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Eventual Millionaire Manifesto
Eventual Millionaire Manifesto
com
Introduction
What is a millionaire?
Technically a millionaire is just simply someone who has a net worth of a million dollars or more. But
what do you imagine when you think of a millionaire?
We think of Wall Street executives, or celebrities, or fast cars and yachts.
Millionaires have everything they could ever want. They are rich and
wealthy. They are successful and happy.
You could have all of that too if you had a million bucks!
But even for millionaires, it’s not about the money. It’s not the key
ingredient of a millionaire.
After interviewing almost 50 millionaires I've discovered some key insights on what makes millionaires
successful and what makes a people happy.
Plus, I have had a lot of experiences of my own in going after the money, and not being happy to
paying off $70,000 in debt, and quitting a six figure job.
I want to change the way you think of a millionaire and I want you to realize that you can be an
Eventual Millionaire, now.
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Introduction
What would change in your life right now if a million dollars plopped into your lap?
Imagine it. I bet you would be super excited. It would give you so many options.
I’ve heard countless times, “If I had a million dollars..” or “If I win the lottery..” We think
money would solve everything.
So let’s try it. Years ago I played a game called “The Prosperity Game.” I’d like to invite you to play it too. It's
really fun to play and it will help you figure out how you approach money and what is important to
you.
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Millions
Day one: Write down exactly what you would do with $100
(An example would be purchasing a new mp3 player
for $70 and spend $30 on mp3s. )
Day two: Write down what you would do with $200.
Day three: Write down what you would do with $400.
Find specific things to purchase. When I wanted to buy a house, I looked up houses online and choose one
to buy. I looked up vacations and found a retreat center in Arizona I would love to go to. It was fun!
My choices included traveling, buying a new wardrobe, retreats, massages, and even paying for a PhD.
Daydreaming about the choices was fun too.
After day 13 ($409,600), the sums raced upward. Each day I was faced with what else to spend the money on,
but I felt like I had already bought everything I wanted.
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Millions
When the sum reached twelve million dollars I bought another helicopter and another private island. I racked
my brain to think of other ideas. I started become an angel investor and started a non-profit.
Eventually I became frustrated thinking of more ways to spend the virtual money. I stopped the exercise at
Day 20 and $52 million.
Feel free to use the worksheet on page 7 to play the Prosperity Game too..
Letting my imagination run wild really drove home the fact that I actually don’t need a lot. I don’t
need a home that has a library, an art studio, and a six car garage. Once my basic needs were met
all I could do was get nicer stuff; however, a nicer TV will still show me the same content as a
cheap one.
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Your Journey
When I was younger I loved video games. One time I was playing the Sims and I thought the game
would be better if I had more money. I didn’t want to do the work, so I found a cheat that would
give me an unlimited amount of money.
I was excited. I bought everything I wanted. About 20 minutes later, I realized that the game wasn’t
fun anymore because there was no challenge. There was no point.
Each person is different. What is important is finding out what deeply fulfills you. I highly recommend
this exercise to really figure out what is important to you and to see how you manage large amounts of
money. It’s a great learning experience plus it’s a ton of fun!
Money can become meaningless. It's just like if you LOVE chocolate, but had to eat it every day for
every meal would you love it anymore?
(I've tried it before by the way, and even I, a chocoholic, felt sick at the thought of eating another piece
of chocolate.)
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Your Journey
What makes the experience great is that most of the time we are absent from it. We appreciate it more
because it has so much value and worth since it's special. We can look forward to it.
Do you remember Christmas when you were little? (Or whatever holiday you celebrate!) The holiday season
was amazing. and I couldn't wait for Christmas to come. I wanted those presents SO BAD. The build up was
crazy. Now think about the day after Christmas. I remember
being a bit let down, since I had nothing more to look forward
to. I had the presents which were nice to play with but after
awhile that got old too.
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Action Item
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Loving Money
I love money.
I've asked a lot of people this question, “What do you think of the question,
“Is it OK to love money?” Almost all of them have cringed. They said things
like, “I love the options that money can give me. I love the things it can do
for me. But I don't love money.”
If you type in Google “define love” you will see that Love is:
Noun: An intense feeling of deep affection: "their love for their country".
We can say “I love my country”, we can say “I love my house”, so why can't we say that
we love money too?
Now I know I'm using it as a slang word. I don't want to debate on the meaning of love.
I want to stick with "deep affection". That being said the love for your children or spouse or
family is a deeper type of love than how we ‘love’ our smartphone or washing machine.
I am not saying to love money more than people; but I do want to crush the weird aversion
we have to saying we love money. I can say I love this book or my washing machine, but I can't say
“I love money” or people will look at me like I'm crazy.
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Loving Money
Money is a tool. Just like my washing machine or just like my house. Money makes things easier.
I love my washing machine. I used to have to hand wash all of my sweaters. I now have a great
washer and dryer that has a handwash cycle! It makes my life so much easier and for that I am thankful.
If it were to be taken away completely I would be upset. I would be frustrated, and it would make my life
a lot harder if I had to hand wash the amazing amount of laundry I have at my house.
And it's just a washing machine!
While I am not looking to delve into religion here, we all know that the bible says money is not the root
of all evil. It's the love of money that is the root of all evil.
1 Timothy 6:10 says “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil.
Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced
themselves with many griefs.”
I agree that some people who are eager for money have made their lives miserable in attaining it
; but I think there is a distinction we need to make. Loving money is ok; however, putting the love of
money above people or priorities is not ok. Whether you call it love or not, if you put making money
above respect for others you are losing in all cases.
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Loving Money
We sometimes think that Love of Money = Greed, but that's If you Google “define greed”
not the case at all. you'll read that Greed is:
Greed is an intense, selfish desire. Greed makes it so you are Noun: Intense and selfish desire
only concerned with your own profit or pleasure. That is putting for something, esp. wealth, power,
your desires without the consideration of others ahead of all else. or food.
It is evil to do something with complete disregard for how it
affects others. It is bad.
But what about loving something - even if it's money?
That's not bad.
In fact, I think more people should love money because with love comes respect. I don't think we
respect money nearly as much as we should.
With love of a spouse comes mutual adoration, acceptance, faithfulness, honoring, generosity, and
happiness.
Instead, many are treating money like someone they don't like. Smiling and nodding when they are
right here, but talking about them behind their back. Money is like something that is not worth our time,
because we are better than it.
Our emotions and relationship towards money rise and fall with the numbers in our bank account.
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Loving Money
We get upset that bills are in our mail box. Bills for services we wouldn’t want to live without. When was the
last time you lost power? Do you realize how dependent on it we are? Yet we complain when the electricity
bill comes in the mail. Be thankful you have electricity!
You get paid, you are happy. Then you spend it. But at the end of the
month you feel crappy because there isn’t any money left.
I think we should look at money just like a tool. We need to lessen our
emotional attachment to it. We should just appreciate it. We earn more,
we appreciate it. We earn less, we appreciate it.
YOU should be the ruler of your money. The money doesn't dictate your
worth or your feelings that day or week or month. It's ok to love it
and respect it, but don't let it control you.
When you have the other things lined up in your life you don't need to pay as much attention to the money.
Many of us think our lives are missing things and we assume it's money. Most of the time it's not money
but we use money as the driver and the excuse. Figure out the lifestyle parts with the least amount of money
necessary and then the addition of money will be an additional happiness- not the cause of the happiness.
I want to help people put money back in its place. A place where people control money and money
doesn't control people.
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Meaning
It's no longer about going into your cubicle or the widget factory to punch out a few things that people buy
but don't need. It's about something much more than that.
When I was working in the corporate world I worked in the cable industry providing video on demand. I
remember one day I was working in another state and, I'll admit, I was freaking out over some of the issues
that just cropped up.
It was on me to fix them and I wasn't sure that I could do it, but I had to. My stress level was HIGH because it
had to be fixed NOW.
A co-worker came up to me, seeing me stressed, and said, “Jaime, it's just cable TV, it's not like we are curing
cancer.”
Wake up call.
We all know we only have one life here on this Earth, yet we tend to forget that fact all too often.
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Meaning
Why figure out the lifestyle first though? Why don't we just work our butts off for a lot of money and then
have a ton of time to enjoy it? Because I can tell you from experience, you won't be happy.
When you make it all about the money, everything suffers. In the beginning, I thought I HAD to make it about
the money to get it.
When I was about eight years old I decided I wanted to become a millionaire. I came from a middle class
family. My mom worked a lot and my dad was a musician. My parents recognized that I liked money a lot.
When I was about 8, my mom suggested I marry a rich man. I cringed. I didn't want someone to give me
money. I wanted to earn it myself!
That set up a belief system for me. I worked hard. I went to a great college. I worked full time while in school.
I bought my first house at 19 because real estate was a good investment. But I also got caught up in wanting
everything my parents had; two cars, two dogs, and lots of stuff.
I got a great job out of college making $100,000 per year. For a 22 year old that was pretty amazing. I was
accomplishing everything I set out to do and more.
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Meaning
But after two years of traveling around the United States for work, I was the most unhappy I'd ever been.
I was working 60 or more hours per week. I was stressed constantly because of my job. I gained a lot of weight
eating out. I never saw my husband.
Things had to change, yet I was the breadwinner; I couldn't just quit. Not only that but we were in $70,000 in
debt from student loans, cars, and a home equity loan. I kept working even when my husband told me to quit.
I wanted to sacrifice my life for the money. If I could just stick with it a
little bit longer, I could have a big nest egg. If I could just deal with the
stress, it would be ok.
The final straw came when I had a realization. I wanted to start a family
soon. While I would deal with the stress and turmoil of the job myself, I
would not have a child while I was traveling around each week. That wasn't
even an option.
Looking from the outside with this different perspective changed things. We only have ONE life. Why was I just
making the motions? I dreaded Sunday nights because I didn't want Monday morning to arrive. That is not a way
to spend a fulfilling, enriching, and happy lifetime.
What I realized was that I don't need a million dollars. I needed to figure out how to actually enjoy each
day of my life first. I needed to want to wake up on Monday mornings.
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Meaning
We paid off the $70,000 of debt in 16 months. My husband and I worked constantly, taking on extra jobs,
selling things, including a brand new 2 month old car we had just bought.
I have so many stories of struggle, of trying to get my husband on board, and of moments where I wanted to
give up during that year. But we were working towards something and had a bigger purpose. Within those 16
months, I got pregnant and I had my son. We hadn't paid off all the debt when he was born, so I decided to go
back to work and keep working until we could pay off the debt and save an emergency fund.
That was 5 years ago. To say that things now are different is an understatement. I love Monday mornings,
because I love work. Five years ago I didn't even think it was possible for me to love work!
One of the key things I learned on this journey is that you need to make your life happy FIRST. That means
controlling your money. That doesn't mean being rich or working towards a million.
We think that the million will give us the lives we want. I can tell you after interviewing almost
50 millionaires, it doesn’t.
If we want the enjoyable life, it's easier to obtain that enjoyable life first.
It can still be about the money, but only after you choose your life.
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The Steps
Now I know how hard it is to look at your situation and your numbers and realize you have an uphill
battle. When I added up all of our debt and sat back to look at everything I was stunned. Not only did I
have to be completely honest that I had gotten myself into this mess, I also wasn't sure there was going
to be a way out.
Looking at the numbers it seemed like I would have to stay at my job or at least find a similar job in the
same industry to make ends meet.
I did whatever I could to find stories of people that were similar to mine. I couldn't find one at all. To this
day I get people commenting on my story and asking, “Why did you do that? Why didn't you stay the
breadwinner and your husband quit his job? That would have been easier.”
Would it have been easier? Yes. Would I have been happier? No.
For detailed steps on exactly how to get control of your money check out The Eventual Millionaire Starter
Kit in the resources section. The package includes worksheets and a book to walk you through the steps I took..
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The Steps
It turns out that it can be hard to find out exactly what type of work will make you happy. You don't
necessarily know what you will like until you do it. But with some work you can't just try it. A lot of times
we decide on a notion that we think we'll like being a personal trainer. So we go to get certified and try it,
just to realize the hours are horrible and you have to be a salesman.
Just like you can't find the perfect spouse before you
date anyone, you can't find your perfect work without
trying some things. It's ok to try things and not like
them, then try something else. I just wish someone “Harvard’s resident happiness professor,
told me that before I did it. Tal Ben-Shahar, agrees, “Happiness lies at the
intersection between pleasure and meaning.
So while you are working on really trying to find
what makes you happy with work, it's also a great Whether at work or at home, the goal is to engage
idea to look into what makes you truly happy in in activities that are both personally significant
general. and enjoyable.”
- Yes Magazine.org
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The Steps
There is a great exercise that helps you figure out what your ideal day would look like. It gives you a chance
to think about what sounds fun to do without all of the pressure of knowing what your perfect work would
be. It designs your typical day so you get the most enjoyment.
It's like trying to figure out what present to get for someone you love. It's hard to figure out that perfect
gift that they will love. But enjoy the process. It's also fun to imagine all of the options and try to figure
out what might be the perfect fit.
Figure out your typical perfect day. We all like to vacation on warm beaches, but only use that scenario if
it will be typical for you. Visualize everything, from walking downstairs in the morning to sitting on your
laptop and looking at all that money in your bank account, to going to bed that night. It needs to include at
least 4 hours of work.
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Action Item
•How did you sleep and what time did you wake up?
•How are you feeling? Are you healthy, excited, calm, stress free?
•What are you going to wear?
•What are you having for breakfast?
•What does your living space look like?
•What 'work' do you do?
•Who do you spend the day with?
•What do you have for lunch?
•What is your attitude like?
•When you log into your bank account what numbers do you see?
•What does the evening look like?
•Do you have something planned or is it a relaxing evening in?
•What does your bed time routine look like?
•Do you pray or meditate?
Look through these questions and then close your eyes and
visualize what things look like. As you lay down to go to sleep tonight
walk through your perfect day.
This exercise makes you decide what is most important to you. It can tell you who you really want to spend
time with, exactly what you want to feel like, what clothes work best on you, and where you want to be.
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Action Item
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The Steps
I have a goal of becoming a millionaire again. I don't have to, I added it back in intentionally. I want to live
this life to the absolute fullest, retire with dignity, and do amazing and wonderful things. I want to become
a better person by learning to deal with challenges. I want to help more people than I do now.
After you become a millionaire, you can give all of your money away
because what's important is not the million dollars; what's important
is the person you have become in the process of becoming a millionaire.
~ Jim Rohn
I want to do it on MY terms. That means it may take longer. Heck I could have been a millionaire much faster
if I had kept my previous job.
My goal was to find something I loved. I wanted my own business that was able to grow into something bigger.
My requirements were that I wanted to find something where the income was not capped. I also wanted to
help people.
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The Steps
Your goal might be different. You might not need to create a million dollar business. Maybe you just want
the freedom that six figures affords you. Then you can save your million even if it takes longer.
The person who dies with the most toys doesn't win the game. In fact we aren't looking to win the game.
We are just looking to make progress; to make our skills better than they were before. Once you win, the
game is over. (and let's hope the game isn't over until we are dead!)
So you've heard it a lot. Money can't buy happiness. It's just something that you say, right?
But if you say it, you are incorrect.
“Money does buy happiness; researchers have found a strong correlation between increased
wealth and increased contentment.
In their book Happiness, Ed Diener and Robert-Biswas Diener write: “Rich people and nations
are happier than their poor counterparts; don’t let anyone tell you differently.”
~ JD Roth - Get Rich Slowly
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The Steps
“If you hear someone say “money can’t buy happiness,” say “give me yours,”
Gilbert a researcher from Harvard joked. People with money enjoy better
nutrition, can go places with loved ones, worry less about their children
and have more freedom to set their own schedules, he said.
But money’s ability to buy happiness levels out for people in the United
States, with huge increases in happiness for people who vault into a
middle-class income of $40,000 to $70,000. Once that level is reached,
increases in wealth generate smaller rises in happiness.”
The rises are smaller, but it's still happier. So the more wealthy you get the happier you get.
So you have your great lifestyle, which makes you happy, and you have money, which brings more happiness.
It's just the icing on the cake to have more than enough.
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True Millionaires
But I want to say that the million dollars does not make the millionaire, at least not the ones I have
interviewed. They are rich for many other reasons besides the money.
The millionaires that I have met are amazing people. Some of the sweetest, kindest people I've ever met.
It didn't matter what their net worth was.
In fact, when you go after the money solely, and assume that the million will change things, you can
become sorely disillusioned.
One of the millionaires I interviewed, his name is Todd Tresidder (from FinancialMentor.com) said,
“Once I became a millionaire it was this big ‘so what’. I mean it led to one
of the most unhappy periods in my life and I couldn’t really understand why.
I had just so many false assumptions in my brain about what it was to be
financially independent and what was the basis of happiness and what really
leads to happiness and so it really sent me back kind of to ground zero and I
started reworking this stuff.”
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True Millionaires
I think every person with integrity should have a goal to be a millionaire, not for the money but for all
of the other benefits.
We need more people that are millionaires that are not greedy. We need the moral millionaires to
outweigh the greedy ones. We need you to step up.
I heard someone once say, “If you want to save the rainforest, buy it.”
Having money and influence is a good thing, especially when your integrity shines.
Because of inflation, by the time I am 65 I will need at least 2.4 million dollars to live comfortably
($50,000 per year) at retirement.
Can you imagine people that are millionaires yet live a middle class lifestyle in retirement?
In 1950 a loaf of bread was 12 cents. Now a loaf of bread is $2.49 (2010 statistics).
That is more than 20 times the cost! Imagine how much groceries will cost when you retire?
So the good news is each day with inflation you are getting closer to a million. The bad news is, no one
will care about millionaires, everyone will want to be a billionaire!
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True Millionaires
3. One of the best ways to growing your mindset is to work on earning a lot more.
I believe part of the reason why we are on this Earth is to make it better; to make progress. I also believe
that it all starts with YOU.
As humans we don't like to push past our comfort zone. It's uncomfortable! We will stay within our normal
comforts unless there is a bigger reason not to. You need that bigger reason.
When you become a millionaire you grow. Resistance bubbles up when you are trying to do bigger
and more amazing things; confidence issues, self worth issues, giving up control, communication issues,
disappointment and failure, and on and on and on.
4. Achievement – It's a benchmark on how much value you are putting out there.
If you are working with integrity, especially if you are in your own business, the amount of revenue you
generate relates to how many people you are impacting.
If your business helps people with their finances, imagine how many people you are impacting if you are
generating a million a year in revenue.
A million dollar net worth is just a great benchmark too. It's adding another comma to your net worth. It's
scarce too; there are not a lot of people in the US or in the world that are millionaires.
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True Millionaires
I surveyed my audience of eventual millionaires. I asked them why they wanted to become a millionaire.
The most common response was not to go on a trip to Paris, or buy a huge house.
They want to reach out to more people and help them and money can help them do that. Imagine how
much more you can help. How much more of an impact you could make. Not only monetarily but also
since you now have a network of connected people, you have grown your mindset and realize how much
you can do. You can create so much more with the resources that are open to you.
If you are an eventual millionaire you are probably already giving. Keep on making as much as an impact
as you can. One millionaire I interviewed used to sponsor a child, once her business took off she
sponsored 100 more. When I spoke to her recently she said she was in India helping personally.
So that is what I want. I want you, the person that has integrity and truly cares about people and making
this world a better place, to become wealthy. Yes, so you can enjoy this life but also because I know you will
be responsible with it.
A wise man does not accumulate for himself. The more he uses for others, the
more he has himself. The more he gives to others, the more he possesses of his
own. The way of heaven is to benefit others and not to injure.
~ Lao-Tzu (c. B.C. 550)
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Giving MORE
Three millionaires I interviewed are giving everything they own to charity after they pass away.
The first is Craig Wolfe owner of Celebriducks. Celebriducks is a company that creates rubber duckies
that look like celebrities. He loves what he does and his goal is to be like Hershey of the Hershey
Chocolate bar fame.
The rest of the house was given over to the trust that ran his school and all his
non-profits. He just lived in one little room upstairs, gave away everything.
Hershey has done a lot of good and that man changed lives. To this day, the
Hershey Industrial School, the orphanage is one of the top orphanages in the
country. It’s just breathtaking the amount of lives they have changed in the
work they have done.” ~Craig Wolfe - Celebriducks.com
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Giving MORE
Ryan Blair, who wrote the book Nothing to Lose Everything to Gain- How I went from Gang Member to
MultiMillionaire Entrepreneur is another millionaire that has dedicated almost everything he owns to be
given away when he's gone.
Derek Sivers took the money from the sale of his company CD Baby and put the money ($22 million) in a trust.
All of it will go to his charity. He lives very frugally, and is such an inspiration to others through his
blog and book.
I could go on an on about the people I interview that set up charities and funds to help people.
Their reach goes beyond what ours can, not just because of the money but also because of the bigger game
they play. Their mindset knows no bounds and therefore putting their force behind a project can make it
progress faster with or without as much money as they have.
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Your Beginning
Just hoping for the future won't get you anywhere. That allows
the future to smack you in the face instead of going out and
finding the future you want and stepping into it.
What do you want for your children? If you were your mother
or father would you want this life for them? Would you want
them to push past all of the normalcy and shine?
We have so much we want to do in life and yet it always seems like we have until tomorrow to do it.
So do whatever it takes to turn this ship around and point it the way you want to go.
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Your Beginning
Each excuse has a solution. You have to dedicate yourself to finding the solution. Instead of using the
excuse reframe it and ask,
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Action NOW
If you are like I am and have a goal to be a millionaire, while enjoying your life, stay tuned for
the Eventual Millionaire Academy Launch. In it you will learn what common actions millionaires take,
how they set their own goals, choose a profit business idea, get over their fear, and balance their lives
to enjoy time for fun and family. (with actionable steps to move you forward)
It’s currently in beta, and here is what one of the members said:
“When I first heard about the Eventual Millionaire Academy I was curious
and highly skeptical. I’ve had an idea for a business in my head for about 3
years now, how could Jaime’s program help me get it off the ground?
While I am not yet a millionaire, I know that I am building the skills and
mindset to carry me all the way- faster than I would have done on my own!
Plus, there is a money back guarantee (which I highly doubt you will use)
so what have you got to lose?!?”
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Thank You
The launch will have a ton of instantly useful and free information to get your 2012 started right. Just click
to get the training sent to you as soon as it’s available.
Thank You
I just want to say thank you. Without you and the Eventual Millionaire community I wouldn’t
be able to this. I will never take for granted the investment of your time. I hope you don’t either. :)
Warmest,
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Resources
Resources
These are the links from above that you’ll want to check out.
Eventual Millionaire Starter Kit -Finances Edition - A perfect way to start your journey to the top,
by getting control of your finances
Craig Wolfe Millionaire Interview - Great info on creativity and doing work you love
Ryan Blair Millionaire Interview - Inspiring interview from Gang Member to MultiMillionaire
Derek Sivers Millionaire Interview - Tons of info on figuring out what you want to go after it
JD Roth – Get Rich Slowly – Money Myths and the Importance of Thinking for Yourself
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