loa

At dinner with friends recently, someone asked me how to attract more money when they are already doing everything right, feel they deserve it, and don’t know what’s wrong. They feel stuck.

I’ve written about this subject a lot, most notably in my free e-book Attract Money Now, and in my bestselling audio program, The Secret to Attracting Money, but I could tell these people were holding my feet in the fire and wanted more.

Here’s what I told them:

First, you or someone you hire has to have an eye on money.

Money doesn’t want pursued directly, but indirectly. You have to follow your dreams and keep a watchful eye on whether you are making money or not. The old catch phrase, “Do what you love and the money will follow” should actually be, “Do what you love and sell it.” That’s why Walt Disney said, “I want to make money from my movies so I can keep making movies.” Yes, follow your passion, but also watch what money is doing around it.

Second, money needs appreciated.

Most people see money as a necessary evil. They wouldn’t even want it if they didn’t need it to survive. That’s a poor attitude. Money can sense you don’t appreciate it. You need to learn, as Arnold Patent says, “The sole purpose of money is to express appreciation.” Start showing your gratitude for money and you’ll begin to attract more of it to be grateful for.

"The Secret to Attracting Money" Complete Course

Third, money is a tool that can be leveraged to attract more money.

Most people don’t know this. When you get money, give it, save it, spend it, and invest it. A friend in Australia once taught me that he has learned to make money from his money, and then to make money from the money he made from that money. (Think about it.) He means to attract money from doing what you love, then invest it in some way, and then invest the money you make from your investment.

Fourth, give it away.

This step is part of number three above, but deserves its own explanation and focus. Most people hold on to money. They are afraid of losing what they have, or needing it for something they fear will happen. Again, lousy attitude. It means you’re really believing in scarcity. Even though every prosperity teacher says to give money away, you probably don’t. Right? (Be honest.) I advise people to give a portion of their income (usually ten percent) to wherever they receive spiritual nourishment. That could be a church, an author, a speaker, a bus driver, a waitress, or anyone or anything that inspired you. The key is inspiration. Don’t give out of obligation, give out of inspiration.

Fifth, clear your beliefs around money.

This one is THE most important step, because if you have unconscious beliefs about money, you will filter out the opportunities around you to attract more money. You won’t see them! This is why coaching is so important. An objective, trained listener can help you spot your limiting beliefs about money, which helps free you of them. Money is everywhere. Trillions of dollars are floating right by you. But you won’t see any of it with belief blinders on.

Again, I’ve written extensively about this subject on this blog, and elsewhere. But let’s apply the above insights to you right now:

Are you or someone you hired focused on watching money?

Do you appreciate money, saying “thank you” as you write your checks?

Are you leveraging/investing your money to attract more money?

Are you giving a portion of your money away every time you receive some?

Are you actively clearing your limiting beliefs around money?

If you answered “no” to any or all of the above, you know what to do next.

Money is a wonderful tool. With it you can help yourself, family and friends, and causes you believe in. Make peace with money and begin to enjoy life on a whole new level.

Your move.

Ao Akua,

joe

PS — Consider: If money has its own vibration, and you have your own vibration, what would happen if you were both in alignment? Answer at Http://www.moneyvibrationaudio.com

Member BBB 2003 - 2013

About four months ago I had breakfast with the incredible “Hulk,” actor Lou Ferrigno. We hit it off so well that we kept in touch, and had a three hour dinner when he returned to my area. That was the other night. And I’m still so excited and inspired that I still can’t sleep.

Lou is an inspiration. He looks better now at 61 years old than he did earlier in his life, when he was a three hundred pound bodybuilding giant who won awards and inspired millions. Today he is fit, healthy, and as gentle and loving as a kitten.

Posing holding the Steve Reeves Mr. Universe trophy of 1948, the very trophy that had inspired Lou as a teenager

But don’t let that warm smile fool you. He’s iron willed, focused, dedicated and moving forward like a Mack truck stuck in high gear. He’s a force of nature.

Still, he took great interest in my life and work. He wanted to know about my current projects. I told him about my two books coming out in early 2013, my four music albums with two more on the way, the Wealth Trigger Live seminar planned for February in Austin, and my idea to end homelessness.

In my gym with the rare Animal Trainer machine that Steve Reeves used to overcome a shoulder injury. (Lou's friend Brad Taylor standing behind machine.)

He loved it all, was impressed, and congratulated me.

Of course, he’s not sitting around. He’s been on 45 planes in three weeks. He’s traveling, speaking, meeting the fans, working on a new movie and possible television series, has his active website and fitness consulting going on, and plans a huge Ferrigno Fit movement he’ll be announcing in 2013.

In my private gym with the Steve Reeves Universal Machine to Lou's left and the Nexersys behind me

Lou met me due to our mutual admiration for legendary bodybuilder and first action movie figure, Steve Reeves. So he came to my home to see my private gym, my Reeves collection, and more. He loved it all, but I think he was most impressed with my office and all the books and guitars. He sat in my office chair and surveyed the area. He looked right at home.

Lou loved my office

Lou asked surprisingly in-depth questions, such as, “What is your greatest fear?’

I spent so much time thinking about my answer that he nudged me by saying, “You know what it is.”

After I told him about fear of failure, he confessed he doesn’t know how to swim. He fears going down in a plane over water.

Lou's autobiography signed to Steve Reeves, now part of my collection

He also asked, “What’s your biggest dream?”

I told him about Operation YES, my idea to end homelessness, and the book on it coming out in a few weeks. I thought he would ridicule it, but instead he said, “That’s beautiful!”

He was very supportive of my health and fitness dreams, and said I was doing the right things. He watched what I ate and drank and complimented me on my choices. His references to my living past 100 years old made me feel I could live that long, or longer. When I told him about the five fitness contests I had been in, and showed him the certificates I got for each, he was as proud as me. He knows all so well what it takes to discipline yourself to win.

He asked me about my collections (guitars, books, Reeves, and more) and said he buys two of everything he loves as he fears losing one of them. And when he buys something, he buys the best.

Lou hugging Nerissa

This amazing man still works out several days a week, an hour a pop, and prefers lifting iron to anything else. He loves fitness equipment, though, and collects it. He had never seen The Burn Machine before, an exercise tool I love so much I bought several for myself and more to give as gifts to friends. He wants to buy one — probably two — for himself.

Lou with "The Wall," the actual chalk board with the fitness routine Steve Reeves used when he was a teenager

I’ve been around a lot of celebrities and movie stars, but have rarely met one so at ease with himself. He said he likes me because I “don’t have an ego.” Well, everyone does, but some of us keep it in check. Lou does.

Nerissa was a bit star struck to be with him. She’s met several celebrities, too, but Lou is so present with people, that you can feel him paying attention to you. She asked him for exercise advice. He said to take it easy and do what you enjoy. He got up and walked across the room, moving fast, with a determined stride, to demonstrate what he meant.  She promised him to start walking more every day.

Lou with the 13 children of the Collie family, and parents Bruce and Holly, in Vitale Cigar Room, where we had a three hour dinner

A truly emotional moment was when Bruce Collie – former NFL Super Bowl football star, father of 13 beautiful children, owner of Brewster’s Pizza and the Vitale Cigar Room where we met – met Lou and told him how the great actor had changed his life when he was young and troubled.

Holly and Bruce Collie with Lou

I can’t say enough great things about Lou Ferrigno. When you get a chance to meet him, you’ll know what I mean.

His website is right here.

Ao Akua,

joe

PS — My breakfast with Lou Ferrigno was posted here on my blog on June 27th. You can read it at:  http://blog.mrfire.com/breakfast-with-lou-ferrigno/

Member BBB 2003 - 2013

RIGHT after I posted my last blog — about wanting to attract a 1955 Mercedes-Benz Gullwing SL300 into my life —  I learned the windows in the Gullwing doors do not lower. That means once you close the doors, you are sealed inside.

It also means the inside cockpit will get HOT. Yes, there are side vents. But drivers in the 1950s would open the Gullwing doors at stop lights in order to let air in. (!)

No wonder Clark Cable has the door open!

I live in hot and humid Texas. This car would not be pleasant to be in for very long.

With this fresh news now in my awareness, the tag phrase “…this or something even better” takes on a whole lot more relevance.

I no longer want that car.

Lesson: Always be willing to adjust your goals as new information comes to you.

But let’s dig deeper.

Why did I want that car in the first place?

Why was I inspired to pursue it?

Why didn’t it work out?

I think there’s a lesson here for you and me. Let me reveal it through a quick story…

Teye and his amazing guitars

Recently I met Teye, an Austin guitar maker of some gorgeous hand made guitars. His are playable art. They sound incredible and look beautiful. He brought in two guitars (pictured above) and we talked for a couple of hours about guitars and music. Along the way, he told me his story. (Told here with his permission.)

At one point he was wealthy and well off. He drove a luxury car, was highly paid as a performing musician as well as a music teacher, and had the life most of us would envy. He was set for life.

But Teye wasn’t happy.

In fact, he told me he was almost suicidal.

Why?

Because he had no challenge. He was comfortable. He was coasting. He had nothing in him to turn into a fire. No spark. He was alive but dead inside.

He was one of those “quietly desperate” that Thoreau warned us about.

And that’s when he did something about it.

He contacted the late Tony Zemaitis, a guitar maker of now legendary and collectible guitars. Eric Clapton, George Harrison, and other icons love his guitars.

Teye commissioned Zemaitis to make a guitar for him. It would cost around ten grand to get the project rolling. This was around 1990, when ten grand meant more than it does today.

The late Tony Zemaitis

This was the action Teye needed to take to come alive again.

But I didn’t understand it perfectly, so I asked for details.

“How did ordering a Zemaitis guitar change your life?”

“Because I had to do something different to raise the extra money,” Teye told me. “Wanting it broke me out of my comfort zone and forced me to think bigger and act bigger. Today I’m a guitar maker largely because of that big step back then.”

This stunning guitar was made for Teye by Zemaitis. Today it's worth upwards to $100,000.

And that’s why I was led to want that Gullwing, a car selling for more than $850,000. Not that I’m unhappy or feeling desperate, but it was time for me to expand my potential and increase my wealth set point.

The effort to attract the Gullwing wasn’t about attracting such an expensive car; it was about stretching myself into being the kind of person who could easily afford such a car.

Previously the most expensive car I ever owned was the Rolls-Royce Phantom. I bought it for $450,000 — on the day the stock market dropped the most points since the Great Depression of 1929. So much for me being a victim of circumstances.

Getting that car expanded my sense of deservingness, and also led to the creation of the now famous Rolls-Royce Phantom Mastermind, an evening with me that became so popular ABC News covered the one I did with fitness celebrity Jennifer Nicole Lee. Those special masterminds also paid for the Rolls. In short, attracting the Rolls also attracted the means to pay for the Rolls.

Jennifer Nicole Lee at Phantom Mastermind

But the Gullwing was selling for $900,000.

That’s twice what the Rolls sold for!

This was expanding my own sense of what’s possible.

I remember making the call to the dealership that has the Mercedes. I was nervous. In my mind, I didn’t think of myself as a high-end car collector. I have a handful of cars, and I’ve given away a handful of cars. But I’m no Jay Leno.

See PS below about this book

Well, that’s simply a belief. And beliefs are what create our reality. So wanting that car made me look at — and dissolve — my limiting beliefs.

Obviously I’m not encouraging you to order cars or guitars beyond your means. But I am encouraging you to reach beyond your comfort zone and go for more. It doesn’t have to be a purchase, it can be a purpose.

Whenever you desire something bigger than yourself, you expand your mind, melt limitations, and turbocharge your energy.

I've hired Teye to build this beauty for me

The other day I interviewed Arielle Ford, the world’s most famous book publicist, for my Hypnotic Gold members. She told me the authors who were the most successful were the ones with “a sense of mission.” They weren’t just selling books; they were changing lives.

I finished reading Arnold Schwarzenegger’s amazing book, Total Recall, and see the same sense of “goals bigger than me” syndrome. When he was governor of California, he created a list of goals that made the people around him hyperventilate. But he knew “big risk, big reward.”

My wanting a rare Gullwing, if only for a few days, expanded my potential to allow more into my life, and increased my creativity in conjuring up ways to receive more. After all, a billionaire friend once told me, “The more people you help, the more wealthy you can become.”

Think about that.

Lots of lessons in this post:

• Adjust your goals as new information becomes available.
• Desire something bigger than yourself to stretch your potential.
• Have a mission to serve others while expanding your own power.

You may have gleaned another lesson or two from this post and the last one. Feel free to share your insights with me and others with a comment below.

Meanwhile, I wonder what goal is next?

Ao Akua,

joe

PS — Your goals should make you excited as well as a little nervous. If you want to see someone showing you what it is all about to go for something truly huge, watch this video of Phillipe Petit in 1974 walking a tight rope across the Twin Towers. He spent years dreaming and planning. And when he got in the air on that rope high above New York City, he spent 45 minutes there! Read Petit’s astonishing book, Man On Wire (or see the documentary of the same name), for the breathtaking details. What is your big daring scary exciting dream?

Member BBB 2003 - 2012

Recently I posted the following on my Facebook Fan Page at http://www.facebook.com/drjoevitale:

“Action attracts motivation. Get moving and you get motivated.”

That insight was driven home while I was reading Arnold Schwarzenegger’s autobiography, Total Recall, a book I love. Even at over 600 pages, I’m reading every word of it. There are lessons on life, fitness, marketing, achievement, politics, service, and so much more. It’s fascinating. You might say — as Arnold often does about life — it’s “Fantastic!”

I LOVE Arnold's book!

One of the methods Arnold uses to achieve such legendary success is setting goals. Nothing new there, but do you do it? And do you do it the way Arnold does?

Arnold declared he would be a famous Hollywood movie star while still a youth in Austria who couldn’t speak English. (!)

Talk about thinking BIG.

Throughout Arnold’s incredible book I see the reoccurring theme that big goals lead to big results.

Arnold doesn’t appear to have deadlines on the goals (unless it’s something like a bodybuilding contest with a specific date already attached to it). Instead, he has the goal in his consciousness and simply works toward it, trusting it will manifest in its own good time. This is different from what most people do: most set goals with drop-dead deadlines.

Not Arnold.

Judging from his astonishing life and all his record-breaking success, his goal setting process works.

What I’ve also noticed is that once he stated a goal, he began to move toward it. He started to take action. Lots of action. He’s one of the hardest working people I’ve ever heard of. When he saw his calves were weak, he started doing 1,000 calf raises exercises per day.

One thousand.

A day.

Talk about action!

Why is this photo here? See the PS below.

There’s a real secret here: action leads to motivation, and motivation leads to action.

You can test it out for yourself.

What do you have to do or want to do?

I need to write a blog post here for you every few weeks to stay current. I don’t always feel motivated to do so, because I don’t always have something to say when I first start writing. But my intention is to do my best to stay current, relevant, and interesting to you.

But how do I do that when I don’t feel motivated?

Here’s my secret: I simply go to my computer, fire up my blog, and start writing.

Yes, even when I have no clear idea where I’m going.

I take action anyway.

I know motivation will catch up later.

Same thing happens when I write songs. I may have no idea for a song and little motivation to write one. But I know I want to have one written.

So what do I do?

I start strumming my guitar.

I take action.

Yes, I love to have motivation first. But you don’t have to depend on it. You can call it out.

I just finished reading Neil Young’s autobiography, Waging Heavy Peace, and learned that’s how he writes most songs: pick up a guitar and start playing. Invite the songs to arrive with action.

He invites the muse with action

Hare’s what I invite you to do:

1. State a goal. Just declare it. What would you love to have, do or be? (Be honest.)

2. Decide to go for it. Are you willing to do whatever it takes to attract it? (If not, you haven’t stated the goal you really want.)

3. Take action. Whether you feel like it or not, just start moving. Let motivation catch up. (What can you do right now?)

All of the above requires a certain level of faith.

You have faith that stating a goal is going to make a difference.

You have faith that your decision is going to stir energies seen and unseen in the universe, in and around you.

You have faith that your actions will lead to the expected results.

You have faith that all of this will work out for your highest good, and in its own sweet time.

That said, it shouldn’t surprise you that the title of one of my next books is Faith.

Meanwhile, here’s another example for you:

After the completion of my fourth album, The Healing Song, I sat and felt at peace. I was relaxed, felt good, but didn’t have any motivation or goal to create any more music. As a result, no new songs came to me.

My fourth music album

When Daniel Barrett came by my studio for our twice weekly sessions, I told him how I felt. I said I think my music is over, as I don’t feel inspired or compelled or motivated to record any more.

As we explored the issues and my concerns, I suddenly felt I could do another album. I grew excited about it. I then declared, “I want to create one more CD by the end of the year. Let’s record five new songs.”

This was a pretty bold goal, especially when I had just said my mental well was dry, and the end of the year is only a couple of months away, but Daniel went with the energy and agreed we could do it.

In fact, he upped the ante and challenged me to create ten new songs for it.

I then declared that I would make it so. I made the decision.

And guess what?

There's that car again! See PS below.

As a result, a song came to me later that day.

And another the next day.

And a third a few days later.

Wait!

There were no songs before the goal, and three songs after it?

Hmmmmm. Maybe there’s something to this goal setting secret.

Note the insight:

Goals trigger action.

But you don’t need motivation to take action; you can start doing and the motivation will catch up.

Let me sum it up like this:

I love Arnold's book so much I hunted for a signed one

Goals are how you start a fire within yourself. You might be feeling “blah” and have no desire for much of anything but living in the moment and vegging. But let an inspired idea become a goal and suddenly you ignite the pilot light in your soul. Now you have direction, purpose, and energy. The goal triggers the release of new powers, and even begins to attract opportunities and more to bring the goal into reality. Welcome to the world of miracles.

Is this exciting or what?

Arnold knows this.

I know this.

Now you do, too.

What are you going to do with it?

Ao Akua,

Joe

PS — The car photos above are of a pristine 1955 Mercedes-Benz Gullwing 300SL, one of the most collectible cars in the world. I saw the listing for this one and felt inspired to announce it as a new goal.  No deadline. No pressure. Just thinking about it is stretching my wealth comfort zone, as these cars often sell for over one million dollars. But that’s the whole idea: to stretch. Wouldn’t it be cool if that amazing car (or something even better!) was mine in the next few months (or sooner)? So here I am, publicly sharing it with you. I have no idea when it will appear in my life, but I’m open and ready for it. After all, I do know how to attract cars. Now it’s your turn: What do you want to attract into your life next? (Be honest!)