Business Systems Architect

COULD YOUR INSTINCTS BE KEEPING YOU POOR?

Most people are poor. The majority have always lived in poverty, and will always continue to live in poverty.

Every group of people arranges itself in the 1/4/15/80 hierarchy. This hierarchy means that the top 1% will own nearly half the assets allotted to that group. The next tier of top 4% will own about 15% of the entire asset base. The next tier of 15% will own about 15%... and the remaining 80% of the group will be left to fight over the last 20% of assets.

Be it wealth, health, relationships, or sex - this hierarchy is always visible. No matter who you take - this hierarchy always emerges. You could take a group of 20 billionaires, and put them all in a room. And then watch them compete for a certain number of resources. And this hierarchy will emerge. One of those will own half the assets. While the other 19 will compete for what remains. 

And that thought bothered me to no end...

WHY DOES THIS HIERARCHY EXIST?

Why does this hierarchy exist?

That is the one question that lead me on this quest. A quest to find out why some people have everything, while others have to fight for the leftovers.

A quest to discover what made those select few so special? 

Were they really so much more intelligent than the rest?

Were they brighter? Smarter? Better looking? Did they have better genes?

Who were these people, and why were they bound to get everything, while others got nothing?

Did they have better habits? Did they have better education? Did they have a different way of thinking?

I wanted to figure out what it was about them that made them so much more accomplished and successful. Especially financially.

And if there were differences, could those be overcome?

You see, I was highly motivated by the desire to do well myself financially. Having grown up in poverty, and having lived my childhood as well as adolescents watching everyone around me worrying about money, I had vowed that, "if there is a chance... I am getting rich!"

CAN SOMEONE RISE THROUGH THE RANKS?

So that was naturally the natural question I had...

Could I, or anyone for that matter, improve our station in life?

Was it possible for anyone to go from the bottom 80% to the top 1%?

Was it possible for anyone to rise above the wage slavery and poverty mindedness that engulfs you when you are worried about paying the rent, or the mortgage, or the bills?

"WIRED TO BE POOR"
CONTAINS ALL THE ANSWERS I FOUND

It took me many years.

Many years of slowly dissecting, analyzing, interpreting and reinterpreting - every word, and observable action of "successful" people.

I created a list of some of the most successful people on the planet... and then I watched them like a hawk. I'd carefully hear what they said. And I'd observe what they did.

Shockingly, for the most part, they did not say what they were doing... and they did not do what they were saying.

Whether that was by cunning design, or accident, I did not know.

What I do know is this...

THERE ARE PATTERNS

Very conspicuous ones.

If you pay close attention to successful people, you will find some very disturbing commonalities between their actions. While they may be engaged in a variety of industries... and may be doing seemingly entirely different things... their financial patterns are so common that it boggles the mind to think that nobody paid any attention to them.

For instance, do you know that while the richest people on the planet have no care about spending money on whatever they need, or want... that they are never easy to sell to. In fact, you couldn't sell them a $10 item if they didn't think they'd use it.

I have seen so many CEO's yelling over rather insignificant albeit wasteful spends that it's not even funny. The first time I saw a very successful man yelling over a $10 spend (that was truly wasteful) I found it rather amusing. I chalked it up to his eccentricities. But then I kept observing the same thing over and over again.

And that's when I concluded that I myself had more wasteful spends than many of these CEO's put together. Seriously!

ALL OF THEM LIVE BY A CODE

You can take any successful person you meet.

If you pay close attention to what they do (but not what they say they do) you will find them following a code. A very specific code. Whether they do it instinctively, or knowingly is going to vary. What's not going to vary is the code itself.

Yes, it's true...

Wealthy People Have A Secret Code

A code of actions that they follow. A code without which they wouldn't be successful and wealthy.

In fact, it's not their smarts, or their looks, or their sparkling personality that makes them wealthy. It's the simple practice of following this universally powerful code.

You could take a bum off the street and hand him this code. If he practices it, within three to four years you'd have a millionaire. Or a millionaire in the making.

And you can attribute all the success that wealthy people have to this one code.

I am about to give that code to you right now...

THAT CODE IS YOURS FOR THE TAKING
RIGHT NOW

Get a copy of Wired to be Poor. 

I have condensed the activities of all the wealthy people in one easy to follow code.

Then read it from cover to cover. Don't skip any sections. Don't skip a word.

Finally, practice that code like there's no tomorrow. Just start practicing it.

Your financial position - no matter who you are - whether you have a hundred million dollar portfolio right now, or you have a six figure debt staring you in the face right now... no matter where you are financially - your financial position will improve dramatically within the next 12 to 36 months.

In fact, the effects of this transformation will begin showing much sooner. Just by reading the book, you will feel that your financial destiny is in your own hands. That no matter what happens to the economy, no matter who becomes the next president, and no matter how badly your own particular industry does... your own financial future will be secure. And your family's.

Now...

Read on if you want to learn more about the book...

ARE WE REALLY WIRED TO BE POOR?

Yes.

You see, by default, most human beings aren’t equipped mentally and emotionally – even physically – to accumulate wealth.

You surely know hundreds of people who would be well advised to use their money in a better way. Instead of spending and splurging on things that they don’t need at all, they can use it to create a capital that not only brings them returns, but also supports the honest growth of economy and creates value.

But they don’t.

A part of the book is devoted to dealing with those emotional tendencies that we all battle with. These tendencies naturally keep us broke and unwealthy. As well as unhealthy, unloved and unsatisfied with our lives.

Now, if you are healthy, happy, loved and/or wealth, you have used your willpower and discipline to beat those natural tendencies for waste. Yet, it is not impossible that some of those tendencies still exist.

So Here's What You'll Discover

You will not only see what these tendencies are, but also how they hold you back. Then, you will see how you might have beaten them in the past, and how you can habitually beat them in the future too.

Even for the smart people, people who understand the importance of investment, there are significant challenges. For instance...

INVESTMENT DECISIONS ARE RANDOM
NOT SYSTEMATIC & FORMULAIC

At least for most people, investment decisions are as much about “feels” as they are about “systems.”

In fact, it’s not just investments. Pretty much all the decisions most people make are about feels, and habits and comfort zones. Which is why it is pretty hard to beat laziness, obesity, poverty, loneliness and disease for most people.

Of course, the people who successfully beat one or more of these things have systems that they rely on.

Whether you realize it or not, you have systems right now. Systems that get things done for you. Systems that make you money. Systems that keep you healthy. Systems that strengthen your relationships.

The thing about systems is that they always exist. What differs from person to person is whether their systems are positive and uplifting or negative and self-defeating.

Someone once told me something about muscles that I have never forgotten. He said, that at any moment – your muscles are either in hypertrophy, or undergoing atrophy. They are never plateaued.

In other words, right now, as you read this, your body’s muscles are either growing stronger, or weaker. The strength, and the flexibility is never going to stay at a constant level. As time passes, either you grow stronger, or weaker.

Nature Abhors A Vaccum

Everything is changing. At all times.

And that doesn’t just apply to the size and strength of your body’s muscles. That also applies to your financial muscle and net worth. That also applies to your relationships. Either they are ascending and transcending, or descending.

Inside “Wired To Be Poor”, you will read how and why atrophy and hypertrophy happen. And why most people are bound to be average, or below average in pretty much all respects in their lives, except the one that they might excel at.

I have seen smart and wealthy businessmen have poor relationships with their families, and bad health. I have seen muscular men and slim and curvy women have bad relationships with their families, as well as money.

Most successful people are still only successful at one thing in their lives – be it business, or investment, or relationships, or health, beauty and strength. Very rarely do you find someone who’s above average in all departments.

Now, those people exist, but they are not easily found. They are one in a million, if that.

The book will show you why.

And also show you how you can use the awesome power of the 80/20 principle to become above average in all areas of your life.

For instance, do you know that if you go to the gym just twice a week – and lift weights for an hour each time… and if you cut down on packaged foods and sugars, while increasing the amount of protein you consume… you are pretty much set for a very healthy body and life. You don’t have to read calorie labels everytime you eat something. You don’t have to become an anti-social paleo eater.

You will be ahead of 99% of the population if you do just these three things…

  1. Lift heavy weights for 2 hours a week.
  2. Eat proteins and unprocessed foods for the most part
  3. Cut down on sugars and packaged foods

That’s all it takes to be way above average in terms of physical health.

That is the power of 80/20.

Or 80/20 squared. Which means 4% of the actions lead to 64% of the results.

In other words, if professional body builders or strength training experts do 100 things, you can choose just 4 of those activities, and still get 64% of all their benefits. If they spend hours, you can spend minutes, and still get great results.

Or 80/20 cubed. Which means 0.8% (that’s less than 1%) of all actions still bring in 51.25 of the results.

In other words, if a company has 10,000 clients, they can easily fire every single one of them, except their top paying 80 clients. And still make 51.2% in revenues. Which can actually increase profits.

In the section about 80/20, I talk about the implications of the 80/20 portfolio in a similar light. You will be delighted at some of those ideas.

Speaking of ideas, let's talk about one "weird" but effective idea right now...

ONE WEIRD TRICK FROM THE BOOK

How do you ensure that you never go over budget with anything?

Be it your groceries, expenses, investments, savings, charity… how do you organize all of that? How do you make sure that you are investing enough and saving enough each time you get a paycheck?

How do you ensure that you don’t ever cross your own self defined spending limits?

Nobody on the face of this planet sets out on January first with the resolution that “I will spend $500 more than I make each month. I will go over my budget so much so that I won’t have anything left over for savings or investments.”

Yet, the vast majority overspend. So much so that the vast majority accumulate debt that they never ever pay off in their entire lifetime.

I have found, that..

It’s habits and discipline that, when systemized, make your life extremely simple.

Be it going to the gym twice or thrice a week, or waking up early in the morning… or managing your cash… it’s all a matter of systems and habits.

In the book, I discuss my own system of managing my own cash. I am just proud of this system. There isn’t anything better that I have seen or heard when I comes to cash management.

I want to share it with you…

I have multiple bank accounts. Checking, saving… it doesn’t matter. But I have five personal accounts.

Every time I get a paycheck, no matter where it comes from… here’s what I do with it.

I take 10% of the amount on the check, and deposit it one savings account. I will stop doing this once my savings are equal to 24 times my monthly expenses.

Then I take 40% of the amount, and put it in an “investments” account. This is typically a current account, where I build capital. And when I see an investment opportunity, this is the account I draw from.

I put 30% of my money into an expense account. I’d like to increase my income to the point where this percentage goes down to 10%. But for now, it’s 30%.

Then I take 5% and put it into another account called discretionary spend.

The remaining 15% go into another account. The purpose for that is personal, which I won’t disclose here.

Now… this percentage breakdown may change over the months – it usually does.

What does not change is the fact that I only use my expense account’s debit card for all my expenses. If I use a credit card for some reason, that very evening I transfer money from my expense account into the credit card account.

Under no circumstances will I reach into any of my other accounts. I’ll reach into the savings account if there’s a life threatening emergency, but it really does have to be life threatening. Which has never happened so far.

I’ll reach into my capital account when I am ready to invest in any opportunity. But under no other circumstances.

The discretionary spend is for things like buying a piano. Or a big trip. So I’ll save for a few months, and then spend a large chunk of cash on trips, gifts etc.

Now, I never carry more than one debit card with me – my expense card.

This system makes it impossible for me to be tempted to spend more than I have. I just can’t. Because if you overspend, the card starts getting declined.

I have a similar multi-account setup for my business also. I detail that in the book, along with dozens of similar tips, tricks, and tactics that make it easy for me to succeed financially.

EVERYONE'S AN EXPERT THESE DAYS

Yup. Everyone’s an expert. We live in that age.

So what if you just graduated from college and have no real world experience whatsoever? Nobody can stop you from starting your own blog and sprouting a stream of words, no matter how meaningless, and release them into the vast ocean of noise that the internet is.

So what if no publisher will agree to publish your book? You don’t need any credibility to publish using Createspace or Lulu.

And then, all it takes is a few thousand dollars to hire a decent ghostwriter who’ll write a book that you can just slap your name on – and self-publish.

So what if you’ve never sold a dime worth of tangible product to anyone? You are still a marketing expert, and your product is you.

So what if you know nothing about prose and rhythm? If you have feelings, you are entitled to be known as a poet.

Of course, you should have realized the biting sarcasm in my words.

And just to be clear, I am NOT a proponent of claiming expertise on a topic one is not well versed with. And that comes from experience, and experience alone.

Well, not experience alone.

Sometimes, you can just stand on the shoulders of giants. As in – you can learn from the mistakes that others have made before you. And avoid making the same mistakes yourself.

In fact, most of our knowledge is “acquired”. Very little is “discovered”.

In other words, for the most part, pretty much everything we learn is from other people. Through osmosis in most cases. But also from consciously reading, watching, emulating and practicing strategies that other successful people detail.

Experience is a harsh teacher.

Foresight is a gentle one.

For if you make a mistake, you pay the price. That’s the way of the world. There’s no getting around that.

But you don’t have to make every single mistake yourself. In fact, you can’t. You can’t reinvent the wheel. It has taken millennia for human beings to learn what we have learned. Nobody can learn it all by trial and error. Trial and error is the other name for experience.

Most of what you know, you learned from someone else. Most of what I know, I learned from someone else.

Except, I have spent the last ten years of my life very carefully thinking about who I learn what from.

For instance, my family doctor is a great general physician. He’s just great. When it comes to dealing with viral fevers, typhoids, cholera, jaundice, simple skin conditions, digestive problems … he’s great. He can get us all back on our feet within days.

And yet, I never take nutrition advice from him. Or exercising advice either. You know why? Because he’s fat. He is. I mean – I can’t deny it. He’s fat. And I won’t let a fat person tell me about exercise and nutrition.

You know who listens to him though? My Mom. Guess what? She’s fat too.

They say – Never trust a skinny chef.

There’s a world of wisdom in that little statement.

And yet, most people let anyone teach them about anything.

For instance, when I first started observing who I was learning from… I noticed that almost all my knowledge about everything came either from my parents, or from my (extremely adulterated and manipulative) textbooks and school teachers.

Come to think of it… it’s true for most of us.

We let our parents teach us about relationships. Relationships! I mean … for most of us they should be the last person on the planet to learn about relationships from.

We let them teach us about money. Even though they spend every waking moment fretting about pennies, and being foolish with their pounds.

We let Dr. Phil teach us about weight loss! Ha!

Back in India, in the heart of the capital New Delhi, there’s a government owned medical center called “Sports Injury Center.” The “experts” over there once told me I should stop squatting with heavy weights. I used to squat about 150 pounds then, and I had begun having pain in my knees. Especially the left one.

Except, I wasn’t going to let that flabby textbook hoarder tell me how to run my life. So I sought advice – from those who’d been in my place, AND succeeded in alleviating the pain and getting back to heavy weight squatting.

Today, I squat with over 300 pounds on my back.

How about that?

So here’s my question for you…

WHO HAVE YOU LEARNED YOUR FINANCIAL PRINCIPLES FROM?

A self-made millionaire? A hedge fund kid? Someone who was once in your position, but rose to a self-ascertained pinnacle of financial independence?

Who are you learning from?

Or are you learning from the doom-and-gloom media “nancy-pancies” who get paid $40,000 a year before taxes? Are you letting the 20-something kid with Liberal Arts degree and a useless blog teach you about finances … even though he still has a six figure debt racked up behind his back.

Now – to be fair… at the time of this writing, I do have some debt of my own too. But, and this is a big one… If I want, I can pay it all off right this moment. With one check. I just don’t want to – for various reasons.

My book “Wired To Be Poor” is largely a summary of what I have observed the really successful people do. It’s as much a guidebook for me as it is for you. Why? Because there are only three maxims in the book (the book has twenty two) that I have discovered by myself. Most others have come from successful people. People like Warren Buffet and Mark Cuban. As well as many multi-millionaires next door who’s names you don’t know at all, but you should learn from anyway.

With an enormous lack of modesty, I’ll say that it’s an evergreen book. You can pick a copy up today, read it and implement some of the principles, and change your life forever. Then, twenty years from now, you can gift that same copy to your own son – and watch him prosper too.

Even though I wrote the book, I do not claim to have made any of the discoveries that lead to the revelations inside the book.

Heck, I even just copied something verbatim from Jay Abraham. It’s called the Strategy of Pre-Eminence. Jay, if you don’t know him, is the world’s leading strategy and marketing consultant. Clients pay him $50,000 for a day of his consulting – and then go on to pay him millions of dollars very happily for his insights.

I just took his strategy, and put it in my own words. Why? Because if you are traveling the lonely road of financial discipline, you need to understand this strategy.

Similarly, I learned the power of 80/20 from Richard Koch, and Perry Marshall, the Adwords marketing expert. I did learn it from them. And then, I saw some pretty neat ways of using it in my own life not just for running a business – but also for becoming healthy, and successful with girls.

I learned almost everything from others. Then I saw some very neat ways of using their principles and strategies to gain an enormous edge over everyone else in my life.

Back when I was in high school...

Getting selected into one of the “IIT” colleges was all the rage. There used to be a group of nerds who spent upwards of twelve hours a day “studying” Physics, Chemistry and Math. Well, at least they called it “studying.”

I myself thought inorganic chemistry was garbage. I never saw the point in memorizing the outcomes of two different chemicals reacting. I mean – show me the application! Tell me one reason why I should remember when I can just as easily pick up a book or do a Google search to find that answer.

And so I left eight or nine chapters out. Just didn’t read them at all. Gave them a cursory glance, and that was that.

I spent two hours a day – if I felt like – studying. But when I studied, I had a strategy. One that I had learned from a very smart guy when he was a senior, and I was a junior.

Long story short – I got into the IITs. Only one of those dozens of nerds made it in – but it took him a whole extra year. Ha!

As I look back, I see I have been very fortunate in my life. And sometimes I wonder why! It’s as if I get whatever I want … even though it takes a while sometimes. Especially if the goal is a lofty one.

And when I think about it, the reason becomes very clear to me. I have to hand it to my teachers. Not the ones at school. But the ones who I observed, and sometimes had a chance to seek counsel from.

When I saw muscular and powerful men, I asked them how they did it. They told me, and I started implementing. I still ask them, and they keep telling me. And my health keeps getting better and better.

I was always popular with girls. Girls have a thing about bad boys. I was the bad boy at school. I just didn’t fear the employees of the school – or even the owners. It was a privately owned school, and I still didn’t fear any repercussions. Obviously I was chick magnet.

But then I saw some great men – exemplary men… and learned how they managed their relationships and ran their households. My own father couldn’t have taught me all this – since he himself never ran his household very well. But I learned from those who I thought had great results.

But finance was difficult. People have more hangups about money than they do about sex.

Everyday I get a dozen emails from “dweebs” saying things like …

  • Get a real job
  • Stop scamming people
  • Stop sending me SPAM
  • You are so full of yourself
  • Only thieves can make a living in two hours a day
  • You are an unscrupulous thief

Back when I was younger and immature, I used to let some of this affect me. Now I am just a bad boy. It actually gives me pleasure to see the “dweebs” writhing in agony while I march on – and my clients march on. Call me evil, but it does please me.

You know why?

Because if there were no investors to invest capital, no business would get started. None – large or small. And if there were no businesses, these dweebs would be out of their “real jobs” and “honest day’s work” that they are so proud of.

As investors, we are enablers of society. We take on financial risks… and it is because of those risks human beings have come so far. Because of our risks, new technological breakthroughs are brought into existence. Because of our risk taking capacity, many small businesses become larger and hire more people.

Investors Are Creators of Society

And yet, when we are handsomely rewarded for winning at this game… some “expert” on MSNBC starts flapping his gums about the evil 1%.

Without even realizing that he is only enabled to speak to an audience, into a microphone, sitting in a plush chair, inside of a comfortable and well lit studio… none of which would have been possible without investors who took leaps of faith with inventors.

Well, I don’t give a rat’s posterior about the naysayers.

For those who think winning at the game of investments is immoral, I have two words– SCREW YOU!

And for the investor, I just have one suggestion… Learn the successful strategies. They have already been discovered. Even Warren Buffet had to learn from Benjamin Graham.

Do not go into the world of financial investments unarmed.

For you owe it to your family to succeed. Not just your family, but also the world. Otherwise the dweebs won’t have anything to do. And if they are so pissed while they already have their salaries, imagine how pissed off they will be when there won’t be any salaries.

All jokes apart…

It is imperative for you, as an investor, to succeed.

THE IMMUTABLE MAXIMS OF THE GAME OF WEALTH

Let’s talk about Sharon Osberg for a minute.

Who is this Sharon Osberg guy, and what can you learn from him?

Answer:

When Warren Buffet decided that he wanted to learn how to play Bridge, do you know what he did?

He did not start learning by Trial and Error.

He did not just read the rules of the game and start playing.

He didn't just say, "Hmm... I'll read the inside of the cover, learn the rules, and start playing."

No.

He hired someone. Someone very important. Someone who's a foremost expert at Bridge. Not just playing bridge. But winning at it.

Warren Buffet hired Sharon Osberg.

Now Osberg is not just an ordinary bridge trainer. Those are a dime a dozen. Like the “experts” found on every nook and cranny of the internet. Osberg is a two-time World champion bridge player. World champion.

And here's why that should matter to you...

Warren Buffet knows that the rules for playing a game are different from the rules for winning at a game. Sure, you still follow the rules for playing. But now, your strategy is based on strategies that winners use.

Warren Buffet did not want to be an average bridge player. He wanted to excel at it. And so he decided to learn from the very best. The world champion. That's Sharon Osberg.

Millions of bridge players start on their own. They think they are smart enough to decipher the game on their own. You know what happens to them?

They get shredded.

They get shredded by the likes of Warren Buffet - people who learn from the winners. Buffet learned his "bridge-winning" strategies from someone who was a real world champion at it.

Other bridge players (let's call them sheep) are arrogant enough to think that they can learn on their own.

Naturally, Buffet (or T-bone... his username. You can actually play bridge with him online if you have enough money to join his table, and don't mind losing to him because he does have the winning strategies) will shred everyone else.

I want you to shred

I want you to avoid being the shredded.

Which is why, the last section of my book is titled “Laws of the Game” and the final chapter – the shortest one – is titled “The Immutable Maxims Of The Game Of Wealth”

Here’s what Amish Aggarwala had to say about this chapter…

“The last chapter of your book is worth way more than its weight in gold. The book’s a classic man. It was like having my mind blown every other minute.”

Of course, the book itself is a summary of the principles that lead to financial success. But the last chapter can is a summary of the book itself.

If you do nothing else today, and if you really don’t want to read a short 200 page book… then at least read the last chapter.

And re-read it every three months.