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The American Dream Downsized, or Upscaled. Your choice.

Written by: Jay Kubassek

Article Overview: Today’s news is filled with doom about the economy and dire predictions about a permanent downsizing of the American Dream. It’s as if our futures have become foretold. To me, this is precisely the time to talk about building wealth. The mind numbing tidal wave of financial collapse does not have to engulf you. To avoid it, however, you have to have an evacuation plan that leads to higher financial ground, and you have to choose when to put that plan into action. When it comes to wealth building, it always starts with a choice.

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The American Dream Downsized, or Upscaled. Your choice.

I recently heard of man who died at 53. He had been a quadriplegic since being in a car crash when he was 20. Over 300 people crowded the church for his memorial service and hundreds more counted him as a friend. Not just a friend, a good friend.
Confined to a wheelchair, with the use of one arm but not his hands, he had worked at maintaining those friendships, investing time and effort in learning what held meaning for each and every one of them. He had used technology to stay in touch with the world. His friends sought him out for advice. He never betrayed a trust he had earned. And he never complained about his condition. Not a day in his life went by without someone dropping in on him for some quality time.
I call that a wealthy man.

His wealth was not accidental. However you measure wealth, building it involves working towards certain fundamental principles. It turns out this man had always had good friends. After his crash and rehabilitation, he recognized how important they were to him – they were major assets – and he made a choice to work hard at having a wealth of them. He lived off of the joy and love they generated. When he passed, he had outlived his life expectancy by more than 20 years.

We all seem to have a deep down sense of what wealth is. We might agree, for instance, that it contains the passion of our relationships, the intensity of our experiences and all of those things you can take with you. We could also probably agree that wealth includes not only what you earn, but also what you are given and what you learn.

Wealth is not simply the sum of our assets and resources minus our liabilities and debt, it involves the choices we make in how to work with them to generate capital. Strangely enough, wealth only has value if it is used, and it is only worth having if it supplies the capital we need to live a fulfilled life.

One more thing we can probably agree on. While wealth involves more than money, money is likely one of the first things that come to mind when we think about building it.

How, then, do we begin to build wealth? For me, it started with choosing to find out how. That meant making an investment in my self – recognizing that I could use a little help in the form of knowledge – and making a commitment to that process. I pretty quickly discovered that time (a key ingredient for getting anything done) was essential to building wealth – and that I had better use it wisely because, let’s face it, who knows exactly how much time any of us has? (How many of us knew our retirement investments might be sliced in half so quickly, or that our employer might suddenly be considering layoffs?)

So, I sought out experts who could effectively and efficiently teach me fundamental principles of debt elimination, tax reduction, cash flow multiplication, asset protection, investment management and how to live on less than I made.

I found them at Wealth Masters International, through their m1 program, which takes the kind of holistic approach to wealth that I have been talking about. That’s where I also learned how to be responsible with money regardless of how much or how little I was making. And it’s where I learned that building wealth is directly connected to personal growth and growing beneficial relationships.

The decision to transform your American Dream into reality does not need to be triggered by a life-changing event. Choices must be made. Effort and time will be required, but less time than you might imagine. Your inner life will grow as well, and you’ll meet some remarkable people along the way.

Jay Kubassek is the Founder and CEO of www.CarbonCopyPRO.com

Jay's Blog: www.JayKubassek.com

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Home > Starting-A-Business > Jay Kubassek > The American Dream Downsized or Upscaled Your choice
Article Tags: assets, car crash, choices, experiences, friendships, fundamental principles, good friend, good friends, intensity, liabilities, life expectancy, measure wealth, money money, more than money, passion, quadriplegic, quality time, wealth building, wealthy man, wheelchair

About the Author: Jay Kubassek
RSS for Jay's articles - Visit Jay's website

(Jay's Full Bio: EvanCarmichael.com/jaykubassek)  

In six short years, Canadian entrepreneur Jay Kubassek went from working on a farm to selling mufflers at a Kansas City Midas shop to revolutionizing home-based entrepreneurialism with the 2004 launch of his Internet-based education company CarbonCopyPRO and the PRO family of companies.

With little more than an 8th grade education and no start-up capital, the odds were stacked against him. But Jay has proven that business success and financial freedom can be achieved by virtually anyone who wants it badly enough, provided they are willing to earn it and the entrepreneurial spark is still there.

Visit Jay's official website: www.JayKubassek.com



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Related Forum Posts
Re: Are Economic Recessions Good for Franchising? Re: Are Economic Recessions Good for Franchising? - [quote="RussellWebb":6xh1ztbv]As I understand it, when there are more corporate layoffs you have more workers looking into starting their own business. It makes sense in a backwards sort of way. My first impression is that Franchising would take a hit like everyone else... but the more I look into it: [i:6xh1ztbv]The opposite occurs[/i:6xh1ztbv]. There's a larger pool of very qualified workers that are disenchanted with the corporate world. They are often more than willing to take a bigger risk and seek self-employment, whether it's a franchise or not. In my opinion, there are lots of good opportunities out there, it's just a matter of doing your research and finding a nice fit.[/quote:6xh1ztbv] I agree with Russell. Initially everything looks like its taking a slight to moderate (and in some cases very "moderate") hit. But owning your own business is really (not to be cheesy) what the American Dream is all about - and this can most definitely be done in the cast of a successful franchise business. If you just think of a franchise as a very successful business plan, isn't that a pretty good place to start?
Re: Gap Between Rich and Poor Widens Re: Gap Between Rich and Poor Widens - What i believe about the gap between the rich and poor getting widens is a result of choice we make. Everyone has the right to chooce what he or she wants in life. You cannot choose for anyone. Check anywhere they say is the poorest in any part of the world, you will notice that there is still a rich person there. If there is no working knowledge, poverty and riches are everywhere but what turns them around is how you work on your choice in life. I read virtually majority who are rich in today in our world, were not born into the rich family. But they make choices to be rich using what they have to get what they need. Even in the Bible, it has been ordained that some people will be rich while some will be poor, not that God made that way but by the reason of choice everyone will determine what he or she becomes. What a good post we have here. Cheers!
Off to get married, Congrats Off to get married, Congrats - Hi Evan, I am married over 34 years. So go for the long haul. It's worth it every minute. I hope you will have a 24/7 time away from the Forum. Forget all about it and enjoy each other. Your Dream begins..... Regards Beat
Re: New Funding Source Now LIVE! Re: New Funding Source Now LIVE! - [quote="ideasuniversity":3lio17iz]I have checked the site and it seems it for American Entrepreneurs only. Please correct me if I am wrong[/quote:3lio17iz] You are correct. I wanted to limit it to the U.S. in order to keep the legalities more simplified and under control. Also, there are plenty of other organizations doing their part to help the "world". I was interested in helping my own neighbors and fellow American entrepreneurs.
Re: New Funding Source Now LIVE! Re: New Funding Source Now LIVE! - [quote="bizdev":3vzftwj4][quote="ideasuniversity":3vzftwj4]I have checked the site and it seems it for American Entrepreneurs only. Please correct me if I am wrong[/quote:3vzftwj4] You are correct. I wanted to limit it to the U.S. in order to keep the legalities more simplified and under control. Also, there are plenty of other organizations doing their part to help the "world". I was interested in helping my own neighbors and fellow American entrepreneurs.[/quote:3vzftwj4] I think that was a pretty wise move as taking it to other countries is can become very involved with different laws and currencies etc. Good luck with your business. MichelleJ


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