Maximize the Power of Leverage

power of leverage

How to Maximize the Power of Leverage to Grow Rich

, , , , 0

To create wealth you have maximize the power of leverage. There are three accelerators that can help you fast track your endeavor.

Acquire a Mentor

You can avoid making mistakes on the learning curve by finding a mentor who can guide you through the whole process. Your mentor has climbed the mountain—he knows the terrain and knows what works and what does not work. You can learn from the process and avoid making mistakes.

In addition, your mentor has systems. The most efficient facet of leverage is to transfer your mentor’s systems to your use. Learn from those systems and apply those systems to your business, real estate, stock market and internet.

Acquire a Team

Nature made us incomplete—we have incomplete knowledge and experience; we have to collaborate and build dream-teams to fill gaps in our knowledge and competence to succeed. Our teams can fill up our blind spots.

If you want accelerated leverage then find a competent team to help you. Your team will help you go faster. A 4X100 meter relay team runs much faster than an individual runner.

Your team can consist of people with expert knowledge in their respective fields. They don’t have to be your employees but should be available for advice. For instance, if you are a real estate investor your team will consist of your accountant, solicitor, and real estate agents who bring you deals, mortgage broker and your builder/ handyman. If these people are property investors, they will be able to give you better quality advice.

leverage

Before you start building your network, find your core group that will help you build your network. When like minded, joyful and success-oriented people work together, enormous energy is released. Try and avoid people with negative energy around them—they will drag you down.

Your core group or dream-team will provide the synergy to create an invisible force that will attract people to your network. 1 + 1 is, not 2, but 11. The sum of the parts is far greater than the whole. This is what your core group can help you achieve.

Jesus selected a core group of 12 men, and the world was never the same again. Their network and influence has lasted over centuries and continues to expand even today.

Bill Gates and Paul Allen collaborated to found Microsoft and became the richest men of all times. Larry Page and Sergey Brin founded Google that is used by millions of users and is presently expanding incessantly.

Facebook, which is the biggest networking platform of all times, was created by a team of four Harvard University students: Mark Zuckerberg, Dustin Moskovitz, Eduardo Saverin and Chris Huges. The examples that history provide are endless.

A core group constituted of an aligning team (that is not pulling in different directions) will always out-perform an individual. So, don’t try to do it alone. Build a core group first and then your network.

Loverage

Mike Littman coined the term ‘Loverage’. If you love what you are doing and are spiritually and emotionally connected with it, then success will come much easily. When your thoughts, mind, body, emotions and spiritual self are congruent you achieve unassailable heights.

Ask any sportsperson about their greatest sporting moments, and you’ll find them acknowledge that at the height of their achievement, their mind, body and spirit dissolve into a singular force. Do what you love doing and you will apply the ‘Loverage’ even without knowing.

Accelerated Wealth Creation Through Leverage

There is no such thing as a hundred percent leverage. It is a myth perpetuated by certain vested individuals who want to market their books and products. There will always be some financial, time, and effort commitment in the beginning. In due course, as the business or investment progresses, finance and time involvement can be reduced, and leverage increased.

The above arguments should not dissuade you from using leverage with prudence and intelligence. Leverage, without doubt, is the most important and powerful tool in the armory of wealth creators. However, it is of paramount importance to understand its correct usage before applying it in a fit of excitement. Initially, start applying small forms of leverage and as your confidence grows, you can increase the amount of leverage to one that you are comfortable with.

Even if you start applying a little bit of leverage in your life, you will be amazed at the results. Leverage is power, strength and intelligence.

Mark Victor Hansen and Robert Allen, in their book ‘One Minute Millionaire,’ provided a formula:

Leverage = Speed = Goals

This, in my view, sums up how you can use leverage to reach your financial goals within the shortest period of time. You can increase your returns from 5-10% offered by banks and financial institutions to over 60-70%, or even higher through leveraging.

Remember, without applying some kind of leverage, there is no possibility of creating accelerated wealth.

leveraging

Why Leveraging can Destroy Your Wealth and How to Avoid the Problem?

, , , 0

Leveraging is a great way of creating accelerated wealth but it comes with a warning: if leveraging is applied incorrectly it can destroy your wealth equally fast.

The higher the leverage, the greater is the risk to your investment and business. At the same time, there is greater potential for profits. Leverage works both ways; it is a double edged sword.

Before applying leverage, you have to understand some basic truths about leveraging or things could go dramatically wrong and you can get yourself hurt and go bankrupt.

State of Knowledge

The financial crisis of 2008 was caused when excessive greed led people to use leverage without proper understanding of risks involved. The most important factor for using leverage correctly is your state of knowledge.

For instance, if you lack knowledge about finances or the business/investment you wish to start, there is no point in rushing to get a 100% finance in order to try making a no-money-down deal. Similarly, if you lack the knowledge of systems and how to set them up, there is no point in rushing to fully automate your operations. Same is true for any form of leveraging.

You should make a correct assessment of your financial, emotional and spiritual intelligence in any given situation before applying leverage as an instrument for accelerated wealth creation. Greed is the product of a lacking emotional and spiritual intelligence. Leverage driven by greed is the worst enemy of wealth creation.

Leverage is like a power tool that can make your job of wealth creation very easy but its improper use, without adequate knowledge or precautions, can cause you tremendous hurt.

There is a saying that, ‘It is never the investment that is wrong. It is always the investor who is wrong’. So, take the time and trouble to learn about the business or investment before jumping onto the bandwagon of leveraging for quick gains.

Market Conditions

In uncertain market conditions, when the outcome is not known or when the market is moving downwards, the amount of leverage should be reduced.

You could increase the leverage as you gain confidence, and when the market forces are moving in a positive direction.

leveraging

For example, in property investment, it is extremely easy to do ‘no money down deals’ if you have the right knowledge and the market is moving up. This is because even if you make a mistake, the rise in price of the property will cover your error. On the other hand, doing a low equity deal when the property cycle is moving southward then even a small error in your judgment will wipe out your equity.

If you are using leverage for accelerated financial returns, then you have to be very alert towards changing market conditions. If the market conditions deteriorate, then you have to take measures to reduce your leverage in time. People go bankrupt when they hesitate to act or foresee a developing situation. Reducing your leverage by selling some of your assets is no shame. You can always buy assets and increase your leverage when favorable market conditions return.

Age Factor

The amount of leverage to apply is also dependent your age. When you are young, you can risk applying high levels of leverage. This is because even if things go wrong, you have the time to recover and start all over again.

As you grow older, it is wise to reduce leverage even if you have become more proficient at applying leverage with experience. The last remark will, no doubt, be debated because there are many elderly people who are still young at heart and ready to take all kinds of risks in life. I, unfortunately, speak for the majority.

Risk Appetite

Before applying leverage, you have to access your risk appetite. This is because if things go wrong, then people with less risk appetite will start to panic and make incorrect decisions that can set them back by years in their financial growth and planning.

Greed

Greed is the biggest enemy of leverage. It is greed which makes us blind to applying leverage without appropriate knowledge, skills and timing. Before applying leverage, one has to develop checks and balances provided by spiritual, financial and emotional intelligence.

 

 

leverage of network

Why Leveraging of Networks is Important to Financial Success?

, , , , 0

“It’s not what you know but who you know that makes the difference” –Anonymous

A key contact can ‘make it happen’. If you know the right person, things happen. The key contact is crucial to your success. He is the leverage that will work wonders for you. The value of a large network is that the chances of finding the right contact increase exponentially.

To succeed, you need the power of a large network. There are people who control and use the power of leverage of network. You have to know who these people are in order to gain access to their networks. For example, if you are marketing a product, it is far easier to find one contact who controls a large network and market your product through him rather than selling your product independently to thousands of unconnected buyers.

Building Networks

leverage of networkThe trick is to know either how to build a network or have some access to people who control networks. Understanding the power of networking is a very important leveraging tool.

If you wish to create wealth fast, then you have to master the art of networking. By forming a network of nurtured relationships you get support, information, referrals, advice and access to resources.

It is your contacts who make you rich. If you know the industry leaders, you receive important information before anyone else—if you know the bankers, you get access to finance…if you are friends with your boss, you get promoted. The list is endless.

Cavett Robert, the dean of American speakers, rightly put it: “you have to make contacts to get contracts”. Your net worth will be equal to the size of your network.

How to Develop Meaningful Relationships

You don’t create a network by simply capturing names, telephone numbers and email addresses into your address book or database; you create a network by building a meaningful relationship over a period of time with the people who can trust you. The way to do this is to help everyone within your sphere of influence to the best of your ability. If you go an extra mile, you will put the Universe in your debt that will be repaid to you a hundred times over.

The best relationships are formed when you participate in someone’s growth with the attitude of making them strong and independent. If you help people with the aim of getting something in return, to make them dependent on you financially or emotionally, then that relationship will not last for long. A plant can never grow under the shadow of a big tree.

You have to give something away for free that is of value to your network, to build relationships. This act of giving will foster trust and bring attention to you. Do not expect reciprocity in return or the value of your gift is lost.

The return you get for your free gift is trust and recognition. This will result in strengthening the foundation of your network and give it the longevity it needs.

The golden rule of networking is:

“Be very quick to build connections and extremely slow to break them” –Robert G Allen

Your network will collapse if more people are leaving it as compared to those who are joining. To sustain your network, you have to keep adding value.

leverage of network

Social Media Leveraging

Social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and LinkedIn are the latest technological breakthroughs that are changing the way we do businesses and leverage ourselves. Viral marketing has taken up a new connotation due to the leverage provided by social media.

Unknown talents are discovered each day and made famous by the power of these viral information sharing platforms. These platforms are creating instant millionaires of those who know how to harness this new technological wave.

To apply maximum leverage, you have to use and market technologies that are most efficient and cutting edge. Social media can help you build very large networks with relative ease.

leveraging technology

Leveraging Technology to Make Money

, , , , 0

Technology allows us to do things with greater precision, more efficiently and faster than ever before. Today, computers can process data and calculate results that needed hundred and thousands of man-hours. Similarly, the internet can provide access to information that would have taken hundreds of hours to research and collate.

leveraging technologyEmails, modern telecommunications and internet have revolutionized communication. These technologies, when mastered, give leverage in terms of quality and speed of decision making— and they help save time and effort, thus resulting in huge cost savings. They are also impacting how we network, socially interact and conduct our businesses. To create wealth in today’s world, one has to master leveraging these new technological advances.

To use this leverage, you have to be open to technology and buy the best of what your pocket allows.

I was privileged to be able to hear Bill Gates lecture at a conference in the early nineties. He emphasized on the importance of computers in our lives, especially that little extra technological edge that our children receive in this competitive world. At the time I had a computer at work, but not one at home. I was planning to buy one, but the high cost prohibited me from doing so back in those days. I was continuously delaying my decision to buy—the prices were regressing with every passing month and I was waiting for the appropriate moment to buy.

After attending that Bill Gates lecture, I went straight to a computer store and bought a PC for our home use—it was the best decision I ever made in my life! That PC not only helped me leverage my time and knowledge, but also gave my children an opportunity to grow up with the technological edge.

Since then, I have developed a habit of upgrading technology at home and at work: computers, mobile devices, communication systems, access to fast speed networks, etc. Access to information and sharing it with your customers provides the best possible leverage, in terms of customer relationship, sales and profits.

I have given an example of information technology for the ease of understanding, as it affects our day to day life; there are many other machines that replace human functions more efficiently and at a much cheaper cost. For instance, robots are able to assemble cars with more precision and in much lesser time than human beings. The fastest growing companies on our planet are those that are making technological breakthroughs on a regular basis in their respective fields. Apple is one such company.

Technology leverages work only when applied productively. There are people who waste time surfing the net endlessly, playing video games, socializing or using it only as source of entertainment. Nothing wrong indulging in such activities because we all need to keep informed and entertained – the problem is when we lose focus and become obsessed with it and spend endless hours wasting time on on the internet.

Leveraging technology can be more effective than employing people. There is saying that machines cost lesser and give lesser trouble as compared to humans.

how to get leverage

How to Get Leverage in Other People’s Time and Effort to Grow Rich?

, , , , 0

All of us are born with different talents and proclivities. Some have a higher IQ, others are taller or better looking. But all of us have one thing which is universal, and that is time. All of us, without any exceptions, have only 24 hours in a day. It goes without saying that to be successful we have to leverage our time.

Most people look for job security rather than opportunity. They will sell their time, effort, resources and connections for a very low price. Wealth creators leverage the time and effort of others to generate wealth for themselves. This is the simplest form of leverage in labor intensive industries.

In fact, most businesses in today’s world are founded on other people’s time and effort.

“People without leverage work for those with leverage.“ – Robert Kyosaki

If you are an employee, your company is leveraging your time and effort to increase their profits. It may sound cruel but it is the truth. This has been happening since the dawn of civilization. It is high time you started thinking of breaking out of this cycle, and empowering yourself by using other people’s time and effort to build your wealth.

Free up your Time

You have to become a master at offloading routine jobs; to free up your time to concentrate on areas that are more creative and will help you create wealth faster. I am amused by people who are so self-efficient that they will not trust another human being even with the most mundane jobs, because they do not trust their competence. This is the sure route to stagnate.

To succeed and progress in life, you have to find people to replace your management and skillset in the shortest possible time frame.

You have to use the effort and energy of others to grow rich. This might be as simple as hiring someone to clean your house, mow your lawn, dry clean and press your shirt or hiring technical people to do your routine jobs at work. You should first write down and offload your bottom 10 routine activities (you don’t enjoy doing,) that take up your time and energy from productive work, which in turn, can generate revenue for you.

You have only 24 hours in a day. No matter how talented or efficient you are, you can earn only a limited amount of money if you are paid by the hour. With a 40 hour work-week you can, at best, work for only 2000 hours in a year (assuming you take a 2 week vacation time and work 50 weeks).

If you employ, let us say, 100 people in your business, your work output will be 200,000 man-hours and your income that much higher

“I would rather earn 1% off a 100 people’s efforts than 100% of my own efforts.” – 

You can also benefit from a percentage of other people’s efforts and dramatically increase your income and freedom by learning to leverage your time.

“He who stands on the giant’s  oulders; sees farther than the giant” –

To apply this technique, great human and management skills are needed. If you lack management skills; a more practical and pragmatic approach is to outsource jobs that need co-ordination of human skills. In this way, you avoid the hassle of managing people.