Financial Literacy-How do we start? - February 04, 201
Financial Literacy-How do we start?
Perhaps you received your first money as an allowance or your own lemonade stand. To be sure what your earned or were paid would have been insignificant compared to what your earn today. But nevertheless, it was a start. What you did with that first money probably set the stage for the way you have handled money since then. If you spent the money as quickly as you got it, it's likely that you don't have much extra money today, unless you became financial literate and learned how to handle your money. If you held on to you r money so you could save up to buy something you really wanted it is likely that you have a similar pattern with money today, unless you have learned some bad habits of debt.
Debt, oh! my, that's a trouble maker. We will deal with it at length later on. There was a time back in our cultural history when being in debt was, well, it was frowned upon. The standard was to keep short accounts so that you would own no one, except as it says in the Bible, to love them. Debt has become so prevalent that it is not uncommon for high school students to have a credit card and be in serious debt by the time they graduate from school. Our federal government has been an excellent role model for those aspiring to become debtors for life.
So let's begin with "mind set". Mind set is the way we tend to think about things. You might be more of a negative mind set or positive mind set, either way you will be affected and do things a certain way based on the bent of your mind. The great thing about mind set is that if we don't like the way it is today we can do certain things to change it and make it go the direction that we choose. I know that many do not believe we really have choices about this but the marvel is that we can have control of our thoughts and the way we think about things. The great psychologist and philosopher, William James said this:"The greatest discovery of my generation is that human beings can alter their lives by altering their attitudes of mind."
I'll give you an example. As a youth I was very shy. I read books about building confidence and learned about the affect we have on our lives when we change the way we think. It took some years but when I became a salesman I was quite comfortable in meeting new people and talking with people whom I had only met moments before. We also can change the way we see a cup of water, half full or half empty. One is positive, the other is negative. There are many books, tapes and CDs that will help anyone in this regard. Let me know if you would like some recommendations, I have several.
Remember, we were talking about money. That too can be either seen in a good light or a bad one. So often we hear the saying, from the Bible, that money is the root of all evil...but that's not what it really says. Here is a quote directly from I Timothy 6:10 says: "For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs." (NIV) Money in and of itself is not bad. But when we love money that changes our direction away from the good we can do with money, like support our family, build schools and hospitals and all the things we do to help with our daily living. Those who love money are doomed to failure, sadness and disappointment because money itself does not satisfy.
In Revelation Jesus points to the church in Laodicea that is proud of the fact that they are prosperous and says, "You say, I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing. But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked." This is the situation when the love of money sits higher in esteem than just the money itself. Money is a unit of trade and when kept in the right perspective is a valuable tool for you to use. We want to help you make the most of it so you will be a good steward of what you have and what has been given to you.
David Tampien
Moses Lake, WA
(509)762-8403
Are you ready to change your life?
Financial Literacy-In the beginning,... - February 03, 201
Financial Literacy-In the beginning,...
I grew up on a small farm 10 miles Northwest of Richland, Washington. My father was a part time farmer in that he also worked as an electrician at the Hanford Project, where they made the fuel for atomic bombs. As an electrician he was in one of the higher paid blue collar trades. I never knew what his income was because we were not to ask a question like that and besides we just didn't talk about money things at our house, consequently, I grew up financially ignorant.
I have learned this in my years above ground. It is not uncommon that money and finances are subjects that children are not privy to, in a home where the primary income is from wages. On the other hand it is not uncommon for business and finances to be discussed where the primary income is from a business or entrepreneurial activity. I don't know why this is so, but the end result is that those of us who grew up without any discussion of money and how to handle it leads to improper use of credit and no understanding of how to use money.
In the beginning Adam was given charge over the garden and was to tend it or be the steward. In our modern culture our labor is more often paid in money and we also are to be good stewards of it. That is our provision. But how can we be a good steward if we have never learned how to do it? That's why we need to get educated, on our own, from those who have learned and are willing to pass the knowledge along to us.
There are a number of places to gain this kind of wisdom, many are free, some we have to pay for. The main thing is that weather we pay or find for free we are going to have to invest some time in the learning process. If we are not willing to pay the price we will continue to scrape along from payday to payday and in the end have little or nothing to show for our labors.
There is much talk about being prosperous or even wealthy and checking on the Internet it looks like it's fairly easy to do that. But the truth is there are laws and disciplines necessary to acquire and maintain wealth. If we fail to learn them, even if we should win the lottery, we will end up the same, with little or nothing. Here's the exciting part...if we will take the time and spend some money to gain the knowledge and develop the disciplines we can become good stewards and make the most of what we have as well as add to it the way a good steward would do.
Let's lay down some fundamentals. First of all we can throw out "get rich quick", it's a recipe for failure and disappointment. Even if you do get rich quick you will soon lose it because of the lack of training in handling money. Next let's get rid of the ideas of "easy money". Generally, there is work involved with any kind of financial success. More important we need to understand even why we should want to gain more money. If it's just to buy more stuff there will be no real gain. If it is to provide for others or perhaps set up a legacy for your family that is beginning to be on the right track. If your purpose becomes lofty in that you attempt to raise others up to a higher level of literacy or understanding then your blessings will not only show up in your bank account but also in the blessings your receive of an intangible kind, these are the real reward.
David Tampien
Moses Lake, WA
(509)762-8403
Are you ready to change your life?
Financial Literacy-what is it - January 29, 2012
Financial Literacy-what is it?
When we think of financial literacy, if we ever do, what does it mean to us? What do we really know about managing not only the money we do have but also making the best use of any discretionary income? There are any number of places to learn about money management. We could buy a book with an author like Susie Orman or Dave Ramsey or we could take a course in handling money. So why are we, as a group of middle class citizens, so financially ignorant?
I think it's because it takes time to learn about money and we either don't have the time or just don't want to "make" the time. Yet it is one of the most important parts of our life. Think of it, how much time do we spend at getting the money we have? And how much time do we take to learn the best way to use it? Sobering questions unless you are already financially literate.
We will be discussing these and related questions and ideas in this and other blog entries. The idea is to stimulate a conversation between you and me and others who are more literate in financial matters so that we each become expert and will be able to help and advise, where wanted, our children and friends about handling money. These are things we normally do not learn in our normal school education. It's as though you just grow up knowing about how to do it without ever getting training. What we do learn is how to sign up for credit cards and how to write a check but that's the easy part. We need to know where money comes from and where it goes and how to make the best use of the portion that goes through our own personal bank account.
Some of the subjects we will talk about are, saving, investing, borrowing, budgeting, debt, taxes, retirement and anything else that would pertain to the gaining and use of your money. Then there are the present economic conditions. Should we be investing in gold and silver, or what about stocks and bonds. Perhaps real estate is the best way to go, maybe not today but then when? Do we know about wealth cycles and market trends? Truth is, we can learn all about these things. We cannot afford to say it just doesn't interest me or I don't want to get involved. If we are alive on planet earth we "need" to know about these things. So what we will do is make it palatable and bite size so you can gradually become financially literate and learn to make the most of what you have.
There is a story in the Bible where Jesus is making a point of gaining the most with what we have, it goes like this: The Parable of the Talents.
Again, it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his property to them. To one he gave five talents of money, to another two talents, and to another one talent, each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey. The man who had received the five talents went at once and put his money to work and gained five more. So also, the one with the two talents gained two more. But the man who had received the one talent went off, dug a hole in the ground and hid his masters money.
After a long time, the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them. The man who had received the five talents brought the other five. Master, he said, you entrusted me with five talents. See, I have gained five more. His master replied, Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your masters happiness!
The man with the two talents also came. Master, he said, you entrusted me with two talents; see, I have gained two more. His master replied, Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your masters happiness!
Then the man who had received the one talent came. Master, he said, I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. So I was afraid and went out and hid your talent in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you. His master replied, You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed? Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest. Take the talent from him and give it to the one who has the ten talents. For everyone who has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him. And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Matthew 25:14-30 (NIV)
David Tampien
Moses Lake, WA
Home/Office: (509) 762-8403
Skype: david.tampien
P.S. Click here for more information.
The Value of honesty - January 27, 2012
The value of honesty
The value of honesty in business can not be minimized. I know that there have been times, in the recent past, where we have seen blatant dishonesty in business dealings. At the same time we have seen the disastrous consequences of that loss of integrity. Actually, the whole idea of business is based on the ability of both parties in a transaction to be able to trust each other. So what does that mean for you and me as we build our business online and around the world?
It means that before we even enter into the idea of beginning or building a business we need to have, as a core principle, a strong sense of honesty. This isn't even a matter of faith or belief. Integrity is so important that if we feel we cannot be honest in our business dealings we had better not even get into business. I know this sounds elemental and perhaps even childish, but do you know how often we run into the misuse of honesty? For example, it is amazing to find how many fellow human beings will not only steal from an employer but consider that what they steal is owed to them because they work so hard and don't get paid what they believe they are worth. Do you know anyone who has ever done that?
If we are able to be dishonest in a situation like that we are dishonest. A bank robber doesn't become a bank robber because he robs banks...he robs banks because he is a bank robber. The thought and intent comes before the crime. In the same way, if we don't face this and move forward in our business activity with a dishonest heart, the time will come when we are faced with a choice that will depend on weather or not we are honest. If we are not honest in our heart we will make the wrong choice and perhaps destroy everything we have worked for. At the same time we will also destroy the faith and trust that has been built up over the previous years with our customers and clients.
Deuteronomy 25:15 puts it this way: "You must have accurate and honest weights and measures, so that you may live long in the land the LORD your God is giving you." (NIV). Leviticus 19:36 says, "Use honest scales and honest weights, an honest ephah and an honest hin. I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt." (NIV). This is just a reminder that being honest in our dealings with others is considered a high priority from the One who will Judge the world. That makes it have some eternal consequences, if you know what I mean.
David Tampien
4441-C Randolph Road NE
Moses Lake, WA 98837
My Money Machine
Call Me: (509) 762-8403
Text Me: (509) 770-8297
Skype Me: david.tampien
PS: Do you know why you should be owning some gold and silver?
Let's have some gratitude. It's good for you. - January 25, 2012
Let's have some gratitude. It's good for you.
Gratitude? That may sound like a strange way to build a business online but let's think about it for a minute. What is gratitude and why would it be an important ingredient in our entrepreneurial character development? Gratitude is a state or an expression of appreciation for who your are and what you have been given. Think like this...you have been given life and all that comes with it. As a Christian I am thankful to my God. If you are of another faith or no faith I expect that you, in some way, appreciate the same thing and the blessing comes when we are thankful for them.
As we think in terms of gratitude and thankfulness we are affected in the way we relate to others. With a spirit of appreciation we tend to think more highly of others than we do ourselves. As we do this others will sense it and perhaps for no reason they understand will respect or hold us in a measure of esteem that would be lacking if we were less grateful. I'm speaking from my own experience and not as any kind of expert. Judge for yourself, have you ever experienced what I just explained? If not, in looking closer, could it be that you do not have an attitude of gratitude? Usually, we find our concerns closer to home than we would like to think they are.
No matter, there is always the possibility of change. I would not ever suggest anyone change their personality or even their character. That doesn't mean it should never change it just means that I would not be the one to suggest it. These things are up to us, ourselves...we have to decide if we want to become more amenable to our potential clients or customers. If we want to win them to our side we need to have their interest ahead of our own. This a basic rule of human relations and beneficial interactions.
By this I don't mean "sucking up" to any one or "kowtowing" to them either. It is something that comes from deep inside you or me. It is at the heart of our being and is expressed in our personality and character. Turns out that if we have a spirit of gratitude it just becomes a part of who we are. It gets to a point that we couldn't be ungrateful if we wanted to. After that we begin to look for this trait in others so as we gather our team together we just seem to attract people with a similar attitude. This will make a solid foundation for our business enterprise.
Next we will chose a time honored word to express one of our most important character qualities for long term and sustained business success. That word is, "honesty".
David Tampien
4441-C Randolph Road NE
Moses Lake, WA 98837
My Money Machine
Call Me: (509) 762-8403
Text Me: (509) 770-8297
Skype Me: david.tampien
You want Freedom? Come and get it! - January 24, 2012
You want freedom? Come and get it..
Today the word is "Freedom". Freedom is a multi faceted word, It has many different meanings, depending on who you are and what are the circumstances. For the dog in the yard it means finding a hole in the fence so I can go do more exploring and meet new friends. For a man in jail it means and unlocked door and a full pardon. The kind of freedom I'm talking about is time freedom and the freedom to choose what I do and where I go. It also means Financial Freedom and all that pertains to it.
True financial freedom is not a certain amount of money or income. When I talk about financial freedom I mean that I have enough money to live comfortable weather I go to work or not. It means not being tied to a job with fixed hours and someone telling me what hours to work and what I'll be paid or when I can take a vacation and how long I can be gone. I have to admit, I'm not there yet but am certainly moving in that direction as I continue to daily build a foundation for my own money machine.
Earlier we talked about the importance of "why". the reason we would even want to build a business online. Very often, at the root of anyone's desire to have a money machine, is the desire for financial freedom. Since we are trained from our earliest years to prepare to become employees rather than business owners our conditioning about financial freedom is to get a career, earn a good living and then retire with less than we were getting along with before.
Then someone like Robert Kayosoki comes along and tells us the story of Rich Dad, Poor Dad and our eyes are opened to the possibility of having no limits to our income or our time freedom. Something inside us stirs and our imagination comes alive and from that point on we will be dissatisfied until we begin the journey to become free. Building your own business online so that one day you can become financially free is one way millions of potential or actual entrepreneurs around the world are fulfilling this dream.
So in considering your interest in creating an income source with your own money machine you need to think of just how important your freedom is to you. If you are like Patrick Henry who declared,..."give me liberty or give me death", and you want your freedom bad enough to do whatever it takes to get it, you are off to a good start. If it is something you are casual about or it's not very important to you perhaps it would be better to just keep doing what you're doing now.
The door is open to you. You have to decide. Then you have to act. Here's an excellent quote that illustrates the point: James 2:14 What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him? 15 If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, Depart in peace, be warmed and filled, but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit? 17 Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.
18 But someone will say, You have faith, and I have works. Show me your faith without your[a] works, and I will show you my faith by my[b] works. 19 You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believeand tremble! 20 But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead?[c] 21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son on the altar? 22 Do you see that faith was working together with his works, and by works faith was made perfect? 23 And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.[d]And he was called the friend of God. 24 You see then that a man is justified by works, and not by faith only.25 Likewise, was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out another way? 26 For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.
It's true in the spiritual realm and it's true in the physical. If we just want to talk about freedom or think about it and do nothing about attaining it or protecting the freedom we have...it is dead. But we still have choices so let's continue to move forward toward our dreams and highly esteemed expectations.
David Tampien
4441-C Randolph Road NE
Moses Lake, WA 98837
My Money Machine
Call Me: (509) 762-8403
Text Me: (509) 770-8297
Skype Me: david.tampien
You need Energy - January 22, 2012
Energy
To sustain the activity and growth of your new enterprise you need energy. I'm not talking about energy like hydro-electric power or gasoline. The energy you need to build your own business is vital energy, the kind of energy that makes you jump out of bed in the morning and keeps you going all day. If you are going to be focused and working on your money machine you need stamina and that takes energy.
Your body functions by burning the fuel you put into it. If you stop feeding your body it will soon "run out of gas" and stop. You have no doubt seen people who are starving and they can do little more than just sit and stare. That's an extreme situation and I doubt you will ever be there, but the principle remains the same. Your body burns calories and if you don't give it calories to burn it will shut down. This is all pretty basic and I'm sure I'm preaching to the choir. After all you learned this just be living and also the health class in school.
Today we live in a fast everything society. Our traffic is fast, our work is fast, our communications are fast and much of our food is fast. So much of our life is fast that we seldom slow down enough to learn about nutrition and why we should eat certain foods and why me may need to supplement our diet with extra high nutrition foods to make up for the poor quality food we get at the store or the fast food restaurant. If you don't know what I'm talking about I would suggest you watch some of the excellent food documentaries like these or these.
I eat as much organic food as is practical. I grew up on a farm, long ago, where we never heard the word organic because everything was. There wasn't such a thing as food that was "un organic". But, alas, times have changed. commercial farming mass produces everything and does make it cheaper but in the end we pay a price for it in poorer health and sick bodies. The way it was is no more. But that doesn't mean you have to accept it as it is even though you may like the nutrition less food you have. If you are not aware of the relationship of good, high quality and nutritious food to you daily energy level and continued good health, I would suggest that you slow down and take time to learn about it. One of my favorite resources in Natural News. I recommend it as a daily, free, online way to learn and keep up on information that will add years to your life and life to your years.
Since this series is being done alphabetically and we are on an "E" word today, next time will be the "F" word. What? Oh! no, not that one...the important one: Freedom!!
David Tampien
4441-C Randolph Road NE
Moses Lake, WA 98837
My Money Machine
Call Me: (509) 762-8403
Text Me: (509) 770-8297
Skype Me: david.tampien
Dedication and Development - January 20, 2012
Dedication and Development
To create a good foundation for your business requires Dedication and Development. You must become dedicated to applying focused attention towards your objective or perceived goal. You must be willing to allow your personal development to be altered in such a way that will lend itself toward the fulfillment of your desired outcome. In other words you must be teachable because there is a learning curve involved weather you have earned or made money in other venues of not. Marketing yourself and your business on the Internet has some very real differences from marketing off line.
Are you willing to become dedicated to your craft by developing the character traits required to accomplish the task?
Regarding dedication, perhaps it's best to think of it like an athlete might approach the idea of becoming the best player at his or her game, whatever it is. They would be willing to set aside some present pleasure or pursuit in order to spend time developing their skills and stamina. They would "make time" to do the things that were necessary for their success. So to does an online marketer have to set aside time and preferences to make a way to establish new skills and habits that will compliment the new endeavor.
Some things to consider in the area of personal development would fall along the lines of a willingness to change habits and ideas or set patterns of living that may interfere with establishing the activities you will need to be doing every day in order to succeed in your business. One example of this would be daily writing new content for your website or blog. I personally struggle with this and yet i know it is of utmost importance in order to grow my business. As mentioned before, adding new, fresh and relevant content is important in obtaining a good position in the search engines.
Another necessity is to daily add to our own knowledge of our product or service, our attitude, our personal habits of organization and setting goals and our determination that nothing will stand in the way of accomplishing our chosen objectives, assuming that they are in line with honorable principles and don't get a higher priority than your God and your family.
Let's touch on dedication for a moment. Actually, I think a better term would be focused attention. That would be to develop the skill of keeping your eyes on your goal or purpose, even while other interests may intrude on your thoughts or activities. Think of the hawk you see sitting on a phone pole. He has one thought in mind (that is if hawks think like that) and that is, "what's moving down there that I can eat." After it's through eating it may go play in the air currents. But while it's on the job it doesn't get distracted, neither should we.
Next we will take a look at what part "energy" plays in into our plans for building a successful money machine for making money online. That will be our "E" word.
David Tampien
4441-C Randolph Road NE
Moses Lake, WA 98837
My Money Machine
Call Me: (509) 762-8403
Text Me: (509) 770-8297
Skype Me: david.tampien
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