Trusted Advisory

Day 4 of 14: Addressing Dysfunction, But Not at Applebees

 “I've tried those homeopathic medications, and they don't work.”

“My father was an old man at 55.”

“… may cause nausea, vomiting and headaches. See your physician if symptoms persist.”

We are in a time of significant paradigm shift.  The accompanying changes are not going to be imposed on us. The accompanying changes and their results will be our choice.

In the fourth day of my Detox I don't suddenly feel metal free.  I may notice the subtle side effects, and hopefully my use of inhalers and my congestion will be reduced, even eliminbated. (That's from the research that I've been reading.)

I explained to my friend Nick this morning that taking homeopathic products does not provide  instantaneous pharmaceutical-like "cures."  Neither do they have dangerous side-effects like liver or kidney damage.

The use of homeopathic and natural remedies, especially those that address bodily systems, are part of a lifestyle change. Becoming truly healthy doesn't happen because of a fix, but because of the lifestyle and behavior change--like eating well always and getting rest and exercise, being in good relationships and so on.

Nick is smart and he gets the idea of balance--he is healthy and has good habits. But he's also around a lot of people living inside their own boxy thinking. I say, they're too busy to consider that there might be another way.

I am preparing a paper, now, that will address how to get 5 to 10 hours of productive time per week. Probably it will need a label that discloses the truth:  Reading this paper may be hazardous to your bad habits and under-productivity.  I really do not intend to be cynical. I find it interesting that we so easily surrender control over our lives.

I just found an old Chinese fortune cookie message. I must have received this over 10 years ago.  It says simply: “He who hurries cannot walk with dignity.”

We permit ourselves to be hurried.

How can we possibly allow ourselves to become so busy that we stop thinking rationally?

Americans are terribly spoiled and like to point blame to an outside cause when things don't work. The tragedy a mindset that misses or belittles opportunities. 

Healthcare system or not, we need to be responsible for our own health… to be responsible for our own financial security… to be responsible for our own family. And not to look to government, or quasi-government services, to manage those jobs.

Maybe this is what's happened for me here. As I detox from heavy metals it's causing me to realize how much I can actually achieve.  Many people say that heavy metals are in oour tissues and body to stay-and someone should stop the polluters and bad producers. As if it's a death sentence of unimaginable scale--and helpless.

I choose otherwise.  Both for the opportunity to rid myself of heavy metals and then to experience   and participate in the extraordinary opportunities before me.

Restoring Health&Wellness

Day 3 of 14: What the Dormouse Said About Our Mind

`You might just as well say,' added the Dormouse, who seemed to be talking in his sleep, `that "I breathe when I sleep" is the same thing as "I sleep when I breathe"!'
                                                                                                     - Alice in Wonderland

Try this the next time you go to a restaurant.

Find something you like on the menu, say, the special. Call the waitress over. And then ask her, “Is the  special good?”  She will look like she's actually thinking about your question. You'll be able to count… one… two… three. And then she'll say, “Yes. It's VERY good.”

I ask you. What is the difference between that and what the dormouse said?  And really, sometimes life is like the netherworld described in Steig Larsen's books,  and now the movies, like “ The Girl Who Kicked A Hornets Nest.”  In Steig Larson's fictional world, the authority is ultimately revealed as corrupt.  It's something he understood very well from real-life Sweden, that the questions we ask  are often nonsense.  Weak questions make us co-conspirators in hiding the truth.

And yet we do it all the time, probably most dangerously with physicians. “Will this help my asthma?” “Will this add years to my life?” “Is this dangerous?”

I suppose it's a cultural thing that we've given up control of our own decisions to other people. In my own book I decry this and make recommendations about how to make better decisions unilaterally, but using a team of highly trained professionals and experts for their thinking.

A mentor of mine, Dan Kennedy, made a great observation about the truth behind powerful action. "If you're accountable you're in charge, he said. And if you're in charge, you're accountable.”

Several people I know have tried to provide for their own wellness. What's missing in almost every case are consistency and an ongoing level of input and support. These friends tend to work in a vacuum, they take multiple herbs, vitamin supplements and compounds. My sister once made her self sick doing this. Of course, she denied that that's what happened. But I noticed that she stopped swallowing her own mixtures.

One of the benefits of having a clinically tested, scientifically proven business behind a product for wellness is said, particularly if you're involved in business with them, there is a sort of co-responsibility. And in the process of taking regular supplements you're getting the results and adding to your knowledge about your own body and how it works.

The Qore Detox I'm taking, now in the third day, is addressing something that few doctors do,  the cause behind my un-wellness.

What I wasn't fully prepared for when I committed to taking this detox product for the two weeks recommended, is the philosophical shift and the heightened understanding of how directly my own decisions so quickly begin to alter my future.

I hope that sharing these thoughts, here, can help you gain a similar control over your decisions.

Restoring Health&Wellness

What is most important about your business

My friend Wayne Messick gave me the single most valued compliment I have ever received. What's nice about you, he said, is you like "keeping it real."

I have thought about that almost every day since he said it--trying to mindful of what he meant. I believe he was thinking of these qualities:

• An ability to find humor in serious situations.
• A supreme comfort level in not always being part of the crowd.
• The ability to recognize being in the doldrums, & the capacity to pick myself up.

These certainly describe Wayne. I guess he was actually giving me a more personal compliment than I realized.   rb

* What do you do to "keep it real?"

Is there money for "sustainable" projects? (Was there money for Woodstock II?)

I was one of a handful of producers at Woodstock II, in Saugerties in 1994. My piece of the turf  was the EcoVillage. The experience probably had as much to do with coloring my view of the world (and my current business) as any other experience I've ever had.

Actually, the EcoVillage was more like paradox village. Planned for solar powered lighting and filled with "green" exhibits, the tents and the so-called "3rd stage" (there was also music there!) were allocated a fraction of the electrical power required to project the sounds of Bob Dylan, Aerosmith, Crosby, Stills and Nash, Johnny Cash, The Cranberries, Santana... and about 40 other bands.

As it turned out, solar power proved insufficient to power even the EcoVillage's needs. As the clouds brought the inclement weather to Saugerties, they snuffed out the power source. Much of my time was spent diverting even 15 amps(!) to give us backup power for the "green" exhibitors. Fifteen amps is  about what a competent electrician allocates for a home refrigerator.

Last year was one of the best years to date for distressed debt

Those institutional investors who added distressed to their portfolios during the second quarter of 2009 were richly rewarded with returns exceeding 30 per cent. Yield-hungry investors made a good choice, as junk bonds were priced excessively low for many companies after credit spreads blew apart late in 2008.

In the last half of 2009, investors aggressively put funds to work, driving yields below 15 per cent, admittedly still a decent return. But some junk bond issuers fell on extremely hard times, and their default rate, as reported in the Financial Times, stood at 12.9 percent by the end of the third quarter. That has upped the risk-versus-reward ratio in the market and investors ought to be more discriminating in choosing distressed funds in the coming months.

But aside from the auto companies, there are few familiar household names which appear to be in trouble, looking further into 2010. Don’t be surprised, though, if investors continue to allocate funds to this area, as long as the Federal Reserve keeps interest rates near zero.
RM/IMI

Is your book calling financial advisors, liars?

Rob: In your book, you seem to suggest that all financial advisors are suspect, and may not be able to be trusted. Lots of people are angry for sure. But are their advisors all liars? My Dad is an advisor and he is a great guy, who works his tail off for his clients BY THE WAY!

Signed--Warming to a fight

Dear Warming to a Fight:

You can put your dukes down. You are over-thinking what the BLBB says.

There are numerous surveys that show advisors are among the MORE honest professionals "out there." I am glad your father isn't in politics--because over 50%of the respondents in a recent survey say they are the most deceitful. If we were arguing that one--you and I might both be swinging at each other for keeps.

The core message of The Billionaires Little Black Book," however, is pretty placid. Even profitable.

When professional advisors work together, I write, they tend to create more complete solutions that apply to a longer view for their clients. When they create such solutions, they often enjoy the work more and end up working together again. Or, as I suggest numerous times, they may refer business to each other--Why? Because they know each other's level of competence, skill and personality. They want to serve the client--first, and then the firm because it is good business.

One of the sadder elements of professional life is that a statistically low number--about 2% of financial advisors--ARE deceptive. The mass media, always keen for "dirty laundry", will make the story sound like a trend. I do not believe that is the case.

My emphasis in the book is on the 2% that are really great and work to make their clients super-successful--presumably using an all inclusive system like the BLBB. I am sure that your Dad is among those. The strategy is, like so many strategies, simple but not easy to achieve: Get the right people, doing the right thing, in the right way, at the right time, for the right reason.

Achieving all those levels represents having fun making money. And THAT is what the book details about locating and managing the right advisors.

Who wins? Everyone. The Advisors, the Client. And Society.  You wouldn't fight that, would you?

rb



 

Stadium Naming Rights... Signs of Sustainability and Consistent $/X Behavior

What is the connection between consistent money behavior ($) and obvious success (X)?

The Wall Street Journal recently looked at 90,000 sports games, to find the correlation of naming of stadiums by different corporate sponsors to the teams success.

This is something to think about, especially if you are in a football pool for the Superbowl, but before other games, too.

Miami's stadium, the site of Superbowl XLIV, has held numerous names: Joe Robbie  Stadium, Pro Player Park, Pro Player Stadium, Dolphins Stadium, Dolphin Stadium, and Land Shark Stadium. And now football's BIGGEST match  this year between the Colts and the Saints will be played Sun Life Stadium--you know, the guys in the TV campaign who attempt to negotiate a renaming of the famous disco band as KC and Sun LIFE Band ...

The Journal grouped stadium naming corporations by general business category.

A new business--Hushed my asthma. Was my Doc alienated? Nah!

I wanted some extra energy. But I needed to breathe.

I had ZERO concern that healthier skin and better digestion would also occur.  But, within a few days my shrugging acceptance had turned to astonished relief. My nearly $400/month asthma (legal) drug habit had become an exercise regime and, now, a possible fortune--I am working on the business and learning how to reset my physical health. Truly the best surprise I have had in the last 3 years.

My suggestion to you is--'do what I did.' Take all your skepticism to the web, then... watch, listen and think about how you think of  the future. Especially if you are going to live and love for a very long time, don't you deserve to be healthy and a little wealthier, too!

Where you see the videos, you can also request your Free Sample under the video! Go to myqivana.com/robertbailey

Introducing the 10 Commandments of Sustainability (Really!)

Pass the hat. Lend a hand. Make more money. Gimme. Cut your taxes. Just TWO MORE DAYS! Just 339 Days to Christmas. ? "Do YOU Suffer from RLS? Millions of people Do!" But there's MORE! If your order right now...!

Sheesh. Is anyone in America every satisfied? We sure don't sound like it. We are broke and lacking direction.  Of course, there is the added pressure to be sustainable.

Sustainability as a concept sounds SO good, that it's been railroaded by the press and by the financial services industry. It sounds so responsible. Of course, when it is sincere--it IS responsible. When it is a marketing term it is as meaningful ad Blutto's promise to" gladly pay you Thursday for a hamburger today." (Did he EVER pay Popeye back?--we know he ate-forward.)

Sustainability is a valid objective. It is also an ideal. Like all ideals, each person has their own version. Therefore, is unlikely to be achieved. Paradoxically, the ideal nature doesn't make sustainability unworthy as a goal. It may be edgy to do this but a key question is in order.

Can't a good discipline have a beneficial result--without having a material outcome? Sustainability has many advocates and lots of them connect illogical elements--like saving having clean water and advocating protection the elephants. Two separate issues. Another one. Being liberal or conservative and being "environmental" or "conservationist"? (Either expression connected to an individual sounds like a socio-medical condition.)

These are complex times. They are so tough that the troubles open the way for sustainability to masquerade as a marketing device.  However, the practice of real sustainability is one of the greatest stimuli for  innovation we may ever see. For your entertainment and consideration, in that order, I will share with you my Ten Commandments of Sustainability.

Buffett to Step Down? What that might change...

This story appeared right after Christmas. But is is guru-bashing or a reality check? Let me know what you think!