Monday, December 28, 2009

Introduction To My Book YOUNG MONEY

ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE AND PROFESSIONAL SUCCESS DOES NOT GUARANTEE FINANCIAL SUCCESS
This book has been written for one simple reason: the education system does not prepare students for financial success after graduation.

People do not learn anything about personal finance, budgeting, saving, investing, stock markets, real estate, debt, interest rates, inflation, taxation, rates of return and other financial formulas and ratios. Even students studying economics, accounting and business do not learn anything about how the various concepts they learn in the classroom apply to their personal finances, or how they can use them to succeed financially.

People go to school with the hope of getting jobs which will provide them with income in the form of salaries and wages. All the decisions they will make every day after school will be determined by the amount of money they have. What they eat, what they wear, where they go, and where they live, will all depend on the amount of money they earn or have, and what they do with it.

It is therefore really unfortunate that school is silent on this vital area of life. It educates by providing students with information with which they will hopefully get salaried jobs, but does not empower them with the information and skills they need to succeed financially. The result is that young people leave the school system academically literate and qualified but financially illiterate.

Academically bright people therefore become so messed up in their financial lives, spending more than they earn, living in habitual debt, chasing fast money through all forms of gambling, and hanging onto their jobs as the only source of life, slaving for others all their productive lives.

We used to live in a duplex in one of Port Moresby’s suburbs in the late 1980s. In the next flat lived a financial controller with a major oil company and his family. The man was highly educated and highly paid, but was obviously having financial problems. Most of the afternoons he would come home drunk. His wife would sell ice blocks and betel nuts to raise money for their daily food. We witnessed him complaining about the food, beating the wife and chasing her and the children out of the house on a regular basis.

Here was a highly educated person who knew how to look after his employer’s money as he had learnt in school, but could not even manage his own finances. Could the reason for this be that he never learnt anything about personal finance in school?

The main premise of this book is that academic excellence and professional success does not automatically guarantee financial success. Most people think otherwise. They assume that bright students will do well in life. Students think that because they do well in school, they will get high-paying jobs and earn high salaries, and therefore succeed financially. This may be true in some instances, but not in most cases.

Most students who do well academically find that the world is different from the classroom. In the classroom, bright students may be held in high esteem by their teachers and other students who are not so bright. They may have an advantage over others in getting jobs too. But getting jobs and succeeding financially are completely different matters altogether.

The sad fact is that many people who did well in school are not necessarily successful later in life. The story of the financial controller related above is probably typical of many highly educated people all over the world. They are academically bright and smart in their professions, but fail miserably when it comes to managing their own finances and succeeding. They know how to manage other peoples’ money but not their own. They are academic and professional successes, but financial failures.

The contrary is true as well. Many people who did not do well in school are more successful than their mates who were bright and academically more qualified. I know of several of my school mates who dropped out of high school who today are successful businessmen, earning more than most working class people and employing those who are more educated than themselves.

Some people have even never been to high school but are wealthy and financially successful. I can think of 2 men in my town who dropped out of primary school who are now millionaires in their own right. One owns several coffee plantations, two hotels and many properties which he rents out, while the other owns a chain of retail shops, a hotel, several lodges and even an airline. I have also heard rumours that they have properties in Australia.

Most people also think that people who are successful in their professions are financially successful as well. They think that if a person is successful in their job, they must know how to manage their money, and therefore they have a lot of money.

This is a mistaken belief. My experience is that most seemingly successful employees actually struggle financially. They are highly indebted to banks, finance companies and informal money lenders. They do not have their own houses. They cannot afford to buy their own vehicles and so depend on public transport all their working lives. Most do not have any savings. And most are one or two fortnights away from bankruptcy.

BANKS CARE LESS ABOUT YOUR ACADEMIC AND PROFESSIONAL ACHIEVEMENTS
To be academically qualified and professionally successful does not equate to financial success. This fact really comes to light when people approach their banks for financial assistance. Banks do not ask to see peoples’ academic transcripts, for instance. They do not care whether you possess a degree, diploma or a certificate, which educational institution you attended, and what position you hold in an organisation. They do not even want to know whether you are educated at all.

The first thing that banks want to establish is how much you earn, what you spend your money on, and what assets and liabilities you have. In other words, your personal financial statement and net worth are what the bank wants to know, not your academic qualifications or professional standing. Your credit worthiness is what the bank wants to establish. You might have been a straight “A” student in school and a high-flyer in your profession, but an “F” person as far as your finances is concerned.

WHAT THE BOOK COVERS
The book is set out as follows. Chapter 1 discusses your salary and other terms and conditions of employment, and the impact of income tax and other deductions on how much you take home on a fortnightly basis. The chapter highlights the fact that personal income tax is one of the largest single expenses faced by workers in the country. It alerts you not to be fooled by the seemingly attractive employment packages which employers offer. What matters is what you take home at the end of each fortnight, and whether you succeed or fail financially depends on what you do with that money.

Chapters 2 and 3 focus on budgeting and cashflow management. Most people do not make budgets and so end up spending their money anyhow. These chapters encourage you to make budgeting a habit, so that you can control the flow of money coming in and going out of your life. Budgeting is about having a plan for your money. If you don’t, your money will fall into other peoples’ plans. Cashflow management is about taking control of the money that falls into your hands and applying it purposefully.

Chapter 4 discusses your personal financial statement. The important point on the discussion is that whereas grades are important in school and when it comes to getting jobs, they are not even considered when it comes to determining how financially successful you are. Your financial statement is really your report card after school, and this is what banks look at when assessing your creditworthiness.

Chapter 5 should be read closely, because it discusses the differences between needs and wants, and assets and liabilities. Most people fail financially because they fail to distinguish between these four things. Therefore they buy wants instead of needs, and liabilities thinking they are assets. The inability to distinguish between needs, wants, assets and liabilities has been identified as the main reason the majority of working people fail financially all over the world.

Three ways of living are discussed in Chapter 6: living above, below and within your means. Readers are urged to form the habit of living below their means if they want to succeed financially.

Most working people fail financially not because they do not earn enough, but because they have bad money habits. Six of the most common bad spending habits are discussed in Chapter 7. If you want to succeed financially, you must avoid these habits.

The importance of saving is discussed in Chapter 8. You are introduced to the concept of “paying yourself first.” You are urged to make saving a habit in life, and to save for investment purposes, not for consumption. You also read about two important concepts in finance: the time value of money and the power of compound interest.

In Chapter 9, the book discusses the 4 different types of income people earn: earned income, passive income, portfolio income and residual income. You are encouraged to invest your take-home pay or earned income so that you can earn passive and portfolio income, which require little if any physical effort. Investing is presented as a way of taming or harnessing money and making it become your servant or employee.

Most people tend to think that in order to succeed financially, they must hold back as much as possible. This is not so. According to the law of sowing and reaping, giving is in fact one of the most powerful ways to experience financial success. So in Chapter 10 you are encouraged to give, but with discretion.

The next chapter discusses lending, and how you can operate like a bank and lend to banks, the government, businesses and other people. It is another way of making money become your employee. What you lend goes out and returns to you with more money.

Chapter 12 looks at the issue of debt, and the difference between good debt and bad debt. The point is that contrary to popular thinking, not all debt is bad. It discusses the causes and effects of bad debt, and encourages readers to use good debt to get ahead financially.

Gambling is covered in Chapter 13. This is an important chapter, because Papua New Guineans spend at least K100 million every year on poker machines alone, not taking into account lottery tickets, horse racing and other forms of gambling. It also discusses fast money scams, and encourages you to avoid gambling as if you would avoid a plague.

Chapters 14 and 15 are very important. While Chapter 14 encourages you to act daily with your financial destiny in the long term in mind, Chapter 15 encourages you to put into practice the principles and ideas contained in this book if you want to succeed financially. Reading and knowing is one thing. Actually doing what you know is another. The point is that knowledge only has potential power; utilised knowledge is powerful.

HOW THE RICH BECAME RICH
Here are 6 main ways people have become rich throughout the ages all over the world:

• By inheriting wealth and riches from parents or other benefactors;
• By getting married to rich people;
• By gambling and becoming lucky;
• By getting compensated for misfortune or the acquisition of their possessions for public purposes;
• By stealing through corruption, bribery, white collar crime, drug trafficking, money laundering, extortion, etc; and
• By working hard, saving and investing.

Which way do you think the majority of people followed to become rich? If you said they worked hard, saved consistently and invested their money, you would be right. That is the way you too can become financially successful, wealthy and rich. The basics of what you need to know and do to become successful are contained in this book.

PERSONAL EXPERIENCE
In case you think I have written this book based on things I have read, I want to assure you that I have seen the power of using the information in the book in my own life. Several years ago I was a struggling working class person like most others in the country. I struggled to make ends meet, lived beyond my means, and got into debt regularly. I do not drink, smoke and gamble, but even then I struggled from fortnight to fortnight.

If you have read Success After Graduation, my first book, you would know that I was unemployed for 8 months after I left my last job. It was during this period that I regretted having misused all the money I had received over the years when I was employed. I wished I could find a job again, and if I did, this time I would save my money and invest it instead of squandering it. After unsuccessfully searching for jobs, I decided to become self-employed and work for myself. Having felt what it is like to be without a job and regular pay, I have come to appreciate the importance of saving and investing.

They say that old habits die hard, and that is so true when it comes to money habits. I still struggle with the bad habits I developed when I had salaried jobs, but I have made several attempts to save and invest what I have made from what I do as a self-employed person. I am glad, but not afraid or ashamed, to tell you that even though I am not rich and wealthy yet, I am financially independent today. In other words, I do not need a salaried job to live. I can survive without a job.

In fact, my mentality and attitude to paid jobs has completely changed. To me, a job is a waste of time. I am not saying you should leave your job. But I am saying that for me personally, I can earn more working for myself than waiting for an employer’s fortnightly pay. I can earn more in a day than most people earn in a fortnight.

I am now more imaginative and creative as a self-employed person. I have already written 6 books over the past 4 years, and several more are on their way. I can combine some of these books with seminars and have several streams of income. I would not do these things if I were working for a salary. I would be too busy looking after my employer’s business.
Recently I purchased a house with a big yard in one of the prime residential areas of the town I live in. I know that I would not have been able to buy the house if I had continued my old habits of using money anyhow. I also know that I would definitely not have bought the house if I were working for a fortnightly salary.

When I recall back, I remember that I worked for a fortnightly salary for 12 years and I could not afford to buy a house. I could not even come up with the equity contribution required by the bank. But I could buy the house after only 6 years of being self-employed. This personal story holds lessons which I cover in detail in Be Your Own Boss!, my third book, which is on the subject of self-employment.

Having seen the power of making money work for me through prudent management, saving and investing, my outlook on the future is very positive. My mind is more open than it was before when my only source of livelihood was the employer’s pay cheque. Today I can see many ways of making money. In fact, I see so many of them that sometimes I run out of breath just thinking about the possibilities. It is like living in a different world.

MY HOPE FOR YOU THE READER
It is my sincere hope that students, young people and even working people reading this book will take the message of this book to heart, and use the information contained in it to become financially successful in life.

As I have stated above, people go to school to get jobs and earn a living. But the school system does not equip them with the knowledge they need to succeed financially. The result is that the majority of people may have been academic successes but are failures as far as their financial lives are concerned.

I hope that this book helps an increasing number of people in Papua New Guinea as well as other parts of the world to become financially successful. It is my prayer that many people who have read this book will testify in future that their lives and destinies changed after they read the book and applied the ideas contained in it.

Saturday, December 19, 2009

Preface To My Latest Book Titled YOU CANNOT SERVE GOD AND MONEY

This is probably the first ever attempt by a local pastor to discuss the issue of God and money. I say this because I have never heard, much less read, anything on the subject in my many years of involvement in the church. I have heard many sermons and pleas for financial support for all kinds of needs over the years, but never a sermon on stewardship of money and material possessions.

I have probably heard several sermons on honouring God with our wealth, but these have invariably been in relation to giving for some cause. I have also heard perhaps several sermons on stewardship, but again, these have been in relation to giving – never with respect to saving and investing to make more money and thereby increase one’s capacity and ability to give more.

I find it amazing that today, the world revolves around money; it takes money to preach and propagate the Gospel around the world; it takes money to send missionaries and evangelists; it takes money to develop projects; it takes money to organize and attend conferences; not to mention payment of wages for pastors and other church worker; yet, we hear so little about money in the church.

Money as a subject seems like a taboo in the church. People love it and work hard for it, but nobody wants to talk about it in church. It is probably because of this that the subject is not discussed at home either. For some reason, Christians feel that we should not talk openly about money. Some may even consider it a sin to talk about money in church or at home.

Yet, financial problems are at the core of the many problems Christians face as individuals and families on a daily basis. Many Christian families break up because of financial problems. The flip side is probably also true: Many Christians turn their backs on God in pursuit of material possessions. They find it untenable serving two masters. Sadly, they turn to money and turn away from God.

I worked in several organizations before I became self-employed. I remember that we used to receive many letters from churches asking for financial assistance for projects, crusades and meetings. The organizations helped in some instances, but generally, the managers would be so fed up with such requests that they would throw the letters into the bins without reading the contents. You know why they did that? Because they knew it was another request for financial assistance. As a Christian, I felt embarrassed many times, because I am part of a church that says that God owns the silver and gold of the earth, then we turn around and beg from the world to finance His work. The church has misrepresented God to the world in the very important area of finances.

I believe that it is about time the church turns around and starts giving to the Government and the rest of the community. The church must be a blessing, not a curse; it must be an asset, not a liability. We are connected to the source, so we should draw out of Him and begin to bless the world. It makes absolutely no sense to worldly people when we tell them the God we serve owns everything, then we turn around and beg and borrow to finance His work. But imagine if the church started giving to development projects. It would completely turn the prevailing mindset on its head. And I believe many people would surrender to the Lord. They would want to be a part of a church that is prospering. As it is, people of the world do not want to darken the doors of churches because we portray a poor church, and therefore a poor God.

I accept that the absence of preaching and teaching on financial matters may be due to genuine oversight on the part of church leaders. There are so many other more important topics to preach and instruct people about than money. But, if what Pastor Joseph Kingal says in the foreword that there are more than 2,300 verses in the Bible concerning money, wealth and material possessions is true, how can the church bypass the subject? Why did the Lord Jesus Christ use a lot of financial and business terms in His parables? If God talked a lot about these matters in His Word, the subject must be important.

I suspect that pastors are reluctant to talk about these matters for fear that they might encourage people to go searching for these things at the expense of their souls.
I also suspect a feeling of uneasiness because money is referred to by the Bible as “filthy lucre” and the love for it is “the root of all evil”. Pastors feel uncomfortable talking about something the Bible calls “filthy” or “dirty”. They jump at the opportunity to handle it, but they don’t want to teach the people about how to make more of it.

I am not blaming anyone here. I realize that many pastors probably want to teach their congregation about money, but they lack confidence because they do not have personal experience in working for salaries or starting and running businesses. They feel that because they have not dealt with financial matters, run businesses and invested, or received training in that area, they are not qualified to talk about it. “You can only lead others as far as you have gone yourself,” they think.

This is unfortunate, because in reality, apart from their relationship with God, financial matters are probably the next most important subject for Christians. I don’t think I would be wrong if I said that more than 90% of peoples’ time and mental effort is taken up by financial issues on a day-to-day basis. This applies to both Christians and the heathen.
I am aware that many pastors, leaders and Christians have been reading books written by international evangelists, world-renowned pastors and Christian leaders. This is fine.
But this book is based on a developing country perspective, in particular, a Papua New Guinea perspective. In Chapter 6 of the book I attempt to explain why I think believers in Papua New Guinea are well-positioned to become prosperous for God’s glory and for the extension of His kingdom both within the country and elsewhere in the world. I have heard of prophesies that Papua New Guinea will one day finance the preaching of the Gospel. I believe this. But it will not happen until Christians rise up, get their minds renewed, and take possession of what is rightfully theirs.

I hope that readers will find this book inspirational. I also hope that the book generates interest in the subject of financial management and investing (or stewardship) within church circles.

In light of the developments that are taking place with respect to mineral, oil, gas, forestry, fisheries, large-scale agriculture and carbon trade projects, Papua New Guinean Christians will certainly have a lot of money pass through their hands. I hope that this book helps Christians to position themselves right to become active participants and not passive observers. I hope that when the wealth is in their hands, that they will give God His rightful place instead of getting carried away by greed and the pursuit of material possessions.

I also hope that pastors and other church workers will be able to use this as a handbook in the course of preaching to and counseling congregation members and others in the body of Christ on the important subject of personal finance and stewardship.
Finally, let me make this admission: I am just a layman pastor. I have not been to Bible College or seminary, so my knowledge of the Word of God and basic doctrines is quite inadequate. I have been trained as an economist, so although I know that the information I have packaged in this book is quite sound as far as the world’s financial and economic systems go, it may fall short in many ways from a Biblical perspective.

Thursday, December 17, 2009

This Is The Preface To My Book "Young Money"

A study was conducted in the United States several years ago by the Social Security Office, which tracked thousands of people at graduation from university to retirement from work at the age of 65. The results were that out of every 100 people:

• 36 were dead;
• 54 were broke, dependent on pension and charity;
• 5 were continuing to work past retirement age;
• 4 were financially secure; and
• 1 was wealthy.

The study concluded that generally in the US, 5% of the working class was financially successful while 95% was unsuccessful. The 95% had all been to university, had good jobs and received high salaries. They had succeeded academically and professionally. But when it came to the management of their finances, they had nothing to show for all the money they had earned during their working lives.

A similar study by the Australian Bureau of Statistics showed that 96% of the population at retirement age ended up dead, broke or on pension. Only 3% became financially independent and only 1% became financially free and rich.

The story is generally the same for most Western countries including New Zealand, UK, Canada, and Europe.

There are no similar statistics on Papua New Guinea and other developing countries, but I would be surprised if it was different. In fact, the proportion of financially unsuccessful people in the developing world is probably closer to 99%.

What is the main reason for this? The answer all over the world is financial illiteracy which results in bad money habits. It is not that people do not earn enough. It is that they do not know how to harness the power of money and make it work for them, and because of that lack of knowledge, they develop and have bad habits when it comes to using their money. They may be good at managing other peoples’ money wisely but not their own.

At least two developed countries have become alarmed at the acute lack of financial education among the population, and have recently taken steps to address the problem. The United States Government enacted the Financial Literacy and Education Improvement Act in 2003, on the basis of which a Financial Literacy and Education Commission was established. The Australian Government established the Consumer and Financial Literacy Taskforce in 2004, which strongly recommended the establishment of the Financial Literacy Foundation.
Both organisations have been tasked with the responsibility of educating consumers on financial matters in relation to spending, budgeting saving, investing, borrowing and risk management. Their strategy is to educate people through the education system, starting at primary school upwards.

If highly developed countries like the United States and Australia can see a real need to educate their people on personal money management after the hundreds of years of people having dealt with money, don’t you think developing countries need to do likewise? I think it is imperative. In fact, it is essential.

Developing countries, which have entered the cash economy relatively recently, really need to educate their people on how they can manage their finances so as to become successful at their own level. I believe that developing countries like Papua New Guinea cannot advance and become developed unless and until their people learn how to manage their money well.

The need for financial education has arisen for two main reasons. Firstly, it has been realized that schools teach students to work for money, but not how to make money work for them. So people go to school, strive for good grades, get jobs, work for their employers, and pay their bills and debts, but do not have much to show at the end of their productive lives. Only a few break out of this vicious circle and become financially independent, free and successful. The majority may have been successful academically and professionally, but are failures financially. They end up broke soon after retirement.

Secondly, the world has changed from the Industrial Age to the Information Age. In the Industrial Age, jobs were very secure. People went to school and got jobs which they held for life. After they retired, their employers continued to support them through pensions. With the advent of the Information Age and other developments such as globalisation, jobs have become insecure. You can have a seemingly safe and secure job today but lose it tomorrow. And generally pensions and superannuation fund savings are not sufficient to maintain your pre-retirement standard of living.

Job insecurity and financial insecurity go hand in hand, because for most people, the pay cheque is their only source of livelihood. When jobs are removed, financial problems arise immediately. You can tell that by the chorus of complaints which working people kick up after missing just one fortnight. Most people are in fact a few fortnights away from bankruptcy.

That is why educating people on personal financial management is essential. You cannot afford to cling to your job and your pay cheque for your livelihood. A job may be what you need in the short term but in the long term you really need to be financially independent. You must know how to use what you earn from your job in a manner that ensures you maintain your current standard of living even if you lose your job.

My first book, Success After Graduation, was about how students can succeed professionally after school. It discussed the job market, how to get a job and keep it, the fact that there is no job security, the need to plan for early retirement, the importance of financial security and marriage, self-employment, and the fact that life is a school from which there is no graduation.
T
his second book is on how young people, those who are entering the workforce and working people, can succeed financially. I have written it to provide advice and guidance on how they can manage their personal finances so as to succeed financially – something which they do not learn in school or at home, and something which the majority of working people have not been able to achieve.

I have written the book because the education system does not teach students anything about personal financial management. The education curriculum covers literacy and numeracy but not financial literacy. In other words, students learn English and Mathematics but not how to read and use financial information for their own benefit.

Most teachers and lecturers have not been taught anything about management of personal finances when they were in school. They do not know much about how to manage their finances, and even struggle to make ends meet, even though they are academically qualified. They are therefore not in a position to educate their students on matters related to personal finance.

The result is that most working people are financial failures because they have not had the benefit of becoming educated on financial matters. Most professionals do not know much about how to manage their finances and succeed, with the result that they live in debt, are constantly broke, and struggle all their lives.

This book is my contribution to educating young people about achieving financial success after school. It is aimed at young people, but I believe that working people will find the book useful too. In fact, as the book is based on my experience as an employee and many examples are about those who are already in the workforce, working class people will find the book speaking directly into their lives.

The crux of the book is that academic and professional success does not guarantee financial success, as the studies quoted above show all over the world. In other words, good grades in school and high-paying jobs do not automatically translate to personal financial success. The evidence for this again is the large number of educated and seemingly successful working people who struggle financially all their lives the world over.

My hope is that young people will be prudent in the way they spend their money when they leave school and enter the workforce, by putting into practice some of the ideas contained in this book.

The choice is yours: You can either be one of the 95% who fail all over the world due to bad money habits, or among the 5% who succeed financially through wise management.

My advice is: don’t follow the crowd – the millions all over the world who struggle financially because of bad money habits, the major ones of which are discussed in Chapter 7. Chart a different course for yourself and discipline yourself. It will be hard going against the tide of instant gratification which drives most people towards financial ruin, but in the end you will succeed.

Times have really changed. In the past, our ancestors did not need money to live. They used various items like shells, pigs and traditional salt as currency for trade and exchange purposes, but not for their daily livelihood. They lived on their garden food and water from creeks and rivers. There were no schools to send their children to. There were no electricity bills or rent. Today, we are part of the modern cash economy where money is essential for living. Even water costs money.

In 21st century Papua New Guinea, or wherever in the world you may be reading this book from, financial success is so vital that if you fail financially, you fail in every other area of life. Think about that statement, and you will agree with me. If you fail financially, there is a high chance that your marriage will become unviable. If you fail financially, it is certain that your children will not receive a good education. If you fail financially, you will spend most of your life working for those from whom you have borrowed money. If you fail financially, it is certain that you will not leave much by way of an inheritance for your children.

I really trust that this book helps you to succeed and not fail. I hope that working people will take a long pause after reading the book and make the changes they know are necessary to come out of the financial struggles they have been living in. I hope that the book helps people to make the hard decisions that are required of them in order to become successful in future.

Saturday, December 12, 2009

The Papua New Guinea LNG Project: A Financial Tsunami?

The PNG Government and the developers of the giant LNG project signed the Final Investment Decision (FID) on 8th December 2009 as initially planned. With this, the project is set to go ahead. The US$16 billion project is set the transform the economic landscape of the country.

I am however sceptical about the project’s impact on the people of PNG, in particular the owners of the traditional land upon which the gas will be piped, all the way from the Southern Highlands through Western and Gulf Provinces to the processing plant in the Central Province. Hundreds of millions of kina will be paid out to these landowners in royalties over the next 30 years.

My fear is that the people are not emotionally and psychologically prepared to handle this money, so the money will actually become curse rather than a blessing.

We just read this week that the landowners in Southern Highlands went on a drinking and shopping spree after the Licensed Based Benefits Sharing Agreements (LBBSAs) were completed. It was reported that all the liquor outlets were emptied of stock, and many road accidents happened. I believe this is a sign of things to come.

I fear that the following will happen in the project areas:

• Drunkenness and associated social problems will increase;
• Most marriages will break up as men become polygamous;
• HIV/AIDS will increase, especially as men with money seek to satisfy their lust;
• Many children will refuse to go to school;
• Churches will close their doors as commitment levels drop;
• Disputes, quarrels and even all-out wars within landowning groups will intensify as the leaders of these groups, driven by greed and selfishness, benefit more than the rest of the members;

In a nutshell, when the project expires in 30 years’ time, it will be as if a tsunami had swept through the project areas. It will leave a lot of broken lives and social problems in its wake.

Why do I say this? It is basically because Papua New Guinea is a nation of consumers. All we know about money is spending it. We don’t have a saving culture. And investing money is a foreign concept.

Given that this is the situation, what will happen when people who have dealt with only small amounts of money in their lives now have thousands available to them? I believe that they will not hesitate to spend the money. The thinking will be: “Why think about saving and investing when there is a continuous stream of money coming for the next 30 years?” It will lead to a situation where money gets spent faster than it comes, resulting in the majority of landowners getting into debt to sustain their lavish lifestyles.

I understand this is what has been happening with landowners at Ok Tedi and other gold mines, as well as landowners of oil palm and forest projects. Landowners at Misima lived like this and are suffering today. The gold rush at Mount Kare led many landowners to spending lavishly. There were stories of some of them buying brand new vehicles in Mount Hagen with cash, getting them smashed and leaving the vehicles on the roadsides as they returned to the car dealers to buy new vehicles!

It is based on these observations that I am saying the LNG project will not do much good for the landowners. I may be wrong. Only time will tell.

Monday, December 7, 2009

Response to Speeches

I made 2 speeches at Mount Hagen Secondary School and Hagen Park Secondary School, during the graduations of their Grades 10s and 12s for 2009. Both speeches were well-received by the students, teachers and parents.

The speech at Hagen Park had a big impact on people. I had several people come up to ask me for copies of the speech. One young man actually told me that he was weeping as I went through the speech. One student I met a day later told me that all her mates were impacted by the speech. A gentleman told me that the speech was really for the people of Western Highlands Province, not just the graduating students. Three boys from the village sent me text messages while I was on the stage after delivering the speech, to tell me that the speech was powerful. They later informed me that people in the crowd were talking about it. The High School/Secondary School Superintendent for the province told me that the speech was the best he has heard in his life.

To God be all the Glory!

Speech During Combined Grade 10 and 12 Graduation - Mount Hagen Secondary School, WHP

I attended the combined Grade 10 & 12 Graduation of the Mount Hagen Secondary School on Wednesday 3rd December. I was not the Guest of Honour but was one of the speakers. Below is the speech I presented.

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My short speech is titled “You’ve Got What It Takes To Succeed In Life.”

Have you ever wondered what are the basic ingredients which you need to become a successful person? Many people think that to be successful, you must be educated to university level and hold a high-paying job. Others have other ideas.

What I want to tell you today is that every one of us possesses the basic ingredients necessary for success. What are they? The first is time. All of us have 24 hours in a day – 12 hours of daylight and 12 of night, or 8 hours for sleeping, 8 for working and 8 hours of free time.

Secondly, we have sound minds. Our mind is the greatest asset which is totally underutilised. Scientists say that the average person uses only 10% of their brain capacity between the time of birth and death. 90% goes to the grave unused. We think we think, but we don’t really think. Henry Ford, founder of Ford Motor Corporation said that “Thinking is the hardest work there is, that’s why not many people engage in it.”

Related to our minds is common sense. All of us basically know what is right and what is wrong; what is good for us and what is bad. Common sense is what we are born with. You certainly don’t learn it in school!

Fourthly, we have health and strength. Many of us take our strength for granted and apply it wrongly. But we need to realise that every night we go to bed very tired and worn out, but each morning we wake up with new strength to face the day’s challenges and take advantages of the opportunities each day presents to us.

On top of these four – time, mind, common sense and health – in PNG we are very fortunate to own land. We are among a few countries in the world where nearly 100% of land is owned by the people. In most other countries land is owned by the State. And when you consider that land is the basis of wealth, we Papua New Guineans are born rich and wealthy!

Students, I am telling you that if you combine your time, mind, common sense, physical strength and land, you can become successful in life. You have all these ingredients available to you right now.

Notice that I have not included education or money as ingredients for success. Let me take education first, and say this: To succeed, you don’t need a university degree. How do I know this? By observing that the majority of university graduates are failing financially and in other areas of life, while the relatively uneducated are succeeding. That tells me that being highly educated does not equate to being successful.

You see, the purpose of education is not to enable you to get a paying job. So many of us make an automatic connection between school and jobs. This is wrong. And this is why we have so many young people becoming frustrated all over the country because they cannot get jobs. No. The purpose of education is to provide you with information and knowledge. When you possess knowledge, your mind becomes open to the many options that are out there, that’s all. Getting a paid job is just one option, not the only option. In fact, if you want to make a lot of money in life, a paid job is the last option you would consider, not the first. Why do I say this? Well, if you look around, the people making the most money are not employees; those who make the most money are those who work for themselves. And many such people are uneducated.

In my list of assets you have to possess to succeed, I did not include money. This is because money is just a by-product of applying your mind, time, common sense, strength and land. Many people think they need money to succeed, but this is incorrect. If you combine what you have, money will come. You don’t need money to make money; you can make money without money – particularly in Papua New Guinea.

As some of you may know, I am an advocate of self-employment. I have written a book on the subject called Be Your Own Boss and I have been sharing my ideas in the newspapers. I am glad to report today that many Papua New Guineans are catching the idea and are starting their own businesses. I believe that is the way to go. The country needs many small business people who create jobs. We have too many job-seekers. We need to take our economy back from large multinational corporations and foreign businesses that are mushrooming all over the country.

With the LNG project and other resource developments taking place all over the country, the environment is right for us local people to start small businesses. Let us not leave the playing field wide open for Asians to play the game. We must not complain when they succeed under our noses. We must get in, play the game and beat them.

So my friends – students, parents and teachers - I am sorry if I have messed up your minds by what I have said today, but before you dismiss it and stick to the way have been looking at things, I urge to you think about what I have said.

I would even go so far as to suggest to you that if you do not make it to Grade 11 or a tertiary institution next year, be very glad, not very sad. Take it as an opportunity to do something with your time, mind, strength and land. Don’t rush to upgrade your marks or look for other options to further your education. Consider the option of starting a small business instead. Be committed to it, and I can assure you that in 2 -6 years time when your colleagues who have continued up the educational ladder start looking for jobs, you will be a few years ahead of them. When you have the money, you can always go back to school if you feel you need it.

YOU’VE GOT WHAT IT TAKES TO SUCCEED IN LIFE!

To graduating students, CONGRATULATIONS! To everyone, A MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR! God bless you all!

Sunday, November 29, 2009

Speech During Combined Grade 10 and 12 Graduation - Hagen Park Secondary School, WHP

This is a motivational speech I will be presenting during the combined Grade 10 & 12 Graduation of the Hagen Park Secondary School where I have been invited as Guest of Honour. The special event is scheduled for Thursday 4th December 2009 in the city of Mount Hagen.

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1. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

2. INTRODUCTION
It is a real privilege for me to speak on this very important occasion that marks the end of one chapter and the beginning of another in the lives of Grade 10 students and Grade 12 students graduating today.

I thank the 2009 Graduation Organising Committee for inviting me as Guest Speaker.

Life is full of opportunities, especially in this country. I have found that what people of all walks of life need is inspiration more than anything else, to get them to believe in themselves and on the road to success in life.

So I hope that what I say today will be an inspiration not only to the graduating students but all students in this school, young people in general, and every one of us witnessing the graduation today.

The title of my speech is, “FLY LIKE AN EAGLE; DON’T SRCATCH THE GROUND LIKE A CHICKEN!”

3. THE CHICKEN-EAGLE
I have a collection of stories on file which I use in my writings, speeches and sermons in the church. One such story, which I would like to relate to you today, is that of the chicken-eagle. I hope that you will not forget this story.

Once upon a time, there was a large mountainside, where an eagle’s nest rested. The eagle’s nest contained four large eagle eggs. One day an earthquake rocked the mountain causing one of the eggs to roll down the mountain, to a chicken farm, located in the valley below. The chickens knew that they must protect and care for the eagle’s egg, so an old hen volunteered to nurture and raise the large egg.

One day, the egg hatched and a beautiful eagle was born. Sadly, however, the eagle was raised to be a chicken. Soon, the eagle believed he was nothing more than a chicken. The eagle loved his home and family, but his spirit cried out for more. While playing a game on the farm one day, the eagle looked to the skies above and noticed a mighty eagle soaring in the skies. "Oh," the chicken-eagle cried, "I wish I could soar like that bird."

The chickens roared with laughter, "You cannot fly with that bird. You are a chicken, and chickens do not fly, they scratch."

The eagle continued staring, at his real family member up above, dreaming that he could fly. Each time the eagle would let his dreams be known, he was told it couldn’t be done.

Soon the eagle came to believe that he was a chicken. He stopped dreaming about flying and continued to live his life like a chicken. After a long life as a chicken, the eagle passed away.

The moral of the story is this: YOU BECOME WHAT YOU BELIEVE YOU ARE. Many people are supposed to fly like eagles but they live like chickens because they think like chickens. Many eagle-people don’t fly because they allow chicken-people to influence and convince them that they cannot do it. Soon they begin to think like chickens and so live in a yard scratching for worms all their lives, and die like chickens even though they were engineered to fly like eagles. SO WATCH WHO YOU ASSOCIATE WITH. If you mingle with chickens, you will think, live and die like a chicken.

4. TEN QUALITIES OF THE EAGLE AND LESSONS FOR EAGLE-PEOPLE
Let me share with you ten (10) qualities of the bald eagle (not the vulture). I will relate these qualities to the habits and behaviours of eagle-people.

Firstly, the eagle does not flock like other birds. It flies alone. It does not do what other birds do in flocks.

Eagle-people do not do what everybody else does. They do not go around in groups. They do not bring themselves to live under peer pressure. They think, talk and walk differently from the majority of people. They don’t waste their time taking spins in town or playing cards and darts because that is what other people are doing. They seek out other eagle-people to associate with. That is the main reason they succeed in life, while the majority of the people fail because they do what everybody else does.

Secondly, the eagle makes it home high up in rocky cliffs, higher than where all other birds make their nests.

Eagle-people set very high standards for themselves and live by those high standards. They set goals and are purposeful in all that they do. They are honest, hard working, and punctual, refuse to be bribed, enticed, etc. They don’t get involved in tribal fights or supply guns and bullets to their tribal members. They do things that are the opposite of what the majority does.

Thirdly, the female eagle tests the would-be male partner before agreeing to become his life-long mate. She takes a stick high up into the sky and drops it and challenges the male who is courting her to catch the stick before it lands on the ground. She does this several times, flying lower and lower until she is a few metres from the ground. This is the hardest test yet, and only the male who swoops in and catches the stick at that very low level gets to become her life partner.

Eagle-people test other people to find out how committed they are before they form trusting, life-long relationships with them. They know that the people they associate with can make or break them, so they deliberately pick and choose the people they associate with. Eagle-girls do not go around with any man who offers her money; they test men to see how really committed they are before they reciprocate. They know that life is short and fragile, so they do not mess around with married men.

Fourthly, the female eagle teaches young eaglets to fly by carrying them on her wings high into the sky, then dropping them, or pushing them off their nest in the cliff face. The mother feeds and loves them when they are babies, but when it is time to fly, it is rough on them.

Life teaches us likewise. Don’t expect life to be easy on you. Many of you graduating today will be dropped by the system. Your dreams will crash. If we go by national statistics, less than half of Grade 10s graduating today will not continue on to Grade 11; and only 30% of Grade 12s will not get places in tertiary institutions. Even if you make it to college or university, it is highly likely that you might not get a paid job.

When this happens, don’t get disappointed and give up. Take it as life dropping you because it wants to teach you to fly. Don’t cry over it; let it strengthen and motivate you to find your purpose in life. Remember that you don’t need a university degree to succeed in life.

Fifthly, the eagle has very powerful eye sight with which he can spot his prey from far above the sky. Because the eagle flies high, it can see up to 11 kilometres from where it is. It has long vision.

One of the benefits of education is that it transfers information and new ideas which open the minds of people. As educated people, eagle-people can see better than others who have not had the benefit of getting educated. Eagle-people are visionaries. When their minds expand, their eyes open for them to see far and wide, and they walk in the reality of what they perceive. They can see where they are going. Where chicken-people see problems, eagle-people see great opportunities. They do not allow people with closed minds to influence, manipulate and dictate to them.

Another aspect of being an eagle-person is because they have better sight, they are able to think before they act. They can see the consequences of their actions before they take any action, so they act with more wisdom unlike chicken-people who cannot see that far. For instance, they don’t act out of anger. They think first and do not allow anger to drive them. Chicken-people demonstrate their anger quickly because they cannot think and see far.

Sixthly, the eagle loves storms. When all other birds run and hide from an impending storm, the eagle gets really excited and it flies straight at the eye of the storm. He then spreads his wings and allows the wind to carry him high into the sky. He leverages the storm to fly higher than he could by using his own strength.

Eagle-people do not run and hide when the storms of life confront them. Instead they look at those storms as opportunities and stepping-stones for advancement, not threats and problems to hide from. When they are faced with obstacles, they look for ways around instead of giving up in despair and hopelessness.

Seventhly, the eagle flies higher than all other birds. In fact, it flies higher than jet planes. Many pilots have reported sighting eagles flying above their planes!

Eagle-people fly higher than chicken-people. They succeed no matter how uneducated they are, or how poor their background is.

Eighthly, eagles do not feed on dead flesh; they only eat fresh flesh. Vultures like the meat of dead animals; eagles hate it. They have higher dietary standards.

Eagle-people do not drink alcohol, smoke, chew betel nuts, or take drugs. They consider themselves too good for these unhealthy stuff. They don’t watch pornographic DVDs or engage in premarital or extramarital sex just because everybody around them is doing it. They feed their minds by reading good books or do their homework instead of wasting time playing computer games on their mobile phones or watching TV. They don’t gamble with their money or demand and accept bribes. They live by very high ethical standards.

Ninthly, when the male eagle feels that his feathers have become worn out, he goes to a place far from where eagles normally live. He then plucks out all the old feathers and waits until his feathers grow again, then he gets back into life with new vigour and zeal.

Eagle-people are honest with themselves about their habits and attitudes. They don’t defend their weaknesses, but rather they confess and expose them. They shed bad, limiting habits, attitudes and mind-sets, before they begin to engage with the world.

Finally, the eagle outlives all other birds. Its average life-span is 70 years.

Eagle-people live long, and they enjoy life. Their lives are fruitful because of the standards they live by. They are assets to society, not liabilities. They are a blessing and not a curse to have around.

5. CONCLUSION
Students and young people, let me tie all that I have said by saying to each one of you individually: YOU ARE AN EAGLE. YOU ARE NOT A CHICKEN. YOU ARE CREATED TO FLY LIKE THE EAGLE, SO BE THE EAGLE YOU ARE, AND DON’T SCRATCH THE GROUND LIKE CHICKEN DO.

I have come to the end of my speech. We are going to end it together. Repeat after me: “I AM AN EAGLE, NOT A CHICKEN. I AM GOING TO LOOK UP, NOT DOWN. I AM GOING TO FLY, NOT SCRATCH THE GROUND. I AM GOING TO SUCCEED IN LIFE, NOT FAIL.”

Believe it, and live it!

To graduating students, CONGRATULATIONS! To everyone, A MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR! God bless you!

Saturday, November 28, 2009

This Is The Introductory Chapter To My Book "Young Money"

ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE AND PROFESSIONAL SUCCESS DOES NOT GUARANTEE FINANCIAL SUCCESS
This book has been written for one simple reason: the education system does not prepare students for financial success after graduation.

People do not learn anything about personal finance, budgeting, saving, investing, stock markets, real estate, debt, interest rates, inflation, taxation, rates of return and other financial formulas and ratios. Even students studying economics, accounting and business do not learn anything about how the various concepts they learn in the classroom apply to their personal finances, or how they can use them to succeed financially.

People go to school with the hope of getting jobs which will provide them with income in the form of salaries and wages. All the decisions they will make every day after school will be determined by the amount of money they have. What they eat, what they wear, where they go, and where they live, will all depend on the amount of money they earn or have, and what they do with it.

It is therefore really unfortunate that school is silent on this vital area of life. It educates by providing students with information with which they will hopefully get salaried jobs, but does not empower them with the information and skills they need to succeed financially. The result is that young people leave the school system academically literate and qualified but financially illiterate.

Academically bright people therefore become so messed up in their financial lives, spending more than they earn, living in habitual debt, chasing fast money through all forms of gambling, and hanging onto their jobs as the only source of life, slaving for others all their productive lives.

We used to live in a duplex in one of Port Moresby’s suburbs in the late 1980s. In the next flat lived a financial controller with a major oil company and his family. The man was highly educated and highly paid, but was obviously having financial problems. Most of the afternoons he would come home drunk. His wife would sell ice blocks and betel nuts to raise money for their daily food. We witnessed him complaining about the food, beating the wife and chasing her and the children out of the house on a regular basis.

Here was a highly educated person who knew how to look after his employer’s money as he had learnt in school, but could not even manage his own finances. Could the reason for this be that he never learnt anything about personal finance in school?
The main premise of this book is that academic excellence and professional success does not automatically guarantee financial success.

Most people think otherwise. They assume that bright students will do well in life. Students think that because they do well in school, they will get high-paying jobs and earn high salaries, and therefore succeed financially. This may be true in some instances, but not in most cases.

Most students who do well academically find that the world is different from the classroom. In the classroom, bright students may be held in high esteem by their teachers and other students who are not so bright. They may have an advantage over others in getting jobs too. But getting jobs and succeeding financially are completely different matters altogether.

The sad fact is that many people who did well in school are not necessarily successful later in life. The story of the financial controller related above is probably typical of many highly educated people all over the world. They are academically bright and smart in their professions, but fail miserably when it comes to managing their own finances and succeeding. They know how to manage other peoples’ money but not their own. They are academic and professional successes, but financial failures.

The contrary is true as well. Many people who did not do well in school are more successful than their mates who were bright and academically more qualified. I know of several of my school mates who dropped out of high school who today are successful businessmen, earning more than most working class people and employing those who are more educated than themselves.

Some people have even never been to high school but are wealthy and financially successful. I can think of 2 men in my town who dropped out of primary school who are now millionaires in their own right. One owns several coffee plantations, two hotels and many properties which he rents out, while the other owns a chain of retail shops, a hotel, several lodges and even an airline. I have also heard rumours that they have properties in Australia.

Most people also think that people who are successful in their professions are financially successful as well. They think that if a person is successful in their job, they must know how to manage their money, and therefore they have a lot of money.

This is a mistaken belief. My experience is that most seemingly successful employees actually struggle financially. They are highly indebted to banks, finance companies and informal money lenders. They do not have their own houses. They cannot afford to buy their own vehicles and so depend on public transport all their working lives. Most do not have any savings. And most are one or two fortnights away from bankruptcy.

BANKS CARE LESS ABOUT YOUR ACADEMIC AND PROFESSIONAL ACHIEVEMENTS
To be academically qualified and professionally successful does not equate to financial success. This fact really comes to light when people approach their banks for financial assistance. Banks do not ask to see peoples’ academic transcripts, for instance. They do not care whether you possess a degree, diploma or a certificate, which educational institution you attended, and what position you hold in an organisation. They do not even want to know whether you are educated at all.

The first thing that banks want to establish is how much you earn, what you spend your money on, and what assets and liabilities you have. In other words, your personal financial statement and net worth are what the bank wants to know, not your academic qualifications or professional standing. Your credit worthiness is what the bank wants to establish. You might have been a straight “A” student in school and a high-flyer in your profession, but an “F” person as far as your finances is concerned.

WHAT THE BOOK COVERS
The book is set out as follows. Chapter 1 discusses your salary and other terms and conditions of employment, and the impact of income tax and other deductions on how much you take home on a fortnightly basis. The chapter highlights the fact that personal income tax is one of the largest single expenses faced by workers in the country. It alerts you not to be fooled by the seemingly attractive employment packages which employers offer. What matters is what you take home at the end of each fortnight, and whether you succeed or fail financially depends on what you do with that money.

Chapters 2 and 3 focus on budgeting and cashflow management. Most people do not make budgets and so end up spending their money anyhow. These chapters encourage you to make budgeting a habit, so that you can control the flow of money coming in and going out of your life. Budgeting is about having a plan for your money. If you don’t, your money will fall into other peoples’ plans. Cashflow management is about taking control of the money that falls into your hands and applying it purposefully.

Chapter 4 discusses your personal financial statement. The important point on the discussion is that whereas grades are important in school and when it comes to getting jobs, they are not even considered when it comes to determining how financially successful you are. Your financial statement is really your report card after school, and this is what banks look at when assessing your creditworthiness.

Chapter 5 should be read closely, because it discusses the differences between needs and wants, and assets and liabilities. Most people fail financially because they fail to distinguish between these four things. Therefore they buy wants instead of needs, and liabilities thinking they are assets. The inability to distinguish between needs, wants, assets and liabilities has been identified as the main reason the majority of working people fail financially all over the world.

Three ways of living are discussed in Chapter 6: living above, below and within your means. Readers are urged to form the habit of living below their means if they want to succeed financially.

Most working people fail financially not because they do not earn enough, but because they have bad money habits. Six of the most common bad spending habits are discussed in Chapter 7. If you want to succeed financially, you must avoid these habits.

The importance of saving is discussed in Chapter 8. You are introduced to the concept of “paying yourself first.” You are urged to make saving a habit in life, and to save for investment purposes, not for consumption. You also read about two important concepts in finance: the time value of money and the power of compound interest.

In Chapter 9, the book discusses the 4 different types of income people earn: earned income, passive income, portfolio income and residual income. You are encouraged to invest your take-home pay or earned income so that you can earn passive and portfolio income, which require little if any physical effort. Investing is presented as a way of taming or harnessing money and making it become your servant or employee.

Most people tend to think that in order to succeed financially, they must hold back as much as possible. This is not so. According to the law of sowing and reaping, giving is in fact one of the most powerful ways to experience financial success. So in Chapter 10 you are encouraged to give, but with discretion.

The next chapter discusses lending, and how you can operate like a bank and lend to banks, the government, businesses and other people. It is another way of making money become your employee. What you lend goes out and returns to you with more money.
Chapter 12 looks at the issue of debt, and the difference between good debt and bad debt. The point is that contrary to popular thinking, not all debt is bad. It discusses the causes and effects of bad debt, and encourages readers to use good debt to get ahead financially.

Gambling is covered in Chapter 13. This is an important chapter, because Papua New Guineans spend at least K100 million every year on poker machines alone, not taking into account lottery tickets, horse racing and other forms of gambling. It also discusses fast money scams, and encourages you to avoid gambling as if you would avoid a plague.

Chapters 14 and 15 are very important. While Chapter 14 encourages you to act daily with your financial destiny in the long term in mind, Chapter 15 encourages you to put into practice the principles and ideas contained in this book if you want to succeed financially. Reading and knowing is one thing. Actually doing what you know is another. The point is that knowledge only has potential power; utilised knowledge is powerful.

HOW THE RICH BECAME RICH
Here are 6 main ways people have become rich throughout the ages all over the world:

• By inheriting wealth and riches from parents or other benefactors;
• By getting married to rich people;
• By gambling and becoming lucky;
• By getting compensated for misfortune or the acquisition of their possessions for public purposes;
• By stealing through corruption, bribery, white collar crime, drug trafficking, money laundering, extortion, etc; and
• By working hard, saving and investing.

Which way do you think the majority of people followed to become rich? If you said they worked hard, saved consistently and invested their money, you would be right. That is the way you too can become financially successful, wealthy and rich. The basics of what you need to know and do to become successful are contained in this book.

PERSONAL EXPERIENCE
In case you think I have written this book based on things I have read, I want to assure you that I have seen the power of using the information in the book in my own life. Several years ago I was a struggling working class person like most others in the country. I struggled to make ends meet, lived beyond my means, and got into debt regularly. I do not drink, smoke and gamble, but even then I struggled from fortnight to fortnight.

If you have read Success After Graduation, my first book, you would know that I was unemployed for 8 months after I left my last job. It was during this period that I regretted having misused all the money I had received over the years when I was employed. I wished I could find a job again, and if I did, this time I would save my money and invest it instead of squandering it. After unsuccessfully searching for jobs, I decided to become self-employed and work for myself. Having felt what it is like to be without a job and regular pay, I have come to appreciate the importance of saving and investing.
They say that old habits die hard, and that is so true when it comes to money habits. I still struggle with the bad habits I developed when I had salaried jobs, but I have made several attempts to save and invest what I have made from what I do as a self-employed person. I am glad, but not afraid or ashamed, to tell you that even though I am not rich and wealthy yet, I am financially independent today. In other words, I do not need a salaried job to live. I can survive without a job.

In fact, my mentality and attitude to paid jobs has completely changed. To me, a job is a waste of time. I am not saying you should leave your job. But I am saying that for me personally, I can earn more working for myself than waiting for an employer’s fortnightly pay. I can earn more in a day than most people earn in a fortnight.

I am now more imaginative and creative as a self-employed person. I have already written 2 books over the past 12 months, and several more are on their way. I can combine some of these books with seminars and have several streams of income. I would not do these things if I were working for a salary. I would be too busy looking after my employer’s business.
Recently I purchased a house with a big yard in one of the prime residential areas of the town I live in. I know that I would not have been able to buy the house if I had continued my old habits of using money anyhow. I also know that I would definitely not have bought the house if I were working for a fortnightly salary.

When I recall back, I remember that I worked for a fortnightly salary for 12 years and I could not afford to buy a house. I could not even come up with the equity contribution required by the bank. But I could buy the house after only 6 years of being self-employed. This personal story holds lessons which I cover in detail in Be Your Own Boss!, my third book, which is on the subject of self-employment.

Having seen the power of making money work for me through prudent management, saving and investing, my outlook on the future is very positive. My mind is more open than it was before when my only source of livelihood was the employer’s pay cheque. Today I can see many ways of making money. In fact, I see so many of them that sometimes I run out of breath just thinking about the possibilities. It is like living in a different world.

MY HOPE FOR YOU THE READER
It is my sincere hope that students, young people and even working people reading this book will take the message of this book to heart, and use the information contained in it to become financially successful in life.

As I have stated above, people go to school to get jobs and earn a living. But the school system does not equip them with the knowledge they need to succeed financially. The result is that the majority of people may have been academic successes but are failures as far as their financial lives are concerned.

I hope that this book helps an increasing number of people in Papua New Guinea as well as other parts of the world to become financially successful. It is my prayer that many people who have read this book will testify in future that their lives and destinies changed after they read the book and applied the ideas contained in it.

Thursday, November 26, 2009

Rich Or Poor Is A Mindset

I read a book titled The Science of Getting Rich by Wallace D. Wattles, first published in 1910. Chapter 3 is titled “Is Opportunity Monopolised?” The author answers the question by arguing that opportunity is not monopolized and that everybody has the chance to become rich, no matter who or where they are. What really matters is how people think and how they act.

King Solomon made a similar statement in Ecclesiastes 9:11, when he wrote:

“I have seen something else under the sun: The race is not to the swift or the battle to the strong, nor does food come to the wise or wealth to the brilliant or favour to the learned; but time and chance (or opportunity) happen to them all.”

What Solomon said firstly is that everyone has an equal amount of time – 24 hours a day. Secondly, everyone has opportunity knocking on their lives every day. But what makes the difference is what people do with their time, and how they react to the opportunities life presents to them.

Slow people can win just as well as the swift; weak people can be victorious just as well as the strong; wise people can starve and brilliant people can be poor; and both the uneducated and the educated can enjoy favour. What is important is how people react to what life throws at them.
Consider this:

• In every poor country there are rich people, and in every rich country there are poor people.

• There are educated people that are poor, and there are uneducated people that are rich.

• There are employed people that are poor, and there are unemployed people that are rich.

• The majority of the working class people are highly indebted and struggles to make ends meet, while the majority of self-employed people are financially free. In developed countries a large number of working class people are becoming poor, even though they are highly educated and highly paid.

• There are women that are rich, and there are men that are poor.

• There are young people that are rich, and there are elderly people that are poor. An increasing number of high school kids are multimillionaires.

• There are very rich people in developing countries, and there are very poor people in developed countries. For example, I read recently that 20% of people in the city of New York live below the poverty line.

• There are godless people that are very rich, and there are godly people that are very poor.

• There are many cases of people becoming very wealthy despite being born into poor families, and there are many cases of people born into rich families losing their inheritance within the space of just one generation.

When I pondered this, I realised that this world is full of contradictions. You would think that the key to getting out of poverty is education, a high-paying job, living in a developed country, being male, being a Christian, and so on, but this is not necessarily the case. Who you are does not matter. Where you are also doesn’t matter. What family background you come from doesn’t matter.

RICH OR POOR IS A MINDSET

The conclusion I have drawn is this: Rich or poor is a mind-set or way of thinking and looking at the world. People who become rich think ‘rich’ thoughts, and therefore exhibit ‘rich’ habits and attitudes, which lead them to becoming rich, while poor people think thoughts of poverty and scarcity, and thereby exhibit attitudes and livelihoods that are consistent with their mind-sets.

This is what the Bible has been saying for centuries: “As a man thinks, so he becomes” (Proverbs 23:7). I have heard people in the health sector say, “You are what you eat.” This is true. If you eat healthy food, you stay healthy; if the food you eat is unhygienic, you become sick and weak. I have also heard preachers say, “You are what you say you are.” This is also true. But what you eat or say are just outward expressions of the thoughts that are going through your mind. What is truly true is this: You are what you think you are.

IF YOU THINK YOU CAN…

Henry Ford, founder of Ford Motor Company, was not highly educated. In fact, he left school at 15 years of age. But he went on to build cars. He is credited with being the first to think up the idea of reducing costs through the assembly line and mass production of cars. He wanted to see every American household own a car, and succeeded in seeing his dream being fulfilled. This man made a very profound statement which has become one of my favourties. He said,

“If you think you can, you can;
If you think you can’t, you can’t;
Either way you are right.”

Ford is said to have made the above statement in response to people who asked him how he could build motor cars despite not going to engineering school. His response was that it was not important whether he had been to school or not; what was important is whether he thought he could build cars or not. He thought he could build cars, so he did. If he thought he couldn’t, he would not.

Another of his sayings is, “Thinking is the hardest work there is, that is why not many people engage in it.” This guy was obviously a positive thinker and believer. He thought in terms of possibilities or what he could accomplish. He did not focus on problems and seemingly difficult circumstances.

UNCONVENTIONAL THINKING

Most of us are bound by convention and tradition. We repeat what we have heard as to what can be done or happen and what cannot be done. The result is that we end up like every body else.

The Wright Brothers thought and believed that man could fly, despite the popular thinking at the time. Even their uncle Lord Wright, a bishop in the church, believed otherwise. He told them, “Only angels were meant to fly.” But thank God Orville and Wilbur persisted with their dream. Imagine what the world would be like if these men did not risk being excommunicated from the church for their very radical belief that man can fly.

Likewise, Christopher Columbus thought that the world was round, when the whole world accepted that it was flat. All the scientists and geographers went against Columbus when he announced that the world was round. He was persecuted for his beliefs. But because he was bold enough to think differently, the world is a much better place today.

Whether we can or can’t depends not on our abilities or disabilities, whether real or imagined, but on what we think. If you think you can do something or become someone, you are right – you can. But if you think you cannot become somebody or do something, you are right also – you cannot. What is important is not what other people say; it is what you think.

WE ARE BORN RICH BUT BECOME POOR

I have also concluded that everybody is born rich, but most of us become poor, because we develop a poverty mind-set as we grow up. Have you noticed that children are careless and wasteful – even extravagant? They open the tap and let the water run. They switch the light on and don’t put it off. They eat a plate of ice cream, and they are not satisfied. Have you noticed how we adults scold them every time we find them being wasteful? It’s a clash of mind-sets. Children naturally think in terms of abundance, while we adults think and make decisions with a world of scarcity as our mental backdrop.

Children do not know of a world of scarcity or trouble. They look around them and see abundance and peace. They think it is fun to open the tap and let the water just flow down the drain, or play hockey in a war-torn city or crime-infested suburb. They are carefree and careless. They believe anything you tell them, even if it is unbelievable. It is only when we grown ups tell them that they begin to see a world of lack and limitation.

We need to have a shift in mind-set from poverty and scarcity to abundance, if we are to become the prosperous people God has created us to be. Without such a major shift in thinking, we will continue to struggle despite the fact that God desires for us to prosper. Poverty will then be self-imposed, not God-designed.

YOUR LOT IN LIFE IS REALLY DETERMINED BY YOUR MIND-SET

As I was preparing for one of my talks on radio, these thoughts came to me, which were a revelation to me:

• Poor people with rich mind-sets become rich.

• Rich people with poor mind-sets become poor.

• Poor people with poor mind-sets remain poor.

• Rich people with rich mind-sets remain rich.

If you really think about it, there is a lot of truth in these statements. Take the first statement, for instance. I believe it explains why some people go from rags to riches. They start with nothing – little or no education and little or no money - and become multimillionaires. These are the self-made millionaires of the world. Their positive mind-sets attract wealth and riches.

The second statement reminds us of people who come into a lot of money through inheritance, winning lotteries, getting compensation, getting termination or retirement payouts, or even robbing others – but lose everything almost immediately. I am sure you can think of at least one such person right now. Their poor mind-set cannot accommodate their rich status, so wealth flows out of their lives and they are back to where they were. They cannot become rich because their minds repel wealth.

Recently I read that in the city of New York, the financial centre of the world, there are millions of poor people. These people live in one of the most developed cities with all the amenities, yet millions of them from all racial backgrounds live below the poverty line.

The third statement is the saddest of all, because we do have a lot of such people all over the world: People who are born into poor circumstances who think that they cannot become rich, as a result of which they live in poverty all their lives. They look around and blame other people, the weather, the terrain, the political situation, etc for their station in life. But the fact is that there are other people in the same location born into similar circumstances who are rich. The problem is that a ‘poor’ mind-set interferes with them seeing this. The forgone conclusion they have formed that they are condemned to poverty by their circumstances so there is no way out for them, makes them live in self-imposed poverty.

This may also be reflective of a large proportion of people all over the world. They come from disadvantaged backgrounds, or are uneducated or unemployed, because of which they lack material things. This makes them think that they cannot come out of their lack and poverty, so they remain in that state till the day they die. They believe that they were created to be poor. Even as success breeds success, poverty breeds poverty.

I guess the million dollar question then is, “How do I develop a rich mind-set?” To answer that question, let me share with you some of the major characteristics of rich and poor mindsets.

CHARACTERISTICS OF RICH MINDSET

Abundance: There is enough for everyone, such that what I acquire is not at someone else’s expense.

Generosity: What I give comes back to me multiplied, not only material things but also knowledge, ideas and time. So I must give every chance I get.

Selflessness: I will give other people priority and let them get as much as they desire. If there is nothing left for me, it is fine.

Honest hard work: I will not take short cuts to get what I want. I will put in an honest day’s work even when the boss is not around.

Hospitality: I will accommodate other peoples’ needs, because I am only a channel in God’s hands to bless others. When I bless others, I will be blessed.

Opportunity: Everything that happens to me is for my good, so I will look for opportunities in the seemingly adverse circumstances I am faced with.

Optimism – Even though my past and present have not been good, the future is promising for me. Something good is in store for me if I persist.

CHARACTERISTICS OF POOR MINDSET

Scarcity: There is not enough for every one to have a share to their satisfaction.

Greed: I must get as much as I can while I have the opportunity.

Selfishness: I must think about myself and my family before I think about others.

Fear: If I give to others, I will be left with less or nothing for myself. What if I invest my savings and I lose everything?

Hoarding: I must keep this and not give it away or sell it now.

Negativity: The way things are going, there is no hope of me getting promoted or succeeding in business.

Bribery: I must demand additional fees for my services because I am not paid enough.

Laziness: Why work when other people are there to help me when I have needs?

Crime: It is easy to steal and get away with it without anyone noticing.

Fraud – The system is so inefficient the authorities will not notice. In any case, others who are part of the network will cover our tracks.

Prostitution: There is just no way for me and my family to survive if I don’t do this.

Robbery – Working is a waste of time when I can rob other people, even though it is risky.

Gambling: What I lose is little compared with what I can win. Why waste time saving and investing when I can get-rich-quick.

Victim mindset: I would be better off if it were not for other people who have robbed me of opportunities.

Trickery: I’ll take advantage of them now while I have the opportunity. I can always explain myself tomorrow.

Exorbitant pricing: I will make the most from this transaction.

Entitlement mentality: I don’t earn enough to save and invest. My superannuation savings and retirement benefits fund will look after me in old age.

Handout mentality: I will ask the Member of Parliament, a donor agency, my relatives etc when I am faced with financial needs.

Employment: I cannot succeed because I am not educated and don’t have a job.

Problems: There are so many problems that I cannot see any way out of my situation.

Can you see what goes on in peoples’ minds? Can you see the differences in thinking? Can you see the kind of thoughts you are used to entertaining? Are they thoughts of the rich or the poor?

Friday, November 13, 2009

My Schedule for the Rest of 2009

I have several engagements coming up during the remaining weeks of the year. My schedule is currently as follows:

November 21 & 22 - "Financial Freedom Seminar" with the Investment Promotion Authority in Port Moresby.

December 3 - Attend combined Grade 10 & 12 Graduation at Hagen Park Secondary School as Guest of Honour.

December 8 - Conduct Motivational Seminar at Kagamuga, WHP, for Western Highlands Lutheran Students Association. Speak on the topic of self-employment/small business.

December 22 - Conduct a meeting with young people from the Hagen Central/Mul Districts of WHP outlining the economic opportunities available as spin-offs from the resource developments taking place in the country (LNG, nickel, gold, etc).

Financial Freedom Seminars

I conducted two rounds of "Financial Freedom Seminars" at the Barrick Kainantu Gold Mine during the past 2 weeks. The program involved classroom motivational lectures and one-on-one discussions. The impact has been immediate, with many positive stories coming out of these seminars. I will relate some testimonies in one of my future articles. The management has been so impressed with the positive outcome that they are considering arranging for me to conduct the seminar at Porgera Gold Mine in 2010.

The next one is with the Investment Promotion Authority (IPA) in Port Moresby. I have been advised that about 60 people have registered to participate in the seminar. I am looking forward to it.

PNG Power Limited has approached me for the possibility of me conducting the seminar for its employees. I trust that this will go ahead in 2010.

Latest Books

I have completed writing 3 books this year. I was hoping that at least one of them would get printed before the end of the year but it looks like this won't be possible. The titles are:

1) Be Your Own Boss Volume 2 (10 More Reasons Why You Need To Consider Becoming Self-Employed And Minding Your Own Boss)
2) Why Study Hard? (12 Reasons Why Papua New Guinean Students Need To Work Hard At School);
3) You Cannot Serve God And Money (But You Can Make Money Work For You While You Serve God).

These books are set to come onto the market in 2010.

Sunday, August 16, 2009

What I've Been Up To Lately

I know that my readers have been wondering what I have been up to the last few months given that I have not updated my blog since April. My apologies, folks.

I have been pretty busy writing 4 books concurrently. These books are in various stages of completion. My aim is to get them printed before the end of the year. My plan is to have 10 books out by the end of 2010.

I have also been moving around a bit at Kainantu Gold mine and Mount Hagen conducting seminars on managing finances.

Last week I was in Hagen speaking to teachers and students. The previous week I spent a week in Moresby representing the Highlands Region at the National Development Forum at Parliament House.

Apart from that, I have had some problems with my computer. Must be some virus. Hope to get it fixed shortly.

So, I have not died or been sick as you might have supposed. I am posting this just to let you kow that I am well and kicking, and that I hope to update my blog as usual as soon as I have some time.

God bless you.

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Seminar: "How To Grow Your Personal Wealth And Become Rich In Papua New Guinea"

I presented the above weekend seminar at the university of Goroka from 13 to 15 March. The seminar was organised by the Tertiary Students' Christian Fellowship.

On the first night I presented a resource map and highlighted how blessed Papua New Guinea is with natural resources. The made reference to Acts 17:26 which says, "From one blood God made every nation of men, and He has determined the times and boundaries of their habitation." What this means is that we who we are and where we are is by divine appointment. God in His wisdom made us Papua New Guineans to be alive in such a time as this.

I spoke of more than 20 gold and copper mines which stretch from the border with indonesia to the furtherest islands of Milne Bay, to Bougainville and the New Guinea Islands. We even have the world's first under sea gold mine! I also spoke of the oil and gas projects, as well as tree crops, forestry and marine products, potential for tourism and carbon trade. I concluded with this statement from a geologist: "Papua New Guinea is a mountain of gold floating on a sea of oil."

In the context of the subject of the seminar, I proposed to the students that there was enough for every able-bodied Papua New Guinean to become rich and wealthy. But to have a piece of the action and become rich, people must have money. So financial management was the next topic.

On financial management, I gave 12 tips which combined can help people to manage money well, save and invest. I quoted several Bible verses which say that we are only stewards who will give an account of how we conduct our lives as well as how we manage the finances God has placed in our hands.

The tips were:

1. Set financial goals (if you do not know where you are going, any wind is the right wind).
2. Have a plan for achieving your goals (if you fail to plan, you plan to fail, and if you don't have a plan, you will fall into other peoples' plans).
3. Be different (don't copy other peoples' spending habits).
4. Distinguish between needs and wants (for you personally).
5. Avoid spending money on unneccessary items (alcohol, betel nuts, cigarettes and gambling - these items add neither to your health nor your wealth).
6. Control giving to wantoks (note I didn't say "don't give to wantoks").
7. Give joyfully to the work of God and others in need (when you give, you simultaneously position yourself to receive.
8. Live below your means, not within or above your means. (Living within means is risky; living above means is artificial; living below means is ideal).
9. Always pay yourself first (your money management order should be earn-save-spend, not earn-spend-save; also save for investment, not consumption).
10. Distinguish between assets and liabilities (assets: things that "feed" you financially; liabilities: things that "eat" you financially).
11. Distinguish between good debt and bad debt (good debt: debt you take but other repay for you; bad debt: debt you take and you pay with your own sweat and blood).
12. Delay getting married until you are financially secure.

In the final session I discussed investment, which I defined as "Making your money work for you". I quoted Matthew 6:24, which essentially says that we cannot sevre both God and mammon (wealth, riches and possessions). We are not to serve money, but learn how to make it serve us, so that we can serve God without money interefering with and competing with our devotion to Him.

I discussed saving, government bonds and treasury bills, a business, real estate and stock market investing, as the ways in which people can make money work for them. I stated that saving is good but the problem is that saved money works slowly. Money that is invested has a higher velocity.

I concluded that PNG is very rich, but most Papua New Guineans are in danger of being left behind because they mismanage their money and so watch opportunities go by. Only those who manage well and save will take advantage of the many investment opportunities that are likely to arise, and hence go on to becoming wealthy and rich. Also, foreigners, many of whom do not bring any money into the country but have the right mindset, will become active players while Papua New Guineans become spectators.

I intend to present this seminar to students in as many educational institutions as possible, to prepare the young generation to become actively involved in various economic activities and becoming financially free and rich instead of being busy working for money (and thereby making other people rich at their own expense).

Saturday, February 21, 2009

Create Your Own Job If Nobody Gives You One

This is the time of the year when young people who graduated from school in 2008 would be looking for jobs. While a few would have had prospective employers hunting them down to offer them jobs, the majority would be out on the job market. Unfortunately, most of them will get "Nogat wok" in response to their enquiries.
The following article is taken from chapter 11 of my book "Success After Graduation". I hope that readers who find the article appliable to them will receive comfort, go out and create their own jobs instead of writing letters and knocking on doors.

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School Prepares People To Become Employees
Before we look at how you can create your own job, let me say this: School prepares students to work for others. Students are taught how things are done, but not how they should do things for themselves.
For instance, accounting students learn about how to look after other peoples’ books (literally to count other peoples’ money). They do not learn how to set up their own accounting businesses. Doctors are taught how to diagnose and treat sick people. Medical school does not teach students how to establish and run their own medical centres or hospitals. Law school teaches students the law and how to argue matters in the court room, but not how to establish and manage their own law firms.
If you think of all other subjects taught in school, the story is the same. People learn how to work in various professions, but not how to make a living for themselves through self-employment, or to employ other people, using the knowledge they gain in school. So most students look forward to jobs while at school, and start searching for them upon graduation. School conditions them to expect ready-made jobs.
One day I asked my children what they thought about me purchasing a truck and ferrying passengers for a living. They all replied that it was not a good idea. One of the children even said she would be ashamed to see me driving a Passenger Motor Vehicle. When I asked why they were saying this, they replied that it would be unbecoming of me – a university graduate and an office worker who had a high-profile job – to be seen driving people around and collecting fares. I tried hard to convince them that there was probably more money to be made from operating a PMV than working for a fortnightly job, but they were adamant in their stand.
It was then that I realized they were just stating what they hoped to become and do themselves. They were in school to one day get a job in an office. They did not want to see their father driving up and down the road daily, even though it was better for the family financially.
That incident has taught me to talk to my children about their future, sharing with them the very things contained in this book. My aim is to steer them more towards self-employment, seeing that there are not many jobs around. If they get paid jobs, then good. If not, they can still succeed through self-employment.

You Are Not A Failure
Parents and society at large have been conditioned into expecting you to end up working in an office for a fortnightly salary after leaving school. Therefore when you do not get a job, everybody starts talking about you and labeling you as a failure or a drop out. People will gossip about you, reject you, criticize you and even hate you.
Such attitudes have filled many young people who have graduated without jobs with worry and self-pity. It has made them feel sorry for themselves, and led them to think of themselves as failures. Many have run away from home because they cannot stand the pressure and rejection.
You need to realize that failure and drop out are only labels people place on you. The truth is that you are not a failure. You are a person with a lot of potential. You have acquired a lot of information while being in school which you can use to make a living. You are able to read and write, which makes you better off than your parents and ancestors. You are better placed to become a success in life.
But a change in mentality is required on your part. You need to see yourself as someone with potential and a future. You must brush aside people’s opinions and judgments and move forward in life with a positive mental attitude.

Be Positive About Life
Many people think that failing in school is the end of the road for them. In countries such as Japan, the suicide rate is very high among those people who drop out of the education system. They just see no meaning in life without an educational qualification and a salaried job. The same happens to those who succeed through the system but then end up without jobs. They think that not getting a job is the end of life. So they end up feeling hopeless and taking their own lives.
You need to be positive about life. Not getting a job is not the end of life. There is hope for you, only if you think positively. At least you have received an education, which places you ahead of others who have not had the privilege. You can read and write, unlike your parents or ancestors. You can communicate better than many other people. And if you are young, you have many years ahead of you.

Think Positively
You do not really know what the future holds for you. The future has opportunities in store for you, but if you face it with a negative mindset based on your past or the opinion of people around you, you will miss those opportunities. In fact, your negative thoughts will become established, and you will become a failure.
Henry Ford, founder of Ford Motor Corporation, is said to have made the following statement: “If you think you can, you can; if you think you can’t, you can’t; either way you are right.” What Mr. Ford meant is that whether you succeed or fail is all in your mind. If you think you are a failure, you will fail. If you think you can succeed, you will succeed.
Napoleon Hill has said something similar: “If you think you are beaten, you are; if you think you dare not, you won’t; if you like to win but think you can’t, it is almost certain you won’t; if you think you’ll lose, you’re lost; if you think you are outclassed, you are. Life’s battles don’t always go to the stronger or the faster man, but soon or later the man who wins is the man who thinks he can.”
The Bible puts it this way: “As a man thinks, so he becomes.” What you think is real, will become your reality. James Allen, author of As A Man Thinketh, says this: “A man is literally what he thinks.” He goes on to say that the kind of people we are, what we become, and where we end up in life, depends on what we think.
You must be positive in your mind. Your mind is an asset which has the ability to help you discover ways to move forward in places where there seems to be no way. Your destiny starts as a thought in your mind. Therefore think positively. Thinking positively is like sowing good seeds, whose harvest is the kind of destiny you desire.

Be Open-minded
Most certificate, diploma and degree holders go around looking for ready-made jobs because they have a one-track mind. They were taught to expect paid jobs after graduation - jobs which other people had created. Everyone in school has the same mentality. They all hope that one day they will work for someone, in some office. Such thinking blocks out the possibility of the existence of other opportunities.
You need to be open-minded, and expect not to be given a paid job. You need to anticipate not finding a job. You need to open your mind to the possibility of working for yourself, instead of slaving for someone and making them rich with your labour, time and expertise.

Opportunity Is Seen With The Mind, Not The Eyes
Being open-minded is important because opportunity is seen with the mind, not the eyes. You can look at opportunity right in the eye but miss it, if your mind is closed.
Scientists say that 90% of our sight takes place in our minds. Our eyes are merely lenses. Real seeing takes place in our minds. This seeing with the mind is called perception. Each one of us behaves according to our perception of reality. What we think is real with our minds based on what we see with our eyes, is what is real to us. In other words, what we think is real, is our reality.
Two people can look at a particular situation, and while one sees the situation as a problem, the other sees it as an opportunity. Why? Because, although they are seeing the same situation with their eyes, they perceive different situations with their minds.
The story is told of two men who went out hunting wolves because there was a reward of $10,000 for each wolf caught alive. They searched for days without success, sleeping in the woods. One morning one of them woke up to see 50 angry wolves staring at them ferociously. He shook his friend and declared, “Look, we are rich.” His friend however saw the wolves and ran for his life.
Both men saw the same thing: wolves. One counted the wolves and his mind quickly calculated that if they could find some way of capturing each of the wolves alive without themselves being eaten, they could end up with half a million dollars. He was excited about the prospect, and took it as an opportunity. His friend, however, looked at the ferocious eyes and gnawing teeth of the wolves and saw death, so he ran away.
In the Biblical story of David and Goliath, we see two different and opposing perceptions which led to different reactions and results. When King Saul and the army of Israel saw Goliath the giant, each of them thought, “He is too big, he will kill me”. So each one of them ran away and hid every time Goliath came and challenged them. But when David saw the same Goliath the giant, he perceived something different. He saw Goliath, and thought, “He is too big I cannot miss him even with a pebble.” So he ran forward and met him with his slingshot and a pebble. And he won.
In your case, assuming that you have graduated with a diploma or degree but have been unsuccessful in securing a job, most people would see you as a failure and call you such. They may not see you as being of any use or help, an educated good-for-nothing. Those who supported you in school may lose confidence in you and give up on you.
What is important is how you see yourself. If you succumb to the opinions, labels and judgment of others, you will see yourself as a failure, and end up becoming a failure in life. But if you see yourself as someone with a lot of untapped and unrealized potential, you will see the fact of being unemployed as an opportunity to do something for yourself. What people say about you will strengthen and propel you forward, not weaken and press you down. Criticism will give you extra strength to go out and create the circumstances which will lead to personal success.

Humble Yourself
Many college and university graduates look down on seemingly menial jobs which have potential to provide good incomes which are better than some salaried jobs. They think that being college or university graduates means that they can only work in an office. To be seen doing menial jobs or being involved in the informal sector is too low and unbecoming of them.
You need to be humble enough to do those things which will enable you to make a decent living, regardless of what other people think or say. What people say will not feed and clothe you. You can maintain your status in the eyes of others as a graduate with a degree or diploma and starve, or you can humble yourself, forget about your diploma or degree, and do some dirty work, and succeed.
In many other countries, degree holders resort to menial jobs because there are not enough office jobs for every one. Farmers, for instance, are educated to masters level. But in Papua New Guinea, the majority of college and university graduates think they are too high to do dirty work.
Do not follow the majority. If you are willing to do those seemingly dirty things working for yourself, I can guarantee you that in time you will silence your critics and win their respect. You are also likely to end up earning more than your mates who are working for a salary, and you might even employ people better educated to work for you.
Here is what someone has said: “Opportunity is missed by most people because it comes to them dressed in overalls as work.”
Success does not come easy. If you hate what seems to be dirty work, you will not succeed. Your pride will lead to your downfall. Humility will enable you to carry out those seemingly dirty tasks which will eventually lead to promotion and success. As the Bible says, “Humble yourself and God will lift you up in His own time.”

Pressure Brings Out The Best In You
It is said that necessity is the mother of invention. What this means is that hidden talents and abilities emerge during times of personal crises, hardship and need. When you are pressed to the corner, your hidden potential and creative ability comes out and you can achieve incredible things. Problems bring out the best in you which you did not know you had.
People who have faced danger have testified that they did incredible things they had never done or thought were capable of doing. One man related how he scaled a high wall with a sudden burst of energy when being chased by a large dog. He literally ran for his life and scaled the wall without realizing what he was doing. Survival was his highest priority.
When he got to the other side and with danger behind him, he came to his senses and could not believe that he had accomplished this incredible feat. When he tried to do the same thing under normal circumstances, he could not do it because now there was no pressure on him.
It is said that if you would like something to be done quickly, assign it to someone who is busy. The busy person has so many things to do with so little time that he or she will somehow concentrate their mental energies to accomplish the task. A person who has time to do something will take it easy and usually work slowly and even do a sloppy job.
Many wars are won by those who have the most to lose. In tribal wars, there are stories of smaller tribes defeating larger ones. What happens is that the smaller tribes fight with all that is in them. They fight to defend their land and families, knowing that the bigger tribes possess superior numerical strength and fire power. The larger tribes go to war trusting in their numbers. And most of them are usually half-hearted. They have nothing to lose individually, so they lose as teams.
This is the main reason America lost the Vietnam War despite being equipped with the best war machinery. This is also why it is losing the war in Iraq. Saddam Hussein has been subdued but the war with insurgents continues. And America seems to be losing.
The Arabs did not win the War of Independence in 1948 and the Yom Kippur war in 1967 because Israel fought with all their might for survival. The Arabs fought half-heartedly because their survival did not depend on them winning.
We all have latent energy which does not come out until we are pressed to a corner. What enabled the Vietnamese to win against the Americans lies dormant in you. What was in the Israelis is in you, waiting for the right time to be activated.
When you are unemployed and people begin to talk about you, they are really helping to bring your latent potential to the fore. They are helping to create a conducive atmosphere for that potential to burst forth. As Edmund Burke has said, “Our antagonist is our helper.” In other words, those who criticize you are actually helping to you succeed.
But you need to allow the potential that lies within you to manifest itself by thinking positively and facing your situation with faith and confidence.
When you are unemployed and need to provide for yourself and your dependents, you will become creative. If you are positive about life, you will do things you would not do if you had regular income from a job.

Paid Jobs Suppress Potential
Our country now has many well educated people running it, but the level of services they provide to the public has deteriorated. Some services which were available during the colonial times have even vanished altogether.
Most of our public servants can be described as over-trained and over-qualified under-achievers. They are well educated and more than qualified for the positions they hold, yet their output is very low. Why is this so? One of the reasons is that having jobs which provide regular income makes people lazy. They do not need to apply themselves to their jobs, because there is no pressure on them to do so. Whether they work hard or not, they still get paid. Their potential and abilities therefore are suppressed and remain dormant most of their lives.

Looking For Diamonds In Faraway Places
A man by the name of Russell H. Cornwell used to give a lecture entitled Acre of Diamonds throughout America and Europe in the 1800s. In the lecture, which he gave 6,000 times to raise funds for what is now Temple University in the United States, he related the story of a man who sold his farm and went into the world in search of diamonds. He searched all over the world without success, and ended up committing suicide in hopelessness, by throwing himself over the cliffs in Barcelona. Meanwhile, the man who bought the farm discovered an acre of diamonds on the farm and went on to become the richest man of his time.
The morale of the story is this: sometimes the opportunities we look for are right in our backyards but we go to faraway places searching for them. Maybe you need to look within yourself to see what lies inside you that you can use to make a comfortable living.

How I Became Self-Employed
I read the above story only recently. Several years ago, I was like the man who went all over the world in search of diamonds. I pored over the newspapers daily in search of jobs. I wrote many letters to prospective employers in many parts of the country over a period of 8 months. I searched far and long.
One day our church pastor came to our house to encourage us. In the course of the conversation he used an illustration which opened my mind to see possibilities which were closed to me up to that time. He pointed to my desktop computer and said, “Carpenters use hammers and saws; mechanics use spanners; farmers use spades and knives; for you, the computer is a tool which you can make a living with.”
When he said this, it was as if a light came on inside my head, and ideas began to flood in. After he left, I sat at the computer and started writing a short training course for coffee exporters. Within 4 weeks of that conversation I made K12,000 from course fees. The previous year I had received K4,000 per month from the company I was working for. The K12,000 from the course was therefore equal to 3 months’ salaries at my last job.
The point is this: When I worked for somebody else, I earned K12,000 in 3 months; working for myself, I earned K12,000 in 4 weeks. When I saw this, a new world opened before me. This realization enabled me to launch out in faith as a freelance consultant. I created my own job, rather than waiting for somebody to give me a job. I can testify that that decision has changed the course of our lives as a family.
The computer that would change our lives was right inside our house, and the knowledge was inside my head. I had it in me. I saw the computer every day. I used it to write letters and job applications. But it never occurred to me that I could combine it with what was inside me to create a job for myself.

What Have You Got In Your Hands?
In the Bible, God asked Moses what he was holding in his hand. When Moses replied that it was just a shepherd’s rod, God told him, “I will use this rod to deliver the people of Israel out of bondage and slavery in Egypt.”
To Moses, the rod was just a rod. To God, it was a mighty instrument of deliverance.
Notice that God knew Moses was holding a rod, yet He asked him what it was. This is not because God could not see what Moses had in his hands. God wanted Moses to realize that what he had in his hand was a mighty instrument of miracles and liberation, not just a rod.
What have you got in your hands? What do you have in your mind? What do you have in your backyard? Is there something in your house you could use? Do you have talents you could use to earn a living? Is there something you are good at doing, or enjoy doing (a hobby), which you could do for a living?
The acre of diamonds which you may be tempted to look for in faraway places could already be right where you are, in you, or in your hands!

The Essence Of Business Is Discovering And Meeting Needs
The secret to business is finding needs or problems and addressing them. Every product sold by a company meets some need. Every service fulfils some need. People who founded businesses saw needs and developed ways to address those needs, and became financially independent and free as a result.
I want to use a simple example to help you look for those needs. In the town I live, ice cream used to be sold only in the shops. The fresh food market, where many people congregated, was some distance from the shops. Outside the market was the main bus stop, and there was no shade. When people wanted to cool themselves, they would walk into town to buy drinks.
One hot afternoon an old woman who was selling ice blocks saw a need. The next morning she bought an esky and a container of ice cream. She took the ice cream to the bus stop and set herself up at a corner. Within a few minutes a crowd gathered around her to buy her ice cream, and the container was gone. She went into town, bought another ice cream container, and it too went within a few minutes. She made more money from selling ice cream than she used to make from ice blocks.
That day she decided to switch from ice blocks to ice cream. She started selling ice cream in two eskies, and then expanded to a few more locations around town. She kept on selling ice cream until she was making more than her husband, who was employed by a semi-government organisation.
It was not long before the husband resigned from his job to help his wife sell ice cream. Within a few years they were able to buy their own house. They could not do this when the husband was working for a fortnightly salary.
Today, there are many women who sell ice cream at the bus stop. But the old woman made the most, because she was the first to see a need and fill it.
The old woman was definitely not as educated as you are. She has probably never been to school. You have an advantage over her. Your mind is more enlightened than hers. Can you see in your mind a need in your community or town which is currently not being met? Or can you think of a better way to meet a need which people are not currently fulfilling satisfactorily? If you really think about it, opportunities abound. If you can imagine it, you can do it.
As Albert Einstein said, “Imagination is greater than knowledge.” In other words, what you can imagine is more important and has greater potential than what you know from what you have seen and heard.

Papua New Guinea: A Land Full Of Opportunities For Self-Employment
Papua New Guinea is truly a land full of opportunities for self-employment. Apart from growing and trafficking drugs, stealing and engaging in prostitution, which are illegal and immoral, you can do everything else to make a decent living.
For a start, you can always live off the land. You do not really need money to live like in other countries where people do not own any land. If you have a sound mind, physical strength, time, land, willingness and a determination to succeed, you can make a comfortable living.
The laws governing business are very relaxed and favour local entrepreneurship. In fact, you do not really need to become registered with government authorities to carry out economic activities in Papua New Guinea.
With the enactment of the Informal Sector Development And Control Act of 2004, more opportunities for legitimate small business activities have opened up. The sidewalk in your town or the street outside your house can now literally become your storefront, as long as you observe sanitary rules, maintain quality standards and obey other regulations. You can produce and sell anything apart from illegal items such as contraband, drugs and phonographic materials.
I once attended a conference during which we were told that the mineral resources that have been developed since political independence in 1975 represent only 25% of the total resources the country is endowed with. The bulk (75%) remains to be developed. And there is more which has not been discovered yet.
One geologist who is well-versed with the resource endowments of the country described Papua New Guinea as “a mountain of gold sitting on a sea of oil.” If you look at the resource map of the country, you will see gold mines dotting the country from the mainland to the islands. There is gold under the sea as well! So it is true that Papua New Guinea is a mountain of gold sitting on a sea of oil.
What this means is that the natural resource base exists for every person who wants to, to become a millionaire in Papua New Guinea. Each of the 5 million citizens of the country has the potential to become rich. You do not need to be a traditional landowner to benefit from the resources the country has been blessed with. Use your imagination to tap into the vast revenues from resource developments.
Because of rampant corruption and people in high political and business circles taking short-cuts to quick riches, most people in the country have been led to believe that unless one is well-connected with people in Government or business, one cannot become financially prosperous. This is a mistaken belief. While the corrupt scheme and devise ways of enriching themselves from the public purse, there are many ways of making honest money. You just need to open your mind and eyes to see the opportunities that lay before you.
Educated people in particular do not have any excuse for being unemployed and poor. Papua New Guinea is a country with so much potential and opportunity that everyone who is willing to work hard can become rich.

You Don’t Really Need Money To Make Money
Most people believe that you need money to make money. This is not necessarily so. I know of a young man in my village that started off without any money. At one time he made 5 pitpit blinds and sold them for K20 each. With the K100, he purchased blinds from other men in the village for K16 each, transported them into town, and sold them for K22. He did this over one full year. With the savings, he bought several bags of dried tobacco leaves and transported them to Lihir Island, where he sold the leaves for very high prices.
He has been selling tobacco at Lihir for the past few years, and has made a lot of money. Recently he paid cash for a second hand bus to ferry passengers. He plans to continue selling tobacco while running the vehicle. He will now have two income sources, and he will definitely be making more than the average worker in the country.
So, do not allow the lack of money to block your mind to the opportunities that are before you. Think about what you can do without huge capital outlays. There are ways to make money without money, only if you really think about them. As somebody has said, “Money is just an idea.”

Unlimited Earning Potential In Self-Employment
One of the advantages of being self-employed is that your earning potential is unlimited. When you work for others for a salary, what you earn is limited to your fortnightly pay, and it is highly taxed. You are paid for the amount of time you expend on the job. That is to say, you are paid by the hour. And there are only so many hours in a day.
For example, say your hourly rate is K8. In an 8-hour day, you earn K64. That works out to be K640 in a fortnight and K16,640 a year. This is gross income, from which you deduct taxes and superannuation contributions. A gross salary of K16,640 would translate to income tax of K2,541 and superannuation contributions of K998. Notice in this example that tax takes up 15% of your income.
The K13,100 you have left is your net or discretionary income in a year. That is the maximum you earn in exchange for your labour. You may receive allowances, bonuses and commissions from time to time. Salary increases take place only once in a while, so you will be on a particular salary level for years before your income is raised, if at all.
The point is that what you can earn in a year is limited to the number of hours you trade with the employer. To increase your earnings, you must work more hours. But there is a limit to how many more hours you can trade too. So your upward earning potential is limited.
In contrast, when you work for yourself, the downward limit is that you might not make anything, and may even lose your initial investment. This possibility creates fear in many people and they do not launch out to create their own jobs. They find paid jobs to be less risky and more secure.
But the upward earning potential in being self-employed is infinite. There is no limit. In fact the sky is the limit. And there are many tax advantages for those in business which are not available to employees.

Being Unemployed: A Blessing In Disguise?
You might be one of those who do not get a job after graduation. What happens to you again depends on your attitude. If you take it negatively, you will end up in frustration and disappointment. But if you take it positively, you will emerge a winner. Being unemployed can become a blessing in disguise.
Let me explain this. One of the things people value in life is freedom to do anything they want, with whomever and whenever. When you work for somebody for a fortnightly salary, in many ways you become that person’s slave.
In the days of slavery, slaves were usually well-looked after by their masters. They were not free to do anything they wished or go anywhere, but they were valuable to their masters, so the masters cared for them. Some masters were cruel, but most treated their slaves well. This is because the slaves were of economic importance to their owners, not only because they worked on the masters’ fields for free, but also due to the fact that healthy slaves could be sold for large sums of money on the slave market.
What the masters did was to provide food and accommodation for the slaves. But because it cost them, they made sure that they fed the slaves just enough to keep them alive. Some slaves were even trained to manage their masters’ estates.
Later, when slavery was outlawed, the former slave masters resorted to indentured labour to keep their estates in operation. Under this arrangement, the workers signed contracts with their employers to work for fixed rates of pay for fixed time periods.
Today’s work places operate along similar principles. People are free to work for whomever they want, but the moment they sign the employment contract, they operate in a similar manner to the slaves and indentured labourers of old. Employers pay for the workers’ time and expertise, and in return the workers agree to submit their lives during official working hours to the employers’ dictates. They cannot do anything or go anywhere they like, without the employers’ permission. The employers generally ensure that they pay enough to keep the workers fed and healthy, so they will keep on working for them.
People may argue that this is an incorrect analysis, but if you really think about it, you will realize that what I am saying is true.
Most employers do not pay people more than they think people need to live. They assess the cost of living, and pay something at that level. Most workers are therefore paid at their cost of living – to keep them alive and working. The unseen tussle between employers and employees can be described as follows: Employees work hard enough not to get fired, and employers pay enough so the employees do not quit. Both sides give their minimum to each other.
That is why I am saying that if you do not get a job, you need to take it as a blessing in disguise. It means you are free to do what you want with your time, talents and expertise. Use that freedom to initiate something for yourself. People who are employed are too busy minding their employers’ businesses that they have no time to think about being in business for themselves. Being self-employed is really about minding your own business.
If you would like to know more about why you should consider becoming self-employed, I am writing another book on the subject. It is titled Be Your Own Boss. I urge you to purchase a copy for yourself, as it will inspire you to start thinking about becoming your own boss and providing employment to other people, rather than slaving for your employers and making them rich at your expense.

Do Not Give Up
Do not give up. If you try something and it fails, keep on trying. Failing is an integral part of the road to success.
John C. Maxwell has written a book entitled Failing Forward, which records the true life-stories of people who failed on the road to success. I encourage you to obtain a copy and read it for yourself.
Thomas Edison made 10,000 mistakes in the process of inventing the light bulb. Sir Winston Churchill, Prime Minister of Great Britain during the Second World War, told young college students: “Never give up; never, never give up; never, never, never give up!”
Somebody else said, “Nothing can take the place of persistence. Talent will not: nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not: unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not: the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.”
All these people were successful in their lives, and they spoke from personal experience. If you try doing something for yourself and it fails, learn from it and persist at it from another angle. As Winston Churchill said, “Never, never, never give up.” This is what somebody else has said: “Winners never quit, and quitters never win.” Think about that statement. Those who win are people who confront obstacles head on and do not give up, while those who lose are people who give up in the face of obstacles.
Soichiro Honda, founder of Honda Motor Corporation, has said this: “Success is 99% failure.” To Mr. Honda, success is losing 99 times and winning once.

Do You Really Need A Job?
I hope that this chapter has stirred up something in you and helped you to see things differently. You may not really need a job. Go out and create your own. Don’t think about being an employee. Think about becoming an employer instead. If nobody gives you a job, create your own. Think of what you can do with what you have, right where you are.