“You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.” – Jim Rohn
Who is inside your sphere of influence? Are you around people you want to be like? Or are you influenced by people you are trying not to be? Do you associate and surround yourself with entrepreneurs and successful business people, or doctors, scientists, or whatever career you would like to do? Or are all of your friends lazy, no self-esteem, not driven or motivated to lift themselves to be better?
There is no intention here to mock or put down your friends or family. But the people you surround yourself with do have a great influence on your way of thinking and acting. If all your associates are smokers chances are you will be a smoker as well. If all your associates are real estate investors, chances are you too will start to invest in real estate.
So, you may be asking yourself, “What if no one I know is successful? How do I associate with those people?” That is a great question!
My Rich Dad & Poor Dad
I’m sure you have heard of the book Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki. It is one of the most influential business books of all time. You can find it in my suggested reading list tab. In the book Mr Kiyosaki talks about his real Dad (the Poor Dad) and his best friend’s Dad (Rich Dad) and how each of them had a different way of thinking about the world and how money works.
I had the opportunity in my life to also have a “Rich Dad” but it wasn’t a friend’s Dad but was a close older friend or even mentor from Church who later became my boss as well. He was a very successful man but also very humble and kind. To this day I still work for his company. I had the opportunity to spend a lot of time with him serving in Church and talking with him about life and things he regretted and got to learn business things from him and to be generous with the blessings we receive
He was one of a small few I knew in my life at the time that were “Rich”. None of my friends or their families were wealthy. In fact most were just as poor if not poorer than I was
Grow Your Sphere of Influence
Around the end of 2016 (Oct-Dec) I discovered a website called BiggerPockets.com. It was my real starting point to real estate investing. A few months later, possibly February or March 2017 I began listening to their podcasts during the day while I worked. I went back to the beginning where they started and listened to all of them. Then along the way I discovered other finance podcasts such as MadFientist.com, and ChooseFI.com, BiggerPockets Money Show, and GetRichEducation.com. It became my obsession to listen to all of these podcasts and others, and I got through all of them. To this day I still listen to all of them on a weekly basis the day they come out. It is my normal routine. But more than just learning a lot of great information over time, more importantly the people on the podcasts became my sphere of influence. Along with the many books I was reading. I was surrounding myself with people who think like I think and who are more successful than I am. This motivated me to become better and to want to become like them. I started making changes in the way I thought and my investment decisions and spending habits. It was because of those podcasts, webinars, and books that I was motivated to take the plunge to find and purchase my first rental property
I want you to understand. It’s okay to have the friends you have and your family, you can’t really do much about family anyway. Of course if you actually have some bad influence, it may be a good idea to distance yourself from that. You don’t want to be getting involved with any illegal activity
But your current situation and surroundings does not mean you can’t have contact and make connections with other people you don’t currently know. By simply reading this post you are being influenced by my words. You may be increasing in Hope that there is a way out of your current situation. You can make positive changes in your life. I know you can. I did! And if I can do it, anybody can do it. My starting point was a negative net worth with around $50k in debt. I had lost hope and given up and just accepted my fate. Luckily for me I was able to find the people I did and be influenced by them to make great changes. Because of that, in less than five years after starting I will be reaching Financial Independence.
And that now puts me in a position to have a positive influence on others and to help them become better and then as they make life improvements, they will then also become the positive influence in the lives of those that surround them. And then it just continues on and on. We can make positive changes in the world, but we have to start with ourselves and then help others to do the same.
I am excited to say that my friends are mostly people I’ve never met or spoken with. Because of my Sphere I have been able to network with many of them and have real contact with some of them. Through fostering those relationships I am now partnering with one of them on a great deal that was brought to me because of other connections I made all because I started with wanting to change my path a couple years ago and getting over the fear to make it happen. Now people I know around me are seeing the things happening for me and want to learn more and I then get to feel great helping them and seeing improvements in their lives
Make positive changes to your daily routine. Find opportunities to learn and become the person you want to be. Surround your mindset with people you want to be like. Whether that be podcasts, radio shows, books, blogs, anything that can help you learn and become the person you were meant to be.