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>> Beatriz Barragan: Good afternoon everyone and welcome
to the CSUSB Alumni Association Webinar.
My name is Beatriz Barragan
and I'm the Alumni Partnership Coordinator for the Office
of Alumni Affairs here at Cal State San Bernardino.
I'll be monitoring today's webinar session,
Foundation for Financial Success.
Before we begin, I want to take just a moment to thank you
for your participation in today's webinar session.
Before I introduce today's Alumnus presenter, Paul Mata,
I want to take just a few moments to go over the logistics
of our webinar program.
During his presentation, Paul will be sharing
with you his screen, which will feature a
PowerPoint presentation.
As we go along, please feel free to submit your questions
to Paul, who will be stopping --
or who will be answering the questions
at the end of his presentation.
To submit a question you may use the chat box found in the Go
to Webinar-4 which should have appeared on your screen
when you logged in to today's webinar session.
Those questions which are not answered during today's live
presentation will be answered via email.
At the end of the webinar,
Paul will share his [banging] contact information
in case you'd like to contact him with additional questions
after today's session.
Also, I'll be sending you an email with a PDF version
of Paul's PowerPoint slides which will also be posted
on the CSUSB Alumni website.
Technology willing, we'll also be recording today's session
for archiving on our webinar -- on our website later on.
[Inaudible] to start off the presentation,
let me introduce to you Paul Mata.
He is a 1987 CSUSB grad, earning his Bachelor
of Science in Finance.
Since his graduation, Paul has enjoyed much success
as a financial planner, working for large companies
such as American Express, as well as, for -- for himself.
As an alum, Paul has remained connected to
and engaged with CSUSB.
He served on the CSUSB Alumni Association Board,
the Accounting Advisory Board,
and the Business Alliance Advisory Council,
and the CSUSB Philanthropic Foundation Board of Directors.
Today, Paul is president and CEO of Logos Lifetime Enterprises
where he not only continues his work as a financial advisor
but also provides overall life success strategies.
Thanks so much for joining us today, Paul, and I will hand
over the presentation to you.
>> Paul Mata: Well, thank you so much and welcome everybody.
I hope your afternoon's going well.
We're going to be talking about, today, the Foundation
for Financial Success.
First of all just to give you a little bit of --
a little bit more background about myself.
I'm a financial advisor, an educator.
I think that's one of my biggest passions.
I do financial planning strategies
for my clients, money management.
I'm a business consultant and an entrepreneur.
I'm kind of a serial entrepreneur.
A lot of my friends tell me I have entrepreneurial ADD
because I just -- I like ideas and I look to see how do we --
how do we monetize and make money on that.
Also a real estate developer and I think one of the --
one of the biggest thing that I
like to do is I'm a philanthropist.
I do like to support causes
and most importantly, I'm a job creator.
I create a lot of jobs for individuals.
That's really my passion.
What we're going to talk about today is a couple
of simple steps to unlocking financial success.
And since I graduated from college, I've --
I've done a lot of different things
and really studied specifically how -- what --
what do a lot of people that are my peers, you know,
what do we do to -- to create financial success.
So there's a couple of steps and we're going to go over those.
I'm going to demonstrate what it takes to create lasting
and sustainable wealth no matter what the economy looks like.
No matter what the economy's doing, I really believe
that if you follow these steps,
you'll always have financial success.
Finally, also, how to be recognized as a top performer
in whichever profession you're in.
Indeed, if you apply the things that we're going to talk
about today, I really believe
that you'll always have a position in any company.
People will want to partner with you.
People will want you to be part of their companies,
and as a result, you'll get promoted time after time
which of course then, you know, helps you make more money.
Well, one of the things is,
let's define what financial success is, and for purposes
of our presentation here, we're going to talk
about that financial success means financial freedom.
It might mean different things for different people,
but for purposes of this, let's talk about financial freedom
where you have the freedom to do whatever you want to do.
And now, one of the things I want to ask is,
how often do you think about money?
Well, probably all the time.
I mean, we think about, you know, what we're going to eat
for lunch, how much are we going to spend for lunch.
And I went -- I got gas today and stopped
by at the Shell station and it was $4.33 per gallon.
And I think, oh, my goodness.
I'm only going to put a couple of bucks
in because then I'm going to go to Costco
and get a little bit less.
So we think about it all the time.
And you know, why?
Because it's important in our everyday lives.
Obviously that's what an economy is, it's people, products,
and services and money.
This is really why we go to school
and then ultimately why we work hard.
So I would ask and --
and suggest that if this is really true,
don't you think you should become an expert on money,
how it works, and what the wealthy do to attain it?
So I believe that's why you're on the -- on the call today,
on the webinar, so I'm going to go over all these steps
that are necessary to be able to attain it.
Well, let's talk about, where do we get our ideas
about wealth and money?
Oftentimes, for most of us, it comes from our parents.
So we -- you know, we kind of think back,
well how did our parents handle money?
Were they too frugal or too extravagant?
I -- I sometimes go see some of my clients in their homes
and my elderly clients, you know, you kind of go
into their house and you're bumping into furniture
because they don't turn the lights on
and it might be really, really cold.
And -- and they have plenty of resources but the thing is is
that they were -- a lot of them were born
out of the Depression Era.
So for them, it's like, "Well, we might have money now.
But we might not have it tomorrow."
So as a result then, you know, they have this --
this kind of feeling of, "I don't want to spend anything."
Or our parents might be -- have been too extravagant and --
and then we grow up with them spending all kinds of money
and then running out of money.
So a lot of us will be like, "Well, we have some,
I don't want to let it go because, you know,
my parents were just too -- too frivolous with it."
Well, then oftentimes,
they might tell you this, "Hey, go to school.
Get good grades so that you can get a good job."
So you know, we -- we hear it that way.
Oftentimes they -- we've also heard, "Hey,
we don't have enough money."
You know, "Money doesn't grow on trees."
"No, we can't do whatever
because we don't have the money."
So you -- you probably heard that quite a bit growing up.
We also get our ideas about wealth and money from society.
The media tells us how badly the economy's doing
and you know what's happening in there,
and that the unemployment rate is high
and we see the market rise and fall.
And our friends are often complaining
about financial hardships.
I mean every so once in a while, they'll say, "Hey,
I got this job," or what have you.
But oftentimes, they really don't tell you, you know,
how well they're doing financially.
But you do hear about it
when they're having financial hardships.
Then, of course, there's our own self-talk,
what we're telling ourselves, that it's hard to make money.
We tell ourselves that, or we see again that our -- not --
our friends aren't making a whole bunch, so, as a result,
you know, we're telling ourselves, you know, it might --
it might not be out there.
It might not be any for me.
And there might be some struggles that we encounter
and ultimately, you know, a lot of --
a lot of people that I know, they just kind of give up
and say, "Well, I'm just going to be -- I'm just going to do,
you know, this -- this job
and that's probably all I'm going to be capable of."
Well, I'm going to show you that --
that you can do quite a bit more.
Now, this kind of thinking leads to fatal errors that have --
that most have committed.
Now, due to what most people have been taught about money
and wealth, most people fall into a scarcity mindset,
the thought that there's just not enough.
And unfortunately what this does is once that sets in,
it doesn't allow your mind to grasp the possibility of success
and it spirals into concentrating
on the struggles and then giving up.
You know, again, that -- that once we just start hitting wall
after wall, a lot of people just fell like, "Okay, I'm just going
to give up and you know, I'm just going to stay in this job
and I don't really like it but at least I have a job,"
you know, when we're seeing that a lot of people are unemployed.
So let's break that right now.
So what are the steps to develop what I would say an abundant
mindset and this is truly the foundation
for financial success?
I really encourage you to take very good notes
and listen intently because these are the things that I know
that -- that what I -- that I used to --
to create all the different companies I had
and all my peers are doing exactly the same thing.
And here's an interesting thing.
We often talk about and say, "Well if the economy or one
of our businesses went away," or they took away all
of our business, could we start up again?
And emphatically, we always say, "Absolutely yes,"
because we followed these steps.
Well, Step One is the fascination factor.
This is tapping into what is really truly unique about you.
What -- what is it that's unique about you?
And what -- what I would ask you to do is to ask yourself,
what do you do better than anyone else?
And what are the things that you love to do?
Now, I'm not just talking about you know, work-wise.
You know, "Hey I'm -- I'm a good accountant," or,
"I'm a good financial planner."
"I'm a good lawyer."
But what are the things you love to do?
Like for myself, you know, I like to -- I like to read.
I like to exercise.
I like to bicycle.
I like to create new businesses.
You know, I like to dance, you know, those kinds of things.
So -- so think about those things that you're passion --
passionate about, those things that you'll do even
if you didn't get paid for it.
So it's real important so you can know --
know what you're about.
And then what energizes you?
This is so vital because you want to find out those things
that -- that energize you so that you --
and continue doing those things.
What gives you life?
For example, for me I love teaching people.
I love seeing them have financial success.
That totally energizes me
and that's what wakes me up in the morning.
On the other side, what drains your energy?
You know, do you know those things that you might do well
but you just really don't like to do?
Like one of the things that I -- I minored in was in Accounting.
I mean I -- one more quarter and I would sat for the CPA exam.
But -- and so I'm good at Accounting but I don't like it.
It drains my energy.
So I -- I try to avoid it and I'll just try
to find somebody else that can do it.
The other thing that I know I'm not good at is I'm horrible
at organizing so I have --
have somebody else to help me with that.
That completely drains my energy.
So find out what's really unique about you.
Step Two is who are you?
Don't discount what you do well.
But also think of a word that describes who you are.
What is that one word?
What comes to mind?
For example, if I were to say,
"Communicator," who comes to mind?
Well, it's probably Ronald Regan;
the Great Communicator just celebrated a --
well, anniversary or birthday just yesterday, his birthday.
What if I said, "Innovator?"
That's a little bit easier.
Innovator -- if I say innovator you'd think of Steve Jobs
because he's a great innovator.
And then if I were to say, "Evangelist," you know,
right away Billy Graham comes to mind.
So think about that one word that really categorizes
and characterizes who you are.
And then show up that way.
So if one of them again is Communicator,
show up communicating well.
If it's being an artist or a creator,
show up wherever you go being that -- that artist or creator.
So let's think about this.
How do you do this?
What do you need to do?
Well, the first step
that I would do say we talk about, "Who are you?"
is email five of your closest relationships
and ask them what they think your strengths and talents are.
You know, the hardest thing to do in this case would be --
would be to click, "Send" because you know,
you really want them to be honest and you want to find
out how other people perceive you.
That's an important aspect.
So what is it that you're all about?
Now, here's a key thing and this is one thing
in that I didn't learn when I was in college, quite frankly,
is I always thought -- think about, you know, what is --
what are the things that we don't do well at and try
to -- try to elevate them.
Well, here's what I would say,
"Don't focus on your weaknesses."
Absolutely do not -- whatever you don't do well,
don't try to make them better but rather,
focus on what your strengths are and elevate those.
In fact, if there's somethings you don't do well,
like in my case, organization, delegate that.
Get somebody else to do that.
Another thing that I can do but it totally drains my energy
and quite frankly, I don't do really well at it is yard work.
I think it's because my --
my mom always put me out in the yard and I had to pick weeds
and I hated every minute of it.
So when I -- when I thought, "Okay, when I'm --
you know, have my own home, there's no way I'm going
to do -- I'm going to do yard work."
And in fact, that's what I do -- I pay somebody $130 a month just
to keep my lawn manicured.
And you know what?
It makes me feel better because I'm spending my time doing some
of those things that I really love to do.
But additionally, I'm helping somebody else's economy.
So it's important just to go ahead
and delegate your weaknesses.
But become an expert at what you're passionate at.
What are you passionate about?
What is it again that you love to do and become expert at it.
Learn as much as you can about what fascinates you.
I was at -- I was doing a seminar and there was --
I asked a lady, I go, "What do you really love to do?
I mean what are you really passionate about?"
And she says, "Well, you know, I like to relax."
I'm like, "Perfect.
Perfect because I work so much, I need to know how to relax."
And I told her, "You become an expert at relaxation
and I will pay you and there will be people to pay you
for that information."
So learn as much as you can about what fascinates you.
In fact, Malcolm Gladwell says that, "10,000 hours
of practice makes you an expert at anything."
Well really, even a little bit -- if you know a little bit more
about a certain subject
than somebody else then you're an expert.
Now one of my goals for last year was
to learn how to ballroom dance.
And I did it for a couple of reasons that I'll bring
up in a minute but one of the -- I didn't learn --
I didn't know anything about it.
So obviously, my confidence level was very low.
I was fearful about it.
But after a few lessons, my -- my confidence level went up
and I saw one of my friends.
I said, "Hey, do you know how to Salsa or Tango?"
And he says, "No."
And I told him, "I -- I do.
I can teach you."
So compared to him, I was an expert
because I had a few extra lessons.
But find out what really fascinates you.
Learn as much as you can about that
and now you can become an expert and show up that way.
That's who you are.
Now, Step Three, know what you want in life.
So vital -- I know that you heard this lots of times.
But here's a tool that -- that I'm going to share with you
that myself and a lot of my peers use to try to find
out what we want in life.
You need to create a lifetime vision for yourself.
So what I would encourage you to do and even encourage you
to do it today, write down what you want to accomplish
for yourself in four different areas and write
down whatever comes to mind.
So personally, what do you want to accomplish
for yourself personally?
And you might say, "Well, you know, I want to lose 15 pounds.
You know, I want to learn how to ski.
I want to learn how to ballroom dance.
I want to jump out of an airplane."
Things like that.
Just keep writing and don't --
you know, for us business people [chuckle] we always
like to lists.
So we'll go, "One, two, three."
Just write -- don't even think about listing now.
Just write whatever comes into mind.
And you -- you use your pencil and pen and paper.
Don't type it up.
Just write it out.
So then you're going to do it professionally.
What do you want to accomplish professionally?
I want to become a CPA, a CFP.
I want to own my own business.
I want to be part of a firm.
All those kind of things,
just write out what those goals would be, your objectives.
Then financially -- put down, you know, what you want
to accomplish financially speaking.
How much money you want to make, you know, I want to --
I want to eliminate debt.
I want to have money to educate my children,
provide for weddings, whatever it might be.
You want to write those things down and then finally, for fun
and entertainment -- I want to travel.
I want to go to Europe.
I want to see the Eiffel Tower.
I want to take a cruise around the Caribbean.
Now, a lot of these things might overlap but I really want you
to think about it in these different segments
because it's going to be real, real powerful.
Then as you look at them, start circling the ones that you want
to complete in the next 90 days, in the next 12 months,
in the next three years.
Identify those things.
And once you've identified those,
then identify the action steps to that will lead
to those accomplishments over the next 90 days,
12 months, and then three years.
Now, here's one thing that I --
I'm fairly certain you've not heard.
But it's extremely powerful.
Finally, I want you to create a vision of what you want
in your life to look like in 20 years.
Now, interestingly, the Chinese --
they have a 100 year plan for their economy
and their accomplishing it.
They saw where they wanted to be in 100 years.
Well, I'm just suggesting that you should look and see
where you're going to be at in 20 years.
Where -- where are you going to live?
What's your house look like?
What do you look like?
You know, what kind of things are you doing?
Put that down for yourself
and it's just a very powerful, powerful exercise.
Know what you want in life.
If you think you can do a thing
or you think you can't do a thing, you're right, Henry Ford.
So indeed, just put down what you want to accomplish and --
because you'll be able to see it.
I really believe that you'll be able to accomplish it
and that's the -- one of the steps that myself and a lot
of wealthy individuals have done.
Now, Step Four -- so important.
Learn how to communicate well.
It's vital.
We're in an age
where communication is really, really keen and key.
Now, how do you do that?
Here's an interesting aspect -- learn how to sell.
[Chuckle] You know, everybody is selling all the time.
You've got -- even educators, they're selling concepts
that they're teaching.
Doctors have to sell a patient
on a certain protocol or procedure.
And it absolutely everything that you do
in life, there's sales.
You're going to the store buying something; you're going
to buy a trip to Hawaii, whatever it might be.
There's always sales being done.
Well, to sell something effectively,
then you need to communicate well.
So I would suggest reading some books by like Brian Tracy
or Zig Ziglar or even Andrew Carnegie's "How to Win Friends
and Influence People."
It's kind of a funky title, but I --
I remember reading it years and years ago.
It was written probably like I think in the '30s or '40s,
but it's chocked full of a lot of good information
on how to communicate.
Now, one thing that you could do to learn how to speak is attend
and participate in Toast Masters.
There's some all throughout the community.
But also join and become a leader in clubs
or associations that interest you.
You know, when I was a student at Cal State, I started
and was part of the Inauguration of Latino Business Association
and I was its president.
I was also part of FMA; I was a vice president there,
a vice president of about three or four other clubs.
And when you're a leader in a leadership role, it --
it compels you to have to learn how to present because you go
in front of local community groups or other associations
where you're either asking for funds
or you're presenting what your --
what your club or association's all about.
So I strongly encourage that, not just become part
of these associations or groups.
But become a leader.
And then learn how to present well.
Now, here's an interesting --
and I'm not suggesting that you do this, but this is what I did
when I was in college.
I actually sold Amway and that was an interesting experience
in itself.
But in my early years of college, it really helped me
because for one, they gave me all these books to read.
You know, they said, "Hey, read, "How to win Friends
and Influence People."
"Think and Grow Rich," by Napoleon Hill and,
"The Magic of Thinking Big."
All these kind of books that were really critical.
But it also enabled me to learn how to present because I had
to present in front of groups, in front of individuals,
and it was very scary because you're trying
to convince them that, "Hey, I've got this good product,"
or whatever it might be and, "You should get it as well."
But that was extremely good education for me
that helped me later on in my career.
Now, the other thing is is increase your vocabulary.
You want to be able to not speak in text-ese, you know,
short, small sentences.
You want to enunciate and be able
to speak properly and be articulate.
Now what -- how do you find that out?
Well, you know, when I was growing up,
I had these flash cards that had these little $12 words
and so I just practiced those.
But now, you can WII even has a game that's a vocabulary game.
So do those kinds of things, crossword puzzles, scrabble,
all that kind of stuff helps to increase your vocabulary.
And here's a little secret --
business owners and sales people,
they make the most money.
Now, when I graduated from Cal State, I did very well
and so the company I was with which was a major retailer
at the time, they wanted me to come work for them.
And I thought, I go, "Hmm,"
I kind of know how much the managers make
and I'm not saying this to be all grandiose,
but just to make a point.
Because when I saw -- I go, "I know how much they make.
You know what?
That's not enough.
If you ask somebody's in sales like real estate sales,
you ask them, "Well, how much --
what's the top level that I can make?"
They're going to say, "It's unlimited."
And that really is the case.
So you really need to think in terms of that, as well.
All right.
Now, Step Five -- this is very critical as well.
It's a big, big step because every time you embark
on something, there's always going to be struggles.
And this is what I would say to you, "Welcome struggles.
They're there to instruct you.
They're there to prepare you."
And I'm so -- and you think about this too, is that a lot
of individuals and we see this all the time that have grown
up with silver spoons in their mouths.
They end up going into and having problems
with drug addiction and maybe just laziness.
But for a lot of us, particularly those who went
to Cal State, we had to struggle.
I mean I had to work full-time.
Visa paid for my education, you know, my credit card.
All that kind of stuff and so it was tough.
But I was able to get out of there and actually go work
for American Express right out of the gate.
And even now whenever I encounter struggle
and there always will be in business, I kind of welcome them
because I know that they're there to instruct me
so that I can go to another level.
Now, here's the thing is when they come, don't quit.
Don't give up.
Even if you're in a situation where you're in a company
and you just cannot stand your superior.
They're there just hassling you all the time
and so the inclination is to give up
and just say, "Forget it.
I'm going to quit and go somewhere else."
Well, what I would suggest is don't do that.
They're truly there to instruct you, to help you actually mature
and be a better individual, a better business person
because you're going to --
you're going to encounter these kinds
of situation all throughout your business career
in whatever profession you're in.
So don't give up and be loyal.
The worst thing you can do is jump from one job
to the next to the next.
So -- so how do you make sure you're in the right spot?
Well, remember Step One?
What are you fascinated with?
Align whatever you're going to do profession or otherwise
for work experience with what you're really passionate about.
I mean if you just cannot stand Accounting, then don't go
to work for a company [chuckle]
that that's all they're going to have you do.
You need to really align what you love and --
so that you can be loyal and show this longevity there.
You know, I worked only
at probably three different companies before I created my
own company.
So you know, loyalty is very, very key particularly
in today's economy in the world.
The other thing is that storms always pass and here's one
of those words I learned that I love.
It's a $12 word called Equanimity.
Now equanimity means peace in crisis.
Just continue to persevere, have this peace even though
that there's a crisis situation on and try to determine,
what is this storm trying to teach me?
And here's one thing that you always know is storms
always pass.
And then after they're gone,
you look at the mountains, they're green.
There's -- there's blue skies.
The air seems a little bit fresher.
That's what storms do, they renew everything.
So they're really there to help you get to the next level.
And then perseverance of course, builds character
and that's what everybody wants.
People want to work with people of character and employers want
to hire people of character.
So it's absolutely important
because in character is what shapes a destiny.
So the reality is that unless you go through struggles,
you're really not going to ultimately find
out what your destiny is and you won't find your acres
of diamonds.
The gentleman on the bottom was six inches away
from hitting his ultimate destiny but he gave up.
The guy at the top,
in the illustration there just keeps going.
I know it's there, I know it's there, I know it's there.
And eventually he does get those acres of diamonds.
So persevere -- it's so important.
A couple of people that persevered, Theodor Geisel --
he was an author and illustrator.
He went to 29 publishers and they told him, "No."
They said, "Your writing is horrible.
No one's going to like your illustrations."
Well finally, the 30th publisher said, "You know what?
This looks pretty good.
We'll -- let's give it a shot
and let's just change your name to Dr. Seuss."
Then there's Stefani Germanotta.
She took about five years,
countless people saying she was not talented enough
or pretty enough to be a singer.
But she persevered.
She says, "You know what?
I'm going to keep going at it no matter what."
Five years later, she hits it big,
changes her name to Lady Gaga.
Thomas Edison -- for two years he had failed attempts at trying
to come up with this light bulb.
Had went through 10,000 experiments that were failed
until he finally established what we know now
as the light bulb.
I mean how would you like to pursue 10,000 experiments
but you -- he had such belief that he knew he was going
to accomplish a goal and he made it.
And then there's Harland Sanders.
At age 65 and after thousands of nos, he persuaded a gentleman
in Utah, Pete Harman to launch the first KFC in 1952.
Now, this gentleman, Colonial Sanders, was 65 years old.
But he decided to -- that he was going to go ahead
and change his destiny and he did.
And we know KFC today.
All right, so stick with it -- persevere.
Now, Step Six -- this is something I'm sure you haven't
heard but this is absolutely vital.
Look for a way to serve.
Zig Ziglar said, "The more people you serve,
the more money you will make."
Now, we're in a new economy.
Now think about it.
Before, there were hunters and gatherers.
Now, hunters and gatherers would go out, hunt and you know,
gather seeds and be able to see their family for -- for a day.
But eventually, that economy evolved into more
of an agrarian society.
An agrarian society --
the farmers were scratching the ground, putting seeds in
and I'm sure the hunter-gatherers were looking
at him, scratching their heads and saying, "What is he doing?
How is he going to be able to feed his family for that day?"
And then you would see him coming back watering it,
you know, take -- pulling up the weeds.
But eventually there was a harvest and the harvest came out
and then the farmer was able to eat that food and then take some
of it and actually sell it and then go buy meat.
So what happened was, is that if the hunter-gatherer did not
change the way they did business, they died out
and this established our agrarian society.
Well then, the agrarian society turned into an industrial age.
Now, if you grew up on a farm, one of the strategies
that farmers had was that they just had a bunch of kids.
You know, the more kids they had,
the more hands they had to work the farm.
Now I know this because my grandparents were farmers
and my grandmother had 16 children.
That was their plan.
Well, eventually this --
our agrarian age went into an industrial age
where there's automation and cities and all that.
So the kids farm -- that were
on the farm started moving toward the cities
and that disrupted the agrarian society, the farmer's life.
Well, unless that farmer embraced mechanization
and started getting machines to help with the farming,
they actually dwindled and died off.
So this whole industrial age kind of took the place of that.
Well now, we're going into another age,
we're going from an industrial age to an information age,
and the more people you can touch with this message,
the more people you can serve with that message,
the more money you will make.
You know, think in terms of like --
quite frankly, even our President who's a great
communicator, President Obama and in fact, he reaches
and serves a whole nation.
So he has a phenomenal message.
Now people's voices have been deadened
by all the noise they heard in the media.
Before it was like Madison Avenue tell us, "Hey, buy this.
Eat that. Wear this.
Drive this."
You know, all that kind of thing but the more people --
so our voices were actually deadened
and people really just --
okay, listening to whatever the TV says.
But now with the information age and the advent of the internet,
there's more people can be served
because now you have a loud voice
and the louder your voice is, the more people you serve.
So there's all kind of different mechanisms
that you need to employ.
For example, if you're -- you know, if you're a restaurant,
let's say, then you're going to serve a certain local community.
But what if you took that restaurant and put things
on the internet and perhaps were able
to deliver those goods directly to them.
Now you serve a much wider audience.
So that's the important thing -- think about how you can serve.
And this is what I would say, "Exist to serve."
Don't think about what people or businesses can do for you
but exist to serve others.
Now resolve to serve other people for the rest of your life
and if you do this, if you employ just this simple step,
you will have financial success all your days.
So how do we do this?
Well, how do you communicate how you can serve?
How do you communicate that?
Well, being necessary is paramount.
You need to look to see what are some needs
that aren't being served and then be necessary.
The other thing is your message is key.
So, one thing you can do is, "I help people do [blank]
so that they can have [blank]."
That's how you can come up with your message.
What do you do for people so that they can have what?
For example, "I help people improve their health
so that they can live an abundant life."
Or, "I help people build a lifestyle friendly business
so they can provide an abundance for their families."
If you follow me, so find out what you're --
what you're necessary at and then communicate that message.
And here's a good tip.
This is a great networking tip that one of my good friends,
Ursula Melanchez told me.
When you meet someone for the first time,
ask, "How can I help you?"
Don't just come up to them and think about what they can do
for you, but go to them with the sincere purpose
of asking them, "How can I help you?"
Then you'll be a hit at any network event because it will --
because the communication
and conversation will come very, very easily.
Now, Step Seven -- grow all of your assets.
And a lot of you are thinking, "Well, I'm here to find
out about what can we do from a financial perspective?
How does all this relate to --
well, it completely does because those are the foundation steps
that you would take to then start creating
financial success.
And as I mentioned earlier, I'm defining
that as financial freedom, being able to do whatever you want.
Well, John D. Rockefeller said this though,
"If your only goal is to become rich,
you will never achieve it."
So that shouldn't be the goal to become rich.
The goal should be to have freedom but also to help a lot
of people because the more people you serve,
the more money you'll make.
Now, let me ask you this, if I asked you the question,
"What is really truly your most important asset?"
And a lot of you might say, "Well, it's my 401K, my home,
you know, my job, whatever it might be."
And that's right -- financial.
But I would also say, that there's some other assets
that are equally important that you need to grow.
So one of them being physical -- your physical assets,
your body, your health.
Your intellect -- how about your intellectual assets?
Because even if we look at you know, physical for example,
you get all the money in the world
but not your health, what is it worth?
I know a lot of people who would trade all of their money
to have their health back.
But even the intellectual asset, your mind, I would submit
that if you had your mind and didn't have financial assets
but you had your mind, you would ultimately then gain back
that [inaudible] financial asset.
Think of Stephan Hocke,
he obviously don't have any physical assets
but he has his mind and as a result,
he has unlimited financial resources.
And then there's the exceptional assets.
Those are the things that you do well,
again looking at number one again.
What are you fascinated with?
What do you do well and what are you doing to serve?
And as a result then, you will always have financial assets.
Now let me talk about this.
Let me tell you the tools that are necessary
to create this financial freedom.
So what are those tools to grow these assets?
First of all, I would say under the financial area,
is that there's this new cycle of wealth.
Now, most of us have a W-2 or 1099 where we're making money
and we have -- and that creates a cash flow.
Now, what I was always recommending for individuals
to do is to take a portion of that cash flow,
the discretionary income, DI, and put it not into a saving
or investment account.
Now, this is different.
Most advisors tell you, "Hey,
you got to save it or invest it."
The problem with that is that with a savings account
or investment account, the thought most people have is
to consume it in the future.
"I'm saving this money because I want to pay for a wedding."
"I'm saying this money because I'm going to buy a car."
They save it, to consume it.
What I'm recommending is you put that discretionary income
in a wealth account and the wealth account;
you use to buy income generators.
So you're never going to consume the principle.
You're going to create income from this income generator
that will then go back into your cash flow,
creating more discretionary income, creating more money
for your wealth account
where you can buy another income generator and then I would say,
continue the cycle until you have four, five, six,
seven income generators.
And then when that happens, the objective
of the income generators is it's providing enough income
so that you can eliminate your W-2 or your 1099.
That's true financial freedom, wouldn't you agree?
Well, how do you -- what are these income generators?
What do you put in them?
Well, here's what I would suggest is
that you have what's called -- what I would call,
"Proper Asset Allocation" versus what I learned and used
for many years, the Modern Portfolio Theory.
Modern Portfolio Theory says you have certain financial
instruments, stocks, bonds, mutual funds, ETFs, you know,
options, those kind of things.
And then what you do is diversify in there.
So they would say,
"Good diversification is large cap stocks, medium cap stocks,
small cap stocks and international stocks."
Well, I would say those aren't four different categories,
that's one -- stocks and one -- bonds.
And then what I found when I was working, you know, in --
on Wall Street is that they're limited
into what they can actually even talk about.
True diversification is yes, bond --
and I do like bonds because no matter what happens
in the economy, they're still going to be paying
out a dividend or interest.
So if you bought -- you put $100,000 in bonds at 5%,
you're going to get $5,000.
But if those bonds fall to $95,000 in value,
the principle value, it's still going to pay 5%.
That $5,000 still comes.
So if you just concentrate on the income it's generating,
not the principle value, you're going to be way better off
and you're going to be able
to enjoy the market a little bit more.
Similarly, with dividend paying stocks,
I suggest people put those into their portfolios,
not stocks for growth necessarily
but dividend paying stocks,
stocks that will pay a dividend no matter what.
And what are some areas that pay dividends no matter what?
Energy, utilities, things like that --
maybe even consumer staples for example, Verizon.
Everybody's going to use it.
They pay phenomenal dividends.
Southern California Edison similarly, Chevron --
they all pay dividends.
So these are stocks that I would include in a portfolio.
So those should be two of your income generator.
Another thing are insurance products
because every insurance product, virtually every life insurance
or annuity product can be turned into a lifetime stream of income
that you can never lose.
So those things I would --
I would encourage people to have this.
Now, commodities -- now these don't necessarily create income
right away.
However, I do like to have commodities
as a diversification tool.
Gold, precious metals, agriculture,
these kinds of things are vitally important for any kind
of a portfolio simply because they do keep pace
with inflation.
As inflation goes up, these commodities increase.
Real estate -- everybody knows you should have a little bit
of real estate but what I find a lot of people is because they
like real estate, they buy only real estate.
Or they like stocks, they buy only stocks.
If you go to a stockbroker,
what do you think they're going to tell you to buy?
Stocks and bonds.
If you go to a banker, CDs, insurance guy -- insurance.
Annuities -- if you go to a real estate guy, they're all going
to say buy real estate.
They're all good but you need a little bit in each one.
And real estate that produces income --
I saw this one quote that says, "Hey, wealthy people,
borrow a million dollars and have somebody else pay it off."
In other words, they buy these rental or commercial properties
that are income producing
that ultimately will pay off that debt.
Small businesses definitely --
everybody should have a small business simply because --
and even multiple businesses.
And then for those later on as you start making more money
and you need to reduce your income taxes,
oil and gas partnerships are phenomenal for that.
But once you have a well that is producing, it will continue
to produce and you get income off of it oftentimes
for decades and decades.
So this is the kind of thing that you can do financially
to properly allocate your assets.
But what are some other tools --
now here's some other tools
that you probably haven't thought about before.
Now one of the tools is this, is work on your physical assets.
That's right -- your body.
Now this makes sense.
Everybody kind of does this but you need to move and exercise.
Now how does that correlate?
How does that make money for you?
Well, let me tell you this.
Some of the physical benefits of movement
and exercise is you have improved energy, better balance,
better strength, better focus and you sleep better.
Well, how does that really translate into -- into money?
Well, I had challenged my co-workers that we were going
to go ahead and -- and really get more physically fit.
I hired a personal trainer and we all went to boot camp
and after six weeks, we were going to measure and see
who lost the most body fat.
And so one of my -- one of my colleagues, Ben,
who is also a Cal State grad, he lost the most.
I said, "Well, Ben, it's because you're younger,
you have more metabolism.
You know, your metabolism is faster."
But I still was able to lose throughout this challenge
about 37 pounds of body fat.
Well, here's the thing, not only that feel better, look better,
but what I found was
that performance improved across the board.
Everybody was doing better.
Everybody had more focus and as a result,
we actually made more money because we got more things done.
Just think if you did that in your own business
or if you did it for an employer, just think how
that they would look at you, "Wow,
you're really working yourself.
You have energy.
You're alert."
That will always translate to promotions and moving
up -- moving up the level.
Plus you can also control chronic illness
which obviously saves money.
And the reason I mention that is because most of the people
that I work with who are getting ready to retire,
they are concerned about the high cost of medical care.
And they're always saying, "What am I going to do?
How am I going to pay for this?
How am I going to pay for medical care?"
Well, I always say, "Well, what if you don't get sick?"
[Chuckle] I know that's a grandiose statement
but the reality is if you do the right things to your body,
you keep yourself physically fit, you're not only going
to be more productive but you're going to go to the doctor less.
Right now, there's all kinds of people, they're dropping
like flies because of the flu bug that's going around.
And I can't waste time.
I don't want to lose time.
I mean if you're sick, you lose time at work
and you're not as productive.
So I don't want to get sick.
In fact, I do everything I can to make sure
that I have good health.
Now, even mild exercise, it releases endorphins
that block pain and the need for medication,
again lowering medical costs.
So use this as a tool.
Make no mistake; this is a tool to gain financial assets.
But you need to build your physical assets.
You also need to grow your intellectual assets,
you know, your brain.
Well, how do you train your brain?
I mean everybody thinks about and knows about working
out to get physically fit.
But how do you work out your brain to make your brain fit?
Well, this is one
of the wonderful things about Cal State.
We actually have in the College of Education,
a neuro feedback center where you can go there
and literally give your brain a tune up.
It is phenomenal.
They put on a little headset, they read your brain waves,
and could help you either focus, or limit anxiety,
or increase your memory.
Now for me, my focus is pretty good but I do have a little bit
of anxiety that it's helping me work that out.
So it's training my brain to deal with that
so I can be even more productive, more energetic
and it's increasing my memory at the same time.
So I encourage every one of you to go to the College
of Education, talk to Dr. McReynolds there
and she'll give you a tour and you'll be --
it will blow your mind.
The other thing that you can do is go to lumosity.com.
Now, lumosity.com has video games that really help you again
with focus, memory, coordination, all this.
So you should be doing everything you can
to improve your brain.
Now, did you know that you can still build neuro pathways
constantly throughout your life?
And the hippocampus, which is your memory center,
that grows brand new brain cells
and there's actually even new science that's coming
out that says we can --
our brain can actually create new brain cells.
So here's one of the reasons why I actually go
and do ballroom dance because not only am I moving physically
and exercising, but I'm --
it's also creating these new neuro pathways
because you have all these patterns you have to remember
and that helps me with confidence,
with endurance, and also more focus.
And then keep the junk out.
I mean everybody, you know -- it's off the air now,
thank goodness, there would be --
sometimes you'd watch like for example, Jersey Shore.
And so they'd be having an argument and they would say,
"Oh, so and so did this, that -- beep -- and --
beep," and then another beep.
Well, they're not fooling anybody.
Your brain is filling in that beep and it's just junk.
Would you let somebody come into your house
and throw trash all over your room?
All over your living room?
No, absolutely not.
But we allow this junk to enter our heads
and I'm not saying its -- Jersey Shores bad, but balance it
with something that's really a little bit more noble.
Fill it with some good things, you know, good music
and balance all bad music with that.
But it's really important because your brain is the center
of all your creativity and if you have all this junk in there,
it's going to stymie that and hinder it.
A healthy brain decreases stress and let me tell you,
if you don't have stress you're way more productive.
So this right now, if you -- if you're dealing with your brain
and helping increase it, that's actually a tool so you --
and if you elevate this brain asset,
you're going to make more money.
And finally, let's talk about exceptional assets.
We started with this and we're going to end with this.
What are you passionate about?
What truly do you love to do that you would just do even
if no one paid you for it?
Well, I'm going to show you that you can get paid for it.
What I often tell my clients is turn your passion into profits.
Again, I relay the story of the lady who was -- liked to relax.
I said, "Become an expert at that and you can sell that."
Just yesterday I was speaking with another lady and she says,
"Well, I like to run and I'm thinking
of doing a dog running business."
I go, "Perfect.
There's people that would want their dogs run or walk
and all those kind of things."
So you can turn that passion into a business and monetize it.
So monetize it by making it into a business.
Well, how do you do that though?
And how do you build a lucrative lifestyle friendly business?
Well, there's three things you need.
First of all, you need a superior product and service.
So it's absolutely important that you look around
and it wasn't too long ago that a couple of guys were --
were saying, "Hey, what do we love to do?
Well, we like to shoot video and let's share it with each other."
And then they started to put it on the internet.
They said, "You think other people would like to do that?"
Sure enough, you know, people did and guess what?
You know, you know all the story --
you know the story of YouTube.
Eventually they sold that to Google for $1.5 billion.
So they just thought up something
that no one else had thought of and they were just interested
in it and they turned that into a very lucrative business
for themselves and now they have financial freedom for, you know,
the rest of their lives.
But you also need people, or a sales team.
So this is vital, real important that --
and it might be just you and your spouse.
Initially just you, but I would say partner with other people,
other people that are in business, other entrepreneurs.
Create a team around you and they don't have to be people
that you actually pay as employees.
You can just partner or have them as consultants.
But you need a group of people.
And then finally, you need technology to be automated.
Whatever you do, you want to figure out a way
where you can have it evergreen,
meaning it's always on the internet.
You know, again everything that you can do and be an expert at,
you can translate into some other communication device
that can be put on the internet.
For example, I have a client who's --
he's a doctor but he loves photography.
And I said, "Great, doctor, why don't we just create
that into a business and you know, all the things
that you're snapping, we'll create an online gallery
where people can go and look and buy it.
And is there any special technique that you use?"
"Oh yeah, there's a special technique
that I use for Photoshop."
I said, "Well, why don't you write a book about that
because I bet that people are going
to want to learn about that."
All right.
So that's a whole lot of information
but these are truly the foundations of financial success
and if you follow these steps, I can --
I can literally guarantee you,
you will have indestructible wealth,
wealth that you can never lose,
wealth that will always come your way.
Step One -- the Fascination Factor.
What are you expert at?
What do you love to do?
What are you passionate about?
Step Two -- Know who you are.
What's that one word that defines what you're all about?
Step Three -- Know what you want in life.
Have that 20-year vision of what you want your life to be
and look like in 20-years.
Step Four -- Learn how to communicate well.
Increase your vocabulary, learn how to speak, present, sell.
[Chuckle] And then Step Five -- Persevere.
Don't give up no matter what happens; embrace the struggles
because the struggles are actually there to train you,
to teach you something that you're going
to be able to use in the future.
Step Six -- Look for a way to serve.
The more people you serve, the more money you make.
Don't think in terms of what is it -- what's in it for me?
Don't just simply look for the dollars because they'll come.
I -- I assure you, they will come but look
on how you might be able to serve
and then you'll just watch those dollars roll in.
And in Step Seven -- Grow all of your assets.
Not just your financial, that's going to come,
but the big tools are improving your physical asset --
your body, your physical asset -- your intellectual asset --
your brain, and then ultimately what are you exceptional at
and then do something with that.
And if you do all of those things.
No matter what the economy, you'll make resources.
So here's to your success.
I really encourage you all to implement these strategies
and if there's any kind -- if there's any questions, I'll --
I'd like to field them now.
Any questions do we have?
>> Yes we do.
We have one question and I ask everyone,
if you have any questions for Paul, just please submit them
on the chat box that's on the dashboard.
So -- thank you so much, Paul.
And the first question is, in your opinion,
what should a person have before taking the step forward opening
their own business and becoming a business owner?
Should it be a large financial investment, a large amount
of experience in the industry, existing clients, the passion
and idea in service, and willingness to take on the risk?
>> Okay. The first step is to have the passion
because if you have a passion, then again, the money's going
to flow because you'll be able to present your ideas,
you give a pitch, and then people will be able to say,
"Wow, I really like it."
But passion is one thing.
The next thing is, is you really do need to have a plan.
You know, who would build a house
without having a blueprint?
So you really want to think about what is it that you want
to accomplish and have a true plan.
And it can be as simple as -- it doesn't have to be a full
on business plan although eventually, you're going to want
that particularly, if you're going to go get funding.
But you're going to want to see what is it that you're going
to accomplish and what's the service, product
or service you're going to provide and you're going to --
you want to create a funnel.
So at the top of the funnel, to get people to know about you,
what's the free thing you can give them whether it be a
sample, or a book about what you're doing, a white paper.
Some kind of free thing -- you want that at the top.
And then from there, you can always up sell them.
So whatever it is, your product or service,
let's say you're a dog sitter.
Then you can -- some tips on how
to housebreak your dog, whatever it might be.
But then as soon as you get that information from them
and remember we're automated, we're on the internet.
Then you can then say, "Hey, we have this service
and we have this service."
And you constantly move them
up to whatever your flagship service is.
So -- so you definitely want to start up --
what are you passionate about?
And then come up with a revenue model, a small business plan
and that will help you then start thinking
about what you're going to market
and all those kinds of things.
Because once you do that, the money will follow that.
So you don't need a whole lot of money.
You don't need a whole big resource.
I literally started from zero, I mean having nothing
and created multi-million dollar companies and --
but you do need to have a passion for it and a plan.
>> Thank you.
That was the only question we have.
If anyone has any other questions and they would
like to email it to us, you can email us at alumni@CSUSB.edu
and we can forward them onto Paul
and he can provide his answers in that way.
So again, thank you all
for participating in today's webinar.
As you exit the webinar, please take just a few moments
to complete a brief survey that will appear on your screen.
Your feedback is critical in helping us to grow
and expand our programming to meet the needs
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So we hope that you found this experience valuable
and that you'll consider attending future issues
with the alumni event and again, thank you so much, Paul,
for being our host today of this webinar.
And at the end of the day, after all you all --
all of you are in good company.
Thank you so much.
>> Thank you.
Thanks everyone.
Bye-bye, now.
>> Bye.