11/25/2014

And if we want to prosper we should remember these rules that are in the article:

1.      Seek the Lord and have hope in him

2.      Keep the commandments, that includes the temporal ones, tithing and fast offerings

3.      Think about money and plan how you can become self-reliant.

4.      Take advantage of chances for learning so you will not be ignorant of these matters. Education, as President Hinckley has taught us, is the Key to Opportunity.

5.      Learn the laws upon which the blessings of wealth are predicated.

6.      Do not send away the naked, the hungry, the thirsty or the sick or those who are held captive.

Formula for success by Thomas So Monson

Parable Wise & Foolish Virgins - being prepared
Parable talents - be productive
Parable fig tree - be fruitful
First fill your mind with truth, second fill your life with service, and third fill your heart with love.

Started an Article "Worth the Risk" about 5 people who were over 50 and started their own business.  I started the first one last week - here are the other 4.

#2. From Underdog to top dog ------ Carol Gardner - 52 - Had a business with her husband, they lost it, then divorced and now a million in debt.  Living on four credit cards her attorney said "Sweetheart, you either need a therapist or a dog." so she adopted a 4 month old English bulldog name Zelda.  She dressed Zelda in a Santa suit and bubble beard and took a picture to enter in a local pet store's Christmas card contest.  Prize one years worth of free dog food.  A light bulb went on.  Garner got busy sewing costumes for Zelda, shooting photos and writing captions, a starter line of 24 funny inspirational greeting cards and posters.  Printed 25,000 cards on credit and began pitching them in stores in Oregon and Washington.  After a National Stationery Trade show in New York she signed with a licensing co and was book on Good Morning America.  6 months after winning free dog food she topped 1 million.  25 years later a global multimillion dollar brand that includes calendars, books, jewelry etc etc.  "If I can accomplish all this just be dressing up my dog imagine what you can do."  Gardner.

Staying in Touch with Tech - Mark Britton's 79 year old mother fell, cracking a rib and hitting her head at her vacation house. Her 80 year old husband drove 3 hours to get her to a hospital.  Worried, he created "smart home" for the elderly. At age 50 Britton launched TellaBoomer TeleCare services, a company that assesses the needs of residents and sends it remotely to their caregivers, then designs and installs a home security system for seniors.  He wants more seniors to age in their own home.

An Inventors First Steps - Jeffrey Nash Las Vegas NV. While watching a grandchild play soccer he was also watching a mother helping her baby learn to walk.  He noticed how awkward it was; the mom bending over and the child stumbling along.  He got the inspiration for Juppy Babby Walker, an infant harness with straps that can be held by mom and dad.  He made a sketch, had a tailor make a prototype, then he worked as a salesman.  After a test trial, he had 100 made up and begin selling them out of his trunk.  After selling the 100 he ordered another 1,000, quit his job, cashed in his 401K  and it was during the height of the recession.  He has now sold 35,000 worldwide through his website.  He is approaching one million in total revenue.

Cooking up a better life - Coming from Mexico, worked for several years as janitor for $5 an hour then at a restaurant for $9 an hour.  One day a regular customer as her: "Why are you working for someone else's dream? why not work for your own?"  She went to LaCocina, a Bay area nonprofit "Kitchen incubator" that helps immigrant woman start their own food related business.  She drafted a mission statement, perfected traditional recipes, designed a website, obtained a license for her company, El Pipila.  After a year of preparation she launched El Pipila in San Francisco.  Her vision "to be the best authentic, regional Mexican food provider in the Bay Area."

Great articles to remember 

Attitude on Money
by Stephen W. Gibson
Let’s Talk About Money: How to Get it and what to do with it.
To do that, I need to show you my two pair of prescription glasses. This pair looks almost like clear glass, so it appears that if someone looks out of these they should see everything perfectly.
However even these clear glasses distort the way I see things. When I look at your faces without the glasses, you are all fuzzy, especially after about row three. With these regular glasses, my vision is distorted, however in a good way. I can now see your faces clearly. And what a bunch of good looking students you are up here in Idaho, not like those less good looking ones down in Ut...never mind, I better not go there.
If I put on these other glasses, I can not only still see you clearly, but it changes the way you look. Why? Because in these glasses there is a filter - it alters the way things appear. As I look through these glasses your faces appear dark. In the words of Paul, which we will read in a moment, I see you darkly.
We all have filters in our minds which change the way we "see" things.
Remember, the ways we see things are a combination of what filters others have placed in our minds. These filters, ideas, beliefs, opinions and teachings get into our minds when we are very young and color and form the way we perceive or see things and issues. That is why so many of us think just like our parents think on so many issues when we are young.
Part of the process of becoming adults is deciding if the lenses that we see things through are the correct lenses for us. As we shift through different concepts, principles and facts we decide which we accept. As we do, we become independent thinkers.
That is one of the many reasons we came to college, to learn to think for ourselves. The whole wonderful experience here helps us to arrive at our own conclusions. As we learn to think we basically adjust our own prescription or filters about the way we see life.
Our conclusions about how we view things may be different than the way our parents have taught us or what we have observed in our youth. That in and of itself, doesn't make it bad or good. However I believe we can all better understand life and the different ways each of us see things in life, if we all remember that we all see things through filters.
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In fact, Paul the Apostle, talked about these filters of seeing through glass. In Corinthians, he writes that in morality we see things from a different perspective because we look through glass darkly. However we will see clearly after we come face to face with God and gain an eternal perspective. For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then (In the resurrection we shall see things) face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known (1 Corinthians 13:12).
Today we are going to talk about money, as I see it, through my filters. The filters I see things through are based on what I have learned about the subject from my experiences, from conversations I have had, from the scriptures and other books I have read, from classes I have attended and taught and also what the leaders of the church have said and what the Holy Ghost has taught me.
The question I will pose to you today is: what is the right way to look at money? You will need to decide that for yourself.
Now, let's talk about the way I see money.
My sister and I see the issue of money very differently. She says, and I quote, "I don't want to talk about money, I don't want to think about money, I am not interested in money."
For me, I believe we need to think about and understand money; what it is and how to get it. We cannot go through life saying we don't want to "even think about money."
Maybe you are a little like my sister, or maybe you have just arrived home from a mission and you say, "I want to be like the leaders of the church, I just want to think of spiritual or heavenly things all the time."
Come on, get real.
No matter who we are or what we are doing in life, money is a necessary part of it.
For example, President Hinckley needs to think about money.
In the April 1998 conference, when he announced to the Church that by the end of the year 2000 there will be 100 operating temples built and dedicated to the Lord, he had to consider before he made that announcement, where is the money going to come from to build those temples.
When he announced the Perpetual Education Fund in April of this year, he has to discuss with his advisers where the money was coming from to provide education for those tens of thousands of returned missionaries who live in third world countries. Even he cannot just pray about it and millions come out of the sky. He needs to ask the members of the church to open their pocket books and support this and many other wonderful initiatives. Add his words.
So from the President of the church, to the husband or wife, who needs a budget to put food on the table, money is a big part of what we must all think about, plan for, and, yes, even earn the money for our needs.
Now as independent adults you will need to think about acquiring sufficient amounts of money to run your house hold and provide for your family. You can take the position like my sister, and not want to talk about it, but the earning and accumulation of money must, in my opinion, or looking through my filters, be at the forefront of your thinking.
In fact we have taught our children that the more they are looking in the future and planning for it; the more successful they will be when they get here.
If you are the family member who has the responsiblity for the temporal needs of your family, you better do more than just think about it or your marriage and therefore your family will not be a happy one.
Some of you may believe that once you get your first bank charge card, whether it be VISA, Bank Card or an American Express card, your money problems are over.
As the parent of four young married couples let me just tell you when you get those cards and use them, your problems are really just beginning.
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American express commercials tell us don't leave home without it or your American Express Card. I say, leave those cards at home.
The first thing we need understand about money is that is not evil. Money is neither good nor bad. The Love of money or the obsession with accumulating money from others unrighteously, no matter what the method, may be evil, but money in and of itself is neither good nor evil.
Money has great power. It is the power to feed ourselves and our families, power to purchase or rent shelter and to buy transportation. It is the power to purchase medicine for our sick children and power to go on missions when we are young and power to go on missions when we are old. The power to purchase clothes to keep us warm when the Rexburg winds blow and chill you to the bone.
Realize this million dollar bill can give the possessor of this bill the power to buy a million hamburgers for hungry children or buy a million bullets to kill the innocent. It can buy a million pills to treat the sick or a million cigarettes to make people sick. It isn't the million dollars that is bad or evil but how it is used.
The possession of excess Money often reveals or exposes what kind of a person the individual is.
I am reminded of a story about Jon Huntsman, who is ranked by Forbes magazine as one of the 50 richest men in the world. He is, undisputedly, the richest Latter-day Saint. He and his family own chemical plants the world over. It is one of his corporate jets which President Hinckley uses to fly all over the world with no charge to the Church.
Brother Huntsman hasn't always been rich. He is first generation rich. He was raised in humble circumstances.
I remember hearing his wife tell the story of when they were first married making $300 a month in salary. She noticed that for several months $50 was missing each month from the money he brought home from his paycheck. She wondered where it was going. She found out in a fast and testimony meeting one Sunday when a young widow thanked the anonymous giver in the ward for helping with $50 a month contribution to her. That was Jon Huntsman, who started young in giving just a little bit, perhaps a widows mite, yet he developed those habits in his youth that have now transformed into his giving of $100 million to fight cancer.
He is a great example of how money can and should be used.
Another example of how money can be used is a New Testament story that we usually use to illustrate who is our neighbor, but I would like to use it to illustrate the correct use of our possessions.
You all know the story, called the Good Samaritan, but have you ever read it through my glasses.
We have this guy, a Samaritan who is somewhat well to do. He is traveling down this road, minding his own business when he sees a wounded man who had been robbed and left to die. He took compassion upon him.
Luke 10:33-34, "But a certain Samaritan as he journeyed, came where he was; and when he saw him, he had compassion on him."
He stops, gets off his beast, gets his first aid kit out of his saddle bag and binds up the wounds of the injured traveler.
He then gets some of his provisions, of wine and oil and feeds the wounded man.
Luke 10:34-35 "And went to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him."
Then he lifts the wounded man up on the Samaritan's beast and leads the beast with the man on it to the nearest hotel, (probably not a Marriott), where he pays for a room for the wounded man as well as getting a room for himself. He may have even paid with an American Express credit card.
Then the next day, he tells the inn keeper, "Take care of him. Give him whatever he needs, and I will pay for it when I come through the town again."
Luck 10:35-36, "And on the morrow, when he departed, he took money, and gave to the host, and said unto him, Take care of him, and whatsoever thou spendest more, when I come again, I will repay thee."
Here in this simple illustration we have an example of healing the sick and administering to their needs, and feeding the hungry.
Luke 10:37-38, "And he said, He who showed mercy on him. Then said Jesus unto him, Go and do likewise."
Let's turn to the Book of Mormon and see what the Lord has promised those who perform such service.
30 "And thus, in their prosperous circumstances, they did not send away any who were naked or that were hungry, or that were a thirst, or that were sick, or that had not been nourished; and they did not set their hearts upon riches; therefore they were liberal to all, both old and young, both bond and free, both male and female, whether out of the church or in the church, having no respect to persons to those who stood in need."
31 "And thus they did prosper and become far more wealthy...."
So number three is that Money reveals the kind of person we are.
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Let me contrast what the gospel does for people and what money does to people.
The Gospel of Jesus Christ as explained by Brigham Young in 1860 and echoed by nearly every Prophet since, and I might add was also referred to by our own President Bednar on Oct. 23 at the Provo Campus; the gospel has the power to make bad men good, and good men better.
However, Money usually does not make bad men good and good men better.
Money can make good men better, but on the other hand it usually makes bad men worse.
In the wrong hands or in undirected hands, money can do terrible, terrible things in the hands of the wrong people. We see that in the World every day, we see it in the hands of terrorists. However in the right hands, it can do much good, as we saw in the case of Brother Hunstman and hundreds of others, who share of their time, money, and energy both in and outside the church.
Truly money does, in the hands of good men, make them better. I can testify to that in my own life.
I believe this is number four. Money makes good men better.
Now I ask you, as Latter-day Saints, should we seek for riches?
Jacob, writing in Jacob 2: 18-19 seems to me to say yes, it is alright to seek after money, if we do it in the proper order, after we have received a hope in Christ. And if we seek after Money to do good.
"After ye have obtained a hope in Christ ye shall obtain riches, if ye seek them; and ye will seek them for the intent to do good - to clothe the naked, and to feed the hungry, and to liberate the captive, and administer relief to the sick and the afflicted." Jacob 2:19.
I can testify to this because in my own life, seeking after money and the creation of wealth has enabled me to do many good things that I could not do without money, especially in the area of liberating the captive.
This is part of the work my wife and I have been doing for Filipino returned missionaries. We have established an Academy in the Philippines, called the Academy for Creating Enterprise. So far we have graduated 22 Filipino returned missionaries who are now becoming self-reliant by applying what they learned at the Academy.
Through the wonderful opportunity of education you are liberated and can liberate others that are held captive by their ignorance.
One of the big factors that distinguishes the rich from the poor is their chances for learning.
3 Nephi 6: 12 "And the people began to be distinguished by ranks, according to their riches and their chances for learning; yea, some were ignorant because of their poverty, and others did receive great learning because of their riches.
What is exciting at these church schools and non-profit institutions such as the Academy for Creating Enterprise in the Philippines is that those who are ignorant because of their poverty can become rich through the creation of these chances or centers for learning.
With money we can build new buildings, we can offer scholarships to students who couldn't be here without them, we can hire the best faculty, and we can attract the best students.
Now you, because of your upbringing in America, understand money a lot better than others, but we all need an awakening of sorts about the role of money, before we marry and start raising a family.
Our religion teaches us that we, as Latter-day Saints, have some responsibility to teach the principles that bring about prosperity and temporal salvation as well as spiritual salvation.
Joseph F. Smith, the nephew of the Prophet Joseph Smith, and the president of the Church himself from 1901 to 1918 said, "It has always been a cardinal teaching of the Latter-day Saints that a relation which has not the power to save people temporarily and make them prosperous and happy here on earth, cannot be depended upon to save them spiritually and exalt them in the life to come?" (Religion and Economics in Mormon History by Leonard J. Arrington, BYU Studies, Vol. 3 1960-1961, Num. 3 and 4 - Spring and Summer 1961 15.)
So one of the most exciting things Bette and I have ever done is create a center of learning for the returned missionaries of the Philippines. We hope in the years to come to expand that effort so instead of hundreds will be helped, it will thousands, as they learn how to create enterprises that in turn create jobs for themselves and their fellow ward members.
As much as money can do, there are some things that money can't do. I do not believe money can buy happiness. My wife, Bette, however I found out, while we were teaching at the Academy one day, does feel that money can buy happiness. I wish she was here with me today so we could have that discussion in front of you.
It would certainly help you to understand three things better. One, money, two, you would know more about filters, and three, you would see how in a healthy marriage, the two partners can have very differing views on subjects, and feel very strongly about it, and still be friends and be happy and in love. However that is a subject for another talk.
What money can't do. It cannot buy good health. My good friend, and a real friend of BYU, Steve Jenkins, who at 30 is worth about 3.5 million dollars and earned through his own entrepreneurial ventures, learned it cannot buy good health.
He and his wife had a son, Chandler, who was born with an undeveloped or defective heart. As a several day old infant the baby was operated on. Although hundreds of thousands of dollars were spent on trying to preserve him, his tiny little body finally just gave up.
For Steve Jenkins, who has such a well-developed talent for creating wealth, he was humbled as he learned what millions upon millions cannot do.
Making money is a real talent - and perhaps some are born with that ability. Show picture of baby.
However I liken it to playing the piano. Some people seem to have natural born talent to touch those ivory keys and music comes out. However just because you weren't born with the talent of playing the piano, that doesn't mean you can't learn how to play the piano. It is the same with making money.
Some seem to be given or developed the talent that everything they touch turns to gold. We say they have the Midas touch. Others need to be taught how to make money or create wealth. That is why we have business classes here and at the Provo campus. It is especially true as to why we have new classes which teach entrepreneurial skills. Or how to make money through business startups.
How do the brethren feel about money? They warn us about materialism. That is concentrating on accumulating money just to accumulate things; however you might be interested, as I am in what Brigham Young said. "...if we are the people of God, we are to be the richest people on the earth....I am ashamed to see the poverty that exists among the Latter-day Saints. They ought to be worth millions and millions." JD 17:43-44
President Hinckley said in April conference, "I believe the Lord does not wish to see His people condemned to live in poverty. I believe He would have the faithful enjoy the good things of the earth."
I believe one of the reasons the Lord himself came to the earth was that we might have life more abundantly.
Some people look through their filters and believe it is righteous to be poor and suffer. That isn't the picture I see or I believe or the one I believe is taught in the church. It is just the opposite. The scriptures and the brethren teach us we need to be self-reliant. We need to take care of ourselves. You can't do that without money. And you need to earn it yourself. Scripture or idleness.
I believe one of the reasons the Lord himself came to the earth was that we might have life more abundantly.
17. "For the earth is full, and there is enough and to spare; yea, I prepared all things, and have given unto the children of men to be agents unto themselves."
However those of us who develop our talent make money and create abundance from the full earth that the Lord has prepared for us, have a grave responsibility to help others.
18. "Therefore, if any man shall take of the abundance which I have made, and impart not his portion, according to the law of my gospel, unto the poor and the needy, he shall, with the wicked, lift up his eyes in hell, being in torment." (Doctrine and Covenants 104: 17-18).
How do you make money? By following the laws it is predicated upon. (Doctrine and Covenants 130: 20-21).
20. "There is a law, irrevocably decreed in heaven before the foundations of this world, upon which all blessings are predicated -"
21. "And when we obtain any blessing from God, it is by obedience to that law upon which it is predicated."
If we acknowledge that all blessings come from God, and if we believe that blessigns are based on obedience to laws, as I do, and as the Lord explains here, then we must believe from reading this scripture that the blessing of wealth creation or the abundant life comes from, again, keeping the laws upon which that blessing is predicated.
Then we, who wish to accumulate wealth, and believe that we can do good things with it, had better be about learning the laws and keep them so we can receive this promised blessing.
Let me quote one further lessons taught over and over in the Book of Mormon. (Mosiah 1:7)
7. And now, my sons, I would that ye should remember to search them (the writing of the fathers, the scriptures) diligently, that ye may profit thereby; and I would that ye should keep the commandments of God, that you may prosper in the land according to the promises which the Lord made unto our fathers.
So if you want to prosper:
Rule 1. Seek the Lord and have hope in him
Rule 2. Keep the commandments, that includes the temporal ones, tithing and fast offerings.
Rule 3. Think about money and plan how you can become self-reliant.
Rule 4. Take advantage of chances for learning so you will not be ignorant of these matters. Education, as President Hinckley has taught us, is the Key to Opportunity.
Rule 5. Learn the laws upon which the blessings of wealth are predicated.
Rule 6. Do not send away the naked, the hungry, the thirsty or the sick or those who are held captive.
We have time for just a few more thoughts on how to make money.
As you leave today, you will receive a hand out that contains some rules. At the Academy, we call them rules of thumb for making money.
We call it our PAC 45.
We have listed the practices of successful entrepreneurs. We have also listed the attitudes and habits of successful entrepreneurs. And finally we have listed the characteristics of businesses that will lead to success.
So be sure and pick up a copy of that on your way out.
We would like to turn to one other scripture story. The parable of the talents and how these rules of thumb would and see what we can learn about how to make money.
Again as in the story of the Good Samaritan, we have a person of some wealth who travels around the country with his servants, selling goods. So he is a merchant. He is engaged, is what we call in the Phillippines, Buy and Sell.
He calls on three men, who appear to be in the same business, because the scripture talks about him delivering goods to them. Perhaps the first man is a wholesaler and the other three are retailers. Anyway, not only does he deliver goods to them, he also makes an investment in each of them.
With the first, he invests five talents, the second two and the third, one. He decides how much he will invest with them based on their individual abilities and his confidence in them.
As the parable, develops we see both the first and second individual do what good merchants do. They seem to have engaged in buying and selling of merchandise. The scripture says they "traded with the same" and they made a profit. That is what good merchants do, or as we write about in the PAC 45 list. They buy low/sell high. They also turn their inventory and they have good mark ups, which is the difference between what they pay for the merchandise and what they sell it for.
The third individual, however, did not turn his inventory. In fact he really did a bad think.
We teach in the Academy with our PAC 45 list, that we should not "let our money sleep." He buried it.
We all know the end of the story. The merchant returned and those who had gained a profit, through following the proper laws, received a blessing, they prospered in the land. They became filled with joy, and they lived happily ever after. While the individual who let his money sleep did not practice good business principles, did not get the blessing. And not only did he not get a blessing, he got a punishment.
14. For the kingdom of heaven is as a man traveling into a far country, who called his own servants, and delivered unto them his goods.
15. And unto one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one; to every man according to his several ability; and straightway took his journey.
16. Then he that had received the five talents went and traded with the same, and made them other five talents.
17. And likewise he that had received two, he also gained other two.
18. But he that had received one went and digged in the earth, and hid his lord's money.
19. After a long time the lord of those servants cometh, and reckoneth with them.
20. And so he that had received five talents came and brought other five talents, saying, Lord, thou deliveredst unto me five talents: behold, I have gained beside them five talents more.
21. His lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of the lord.
22. He also that had received two talents came and said, Lord, thou deliveredst unto me two talents: behold, I have gained two other talents beside them.
23. His lord said unto him, Well done, good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of the lord.
24. Then he which had received the one talent came and said, Lord I knew thee that thou art an hard man, reaping where thou hast not sown, and gathering where thou hast not strawed:
25. And I was afraid, and went and hid thy talent in the earth: lo, there thou hast that is thine.
26. His lord answered and said unto him, Thou wicked and slothful servant, thou knewest that I reap where I sowed not, and gather where I have not strawed:
27. Thou oughtest therefore to have put my money to the exchangers, and then at my coming I should have received mine own with usury.
28. Take therefore the talent from him, and give it unto him which hath ten talents.
29. For unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance: but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath.
30. And cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Brothers and Sisters, I have enjoyed visiting with you today. I hope you do not feel my view of money is not too distorted. I hope you have enjoyed learning more about the important subject of money.
It is my hope and prayer that you will all become more self-reliant. That you will take this great chance for learning that you have here and do all that you can with it; that you may in turn help others to help themselves, is my hope and prayer and I offer these thoughts to you in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.