Sonam and Bayermaa are happy, and modestly proud with reason. Sonams only son is strong and vital, and a walking painting of father; the three daughters Bayermaa bore are all sharp of wit, keen of frame and visage, and will be well-contested when they come of age in the small village. The family work hard and willingly, either in the long hours of summer or a little more frenetically when the clouds settle in for winter. The fields are well tilled, and there is always tsampa and chang, butter tea and time available for guests or elders who are passing the family home. And so lifes melody has skipped along, with intermittent ups and downs, childrens bruises and tantrums and all the texture one might expect in a good life.

Yet Sonam was beginning to be troubled. The source of this abrasion he could identify, and so slowly it gained power, he became restless, and eventually the chang he put so much of his time into could not suppress this itch. He began to stir constantly at night, until Bayermaa could not help but be woken; yet Sonam could not tell her what bothered him, merely say “it’s nothing, it’s nothing”, and force himself to lie still. But by dawn, when he had been staring at the slate above him, Sonam could stand it no more.

When the family had all gotten about their work for the day, Sonam slipped away to seek out Anil. Anil was the oldest male in the village, frail, blinded by cataracts, yet alert and always willing to expound upon any matter in the village, although his thoughts might take quite some time and tea to be finally rolled out, like the bright little pebbles one would play with in his youth. Sonam explained this uncalled for and bothersome thorn had developed in his soul; he was aggrieved, he said to Anil “I have worked hard in my short years, I have good land and good people around me, my hands are skilled and I always contribute well when the men sit to ponder the seasons and workings of the valley together, I have by all gods, been most fortunate — why may I not be content — yet I feel, I feel, its not enough.. this is an unworthy feeling”

Anil considered his response a long time, and finally, said to Sonam, “many nights I have watched you, since you were a small boy. Now your family is grown, they do not need your chivvying and strong arms to lift them, Bayermaa is dutiful and a good mirror to you, yet your wits are undimmed and indeed, you are almost, idle” raising his hand to forestall the protest this word would bring. “I have seen you begin to reflect on yourself in the chang, yet there is no answer there, indeed I had hoped you would see this yourself. But it is now clear to me, you are now drowning in your own unused vitality. Why are you not using your strengths and mind to grow as a man and be beyond yourself?”

“Anil”, said Sonam, “I am an empty well, long I have thought, and yet I have no answer”. “Then you must seek inspiration, Sonam. May I suggest that you will not find it here, in the four walls of this valley you know so well. You need to climb Sonam, climb above and look beyond what you know.” “How then, should I do this, Anil?” Anil looked Sonam straight in the eye, and said — “it is a simple thing. You need many days tsampa, a strong hoe, and a good waterskin. You must climb (mount) Kailash and seek your answer from her at her peak. You should go now, before the winter truly arrives. I will explain this to Bayermaa. If you do not, this poison in your soul will grow, and then it will begin to infect us all — this is nature”

Sonam left that very evening. Many days he climbed, for Mount Kailash was 7 days walk to her feet, and then slowly, slowly he began the ascent. As he climbed past the first notes of the glacier, into the moraines and moss-struck boulders, he wondered, the first of many times, “ai, this madness, will it be my end?” The days passed and Sonam was now a stick figure on the bright slopes, able to be seen by hawks and bright adolescents maybe, but he was now truly ascending unheard of and terrifying heights. His boots were failing, blisters were formed and bleeding and he began to chafe and these constant pains and knocks to his spirit were indeed mounting against his resolve. Yet still he climbed. On the 14th day he nearly broke.

The wind had begun in earnest, each step was a torture to his thighs, the snows were beginning to form above Kailashs brow, yet still he climbed, stumbling, slipping, now sliding back foot after foot, now gaining, his lungs stabbed at each breath with “the little knives” of winter. Yet still he climbed. He could not stop.

For Sonam knew how, he would go on or perish, for walking down now was as bad an option as going up — he did not have the werewithal to make the bottom before he failed utterly in his strength. And so he faced his fate, turned his face to the slopes again, and lifted us foot up, again, again again… The following morning, at about that time of day when the first red rays court the clouds, the mists and echoes began to disperse, a cleanliness and sombre sparseness began to surround Sonam. 30 steps, 25 steps, 20 steps to go, 10, now a stumble, a sob, another step, 2 more, now 6 to go, and finally, when his heart truly was leaping out of his chest, he placed his hand on the summit if Kailash.

Many long minutes he kneeled there, eventually gaining back his breath, and knowing that he had achieved a tremendous victory over himself, and calm, clear and proud as he was, he still had no understanding of why he had needed to do it. It was then that Anils voice came to him. “Sonam, Sonam” the voice whispered. “Anil? Is that you”, Sonam replied peering all around him, wondering if he had gone mad. For there was nothing to be seen, save the hundreds of kilometres of mountain peaks, snow rock and ice and a blue sky so sharp it was blinding. There was no place here for a trifling human. “Sonam, Sonam, why are you here?” cried the voice. Sonam stood, and puzzled as he was, could not answer, until it came to him, Anil had said all those long days ago, “you must seek inspiration, Sonam” Swaying now, tottering in the breeze like an old man, Sonam finally replied ” I am here to seek inspiration”

The answer came back from the void —
“and here you are, Sonam, having become what you sought – here you are”

See you at the Masters, Sunday May 23rd

And folks, remember to enter our competition for Free tickets to the Masters day and Free copies of Seans book More competiton details here

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Now – just so you know – the survey is commissioned by Expedia – so bear that in mind. They claim that about 45% of Kiwis do not take their full holiday entitlement. I find that quite bizarre, as New Zealand employers aren’t exactly generous with their holiday allowances at the best of times. It’s only recently that Kiwis have been able to take 4 weeks holiday a year as of right – until then it was a measly 2 weeks for most people. When you bear in mind that Hubby used to get 5 weeks minimum in the UK with an extra 2 days a year because he had worked for the same company for 10 years – you can see that it is still not exactly generous now.

Only workers in Australia, Canada, Japan and the US got fewer holidays than us Kiwis. I’m guessing it wont be a surprise to many people that France got the most!

Worryingly, the survey also says that 35% of Kiwi workers were changing their holiday plans because of the state of the economy. It is not clear from the report whether this is simply a case of taking a cheaper holiday, or “cashing in” their unused holiday.

What worries me most is that a third of kiwis surveyed said they were not taking all their holidays because work commitments were to great. Many of us migrate to New Zealand to work less and spend more time at home with the family. It appears that it actually may not be the Kiwi thing to do.

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..Finally, we’re priced right, our house looks so good we are considering keeping it and not selling after all, but we STILL don’t have any buyers looking at it!! What gives??….

I hate to say it, but maybe your agent isn’t using the right tools to market your home. Is your home on the agent’s website? Realestate.co.nz? Trademe.co.nz?

Are all the pretty new photos up there? (The more pictures the better!) Is the price correct?

Is your agent writing about your listing in his/her blog? Is your agent using online social media to share your listing with savvy buyers?

YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, these are all places you should be able to find your listing. Pictures of it, links to it, descriptions of it, lots of info! Social media is not a trend that is going away.

It is not a “phase” and it’s not a thing the kids are doing.

It is the newest way to connect and communicate and share with the world.

Newspapers around the globe are going broke because people are going online to get their information and news.

Buyers want the newest, latest, greatest knowledge and they want it as fast as a click of a mouse.

They don’t want to search through a dozen magazines and as many newspapers to find their home. They want that information to be accessible and online media is the place they look for it.

So if your agent isn’t using social media to market your listing, he ought to be.

If neither of you is familiar with it and you would like some help, email me.

I’ll be glad to share my knowledge and give you some tips that will help move your property from “For Sale” to “SOLD”.

This has been adapted with permission from a post by Jessica Murr. Jessica Murr is a Realtor in Far Northern California specializing in luxury homes, ranch properties, real estate sales consulting, social media and networking, first time homebuyers, and real estate investment planning.

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image by hamed

By January 2003 I had listened to every one of JB’s tape sets and taking all of my various lunch mentor’s advice to heart I trudged off and met each of the advisors they suggested. When I had completed this, I phoned an individual who was playing aggressively in the market at the time and met him for lunch. This was great for me as it reaffirmed to me that my passion was in the game of RE and finance. In meeting this individual it also gave me a living example of what I had long considered to be a key to success. Dream VERY BIG, start small, break it into small steps and try and SYSTEMITIZE the whole thing so that it can grow itself. It also got me severely amped to get back into the game.

-NOTE: This individual turned out to be a fraud and a clown but I learnt a bunch -

Three weeks later other circumstances resulted in me and my girlfriend deciding to can our attempted business venture. While we were heavily out of pocket to the tune of $38,000 I was relieved and decided that it was past time to get back into my game.

It was now February 2003 and three months earlier I had successfully refinanced all of my Invercargill Properties, paying back all my credit cards. I decided to take stock of my situation and bought out my mother’s 10 percent stake in my little business. To do this, I paid her back her original $3000, plus a little over $15,000, which was her equity value of 10% at the time. Suffice to say, she was reasonably happy with her investment.

If you will recall less than one year previously I was over $60,000 in debt.

Looking at it, I had gone from minus $62,000 in debt, to eight houses, a net worth of over $120,000 (180K turn around) and by helping someone else make some money, now had access to some hard investor money. I decided it was time to start playing the game properly.

Total over being a policeman and deciding to own the South Auckland market I started looking for agents and kicked it up a new gear from the beginning of March 2003. I took all of my annual leave and I made about 350 WRITTEN offers in that month, of which I think only about 150 were presented as I wanted them to be. By the time I got my act together and started to figure out what I needed half of March was gone. It didn’t matter too much as in the next week I had eight offers accepted. These ranged from 67-80% of RV, all in the Auckland region, in a rising market. So basically while my strategy has changed over time the deals were and continue to be out there.

I got finance for all eight but three were sold out from under me by a vendor while on contract, one after we had gone unconditional. This was a lesson in itself but I won’t relate it now. Suffice to say neither I nor the RE company who had the sole agency with them, will deal with the vendors again.

I settled on the other five houses at the end of the month of March. My target was ten on contract so I was a little disappointed, but not too badly.

Having used up all my annual leave I quit the police to pursue property full time on the 2nd of April 2003. Three days later, I attended Keith Cunningham’s Business School for Entrepreneurs (then called the Keith Cunningham Mentoring Program). Without a doubt, this program is the best thing I have done – it completely changed my life and I am eternally grateful for attending. I also sometimes shudder and wonder “what would have been” if I had not attended. If you seriously want to achieve spectacular things in your life, then you owe it to yourself to go. Here is the first email I sent my Keith group, the first weekend after session one on this course:

“One week ago I was reborn.

The catalyst – a weekend in a room full of loving, inspiring and supportive people, and an hour in the cauldron with Keith J Cunningham.

Wow! What a feeling. Thank you Group Six. Thank you Keith Cunningham. And thank you Sandi Cunningham and Rita Davis.

I have been wandering around the last week, completely satisfied in just getting to know myself again.

What a feeling!

I love this feeling. So I decided to share it. By midday Monday I had persuaded my older sister Liana that Keith’s program was something that she needed to do. She had spent the weekend watching the light in Mae and my eyes grow and grow. I took care of the costs and Keith and Rita squeezed her in for Sydney Group 7.

Wow! Thank you Keith and Rita for your generosity of spirit and support in this.

I spoke to Liana today and WOW WOW WOW! I have already got my money’s worth from paying for three people to attend this program. BEST money I have ever spent.

I spent half an hour crying in happiness with my big ‘sis. She is a different person. What a feeling!

Thank you Keith Cunningham! And thank you Group Six!

My thanks and love to you all,

Chris ASHENDEN”

And here is my second email, around the same time:

“My only formal goal for the 120 days that Keith gave me is to write a list of 50 ‘Things I could have done’ for a failed business venture in the past, with no blame, no justification.

I will do this by May 10th, two days after I get home from boot camp.

For support I want to receive everyone’s progress emails. I will tell you where I am at every week. I will also ask for specific support when I can see I need it. If you can see I need it, then please give it!

Adding a goal of my own, I guess my 120 day plan of ACTION comes down to three things:

1) Be me
2) List of 50 things I was responsible for in this failure, no laying blame or justifying.
3) Make a million dollars

See you next week.

Chris Ashenden”

Some people seriously don’t like wishy washy stuff like I just posted in those emails. They want hard numbers and real info. Some tangible goodies. They want to know the financial power of that course, and what they really want to know is “Did I make a million dollars in 120 days after sending this email?”

The answer: No, I did not. It took me a further three and a half months to do it.

Read Part 1 of Chris’s story here …

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While money management skills can be quite easily leant, attitudes and behaviours are often more difficult to tackle. They can result from deeply ingrained beliefs or experiences. It’s important to realise what beliefs one has about money so one can establish which beliefs need changing.
Money Fantasies

Many people will have some kind of fantasy about money lurking in their subconscious. A person’s brain can trick them into believing these fantasies could actually happen. However if one really thought about it , it would become clear just how silly they really are. Do any of these sound familiar?

• Lottery Living: Actually believing you might nab a winning ticket, and believing this every week.
• Marry a Millionaire: And that single-minded focus keeps a person both single AND broke. A spouse is not a financial plan.
• Waiting for a Windfall: Miscellaneous hopes for an inheritance, a bank error in one’s favour, a pot of gold in the back of the garage, etc.
• Thinking someone is going to pay a wage that’s waaaaay more than they should, enabling one to retire in two years.
• Sudden Success: Sell that screenplay or invent a new kind of peanut butter which will make one into a gazillionaire.
• Do What You Love, The Money Will Follow: The title of an actual book that has created financial disaster for everyone who followed its precepts.
• Ignorance Is Profitable: The crack-based notion that by not paying attention to your money . . . one day you’ll wake up RICH!
• Things Have a Way of Working Out: When clearly they don’t if you don’t do anything about it.
• I’ll Do It Later: Time has an uncanny ability of disappearing and you wake up 30 years later still chanting to yourself you have plenty of time and will do it later.
• Money is not everything. Right! Try living without it for a month.
• Denial. I am not that out of shape

Now at this point readers are probably laughing. But, if you think about it, at some point in time, at least one of these thoughts has gone through your head, or you’ve heard someone else say them. Sometimes people make these comments in jest to either themselves or others, but it could be just what’s really going on in their head.

The most important point is that every person is responsible for their own beliefs about money and every person has the power to change these beliefs.

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