Practical Prosperity

Practical Prosperity
by Alan Tutt
bttp://www.KeysToPowerProsperity.com

There are a million ways to make a million dollars. You can take any activity, and someone has made a million doing it. Even to the professional vacationers that send in reports to the travel agencies, you can make money doing anything! What I hope to share with you in this article is not so much what to do in order to make money and increase your prosperity, but rather how to think about what you like to do and see the money-making possibilities within it!

We are never so limited as our imaginations make us. One of the most important topics we work with in the Keys To Power - Step by Step course is the topic of underlying assumptions. And here is why. If you assume that the only way to make money is to work for someone else, then you will never consider the idea of running your own business. And if you assume that there is no way to make money doing what you love to do, then you will lose out because of that assumption.

Underlying assumptions go a lot further in their effects on our lives than with our prosperity, since everything we think we know about the world is in one way or another a false assumption. For centuries, humanity assumed that the world was flat, or was the center of our solar system and the universe. We assumed that speeds over 30 miles an hour would kill us, or that no-one could possibly run a mile in under 4 minutes. All of these assumptions have been proven false, and many more will be proven false once we start to test their true validity.

But back to the topic of prosperity. Right now, there are many different ways you can make money that you are not even aware of. You have valuable skills, talents, knowledge, or aptitudes that you can use to trade for the things you want in life. You've no doubt heard the suggestion that you should follow your passion when deciding on a career. And the reasoning for this is that if you are passionate about the task that you are working on, you will do the job better than someone who isn't passionate about it.

While you and I may not be passionate about plumbing, and would not be very good at it because of it, there are many people who find the subject absolutely engaging, and do a wonderful job accordingly. Although I'm passionate about photography, and do a very good job at it because of my passion, there are many people who try to make money as a photographer, but cannot make a living at it because they are not passionate about it, and the quality of their work shows it.

Most of us have many passions. We are not limited to only one interest in our lives. What then, should we focus on in order to make money. Here is where I had the greatest difficulty. There was one question that I stumbled upon that really solved the problem, however, and that question is: "How can make the biggest contribution to the world?" Another way of phrasing that is "What will you do to leave your mark on the world?" or "How will you make the world a better place?"

Once I spent some time thinking about that question, I realized that my photography, as profitable as it was, was not going to be the greatest contribution I could make to the world. The information I had gathered over the years in my (very passionate) study of the human mind, spirituality, and the system that has become the Keys To Power, would be the greatest contribution to the world that I could make. And now that I've been working on this project for about 7 months, it is already proving to be more profitable than my photography was! Such is the Power of making a genuine contribution to the world!

Now, lets bring out a very important point here that may get missed otherwise. One of the reasons that making a contribution to the world brings greater prosperity is that contributions are valuable. Value produced equals prosperity received. If you remember this one line, you will always know exactly how to make money.

Many of the people that I usually talk to are a little unsure on exactly what constitutes value, or at least the type of value that can be exchanged for money. Here are some ideas that will increase the value of any service or product in the eyes of the average consumer.

A pleasant, helpful attitude. "What can I do for you?" "I'd love to do that for you." People have too much to do already.

Smiles and other expressions of joy and happiness. People like to be around happy people.

Behavior that matches that of your customer. People like to be around people like themselves. In this regard, speak just as softly, loudly, fast, or slow as the person you're talking to. Sit if they are sitting, and stand if they are standing. Just don't be obvious about this or it will backfire on you.

Attention to details. This is one of the basic definitions of quality. All of the details of your service or product are the best they can be. This takes time to master, so it is one way to identify a professional as opposed to an amateur.

Genuine interest and caring for your customer. Too many people are going through life without enough appreciation and acceptance. The person who gives this will be rewarded many times over with extra sales.

Excitement and enthusiasm. One reason that sporting events and amusement parks make so much money is because they have so much excitement associated with them. People pay money to experience these feelings.

I think you get the basic idea. People don't always pay money just for a product or service, but also for the experience of getting that product. Here's how it works in my profession, photography. I've seen some very excellent photographers who were able to create absolutely beautiful portraits. But they didn't have the "fun and exciting" personality when working with their customers. Since the customers didn't have fun when getting their portraits taken, they ended up not liking the final results. Other photographers I know are able to create the fun and exciting atmosphere for their customers, and even though the final portraits may not be as good, the customers spend much more money. The only explanation for this is that the customers were paying (or not paying) depending on how much fun they had while getting the photos taken. I've seen the same thing happen in places that change oil in cars, in restaurants, and in many other types of businesses as well.

McDonald's, that king of the fast food business. What value do they offer? Speed, convenience, fun for kids. Definitely not high quality food, even though you would first think that quality food would be a necessity to succeed in a food business. The food meets a minimum standard, but the other qualities of their service wins the majority of their business.

Here's a valuable question. What value do the employees of a business like McDonald's provide? They perform a task that is essential to the operation of the restaurant, but they also offer more than that. The attitude that they have when working affects other employees and the customers as well. Helping the other employees with their jobs adds value to their service, as does being a source of encouragement, inspiration, and information. Employees like this never need to worry about being fired, let go, or laid off.

The last thing that I want to cover is about what kind of possibilities can you pursue. Too many people believe that it's impossible to make money doing the thing they want to do. So let's cover some of the ways money can be made in unconventional ways.

You can be paid to take vacations if you sign on with a travel agency to report on various vacation spots.

You can be paid to tell jokes, play music, or pretend to be someone else in the entertainment industry.

You can be paid to write poetry for many different publications.

You can be paid to take everyday snapshots for various publications.

You can be paid to play golf if you turn professional and compete in the major tournaments.

The same is true for any other sporting activity.

You can be paid to be a mom to other people's kids if you open a daycare center.

You can be paid to be a grandparent in many of today's public schools.

You can be paid to have an overactive imagination in several industries - fiction writing, movie making, and more.

You can be paid to argue if you promote yourself to high level corporate offices. (They sometimes need to see the problems with their ideas before they become problems.)

.....and......

You can be paid to have sex in the porn industry.

So, you see, you can be paid to do just about anything!

Here's one more rule of thumb that will help guide you into the really big money. The more people you can help, the more money you can make. And if you can help people without having to be physically involved, like with a book, a recording, or by performing a program for many people at once, then you have the capability of making huge amounts of money!

Think about it. No matter how much you could charge for your time, you are limited in the amount of money you can make. Even if you could charge $1,000 per hour, you could only make $8,000 per day, or $40,000 per week. But if you write a book that sells 100,000 copies in a week (like some Stephen King novels do), then you could make $250,000 in that week! Without having to do any more work than it took to write the book. Same thing with a recording, whether that is music, instructional, drama, or whatever. Professional athletes are paid millions because they entertain thousands of fans at a time.

So, your key to unlimited prosperity is to find out what you are truly passionate about. Then find out a way you can offer a product or service based on your passion, that will contribute the most good to the world. And figure out how to benefit the greatest number of people at a time. Of course, you probably won't be able to hit the big time right out of the gate. You will probably have to work up to it. But work with patience and consistency, ever mindful of your goal, and you will increase your prosperity tremendously!