Lee Brower on Having More Money

Wealth trainer and author Lee Brower knows the financial and entrepreneurial benefits of positive thinking. His business pursuits include ownership in several national and international companies that focus on communication, health and entertainment. He is the co-author of Wealth Enhancement & Preservation and the author of the forthcoming The Brower Quadrant. Brower is the founder and CEO of international consulting firm Empowered Wealth and founder and chairman of The Quadrant Living Experience, an international association of Quadrant Living Architects and Specialists who coach individuals, families, and institutions in establishing solutions, strategies, and systems that optimize true assets. In this episode of Change Nation, Brower shares his secrets to having more money.

What does the Brower Quadrant help people do?

I use the Brower Quadrant to help individuals, families and businesses optimize or capitalize all of their assets, both tangible and intangible. They can bank all of those assets so that others can withdraw them and make them better.

Did you know that a disturbing worldwide statistic indicates that roughly less than 4% of all family businesses ever make it past three family generations? Well, discovering that information created in me a feeling of a real void relating to the business I was in at the time, estate planning for affluent families. I had felt so complete that I was doing worthy work in helping these families pass along their financial assets to future generations. So, we created the Brower Quadrant to break down our financial advice into four distinct categories of assets: core assets, experience assets, skills and contributions.

You have your core assets, which include your values, your health, your family, and those things that are intrinsic to you, health, happiness and wellbeing. You have your experience assets, which include all of the extrinsic experiences and the relationships you have. (Your reputation, your education, your networks, your skills you develop, how you do things all fall into the experience category.) Your skills are something that you develop. Your contributions are what you give back. We have since learned your contributions asset is the most critical of the four, because it is the glue that holds everything together. It’s the element that also helps us overcome our addictions to things.

For someone in the first 30 days of genuinely making more money, how do they start?

Always operate with a vision. In our companies we don’t allow the word “goals.” Goals can paralyze you. They don’t fit the evolutionary process of the Quadrant Living Experience. The second thing is you have to be in motion because nothing happens until you’re in motion. Ask yourself this question: “now that I have this vision today, what small step can I take today that will move me closer to that vision?”

How do you accurately create a vision when it has to do with your finances and your wealth?

You determine whatever time period you want to work with. What has to happen for you to feel outrageously excited or just even satisfied? Then, you specify your answer. Once you do, you’re starting to get your vision of where you see yourself and the path you’re on.

Your key to everything is to say, “here is my vision.” Once [you’re] in motion, [figure out how to] sustain it. If you set your vision, you want to start on a new journey to become financially independent, “What does that mean to me?” is the first question you have to ask. Maybe that means you don’t have any debt. So, you just keep moving until your vision gets very clear and then you just say at the end of each day “what did I do right today that moved me closer to my vision and how can I do more of that?”

How do we keep people going well beyond the first 30 days where life in this universe may test them a little bit?

You can develop systems that let you celebrate the blessings in your life. Your confidence is the most important thing to the whole equation and that comes from gratitude for the positive things that have happened to you. Gratitude is the first of what I call four “buckets” you can use to break down wealth. With gratitude, you can do something for others. Give back first, prime the pump. Don’t worry how much money you’re not making. Take at least 10% and [give] it back to causes that you support and enjoy. That will change your confidence, change your attitude and open you up to contributing.

The security bucket is second. There are elements that you need to provide for that give you a roof over your head and savings in the bank. What’s it take for you to have that each month?

The third bucket is your retirement bucket. How do you make sure your future is secure? Do you have 401(k) in you workplace? Can you take advantage of IRAs? Should you be buying a little house to rent? How do you start taking care of the future so that you know you’ll be secure there?

The last bucket is your get-rich bucket. So many people that I have worked with over the years want to fill up their get-rich bucket first. They want a short cut. But, if you’re not careful, it’s a very wobbly bucket that will tip over. It won’t have a sound foundation if you try to fill it up first.

SIGNATURE QUESTIONS

What is the belief that you personally go to during times of change?

That I am a child of God and my greatest desire is to be aligned with my father’s wishes for me.

The best thing about change is…

I love change. I live in a world of change so that’s a hard one. I would say the best thing about change is opportunity.

What is best change you have ever made?

Letting go. That’s been the most difficult thing for me. To let go of what is holding me back. To let go of one business to step into another business. To let go of one belief to go into something else. Not letting go is driven by scarcity. Letting go is driven by abundance.

For more information on Lee Brower, visit www.leebrower.com.