013: How To Quickly Free Up And Create Cash Flow Today and Create a Money Ripple In Your Life with Chris Miles

Hello everybody, its Neil Ball here, thank so much for joining me here today on the entrepreneur way. The entrepreneur way is about the entrepreneur’s journey, the vision, the mindset, the committment, the sacrifice, failures and successes. I am so excited to bring you our special guest today, Chris Miles. Before I introduce you to him, I have got a little quote for you. Brian Green said, the boldness of asking deep questions may require unforseen flexibility in how we accept the answers. The entrepreneur way asks the questions so we all get the insight, inspiration and ideas to help us in our businesses. Chris, welcome to the show, are you ready to share your version of the entrepreneur way with us?

I can’t wait to make it happen, lets do it Neil.

Ok. Chris Miles is the cashflow expert, and the financial advocate of the entrepreneur. He is a leading authority teaching entrepreneurs and their spouses how to quickly free up and create cash flow today spending time doing what they love most. He’s an author and radio host thats been featured in US news, CNN money, and EO fire. Also, with his company ‘Money ripples’ he has got his clients fast, life-altering financial results. Chris, can you provide us with some more insight into your business, and your personal life to allow us to get to know more about you and who you are.

You bet.

Sure.

Let me tell you a little bit about my personal life first. You know actually I grew up near Portland Oregon, its on the west coast and then moved to Utah later on. I actually got married here and now have about six kids. All 11 and under. So I like to make it happen I guess. I like to do things fast and quick.

You are a take action guy.

Thats right, I don’t want to hold it off on that one, so any case yeh, I’ve been out here in Utah now for the last 16 years. Really, I got my start as an entrepreneur out here. I actually went to college with hopes to become a business consultant, but I figured if I was going to do that I should have my own business. And so I thought, well what shall I do? What kind of business should I have? and I actually dropped out of school to do it, and the business that came up first was becoming a financial advisor. And I actually enjoyed it, so I did that for four years, but I quickly realised that really it does not work. It does not kind of help clients get the life that they were always promised. It was very over-promised and under-delivered. So as a result, I say, ok fine, what should I be doing? and then I started to connect and become friends with millionaires, and I realise they just did not think differently, but they thought the exact opposite of how I was teaching people how to create wealth right? So in 2006, I quit being a financial advisor, I said ‘I can’t teach this stuff because it does not work anymore.’ So I’m leaving that field, I’ll never teach about money again. And then all of a sudden, July 2006, I was being coached and mentored by these guys, July 2006 I was able to retire with just $2000 dollars in my checking account.

Mmm hmm

And it blew my mind that it was even possible, and it was not because I saved $2 million dollars and lived off the interest, like I thought I would have to tell people to do. Like I was telling everybody else I would do. In fact all I had to do was create streams of cash flow and create money coming in, more coming in than was going out. And by applying true principles, and that having the strategies follow that, instead of just applying a bunch of strategies hoping it will work. I was able to retire with just a few thousand dollars and I was 28 years old, thinking ‘oh crap, now what am I going to do with my life and ..’  thats when in 2007 I started to come out of retirement and say ‘lets teach people to do what I did’ and it was a wild ride, I’ve been anywhere from millionaire to upside down millionaire and back again, and all that kind of stuff so, I know what its like to see the importance of cash flow in life and so thats what I have been teaching now ever since and have been very blessed. Have helped hundreds of people, especially entrepreneurs, find money they did not know they were losing or find money they did not know they were not making. Like in their businesses and such and really making that their business should be their number one investment. Its been a wild and awesome ride and have been able to help thousands upon thousands of people as a result.

So when you talk about finding these sources of cash flow and things, what sort of things are you talking about? or sources of cash, what are you talking about there?

Yeh there are too many things you can do, you can either increase your income or decrease expenses. Unfortunately, most people try to just decrease expenses, but I like to look at both. So I look at ways, like where people might be overpaying in taxes right? there might be ways where people could be more efficient with their loans and their debts. I love being able to get creative and build up, free up money there, without any money out of pocket. You know? So doing things like that can people attract their money. As well as getting people to make more money. Especially around their business and I know you are  big marketing fan but really encouraging them to do that well too. So in alot of ways, I am kind of like a business consultant, but I have a very big financial focus. I have like a financial advisor but the thing is, I don’t sell financial products, I just really go out there and try to see, alright, whats your cashflow situation like? What can we do to find money today? You know what can we do to really free up cash or make more money today? Help you manage it, and then make more of it. You know?

So its a bit like optimising people’s business, would you describe it as that?

Yeh, absolutely, I mean I am not going to be helping people write business plans or nothing like that. Its all about, its really all focused around the money.

Yeh ok, thats great. So what do you enjoy most about what you do Chris?

I love being able to get creative. I love getting people where they don’t see the answer, but for me it is so easy to see. I’m like, oh my gosh, this is so easy. You know, give you an example, I met with a couple yesterday that they wanted to know more about what I do and as they start telling me they are launching their business and they do branding and things like that. They are kind of re-launching again and getting things going. But they have like $600,000 dollars, you know with some financial advisor, where he is playing the stock market. I’m like, get that crap out of there, because they are like pulling off some of my retirement, I’m like ‘oh my goodness, lets actually start to create some awesome cashflow with that, and make money in your business too. So now you are making money in two places. But not again away on the crappy stock market. You know? and I am looking at that situation and going, ‘oh my goodness, we could easily have you retire right now, and not even need to make money in the business, like thats a piece of cake. You know?

mmmmm

Or that kind of stuff, or a woman last week from Florida, you know I been talking to her and in her business, she makes about $200,000 a year. But we were able to find about an extra $100,000 a year we could free up between restructuring her loans and taxes and things like that and we have not even talked about how to make more money in her business. I mean, thats the thing that lights me up is that I can get really creative and do some cool things for people and it makes me think like I am really contributing like, I came out of retirement because I was bored. People always talk about, ‘how cool would it be if you just retire and not do anything?’ I’m like, ‘you know I did that in 2006 I did that, it was boring. Like I felt like I had no real purpose, and I was getting itchy, you know I wanted to do something that mattered.’ And so I came out of retirement not to live a part time life, I wanted to live a full time mission. You know? And so that was really my thing, I wanted to contribute, I wanted to make a massive impact on where I left my fingerprint on this planet, that left a legacy behind me.

I think you have led me very nicely into my next question there, which is ‘what is it that drive you then?’ so its not being retired? I have figure that out.

No, not being retired, I do like the fact that as an entrepreneur you can name your hours, you can control that a little bit, and so that helps alot. But you know the thing that really drives me is really blessing people’s lives, creating value. Making a difference. I think thats what gives me the most fulfillment is knowing that I make a difference to somebody else’s life, that actually that for me, like being there is like their life is more valuable because I’m in it. Right, I think thats really what I love to do, I mean thats what drives me and I’ll tell you, theres times when being an entrepreneur, even for me, where its tough. Theres times when I’m thinking ugghhh, maybe I should just quit you know? You know maybe getting a job wouldn’t be so bad, because then I don’t have to think anymore, I don’t have to think like how to run a business, and manage people and clients and marketing and branding and everything that goes along with it, and everything in between right? Sometimes I think maybe I should just be brainless and have a job again. You know, some people fantasise about living their dream career or having their dream business, sometimes I fantasise about being an employee, because I am like ‘at least I don’t have to think as much’

I’ve not had that one. ha ha ha

Yeh I think all of us have been there at some point. I’ll tell you, but usually when I start thinking that way, somebody will come out of the woodwork. They will say ‘hey Chris like, I just want you to know that you have made such an amazing difference to my life. Even if you don’t know me.’ Sometimes, I don’t know them. In many cases I do. But sometimes I’m like, ‘yeh you don’t know me, but boy you have made such a big difference. Thank you for being you. Thank you for what you teach, its helping me alot and hopefully one of these days, I’ll get to know you more.’ And that actually really inspires me, that makes me feel so good to say ‘you know what, ok the extra effort and sacrifice and those things that makes it really worth while.’

Mmm so you said then, that sometimes these people don’t know you. How did they not know you, what is it that you do that makes it?’

Well not that they don’t know me, but I don’t know them.

Oh right, ok, sorry how is it that you don’t know them? in terms of, do you actually deal with them directly? Or is that because they are buying some product off you or something that is giving them the information?

Well yeh sometimes people come to my events, they’ll come to my events, I’ll know them that way, or they are my clients, they work off me one-on-one. But then there are people who might hear me on my own pod casts. Or your pod casts, or something like that.

Yeh

And they will say ‘wow I took some of the tips that you gave, and these have really worked wonders in my life so far. And can’t wait to keep using them and seeing what kind of results I get and thats the kind of stuff I get, that says ‘good, I am making a difference, I do matter in somebody’s life’ and most people will never tell you that in business. You can’t always rely on validation. You just have to know that what you are doing is making a difference. Even if you feel like you are talking to yourself sometimes. And I will tell you, even though I have probably had hundreds of thousands of people that have heard my voice over the years. Still I wonder, ‘boy does anybody even listen?’ ha ha ha you know? Because sometime you just feel like you are talking to yourself because its your own game and you get it in your own head. But I tell you, there are more people listening than ever tell you like probably out of at least every out of every 100 or 1000 people. I don’t know, I don’t know the numbers, but maybe only one will actually thank you or tell you that they are even listening to you. Thats what I have noticed.

Yeh its often the case isn’t it? that a few people will praise but many will complain if you don’t get it right. But I think that has always been the case hasn’t it? So Chris, how do you relax when you are not working in your business?

You know I do the thing that most people think that most successful people don’t do. Usually when I relax, I either do one of two things. One, I play, that can include like physical activity, like just getting out. Like I’m a big runner. I run alot, I work out at the gym, and things like that, just to, I do that every morning, just to kind of get myself moving. But if I am like at the point that I am at, the end of the day, the last thing I want to do is anything with work. Some people are awesome at night, I shut down, like I’m useless. And so I just basically turn on the tv.

Ok

So, sometimes its inspirational, sometimes its like a documentary or an inspirational movie. Othertimes its something as simply as watching some TV sitcom. You know, just be brainless and unplug and let my mind unwind and that kind of thing, you know. So I love movies, I love tv shows, I’m not watching it all day long but I’m a big fan of them.

Oh great. And do you have any entrepreneurial role models?

I do and theres a few, thats the hard part. I mean, I’m sure you can understand this Neil, I mean you read books and you become a fan with a lot of people right?

Yeh

Some of my favourites, Walt Disney would be one.

Yeh

I’ve always had a connection with Walt Disney. The I took a … test and realised we were the same personality, realised we were the same personality and thats why. So Walt Disney has always fascinated me, Napoleon Hill, I always think its fascinating about him, not just about the work he did and the studies he did, but his own life, he’s amazing. Norman Vincent Peel, is another great one that I love as well and so .. even Donald Trump. Not so much lately, even some of Donald Trump’s books have really inspired me alot, you know.

When you say, ‘not so much lately,’ you mean his books or his political life you mean?

More his political life. I’ll tell you he is a great marketer. Theres no doubt, but eventually  like you start becoming more sensational and people are going to start calling ball on you like they have started to do and so thats why I’m like political life, not so much, but I will tell you like the guy who has been successful in his own right, he has got, one of his books I love that helped me through my hardest time in business was called ‘Never give up’ and just an amazing book, talking about the challenges that Trump had to go through. I mean my worst case in my career, I was about a million dollars in debt, well Trump was about a billion dollars in debt.

Yeh, its a slightly bigger problem isn’t it?

and then three and a half years, he was able to get back to billionaire status, which broke the Guiness Book of World Records. You have to respect someone who has that kind of fortitude, you know that kind of courage despite everyone saying, ‘oh he’s inherited his daddy’s money and squandered it all, he’s toast.’ And then he comes back, three and a half years later as a billionaire, and comes back stronger than before.

Yeh

You have to admire someone who does that. So, yeh

He’s certainly cracked the code hasn’t he for making money? I think he has done very well at that.

Yes he has, yeh.

Yeh he’s awesome. So Chris, what I would like to do now is go back to a time before you were an entrepreneur. So can you talk about what difficulties you had to overcome when you started your business?

Ha ha ha ha. Like everyone, you know I think most of the difficulties you deal with in business has very little to do with the strategies you apply in your business. But everything to do with your mindset, its funny because people will take business classes. And the thing is, business classes, they have their use but boy they are sure like the 5% of business. I have realised and I am sure you would know this too Neil, that just from experience, that 95% minimum is all to do with your mindset and how you see yourself, how you see business, how you see other people. The way you see things, will determine whether you are successful or not in business.

Mmm hmmm

Give you an example. So I started out as a financial advisor, I did that for four years. I worked damn hard at that and it was funny because I worked hard and I really did not get alot of pay. Now part of that was because, in my mind, you know when I had a full-time job, you know I was making $11 dollars and 69 cents an hour.

Meaning, I would only make at most, you know, about $20,000 a year. Right? Very small beans, but when you are post-college, or even during college, you are like ‘oh thats not so bad.’ You know, but its not so great either. And so, I remember as a financial advisor, trying to make that much and there is a time I finally quit my job. I was about five years in my job, I quit it because I said ‘wow, I got business lined up about, at that time, $17,000 dollars of business lined up which is funny. Perspective wise, I look back now and think, $17,000 well that is not much at all. But back then, I was like, ‘thats almost a years wages, this is great.’ Why am I working a full-time job? I need to quit, and what I didn’t realise is that after I quit, I didn’t understand the difference between scarcity and abundance thinking. And so I was very reactionary and so when I quit, the first month it was my dream. I’m like ‘oh my goodness, I am living the dream, I’m doing my business, I am full-time in my business, finally I am a real business owner.’

Mmmm hmm

And then all of a sudden, I am like, ‘oh crap, I have got to pay the bills. I got to support a family.’ Because at that time, my wife had just quit her job, and she was raising our first child at the time.  And now all of a sudden, the pressure was on me, I’m like, I have got to produce, and see when I would go out talking to people. It was amazing because like I would talk to them and in the back of my mind I was worried about whether or not they would do business with me. People would just feel something weird and say, ‘I don’t know, I just don’t feel right about it.’ I’m like, ‘what do you mean? this is a slam-dunk, you told me you were ready, why are you not ready to go now?’ It just does not feel right. And they would never say, ‘You don’t feel right Chris’, they would never say that because they probably didn’t even know that at the time. They just said, something didn’t feel right. Well its because I was being desperate, I had this desperate energy. You know and anybody who has been in any kind of business, if you have ever done networking events, where you have met other business owners, you can always tell when people are desperate. If they need money, because they reek of business breath. Right? You can smell them from across the room.

Ha ha ha

You want to avoid them, you don’t even want to talk to them because you know they are all self-centred about them. Not about serving and creating value, they are about how can they take value. And so you avoid them, so those people have to work so much harder to make money than those that don’t. By contrast that when all of a sudden, probably when I quit that business, I hit the height of my business because I stopped worrying, I stopped trying to force my business to work. I started to actually try to create value for people and create the win/win, and develop relationships and focus on the friendship first, not just on trying to do business. Now I started to do that and stopped worrying, I realise that I did not need the money in the business. I didn’t have to make the money, I could always go get a job and during part of that time I even did, just to make ends meet again. You know, I would get a job and if I realise I did not need the money in business, thats the very time I would make the most money. Its just like Harry Potter right? For any of you that knows Harry Potter, if you have got kids, you definately know right?

Yeh I do.

I know its called ‘the Sorcerer’s stone’ in the movie theatre, but oh, I forgot the first book.

Oh I’m not that good at it. I’ve seen the films, but I don’t remember the names. Was it the Philosopher’s stone or something?

Yeh the Philosophers stone, or the sorcerers stone right? depending on which one you saw. Well yeh, in that one like, the very reason he was able to get the stone, was because he did not want it. The reason why the bad guy Voldemart couldn’t get it was because he desired it. And it is just like that in business, like when you really want, like want to make money on people and things like that, and you start to forget that the cause of money is creating value for people.

Yeh

Its finding the win/win and giving them things that they need and want. When you start focusing on that, and stop focusing on yourself, thats exactly when you start making money in your business.

Yeh

Thats the biggest advice I can give you starting as entrepreneurs, really start focusing on creating an abundance mindset, start on creating value for people and money will not be so mysterious or so hard to make.

Mmm hmm, you project what you think to some extent, don’t you? I think thats what happens.

Absolutely.

Yeh so if your minds focused on what you need, then unfortunately that is not what other people need, whereas you focus on what they need. Then obviously, they are going to appreciate that.

Exactly.

Mmm, so did you have any doubts that delayed you starting your business?

Yeh em, well I guess I did have a doubt to start because I thought ‘hey up’ I guess in some ways I always wanted to have a business. Maybe a little bit like you because I know as a 14 year old, you were kind of that way right?

Oh yeh

You wanted to be a millionaire. For me, I wasn’t my goal wasn’t necessarily to become a millionaire. But my goal was, I didn’t want someone to cap the amount of money I make in my life. I wanted control of my life, and my destiny, I wanted freedom. I didn’t want to be like my dad who would complain. He was very much the typical middle class worker, who says, ‘just work hard and you will be fine.’ And I saw him work hard and work himself to the point where he would have heart attacks and strokes and everything else and I thought, ‘I don’t want that kind of life’ he just complains and moans about his life. And then I would say, ‘well what are you going to do about it?’ He would just keep complaining and moaning. Ha ha you know? he would not do anything about it, so I guess I always wanted to be an entrepreneur, I just didn’t know what to do. So my doubts more happened as an entrepreneur, was ‘am I really qualified, am I really an entrepreneur?’ who am I and once I am successful, then I can talk to other successful entrepreneurs and things like that and that doesn’t always work. You know you have to realise that success starts in your mind first and the results don’t have to happen. And I tell you, that switch happened for me, like I keep talking about 2006, but that switch happened for me when I started really focusing on studying abundance right?

Mmm hmm. Those principles of abundance and principles of prosperity. Like the very things I teach now. And I remember like, I was getting so excited because I realise it was possible, like it wasn’t just like a bunch of other financial advisors. I remember like the top guy in our office making $300,000 a year, and I thought that was god-like almost right? And then I meet these guys that are you know, half his age, you know, they are millionaires, guys even younger than me at that time. They are in their mid-twenties, they were millionaires I thought, how the heck did they become millionaires and how are they making so much money? They were making sometimes a million plus a year, right?

Yeh

I thought well how is that even possible? and thats when I realised, I said, there is something more, there is something else and they would teach about the principles. Not just what they did, in fact they would very rarely tell you what they were doing. Sometimes they would tell you they do real estate, but they would not tell you how they did it. They would just tell you how they thought. And I realise that when I study books now, my big thing when I study successful people is not about what they did, its how they think. Because trying to imitate what people do, you will fail. But if you imitate how they think, or how they are, their energy and how they operate that way, you will realise that, that is the real secret. That is the seed beneath the surface that needs to grow. Not the fruit on the tree, that you are just trying to pick. And so I started to study those people and I remember I always get fired up because I’m like, ‘wow its really possible and this is possible.’ And I remember I went out with friends to lunch one time, and at that time they were doing better than I was financially, and one guy kind of joked, he says, ‘hey Chris, you bought that Mercedes yet? ha ha ha’ you know.

Hmmm

And I kind of just looked at him, I just said, ‘did I tell you I was buying a Mercedes? Wait when did I tell you that?’ and the smile totally left his face, he said, ‘I was just joking.’ ‘Oh, well no I am actually buying a Mercedes in the next couple of months.’ wow thats crazy and I was just super excited, and he was like, ‘well how much more money are you making right now?’ nothing. I’m just totally excited. Like I am just loving life. This is just so cool, like the things that I am learning are amazing. ‘But you haven’t made any more money?’ ‘Nope, but I will.’ And it was a matter of a couple of months, I did. And actually by the way, two months later, after that conversation, I bought that Mercedes. And its funny because I wasn’t making any money because the energy was there first. It was so much easier to make money money. Like I had a knowingness, it wasn’t just a hope that I would make money, it was ‘I know it’ like its happening, its happening right now, there are things moving in my favour in the universe that are working, that money is already there, I just haven’t seen it in the cash form yet.

And what mistakes did you make that slowed your journey?

I think with the one I said, that some of the biggest mistakes that I have learned along the way, like not even after this time, is that scarcity kills. Like scarcity takes money out of your pocket, while abundance puts it back in. And I remember during my worst financial time, like I couldn’t figure out what I was doing, like I was always so used to things working out in my favour, that all of a sudden, now it wasn’t working out. And I thought, ‘am I any good?’ I’ll tell you, I used to use the stuff, like the Mercedes and big houses, and things like that. I used to put those in front of me that show people my value. But its interesting, when you don’t have those things anymore, when you have to sell everything off right? All of a sudden, you realise, whats left? its yourself. If you realise that you have your own divine genius, that you are the brilliance, you are the source of money. Its not about what you sell, its not about your business or anything else, its about you at the core. That you are the one that creates money. Also when you start to stand in that power, accept yourself as being the divine amazing being that you are, that you can go and create massive amounts of value, and in fact nobody else on this planet can create value for people that anyone else can. You are one of a kind. You are someone that can actually help alot of people and therefore as a result, make a lot of money.

Mmm hmmm.

Thats when you sort of stand in that power and accept it, it becomes a lot easier to make money. And that was really the secret for me, of pulling out of that, I had to, 1. control my mind, I had to wake up every morning, even if I had no clue I was going to pay the bills. Because I was short $16,000 dollars each month. In the beginning of that process. So I mean, I was in a very bad position, plus a million dollars in debt. I had to figure out how to battle back with no money, no savings, no credit, nothing. I had to create from seemingly thin air. And the way I did that, I had overcome my own mental state, I had overcome my own doubts about myself and my ability and am I any good and even the closest people to me, and even my own spouse, was constantly telling me like, ‘hey maybe you are just not cut for business. Maybe you should just go get a job.’ This is after I had already retired, right? you know and then came out of retirement, and then all of a sudden, got affected by the great recession. With a lot of investments I did.

Yeh

So all of those kind of things, like that, that kind of stuff, you have to really know truly in your heart that you are a genius at what you do, whatever that is, and whoever you are. And accept that and try to deliver value in a way for people that no-one else can, and thats what really got me out, in fact thats where the cashflow stuff came because its funny during the hardest times, thats when the best things can come about. It was because I had to get creative with my own cashflow situation, had to battle back out of that, that I started helping people with their cashflow situation, because I have never met with a client that was worse off financially than I was. You know, I never met with somebody who was in the whole $16,000 dollars a month. I remember meeting with somebody who was $3,000 dollars in the whole month, they thought they were going to have to go bankrupt and I said, ‘hey $3,000 dollars in the month on the whole is not that bad, man you have got hope.’ ha ha ha

ha ha ha

You know, its, I’m like one of the few guys in the financial world that doesn’t come from a place of judgement, its like, ‘ahh you guys have not been as bad off as me’ this is a great situation to be in. Its like ‘yeh you’ve got some head win to overcome and your mindset, but this is not so bad.’ Its interesting that my pain became everyone elses gain, as a result. And so, I think the hardships that we have in business and in life are the very things that are proving us and testing us to become the kind of person we need to become. Especially if we have big goals and big dreams.

Yeh.

Hey don’t be surprised if you get a big mess of headwind and don’t be afraid of it either because that headwind is exactly what creates the strength within yourself to make that happen. Its not about getting lucky, or having the right thing fall in your lap. Alot of times, its just about testing yourself, and trying yourself to the point where you become the kind of person that can manage, and be the right steward over that kind of wealth and that kind of success.

Yeh, so when you are $16,000 dollars short every month, how did you keep your mind focused on the upside of getting out of this, rather than focusing on what would go wrong if you carried on down that course. Because obviously its very easy for you to, keeping your mind focused on where you want to go, its great to read about it and theorise about it, but actually doing it when you have got this distraction of bills coming in that you can’t pay and people chasing you for money, you have somehow got to keep you mind away from all of that stuff and keep yourself focused on where you need to go, how did you do that?

So two things primarily, one is I did what Tony Robbins calls, ‘the hour of power’ and it doesn’t have to be an actual hour, thats just what they called it because it rhymed I think. But its definately a morning power ritual that you do. I focus on three areas. Physical, mental and spiritual. And so, when I would get up in the morning, there were times I would wake up feeling hopeless right? So I would wake up in the morning and say, ‘ugh what do I do?’ The first thing I do is forget about that and just get out and run, work out, walk, whatever it took. So I would get out and move. And lots of times I would do a prayer of gratitude while I was out doing that kind of stuff. So I would have a prayer of gratitude and be working on that, and be grateful. And I remember Donald Trump, in his book, ‘Never give up’ he said, ‘even if there were 20 things going wrong, he would find the one positive and focus on that.’

Yeh

and so that is why I would do that, first thing in the morning is ‘well what is going well?’ I can breathe. Ok thats about all I got today. You know like thats a, lets focus on that. Those kind of things, so I would do the physical, I would do like a prayer of gratitude, I would even do a little bit of meditation and things like that. I would read from like my christian scriptures and things of that nature. Listen to good books or read good books or anything possible to get my mind in a different state. In a state that would fire me up. Even if I had to come back to reality, still I would work on trying to focus on those positive things, and that is really the second thing is you know, focus on what I had. You know, stop focusing on the problems because you can’t stop that, and the thing is you can’t avoid them either, because for a while I would avoid all those collection calls, because I would get multiple collection calls a day. Multiple. I mean you can imagine when you are a million dollars in debt and you are not paying your bills, yeh you are going to get a few phone calls.

Yeh

eventually I started turning that around in my mind, instead of thinking oh I don’t have the money and they are just going to hound me and there’s that guy that is going to say I’m the reason why he is going to heck in a hand basket and you know all that kind of stuff that just ticked me off. And got me really emotional feeling depressed. You know and there were days I definately felt very depressed. But instead I would actually try and turn it around and so I remember collection calls, I would start calling them ‘I love you calls’ and I would say ‘boy, its so cool that they love me so much.’ Like they will call me, they want to know how I am doing. And they really did, they wanted to know how I was doing and how I was going to pay them right? But I was like ‘hey they love me,’ so when I answered the phone, I was like ‘hey hows it going?’ and it would be like talking to an old buddy. Yeh I don’t have the money right now, but I will pay you guys back, don’t worry.

Yeh

and they are like, ‘ok when are you going to pay us?’ I don’t know. And then just hang up. And you know I kept that going, and alot of them I did. I took me of course about three years or so to do it. But I did, and thats the cool thing is that you can make your reality whatever you want it to be and still be in reality and still accept it but have a different perspective on it, turn around that makes it better. Oh and by the way one thing I will tell you, big key here, one thing I learned that I learned better whenever I have hit hardships, to not do, is when you are experiencing hardships, and you feel like you are in scarcity, its very easy to want to go recluse, and not be around people, because you almost feel like you have a disease and you don’t want to spread it. The worst thing you could do is that. The thing is that the dollar is full of value, you create for other people. Get with relationships, get with other people, I mean don’t be afraid of being open with some of your closest friends, not everybody, but at least be open with them and don’t be afraid of being around people, even when you are struggling, because trust me, it is much much worse sitting there by yourself letting your mind take over.

Yeh

And so the best thing you can do is be around people, see how you can serve people, even though you don’t know how you are going to make money from it, do it anyway because you will never know what kind of things will happen and what kind of relationships you will create, when you create friendships first. People will want to support and help you, and so focus on those relationships. Focus on the positive and do that power hour each day, and you do those things like even when you are struggling and even when you are successful, those are the things you need to do consistently.

Yeh its a great answer that Chris, in fact you made me think of something I heard Brian Tracey say once when he talked about how Billionaires deal with just the concept of running a, obviously a huge company, and Brian Tracey seems to think that often Billionaires had this amazing ability to just, no matter what the problem. They could literally just relax and get themselves into this really sort of relaxed state, and almost forget about everything and them somehow out of that, they would then be able to see the path forward and what they needed to do. I think thats the key isn’t it, you have got sort of empty your mind, of all the clutter and everything that could potentially worry you and then all of a sudden you could see the pathway through and I think alot of people don’t do that, so they don’t see the way forward.

You know its so true, its, you have got to be in a relaxed state, that more abundant state because if you have ever lost your car keys before, and you are searching round your house, running round your house, and you are already late, and you can’t find your keys, right you are just frantic. The time that everybody finds their keys when they find, just take a breath, they stop and say, ‘ok when was the last time I saw them? ok where could they be’ and they start to slow down and look. Rather than running around frantically, which is what everybody does when they are frantic and scared and they are in scarcity. They are frantic and they don’t see the solution that is standing right in front of them. Half the time the keys are right there, you just didn’t see them right?

Yeh

And thats the point, is when you have a situation like that, is to relax. You don’t want to be running with your head cut off, you got to relax, and say alright what’s the next move here? And when you do that, your wheels stop squealing and stop spinning and they actually start gripping the road. And you start to work less and make more when you get in that kind of state.

Yeh. What are some of the things that you did before you started your business? That would be helpful tips for some of the listeners who have not yet taken their first step of the entrepreneur way?

I think definately study. Study the lives of entrepreneurs,study the good books that help you get in the right mindset. Because the mindset of an entrepreneur is so different from the mindset of an employee. You got to look at it, so those books like ‘Rich dad, poor dad’ ‘Think and grow rich’ by Napoloeon Hill. I mean those are some of the basics. One of my favourite books of all time is called ‘How to win friends and influence people’ by Dale Carnegie. Amazing book, great book, such great .. and thats a book I read even today and say, ‘oh its brilliant.’ You know, so its great stuff. I mean studying those things. Theres another great book by my friend Greg Reid, That he wrote with Sharon Lector, who was also the co-author of ‘Rich dad, poor dad’. That book is called ‘three feet from gold’ which is another great book especially as you get started as an entrepreneur, maybe take some time to get things moving. You hear real-life success stories of people that weren’t overnight successes. You know they had a struggle, just like everybody else and so I think those are like great books to start with to really read and just devour and there is so many good books but really start studying. Like get into a different state of mind and being, and that will make your launch so much easier.

Yeh in fact you talked about Walt Disney at the end, he is a classic case of somebody who had a little bit of a difficult ride in the beginning, didn’t he?

Yeh I remember a book of his that is probably one of my favourite books now, called ‘How to be like Walt’ and I love that book. It was so so good.

Oh I have not read that one yet but a fascinating guy, absolute genius.

Absolutely.

Chris, what I would like to do now is to move forward to your entrepreneurial journey itself, so just running your business and just some thoughts from you so, do you think culture is important from the beginning in a business?

It is and culture stems from you. I think that is really important too. So, to create a culture you have got to know what you want. You have got to have a vision and know exactly what you want. What you want things to look like and so as an entrepreneur, so alot of what you do like I said, is in your head. Its got to start there. You have got to have a clear image of what you want and how do you want it to look like. And then you know, create that. I remember when I launched money ripples, and money ripples isn’t the first company I did, its the one that I have launched here and been the biggest focus and playing the biggest game. When I first launched it, I wrote what I stood for and I even blogged it, so I made it public, I said, ‘here is what I stand for.’ And that is the kind of thing that you have got to have because culture is important and I will tell you, if you start hiring people, you want to hire people that can work in your culture. Because they could be very competent, they could have good character, but they may not fit the culture. And I call that the three C’s. That is when you are lucky to have anybody on your team, they have got to be competent, they have got to have the right character, you know honesty, integrity, whatever might be that you value. And then the third one is culture, do they match the culture?

Yeh and I have hired people, that they are very competent, they have great character, but they don’t match the culture, and you have to usually let them go and say, ‘you know sorry, you are amazing but just not for us. You are not for our team and our group. So I think that is very important, so you have got to build and know your culture and know what you want, and how you want to look.

Yeh I think alot of people do hire, I mean I was talking to someone recently and they said people hire on skills, but often fire on attitude. Or things like that, with people. And really you need to be hiring on people’s attitude and making sure that they fit with your culture, more than skills to some extent, because they have got the wrong attitude. That is going to drag everybody down in your business and have a bad karma for everybody isn’t it I think?

Its much easier to train the skills than it is to train the culture, in somebody. yeh.

Knowing what you know now, is there anything if you had known it when you started out, would have helped you to shortcut the learning curve?

Ha ha  yeh. Thats what I do with money ripples actually. You know its funny because John Lee Dumas he asked a question, if you know ‘entrepreneur on fire’ he asked me he said, ‘Chris if I put you on a foreign planet, where you knew no-one, and you had $500 dollars in the computer, what would you do in those first seven days?’ and I said the same thing I did when I launched money ripples. And that is kind of the same answer I gave you too is, I would take that $500 bucks and I would actually take people out to breakfast or lunch, or dinner or whatever works, about twice a day, I would be meeting with people that are sinners of influence. People that I know that have, I believe they have a good reputation, and that kind of stuff. Really get to know them, and when I am taking them out to those meals. And this is the same thing I did when I launched money ripples. I wouldn’t focus on pitching my business. My whole focus would be on learning about them, becoming friends with them, and learning more about what they need or what they want, in their life or in their business, and figure out how to give it to them.

mmm hmmm.

You know, whether its something I can give through information or my own abilities or through relationships. People or connections and things that I have. When I launched money ripples, I had a two-year non compete, so I built another business with some of those millionaires that were my mentors. I built a business for six years and then I broke off on my own, I had a two year non-compete, so I couldn’t compete and use the relationships I already had. And relationships are so critical in business, they are so so important, and creating a reputation, is even more vital with those relationships because you don’t want to have a bad reputation, you want a good one right?

Yeh

And so I started taking people out to lunch or whatever it might be and I was like ‘hey I just want to get to know you’ and they were sceptical. They were like ‘ok is he going to pitch me on something.’ Like ‘no I just want to get to know you.’ and they were shocked because they were so used to being pitched by other entrepreneurs. Like no, like ‘I got years for you to get to know my business’ I want to get to know you. And part of that is because I want to know if they are really good legit people. And so I would do that and the great thing is when I would be done, after an hour or two, they would say, ‘this is really good’ you know what, you should talk to so and so. And so they refer me to somebody else. And they were like, ‘hey’ and those people would say, ‘hey you should talk to so and so’.

And I had people that had me speak at their events, they had no clue what I spoke about, they just said, ‘hey I heard great things about you from other people so you want to come and speak about my event, by the way, what do you speak about? what do you talk about? And I would get speaking and some of those relationships, I have like one business coach that has me speak each and every month at her retreats. And that was all because I was focusing on creating value for people, and building those relationships and just really focusing on serving, and you do that and it is so unnatural for most business owners to do that, most of them are about ‘how do I make money in my business and they are almost silently suffering, and they are desperate right?

Yeh.

Even if you don’t have the money, still don’t go in that place, relax like you were saying Neil. You know relax and then just focus on building relationships and creating value, and watch what will happen. Business will build so much faster for you, its amazing.

Yeh absolutely. So how much does gut feeling influence your decisions in your business?

Way more now than it used to. Ha ha ha.

This is a fascinating question, because you get a whole mixture of different answers to this question, so tell me more.

I mean everybody operates differently, but I tell you gut feeling is what you need to go with. In my own life, I had like, I launched money ripples based on a gut feeling. I was just like, ‘the time is now, I need to focus on other entrepreneurs, not just chiropractors and dentists. You know, I wanted to focus on the bigger audience really. And really become the financial advocate for the entrepreneur as I have become. And its amazing because that gut, that is everything. I mean even if you have people telling you rationally, hey this is what you should be doing in your business. Even if they are people you respect. You still have to go with your gut and say, ‘I respect that, but I am going to go in this direction.’ And I tell you, that has been way better for me than the frustration of ignoring that gut feeling. And I am not the only one, I have read books where guys like Donald Trump. Donald Trump would have never done the apprentice had he listened to his team of advisors. They all told him it was a dumb idea. But his gut told him, it said, no, I need to do the apprentice, like I feel good about this. Sorry guys but I am doing it.

Yeh

And look what kind of brand he created just because of that tv show. And his business became bigger, I mean that gut feeling is so important in business, more so than logic. Logic is important because it does carry you through, but you have got to make sure that logic aligns with your gut feeling because your gut will tell you things that maybe the logical mind does not see yet, and thats good because you want to go with your gut, that is the right way to go, every time.

I think the thing is, sometimes you can have a vision of what you are trying to do, and other people fail to see that vision. So when they advise you, they are advising you based on a  lack of vision. So therefore they advise you against it. And when you are so clear on where your vision is, then because its your vision, you have to pursue it, because otherwise well you can’t take notice of these naysayers and things ultimately, because you have got to go for it. You know, life is made of constant change whether we like it or not. So I believe that one of the only constants in life is change. So how do you keep up with change Chris?

You know I think what we just talked about was go with your gut. Whenever I have gone with my intuition, I have always been ahead of the curve. When I have just gone with what I only see, thats usually when I end up missing out on things. So I think the important thing is to really like you watch, you are listening to your intuition, you are being aware, and also listen to people. The best way to stay ahead of change as well, is listen to what people want, because knowing what people want right now, it can be different next year or in a couple of years. So be able to evolve and change with giving people what they want. Especially if it matches up with what your will … is what you do best. You know find out what they want, what they complain about, what problems do they keep saying? Or whatever the common complaints. Focus on that and you will stay ahead of the curve. Way better than people that are just saying, well here is the next hot thing to do. When it has already been hot for years, and thats why its hot right?

Mmm

You go for the thing that is ahead of the curve, saying like ‘what do people want? what do they need? or what are they not even telling us that they want yet?’ That is why Steve Job was so amazing at what he did. Because he was looking for what people wanted even before they knew they wanted it.

Yeh, it reminds me of the Henry Ford quote that said if I had asked people what they wanted, they would have asked for faster horses. Ha ha ha

Yes exactly.

Which is brilliant. What is your favourite book on entrepreneurialism, business, personal development, leadership or motivation? and can you tell us why you have chosen it?

Its so hard to choose. I think the one I mention earlier, how to win friends and influence people by Dale Carnegie, that one, its great for motivation, its great for leadership, its great for building business. And just building relationships in general, it applies to all facets of life. And I really believe that relationships are the core of success. Like its all about relationships, its not about getting lucky or winning the lottery. Its about really, the people you create value for. So that is my favourite one.

Ok thanks for that. Everyone when you have a busy life, listening to audio books is a great way to expand your knowledge in the time when you maybe doing other things, such as driving or when you are at the gym. We have a special offer for you of a free audio book of your choosing, to choose your free audio book, go to www.freeaudiobookoffer.com. As long as you haven’t already signed up, then you will qualify. Chris, can we now fast forward to the future? What one thing would you do with your business if you knew that you could not fail?

Mmmm you know, thats hard because, anything, really I think we could succeed at anything but I think the real thing I would really just go for, you know I would probably go ahead with some of the top financial experts out there. And just be toe to toe with them. It would be awesome, it would not be like if I could fail, the only failure I think is will they even accept that offer? Right? But really go toe to toe with them and find out where we agree, because I know we agree on some things but also where we disagree. I think there is so much that is being taught from a perspective of scarcity, where it is destructive of people, it has actually hurting people. Even though they give advice that helps, they also give advice that hurts.

Yeh

I would really want to go toe-to-toe with like the Dave Ramsays or the Robert Kiosoki’s

Oh yeh.

People that I also respect, but also that at the same time I feel like they could do better.

Mmmm mmm thanks. And what skill, if you were excellent at it, would help you the most to double your business?

It would probably be, I think leadership. I think leadership is key because if you want to go bigger, you have got to have a team that goes with you. And leadership I think, is definately the challenge after you realise you have to focus out so yourself. Leadership is the key and so leadership would be a great one.

Ok and in five years from now, if a well known business publication was publishing an article on your business, after talking to your customers and suppliers, what would you like it to say about you?

I would love them to say that like this is the real deal, like its not just like hype, flash-in-the-pan like this is someone who is actually making alot of money while making a difference.

Mmm hmm ok, what I would like you to do now is, this is the part of the show where we ask you for three golden nuggets, so the first thing I would like from you, is can you give me your favourite quote and tell us how you have applied it?

Neil, I think my favourite quote is ‘dollars follow value’

You said that earlier I think.

That was a quote I heard from one of my mentors. Its not a famous one, but it really is, but that is my favourite because it is really a mantra to live by, it is that if I want to make more money, I have to know how to create more value for more people. Thats the focus.

Yeh thats excellent quote that. And do you have any favourite online resources that you can share with us all?

Mmm you know, I don’t really. Most of the time, alot of the things I do is just through books and things like that, I love autoball.com. because that is where I get alot of the audio books and things like that. I think you got a great resouce too as well for audio books. Free, that you have to pay for, so at least yours are free access.

You only get the first one free.

Yeh. Exactly, so I think that is awesome. So I think anywhere that you can get access to some good books, I think that is a great resource to use.

Ok and what out of all the advice, all the things you know, what is the best advice you could give to other entrepreneurs?

I think, don’t force your business, relax, focus on building relationships, focus on creating value, focus on really being of service and solving problems for people. You focus on that, it will not be hard to make money in business. It will not be hard to be successful, it will not be hard to build a reputation and a brand and thats what true marketing is, what people are saying behind your back, is sometimes the most important thing you should be focusing on creating.

Yeh absolutely. Everyone, if you didn’t manage to get a note of Chris’s favourite resource, or his favourite books, then you can find everything on his shownotes page. Just go to Theenrepreneurway.com and search for Chris or Chris Miles in the search box. Chris, is there anything else that you would like to add about your business?

You know, just check on my website, moneyripples.com. Got some great resources on there, blogs, I have also got my own pod cast, blogtalkradio.com/moneyripples. So yeh, check out my stuff and follow me.

Thanks for that Chris. Its been an absolute honour having you on here Chris, you really have given me, well its been a great chat with you actually, you have given me some great things to think about and I’m sure the listeners will feel the same about it, so thank you so much for coming on here.

Thank you so much, it has been an honour.

Thank you.