The Power of Then, or 30 Principles of Righteous Exponential Wealth Building

Now that I've given Mammon his due (!), I'm going to lay out what I think are the main principles of real wealth building. It's actually more of a rough draft than something biblical. It's like a napkin or a jotter where I put my random thoughts. So apologies for it being a bit choppy.

Yes, the principles I follow when considering which way to go. See, I believe wealth to be a process, or a path, rather than a "thing". A kind of tension between a future dream, fiercely worshipped, which we may see as our own kingdom of heaven, and the present state, which is already dying every second of the day. In this sense it is similar to the new definition of energy given by Eric Dollard, where energy is a function of time and is a path, not a movement of electrons and so on. It is a rate of change. True wealth can therefore not be stolen either, or taxed or levied, as can earthly treasures:

"Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon." – Matthew 6:19–21,24 (KJV)

So it's all about the power of when, not the power of now (sorry Eckhart Tolle!). But it must be a specific then, not a "tomorrow", because tomorrow is moveable. When we act, we act in the present day, and what we serve is our future self, our vision, and we must have a fixed idea as to when that vision is fulfilled. That is belief, and the tension is rather like an elastic band stetched and then released at one end. Rather than bank-money which, as I have outlined, is a kiss of death, erasing all future ties and making people unwilling to leverage their future interests through sharing. 

Bank-money is dead money. That goes for gold too. There was never anything special about gold except that it doesn't corrupt in the hand and so was a fit choice to make a coin. But in monkey-see style, so many then attributed magical powers of value to the metal itself. If you focus on gold, you're focusing on death. 

Bank-money or pieces of gold or silver are perfect payment for, say, a prostitute. Because there is no future interest there: no presumed future relationship, no baby making, just the act then it's done. Or maybe for paying a mercenary or assassin - you know, do this for me and then act like we don't know each other. That goes for the armed forces too. And that may offer a clue as to why we're all engaging in this way - because we're, y'know, warlike and whorelike. But are we that way naturally or are we conditioned to be so?

Anyway that's an issue for another time. So here is a list of my principles of real money:

1. Copy, duplicate, steal, borrow and otherwise create unoriginal obvious cash-rights. Comprehend and do as life does to regenerate: duplicate and synthesise. Forget originality. Creation is finished - just unfold it, uncover it, copy it, be it. Originality is most dangerous word in advertisers lexicon, as per David Ogilvy, and if that's true for them it probably is for all creators. Great artists steal; do likewise. Leverage nature, history and the self. There's no such thing as theft in the real world - it's just leverage. Who needs to reinvent the wheel? And when you duplicate what you think is great, it'll be different anyway. Do the Beatles and Rolling Stones resemble Chuck Berry and Robert Johnson? Not so much, but that's who they emulated.
2. Just ship it. If you're not embarrassed with the end product, you probably took too long. A good plan today is better than a perfect plan tomorrow. Seize opportunities when they are presented to you, not when you think you're ready for them. Money loves speed.
3. ABO - always be offering. Creating potential realities. Everyone creates new money in every transaction they undertake. But under bankers'-agency-drafting, only the seller and the buyer's bank get present cash. So always have offers out there, the more intangible the better.
4. Price it high for cachet. You're selling a future vision, and do you think it's valuable? If so, price the thing high, ridiculously high. This is about aspiration, it's that tension I talked about, it's lifting your thoughts. The world is just ideas flowing around, that bring in cachet (cash). Make sure that a good number are yours, and that they all have a clear call to action and direct response button! Go high-end. High-ticket items. Biggest, smartest, most luxurious. Less competition, less customer problems.
5. Cashflow from day one. Do nothing which requires negative cashflow at any point.
6. Making friends is making money, and making money is making friends. The better the friend, the better the money. The more recurrent, the more high-end. You gotta stop the cyborg-speak like "offer value" and so on. What actually means something to souls is suggestions like: "Make friends, let them trust you and share good stuff with them." Goodness doesn't broadcast, so keep it intimate and duplicate it a millionfold. Deal only with friends. Which means, turn them into friends.
7. Vulnerability is key. Show your vulnerability, don't hide it. A little of it is highly magnetic.
8. Buy fear and sell greed. Classic Buffet 101. Buy when everyones selling. Sell when everyones buying. Lend when everyone's borrowing and no-one wants to lend. Borrow when everyones lending and no-one else wants to borrow.
9. Go where the competition is, which is where the money is. There's no such thing as competition - money is created afresh each time. No pie to take, only pie to bake.
10. Work with people to fulfill their needs or solve their problem. The current state of things requires marketers to induce an attitude of scarcity and lack, which they then offer to fill with their product. That age is over, finished. Ask them first, and then work with them.
11. Nothing down. Do nothing which requires upfront investment of cash. Cash is like Chinese jing, it's chi, its future interest, it should be guarded as closely as your own vital fluids. Plus when there's nothing down you already adhere to the rules of Buffet etc who say, don't lose money. But contrary to Buffet I would say that investing is a sham: it ties up good hard cash over long periods for uncertain paper gain. The only investment is investment in yourself. Opportunity cost is all.
12. Create win-wins. Or win-win-wins. Solve peoples problems. Sell opportunities. Is easy to walk away from win-wins if other party is playing up - because it stopped being win-win. Make them feel good and there will be repeat business and no refunds.
13. Go for intangibles. Rights, mortgages, ad copy, info products. It's not messy, it's low-cost, it's easily scaleable. Who needs more junk from China anyway?
14. Leverage. Internet is leverage. Make it exponentially scaleable.
15. Set unrealistic deadlines for big dreams. Have countdowns, let your unconscious know there's a time this has to be done by. Get it done before your mind and interest moves onto other things.
16. Ownership. Own the product. Own the website. Own the unique word used to promote it. Own the financing ledger (as with mutually-owned whole life insurance). Own the rights (equity, option rights, patent rights, etc). That's where the power truly lies. Magical things start happening when you truly take ownership. You can only be liable if you're a caretaker or trustee. Ownership means you do what you like and take ALL the benefits. Be the franchisor. You have control of the benefits, and liabilities are passed to the guardian. Its not what you do, its what you own and how you control it.
17. No liabilities. Don't hold stock, or manage, or pledge collateral. If you do, get rid of it fast.
18. Be the writer, not the reader. Write your own ad copy. Your own books and info products. Your own contracts and trust deeds. Your own mortgages. So be "righteous", and not a "reed-er", reading other peoples' conditions. Set the terms. Offer conditions. 
19. Be the last offeror. My way or the highway. That's how negotiation is done. Bit like being the raiser in poker. Write the rules. Most people will just see rules and follow them, and presume that's "government speaking." Well, it is, and the best kind - Me. This is not unkindness, this is decisiveness.
20. Minimum time and effort down. Focus on leverage and "lazy" techniques. Templates and automation, and recurring lifetime commissions. Make money and time work for you, exponentially.
21. Arbitrage and carry trades. No risk, yes zero. Live in Indonesia, sell in Brazil and Norway. Buy Mexican bonds, borrow to short Japanese. Actually, don't deal in bonds because that's peoples' blood and sweat - all bonds are slave bonds. But I'm making a point. Buy low Bigmac index, sell high Bigmac index. Like corporations do with sweatshops and Swiss boutiques.
22. Be playful. The meek shall inherit (be given) the earth (dirt and graves), but the players (actors) own it, and the water and the skies too. Focus on what you did well, on what you do well, and do more of that. Mistakes are events you're supposed to forget about, because they're usually boring. But a spectacular failure may make a great story someday too. Work is for the little people: Players play, all day and sometimes all night too. Even in their sleep they may be lucid dreaming! Its easy and fun to be  rich, and its hard and boring to be poor. Being easy and fun is being rich.
23. Always be asking better questions. Someone once said asking is selling. I think asking is living. I ask questions of myself and leave them open. We're not in the business of answering questions - that's for schools and the military, and, much like bank-money, answers are always heavy, deathly - and wrong.
24. Make automatically recurring, passive income. Let them come to you. Set up point of contact with plain info and contact button, for all the world to come to you.
25. Plain speaking. He who does so in this environment of uber-design will make his billions. Plain marketing, even slightly ugly marketing. Long copy, serif font, black on white, justified. Direct response, call to action, buy button, do it now while you can. State plain facts and you sell snow to eskimos.
26. Its all the hustle. The weaving of stories that others buy. Make sure the stories out there are your own. That's what selling is - being the author, owning all the equity in the ideas out there, that are spinning cachet for you while you sleep. Do you want your stories to be the ones that shape the world? Then do it - and make them good ones!
27. Fake it to make it. Its not lying its flirting. To be it, be it first. If you want to lose your virginity, the best way is to act like you've slept with hundreds of women. Be it.
28. Test and record results. Aka playing for keeps. Your mistakes then become money and guidance.
29. Network. Fraternities, MLM, secret societies, mutual insurers - all show the power of being for yourself but not by yourself.
30. Watch closely what & who you listen to. This is quite important as the ancients knew that belief comes through hearing. Choose mentors carefully and then copycat and combine in your style.

So that's it, but I'm always kind of tweaking it. I like to look at the list sometimes first thing in the morning to remind myself how to play the game. I expect it to look very different in a year's time, but that's the path of wealth, right?