I don’t watch the news much, but I know that most are saying we’re in a recession. If you’re smart, you won’t participate. And if you are savvy, I know you’ll be interested in what I’ve found on recession-proofing your income.

First of all, I believe the media is at the center of all this. This stuff sells papers and advertising on TV because people are drawn to it. When you get together with your circle of friends, what is the first thing you talk about after the weather?

“Say, did you hear how many foreclosures in Fort Myers?”

So you, too, become the bearer of bad stuff. And what is the recipient supposed to think? They hold back even more money and become part of the problem. Why are places closing? Is there really a lack? No – we’re just not buying out of fear. It’s a house of cards.

OK, so now for some good stuff. First, with all this stuff going on, how secure do you feel in your job? My wife had a cushy summer job at a local interior design firm. She was office manager. But one day – out of nowhere – the boss came in and asked her to sit down. And that was it. Sorry… we ran out of money.

Here’s what most will do. Panic. Or, wait and hope. Or maybe even get another job. But in times like these, you could sit down and take control. I mean the timing doesn’t get much better than this, people.

I am so into how businesses are stretching and molding themselves to the new economy. And I think it’s important that we do the same thing. In fact, during these so called “recessions” more people start little businesses than at any other time. Cool!

What if there was a way, with a little investment, you could own your own business. I mean something you could make some money at part time, in addition to your 9 to 5. I’ve found that network marketing offers this kind of ease and the cool thing is you are able to engage with like-minded entrepreneurs – like you. Really! Take a look at my Facebook page.  These guys are capturing a piece of today’s marketplace, with very cool cutting-edge products.

I didn’t realize the power of network marketing until my wife and I built one up to the second to the top level.  And even today we are paid residual checks from it and we don’t lift a finger.  It’s like I wrote a cool song, and people liked it, and still like it – and it gets played – and I still receive a residual on it.  I did the work – once.

This is a real cool way to have great income during this “recession.”  You get real resourceful in times like these and we come up with all sorts of money-saving skills.  Small niche businesses thrive!

So consider it – network marketing.  More than 61 million people are doing this and more joining each day with a myriad of goods and services.  It’s really as basic as it sounds.  You rely on a network of people in which you market your business.  Money that most companies spend on advertising is paid to you.

Look.  I’ve done this form of business for over 20 years.  And I’ve owned a few businesses – still do.  A lot of friends and family will rain on your parade, but they aren’t paying your bills.  Look at the people who are making a good income with this and ask yourself if you couldn’t do the same.  And remember my story… I love that check that comes in, every month without fail.

Do you think network marketing is a good business model?

There is a real cool thing in learning the law of attraction that is called giving yourself permission.  And this is something I really had a challenge with because I was brought up to believe that we weren’t really worthy of much.  I don’t blame my parents.  It was more of a cultural kind of thing.  Just the way people believed in that sphere of influence.

Maybe you don’t know what I’m talking about.  I probably should explain just what giving yourself permission means.

There are a lot of times that we feel we could enjoy life more if we had this or that – mainly more money so we could do grand things – but even non-money related things, such as when someone gives us a gift, or we are chosen as a leader, or an honor is bestowed on us.  And we don’t know how to accept it initially – or sometimes not at all.  We don’t “allow” ourselves to have.

When I was growing up, the part about being humble was taken to the extreme and sometimes we thought we had to act like rugs and let people walk all over and take advantage of us.  I guess this comes from misinterpreting “turn the other cheek.”  I no longer believe this way.

It’s sort of like wanting to take grandma to see your kid’s sports game but they don’t want to go because it will be too much trouble.  And so they miss out on all the joy and happiness of watching their grandchild simply because they thought (mistakenly) that they’d be a burden to someone.

And this doesn’t mean going to the other extreme and taking advantage of people by making yourself a nuisance out of selfishness.  It means accepting when something is sent your way – for you – you take it in and it is yours.  Rejecting it causes these things to no longer come.  When you open yourself up, give yourself permission to have, then these things begin to flow into your life.

You rob joy by not giving yourself permission.  You rob the giver and you rob your blessing.

So what I want you to do today is to let yourself have what is dutifully yours.  It belongs to you and has your name on it.  Think of it as part of what David was talking about in Psalm 23.  The goodness and mercy following you.  Don’t reject that when it appears – just because you feel you don’t deserve.  You DO deserve.

Do you like learning about this?  If so, do me the kindness of leaving me a comment below.  I really get juiced to see what you think of these things and it helps me to better help you.

Talk soon,
Dave

I’ve written on Starbucks before. One reason is I have a son who works there, and the second is for quite some time I owned a bunch of their stock. I made out like a bandit on it and it to date was my best investment move with stocks.

But now things have changed. Competitors have come in and made things even more convenient and cheaper. So Starbucks added drive thrus and started serving sandwiches and assorted things that were not coffee like.

In an effort to stop the downward spiral of the stock, Howard Schultz, founder, decided to take some drastic moves.

Make the espresso machines shorter so the baristas can chit chat with the customers. Right now you can’t see the barista behind that tall machine. Next, get out most of the sandwich stuff. And finally, a big move is to bring back grinding beans in the store which makes the whole place smell like, well… coffee.

But that wasn’t enough for some. A rather rich person recently bought a ton of stock in Starbucks to shake up the company even more. And this will end in even more changes. Since the company is public, someone can buy up a bunch of shares and have voting power.

Shake it up, make it more profitable.

I thought about that for a bit and wondered what would happen if someone took stock in your life for the sole purpose of making it more profitable?

Wouldn’t that be a cool thing? I mean someone who cared and wanted to see good come out of all you do. They would give you ways that you could leverage your time and ideas that you could use immediately to better your life.

I am working on a product that will hopefully do just that. This is a small system that you can keep on your computer or print out and go through to make sure you are lined up in all areas of your life. Sort of my way of coming in and shaking things up for the better.

In a few weeks I will let you preview the product. You’ll love how well this works. And it’s something we all need. Make sure you are signed up on the newsletter list because I’ll be giving more updates there.