LEARNING THE ART

Making money is not all that difficult, it's only people that confuse the issue.  Just ask yourself what ways are available to you to make money, not just a couple of quid, a salary of 20, 30, 40, 50, 60 or even a 100,000, I mean a major injection of life changing cash. What are you good at, what limits your income in the marketplace? If you are working for someone then you will be doing your forty a week for a wage and that is all you will ever look forward to, unless that is you have your eye on another ball, in fact another game completely. Maybe a best selling novelist or a reality star, maybe a unique idea that if you had the money would make you a rich person overnight, lots of possibilities but all with long odds I'm afraid. If you are reckoning on making your fortune as an entrepreneur of some sort, you will have to learn one fundamental skill, the ability to sell you ideas. Now sales is the purge of the human mind, most people either hate the dreaded salesperson or resent the freedom a true purveyor of words has at his or her disposal. But if you want to break the mould and lift yourself to a higher plane of wealth you will need to accept that the skill of selling as an essential tool in your success box. Without this acceptance you are unlikely to accomplish the climb to your goal, as much as you will find a lack of practice in the oral arts is just as debilitating to your dreams. As a seasoned entrepreneur of some thirty years at the preverbal front or face of the pits of business, my own interest in potential individuals to work with begins with an individuals understanding of the power of influence. This starts with an empathetic understanding of others needs, wants and desires, combined with the ability to use this knowledge in a positive way.  The overwhelming majority of people fail to recognise their lack of ability in this area, as much as their own assessment of halitosis should they become victim to a septic gob. It's sad to see so many people not achieve their full potential, purely for a lack of the right word to say at the right time. It's not a difficult knowledge to learn but it's a very elusive knowledge to find. This is the key to this project; finding people who can accept and master this essential part of the success game, people who can take on an equal responsibility in the success of this endeavour by taking the right action for themselves.

THE CHALLENGE

So let's look at the challenge again. Firstly both you and I have to realise success is an internal challenge that manifests is self into our external realities. This means whatever you think will have a demonstrable effect on the life you lead. Now before you get the idea I'm a master of this science, believe me I'm not. We all have our crosses to bare and our problems to sort out, and as life goes on somehow the problems get easier but the issues become more complex.  Having always been a highly analytical person, I can really piss myself off (just as much as with other people I will concede) with the level of complexity I make life become. It's a skill to be able to take complex issues apart and put them back together again, but it's also a bit of a pain as most of life is very very simple. So with this little enterprise keeping it simple is the key and hence why I've cut the web site down to one page and as few words as I could. All I want is to find people who want to make a million and are prepared to do what it takes to make it happen without moaning or becoming negative because it wasn't all done for them. As you know, the success game is based on people helping each other, which many individuals have seen as a basic flaw in the idea because when it comes to money people have the habit of turning to help themselves. But the purpose of this cause is not simply money it's about people realising that we are far better of helping, coaching and mentoring each other to achieve a common goal than remaining in the world of consumer competition.  The success game is about seven conversations of success, each person doing their part to help others through those conversations. But the right packaging of the game has eluded me so far, hence why I'm now taking the simplistic approach of just finding people who would like to make the million and then go from there. It should be an easy conversation, that's what I want to find, but so far it's been very very difficult to find the magic, almost to a point whereby I can't see the answer ever happening. But whatever gets said or done here, God loves a trier so I'm just going to have to rely on his judgement. Hopefully we will move forward with people realising that to make a change in society you have to have wealth and a common cause to do it,  hopefully they won't be mutually exclusive.

CONFIDENCE

Confidence  It's an amazing drug. Worth more in good feelings and possibilities than all the cocaine, pot and speed you could ever get your hands on. It's infectious too, people want confidence, they know how much power there is in that single most important of words. But it's an illusive drug. You can tell yourself you're confident, you can try to brain wash yourself into believing your convincing everyone you are, but nine out of ten times it's a facade, a front held in place by the ego fooling some but not all, least of all you. So what is pure unadulterated confidence, where does it come from and what makes it so special. Well confidence comes from certainty, in an outcome, or a skill, confidence comes from a belief in happy endings or a religion, but in truth these are simply scaffolds to hang confidence on like a structure that needs to be in place so we can feel confident for the moment, it's a relationship with an outside entity that gives us the excuse to feel confident. Unfortunately if the belief in a certain outcome is never realised, a skill becomes redundant or a religion is flawed confidence seeps away and the feeling of certainty is left as a shadow where all the promise once lived.  This is disappointment in not just the loss of confidence but the realisation it was only an illusion in the first place. Now theres a crisis in mis placed confidence, like a fighter who looses for the first time....invincibility gone..however misguided the ego, the pieces can never be put back again. Like a relationship that's pure and everything we hoped for, but in reality is fallible like all human endeavour and once broken like a perfect vase can never be put back together again. All confidence and trust gone. Confidence in ones ability to be right, to succeed, not to fail is another illusion. Everything is relative to the time, the place and the situation, one day what we feel is perfect, the next no longer retains it's allure.  The lesson to learn is that confidence built around these transitory scaffolds is a short term illusion, that whilst it's power is highly addictive and desirable, always ends up as an empty cup. So where does true confidence exist. Is it feeling worth to another, to society, is it feeling valued and recognised. Is it belonging and being believed in. Or might it just be something altogether more illusive but none the less simple. Life is going to challenge everything you think or believe in from time to time. That's what life is about. Having it easy is not the point. We can either be challenged by the world we live in or challenge the world, either way it's how we ultimately play the game that counts. I remember the olds phrase 'it's not the winning that matters it's the taking part and how your play that really counts.' To have true confidence in life, it really must only come down to how you face success and failure and treat those two impostors just the same. We are after all, all at sea all of the time never knowing where the currents of life will take us next, seeking certainty is easy if you learn how to bend with the wind and go with the flow. Giving up on forcing life is the key to allowing yourself to become truly confident and at peace with yourself. Allow opportunity to come towards you and then direct that energy, it's the place where real confidence lies, never to be doubted or lost.

PYRAMID PUBLISHING

Ideas As you will appreciate from the bulk of this blog the ideas that run through my small but insignificant mind are all based on making a million very quickly. It's not actually about the money, it's the challenge. The amount is just a figure, it's creating methods to get there that intrigue me, so ultimately it's a game. I'm always interested in meeting people who would like to create ways to achieve a mutual goal, but unfortunately they are very few and far between, most people are happy being unhappy with their lot, maintaining their tread water lifestyle through inactivity and inaction. Nothing wrong with that at all, but for me a life less ordinary is all I've ever really wanted, so the thought of dropping into normality with the rest of humanity is actually an extremely scary prospect, one that actually I would find life threatening if by some odd circumstance I had to settle for it. I'm not saying it's bad, but for me I just don't have the right blood to settle for mediocrity..it's just not in me.  People are very different, some settle for what they can get and others keep trying to get what they can't have. The first group is infinitely larger than the second. I've often thought of people in relation to water. You have those who like living by lakes, others who like non tidal rivers, whilst I have a particular affinity towards estuary people, others like the Coastal feel. A very few these days like the solitary life on the sea, but many actually prefer to be completely land locked with aspirations for freedom every time a puddle occurs or a pond is built in a back garden. Water represents freedom and movement to me, those of the land don't actually understand how deep these rivers of affinity run, just like feng shui if the furniture in your house is placed incorrectly you feel odd , the placement of your mind is equally relevant and powerfully debilitating if you get it wrong...is it any wonder people age so quickly...DNA it could be, but I'm sure people rot because they have their feet planted in the wrong grow bag.  One method does come to mind again and again, mainly because every time I ever talk about making money it's the first reactionary words to spill from the mouths of the masses, MLM. Most haven't a clue what that subject actually is but none the less ignorance speaks first..but very rarely thinks later, because if ignorance did have the capacity to analyse it wouldn't talk with the brain disengaged.  I like the idea of a pyramid style book publishing company, and whilst I've played with the idea a few times I've never actually put any heart or soul behind it. So I have it in mind to scratch the itch and set about developing one. The formulae is very simple: all books cost £20 with a £5 referral fee and five further levels of payment totalling £10. As the books cost 5-6 pounds to produce that leaves a small margin. So whatever book gets recommended by the purchaser to another purchaser a commission is due. It's a simple referral program and ideally if each person sold 10 books to ten people who read and sold ten books everyone would be a wise millionaire very quickly. But I'd like to move on a little to start helping people write their own books to immediately go into the pyramid publishing pot, and for those of you who would like to learn a little English, that's alliteration for you.

THE MONEY FLOW

Money and the flow of energy  If you open your heart to love the energy of love will surely follow...or find you. It's exactly the same with money or any other energy you would like to attract..however to receive you have to give which means there is a transaction in action, a moment if you like and you will need to develop your skills as a conduit of the energy you seek to manifest the commodity into your life. This means you need to find a way money can pass through your hands to generate more. Working for so done is one way, but you will always be limited by salary and time. To create real wealth you will need to loosen the bonds  on  how much money can be attracted into your life and how much can be spent. It sounds quite simple and to be honest it is, but it's the hardest trick for the majority of the planet. Some horde, and in so doing gather wealth, but this does not enable the individual to turn the wealth in to another energy like love..only a large bank account ..hence the saying money doesn't bring you happiness. No it doesn't but what it does do is provide you with a currency to be exchanged. Ultimately, if you seek real wealth the only method to create larger sums is to develop a method for money to make money , not simply the exchange if time and services. This is the true alchemy of wealth and one people are reluctant to learn and society is set fast against teaching.  To make a million from £100 is perfectly possible and perfectly legal if the success game is followed. Rather than being a conventional exchange of money for services it's simply a different take, but so far I've hound people are so entrenched in conformity even their desire for more and the need for wealth is undermined by the lack of insight into how those who are rich stay rich and why those who are poor remain so. It's an interesting challenge in every conversation I have and as yet I still need to find the right method of delivery of the message to those who are too blind to see and too deaf to hear, not out of any physical deformity, but certainly a mental block to growth of their own resources both physically and mentally.

EMPATHETIC WAY

So Autumn is  here with a bit of a wet and windy start...a sign of things to come with a cozy winter. So far I've been through quite a number of alternative routes to get things moving in the right direction over the last few weeks. One area that keeps coming up is empathy...or more to the point empathy training. Learning the true meaning of the empathetic way is probably the most important lesson life will ever teach you whatever your background, expertise or future. Just for those who are unaware of the difference between those who are empathic and those who are sympathetic, one means you cry with another person, the other means you step in their shoes and understand their pain, and through understanding another's views, prejudices, and behavioural habits you can be just that bit closer to helping yourself and other people.  You see the empathetic person has the ability to step outside of their own needs and understand another's, this means the skill of a manager, a politician, a salesperson, a leader, or anyone in a relationship will be considerably more effective than the non empathetic soul. For some it is very difficult to adopt the way of the empathiser, but none the less it is the future, the way for humanity to evolve from a little self obsessed to a more tolerant and understanding race. It's not an easy way of living for it requires the individual to put aside their own prejudices, preconceived ideas, and  assumptions, sometimes believing in a certain way gives us strength and a potential unity comes from others no matter how misplaced the beliefs of a group may be. Falling in line with the beliefs of a group allows people to sense belonging, a powerful drug of personal identification, a basic tribal instinct if you like. The more you grow intellectually and spiritually the less these basic motivators matter if they did at all in the first place for you. But whilst the group attraction remains, it allows people to be manipulated  by those who would manipulate for gain.  Freedom of thought from the influence of groups or your own behavioural limitations is the inspiration we should all try to aspire to, although it is as I said not an easy route. To be open enough in mind to truly step into someone else's shoes and see with their eyes, hear with their ears and feel just like them is a practiced art, and a potentially scary one because it will open your mind to seeing 'you' from their point of view...this can be a revealing and empowering lesson, one that really is the bedrock of our evolution as a single race. Having a conversation the other day on nationalism, the way of the empathetic mind allowed me to develop other people's thoughts and challenge their prejudices very quickly. Everyone wants things to be better, with more give than take, some peace and love, but through empathising with their hopes and dreams and then their criticisms of others they start to see that their own thought pattern are actually self defeating in the goals they so earnestly professed to desire.

MUSLIM MADNESS

Having a conversation about the fractional nature of humanity today , it seems impossible to bring to mind a time in the near or distant future whereby people relate to each other as equals and are of the same species.  People love to be part of a group, they are programmed to identify themselves from an early age into the mind set of them and us. From opposing football clubs to family ties, from national pride into religious sectarian beliefs. Into male and females, young and old, the list is endless and is the major reason why people can hate, kill, or generally behave in a manner that is not exactly becoming of a gentleman. We are all faced with the dilemma of how we should treat our fellow man on a daily basis, we all have choices to make all of the time relating to which group we belong to and how far we will go to honour that decision to join that particular group. When it comes to fundamentalism, and the abuse of power to manipulate the masses...through national pride by governments, through defence of a 1400 year old prophet against a silly internet film , or the IRA looking for new terrorist the method is always the same. Let's find some young disaffected, up for a fight young people ..mainly males and get them to rally to the cause...which ultimately can lead to atrocities. Government exists for a number of reasons that I can't say I actually like, but frankly my thoughts on that are about as relevant to the world as a goldfish swimming in soup, but unfortunately the fear is and always has been the mob ...getting upset with whatever the people who run the mob choose to create as the cause for power or for money, in exactly the same way as a government governs.  To be honest, it's all rather sad really, especially the recent Muslim protests for a film that was aired to 10 people and then obviously used as a vehicle to create trouble . Muslims should be ashamed of themselves for being so easily excited..or is it back to young disaffected people having a ruck rather than actually trying to create a better world the prophet was after in the first place. Maybe the point is too many people have lost the point of existence In the fist place ...to learn to be a single race unified in our thinking and in no way allowing emotion to cloud our judgements to a point where you kill people with an opposing view, maybe even the same view just born into a different group to you. As you will appreciate I'm not a member of a religious club...a subject FatMan is my way of dealing with. If you think there is a single good reason to hate another person, you are not a true Muslim, you are not a true Christian, you are not living up to the truth of what it is to be human...or humain. When the penny drops and people find 'them and us' is a stupid fruitless cause of self indulgent crap then we might just evolve to become something more than we are, until then my project has a difficult future. This is one of the issues I for one wish to face and take action over..and with a few good people who are prepared to do something a little different to make a change you never know, sometimes dreams come true.

UNCLE TOM

Just thinking of Old Uncle Tom's Cabin ... No I don't have an uncle who lives in a cabin .....just the question 'can one book change the world' and this one certainly did. Beecher Stowe published Uncle Tom's Cabin  in 1852 and by the outbreak of the American civil war in 1861, it had sold 4 million copies making Beecher the most famous author in the world. Notable not for it's literary quality or over sentimental story, but how it change peoples thoughts towards slavery..the book Abraham Lincoln referenced when he met Stowe as the book that started the great war.

I don't think I'll win any prizes for literary prose either, but it's the message within my books I'd like to think might have an effect on the world.. it's a common goal for a writer. But the difficulty is how to get people to look not just beneath the surface but actually see what is infront of their eyes. In a world where  information overload cloggs every media, the simple story of life can sometimes seem lost.

FatMan is a simple story, but none the less getting someone to open a book and see what's inside is very difficult. Over the weekend I met a young man who's focus was on the type face of the cover...not the 300 pages inside. In publishing it is undoubtedly the envelope of the letter that gets the sale, but as a writer you would like comment on the words. There are those who read and those who watch and those who do. There's a bit of each in us all but all of one is never good.

My Epitaph Our Legacy was written with a view to changing the world, and of all my books it's the one  when people on the tube look over my shoulder brings an immediate effect ...laughter.  It's a great feeling to inspire an emotion in people, a change of state or confidence, but with this project I'm after something more, a bigger change. It's a huge task, it's a massive ask, and one so far in the year has been ultimately nothing more than an experience. But it ain't over till the FatMan sings and there's enough time left in the bottle to hit a home run yet...lady luck might just take a fancy to me after all.

FAITH IN A PLOT

Finding the right course to your future can sometimes be a little arduous and bemusing. To relax and let the fates decide the course of your future is a very difficult approach to take in life...on one side it could be seen as rolling over and letting life's rhythms control your destiny, on the other it could be viewed as the ultimate faith.

To see yourself as a victim of life is not exactly healthy, better to be a passenger or driver, two roles we have to play from time to time, for the story of our lives is being told as we go, chapters that whilst are written are new to us. This can be a scary thought and bemusing to realise that whilst the plot is written it is also up to us to determine it's direction and final outcome. The truth is we are both drivers and passengers at the same time, we have control to write an already written plot. This may sound a little contradictory, but the universe is based on multiple simultaneous possibilities, all leading to an ultimate purpose. It's difficult to get your head around, but once you give it a go, things start to fit into place... But only with a little faith. 

INSPIRATION

Getting the old grey matter back to work and on a mission with one hundred million has been like wading through toffee with a velvet suit on. Most of what's going on in the background of my life I will save for the next book simply because I don't want to bore people with life's little problems. The more you get involved in diversions of the material kind the more the creative force we all have access to is stifled, hence why my posts have become shorter and sporadic. However, for us all the answers to our prayers, hopes dreams and desires are all around us if we choose to look.

Convincing people to get involved. With the success game has been hard, and sometimes you could be forgiven for thinking it's you or the idea that's wrong. But simply the hurdle of conservatism and reluctance of the Market has always been an issue since time began. Having a great or silly idea is to a degree irrelevant, it's the method of delivery to the Market and the turn of the tide in your direction that's the difficult bit, and with this project it's also the rapid money side that gives the whole thing a bit of steam.

Two things yesterday served to kick start my mind. Firstly Tarot. I've always been intrigued how a deck of cards can provide an insight into the problems you face. Whoever put together the explanation of each cards history on my deck had to possess a great understanding of social conditioning and awareness of the archetypal problems we all face. But whatever the explanations of each of the cards, cutting the deck and having the card that describes the moment to a T is a very strange occurrence again and again.

Moving on to the second interesting motivator, the BBC3 TV program Be Your Own  Boss. Why it was interesting was simply the three ideas that got to the latter stages for investment...
1. No real idea but potential from two inventors of gadgets.
2. A £60 camping outfit for festivals called Lazy Camper
3. Custom coloured bikes called Mango.

Of the three the bikes got £50k and rightly so... But it's the fact there's so many people wanting to come up with ideas and these were the best that makes you draw your own conclusions. 

So with this in mind I'm after finding people with ideas rather than pushing my own. OHM will be a club for people who  either have the creative sense, the entrepreneurial desire or the action ability to what to make a million out of £100. The success game gives them a path and a format whatever to work on whilst they create their own suggestion... but not just for it's own sake...it will have to be viable in principle...

To lead the way I've created three ideas, firstly My Epitaph which allows people to get their own work published in a book and take a share of the profit, secondly the Success Game which as you know is based on finding seven ambitious people in seven weeks,  and thirdly my multi level book writing &referral program which means by buying a book and recommending it you get paid a slice of the royalties...think a share of 40 million with Fifty Shades and you will see the idea has merit.

So I'm out flogging memberships directly to see if I can find some creatives, entrepreneurs, or men and women of action to join the cause....

ONE YEAR OLDER

Taking a little time out to celebrate my birthday over the last few days hence my absence ...how old ...too old...but who cares...it's a one way trip to to eternity and I'm on the downward run now in the wrong direction. A downward run sounds alot easier than an up hill climb but in age terms I'm not so sure it is. Anyway the inevitable ageing  process is upon me which means a host of saggy bits..maybe if I stand on my head for a couple of days everything will return to the start position. 

This project has been a tiring one, especially the financial constraints, but its been very revealing as to my own character and those of others. Unfortunately the ability of humanity to shoot itself in the foot is probably known throughout the universe and as such makes swimming against the flow very hard indeed. But none the less one has to keep moving forward whatever the hurdles, pitfalls or challenges. Ultimately we are only competing with ourselves in our abilities to influence our environments to take us in the right direction. It's a bit of a game of solitaire really, with to opposing sides within the one fighting to take charge.

Sometimes you can feel your just treading water or going round in circles, but whatever the pressures a deep resolve and a firm commitment to the task in hand is what's required, so banish any negative thoughts and take the right action where appropriate and bide your time, the wheels of the universe turn whatever day of the week it is, so rest assured whilst you may find life is a little slow at times, remember all works  in good time, patience is a virtue and a whole load of other sayings that don't seem to add up to much but do seem to provide a semblance of understanding of all the trials and tribulations we face from time to time.  

On ward and upward, and as FatMan would say 'to the winner the cake!'

THE PRICE OF SUCCESS

The price of success, well there's a thing...how much is it worth to you....usually the price is failure again and again until it either makes or breaks you. Success is easy for some but for the majority the price of that most elusive of goals is years of dedication to the the task. 

If you're born with a beautiful face or a beautiful body in a world where how you look gets you through the front door you will be doing very well, but what's between your ears is going to really keep you in the frame, and if your haven't got the visual appeal to be invited into the party, then just find a way to kick the doors in, either in the front or round the back.

Basically your resolve will keep you in play for success but you do have to want to play in the first place, you do have to what to go after the prize..whatever that is for you. 

As we progress with the million in one year, just like sitting back and leaving a novel for a few weeks and then coming back to it, you get a fresh perspective of where you need to change and what you need to add. The game is one way, the entrepreneurial program is another, my epitaph is also a method, as well as good old FatMan, but these are just a few ideas...and I'd like to expand to work with others to the same goal, so there are layers of projects working at once. Sounds complicated but fundamentally the structure is there to invite anyone to join in even without an idea.. just a bit of ambition. So with this in mind one hundred million becomes a club..not just an entrepreneurial club but for anyone who wants to suck a little more of the juice out of existence,rub away the sleep of indecision and take some action to make a success out of something rather than sit back and make a success at being nothing.

A BIT OF DESTINY

So September begins and it's back to normality with everyone finally stepping off the plane, and back into the seat of destiny. Ok well a bit over the top but there's nothing like a little bit of destiny to take you forward, a bit of fate in the mix, ask yourself what's your destiny, what would you like it to be, what has it been and can it change. ...do you want it to change.. Do you want to forge your own way in this life, to strike out and cut your own path across the stars...to become a star.. a shooting star no less, full of star dust ready to bring forth from the cosmos, a triumph of achievement never before seen and probably never seen again.

Achievement, now there's a word to inspire those who chance to dream a dream..so wants yours ..do you have one ..and what have you done to make it real...sitting on your arse is always popular, doing nothing but a repetitive job is always a great way to live and selected by the overwhelming majority, but to anyone with the remotest semblance of creative juice running through their veins it's a bad day in hell. 

So what does all this add up to...just a feeling, an emotion, a belief to do more and be more, whatever the past has furnished you with...it's brought you right to this moment right now...a momentous  moment ..as each one is ...so this is the beginning and it's time to get started with the right attitude and the right action to make it happen...whatever 'it' is.

SELF CRITIQUE

What makes you different from the crowd? Or are you happy to follow the herd? After all there's  a considerable amount of security being hidden in the herd of humanity, away from the spotlight but possibly believing you are so much more. Many people feel they are 'undiscovered' ( who by and what exactly for is un clear) simply because they have a nagging feeling they should be something more. But the question is how do you become something more without having the herd recognise you as something more and in so doing draft you back into the herd. Can you be something more than you are without the recognition of others... Just purely by self recognition...and what actually is more, when would you know that you've achieved it ...fame ...fortune....the adulation of the masses or interviews on TV ..does all this make you something more than the man or woman next to you, is this the way to realise your full potential and feed the need to be right, to be superior?

Conversations amuse me purely because people spend so much time belittling others or criticising behaviour ( not their own) to gain energy, to feel empowered by voicing a criticism.... who do they think they are , why would they say that, that's not what they said they would do, that's not what i was told, why would they do that, be that ...sitting in judgement of others... we all do it especially when we are offended and it is a very bad habit. There is no rule book on behaviour other than social etiquette, but most of the negative critique comes from not understanding other people's view points, or more importantly setting  oneself up above others. 

Before criticising... step into the other persons shoes, think with their thoughts and try to understand ....see if you can ...it's quite a challenge.