Have you ever heard the name Jeff Foxworthy? He’s host of the popular game show “Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?” He originally gained his popularity as a standup comic using his signature one liners which began with the statement, “you know you’re a redneck when…”

I hope Jeff Foxworthy won’t mind if I borrow his idea for this article. The title of this post is “You know you’re broke when…” because there are some telltale signs which indicate whether or not you’re broke and more importantly, whether or not you’ll stay that way.

I think you’ll find this piece interesting so, without further ado, let’s get right to it.

You know you’re broke when…

you talk with others about wages, not profits. Broke people rely upon this antiquated thing called a job to maintain their lifestyle. When you have a job you’re an employee and employees are wage driven.

A wealthy person on the other hand is more than likely a business owner. Entrepreneurs strive for business profits and see wages for what they are; a dead end.

Broke people work for wages, wealthy people work for profits.

You know you’re broke when…

you have a person in your life called a boss deciding how much income you’ll receive. Wealthy people have themselves deciding how much income they’ll receive.

Broke people get a raise in wages because their boss decides to give them one. Wealthy people get a raise in their profits because they’ve decided to make it happen.

You know you’re broke when…

you file your tax return as soon after January 1st as possible. When you do so you’re gleefully waiting to see how much of your own money the government is going to give back to you…interest free of course.

Wealthy people file their tax return as close to the April 15th filing deadline as possible. Wealthy people almost always owe taxes and they do not want to give the government their money a day sooner than they have to.

You know you’re broke when…

you’re spending more time every week watching TV than reading books. Wealthy people know that time is the most valuable asset they have and choose not to waste any of it on watching TV excessively. Rather, they invest their time wisely into good quality business and personal development books.

You know you’re broke when…

you’re making payments toward credit card balances every month. Wealthy people pay off the entire credit card balance every month.

Broke people make credit card payments just trying to manage their debt from month to month. Wealthy people do not carry credit card debt forward.

You know you’re broke when…

you spend more time planning your annual two weeks of vacation than planning how to grow your bank account. Wealthy people love to take vacations just as much as anybody else. But, they also know that when they put a sufficient amount of time into planning how to grow their bank account, they can then take more vacations…many, many, many more vacations.

If you’ve just read this somewhat sardonic article and it’s made you a bit uncomfortable, then, guess what, you’re broke.

On the other hand, if you’ve read it and it’s made you chuckle then congratulations, chances are real good you’re wealthy. Or, you’re at least well on your way to becoming wealthy.

If you did not get a chuckle out of this article then it’s time for you to fix your situation. You’ve only got one shot at this lifetime of yours. Do you want to waste it on being something less then you’re capable of?

Or would you rather live the life of freedom and abundance that you so richly deserve? The choice is entirely yours.

You can go to sleep tonight and wake up tomorrow morning and start your routine all over again. Or, you can make this your turning point. You can use what you’ve just read to make now the time for a positive transformation. Nobody’s gonna do it for you, only you can do it for yourself.

Reading a good quality book is the very best way to get started down the road to your transformation from being broke to becoming wealthy. How to become wealthy all starts with you. For free, immediate access to my personal development success book please visit http://www.APlumInTheSyrup.com/

I’m in the process of gathering notes for a new book I’ll be writing this year. One of the topics to be covered in the book is the importance of focus. And man oh man I can tell you how important it is for you stay focused on what you want.

Consider this – whether you realize it or not, you are getting bombarded with thousands of advertising and marketing messages every single day. Not to mention all the other things vying for your attention; the kids, the spouse, the boss, the clients. It’s no wonder you, or anybody else for that matter, has trouble staying focused on important objectives.

However, you owe it to yourself – to your long term success – to learn how to stay focused. And believe me this is something I know all too well. Like all of my most important lessons, it’s something I had to learn the hard way.

When I made the decision to market my business on the internet I needed to learn everything from the ground up. What I quickly discovered is there are a ton of different ways a product or service could be marketed online.

For a few months I tried every marketing method I came across; I tried to do everything and wound up doing nothing. The moment things began to change was the day I decided I needed to focus on a single method until I got it right. Then, and only then, could I try other methods.

May I pass this same idea on to you?

Is your life going the way you want it to? Are you looking for more success but just seem to be stuck in a rut? If so I can tell you with absolute certainty that you’re suffering from the same affliction I had: lack of focus.

A greater level of success will never fall into the lap of the person who suffers from a lack of focus. Success demands that you keep your mind and actions trained on specific objectives.

Many successful entrepreneurs manage multiple successful businesses and projects at once. But, you can be sure that they built a single business at a time. Each business is built with care and focus then the next project is taken on.

Click on the “Free Stuff” tab found just above? You’ll find over one hundred personal and professional development books all for free. Go ahead and take a look at what’s available but do not get overwhelmed by the sheer volume of information.

Start practicing a new found focus today. Go have a look at my free library and choose the one book title you find most intriguing. And FOCUS on what you learn from reading that book.

Go ahead and ask a hundred different people how committed they are to their own success and there’s no doubt each one of them will tell you they’re completely committed to living a successful, more fulfilled life. After all, we all want the best life has to offer, do we not?

The answer of course is ABSOLUTELY!

How is it done? The glaring question is how do you become successful in life? If most everyone wants more out of life, why do so few actually get it?

The answer lies in a person’s ability to handle adversity. How to succeed in life is lost on those who are incapable of handling life’s challenges. Too many people are willing to cut and run at the first signs of difficulty. You’ve got to learn that things will ALWAYS get difficult from time to time. Cutting and running is no strategy for handing a challenge.

Your commitment to success will be frequently challenged. And it is the strength of your commitment which will determine whether you stand up to those challenges or run from them. To get through the challenges you must focus on your objectives. You must put all of your focus on where you are going to, not what you’re going through. You do that and I can promise you will get through it; do that and you’ll get through anything.

It’s been said that success is 10% inspiration and 90% perspiration. Meaning, success takes work – an awful lot of work. Don’t let this discourage you. The work required is always well worth it. When you can wake up in the morning and realize that you’ve become the success you’ve always wanted to become, I can guarantee the work required to get there will seem nothing more than just a distant memory.

Success is 10% inspiration. Meaning, no perspiration is required without getting inspired about something. All success starts with inspiration!

How to succeed in life does not have to be a painful experience. As long as your inspiration is strong enough there is nothing which can stand in your way.

I invite you to download a copy of my new book absolutely free which is sure to provide you with all the success inspiration you’ll need. Simply click here to download a copy of one of the best, free success self-help books you’ll find anywhere.

If you have a burning desire to learn how to succeed as a home based business entrepreneur, then there’s a huge lesson you can learn from snowboarder Shaun White. If you aren’t aware of who he is, Shaun White is the world’s foremost snowboarder and won Olympic gold in the Vancouver, Canada 2010 Olympics.

It may seem a stretch to compare Shaun White with how to succeed in a home based business but you’ll soon see for yourself that you can make the association naturally.

Like top performing athletes do, when Shaun White made his championship snowboard run he pulled off what seemed a completely effortless performance. He preformed a few tricks which no snowboarder had ever attempted before and the result was a gold medal showing.

So again, what does this have to do with you?

The reason why Shaun White is so superior in his sport is because he has unconscious competence as it relates to his skills. Really, any truly successful person, no matter their area of expertise, always does posses the same trait; unconscious competence.

Shaun White was not born a world champion snowboarder. His status of being the world’s greatest is the result of his tireless hard work. Just as nobody had entered this earth as a successful home based business owner. Any bit of success in your home business will come about as a result of your own hard work.

Now stick with me here, this is where things get really interesting.

All home business entrepreneurs start off in the same place. They have big dreams of becoming wealthy and they posses lots of enthusiasm. But, they frequently have no idea where or how to get started. This initial phase of building a business is known as unconscious incompetence. What this means is you stink at entrepreneurialism but the real problem is you have no idea what it is you actually stink at.

As you move along in your business you begin to become cognizant of the skills you lack. Once you realize what it is you’re no good at you can begin to fix it. This phase can be called conscious incompetence. This is a very important entrepreneurial phase to go through. Remember that you cannot improve upon a weakness prior to pinpointing what it is.

After a while you’ll find that running your business becomes more effortless. The activities of prospecting, generating leads, marketing and negotiation is becoming easier for you. You’ve been studying business best practices and you’re more smoothly applying those practices to your home based business building efforts. This stage is known as conscious competence. In this stage you can see your improvements are having a great, positive impact on your business.

Finally you’ll find yourself in the place where all truly successful people reside; it’s called unconscious competence. In this stage, success becomes second nature to you. This is where you’re able to effortlessly do the things necessary to grow your business.

This phase is where all the best performers find themselves; from Shaun White to the successful home based business entrepreneur living the dream. When you can perform at your peak potential without getting hung up on all the small details then you are well on your way to your own gold medal status.

This final stage of how to become successful in your home business is the same place Shaun White, and all peak performers, reside.

Did you ever notice that success for some people just seems so effortless for them? That they posses the Midas touch? It is because they’ve worked for, and have earned the right to, reside in the stage of unconscious competence.