Sat, 27 December 2014
I am not really religious but it's the holiday season.
So I decided for today's Book Of The Day I would read the Bible, specifically the Book of Proverbs.
The wise man says in Proverbs 22:7, "...the borrower is the slave of the lender."
How true this is.
Throughout history, the lender has always been the master over the borrower.
The average person in the USA is $225,238 in debt.
They owe $15,263 on their credit cards (at interest of around 14.95%), $147,591 on their house, $31,646 on student loans, and owe a staggering $30,738 on their car.
You might be in debt too.
If you are in debt you have two choices. You can be like most people and blame capitalism or 'corporations.'
Or you can follow the old saying, "If you can't beat them, join them."
So become a lender. Start lending money yourself.
Start small.
Lending money will accomplish one main thing: make you sophisticated with money.
Nothing will make you more financially savvy then lending out a little money and losing it, then learning from your mistakes, and evolving into someone skilled in advanced financial principles.
Lending money will teach you:
1. How to read people and be discerning with money.
2. How to structure win-win negotiations.
3. How to draw up a promissory note.
4. How to calculate a loan repayment schedule.
5. How to deal with conflict from people that aren't paying you back.
Remember, if you want to thrive in life you have to become sophisticated with money.
One of the reasons I went through the whole laborious Certified Financial Planner Program was to understand money at the deepest levels.
So start by lending out a $100 or $500.
Remember only lend out what you can afford to lose.
I once lent a buddy $38,000 to renovate and flip a house. That was in 2007, right before the market dropped. I still haven't seen a penny back yet.
But who cares? Gaining knowledge to me is more valuable than losing money here and there.
It's like anything in life, you will suck at first. But if you patiently commit to building the new skill of lending money you will get good over time - real good.
I don't recommend lending to family or close friends since there is always the chance of some long-term tension.
Lend to an acquaintance or a friend of a friend.
And do not just informally lend out the money. That won't teach you anything.
You probably have already done that in your life before. There is no real educational value from just pulling a $100 out of your pocket and giving it to a friend who is broke.
Structure the deal formally so they have to pay you back on an exact lending schedule.
Go to Rocketlawyer.com and download a simple loan agreement.
Don't worry about charging interest. This is a training exercise not an attempt to become a bank or a loan shark.
The bonus to all this is that you will also be improving the world.
When I lived with the Amish I realized they have a secret weapon. Instead of only relying on big banks, they lend each other money at low interest. This allows young people who don't have much credit to get started running their own businesses.
Many Jewish, Lebanese, and Muslim communities do the same. It's genius.
By the way one of my favorite charities is Kiva.com where you can lend money to people in third world countries so they can start up their own business and rise out of poverty.
So stop being a servant. Become a master. I don't care if you are 18 or 85. Flip the tables on the conventional structure by becoming sophisticated with money. |
Fri, 26 December 2014
For today’s Book-Of-The-Day I’m talking about “Attached” by Amir Levine & Rachel Heller, and how you can use the science of human attachment to find love and form lasting relationships. |
Wed, 17 December 2014
From taking Elvis Presley on tour, to raising 1 million dollars in a day, Jerry Weintaub has done it all. He is one of the most dynamic, persuasive men there has ever been. In todays book of the day I go over how he became the man he is today. Want to get some bonuses and the book from me? You can get them here: http://bit.ly/1CxyxKR
Direct download: BODTV_When_I_Stop_Talking_Youll_Know_Im_Dead_AUDIO.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 7:46pm PST |
Wed, 17 December 2014
If you could snap your fingers and instantly stop your aging problem, would you? In today's book of the day "The 50 Secrets To The World's Longest Living People" I look at this great book on reversing aging. You can buy this book from me here and get some special bonuses here http://bit.ly/1z4V2Ao
Direct download: 50_Secrets_To_The_Worlds_Longest_Living_People_AUDIO.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 7:45pm PST |
Tue, 16 December 2014
This is one of the best books for getting anything you want, today I read "Total Recall" by Arnold Schwarzenegger. Get this book, my private bonus notes, and 'Smart Reading' here http://bit.ly/1sMbNnk |
Sun, 14 December 2014
Today I'm talking about the book "Trump: How To Get Rich." It has a cheesy name with some very powerful insights. You can buy this book from me and get my new 6 video smart reading course, and some bonus video notes that I don't go over in this video here: http://bit.ly/1uUe1LK |
Thu, 11 December 2014
Direct download: BODTV_WHY_BEAUTIFUL_PEOPLE_HAVE_MORE_DAUGHTERS_AUDIO.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 4:37pm PST |
Thu, 11 December 2014
In todays book of the day I read the Lessons of History By Will and Ariel Durant. You can buy this book from me, and get into my private mentor program, my new smart reading course, and my in depth bonus book notes here: http://bit.ly/1qTIvSx |
Thu, 11 December 2014
You must innovate if you want to change your life, your bank account, and the world.
Innovation is easier said than done.
In “Zero To One” the author, Peter Thiel, opens by saying that if you are merely following and 100% mimicking other people, you will always be one step behind. You can sign up for my VIP Club and get the book here http://bit.ly/1GvRE5B
Thiel says, "Every moment in business happens only once. The next Bill Gates will not build an operating system. The next Larry Page or Sergey Brin won’t make a search engine. And the next Mark Zuckerberg won’t create a social network. If you are copying these guys, you aren’t learning from them.”
The key (as I talked about on my live TV show - tune in at 11:30am daily on TaiLopez.com) is knowing the exact balance between brand new innovation and not falling prey to "Nudist Buddhist Syndrome."
"Nudist Buddhist" is what one of my mentors, Allan Nation, says is the law of innovation. He told me, “You can be a nudist and people won’t think you’re super weird, because it’s just one thing weird about you. And you can be a Buddhist and people will give you a pass cause that’s only one weird thing about you. But you can’t be a nudist Buddhist. That’s too weird.”
So for me, it’s not just blind innovation. I don’t want to come up with the solution on how to do underwater basket weaving.
There’s no demand.
It’s too weird.
It’s too "Nudist Buddhist."
Where you want to be is that happy medium where people feel like, “Wow, this is insightful, this is something I’ve never heard before.”
But yet their conservative, pragmatic, risk-averse side says, “Yes, I’m willing to take a chance on this new product.”
How can you actually do this? Well in your career and in business, Peter Thiel says:
“Start small and monopolize. Every startup is small at the start. Every monopoly dominates a large share of its market. Therefore, every startup should start with a very small market. Always err on the side of starting too small. The reason is simple: it’s easier to dominate a small market than a large one. If you think your initial market might be too big, it almost certainly is.”
Peter Thiel is exactly right.
Think about it.
Facebook was able to beat out the 800 lb gorilla Myspace by starting out by always erring on the side of being too small. At first Facebook was just Mark Zuckerberg in his room and his first customers were his roommates. And then he moved on to just dominating and monopolizing his one university. And once he conquered that he moved on to the next stage, which was conquering and expanding his monopoly to all universities.
It wasn’t until he had conquered this step-by-step that he then went on to acquire over a billion customers.
Not many people can say their business hit a million customers.
Zuckerberg was able to say he reached a billion.
You may not want to be a billionaire, but there’s a lesson to be learned.
Go "straight to the top" in what you learn.
Remember, the main principle that Peter Thiel believes in is that whatever your idea is, just shrink it down.
In one of my VIP coaching calls I talked about the book “Switch” by Chip and Dan Heath where they discussed the need to shrink a problem.
If your goal is to make a million dollars a day, think about it more like you need to make $80K per month. Since even that still seems like a big problem, then shrink that down so you only need to make $2-3K a day.
That’s a realistic goal.
Err on the small side like Zuckerberg and eventually you can have market share and change the world.
When you do this your bank account will never look the same, and neither will the impact that you have on the world.
Stay Strong,
Tai
P.S. If you want to learn how to get people to pay attention to your big idea, don't miss my free online seminar @ 12 pm PST http://bit.ly/1GvRE5B |
Tue, 9 December 2014
People say that to be happy you have to be unselfish.
But are they right?
Because we all know selfish and greedy people, who seem to have it all.
We have all been betrayed by someone who went on to live a seemingly perfect life.
Who went on with seemingly no consequences...
So there has to be something more to this - a more elegant explanation of the conflicts of life.
A root explation of our selfishness... Of our altruism...
About our DNA and "Nature vs. Nurture..."
In today’s Book-Of-The-Day, “The Selfish Gene” by Richard Dawkins, we examine this question of whether we are born greedy and 'evil' or if we only learn it from our environment. You can buy it from me here http://bit.ly/16gFhPR plus get a bunch of other bonuses for free.
I consider this to be one of the 5 most important books that every human should read.
Yesterday I was talking about it on my Book-Of-The-Day TV show (check out a new episode everyday at 11:30 am PST on www.tailopez.com/tv)
One million people have read "The Selfish Gene" since Dawkins first wrote it in 1976.
He had a noble goal in writing it.
He explained, “My purpose is to examine the biology of selfishness and altruism. Apart from its academic interest, the human importance of this subject is obvious. It touches every aspect of our social lives, our loving and hating, fighting and cooperating, giving and stealing, our greed and our generosity.”
Dawkins was right. The question of selfishness vs. unselfishness is at the core of every major decision you will ever make.
Who to marry. Who to make friends with. Who to protect. Who to ignore.
Get this question wrong and you will get your life wrong.
Most people approach the question all wrong.
Whether it’s people who believe in religion or atheists, the confusion knows no boundaries between the sacred and the secular.
So what did the scientist Dawkins discover and explain in this book?
[make sure to check out my Book-Of-The-Day deal to get your own copy of “The Selfish Gene” and my own personal notes]... http://bit.ly/16gFhPR
1. Although selfishness is our natural inclination, we are not always destined to follow it:
“Our genes may instruct us to be selfish, but we are not necessarily compelled to obey them all our lives. It may just be more difficult to learn altruism than it would be if we were genetically programmed to be altruistic. Let us try to teach generosity and altruism, because we are born selfish. Let us understand what our own selfish genes are up to, because we may then at least have the chance to upset their designs, something that no other species has ever aspired to”
I like that Dawkins recognizes that you and I have the chance for some level of enlightenment, however little it might be. We have some mastery over our genes. We’re not doomed to take advantage of people or to act in a more base manner.
No, you see it all around you.
Altruism.
And not just the kind of natural altruism that we have towards our family, friends, and loved ones (which in a sense isn’t really charity at all because of the possibility that we can be paid back).
You see people giving to people that have no chance to give back to them.
There is still hope.
2. The secret is to become a simulation machine, not just a robotically programmed automaton:
Read the rest at TaiLopez.com
If you're in financial scarcity now, or if you're making decent money but you know you should be making a lot more, @ 12 pm PST on "10 Rules to living the Entrepreneurial Lifestyle: The New Rules of Money" http://bit.ly/1GvRE5B |
Tue, 9 December 2014
Almost everyone thinks they’re an expert when it comes to food and diet. In fact, we all know people that have crossed the line, and it’s almost become a religious conversation. In today’s Book-Of-The-Day, “Diet Cults” by Matt Fitzgerald, we delve deep to try to find the truth. Get the Book-Of-The-Day Deal here: http://bit.ly/1skG9xa What is the diet that we should all be following? I talked about this a few days ago on my new live Book-of-the-Day TV show that airs every day at 11:30am PST on TaiLopez.com. When I was at Joel Salatin’s, it was fascinating. Thousands of people would come in from all around the world, each of them with their own opinion on diet - whether they were Vegan, Paleo, Low-Carb or Atkins. And most of them came there extremely confident in their beliefs. The interesting thing about a farm is that you’re so close to the earth that you actually get insight on biological processes that the average city person never gets. If you ask most people in the city how many grams of protein, sugar, or carbohydrates they should be getting every day, they have no idea. But a farmer knows exactly how much protein a one- week-old chicken should have, and how much they should be eating at six and eight weeks as well. It becomes a science. And of course, you’re experimenting on the best testing ground possible (the livestock you’re raising, because there’s no placebo effect). There is no one diet that works for everyone: Adaptability is the hallmark of man as eater. For us, many diets are good while none is perfect. We know this to be true. It would be an impossible environment for humans to live in without adaptability. The problem with something like the Paleo diet is that in Paleolithic times, not all people lived in the same part of the planet. Some people lived in rainforests, some lived in savannahs. Even though there is truth that there is a genetic predisposition that some foods are probably more nutrient dense than others, it’s not an absolute black and white fact. "Scientists are discovering that the extreme responsiveness of gut flora to changes in diet are a major contributor to humans’ dietary adaptability." You must search for disconfirming evidence: “My friend Richard did a lot of reading on the science of veganism and came away believing that veganism was the correct way to eat. But this happened only after he had already given up animal foods. And, of course, he cherry-picked his sources, ignoring experts like Walter Willett at the Harvard School of Public Health and going straight to gurus like Caldwell Esselstyn, a man who could never get a job at the Harvard School of Public Health.” You see, you have to disprove your own theory. Because whether you’re Vegan, Paleo, Atkins or Macrobiotic, there’s evidence to the contrary of what you believe if you’re willing to open up your eyes and not see this as such a black and white conversation. Agnostic healthy eating is the plan Fitzgerald recommends. "I claim only that you will find agnostic healthy eating to be the easiest way to eat for maximum health if you’re turned off by diets that claim to be the One True Way." Fitzgerald says that what we need to do is have an agnostic approach, meaning whatever works is what we should gravitate towards, instead of trying to be a part of a certain group and getting our identity from that group. So it's up to you to “ask, seek, and knock” for that diet that's adaptable to not only the environment in which you live (which is different if you live in the North Pole compared to if you live in Africa), but once you do this search, set up a series of experiments and do it at the same time with top experts and doctors. Stay Strong, Tai Join me on tomorrow's free online business seminar: http://bit.ly/1BENytX |
Sun, 7 December 2014
If you're not careful, the 25 cognitive biases of your brain will destroy your life.
Get the Book-Of-The-Day deal here: http://bit.ly/1BwZ5vj
|
Fri, 5 December 2014
In today's Book-Of-The-Day we look at "Where Good Ideas Come From" by Steven Johnson. If you want to buy this book and get the 'Smart Reading Course', the ‘67 Steps Video Series', and Tai’s personal book notes check it out here http://bit.ly/1yx4Is6 Also check out Tai’s new TV show every day at 11:30 am PST on TaiLopez.com
|
Mon, 1 December 2014
Today's book-of-the-day is "Folks, This Ain't Normal - A Farmer’s Advice for Happier Hens, Healthier People, and a Better World" by Joel Salatin, if you want to order this book from me click here: http://bit.ly/12BAhE0
When I was still a teenager my mentor Joel Salatin used to tell me, "Tai, nature always laughs last."
For you to live the good life you're going to have to understand nature and biology.
I don't care if you live in a high-rise in Manhattan or one of the hundred million dollar condos I saw in London last month. The laws of nature still apply as much to you today as they did 10,000 years ago.
If you don't know who Joel is (besides the fact that he was my first mentor), he's a famous international speaker, who’s done two Ted talks, and has written 10 books.
But most importantly, he's known for pioneering grass-fed beef and pastured eggs. His Virginia Polyface Farms has had everyone (from celebrities, presidents, even prime ministers) coming to learn from his wisdom.
I was actually just visiting Joel and his family for Thanksgiving last week and I recorded some special videos for you.
Enable your images to see me interview Joel Salatin
The point of his book, “Folks,This Ain’t Normal” is simple. You and I in the modern world are so far removed from biological reality that 80% of the problems we face have nothing to do with flaws in us, per se, but more to do with flaws in the system.
It's like the Harvard professor Daniel Lieberman talks about in “The Story of the Human Body.” The quickest way to change your physical health (weight, waistline, etc.) is not to rely on willpower, but to change the system and environment in which you find yourself.
So what is Joel saying is wrong with our system?
Why Unconventional Works
1. We grow our food with pesticides, herbicides, insecticides, antibiotics, and growth hormones:
"Our animals don't do drugs. Instead, we move them almost daily in a tightly choreographed ballet from pasture spot to pasture spot."
Joel figured out that you don't have to be locked into the conventional ways to grow food by using chemicals. For example, if you mimic natural systems with your beef cows by moving them around in rotated pastures not only do you get healthier cows but the fertility of the soil increases. That's a true Pareto efficiency.
2. We’ve become detached from our food and the land that grows our food:
"A farmer friend of mine told me recently about a busload of middle school children who came to his farm for a tour. The first two boys off the bus asked, 'Where is the salsa tree?' They thought they could go pick salsa, like apples and peaches. Oh my. What do they put on SAT tests to measure this? Does anybody care? How little can a person know about food and still make educated decisions about it? Is this knowledge going to change before they enter the voting booth? Now that's a scary thought."
The average child hardly even realizes eggs don't come from the grocery store. Or that Velveeta cheese doesn't come from a can.
The only true path to food security is to know where your food comes from - have a relationship with the farmer who grows your food.
Get the rest of the lessons here: http://bit.ly/12BAhE0
Direct download: BOD_Folks_This_Aint_Normal_PreSale_AUDIO.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 7:25pm PST |