The Secret To Real Wealth, Online Or Off

This is something that doesn’t get talked about near enough but that you’re going to be hearing alot more about from me in the coming months at AndrewHansen.name

Some people think this is a truth that applies only after you start making money but I don’t believe that’s the case.

I realize more and more every day that the secret to real wealth, and not just financial wealth but personal and spiritual wealth is…

That when you’re trying to make money solely for your own personal gain, you’ll always have a cieling, a limit of potential. But when you’re making money to contribute to something outside of and greater than yourself or your company, you reach a whole new level of wealth creation, happiness and fulfillment in life.

I’m not one who attributes this reality to something metaphysical or spiritual, it’s merely a reality that I’ve experienced to be true that that makes sense. And it’s not just me…

It’s been said by many a great entrepreneur that

“A business that makes nothing but money is a poor business”

Interesting huh?

I know that when your financial situation isn’t the way you want it to be that it’s easy to think “I can’t even pay my OWN bills, how can I give to someone else??” I’ve been in the same mindset myself before. However, paradoxically, it can be this excessive focus on “my own problems”, “my own situation” “my self” that is in fact the cause of financial problems, not the output. If you don’t believe me, remember that the ultimate question of wealth creation is “how can I add value to someone elses life?” – note: someone ELSES life, not your own – no self focus there.

My own life has changed so much as my understanding of this concept has grown. I couldn’t explain why, but there’s something about the way money and opportunities seem to find you when they know that you’re not only concerned about yourself.

I wanted to post here today about two causes that I’ve been supporting lately both with my money and time, that has added a new dimension to my excitement and passion for living. Both are doing some very special things. Check it out…

1. Kiva.org

If you haven’t heard of Kiva, you might have been living under a rock. Kiva is an organization that helps to fund entrepreneurs from the third world through loans from contributors like me by the process of Micro-financing.

So for example, I go to Kiva and sponsor an entrepreneur. It might be a lady who wants to open a grocery store in her village, so I lend her $25.

This $25 doesn’t just get given to her for her shop. I actually loan it to her as an investment that I make a return on as she begins to profit from her shop! I can then use those returns to donate further!

It’s an amazing concept.

From my first round of donations, I just received my first notice that I’d earned 8.25% return on one of my micro loans after just 6 weeks!! (better than my stock portfolio right now, I might add!) As those returns accumulate, I can (but don’t have to) loan those returns to the same entrepreneur or a different one and further my support.

The best thing is that when you loan, you don’t just help that entrepreneur. When that entrepreneur starts a clothing store or a knitting business, she puts clothes on the backs of children in the village. The reach of your contribution is magnified enormously.

I can’t say enough about Kiva and it’s something you should definitely check out if you want to start contributing outside of yourself.

2. The Venus Project

This one is a little more controversial but something that I’m extremely passionate about.

The truth is that in all the history of the civilized world, we’ve never experienced a planet that is free from war, corruption, poverty, and crime. Even today, in the most technologically advanced and “abundant” times the world has ever known, half the world population still lives in poverty, 1 billion of them on less than $2 a day.

This fact leads us to question the system or the processes by which we manage people and resources on planet earth. If our planet can only provide great wealth to a small percentage of people and nothing to the vast majority, is it really an effective system? Rather than a political movement, The Venus Project believes that systems like money, and politics are ideas to which with advancements in our intelligence that today we have made, there are updates that need to be made.

TVP advocates a complete redesign of our culture, to a culture where the earth is declared the common heritage of all people; a culture where human potential is allowed to flourish, free from the monotony of boring jobs, the enslavement of having to “make a living” in order to survive, free from crime, war, poverty, and corruption.

It’s creators have developed ideas for societies that could operate without the need for money, in which all resources are abundant, and don’t need to be sold. When nothing has monetary value, and everything you need is easily available, why would someone steal? When every country has all the resources they could ever need, why would anyone go to war? When important decisions about how we manage the resources of the earth and people are made with real data and analysis by enormous computers, what need would we have for biased, corrupt politicians? If everyone had access to everything, how would anyone have access to nothing and live in poverty?

It’s not a religious movement, or a political movement and bears no similarity to any existing philosophy or system that has been attempted before. It’s an idea as radical as any but just about as radical as is needed for the “radical” circumstances in which planet earth now finds itself.

You can learn more about the ideas of the Venus Project by the little video in the bottom of the right sidebar on this page or through their website at thevenusproject.com

It’s a long time off but it’s the kind of world I know I’d like to live in, so I’m doing that I can.

Finally, I want to ask you…

I want to start a little group. I want you to suggest your favorite charities and means of contribution here below. Then what I’ll do is start a special list, for “contributors”. If you’re a contributor, you’ll get discounts on all my products in the future or offers I happen to share from other people.

This way we’re helping the world and each other to grow – isn’t that cool?

Not only that, I’ll make a special page on my blog for Contributors where you can list your name and website to get some extra exposure too!

So let me know below and we’ll get this thing started!

Remember, you will achieve the most in your life, be the most happy, most fulfilled and most excited about life when life isn’t all about you. Ask how you can contribute to someone else today and you’ll see your life change in deep and profound ways.