Ideas

Many years ago, in fact shortly after I began to study this transformational information, I came across a piece of literature that contained an idea that changed my life. It explained that every thing around us that has been made by human beings is the expression of an idea, and that you and I have the ability to create ideas. Think about it, every company, regardless of how large it may be, is nothing but the expression of a single idea that was once in the mind of one person. Unfortunately with most people their ideas are still born. They never breathe the stuff of life into them.
As I sat here preparing to share this story with you, my mind went back to the first time I came across that idea. Initially, I don't believe the dynamic of the idea really sunk into my mind. But when it did, the direction of my life changed like night and day, and it's never reversed direction.
Thinking is the highest function of which you and I are capable. It's an activity that I spent very little time at for the first twenty-five years of my life. But then I was introduced to Napoleon Hill's book Think and Grow Rich, and I began to truly appreciate the creative potential that was lying dormant within me. I then quickly learned it was a creative potential that lies within everyone, you included.
I have since come to the startling realization that a single idea effectively executed can be worth millions of dollars. In fact, single ideas have helped thousands of individuals from various parts of the world become millionaires.
For many years now, I have devoted the time that I spend flying to thinking. If you happen to sit beside me on a plane you may arrive at the conclusion that I have absolutely no social intelligence. I rarely talk to the person beside me. I feel that is my time away from everyone and everything, and I spend it thinking. By the way, I spend a lot of time in the air.
I frequently begin these thinking sessions by asking myself an interesting question. As I begin looking for the answer ideas begin to flow. In the early 90's I was on a flight from Toronto to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. It's twenty-five hours one way in the air and of course twenty-five hours back, so obviously that gave me lots of time to think. I made that trip every month for a few years, and I came to love the time that I was able to devote to thinking. On one particular flight I wrote at the top of a sheet of paper "$1,000,000." That's exactly how I wrote it - a 1 followed by 6 zeros. And I asked myself, "What's so special about a million dollars?" I had earned that in a year back in the 60's. It actually wasn't very difficult. For some reason $1,000,000 seems to be a magic number. We write songs about it, we fantasize about it, and we ask people "What would you do if you won a million dollars?" Generally they don't know. That's because they don't truly plan on having a million dollars.
I began thinking, "What did I do at that time that was so different?" Then I asked, "What do others that earn millions do that is so different?" Ask and you will receive is wise advice that has been given to us. As I began asking myself these questions, it dawned on me that people who earn lots of money have many sources of income. I wrote that on a piece of paper - "Many Sources of Income." Then I changed it to "Multiple Sources of Income" which I then abbreviated to "MSI." And I thought, "I should run a seminar that teaches people to create MSIs." The more I thought about it, the more I liked the idea. The idea began to build in my mind. That's what generally happens with good ideas - they attract other good ideas that are in harmony, and the idea builds. I was getting really enthused. I made up my mind I would teach others. I would run such a seminar. And I would get some of my friends to do it with me.
When I got to Kuala Lumpur, I was really enthused. I phoned Mark Victor Hansen in Southern California, then Val Van De Wall in Western Canada. Mark phoned Jack Canfield and Berny Dohrmann. They all loved the idea. The team was formed. The group of us decided to run a week long program teaching people how to earn a million dollars by setting up MSIs. We had a great time. It was a very successful program. In fact, Mark and Jack came up with an idea for an MSI that they would partner on and execute together. They would write a book with 101 inspirational stories in it and it would be called Chicken Soup for the Soul. Keep in mind, in the beginning it was just an idea, but they have since sold over one hundred million copies. There are numerous success stories that have come out of those seminars. But, after a period of time, because each one of us owned our own businesses, we stopped conducting the seminars and went on our own separate ways. However, every one of us grew immeasurably from that experience. As Thomas Carlyle once said, "When your mind is expanded by a big idea, it will never go back to its original shape." CEO Space, a company that operates globally, came out of that program. A couple of companies that I have since started - The Bob Proctor Matrixx and The Bob Proctor Network - came out of those seminars.
It all started with a single idea that was the result of a question that I asked myself at 35,000 feet somewhere over the South Pacific. Thousands of individuals today are wealthy because of that idea. In fact, historically wealthy people have always followed the strategy of setting up multiple sources of income.
Let me ask you a question - How many sources of income do you presently have? If you are like most people, the answer is probably one or maybe two when actually you could have a hundred, two hundred or more and all it would require is a decision.
Let me ask you another question - How much time do you spend by yourself for the sole purpose of thinking, of creating ideas, ideas that will enhance the life of others or possibly improve the service that they offer? If you're not doing it, you might start. You will find that it's a great way to invest your time. In fact, spending time thinking is the most constructive thing that you can do with your life. It is, as I have already mentioned, the highest function of which you are capable.
My company recently started a company for the sole purpose of helping people establish MSIs and at the same time become associated with other people from all over the world that want to multiply their income. This company truly brings like-minded people together in a spirit of cooperation where they can help each other improve the quality of their life by setting up and sharing multiple sources of income. The company is run by a young lady who professionally is an electrical engineer. Her name is Tiffany Baron. After a decade of working at a job where someone told her when to go to work, when to go home and how much she could earn, she decided that she wanted to change. She wanted to enjoy the freedom that she was reading about and the income that could be earned by establishing multiple sources of income.
This company was started because I've often thought that it was rather sad that the group of us never really kept that original company going. I often thought I should do that again. You see I believe that there are a lot of people out there like I was when I first became aware that everything around us is the expression of an idea, and you and I have the ability to create ideas. There are a lot of Tiffanys and Harrys and Jims that would really love to have multiple sources of income, but they're not quite sure how to do it. We thought -- if we started a global network that anyone could join, where people could come together on-line to help each other build something substantial by working in cooperation with each other, where the membership fee was very minimal, then thousands more could enjoy the freedom and the creativity that many of us are already enjoying. That's when we gave birth to the idea of www.bobproctornetwork.com where for $5 per month anyone can explore MSI ideas, and they can move them into action to change the course of their life.
Bob Proctor