I have to say straight up that I love my blog. It is a simple little thing that I work on for fun but the doors that it opens for me is incredible. The things I get to learn and then to (even better) share with you just blows my mind. I get to meet amazing people that I would not otherwise meet and see incredible sights that I might not otherwise see! Monday night was one of those mind blowing experiences which had me fighting back tears of happiness and gratitude. Standing in a room full of people who were there for the same purpose, raising their level of awareness, and feeling the energy and seeing the gratitude was one of those sights that I most likely would not have seen if I didn't make the decision to interview Jamie McIntyre for my blog.
Jamie McIntyre is the CEO and Co Founder of the 21st Century Academy which offers you an education to empower your personal and financial life. Jamie became a self made millionaire in his twenties and started from a place where he was $150,000 in debt and sleeping on a friends couch. I first came across Jamie's work when my younger brother, Alex, gave me a DVD of Jamie's and said he had watched it ten times so I really should watch it too. It took me a while but I eventually watched the DVD and then I read Jamie's book 'What I Didn't Learn At School But Wish I Had', which is brilliant and I highly suggest you read it, and I was so inspired by Jamie and what he teaches that I put him on my 'wish list' of people to interview. After having this wish list for a few weeks I thought I had better do something about it and email or call the offices of these people and action my plan because they were not just going to appear in my study because I put them on my wish list! And before I knew it I was sitting opposite Jamie at a conference center in Brisbane and interviewing him! Jamie was in Brisbane for a few days doing one of his 4 Day Education For Life seminars and not only did I get the chance to meet and interview Jamie but I was also invited to sit in on the seminar for the rest of the night!
It was the fourth and final night and there were approximately 150 people all of whom were on a complete life high from the four days that they had experienced. That night I was able to see what made them so excited! I was fortunate enough to hear the following speakers:
Peter Bland- the first Australian to reach the North Magnetic Pole in 1998 and the first to venture both to the north and south magnetic poles as well as a number of other amazing achievements. Eric Bailey- speaker on the subject of motivation and vision who has had successful careers in professional sport, executive management, writing and sales. Lou Harty- entrepreneur and Internet marketing whiz. Lovely John Thompson- a 78 year old man who has implemented the 21st Century Education and now earns over $40,000 a month. Every speaker was amazing and had their own story, expertise and information to share which not only captivated you but broadened your awareness. The four day seminar gives you ways to start on your journey to financial independence but it also gave the students the foundation which is imperative to any one's success- understanding the importance of your level of awareness and educating yourself to expand it and understand what makes you work.
It is funny that when everything was said and done and everyone was drinking champagne to celebrate whilst chatting excitedly on their high from the empowering four days, even though it was a seminar to help inform people and show people how to create great amounts of money, what everyone predominately said to me the most important piece of information that they were taking away from this is - 'I can do it and all I have to do is take action'. They didn't say it was this piece of investment advice or that piece of tax or asset information, they said that that was the easy part. It is developing the mindset to be able to believe in yourself and the world enough to take action to get the money you want! Brilliant! I hope you enjoy the interview... I know I did!
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JAMIE MCINTYRE
Where did you grow up?
I grew up on a farm in Northern NSW in a town called Glen Innes which is a small town of about 6000 people.
What did you want to be when you grew up?
I was never really sure. But I did know that I wanted to do well financially, for what ever reason that was. I definitely knew what I didn't want to be... I didn't want to be a farmer so I never learned to sheer the sheep, make fences or anything to do with farming, so that way I could rule out being a farmer.
In your book, What I Didn't Learn At School But Wish I Had, you talk a lot about mastering your emotions. Why is it important to master your emotions and what to you think is an important first step in doing this?
A lot of people are attracted to wanting to be financially successful. Everyone would like to win a million dollars or have a million dollar life style and be financially successful. But in order to master ones finances one must master their emotions first because what holds most people back is that they often already know what they need to do but they simply don't do it. That's because they are not in control of their emotions. They let fear, doubt, procrastination, frustration, anger, all these emotions that will hold them back take over. So if they take control of these emotions then they are able to get themselves into a peak emotional state. A state where they are more likely to make a decision, follow through or most importantly to take action. Because ultimately success comes down to the Nike ad which is 'Just do it'. Most people talk about it but don't do it. People talk the talk but very few people walk the walk. Emotional intelligence is critical to get people to act and the first step to that is getting people to change their physiology. When people are in an unresourceful state its usually because of the way they hold their body. If someone is fearful they will stand in a fearful way, if someone is wishy washy and doubting themselves then they need to change that so they have a strong physiology. Its a bit like professional sportsmen. If you are a football player and you walk out into the stadium you're not going to be slumped over and looking like you are going to be beaten. You walk out pumped up and you get psyched and ready for the game before you go out. So if people want to do better in life they need to get themselves psyched up and then they can make a better decision in that state as opposed to a cant be bothered, wishy washy, doubtful and unresourceful state.
What are some money myths or misconceptions that we need to dispel to have the correct mindset when it comes to money?
There are quite a few actually. It is quite ironic that in a rich country like Australia most people have what we call 'limiting beliefs' when it comes to money, so they don't have a healthy relationship with money. Most of their relationship with money has been passed on by their parents or grandparents or school environment or church, so we have what we call cultural conditioning or social hypnosis. So some examples of why people have misconceptions around money are 'if something sounds too good to be true it probably is'. That is a belief system that many people hold so if they come across something that seems too good to be true they wont pursue it because of their limiting belief that if something sounds too good to be true it probably is. But when sophisticated investors or more financially intelligent people come across something that may seem too good to be true they will say 'it possibly is but I am going to take the time to check out the facts so I don't miss a good opportunity'. Another example is 'high return = high risk'. This is not necessarily true. I show many people everyday that there are strategies that the average person can do which will give you much higher returns while actually lowering your risk. Another misconception is that if you are wealthy you have to take lots of risks. Once again that is not accurate. I became a multimillionaire in my 20's by taking less financial risk than the average person takes and never achieves financial success. Another BIG one is that 'you need money to make money' which is not true. Also to become financially successful 'it is a lot of hard work' which also is not true. Working hard and making money in the 21st Century have nothing to do with each other. There is nothing wrong with working hard but work hard because you are passionate about something. Don't work hard while fooling yourself that its going to make you wealthy. There are many people who work hard who are not rich.
Is it important to seek mentors?
If you think like an average person, act like an average person, you will produce the results of an average person. This really is common sense. If you want to become above average in life to say... be a self made millionaire or you just want to be comfortable or what ever endeavor that you choose, be it a sporting career or being the best Mum you can be, what ever aspect you want to be above average in, you certainly need to think above average and do things differently. Mentors are great because the short cut to success is to find someone who is a success at doing what you want to do and model them. At school we are told not to copy. I suggest to people in the 21st Century that we should copy, but I use a different word and that is modeling. In other words instead of using trial and error or hoping to achieve something when you're not sure it will work... any business, any idea, any business strategy or anything you want to be successful at, someone has probably already done it. So with Google these days its not hard to research and find out the people that have produced the result you want in your area. Even if you never meet that mentor... people always say that 'if I had a mentor that could help me one on one it would be so much easier'. But some of my mentors, for instance Richard Branson, in business has been a mentor to me but I learned many things from Richard about business that I applied to my business' that made me millions of dollars just from reading his books many years before I actually got to meet him and learn things from him in person. So most mentors you don't actually have to even meet in person. I've had other mentors such as Anthony Robins who once again I originally met through reading his books and attending his seminars before I actually got to learn things from him personally. I also had my millionaire mentor who was a gentleman in Sydney and how I got access to him was I went and initially offered to work at his company for free. Because I was more focused on wanting to learn. I always say to people that you should work to learn not to earn. Don't focus on working purely for money because that is the greatest recipe for failure. I was focused on wow here's a guy that I could learn off about finances, real estate and being an entrepreneur. I was willing to go and serve my apprenticeship and to work for free in the beginning so I could get access to a mentor.
So they were just some of my mentors. I have had numerous over the years in different areas of my life. So mentors are important but it doesn't mean that you have to know your mentors personally to start getting a lot of gain from them.
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| Jamie with Richard Branson |
What is one thing that you regret or wish you did differently in business and one thing you were most proud of?
As far as regrets go I tend not to focus on regrets. Sometimes in life you make decisions and if you are being accountable and responsible you accept that decision may not have worked out the way you wanted it to. So there is never really anything you can regret because you came to a fork in the road and you took one way and you have to accept that and you can always learn from that.
But in business as far as hindsight is concerned I could have put a board in place earlier in my business career. Have an independent board of people who could be advisers. Even if you are just starting a business and don't have a lot of money just having a voluntary board of people with grey hair so to speak, that you want on your board... people who have age and experience because when you are a young entrepreneur you are going to make some not so good decisions. Part of being an entrepreneur is what leads to starting a company but I often say these days that you should not let entrepreneurs run companies because they are not good at managing companies but they are great at starting them. So that is probably a mistake, not having a board earlier.
Also maybe not taking on capitol to some degree in the early stages but then again I have learnt to become a better entrepreneur by making my company self funded.
As far as my proudest things go, I measure my success by the difference I make to peoples lives so even though I have over a dozen companies the area I am most passionate about is education so I spend most of my time in education because that is my passion. Even though I have other entrepreneurial interests I spend my time with education. I am proud of all the different people I have had an impact on. There are a lot of people out there who have transformed their lives and are very grateful for the work I have done over the last 12 years. So that would definitely be my greatest achievement today.
Tell us about your 2 minute rule...
I teach this at my events because as you know I teach people emotional intelligence and the psychology behind success to help them with developing a millionaire mindset. So this is just a little tool that you can add to your tool box where emotions are concerned that you can use on a day to day basis. The 2 minute rule is pretty much accepting the fact that in life sometimes we are going to get out of state. We are going to get upset, we are going to get angry, we might get frustrated or something might peeve us off. Basically I have the 2 minute rule so when something annoys me I have 2 minutes to get over it. Spit the dummy if you are going to but at least get over it and then get back into state and focus on what you want to accomplish. A lot of people will get themselves into a negative state and they may stay that way for hours or days or weeks or months, some people years or even decades and then they waste their life being caught up in a grumpy state or unresourceful state. Life is too precious for that. To even waste a day being really annoyed about something is simply not worth it. The rule stops you after 2 minutes so you cant keep on carrying on like a spoilt child spitting the dummy. You just have to get on with it.
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| Jamie with Tony and Sage Robbins |
If people don't learn to master money now, what will it cost them in the future?
A lot of people say 'Jamie I am not materialistic', 'I'm not into money', 'money isn't important'. I agree that there are things in life that are much more valuable to us than money like time with your family and friends, your health, having a career because you love it not because you have to do it for money. All these aspects are far more important than money but if people do not master money, money becomes the top priority in their life regardless of whether they like it or not. They will spend less time with their family and friends because of financial constraints and then they are working all the time. A lot of people sacrifice their health due to the stress of money. A lot of people work a career purely for money not because its really what their heart is into. If people who do live in a materialistic society don't master money then the consequences are pretty obvious. They are going to limit themselves financially and what they and their family can experience. They are probably going to have a lot more stress in their life. It takes a lot more effort to be poor than it does to be rich. That's what people have got to understand. It might take some effort in the beginning to become wealthy but if you don't master your finances its a long time, a lot of effort, hard work and struggle so the consequences are pretty immense. Life is too short to be simply working for money. There are things that are a lot more important than that so I say to people who say they are not really into money, write down 'money is important'. Come out of denial about it. It is important whether you like it or not so I really believe that it is important for people to accept that. I also say that if you are not into money go down to Woolworths and fill up your shopping trolley to the brim of everything you want and push it up to the check out and say 'you know what? I'm not into money... I am not materialistic. Money is not important'. Then continue to push the trolley out the door. The fact is that you may not be into money but the rest of the world is. So its obvious that you have to master it whether you like it or not and if you don't... in our society there is a price to pay for that.
Why is setting goals so important?
Some people love setting goals and they are really successful at it and other people who don't set goals say they don't believe in them. I set goals. I set goals to this day. I have monthly goals. I have yearly targets and I make sure I write them down. Some people go 'oh I have my goals in my head', well that's just b.s. What people don't understand is that we are not physical beings we are spiritual beings having a human experience, we are on the physical plane. So the idea of writing goals and putting things down on paper is incredibly powerful. It is taking something from the spirit world and effectively putting it into the physical world. There is a great power and manifestation in that. If people fail to do that then they are limiting their power. So there is massive power in writing down goals. You may not achieve every goal you write but it will give you a focus. It gives you something to work towards. A lot of people find that things start showing up in their life from the power of writing down goals. When you start getting good at manifesting it can be quite fun to play with as you can ask for some amazing stuff and it will show up in your life. There are so many people who are a testament to that. Some people are better at manifesting than others and the difference is that some people put their focus on what they don't want or on their fears so they manifest more of that. If you put your focus on what you do want you will manifest more of that. So its important what you focus on and what intention you put out there. If you are afraid bad things will happen to you you will draw those things into your life. I am glad that we don't manifest everything we want instantly because some people would just make a complete mess of their lives because they will manifest the things they are most afraid of. Writing goals is one way to manifest what you want. It is important to get clear about what you want. If you don't know what you want then you cant get it and you wont recognise possibilities when they show up.
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| Jamie with Kristin Davis |
Anything advice you would like to add?
First of all if you want to be successful in any endeavor you have to have an open mind. The majority of people in Australia or most western societies do not achieve a fraction of the financial success they can. Most people think that you need academic degrees and be academically intelligent and have a high IQ but that is just a load of baloney. A high IQ means nothing. Albert Einstein said the definition of intelligence is 'the ability to entertain an idea', as simple as that. Most people are narrow minded or closed minded and will never achieve a fraction of their dreams. So to be successful you have to be open minded. What I want to add to Einsteins definition is its not only the ability to entertain an idea but also the ability to action an idea. So entertain the ideas in your mind, be open minded and then develop the ability to action the ideas. By actioning your ideas you are going to perform and achieve so much more. Actioning ideas is overcoming procrastination, getting yourself into state and following through. The short cut to all this is find a role model! And you don't have to meet them in person! Google. Anyone can Google. If you want to start a business go and Google it because someone has probably already done it and has a website... model it! What ever you want to do has been done before so modeling is the shortcut to success and it is very important to entertain a new idea and take action with it!
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For more information or to download the free E-Book 'What I Didn't Learn At School But Wish I Had' go to
http://jamiemcintyre.com/
Thank you Jamie and the team at 21st Century, especially Adriana, Joel and Kirby! You are all incredibly inspiring and wonderful people!
Remember... dreams do come true!
Stay fabulous!
CLE
