Are you Building a Net or a Garden?

You want to catch butterflies, so you decide to build a net. Surely, with a
net you can catch them more easily! You read books on the subject and you
practise skills in butterfly catching. You find that you are making
improvements. Your net gets bigger and smarter and gradually you do catch more
butterflies, but there is something wrong.

After many years of this strategy you still need to wake up everyday and go
out to catch more butterflies. You need to hold on to the butterflies you have
caught or they will fly away just as quickly. The more butterflies you
have, the more difficult they are to hold on to. You are constantly in fear that
the butterflies will disappear or that someone with a bigger net will beat you
at your own game.

When the butterflies disappear, you're left with nothing.

Many people have become experts at sales, marketing, management and
customer service. Yet they still struggle to make money. We all know of people
who have learnt the strategies of successful stock market traders, property
investors and serial entrepreneurs yet are still left funding their losses. They
carefully follow the strategies they learn and then remain baffled as to why
they do not attract the same opportunities, resources and sheer luck as their
role models. They are trying to make money without first building wealth.

They are trying to chase butterflies with a net.

Successful Wealth Creators don't worry about building a net. They
grow a garden. By focusing on creating an inspiring garden, you are growing
something permanent around you. As the garden grows, the butterflies come. As
time goes by, the effort required to manage the garden falls as the numbers of
butterflies rises. In fact, the butterflies, birds and bees end up pollinating
your garden for you. You don't have to fear butterflies leaving, as there are
always more coming.

Every successful Wealth Creator is focused entirely on building their
wealth foundation rather their moneymaking activities. They build a reputation,
a powerful network, a knowledge base, a resource base and a track record. This
is their garden, and it is built not around their expertise but around their
passion, their path and their purpose. Everyday, they wake up to their garden,
not to an empty net.

Source: Your Life, Your Legacy by Roger Hamilton

Roger Hamilton & Me