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The first step in being successful is to believe in yourself. You can achieve and have anything in the world and all you have to do is to first really want it. A group of people call this the Law of Attraction, or The Secret. Here is an excerpt from the DVD, which can be used as a visualization tool. I suggest until you can allow your own imagination to see this in your head, that you watch this short film at least 3 times daily.

Prologue: Chapter 2

Real Estate investing sounded like a great idea. The main thing that attracted me to it was the freedom that I saw on those television programs. These people pretty much did what they wanted to do with their time. I was able to see that it wasn't the money that made it possible. They were smart.

I mentioned before that I disliked school. I do, however, love acquiring knowledge. I love to learn how things work. When I was younger, I took apart and put together pretty much any electronic device I could get my hands on. I made custom build stereos from old radio parts and mix matched speakers. I reassembled televisions parts and video game systems. In college, instead of going to class, I spent my time in the computer lab. I was designing personal pages on online chat communities. I self taught myself some basic and some advanced html programming. I was fascinated with what makes a web site work.

Watching the tele-home flippers in Springfield, IL, I was developing a new fascination. I know what it is now even though back then I lacked the vocabulary to recognize what is was. I was interested in how this particular business system worked.

I found some information on how to build a house for free and make a $100,000 on the internet. The information revolved mostly around how to create a corporate entity and build credit under it. I took what I felt I needed form the information and incorporated. The important thing that I was doing here was beginning my financial education in the best way for me to learn, which was hands-on.

Prologue: Chapter 1

First, I need to get you caught up. I'm taking a minute to see how far back I want to start. I was living in Springfield, IL with my wife and daughter. Springfield was nice for getting away from confusion (family) and distractions (friends) in order to organize your thoughts. Thoughts like "what do I want to do for the rest of my life" or "what do I really want out of life" and "what is it that I am supposed to do for happiness, for fulfillment, and for money?" I had about as much financial education as any of the other 90% of this country's populations that earned and controlled 10% of the money here, but I was smart enough to know that whatever I decided to do, it would involved playing into my strengths, weaknesses, and characteristics.

What did I know about me?

I liked money. I knew that it could not bring me happiness, but I not only can you not live comfortably without it; it did help some in the happiness department.

I liked being able to help people. I was a pretty good problem solver. Some of my credentials are based on self evaluation because many that asked for my advice didn't always take it and ended up not improving within the problem that they had. Plus, being a "know it all" often puts me in the dog house with my wife.

I disliked school, because of boring lectures and homework. I even tried an online course on Comp TIA+ based upon the amount of time that I spend on the computer. IT didn't work.

Ironically, I was a good listener.

I was emotionally driven. Some of my most memorable and meaningful actions were the result of having a fairly extreme emotional response to a situation. Feeling tired, bored, or bothered made me want to get a task done and over with. The calm person that I usually am is just a lazy person. Anger fueled my drive and determination and seemed to make the gears (what I call the logical thinking portion of my brain) run quickly and effectively. Sadness, depression, remorse helped me find poetic and creative inspirational words of encouragement and sorrow.

I was smart enough to know that all these pieces of me could fit together to make a future; dreams and detailed thoughts of what I look like, had, and did. I have all the support a man could need in my wife, but I needed her to be at my side, not pushing from behind. I was smart enough to know that if you wanted something from a woman without any hassle (questions), you didn't ask…..at least not without spending the proper time with her. I needed her to give me a clue as to what to do. If I would have asked, that conversation would have been frustrating for at least one of us. So, I just spent the time with her while she introduced me to all of her house flipping and real estate buying and selling television shows (the answer).