mistake. In order to be in the flow of life, you must give as
well as receive. Leo cut off the flow.
Much later I learned --- from Leo himself --- that he had
experienced several robberies. His house had been broken into and
his belongings taken. It happened to him at least twice that I recall.
I can't help but think Leo had inner blocks about receiving.
Those blocks showed up in his outer world by losing all he had. I
could be wrong, but I really wonder if there was a connection
between his refusing gifts and losing what he had.
Let's learn from Leo's mistake.
When someone offers you money, accept it.
When someone offers you a compliment, accept it.
When someone offers you any gift, joyfully welcome it.
If you refuse gifts, compliments, and money, you are closing a
door on the prosperity that is trying to come to you. The key is to be
in the flow. When you give and receive, you are participating in the
flow of life.
After all, money has to circulate to do everyone any good.
Give it.
And when it returns to you, receive it.
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Does Free Have Value?
There's a theory in marketing that people don't appreciate what
they get for free.
Is that true?
While it is true that the word Free" is probably the most
powerful and persuasive word someone can use in their marketing, it
may also be true that anything someone receives for free is usually
treated with disregard or disrespect.
This has been proven over and over again. Consultants who
give their time and services away often find the people who received
their gifts don't appreciate them. In general, only when someone
pays for something do they pay attention to it.
But is that true in the art of giving money?
First, I don't think so.
Second, it doesn't matter.
Let's look at both statements.
First, I don't think people look down on gifts of money because
money is such a highly charged symbol in our world. People
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scramble, fight, work, worry and die for money. They know its
value. When most people receive it, they welcome it. Some people
will grumble about the money not being enough, but that's their
belief in lack and limitation. In general, give money and people will
know you gave them something of real value.
Second, I don't think it matters what they think about the
money or what they do with it. You're giving the money to activate
your own heart.
My friend Bob Proctor, author of the book You Were Born Rich,
once told me, I don't care what they do with the money. They can
take it out and burn it for all I care. I'm giving it for me."
And that's the point. While you want your gift to be received
and appreciated, what you're really doing when you give it is
awakening your own spirit and activating a spiritual law.
I remember giving a friend of mine a treasured copy of the now-
legendary book, The Robert Collier Letter Book. The book is
extremely rare, highly valued, and worth a lot of money.
My friend was at my house and said he had been looking for the
book for years. I had an extra copy and just handed it to him. His
eyes popped wide. He was stunned. He couldn't believe it, and he
couldn't stop thanking me.
That was also the last time I saw my friend.
Did he not appreciate the gift?
Maybe.
Was it too much for him to receive as a gift?
Maybe.
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Would I give it to him if I had to do it all over again?
In a heartbeat.
Giving that gift to him made me feel great.
Here's another example.
Some twenty-five years ago I was reading books and listening
to tapes by Barry Neil Kaufman, founder of The Option Institute. I
had little money at the time and found it hard to part with what I
had. But I wanted to give something to show my support for Barry.
So I sent him five dollars. It was a big deal for me, and I hoped it
would somehow add to whatever others were sending to Barry.
Then, in 1985, I went to The Option Institute and studied with
Barry, or Bears," as his friends call him. On the last night of my
stay there, we had a public Gratitude Night. Everyone who had been
to the Institute that week gathered in a room, sat in a circle and took
turns saying what we had been thankful for. This lasted three hours.
You can't imagine the energy in a room of thirty people
thanking each other for three hours for all they had received. It was
phenomenal. I still vividly recall that night.
When Bears took a moment to speak, he singled me out. He
acknowledged me for my letters to him, for my support --- and for
the five dollars I had sent him many months earlier.
I was stunned.
While it had felt great to help Bears in a small way, I realized he
had felt great to receive it. It was a beautiful win-win.
Remember, how you feel as you give is the key.
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If the other person feels the joy, too --- as Bears did with my
gift --- it's further reason to celebrate and feel happy.
And if the other person says little and maybe even drops out of
your life --- as my friend with the priceless book --- allow it.
Again, how you feel as you give is the key.
Money-giving is a very good criterion of a person 's mental
health. Generous people are rarely mentally ill people."
-- Dr. Karl A. Menninger
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47 Limiting Beliefs About Money Ï
And How to Release Them Right Now
By Mandy Evans
I've known Mandy Evans for about twenty years. She is a
remarkable belief-clearing counselor. I asked her to compile a list of
the most common negative or limiting beliefs about money that she
could find. I also asked her to tell us how to remove them. The
reason for my request is sometimes people give but have belief-
blocks keeping them from receiving. Clear the blocks and the
prosperity comes. The following article by Mandy offers a truly
brilliant way out of the maze of limiting beliefs about money.
What you believe about money will play a greater role in your
level of prosperity and in your enjoyment of that prosperity than
most people imagine.
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In fact, most people do not imagine the role beliefs play in their
financial success or lack of it. Most people never even think about
their beliefs. We just act on them.
I have been collecting examples of self-defeating beliefs like
squirrels collect nuts for the winter for a long time. Here are some
real beliefs about money from real people in real workshops and
classes. These beliefs cut off the inflow of money into countless
lives Ï or slowed it to a trickle. Some of them are familiar and some
are so unique that they seem strange. Sometimes the same belief can
be life-expanding for one person and life-extinguishing for another.
Read through this list and see if you identify with any of the beliefs.
1. Money is the root of all evil. (The actual quote is The love
of money is the root of all evil.")
2. If I am successful people will hate me.
3. If I make a million dollars, I might lose it and then I would
feel stupid and hate myself forever.
4. There is not enough money to go around.
5. If I have a little more than I need to get by, someone else has
to go without.
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6. If I have a lot more than I need to get by, lots of people will
have to go without.
7. It is better to take less than to be responsible for someone
else's hardship.
8. Democrats punish the rich.
9. Republicans punish the poor.
10. If I make a lot of money, I will be betraying my father who
never made much money.
11. The rich get richer.
12. The poor get poorer.
13. I am smart and talented; I should get more!
14. You should always use money well.
15. Money is hard to deal with.
16. Money is hard to get.
17. You have to work hard to get it.
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18. To save money you have to do without things.
19. Time is money.
20. I can't have money and free time.
21. Money is not spiritual.
22. You have to do lots of things you don't like in order to have
money.
23. I do not have enough to share or give away.
24. Accepting money obligates me.
25. It is better to take less than my due and be free from sticky
situations.
26. To be a valuable person I have to work more for less money
than other people do.
27. Having money stops you from being happy.
28. Money spoils you.
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29. I will never have enough.
30. If I don't feel bad about past mistakes and afraid about the
future I will make the same mistakes again. (From an
investment broker)
31. It's best if I just want enough to get by.
32. You get what you deserve.
33. Being super-conscious about every single penny is the good
Ï the right - thing to do.
34. Never buy anything that you don't need.
35. If you were a smart woman you would be supporting
yourself easily by now.
36. If you were a smart and cute woman you would have married
someone with money by now.
37. I always rent; owning a house would be too scary.
38. I would never feel secure if I had to be responsible for much
more than a hammock.
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39. I have to own my own home to feel secure Ï unless I had at
least maybe a yacht. If I buy something that breaks, I'm
stupid.
40. Worrying about money is tacky.
41. Daddy will like me better if I don't spend much.
42. I want to have a lot of money when I get old, then people
will be nice to me.
43. I never want people to know I have so much money because
people are really mean to rich people.
44. If I get paid a lot people will find out that I am a fraud.
45. Daddy will love me lots more if I don't spend much.
46. Everybody wants more; when it comes to money, less is
better.
47. There's somebody else inside me that spends all of my
money.
If you identify with any of these beliefs, go though them one by
one and answer these three questions about each belief.
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¥ Why do I believe that?
¥ Is it true?
¥ What might I be concerned would happen if I did not believe
that?
By asking those three probing questions of any belief, you can
dis-charge it --- and become free to go for your desires.
You'll also be free to give --- as well as to receive.
Go ahead and work through those beliefs right now.
Mandy Evans has taught thousands of people how to become freer,
more creative, and much happier by changing the beliefs that keep
them stuck, limit them, and cause emotional pain. Her books
TRAVELLING FREE: How to Recover From the Past" and
Emotional Options" drew endorsements from Deepak Chopra,
Bernie Siegel, John Gray and me. Visit www.mandyevans.com
Order her books from www.amazon.com or call 800-431-1579.
One of the reasons many people do not have money is that they are
silently or openly condemning it."
-- Joseph Murphy, How To Attract Money
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Enlightenment-by-Email,
or, How to Make Your Great
TUT Come True
Mike Dooley didn 't know what he was going to do. He quit his
job at Price Waterhouse. He left the company, his security, and his
home. He went to Orlando and sat there, lost, confused, waiting for
direction. None came.
Meanwhile, his brother was making some money from royalties
on a few t-shirts he had designed. So Mike, his brother, and later
their mother, went into the T-shirt business. They called their
business TUT, for Totally Unique T-shirts. Everyone from Disney to
Macy 's bought and sold them. Within ten years they sold more than
one million shirts. Life was good.
As the market began to change, and major buyers began to
make their own T-shirts, the family decided to stop business. The
artistic brother began a career as an actor and improv comic. The
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enterprising mother, who had already written two books, began a
full-time career as a writer. Mike decided to buy out the family
business --- which by that time had come to be known as "Totally
Unique Thoughts" --- and run it himself.
"Our most popular T-shirts had always been the ones with
inspiring or spiritual sayings written on them," Mike told me over
the phone one day. "So I decided to offer a Monday Morning
Motivator by e-mail to our loyal list of followers."
The Monday memos were usually poems. And his small band
of followers at the time amounted to 1,000 names. Instead of writing
to these people with an opening that said, "Dear loyal T-shirt
customer...," Mike decided on a more unique approach.
"I created an Adventure 's Club and invited them to be a member
for the sum of only $36 a year," Mike explained. "They would get
weekly and even daily messages from me, all of an inspiring,
motivational and/or spiritual nature."
Did it work?
"No. Almost no one paid for it. So I naturally decided to offer it
for free, knowing I would somehow figure out how to make money
from it down the road."
Mike 's Monday Morning Memos caught on. People loved the
inspiring weekly poetry. Eventually he gathered the courage to add
his own insightful commentaries that would accompany each poem.
His subscriber base grew to 3,000 names.
"About this time I had a friend of mine who was making
$15,000 every month from banner ads on his e-cards," says Mike.
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"So I put all my energy into making free e-cards that people could
sponsor click-through ads on. I used the old T-shirt art I had and
added some commentary to make the e-cards unique."
But that didn 't work out, either.
"Within six months advertisers quit taking ads on e-cards. My
friend stopped making $15,000 a month. I never made more than
$100 from my e-cards. But I 'm still glad I did them."
Why is he glad?
"They have become a viral marketing campaign," Mike
explains. "People send them to others and suddenly my website is
known to potentially millions of people. Those e-cards are still a
popular feature on my website."
Around this time --- in 2001 --- Mike decided to take the
biggest leap of faith of all.
"I recorded 12 audiotapes, packaged them, and called them
Infinite Possibilities: The Art of Living Your Dreams. They are a
combination of my weekly e-memos, old talks I had given, and
entirely fresh material."
That tape set became a turning point for Mike 's online business.
"People would get an e-card from someone, see a link at the
bottom for my tapes, and make an impulse buy right then and there."
Mike sells 40 to 60 tape sets every month, at a retail price of
$125 for either cassettes or CDs.
While he 's never asked for a single testimonial for his tapes, he
has at this point collected an overwhelming amount of them. You
can see them at http://www.tut.com/auwc.htm
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Here are three quick ones:
"Riveting. Inspiring. Even miraculous. Rarely have I heard such
wisdom, such mind-stretching beauty, such practical inspiration and
proven advice."
"I was blown away! I squealed with delight!"
"I 'm listening to the tapes repeatedly... EXCELLENT material,
endless new perspectives, spin-offs...your words have set me in
motion!"
While Mike has added a daily e-memo to his weekly ones, he
has never advertised, done any publicity, or implemented any
marketing. His tape sales come from word-of-mouth sharing. His
database is currently 5,000 hot names, and growing. He plans to use
pay-for-click services to build his database. Next he 'll focus on his
affiliate program, which he just added to his site.
In short, Mike went from a company drop-out with no mission
to a man with a giant mission. And he uses the Internet as his
primary vehicle to help people go for their dreams. His main
marketing tool is his "Enlightenment-by-E-mail" daily and weekly
inspiring messages, which continue to be free.
What 's his advice for building a successful business and making
your own TUT---totally unique thoughts---come true?
"As clearly as possible define the end result of what you want in
emotional terms," he advises. "Get into that emotion now, even
before you start working for the dream or even quitting your job.
Having the end result firmly in mind now will help you weather any
setbacks that may occur later."
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"And don 't worry about how you will get to that end result," he
adds. "There are a million ways to achieve fame or wealth, or
whatever you want. Don 't tie the hands of the universe by thinking it
has to come in one certain way. The universe has 'Infinite
Possibilities ' at its beck and call. Trust it."
Finally, I asked Mike if he would offer a "totally unique
thought" specifically for you, the reader of this book. Here 's what he
sent:
"Success in the world, business or otherwise, is far more a
function of how well you engage the Universe and its magic, than it
is of how well you manipulate the time and space around you. This
is every tycoon 's secret - whether they know it or not.
"Your job is NOT to out-maneuver the competition, to play into
the hands of future clients and customers, or to reinvent the wheel.
Your job is to define your dream, to imagine the end result, and to
move with your hunches and instincts - that 's it. The rest will
automatically and effortlessly fall into place...a brilliant marketing
strategy, the best "location," the "clutch" idea, and perfect timing
between them. The Universe is ALIVE in the unseen, and active in
all of your affairs. Learn how to use it."
And here's another very relevant quote from Mike:
GIVING tells the Universe that you believe YOU are provided
for. For even as you empty your purse you fear not, demonstrating
faith that you will remain whole, that your coffers will be
replenished, and that your love for whomever you gave, is what 's
most important. Verily, as you believe these things to be true, you
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will experience such truths, and abundance shall be showered upon
you as if the heavens had opened up."
You'll note that a large degree of Mike's success came from
giving --- he gave away (and still gives away) e-cards, and he still
writes and gives away his inspiring daily and weekly memos.
Total sales, plus speaking fees, and revenues from new books in
the mill (Notes from the Universe, Totally Unique Thoughts, More
Reminders Of Life's Everyday Magic, etc,) should top $250,000 this
year, and Mike projects $1,000,000 in 2004!
Mike says, None of this would have happened if I hadn't
offered all my mailings, and club membership for free, though at the
time I had no idea of where it would take me, nor of how I would
eventually profit. It just felt right, people were grateful, and I was
loving my "job.'
Sometimes the Universe doesn't always respond in kind, or by
throwing dollars at you, but instead, it returns to you confidence,
dreams, and inspiration...which is even better than bucks, because
it's like learning to fish (as opposed to being given a fish). You then
know how to go get more."
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How Giving Led to $1,500,000
By John Milton Fogg
Lots of authors take custody of the "best-seller" claim for their
book. Yeah, well... it may be a best-seller at the Ain 't Words Cool"
book store in their own home town, but.... It 's a whole other thing to
be able to say that a book has sold a million copies!
That 's just what John Milton Fogg can claim for his book The
Greatest Networker in the World." How did he do that? John 's
answer is...
I gave the book away.
I wrote The Greatest Networker... in 1992. At the time I was the
owner/editor of a publication named Upline, that served men and
women in the network marketing profession. At that time, we
probably had a couple of thousand subscribers at most.
I didn 't have the money for the first-print run. A friend and
mentor of mine in the business, Tom "Big Al" Schreiter, suggested I
"pre-sell" the books to people who could sell them to others: book
wholesalers, vendors to network marketers, people who had
magazines or catalogs which sold books, tapes and tools. Tom told
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me to make a great low-price deal to these folks so they could make
more money. That would pay for the printing, make a profit for
myself and generate the money to print more books. Tom bought
1000 copies at $3 each.
I asked him how he was going to sell those books. He told me
he wasn 't. He was going to give them away.
That got my attention, so I asked, "Why?"
Tom explained he was going to "seed" the market. He figured
people would like or love the book, and they 'd come back and buy
more to give or sell to other people. And, it would create word-of-
mouth advertising for the book, which meant more sales for him
(and me).
Tom also explained the idea of a "value-added" premium to me:
He 'd make an offer of one of his products to his people and give The
Greatest Networker... away free as an incentive to buy. People
would get a $10 value, which Tom only paid $3 for.
Good deal for him- helped him sell more of his products.
Good deal for them- they got a free gift, felt great and were
more inclined to buy his offer.
I don 't know how many of my books Tom sold over the years. I
do know he made his investment back and them some - lots of some.
I knew a great idea when I saw one, so I started giving The
Greatest Networker... away with every single subscription to Upline.
My subscribers got a free gift and were more likely to buy the
magazine to begin with. I got my book being read by the best
possible people who could spread the word and help me sell more.
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When the Internet came along, I put The Greatest Networker...
up on our website and gave it away there, too.
Over the years I probably gave away 40,000-plus copies of my
book. The cost of that was, say, $50,000. So one way to look at it
was I gave away $50,000.
But I earned a buck a book royalty on all the copies of The
Greatest Networker in the World that were sold. That doesn 't include
any "extra" money I earned from the wholesale or retail sales when
people bought the book.
Do the math.
My guess would be all-in-all that 's $1.5 million of net profit to
me.
All because I gave my book away.
Here's yet another true story about the power of giving:
Do you know who Seth Godin is? (He 's the other Internet
Marketing guru besides Joe.) :-) Seth wrote The Idea Virus. That
book started a revolution. Seth gave it away on-line. People told him
he was crazy. More than a million and a-half of Seth 's e-books are
out there. AND, after he gave it away for free, he printed up a hard-
cover edition for $45 and made a fortune selling that! Go figure.
I had the fascinating privilege of interviewing Seth Godin for
Networking Times magazine. He told me the following "Giving-
Marketing" story and it just blew me away. This is utterly brilliant!
Seth knows a great folksinger who does music for kids. She has
five CDs and she sells them on her own. Now, Seth doesn 't do
consulting any more, but this lady is a personal friend, so when she
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asked if he had any ideas on how she could sell more of her CDs,
Mr. Permission Marketing (he wrote that book, too) complied.
Seth asked how much she sold her CDs for. She told him $15.
Seth asked how much one cost her to produce and package. She told
him 80 cents. So Seth said...
"Look, every time someone buys one CD, send them two.
Nobody has any use for a second CD, because it 's the same music.
What are they going to do? They 're going to give it away, probably
as a present. One of these kids gives one of these CDs to another kid
as a birthday present and they 're likely to buy two, three or four
more, because the parents get tired of hearing the same songs over
and over again."
Like I said, "Brilliant." Each one of those give-away CDs that
results in just one additional sale nets the folksinger $14.20. And as
Seth pointed out, parents will probably buy two or three more,
perhaps all five. And each time they do, they get an extra one free,
that they turn around and give to a friend saying, "This is great.
Little Harry will really love this."
Oh, that lady folksinger doubled, then tripled her business with
that CD she gave away.
John Milton Fogg's website is at:
http://www.GreatestNetworker.com/is/jmf
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A Law That Never Fails
By Dr. Robert Anthony
Two years ago I received an email from a friend that said, "I
just came across a website that has a quote from one of your books
right on the front page."
I checked it out and sure enough, there was a quote from my
book, Advanced Formula For Total Success, prominently featured
on the main page.
After looking over the website I was impressed with the service
the owner was offering. I contacted him and told him so. In addition
to the quote, I offered to write a short article endorsing his service.
He couldn't believe I would do this for him without compensation.
My intention was to support him and help him to succeed. It
never even occurred to me to ask for anything in return. I knew that
the universe would take care of any "compensation."
As a result of my endorsement I found out that during the
following year he had increased his sales significantly. During that
time we never kept in contact and truthfully I had forgotten all about
it.
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A little over a year later I received an email from him that said,
Someone contacted me because they saw your endorsement on my
website and said they wanted to get in touch with you. He says it is
very important. Do you want me to give him your personal email
address?"
Strangely enough I had no hesitation and said, Yes, have him
contact me."
This is the only communication I had with the website owner
since I helped him over a year ago.
I followed up and contacted the man who wrote to him. That
one contact changed my life.
As it turned out, this individual became a close friend as well as
my new business manager and marketer. As a result, with his help,
my business increased over 500%!
All this from giving freely to someone without asking for
something in return. This was a clear and direct result of the Law of
Reciprocation (giving/receiving) in action.
A law that NEVER fails.
Dr. Robert Anthony is the author of several best-selling books.
See his website at www.drrobertanthony.com
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Giving Really Does Lead
To Receiving
By Bob Burg
Whenever I speak on the topic of Networking, I always make
sure to provide my definition of what the term "Networking" means
to me.
By and large, the very concept is misunderstood and carries
with it a somewhat negative preconceived notion (i.e., shove as
many business cards into people 's faces as you can while telling
them all about yourself and your products or services while
attending a one-hour business/social mixer).
I define Networking as "The cultivating of mutually beneficial,
give and take, win/win relationships."
As you can see, the emphasis is on the "give" part.
"But wait," the person asks, "Isn 't that just Pollyanna-type
thinking that doesn 't work in the real world?"
Not at all. Giving works.
Let me say it again. Giving works!
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And there 's nothing "Pollyanna" about it. Giving works both
from a practical, as well as spiritual side. Let 's look though, at just
the practical side.
What I call "The Golden Rule" of Networking is, "All things
being equal, people will do business with, and refer business to,
those people they know, like and trust."
When we give to - or do something for - someone, we take an
important step toward causing those "know, like and trust" feelings
toward us in that other person. I 've often said that the best way to get
business and get referrals is to first give business and give referrals.
Why? Because when someone knows you care about them
enough to send business their way, they feel good about you. No,
they feel great about you, and desire to give back to you.
Of course, it doesn 't have to be actual business that you give. It
could be information, whether that information is something that
would help them in regard to their business, personal, social, or
recreational lives.
Perhaps you suggested a book (or bought them that book) that
you know would be of true value to that person.
Maybe you knew their son or daughter was looking for work at
a certain company and, knowing someone there who knew the
personnel director, you made a call and put in the kind word that
helped ensure employment.
It really doesn 't matter. Allow me, if you will, to share one
example from my personal life. This took place several years after I
had begun speaking professionally. There was one corporate client
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in particular - one with many divisions - I had been trying to "land."
However, I could not seem to even get a foot in the door. Not only
that, I couldn 't even find the door to try and stick my foot in.
It happened that at a Speakers' convention I met a man who had
been speaking professionally for quite awhile. I struck up a
friendship with him and his family and looked forward to seeing
them at various events.
During that time, despite the fact that I knew he was quite
successful, I never asked him for anything. I did, however, help him
as much as I could. Several times, when I was already booked for an
engagement on a certain date, I would refer him to the person from
the company who had called me.
Having articles published fairly often in magazines, I would
refer him as a contributor to the editor. This was appreciated by all
parties, of course, and didn 't take anything from me in any way.
That 's one of the great things about giving; it helps everyone and
hurts no one.
It was only a couple of years after meeting him that I found out,
through a third party, that the client I had been unsuccessfully
seeking, was a major client of this speaker friend of mine.
Now, I probably could have come right out and asked him for
help but I didn 't feel that would be quite right. I didn 't want him to
feel that because I had gone out of my way for him that he "owed"
me anything. I did feel comfortable, however, asking for his advice
on how I might myself best pursue them.
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I said to him, "I know this is a huge client of yours and am not
in any way asking for you to make a connection for me. I 'd love to
know, though, how would be the best way for me to contact the
person myself to at least let them know who I am and how I could
help them, so that I get the opportunity to establish and develop a
relationship?"
Well, to make a long story end, he would have none of that.
He said, "I 'll have the guy who 's my main contact call you."
And he did.
And that client, together will all the spin-off engagements I 've
had wetting that company 's umbrella over the years has accounted
for several million dollars in sales.
And that was not the first, and certainly not the only time, that
giving first has literally paid big financial dividends. It 's the way I
run my business; it 's the way I run my life.
Giving first works.
There is a major caution here, however: You cannot give with
the expectation of direct reciprocation or, for that matter, any
reciprocation.
This won 't work if you are thinking, "Okay, what is he or she
going to do for me?"
Not that you might not get something in return. But that
something will more than likely be a one-time something, done out
of obligation, and not inspiring the "know you, like you, and trust
you" feelings toward you from that other person that will elicit this
person desiring to see you successful.
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No, give because it 's the right thing, without the expectation of
direct reciprocation, and you 'll find this principle to be one of the
truest of universal truths.
Bob Burg speaks internationally on the topics of "Business
Networking" and "Positive Persuasion Skills." His books "Endless
Referrals" and "Winning Without Intimidation" have each sold over
100,000 copies. To subscribe to Bob 's free weekly email newsletter,
visit www.burg.com
Love must be the guiding principle in all our giving."
-- James A. Decker, Magnificent Decision
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Giving and Receiving:
The Fine Print No One
Told You About
By John Zappa
Much has been written about the universal law of giving and
receiving, but I have discovered in my dealings with others that
there is often a great deal of misunderstanding about how to apply
the principle.
The general notion is that the more you give, the more you get.
As you sow, so shall you reap. That 's all well and good, but I believe
the misunderstanding of this wonderful secret could be easily
cleared up with a simple corollary to the law of giving. The
corollary is that it 's not what you do but why you do it. Intention and
motivation are everything.
What this means is that you should only give if you are giving
for the pure joy of giving. If you give because you expect to get, you
are defeating the purpose. The universe is not so easily fooled.
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Giving with the motive of getting is actually an affirmation of
lack. Saying that you have to get because you have just given is
saying to the world I don 't have enough." Your belief will soon be
proven correct. The energy vibration of lack will only attract more
lack.
Again, as you sow, so shall you reap.
Many people I know give grudgingly or feel deprived after they
have made a gift of time or money. If you give out of a feeling of
obligation or a sense of sacrifice, the underlying feeling is one of
lack. Dressing up a feeling of lack under of mask of generosity will
only lead to disappointment. It 's not what you do but why you do it.
Don 't waste your time by giving with the expectation of getting
a return on your investment. God is not a share of stock that you
trade on the NASDAQ (ticker symbol GODD). If I give, I 'd better
get something back or else." Such thinking originates from a
position of there 's not enough."
While some people give with ulterior motives, there are others
of us who rarely give at all because of the belief, I can 't afford it."
Henry Ford often said that there are two kinds of peopleÉThose
that think they can and those that think they can't; and they 're both
right. Your beliefs create your experience every time.
So much for the ways NOT to give. What to do instead?
My personal experience suggests waiting until you are in flow
with life. We all have mood swings. Sometimes we feel good, and
sometimes we feel bad. When you happen to catch yourself feeling
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good, seize that opportunity to give out of a sense of sharing the
abundance that is already yours.
By being grateful for whatever you currently have, it is much
easier to pass some of your good fortune onto someone else. In those
moments, you get the sense that there is more where that came from.
My first experience with true giving, at least in recent memory,
occurred during a relapse of cancer several years ago. Once I got
over the initial shock of the diagnosis, spiritual aspects within me
started to awaken and I began to count my blessings.
After several months of chemotherapy, I had the opportunity to
visit New York City during the Christmas holiday season. My
doctor had decided to give me a few weeks off from chemotherapy
to enjoy the holidays, and a mini-vacation was just what I needed.
The Christmas lights in NYC, the crisp winter air, and the fact that I
was still alive put me in good spirits. I was feeling abundant and
grateful.
One evening on the way to dinner with my wife and my brother,
a homeless man outside the restaurant we had selected asked me if I
could spare a dollar. I was feeling great, and I gave him $20 instead.
This in turn made him feel great, and it made me feel even better
that I had made his day. The important subtlety for me was that I
had waited for my wife and my brother to go inside the restaurant
before I gave him the money. I wanted the act to be anonymous, and
I didn 't want anyone questioning the wisdom of giving away a $20
bill while I was on medical leave with a very limited income. If I
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had to defend or justify my actions to anyone else, it would have
taken away the joy and spontaneity of the moment.
At that point, I did not know what the future had in store for me,
but in that instant things were perfect. I was feeling good, and I
didn 't want anyone else to ruin the feeling of that moment by telling
me to be sensible. Waiting until no one was looking to give this man
some money seemed like the best means to that end.
It was a win-win situation. The guy felt great, and I continued to
feel great the rest of the evening. It was my secret. I was feeling
prosperous for no apparent reason, and I made someone else feel
prosperous by giving him 20 times more than he had asked for or
expected. I happened to be in the flow of life in that moment, and it
was a perfect time to give.
Over the next few months, my supposedly fixed" disability
payments somehow increased by 20%. I don 't know how or why,
and I certainly didn 't ask.
I did not know about the law of giving and receiving at that time
in my life. I was just acting on pure impulse. It was only after I
began my spiritual studies that I came across this principle. With my
new understanding and the benefit of hindsight, I began to see the
connection.
The most important aspect of this principle to me, and it bears
repeating, is to remember that it is not what you do but why you do
it. If you are having a bad day, or you are in a negative frame of
mind, don 't give just because you think you are supposed to. There
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is no extra credit for God, and it won 't benefit you or the other
person under those conditions.
Instead, wait until you are having a particularly good day and
are feeling great. Then give while you are in that state, and observe
what happens. If you find yourself doing mathematical calculations
to decide how much you can afford to give or worry over what
others think is sensible, don 't bother. You 've lost the feeling.
Wait until you 're back in the flow and just choose an amount
based on your first impulse. Go with whatever amount makes you
feel good and that won 't cause you to feel poorer because there is
that much less in your wallet or bank account.
This universal law may take only a moment to understand, but it
can take a lifetime to master. But just because you haven 't mastered
it does not mean that you can 't have fun practicing. Give it a try, and
let your own experience be the judge.
John Zappa is a publicity consultant in Austin, Texas. As a refugee
from Corporate America, he now chooses to invent his own work.
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How to Get What You Want
By Susie and Otto Collins
It seems like such a strange concept, but when you give away
what you want -- you really do get more of it.
We 're living proof. And here 's why...
We have an incredible relationship filled with lots of love,
passion and a deep connection with each other and with our creator.
Our relationships weren 't always like this. In fact our previous
relationships were in many ways a mirror for what we didn 't want.
Before getting together, totally independent of each other, we
each decided we were willing to do whatever was necessary to
create the relationship of our dreams.
Out of our passion to have this incredible relationship, we read
every book, went to every seminar, listened to every tape and spent
countless hours talking about and discussing relationships trying to
figuring out what it takes to create the relationship of our dreams.
So what did we do next?
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We began giving love away.
Out of our own passion for love, connection and having a great
relationship--we began sharing with others what we had discovered.
As a result of our desire to "give love away" and share with
others what we 've learned about love, relationships and happiness,
not only has our own relationship grown deeper and more connected
but our bank account has grown as well.
People started asking us what we did to create such a great
relationship.
So in 1999 we started an online newsletter on relationships and
personal growth.
We simply shared tips and ideas we used to create a great
relationship.
In other words we gave away what we most wanted: Love.
Now, almost 20,000 people get our free weekly Relationship
Gold newsletter.
We 've also written three books on relationships including
Communication Magic, Should You Stay or Should You Go? and
Creating Relationship Magic. We have two others planned.
We 're not counselors or therapists. We simply share from our
hearts and lives what we know about love and relationships that we
wish we 'd known years ago.
What we have is so great that we want others to know how they
can have it too.
We have discovered that just like money, there is an abundance
of love that is there wanting to be tapped into.
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We just have to be willing to be open to it.
What we wanted more than anything else was a deep,
connected, loving relationship.
We are now happy to say that with each other we have the kind
of relationship that we want.
As a result of "giving love away" --- we 're not only getting love
back --- but, now we 're being rewarded with financial abundance as
well.
This is an abundant universe we live in.
Give, Give, Give.
There will be more where that came from.
Susie and Otto Collins are Relationship Coaches, Authors and
married Life Partners from Ohio. For more info on their books,
tapes, seminars or to sign up for their free weekly Relationship Gold
online newsletter, visit their websites at
http://www.collinspartners.com or
http://www.RelationshipGold.com
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What to Give When You
Don't Have Any Money
By Christopher Guerriero
About two years ago, although I had several high-income
businesses, I had very little personal income from those businesses -
but I still felt a passion for giving - I just had nothing to give (or so I
thought).
During the months that I stopped tithing (giving), I found that
things got even harder - in fact - even proven marketing campaigns
that my company had run many times in the past stopped pulling in
revenue. At times I felt like there was a dark cloud following me.
I knew from years of experience that the more I gave, the more
I would receive in return, but again, I had little to give (financially)
and several business to support, along with all the families of the
employees that went along with each of those businesses.
What I learned in those early days was that my giving didn 't
necessarily have to come from my bank account. And that during
the lean years, I needn 't give money. I just had to keep "giving" to
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help set up for all the "receiving" that was in store for me in later
years.
I learned that when I stopped giving, I literally 'clogged up ' all
the good that God had in store for me. So I began giving what I did
have - time, prayers, and lots of help to those who needed my
specialized help.
When I look back, I see those lean years as a test to see if I
could learn how to give even when it seemed to hurt to do so. I also
look back and thank God for that experience and for what it taught
me -- which was -- to never stop giving. I can change the form of
my tithing, I can even change the amount of my tithing, but I will
never stop tithing.
I now tithe as much as I can financially, then I make up the
difference in some other category. I always financially tithe first,
because to reach the goals I have in life I need a lot of money to
circulate through me and my businesses.
It 's been my experience that giving is the secret to keeping
money, success, health, love and happiness circulating through your
life.
Christopher Guerriero, Author of the best-selling book Maximize
Your Metabolism - Double your metabolism in 30 days or less!" See
www.MaximizeYourMetabolism.com
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It Took Me 30 Years to
Learn This Secret
By Richard Webster
I have always given, but funnily enough, I gave out of fear.
If someone asked me for money, I would always put my hand in
my pocket. If they didn 't ask, I would walk past without offering
anything.
My thinking was that if someone asked, I had a choice of saying
yes" or no." If I gave them money, it meant I would always have
money. If I said no," I was subconsciously attracting a lack of
money.
So it was the fear of having a lack of money that made me give.
Of course, although I was giving, it was always small amounts.
The Richard Webster Popular Fiction Award changed my life.
It developed from a slightly boozy lunch I had with some writer
friends. We were bemoaning the fact that authors of popular fiction
found it hard to get published and receive any recognition. Writers
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The Greatest Money-Making Secret in History! Ï Joe Vitale Ï Page 83
of literary fiction received grants and other handouts to get their
work published, but commercial writers received nothing. I
announced that I 'd launch an award, with a prize of $1,000. My
friends laughed, and the conversation went to other things.
However, the thought stayed with me, and eventually I decided
to go ahead with it. I must admit my motives were selfish. I
thought that having an award with my name on it would increase my
name and reputation, and that might help book sales.
I found a publisher who was prepared to publish the winning
entry, and two years ago we launched it. I increased the first prize
to $5,000, and added a second prize of $1,000. This seemed like a
huge amount of money to give away.
To my pleasure, the award did increase my exposure, and I
gave dozens of newspaper articles and radio interviews. I don 't
think any author has ever sponsored an award for other authors
before, and this made it newsworthy. I felt good about doing it, but
didn 't expect any other benefits.
However, to my amazement, this award seemed to open a
floodgate of money.
My book sales increased.
The foreign language rights sales to my books multiplied, and I
received paid offers to speak all around the world.
My income, which comes entirely from my books, more than
doubled in the first twelve months.
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The Greatest Money-Making Secret in History! Ï Joe Vitale Ï Page 84
Naturally, I'm much more generous now than I used to be. I
love giving money away. And the more I give away, the better off I
become.
I wish I 'd learned this secret thirty years ago.
Richard Webster lives in New Zealand and has written numerous
books, including "Is Your Pet Psychic?" See his websites at
www.psychic.co.nz and www.richardwebster.co.nz
Act wealthy. Talk prosperously. Be a free avenue through which
riches may pass to all. The world needs to learn the spiritual science
of wealth, and your home can be a classroom."
-- Annie Rix Militz, Both Riches and Honor