Thursday, August 16, 2018

GOT MOTIVATION


What Motivates you?


WHY NO ONE CAN MOTIVATE YOU.

What is motivation? Motivation is the sum of our motives. It is a reason or reasons for acting or behaving a certain way to achieve something. All of us need motivation (motives) to do anything. Motivation is like attitude, we need a healthy dose of it daily, like taking a shower 😊 

Where does motivation come from? It comes from our inner being, sources inside us.
Where do I go to get my motivation? Read bellow.

Motivation comes from within us, from our inner desire to achieve something. The world has a lot more unmotivated than lazy people. If you expect others to motivate you, be aware, others will soon realize they have the wrong you. No one can motivate you but yourself. There is a massive industry called motivation, where businesses spend or waste away billions to motivate their people. Motivation done by anyone but yourself does not work. The responsibility for motivation is 100% yours. Many swamps are being drained and it not a good time to be one of the unmotivated alligator :) :) 

Get some motivation for yourself so you too can live the life you always wanted to live.

1.     Dreams. When I was young my dream was to fly in a Jet airplane. Boy have I done that. Millions and millions of miles around the world. I had the dream to come to America and learn the English language. Then came the dream of being a writer and publish books. Than to be a public speaker, to grace the stages, where other great speakers have been. The dream to create many stories in life and live long enough to share them with you. I will never live another day without a dream, many dreams.

2.     Creation or Invention. The adventure to be there first, to create something new, to chart new territories. I love writing because I can crystalize my thoughts and expand them. All these things provide me with motivation. I guess I have a little of the Indiana Jones spirit in me. God has protected me over so many adventures and dangerous situations, and that is why I keep doing what I do. The last decade has been a challenging and at the same time an exhilarating journey.

3.     Resistance or Rejection. Rejection provides me with the energy to achieve more. When I meet resistance, I know I am on the right path. Nothing great can ever be achieved if first it is not met with resistance, opposition and rejection. Amazing the amount of resistance that is met when one works with financial literacy. People resist changing a situation they are trapped in, a situation they put themselves in. Voluntary slavery is difficult to eliminate.

4.     Hunger. Have the hunger to get better, to overcome, to achieve great things in life. My hunger comes from my desire, my dreams, the things that are important to me and to those around me. Hunger is difficult to create in others. Hunger must be self-induced. No one can place hunger inside you.

5.     Material Things.  Have my dream home in the country was a great motivation for me. Have the financial means to travel around the world was another. Have the financial freedom to own my time so I can read, write, listen, and associate with the right people. Have the material things to help others.

6.     Recognition and Respect. A strong motivation for me is to be recognized and respected by those I care and respect the most, my children and grandchildren, my parents, my family, my friends, my associates, my customers and my clients. Having financial freedom to use my time and resources to make a positive impact in this world.

7.     Legacy. This is the strongest level of motivation. Leaving a legacy has a powerful pull on us. What do we want to be remembered by? I want to be remembered as a person who lived fully, who chased many dreams, who travelled the world learning everywhere I went. I want to be remembered as someone who shared what he learned through writing, public speaking, and conversations everywhere I went. Above all, I want to be remembered by my children as a great dad and friend.

Where to you go to get your motivation? Share it!

Carlos Fontana
Financial and Leadership Coach
(Get out of debt, make more money, pay less taxes)

"Those that take swift action will always leave those that don't breathing the dust"
"The future belongs to those who can see and pursue opportunities before they are obvious"
“Managers influence numbers, leaders influence people by inspiring them to pursue excellence”



Monday, August 13, 2018

What Inspires You?


What Inspires You?



What is inspiration? Process of being mentally stimulated to feel and do something great.
Where does inspiration come from? It comes from sources external to us.
Where do you get your inspiration? Read bellow.

Inspiration comes from without, from the outside of us. Motivation comes from within us, from our inner desire to achieve something. Both are healthy emotions to change our current reality.

The world has a lot more uninspired and unmotivated than lazy people. Get some inspiration and change your life and the life of those around you.

1.     Reading. Great books provide me with inspiration, especially those with stories of overcoming big obstacles to achieve greatness. The parables of the four Gospels provide me great inspiration. I have many books in my library that give me great inspiration.

2.     Association. Spending time with the right people provides great inspiration to me. My major professor at MSU was a great example and source of inspiration. He pumped so much belief into me while we spent time together.

3.     Songs. The right song, either the music, the lyrics or both. For me it is the song Amazing Grace. Classical music can provide great inspiration.

4.     Movies. You know what I mean here. The movie you can not watch enough time. For me the movie The Miracle is a great source of inspiration. The movie provides live moments of greatness from a young team that overcame great odds to win an important game.

5.     Poems. The right words create images and emotions in our minds, energizing our whole being. Poems can come from anywhere. For me it is a simple poem written by older brother called “The Force of Destiny.”

6.     Special Moments. A special time we spend with someone we admire for their greatness, be a great soccer player or a great singer. For me it was the King of soccer Pelé. In 1990, in a Hotel in São Paulo, I met the Brazilian soccer team that won the 3rd World Cup Soccer in Mexico in 1970.

7.     Dreams. Learning about and reflecting on dreams achieved by others can wake up our inner selves and start the emotional process to burn in our brains images of a great life.

Where to you go to get your inspiration? Share it!
Carlos Fontana
Financial and Leadership Coach
(Get out of debt, make more money, pay less taxes)

"Those that take swift action will always leave those that don't breathing the dust"
"The future belongs to those who can see and pursue opportunities before they are obvious"
“Managers influence numbers, leaders influence people by inspiring them to pursue excellence”

Monday, August 6, 2018

WHAT'S ONE TRILLION IN VALUE?


Why Apple is so valuable?

Apple is worth more than one trillion dollars. The other three mammoth companies worth well over half a trillion dollars are Amazon (889 billion), Google (850 billion), and Microsoft (830 billion). Now the race is on for the two trillion market value. Apple has become a company for value investor where Amazon, Google, and Microsoft are still viewed as companies for growth investors. Apple has a low PE ratio (Price/Earnings) of 19 while Amazon (220 PE), Microsoft (73 PE) and Google (52 PE) have high PE ratios.

Why has Apple created such enormous value? Profitable growth.

Why did Apple get there before everyone else? Having Warren Buffet invest heavily in Apple gave a vote of confidence and a boost. However, in the end it is about the value Apple created that got it there first.

Now the race is for two trillion dollars. First let’s shed some light into Apple, this titan of technology. Here are the 7 reason that has made apple the most valuable company in the world:

1.      Clear and Compelling Vision. Steve Jobs was a great visionary while still being deeply in touch with reality. Vision became synonymous with Jobs and Apple. The vision he casted was clear and bought by the Apple leadership, its employees and even clients and consumers.

2.      Superb Leadership and Management. Tim Cook is a great leader and manager. He has executed extremely well Apple’s strategies. He is carrying out Steve Jobs’ legacy with perfection. Companies often take a turn for the worse when its great leader and visionary is no longer running the show, not the case in Apple.

3.      Trendsetting Business. Business in the right trend. The right trendsetting created an even better business; the right and ever-expanding business model. Apple is not just a hardware company; Apple is a software company with a powerful operating system. Apple builds expectancy in its clients and consumers, then really delivers it!

4.      Continuously Innovative Culture and Ecosystem. Apple introduces new and improved products constantly. Introduces the right products at the right time. The high demanding culture creates high quality products and the brand conveys a sense of status and even perfection. Products work and are easy to use. Apple creates the demand then fulfills it!

5.      Product and Technology Acceptance by Consumers. Apple meets consumer wants and needs. Products carry prestige as they say something about the person who uses Apple products. People become loyal to the point of being addicted to the products, making the Apple business better than being into the legal drugs business. People who use Apple products seldom switch to other products.

6.      Truly Global Presence. Powerful global brands transcend country boundaries and cultures. The robust products work no matter what country or location you are at. With dominion on the smart phone business Apple has helped to bridge the knowledge gap between the developed world and many other countries.

7.      Disruptive Innovative Company. Apple is always years ahead of the competition. Company sets the tone for enormous success and has produced high profitable growth in many different industries and platforms.

Share the knowledge with others!
Be blessed and be a blessing to others

Carlos Fontana
Financial and Leadership Coach
(Get out of debt, make more money, pay less taxes)

"Those that take swift action will always leave those that don't breathing the dust"
"The future belongs to those who can see and pursue opportunities before they are obvious"
“Managers influence numbers, leaders influence people by inspiring them to pursue excellence”

Thursday, August 2, 2018

HOW WELL DO YOU KNOW MONEY?


Can it be true?

The global cost of financial illiteracy is in the tens of trillions of dollars. Why is the cost so high? Simply because very few people are financial literate. How can we know so little for something we work so hard for? Money. The money view of the great majority is wrong because it is acquired from the wrong sources with wrong information. Money is just a tool to do great things with so it makes a lot of sense to understand it and use it for our benefit and the benefit of those we care about.

1.       Money is a game. Know the game, the defense, the offense, and the rules of the game. Most don’t know how to play the game and the few that do don’t play it. How can we win a game we don’t know how to play and don’t know the rules of the game?

2.       The monetary system. The monetary system is at the center of all finances. The whole system is based on debt (government, businesses, personal). It is a system that it is tilted against the people for the benefit of the financial institutions. How can we win in a system where one third of our gross income goes to taxes, one third to service debt, and the last third to live on?

3.       Money education. Money education is absent in our school system and in our homes. Our money education comes from the financial systems institutions and the company marketing; and all of them don’t have interest in truly educating us about money. Why aren’t we educating ourselves about money?

4.       Money tracking. The great majority of people pay little attention to the flow of money in their lives. Without a financial plan, a budget/cash flow, income and expense tracking, and debt pay off plan it is nearly impossible to win the money game. Why not track something we allocate so much time to acquire?

5.       Money problems. Most people think that their financial problems are gone once they make more money. The lack of money is not the problem, lack of money education is the problem. Why not acquire the proper money thinking?

6.       Money assets. Most people accumulate financial liabilities instead of financial assets. Most people focus on expenses instead of investments. Without proper understanding of money, we easily become an asset on someone else’s balance sheet and a liability to ourselves. Why not accumulate assets by making the right investments instead of accumulating liabilities by excessive spending?

7.       Money blessings. The blessings of money are many when we understand that money is a tool and a blessing for us to live our purpose and bless the lives of others. Why knot be a creative giver by sharing your blessings with others?

The understanding of money is important if we want to be financial secure or financially free. In order to do that we must think long-term, delay gratification, and leverage the power of compounding.

Share the 7nuggets with others

Be blessed and be a blessing to others
Carlos Fontana
Financial Coach
Get out of debt, make more money, pay less taxes

"Those that take swift action will always leave those that don't breathing the dust"
"The future belongs to those who can see and pursue opportunities before they are obvious"
“Managers influence numbers, leaders influence people by inspiring them to pursue excellence”