Engage the Whole World to Help You Better than a Billionaire

Good morning, Live Better than a Billionaire-a-Holics!

Are you feeling motivated this morning? I certainly hope so. I know that I am!

Do you ever feel overwhelmed with challenges?

Do you have a hard time imaging how you can accomplish your goals without the help of dozens of people?

Has it been a long time since you've achieved an important goal?

Do you find yourself exhausted at the end of the day . . . but with little to show for your exhausting efforts?

If you answered "yes" to any of these questions, this blog post may help you grasp the helping hands you need.

Competent people with ambitious ideas are the most likely to find themselves tired and frustrated. With eyes set firmly on the horizon, capable people see what's possible because they know they can do what needs to be done . . . if only there were enough time.

Because they know what to do, these people are often the last to ask for help. For some, asking for help feels like failure . . . but it is the key to success.

Here's why: Someone knows how to do everything you want to do better than you do . . . and they also enjoy doing it more than you do!

If you are out of practice on asking for help, here are some suggestions.

1. Run a fun contest with interesting prizes.

Anything worth doing must have some value to you. Take some of that value and invest it in creating your contest and paying for some prizes.

Your contest can focus on finding efficient solutions . . . or accomplishing solutions.

Be sure to recognize the winners and the contestants for their efforts.

Contact lots of people and ask them to spread the word. Your local newspaper may even be willing to write an article about the contest.

About one person in one or two hundred will be interested . . . even among those you don't know. So ask a lot!

If you want to read an interesting story about how one company grew wealthy this way, look at the opening pages of my book, The Ultimate Competitive Advantage, where the Goldcorp Challenge is described.

2. Ask everyone you know and meet how to get help you can afford.

Whenever I find some sort of help I need, I can usually find someone who has had the same need and already found a solution. I keep asking until I've heard of at least five different solutions. One of the solutions will work quite well for me.

3. If you cannot afford to pay for help, let caring people know.

Many people assume that no one will help them unless they are paid. That's not true. There are fine people who are willing to spend their time and skills to help those who need the help. In fact, if your need is pressing and you cannot afford any other people, such volunteers will be more interested in helping you.

As an example, I was speaking with some of the volunteers at my Mom's church one day. Each one told me many stories of difficult jobs they had done to help others in need . . . often without being asked.

If you don't know anyplace else to begin, ask your spiritual advisor. She or he will know of free resources and will help you make the connection.

4. Throw a work party.

On the American frontier, there was a wonderful tradition. When a farm needed a barn, the farmer would assemble the materials and invite all the neighbors for a party to "raise the barn". Each family would bring some food and beverages, and everyone would have a great time. By the end of the party, the barn would be standing. The farmer would then paint the barn at a later time.

Young people often do something similar today with moving parties where friends come together to load and unload a U-Haul.

5. Swap your services.

Many people have skills that you need but don't have. Often, those same people need your skills. Look into ways that you can swap services with one another. For example, someone who can edit books as a freelancer might swap services with a consultant who is good at marketing services. The editor could edit the consultant's book on how to market services, and the consultant could design a marketing plan for the freelance editor.

6. Subscribe to lots of e-zines and on-line newsletters.

Many people today offer free teleseminars as a way to market their services. If you receive e-zines and on-line newsletters in those fields, you will find yourself receiving more free invitations than you will have time for. Many of these seminar leaders then offer inexpensive courses to help you accomplish difficult tasks. It's not unusual to learn how to reduce the time required by 10 times or more from such courses.

7. Take local adult education courses.

These classes are usually an amazing value. You will often receive one-on-one instruction and help with your project for less than 1/10th the cost of hiring a professional to instruct you. In the process, you can probably find ways to save dozens of hours from the investment of 10 hours or less for the course.

8. Find a partner with complementary skills.

If your project has an "on-the-come" element of potential reward, others may want to explore the opportunity with you. Such teams of opportunity pursuers inevitably do better than those who explore things on their own. You will both invest your own time so that keeps the hours and costs down for both of you.

9. Look for a school intern.

There are generally more students looking for good internships than there are such assignments. In each case, the student will work for free. The most you will have to pay is for materials and other expenses.

10. Be willing to make contingent fee payments.

Many capable people know that they earn more money if they are paid for results rather than the time they put in. You will almost always be able to find someone who will work with you in this way. Since the payments aren't made until you receive a benefit, the cash flow of such arrangements will be comfortable for you.

Here's how this approach could work. Let's say that a relative dies and the house needs to be emptied and cleaned before it can be sold. You are elderly yourself and cannot do the task alone. You could offer to pay a percentage of the money you receive from selling the house's contents to someone who helps you.

Please add your comments about ways you have found to get lots of help for free or for very little cost compared to the benefits. I'm sure other readers will be grateful to you. Thanks!

Can any billionaire do better? I doubt it.

Billionaires have big problems with getting help. People are glad to help them . . . for billionaire-sized benefits and payments.

Although many people will work for billionaires on a contingent basis, even those will require large nonrefundable retainers. Many of the other choices are closed to billionaires.

Billionaires also have to spend a lot of time with advisors taking care of basic administration of their lives -- such as legal issues, taxes, investing, and public relations.

You can get more people to help you . . . for less money . . . than any billionaire can hope for. And you have more time than most of them do to work on your pet projects. Use your advantage!

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N.B. As you can tell, I'm experimenting with color. Let me know what you like and what I should change about my use of color. Many thanks to Linda Grace for her suggestions which I am following!

Please let me know what else you would like to learn, and I'll do my best to help in future blog entries.

Here are some upcoming subjects:

Tomorrow, we'll look at how to say it with pictures better than a billionaire.

On Friday, let's design a great second date!

Saturday, we will visit Dr. Masaru Emoto again to explore his ideas for using Hado water to improve your health and the quality of your life.

Sunday, let's sit quietly and think about how prayer can enrich your Sundays.

On Monday, join me in looking at how blog writing can enrich your life better than a billionaire.

Tuesday, we'll look at how to enjoy your next (or first) cruise more.

On Wednesday, I'll share the story with you of the "accidental mansion owner" and I promise that you'll chuckle for days over this one.

Thursday, let's explore plans for a terrific Thanksgiving.

If you are new to this blog, be sure to check out the updated table of contents entry that I posted on October 26. The table of contents will help you find earlier entries that may be of interest. I'll update this table of contents every week or so for your convenience.

August 31 was the most frequently read blog entry to date. Be sure to check it out!

Thanks so much for your support of this blog. I'm delighted that so many tens of thousands of people have made this blog part of their regular reading habit!

If you like this blog, please let others know who might also enjoy it. E-mailing your favorite post to them is a great idea.

Check out the latest index at http://livebetterthanabillionaireon5dollars.blogspot.com/2005/10/latest-table-of-contents-to-this-blogs.html to pick out your choice.

Thank you to my many friends, students, clients and blog readers who are spreading the good word about this blog.

If you are visiting today because someone invited you, I'm delighted to meet you! Let's stay in touch.

Remember to also visit

Live Spiritually Better than a Billionaire at http://livespirituallybetterthanabillionaire.blogspot.com/,

Be More Successful than a Billionaire at http://bemoresuccessfulthanabillionaire.blogspot.com/,

Enjoy Mansions Better than a Billionaire at http://enjoymansionsbetterthanabillionaire.blogspot.com/,

Enjoy Football Better than a Billionaire at http://enjoyfootballbetterthanabillionaire.blogspot.com/ and

Be a World Hero Better than a Billionaire at http://beaworldherobetterthanabillionaire.blogspot.com/.

I offer individual on-line tutorials and in-person seminars on living better than a billionaire on five dollars extra a day, creating 2,000 percent solutions (20 times the results with the same effort), developing more profitable business models and designing strategies that work regardless of the business environment. For information, contact me at ultimatecompetitiveadvantage@yahoo.com.

I am available to you as a speaker on these subjects. You can find my background at http://livebetterthanabillionaireon5dollars.blogspot.com/2005_08_30_livebetterthanabillionaireon5dollars_archive.html/.

May God bless you.

Donald W. Mitchell, Your Dream Concierge

Copyright 2005 Donald W. Mitchell