mokua
01-30-2007, 11:20 PM
Hey all,
I came across a great article written by Willie Crawford that I thought I would share here. I really liked the article - otherwise I wouldn't have decided to bring it over. I think it might be helpful for others.
Here's what it says:
Don't Hate The Rich - Become One Of Them!
Copyright 2006 by Willie Crawford
When I was a child, growing up on the farm in North
Carolina ( extremely poor), my grandmother's favorite
saying seemed to be "Money doesn't grow on trees!"
She was also fond of unintentionally misquoting the
Bible and saying "Money is the root of all EVIL!"
As I listened to my elders, and the others around me,
I learned that "It was easier for a camel to pass
thought the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to
get into heaven."
It was gradually hammered into my head that the rich
were to be scorned, and that they got that way by
stepping on the poor. I also learned that we were
"very lucky" that we didn't have many things. For
example, we didn't have a telephone, television, a car,
or air-conditioning during most of my pre-adult life. My
grandmother use to make us feel better by pointing out
that "Sleeping under a cold air conditioner would make
you sick."
Many of us grew up exposed to similar thinking and similar
teachings. We were taught that there was something
inherently wrong with being rich.
As I grew older, I was exposed to many very rich people.
They taught me that it wasn't wrong to be wealthy, and
they also helped me understand that part of our psyche that
makes us feel better by blaming others for our problems.
I learned that there was a time in history when many of
the very rich did indeed treat the lower classes very
badly. This was a time when people were little more than
property, and in most countries the rich didn't see a
reason to be polite to the working class!
Being treated so poorly, the working class did often refer
to the upper class by such terms as "stinking rich" and
other MUCH harsher terms.
Even today, there are places where the rich do treat the
poor as property, or as just "labor." That's the reality,
and that's life. Instead of complaining about it, if you
find yourself in that predicament, your job is to
extract yourself from the extreme poverty... first of all.
Then you will have the ability to help the less fortunate.
For me, the process of escaping poverty really began with
changing my thought process. I had to retrain my mind,
pushing out the old "poverty mentality" and replacing
it with a "wealth mentality."
As I spent more and more time around the rich, I learned
and began to appreciate some of their sayings. Two that
really seemed to stick were:
1) "Rich people have large libraries, poor people have
large televisions." I've seen several variations of that
saying, but they all pass along the same basic message...
that constantly learning new things is one of the keys
to moving ahead. Vegetating in front of the television
only allows temporary escape as we live our "dream lives"
by watching those of others.
Television largely hypnotizes us, and puts us in a state
where we can at least temporarily imagine ourselves in
the shoes of the actors and actresses. That's the only
way that we can mentally get so wrapped up in some of
the shows that we watch.
2) "The best thing that I can do for the poor is not
be one of them." When I first heard that saying I
thought that it was cruel, until I saw the truth in
the fact that I cannot help out the poor (financially)
unless I'm not poor too. Getting involved in activities
that seek to transfer the wealth from the rich to the
poor doesn't work. Instead, to escape from poverty you
need to learn from the wealthy, and discover ways of
creating more wealth.
A big part of the problem is that many of us grew up
with a poverty mentality. That mentality teaches that
"If you have more, then I must have less." After all,
the pie is of a fixed size, so if you get a bigger
piece, then that leaves less for me.
The rich know that the pie is limitless. Instead of
grabbing for a bigger piece of that pie, you should
help the pie to grow bigger. When the pie is bigger,
there is naturally more for everyone.
The Internet proved to me that the pie is indeed
limitless. Consider creating and selling digital
products which is what many of my mentors and I do.
When I create and sell an audio course that is
digitally downloaded, I am selling part of an
endless supply of electrons. After I create an
audio product, in downloadable MP3, I can sell a
million copies of that product, and there is STILL
enough for everyone in the world to have more. By
creating that product, I literally produce a
pie of unlimited size.
Once you wrap your mind around that concept, a whole
new world of possibilities opens up. Being on the
Internet also opens you up to a whole new world of
possibilities. You'll see that not only is the pie
limitless, but it can also be shared across borders.
We are no longer confined to the effects of, and
restrains imposed by, conditions in our own countries.
As an example, I personally have friends and mentors
on several continents. I teach and speak on several
continents. Over the next five months, I am scheduled
to speak at seminars in Malaysia, Singapore, Australia,
The United Kingdom, and all across the United States.
I'm also exploring speaking possibilities in the
Caribbean, Africa, and South America. For a farm kid
that spent most of his youth on welfare (government
subsistence) this is very powerful proof that it's not
the rich that hold us back.
So, how does a poor farm kid move from extreme poverty
to an international speaker who literally has direct
access to international financiers, governmental leaders,
and celebrities? I did it by letting the rich teach
me! I read and studied voraciously. I went through an
endless stream of audio tapes, and lately audio CDs,
listening to them and studying what they taught over
and over again until I actually "wore out" many of
the tapes!
In the Internet marketing arena, I studied what people
who were living the lifestyle that I wanted were doing.
For example, I have a friend, and mentor, over in the
U.K. who earns an incredible living from the Internet
working just a few hours per week. I let him teach
me how. He spends the rest of his time managing an
offline business, serving as a politician, and doing
other things that are important to him. You can check
this friend out at: http://www.StinkingRich3.com/wc
The secret is studying what the wealthy are doing,
allowing them to teach you what they are doing, and
then doing the same thing. If it works for them, and
you do the same thing, then it should also work for
you. Right?
Your big challenge is identifying accurately what the
rich are actually doing. Often it looks like one thing
is the reason for their success, yet when you talk to
them, or manage to get close enough to really study
them and their habits, you discover things that 99% of
the world completely misses about them.
I'm only going to share with you one of my mentors
today. That's the one in the U.K. He works VERY few
hours at his online business, yet earns more than 99.9%
of the "Internet marketers" that I know. He really
understands the wealth mentality. He teaches people like
me how to get rid of the "poverty mentality" and to
develop that wealth mentality. Take a few minutes to
get to know one of my mentors now. He's at:
http://www.StinkingRich3.com/wc
Another secret to success, and increasing your wealth,
is closely managing who you allow to "rub off" on you.
Our thinking is heavily influenced by those that we are
around every day. If you are around negative people,
their constantly spewing negative energy HAS to
affect you.
If you are constantly exposed to those who have radically
changed their lives, they prove to you that you can do it
too. That's a big reason why I attend seminars, conferences,
and networking events sponsored by the people that I want
to be like... those who have the lifestyle that I desire.
I encourage you to do the same. When you can't actually be
surrounded by them, at a minimum completely IMMERSE yourself
in recorded materials that they so generously make
available to you. There you have the key to gradually
becoming one of the rich, instead of mearely envying them.
----------------------------------------------------
Willie Crawford has taught thousands how to build successful
online businesses since late-1996. His membership site
contains over 30 interviews of leading online marketers
sharing their views on "How To Break Into The Internet
Marketing Inner Circle." You can access those interviews
at: http://TheInternetMarketingInnerCircle.com
I came across a great article written by Willie Crawford that I thought I would share here. I really liked the article - otherwise I wouldn't have decided to bring it over. I think it might be helpful for others.
Here's what it says:
Don't Hate The Rich - Become One Of Them!
Copyright 2006 by Willie Crawford
When I was a child, growing up on the farm in North
Carolina ( extremely poor), my grandmother's favorite
saying seemed to be "Money doesn't grow on trees!"
She was also fond of unintentionally misquoting the
Bible and saying "Money is the root of all EVIL!"
As I listened to my elders, and the others around me,
I learned that "It was easier for a camel to pass
thought the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to
get into heaven."
It was gradually hammered into my head that the rich
were to be scorned, and that they got that way by
stepping on the poor. I also learned that we were
"very lucky" that we didn't have many things. For
example, we didn't have a telephone, television, a car,
or air-conditioning during most of my pre-adult life. My
grandmother use to make us feel better by pointing out
that "Sleeping under a cold air conditioner would make
you sick."
Many of us grew up exposed to similar thinking and similar
teachings. We were taught that there was something
inherently wrong with being rich.
As I grew older, I was exposed to many very rich people.
They taught me that it wasn't wrong to be wealthy, and
they also helped me understand that part of our psyche that
makes us feel better by blaming others for our problems.
I learned that there was a time in history when many of
the very rich did indeed treat the lower classes very
badly. This was a time when people were little more than
property, and in most countries the rich didn't see a
reason to be polite to the working class!
Being treated so poorly, the working class did often refer
to the upper class by such terms as "stinking rich" and
other MUCH harsher terms.
Even today, there are places where the rich do treat the
poor as property, or as just "labor." That's the reality,
and that's life. Instead of complaining about it, if you
find yourself in that predicament, your job is to
extract yourself from the extreme poverty... first of all.
Then you will have the ability to help the less fortunate.
For me, the process of escaping poverty really began with
changing my thought process. I had to retrain my mind,
pushing out the old "poverty mentality" and replacing
it with a "wealth mentality."
As I spent more and more time around the rich, I learned
and began to appreciate some of their sayings. Two that
really seemed to stick were:
1) "Rich people have large libraries, poor people have
large televisions." I've seen several variations of that
saying, but they all pass along the same basic message...
that constantly learning new things is one of the keys
to moving ahead. Vegetating in front of the television
only allows temporary escape as we live our "dream lives"
by watching those of others.
Television largely hypnotizes us, and puts us in a state
where we can at least temporarily imagine ourselves in
the shoes of the actors and actresses. That's the only
way that we can mentally get so wrapped up in some of
the shows that we watch.
2) "The best thing that I can do for the poor is not
be one of them." When I first heard that saying I
thought that it was cruel, until I saw the truth in
the fact that I cannot help out the poor (financially)
unless I'm not poor too. Getting involved in activities
that seek to transfer the wealth from the rich to the
poor doesn't work. Instead, to escape from poverty you
need to learn from the wealthy, and discover ways of
creating more wealth.
A big part of the problem is that many of us grew up
with a poverty mentality. That mentality teaches that
"If you have more, then I must have less." After all,
the pie is of a fixed size, so if you get a bigger
piece, then that leaves less for me.
The rich know that the pie is limitless. Instead of
grabbing for a bigger piece of that pie, you should
help the pie to grow bigger. When the pie is bigger,
there is naturally more for everyone.
The Internet proved to me that the pie is indeed
limitless. Consider creating and selling digital
products which is what many of my mentors and I do.
When I create and sell an audio course that is
digitally downloaded, I am selling part of an
endless supply of electrons. After I create an
audio product, in downloadable MP3, I can sell a
million copies of that product, and there is STILL
enough for everyone in the world to have more. By
creating that product, I literally produce a
pie of unlimited size.
Once you wrap your mind around that concept, a whole
new world of possibilities opens up. Being on the
Internet also opens you up to a whole new world of
possibilities. You'll see that not only is the pie
limitless, but it can also be shared across borders.
We are no longer confined to the effects of, and
restrains imposed by, conditions in our own countries.
As an example, I personally have friends and mentors
on several continents. I teach and speak on several
continents. Over the next five months, I am scheduled
to speak at seminars in Malaysia, Singapore, Australia,
The United Kingdom, and all across the United States.
I'm also exploring speaking possibilities in the
Caribbean, Africa, and South America. For a farm kid
that spent most of his youth on welfare (government
subsistence) this is very powerful proof that it's not
the rich that hold us back.
So, how does a poor farm kid move from extreme poverty
to an international speaker who literally has direct
access to international financiers, governmental leaders,
and celebrities? I did it by letting the rich teach
me! I read and studied voraciously. I went through an
endless stream of audio tapes, and lately audio CDs,
listening to them and studying what they taught over
and over again until I actually "wore out" many of
the tapes!
In the Internet marketing arena, I studied what people
who were living the lifestyle that I wanted were doing.
For example, I have a friend, and mentor, over in the
U.K. who earns an incredible living from the Internet
working just a few hours per week. I let him teach
me how. He spends the rest of his time managing an
offline business, serving as a politician, and doing
other things that are important to him. You can check
this friend out at: http://www.StinkingRich3.com/wc
The secret is studying what the wealthy are doing,
allowing them to teach you what they are doing, and
then doing the same thing. If it works for them, and
you do the same thing, then it should also work for
you. Right?
Your big challenge is identifying accurately what the
rich are actually doing. Often it looks like one thing
is the reason for their success, yet when you talk to
them, or manage to get close enough to really study
them and their habits, you discover things that 99% of
the world completely misses about them.
I'm only going to share with you one of my mentors
today. That's the one in the U.K. He works VERY few
hours at his online business, yet earns more than 99.9%
of the "Internet marketers" that I know. He really
understands the wealth mentality. He teaches people like
me how to get rid of the "poverty mentality" and to
develop that wealth mentality. Take a few minutes to
get to know one of my mentors now. He's at:
http://www.StinkingRich3.com/wc
Another secret to success, and increasing your wealth,
is closely managing who you allow to "rub off" on you.
Our thinking is heavily influenced by those that we are
around every day. If you are around negative people,
their constantly spewing negative energy HAS to
affect you.
If you are constantly exposed to those who have radically
changed their lives, they prove to you that you can do it
too. That's a big reason why I attend seminars, conferences,
and networking events sponsored by the people that I want
to be like... those who have the lifestyle that I desire.
I encourage you to do the same. When you can't actually be
surrounded by them, at a minimum completely IMMERSE yourself
in recorded materials that they so generously make
available to you. There you have the key to gradually
becoming one of the rich, instead of mearely envying them.
----------------------------------------------------
Willie Crawford has taught thousands how to build successful
online businesses since late-1996. His membership site
contains over 30 interviews of leading online marketers
sharing their views on "How To Break Into The Internet
Marketing Inner Circle." You can access those interviews
at: http://TheInternetMarketingInnerCircle.com