The next day he was extremely sore, but he insisted on “pushing through the pain.” He went in for another two hours…and ended up pulling his hamstring muscle. He was sidelined for a few weeks, and he never really gave the gym another try.

It was really too bad. He genuinely wanted to get in shape, but the immediate setback really dampened his enthusiasm.

A better approach is to take baby steps: crawl before you walk, and walk before you run. If you haven’t been to the gym in awhile, don’t try to push yourself too hard on the first day. Ease yourself into a routine; do a little bit each day. Over time, your body will get more used to the workout and you’ll be able to step things up a notch. This way, you’ll minimize the chance of injury and maximize your chances of success.

Of course, getting into a good workout rhythm is different from expanding your network and personal brand. These goals are even 

more long-term, and it’s important to constantly be taking little steps in the right direction.

Spend time with a different group of people: Once a month, try to make some new friends. Find people who are outside of your immediate social circle and call them up for lunch. The best part about this is you may even make some amazing relationships or business connections.

Try a different job function: Most people are very good (and are comfortable doing) one or two job functions. See if you can get an opportunity to try something new. For example, if you are an engineer, you might ask to go on a sales call to help explain the more technical aspects of your product. You’ll build confidence and you’ll develop some new skills along the way. As a bonus, your boss will probably like the extra initiative.

When in doubt, just ask yourself “what’s the worst that could happen?” You’ll be amazed at how a little perspective will help you feel more comfortable.

Stop procrastinating: There are two reasons we procrastinate – laziness and fear. Remember that if you are scared of something, putting it off isn’t going to solve the problem. In fact, the stress will only build up over time.

Instead, just do it! Tackle the tough stuff first and get it out of the way. This will relieve your mind of the stress of waiting for something bad to happen.

Over time, you’ll feel more and more confident, and can start taking larger steps. This positive loop will eventually produce big results.

Just remember, any step, no matter how small, is better than doing nothing at all.

Fast forward five years. We’re set in our ways. Somewhere along the journey, we stopped learning and growing.

How do you fight this complacency? Here’s one trick I use: every so often, take a moment to think about your “True Net Worth.”

Your True Net Worth is what you have left when you strip everything else away – all of your relationships, all of your money and assets. You’re back to ground zero. It’s hard to imagine, but when you take away all the fancy trappings, this is who you are as a person – personality, skills, and enthusiasm.

So how do we boost our True Net Worth? Here are a few ideas:

Become More Aware:

Even though the economy is sluggish, I truly believe that there are more opportunities available than ever before. The question is where to find them, and the only way to do this is by keeping your eyes open.

A couple of years back, one of my good friends got a call from his friends back home in Tennessee. They ran a rifle and ammunition business and were actively looking to expand. My friend saw an opportunity, and leveraged his skills in online marketing to generate more than $3 million in revenues in his first year. This never would have happened if he hadn’t put two and two together.

Develop New Skills:

This is a no-brainer, and there’s no shortage of new skills to develop. A good place to start is by figuring out your strengths, and understanding where you might be able to grow the quickest.

One of my favorite examples of this is Andrew Mason, the CEO and Founder of GroupOn. Andrew was a music major in college, and graduated without a job. He quickly realized that in order to make any real money, he needed to develop some skills, so he learnt how to program.

Later on, he used these skills to launch GroupOn, and started learning about how to manage and scale a growing business. These new skills have allowed him to be a successful CEO in a very competitive industry.

Cultivate Your Personal Brand:

It’s great to have skills, but they don’t mean much unless someone knows about them. If you are good at something, don’t be modest! Make sure that people know what you can do and how valuable it is. This sense of expertise is what’s going to command the big bucks.

An exceptional example is Ramit Sethi, at I Will Teach You To Be Rich. Ramit was only 22 years old when he started blogging, and he quickly got featured in the Wall Street Journal. This wasn’t easy; he pestered editors night and day to give him a featured spot, and they finally gave in.

But it was worth it. Afterwards, Ramit’s traffic hit an all-time high. Moreover, he was able to tell people (and clients) that his blog had been featured in this prestigious publication. His consulting and public speaking rates went up and he has never looked back.

How do you plan to boost your True Net Worth? Please share in the comments.

It’s great to meet people, especially successful ones who can help you. But meeting them isn’t enough…your goal should be to build a long-lasting relationship. That’s when you’ll really start getting some value out of your network.

Here are several things you can do to increase your chances of networking success:

Put yourself out there:

Lots of people go to events, but very few make the most out of it. After all, it’s not easy to just casually approach someone and ask for a business card.

Instead, try to engage people in a more detailed conversation. Explain to them what you do and make sure to listen to their story. This makes it much more likely that they will remember you in the future.

If there’s an awkward pause in the conversation, you can use it as an opportunity to get their contact information (a business card, e-mail address, or phone number)

Follow Up:

It never ceases to amaze me how many people collect business cards and then never send a follow-up e-mail. Ideally, you should follow-up with everyone within 24 hours. This maximizes the chances that they’ll remember who you are.

You don’t have to send out a long, detailed e-mail. Just a simple note will suffice. Recap the conversation and give them a few options for staying in touch. You should also include a “teaser” – some reason that they should respond other than to just hang out…which brings me to:

Demonstrating Value:

People are busy. They don’t want to meet up with just anyone. Therefore, you should put yourself in their shoes and figure out what you can do for them. Here are a few ways that you can demonstrate value to prospective contacts:

Introductions: Think about your own network. Is there anyone that could help your prospective contact? If so, offer an introduction. This immediately elevates your communication to a higher priority level.

Advice or Expertise: If you are an expert in a certain area, it’s helpful to let people know that. This way, they are more likely to see value in knowing you. Be willing to share some of your expertise to strengthen the relationship…but at the same time, don’t give away too much for free.

Once you have given people a reason to stay in touch, the next step is to build the relationship by…

Meeting Face-to-Face:

Pick a convenient location: Make sure that you meet someone that’s convenient for the other person. If you care about the relationship, then you want to make things as easy as possible.

Don’t Be Late: There’s nothing worse you can do than being late. It makes it seem like you aren’t taking the meeting (and therefore the relationship) seriously. Better to be insanely early than to even be a minute late.

Don’t Just Talk Business: It’s important to be interesting as a person. Make an effort to get to know the other person and see if you have any common interests. People tend to loosen up if they feel more comfortable around you. Body language is a great indicator of whether someone’s interested in what you have to say.

Offer to Pay: If you’re meeting for lunch or coffee, at least make an effort to pick up the bill. If they resist, tell them they can pay next time.

At the end of the day, the goal is to build a trusted business relationship…and ideally a friendship as well. Think about it: people are much more likely to help their friends out when they need it, so your goal should be to make as many friends as possible.

What techniques have helped you in networking? Please share in the comments.

Have you ever had one of those days where you just can’t seem to catch a break? Those days where you feel like you don’t have a purpose and that nothing really matters?

These are the days that can really hurt us. We might make a bad spending decision or say something inappropriate at work. The last thing we want is to damage our earning ability; this is only going to make things worse!

For me, the holiday season is a good time to reflect and figure out how I'm going to fight the downward spiral going forward. Here are four experiments I'm planning on trying next year.

Some people say that the goal should be to focus on positive thoughts. But that’s easier said than done; I don’t know about you, but positive thinking doesn’t come naturally to me when I’m feeling down. I started reading more about the issue and something interesting: it’s not about positive thinking, but instead about positive doing. Here are four ideas to help you turn things around.

Have Something to Look Forward To:

It is MUCH easier to get through the day when we have something to look forward to in the near future. Take a moment to think about the little things that are coming up – maybe a night out with your significant other, a friend’s birthday party, or a fun outing with your family.

What if nothing is coming up in your life? Well, then it’s time to change that! Figure out something that you want to do and make plans to do it. When I was younger, my father used to get energized by planning our family vacations. He worked hard in his day job and our vacations were only once a year, but just thinking about them made him happier and gave him much more energy.

Write About Your Loved Ones:

This is an interesting one. Researchers at the University of Arizona found a few volunteers that took time out of their day to write something about their loved ones. Immediately afterwards, they felt substantially uplifted. Once again, this experiment can make you feel like you have purpose, giving you an instant shot of self-esteem.

Do Something Nice For Someone Else:

Many people believe that we have evolved to be purely selfish creatures. Why should we go out of our way to do nice things for others without getting anything in return? But the research shows otherwise; volunteering time or money for the benefit of others makes us feel much better about ourselves. It gives us a greater sense of self-worth and boosts our confidence. I’m not saying to give away all of your time and money, but do what you can; a little goodness can go a long way.

Write Down Your Problems:

There was an interesting research study done a few years back. They did an experiment where people feeling down talked about their problems. Afterwards, the results showed that they didn’t feel any better. But when people wrote their problems down on people, they actually ended up in a much better mood. This is because writing things down helps put things in perspective. For some reason, your problems don’t seem as bad once you see them on paper.

Have a wonderful holiday season everyone! Here's to a happy new year!

Many people dismiss poker as a game of luck. Nothing could be further from the truth. Sure, on a given night some people will get luckier than others, but I have yet to meet the poker player who consistently beats the odds just by running well. Over the long run, just as in business, those who are skilled, focused, and knowledgeable will always beat those who are just lucky.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Making Decisions With Limited Information:

In poker, as in business, you always need adapt to the situation using the information you have. Poker is far from an exact science. Hundreds of books have been written on everything from playing styles to pot odds, but underneath all of these complexities lie two fundamental rules:

1. Stay in when you are ahead
2. Get out when you are way behind.

The secret to winning in both poker and business is find out where you stand as quickly as possible. You can never know for sure, but through disciplined evaluation you can be right more over than not. If you are winning, you should act to maximize your financial upside. On the other hand, if you are beaten, you should play in a way that minimizes your losses.

It is this second rule that separates good poker players from the rest. If you have a winning hand, it’s generally pretty easy to stay in the pot. Where most players tend to lose money is on the hands where they are badly beaten. They hope to “luck out,” but luck is not a sustainable long term strategy. If you are beaten, you’re beaten, and (most of the time) you are not going to catch up.

Business is no different. If a business venture is succeeding, it’s very easy to continue investing time and money – but when people start failing, they often keep throwing good money after bad in an attempt to salvage the situation. This can lead to a dangerous downward spiral. Instead, it’s important to fail fast – if something is not working, you should cut your losses and move on.

Why do we make these bad decisions? Most of the time, it’s because we don’t like to admit we were wrong. It’s never easy to say that we’ve made a mistake, but it’s the first step in getting us back on the right path.

The Importance of Giving Yourself “Outs”

One of the central ideas in poker is the concept of an “out.” Basically, an “out” is a card that will help you improve your hand…when you are currently losing. To win, you have to take some risks (like bluffing for example), and if you’re good, these risks will pay off over time. But sometimes, people will call your bluff, and this is when “giving yourself outs” can help you get lucky and stay in the game.

It’s the same in business – few ventures succeed without at least SOME risk. But in most cases, it’s usually a good idea to hedge your bets a little bit.

It’s not the most romantic idea in the world, but it works. Take Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook. People think he dropped out of college on a whim, but in reality he waited until he had funding from prominent investors. Moreover, he could have gone back to Harvard any time he wanted to if Facebook didn’t work out.

Zuckerberg was smart enough to start Facebook as an experiment and lucky enough to turn it into a home run. Of course, not everyone gets so lucky. One of my close friends also dropped out of Harvard for a year to start a company that went nowhere. Fortunately, he was able to go back to school, graduate with honors, and get a high-paying corporate job. Not a bad set of “outs” to have!

The Dangers of Going On Tilt:

It’s 3:00 AM in Las Vegas. Six weary poker players have grinding it out for several hours. A big hand starts developing as money goes into the pot really fast. Joe looks at his cards and pushes all of his chips in the middle. Another player calls his bet. The cards are turned over. Joe is ahead, but there are still two more cards to come…

Two minutes later, Joe angrily whips out another thousand dollars to buy more chips. “I can’t believe how badly I run,” he mutters. He’s desperate to recoup his losses.

The next hand begins. Joe doesn’t really have anything strong, but he’s still angry from before. He thinks he can bluff everyone out. After all, he deserves a lucky break after the last bad hand, right?

A few minutes later, Joe is down another thousand dollars.

What happened here? In poker, this is called “going on tilt.” You get unlucky, start feeling angry…and all of a sudden you’re making some very bad choices.

But “going on Tilt” isn’t just limited to poker. It happens all the time in our day to day lives. We have a bad day at work, and then get in a silly fight with our loved ones. We get stuck in traffic and end up getting in a shouting match with another driver. One bad result turns into another, and before we know it, we’re throwing away our valuable time and money.

Here are three ideas to prevent you from going “on tilt”

-   Talk to someone you trust and ask them to call you out the next time you’re making a bad choice. It’s a lot easier to turn things around when you hear the concern coming from someone you care about and trust.

-  Take a moment to reflect. It’s amazing how a little reflection can help put things in perspective. Think about the big picture.

-  Take a break. A lot of poker players will do this after a bad loss. Chances are that they’ll be angry, and they are aware of this. So they won’t even try to fight back immediately. Instead, they’ll regroup and wait until they’re ready to play well again.

Are you a poker player? Have you seen any similarities in business?

There are two types of people in the business world: Pirates and Architects.

Architects add value to the world. They design valuable stuff. They create great businesses and build great teams. And they make lots of money.

The ultimate architect is Steve Jobs. He started Apple when he was just a kid, and took it from two kids in a garage to a multimillion dollar computer company. Then, he moved onto Pixar, creating animated movies that made millions of families happy and generated billions of dollars for shareholders. And in the last ten years, he has returned to Apple to execute one of the most amazing turnarounds in business history.

On the other hand, pirates aren’t as interested in making positive difference. Instead, they focus on capturing value for themselves. It sounds selfish, and it is, but here’s the thing: it works.

In the 1980s, a young pirate named Ron Perelman saw an opportunity to take over Revlon, the major cosmetics company. Perelman knew nothing about makeup, but he understood finance, and figured he could make a quick buck by buying the company, making some quick operational changes, and taking the company public.

With the help of his friend Michael Milken, Perelman successfully bought out Revlon. A few years later, he had personally made billions of dollars, making him the richest man in the world at the time.

This works on a smaller scale as well. I was recently talking to an entrepreneur who had personally made tens of millions of dollars investing in foreclosed homes. He was successful because he negotiated lucrative deals with desperate families, taking advantage of their tough financial situation to profit for himself.

I’m not saying that this is right or wrong. It’s simply a choice. Nevertheless, it amazes me that people can make so much money while contributing so little. Perelman was not a brilliant innovator, or even a world-class manager. He was simply an opportunistic businessman who knew how to play his cards right.

Even today, Perelman is more than twice as rich as Steve Jobs.

It got me thinking. For awhile, I believed that people who made the biggest contributions would be rewarded the most. Clearly, I was wrong.

So what actually matters? What is the secret sauce that made some of these pirates so successful?

As I read more about Perelman, I learnt a few interesting things about him…and about pirates in general.

First of all, pirates are amazing negotiators. They understand how to put themselves in the shoes of the other party. They have a deep understanding of any situation, and are constantly thinking about how they can turn it to their advantage.

Secondly, pirates are very impatient. This may seem like a weakness, but it’s actually an unusual strength. By being impatient, pirates are constantly motivated to maximize results.

Finally, pirates are extremely focused on making money. They view changing the world as a distraction, a side effect at best. It sounds cynical, and it is, but it’s this focus that allows them to beat out the competition.

It all depends on your goals. If money is really important to you, then being a pirate is the way to go. Find opportunities and squeeze the value from them. You will do well if you do it right, and honestly, it’s probably the easier road to wealth.

But if your goal is to make an impact, then consider being an architect. This is the only way to make the world a better place. It’s a tough path, but with hard work and a little luck, you can certainly be successful and significant at the same time.

Which are you, a pirate or an architect, and why?

When I was in college, I had one goal: make a lot of money. Then, after I was rich, I could do what I really wanted to do.

Throughout high school and college, I kept asking myself that question: what is my reason for being here…and I could never come up with a definite answer. I was interested in many things: personal finance, entrepreneurship, education, and music.  How was I supposed to find out my primary passion when I had so many different interests?

I started to think differently after reading “The Monk and the Riddle” by Randy Komisar. Randy believes that focusing on just one passion will actually polarize you. You’ll be forced to give up things you genuinely enjoy. The result: lower happiness and decreased productivity.

This made a lot of sense to me. I realized that part of my frustration was that I was afraid to give up interests. Lots of people say that you’ll never be great at something unless you focus on it one hundred percent. Randy challenges this assumption and instead advocates focusing on a portfolio of passions. Find several things that you enjoy and work towards achieving goals in all of them. Our purpose on earth isn’t just to do one thing; there is plenty of time to pursue meaningful opportunities in different areas.

So how do we prioritize? How can we identify a group of activities that makes us happy while still providing us with a good income?

The answer came to me while I was reading Good to Great, the business classic by Jim Collins. Collins talks about a fascinating idea called “The HedgeHog Concept.” The basic idea is to figure out a company’s future strategy by analyzing the intersection of the following three things.

1. What are your strengths? What are the things that you’re really good at, and with practice can become even better?
2. What are you passionate about? What are the things that you really enjoy doing?
3. What is your economic engine? Simply put: how are you going to make money?

While Collins’ book focuses on large organizations, I realized that the hedgehog concept can also be applied to individuals. Looking at the intersection of these three areas can help you define career and life goals, setting you on the path towards earning more money.

Figuring out your strengths

I’m a big believer in playing to your strengths, but it’s not always easy to figure what they are. In general, people aren’t good at self-evaluation – we think we’re good at the stuff we WANT to be good at, not the stuff we’re actually good at.

The best way to figure out your strengths is testing. Don’t just assume that you are good at something. For example, I used to think I was good at memorizing facts. It took a couple of bad grades in my college history classes to teach me that I wasn’t actually that good.

Understanding your passions

When Thomas Stanley was researching his bestselling book, The Millionaire Mind, he found that 80% of millionaires believe that their success is at least partly due to pursuing their passions. Money and security are motivators, but they’ll only get you so far. People who are passionate will go above and beyond to find success.

Conceptualizing your economic engine

This is simple: how are you going to earn money doing what you do? There is no shortage of ways to make money. If you are more entrepreneurial, you can create and market a new product or service. The world today encourages new and unique business models.

For example, there are more than half a million people in the U.S. who make a living blogging. Many people have leveraged the power of the internet to develop personal brands in niches. With tools like Facebook and LinkedIn, it is easier to get in touch with the right people to grow your business.

But entrepreneurship isn’t the only way to make money. There are plenty of organizations – companies, universities, nonprofits – that need diverse talents. Don’t be afraid to create your own opportunities – do some research and reach out to the organizations where you can really make an impact.

No matter who you are or where you want to be, you CAN figure out a way to make money.

What do you love, and how are you going to get paid for it?

In any service business, the most important thing is to segment your clients into two broad groups: those that are making you the most money, and those that are not.

It’s an application of the Pareto Principle. Eighty percent of your revenues often come from the top twenty percent of clients – the key is to a) identify the top twenty percent and b) invest as much as you can into those relationships. Sure, you might miss a few smaller opportunities, but you’ll save an enormous amount of time and energy.

The Senior Vice President I worked for broke his clients down into three specific categories. For each category, he outlined roughly how much money he’d make per year, and specific things he would do to keep up the relationship with each group. Here’s an excerpt:

There are a few non-obvious things going on here:

First of all, the Vice President is willing to provide lesser service to lower-value clients. This is because he knows the value of his time and resources, and understands that these clients aren’t profitable unless he spends minimal time maintaining them. This allows him to free up more time on retaining the affluent and high-net-worth client base. He’s not afraid to lose a few lower-tier clients if it helps him keep the real source of profits.

That being said, the Vice President knows that there are certain minimums required to keep any client happy. For the lower tiers, an annual call and a birthday card is better service than they will receive elsewhere. This way, he can maintain a few thousand dollars in annual revenue with a few hours of his time and the cost of mailing out a card.

This is just a general guide. The Vice President doesn’t stick to this rigidly. Instead, he evaluates each situation on a case-by-case basis and makes adjustments accordingly. But it gives him a great default position and helps him manage his time more effectively.

A Final Note: The art of segmentation isn’t just important in business. We are constantly meeting new people; if we tried to keep in touch with every single one, we’d never get anything done. Instead, segment your contacts into groups. Personally, I segment people into three categories:

Business Contacts: these are the people who can help me in my business endeavors. I tend to make responding to these contacts my top priority. Most business is time-sensitive, and being timely cultivates a very positive image.

Close personal friends/family: I will always make time for these people, but I usually can delay my responses a little bit if I am on overload. I will also make sure to reach out to these people from time to time in order to keep the relationship strong.

Everyone Else: This is the segment that most people fall into, and they are also the last priority. If I get to them, great, but it won’t be at the expense of my more important relationships.

This segmentation helps me focus on building and strengthening the relationships that matter most to me, while still leaving me enough time to be productive in other areas.

Have you ever used segmentation to help you grow your profitability? Did it work?

Several decades ago, a dog food company held an internal sales conference. First, the advertising director presented an exciting new media campaign. Then, the director of marketing explained his new go-to-customer strategy that would “change the industry.” Finally, the sales director got up and excitedly talked about how their sales team was the best in the business.

The President listened patiently through all of these presentations. At the end, he got up and said. “Look, I only have one question. If everything we do is so great – our sales, marketing, advertising – then why do we sell less dog food than everyone else in the industry?”

The room went silent. No one knew what to say. Finally, someone offered a thought: Maybe it’s because the dogs HATE our product.

The point of the story is that it’s important to focus on the real problems. We often get distracted by stuff that doesn’t really matter. In this case, the company had been focusing on sales, marketing, and advertising. While those are important areas, they should have spent more of their time discovering, defining, and addressing the real problem: a lousy product.

So how do you solve a real problem? How do you create a product that people actually want to buy?

It’s a good question. There’s no secret sauce or magic recipe that guarantees success. But there is one concept that will 100% steer you in the right direction.

It’s simple: make something you’d buy yourself

Sounds obvious? It is! And it makes sense: if you are looking for something to buy, chances are there are others who want to buy it as well.

If you are creating dog food, take a moment to think about whether your dog would actually eat it. If not, you should rework your product. End of story.

This applies to any product. Whenever you create something new, ask yourself one question:

“Would you (or someone who know) actually use this?”

If the answer is no, then think about what you can do differently to turn that “no” into a “yes.”

Be honest with yourself. After all, you don’t want to waste your time and money on something that is doomed to fail.

Over the last few months, I’ve actually been hard at work at developing/expanding some of my own products. I’m not quite ready to share all the details, but needless to say, I’ve been doing a ton of research on what it takes to create a kicka$$ product that will make me lots of money. Here are some of the best writeups I’ve stumbled on:

The No Fail Approach To Product Creation. Pat Flynn over at Smart Passive Income always an amazing job, and this post is no exception. Pat lives by a simple rule – don't create anything you wouldn't use yourself – and it has served him well.

7 Things You Must To Do Make Your Product Launch Easier – Dave Navarro at the Launch Coach has a whole ton of articles on how to conceptualize and market an outstanding product. This is easily one of the best, definitely a must-read.

Don't Just Roll The Dice: This is actually a free e-book about how to set the right price for your product. Very well written, and a good read for anyone who wants to launch something new.

What are some products that you think would solve a real problem?

Several years ago, a former government employee named Alfred Villalobos quietly left his job to start up a new company called Arvco Financial Ventures. This new business focused on helping large investment funds (such as private equity groups and hedge funds) to raise money from Villalobos’ former employer, the CalPERS pension fund for California State Employees.

A few years later, news broke that Villalobos and his new company had collected more than $58 million in fees.

People were shocked. How could a former government employee be making so much so quickly?

The truth is that it actually made a lot of sense. The CalPERS fund managed more than $200 billion, and Villalobos was strongly connected to the CalPERS board of trustees. When a private equity fund wanted to raise money, Villalobos could pull the right strings…

…for the right price, of course.

Today, the California State Government is actively reviewing this process. However, similar deals have been going on for years. These fundraisers, known as “placement agents,” have been skimming money off the top for decades.

But surely these “placement agents” are doing something right? After all, they must be reviewing the funds to select only the best ones for the shareholders.

Sadly, this is not the case. Placement agents want to see the deal go through…at any cost. They get paid upfront, so they have no incentive to see the fund get returns for the shareholders.

In short, Alfred Villalobos gets to keep his $58 million whether or not CalPERS makes any money.

The amazing thing is that this is only the tip of the iceberg. Take a look at this diagram, which shows how many fees and payments are collected before investors make any money:

Remember that most of these fees are collected regardless of performance. Pension fund managers get paid high annual salaries and bonuses. Private equity investors collect millions of dollars in management fees. Corporate executives get hefty stock option and cash compensation as well.

Now we have two choices. We can sit and complain about it, and hope that someone does something to fix the problem, or…

We can take control of the situation and focus on earning more money so we don’t have to worry about this ever affecting us.

The second choice is definitely the harder path. It takes a lot of work, and a little bit of luck as well. But stories like this are a good way of reminding us that the only way to guarantee financial security is to build it for ourselves.

Happy Halloween everyone!