Can you put a price tag on your head? Can you demand a certain wage from your employer? If not, why not?

Look at the amount of money you are making right now. That is exactly what you are worth. If you are making next to nothing and on the poverty scale in income, it is because that is all you are worth. If you were worth more, you would make more. There is no excuse.

You may say that you have more potential and should be making more money, but if you want more money, you will find a way to make it. If that is not how you operate, then you have a problem with your mindset and your self worth.

If I were your boss and I told you that I would give you $50,000 if you could generate 500 quality leads for my business in a month would you get it done? Of course you would. You would find a way to get someone to teach you how to do it so you can do it again and again and make $50,000 every month. If you would do that for an employer for the promise 0f $50,000 a month, why can you not do it for yourself?

The problem lies in your belief and motivation. Why would you be able to get the job done for an employer who has a deadline and is willing to pay you handsomely for it, but would not do it for yourself?

Is it the fear of being fired and losing your job? Or is it because your boss has more faith in you than you do in yourself?

So many entrepreneurs fall into this trap of not being able to get the job done for themselves. They may know what they have to do in order to make themselves successful, but struggle to get motivated to do it. The reason is they are not backed into a corner and being told what to do and have other people relying on them.

They are not willing to perform for themselves. They lack that self belief.

A common trait for many marketers is that crisis stage, where they realize they have no other option than doing what it takes to become successful. It is the place where there is no way out and it’s either fail and quit or roll the sleeves up and do whatever it takes.

The mindset shift during this crisis stage is the shift needed to become successful. It is not an easy thing to have the discipline to have that mindset when you are living a comfortable life, which is why so many people fail in all businesses.

Having a community and mentor is crucial to success. Someone who is going to make you accountable and who has actually gone through the steps and the work to make themselves successful. One of the major problems with the network marketing/MLM models is your upline, who is supposed to be your mentor has no idea what they are doing either and they have not done what it takes to be successful. So, you one unsuccessful person trying to motivate a new recruit. It is a relationship that is destined to fail. Success breeds success and failure breeds failure. It has nothing to do with the product and the business model if you are following the practices of a failure. Only 3% of Network Marketers are successful and if you can manage to align yourself with one of those guys and do what they do, you have a good chance to succeed yourself, but the majority are following the other 97% and are doomed to failure.

The idea of a franchise conjures up big name chains and superstores like McDonald’s, Dunkin Donuts, Pizza Hut, Dollar Tree, UPS, Circle K etc., but the daunting issue with these successful stores are the huge buy in fees ranging to one of the smallest Subway at about $80,000 to the Millions for some food chains like McDonald’s and Sonic.

To follow these successful models means shelling out that vast amount of money and not make a profit for 3-4 years in many cases. The kicker is, you still don’t have control of your business. You are a manager that has to follow corporate rules, but it will be your butt if the franchise fails.

The latest and hottest franchise is not what you may be thinking of. So many businesses and non-profit organizations are really struggling to make it as the economy is still struggling to get back on track. So, in a down economy, there are always a few businesses that benefit from the hardship.

The incentive industry is one of those that is bursting with success stories, both in the business incentive and fundraising departments. Individual franchise owners are landing contracts with big businesses and organizations who are looking for some added value to get increased sales and profits or donations.

There are so many businesses and non-profits who are looking for help with their marketing and being a franchise owner in the incentive industry means you can get in front of all these people and give them the solution to their problems.

The reason this is one of the hottest franchise opportunities right now is it is a win-win-win for the three parties involved. The business or fundraising organization are happy with their increased sales and donations. The incentive company are happy that their certificates are being sold and the franchise owners are happy they are making a profit from each and every sale.

The better news is that most of the business is repeat business. Once businesses and non-profits see that the incentives are a success, they will want to repeat the process and will look at other products and be a customer for years.

Each new client being a potential repeat customer means sales and  profits keep increasing each year. Word of mouth sales in the fundraising department especially account for a large portion of new contracts. There are no buy in fees for this opportunity which make it attractive to anyone with sales and marketing and people skills. Knowing that 10% of the population is unemployed and the market is hungry and begging for help it is easy to see why the incentive industry is the latest and hottest franchise opportunity today.

Quickly write down the names of the ten people you are most involved with in your life.

That may be friends, family, co-workers etc.

Write them down the page in a list.

Now, by each one of them, write down the amount of money they make in a year.

When you have done that, average them all by adding up the total and divide by 10.

Whatever the result is will be a pretty good indicator of the amount of money YOU make in a year.

The reason. You are a product of your environment.

If you want to change the amount of money you make, you need to change the people you associate with.

But, the better news is, you are only a product of your environment because you want to be. You are completely in control of your own thoughts, so you are completely to blame for the situation you are in.

If the people you associate with are getting you down and killing your dreams, you need to seriously evaluate those relationships and see if they are good for you. Do they have your best interests at heart, or are they stuck in a poverty mentality with no ambition to get out to bigger and better things?

In order to change your financial thermostat, you need to associate with people who make the kind of money you want to be making. That might be hard at first, but you need to find yourself a mentor and leader who will be able to coach you and introduce you to a better way and higher mindset.

You are completely in control of your own thoughts, therefore you can completely change the situation you are in right now. No-one is going to do it for you, but if you can find a mentor to teach you the right mindset and marketing plan, your mission can be accomplished with little more than passion and focused action.

Always give much more than you get.

This is a simple concept, but one that works to build wealth and success beyond your wildest imagination.

When you have the heart to give and keep giving, without expecting something back in return, you will never have to worry about money again.

It is easier to become wealth as it is to do well. When you focus on how much money you are making and put all your time and effort into making more money, you will find you become a slave to your job. You may end up making a lot of money, but at what expense? Will your kids have a relationship with you? Or will they have grown up and gone without getting to know their father or mother? Will you leave a legacy when all is said and done? Will you be remembered for all the money you made?

The fact is, no. You will not be remembered unless you make a difference in people’s lives. The way you do that is by giving with love and forming relationships with people you come in contact with. Money means nothing if you cannot use it to bless someone. You can’t take it with you when you are gone, but you can use it to form relationships with those who go before you so that you will get a warm welcome when you make it to heaven.

So love giving. There is so much joy in it that you cannot get from anything else. Make it a habit. Never worry about what you are going to receive, for that is all taken care of. Focus on how you can change lives and be the difference and bring happiness to others. There is no amount of  money in the world that can produce the feeling you get when you help others. It is like a drug, once you start, you will never want to stop. But, that is a good thing.

Learn to handle complacency.

Complacency is something that creeps into every business once you begin to have success. Just when you think you have arrived and you are finally in a position where your business is flourishing and money is not a worry any more you take the foot off the pedal and you lose your drive and motivation.

This in turn has an effect on your bottom line, as without the constant marketing effort and continually sowing the seed, you will stop reaping the rewards. It is the “At Ease Disease” that will spread from you, to your employees and your company will backslide in it’s profitability.

Living in this comfort zone doesn’t make you happy. You may be able to afford the things in life you had once dreamed about and be at the same level as your peers. However, you should not judge yourself by your peers, but by your potential. If you are in a comfort zone, then you are not reaching your full potential and therefore not taking the full action required to reach even higher.

If you are at this state in your business, examine your peers and see if they have the same ambition as you. This was an eye opening experience for Tony Robbins, who having thought he had made it and was living the good life, he couldn’t figure out why there was a limit to the amount of money he was making. He couldn’t seem to break through the plateau to the next level.

That was until he had a conversation with a billionaire and saw how he lived. He felt small on the totem pole again and realized he had to hang around people who were more successful than him in order to have the mentality to grow further. That he did and broke through that next level.

Pay close attention who you associate with. People around you impact your values and imagination. If you have friends and family who have a negative affect on you. Be careful how much time you spend with them. Similarly, if you have a mentor and a leader showing you how to grow your business and grow in value as a person, spend as much time with them as possible.

If you think you have made it, think again. There is always another level and someone else working harder and smarter than you. When you take a break, you are letting your competition catch up!