Hi Michael,

Great scenario you took us through! A classic illustration of the 'jackpot' mentality.

With a more evolved perspective, Joe Worker would have been *thrilled* to be earning $19.38 per hour with his new venture, rather than disappointed! Heck, that's a 55% RAISE from his salary, not to mention that he is taking control of his own financial destiny!

Plain and simple, the reason why the rewards of Leverage are so incredible is because so few people are willing or able to leverage in the first place.

Think about it.

9 out of every 10 new business ventures fail. Period. And of the 10% that DO achieve some measure of success, I'd be willing to bet that 90% of them do not leverage. Far too often, what starts out as an exciting 'business ownership' idea ends up with the owner simply buying himself or herself a job.

So what we now have is 1% of all business owners, at the absolute most, who leverage. Why is this the case? For the exact reason that Michael pointed out with his Joe Worker example:

Leverage takes a degree of vision and persistence that almost no one is willing to put forth.

Call it persistence, or just call it dumb stubbornness, but thankfully, I was able to forge through numerous 'growing pains' to the point where I am now very highly leveraged (though I've still only scratched the surface of what is possible!).

Heck, when I first started entrepreneuring, I can say with certainty that my 'hourly wage' was less than that of a minimum wage worker at a burger joint. These were frustrating times, as I just KNEW I was onto something, but the results did not follow. I was learning, educating, failing, starting over, evolving, constructing flawed business models...but the results just weren't coming! I felt like the most underpaid professional in the world!

But to fast forward to the present, things could not be more different, and I could not be more thankful that I persisted. Through the power of leverage, it's now not uncommon that I'll earn more with a single hour of work than the fast food worker will earn in an entire month of working full time (160 hours).

But while the money is nice, Leverage is really more about Lifestyle in my opinion. There's that old saying that "No one ever wished on their death bed that they had spent more time working."

Leverage is all about working LESS and prospering MORE.

Michael, thanks again for this very true to life example! It really made me think...and really made me thankful.

All the best,

-Jesse

> Two Types of Employee Leverage
> Employees that duplicate you, enabling
> you to do more of what you already do. Dien
> talked about this in his lawn mowing
> example.

> Employees that do what you cannot, enabling
> you to accomplish bigger tasks than you
> otherwise would be capable of. Such as a
> builder who uses qualified electricians,
> carpenters, plumbers, etc., to build
> something. Donald Trump is a great example
> of this. Henry Ford is another example
> (using mechanics, welders, etc., to make
> cars).
> Of course, there's also leveraging your
> money, which has already been discussed.

> How about leveraging your leverage? (MLL -
> multi level leverage)

> Leveraging your money to create something
> that leverages your time by using employees
> to do tasks you're unable to do.

> Interesting. Like one of those Chinese
> Dolls.

> And something else... someone, somewhere in
> this thread, I believe, asked about
> income... and fast methods.

> On this point I'd have to agree with Roger
> Dawson (http://www.rdawson.com/) and say
> that the easiest money you can make in the
> quickest amount of time is by Negotiating. A
> single sentence can make or save you
> hundreds or thousands of dollars. Time
> taken... about 2 seconds, if that.

> But all this raises an interesting point...

> How Much Effort Are YOU Willing To Do For
> An Income of $X?

> And

> How Much Time Are YOU Willing To Put In
> For An Income of $X?

> Regardless of leverage.

> Let me run through a hypothetical so you can
> see how these questions relate...

> Joe Worker works a job and makes $26,000 a
> year ($500 a week - $12.50 an hour for 40
> hours work). He dreams of breaking free of
> the binding shackles of his job, he dreams
> of financial wealth, he dreams of being his
> own boss, he dreams his dreams.

> And so, with dreams flittering around his
> head, he begins to research various ways he
> can make money for himself.

> He researches Mailorder. He likes the idea
> of information products and their mark-up
> (and the leverage they provide), and he also
> likes the idea of drop-shipping (and the
> no-stock ability it provides even though its
> mark-up is less).

> He researches Real-Estate. He likes the idea
> of No Money Down, Quick Flip Fixer Uppers,
> Leveraged Buys, Options, Liens and positive
> cash flows.

> He researches "Teaching". He likes
> the idea of a lot of people paying to attend
> a class or workshop he puts on. And he likes
> the idea of then, or instead, of leveraging
> that and having someone else present a class
> he promotes.

> He researches "Consumables". He
> likes the idea of selling products which are
> consumed and thus need to be bought again.
> He also likes the idea of services which are
> consumed and need to be bought again (such
> as lawn mowing).

> He researches Import/Export. He likes the
> idea of being a middleman and skimming a
> profit off the top as the goods pass through
> him, if even on paper.

> He researches Vending. He likes the idea of
> a machine which takes the money and provides
> the product.

> He researches Rack Jobbing. He likes the
> idea of having racks in many stores all
> selling products he gets a slice of.

> He researches Chattel. He likes the idea of
> buying low and selling high.

> He researches Auctions. He likes the idea of
> selling his chattel through an auction.

> He researches Consignment. He likes the idea
> of selling his chattel through a store on
> consignment.

> He researches "Finding". He likes
> the idea of finding buyers for sellers and
> sellers for buyers, for a cut.

> He researches Hiring. He likes the idea of
> getting money over and over again for the
> same product.

> He does an extremely large amount of
> research. He wants to have as many options
> available to him before he decides which one
> he'll pursue. To make sure he can pick the
> one he feels more drawn to.

> Having completed his research he settles on
> "Finding" as the way he's going to
> make his fortune. After all, all it takes to
> make money as a Finder is research -
> research to find buyers for sellers and
> sellers for buyers - right?

> And so, with the information he's got about
> Finding, he begins. He begins to track down
> a buyer for something he's seen offered for
> sale with finder's fees.

> He writes letters and makes a few phone
> calls and discovers that the "fee"
> offered for finding this thing is $100.

> He thinks about the amount he'd get if he
> found the item and decides it's too little,
> or not worth the effort, and goes looking
> for something else which offers a bigger
> fee. Like maybe $1,000, or $10,000.

> STOP.

> Lets look at what Joe is doing here.

> Joe is willing to work for someone else for
> $12.50 an hour. Using that as a starting
> point, he SHOULD be willing to put in 8
> hours of effort to find the item with the
> $100 finder's fee attached. But he not
> willing.

> Based on what Joe is willing to do, as far
> as his job goes, he should be willing to
> put in 2080 hours to find something with a
> $26,000 finder's fee (the amount of hours he
> works in his job for the amount of money he
> gets from his job). But, in all reality, Joe
> would give up on finding that item if he
> couldn't find it in a couple of weeks after
> only putting in maybe 8 hours.

> So Joe decides finding isn't what he thought
> it was and opts for Mailorder. And because
> he wants to spend as little of his own money
> and time as possible, he chooses the
> drop-shipping route.

> He gets his "kit" from the
> drop-shipper and begins. He places his ads
> and sends out his sales material to those
> who respond.

> After one month he's only made $100. He's
> not happy. He begins to see his dreams
> slipping away. He's not making the Big Bucks
> like he thought. And so he tosses aside the
> idea of drop-shipping.

> STOP.

> It took him 10 minutes to place the ad, 5
> minutes to send the sales material to each
> of those who enquired, and 5 minutes to send
> the name and address of each buyer to the
> drop-shipper. He made ten $40 sales, of
> which he got to keep $20. His costs were
> $100 leaving him with a profit of $100. His
> total time was the initial 10 minutes, plus
> 50 minutes to send the buyers' details to
> the shipper (60 minutes so far), plus 250
> minutes to send the sales material to all
> those who enquired (310 minutes all up).

> His hourly rate works out to be $19.38 an
> hour -$6.88 more than he'd get in his job
> for the same amount of money.

> But he's not willing to go ahead with it.
> Even though he is willing to continue to
> work for someone else for $12.50 an hour.

> What is Joe's problem???

> Joe's problem is that he is WILLING to put
> in more time for less money for someone else
> than for himself.

> He "happily" works 40 hours a week
> for $12.50 an hour for someone else, but
> will not work that many hours for the same
> amount of money, pursuing his own things.

> Joe's like the unemployed person who want to
> go from welfare straight to middle
> management. The graduate with a basic degree
> who wants to be placed at the top of the
> corporate pile.

> Joe doesn't realise that the
> "small" amount he gets working for
> himself, initially, is so "small"
> because he's learning the ropes. He wants
> the big bucks that come with experience even
> though he has none. Yet, the Money God/Force
> won't allow that to happen.

> The Money God/Force wants him to serve his
> apprenticeship first. To Learn By Doing
> first. To gain experience First. Only then,
> and only when IT sees he knows what he's
> doing and can handle it, will IT bestow upon
> him the rewards he seeks.

> While Joe could certainly do with the
> ability to FOCUS, he can't focus until he
> gets rid of the double-standard he operates
> under.

> Joe First needs to be willing to work for
> himself for the same amount, or even less,
> as he's willing to work for someone else.

> Joe First needs to be willing to put in the
> same amount of time for himself, or even
> more, as he's willing to put in for someone
> else.

> Joe First needs to honestly answer the two
> question...

> How Much Effort Are YOU Willing To Do For
> An Income of $X?

> And

> How Much Time Are YOU Willing To Put In
> For An Income of $X?

> If Joe isn't willing to put in at least the
> same amount of time and effort for himself,
> as he's willing to put in for someone else,
> Joe won't get very far.

> Your thoughts?

> Michael Ross.