BY STAN KONTOS

I remember in my 20’s thinking that my hourly rate at work for my employer was the most important thing that could make me financially secure. Of course my hourly rate is important however it is nowhere near as important as the skillset to create passive income. The hourly rate gives one immediate gratification in the form of a regular fortnightly pay-check and it is easy to do – you put in the hours and you get paid. The concept of creating passive income streams requires lots of time dedicated to education, surrounding yourself with the right people, putting up with at times investment losses as part of the learning process, and all the uncertainties associated with a new way of thinking that not many people adopt. However like anything, once one attains education + action then it becomes a lifelong gift.

Do you sincerely wish you had an extra $1,000 or $2,000 or even $10,000 per week from passive income sources that were created by only 1-3 hours per week of activity?  I know this may sound a little “unrealistic” – I can assure you everything I write in my monthly email is from experience of either myself or the people I choose to associate with and learn from. The greatest gift to our life is to enjoy our time on Earth and having passive income sources provides more choices in our western developed world.

On Wednesday October 26^th I will be providing an evening of education to our Breakfast at The Next Level Members (and Platinum Partners on the coaching program) on “Financial Freedom – Creating Passive Income Streams” and the key areas I will be covering are (i) Mindset development (ii) Areas available to create passive incomes (iii) The step by step approach one will need to create this as their reality.  Let me share with you a little about the mindset development required before you embark on creating passive income streams ….

• One needs to have empowering belief systems (these are the positive thoughts that automatically come out of our subconscious mind) which allow you permission to create these passive income sources. Once cannot create passive income if the thoughts in their head area long the lines “It’s too hard”, “I’ve tried it before and it doesn’t work”, “That’s easy for you to say”, “I am not good enough or smart enough”, “I don’t have the time to devote to study”, “If everyone did this then no one would work”, “I don’t have the money to get educated”, “I don’t really care much about money” and so forth. These thoughts need to be eradicated from your consciousness (we show you how to do this at our annual The Next Level retreat and in our Platinum Program). Once these limiting (disempowering) beliefs are removed we then need to insert empowering (positive) beliefs such as “I can do this”, “I will create the time to do this”, “I always find the money to learn more”, “I will have the contacts and networks to assist me”, “I will become one of the few who take action and reap the rewards”, “I enjoy making a great passive income from no more than 3 hours per week”,  and so forth.
• Visualise how your life will be when you have that passive income coming into your account – that’s right see your bank account with a deposit every week or month, see yourself driving the car that you deserve, see yourself living in the home of your dreams, see yourself sending your children to great schools and enjoying vacation with them in beautiful locations around the world, see your life partner happy and at peace, see yourself have the ability to help family, friends, and charity. When you visualise this way, you will become enthused, excited and joyful of the prospect coming that you will live abundantly.
• Help alter your peers mindset to one of abundance and bring in additional peers that think abundantly. It is so important to ensure that the people in your daily environment begin to think like you and support your thoughts. Thoughts are seeds for the future – the law of sow and reap is always in action so ensure you are planting and nurturing the right seeds each and every day. There is absolutely no benefit thinking about lack and limitation. Make a decision to only think of abundance and plenty of provision today and this is where your life will gravitate to.
• Write in your journal what is good in your life each day – an attitude of gratitude will bring more good into your life including passive income. Notice what good is happening and more will begin to happen. Like attracts like – good attracts good – abundance attracts more abundance. This is the law of life so follow the laws.

Remember that every investment vehicle be it business, real estate (residential, commercial, industrial, office) and sharemarket strategy (trading, value investing, growth investing, and others) have a system that follows the same path to success – high education levels (money will always transfer from the least educated to the more educated), peer/network development, and actions with accountability.  There is minimal risk when you know how, however it is up to you to seek….for the seekers will always find and the finders become the custodians of wealth in our society.

I wish you the very best – may you always be passionate, purposeful, and always at peace.

Stan Kontos 

BY STAN KONTOS

In July I had the privilege of enjoying a bit of “island hopping” around Greece. Yes it was one of those “bucket list” experiences I always had wanted to do and boy oh boy it was fantastic!  So don’t listen to all that media hype around the Greek financial crisis – the world of the Greek islands is full of abundance – amazing boutique hotels and apartments, beautiful (and very inexpensive) food, great hospitality, beautiful clean beaches, and an amazing night life. I honestly could have stayed there for 6 months!

You see, what is so special about the Greek people (and yes I come from a Greek background) is that they keep believing. No matter what happens, they believe that life is to be enjoyed, they believe in doing good to others (the Greek words of “filotimo” and “kalosini” mean goodwill to all), and they believe that no matter what happens you can always find a way to be happy as long as you have your family and friends.

So it also goes with every challenge you are facing in your life today. You must keep believing that somehow things will get better and there is an answer. In order to gain resolution, it is important to keep asking the right questions, to keep seeking answers, and to keep knocking on doors because somehow, somewhere, someone will help you. Every challenge we have ever risen over has always involved the help of other people – rising over the challenges in life is the same as achieving goals – you need to keep believing (even when it appears tough), you need to ask others to help you, and you need to keep looking for solutions.

Our mind is an incredible device – when you seek a solution, it searches madly to find it for you. Don’t keep your focus on the problem as this will cause it to keep getting bigger and bigger, rather put in most of your energy (say at least 90%) into possible solutions. You will be more inspired when you do this and you will find a way to do what you want to achieve or solve.

The power of self-belief and persistence has been around for thousands of years and is a proven law of life in the creation of the result your heart desires and deserves. Having people in your environment (such as a performance coach) can make a huge difference in keeping your mindset operating in the right direction. Always speak to people who will inspire you, who will encourage you, and who will strengthen your self-belief (and hence avoid people who bring you down or are negative in nature).

For those of you who want to hear from someone with amazing strong belief, come along to Breakfast at The Next Level where you can hear how Kate Thiele has done some amazing work with The Guide Dogs Assoc in taking it to much higher income levels and in turn making a huge difference to society.

Live with passion, purpose and always be at peace.

Stan Kontos 

BY STAN KONTOS

Today I caught up with some friends and one of them commented, “Yeah life is good. I am in a comfortable stage and don’t do too much. I enjoy spending time at home on the weekend.”

While I understand this may appeal to some, I take every opportunity to challenge and develop myself. Belief systems create your life. If you believe that it is good to stay in your comfort zone and resist growth, then your mind and body will not progress. You see my friends, growth is an essential part of life. Now I know we all like to take a little break from time to time and hibernate in comfort (yes I do too). This is good and helps us to feel refreshed. We must, however, exit this state at some stage and get back into living life and growing ourselves to the next level. The destiny of our soul is linked to us growing as spiritual beings.

So what have you done lately that has really stretched you and enabled you to grow? What uncertainty were you able to handle that has now changed you forever? Have you challenged yourself to be a better friend, employee, employer or partner?  Have you expanded your skillset in wealth creation and learnt a new technique for creating money and put it into action? What have you done with optimising your fitness – what challenge did you put your body through that was exhilarating and endorphin releasing?  If you find that you have not experienced growth in a long time, then you should immerse yourself in the company of someone different – someone who will challenge you to stretch and grow (perhaps consider a SOL Results coach). You may have heard the wisdom, “You become like those you associate with.” Is it time to implement these wisdoms into your life and create a more exciting future for you and everyone who looks up to you?

Growth can be difficult, but it is permanently rewarding. The achievement of a stretch goal is not just about the goal itself – it is about who you become. I believe each of us has an inner potential that when activated, can create incredible results. I remember a quote that really got me thinking: “Most people die with the music still in them.” This means that while people have the potential for personal and professional growth, not all reach it.

The rocking chair test is the ultimate assessment (for those of you that were at the last Breakfast at the Next Level, our amazing guest, Henry Olonga, mentioned that it was the rocking chair test that motivated him to step up as a leader and inform the world about what was occurring in Zimbabwe).

This test involves you imagining yourself at an old age and reflecting on your decisions in life. The decisions you make today will either make your life a masterpiece to be followed or a warning of what not to do. It is always your choice!

I would like to encourage you to make your life a masterpiece by making good choices today. Make choices that will help you stretch and grow into a better person. By this I mean a person who is fulfilled at the end of their life because they gave it their all. So enjoy creating your own great legacy.

Live life with passion, purpose and stay at peace.

Stan Kontos 

BY STAN KONTOS

Over the years, I have always endeavoured to work things out by learning from others then reflecting/thinking and innovating to work out a way to do it faster, better, more productively, whilst still enjoy the important things in life that we all treasure (friendships, relaxation, travel, family, and hobbies).

Throughout the many experiences of life that we all go through, there is one thing I am certain of and it is this: we are all on a spiritual journey whether we realise it or not. That’s right – all of us are growing, changing, discovering, as we travel on our unique path of discovering both who we are (identity) and what we are here (purpose) for personal enlightenment. So what is this enlightenment?  Enlightenment is simply understanding or awareness. Whilst it is a totally different pathway for each of us, there are certain characteristics which are universal – the attainment of happiness, peace, and the expression of enjoyable emotions such as gratitude and love are all a part of this enlightenment process.

As we all travel on the pathway to self-actualisation, we all find vehicles that assist us. Sometimes we refer them to spiritual practices (such as yoga) and other times we refer them to religions (such as Buddhism, Christianity and Islam).  Having studied many many practices and religions over many decades, my discovery (and science is now acknowledging) that this world is not a series of coincidences but a creation by a higher power or a divine spiritual being  which I and many of us call God. The one key thing about this amazing divine spiritual being is that it is love – every time we experience love we are connecting with the power that is the creator of life. Now I don’t mean infatuation as that is a totally different chemical process (linked to Oxytocin release in the brain amongst other things) – rather love is a selfless expression of kindness and joy toward mankind, animals, and our Earth.

I know we have all experienced this “connection” with the “higher power” at times for we all remember periods of incredible peace, amazing love, and unexplainable bliss. And after we experience it, we begin to wonder how we can experience that again – it may have come whilst doing a selfless act of kindness toward someone, or while we were riding a bicycle through the hills, or whilst we were nodding off on the beach or straight after a love making session with our life partner, or during a meditation or of course the most common way after discovering how to pray.

But whatever it was that caused it, we become intrigued into how we can enter that “special place” again.

My encouragement in this month’s words of inspiration is for you to keep seeking this place of inner peace, love and bliss and I am sure inevitably you will find. But don’t seek with a closed mind as you will never encounter this divine spirit this way. It is like wanting to create wealth through property but not wanting to go to a property course because it costs too much or not finding a mentor because you don’t have the time or not entering the market because you’re scared that interest rates may rise – all these are excuses and will never help you attain your goal.

So it is with your discovery of understanding or awareness. Never discount asking someone who has discovered this enlightenment how they did it, never discount the power of seeking the truth.

Once you develop your pathway to awareness and are able to enter it at will (I can enter my special place at will within a few minutes of prayer), you will discover a new perspective on everything – that there is a divine spiritual being that loves you unconditionally and that wants the very best for you always. And every time you stay in contact with this state of inner love, happiness and bliss, that things seem to go better, life is more intensely enjoyable, and that you can handle the challenges of life much better.

When you see a person who is happy, who is kind, and who seems to always be doing good to others, that is your key indicator that that person has discovered something special – perhaps ask him or her why they are so positive and you will discover that they have found a way to inner spiritual development that has now given them the inner strength to improve their outer circumstances. It is not the outer circumstances that have made them happy but rather their inner world has been discovered which then has improved their outer circumstances of life.

Education with inspiration is also an important part of our spiritual development hence I encourage you to come along to Breakfast at the Next Level .Our next breakfast is on May 4^th where I will be talking with Jeremy Cordeaux on success and happiness. We always aim to bring you the very best in knowledge, inspiration and networking. Click here to secure your seat.

Go forth and work on discovering your inner world as with this higher power, your outer world improves.

You’ll find all long term successful people have peace, happiness, growth, gratitude, and contribution as their key drivers in life.

Live with passion, purpose and always be at peace,

Stan Kontos