Success Strategies For Successful People

My best friend of nine years has stumbled upon a principle for wealth and emotional prosperity that I have implemented in my life and have noticed tremendous results. I wanted to share his experience with you so that you could benefit from the methods that he and I have put into practice in our own lives. I ask that you to read with an open mind and to see my notes at the bottom of the post.

“God has been really blessing me like crazy this week since I decided to act on His principle of First Fruit.  If you have no idea what I am talking about.  Here’s a brief testimony.

Since May I have been driving a Taxi to make ends meet.  Well it was not working for me and many of my bills were not getting paid.  I was faithful with my tithe and most of the time to giving an extra offering that I believe God directed me to give.

At the end of last year I said to God, “Lord next year cannot be like this one, I need You to show me how to get out of this financial mess.”

In January of 2007 I went to a Conference that Dr. Trimm had and she prophesied to me saying, “God calls you Gideon, His said that you will do tremendous things with very little.” I had just come back to Bermuda from Georgia after the football team had failed when God told me to sow a seed of $1000.00 into her ministry.  So in May of 2007 I sent her $1000.00, and left it in the ground, and didn’t think anything else about it.

In October of 2007 I was sitting in a friend of mine’s opening service and he was preaching on Psalm 23.  “The Lord is My Shepherd I Shall Not Want,” was the title of his message.  All while he was preaching God was saying to me, “Every month sow 1 tenth of 1% of what you want your monthly income to be.”  So for the remainder of 2007 and well into 2008 I was faithful to His direction but my financial breakthrough seemed to be on hold. Though I was driving taxi and working crazy hours I was not making enough money to make ends meet but God was continuing to reveal to me His First Fruits principle, which is, “Honor God first with everything that you have and then He will bless everything that follows in that area.”

Then at the end of December 2008 Mini Max Forwarders called me to offer me a position because their Ocean Freight Manager was going on vacation for a month and they needed someone to do his work.  After about 3 or 4 days I realized, ‘This is my First Fruit.’  I began to work there for one month giving my entire paycheck for my first two weeks of work.

Remember that I had a need and my bills were behind.  But I believed God had given me an instruction and so I followed what He said.  I figured either His system worked or it didn’t, for me there was no other alternative.

Four days before my job with Mini Max Forwarders was ending I received a phone call from a man who was kind of frantic.  He needed somebody to oversee his company and he needed he or she now. A couple of days later I met with him and he offered me the job even though the company, which is worldwide, is on a hiring freeze! This opportunity also gives me a chance to live in the United States something that I have been dreaming of for a long time and will be paying me thousands more than what I was originally making. However, I still had two weeks until I began working with this company and I needed to do something to generate revenue in the meantime.

A friend of mine was going out of the country and wanted me to tag along so they bought me a plane ticket for the last week before I begin my new job. Then I said to God, “I need something to do next week before I go out of the country.”  Then I thought maybe I’ll just drive Taxi for the week. UGH!!! The next day a shipping company that I worked for previously called me and said, “Would you be able to come in on Monday.  We need some help.” I was blown away.

2 days later my phone rings and Mini Max wants to talk with me about setting up and managing their warehouse that they are still in the planning stages for. God has proven my word from Dr. Trimm and has allowed me to accomplish much with very little, just like Gideon and his army of 300. God’s system of first fruit works. When you place Him first in an area of your life He will bless it because in essence you are giving Him control over that area.”

Note from Me: I completely agree with Dwayne, who has been my best friend for the last nine years, about the power of first fruit. God did not tell me to give my first two week paycheck but He showed me that I should put Him first in other ways, such as praying before I begin my day, asking for His guidance before I write a blog and setting aside my tithe first out of all of my paychecks.

God will reveal what He wants you to do but I did want to share this principle with you because of its tremendous impact on Dwayne and I life. The Bible says, “Seek ye first the Kingdom of God [which is God’s way of doing things] and all of these things [i.e. material things, relationships, health, peace] will be added unto you.”

I came to a startling realization last night while alone in my thoughts that I was dragging some of my old issues of past relationships into the present. About 6 years ago I was so broke that I could not afford to pay attention when I started talking to this girl. We hung out and everything was cool but I was starting to get attached. Not long after our developing relationship did she make mention about how her old boyfriend drove a BMW, had his own business and was pretty successful.

At the time though I had big dreams I was far from an image of success. I drove a rusted out minivan and had zero furniture save a borrowed air mattress and an ironing board. Well, later that week she and I were supposed to hang out when she called to cancel saying that she was tired and had an early morning, which again was fine though I wanted to hang out.

So the next day came and went and when I finally told to ol girl she was very different. Turns out her ex-boyfriend, Mr. Successful, had come into town, showed up on her doorstep and they talked the night away trying to make things work out. Translation to a then broken heart: if I was more successful then she would have stayed with me. I also concluded that when a girl does not answer your phone call or is socially distant then the relationship is headed for a downward spiral.

As many of you know I am dating the reigning Miss Georgia 09’, Chasity Hardman and followed my Twitter updates while I was out in Vegas for the Miss America pageant. Well, while I was out there I had severe mixed emotions that I could not shake but nor could I understand why. Now that I am equipped with this revelation I see what my internal programming was if she won Miss America then that would be the end of us because, as in the case with Mr. Successful, I could not compete with that level of success. And to further exacerbate the situation she did not call me on several of the nights and when she did call we maybe talked for about 3 minutes…literally.

I am ashamed to say this but I was a wreck…emotionally drained. By cheering her on I really felt like I was losing the love of my life. I knew that I wanted her to win because it would open so many doors of opportunity for her and I knew that she could win but at the same time I was hurting. I had no way of knowing at the time that the reason why she did not call is because she was running from 5:45 a.m. to about midnight every night going to appearances and competing but my only thought was she is leaving me just like ol’ girl.

So often we penalize the person to whom we are dating or are married to because of things that individuals have done to us in our past. Emotionally, we have got to realize that the person we are with are different and then act differently towards them even if they do the same things. Its not Chasity’s fault that I made a poor relationship choice prior to her but if I didn’t choose to change I would penalize her for it. And that’s not fair.

You may have been cheated on by your ex and now you feel like you have to keep tabs on your boyfriend
or girlfriend in order to make sure that you know where they are at all times. Your thought process is, “I will never be cheated on again,” however, you hold yourself in bondage when you attempt to control someone else. Act against your instinct. Let, them go have fun with the boys, don’t expect them to always call and tell you where they are, and don’t make them ditch all of their opposing gender friends just because you are in their life. Think logically, if they wanted to date those friends instead of you then they would be with them and not you.

Just relax and have fun. Will people hurt you? Absolutely. Will everyone hurt you? Absolutely not. What you think about you bring about is something that my mother always used to say. When you control people because you don’t want them to hurt you what you are thinking about is people hurting you, therefore you will attract people who hurt you. When you don’t attempt to control individuals then you are saying, “I trust you not to hurt me,” and by default you will begin to attract people into your life who will love and support you. I understand the pain of emotional change but I also understand that the pain of staying the same is far greater. Decide to change and you will be changed. Choose to be out with the old and get in with the new.

While I was exploring the field of financial advising, my mentor told me [concerning the industry of financial services] that in the beginning you are going to do more than you get paid for but if you hang in there long enough then eventually you are going to get paid for more than what you do.

With this thought in mind I want to draw your attention to the fact that no one makes $100,000 per year unless they work in the mint. The only way to get paid $100,000, $50,000 or $1,000,000 per year is to earn it. How do you earn that type of money? By offering a service.

Managers get paid more than employees because they serve more people. If you are a motivational speaker you will get paid more when you speak to more people. If you are a sales person you will get paid more when you sell to more people. [On the darker side of things] Even if you are a bank robber, the more banks you rob the more money you will make because you have served more companies. (Its slightly morbid I know.)

Here is my point in your profession, concentrate on how you can serve more people not how you can increase your salary. When you serve more, you will earn more. Just as the farmer who sows more seed will reap a greater harvest, so you will reap a greater financial harvest by sowing more seeds of service.

As you serve don’t worry about the financial rewards that you are receiving because those rarely show up at first. Focus only on giving value and then you will be rewarded with value. And remember the sound advice of the financial planner: In the beginning you will get paid less for the work that you do but in the end if you do not quit you will get paid more than your efforts.

Victory comes when you can press past your fatigue. The real work does not begin until you no longer feel like putting in the time, or putting forth the energy. Your competitors give up when they are tired but you cannot. Henry Ford said, “There is no man who is not able to do more than he thinks he can.” Know your limits and then deliberately set out to break those limits. Refuse to quit until you have achieved your goal.

In 1986, a group of researchers published a study of Japanese mothers and mothers in Minneapolis. The mothers were asked to rank the most important things that a child needs to succeed academically. The answers tell a lot about the difference in our two cultures today. The mothers in Minneapolis chose “ability.” The mothers in Japan said “effort.” ~ Richard H. Finan, State Senator from Ohio.

“The female steamer duck can fly, but only about 1/4 of the males are able, and only before they eat! The rest are too heavy to get airborne. They use their wings as paddles and beat furiously across the surface of the water, never quite able to break into flight.” ~ Source Unknown.

“Chance is a word devoid of sense, nothing can exist without a cause.” -Voltaire

“All the so-called “secrets of success” will not work unless you do.”  ~Author Unknown

“You cannot plough a field by turning it over in your mind.”  ~Author Unknown

“Much good work is lost for the lack of a little more.”  ~Edward H. Harriman

“God gives every bird its food, but He does not throw it into its nest.”  ~J.G. Holland

“The one thing that matters is the effort.  It continues, whereas the end to be attained is but an illusion of the climber, as he fares on and on from crest to crest; and once the goal is reached it has no meaning.”  ~ Antoine de Saint-Exupry, The Wisdom of the Sands, translated from French by Stuart Gilbert

“I’m a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work the more I have of it.”  ~Thomas Jefferson