The Law of Iron Will

 The key element of preparation for success in your business is your understanding and utilization of the Law of Iron Will. The Law of Iron Will requires that once you make a decision, you must be unwavering in carrying it out, despite whatever obstacles or apparent impossibilities confront you. You cannot second-guess yourself because other people and/or institutions have issues with what you have decided to accomplish. The Law of Iron Will allows you to commit your decisions to God and resolutely carry them out, no matter what the odds of your success may be according to the well-established and revered pundits of the day.

Every truly successful person has had to take a stand on ground that was not confirmed or believed in by others. Every significant breakthrough in science, education, and industry has come as the result of single-minded, steadfast opposition to the conventional wisdom of naysayers who oppose change and cling to the presumed safety of the status quo.

The key to the Law of Iron Will is your definiteness of purpose. By focusing on the definite object that your decision represents and concentrating on that object while waking and sleeping, you develop the toughness of mind, tenacity of spirit, and tautness of emotions to withstand, counter, and overcome all the objections and negative assaults of the do-nothings and under-achievers who don’t have the courage and drive that you do.

The Law of Iron Will supports and cradles you during the difficult and oftentimes lonely struggle to bring to fruition the new product, service, or application that you have created through utilizing your imagination and the concomitant skills and abilities that you have developed along the way.

The Law of Iron Will is the full body, mind, spirit, and emotions armor that not only protects you in the thick of all aspects of battle but also allows you to simply stand your ground, unmoved and unshaken by the negative forces arrayed against you.

Finally, you can’t continue to think about success in the abstract: you must speak its definition to yourself every day. “Success is maximizing my personal growth and development, the highest and best use of myself, the resources I receive, and the resources I create, with the intent to become all that God has created me to be.”

Thus, success is a competitive activity in which you engage only yourself and no other person. You are not in competition with anyone else, because no one is willing to give more than you give, care more than you care, or provide the service you provide above and beyond what you are compensated. You are the only person who can keep you from attaining the success that is uniquely yours. Your success is measurable both in quantitative and qualitative terms by examining your own life in the light of the Law of Iron Will.

Attain Self-Mastery, Interdependence, and Reflective Leadership

 Develop Self-Mastery. Self-Mastery is the first and deepest foundational building block for your business success. It is taking complete responsibility for your own behavior and deciding to control your own reactions to outside pressures. This means that you will not blame others for your past mistakes and your present circumstances. You will use your own self-awareness, self-knowledge, imagination, conscience, and willpower to be self-determining and proactive. Self-Mastery says, “My success depends on me.”

Seek Interdependence. Interdependence is the second layer of the foundational building block after obtaining Self-Mastery. Interdependence teaches you to develop strategic relationships with key people and to understand that you need them to help you create successful business outcomes. Once you have achieved Self-Mastery, you will realize that you cannot attain maximum effectiveness by your own thinking and behaving alone. You learn that by working in concert with others while being personally responsible for your own actions, a team mentality develops. The team mentality allows you and every member of the team to contribute to the effort at maximum levels and to experience maximum satisfaction from the process of working together.

Use Reflective Leadership to maximize business outcomes. Reflective Leadership is the “beyond myself, my family, my community and my organization” third course of foundational building block that requires interdependent organizational strategic partners to function as a “think-tank.” The goal of this Reflection is to think and plan together in new ways, using new approaches to create new products, services, and solutions that meet needs and effectively address common problems. At this foundational level, there is a collective focus on working together to leverage the strengths of each group involved to maximize their collective profitability in their particular sphere of influence.

Everything you desire in life begins with your attainment of Self-Mastery. Once you have gained Self-Mastery, you will come to realize that you cannot become your highest and best self all by yourself. This will lead you to seek out principled people—or to be sought out by principled people—with whom you will develop strategic alliances. When you and those with whom you are strategically allied have gone as far as you can go, you will realize that your circle and sphere of influence must be larger and wider. It is at this point that—through your intention and action—the way will be opened to collaborate with partners who believe in the power of the Master Mind, and together, you will create new systems, products, services, and applications that can be implemented to impact, empower and energize multitudes of people for their good and the welfare of millions of people around the world.

Heed the call to GO BIG, or go home!

The Law of Concentration

 The Law of Concentration makes you use your ability to imagine a situation, circumstance, or reality that you have never experienced in the past. It is your gift for seeing the future, as well as your capacity to create what you have seen in your mind into a visible manifestation that others can see. Your endowments of imagination and creativity are proof that you have God’s DNA within you. It is also evidence that the Law of Concentration is immutable—it cannot change or be changed.

The Law of Concentration teaches you to focus the attention of your imagination in order to create your own future. Your destiny is determined by disciplining your thought life. Thus, disciplining your mind to concentrate on the definite goal or object that you wish to achieve is an urgent matter.

The Law of Concentration teaches that you must focus your mind on whatever your goal or object is until the circumstances that will manifest that goal or object are firmly in place and your goal or object has been realized. This means that you must place your desired goal or object into your unconscious by repeatedly holding the image of your goal or object in your mind, waking and sleeping. In addition, it means moving beyond just thinking about your goal or object and actually feeling what it would feel like to have already obtained your desired goal or object—i.e., you must emotionalize your goal or object to such an extent that you experience enjoying the feeling of having achieved your goal or object in the present moment.

Placing your desired goal or object into your unconscious mind and forming the habit of practicing this thought-life habitually are the two pillars upon which the Law of Concentration stands.

Your subconscious mind stores whatever you repeatedly think and practice. Then it acts silently and relentlessly to bring about the realization, in concrete form, of the object of your imagination. Thus, concentration is the habit of fixing in your mind the thoughts, desires, and creations of your imagination and insisting on their reality. You can do this because of the DNA of God that is within you and because of the unchanging nature of the universal Law of Concentration.

You must believe that what you concentrate on will happen for you. This principle of calling things not yet in being as though they now already exist is content-neutral. It doesn’t matter what the object of your concentration is. For example, if you believe and keep concentrating on the idea that you are sick inept, or clumsy, then you will eventually get sick, be inept, and become clumsy. If you believe and keep concentrating on the idea that you will fail in business, then you will fail in business. On the other hand, if you believe and concentrate on the idea that you are well, strong, and able to succeed in business, then you will ultimately be well, and strong, and you will succeed in business.

Know, Accept. Believe in, and Love Yourself

 Each person who has ever become extremely successful in business and in life has had one important and unmistakable trait in common: each knew, accepted, believed in, and loved themselves. Knowing, understanding, and loving one’s self is the bedrock upon which true wealth, prosperity, and personal success are built. But, knowing, understanding, and loving one’s self can be extremely difficult because there are so many distractions around that most people don’t take the time to figure themselves out until much later in their lives. The busyness of life—earning a living, raising a family, coping with the stresses and strains in life—often overwhelms people, so that when they get the chance to assess themselves, they’re too physically tired or mentally exhausted to do so.

Because you’re on the path to becoming a successful entrepreneur, you must take the time to get to know, understand, accept, and love who you really are. You need to make a list of all your strengths—1) those things you do really well; 2) those skills and abilities that you bring to the table; 3) those qualities that showcase your greatest character traits; 4) those qualities that show off your best people skills; and 5) those situations that allow you to do what you enjoy most. Then make a brief mental note about your weaknesses—1) those things you don’t do well; 2) those skills and abilities that you can’t bring to the table; 3) those qualities that showcase your greatest character flaws; 4) those qualities that expose your worst people skills; and 5) those situations that make you do what you hate. Although you should write down and keep a copy of all your strengths, you should NEVER write down your weaknesses—if you do, they will become worse! Just make a quick mental note of them so that you can avoid situations where they may come into play. (Feed your strengths and starve your weaknesses. Be sure that you NEVER divulge your weaknesses to others—they will always hold them against you!)

Build who you are now on the foundation of your strengths. Just as you are no longer a baby in diapers, a 7-year-old playing ball on the sandlot, or a teenager rebelling against your parents, you are not who you used to be! You are ever-changing, ever-evolving, and always getting better, smarter, wiser, and surer of yourself and the gift that you are to the human race. Learn to encourage yourself, accept yourself, and love yourself so that you can encourage, accept, and love others. Love must start with you—know yourself so that you can love yourself and the people with whom you will do business.    

On Harmony and Order

 Harmony is undisturbed peace, trust, and goodwill between and among two or more people who are either living together, doing business together, or working together on a social or community project. Harmony is third on the list of the top 12 conditions that are required for gaining wealth. This is so because acquiring wealth is not an individual sport, but a group activity.

Without the concerted and harmonious efforts of a dedicated group, wealth is impossible to amass in the U.S. in the 21^st century. What this means is that wealth is acquired these days by groups of people who work together and share in the profits from their labor as owners of a collective enterprise.

Andrew Carnegie, Charles Schwab, Henry Ford, J. P. Morgan—and the list goes on—all got wealthy together because they each assisted the other in amassing wealth. They succeeded because they cooperated together in harmony. Each chose an industry to thrive in that did not compete with the other’s business interests. Because there was no competition between their Master Mind group, they could wholeheartedly and unselfishly help each other.

As you move into owning your own business, find out what other businesses are compatible with yours and make strong friendships with owners of those businesses. As you cooperate in harmony with owners of businesses that are not in competition with you, you are creating a Master Mind that will provide the catalyst for the quickest and most honorable way to wealth.

Order is the evidence that you lead a disciplined lifestyle that refuses to tolerate clutter, distraction, and dysfunction. It is the ground upon which the virtuous entrepreneur builds her business. Order is the house in which your creativity and innovation live. Order is important because without it chaos reigns. Chaos is the enemy of order and the author of confusion. Order is not just the absence of chaos, but the sign and signal that mark you as a person who lives with intention.

Order and intention immediately evoke the mental picture of a progression that proceeds in a one-step-at-a-time fashion. Such a progression is a definite plan of action. Without a plan, your intention has no definite object upon which to focus. If you have no definite object upon which to focus, the Law of Attraction will bring you more of the same—confusion, chaos, and failure.

If you want to be successful, you must concentrate on a definite goal and give yourself entirely to its accomplishment by making a definite plan to achieve that goal. Order in your life is the clear space in which you are able to do the planning you need to do in order to succeed in life and in business.

Harmony and Order are inseparable Siamese twins: one can’t live without the other.

The Necessity of Balance

 Balance is maintaining and manifesting a healthy understanding of duality: wrong is balanced by right; good by evil; south by north; one’s perception by another’s. One of the hardest leadership lessons to learn is that there is nothing in our experience that is all wrong or all right. What makes this such a hard lesson to learn is our misguided belief that our perception of the world is reality. The inconvenient truth is that our perception of the world is not reality at all, but merely our perception of ourselves.

Each of us creates from our individual perceptions of the world the picture in our minds that we call reality. Based on our individual notions of reality, we develop a code that we use to explain what we perceive around us. We decide what is good, what is bad, what is proper, and what is improper—all based on what we were told by our parents as children and what we have learned on our own through “good” and “bad” personal experiences.

Your desire to be a successful entrepreneur catapults you to the status of a leader in society. You will lead your company, co-lead your family, and have considerable input in whatever organizations or associations to which you belong. Because you are a leader, you have a moral obligation to move beyond the ignorant opinions and self-serving partisan views held by most people with whom you currently associate and commit yourself to learning all you can about everything that touches you and your family. This is necessary because you cannot be a true leader and a thought follower at the same time. If you stay in that position, you are merely a client or object—someone’s puppet—to be used and manipulated as others see fit. If you take your rightful place as a thought leader, you are functioning as a subject or agent—a person operating in freedom.

The only way you can function properly as a thought leader is to see the pros and cons of every point of view without siding with one view or another and to look for, find, or create the third way—the balanced view that only a forward-thinking entrepreneur can promulgate. Lead from balance; serve others from balance; and innovate, improve, and create from balance.

The Urgency of Righteousness

 Righteousness is right standing with God that is evidenced by your right treatment of people, animals, plants, and the planet. Righteousness is not related to your religious or non-religious beliefs: it is predicated solely on what you actually do and why you do it—your external behavior is judged by your internal motives for your behavior—not what you say you believe, or the reasons you give to justify why you believe what you believe.

The financial destiny of a Virtuous Entrepreneur is to become wealthy enough to make a tremendous positive impact on the lives of people and to exercise economic power that promotes economic justice and benefits people by liberating them, such that the world becomes a better place to live for the many who are the have-nots, and not just for the few who are the haves.

Righteousness is urgent because those who gain wealth have an obligation to function from the right motives to reach the right ends that benefit society at large. To gain wealth solely to subjugate others is a misappropriation of the gift of wealth and a crime against humanity.

It is not money or wealth that is sinful: it is the selfish love of money or wealth that causes unrighteous people to write laws that oppress and diminish people, despoil the planet for profit, and reap unjust gain in the process.

As you enter the economic world of entrepreneurship, you have a decision to make. Will you decide to follow the narrow path of righteousness as a Virtuous Entrepreneur, or will you take the wide road of unrighteousness with the greedy and unscrupulous? You can become part of the world’s problem or part of the world’s solution. Which way will you choose?

The Power of an Idea

  It’s amazing how ideas affect all of us. Most of the things and people you like are based on the idea of them you have in your own head. By the same token, most of the things and people you don’t like are based on the idea of them in your head. The key ingredient here is that your perception of people, places, and things—indeed, your view of the world—is always a creation of your own thinking. That’s why how you think and what you think about are so crucial to your success as an entrepreneur.

   Successful entrepreneurs are open-minded and relate well to people without branding them as good or bad. They have come to understand that people are just like them—sometimes good and other times not so good; sometimes dependable and sometimes not so dependable, and the list goes on.

   But what successful entrepreneurs have learned is that they can be good more often than not and dependable more often than not by controlling the thoughts they think and the ideas that they allow to come into their heads. There are many ideas that you can use to control your thinking habits, but there are four powerful ideas that have the power to move you from scarcity to plenty and from surviving to thriving.

   The first of these powerful ideas is deliberately deciding to have and keep a positive mental attitude. You can form this habit by mentally willing it to be so and thinking of this idea every day. Instead of complaining about something that looks like a disaster that has confronted you, you can rather look at your situation as an opportunity to learn how to cope with and overcome adversity. This powerful idea, this decision to have and keep a positive mental attitude regardless of your circumstances, will keep you upbeat, grateful, and thankful. Without gratitude for life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, and thankfulness for being alive, you cannot succeed either in business or in living life in general.

   The second of these powerful ideas is determining to stay in sound physical health. Physical health has more to do with the content of your thinking than you imagine. Scientists tell us that negative ideas that you persistently think about—worry, anger, resentment, hatred, revenge—lead to physical (and sometimes mental) illness. On the contrary, they tell us that positive ideas that you persistently think about—love, joy, music, appreciation, praise, beauty—lead to the maintenance of physical health. By all means, go to the gym and work out, but don’t neglect to work out of your mind the negative ideas that will keep you from living the abundant life of a successful entrepreneur.

   The third powerful idea is keeping harmony in your personal relations. One problem that always arises in most human relationships is the belief that one person must be wrong if the other person is right. You have the power to solve this dilemma for yourself quite easily if you adopt the position that you will commit to listening to people for the sole purpose of understanding them from their point of view. You are not a judge who condemns people who disagree with you. You don’t have to agree or disagree with any person. You only need to hear, understand, and communicate to that person that you have heard and understood their position.

   When you speak to people, you should try to communicate as clearly as possible so that they understand you from your point of view. You don’t need people to agree or disagree with you. You only need to be sure that people understand what you communicated to them. You should always avoid arguing or debating people with whom you intend to do business. Wait until you’re ready to run for political office to do that!

   The fourth powerful idea is having hope for future achievement. This is an extremely powerful idea because it will get you through the disappointments, delays, and disasters that happen on the way to your success. As you keep your hope alive that your business will prosper and bring you the financial rewards you deserve, then you can smile when you must deal with disagreeable people and circumstances.

The Primacy of Truth and Justice

 Truth is reality in itself, not any perception of or reasoning about it. Its existence begins in spiritual form before its manifestation in material form. Anything that is not predicated upon truth is unreality—a lie.

That is why telling the truth to yourself first and then to family, colleagues, and business associates is imperative for the virtuous entrepreneur who is seeking true wealth. Building relationships of trust demands truth as the foundation of trustworthiness. The only way a person will come to trust you is if they find that you always tell the truth, even if it hurts you.

When it comes to making critical decisions that will impact profits over long periods, wise business leaders look for trustworthy associates whom they know will tell them the truth and stand by their commitments.

There are many entrepreneurs who cut corners, promise more than they can deliver, and function based on their perception of taking advantage of others. They may appear to succeed over the short term, but eventually, they are exposed as the untrustworthy, untruthful, and unreliable people they really are.

Truth is a rare commodity that is found only in virtuous entrepreneurs who love themselves to such an extent that they show love to others through fair dealing, win-win diplomacy, and honest truth-telling in business deals and personal relationships.

Justice is God’s definition of what is right. It is not based on any partisan view or political persuasion, but rather on the Golden Rule. It is important for entrepreneurs who want to function in a virtuous manner to practice justice in all their business and interpersonal dealings.

In the realm of business, justice means that you commit that you will not enter any deal that is disadvantageous to any person or entity involved in the venture and that no harm or disadvantage will come to the end users or consumers of the products or services that are produced by the deal. It means that all the details of the deal will be set forth fully in writing and that pains are taken to make sure that everyone involved is clear about what work, activity, product, or service is expected from each, and how, at what time and under what specific circumstances each will receive compensation for performance or no or limited compensation for non-performance.

The most direct way to ensure justice in a business deal is to create a Performance Contract that spells out clearly and succinctly what is to be done by whom, when, where, and how it is to be delivered, and the consequences for both performance and non-performance. A properly written Performance Agreement will minimize litigation and the waste of time and money that occurs when business partners disagree over the terms and conditions of a given deal.

The virtuous entrepreneur who commits to the primacy of truth aligns with fair dealing, and functions with justice in all personal and business dealings will always gain true wealth and maintain financial security for a lifetime.

Preparation for Initiation: The Tenth Virtue of Maat

 The Tenth Virtue of the Ten Virtues of Maat is preparation for initiation. In essence, this Tenth Virtue is the launching pad from which you will make the decision to change your current paradigm of drifting through life, commit yourself to personal growth, and choose to do the hard work of identifying your definite purpose in life and giving your whole self to its pursuit.

Preparation for initiation is your decision to move away from talking about going into business for yourself and taking the necessary action to do so. It is moving away from simply thinking about going into business and actually doing it.  Preparation for initiation is moving away from merely asking the theoretical questions related to going into a particular business and embracing the practical reality of setting up a shop.

The first step of preparation for initiation is to secure the services of an experienced coach who will work with you over a reasonable amount of time and raise your awareness of the potential that is within you. A world-class coach will challenge and stretch you beyond your comfort zone, and support you as you take definite actions toward the goals you set for yourself.

Preparation for initiation includes doing the self-work necessary to rid yourself of self-limiting and self-sabotaging thinking and behaviors. In addition, it requires that you chart a specific direction for yourself, align your thoughts and actions to that self-decided direction, and then commit yourself to follow through in that direction starting right now. When you have reached this stage, contact me at jchurchville8@gmail.com.

Confidence in Your Own Ability: The Ninth Virtue of Maat

 The Ninth Virtue of the Ten Virtues of Maat is confidence in your own ability. Without confidence in your own ability, you can never achieve personal and business success. The power of who you are as a person created in the image and likeness of God cannot be unleashed until you believe in yourself. This belief in yourself and your ability to succeed is an acknowledgment of the power of God’s DNA at work within you.

The true atheist is not the one who disclaims belief in the Deity who created the universe and humankind, but the one who refuses to believe in the self that was created by God. To denigrate your own ability is to practice false humility—the attempt to appear humble, when in fact, you are insulting the God who created you.

You are what and who you persistently think, believe, and behave you are. If you practice seeing yourself and feeling yourself to be successful, that is what you will ultimately become. Confidence in your own ability is the driver of your success, just as the belief that you will fail is the driver of your failure.

The following affirmation, if repeated aloud and acted upon daily, will help you develop your self-confidence:

1.     I know that I can achieve the object of my definite purpose in life. Therefore, I demand of myself persistent continuous action toward its attainment and I here and now promise to take such action.

2.      I realize the dominating thoughts of my mind will eventually reproduce themselves in outward physical action and gradually transform themselves into physical reality. Therefore, I will concentrate my thoughts for 30 minutes daily upon the task of thinking of the person I intend to become, thereby creating in my mind a clear mental picture.

3.       I know through the principle of autosuggestion that any desire that I persistently hold in my mind will eventually seek expression through some practical means of obtaining the object back of it. Therefore, I will devote 10 minutes daily to demanding of myself the development of self-confidence.

4.       I have clearly written down a description of my definite chief aim in life and I will never stop trying until I shall have developed sufficient self-confidence for its attainment.

5.       I fully realize that no wealth or position can long endure unless built upon truth and justice. Therefore, I will engage in no transaction which does not benefit all whom it affects. I will succeed by attracting to myself the forces I wish to use and the cooperation of other people. I will induce others to serve me because of my willingness to serve others. I will eliminate hatred, envy, jealousy, selfishness, and cynicism by developing a love for all humanity because I know that a negative attitude toward others can never bring me success. I will cause others to believe in me because I believe in them and in myself.

Confidence in the Power of the Master (Teacher): The Eighth Virtue of Maat

 The Eighth Virtue of the Ten Virtues of Maat is confidence in the power of the master (teacher). This virtue is important because you do not know everything there is to know about the business you will choose to begin from scratch or purchase as a franchise or licensee. You must learn the ropes from somebody and you will not learn what you need to know if you have no confidence in the power of the person who is teaching you what you need to know about the business.

The virtue that is hiding behind this eighth virtue is that of humility. A prideful person has difficulty acknowledging that anyone knows more than she or he about anything. Consequently, there are many entrepreneurs struggling in business because they refuse to learn from those more experienced than they are or to take their advice.

It’s not always pride that can make you leery about having confidence in the power of the master (teacher), sometimes it’s your bad past experience with a so-called teacher who turned out to be incompetent at best or a shyster at worst. That is why you must check out carefully the coach or teacher you choose to engage to speak into your life to make sure that that person who will be teaching you the ropes knows what they are doing.

I am in the business of speaking, teaching, training, and coaching to assist entrepreneurs, individuals, and businesses to maximize their potential and improve their results. If you are looking for a principled virtuous person to guide you along the road to personal and business success, then contact me at jchurchville8@gmail.com. We’ll talk together to see whether we are a good fit to work together on helping you reach your personal and business goals.

Freedom from Resentment: The Seventh Virtue of Maat

 The Seventh Virtue of the Ten Virtues of Maat is freedom from resentment. It’s amazing how many people are stuck in an undesirable space in life simply because of their resentment toward other people: a parent, a sibling, a former lover, a current colleague, or a fellow worker, to name just a few. In too many cases, resentment is the excuse unsuccessful people use to justify their failures in life.

They love to blame others for what is actually their own inadequacy. They will talk about the father who abandoned them, the mother who didn’t love them, the teacher who discouraged them, the close friend or lover who betrayed them, and on and on.

To have freedom from resentment is to be so self-directed that you will not allow any person or circumstance to keep you from attaining the goals you have set for yourself. Freedom from resentment provides you a platform from which you can create, innovate, and focus on your positive future, rather than stay mired in your bothersome past or hurtful present. As a virtuous, highly successful entrepreneur, you will learn that the pure success you earn in your life is far sweeter than any bad feelings you could have harbored or any acts of revenge you could have carried out.

The way to gain freedom from resentment is to make yourself grow large enough internally to forgive the people who have wronged, betrayed, or otherwise treated you unfairly. Forgiveness is not easy, but it is easier than holding on to resentment, because resentment traps and holds you, while forgiveness sets you free to become all you can be.

Along the road to economic prosperity, there will be potholes and other rough spots that are designed to discourage and waylay you as you seek after true wealth—wealth that includes financial success. Remember that the Law of Attraction will bring you whatever you focus on in your mind. Don’t waste time and energy on negative thoughts of resentment because they will attract more negative things and people to your life. Forgive those who have wronged you, and the Lord God whom you have wronged will forgive you.

Evidence of a Call to Spiritual Order: The Sixth Virtue of Maat

 The Sixth Virtue of the Ten Virtues of Maat is evidence of a call to spiritual order. Spiritual order is that state of being that is fully aware that one cannot live for oneself and family alone: one has a call to destiny that goes beyond one’s own private sphere of living. One has the obligation and responsibility to live a virtuous life that impacts, influences, and encourages others to follow suit.

The old adage, “To whom much is given, much is required,” is in play here. Every successful entrepreneur is a leader, whether she or he understands that or not. A leader is someone who is followed. People who wish to become successful follow the lead of those they believe to be successful. Because people will be watching you as you develop into a highly successful individual, you must be a good example for them to follow.

You cannot afford to be selfish, stingy, or rude if you intend to obtain true wealth. You must show love, compassion, empathy, and personal discipline. You cannot live the kind of life that you’ve seen some rich people live. Your life must have meaning, purpose, and spiritual order. True wealth and long-term profitability can never reside in a person who lives a dissolute life—a life wasted in self-indulgence and self-absorption.

I am looking for people who are striving to obtain true wealth, who want to positively impact the lives of other people, and who are willing to live a life that can be emulated. There are many entrepreneurial-minded people out there who will make lots of money, but who will never be able to produce evidence of a call to spiritual order. I am not against such people: but they’re not the kind and caliber of people I want on my team. If you’re ready to pay the price that it will cost to live for more than money, then you should be in touch with me.

Showing Evidence of a Mission: The Fifth Virtue of Maat

 The Fifth Virtue of the Ten Virtues of Maat is showing evidence of a mission. There is more to the Virtuous Entrepreneur than merely earning a living or creating wealth for the family. There must be a sense of mission that is evidenced in the passion one exhibits for what one does. Passion is feeling; it is emotional involvement in the work undertaken. It is not cold-blooded, but warm-blooded engagement in providing the goods and/or services that one provides.

In a court of law, every fact must be proved by evidence that goes well beyond the mere speaking or articulation of a particular fact. There must be something more than talk, more than promise, more than the usual hype that accompanies all good advertisements. So, too, the Virtuous Entrepreneur must demonstrate evidence of a mission that grounds, rationalizes, and supports her or his business activities.

True wealth, in all its aspects, precedes and follows the Virtuous Entrepreneur. That is why the committed entrepreneur who is seeking more than mere financial wealth must develop her or his character to such an extent that the passion for excellence, dependability, and service to others becomes the evidence of a mission that envelops and consumes her or his life.

We exist for much more than eating, sleeping, working, having fun, and then getting up and doing that all over again. Each of us is here for a purpose—a purpose that makes life worth living for not only ourselves but also for everyone with whom we have the privilege to influence.

The secret to showing evidence of a mission is to find your purpose. When you have found your purpose, you will find your passion. And when you have found your passion, you will be the evidence that you have a mission.

My mission is to add value to everyone with whom I come in contact and to serve my clients by maximizing my own personal development, my highest and best use, and the resources I receive and create. Accordingly, I am passionate about preparing my clients to succeed to the point of being able to create true wealth for themselves and their families. That is why my commitment to speaking, teaching, training, supporting, and coaching clients—and adding value to them—is my evidence of a mission as a Virtuous Entrepreneur who continues to invest in true wealth for myself and each of my clients.

The Ability to Identify with Higher Ideals: The Fourth Virtue of Maat

 The fourth Virtue of the Ten Virtues of Maat is the ability to identify with higher ideals. This is an important virtue for aspiring entrepreneurs because it underscores the reality that true business success is geared to a higher standard than just making a profit. Although making a profit—and a substantial one—must be the financial goal of the entrepreneur, he or she must resonate with and have an affinity for identifying with higher ideals.

To provide people with goods and/or services that add value to their lives is a higher ideal than just making a profit. When an entrepreneur can serve people in a way that enriches their lives, then he or she can experience the satisfaction that comes with rendering such service. This behavior over a consistent time is the basis for referrals of business customers from already satisfied consumers. Advertising is necessary and good, but referrals are much better and their results last much longer.

When an entrepreneur chooses to run a business from the place of identifying with higher ideals, she or he is investing in people in a way that will come back in ways even more valuable than the money earned through the business transaction. A reputation for excellence, attention to detail, thoroughness, or dependability reflects an entrepreneur’s functioning with the higher ideals of exceptional service and value to the customer regardless of compensation.

One’s ability to identify with higher ideals sets one apart as virtuous—a status that is in scarce supply in the marketplace. Consequently, such a virtuous business person has little, if any, competition because consumers care about price, but they care more about the business experience. A customer’s good business experience with you will speak more volumes than all the ads, commercials, or digital marketing you will ever use.

My work with clients is motivated by the ability to identify with higher ideals. That’s why your success—both personal and business—drives my every interaction with you. I practice what I preach. If you can handle the virtuous manner in which I do business, then you’re probably a good prospective client.

Steadfastness: The Third Virtue of Maat

 The third of the Ten Virtues of Maat is steadfastness—sticking with someone or something until it’s completed. You can control your thoughts and your actions, but if you have no steadfastness—stick-to-it-iveness—you will never fulfill your destiny as a successful entrepreneur.

Steadfastness is the stuff of character that refuses to quit, become discouraged, or otherwise abandon the dream of succeeding in whatever business you have chosen. Life is hard and business is harder. There are no quick fixes or easy roads to the kind of success that lasts over a long period.

Just as studies have shown that people who win big lottery amounts are broke within a year after, in the same way, a quick business financial gain—with no more effort put into it than the “luck of the draw”—will always end in business failure. Any business you enter must be nurtured over the long haul by your attention to detail, excellent customer relations, and provision of superior goods and/or services.

Another element of steadfastness is planning beyond the moment to the future. While you are delivering excellence to your customers today, you must study today how you will exceed your customers’ expectations tomorrow. You must constantly improve your product or service and consider your customers’ needs past the particular product or service you are currently offering. Thus, steadfastness is not only “hanging in there” for today, but also planning improvements and upgrades for tomorrow.

The same steadfastness that keeps you from quitting when times are difficult must keep you motivated to never stop improving yourself and the goods or services that your business offers.

I’m looking for hard-working, forward-thinking people of character who dare to see their life and business goals through to the end. If you can control your thoughts, control your actions, and have the tenacity that won’t allow you to quit, then contact me: you’re the kind of client I’m looking to help.

Control of Action: The Second Virtue of Maat

 The second Virtue of Maat is control of action. This is significant as a virtue because actions, once taken, cannot be untaken. In human relations, whether personal or business, the words you speak, the deeds you do, and the negative attitude that you display through your body language can never be reversed. The old adage, “You can’t un-ring the bell,” is absolutely true here.

This virtue brings into the foreground the issue of self-discipline. Discipline is enforced obedience. It is bringing your own behaviors under control, regardless of how you may wish to behave in any given stressful situation. Controlling your actions is a function of constant practice. If you are used to flying off the handle every time someone makes you angry, then you are out of control. If you want to be a successful entrepreneur and you have serious anger issues, then you are out of business. Your family may, out of love and commitment to you, put up with your bad behavior, but no customer or client will.

If you have trouble keeping your temper in check or cursing before you think, then get help. The art and science of successful entrepreneurs demands self-control in speech and behavior—even in body language!

People who are already well-off financially because they have inherited a family fortune can afford to be mean, surly, self-absorbed, and rude. Keep in mind, however, that their wealth allows them to live the life they want without succeeding in starting a new business! They are not you, and you are not they!

You are attempting to create true wealth for yourself and your family. The only way you can succeed in doing this is to treat people with respect, be concerned about them, and serve them to the best of your ability—regardless of how you happen to feel about them personally on any particular day!

So, study to discipline yourself by controlling your actions—your speaking and behavior. Strive to become a virtuous successful entrepreneur who works on yourself to bring your thoughts and actions under control so that nothing you think, say, or do becomes a stumbling block to your continued success as a human being and an entrepreneur.

Ultimately, you are not what you merely intend: you are only what you think and what you do. When the good you intend to do aligns with your thoughts, then you become the wise master of yourself. Think well, do well and you will succeed in business and in life!

Control of Thought: The First Virtue of Maat

 Long years before the Torah was written, Maat was the moral and ethical system used in ancient Kemet (Egypt) more than 4,000 years ago. Maat has multiple meanings, but according to The Husia, its sacred text, it essentially means moral and spiritual rightness with the Divine, nature, and other humans. It is also an interrelated order of rightness that requires right relations with and right behaviors toward the Divine, nature, and other humans.

According to Maat, 10 Virtues define an ethical person, the first of which is control of thought. This ancient virtue is especially important for people today who seek to be entrepreneurs because how one thinks and what one thinks determines what one does. In accord with the ancient Kemetic understanding of the importance of controlling one’s thoughts, modern business leaders and coaches stress the importance of a successful person’s control of thought as the key to business and personal success. Modern business leaders are not alone in their urging the necessity of a person’s control of thought.

Quantum physicists have shown that thoughts are the creative force in the universe. All created things were once conceived in thought before their appearance in material form. So, if one’s thoughts are negative, the universal Law of Attraction will draw negatively created things, persons, and circumstances to that one. On the contrary, if one’s thoughts are positive, serving the needs of others and tend toward doing right, then that same universal Law of Attraction will draw positively created things, persons, and situations into that one’s orbit.

The first leadership lesson for the aspiring entrepreneur to learn here is that all thoughts of impossibility, doubt, and failure with respect to starting a business—whether starting from scratch or buying a franchise or license—must be eliminated from your mind. You create your own success or failure by what thoughts you allow to stay in your head.

The second leadership lesson you must learn is that you must compete against yourself. Your true opponent does not exist outside yourself. You are the only one who can be your worst enemy by failing to believe in yourself and your capacity to succeed. Fight every thought that comes to you saying, “You can’t,” “You don’t have what it takes,” and “Don’t take the risk.”

Dare to control your thoughts and you will control your world!

The 12 Components of True Wealth

 True wealth is much more than financial wealth, although financial well-being is definitely a significant part of it. The first and most important component of true wealth is having a positive mental attitude. People who lack a positive mental attitude are miserable, despite whatever money they may have accumulated, while people who maintain a positive mental attitude attract wealth to themselves.

   The second and next most important component of true wealth is sound physical health. You can lose all your money and recover more than you lost, but if you lose your health you’ve lost something that may never be regained. Spend time on maintaining and sustaining your health by eating healthy food and exercising often.

   The third component of true wealth is harmony in human relations. Harmonious and peaceful relationships, both in the family and then with business associates, lead to goodwill, a good reputation, cooperation, and peace of mind—a personal state of well-being.

   The fourth component of true wealth is freedom from fear. No fearful person can enjoy life or its perks. Fear robs you of the ability to enjoy life to your fullest capacity and imprisons you in a dark place where there is no peace of mind or joy in being alive.

   The fifth component of true wealth is the hope of future achievement. It is this component that gets you out of bed every morning to pursue your dream of success. Without hope for the future, you are poverty-stricken even if you are sitting on millions of dollars.

   The sixth component of true wealth is the capacity for applied faith. The capacity for applied faith is your ability to believe in the dream you have for success to such an extent that you actually do something to make it happen. Applied faith is acting to make your dream a reality, while unapplied faith is merely wishing for something to happen for or to you without doing anything to make it happen.

   The seventh component of true wealth is the willingness to share your blessings. You cannot have true wealth if you’re stingy and completely self-absorbed. The truly wealthy person gives to and helps others achieve their goals.

   The eighth component of true wealth is to be engaged in a labor of love. True wealth is only experienced by those who are doing something good that they love. There is nothing in the world more satisfying than being able to do what you love and know that what you are doing is benefitting other people.

   The ninth component of true wealth is to have an open mind on all subjects and toward all people. The truly wealthy person does not think that the world is only as she believes it to be. She is open to learning from others, listening to their opinions, and not judging them for not seeing the world as she does or believing in the same things as she does. She accepts people for who they are, not for what she believes they ought to be, in her opinion.

   The tenth component of true wealth is complete self-discipline. The truly wealthy person is self-directed. He is not driven by the whims and demands of other people, but by the goals he has set out to achieve. That is why he has mastered complete self-discipline: he refuses to allow any outside influence to distract him from the task of achieving his goals.

   The eleventh component of true wealth is wisdom with which to understand people. Your life in the world, in your family, and in your business consists of interacting with people. To gain true wealth, you must first study the people with whom you interact. But studying them will not give you the wisdom to understand them. The only way you can gain the wisdom to understand people is to put yourself in their place and deal with them from their—not your—point of view.

   The twelfth and final component of true wealth is financial security. It is not an accident or an oversight that financial security is the last component of true wealth. Every component that comes before it paves the way for financial security and guarantees that once you have the financial status you desire, you will be able to maintain it by treating everyone by the standard of the Golden Rule.

   True wealth begins on the inside spiritually before it manifests outside materially. Strive to accumulate spiritual wealth internally, and as you do, you will accumulate material wealth externally.

 

How to Get to Effective Communication

 There are always two problems that threaten to derail effective communication. The first problem is Perception—how we perceive the world and what’s going on in it around us.

The ancient aphorism, “As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he,” teaches us that we do not see the world as it really is, but as WE ARE! So, to communicate effectively with another person, we must strive to see the world as that other person IS! We must, at the very least, attempt to walk a mile in that other person’s shoes to see the world as that other person IS. We fail as leaders the moment we are deluded into thinking that what WE ARE is reality, and everyone else’s view of the world is twisted at best, and utterly warped at worst.

The second problem we must overcome in order to communicate effectively is the issue of Credibility. In a disagreement, each person believes that he or she is right and the other person is wrong. What makes things worse, each person knows that she or he is right and can’t trust the other person because of this false knowledge.

The first way to overcome both problems is to develop God-Attitudes about people by: 1) Assuming the other person’s good faith, sincerity, and sanity; 2) Caring about the relationship with the other person; 3) Desiring to resolve the differences by seeking to see from the other person’s viewpoint; and 4) Being prepared to change!

The second way to overcome Perception and Credibility problems is to develop God's Behaviors toward people by: 1) Listening to understand them from their point of view; 2) Speaking to be understood and not arguing or expressing disagreement with what the other says; 3) Starting the conversation from the common ground of agreement; and 4) Moving slowly to areas of disagreement. Don’t criticize, mock, or judge the other person—be as patient with the other person as God is with you!

Finally, you must understand that the way to become effective when you communicate is to increase your influence by mastering the process of leadership development and growth. To do this, you must discipline yourself to work with a leadership coach who will help you to master the art of communication—One Day at a Time!

The Threat and Promise of Change

 For many people, the most frightening and personally threatening thing, as well as the most exhilarating and personally satisfying thing they can experience in life, is change. Change is motion—another definition of what it means to be alive. And since change is the process of being alive, it is both a threat and a promise.

The threat of change is rooted in fear and uncertainty: uncertainty that disorients causes acute anxiety, and raises disturbing questions about who you are. Therefore, the very notion of change in any quarter threatens to destabilize you, the way you see the world, and how you see yourself in that world. When the threat of change comes toward you, your only question is, “What will become of me?” However, there’s another side to the threat of change—its promise. When the promise of change comes toward you, your only question is, “What will I become?”

           

The promise of change is rooted in your unspoken desire to actually know, understand, and unabashedly celebrate who you are, your place and space in the world, and your mission and calling in life. Therefore, the promise of change is your opportunity to experience yourself, others, and the world at large first-hand and unmediated by the artificial boundaries and limitations of your upbringing, education, and training. The promise of change offers you a new lens through which you can perceive what is going on around you. It provides you with choices that you never imagined you had. It offers opportunities that have been hiding from you in plain sight and provides you with tools that can move you from where you are to where you’d really rather be.

The promise of change exploits your raw materials of fear and doubt, and from them manufactures products and services that provide you places of safety, areas of knowing, and vistas of clarity. The promise of change is the hope that propels you on the quest to live a full, meaningful, and productive life that you actually get a chance to enjoy.

Investing in your personal growth offers you the promise of positive change in your life, as well as the vehicle you can use to get to your destination of success. Don’t focus on the threat of change. Think about the promise of change that will come to your life as a result of seeing yourself as worthy of investment. Take the leap of faith and discover your own hidden potential.

The Universal Law of Leadership

 The Universal Law of Leadership teaches that your ability to develop leadership skills is crucial to becoming a person who maximizes the personal development and highest and best use of yourself, the resources you receive, and the resources you create for the benefit of yourself and your family.

Leadership has been defined by many people in many different ways. One great definition of leadership is "communicating to people their inestimable worth and unlimited potential to such an extent that they actually come to see it in themselves." (This definition of leadership is perfect for creating a healthy home environment for the entire family, and especially for raising self-confident children!) Many others have said that leadership is the function of those who guide, direct, or otherwise control the activities of others.

At a fundamental level, however, leadership simply means having influence that affects the behavior and/or worldview of others within a particular sphere—whether that influence is negative or positive.

Negative leadership is coercive—i.e., it requires raw power (external force) to maintain and sustain itself. Examples of negative leadership include: 1) the power of the gun—“Do what I say or I’ll blow your brains out”; 2) the power of the law—“Do what I say or I’ll lock you up or shoot you down”; 3) the power of economic reprisal—“Do what I say or I’ll fire you—better yet, I won’t hire you in the first place”; and 4) the power of hate propaganda that exploits our fears—“Do what I say or illegal aliens, LGBTQ+ people, Muslims, and terrorists will take over ‘our’ country.”

Many people who follow negative leadership do so because they feel forced (threatened) to do so for personal survival, political, economic, social, or religion-based reasons.

Positive leadership, on the other hand, is inspirational—i.e., it requires soul power (internal values) to perpetuate itself. Examples of positive leadership include the power of being, the power of behaving, the power of belonging, and the power of believing.

The power of being is the God-given power that you have by your having been created in the very image and likeness of God—i.e., you have the capacity (power) to bring into being what does not presently exist in the material world. You have the power of imagination which leads to innovation and drives all creativity.

The power of behaving is your ability to decide how you will act on your own and in concert with others—it is freedom, the power to choose.

The power of belonging is the strength you feel when you work together with others to accomplish goals that you could not possibly accomplish by yourself. It is cooperation that produces the power of the Master Mind—collective thinking that adds the Universal Mind to the group and empowers the group to produce new ideas, products, services, and new approaches to problem-solving.

Finally, the power of believing is the catalyst that allows you to overcome every obstacle in order to achieve your goals—it is faith, the power to see and bring into being the invisible. People who follow positive leadership do so because it resonates with their own internal value system and because they choose—in freedom—to follow.

Which kind of power—negative or positive—has impacted your life more? Please write your comments below and share what you think and how you feel about negative and positive leadership. I’d really like to learn what your experience has been, so please share your thoughts with me below.