Greg Billings

My consistent counsel to college interns throughout the my professional career was to dual track — have a professional career. But also develop something in addition that could be a financial safety valve,if necessary.

I cautioned these young individuals, at the front of their career, “you might be excited about your career choice now. But when you’re in your 30’s, with a spouse, kids, car and house payments, etc., you don’t want to look in the mirror in the morning and tell yourself how much your hate your job.” Because at that point, the options may be few.

It’s never too late to develop that second option. Seek out the advice of somebody you trust, with demonstrated financial success. And get at it!

Click here >>  People Start Hating Their Jobs at Age 35

Ahhh. Anegada, BVI. Wonder if there is WiFi for my laptop?

“The 9-to-5 Workweek Is Dead. Here’s What’s Next” is the title of a recent article in Inc.com.

As somebody who has worked on my own home business for some time, a flexible schedule is one of the reasons that I settled into a home business.

I control my commute (none!) and I control my schedule.

I transitioned to my home business after a 30 year career, commuting to jobs where schedules were anything but flexible.

While the 9 to 5 work week may be dying, it’s still alive and kicking in many offices.  If not most offices.

What do the entrants into the professional, office world think about flexible schedules?

• 29% of college students think being able to work remotely with a flexible schedule is a right, not a privilege.
• 66% of Millennials say having a boss who doesn’t support flexible schedules has factored into their decision to leave a job.
• 72% of working parents say that people who work flex hours have fewer pay/promotional opportunities.

What do you think?  Do you work in a job with a flexible schedule?  If not, do you wish you could?  If you had a flexible work schedule, what would that mean to you?

Drop me a note at Greg at OnlineMarketIncome.com  I’d love to hear from you.

Click here for the Inc.com article “The 9-to-5 Workweek Is Dead. Here’s What’s Next”.

I’ve been as guilty as the next person wanting to know each and every detail of my network marketing company’s compensation plan.

However, Tom ‘Big Al’ Schreiter had it just right.  Here’s how he discusses a company’s compensation plan:

Compensation plans work like this:

If you have a lot of people using your products and services, you will earn a lot of money.

If you have fewer people using your products and services, you will earn less money.

That’s it.

Companies can only pay out a portion of sales in a compensation plan, so they have to pay it out to the people who produce the results.

That’s the big picture.

The people who micro-manage little percentages in a compensation plan are the people who have lots of time, because they don’t have a downline! 🙂

I’m a fan of Robert Kiyosaki, if you haven’t figure that out!

He speaks extensively on the issue of Cash Flow.

Cash flow pattern of the poor . . . of the middle class . . . and of the rich.

The one most interesting, and what should be most troubling is the cash flow pattern of the middle class.

Kiyosaki paints the picture seen all too often:

• High paying jobs, with nice homes, cars and credit cards.
• Put money into retirement/401(k).
• Balance goes to purchase toys and liabilities that don’t put money in the pocket.

Over time, he notes, that lifestyle must be sustained. With higher paying jobs or working longer hours.

And then, the catastrophic ramifications of being laid off or fired.

The solution?

While he doesn’t reference it in this article, he has spoken on building a passive income asset.

But, he describes the cash flow pattern of the rich.

Investing in assets that generate income.

Where do you fall? Do you need to change? What steps are you taking?

Click here == >> New Rule of Money #3: Learn How to Control Cash Flow

Inc.com passed on some solid advice they received from people who want to become millionaires at a young age. They pulled together 11 tips of advice from people who became millionaires at a young age, as well as people who studied hundreds of self-made millionaires.

They may not have had internet-based businesses in mind, but these tips apply across the board.

I’ve got a ways to go to hit my millionaire status, but a number of these were already on my list.

• Increase your income in increments.   Earning passive income was on the list . . . and is my business model.  How about yours?
• Develop multiple streams of income.  Straight out of Robert Kiyosaki’s book—The Cash Flow Quadrant. “… the more income streams you can create in life, the more secure will your financial house be.”
• “…Every one of them (folks with million dollar fortunes) had the habit of reaching decisions promptly”
• Don’t show off.  Show up.  Save more and spend less.
• Invest in your future.  Every day, I spend time reading and taking in mentor information through videos, books, and blogs.
• Rich people are typically self-employed and determine the size of their own paycheck.  “While the world-class continue starting businesses and building fortunes, average people settle for steady paychecks and miss out on the opportunity to accumulate great wealth.”
• “If you want to make more money, you have to have a clear goal and then a specific plan for how to achieve that goal.”
• Hang out with people you admire. “We become like the people we associate with.”

Whether you are young . . . and have the millionaire goal . . . these are solid habits to follow for success.

Or if you have a few years on you, like me, but you are “still in the game”, this article is an excellent read.

How do you match up with this list? Which habits are you implementing?  Which are you starting?

Click here == >> 11 Habits of Successful Business People Who Became Millionaires by 30

First, a definition of Plan B . . . and then, the “The Fourth Quarter”.

Plan B is the back-up or alternative plan you have in place in case what you’re doing now doesn’t pan out.

You know, the job you hate . . . or the “pink slip” discussion with your boss .  The unexpected medical situation . . . or even planning on your retirement years . . .

Before I left the professional world for my growing internet marketing business, I counseled many college students on their careers.

As the senior manager for two United States Senators and a U.S. Senate Committee, many college interns came through our doors.  They were studying medicine, politics, law.  They dreamed of their professional careers . . .

Maybe in a law office, working in Congress, like me, or working on public policy for their favorite cause.  They all came to ask, “How did you get to where you are?”

I offered them some wisdom of age, in addition to career counseling, . . .  Be thinking of what life will be like in 20 years, as you plan your life today.

Will they like their job? And what if they don’t?  Do they have a Plan B to implement? What is that alternative plan?

I urged them not to let things get in the way . . . thinking they had time to kick their Plan B into place . . . tomorrow . . .

Because, before they know it, things like marriage, kids, a mortgage, car payments.  You know,  the things of life that get in the way.

Fast forward to ME. Last year I turned 60 . . .  As my best friend, a year older, said, “we’re in the fourth quarter, buddy!”

I look back and I see some unfinished business.  You see, I violated my own rule . . .

Kids, marriage, the job got in the way of building out my own Plan B to the level that I would want today.

Well, no more . . . I’m singularly focused on my Plan B.   Which now has become my Plan A!

My wife and I have items on our bucket list that have been undone.   Travel . . . and we mean significant travel . . . not just “up the road” to a Holiday Inn Express . . .

And I’ve long dreamed of a villa in the Caribbean, our favorite vacation spot.  A work spot I can enjoy now (the beauty of an internet business . . . a good internet connection is all you need!) . . .   And an asset that can be part of our family long into the future.

So there you have it. Plan B and the Fourth Quarter.

I don’t know which quarter of the ball game you find yourself in . . .

But, take it from me, it’s never too late for that Plan B.

What to know what I’m doing?   You can reach me here.