What she did for him

As Chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve for two decades, Alan Greenspan has been the most influential economic policy-maker in the world.

This is why his recently released memoirs, The Age of Turbulence, has attracted media attention.

However, unless you're an economist or policy-maker, it might not be worth it to read the 500-page book.

This being said, there is one sentence in the book that reveals a great deal about how Greenspan's life was changed for the better. He wrote:

I was intellectually limited until I met her.

Who is the woman he is talking about? Given the fact that Greenspan is enormously smart, who is the one woman from whom he learned from?

He met her when he was 26, and soon became one of her followers. Although he was already smart at that young age, he admits himself that he was more a technician skilled with numbers and analysis. She showed him a bigger world, made up of values, humans, thoughts, emotions.

What he liked about her was her unrelenting analytical mindset, as well as her openness to new ideas. However, she would ruthlessly dissect any idea into its fundamental components and enforce the process of rigorous reasoning.

I was actually reading her (intellectual) diary a few months ago, and was surprised that her most recurring sentence was "Think this through."

Who is she? Ayn Rand, of course.

Anyone who is serious about seeking wealth and achieving financial freedom, can gain enormously by reading her writings, especially her views on capitalism as the only moral economic system. That is, it's a moral system because it is "just": any man or woman can earn as much as he/she wants, provided he/she develops the appropriate mental faculties.

Four-hour workweek

I highly recommend the book The Four-Hour Workweek, by Tim Ferriss. He's 30 years old, yet has achieved so many things in his life. How? By re-conceptualizing obsolete notions about work, time, space and wealth.

But don't take my word for it. Ferriss' book is endorsed by people who have achieved wealth and stature in their own field:

"The 4-Hour Workweek is a new way of solving a very old problem: just how can we work to live and prevent our lives from being all about work? A world of infinite options awaits those who would read this book and be inspired by it!"

–Michael E. Gerber
Founder & Chairman of E-Myth Worldwide and the World's #1 Small Business Guru

BOOK DESCRIPTION (from the publisher)

What do you do? Tim Ferriss has trouble answering the question. Depending on when you ask this controversial Princeton University guest lecturer, he might answer:

“I race motorcycles in Europe.”
“I ski in the Andes.”
“I scuba dive in Panama.”
“I dance tango in Buenos Aires.”

He has spent more than five years learning the secrets of the New Rich, a fast-growing subculture who has abandoned the “deferred-life plan” and instead mastered the new currencies—time and mobility—to create luxury lifestyles in the here and now.

Whether you are an overworked employee or an entrepreneur trapped in your own business, this book is the compass for a new and revolutionary world. Join Tim Ferriss as he teaches you:

• How to outsource your life to overseas virtual assistants for $5 per hour and do whatever you want
• How blue-chip escape artists travel the world without quitting their jobs
• How to eliminate 50% of your work in 48 hours using the principles of a forgotten Italian economist
• How to trade a long-haul career for short work bursts and freuent "mini-retirements"
• What the crucial difference is between absolute and relative income
• How to train your boss to value performance over presence, or kill your job (or company) if it’s beyond repair
• What automated cash-flow “muses” are and how to create one in 2 to 4 weeks
• How to cultivate selective ignorance—and create time—with a low-information diet
• What the management secrets of Remote Control CEOs are
• How to get free housing worldwide and airfare at 50–80% off
• How to fill the void and create a meaningful life after removing work and the office

You can have it all—really.

Access is power

Penelope Trunk, a columnist at the Boston Globe and Yahoo Finance, asked a pertinent question for career women. I provided an answer below. (Note: even if you're a male reader, you might appreciate the systematic process I use to break down the problem).

Is there still an old boys’ network?

If so, what strategies would you recommend to succeed in spite of it?

===

Access is power, therefore a systematic strategy is needed.

If you're a man, no problem (relatively speaking).
If you're a woman, you might have a problem.

If your industry or profession doesn't have a history / tradition of concentrating power in a few exclusive male clubs or networks, then you do not have a problem.

If your industry or profession has such a history / tradition, then you have a problem.

If you're willing to leave such an industry or profession, you no longer have a problem.

If you're not willing to leave such an industry or profession, then you have a problem.

If you're willing to study power and increase your political savvy, you will lessen your problem, since men are political animals: they instinctively obey power. The good news for women is that power today is more based on finance and knowledge (including access to high-level, sensitive information) than brute force.

If you're not willing to learn about power and politics (The Art of Worldly Wisdom by Baltasar Gracian, The Prince by Machiavelli and the 48 laws of power by Robert Greene are great places to start), then you have a big problem.

Good luck!

Free e-books for your personal empowerment!

THERE ARE NO LIMITATIONS TO THE MIND EXCEPT THOSE WE ACKNOWLEDGE. BOTH POVERTY AND RICHES ARE THE OFFSPRING OF THOUGHT.

Source: http://www.psitek.net/pages/PsiTekTAGR9.html

Make sure you visit Psitek.net and download all the FREE ebooks!

Although I agree with Napoleon Hill's doctrine ("Think and Grow Rich"), I would add that thinking is a skill, and there are levels of mastery:

1. Novice
2. Initiate
3. Apprentice
4. Practitioner
5. Expert
6. Master

It's important to know the level of one's thinking skill, because the quality of one's thinking determines how much one earns, as well as the overall quality of one's life.

People who write a diary or a blog, have a tremendous advantage over those who don't. Indeed, they can actually SEE how they think, and can therefore keep improving their thinking skill.

Success comes from negative thinking

Most people tend to think that success requires positive thinking.

This is true, but up to a certain point. That is, you need to be positive in order to build enthusiasm for and conviction about a project. But once you start a project, you should be negative about anything NOT related to the project.

Here's what Gordon Gekko said to Bud Fox at the end of their very first meeting: "Bud Fox, I look at a hundred deals a day, I choose one."

In other words, here's the success secret: No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. Yes.

This sounds easy, yet to say "No" to offers, people, projects, opportunities, etc. that come your way every day, you have to be really, really, really FOCUSED on the one project you're trying to accomplish. Focus is super-important!

F.O.C.U.S. means Follow One Course Until Successful.

Since we are rarely objective about our own performance, it helps to have a partner who will tells us the truth. A partner who will constantly ask us: "Is what you are currently doing helping you to reach your short-term goals? How, exactly?"

I myself tend to be "all over the place."

A few years ago, my then girlfriend told me the truth. She said: "Peter, I look at you and you're so passionate and enthusiastic, and you try so hard to do so many things at the same time. You're all over the place! But don't you think it's better to focus on one thing and do it well?"

She was right. The shocking part is that she told me that while we were making love.

Just kidding. I hope my mom will never come across this post! (At least, not while I'm still alive!).

My point is that everybody wins when we focus on one thing, and do it well. Starting new projects is easy, even kids can do that. But it takes maturity to persist and focus on one project or goal, and make sure it is achieved before moving on to the next project or goal.

Thinking vs Strategizing

I remember reading a funny line from an author: "I don't know why they call hunting a sport. If it were really a sport, animals would have weapons so they can shoot back."

With that in mind, let me share wtih you an important distinction between "thinking" and "strategizing."

Thinking is like hitting a tennis ball over the net. It's also like shooting at aluminum cans a few meters away.

Strategizing, however, is "thinking about thinking so that your thinking beats the other guy's thinking."

In other words, strategizing is "meta-thinking."

The key is to be able to "predict, explain and control (or influence)" other people's thinking. Read Robert Cialdini for more on persuasion techniques.

However, before we even get to a point where we can influence other people's thinking, we first have to prevent them from influencing our own thinking.

Noam Chomsky calls this "intellectual self-defense."

Unfortunately, the overwhelming majority of people on this planet have not been trained in the art of intellectual self-defense.

Indeed, the doors to people's minds are flung wide open. Any and all information from TV, magazines, social conversations, etc. will easily pass through those doors and enter a person's mind.

In the long run, people's minds are filled with so much junk information that they are literally incapable of thinking straight.

Let me give you a powerful metaphor to illustrate what is really going on.

Suppose you have a house and that every day, at 9 AM, you hear the door bell ring. You open the door and see a long line-up of people who carry something in their hands: boxes, appliances, even furniture. There's about 200 people lining up in front of your house.

Surprised, you ask them: "What's this all about? How come you guys are lining up at my door?
"

And they say: "Oh, we come bearing gifts. We have stuff for you. It's all free! Can we come in?"

You're thinking: "Hmmm. It's free, so I got nothing to lose." So you tell them: "Alright, come on in!"

And one by one, they bring stuff into your house. The process is repeated every day. Then, at the end of the week, you realize that there's so much stuff in the house that you barely have space to walk!

However, you can't persuade yourself to throw anything out. And you can't refuse to open the door the next day, because the stuff that keeps coming is all FREE!

The worse part is that you can't even find your usual electric appliances, because it's buried deep underneath the useless stuff piled on top of it. So you can't even use your own stuff!

The above is a brutal visual metaphor, but it's exactly what is happening to people's minds. The mind of the ordinary citizen is filled up with so much junk and irrelevant information that people can't think straight anymore.

And with blackberries and text-enabled cell phones and iPods, etc. information now furiously comes to you from so many sources.

Now compare that situation with that of a mental master, who has learned to say No to most of the junk information that comes to him. The mental master hears the door bell ring, so he opens the door. The first guy in the long line-up says the usual thing: "We come bearing gifts for you. It's all free! Can we come in?"

The mental master says: "I appreciate your gesture, but I won't be needing any of that stuff."

So all the people lining up in front of the house turn around and go home. The mental master shuts the door and continues his practice of a lethal martial art called "mental kung fu." Since his house (or mind) is not cluttered by useless and even misleading information, he can think clearly and can see realities which most people do not see.

Because he can think clearly, he can strategize.

Most people, however, can't even think clearly because their mind is full of clutter and useless information.

The secret is that your mind is the holy space where wealth is born. So you have to protect that sacred space. Don't give away your attention to anyone. Treat your time as the ultimate resource.

Rich people have known this for a long time. Donald Trump for instance requires of his presidents and vice-presidents that they give him verbal reports by phone in 30 seconds or less. He doesn't have time to read lengthy reports. He says to his direct reports: "Tell me what I need to know in 30 seconds."

Are you a sucker or a loser?

Before you read on, please be aware that the emotionally charged words used in this post (e.g. sucker, loser, quitter, etc.) DO NOT apply to you but to the generic concept of an "employee". I'm using these words to make a point about the unsustainability of the current corporate employment system, which follows what Warren Buffett calls the "institutional imperative."

According to Buffett, this institutional imperative is blinding everyone in the company, with the result of executives and managers making decisions that are not in the interest of shareholders and definitely not in the interest of the working people. Charles Handy chimes in, voicing his conviction that employees are, in truth, "investors of intellectual capital" yet are not treated as such. They are treated as temporarily owned "human resources" to be exploited as much as possible, for the duration of the employment.

All this may sound a bit abstract, which is why I created a simple question that people who are serious about building their wealth can try to answer. The question is:

"Are you a sucker or a loser?"

A sucker is defined as "a person easily cheated, deceived, or imposed upon." (From www.dictionary.com)

A loser is, well, we all know what a loser is.

First, I'd like to confess that I used to be a sucker. Up to June 2000, I was a sucker being royally screwed.

Indeed, I've always worked hard, really hard, for companies. I created a six-figure revenue for my last employer in a few months, even though that wasn't even my job.

Technically speaking, I was a sucker because the value I created FAR EXCEEDED the money I was paid. Luckily for me, I realized this quickly and quit after 7 months.

I then created my own company, a marketing communications firm called Major Force and located in Old Montreal, a nice historic neighbourhood in Montreal. I secured many large contracts, from $10,000 to $40,000. Once, I made $10,000 in a few hours. Several times, I made more than $1,000 just through a phone call connecting a buyer and a seller.

At the same time, I was also making $100 per hour as a translator (French to English and vice versa). I was both a free agent and a business owner (I had a partner who did the graphic design work, I was "just" the president of the firm and the account executive).

Anyways, I quit corporate America 7 years ago (on June 20, 2000). I expect many more people to begin quitting corporate America en masse. Of course, you first have to realize that you are a sucker, that is, someone who has been deceived into thinking that the employment system is fair.

I have to point out that it's possible that you are NOT a sucker, but rather, a loser. Being a loser, obviously, is not that much better!

A loser is someone who's trying to do the LEAST while getting paid the most. People who want a "secure" job without stress (e.g. government workers and civil servants) are losers. They will do the absolute minimum so they won't get fired, while playing politics in order to protect their job. In the short term, they might "win" in the sense that they exert minimal effort while getting a paycheck that is more than what they're really contributing to the bottom line.

They're losers in the medium and long term because companies are not stupid. More and more companies, in fact, use a system like SuccessFactors.com to track performance data and REWARD employees based on performance (not politics).

They're also losers because they neglect to develop their talent, strengths and human capital. They completely rely on the employer and on their job, which they do not own and can be taken away from them anytime.

In summary, a sucker contributes MORE than what he's paid while a loser gets paid MORE than what he's contributing.

Some of you might point out that there are people who are paid approximately what they're worth to the company. That is, they are neither losers nor suckers. They are employees who are fairly compensated for their work. Yes, they're called "free agents."

Indeed, a free agent will put down a fair price in the proposal to his client. A free agent also can refuse to work for a particular client since he has many clients. In short, the free agent has the freedom and power to work when and where the value he receives (in money or strategic value, such as a new account in a new industry) is approximately equal to the value he contributes.

But let's get back to employees. Is it possible that some employees are indeed paid a fair amount for the work they produce?

It's possible in the short term, but I doubt it is in the long term. Indeed, there's a reason why companies hire middle managers. Managers have the task of continually reducing costs while continually increasing productivity. This means they will constantly try to make you MORE productive (this means your workload increases, your responsibilities increase, your stress increases) while giving you NO extra resources, staff or tools. Eventually, you become a sucker, because your productivity will increase WHILE your salary stays the same.

Notice, by the way, that this is why companies are reluctant to hire a woman for a responsible position AFTER she has given birth. They intuitively know that it would be extremely difficult to "squeeze" productivity out of a new mother because her new priority is elsewhere: she will spend a lot of her attention and energy toward taking care of her new baby. Women also sense this reluctance from corporate managers, which is why so many female workers launch their own business after they give birth.

So if you don't want to be a loser nor a sucker, what should you do?

The only solution is to become a ... quitter!

Just like Neo, in the movie The Matrix. However, quitting the system is one thing. Being able to survive OUTSIDE the system is a different thing altogether.

In my case, I had to undergo extreme training in order to fight the system. I had my own secret masters and teachers who helped me to increase my mental combat system and technique, in the same way that Neo had a mentor in the person of Morpheus.

Notice, by the way, that training is not enough. You've got to test your combat skills in a real fight. This is why, when Neo said "I know kung fu" after having downloaded all the combat systems in the world into his brain, Morpheus immediately says: "Show me."

To know and not to act so as to get results, is the same as NOT KNOWING.

My point basically is that if you don't want to be a sucker nor a loser, then you've got to be quitter. Quitting is easy. What is hard is the ensuing training and practice.

Financial freedom is for those who thirst for glory and lust for battle. It's reserved for the few who are absolutely committed to being the best and to practicing every single day in order to improve their economic and financial performance.

Jeff Bezos and Steve Pavlina are similar in the sense that BOTH of them practice their business combat skills EVERY DAY. Bezos commented that every day, including Sunday, he would look at his Amazon website to tweak it, refine it, make it better.

Pavlina writes every day, and I'm pretty sure he also tweaks and tests and refines his AdSense placement layout regularly.

Ultimately, it's up to people to determine whether they are losers, suckers or quitters. I realized that I was a sucker 7 years ago. It took me 7 months to figure it out. How long will it take you?

Some people work for 40 years before realizing that they've been used and exploited by employers.

We are all free to take any action, but we are not free to determine the consequences of those actions. Choose carefully your role. Your whole life depends on it.

Are you emotionally intelligent?

I don't know about you, but when I hear the expression "emotional intelligence," I immediately think it's one of those feminine issues that a real man should not be bothered with.

For a long time, I've known myself to possess superior intelligence and I feel pretty comfortable with that self-delusion.

"Emotional intelligence" therefore seems like a new game that is gaining popularity, a game whose rules I don't know and where I have to start from square one. Darn.

But over time, I've begun to realize that being "emotionally smart" can actually be good for business. My secret technique, therefore, is to insert a nice compliment every ten minutes when I coach women entrepreneurs. Women seem to like compliments just as they like flowers and chocolates. The difference, of course, is that giving a compliment doesn't cost me anything. Yay.

Below is an answer I wrote on Linkedin Answers in response to a question ("What's the number one issue that emotional intelligence helps to resolve?").

By the way, did I mention how amazing you look today? I'm not kidding! Look at yourself! If there were more people like you on this planet, we'd be living in paradise! Keep looking good! :-)

===

Wealth.

Let's face it, we all would like to become wealthy or at least achieve financial independence. Only one person in 20 ever achieves financial independence.

However, wealth depends on being able to predict, explain and influence positively the emotionality of other people.

People always appreciate it when you change their inner states for the better. Proof: this is why people watch movies, go on a roller coaster, have dinners in nice restaurants. They like to feel good.

An Emotional Intelligence (EI) Master therefore is one who is able to create those positive inner states in people, by intuitively or rationally ascertain where people currently are emotionally speaking, and helping them to get to a better place emotionally speaking.

Anthony Robbins, for instance, is an EI Master. This being said, we can all become better at emotional intelligence. It's just a matter of knowing the few key principles and then practicing them every chance we get.

The more we are able to make other people feel good, the greater the chances that we'll become wealthy. In that sense, there is some kind of cosmic justice at work: people who are good at making others feel good, eventually get rewarded the most.

Wealth is The Law!

If you look at the letters in "WEALTH" and scramble them, you will get "THE LAW."

The secret here is that to get to WEALTH, you've got to seek, learn, know, master and practice THE LAW.

What law? The law of natural growth.

How does natural growth occur? Here's a simple formula for natural growth:

Growth = Potential - Interference

Everything in nature grows naturally: plants, flowers, animals, etc. There is no interference. Indeed, everything in nature grows to its full potential and then obediently retires into decline and death.

Everything works PERFECTLY as it is. This is possibly why people feel a sense of liberation and rebirth when they walk through the woods or climb a mountain or swim in a lake.

They feel liberated because there is no interference in nature. There is no judgment. No prejudice. No conflict. No good or evil. No nothing. Just beauty in the here and now.

What does this have to do with wealth? Well, if you structure your mind and your life so as to eliminate as much interference as possible, then you will grow and realize your full potential -- intellectually, emotionally, physically, spiritually, yes, yes, financially too!

You may think that the interference in your life is "your narrow-minded boss, your negative relatives, your unsupportive friends, your in-laws, the government, the news media, the greedy capitalists, etc."

The truth is, they are not the real interference. They are on your mind ONLY when you let them enter your mind. However, what is ALWAYS in your mind -- often at the subconscious level - is your own self-concept, which includes a precise idea of what you are worth.

When you have low self-worth, then you will SEE that low self-worth in the comments that other people make when they talk to you. When you have high self-worth, you will SEE that high self-worth in people's comments and interactions with you.

Indeed, other people's comments and behaviors are just a reflection of your own self-esteem and sense of self-worth.

Many wise people have expressed the same idea but using different words: "We don't see the world as it is, but as we are."

James Allen, in his book As a Man Thinketh, wrote succinctly: "As within, so without."

The world is nothing but an accurate reflection of your self-concept.

The practical implication is that no matter what you want to do in life, the only person who can stop you is you!

If you want to become wealthy, go ahead. Nobody is stopping you. If you want to become the best in your career, similarly go ahead. Nobody has the time to "interfere" with your plans.

I know that many subscribers to this blog think about becoming wealthy. Just realize that becoming wealthy is not impossible. Business is very simple, but practicing it is hard.

I just came back from teaching a group of students at Tyark College (www.tyark.com) about business and entrepreneurship. They know the essence of what I know about business. All they have to do is practice the business principles I gave them. I sure hope they won't interfere with their own plans to become rich.

So while becoming wealthy is not rocket science, it may be Rocky science, in that you've got to have the "eye of the tiger." You've got to be hungry for glory and lusting for battle. You've got to want it badly enough to train for it every single day. And you've got to identify all the weaknesses and negative parts of you, and extirpate them once and for all.

In a previous post, I wrote about the Invisible Stairway to Wealth. At each step, you've got to learn, train and master the knowledge and techniques.

You also have to identify the experts and masters who can help you. (I will write more on these experts and masters, but basically, in any field, there is a spectrum of people at different degrees of expertise and mastery: novice, initiate, apprentice, practitioner, expert and master. Only masters can teach well. An expert might not have the instructional framework to teach effectively.)

Experts and masters will help you to think and execute according to the law. Whatever your field, profession or industry, there IS a set of laws that guarantee success. Wealth comes from knowing those laws and practicing as well as performing in accordance with those laws.

This is why I say that WEALTH is THE LAW.

How to discover your life purpose

I may have been a little harsh with Steve Pavlina in my last posting, but in truth, I think he's a hard-working and smart person who sincerely desires to help people. In all fairness, he does have good ideas and techniques. HERE is the link to an exercise he recommends to find one's true purpose in life.

I was suspicious at first, but then I started to write and suddenly had a little epiphany.

I wrote:

"A better world through better men. Better men through better knowledge."

According to Pavlina, I should have tears in my eyes. The tears will "prove" that this is indeed my purpose in life.

But so far, no tears.

Then I thought about my own life and what helped me to improve myself, specifically by seeking knowledge since I'm a natural reader (I became a natural reader by spending my entire childhood reading encyclopedias instead of chasing girls. Talk about a misspent childhood!).

Anyways, as I kept thinking further, I began to remember all the girls and women in my life and how they influenced me to change and improve for the better. Many girls in high school were impressed that I was always the top student and eventually graduated as valedictorian. Many girls were also visibly impressed by my calligraphy skills. One time, I was filling out an application for a job at a government office when a girl (her name was Sandy) suddenly exclaimed: "Oh my God, that's amazing! Did you write that?"

She was referring to my job application form, filled out in beautiful calligraphic handwriting. I said: "Yes." I was exclaiming (in my head): "Oh my God, this blond-hair, blue-eyed girl is so beautiful!"

Then, she started calling all her coworkers and showed them my job application form! I was very happy to have discovered that insight (that girls like beautiful handwriting and that, furthermore, beautiful girls like beautiful things and sights). The rest is history: I intensified my calligraphy practice, joined a professional calligraphers association, read every single available calligraphy books, and became of the noted calligraphers in the City of Montreal!

Another girl encouraged me to read Nietzche's "superman" philosophy, yet another helped me to get back to McGill to do a management degree, and a third inspired me to begin teaching calligraphy seriously.

Anyways, I'll stop here, otherwise I'll sound like Casanova recounting his romantic conquests.

But my point is that Pavlina's technique worked for me.

My question is, Why do people cry when they "discover" their purpose in life? I remember an author who wrote: "We are afraid to see ourselves too clearly, and we are afraid that other people will see us too clearly."

Maybe that's why we always try to look happy and normal, when often, deep inside, we are not happy and feel inadequate. It's possible that Pavlina's technique, like Freud's psychotherapy, gently guides us to see what we would rather ignore. The truth is always extremely beautiful, but because it is beautiful, it has the power to melt all our defenses. As a result, we cry.

We cry because we feel we are in the presence, often for the first time, of the infinite beauty within us, within every human being. What is this beauty within us? Perhaps it's our divine purpose trying to communicate with us, trying to manifest itself in our lives.

Perhaps we cry because by writing, even if tentatively, our purpose on a piece of paper, we are giving voice, for the first time, to our soul.

In my case, my "soul" spoke to me in August 2004, and I felt compelled to take dictation and write down what this mysterious voice was telling me. The resulting one-page document is a secret that I will share in due time, but it's basically a manifesto titled "Perfect Man Enterprise."

It's a plan to create "a better world through better men."

In short, Pavlina's exercise helped me to write that simple purpose. I recommend that you try the exercise and see where it leads.

Should you get a job or start a business?

Steve Pavlina wrote an article on his website about why it's "stupid" to work as an employee. Although his site does provide a lot of useful advice, I thought I'd write a few comments about his (emotional) arguments in favor of entrepreneurship.

Unlike Pavlina, I have experience BOTH as a corporate employee (working for IBM, American Express, CDI Corporate Education Services, Abbott, the Ministry of Justice and a major law firm) and as an entrepreneur.

My view is that working for a corporate employer is not necessarily bad, IF you know HOW to use the employer's resources and structures and processes to your own advantage. In fact, what you learn during your years as a corporate employee will prove invaluable if or when you decide to become an entrepreneur.

My comments, preceded by ">", are intended to provide a more balanced view. Pavlina's whole article does provide a lot of good points and I recommend a visit to his website at http://www.stevepavlina.com/

===

1. Income for dummies.

Getting a job and trading your time for money may seem like a good idea. There’s only one problem with it. It’s stupid! It’s the stupidest way you can possibly generate income! This is truly income for dummies.

Why is getting a job so dumb? Because you only get paid when you’re working. Don’t you see a problem with that, or have you been so thoroughly brainwashed into thinking it’s reasonable and intelligent to only earn income when you’re working?

> He's conveniently ignoring the fact that valuable intellectual capital and expertise can be developed while you're working for an employer.

Have you never considered that it might be better to be paid even when you’re not working? Who taught you that you could only earn income while working? Some other brainwashed employee perhaps?

> Yes, you can get paid when you're NOT working, BUT it requires that you create a system that DOES work when you don't. Most people do not have the system expertise to create such a system, or the knowledge content to benefit from systems such as publishing on the Web or in print. It does take a while before a person learns about how to create a money-making system, such as a best-selling book, a high-traffic blog, a product selling over the Net, etc. So while you're learning how to create such a system, it does make sense to work for an employer so as to generate income that you could eventually invest into your money-making system to make it perform even better.

Don’t you think your life would be much easier if you got paid while you were eating, sleeping, and playing with the kids too? Why not get paid 24/7? Get paid whether you work or not. Don’t your plants grow even when you aren’t tending to them? Why not your bank account?

> Because a plant is organic and follows the immutable laws of nature, while a bank account is not.

Who cares how many hours you work? Only a handful of people on this entire planet care how much time you spend at the office. Most of us won’t even notice whether you work 6 hours a week or 60. But if you have something of value to provide that matters to us, a number of us will be happy to pull out our wallets and pay you for it. We don’t care about your time — we only care enough to pay for the value we receive. Do you really care how long it took me to write this article? Would you pay me twice as much if it took me 6 hours vs. only 3?

Non-dummies often start out on the traditional income for dummies path. So don’t feel bad if you’re just now realizing you’ve been suckered. Non-dummies eventually realize that trading time for money is indeed extremely dumb and that there must be a better way. And of course there is a better way. The key is to de-couple your value from your time.

Smart people build systems that generate income 24/7, especially passive income.

> Often, future entrepreneurs learn about money-making systems by working as an employee. Indeed, as an employee, you're operating on a daily basis INSIDE a money-making system, so it's up to you to learn everything you can about how your employer creates value and financializes it.

If you want to keep working long hours because you enjoy it, go right ahead. If you want to sit around doing nothing, feel free. As long as your system continues delivering value to others, you’ll keep getting paid whether you’re working or not.

Your local bookstore is filled with books containing workable systems others have already designed, tested, and debugged. Nobody is born knowing how to start a business or generate investment income, but you can easily learn it.

> I don't know how “easy” it is to learn it. I graduated from McGill University with a marketing degree with Distinction (“A” average). I was also valedictorian of my elementary school and high school. Yet it wasn't easy for me to learn about business from books. I had to read full time for two years (I read over 800 books).

2. Limited experience.

You might think it’s important to get a job to gain experience. But that’s like saying you should play golf to get experience playing golf. You gain experience from living, regardless of whether you have a job or not. A job only gives you experience at that job, but you gain ”experience” doing just about anything, so that’s no real benefit at all. Sit around doing nothing for a couple years, and you can call yourself an experienced meditator, philosopher, or politician.

> He lacks knowledge about how expertise is created. Expertise and expert performances improve from deliberate and focused practice, NOT general life experience. A job also provides benchmarks, procedures, supervision, training, focus, dashboards showing key performance indicators (KPI), etc. to HELP a person become better at creating value and increasing productivity. Pavlina doesn't know all of that because he has never worked for a Fortune 500 company. He doesn't realize that top companies like IBM recruit only the best, and they invest in training the best.

Social conditioning is amazing. It’s so good it can even make people believe the exact opposite of the truth.

Does putting yourself in a position where someone else can turn off all your income just by saying two words (”You’re fired”) sound like a safe and secure situation to you? Does having only one income stream honestly sound more secure than having 10?

The idea that a job is the most secure way to generate income is just silly. You can’t have security if you don’t have control, and employees have the least control of anyone. If you’re an employee, then your real job title should be professional gambler.

> Good "gambling" means focusing on the EMV or Expected Monetary Value, which is Probability of Success X Payoff. If an employee makes $40,000 per year, and is contemplating launching a business that might generate $100,000 with odds of 1 in 4, then choosing between 40K and 25K is easy. Sometimes, launching a business is a better bet, other times, getting a job is the statistically superior bet.

6. Having an evil bovine master.

When you run into an idiot in the entrepreneurial world, you can turn around and head the other way. When you run into an idiot in the corporate world, you have to turn around and say, “Sorry, boss.”

> No, you can actually communicate like civilized people. Peter Drucker provides strategies for “managing one's boss” for win-win outcomes. You just have to develop your people skills. Knowing about negotiation also helps significantly. I've had over 12 bosses, and I've always successfully negotiated win-win working arrangements with them. The key for me was to know what my boss' goals were, and to help him/her achieve his/her goals. Read Baltasar Gracian's the Art of Wordly Wisdom to gain valuable insights into the office politics game.

> Although I can understand why Pavlina seems upset and angry, I think there is a case to be made for BOTH working for an employer and starting your own business. We just have to be factual and present rational arguments, and let people decide for themselves. The danger with Pavlina's one-sided thinking, due in large part to his limited experience with the corporate employment system (one year only), is that he might influence young people to completely ignore the corporate employment option. Yet, a large corporate employer could be an invaluable training platform during a person's formative years, as well as a relatively easy source of income for preparing one's exit out of the corporate world into the realm of entrepreneurship.