I read the book Money Is My Friend many years ago, and have re-read it several times since then. While browsing YouTube, I had the great fortune of finding an interview with the late Phil Laut, who recently passed away in March of 2010. I took notes on the interview, and share them below.
Want to learn more from the late master? Take Phil Laut’s Money Psychology, now managed by Sean Collins
Part 1 of Rosemary Broccoli’s interview with Phil Laut in 1986.
View Part One
When asked about The Keys To Financial Freedom, Phil listed the following priorities:
1) Do Work You Love
Find work that contributes, and that you really like – so it is satisfying and enjoyable.
2) Master the process of selling.
Selling is fun, but it may start off being uncomfortable – it is a confrontive thing, so be sure that you have a product you really love. Let your natural enthusiasm come through – it is easier to say something good about something you really love. You will have to make up lies if you are trying so say good things about something you don’t love.
Practice exercises and processes to reduce the fear of rejection. Most people who start selling are often scared to death about hearing NO – so you must re-define what ‘no’ means to you. Find a better feeling way to think about what NO means. No-one has ever died from the word NO, being afraid of rejection is an irrational fear.
Phil has always suggested that if Mastering Selling should be a part of grade school, then, in one generation, the welfare system would no longer be needed.
3) Have Your Own Business
Having your own business is different than having your own job. The time perspective in having your own business is very different than having a job. When you put the energy in and when the reward comes is very different for the business owner than the employee. in most jobs, the rewards come rather quickly after the energy is expended.
4) Train Other People.
If you are successful in your business, soon you cant do all the work. Now you have to train other people to take over parts you want assistance with. Which tasks to delegate and find the correct person. If you are the only person, you may be doing everything, as you begin to expand, hire part time people, buy slices of people to do the work you need.
Our Minds Are Like Computer.
You are responsible for programing your computer. What ever is programmed will be what comes out, and we are responsible for what goes in.
Our thoughts don’t happen by accident, we can choose what our thoughts are and choose what thought we want to cultivate. Our mind is like a garden – it will grow whatever you plant. The process of growing tomatoes includes planing the seed and caring for it, but also includes weeding out the unwanted.
Part 2 of Rosemary’s interview with Phil Laut
View Part Two
Phil starting giving seminars about money and financial success as a result of thinking about it and reading what he was interested in. His first attempt at writing a book was to have someone record his seminar and have it transcribed – but that didn’t work in a book format. Instead, he wrote it from scratch in an intense period of twenty hour days in just two weeks.
Publishers wanted changes to the manuscript, so Phil create his own publishing company, Trinity Publications, and published the book himself. Phil also wrote
Rebirthing The Science Of Enjoying All Of Your Life
A Different Approach Than Harvard University
Although Phil earned an MBA from Harvard University, his book approaches money from a different angle than what is taught in business school.
Phil points out that an MBA teaches you how to take care of someone elses money – Money Is My Friend talks about how to take care of your own money. It’s very personal. It’s about how we create an income for ourselves and the process of creating income – the psychology of money and how our emotions come into play.
Our personal economic condition is related to thoughts that we have and emotions that we have – or thoughts we are trying to avoid or that we wish they had.
Our economic condition is not an accident. It is a reflection of our willingness or our responsibility to take care of ourselves.
The way that we do that as adults, is we provide an income for ourselves. If poverty is forced on people, it’s not forced on them in all cases – some people come from poverty and achieve great financial success.
A whole lot of training is required to assist people to learn how to become financially successful.
Find all means of financial training – these principles can be learned. And by applying them, you can change your financial success.
It’s far easier that most people think.
It starts out with The Earning Law – do you enjoy your job? As yourself these questions: how do you feel at the end of the work week on a Friday afternoon? How do you feel before the work week begins on Monday morning. If you do work you love or work that is very important to you – you don’t care about what time it is.
Part 3 of Interview with Phil Laut.
View Part Three
The Spending Law – the value is in the agreement. The challenge of spending – are you buying what you really want – that is why you have a budget. Are you getting what you want – the more conscious you are about your budget, the more you get more of what you want. The purpose of money is to spend it, so a budget helps you spend your money on the things you really want.
The Saving Law – All money is accumulated with the intention of spending. Begin accumulating a surplus by creating and cultivating an attitude of extra, a feeling of assurance that there is more than enough for you. Solve the problem about how to save for more than one thing – have a separate bank account for each purpose.
The Investing Law – A combination of all three money laws, the Investing Law uses money and creativity to make more money.
