Before You Make Any Money...

You need to get your head in the right place.

My name is Imran and I thought I'd write this short piece (which will inevitably end up being quite a long piece) to address something quite important about becoming successful in business (offline or online), something not too many entrepreneurs or "gurus" share.

It's about Mindset.

So why am I writing this? I've gone through about $50,000 worth of self development courses and seminars over the last 2 years and I wanted to do a braindump of the most powerful stuff so that anyone who reads this might be able to get at least one idea that will help them succeed. I don't know you, but I hope that something I say here today helps you out.

Before I start let me do the customary sharing of my story, because to understand where you're going, you need to understand where you came from and also you're probably wondering who the hell is this guy and why should I waste my time reading his ramblings...

I hate to disappoint you from the get go and admit that I don't have a rags to riches story like most of the slick sales guys and marketers online. I was born and raised in the slums of East London, UK. I did grow up in one of the poorest parts of the UK, a borough called Tower Hamlets.

But we weren't poor. My family always had just enough - after bills, food, clothes and school supplies, we always had just enough to make it through the month. We didn't have nice things, new toys, expensive sneakers, holidays or anything like that but we were comfortable and it was good.

As the youngest child I tended to get the pass me downs from my older brother - until I outgrew him (he was born premature so was small for his age until his teens, I on the other hand was a big baby). If we ever had any emergencies, there was an emergency fund, if the heating broke, or something needed repairing - there was cash, but it would take a while to replenish it after that.

Growing up in East London you're surrounded by crime and deprivation and low standards in health and wellbeing. The ghetto I guess. I watched many of my friends end up in prison for crimes they felt they had no choice but to take part in.

Somehow I escaped all of that, chalk it down to being born with a weird sense of restraint for someone of my age, gender and surroundings. Across the river were the skyscrapers of Canary Wharf - the pinnacle of success and high economy - growing up I'd spend evenings on the beach near my house watching the sun set and gazing at the glossy glass and steel.

I allowed myself to hope that I would one day work in one of those. At the time, that was a dream for kids like me - going to school, college, university and getting a job in that part of London. We lived in the area they refer to as "The Shadow of Canary Wharf". The area of poverty overcast by the shadow of prosperity. And I wanted to be up there, not down here.

So I made it through school, I developed a love for drawing and graphics, art and architecture. I became a representative for my school, taking part in entrepreneurial extra curricular activities and making money at the age of 15.

Then I got ill. Lung illness. I was an athlete at the time, a sprinter, one of the 4 fastest guys in our school. That was 10 years ago. I'm now 25. I've since gone on to attend college, and complete a degree in Architecture. Somehow I secured a graduate placement working as a design advisor on the London 2012 Olympics - beating graduates who'd gone to the "ivy league" universities here in the UK, Oxford, Cambridge and attained degrees 2 classes higher than me. It was a major achievement.

And lo and behold - where did I end up working but in one of the Canary Wharf skyscrapers. I'd risen from the shadows and joined the elite.

But I wasn't satisfied.

I began to miss the simple pleasure of being able to open a window and enjoy fresh air - not allowed on the 21st floor of a skyscraper. I began to feel caged, for the sake of $2,000 a month I had to wake up when someone wealthier than me decided I should wake up, on the days they wanted me to wake up, get on a packed train, spend all day in the office whether I felt productive or not, receive only 20 days out of 365 to do what I wanted to with "work leave". All so that someone else I hardly knew could get paid more than me. This was a real pyramid scam.

I completed my one year placement, the work itself was highly enjoyable and I loved being part of the Legacy of London 2012 and its lasting effect on the local area where I grew up. But I didn't agree with the 9-5 routine. I began looking for another way.

Around this time (November 2010) I bumped in to an old school friend at a high school reunion - turns out he was doing pretty well for himself doing something called "internet marketing". He was making 5 figures a month (in UK pounds, 6 figures in $) - so I asked him about it and he wasn't secretive but he wasn't telling me the whole story.

I stayed in touch and found out that he was getting on stage in 2 months at an internet marketing seminar in London and he invited me.

This would be the turning point. I attended the seminar with an open mind, unusual for me as I'm normally quite sceptical. I became engrossed, I spent 4 days feverishly taking notes and experiencing breakthroughs.

In a nutshell the 2 greatest life changing things I learnt about were

1. The Millionaire Mindset
2. Affiliate Marketing.

I was astounded that you could promote other people's products and earn commissions - it was a completely new concept to me as an online business. But we'll get to that in another post some time.

MINDSET. This was the game changer. The seminar host said something that changed me forever. Well he said 3 things:

1. Money is just an outcome of you providing value to someone, somewhere. The more value you contribute to the marketplace, the more money you make.

2. Your very best thinking has got you to where you are today.

3. The easy thing to do is to blame other people/your situation/circumstances for your failures, but the right thing and the courageous thing to do is to hold yourself accountable.

At first glance they seem trivial and obvious right? But let me say something about each of those 3 points.

1. People spend their lives chasing money, I was chasing money, I was applying for high paid jobs wondering how I could do the least possible amount of work for the most possible pay. I wanted no responsibility. I wanted no accountability. I had the "employee mindset". And as long as I refused to add value to myself and share that value, I would always be an "employee". I would always have a limit on how I could live my life. Add value to yourself and the money will come.

2. Your very best thinking has got you to where you are today. This hit me quite hard when he said it. It made me realise that I was not doing anything to raise my financial thermostat. They say you can tell what a person earns by looking at the 5 people they spend most time with. Harsh, but true. You are influenced by the people you hang around with. Their mental limitations become your mental limitations.

And another thing he mentioned was the financial conditioning most of us go through growing up by our own parents. I don't know about each of your situations, but my parents were not wealthy, they themselves were brought up with the belief that "money is the root of all evil", rich people are selfish, stuff like "if you want to know what God thinks of money, look at the people he gives it to". So what effect does that have on you growing up?

Those kind of mantras, embed in your subconscious that being broke is a good thing, something to be proud of, but in reality it's a coping mechanism, a preserver of dignity - so I grew up watching people in sports cars and designer stores wondering what kind of bad stuff they did to get rich. Imagine that.

My entire sub conscious was stopping me from doing the things I needed to exit my comfort zone and really start earning life changing income. And that's what we all do to ourselves. It's tragic because most of us will go through life never knowing how we've stunted our own financial, spiritual and intellectual growth. The first step to growth is to realise, acknowledge and accept our beliefs today, so we can grow tomorrow.

The other side to this was that if your very best thinking has got you to where you are today, then you need a mentor. Someone who has already surpassed even your wildest dreams. Someone who can guide you and teach you to breach the wall you're facing in your life. Imagine this: your mission to earn a life changing amount of money online through your affiliate marketing efforts is represented as a mountain. You've never climbed a mountain like this before. So you take a guide, someone who's already done this and is willing to share the blueprint, the tried and tested methods they used to climb this mountain way before you did. You NEED a mentor - whether you're making $1,000 a month or $1 million. I'm fortunate to be in a position where because I stuck with my friend who suggested to go the seminar, I get to mentor hundreds of students a year with him, online, in person, on stage.

We normally charge anywhere between $1,000 to $25,000 for coaching and mentoring depending on how well the client's business is doing - and in the last 9 months we've started promoting a system that helps people get access to our coaching from just $25 a month.

But that's besides the point, we were once mentored to get to where we are today, and now we mentor others - it's passing the knowledge along. But we still get mentored. Guys like Tony Robbins and Jay Abraham are our mentors now. We absorb everything they teach. You have to live life like a sponge, absorb everything, learn, innovate, deploy. It's just a matter of time. Stick with it.

3. Avoiding all accountability: aka, the blame game. It's always someone else's fault that you haven't hit your targets in life. And the sad thing is that it's in our nature to do so. Our brains are pleasure machines, they will do anything necessary to avoid pain and discomfort. This includes blaming others for your own failures, avoiding acknowledging the mistakes you've made or the opportunities you were too afraid of stepping up to taking. It's easier to blame someone or something else, so that's what our brain does.

But the moment you realise this, and list 5 examples of where you've done this in your life where it stopped you achieving or acquiring something you really wanted - it will hit you like a ton of bricks. And it won't be comfortable. But once you experience this, acknowledge it and accept it, it's a weight off your shoulders and you can finally move on. And those around will notice the change. You'll start acting like more of a leader. People will begin to respect you more, listen to you more, appreciate you more, your entire aura changes when you take charge of your own situation in life and create your own opportunities.

Like I said, powerful stuff. If you're planning on building an empire or just generate an extra $2,000 a month, mindset is the foundation. Once you have your mindset in place everything follows.

Since learning those things and implementing them in to my daily life I've gone on to partner with some of the top earners in our industry and helped build multiple million dollar funnels. That was what kicked off my self development. It's why I try to add value to myself every day - to keep learning. It's what made me appeal to the leaders I work with. You're never too hot. There's always someone bigger and better than you, learn from them, try to match their value then exceed it.

And now I've found this place where people are possibly are where I once was - and I have the platform to share everything I've learnt, everything I've spent $50,000 on learning and testing and doing - the knowledge only does so much in my head, I hope it does some good out here for all of you.

Anyway I've gone on way too long! If you've read up to here I'm hugely grateful and appreciate you taking the time.

I'll ask you to look at the 3 things I learnt that I listed and see how each of those has been or still is holding you back from the success you're fully capable of achieving. Identify the areas where you're limiting yourself then eliminate those. Report back here if you notice a difference.

If there's any demand I'll post more of these, some self development stuff or some stuff about actual marketing strategies. Just comment and let me know :)