According to statistics, China Insurance Company manages 8 trillion yuan of assets, which is less than 6% of China Agricultural Bank, and the insurance penetration rate in China is still very low. When it comes to buying insurance, many people will say that their family savings are limited and there is no extra money to buy insurance. So, how can we increase family income, realize financial freedom and take out some money to buy insurance? Recommend a business guide book for American professional women-Money Mom.
Crystal Paine, the author of Money-making Mom, uses her tortuous and successful entrepreneurial experience to guide modern women to increase their income through entrepreneurship or various part-time jobs, so that financial freedom is no longer a dream. Crystal Paine, American speaker and professional woman. In 2007, with the mission of encouraging women to lead meaningful lives, she started MoneySavingMom.com Blog, which has an average monthly readership of over 2 million, and is one of the most popular blogs at present. With the income from writing books and blogs, she not only lived the life she wanted, but also participated in an international Save the Children project, which funded 130- 160 mothers and children in Dominica. To your surprise, before that, Crystal Paine was just an ordinary housewife, a mother of three. When she was pregnant for the first time, her husband was still studying in law school. Faced with bills that come faster than money, she has to do a lot of research on the Internet while taking care of her children, looking for various possibilities of making money at home. Finally, after a long period of hard work and various ways to make money, she found her own specialty and successfully achieved her goal of financial freedom and generosity in life.
"Making Money Mom" teaches us to make full use of our resource advantages to start a business or take a part-time job, and find the meaning and goal of life-generous life from the process of making money. This book can be divided into three important parts. The first part is what is financial freedom. Secondly, how to explore their talents and passions and realize financial freedom. Finally, the author puts forward another angle to look at money-look at one's heart, not be burdened by money, and let one's life have a positive impact on others.
What is the definition of financial freedom?
Financial freedom is also a hot word in recent two years. In the state of financial freedom, people can consciously use money, plan ahead, save in advance, and get spiritual satisfaction in appropriate space. Sometimes we hear people say, "If there were 5 million, I wouldn't have to work now!" " Of course, the 5 million here is just an example. Some people think that 654.38+0 million can provide for the aged in advance, while others think that 5 million is not enough. China Hurun Research Institute once made an investigation report, saying that China's first tier cities needs 290 million yuan to achieve wealth freedom. Some people have calculated that it needs more than 7 million yuan to achieve financial freedom in Shanghai. Let's take a look at Crystal Paine's understanding. She told us that financial freedom is not:
Working 16 hours a day, running out of life?
Get rich quickly, build a big enterprise or make a lot of money?
Sacrifice time with the person you love with an idea or career?
Being rich is just to be richer?
By sorting out the above, we will know more about what is the foundation of financial freedom. For example, when Crystal was faced with whether to move her family, she finally made a truly free choice, because it was beneficial to her family and career. So, Crystal said that financial freedom is:
The choices you make are not only in the interests of yourself and your family, but also in line with your long-term goals?
Use skills and talents to turn knowledge and available resources into income-generating ideas?
Take controllable risks and try new things.
Can give generously, bless others with time and talent, and influence others?
Everyone has different standards and understandings of financial freedom. Just like the well-known story of the rich and the fisherman, the rich think that the fisherman should get rich first and then go to the beach to bask in the sun, while the fisherman feels that he is enjoying life before he gets rich. Living in this materialistic era, what financial freedom really means deserves everyone's deep thinking. For professionals, financial freedom means not having to go to work on time or work for the boss. For many mothers, financial freedom means that they don't have to worry about daily necessities and have more time and energy to accompany their children and take care of their families. For entrepreneurs, financial freedom means that you can retire early and do what you like. For example, Ma Yun, the founder of Alibaba, announced some time ago that he would no longer serve as chairman of the board of directors next year, and would pay attention to public welfare and education in the future. ?
How to achieve financial freedom?
Crystal believes that everyone can provide value to this society and turn it into a source of income. She encourages women to explore their potential, use their talents and passion to make money and realize financial freedom. First of all, you should have a successful business idea, which includes the following characteristics:
?
Have a steady income?
Satisfied rather than tired?
Let people foster strengths and avoid weaknesses?
A business idea without profit is meaningless. Your business idea must also bring satisfaction, not boredom. For example, if you start a business, but you just want to make money, or if you have to work for more than ten hours every day and have no time to spend with your family, then this business is not worth pursuing for you. Also, your career ideas must focus on your strengths, which are your passion and knowledge. Therefore, it is important to understand five questions before starting a business:
Am I passionate and willing to take action to achieve it?
Who are the potential customers?
Can I afford the cost of starting a business?
Have I done enough market research?
Am I willing to accept failure? ?
The success of any business requires a lot of energy. If you don't have passion, you don't really like it, and you won't have the motivation to overcome the difficulties on the road to starting a business, then failure is natural. When you can answer the above five questions, then you can define a mission statement for your career to help clarify what market demand your career will meet and help people solve what problems. For example, Crystal Paine's vision of setting up a blog is to "encourage women to increase their income, expand their influence, and keep fun in the process." ?
Defining the mission statement will help us to make a clear action plan. For example, how to operate, how to realize your mission statement, what goals to achieve, how many products to sell and so on. The big goal is further broken down into small goals, reminding you what is the most important thing at the moment and what is the next step. There are many options for starting a business, such as online services or commodities, warehousing experts, consultants, direct sales or distribution, and traditional physical stores. When you plan to start your own business, Crystal Paine put forward some rules and guidelines:
Do your homework?
Set some difficult goals?
Willing to make sacrifices?
Try and do something.
Don't give up.
The next step is to pay attention to career development. Slow and smart growth is more conducive to the sustainable development of the cause. This is a good way to use what you already have to earn extra income. Expand your business beyond the products and services you currently offer. For example, in a flower shop I know, in addition to selling flowers and green plants, the owner also held a handicraft class to guide customers to make dried flowers, dried fruits and plant leaves into dried flower photo frames to increase their income. For a flower shop, there are too many raw materials for making dried flower photo frames, which can be said to be low-cost and high-yield. In addition, consciously increase your income before spending, and always leave a sum of money for savings. With the growth of my career, it is very necessary to save a career emergency fund to ensure that I have enough capital turnover. Finally, you need to maintain personal growth. For example, read a new book about business or leadership every month, find a life coach and put yourself among outspoken people. In short, don't be satisfied with the status quo. Achieving personal growth will bring you more career development opportunities.
The road to entrepreneurship is not always smooth. She said to the possible obstacles in starting a business.
When you want to give up your career, you can give yourself a vacation. Leaving your career for a while will make your thinking clearer. Then re-examine and evaluate business plans and processes, talk to people you trust, read books and find solutions. ?
When you are trapped by the fear of failure, ask yourself, "How bad can it be?" Encourage yourself to get out of your comfort zone. Getting out of your comfort zone will give you a better chance than keeping the status quo. ?
When someone gets in your way, try to stay away from negative people and situations and ignore their negative comments. Either you don't respond or you respond with true love and kindness. ?
When you have to work from home, I suggest you set a parameter for your working hours, divide your work into small parts and work according to the plan to improve efficiency. Now the Internet is developed and all kinds of social media are flooding. Use less tools that can turn them into career growth, or you will control them.
In this way, we can use our resources wisely, invest our time carefully and create more value.
In addition to starting a business, Crystal Paine also used many examples to teach us to expand our thinking and find ways to create all kinds of "residual income". For example, making e-books for sale, setting up blogs, and offering online courses in their familiar fields. In recent years, WeChat business has developed rapidly, and many stay-at-home mothers rely on WeChat business and Taobao to bring income to their families. I saw a more interesting scene the other day. After dinner, I went out for a walk and passed by the square. A group of young people are dancing the ghost step which is popular this year. A sign was put in front of it, which read "Ghost Dance Teaching in 200 yuan, Guaranteed Education!" Not far away, the brand of a group of aunts is, "Square dance membership fee is 68 months!" I feel that I can use the hobby of the square dance aunt to increase my income!
Find a better meaning for making money and not be burdened by money?
We live in a consumerist world, 365 days a year, and businesses hope that every day will become a consumer carnival day. As we all know, money can't buy happiness, but it seems that the more you get, the happier you will be. The more you have, the more you want, and the more you have, the less you want. 5 million can do 5 million business, and 6.5438+million can make 6.5438+million investment. As the writer Clive Hamilton said, "We can spend freely, but we are not free to find our place in this world." If you want to live an amazing life, you must always live for your bigger goal, and you must be tired of desire. It is better to check your heart, manage your money, and let your money bring greater significance-help others and bring positive influence to others' lives. ?
For a generous life, helping others is like an old saying, don't be too small to do it. Crystal suggested supporting local charities, or donating some books, clothes or daily necessities, or donating tens of yuan every month to help children in poor areas, or even investing in people and managing relationships with people around them. Little things like that. Crystal's blog not only provides practical help for readers, but also uses the income from the blog to fund many children in Dominica and China, as well as special projects in poor areas in South Africa. Her good friend Lisa Jo also improved the life of a village in South Africa with 65,438+050 adults and 250 orphans through her blog. She started her activities with her blog and donated money to build a community center, clean water, vegetable garden and sports ground for the village. Under her impetus, thousands of women opened their eyes and found greater meaning and more satisfaction. Indeed, giving is happier than receiving. When you worry about your monthly mortgage, car loan and credit card bill, there are still many people in this world who don't have clean water to drink. Compared with them, we have a lot. ?
Finally, Crystal said, I want to make a difference. I want to live every day as if it were my last. I want to devote my life, energy and time to something with lasting influence. She rearranged her priorities in life:
Cultivate a relationship with God?
Invest time and energy in marriage to make it happy for a long time.
Cultivate children's character and let them change the world.
Strive to make family members have stable financial support and let them become generous givers.
Encourage women to live purposefully?
Crystal's life priority, shouldn't it be the priority of every woman? The reason why I work hard to make money is that I hope I can spend more time with my family, not be forced by life and not be tired of money. ?
The book "Money-making Mom" is not an ordinary business guide book. Crystal encourages women to find their own goals in life and teaches us to face the problems in the process of starting a business and move towards financial freedom step by step. Her sincere advice is like a sign, which applies not only to mothers who want to make money, but also to all those who want to achieve financial freedom. More brilliantly, she taught us to constantly examine our hearts, desires and longings, and gave us another perspective on life and money. May more people realize financial freedom through this book, rearrange their life priorities on the way to making money, and find more positive significance for realizing financial freedom.