Enjoy this and remember everyone (yes even you) can make a difference to the bigger issues. You just have to decide that you want to help, put it out there, that you want to help and then take action. Don’t have to solve world hunger in one day. Just take some positive action, doesn’t have to be big, small steps as they say. Every action adds to the momentum and it builds and it builds and it builds and before long we’ve reached the tipping point.

That’s when massive change happens.      And looking back it seems so easy and it is.

The same is true in your own life. You can make a difference. You can create the life you deserve.

Decide, put what you want out there and take action. Simple! Enjoy!

Life = risk.

The key to turning this around is to learn from your mistakes. Do that consistently and those lessons will build you up and give you a sense of unshakeable confidence in you and your own sense of worth and place in the world. The feeling that, no matter what obstacles appear in your path, you will find a way over, round or underneath them. Not only will you will be okay you will be stronger and more self-reliant.

Successful entrepreneurs demonstrate this kind of powerful self-confidence and that’s what allows us to cope with all the risks of operating our own businesses.

On top of that, true self-confidence will help instil a sense of trust and teamwork in others and handled well, it can bring a sense of play and fun into your business. Isn’t that what it’s all about?

When you can triumph over adversity with ease and do it again and again, the feeling is so empowering. It won’t remove the challenges you will certainly face, but it transforms you into an on-purpose person, motivated to achieve your goals with an unshakeable sense of self-confidence. One of the key building blocks to a feeling of inner peace and happiness.

Nothing finer!

Slim walks you through nearly everything you’ll need to consider before making a major change, and not only the specifics of starting a business, but also a close-up look at the emotional issues you’ll face.

She begins with the process of deciding to depart The Cubicle (and all that entails), including identifying and managing fears.  One exercise for decreasing fear and anxiety requires four columns, entitled belief, underlying assumptions, what I need to find out and where I can find it.  Clarifying those scary thoughts and dealing with them realistically shrinks them down to size.

Slim then moves on to the nuts and bolts of business: the process of uncovering appropriate business ideas for you, assembling your team and defining the “spirit of your brand.”  The chapter on testing and failing talks about the danger of waiting to be perfectly prepared, or do perfect work.  She offers some kick-in-the-pants ideas to jump-start your process.

Another reason this book is worthwhile is that the author addresses the reality of money.  The “Making the Money Work” section offers Q&A, helps you put a figure to the value of your employee benefits, offers five ways to clean up your credit score and explores common financial patterns.  She even defines common health insurance terminology and explains how to shop for self-employed insurance.

And then it’s time to make the leap.  The final section addresses the emotional factors in how to handle friends and family, and knowing when it is time to make a graceful exit and walk out your employer’s door for the last time.

The last pages are where you’ll find a compendium of blogs and books that provide guidance on matters of finance, infrastructure and business plans.

Slim speaks not only from her experience, but also from thousands of conversations from her blog of the same name.  She uses direct language in a quick-to-read format.  Nearly every page has bullet points or lists, and the 340 page book is a relatively quick read.

Well here is the antidote. Positive media.  This is the kind of positiveness that inspires. This was produced by the company I work with. And it’s why I am so passionate about what I do and what I assist others to do. It’s from a documentary featuring a comedian named Michael Jr. who is someone who is making a positive impact in the lives of others. This is a small peek into the type of media my business opportunity offers. It’s pretty inspiring!

I hope you’ll enjoy the video as much as I did!

Well I have lost my job several times – it’s part of my story. In fact in the 30 odd years when I had a job I was made redundant 5 times. Restructured, downsized, reorganised, retrenched, outsourced.

It doesn’t matter what you call it the effect is still the same. Each time it happened it was quite a drama. It really threw me. Even after a few times and when I could see it coming it was still a shock to the system when it finally did happen. Out on the street with no money coming in. I was forced out of my comfort zone. I had to think what I wanted to do next and get out of my comfort zone. I had to write my CV or rewrite it, ask referees if they would speak for me and then look for a job that interested me (or I thought I had a chance at getting) and go through the whole process of applying to a recruitment agency, having an interview with them, getting on the shortlist for the job and then getting interviewed by the company if I was lucky. Then sitting around waiting, waiting while they took forever to make a decision. Of course in most cases this was a no, so I would start the process again and again until someone said yes. It can drag on for months and it did for me. I spent each day looking in the paper and online and phoning and talking to people I knew with nothing to show for it. It begins to sap your strength and eats into your self confidence the longer it goes on.

And I did this 4 times over the years, because that’s what you did, you went and got another job. Sure I did a lot of thinking about what I wanted to do and what sort of job I wanted and where I wanted to work and how much I wanted to be paid and what sort of industry and what sort of company and what sort of boss and what sort of culture and so on and so on.

I was on autopilot – thinking the same way that I had been taught to think all the way back since school – the way to earn money for you and your family is to get a good job – safe and secure.

Well that is just not true anymore. The job security and loyalty is just not there. The business landscape is changing more rapidly. The pressure on traditional businesses to perform for their owners is greater now than it has ever been. For these traditional businesses competition is more intense, costs are higher. They are forced to make tough decisions on an almost daily basis. If you are an employee you are at risk of being a victim of circumstance. I know, I have been made redundant 5 times.

Not only have I been on the end of being made redundant but as a company executive I had to make people redundant too, hundreds over my “job” career. And yes we had all the good corporate names for names for it too – outsourced, downsized, restructured, reorganised. So I guess I really should have known that job security was a myth. When I talked to many of the people who had been redundant at the time they were told about it, they were devastated. For some of them they had spent their whole working life at the company. But, when I spoke to those same people a while later after the initial shock had passed it was a different story. For lots of them it had turned into a good thing. It had forced them out of their comfort zone and opened their eyes to all the possibilities the world has to offer. I actually had people come up to me and thank me.

I should have listened to them! Because it wasn’t until the 5^th time I was made redundant (maybe I’m a slow learner!) and after several months on being on that autopilot, that I saw something that really made me think – What do I really want to do? What do I enjoy in my life? What is important to me? Is there another way of earning the money that I’m really worth, not what someone else thinks they can afford to pay me?

And of course the answer is yes, but until I saw that ad and read it through and spoke to someone who opened my eyes to what really is possible I hadn’t really thought about it.

So I decided to take on something new, to take charge of my financial destiny and become independent. Free from jobs and bosses and 9 to 5 and commuting and begging for time off to be with my family. I found a fantastic opportunity to get paid what I’m really worth, to enjoy the lifestyle I want and to develop myself along the way. I found a way to take me where I want to go and a fantastic group of people, all enthusiastic to help me achieve my goals.

So it is the best thing that ever happened to me, well apart from meeting my wife, that is!

To find out more and see if it’s right for you click here to  Cutloose.  Have a good look around my website and then make the right decision for your future. As the old Chinese saying goes:

“A gem cannot be polished without friction, nor a person perfected without trials.”

I’m also going to be sharing my ideas about home businesses and working for yourself and what I believe are the things that go to make up the home based business opportunity that is right for you.

I will even put some fun and humour in here because I know that has a really important part to play too.

As you may have guessed I do believe that in my case all these things are very connected. My business is an integral part of me achieving success in everything in my life – financial freedom, time freedom, awesome relationships, thought freedom, enjoyment freedom and whatever else comes up for me as I enjoy the journey that life has to offer. At the heart of this freedom is the freedom to use my brain to think the thoughts that give me my inner peace and for me I have defined this as 3 things – happiness freedom and joy. Fun and humour are one tool that will unlock your creativity and thrust new ideas into your mind.

And you know it all comes down to how we think. Sounds really simple, I know and it is, and there are many, many resources that we can use to help us on our path. I will share with you the ones that I find along the way.

So to start us off here’s a quote from Buddha:

“All that we are is the result of what we have thought. The mind is everything. What we think, we become.”