Moving Two New Blogs: Your Inner Expert and The Building Wealth Blog

I now have two different blogs that I attend to.  There will no longer be new posts put up here at The Wealth Manifesto blog.  The other two blogs are found at

Your Inner Expert - deals with the philosophical side of wealth and the personal mastery required to become wealthy.  I spend a lot time here helping readers to understand and identify what I have come to call Your Inner Expert, that resource each of us can bring to the party to create value and get what we want out of life (basically the same concept as Wealth Potential which I have talked about in this blog).

The Building Wealth Blog - discusses how to transform Your Inner Expert into income streams through businesses and investing.  This site in general is going to have a huge amount of resources to help with that purpos.

Your Inner Expert

Titles are something I really pay attention to.  Not ‘Vice President’ or ‘Chief Uselessness Officer’ … not those kind.  Title of books, of blogs, of Mice and Men.  I have been bouncing around with what to call this blog. Part of the reason for that it that it’s purpose is changing … moving away from specifically blogging about The Wealth Manifesto and moving on to bigger things.

Just to let you know, this blog is going to be moved as I get set up to explode into the wealth building consciousness of the Internet (LOL … yes it WILL happen .. not quite tomorrow).  It’s going over to www.markrafter.com/blog so this is a heads up to look there if this is nothing at the current URL one of these days real soon.

My expertise is gradually starting to gel as I work with more people as a coach and I find out what they need most and where they are getting the most value from working with me.  I’ve oriented my main speaking program around the same area as it is REALLY resonating with entrepreneurs and small business owners:

How to identify, maxmize and monetize your inner expert…

In short, I’m an expert on helping people becoming experts (mostly at being themselves as it turns out).  The whole point of doing this - in my way of looking at things - is to become wealthy.  So, this blog is will start to focus more on my views on the philosophy of wealth and abundance and how to get whatever you want out of life using your strenghts and passions (that’s the foundation of your Inner Expert).  Here I’ll talk mostly about the Identify and Maximize parts … that more the “people” part of the system.

The monetization part … how to build financial wealth is going to be at my new blog over on Integrated Wealth Resources.  This is where we apply your expertise to the very real world of markets and money.

That is going to turn into a WHOLE ‘nother thing … starting real soon … so stay tuned

Article 10: Money is Potential Energy

You don’t want money.  I don’t want money.  WE don’t want money.

About now, you may be asking, “Who is this clown?”  OF COURSE WE WANT MONEY.

Nope…we want what money gets us.  Whether it is the Hawaiian vacation (that I just returned from), the new leaf blower (sounds like work, eh?) or peace of mind (now we’re talking!), we want what money gets us.

Money is a useful tool, a medium of exchange, a currency (we’ll get back to that in a minute) agreed to be “legal tender for all debts, public and private.”  It keeps us from having to barter dry cleaning services for apples or trading a 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle rookie card for a car.  It also provides us with a way to energize and contribute to causes we believe in and want to support.

In this sense, money is a form of energy … it can make things happen, in your life and the lives of others.  This gets right back to some of the fundamental laws of building wealth that I teach in my speaking and training programs: what goes around comes around.  Once you have your basic survival needs (food, shelter, security) met, you should be doing two other things with your money:  giving it away and investing it.

You can start to understand the true nature of abundance when you examine the the word affluence.  It comes from the Latin affluere which means to flow to.  This is what needs to happen with not only your money but the rest of the wealth and abundance in your life, including all of the talents, passion and expertise that anyone can bring to the market to make all the difference - and all the money - in the world.

Building wealth involves all dimensions of our life that are important to us.  And this definitely includes money … if for no other reason than for all the good it can do in helping you towards contentment and purpose in your life.

Article 8: Competencies are the Building Blocks of Wealth

Competencies, capacities, strengths …. all are talking about the same thing: what can you do?

Competencies are a major component of our Wealth Potential and include the combination of talents, skills, knowledge, experiences, contacts and many more resources that are an integral part of who we are. It is a part of the Unique Value Proposition that each of us can contribute in exchange for what we want, specifically, wealth in whatever dimension we desire.

If you are employed, your employer expects that you will contribute value to the company’s objectives above and beyond what they are paying you. If you buy a service - cell phones, yard maintenance, business coaching … whatever - you expect a certain value in return for the money you pay.

If you help your neighbor rebuild his deck, you have a reasonable expectation that he will return the favor. This is not necessarily WHY you help him in the first place as giving of yourself has it’s own rewards beyond an in-kind exchange. Realistically though, you would feel as though the balance sheet was a bit awry if when it came time to rebuild your deck, The Neighbor was ‘tied-up’ for three weekends in a row.

Identifying and deploying your competencies builds on the foundation of values I discussed in an earlier post. It is an integral part of The Wealth Manifesto system and something everyone can do … everyone can create value.

This is part of the path to wealth.

Article 7: Values are the Foundation of Wealth

When you find something to be valuable, it is a reflection of your values. All of those things which you find valuable in your life form your system of values.

It is this collection of values, most of them reflecting our beliefs and those we grew up with, that we use to make decisions everyday about the tradeoffs in our lives. More work vs. less time with the kids, more exercise vs. less dessert, being honest vs. lying to get what you want etc. This is one function of our system of values. You will make choices between these kinds of things based on what is most important to you at a given time in your life. Read more

The (Same Old) Moses Code

I watched this last night at a local meetup group I am a part of. It’s called “Living The Secret.” We talk about “metaphysics type stuff.”

The Moses Code was released in a similar way as The Secret with a movie tied to a book of the same name. The format of the movie is similar as well wherein you are presented with long lost and/or overlooked profound truths that have been discovered by someone. The discoverer in this case is Moses Code author James Twyman and, it appears author Neale Donald Walsch who figured out there should have been a comma in the key phrase around which the book/movie is built (more on that in a minute).

Much of this ado centers around Moses’ conversation with God when he was in front of the Burning Bush “that was not consumed by the fire.” When challenged by Moses as to His identity, God (sort of) tells Moses “I am that I am.”

This, as it turns out, is a big deal.

The movie then turns to explaining the omnipresence of God through this statement, which as ND Walsch points out, really should be interpreted as ‘I Am That (COMMA) I Am’ in a sort of ‘Aw shucks’ way of God saying, “I am everything (that’s the omnipresence talking), you know? Really, I AM.”

The entire balance of the movie is built around how we implement this “code of creation” in our lives and make this concept work for us. Coincidentally enough, this process includes:

Giving, Oneness and Destiny. Yes, I know you see it too: that spells GOD.

Dont get me wrong, I agree with the fundamentals behind this movie/book. I think anything that gets these ideas in front of more people is a good thing. What I object to is people stretching a thin idea (and the facts) into a revelation in the guise of a marketing platform. That they are taking this a different direction than The Secret and pointing out that what you want needs to go beyond new bicycles and jewelery is fantastic…a far more soulful approach (which of course if reflected in my book as well). I think The Secret was much more a statement to crass consumerism in that sense.

First of all, none of this at the fundamentals level is really new. Giving, the principle of reciprocity, creating value for others is found all through my book (The Wealth Manifesto). Oneness is exactly what the concept of the superconscious mind is based upon (Chapter 6 of The Wealth Manifesto). Destiny (purpose, meaning in your life) is covered in Chapter 5. All of this is tied together nicely in Chapter 14, without my having to manufacture significance using a story out of the Bible.

At the Burning Bush, God did not literally say, ‘I am that I am’ so there would be no need for the profound observation that the comma was missing and God was really telling Moses that they (God, Moses, and everything else) were one and the same thing. God, according to the Bible identified Himself as Yahweh. Yahweh comes from the Hebrew word “Hayah”, meaning “he who is, or I am that I am”. Oh … there is that phrase again! But wait, if you think for a second of all the translations, interpretations, biases, editing and such that the Bible has gone through, how can you base your whole concept on supposedly missing punctuation in the ENGLISH version of something that happened 3200 years ago?

I suppose maybe it was too much of a stretch to come up with things like Giving, Oneness and Destiny that spelled out ‘YAHWEH .’ OK, I feel like I am ranting…we’re done here. More power to Mr. Twyman and friends for getting the message out there…I wish them great success because indeed, much learning is done by storytelling.

And by telling jokes … reminds me of that classic where a Buddhist monk walks up to a hot dog vendor and says, “Make me one with everything.”

Oneness indeed.

The Dimensions of Wealth

In the last post, I talked about wealth having many dimensions and not being confined to the financial domain. Somehow the idea of wellbeing was hijacked a few centuries ago and the ‘wealth=money’ idea entered into popular thinking. I see this changing. I started in on the idea of wealth beyond money going on 3 years ago. I just saw an interview in Inc. magazine with Bill Zanker, one of the guys that founded the Learning Annex. They were talking about real estate and how with the market downturn the attendance at the Learning Annex seminars for real estate investing was waning. The interviewer asked him what was next (or something to that effect) and Zanker said they were putting together something “…called ‘How to Attract Wealth’ - It’s different from getting rich. It’s a different mindset.”

There a bit of jumping on the bandwagon here with the popularity of things like the Law of Attraction and other new thinking beliefs such as was seen in The Secret. That’s fine … anything that gets more people thinking outside the religion-specific Dogma Box is OK by me.

Back to wealth. OK, so there are many dimension…what the hell does that mean. The different dimensions of wealth are identified by our system of values. This is how we identify and include what is important in our lives as well as how we prioritize and make decisions (often in the form of some kind of tradeoff). What specifically are those dimensions? They can be very high level: financial (yes, it’s still very much in there), physical (fitness and health), relationships, spiritual etc are all aspects of our wellbeing. If you want to go down another level, you can start talking about things you want to do or learn about but dont take the time (e.g., musical or artistic wellbeing). It can be specific relationships: with your kids, spouse, or parents. Your relationship with God is apart of your spiritual wealth.

Wealth covers everything about our lives. This is the first thing we have to understand before we can keep the dialog going. And I could talk about it all day long ….
Let Bill Zanker know I’m ready.

Article 1: Wealth is the Quality of Your Life

That title sounds like a quote or something, doesn’t it? It’s supposed to: it is the 1st Article of The Wealth Manifesto: Transforming Your Life from Survive to Thrive, my upcoming book on creating Quality of Life based income. Let me start with a simple question:

Are you wealthy? Well, are you?

Before reading any further, think for a minute about what “being wealthy” means to you. Close your eyes and imagine that fabulous wealth is yours. Where are you standing? What are you doing? What’s going on around you? Who you are with? What is your state of mind?

Done? When imagining wealth, you may picture yourself on a yacht in the South Pacific, throwing a big party in your Park Avenue penthouse at Christmas time or golfing at St. Andrews in Scotland. Others imagine thrilling lives filled with momentous events such as climbing Mt. Everest, ringing the bell at the New York Stock Exchange or traveling into space. The vision is frequently accompanied by a substantial sum of money in the bank.

Whatever you might imagine, one thing is clear: while wealth includes money, it also involves great people and places, peak experiences and the time, freedom and health to enjoy them.

With that in mind, please take another moment to really imagine what wealth is to you. Finished? Good.

I want you to know that just by doing this simple exercise - by visualizing what you really want in life - you have already initiated the chain of events necessary to achieve wealth. Visualization is a part of intention, the first step in manifesting wealth and the beginning of your Wealth Manifesto.