The Power of Leverage

“Give me a lever long enough and a fulcrum on which

to place it, and I shall move the world.”
-Archimedes (Greek Philosopher)

As this year comes to an end, I have reflected on what an incredible year it has been.  I feel so blessed to have my own thriving business and to get up each morning looking forward to doing what I get to do, and getting paid well for it.  Very little of my life today resembles the way my life was 15 years ago.  I had a full-time job I really did not enjoy and was juggling that with the needs of my family.

For many years I was employed by someone else.  No matter how hard I worked, there was a cap on how much money I could make because there were only so many hours in the day that I could physically push myself to work.  The only way to leverage my financial resources was to invest a portion of my income and watch my money grow that way. 

When I first started my own business 13 years ago, I did not understand about leverage.  My goal was to build a full and thriving coaching and consulting practice.  About five years ago I reached the point where my practice was full.  I was working as I hard as I could, yet the income I generated was still not where I wanted it to be.  I remember how discouraged I felt.  I thought to myself, “I can’t work any harder than I’m already working!  Is this the best I can hope for?”  At that point, I realized that I could not work my way to wealth.  That’s when I started paying attention to what I was hearing about the power of leverage. I'd always heard people talk about working smarter, not harder.  I never really understood what they meant until I began to understand about leverage.

One of the first things I did was to hire a virtual marketing coach to teach me how to leverage my time by creating virtual products so I could share my knowledge with others while I was sleeping and vacationing.  My income doubled the following year.

Since developing a greater understanding about the importance of leverage, I have come to realize that everyone who has amassed wealth has not done so through their own labor alone.  They’ve either leveraged their time or invested their resources, or both.  This year I have worked with several virtual assistants – professionals who assist me by working from their own home offices.  I focus on the things that only I can do and I love doing, and I delegate as much of the rest of it as I possibly can.  Again, this is about leveraging my time.  If I tried to do everything myself, I would severely limit my productivity.

How can you maximize the power of leverage?

Leverage your time and knowledge.  These are things that you produce one time and then you receive income by selling it:

• Write a book, eBook, or eWorkbook.
• Create and sell an information product such as a DVD, CD, MP3 download, or a membership website where you post valuable knowledge that people can access for a fee.
• Develop software that solves a problem.
• Invent something that you can bring to market or license for resale.
• Offer workshops or teleseminars.  Record them and sell the recordings with an accompanying study guide.  If you have knowledge you want to sell, consider taking Alex Mandossian’s Teleseminar Secrets training, beginning December 10, 2007.  He teaches you how to create information products and effectively market them. I have already learned a lot from Alex and am taking this training myself. (All sessions will be recorded, so if you cannot attend live, you can listen later.)   I also suggest that you check out Instant Teleseminar, an excellent turn-key platform I use for teaching my own teleseminars.
• Hire others to do the things that you don’t need to do yourself. This will free you up to do the things that you do best and enjoy most.  If you are looking for a virtual assistant, visit www.AssistU.com.  Once you submit a description of what skills you are looking for, you will receive responses from qualified assistants who are available to help you.

Invest your financial resources:

• Meet with a trusted financial planner who can advise you on the best investments that match your values and your comfort with risk.  Then make your investment decisions based on how much risk you are willing to take. 
• Lease or rent out something you want to keep but are not currently using.

Start your own business:

• Buy an existing business or franchise.
• Start your own business. You can start a part-time business and reinvest the earnings so your money will grow.
• Join a network marketing company that fits with your values and is something you can get behind 100 percent.  The business model in network marketing enables you to leverage your time by building an organization and receiving revenues in the form of overrides on sales of the people in your organization.  This is one way to truly leverage.  Over time you can build a huge organization in network marketing.  

NOTE:  I started my own network marketing business two years ago and I now have an organization of more than 1000 team members.  I am earning more income from this part-time business than I am my 13-year-old consulting and coaching business.  How is this possible?  I have leveraged my time through the efforts of others whom I have trained and supported.

For most people, staying in the same 9-5 job will only slightly increase their income over time.  With the exception of a few top executive positions, most hard-working employees will not significantly build wealth until they learn to use some form of leverage. I know, because I was like a hamster on the wheel – working long hours -- until I started learning how to leverage my time, knowledge and financial assets.

Here are three tips for business owners:

1. Stop looking for prospective clients, and instead invest the next 90 days in becoming an expert on a specific topic and using your expertise to get clients to come to you.  By becoming an expert, you can do such things as write articles on your topic of expertise, hold workshops or teleseminars, and record those to sell as an audio product.  Instead of going to network meetings and trying to convince people of your value, you can simply do what you do best – share what you know about your topic and get known as THE expert to go to.  It won’t be long before you’ll find that clients will come to you!

2. Have SET work hours for your business -- especially important for home-based businesses where there’s no clear division of when you’re at work and when you’re at home.  During your set hours, do the activities that will leverage your time and bring you the greatest results.  If all you can spend is 8-10 hours a week, then make those hours really count!  If you worked for someone else, you would probably not call into work and say, “I just don’t feel like showing up today.”  Because you don’t have a “boss” to hold you accountable with your own business, it’s so easy to fall into this trap of not working when you don't feel like it.  (Be honest...how many times did you "not feel like it" when you were employed by someone else, yet you showed up and did the work because you committed to being there!)   If you treat your business as a hobby, you will get hobby results.  Commit to building your business as a profession. 

3. Get in touch with the “why” behind your business.  This is very important, because this is what will keep you going when you get discouraged.  Here’s a great exercise:

• List your top core values.  If you are having trouble doing this, write down the names of 10-20 people whom you admire.  They can be living or dead, fiction or real.  You may or may not have met them.  Just write down their names.  Then next to each name, write down adjectives that describe what it is that you admire about him/her.  These are your core values.  (Example:  Mother Teresa: compassionate, unconditional love, non-judgmental, generous, giving, loving)

• Once you have your list of core values, pull out your checkbook or last credit card statement and review it.  Do your expenditures reflect your most important values? 

If you’ve been reading my previous articles, such as What’s the Secret?, you know that I am a strong advocate of the power of “I AM” statements.  By reviewing these daily, I am aligning my intentions and actions to achieve my thirty-one “I AM” statements. 

I AM Grateful!

This year I have heavily invested in my own personal growth.  I participated in Jack Canfield’s 7-day Breakthrough to Success training, as well as his 4-day advanced training workshop.  Both were based on his bestseller, The Success Principles.  Beginning in January I will participate in Jack’s Platinum Mastermind group.  I will travel to southern California six times in 2008 for in-person sessions, and will also have monthly calls with Jack and my mastermind group.  I am also participating in The Ultimate Game of Life with Jim Bunch, a LifeSuccess coach who works with Jack.  I suspect that they will be pushing me pretty hard to walk my talk.   I am grateful for all that I have learned this year, and all that I will continue to learn in 2008.  I promise to share what I learn with you!

As 2007 draws to a close, I am filled with gratitude for all of the “I AM” statements that have manifested in my life.  Below are several of the “I AM” statements I wrote a year ago which have either already happened or are already on the calendar for early next year:

• I am enjoying the benefits of deep relaxation of body, mind and spirit as I get weekly massages.

• I have all the time I need to do what’s most important to me.

• I am following the path that God has laid out for me.

• I am going away on a weekend trip with my husband one weekend each month.  We are enjoying new mutual interests we have developed as a couple.

• I am giving generously to organizations that make a huge positive difference in the lives of others.

• I am serving others in impoverished places of the world. 

• I am singing my heart out and am expressing myself in ways that deeply connect with my soul and with others.  I am making a positive difference by sharing through song.  (Click here to listen.)

• I am an expressive actress who loves sharing the soul of my character full out.

• I am leading a team of passionate and compassionate wealth builders who are changing the world.

Best wishes for a joy-filled holiday season!