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.

Pay Freeze for US Federal Employees

Latest Headlines from the President of the United States, Barack Obama is that there will be a pay freeze for a Federal Workers. "Getting this national deficit under control is going to require some broad sacrifices and that sacrifice must be shared by the employees of the federal government," Obama said in a speech Monday afternoon explaining the decision.

"The U.S. Federal Deficit is when government spending is greater than revenue received for that year. In Fiscal Year 2011, the budget deficit will be $1.267 trillion. The FY 2010 deficit was $1.57 trillion."


What does this mean? What happens if you are a federal worker? What should you do now?

The reason workers get a pay increase normally is to keep up with inflation. Prices go up, in order for workers to be able to maintain the same standard of living they get a raise. For the next 2 years prices will go up, but these workers will not be able to maintain their standard of living. In essence they will be poorer. While some may argue in that federal government employees are paid more than the private sector when you factor in benefits, retirement and other compensation this doesn't help that individual that has created their standard of living based on those earnings.

As one always looking on the bright side at least Obama didn't announce a 10% pay decrease or something like that. But still in the next 2 years living will get harder for millions of Americans. If you are a federal worker you will see over time your dollar get smaller and smaller as the prices go up. Food, clothing, fuel, health care, education are just a few things you will begin to notice.

Our deficit does need to come down substantially there is no doubt about it. What I would recommend for you if you are a federal employee, or any employee that would like to see their income increase in the next 3-5 years would be to look at starting a Part-Time Home Based Business.

Now is the time to act, don't wait until your standard of living goes down and you don't have to money to pay those bills. Look toward the future for yourself and your family by taking steps now to secure a secondary form of income. Start now doing your research and help jump start your future.

There are some serious advantages to starting a home based business. These are the reasons I saw when I started my business over 10 years ago.

• Residual Income
• Tax advantages
• Work from home (or anywhere for that matter)
• No territories
• Can move with you easily (I was a military spouse and we moved often)
• Build relationships for the long term (many new friends and business parterners over the years)
• Have an asset that you can leave to your family, this business will continue to pay you even after you die. 
• Increase your standard of living even in a down economy

You see when I started my business in 2000 I saw the writing on the wall. My situation was that of what many Americans face today. Unemployment, lack of focused career, no retirement and an unsure future. Once I found a home based business I was able to change all that more than I could ever have imaged.

If you are reading this, maybe it's time you start to take action. Start doing your research to find what kind of business might be best suited for you. Maybe you would like to even work with me, Michael Sparks, Entrepreneur and business owner. I recommend doing some preplanned research before just jumping into any one business. I've seen many home business owners go from company to company seeking that "perfect opportunity".

I recommend purchasing some books like The New Professionals by Charles King and James Robinson. This book breaks down what MLM, and Network Market are and how it has gone from a often negative connotation to something that people see  see as a legitimate opportunity to work from home.  It's a must read for anyone who is on the fence considering a career in network marketing. The writing on the wall is clear; our profession has enabled masses of people to gain time freedom, financial freedom and a perfect meld of home, business and personal values.

I have read this book several times and each time it cements in my mind that our industy (direct sales) is a great way for someone to reach higher goals with little downside risk. In an economy like the one we are living in, now is not the time to take drastic measures, but to look at opportunities that over time will improve yourself and your future earnings potential. With a good home based business you could for less than $500 invested start earning a commission that will continue to increase month after month.

The business of the 21st Century by Robert Kiyosaki is another excellent book highlighting the benefits of starting a home based business. I like the fact that both Robert Kiyosaki as well as Charles King were negative about MLM or home based business when they first saw it, but after taking a serious look at what MLM is really all about and how it offers someone the ability to start small and finish big if they so choose.

Once you decide to get started, be prepared to commit to working your business at least 3-5 years if your desire is to gain real traction and income. It is possible to earn several hundred dollars per month in a short amount of time, but for real long term income it will take some effort and time on your part. It is also a good idea to find a mentor (or sponsor) that will help guide you through the process to help you avoid the pitfalls that are sure to crop up. I know people that have lost thousands of dollars either doing the wrong program or trying things that do not work. Myself, I have always earned a positive cash flow starting in the very first year. My commissions have paid for my business over and over again. Now after 10 years we are full time and growing year after year. This is a true testament to how our business can provide you and your family a positive and rewarding secondary income.


With the tough choices our country will have to make in the coming years. Starting a home based business is just a part of a safety net that you and your family could employ to help weather the coming storm.

Feel free to contact me, Michael Sparks for comment, advice or information on starting your own home business. Don't wait until it's too late.


To Your Success,


Michael Sparks--Entrepreneur
www.michaelsparks.us

You've made the decision, now where to start?

You've made the decision to start your Home-Based business but are not sure where to begin. I would like to offer some advice as a seasoned entrepreneur.

• Get setup ASAP. Business cards, clothing, catalogs, signs for your vehicle are important to advertise to others that you are a Distributor of said company.
• Use the products your self. . Become a product of the product, a walking testimonial. Using your products with success will inspire confidence when you speak to others. 
• Make a list, or make several lists. One of everyone you know personally, another of at least 100 businesses in your immediate area. Keep it within 50 miles radius
• Become Genuine. Genuine about yourself, your product and your customers. I call this keeping it "Real"
• Let your friends, family, and acquaintances know what you are doing. This should be done as announcement, not a sales pitch.
• Be prepared to give yourself time to get your business established. This will be at least 24-48 months. That's right 2-4 years. If you cannot make that commitment then don't even get started. This is a business not a get rich quick scheme.

 After you have decided to get started, find yourself a few mentors. The reason is that no one works their business the same. This means you will want to follow advice on several different people until you can add your own ideas, flair and personality. Don't start off reinventing the wheel, do what has worked for others until you have the resources to give your own ideas a try. If you start off doing it "your way" you will fail and you will lose money. Don't ask me how I know this.

If your company has awards and recognition use that as a goal sheet. Ask yourself, what do I have to do to get the first award from the company. Start right away working towards that goal. You will also want to use those recognition levels as your goal sheet. Set a time line that you can accomplish. Put a date beside each goal, you might want to work with your mentor on this as they will have more experience on how hard or how long it takes to reach each level.

One company that I have worked with has a Rolodex Award. This is a special award the mentor gives out when they have talked with and followed up 100 people. This sounds like a great way to build up your contact list. Get to work on something like this as well. Talk to 100 people about your business, show them what it is you do, then follow up. Once you do the show, and follow up then check them off your list. When you get to 100, give yourself an award.

One of my favorite mentors is the late Jim Rohn. He has been called America's Foremost Business Philosopher. I recommend listening to his material as well as reading his books. The things that he talks about will change your life as well as your thinking. I can't talk enough about reading the books and listening to the tapes.

On average I recommend reading at least 1-2 person development books per month. The more you read and absorb, the more you will have the confidence, the knowledge and the desire to succeed in your business.

I can tell you, it won't be easy at first. There will be days you feel like giving up, that no one is interested in your product or service. Read the books and it will help you get through those times.


There are many great books that I have read and continue to read. Please take a look at my Recommended Reading List I have personally read every one of these books and they have all been a positive influence on my life.

Few last things you need to get started on right away in your new business is finances. You might not be in a position to have extra money right now but if start out right, it will be much easier once your business is rolling full swing.

When I started my mentors never mention much about taxes, business expenses, accounting / bookkeeping etc. I had to go out and find all this out on my own. After that I share with all my new distributors the programs that I have found useful.

One program that I have been using for years is a simple and effective bookkeeping software called Home Business Tax Helper. www.homebusinesstaxhelper.com It's inexpensive and has a lot ideas already in the program for the business expenses you should be taking.

Next you will want to set up a separate checking account. Use this for all business expenses, even if you have to add money to it from your personal account. This will help you keep track and prove that you are serious about your business.

Lastly, you will want some sort of filing system. At first one of those file boxes will work. As your business grows you will want a cabinet of some sort. Keep your business receipts separate from your personal ones. Come tax time you will save yourself a lot of time and frustration if you get your financial house in order.

Starting out your business is an exciting time. Get started right and you will see success in no time.

Happy Prospecting.

Michael Sparks--Entrepreneur