Building that financial wall - Part 2

Building a financial wall - Part 2

What is a "financial wall"?

A financial wall is a metaphor for a physical wall. A physical wall separates and protects. A financial wall does the same thing. It protects your lifestyle and your family from the vagaries of economic flux. Once it is established, effectively you are insulated from economic changes that would normally affect the typical wage earner.  It is income that is now permanent and ongoing, often called "residual income".

Are you a wage slave?

Myself included, most people find themselves only a few paychecks away from a shopping cart.  Due to the protracted downturn in the economy worldwide, most of us have exhausted any reserves and may have also maxed out any credit lines we may have had.  At this point, there is no safety net!  If you stumble for whatever reason, you can find yourself in pretty dire circumstances.

• Lose your job?
• Suffer a medical condition either short or long term that impact your ability to earn a wage?
• Suffer a vehicle accident that disables your transportation and therefore your ability to get to work?
• Illness or death in the family that requires you to take a protracted period of time off from work?

There are many, many reasons that can adversely impact your ability to make a living and pay your bills. With no financial reserves and no "financial wall" there are not a lot of options.

How does one build a financial wall?

Building a financial wall, in its simplest form, is merely putting in the work needed to create a residual income stream that no longer depends on your physical ability to produce it. For some people, this means "investing".  Investing means taking money that you do have and putting it to work. This can be purchasing Real Estate, rehabbing it and then renting it out or simply "flipping" properties. This particular method is quite popular these days with all of the foreclosed and "distressed" housing available on the market.  Nice work if you can get it but it requires money. Money that most people don't have.

Another way might be investing in the stock or bond market called "equities" or shares of stock.  Obviously, given the current volatile nature of the stock market and the economy, this could quickly turn a millionaire into a "thousandaire". Unless one is highly skilled, is very experienced and has a knowledgeable broker, this is not a great way to go either.

Yet another way is to get all entrepreneurial and start your own business. This particular avenue is quite popular these days.  In many cases it's a last-ditch effort by an out of work professional to salvage something from their corporate experience. In some cases it's a dream they've always had to be in business for themselves and to "fire their boss".

If you have a useful skill or trade, why not turn it into a business? This can be a great idea if......... and it's a big if, if you actually do your due diligence and find out what it really takes to start and operate this kind of the business until it becomes profitable.  Statistically most new businesses fail within the first two years.  The most common reason is lack of capital to keep it afloat until it starts making money and secondly, lack of knowledge on the part of the business owner on how to actually run the business.

The second part, lack of knowledge, can be overcome by plugging into a pre-established business system such as a franchise.  Here, the business plan and all of the operating steps have already been worked out.  You just need to add money, sometimes lots of it.  These days, it costs something like $1 million to open a McDonald's or other big-name franchise.  Smaller franchises like a UPS store or other small business still run into the many thousands of dollars start up costs.  That option is off the table if you don't have that money.

How about an online business that can be started for little or no start up costs? These do exist (I'm running one right now) and the start up costs can be $500 or less. The main drawback to these is that there are literally hundreds of thousands of "opportunities" on the Internet. Unfortunately, a high percentage of them are scams and the only one that makes money is the scammer.

In my experience trying to "get in on the bottom floor of the latest hot thing" is usually doomed to failure.  A true "bottom floor" opportunity is rarely offered over the Internet to the general masses.  If it is a new, groundbreaking technology or idea, they will get their funding through Venture Capitalist investment companies. The latest million-dollar idea is not going to be handed to an average Joe for only $49.95 start up costs. Get over it!

All of this being said, there are genuine and viable business opportunities on the Internet.  Multilevel marketing is one of them.  This tried and true business model has been around for a long time and it works. It provides everything one needs to get actual business started.

• Low initial start up costs typically.
• A proven, duplicatable business plan.
• Mentors/trainers to help you get started.
• A solid, proven product line that people want to buy.
• A proven track record of success for many an "average Joe" making it work for them.

As mentioned in a previous article  Starting your own business - Are you the reason it didn't work? the primary reason these types of businesses fail is not because the business model or the products were bad, it's because you didn't do it properly.  You didn't change you!  What you've been doing up to this point in your life is the reason you are where you are in life financially or otherwise. If you are not willing to change, willing to learn new things, willing to be teachable and willing to duplicate a proven system you will likely fail. If on the other hand you're willing to take an honest look at where you are right now and make a decision to change, these multilevel businesses have a proven track record of success. Are you willing to change? Are you willing to accept guidance from somebody who is actually done it? Are you ready to fire your boss?

If you wish further information on a more personal level about this area please feel free to contact me through the comments section.
If you are truly serious about firing your boss, just go here>Your Future