Joe Vitale

During dinner the other night, one of the people in our group looked at me and asked the question I didn’t want to hear —

“How did you become homeless?”

By now most people have heard my story of being on the streets of Dallas in the late 1970s and struggling in poverty in Houston for many years after that. Some of it is explained in my new audioprogram, The Awakening Course.

But I had never explained exactly how I ended up in such dire circumstances.

When I answered the question at dinner, everyone at the table stared at me.

The woman who asked the question sat there with her mouth open and eyes un-blinking.

She asked, “Why have you never said this before?”

My friend Mark Ryan was sitting there, also staring, and said, “As long as I’ve known you, you’ve never told this story before. It’s riveting. This changes everything.”

Changes everything?

Riveting?

They all said I had to tell the story now.

“Given the current financial crisis and with people losing their homes and their jobs, this story needs to be told more than ever before,” Mark said.

I heard them and realized I agreed.

So here’s the story…  

I knew I wanted to be an author when I was a teenager. I wanted to write books and plays that made people happy. Everywhere I looked I saw un-happy people. I believed I could help them with humor and stories.

During that time of the mid-1970s, I watched sports. I don’t today but back then the Dallas Cowboys were the rage. Roger Staubach and Tom Landry were heroes. I got caught up in the excitement and felt the place for me to make my name was in Dallas, Texas.

I lived in Ohio at the time. Born and raised there. I worked on the railroad as a trackman, doing heavy labor all day long, working weekends and summers since the age of five.

I saved my money, packed up my bag, and took a bus to Dallas. It took three days to get there.

I was lost in the big city, of course. Being born in a small town in Ohio didn’t prep me for the hustle and bustle of a city the size of Dallas.

Before long, I wanted out.

But I still wanted to be an author.

At that time major companies were building oil and gas pipelines in Alaska and the Middle East, and offering to pay big bucks if you were willing to go to either place.

I wasn’t keen on going to a foreign country and doing more labor, but I saw a chance to make money, save it, and then go on a sabbatical where I could write for a few months or even a year.

It seemed like a brilliant strategy.

I answered one of the newspaper ads that promised to get me pipeline work at a extraordinary hourly wage. I went in their office, met an upbeat sales person, and ended up giving him all of my money — my entire savings, about a thousand dollars at the time — based on his promise that I’d have overseas pipeline work in a week or two.

You might guess part of what happened next –  but you won’t guess all of it.

Within a week or so, the company that took all of my money went out of business.

Their doors were closed, no one answered the phone, and no forwarding addresses could be found.

Shortly after that, the company went bankrupt.

And not long after that, the owner of the company committed suicide.

There was no one left to try to get my money back.

I was alone.

I was broke.

I was in Dallas, far from home.

I confess that my ego got in the way here. My family back in Ohio would have taken me back in and welcomed me back home. But I was head strong and determined to somehow survive.

Well, I did survive — by sleeping in church pews, on the steps of a post office, in a bus station.

It wasn’t an easy time, as you can imagine, and I never used to talk about it. It was too embarrassing.

When I told this story at dinner, everyone agreed I had to share it with you.

They said that people are finding themselves in the same situation — they trusted a government, or a corporation, or a person, or a bank, and now they are losing their homes and their jobs.

Hearing that I went through the same thing three decades ago and not only survived but prospered to a level that the Joe Vitale of thirty years ago could hardly imagine, ought to be inspiring to you, too.

I got off the streets and out of poverty by constantly working on myself — reading self-help books, taking action, scrambling at times by taking whatever work I could find, but always always always focusing on my vision: to one day be an author of books that helped people be happy and stay inspired.

If you’re in a place right now that doesn’t feel so good or seem too safe, I urge you to remind yourself that this is only temporary.

This is the cure for despair.

As I say in my book, The Attractor Factor, this is simply current reality, and current reality can change.

You can help it along by doing what you know and need to do.

But remember, the sun will shine again.

It always does.

Your job right now is to focus on what you want and keep it in sight.

Yes, keep taking action;

yes, stay positive and surround yourself with positive people;

yes, be of support to others.

But remember, if I or anyone else can survive homelessness, poverty, job loss, or any other hard time, then you can survive it, too.

Please hang in there.

One last thing:

I admit that there were times I wanted to throw in the towel and get myself out of this life.

Thank God I stuck around. Had I left early, I would have missed a life of magic and wonder, success and fame I never dreamed of before, priceless relationships and experiences, and more.

I have no idea what wonderful good is headed your way — and neither do you.

What you have to do is stay the course and follow your heart.

And remember —

Expect Miracles.

Ao Akua,

Dr. Joe Vitale
Founder of the movement to end homelessness
www.operationyes.com

Note: If you’ve found this story valuable, please share it with family, friends, and coworkers; post it on news groups and blogs, and in any way you feel appropriate, share it with others. Thank you.

  A friend of mine went to hear legendary marketer Dan Kennedy speak at a meeting in Ohio. He said Dan gave some helpful advice on what to say when someone, whether family member, friend or complete stranger, asks you for money.

Dan said ask these two questions:

1. Do you know that libraries are free?

2. What are the last five books you’ve read to improve your lot in life?

Thirty years ago, when I was homeless and then struggling in poverty, I always went to the library. I borrowed books when I couldn’t afford to buy them. I read them. I studied them. I implemented what I learned.

As a direct result of this persistent and relentless quest to learn and grow, I’m now collecting cars and guitars, looking at multi-million dollar estates, and starting a movement to end homelessness.

But I’m not the only person to read and grow rich.

Yesterday I interviewed self-made billionaire Bill Bartmann for my Hypnotic Gold series. It was incredibly inspiring.

Bill was homeless at age 14. Yet he pulled himself up and went on to build businesses in fields where he had no education or experience. (!)

He became one of the world’s few billionaires. (There are just over 1,000 of them.)

How?

By educating himself.

This is a secret to success: Keep reading, learning, growing, risking.

Don’t ask for money.

Ask for the best books.

Read them and implement what you learn.

What were the last five books you read to improve your lot in life?

Ao Akua,

Joe
www.mrfire.com

PS — Photos of me with my 2008 Rolls-Royce Phantom and the 12-string custom made Taylor guitar are by master photographer Rodney Bursiel. (Left click on image to enlarge.)

 The recent Miracles Weekend in San Diego was a true miracle. Almost 200 people came from all over the world to hear my speakers and me stretch their mind and open their hearts.

I never expected to attract another car while there. I did, though. Here are pictures of my 2008 Rolls-Royce Phantom, the most expensive and luxurious car I’ve ever seen.  

There’s a lesson here, of course.

The Rolls-Royce motor car was created to serve the affluent market. It’s good to remember that even when the media says the money is gone and the sky is falling, life goes on and money still circulates.

On the day the stock market took its biggest dive, I bought a $375,000 car.

My banker told me the car increased in value after I bought it, while all other cars dropped.

  When you allow outer circumstances to dictate how you feel, you end up reacting to events as a victim. As I explain in The Awakening Course, you want to leave the stage of victimhood and move on to and through the other three stages.

Also, after I bought the Rolls, I began to think even more prosperously.

That shouldn’t surprise you. A car is just a symbol. (I bought the Phantom from a company called Symbolic. How revealing is that?)

A Rolls is a symbol of great opulence and affluence. Sitting in it gives the aura of royalty. It affects how you think and feel.

Within a day I came up with the idea of a Rolls-Royce Master-Mind. People would pay $5,000 each to sit in the car and brainstorm with me as we rode and went to dinner.

Would anyone be interested?

I sold out of the first one within a day. I had to announce a second one. Then a third. Then a fourth.

When you make a decision to do something, even when it seems risky, the decision alone kick-starts a button in your mind.

It’s not uncommon for someone to say as soon as they signed up for an event, months before the event actually would begin, changes happened in their life.

If you want to experience this right now, sign up for the next Attract Wealth Seminar, to be held in Austin, Texas January 9-11, 2009. Then notice what happens.

Pay attention to your dreams, intentions and goals, not the media, and take action now.

Ao Akua,

joe
www.mrfire.com

PS — Left click on any image to enlarge it.

Reading Garrett Gunderson’s excellent book, Killing Sacred Cows, on overcoming the financial myths that are destroying your prosperity, got me thinking of other money myths. For example:

Saving is not as powerful in attracting money as giving. The more money you give, from a heart of love and to wherever you feel inspired, the more you will receive.

Stocks are not as secure as acting on ideas. Money making ideas are gifts from the Universe; act fast on them and you can prosper fast.

Planning for your retirement isn’t as powerful as living now with an awareness of your future. Putting off your enjoyment of life is pushing away your current prosperity.

Investing in real estate isn’t as rewarding as investing in yourself. The more you expand your awareness and education, the more you can see the opportunities to make more money.

Beliefs such as money is the root of all evil block prosperity. The lack of money is actually the root of all evil. Being detached but respectful toward money will help you attract it.

Scarcity is a function of the mind; so is abundance. Human creativity can solve any problem and find ways to profit along the way.

Practical spending isn’t as wise as enthusiastic spending. When you buy something that helps you feel good, you increase your energy vibration, feel better about yourself, and tend to do more things to make more money.

These are just random thoughts, not a dissertation. I encourage you to read Gunderson’s book and explore your own beliefs about money. (Be sure to check out his 401k hoax.)

Ao Akua,

Joe
www.mrfire.com

PS – A powerful tool for releasing any limiting beliefs about money you may have is at www.moneybeyondbelief.com Also be sure to see the famous www.theclearingaudio.com 

I’ll be speaking and signing copies of my new book (Expect Miracles) in Toronto on Saturday, October 18th. If you’re in the area, you should drop by and say hi. You can get details and tickets at www.BurmanBooks.com