Archive for the ‘Articles’ Category

My mentor, Barbara Stanny says, “Whatever is happening with your money is also showing up in your life”.

Do you believe this?   Open your wallet right now and take a look at how you treat your money.

Is your wallet in good condition with your dollar bills organized and lined up by denomination or is your wallet scruffy, with the dollar bills and old receipts just stuffed into it?

What feelings come up when you think about money?

Are they feelings of joy, gratitude, ease and flow or fear, worry, doubt and embarrassment?

Now think about other areas of your life and notice what’s happening here.

How you do money is how you do everything.

I teach a course called, Secrets of Successful High Earners:  Going to the Next Level in Life where I take women through a five step process to step into their power and take charge of their money and their earnings.  The impact of these teachings goes far beyond money.

Former workshop graduates reported that the most common results of the workshop were – in this order – significant weight loss, better financial habits, more leisure time, improved health, increased optimism, and enhanced relationships.

This is pretty powerful stuff touching all areas of life!  Feeling great about your finances gives you a sense of confidence, clarity, happiness and peace of mind like nothing else.

We all know that money does now buy happiness, but your relationship with money and how you treat it, think about it and what you do with it will determine where you live, where your children go to school, where you vacation and how often, what you eat, what type of health care you receive, how you enjoy “retirement” and what type of legacy you leave when you are gone.

The average American spends more time planning their family vacation than planning for their retirement.  I want to help you create your ideal life, one of health, wealth and happiness.  It starts with getting smart about money.

Creating true prosperity is an art, and over the next few weeks, I will be writing about how to take charge of your finances, get organized, clear the clutter, and how to create, keep and grow your wealth.

Today, I want to introduce you to several very special FREE gifts in the Smart Women’s Prosperity System:

• My 33 page signature Financial Organizer and Planning System ebook which will help you find your stuff, get organized and see where you stand financially.  It’s the same system I used for 20 years with my best clients.  I highly recommend you print this out and use it.
• My Master Class on “Creating Wealth While Doing What You Love” audio and workbook.  This program includes my signature system; The Six Pillars of Awakened Prosperity that helped me retire at 48 financially independent and it will work for you too.

This is what I suggest you do now:

• Click here to pick up your gifts.
• Schedule time immediately to listen to the audio with the workbook printed out.
• Plus make a date to work on your finances using the Financial Organizer Planner.

These products will only be available for free for a short time, so please pick them up now and share them with your friends!  If you have any questions, please feel free to email me at katana@katanaabbott.com

To your prosperity,

 

 

Katana Abbott, CFP, CSA
Founder and Prosperity Coach
Smart Women’s Prosperity Institute

 

What’s the secret to effective multitasking? 

I don’t know about you, but I am a major “multitasker”. It’s in my genetic makeup – the way I have always functioned.  Most of the time, I have 10 projects all going at the same time, big ideas, lots of excitement, lots of doing and lots of overwhelm.

Does this sound like you?  You may even be very successful in spite of yourself simply because of your enthusiasm and high energy.

How is your multitasking serving you though?

Look around.  Are there multiple unfinished projects sitting around?  Do you create To-Do lists that are miles long, only to start a new one all over again?

Would you like the one biggest secret to effective multitasking?  Okay…here it is…Stop!  Don’t do it. 

Having many uncompleted projects, or multiple new projects pending or all going on at the same time begins to weigh on you and this creates stress, overwhelm and it knocks your confidence too.  I know, because I suffer from this too.

Anytime you do more than one thing at a time, you delay the completion of both tasks.

The key is to focus on ONE thing and ONE thing only until completion.  Simple.

If you are in the habit of multitasking throughout your day, I challenge you to focus on only one thing at a time and observe how much more productive you actually are, and how much more you get done.

Try it and see how much you can check off your list today.

Here is a tip.  Try these three steps for ONE week:

• I want you to create an actual list each day with just THREE TOP THINGS that you must complete that day…only three.  Keep that list in front of your printed out and prioritized.  Once you complete the first item, cross it out and go to the next.  You will be amazed at how powerful this system can be.
• If you are distracted by email, turn them off and open them up for very short periods of time at specific hours during the day.  Then go back to your three top priorities
• At the end of the day celebrate and express gratitude for all you have accomplished AND create the list for the next day, so it is waiting for you on your desk when you arrive back at the office in the morning.

That’s it.  Again, very simple!  I know for some, this is simply how they operate, but if you are one of the millions of multi-taskers in the world, try this for one week, and let me know how it works for you below!

This blog post, for example, is #1 on my “list of three” for today.  Guess what, I can now check off “Done!” and do to #2.  Boy this feels good!

BTW, Dave Crenshaw has created a great exercise to help you see the negative impact in efficiency caused by “switchtasking”.    Click Here for the Worksheet Now.

To your prosperity,

Katana Abbott, CFP®
Founder and Prosperity Coach
Smart Women’s Prosperity Institute

P.S.  Be sure to pick up your brand new free gifts that I just created for you, including my signature 33 page Financial Organizer Planning System, my Masterclass on “How to Create Wealth and Live the Life You Love” with Workbook and Transcript.  Go get your free gifts now!
www.HowToCreateProsperity.com

 

By Katana Abbott, CFP®, CSA®

Today is the Winter Solstice – or the shortest day of the year if you live in the northern hemisphere.

One of the things I notice living on the lake is that the sun now sets directly out from our back window and the sunsets are amazing. I snapped this picture last year at this time from my deck. I rarely see anything like this in the summer.

Although I absolutely love the long hot days of summer – I welcome this time of year. It’s a time to really slow down, connect with friends, make time for myself, and to simply savor the simplicity of life. Here are some great rituals that we enjoy as a family.

1: Enjoy great movies

This is a great time to invite friends and family over to watch new movies on great topics and have discussions. Consider subscribing to Spiritual Cinema or getting great movie ideas from Brent Marchant’s book, “Get the Picture: Conscious Creation Goes to the Movies.

2: Light up the candles

These dark evenings are the perfect time to light your home up with gorgeous candles. This can create a sacred space in all areas of your home. I have them in my office, our bedroom, on coffee tables and fire places and especially on the dinner table! Be creative!

3: Bring out the games

The last few weekends we opted to turn off the TV with our children and their friends and have instead dusted off the game boards…literally! The other night we had seven young people playing charades around the Christmas tree while listening to Christmas music. It was magical!

4: Start a family Gratitude Journal

Pick up a beautiful journal and leave it on the coffee table where all members of the family and even friends can write down what they are grateful for. My husband and I start and end almost every day together – usually in our hot tub looking out at the lake or stars – expressing everything that we are grateful for.

5: Feed you birds!

I love looking outside and watching the birds. Not only do we have lots of berry bushes that attract birds all year long, but we try to keep our bird feeders stocked. This creates festive and joyous entertainment as we name all the species coming to visit. In fact, we keep a full color book handy to look up different species. Once I saw a female Red Breasted Groesbeck which looked like a very large sparrow!

6: Get out in nature

We live near lots of nature trails and parks, so one of my favorite activities is to call my friend and take meet in the park with our dogs for long hikes. It’s especially gorgeous when it’s just freshly snowed. Another fun activity is ice skating on the lake once we get a good solid freeze. This is a perfect time for hot toddies, mulled wine and hot cider and a bonfire!

7: Morning yoga or workout

One of the best remedies for sore and ache muscles is a good workout or I like heading to my yoga class. They keep the room nice and dark and it’s extremely warm. I feel fabulous when I come out and the added benefit is the positive mental state that stays all day long from those nice endorphins released from the workout! It also assists in being present.

8: Engage your creativity

This is the perfect time to brush up on your Spanish or other language you have always wanted to learn. Consider something like Rosetta Stone that is interactive and fun. Or think back to what you loved doing as a child and play! My husband is tuning my piano for as my Christmas gift so I can bring out my old sheet music. Winter is a great time to paint, knit or create something beautiful!

9: Work on the family tree

Open an account with ancestory.com and invite relatives to join you in putting together the puzzle pieces. I have now engaged a relative in Scotland who has sent photos, ship manifests, birth certificates and more about my grandmother’s ancestors. It’s amazing to see where you came from!

Share your winter rituals in the space below and enjoy this holiday season with those you love!

  

 

I just finished interviewing Media Coach, Susan Harrow, on Smart Women Talk Radio with Co-host, Vicky Trabosh, and want to share a few tips to help women in business with making more money.Her secret formula to being remembered is Speaking in Sound Bites for Women.

On today’s show, Susan shared secrets from her new book, Sell Yourself Without Selling Your Soul and we discussed how to:

 

• Speak with confidence, clarity and calm
• Be taken seriously and respected
• Enjoy lively banter while getting what you want

Sound bites simply allow us to speak succinctly and clearly so our message will be easy to understand and memorable.Susan suggests creating the following:

• Short stories keep these short and sweet and under 30 seconds if possible
• Facts use facts to create credibility (your experience, credentials, successes)
• Statistics that support your platform or message
• Acronyms use when possible since these are memorable

There are several more, but the secret is taking the time to create this material and then practicing until it becomes natural and rolls off your tongue effortlessly.

Practice makes perfect.Susan suggests practicing the above with a partner or buddy.Speaking out loud is how we discover ourselves she states.Compare this to reading poetry silently vs. out loud.Test yourself in front of the video camera to see how you look and how you do under pressure.

To listen to this entire interview, click here.You can listen via your computer or sign up to receive all our shows on iTunes!

Also, visit Susan’s site at www.PRSecrets.com to sign up for her free sound bite audio ecourse.Share you are the sound bites that you have created for your platform in the comments section below!

With gratitude,

Katana Abbott, CFP, CSA
Founder and Prosperity Coach
Katana Abbott Consulting PLLC
katana@katanaabbott.com

P.S. Don’t miss our show next week, when we will be interviewing Kristen Moeller, author of“Waiting for Jack – Confessions of a Self-Help Junkie: How to Stoop Waiting & Start Living Your Life”

Smart Women Talk is every Tuesday at 11 am EST/8 am PST

 

Many American women are really on an adrenaline rush most of the time. I have found that if we don’t slow down and allow things to flow, the Universe finds a way to do it for us.

I have found a wonderful solution to help create balance in my life and it only takes three minutes.I call this process The Perfect Life Pause. Any time during the day that I feel overwhelmed, stressed, tired, or frustrated, I follow this process to refocus my energy and intention.

 

Exercise:

I suggest doing your first Perfect Life Pause when you first wake up with just four simple steps!

• Start with your eyes closed. Listen to the sounds in the room, your breathing notice your body and relax. Then focus on What you would wish for in your life if you had a magic wand and could make any wish you wanted? Pause in that moment.How you would feel, what you would be doing and how you would look.
• Now spend the next several minutes in this wonderful state of mind believing it is real.
• At the end of the three minutes, be sure to express gratitude and believe that this is your Perfect Life.
• Confirm that the right people and opportunities will flow into your life at the right time.

By pausing 3-4 times a day simply to become present and to focus on your breathing and what you really want in life like it is real, you will actually be meditating and focusing on your Intentions 10-15 minutes a day. Remember, we get what we focus on! Each day we create our reality through our thoughts and we are all very intricately connected somehow.

Example of the Law of Intention in Action:

My husband, Mark, and I were in San Francisco last August for a conference. Prior to the conference, we went to Napa for a wine tasting experience. It was one of the best vacations we ever had. We spent three days driving through wine country in a convertible with azure skies and the most beautiful scenery we had ever seen.

During our trip, we purchased a couple cases of wonderful wine and brought them back to our hotel in San Francisco thinking that we would find some packing tape and just ship the wine back with our luggage. We were enjoying our trip so much, that we never really looked seriously for the tape.

We had an early flight back to Detroit and were ready to take our bags down for the trip to the airport, when we realized we still did’nt have any packing tape. I called the front desk, and they said all they had was scotch tape.

I told Mark that I was going to go downstairs and find some tape. Specifically, I said, Let’s create the intention that we will find some packing tape and send that intention out to the Universe to see what happens.He looked at me and said, Let’s do it! So we left the hotel room and stepped into the elevator.

There was another couple in the elevator from our group, and I noticed they were holding a box, so I said, What’s in the box, did you buy wine too? We are trying to find some packing tape.The man said, No these are our costumes, we never even opened the box, and we still have our packing tape.The woman looked at me and said, Do you need some tape? Here take it we never used it.And she opened her back pack and handed me a roll of packing tape.

At that moment the elevator door opened up and they stepped out. We said goodbye and pushed the button to go back to our floor. We were both speechless. We ran back to our hotel room, slammed the door and screamed with amazement!

How does something like this happen? Some may say it’s just a coincidence. I say we created an intention and it materialized. I now do this all the time it’s amazing once you become aware of this principle. I keep the empty tape dispenser in my dresser as a reminder.

This is the principle behind focusing on your Perfect Life Pause. Something magical happens when we focus our energy and intention we actually materialize what we want.We are constantly manifesting our thoughts negative or positive even when we are not conscious of it.So try this Perfect Life Pause as a way to consciously create vibrant health, abundant wealth and happiness effortlessly!

To your prosperity!

Katana Abbott, CFP, CSA

Check out my new home study course:Get Clarity Now: Your Five Step Roadmap from your Purpose and Passion to Prosperity!www.getclaritynow.com Use coupon code “clarity” to save $100 immediately at check out!

Brian Tracy is one of my all time favorite authors and inspiriational leaders. He is also one of our Smart Women’s Coaching Contributing Experts. Below is an article where he shares his secrets of finding and expressing your true self.

Aristotle said that the ultimate aim or purpose or human life is to achieve your own happiness. You are the very happiest when what you are doing on the outside is congruent with your values on the inside. When you are living in complete alignment with that which you consider to be good, right, and true, you will automatically feel happy and positive about yourself and your world.

Know What You Really Want
Stephen Covey once said, “Be sure that, as you scramble up the ladder of success, it is leaning against the right building.” Many people work hard to achieve goals that they think they want only to find, at the end of the day, they get no joy or satisfaction from their accomplishments. They ask, “Is this all there is?” This occurs when the outer accomplishment is not in harmony with your inner values. Don’t let this happen to you.

Trust Your Intuition
Self-trust is the foundation of greatness. Self-trust comes from listening to your intuition, to your “still, small voice” within. Men and women begin to become great when they begin to listen to their inner voices and absolutely trust that they are being guided to a higher power each step of the way. Living in alignment with your true values is the royal road to self-confidence, self-respect, and personal pride. In fact, almost every human problem can be resolved by returning to values.

Watch Your Behavior
How can you tell what your values really are? The answer is simple. You always demonstrate your true values in your actions and especially your actions under pressure. Whenever you are forced to choose between one behavior and another you will always act consistent with what is most important and valuable to you at that moment. Values, in fact, are organized in a hierarchy. You have a series of values, some of them very intense and important and some of them weaker and less important. One of the most important exercises you can engage in to determine who you really are and what you really want is to organize your values by priority. Once you are clear about the relative important of your values, you can then organize your outer life so that it is in alignment with them.

Determine Your Hearts Desire
The spiritual teacher Emmet Fox wrote about the importance of discovering your “hearts desire.” What is your hearts desire? As a friend of mine asks, “What do you want to be famous for?” What words would you like people to use to describe you when you are not there? What would you like someone to say about you at your funeral? What kind of reputation do you have today? What kind of reputation would you like to have sometime in the future?

Your Past is Not Your Future
Many people had difficult experiences growing up. They fell on hard times and became associated with the wrong people. Some were convicted and sent to prison for crimes. But at a certain point in life, they decided to change. They thought seriously about what kind of person they wanted to be known as, and thought of, in the future. They decided to change their lives by changing the values that they lived by. By making these decisions and sticking to them, they changed their lives. Remember, it doesn’t matter where you’re coming from; all that really matters is where you’re going.

Action Exercise
Describe your picture of an ideal person, the person you would most want to be if you had no limitations.

You can learn more about Brian Tracy by visiting his blog.  Share your vision for your ideal self below.  What would you be doing in your life if you knew you could not fail?  What would bring you total joy and fulfillment?  We’d like to know. Thank you!

By Ruth Klein, Integrative Brand Strategist & Productivity Coach

Are you ready for the New Branding Shift in Business? This shift is large and is having a pivotal impact on most businesses, large and small. When I think of the word, “shift,” I think of a change in mental or emotional perception…even if it’s only slight.

And, in most cases the BRAND SHIFT is slight although it has legs and has quake-like impact. I’d like you to consider three aspects of this brand shift, and if used as part of your Brand & Marketing Campaign, can help propel your brand message and ‘conversation’ with your targeted prospects and clients.

Transparency
How transparent are you in your business? There are several ways to exercise “transparency” in your business. Here are two of them…

1. Are you presently providing videos on your website or your sales letters that promote your products or services?Why is this important? People your prospective buyers want to see who you are. They will either resonate with you or they won’t. We love to “know” who we’re dealing with and face-to-face is still the most prized way to establish a business relationship. Embracing technology helps bring who you are and what you do to a whole new level…a seismic SHIFT.
2. What are your messages saying to the public? Are they coming from the mind or are they coming from a place that people can relate to from the heart? Most recently I received a question for my monthly “Ask Ruth“

Question: How much of your soul should you bare, especially if you are a very “open book” by nature & in which arenas? Perhaps “how much is too much” is a better way to put it?

This is a great question because it is real and there is a balance to how transparent you want to be in business. Many people are finding this out first hand with their online profiles on Facebook, MySpace, and other social networking sites where they may have been too transparent and now they’re having difficulty finding jobs, for example.

My guideline is:  If you can share it with your clients, chances are it’s okay to share it with others!

Immediacy
We all have experienced the unbelievable “speed lightning” of technology and the instantaneous responses via email; instant messaging, faxes (yes, even faxes), texting, and all the other avenues.

What I’m referring to here is the ability to think of something and then get it to market immediately! How many times have you sat on a product launch; started to offer a new service; worked on a book; or invented a new product or program and then you “sat” on it for awhile, only to find later that someone else had the idea AND did something about it? I know the answer… too many times!

Here is my best suggestion for taking action: Start taking 100% Personal Responsibility for what you’re doing and what you want to do and…. Secondly, just take action. Every time you’re in doubt, just think of Nike’s great tagline: “Just Do It.” Why do most of us resonate so much with Nike’s tagline? Because we need to be reminded to “Just Do It.”

Let me give you a perfect example of what I’m referring to above

Immediacy: 100% Personal Responsibility and “Just Do It.” Just today I saw in my inbox a conference that I would love to be part of and contribute my experiences and ideas…we share the same target market. I had asked to be part of the “speakers lineup” a year ago and it never came to pass.

So, today when I saw that the conference had grown and there were a lot of new speakers, I had a momentary ok, maybe it was more like 30 minutes of “I wish….”

Then, I realized that rather than stay “stuck” and “unproductive” and “wait for someone else to come knocking,” I had a huge SHIFT…remember the title of this whole article…” How the New Branding Shift Affects Your Business??

Well, I realized that I can take Personal Responsibility and select other businesses that I share more resonance with (I’m not even in alignment with most of the speakers!!! this awareness came to me after I made the Branding Shift) and create another large event. Done! So, I spoke with wonderful professional colleagues and we are creating our wonderful offering that will help others in a soul-centered way…reinforcing my business brand!

Relevancy
Time is the new currency today and technology has helped pick up the “urgency” of time. What that means to you and me is that if we’re going to say something to our clients, prospects, community, networking groups, social media, tweets, let’s make it relevant and not waste anyone’s time…I really appreciate businesses that respect my time!

That is the number one reason that most professionals didn’t use Twitter when it first came on the scene the element of Relevancy was not perceived to be part of the Twitter culture. Of course, the Twitter map has had a pivotal SHIFT in perceived value by professionals, entrepreneurs and others …who highly value their own and other’s time.

Here are two ways to bring Relevancy into your Business Brand:

1. Start blogging if you haven’t already. It appears that blogging is no longer a step-child to email messaging or websites…it is a full-blown branding strategy to send out relevant material. Your readers, listeners, clients, communities and subscribers want good information in bite-size pieces (Immediacy). Businesses that aren’t sending out bite-size messages (in television and radio they are called “sound bites) are losing the relationship and conversation with their followers and community. These bite-size pieces of information are perfect for tweeting good content…which in turn, can take your followers to your blog.I suggest you blog three to four times a week or offer a really good article once a week…experiment and see which works best for you and your community.
2. Keep the messaging focused on what your community wants to hear and learn… and make sure it’s valuable to them.For example, Drew Gerber with Pitch Rate (pitchrate.com) interviewed me for his Happy Hour that he offers to his clients and subscribers for free…he interviews “experts” in areas that his clients and prospects would find valuable and interesting.

   If you would like to listen to the recording, click here. The call is jam-packed with amazingly useful info about finding your unique, profitable and purpose-driven brand. Find out how to uncover your brand purpose, how to package all that you do, the myths of marketing, and more. We also chatted about how I landed O, The Oprah Magazine!

   Pitch Rate (www.Pitchrate.com) is a free media connection service for journalists, experts, and publicists…it’s amazing!  Share your branding questions and experiences with us here!

Here to becoming an Expert Celebrity!

Ruth Klein
www.RuthKlein.com
© 2010 Ruth Klein

By Gail Martin

Stories sell.  Stories reach us in a deep and memorable way that sales pitches do not.

What is the story of your business? Sometimes, part of the story is about you, the business owner. Sometimes, the story is built around the owner’s passion to right a wrong. If you don’t think your business has a story to tell, here are five ways to uncover your Real Story:

#1:  The owner’s story:  Some types of stories reach very deep into the American consciousness.  Stories about second chances, self-made successes, hard-working newcomers who realize the “American dream and reinvention speak to very deeply held beliefs about who we are. I have one client who came as an exchange student from China, received her education here and met her husband.  Because of the gift of a pearl necklace from an aunt, this client and her husband now own a pearl importing and jewelry design business.  Her story of reinvention and adaptation while retaining her roots has gotten her media coverage and positive exposure for her business.

#2: The product’s story:  What need does your product meet? I have a Laundromat customer who doesn’t just give people clean clothes he helps them show their love for their families and succeed in the workplace by having a neat and clean appearance.  In his city neighborhood of recent immigrants who are climbing the ladder of prosperity, family and self-respect are very deeply held values. Do your services or products offer people security, good health or a chance to succeed?  What is the need that prompts your customer to buy?

#3:  The business’s story:  Has your business overcome adversity? We cheer for the businesses that found a way to come back after 9/11 in the TriBeCa neighborhood of New York City or after Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans. Has your company weathered bad times, lopsided competition, succession crises or problems and come back stronger than ever?  People love a come-back story (notice that Rocky Balboa has six movies!).

 #4: Your customers stories:  Go beyond testimonials. A case study tells the story of the problem and how your company solved it but it’s really a story about a hero, a dragon and a damsel in distress.  The dragon is the business problem for example, a project badly behind schedule and over budget.  Your company is the hero. The client is the damsel in distress.  Every good adventure has a few plot twists to keep our interest what challenges happened on the way to slaying the dragon?  Did you lose key project personnel when you needed them most?  Did a piece of crucial equipment break or get delayed in shipping?  Details like this make your story compelling. And then there’s the happy ending how your company solved the problem and what it meant for the customer significant dollar savings, productivity enhancement, the ability to compete in new markets. Help listeners feel the real benefit.

 #5:  The story of your mission: Is your company part of your mission in life? Do you want to make the world a better place through the product or service you provide?  Perhaps you became a lawyer because someone in your family was taken advantage of, and you want to make sure that others receive justice.  Maybe you learned martial arts because you were robbed and ended up opening a studio to teach others to be safe.  Your mission goes beyond your personal story to have a broader impact and make a difference in the world around you. Even the most mundane business can have a mission.  Maybe you repair cars, but your commitment is to keep people from being endangered by breakdowns or from losing their jobs because of unreliable transportation. How do you make a difference?

 Telling the Real Story of your business makes a powerful connection with potential customers.  It can be the springboard to compelling media coverage.  It can differentiate you from competitors in ways they can’t copy.  Once you uncover your Real Story, it affects the way you communicate about your business and the way you think about yourself, your products and your customers.

Gail Martin is a Smart Women’s Coaching Contributing Marketing  Expert.  You can read more of Gail’s Marketing Articles at www.smartwomenscafe.com

If you are really serious about becoming wealthy, there are five primary ways that fortunes are made.

Become an Entrepreneur
The number one road to riches, at the head of the list and on the top of the hit parade throughout U.S. history, is entrepreneurship, starting and building a successful business. Entrepreneurship includes every kind of business, from farming and trucking to real estate and computers. Seventy-four percent of self made millionaires in the United States, going back 200 years, come from self-owned businesses. An individual starts with an idea for a product or service, turns it into a business, builds it up from the ground floor, and as a result becomes wealthy.

Work Your Way Up

Another way to become rich is as a highly paid executive of a successful company, or as an employee of a company that awards stock options that become valuable. Ten percent of self-made millionaires in the United States are men or women who have joined large corporations, or companies that became large, and worked for these companies for many years. They usually work hard; were promoted and paid well; earned stock options, bonuses, and profit sharing; and as a result of holding on to that money, become millionaires and multimillionaires.

Become a Professional

A major source of self-made millionaires consists of professional people—doctors, dentists, lawyers, architects, engineers, and others with advanced degrees who can charge high fees for their services. These people earn their degrees and dedicate themselves to becoming very good at what they do, rise to the top of their professions, earn high incomes, and then hold on to the money. Ten percent of self-made millionaires in the United States fall into this category.

Get into Sales

An important source of self-made millionaires is salespeople and sales consultants. Five percent of self-made millionaires in the United States are men and women who are experts and at the top of their fields in selling. They never started their own businesses. Few of them went to college or earned professional degrees. Instead, they became very good at selling a product of service, and were paid well for doing it. In addition, they managed their money well, invested it intelligently, and made it grow until they were millionaires or better.

All the Others

The final 1 percent of self-made millionaires includes all the people who have made their money in the stock market, with inventions, in show business, through the authorship of books and songs, as lottery winners, and all other sources. Unfortunately, because this group gets so much publicity, many think they are typical of the people who get rich. The fact is they are quite rare.

Action Exercise

Project forward 10 to 20 years and begin imagining you perfect life. What would it look like? What steps could you take immediately to begin making it a reality?

Brian Tracy is a Contributing Expert for the Smart Women’s Coaching Institute, he has consulted for more than 1,000 companies and addressed more than 4,000,000 people in 4,000 talks and seminars throughout the US, Canada and 40 other countries worldwide. He addresses more than 250,000 people each year as a Keynote speaker and seminar leader.

He has studied, researched, written and spoken for 30 years in the fields of economics, history, business, philosophy and psychology. His top selling books have been translated into dozens of languages. He has had successful careers in sales and marketing, investments, real estate development and syndication, importation, distribution and management consulting.

Brian has traveled and worked in over 80 countries on six continents, and speaks four languages. He is also the President of Brian Tracy University, a private on-line University for sales and entrepreneurship.Brian Tracy has consulted for more than 1,000 companies and addressed more than 4,000,000 people in 4,000 talks and seminars throughout the US, Canada and 40 other countries worldwide. He addresses more than 250,000 people each year as a Keynote speaker and seminar leader.  You can visit his site here to learn more about Brian.

Interest rates are at an all time low.  My husband and I are in the process of refinancing our home from a 30 year mortgage to a 15 year mortgage, and the payment will just be slightly more than we were paying before. 

Our situation: We are actually combining our current 30 year mortgage and 30 year home equity line that were at 5.75% and 6.125% to a new combined mortgage at 4.25% 15 year amortization. 

Coming up with cash:  Our biggest fear was that we would have to come up with cash to make this happen because home values are so low.  If our house does not appraise high enough, we will need to put cash down to reduce the size of the mortgage.  The good news is if we do put down the cash (about $50,000, our payment will be less than we are paying now and we will save hundreds of thousands by paying off in 15 years rather than 30 years.

Comparable appraisals:  Many of the houses on the lake are very unique.  Ours is two cottages joined together into one house…then several additions…lots of landscaping and then waterfront on the lake and on the river.  Finding a comparable house on the lake may be difficult.  Our mortgage broker seems to think that our house will appraise high enough that we won’t need to come up with the cash.  It seems that there have been several home sales on the lake at favorable market rates.  All of this needs to be considered when making a decision to refinance.

What about closing costs?  When there are closing costs, you will need to compare those up front costs to how long it will take for you to break even.  In addition, if you have refinanced in the last few years and paid closing costs, you will want to bring those into this calculation.  In our case, there were no closing costs, so the decision was simple. 

Consolidating other debt:  I mentioned that we are combining a home equity line and our mortgage.  The home equity line was for a major home addition and a lot up north.  I don’t suggest refinancing your unsecured credit card debt into your mortgage especially if this could jeopardize your current financial situtation.  Consult with your tax advisor on this as well.

Is this a good time for you to refinance?  Do the math and see if it makes sense.   Again, consider having a discussin with a financial professional will be your best bet.  Good luck and feel free to share your experiences or ask your questions here.