Joe Vitale

“Couldn’t you just buy it off the shelf?”

I was trying to tell a friend about a cholesterol lowering natural health product I had invested in, called Ideal Cardio Formula. I explained that I spent $12,000 on it so I could personally have it to use myself.

He didn’t understand.

“Couldn’t you just buy the key ingredients of the formula in separate bottles and then take that?” he asked. “It would have cost you far less.”

He was thinking like most people think. He was trying to save a buck and take care of himself.  In his mind, the “buy the basic ingredients” approach was smart thinking. It was efficient and frugal. From that limited perspective, he was right.

But he was missing a secret few people know.

I figured he could make $100,000 or more if he knew this secret, so I proceeded to explain it to him.

“Look, when my doctor said I had high cholesterol,” I began, “I wanted a solution without taking his prescribed drug, which I knew had potential dangerous side effects. So I went to a friend of mine who is also a medical doctor, but with an interest in handling health problems with herbs first.”

“I understand that,” my friend said.

“Let me continue,” I said. “My herb-loving doctor told me he had a formula that he developed himself that was a blend of twelve ingredients that he guaranteed would lower cholesterol in thirty days. I naturally wanted it.”

“I would, too,” he said.

“But he said he didn’t have any of the product, and added it would take twelve thousand dollars to make a batch of about two thousand bottles of it as a minimum run from a manufacturer.”

“Two thousand bottles!” my friend exclaimed. “Again, couldn’t you just go to a health store and buy the ingredients and take those?” he asked. “You wouldn’t have to spend twelve grand!”

He was making the mistake most people do. He was thinking of only himself. As long as he did, he wouldn’t have the secret for success.

I saw this moment as a prime chance to transform his life forever – if he’d just listen to me.

“If you don’t mind, let me give you a lesson in prosperity,” I continued. “You’re right. I could buy the ingredients in separate bottles, spend a hundred bucks, and lower my cholesterol. I’d be doing a smart thing. I’d be taking care of myself. But the smarter approach would be to take care of others and myself.”

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He still didn’t get it.

So I made another attempt to explain my thinking.

“By investing twelve grand in 2,000 bottles of the cholesterol lowering material, I’d become an entrepreneur who changes lives. How many people need to lower their cholesterol? Millions? I could sell those extra bottles to those other people. I just went from taking care of just me to taking care of others – and being rewarded with money!”

This is the secret few know.

Most people don’t think beyond themselves. That’s fine for survival. You do need to take care of yourself. But the real secret to success is when you take care of others and yourself.

I’m talking about a shift in perception. You might think that this is a mental operation that you’ll never be able to do. It might seem like a foreign way of perceiving the world around you.

I used to believe I couldn’t think like this, too. I remember thirty years ago listening to marketing genius Jay Abraham say he‘d walk into a gym and see a hundred ways they could make more money. He’d then rattle them off. I’d listen to him and say to myself, “How do you think like that?”

But there have been clues along the way.

When I was conducting research for my book on P.T. Barnum, the great circus promoter who I later wrote about in There’s A Customer Born Every Minute, I was baffled to learn that he could see what others could not.

P.T. Barnum's Secrets to Success

For example, when he heard of a little boy who would never grow over three feet tall, people told Barnum it was sad. But when Barnum met the little boy, his eyes saw “Super Star!”

Barnum transformed that little boy into the man the entire world loved and paid to see: General Tom Thumb.

Both Barnum and Thumb became multimillionaires.

I marveled that Barnum had the ability to see gold in what others saw as nothing special.

But today I do think like that.

How did I go from poverty thinker to million dollar thinker?

By reading books, listening to audios, going to events, getting coaching, and retraining my brain.

Now I can’t turn it off.

Now my brain looks around and sees opportunities everywhere.

I talk to people and can hear their “hidden wealth” within minutes.

In my book, Attract Money Now, I say one of the seven steps to financial freedom is to think like an entrepreneur.

How do you think like an entrepreneur?

By hearing your doctor say you need to lower your cholesterol, and then realizing others might need to do so, too. As you discover your own solution, you turn that solution into a product others will buy.

Win- win.

Here’s another example to help you integrate this new way of thinking:

A decade or so ago, a young woman wrote to me, asking questions about making money online. I met with her and listened to her story.

She talked about her life, her interests, her hobbies and so forth. She actually didn’t believe people could really make money online, and certainly doubted her own ability to do so.

But as I listened, I heard an opportunity.

She mentioned she had taught herself how to play the guitar in a weekend.

“A weekend?” I asked, a little in disbelief myself. At the time, I was an aspiring musician. (Today I have six albums out.) I wanted to know more.

“I created a basic method that let me play popular songs without much effort,” she said, completely clueless to the goldmine she was sitting on.

“Can you teach others to play guitar in a weekend?” I asked.

She said she could.

I then encouraged her to write an eBook on her method. That came as a surprise to her. She never thought of it before. She didn’t know how to write an eBook, but I told her lots of how-to manuals are available, including the one I coauthored with Jim Edwards, How to Write and Publish Your Own EBook – in only 7 days!

She went on to write her eBook, put up a site, and start selling it. To her amazement – as she didn’t think the idea would actually work – she started making sales.

But the story gets even better.

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She was a struggling college student. She was borrowing money from her parents. With the eBook selling, she had cash coming in. A little at first. But then more. One of the people who bought her product, and loved it, offered to buy the rights to her eBook – for ten thousand dollars!

For this broke college student, it was like winning the lottery.

But it wasn’t from the lotto.

It was from thinking beyond herself.

It was from thinking about all the other people who want to play the guitar, too.

In short, money isn’t really hiding from you. It’s simply waiting for you to serve people other then yourself.

Said another way, money likes it when you serve yourself and other people.

Think about it.

Ao Akua,

joe

PS – Have you ever wondered why I always end my blog posts (and emails) with a PS?

My new e-book, Healing Music, is available at no charge. It reveals how special music can soothe, heal, transform and awaken, and more. Just click the image below to access your free copy:

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PS — Just have to share the good news: Last week I landed a publishing deal for the sequel to the bestselling book on ho’oponopono, Zero Limits. The engaging, amazing, mind stretching entirely new book — continuing with surprises, insights, healing methods, and more — will be out later this year (probably November). Stay tuned!

The book I regard as the greatest self-help book ever — and the most hypnotically written one — is now available as an e-book for only $7.99 — but only for the next few days. Go here to get it:  http://www.thebookofest.com

Here’s why you need to go get it right now–

There are only a handful of books that have dramatically influenced my life.

There’s The Magic of Believing and The Robert Collier Letter Book.

But number one on the list is one you may never have heard of before:  The Book of est.

Here are two reasons why I love the book:

GreatEST Book EVER

http://www.thebookofest.com

First —

The book is the famous “est” experience in written form.  est, or Erhard Seminar Training, was the controversial self-help movement of the 1970s.

It was intense.

Anyone who withstood the heat of the weekends was never the same again. Lives were transformed forever. You faced yourself and your story in a way that was confrontational and oh so real.

I never got to do est. I was a skeptic and a hold out. I made fun of it when I saw all the articles about it.

Truth is, I was afraid of it.

I was young and in college and unsure of everything, including myself. By the time I got around to wanting to experience est, it was gone and reincarnated into something called The Forum. I did the Forum and endorse it today. But it’s no est.

The Book of est puts you into the seminar room and gets you to feel the intensity.

You  experience est.

And it’s hot.

When my late wife began to type up the book in 2004 to be republished by me and a friend, she had to keep stopping.

She said it was intense and dramatic. She died during the transcription process. But that had nothing to do with the book. It had more to do with her choices and what the book urged her to face.

Obviously, a book isn’t a drill sergeant self-help instructor yelling in your face about what isn’t working in your life.

But The Book of est comes close.

It’s safe.

It’s easy reading.

But it’s still real.

Oh so very real.

Just reading it can cause you to awaken to your own patterns. And once you see them, you can let them go.

Or not.

After all, what you get from the book is what you get.

http://www.thebookofest.com

But that’s only the first reason I love The Book of est.

Second —

The other reason I love this book is because the writing is, well, hypnotic.

It’s riveting.

Luke Rhinehart has the gift of writing dialogue and description that puts you in the seminar room with the characters experiencing est.

You FEEL it.

You are THERE.

In many ways, this was one of the first examples I ever found of what I eventually labeled as Hypnotic Writing.

While I later wrote a book called Hypnotic Writing, it was Luke Rhinehart who paved the way for me to know what it was when a true master was at work.

For me, this is one of the best written books of all time.

http://www.thebookofest.com

The author wrote some other cult classics, too. The Dice Man is a masterpiece. It’s well written, engaging, humorous, and in some ways dangerous. Just like The Book of est. But where The Dice Man is alive and well in print, The Book of est has been gone for decades.

Search on eBay or Amazon and you might find original hardcover copies going for one hundred dollars on up to a thousand dollars. I’ve paid that much for first editions, too. I collect them.

The Book of est is one of the rare life changing gems that I can’t get enough of or read enough times.

Sometimes I give the book away. Usually I don’t. I just keep it for myself, as one of the most powerful books of all time kept hidden in my own secret vault of wisdom.

The good news for you is this: Luke is now a friend of mine. We’ve corresponded, shared books, and decided to join a partnership. With the help of a mutual friend, the most powerful self-help book of all time — and the most hypnotically written one — is now available to you.

And right now, the investment to get the e-book version has been cut to only $7.99 — but only for the next few days.

All you have to do is go here right now to grab it as an instant downloadable e-book  — http://www.thebookofest.com

Go get it.

I dare you.

Ao Akua,

Joe

PS – est was all about being real. The Book of est will challenge you as never before. How? And why is  it the greatest self-help book of all time? How is it hypnotically written? Go see for yourself at — http://www.thebookofest.com

Note: If you prefer a printed copy of the book, we also made it available in paperback. Just go to Amazon to order it.

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A fellow on a recent flight showed me his business card. It was humorous and inspired me to make one of my own. The irony is, I rarely give out cards anymore. For fun, here’s the back of mine:

My new business card

PS – I’m not sure where to post this but I have to share it with someone:  I’m number 96 on the ReverbNation Singer Songwriter charts for the entire US. (!) http://t.co/I5Ux2pB0EA

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A friend said he was considering making a large purchase but was worried about spending the money.

“Do you have the money?” I asked.

“Yes,” he said, “but it’ll be close. We don’t have a surplus.”

“Do you want the item you are thinking about buying?”

“Absolutely!” he exclaimed.

“Then you must buy it,” I declared.

“I must?”

“What will you be telling yourself if you don’t buy it?” I asked. “Won’t you be affirming lack and limitation? Won’t you be saying you don’t deserve what you want? Won’t you be declaring you don’t have faith in yourself, your future, or your ability to attract more money?”

“I never thought of it that way.”

Keep reading for story of this double sword cane...

“And what will you be declaring if you do buy the thing you want, when you have the money to buy it?” I continued. “Won’t you be declaring that you deserve it? That you live in an abundant universe? That you believe in yourself, your future, and your ability to attract even more?”

I was basically giving my friend a lesson in Prosperous Purchasing, which I explain in my free e-book, Attract Money Now.

In short, if you have the money, and you have the desire, then you must make the purchase.

I remind myself of this lesson all the time.

Recently I saw an antique cane sword. It’s a walking cane from the 1800s, with two hidden swords in it. I have no use for it, but I felt it was cool. I also knew it was “expensive,” as most antiques can be. I resisted buying it because of the amount and the non utilitarian nature of it.

After all, I don’t need a walking cane.

And I don’t need a walking cane with two swords in it.

So why buy it?

But then I remembered Prosperous Purchasing.

Buying the sword cane would open a portal in me to further prosperity.

It wasn’t about the antique; it was about my mindset.

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As with my friend, I had to step in the direction of abundance, not scarcity.

I had to coach myself into understanding that buying the cane — which I really wanted and have the money for — would be an affirmation of prosperity; it would in fact help cut through any internal blocks to attracting even more prosperity.

So yes, of course, I bought it.

And yes, my friend went ahead with his purchase, too.

And we both elevated our vibration — which means our energy level and happiness shot upwards. That feeling alone was worth the purchasing. That feeling would help attract even more prosperity.

Let’s go a little deeper with all this…

There are at least three things you need to do with money to help yourself attract even more of it:

I shook a Sorcerer's cane from the 1800s (once used by a hypnotist in France) on one track on this bestselling healing album

1. Give it.

Some call it tithing. I can’t find any exceptions to this universal truth: the more money you give away, the more money you will attract. You have to be comfortable with money, of course, else you could block your receiving of it. And you have to give where you receive spiritual or inspirational nourishment. But you have to give. It’s a law. If you’re struggling with money right now, ask yourself when was the last time you gave some away to a source that nourished you?

2. Invest it.

You can save money for something that delights you and/or you can invest it in ways that make you feel prosperous now and in the future. Some people buy stocks; I buy collectible guitars. Some people buy land; I bought an antique sword cane. (And, as mentioned under the album cover above, an antique sorcerer’s cane.) Help money help you by saving it and investing it. It’s a way to respect money. Again, if you’re struggling with money, ask yourself if you are joyfully investing and/or saving the money you already receive.

3. Spend it.

Money needs to circulate in the world to do the most good for the most number of people. Spend money that you have at hand (don’t go into debt) on what you truly want, and do it with a feeling of appreciation. Arnold Patent said, “The sole purpose of money is to express appreciation.” I totally agree. When you pay a bill or order a product or service, feel authentic gratitude for the ability to do so. This feeling of gratitude will help you attract even more to be grateful for. If you’re having an issue with money right now, ask yourself how you feel when you spend what you have on your bills or on yourself.

And here’s the punchline to the above story:

A day after I bought the double sword cane, I received a partial advance for a book deal that more than covered the purchase of the antique.

Did my purchase attract the income?

Yes, I believe so.

See PS about this Phrenology cane

What seems to happen is this: When you practice taking care of yourself, the Universe will in turn take care of you.

Since we are all one, and the “You-niverse” is really you, you are ultimately always taking care of yourself.

Think about it.

Ao Akua,

Joe

PS — I am astonished by the kinds of unusual canes people created and carried over the centuries. I thought they were just used for walking. Wrong. From 1550 to 1930, everyone carried one. The most fascinating of antique canes is the “systems” cane. These are early gadgets in walking sticks. In the United States alone, there were over 1,500 patents for functional or secret canes. These might hide weapons, like a sword or a gun, but could also be designed for a surgeon (with knives and medicinal instruments in the handle) or a gambler (with dice inside the shaft) or drinkers (with flasks in the handle). Canes could conceal cigarettes, a pipe, smelling salts, opium, cash, coins, telescopes, microscopes, lighters, watches, barometers, fishing poles, swords, guns, or makeup. There are hundreds of examples. My sorcerer or hypnotist’s cane has a pendulum and candle inside, and a crystal ball on top. The Phrenology cane above was a cheat-cheat for reading the bumps on your head. Some antique canes were even musical instruments – with a flute, or a mandolin, or even a violin inside. I love creative thinking like this! Talk about prosperity! Anything truly is possible!

Bonus: Learn a little about antique canes by watching this short video:

Author of way too many books to list here