Learning To Earn ... My Life By Design!

Learning To Earn ... My Life By Design!

My Earliest Memories of Money probably started with earning an allowance. My parents always required certain things from my older brother and I.  I would receive an allowance for the basics, which consisted of:

• Feeding the dog each day
• Cleaning up the dogs yard once a week
• Mowing the yard (front & back)
• Raking leaves

I could however earn some extra money if I was trying to make that once in a while large purchase. My mom would have me wash and vacuum her car. Waxing her car was always lucrative as well.

 When I was a little older I started my own lawn mowing business. I went around the neighborhood and asked for the work. I had a few standing accounts with certain neighbors, while others were a hit and miss proposition. This is also where I learned that some people didn’t pay for their service (a hard lesson). I remember having one customer that was a few weeks behind on paying their bill and then they decided not to pay. Still kinda remember that ladies face 35 years later.

My first entrepreneurial endeavor was as an “Avocado Vendor.”  We had a very productive avocado tree in our backyard. I would pick them and put them in brown paper sacks. My mom would drop me off on a busy street with my homemade signs and I would sell my avocados. That was some good money. I could usually sell out within 2 hours.

The next lesson was as a paperboy on a bicycle. I had a route in a nearby neighborhood. I had to sign people up, deliver their paper and the go collecting (get paid). I remember that if someone didn’t pay it affected my income not the newspaper company.  So you learned to adapt real fast.

These early experiences helped shape how I view finances today. If you want/need something then you must go out and earn the money required to obtain it.  Applied effort = achieved results. Perhaps the key attitude that developed was that, “people will pay for a good or service that they desire” and that I can capably supply that good or service! That is truly “A Life by Design!”

This post is to help promote Tom Ferry's upcoming book, LIFE! By DESIGN. The contents of my post are the result of some self reflection the preview chapter of the book asks us to do about ourselves.

You can Pre-Order the book now by visiting TomFerryBook.com. You can also participate in the promotion being done by ActiveRain for a chance to win some great prizes and 2500 points by visiting the promotional post here.

Everyone that orders a copy of the book between now and April 23rd, 2010 will also receive one ticket to attend Tom's Success Summit, August 24-26th and the MP3 audio role play program: Objection Handling for Buyers, Sellers and Short Sales.

In exchange for writing this post, I could win an iPad or other cool prizes, and this is to let you know so the FTC doesn't fine me.