Today, I’m going to share with you my personal Top 25 Ways to live life on your own terms manifesto.
A while ago, I was completely depressed and couldn’t see the positive things in life… and I was constantly sabotaging myself.
I felt empty. I felt lost.
Fortunately, I read Donald Trump and Bill Zanker’s book “Think Big – and Kick Ass in Business and Life” in the right place at the right time.
This book revealed to me that it takes passion, perseverance, focus, momentum, and a few other things to succeed in life and enjoy living a fulfilled lifestyle.
It was the first time that I was consciously questioning my limiting thoughts and believes.
Nowadays, I believe that everything is possible we set our minds on. Our brain – especially the subconscious part – is very powerful.
Many scientists believe it takes control of approximately 90% our actions…
But that’s a different story. :)
Anyway, back to the story, Trump’s enthusiasm and passion for his work has been contagious and he’s still one of my biggest role models.
Now, as I’ve changed my life thanks to my decision to make a gap year in Australia & starting MLM overseas, I want to share with you what I’ve learnt so far on my journey as well as my personal opinion on what it takes to live life on your own terms.
So, here we go:
25 Ways To Live Life
On Your Own Terms
#1: START YOUR OWN BUSINESS
Working for yourself enables you to do the things you want to do and work from wherever and whenever you want to.
Creating passive streams of income instead of dealing money for time is real freedom. It can be very difficult to get started, but if you consider it as a long-term investment rather than chasing “get rich quick”-fantasies, you’ll get rewarded for your hard work.
Remember that you do this for yourself and your family. You’ve no boss telling you what to do.
In my past, my life was pretty much structured. Nowadays, I decide when I work and how I use my time. This has got both pro’s and con’s.
On the one hand, you can do whatever you like and have full control of your day.
On the other hand, you must use your time productively to create awesome work and help other people in order to get paid in the same proportion.
But after experiencing freedom, I could never go back and make someone else rich.
#2: BE WILLING TO TAKE THE HITS
If you aren’t willing to sacrifice and have setbacks, if you think that you don’t have to pay a price for living life on your terms, …wake up!
You’ve to give in order to receive. The thought of getting something for nothing is why many people don’t succeed in life. They’re “trying” MLM, or “giving it a try”.. soon they lose their initial enthusiasm and go out of business telling everybody that Network Marketing doesn’t work and that it’s a pyramid scheme and a scam.
So, be ready for the challenges that arise and know that you’re more capable of dealing with them and become a better person as a result.
#3: BE YOUR BEST SELF
Recently, I read an article on authenticity. It stated that it was wise to not be authentic all the time, and there were times when authenticity could be negative for you.
Sorry for being that direct, but this is bullshit in my eyes!
Especially being authentic is the key to achieving success.
To make people resonate with you, like and trust you, appreciate your work, and handsomely pay you.
And if someone has a problem with your “real you”, he isn’t a person you want to waste your time with. It doesn’t matter if it’s in an interview, a potential business partner or even your potential partner for a love relationship.
You’re surrounded by endless opportunities all the time.
Stay authentic!
Authenticity or being authentic means you’re your best self. The best version of yourself has got self-worth, trust himself/herself, is passionate about something, is enthusiastic,…
According to best-selling author Brendon Burchard, by the way, BOLD ENTHUSIASM is contagious especially in marketing and persuasion.
Before we now move to #4, branding yourself as an authority is very important in MLM also. People follow leaders because they, among other things, provide value to them and lift them up.
We come back to this point in the following ways to live life on your terms.
#4: FIND YOUR NICHE!
Everybody isn’t for you. You’ve to find your target market and provide value.
If you market to everyone, you market to no one.
Even if you’ve a product that is theoretically helpful for anybody, find a specific niche and target appropriately.
If you’ve a health product, for example, target either elder people, athletes or children. Choose one, not all of them.
#5: YOU’RE UNIQUE & MORE IMPORTANT THAN YOU KNOW!
In former times, I thought rich and successful people are somehow more special than others or simply have more luck. It’s an interesting point here because, nowadays, I’d say that there’re only two things in particular that make the difference between rich & successful people and the rest of the world:
It’s MINDSET and TAKING ACTION.
Everybody is unique. Everybody is special.
But the main reason why some succeed and others don’t is mindset. Successful people know their strengths and apply them. They focus on what has to be done and get to work. That’s the second part: Taking action.
Sitting around meditating, visualizing, saying affirmations, reading AND DON’T APPLYING won’t take you far. You’ve to use your knowledge, otherwise it’s worthless.
Do you’ve the 2 main ingredients for success? Then, let’s move on to the next one:
#6: BUILDING CONFIDENCE AND SELF ESTEEM
Very crucial! Without confidence, no success.
Nobody is going to believe in you, as long as you’re not. Belief in yourself is also important to decrease self doubt.
To explain this whole topic it’d take too much time as I need to go into detail.
Thus, I’ve already created an article for you here.
#7: WORK FOR SKILLS, NOT MONEY
I’m very grateful for Robert Kiyosaki, the guy who simplified my decision to join MLM. I’ve read a few of his books and watched his seminars.
One thing that he always stresses is to work for skills and not to make money.
One reason for this is that you deal your time for money which isn’t the best exchange. Another one is that seeing a job as an opportunity to learn and grow isn’t only fulfilling, but also an important step to increase your own value by gaining valuable skills that you can use later on in life.
If you’re just doing a job to get money you may actually get nothing else in return but money.
#8: SURROUND YOURSELF WITH POSITIVE PEOPLE, ASK FOR HELP + FIND A MENTOR
Having a supportive group you can ask and get advice from is a very precious resource. Getting guidance from people who have already achieved what you want to achieve or who’re already on the right path is great.
And this is where working with a mentor comes in.
Find someone who works with you individually and is already more successful than you. This is very valuable and offers additional benefits:
Knowing exactly where to go and what to do. They’ve already been where you are, and can guide you in the right direction. This is very important if you’re building your MLM business online because there’s a lot of information out there and you can get confused and frustrated very easily.
#9: GET STARTED, REVIEW YOUR ACTIONS
Don’t wait until everything is perfect or alright because it won’t.
You’re just wasting your time.
Me, personally, I wasted a lot of time waiting for the right moments, words, circumstances, etc. You’ve to take ownership of your life!
Therefore, three action steps:
- Aim,
- Fire!
- Adjust :)
It’s that simple.
You choose a goal, you act upon it, and then you review your action
(best with an excellent mentor and/or supportive group of people).
Mess much stuff up! I did it and I’m still alive. I know that’s awkward indeed terrifying.. but remember: You must be willing to take the hits if you want to be successful. If you want success, but aren’t willing to give in order to receive: You’re interested in success, but not committed.
And that’s absolutely fine, but don’t lie on yourself.
#10: HAVE FUN AND ENJOY YOUR JOURNEY
Life’s a journey and we create our story every single day.
Every area of your life is a result of our daily actions.
Health is a result, wealth is a result, your relationships are a result, …
… you get the idea.
Celebrate your successes however small they’re.
This’ll compound to your overall happiness and joy of life.
Being positive, in a good mood and relaxed will also add to more success in your life because you attract the right people at the right time.
#11: INVEST IN YOURSELF AND HELP MORE PEOPLE
In order to live life on your terms, helping more people get what they want is the way to go. You do this by increasing your value to the world through daily personal development. Some seminars and or books and audios seem to be everything but cheap.
However, these courses tend to have got a higher “Return on Investment (R.o.I.)” – i.e. you get your money back and make profit way quicker than with less expensive materials because you feed your brain with excellent content and get new ideas to implement in your life and business.
IF you want to make 10x more money, increase your value and help 10x more people, as T. Harv Eker has said.
#12: CREATE SYSTEMS IN YOUR BUSINESS TO FREE YOUR TIME FOR THE THINGS THAT REALLY MATTER
Inspired by the “4 Hour Work Week” by Timothy Ferriss, I looked for ways to free my time from business activities that were stealing a lot of my time without having much impact on my results (Eliminate).
Running an MLM business online is way easier than offline, in my opinion. However, you still need a S.Y.S.T.E.M. (acronym for saves your substantial time, energy and money) in place.
Having an auto responder in place to email your list, an efficient social syndication strategy for your content, search engine optimization, and other things are mandatory if you want to have a BUSINESS and not a JOB.
#13: HAVE A BIG VISION + DAILY ACTION GOALS THAT INSPIRE YOU
I put this in the middle of this list because it’s the heart of your mission to achieve financial and time freedom. You’ve to have got a big vision that deeply inspires you to wake up every morning with a desire to accomplish your daily goals.
Your daily goals are supposed to be realistic because in order to achieve an insurmountably seeming end goal, you need immediate goals that you can reach every single day. You grow by every action – may they be small or big.
Set yourself 3 inspiring goals for every day, every month, every year, and 3 big goals for your lifetime.
#14: DIMINISH DISTRACTIONS OR “WHERE FOCUS GOES ENERGY FLOWS”
When you’re at work, you’re at work. Minimize your sources of distraction.
i.e.
- Turn off your mobile phone and put it away, unless you need it for business calls.
- Tidy up your environment, surround yourself only with the necessary materials for your work
- If you use the Internet for your work, focus on what you’ve to do (don’t get sidetracked by unrelated things)
- Concentrate on one process or project at a time
- And last but not least: Take breaks to regain focus
#15: TIME’S THE “REAL” CURRENCY
We can increase or regain anything to a certain amount: money, health, relationships, we can change our emotional state,…
Except TIME.
Time is the real currency.
That’s the reason why I said before at #7: WORK FOR SKILLS, NOT MONEY to work for skills, but not to exchange time for money if you can better invest your time into building a thriving business that in return gives you TIME FREEDOM.
Value your time. It’s the only thing you can’t get more of.
#16: DEMAND HIGH STANDARDS, BUT GIVE YOUR BEST ALSO!
This shows others that you’re on a mission. You already think two steps ahead and know that if you don’t go forward, you only go backwards.
If you keep growing personally, improving yourself and doing what you preach, other people will respect and trust you more and more.
In other words, if you don’t see a demand for high standards and prefer to stay average, go out of business before even thinking of joining Network Marketing or any other kind of business model. You save your money & time.
If you, on the contrary, want to achieve more in life, choose your words wisely and drop words like “I try…”, “I would…”, “maybe…”, “one day I will…” from your vocabulary. They only hinder you to see success as already given in your life.
#17: “YOU ALWAYS MEET TWICE“
There’s the old saying: “What goes up, must come down” and it’s totally true.
In our case, this means:
Treat everybody the same way you’d like to be treated because you never know when you going to meet him or her again.
It’d be quite unintelligent to make fun of somebody who could’ve been a fabulous business or JV partner for the future. And that’s just one example that just popped into my head. Don’t let that happen to you!
#18: DON’T CARE WHAT OTHERS THINK OR DO
It took a long time until I realized that I could do everything possible to please anyone and there’d still be some people hating me.
One positive way to gain independence from what other people may think about you is to realize the following: What other people think about you has more to do with them than it has to do with you.
Re-read the last sentence again, please.
It’s true, isn’t it? :)
Further, you’re going to recognize that by having a purpose in life that is truly inspiring you and a mission to fulfil, you’re less likely to focus on other people’s opinions about you.
Likewise, other people’s opinions are none of your business because you’ve no control of their thoughts. There’s always a balance between people liking you and people disliking you.
#19: WORK HARDER ON YOURSELF THAN ON YOUR BUSINESS
We’ve already covered this one before, and I listed it here to stress it once again.
Working FOR yourself is great, but only if you focus on the right activities.
And working ON yourself is one of them. It increases your value to the worlds, which results in higher R.o.I. (Return on Investment) – you help more people and get paid more money: You come closer to your goal to live life on your own terms!
#20: DO YOUR DUE DILIGENCE AND BE THOROUGH
It makes sense to be thorough and to take care of the details. Sometimes, it can be that an issue comes up due to a small mistake or detail.
Mind your own business and increase your financial IQ, so you can deal better with tax advantages, business models to implement as additional streams of passive income, investments outside of MLM, and so on.
Also before joining an MLM company and starting your own business, it’s intelligent to do your due diligence and read through the terms of the company because some have special requirements or downsides that can be easily overlooked.
It’s also important for keeping track on your business income & expenses to monitor your progress.
#21: TAKE CONTROL OF YOUR OWN LIFE: RESPONSIBILITY
Without taking responsibility, you can’t take control of your life and live a life on your terms.
Not only Spider-Man knew that with great power comes great responsibility. Nobody said that having your own business would be easy. However, the results you get if you lay out a plan for MLM success and follow through is incredible.
There hasn’t been a better time in history to take ownership of your life and create the business and lifestyle you love!
#22: MAKE MISTAKES!
We human beings are conditioned to avoid making mistakes, and it’s scientifically proven that avoiding pain is more important to us than seeking pleasure.
However without making mistakes, you won’t improve and, eventually, succeed.
Robert Kiyosaki’s F.E.A.R. Concept has helped me a lot.
Fail
Early
And
Responsibly
Simply making mistakes isn’t enough :) By failing responsibly you make mistakes that help you improve in the areas you want.
Hint: Learning from your own mistakes is great. You can fast-track your success by learning from other people’s mistakes → learn from successful people
#23: YOU CAN ACHIEVE GREATNESS!
You can achieve anything you set your mind on and take daily action.
Limiting beliefs and thoughts only exist in your mind, they aren’t real!
By getting rid of your mental roadblocks and establishing success HABITS,
you’re on the right path.
I believe in you and your ability to live life on your terms.
#24: FOCUS AND FLEXIBILITY
You need a good balance between focusing on what you must today and to be flexible enough to make changes on the way if things don’t work in the long run.
If you only focus on your plan and don’t realize that it doesn’t work at all, you lose valuable resources like time and money.
If you’re way too flexible and don’t follow simple steps for, at least, a certain amount of days, weeks or months, you’ll never get anything done.
So, the right balance is the key.
#25: NEVER GIVE UP!
Surprise, surprise! Persevere and a “never-ever-give-up”-mentality is necessary to achieve your vision.
Quitting and failure isn’t an option. It might be the case that you’re in a Network Marketing company that isn’t providing quality products or services.
This is the only case where I advice to switch companies because there’re enough good ones around.
But in any other case I highly recommend to first look at yourself and ask:
“If others achieve success in my MLM opportunity, why not me?”
#25+1: AND LAST BUT NOT LEAST, READ MY BLOG REGULARLY :)
This’ll help you get into the right mindset and learn useful strategies.
And much more :)
Did this blog article help you? If so, please comment below and share it on Facebook with your friends!
Mario M. Montreal
Empowering MLM Entrepreneurs
Image(s): FreeDigitalPhotos.net
