Bruce’s Wealth Blog

I was called today from someone to inform me that a friend of mine, Jim Booth, had died.  Jim had gone through quite a bit in his 61 years here.  He attended life’s seminars more than once.  While I had met Jim several times prior, I started really getting to know him when he attended my first class on being a foreclosure consultant in Maryland.  It was long before my Inner Circle days, so it cost him $795 to take the class.  He didn’t have it, so he borrowed it from someone else.  To the knowledge he got from the class, he added his determination, and his effort.  In his first year, he went from not having $795 to earning over $135,000.00. 

Jim had a strong sense of right and wrong.  More than once I would get an irate call from him asking what he should do about a rogue investor who was breaking the law and harming a homeowner.  The reason Jim did so well that year is because he didn’t make it about the money.  It was about two things.  The first was turning his life around.  Not only did this mean changing his financial position, but it also meant building relationships and doing something he felt good about.  The second came from another job he had where he was involved in taking houses away from people in foreclosure.  He told me on more than one occasion how awful that experience was.  So, the second thing that this was about was in his own way righting the wrongs he felt were committed when people lost their houses to foreclosure.  His reasons for doing so well were much more than money.  It was about the dash.

When you look at a tombstone, you see the name of the person buried there, when he was born, a dash, and then when he died.  You see, the name is not what is important.  The date of birth is not important.  And, neither is the date of death.  The only important part of the tombstone is the dash.  What did the person do between the day he was born and the day he died?  You can’t take your mc mansion with you when you die.  You can’t take a fat bank account with you when you die.  None of the "things" you treasured so much will go with you.  None of the physical earthly reasons why you started your business on your journey to great riches will go with you when you die.  The reason is because none of that stuff is yours.  It  has only been placed in your care for a very short time.  What does go with you when you die is the love you created during the dash.

There is nothing wrong with having great earthly wealth.  But, what you do with it is important.  Great earthly wealth has been placed in your care for a reason.  So do you want the big house or do you want to cure cancer?  Do you want to buy the eighty-thousand dollar car or do you want to feed a village for a year?  Do you want to charge people thousands of dollars and simply teach them how to attract money or do you want to charge a small fee and teach people how to have true meaning in their lives while they become wealthy?  Do you want to make money the core consideration in your dealings with others, or do you want to build loyalty and trust by offering loyalty to them?  You will be surprised how much wealthier you become when you take your focus off the money and put your focus on the dash.

What do you want your dash to look like?  You had better make a decision fast and make it happen now.  Our time is short and we have no promise of tomorrow.

There is a cool video about the dash.  You can view it here.

Jim – Rest in peace my friend.  You will be missed.

Bruce..