Are you "Penny Wise & Pound Foolish"? Do you even know what it means?

At issue is that our system of American capitalism teaches us to behave in that manner--it is the belief system that makes our "consumer" society possible. One needs look no further as a proof than someone who will shop around for the cheapest price on something that they really cannot afford in the first place--using credit to broker the deal. Add to that the whole Horatio Alger easy success paradigm, and you have the mix for economic slavery.

If you make a survey of the promotional content that many of the "Big Three" wealth creation systems (Investing/Trading, Real Estate, Internet Marketing) courses stress, you will find at the root a personal development component. Attitude, attitude, attitude. In order to truly succeed, one must have an attitude and approach epiphany.

At the core of this is how one thinks about their time and money. The typical consumer thinks in terms of spending--how much they have spent in terms of time or money. A true entrepreneur--and those who have accumulated real wealth--think in terms of how much time or money they have INVESTED. An investment means that a calculated return is anticipated--and is considered simply a cost of doing business. Those who try to run "spending" models of business either fail or perform on a mediocre level.

I opened my first real business 30 years ago--a television sales and service shop. My epiphany was understanding that EVERYTHING including my time was an investment--had to be tracked--and compensated before I could consider any part of the cash flow "profit". Many of my cohorts did not invest in equipment or serious advertising, and as a result fell by the wayside as technologies changed. Many small businesses simply do not understand that your compensation for time is not profit--profit only exists after you have paid yourself and your expenses.

Recently, I attended a Stephen Pierce intro seminar. The cost to buy in to training was $4000. My purpose was information gathering--but I saw many who shelled out the dollars in hopes of easy wealth. The honest truth is that what they might have acquired through this was not an investment--that the majority of them simply did not have the innate skills or mettle to stick through the time consuming and intensive process necessary to make IM into a real business.

For the past three weeks, I have been investing time and money--an average of 14 hours per day, seven days a week--into IM strategies. My experience coming to the table is as a web developer--now every aspect is examined through the lens of marketing for monetizing possibilities. Time is carefully tracked--and what I have invested must be paid back before the business can be considered profitable. Expenditure for tools and education are an investment as well--and must meet a positive cost benefit projection. One has to invest money to make money--but they must also understand the cost basis of return on investment.

There ain't no secret sauce--not at any price. Cutting corners means cutting potential profits. Failing to invest means failing to grow and remain current. This is no mystery. Penny wise and pound foolish? It means to stop thinking like a consumer and start thinking like an entrepreneur...