Friday, August 29, 2008

Earl Flormata - To Serve


It's a funny thing how business works. The lessons that people need to learn were taught to many of us since preschool and kindergarten. Simple things that go such a long way in the business world such as don't steal, share with others, and don't lie should've been taught to most at an early age, but somewhere along the way people lose their integrity and end up on the wrong side.

For example - there's a business opportunity available in which someone has had the good fortune of finding a great group of people to work with yet their pride prevents them from being humble enough to accept a role in a group where the goal is to share and actually make the "pie" per se - bigger. This networking of the opportunity may diminish the personal ego of a particular person - but makes more money all around for every individual, and in general is for the greater good. Funny enough if done properly, the person who was unwilling to share properly in the first place would make more if they "played nice" with the group instead of holding their pride above all else.

In my short time in this business world - I've experienced this so many times where people come out with an attitude of scarcity rather than one of abundance. It reminds me greatly of a book that I had to read in my high school English Honors class - One day in the life of Ivan Denisovich. We had an exercise where if everyone worked together, the group gained more overall - whereas the other option would be to compete to the point where one person got everything and everyone else received nothing. To date, that same exercise has never received a full group's co-operation and someone has always attempted to take the chance to make it good as a lone wolf.

Instead of acting like uncivilized animals and quibbling over the little pieces here and there - I'd much prefer to collaborate, joint venture, or just simply profit together as per the iPoint Mantra. In doing so, you just make everyone more all around, and the positive energy will always come back in your direction as per "The Secret".

I leave this entry off with the classic story of the Golden Goose.

A man and his wife had the good fortune to possess a goose which laid a golden egg every day. Lucky though they were, they soon began to think they were not getting rich fast enough, and, imagining the bird must be made of gold inside, they decided to kill it. Then, they thought, they could obtain the whole store of precious metal at once.but when they cut the goose open, they found it was like any other goose.

Those who want too much lose everything

My hope is that we all get to positively network and do well. I'm unsure if human nature will ever allow that utopia to exist, but here's to hoping we can all just get along.

Thanks for Reading,

Earl Flormata

Sunday, August 24, 2008

Earl Flormata - The 3 Profit Centers of the World

I joke a lot about Kiyosaki's Cash Flow Quadrants in stating that money can't come from any other place but the 4 quadrants save for inheritance, lottery or gambling winnings or any other chance sort of occurrence.


Technically speaking, even if you're a drug dealer - you still fit into the "S" quadrant. Even organized crime could be seen fitting the mold within the "B" or "I" quadrants. People always laugh at the joke (at least those who haven't heard it a million times in a row yet) but Kiyosaki did an excellent job of organizing the world, so I thought I'd take a crack at it myself.

Although a generalist way of surmising the world, there are only 3 true places where you can make the big money.



1) Real Estate
2) Business Ownership
3) Transactional Fees

Real Estate is the foundation upon which everything rests. Next comes Business Ownership where the profit centers of the world ply their trades and sell their goods. Lastly on top of it all the transactions that circulate between the customers, businesses, and governments that tax it all account for the final layer in where great incomes are made.

Perhaps I should clarify myself in saying that these are the major sources of passive income - which is something everyone should strive to achieve in the first place. The 4th method to receive passive income would be from licensing or royalties, which would come from a properly nurtured idea, new hit song, new bestselling book, etc, however I didn't go there because it's not necessarily an easily reproducible skill for the masses. To be honest it's also just that I don't feel as creative as of late, can't carry a tune, and am unsure as to how far my book idea will take me...

Funny enough though that I teach about the different opportunities in the 3 arenas at my seminars where we go through these exact three structures in order from Tues - Thurs every night at my offices from 7pm until people stop asking questions for the night. So consider this an open invite to those that are interested in learning about the 3 profit centers of the world.

So - there it is - the road to your first million dollars as I see it. Join me on the journey to take the first few steps.

Thanks for Reading,
Earl Flormata

Saturday, August 23, 2008

Earl Flormata - What gets measured improves (Continual Updates)



What gets measured improves... I'm certain that everyone's heard of this quote already, and if not, well then you've heard it from me.

A simple google search on this quote brought up the following top 3 hits:
Bud Bilanich

"One thing I learned early in my business career is that anything of significance that is measured and watched, improves."


My background in Business Intelligence at my previous life at Business Objects should've taught me the same lesson as Rockefeller in the following article.

And from business seeds:

BOTTOMLINE: "When you started tracking progress, you'll "get it." Truth is like that sometimes, easy to see when you are willing to *really* look. When the things you want improved exist “out there” in the daily hustle and bustle, it’s easy to let a day slip without doing something about them. Track your progress!!


Having said that - I'd like to announce my intentions of tracking my health and wealth as an action of leadership by example. I invite everyone else in the iPoint group to accomplish the same. We're taking on some new recruits shortly, and I'll be interested to see how things add up in the near future.

HEALTH


WEALTH





And lastly, now that I've basically got the ball rolling, I need to set some goals. Let's start with 100k in net worth gain between now and Dec 31st, $4000/month in increased passive cash flow, and a decrease in weight down to 230 lbs by the same date (inclusive of Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners!) A nice low attainable bar for both, but naturally I'll adjust things as stuff pans out.