Finance Archives - Isucceedbook.com

iSucceed interviews: Gregory Mannorino and “Ranting” Andy Hoffman talk finance

Feb 222013

Reading time: 4 – 6 minutes

Economics is something that few people enjoy…

But that doesn’t make it any less important.

Here on iSucceed, I try my best to share ideas that I feel will help make a difference in our lives.

Most of the time I stick to success which include insights into how to improve our mind, our attitude, and our lifestyle as a whole.

However, over the past 5 years of hard work (making up for lost time) I believe that each of us should invest time in learning what I call “The 4 Pillars” as together they give us a solid foundation from which to build upon, regardless of our particular field of study.

Assuming you’ve been reading me for a while you’ll know the 4 pillars are:

Success
Marketing
Time Management
Finance

And while I have created a separate site to address finance – http://www.financialfutureseminar.com – I believe I should talk finance here from time to time because it is such an important factor in our lives, even if we might not realize it.

But there’s no reason to take my word for it.

I tracked down two of the most passionate speakers I know when it comes to the economy and interviewed them; Gregory Mannorino and “Ranting” Andy Hoffman.

These interviews are hard-hitting and some of what is said may be hard to hear but I encourage those people who are concerned about their investments, the economy and the future as whole to have a listen to what they say.

Personally I agree with their concerns but realize that one no has a crystal ball.

In the end, we must come to our conclusions and take action based upon what we feel is the best course of action for our lives.

A word to the wise, please consult your personal financial advisor before taking any action.

And with that…I’ll let them do most of the talking.

Adrian Shepherd

ps. If you’d like to find out more about Gregory subscribe to his YouTube Channel here – http://www.youtube.com/user/GregVegas5909

And to sign up for “Ranting” Andy’s daily newsletter go to http://milesfranklin.com

Tweet This Post

Share and Enjoy

success mistakes: the this-time-is-different syndrome mistake people make in investing and life

success mistakes

Nov 142012

Reading time: 5 – 8 minutes

To err is human…

No truer words have ever been spoken.

Part of being human is being fallible. We all make mistakes.

We stick our foot in our mouth. We have lapses of judgment. We think we’re so smart. We think we’ll never lose. We think it can’t happen to me. We think that we’re special.

And as a result, each generation goes through many of the same problems.

I once read that every 40 years we have a recession and every 80 years a depression.

Working my way back through history, I found that events in every generation are eerily similar.

Sometimes a little worse, sometimes a little more frequent. Different in their own ways due to the different causes and subsequent effects but devastating nonetheless.

These days I split my study time between three very different fields (as you might already know):

Success
Marketing
Finance

While I may not have a degree in any of these three fields I would have no problem putting together a whole day seminar on each topic. That’s how much information I have assimilated. And the most amazing thing, I haven’t even gotten through a third of all the materials (books, audio and DVDs) I have.

And what I have noticed through all that studying is that there are striking similarities between the principles of them that only people with a keen eye would be able to assess.

A few weeks ago I came across something called the “this-time-is-different syndrome” in one of my economic newsletters (I assume inspired by the book aptly titled “This Time Is Different” which you can see above).

It is essentially the belief that financial crises are things that happen to other people in other countries at other times; crises do not, and cannot, happen to us, here and now.

Why is this the case? Simply because we are doing things better, we are smarter, we have learned from past mistakes.

The old rules no longer apply.

This time, unlike the other times that have preceded the present, is built on sound fundamentals, structural reforms, technological innovation, and good policy. Or so the story goes.

I decided to do a little social experiment, talking to my friends on FB all over the world and I notice a disturbing trend today.

The majority of people I talked to were Americans, British, and Japanese as I wanted to get their take on the situation in Greece and in every case they all say how sad it was, and then went about their merry way.

This greatly worries me.

Why? To answer this question we must first ask the simple question – What’s the problem in Greece?

To keep things simple, it’s debt.

So now let’s turn to Japan, what’s the problem? Debt.

What about the US? Debt.

Notice anything suspicious? While the reasons each country got into may differ, and the amounts are vastly different as are their ability to produce goods, but the root problem is the same: debt.

We are witnessing firsthand the dangers of debt unfolding in Europe.

But not to worry. We’re different. We’re better…it won’t happen here. It can’t.

Now some of you might be thinking, well that’s all well and good Adrian, interesting stuff but that’s all financial stuff and it has nothing to do with me. I hope you’re right but let’s take this same concept and apply it on a more personal level.

As I said earlier, the same principles apply to success and marketing as they do in finance.

So now let’s apply this concept to the guy (and girl) on the street.

We’ve all been there. Friends and family members have warned us not to do something but we went ahead and did it anyway. Why? Because…yep, we’re smarter. This time is different…and guess what? It isn’t.

My wife warned me about getting involved in two separate business deals for very different reasons but I thought I was all that.

I thought I could control the situation. In both cases I was wrong.

But maybe it’s a good thing. I got it out of my system.

Now I know I have to be careful. Now I know who to trust and what NOT to do. And, most importantly, I know I don’t know everything.

History doesn’t repeat because we are constantly growing through innovation and technology but it sure does rhyme. We’re not the first generation to have a financial crisis. We didn’t just discover heartache and sorrow.

The only question is whether we’re smart enough to learn from the past.

Personally I think we should all make history a study, the world’s, your family’s and your own.

Apply it. And hopefully, you can make all new mistakes…

Adrian Shepherd

Tweet This Post

Share and Enjoy

success principles: chase your dreams 110%

Expert Perspective

Sep 042012

Reading time: 5 – 8 minutes

Tough love…

That’s what every parent, teacher and coach must practice.

Many people think that people in those roles must be supportive of those who look up to them which I agree with, to a certain extent. And having been a teacher and a coach for more than 22 years now people are sometimes stunned at my bluntness which borders on rudeness at time.

Unfortunately supporting people when they are wrong does them no good.

I love my son dearly, but being a parent means that I must show him the difference between right and wrong, as well as protect him from sickness and disease by brushing his teeth and making sure his hands are clean. It also means that I must get angry when he does something bad. Sometimes I even slap his hand.

In dealing with clients I understand that they are paying me for my expertise, my knowledge and to hold them accountable.

Naturally, I’m always more than happy to support people with the dreams. After all, it’s what I love.

The problem is…and this might surprise you but…most people don’t really want what they say they are after.

Sure, many people say they want to be a dancer or an actor but the big question is what are they doing about it.

They aren’t out there doing it right now. They’re not living and breathing what they say they want to be.

Instead they’re sitting around at home watching TV or chilling with their friends…in other words, they are just enjoying their lives without taking any action toward their goals.

If you confront them, they’ll say something like they’re going to start when they go to school or they want to enjoy their last few weeks before they move to New York, but that’s not the way it goes.

That’s akin to saying I’ll start my diet tomorrow…and we all know how that ends up.

You either want it, or you don’t.

So what if you haven’t joined school yet, that doesn’t mean you can’t buy some books and get some DVDs you can start working in it today.

You don’t have to wait till tomorrow to get started.

Me, I only support people with the dreams when they are giving 100 or 110% effort to what they really want to do.

It’s easy to tell if tell they really want it from the way they speak, by the glimmer in their eye.

I suppose that’s why I love the show “So You Think You Can Dance” because the contestants on that show give it everything they’ve got each and every week…they love dance and it shows.

I can get behind anyone who’s giving it their all but many people just give a half-assed effort and expect that teachers, classes or schools that will stroke the fires within them.

I do admit that a great teacher will do just that, internal inspiration is the key.

External inspiration does help and is often times the catalyst to build inspiration within us, but what inspiration are you going to find if you’re just waiting for it to arrive.

You’ve got to get to work on finding it and chances are good that you’ll find yourself “getting lucky.”

I can’t remember who said it but I love the line, “The harder I work, the luckier I get.” Well said…

Inspiration is something we must have within, otherwise we will always be waiting for something out there to get us going…but what if it never comes.

Teachers change, schools go out of business, and your life could get turned upside down but what we have within us goes with us wherever we go.

If you are waiting for something to come you could be waiting a long long time, why wait?

Then there are those people who do get started, and have a dream – great…but it’s so small.

Small dreams don’t inspire us in the long run which is why we need to have, as they call them in the industry, BHAGs or Big Hairy Audacious Goals.

Life is tough, that should come as no surprise.

So when we chase our dreams we will run into speed-bumps. Family, friends, work, health, money, taxes…the list in endless.

The problem is that small dreams often don’t have enough power to get us through such hazards and fall by the wayside.

Big dreams on the other hands are hard. They will challenge us to no end. They will force us to fight for them. But we are excited by the challenges they present us with. We know deep down that the price may be steep but the rewards great so we power onward.

I have three passions: English, success principles (which include marketing and time management) and finance.

And if you’ve ever met me you’d know I’m passionate about all three.

That’s why I created this site. That’s why I created my seminar – www.financialfutureseminar.com and that’s why I’ll keep at it…until I make it.

Chase your dreams…110%.

You’ve only got one life, live it the way you want to live it.

Adrian Shepherd

Tweet This Post

Share and Enjoy

iSucceed interviews: Elijah Johnson, budding financial superstar

Expert Perspective, interviews

Aug 192012

Reading time: 2 – 3 minutes

Wasn’t it great being 16?

It feels like just yesterday when I was in the 11th grade. I had free time, no responsibilities, boundless energy, and seemingly invulnerability.

I was living in Thailand at the time playing basketball 4 or 5 days a week, watching about 8 movies a week, building up my collection of tapes and thoroughly enjoying my life.

I hadn’t a care in the world.

Nor did I have any idea what I wanted to do. Pilot perhaps? Businessman?

But that was me. A typical teenager.

Elijah Johnson, on the other hand, is anything but a typical teenager.

His YouTube site ( http://www.youtube.com/UnconventionalFIN) has garnered over 100,000 hits and has 600 subscribers all signed up to listen to him interview the best financial minds out there.

Upon hearing that he was only 16, I thought he would make an ideal interviewee for iSucceed.

My passion is teaching. And through sharing ideas, stories, techniques, and interviewees I hope I am able to help you, the reader, live a better life. That’s what excites me about teaching; the opportunity to influence others in a positive way.

Elijah’s passion is finance.

Most 16 year olds I know are too busy focused on one of three things:

Boyfriends/Girlfriends
School
Fun

And very few high schoolers have any idea whatsoever about what they want to do in the future.

Most kids have simply fallen into the routine of go to school, get into college, get a good job and the rest will take care of itself.

Not Elijah Johnson.

He is driven. He knows what he wants. And I have no doubt that he will succeed.

We could all learn a thing or two about success and finance from this young man.

One day it wouldn’t surprise me to find him on CNN or CNBC, maybe even running his own show.

The lesson we all should remember from Elijah is that it’s never too young to start and that if you keep at it doors will open up. In Elijah’s case, 100,000 doors to date.

Please enjoy the interview.

Adrian Shepherd

Tweet This Post

Share and Enjoy

success principles: Adrian Shepherd’s 5 pillars of success

Expert Perspective

Jun 212012

Reading time: 5 – 8 minutes

K.I.S.S.

I’ve always loved this acronym – Keep it simple (stupid)

That’s what this site is all about. That’s what iSucceed is all about.

Too often people make things more complicated than they need to be.

Big businesses often fall victim to complexity, eventually to the point when it hurts them. At that time, smart corporations will drop those projects that aren’t that profitable and focus their energies on those that do. Computers may be able to handle a billion computations a second (or whatever it is they say they can do) and our brains can handle even more.

What they forget to mention is that human do have limits. Large amounts of knowledge can overwhelm us and paralyzes many. Some lose sleep, others lose weight, some suffer from psychological damage. In the end for our minds to keep at optimum efficiency we need to focus on only a few tasks at hand and give them our full attention.

Or to say it another way, less is sometimes more.

Earl Shoaff, my mentor’s teacher, was famous for saying “There’s usually about a half dozen things that make about 80% of the difference.”

When I heard that I sat down and thought about everything I had learned and just what those half dozen things were.

After some deep thought I came to the conclusion that the iSucceed formula is based on 5 pillars which are:

Finance
Marketing
Self-Development
Health
People

The 1st, finance, could also be called money. Money, despite what we may have heard, is neither good nor bad. Money is simply a tool. And like every useful tool there is it can be use for constructive and destructive purposes. It all depends on the user.

But what cannot be denied is the importance money has in our world. Food, housing, entertainment, health, education, relaxation are all linked in one form or another to money.

Money gives us options that we would otherwise not have which is why we should all understand the fundamentals of money and how it works.

And no, I’m not merely talking about buying a Coke at the store. Most people haven’t got the foggiest clue just how the system works (perhaps by design?) meaning that they are at a disadvantage to those that do understand the inner workings.

The 2nd pillar is marketing. Marketing is the ability to get a product or service out there. Time and time again it has been proven in business that having the best product isn’t the main reason for success.

Marketing is your ability to appeal to a specific audience, hopefully meeting a specific need.

I knew one business here in Japan that invested 30% of everything they earned each month to marketing, spending somewhere in the range of $10,000 a month, while cutting corners everywhere else. And people came in droves.

Naturally they fell flat in keeping customers but getting them, no sweat.

Always remember the simple two-step formula for success in any business:

Get customers
Keep customers

The 3rd pillar is self-development which could be broken down even further:

Time management
Philosophy
Language
Attitude
Action

These may seem simple but mastering just one of them will single handedly revolutionize your life. The best news, they aren’t hard to learn. The problem, some take a lifetime to master.

The 4th pillar is health. What good is fortune and fame if you don’t have your health.

Being healthy means watching what we eat, exercising regularly, keeping negative influences at bay, regular trips to the dentist and hospital, and well, you get the idea.

Don’t forsake your health for fortune or fame, it’s simply not worth it. Your health is worth many billions of dollars to you.

Being healthy also means vitality, allowing you to achieve what you set out to accomplish.

Most of us are blessed with good health when we are young, but as we grow up we must take an active role in determining just how our body ages.

Never underestimate the importance of health.

The 5th and final pillar on my short list is people.

People can make your live a living hell or heaven on earth, so choose wisely.

Family is family but everyone else we interact with in our free time we have allowed in. Sadly I have seen some people let the wrong people in, and they have paid the consequences.

Personally I’ve always chosen to have a small group of friends, that’s the way I liked it. As such I may not know as many people as say my mother, the social butterfly, but I trust those people in my inner circle explicitly. And I suggest people always develop these types of friendships.

That doesn’t mean we should stop meeting new people but just

Think quality, not quantity.

Invest your time and money into these 5 pillars will bring you greater happiness, success and enjoyment into your life and your business.

Life isn’t just about making money, nor is it about just having lots of friends. Life is about balance.

And that’s just what these 5 pillars provide; balance.

I trust you will have as much success with them as I have.

Adrian Shepherd

Tweet This Post

Share and Enjoy

success principles: how bad do you want it???

Expert Perspective

Apr 232012

Reading time: 4 – 6 minutes

Each day I study. Each day I write. Each day I think.

Sometimes it’s something as simple as a line in a movie that catches my attention.

Sometimes half my day disappears into my education.

It’s not always easy and it’s not always fun.

Take today, I spent 4 hours studying finance…and let me tell you, after the first hour or so I had to force myself.

So if it’s not always easy and it’s not always fun why do I keep at it?

Simple – I have a goal. A very clear goal.

For years I thought that my goal was to help Japanese people learn English. I was good at it. And I loved seeing my students grow in confidence.

But like most people, I had never really sat down to think about what I wanted out of life. I just assumed that I should do something I was good at and I enjoyed.

It wasn’t until a few years ago that I realized that it wasn’t teaching English that I loved but helping people succeed.

I loved being able to transform people’s lives. To pass along ideas in any shape or form that might help them live a better life.

Today I’m doing just that, just on a larger scale.

I’m no longer just an English teacher but an entrepreneur, an author, a speaker and an educator.

Today I am able to share ideas on a number of different topics that pertain to success mainly self-development, time-management, marketing, and finance.

These 4 concepts are going to be the 4 pillars of my future iSucceed seminar which I intend to start in late this year.

But that’s me. That’s my dream.

What about you? Obviously everyone reading this post or my blog has their own dreams and aspirations.

Regardless of what you want to achieve in life, I think we need to continually ask ourselves one important question in pursuit of our dreams and that is, “How bad do you want it?”

The thing you have to remember is that you’ve got to want it.

And I mean, really want it.

If not, chances are you won’t make it.

I used to think I wanted to be a fluent Japanese speaker…but one day I realized that was not what I wanted so I shifted my focus elsewhere.

I thought about turning pro as a magician…but again realized this was not my calling and decided I was happy being an amateur.

I wanted to become a 13a rock climber but stopped way short.

The point is that there are a lot of things that I wanted, but I didn’t want them bad enough. As a result I stopped. And that is the mistake that many people make in going for their dreams.

I’ve said it before but the difference between those who succeed and those who fail is that the people who fail are the ones that give up.

It’s remarkable how much you can accomplish if you just keep going.

I was reminded of how bad you’ve got to want success watching the video below and listening to Eric Thomas describe success.

It’s a powerful story and the video that goes along with fits it perfectly. We all see the superstar score the winning touchdown and assume that it comes easy for them. Not so.

They put their sweat, blood and tears into achieving their dreams.

And if we have a dream, we should be willing to do so, too.

Adrian Shepherd

Tweet This Post

Share and Enjoy

time management tips: the simplest, most powerful time management tip around

Time Management Tips

Feb 222012

Reading time: 6 – 9 minutes

People always want to know how.

How-to books are big. How-to videos are even better.

Both are incredible learning tools.

And yet, in my book, iSucceed, I talk about gratitude, time management, language and many other simple, yet practical ideas on how to approach life. But not so much the how-to but rather the mindset.

Why is that?

I most certainly understand the importance of how-to’s but without the right mindset, success, if it does come, leaves quickly.

Having the right mindset is the foundation of everything and yet, most people overlook it.

Many entrepreneurs are too busy looking to make money or busy building their brand that they forget to build the single most important piece of the puzzle – themselves.

That might not what many people want to hear but it’s the truth.

One single person can make, or break, any company.

Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg started, built and grew their businesses into multi-billion dollar companies.

And at the same time you have Nick Leeson, the trader who single-handedly bankrupted Barings Bank, and Jon Corzine who brought down MF Global just months earlier.

Since you’re on this site then you’re looking for ideas to either help you become more successful.

And I do that in much the same way the Bible does:

Examples
Warnings

Examples to guide you, warnings to help protect you. And sometimes it’s the later that gets us into more trouble.

That’s why nearly every successful person I have studied from is a continual learner.

They know that success can be short-lived and the only way to stay ahead of the game is to keep at it. Continually studying, learning, testing and implementing.

But here’s the catch – we can’t learn everything.

There isn’t enough time in the day for us to get everything done.

That’s why we have to focus on our strengths and find others to help us speed up our own learning process by trusting them and letting them focus on their strengths.

What do I mean?

One of my hobbies is taking photos.

I’ve got two professional cameras, a compact camera and, of course, my trusty iPhone.

But overtime cameras do get old and there will come a time when I’ll want to upgrade.

I could head over to the local store, play around with the cameras there for a while, ask a few questions to the sales people and hopefully, come home with a new camera. Total amount of time – about 2 hours.

Alternatively I could simply ask an expert and then place an order for their recommendation online. Time invested – 5 minutes.

Simple, yet powerful.

Too many people overlook how important their time is and waste it on things they really don’t have much idea about (but like to think they do).

I used to be one of them. These days when it comes to cameras, I head over to Ken Rockwell’s site, click on “recommended cameras” then go with his one of his suggestions.

Why? Because he lives and breathes cameras.

And every camera and lens I’ve bought that he recommended were winners.

Once I started applying this simple concept to other areas of my life, time management became a thing of the past.

I no longer spent hours playing around with ideas that I thought would work.

I would go with tried and try ideas that experts in their field had used and, lo and behold, I got similar results.

When it comes to self-development I listen to Tony Robbins and Bob Proctor.

When it comes to communication I turn to people like Peter Thomson, Earl Nightingale and Dale Carnegie.

Overtime, I started to develop my own ideas based on their own principles but only AFTER I had tried theirs.

Too many I people I know simply overlook other people’s ideas and choose to do it the hard way.

“Don’t try to reinvent the wheel,” is an expression I’ve come to live by and it gives me much more peace of mind.

Sure, experts can be wrong…but they have a much better track record than I do.

Would you rather spend months studying the stock market or simply go with Warren Buffet’s picks? I think the answer is obvious.

But there’s something about people, men especially, that they have to prove to themselves they can do it alone.

How silly is that? Success is a team sport. Gates and Zuckerberg didn’t build their businesses alone, and it’s something that many entrepreneurs have trouble getting over.

Now I choose to focus my time on:

Marketing (a big thing this year)
Finance (see my previous posts here and here to know why)
Success Principles (to ensure my mind is wired correctly)
Time Management (to get the most out of what I’ve got)

And under each category I defer to experts.

I look for, and invest in, the best material I can find.

I have my team of experts, and yet they don’t even know I exist. I get everything I can from them and then go through each book, audio lecture and DVD set with a fine tooth comb.

Some I go over twice or three times – why? Because they’re that good.

Having the right mindset allows me to make the right choices when working with the right people.

The combination is, as I’m sure you’ll find, the simplest and most powerful time management tip there is.

Adrian Shepherd

Tweet This Post