ABTI | Joseph Riggio International

You are here: Home / Archives for Joseph Riggio

Joseph Riggio

How Modern Business Models Developed

by ·

It Isn’t Always Obvious How Modern Business Models Limit Entrepreneurship … Or What To Do About It … But There’s A Postmodern Eject Option That Will Set You Free

 

[This particular post is dedicated to the real and aspiring entrepreneurs out there,
especially my brethren who are the creators, compilers and consorts of information ...
and it's distribution to the people.]

 As Always, I like to start near the beginning …

In the case of looking at modern business models we need to look to the great monarchies and empires that grew out of the dawn of the Agricultural Era. There were a number of forces that shaped societies at this time, including the ever present economic forces driving the behaviors of men (Author’s Note: assume the term “men” is used here and throughout for convenience sake referring to all of humankind, i.e.: children, women and men).

By economic forces we can begin with the fundamental necessities required for sustaining and nurturing life, including creating a context appropriate to successful procreation. Prior to the Agricultural Era the evidence we have uncovered points to at least two previous phases of evolutionary development in human systems, a “Hunter/Gatherer” phase and a “Hunter/Horticulturist” phase. Sometime during these phases of human development basis social tenants were being programmed into the basic biological machinery as well as the social machinery. Essential remnants of the developmental process that imprinted itself on the human species remain in place today, e.g.: competition and altruism.

The primary social evolution mechanism during this phase transition from “Hunter/Gather” to “Hunter/Horticulturist” to “Agriculturalist” included the ability to create larger groupings leading to the first of many city-states and subsequently empires. The primary driver of this development was the ability to create wealth in the form of excess food resources, freeing individuals for specialization beyond food production in the population. From this consideration we can make the argument that the first rudimentary elements of what we think of today as business began to evolve within the social fabric.

It would be a reasonable conjecture to presume that the first elements of business in early societies took the form of services and craft, production of products, access and acquisition to goods,  and distribution of goods. While it would also be reasonable to presume that services and craft, along with the production of products came first, the access and acquisition of goods, and the distribution of those goods was unlikely to be far behind. We can place the last of these two elements of business under the heading “trade” for simplicities sake. This model of the fundamental elements of early business models can then be presented simply as a triad of services/craft … production … and trade …

 

At this time there were only a few ways business of any kind to be conducted …

In a very local model, e.g.: craftspeople serving their local communities … carpenters, potters, healers …

Creating goods to be traded directly, i.e.: barter … or later for the exchange of payment in coin made of valuable metals representing fixed value, typically in direct association with the value of the metal in which the coin was minted, e.g.: copper, bronze, silver, gold …

Trade between kingdoms for precious resources and goods … this trade was the sole privy of monarchs, even when conducted on their behalf by merchants of their choosing.

Back to Basics  For A Moment …

However, behind this model was the constant of food production as the basis of all “real” wealth – and in an Agricultural society that meant land upon which the Agriculture depended for the growing of grains, vegetables and fruits, the raising of livestock, or the hunting of game. This was the driving force behind the concept of “real estate” … of the “King’s Estate” … the land is owned by the monarch, and all others have use as decreed by the monarch with taxes applied to the rights of use, i.e.: “real estate taxation” … the “owner” of the land is NOT the one who occupies and or uses the land, the “owner” of the land is the one who can claim taxes for the right of occupation and use. The owner can also always reclaim the land for a higher use, e.g.: eminent domain.

Since the ownership and control of land, the right to occupy and use it, as well as access to the resources contained on or below it … e.g.: fauna, flora and minerals …  was (and to a great extent remains) the most essential economic driver another source of economic growth for the monarchies was conquest. As the need to expand the ownership and control of land became more dominant, to sustain the less productive inhabitants of the cities for essential resources, the monarchs were forced to expand their armies and seek new lands for these essential resources to bring back to the cities, with their aristocrats and elites, if they themselves desired to remain in control. This new necessity of supporting a growing elite class placed a new kind of pressure on the system to become more effective and efficient in the arts of war, e.g.: the Roman Legions.

Now a new economic entity sprang into existence as well. The knowledge associated with the building of war machinery and of the conduct of war. New technologies evolved to support the enterprise of war and conquest, including sophisticated communication technologies for the delivery and security of critical messages to and from afar – in this endeavor speed and utmost secrecy could mean the difference between ultimate success and utter failure. Yet, at the core of the massive campaigns conducted by the armies the issues of supplies, especially food, clothing and weapons, remained critical.

 

Supply Chains and Distribution As An Economic Cornerstone

Once again we can look to the Romans and their feats of engineering, specifically their roads. To a great extent the success of Rome can be directly traced back to its ability to build roads to distribute goods throughout the Empire.

This had two significant functions …

  1. Keeping the armies of Rome supplied so they could conquer and rule in foreign lands
  2. Providing the access to Rome necessary to bring back essential goods required to keep the Roman citizens pacified 

In the world of the Roman Empire, Rome was the first mega-city with over a million people occupying it. This population was largely comprised of aristocrats and elites, their servants and slaves, the service providers catering to them, the craftspeople providing skilled labor, and the producers and traders providing them with the goods they desired. This population created far less wealth than they consumed, yet through the control of the surrounding lands they continued to refill their coffers and exert control on the ever deepening maw of Rome’s own resource hunger. This made for a very unstable position for a Caesar unable to keep the provisions coming … so the constant need for conquest and the drain on the essential resources from the conquered to feed the Romans.

Without the technologically advanced engineering required to build the roads that led to and from Rome, and the aqueducts that kept her supplied with clean water and water to wash away the waste of millions Rome would have never survived to build such an edifice to herself. In some ways Rome in her unsatiable hunger for goods created the basis for the modern age of business that depends on the movement of goods as its lifeblood today.

 

Mid-Course Conclusions And Corrections

Once this fundamental structure was established, i.e.: the acceptance of an elite ruling class, the blueprint for modern society, modern economic structures and modern business was firmly grounded. When we look through the lens of history at a particular angle what we see is that the elite, ruling class was built on the labor of the peasant class who accepted their rule in exchange for the illusion of safety, security, freedom and the potential to pursue a life of liberty and wealth themselves. What the peasant class never realized was the extent of the bargain they were making, or the reality that they were always playing by different rules than the aristocrats and the elites.

The lessons contained in history continue to show that only those who were able to exploit the limitations, weaknesses and gaps in the ruling class’s position were ever able to become part of that class themselves. Before they crossed the chasm of becoming aristocrats and elites, many of those working the chinks in the system to their own ends would have been by definition at best outside the borders of lawfulness and at worst criminals. Staying with this same lens what we can learn is that the most efficient way to cross the chasm from commoner to elite is to do the dirty work of the elites for them, earning you passage beyond the gates yourself.

 

Modern Banking And The Fleecing Of The Common Man

We can look at the modern banking system as an example in quick review. Beginning with the Medici’s who devised a way for the Kings and Queens of a Catholic European Empire to circumvent the rule of usury to the modern age of centralized banks and fiat money the bankers have aligned themselves with the ruling class to concentrate the wealth of the system at the top. The recent activity we’ve seen throughout South and Central America beginning in the postwar era of 1950’s  through the 1980’s and on, in North America in the 1980s, 90s and most recently in the last five years leading up to a massive reformation of the banking industry with massive bailouts based on taxpayer indebtedness bloating the bottom-line of the failed banking institutions that fundamentally corrupted the system, and now the debacle threatening all of Europe with the same re-distribution of wealth upwards are perfect constructs of the mechanisms I’m pointing to here.

Essentially in a central banking environment, like those in most industrialized Western countries, and in the U.S. via the Federal Reserve System (which is neither Federal, holding any reserves, or a system in any real sense of the word), fiat money is created at the demand of a government (in the U.S. via Congressional request for increased funding outside of the requirement of raising it through direct taxation or tariffs), then the “banks” loan that money out at a ratio of many times the funding they hold in reserve (in the U.S. the ratio is about 10:1, i.e.: for every dollar a bank holds they can make a “loan” of ten dollars) and they are allowed by law to charge interest on the loan amount that is payable by debtor.

The “trick” in the system is that they are collecting interest on money they don’t have, so any interest rate is exhorbitant, creating windfall profits. A further insult on injury is that those furthest away from the lending source pay the most for the money they borrow, so the wealthiest borrow as the best rates. When you add in inflation to the sequence it immediately becomes apparent that holding as much debt as possible, borrowed at the best rates possible, becomes a pathway to increasing wealth at an accelerated rate, i.e.: you are borrowing money at a cost that’s lower than the value of the money you will pay the loan back with, and if you are close enough to the lending source you will borrow at preferential rates and your costs can be passed onto those who have to borrow further down the line. In the meantime if you purchased real assets with borrowed money they appreciate while you are paying back the borrowed money with devalued currency … a nice little spiral of wealth creation if you can “get in on it” early enough. One of the best way to “get in on it” is to become a borrower and a lender, borrowing inexpensively and lending expensively, i.e.: become the bank. (Thank you for the examples Mr. Morgan, Mr. Rockefeller, Mr. Rothschild …)

 

The Modern Entrepreneur

Now we come to the crux of my tirade (you did realize this was a tirade didn’t you?). The story that continues to get sold about modern entrepreneurial success is that it is a function of insight, courage, wisdom, brilliance … and maybe some hard work. We also “know” that it’s being in the right place at the right time, and who you know as much as what you know. FWIW I agree with much of this … to a great extent it’s true … until you get to the point where you have to work the system. At some point in the equation you have to find the chinks in the armor of the ruling class and use them to your benefit.

In a modern entrepreneurial system the ruling class is made up of at least three segments:

  • The political/governmental sector
  • The financial/banking sector
  • The existing commercial sector that you seeks to displace

To do this, and to succeed in a monumental way, you have to work the system … often at the edge of criminality, or downright stepping over that line. There are hundreds or thousands of books that document what I’m referring to here. Some of the favorite targets are mega-companies like Walmart, the mulit-national banks, the fiascos like Enron and World-Com. However, when you study the field you’ll find that there is no large business that isn’t tied in with the political and the financial players required to perpetrate their actions.

HOWEVER … this tirade isn’t about that … it’s about what you can choose instead if you so desire … BUT AT A PRICE!

I’ll lay it down simply … to use an oft quoted comment, “If you aren’t part of the solution you are part of the problem”

If you are making your bed and lying down with the players I’ve been decrying then you are part of the problem, even if you only occasionally suck at the corporate teat. You cannot claim you are only a small little guy/gal trying to make a living off of the leavings of the corporate giants and not be awash in the stench of the garbage they put out. Even if you are selective in your takings, and what you do with them – e.g.: charity and philanthropy, you are insidiously continuing the subjugation by the ruling class. Of course the lunacy is that the subjugation I refer to includes your own (I am assuming that Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, and even Mark Zuckerberg are not reading this … although some Congressperson, Senator or even the Oval Office itself may have readers who keep an eye on things doing it for them).

So how do you opt out … where the lever to eject???

The way out of the debacle is to stop being part of the problem … become a problem for the problem.

Despite their ill-fated attempt the “Occupy” movement had the right idea fundamentally … what they left out was that they thought they were playing on a level field. What they might not have anticipated was that the folks who are much more “like them” then their masters would turn against them, i.e.: the police, law enforcement officials and legal system jumping through the hoops of the puppet masters on Wall Street and in City Hall.

Remember, once these folks get to City Hall they are no longer one of you! When politicians pass laws that discriminate preferentially for themselves they are declaring that they have entered the hall of the elites and you are not entitled to sit beside the table with them, e.g.: the healthcare bill in the U.S. that excludes Federal politicians … Congresspeople, Senators, Presidents … all get preferential treatment over the citizenry … and that was a Democratic initiative!

So you opt out …

You set up shop for the people directly … and you co-opt the resources of the elites. You use their distribution systems to get your goods to the people, you use their communication tools to spread your message, you take advantage of their financial systems to build your own position … just enough.

This last bit is critical … JUST ENOUGH … because when you cross the line to more than enough it’s very hard or impossible to come back. However, when you realize that JUST ENOUGH is really enough there’s no way to control you anymore. You don’t need or want the bigger house. You don’t need or want the prestige car. You don’t need to display your wealth to prove you possess it .. and you begin playing a different game.

The new game you play is riding the waves of the system rather than being caught by them. You set up and run your own thing. learning how to become a part of and to tap into communities of your own making … by invitation or creation. You decide independently, apart from the system’s approval, certification and licensing process, how you will run your life … and part of that is the kind of business entity you establish.

The whole “lifestyle business” movement is a part of this idea. The most basic expression of it however is a harkening back to the days of old in the marketplace, where you are serving a “local” audience that knows you and your personal credibility and mark mean something to them. Yet in the modern expression of this idea that local market is not confined by geography, but is instead comprised of islands of values, beliefs, philosophies and concepts in common. Like the first traders you become a “global” citizen belonging to many tribes, not just the one defined by and imposed upon you by the ruling elites.

Once you learn to surf the system staying on the boat just doesn’t make sense … maybe it’s time for you to consider what it will take to jump ship and take back the oceans.

 

Joseph Riggio, Ph.D., Princeton, NJ

Architect & Designer of the MythoSelf Process and Soma-Semantics

P.S. – If you want to spend some quality time finding the eject lever, opting out and landing well take a look at my page here, How I Work, check out the links for the practice areas I specialize in, and then let’s talk.

 

Mentoring In The Wild

by ·

 

Getting Advice From A Great Mentor Isn’t Just Useful …
It’s Damn Indispensable If You’re Serious About Discovering What’s Possible On The Path

Mentoring is the process of renting your brain to someone else to use for a while as their own…

– Alan Weiss, Ph.D.
Author of “Million Dollar Consulting”

Mentoring 101:

One of the most significant things that you can do is to allow yourself to receive input from people who have been down the path before you, that you find yourself walking in this moment.

These people know what is on the trail. These are people who understand what is about to come up that you can’t see because it is not visible – and the only reason that they know it is there isn’t because they can see it, but because they have been there before and they know the obstacles, they know the traps on the trail. These people have seen the traps before and they can anticipate from the gleanings in the wind where they’ll be before they see them again. These people also get that even those things that are visible and recognizable to them are sometimes not visible or not available to be seen by someone who hasn’t seen them before.

On the other side of this coin these people also have the ability to sniff out opportunity in the fermentation stage, before it the process finishes and reaches completion where others become aware of it. This gives them the advantage of being where the opportunity will be before it appears. Instead of running with the pack to get to the opportunity after the fact, these people are sitting there waiting for it to appear knowing just where to be and when so by the time the pack reaches them they’re already picking their teeth from the meal they’ve already consumed – and the others are left to dine on left-overs.

Essentially a great mentor has a number of well honed qualities, including but not limited to having “been there and done that” with the t-shirt to prove it. In fact having the t-shirt just indicates the smallest essential part of the puzzle, and by itself alone would never justify adopting someone as a mentor IMO.

Far more essential than just having had the experience would be the learning that was ingested and digested along the way  – the stuff that has become part and parcel of who the mentor has become. This shows up in the skill set they possess, and even more plainly in their day t0 day behavior – especially in who they are off stage.

Finding a mentor who has moved beyond “talk the talk” to “walk the walk” may be the single most valuable thing you can do in finding and walking your own path when it coincides with they one they’ve learned to walk so well.

I want to share a little example of this unique skill set.

 

In Addition To The Jersey Devil There’s Another Incredibly Fascinating Character Living In The Pine Barrens Of New Jersey, And His Name Is Tom Brown, Jr.

There is a man in New Jersey here where I live by the name of Tom Brown. He grew up on the edge of the NJ Pine Barrens, and still makes him home there today. Tom is probably the world’s most outstanding tracker.

As a young boy Tom made a decision that he was going to be a tracker. He spent every free minute he had, after school, on weekends, holidays, over the summers … learning how to track from an old Indian scout who was the grandfather of one of his best friends. They went out tracking together from the time he was 15 years old learning how to find animal tracks in the fields, in the woods and along the streams where he lived.

When he graduated high-school, around the age of eighteen, his father confronted him with a choice; “… go to college and get a degree, or get a job and go to work.” Tom choose getting a job … he would be a tracker. The way he tells the story this didn’t necessarily go over so well in his home at the time, but in a few years he proved his ability and was consulting with police, law enforcement and rescue teams around the United States based on his amazing skills as a tracker.

By the time that I met Tom he was in his 50’s, and was incredibly accomplished. He had worked with law enforcement agencies around the world teaching tracking skills. He ran a tracking school in a place called Asbury, NJ on the edge of the Pine Barrens. which is a remote wilderness area near the southern center of state of New Jersey; and he taking executives and put them through a week or two week program where he would teach them wilderness skills. He specifically emphasized the idea of tracking and noticing for information that was present, but to the untrained eye invisible.

I spent a weekend with Tom learning tracking with him and there was a moment in which we walked around a field that surrounded a parking lot. At the edge where the field met the asphalt of the parking lot there was an area about 10 feet or 12 feet wide where the asphalt of the parking lot turned into dirt, the dirt turned into grass, and then the grass entered into the woods. Walking at a normal walking pace, let’s say about 3 mph, Tom was able to walk the perimeter of the parking lot and point out tracks that were present there – squirrel, fox, rabbit. When I looked down what I saw was dirt, dirt, dirt.

Then we slowed down, and Tom took me down to ground level, he put my hand in the track and said, “Feel this. Can you feel that indentation?” Of course it was there and I said I could. He said, “Look at those two little dots. Do you see them near the indentation?” When he pointed them out I could see the two little dots. He told me they were the nails of a squirrel. He could see moving at a walking pace around the perimeter of the parking lot two little dots in the ground that were the nails of a squirrel!

Tom knew that those two little dots he had seen meant that the squirrel that had left those tracks behind was running away from something, because he could see from the length of the squirrel’s stride that it had been running frantically. We then went backwards and he showed me where the fox had been at the edge of the woods, because the grass had been beaten down in a particular way. We went on this way for about 1 ½ hours. It was stunning. Tom could see what had happened in that small portion of the wilderness several hours before like he was looking at in unfolding before him in the moment.

The world that Tom Brown lives in and was obvious to him … inescapably obvious … was completely invisible to me. After two hours with him I was aware that there was a world out there that was still invisible to me, but I was no longer ignorant of its presence. If I chose to spend two, or three, or five years with Tom maybe I could get to the point where I could walk around the perimeter of a parking lot and see the trail, and the markings of the animals that had been there before – but I couldn’t do it that morning.

Despite the fact that I now know there are animal tracks and a story there in the dirt between the parking lot and the grass I still can’t do it. I don’t have the training, or the skills, or the knowledge to even know what to look for in that small space. But if Tom were walking with me on a trail I know there would be so much more present for me in my world than I ever experience as being present for me when I am just walking that trail by myself.

 

Walking Along The Trail With A Mentor Of Your Own

The same thing is true of walking along any mentor who knows the trail they’ve lived as well as Tom knows how to track. That domain of expertise can be mentoring in the area of business development, the area of specific skills development or it can be in the area of building a life that works. It doesn’t matter what area of domain of expertise the mentor possesses, if they are skillful enough they live in a world that the untrained person doesn’t ever see, let alone experience. Yet, it would be possible to experience the world in that way if they had a mentor who knew how to find the tracks, signals and signs, and was pointing them out along the way.

Mentors see things that are there, and obvious to the trained eye, that simply don’t exist for the person who doesn’t have the skill set they possess. They create leverage in the possibility of learning and growing that would be impossible to access without that expertise. Mentors make this kind of advanced learning and acuity available to you, and I know of no substitute for it. At every turn when I’ve wanted to take the next steps on my own life’s journey, first before all else, I’ve found myself a brilliant mentor to walk the path with me. I still surround myself with mentors, young and old as necessary and required, to guide the steps I take as continue moving forward in the adventure.

If  you are really serious and you really intend to make enormous leaps and gains in any area of skill development or improvement in your life … and raise the level of your performance beyond the capacity that you currently possess by performing on your own … find someone who has been there before and to engage them as a mentor doing whatever it takes to allow them to take you to where you aren’t yet, and they have already been.

 

A Small Bit Of Friendly Closing Advice

(NOTE: This Bit Is Only For Those Who Are Serious & Thick Skinned Enough For The Raw Truth … Proceed With Caution)

I’m sure you get that the message here has been that when you decide to make the leap of faith required to commit and engage on a path of your own … one you haven’t yet mastered but sense a compulsion to pursue … start by finding a mentor who can and will guide you in the journey you’re about to undertake. What I’d like to share in closing from what I’ve learned about taking this advice myself would be this …

Start by keeping your mouth shut. I know some of you will find that advice harsh. Many of you reading this have likely grown up in a culture where you’ve been taught that “learning should be a participative activity” and that “you should be a partner in the learning experience” and other such B.S. that doesn’t apply here at all IMO. In the mentoring relationship the mentor has the expertise that you do not yet possess, but desire to own for yourself. The fastest way to build the skills you desire for yourself almost always means doing what your told (AGGGHHHH!!!! I know you hate that one!).

NOW … AFTER YOU’VE DONE IT (unquestioningly) … ask all your questions … make all your comments … have all the disagreements you need or want. Because AFTER you’ve done it you’ll have an experience you can talk about that has depth and value … instead of engaging in mental masturbation about what you think but don’t know yet.

 

 

The Short History of Wealth …

by ·

The history of wealth is not what most people have been taught or believe IMO … so here’s my take on it …

I got into a discussion on Facebook with an acquaintance of mine there, Michael Perez. He posted this:

History shows us that when wealth is forcibly redistributed, even with the best of intentions, those people who started out with the wealth tend to be exactly the same sort of people (if not the exact same people) who end up with a wealth when all is said and done.

We can also learn from history that If we want to reduce disparities of wealth, we can teach people to generate and communicate value while also teaching them how to delay gratification and manage resources.

Then I came back with this (very long) comment …( essay???)

Michael I “THINK” I get where you’re going, but where are you getting your data???

If we look at real data what we find is that “wealth” is typically created by a single driven individual (very Graves Five value-set orientation, e.g.: Giovanni di Bicci de Medici, Mayer Amschel Rothschild, Cornelius Vanderbuilt, John D. Rockerfeller, Joseph Kennedy – or much longer ago, a very Graves Three value-set orientation, e.g.: Alexander The Great, Ghangis Khan, Attilla The Hun …). This wealth was then passed onto succeeding generations and in some cases with the knowledge of how to manage and build it further.

With enough wealth came the possibility of manipulating the system further to retain the advantages that wealth brings, including the ability to further grow the wealth. This includes manipulating the political and legal systems via the “rulers” in place at any given time, e.g.: the Pope, the King/Queen, the Parliament, the President … whomever necessary.

In addition there is clear evidence that the legal system can be bought, despite the claim and public image of fairness and “rule of law” being evenly applied to all members of society. The reality is that your legal standing greatly increases based on who you are/know, and how much money you can apply to maintaining, defining and “buying” your rights in society, both criminally and civily.

Using the ability to gain momentum via accumulated wealth, including political and legal favoritism, even greater accumulation of wealth becomes possible. This is clearly evidenced in the history books.

The “best of the best” establish forms of protection that virtually guarantee that the wealth will be retained, e.g.: family offices (the legal entity), foundations and trusts. However these require a certain degree of wealth to establish and sustain in the first place.

Further if we follow those who are “new” to wealth and lack deep and proper guidance about maintaining and passing on their wealth what we find is that seldom does it last (maybe this is what you are saying, huh?). Instead succeeding generations squander the wealth they receive, because they’ve never learned how to generate it themselves, and there is an ever widening base of distribution, e.g.: children to grandchildren to great grandchildren … and so on … eventually eliminating sufficient concentration of wealth to sustain the dynasty. This is avoided when the proper mechanisms are in place and are not circumvented by succeeding generations … i.e.: family offices, foundations, trusts, etc.

Now we see that the possibility of accumulating truly significant wealth requires A) extraordinary luck and timing, i.e.: right place/right time/right idea … e.g.: Bill Gates, Richard Branson, Peter Theil, Mark Zuckerberg … B) willingness to do whatever it takes to circumvent the normal societal constraints and systems – including the collusion of the political and legal system surrounding them to make this possible, i.e.: transferring significant public wealth into private hands, e.g.: Mikhail Kordorkovsky, Carlos Slim, Lakshmi Mittal and on a lesser scale (financially) Dick Cheny and others …  (a scheme theoretically perfected by Milton Friedman and the Chicago School), or C) becoming famous enough via talent or position to create an extraordinary success and draw incredible wealth to you, e.g.: Michael Jackson, Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, Bill Clinton, J.K. Rowling …

However the among the most common ways of accessing extraordinary wealth are the oldest … inherit it, marry into it, or accumulate it over many generations (this is more common that is widely know about, because the scions often seem to have come out of nowhere, versus being the result of “selective” breeding programs).

Now I come to your re-distribution comment directly … there is no clear evidence that in a fair system those who did not begin wealthy, but came into wealth had any less success retaining it than others. First of all there is just no data, and second of all there is no fair system – every system on the planet today and for the last few millenia has been rigged in favor of the already wealthy.

There is however evidence that a significant number of “poor” people given the chance will do what it takes, e.g.: get the required knowledge and skill, and then work relentlessly hard to accumulate wealth if given a reasonable chance. This is the immigrant tale in the U.S. that’s been running here for centuries and has produced the world’s greatest concentration of millionaires and billionaires. The challenge today is that the opportunities for doing this going forward is shrinking … NOT BECAUSE OF UNFAIR TAXATION AND WEALTH DISTRIBUTION … but rather because of the unfair leverage held by those already in possession of the wealth.

Limiting regulatory measures have always been a greater hinderance to the generation and accumulation of wealth than taxation. In fact with enough wealth taxation is merely a bother, almost without implication (see Warren Buffet’s statement about the taxes he pays versus his secretary). However, things like patents, licensing, government oversight and regulation, e.g.: FDA, intellectual property laws … make it far more difficult today to create wealth than just 100 years ago.

None of the above is to say that we don’t need a major re-hauling of the tax codes and re-thinking of the social systems in place. But for my money I’d re-think and overhaul the political and legal systems first any day. Then I’d educate the sheeple about the revolutions that have given them the freedoms they enjoy, those they dream about … and most importantly those they have lost.

I’d add in that what I think of as “real wealth” goes beyond just addressing financial considerations. When I think of what wealth is it’s more akin to Trevnanian’s character “Nicolai Hel” in his novel, “Shibumi.”

I’ve been making noise about this idea for many years (over two decades actually, going on three) … and most recently I’ve upped the ante so to speak, by coming out directly about my focus on developing a much more “yin” approach to balance the “yang” of the society with live in, with all of its excess.

Many years ago now I began expressing my ideas about wealth and the creation of “real wealth” … i.e.: that which leads to true personal freedom and liberty, which can only become present when you remove the concerns of finance from a central position in the overall consideration of wealth. I designed and delivered a program to this effect, ‘Secrets of Wealth Attraction Success” in 2005 and presented the strategies I’d uncovered that truly wealthy and successful families pass down from one generation to the next.

The real keys to wealth creation and retention are elusive for the average person who hasn’t absorbed the lessons of wealth from the time they were in the crib … at the dinner table … and in every interaction regarding it in their life. Instead of building the mindset held by virtually every wealthy individual since money was invented, the average person in today’s society is fed a pablum of lies literally designed to detain, distract and deny them from every entering the ranks of the truly wealthy.

 

Think about it …

  • Who would the wealthy hire if no one would take minimum wages to do what they’re unwilling to do themselves?
  • Also, when you understand leveraging and compounding wealth based on the labor of others, how would it be possible to create or accumulate great wealth if no one was willing to join the masses of the working poor?

 

There’s more I could add, but this should get you percolating if you’re of a resonant spirit.

I’m curious what you think about it all.

 

Joseph Riggio, Ph.D.

Architect & Designer of the MythoSelf Process and Soma-Semantics

Princeton, NJ

 

P.S.: I want to pass along a free bonus handout from the “Seven Secrets of Wealth Attraction” program material I prepared that you can download, with some of the strategies and secrets I learned in my study of the truly wealthy, there’s nothing to sign up for, or sign in to, it’s just a link to download the PDF:

http://tiny.cc/12s51

P.P.S.: I also converted the “Seven Secrets of Wealth Attraction Success” CD to a downloadable MP3 format and if you’re interested you can get that here:

Seven Secrets of Wealth Attraction Success MP3

 

Finding Your Personal Mythology

by ·

In this interview with Rich Schefren I talk about how to uncover and begin living your life story … Your Personal Mythology

 

I did this interview with Rich Schefren … entrepreneur , founder of Strategic Profits and one of the most respected and well regarded marketing consultants working today.

We did this interview to introduce some of the ideas regarding finding your personal mythology that I’ve been working on for years to his personal audience and subscribers. In it I talk about why this is so significant and how to begin the journey to uncovering and incorporating your personal mythology in your life … ENJOY!

 

 

Please leave my your comments and questions below … and feel free to share this video with your own list of family, friends, colleagues and acquaintances as well!