Wondering when the $1000 bill will come back

Believe it or not, the United States used to print a one thousand dollar bill. With all the printing of money by the federal reserve you can be sure it won't be long even a $100 bill won't buy you much. Even today $100 is a night at the movies for a family of 4.

While the $1000 bill was taken out of circulation back in 1969, there are still a few of these floating around. Some say the Treasury stopped printing these because of the drug trade, in reality back in the 1960's and 70's one thousand dollars was a lot of money. Today not so much.

So before it happens take action now, one day will will see one thousand, ten thousand and even possibly one-hundred thousand dollar bills. When a fiat currency has no constraints on printing, it will return to it's "intrinsic value" which is the value of the paper.

They [the government] says that inflation is under control and low. But if you are one buying gas, groceries, and other goods you will probably think differently. Even a conservative estimate is that we have 5-7% inflation and even higher when you look at the costs of contining education.

How can you protect yourself from inflation? Is there any hope?


You can begin right now! Start a inflation proof business. Something that will increase when the higher inlfation hits.
As they say, find a product that is consumable, one that you can get repeat commissions on and one that is needed whether times are good or times are tough!

The distractions of life

Those life distractions just seem to keep getting in the way of what I really want to do. That is to continue helping others find their way in mine field of economic survivalism.  With a graduated daughter my stomach turns as I watch this beautiful, smart and outgoing young lady have to go out into the jungle we call adulthood. I know it's really not much different than 23 years ago when I stepped out on my own. Well, maybe it's a little different. We do have the largest economic downturn since the great depression. Plus we are staring at the Tsunami off shore called the "Great Collapse". But really it boils down the street smarts that you learn, the mistakes that you made and the relationships you create.

So lets get down to it. Get through those distractions, it's more like work past them or work in spite of  them. You are going to have distractions, they are all around us. For me, it's the dogs need let out, ooops the dogs want back in. Darn the door bell rang it's the UPS man. Oh a package, what shiny object is in the box. Darn the phone ran (telemarketer). Oh Crap I forget to pay the water bill. Now where was I? That's about how this post has gone. Really I started it over 1 week ago, good thing blogger has an autosave and draft feature.

Street Smarts
What exactly does that mean. Well Street Smarts is what you learn by doing. In the Army we called that OJT or On the Job Training. You see what happens is you are assigned a mentor, someone with the experience that you are looking for. Then you follow them around, learn what they do. This type of training is where you can learn very quickly if you have have the right mentor.

Relationships
The relationships you create can help you when the chips are down. During any period in the economy only a portion of the population will be out of work or down on their chips. If you are well connected, you could be able to find a new job faster, or if you are business owner your connections can help you get more business through referrals.  The larger your network the better chance of doing better at your "economic survival".

Lastly I wanted to talk about education. Now a days it seems that everyone has a college degree, but still many are out of work and can't find a job. There is a large portion of recent college graduates that have moved back home and are unable to find work. Why is this? I firmly believe it is a direct result of their network. If you can manage to get through college this means you have the ability to think, and learn.


I would recommend the book, "The Little Black Book of Connections" by Jeffrey Gitomer. This book will give you valueable insights on how important your network is.

The education part that I am talking about is educating your self on a variety of ideas, skills, and jobs. The jack of all trades master of none will be able to feed himself long after the Master Wagon builder or typewriter maker or  goes out of business and is living on welfare. The real key is to learn something new every day. There are so many books, internet articles, instruction videos, podcasts etc there is no reason not to just do it.

So get off the TV, stop playing games, and get to work on your economic survival.

Economic Survival Articles

http://www.usatoday.com/news/offbeat/2009-04-14-survivalistsinside14_N.htm
Did some recent searches on economic survival and found some really great articles.
USA today had one talking about the subject: Economic survivalists take root, and what I keep finding is the talk of food storage, downsizing, moving out to the boonies to live on a farm.

This article misses the boat. The key idea is to create your own economy by finding your own personal talents that you can share with others. Learning to taking what you are passionate about and turning that income an income producing occupation is the key. Why would you want to move out to the country and feed pigs and can your vegetables when you would be  better off staying where you are (your contacts, friends, and network are there) so why leave all of that?


My advice is to start right now on your plan "B". That thing you have always wanted to do, incorporate this into your daily life and over time you will be able to turn your plan B into your A plan. Over 10 years ago I took a different direction, I started something that I believed would be my passion in life. Over that time the economy has gotten good, bad and ugly. Overall my business has continued to increase double digits per year. The more I learn, the more people I meet the easier it gets. Now that I have turned my plan B into my main income producing venture. 


Finding ideas for your plan B takes trial and error. I know folks that have started several different things before they found what worked for them. (and most of them didn't have to move out to a farm and start raising chickens and pigs). Over the years, I have read and recommended folks to take a look at the book 48 Days to the Work You Love: Preparing for the New Normal. Dan Miller goes through the process to help you find your passion. 


Sometimes starting a new business venture requires that you put front money that you don't have. Honestly I don't recommend doing this. Unless you have succeeded at business in the past, taking your life savings and gambling on a new business could have a detrimental effect if you don't know what you are doing.


One thing that I have recommended for people is to find something you can do part time as you build up, you can then return more and more profits back into the business. This earn while you learn can give you the time to make mistakes without going broke. And believe me, you will make mistakes. 


Unless your passion is to sell everything you own, move out to the country and start a farm, don't do it. Start right now, by finding your passion then going out and doing it.


Your economic survivalist.

Talk of Survival

Lately there have been a higher than normal amount of survival shows on TV and the internet. From shows like Dual Survival, Survivor-man, Man Woman Wild and the always funny and sometimes stupid Man vs Wild. There are many other shows that have been on and I just love to watch them, some are about an apocalyptic survival situation and others like "lost" are about plane crashes and what have you.

What I would like to comment on is that all the survival training, and such is just a bunch of "living the woods eating grubs" kind of talk.

If "The World as We Know it" changes tomorrow, it will come down to your relationships with others that will get you through it. It doesn't matter how much gold, stored food, bullets for your Glock you have. Unless you have others to lean on you won't make it.

We are a society, but when society breaks down it will break down to "Tribes" and who is in your tribe or group is important. You make or break it on your relationships.

You ask, well how to get my tribe together in place? The answer is get out. Get out and start meeting like minded people. There are many different types of groups you could join. Many of them are local. You can start looking online at place like www.meetup.com or you could look for groups in your local newspaper.
Myself I belong to several groups like Clarksville Networking Group and Provident Living Nashville as well as several motorcycle related groups. On top of that I have many business partners, and customers that are in my network.

I use the internet as well as local face to face meetings to keep up with everyone. Facebook and other social networks are great ways to stay in touch, but also be sure to have a way to get in touch with those in your network if the internet goes down. This is also a great reason to have a local group to be part of. If you know where they live, and they know where you live and something happened you could at least drive over and rely on each other.

Another reason to have a network of people you can call on is because there is no way you can do it all. You might be a jack of all trades, but I'm sure there is something you can't, or don't want to do. For instance I can't weld, work on cars, do electrical, and I'm sure many other things. What I do know how to do is learn quickly figure out what who can do it right and put others in contact with them. I'm a networker, my job is to know who does what the best.

So instead of sitting in front of the TV watching so called "survivalists" eat grubs, slugs, snake and drink urine go out and meet those around you. Your life might depend on it.

Economic Survival, become an Entrepreneur

Listed to a great video by Cameron Herold on teaching kids on becoming an entrepreneur. "Buy low, sell high" kids know this stuff.

Bored in school, failing classes, at odds with peers: This child might be an entrepreneur, says Cameron Herold. At TEDxEdmonton, he makes the case for parenting and education that helps would-be entrepreneurs flourish -- as kids and as adults.

http://www.ted.com/talks/cameron_herold_let_s_raise_kids_to_be_entrepreneurs.html

Very interesting his take on the skills to teach our kids.

In order for the next generation to survive, they are going to need these skills. The world is changing, and evolving. Change is good for those that accept the fact that good things will come to those ready to adapt to that change.

Send this to every parent you know. I know that I am glad that I'm an entrepreneur!

Happy New Year. It's 2011

In reality New Years is just another day on the calendar. I don't understand why it's celebrated so much. Really, why do folks need a reason to party. If you want to stay up til mid-night, get drunk, kiss another drunk person why not just do it? Why wait until that one day of the year when you take down an old calendar and put a new one up? Oy Vey! Ahh too much pondering this early.

For me, the new year is not a time to celebrate, but more a time for peaceful reflection, as well as enthusiastic anticipation looking towards a new goal, a new year and bigger and better things. Those New Years resolutions are not something I normally follow. I do look back on what worked last year to decide if I want to keep doing what I'm doing or make changes. This year will bring about a few changes, mostly in they way I'm doing things.

For one, I'm glad to have started this blog. The good news is that I will keep doing this for the foreseeable future. People need to know what Michael Sparks is up to. People also need inspiration, knowledge and helping reaching their own personal goal. The future for most people is a scary thing. We are still reading of layoffs, downsizing, and jobs moving overseas. I just can't help but think what it will take to survive in the next 5, 10, 20, 50 years. As they say Times are Changing, and if you are not ready or willing to change with the times you will become obsolete.

I'm starting to change the focus of this blog form one of business building to one of Economic Survival. That's your economic survival. Not only building business but ideas that will help you get through what lies ahead. I don't claim to know all the answers. What I do know is that I have a genuine interest in helping others, and want to help make this world a better place. Lets start off 2011 right by joining together and helping each other.

Top things to do in 2011 to help with your own personal economic situation.

1. Pay off your bills. Dave Ramsey in The Total Money Makeover: A Proven Plan for Financial Fitness says start with smallest to largest, no matter what the interest rate is. This is more feeling that it is numbers. As you pay off those bills you will gain momentum.
2. Work on your own personal residence. How can you make it more efficient?
3. Drive Less
4. Learn to do more things yourself. Do you pay others to do things like mow the yard, or fix things. Learn to do it yourself.
5. Get rid of your TV. Or at least get rid of the Cable/Dish. Even if you still want something to watch, check out Netflix. For $10 per month you can watch all kinds of movies, TV series and more.
6. Get out and walk or exercise. This will help you in the long run reduce your health care expenditures.
7. Work part time or start your own business. Think of something you enjoy doing and try to earn money with this.
8. Take a backyard vacation. Instead of going somewhere why not spruce your own place up, and take a vacation at home? Saves money and increases the value of your home.

These are just a few money saving ideas that I have done that has saved me money.

On starting and building a business, which is my forte consider a home based business. This will allow you to take deduction on your taxes. Also consider a business that has consumable products that need to be bought and used on a regular basis. It just seems smart to get paid over and over again for one initial effort.
On the DVD Brilliant Compensation DVD, Tim Sales explains how network marketing / MLM works and how it really is the fairest business model out there. I am very passionate about this type of business model and believe it really is the future of business in the 21st century. Even if all you do is get the DVD and watch it, I promise it will open your eyes on this industry. Go ahead and just Do It!

Another thing to think about is your relationships. How have you worked towards increasing your relationships? Helping others, being kind, caring and interacting is what will help us all get through these troubled times. Work hard in this new year to cement your relationships with others. Several ideas to consider: Connect with others on Social Media sites like facebook. Send cards letting others know you are thinking of them. Invite others to join you in activities. This could be as simple as a backyard BBQ or may a day out to the park. Find common interests. Volunteer your time.

Zig Ziglar says, "You Can Only Get What You Want, If You Help Enough Other People Get What They Want". And this is true. Make this your motto for the coming year and your economic survival will be a piece of cake. See You at the Top: 25th Anniversary Edition

Michael Sparks--Entrepreneur.