Wow, the troubled times keep on coming with no sign of improvement or even light at the end of the tunnel.  Every asset class seems to be falling and there is a rush to cash.  Given the high level of inflation, cash is a lossing trade as well.  People are watching stunned as their comfortable retirement evaporates away in falling property and stock prices.  Is there anyway to protect yourself?  Well in short yes...

But how?  Glad you asked.  There are many ways and here's just three...all of which I do and have been profiting nicely:

1. Most people just buy the market and close their eyes and/or cross their fingers in the hope that it rises.  But the market has three directions: up, sideways and down.  We are obviously in the latter.  There are many products such as CFDs, spread betting, futures and options that enable you to profit from market falls.  Don't be a slave to the long side...adapt to the market.
2. Buy gold and silver.  Both unfortunately have been hit hard along with all other commodities...but gold and silver are different.  They are much much more than simple commodities.  They are currencies in their own right.  And who'd want to buy US dollars, British pounds, Euros, Yen and so on.  Inflation is booming and hitting levels not seen in decades.  Some argue a recession must see prices fall.  Perhaps.  We've all seen deflation.  Zimbabwe has a chronic economy and inflation has skyrocketed.  Why?  Because inflation is a function of money supply not economic growth.  And the printing presses are running overtime.  Gold and silver are safe havens...and everyone is looking for a safe haven.  No market moves in a straight line and gold and silver are no different in that regard.  They offer a great buying opportunity. 
3. Options offer the more educated investor plenty of ways to profit in any market condition.  There is not enough room to explain in detail how to take advantage of the profitable strategies offered to you in these markets such as ratio put spreads, short calls, puts, covered calls and so on.  Education is the key here.  You need to identify the appropriate strategy that suits the situation and your investment personality.

These are just three of the ways you can not only protect your wealth but build it in these troubled times. Good luck.

I enjoyed reading about SRM, the Monaco-based hedge fund that raised $3 billion from investors in September 2006, which is now down by 85 per cent!  Wow.  That's impressive in anyone's world.  Not too many people in history can say they've dusted over $2.5 billion.  These "experts" invested massively in Northern Rock...and Countrywide Financial, Bear Sterns, Cheniere Energy.  They couldn't have chosen worse "investments" if they've tried.  And if losing 85% of your investment in less than two years wasn't enough then the salt on the wound must be that the fund's Agreement won't let you withdraw your money.  Ouch!

And the moral of the story for me is simply this...that even the "best of the best"...our hedge fund community...with all their money, investment experience and network...can invest as poorly as the most useless investor.  In the case of SRM they had a reputation that was able to raise $3 billion from investors.  It beggars belief that their investment skill lead them to the type of investments they made...even a monkey throwing a dart at a list of stocks would've perform better. Far better! 

Aside from the amusing element, these stories help fill me with confidence in my own investment skills...especially as I'm enjoying month after month of positive returns.  I hope they will help you too. 

What a week it's been.  It's summer time in the northern hemisphere and it's generally a fairly quiet time of the year with holidays.  But not this year.  Trading volumes are abnormally high and volatility is spiking off the scale.  Opportunities to lose your shirt abound to the unseasoned and the seasoned investor.  Some people are commenting that they've not seen this type of market activity before...they probably haven't seen it...but there is rarely market action that history has not seen at one point or another.  And now is no exception.

The stock market has rallied strongly (although only tracing back recent losses), oil is down over $30 from touching $150, gold is $170 off its highs and all other commodities are rapidly falling.  The recent talk is that because the US and Europe are rapidly slowing that oil demand will fall and as such so will inflation pressure and thus we don't have to worry about inflation...hence the fall in gold.  And if that wasn't enough the US dollar has started to rally strongly.  What a wonderful story.  Has utopia returned? 

Is this market reaction accurate, a temporary blip or something else?  Only time will tell but of course I have my theories. 

Governments generally hate gold rallying because it's message is clear..."we don't trust you so we're putting our money in something we do trust...gold!"  So is the recent drop in gold price a reflection of renewed trust in the system?  I don't believe so.  Any rally...and this has been one heck of a fast and furious rally...has to take a breather.  And sometimes those breathers are longer and deeper than people expect.  They can test a person's resolve and the media (always looking for a story) jump on every change like it's the dawn of a new era.  But it rarely is. 

Has the US economy turned a corner?  Is inflation under control? Are US businesses about to start making tonnes of cash again.  Have the banks cleaned up their balance sheets and now ready to start supporting consumers and businesses again?  Have property prices stopped falling and ready to start rising again (hence meaning it's the perfect time to buy)?  Have consumers licked their wounds and now ready to get on with spending again?  The answer is of course NO NO NO!!!

I believe this is unfortunately a blip in what is going to turn out to be much more painful than even the most pessimistic amongst us think.  Prices never move in straight lines.  They go down, then up, then down, then maybe down some more, retrace, then fall and so on.  Each time it's different...but the target end game is the same.  This is where we are and the latest rally in the US dollar has government intervention written all over it...catching an overly short hedge fund group on the wrong side. 

The pain in the markets is far from over.  The commodities super-cycle story is as true as ever.  The US dollar has no reason to rally...though other currencies like the Euro have plenty of reason to fall.  Stocks will remain out of favour.  Property will continue to deteriorate, people will continue to tighten their belts and lose their jobs and gold will continue to offer investors a safe haven from the turmoil.  The big picture hasn't changed...only the short term blips are testing our resolve and tricking the naive. 

Enjoy the ride!

What a busy month it's been.  If only I didn't need sleep.  Alas I do!  So much to do and so little time.  I'd really like to spend some quality time on Rich1Percent and Rich1PercentCommunity.  Add loads of valuable content for your benefit.  Lately, however, much of my spare time has been spent staying on top of the markets and learning some new software inside out. 

July is nearly over and the markets have been busy making people hurt.  Almost every market around the world is down and stories abound of investment panic after investor panic.  When I do have a few spare minutes I've flicked around a few comments people have made on stories and stocks...mostly for the amusement perspective.  I see those old traits coming back again and again...fear and greed...all mixed in with an unhealthy smothering of hope. 

I've enjoyed a cracking month.  One of my most profitable ever.  People are so scared that there are plenty of mispriced securities that offer good opportunities to those that are patient and are focused on the money not the thrills...and certainly not the instant home run wins.  Those sort of returns don't happen in reality...certainly not consistently.  The Lehman play I mentioned in my last blog post is a classic example of the opportunities that are there for the taking.  Learn, learn, learn then apply, apply and apply it some more.

Happy investing!

What an amazing few weeks.  Few people have come out ahead in their investments recently...it seems everything is going down: stocks, commodities, property, alternative assets and so on.  In fact the only high profile assets rallying at the moment are gold and oil...though even oil had the biggest one day fall in 17 years yesterday.  One thing is for certain...we are in volatile times. 

I know my options have seen a spike in volatility.  Lehman brothers for example had put options trading at 650% or more.  That truly is huge volatility and represents some interesting opportunities.  Will Lehman go the way of Bear Sterns?  Who knows!  But somehow I doubt it.  A few days ago Lehman was trading at $15 (and dropping fast) and the July 18 $2.50 puts were trading at $0.06.  That means there are some people willing to pay $0.06 to buy the right to sell Lehman stock at $2.50 over the next week.  Expiry is this Friday and Lehman is currently trading at $13.20...that's about half it's book value.  That means you could buy the entire company and sell all it's assets and double your money.  Furthermore, Lehman has access to the Fed credit window if it needs it (which Bear Sterns didn't).  The bearish sentiment was really running ahead of itself. 

Selling 200 $2.50 puts represents a notional value of $50,000 (2.50*200*100) and at $0.06 a premium of $1,200.  So assuming Lehman stays above $2.50 till Friday you could pocket $1,200 in 7 days or a 2.4% return on your $50,000 notional position...or a 345% annualised compound return.  Better still the initial margin on the position is more like $10,000 so your percentage returns are really 5 times the rates i've just given you.  How many investments do you know that can return you $1,200 on a $10,000 investment in about a week with a 1% probability (mathematically speaking of course) of it going against you?  Not too many I suspect...

What a month...a month where even the most resistant bullish investors and commentators have thrown in their respective towels. The property and stock markets are in meltdowns...or are they really? Could this be only the beginning? Could it really get worse than this? Only time will tell but things certainly do not look good for normal investors. Even I'm not thrilled by the fact that my investment properties are falling in value...but I should take solace in the knowledge that I did know this was a likely risk...but few saw this level of discomfort. But my properties are on long-term fixed rate loans and are at the lower end of the renting scale, so when people look to tighten their belts (but still live in the right areas) properties like mine will continue to be in hot rental demand. In fact I have been enjoying rental increases lately.

Generally, it is property owners that are highly geared, buying overpriced off-plan and on variable rate mortgages (or coming off fixed rate ones) that will be feeling the pressure. I sold my home in London late last year (September 07) and switched to renting knowing that things were looking poor for the property market and that the risk was definitely increasing. The US property market had already been falling for 12 months and the UK was looking at heading in the same direction at the time. I know that my home is not an asset/investment so was comfortable to rent instead. My rental properties are assets and I was/am comfortable keeping them....but importantly they are structured to withstand the downturn. I have reasonable equity, all of them are positively geared (i.e. my income excess my expenses) and they are all on long-term fixed rate loans.

The property market, like the dot com stocks in the late 90's, have been enjoying a wonderful party...and unfortunately the bigger the party the bigger the hangover. This hangover will probably be the type that many will say "I'm never drinking again"...unfortunately this hangover is going to be much more serious than a simple alcohol induced headache.

Wow, what a week its been.  There has been blood on the investment streets.  They even referred to Wednesday as "Black Wednesday" for retail and banking stocks...they could've added airline stocks as well to the stock categories that got a pounding.  Property continued its southern march and Lehman Bros lurched closer to real trouble...reacting by firing their COO and CFO.  HBOS's shares in the UK feel below the level set and underwritten for their rights issue and so on and so on.

I'm glad I'm not long stocks at the moment...happy to sit back and watch others panic.  My options portfolio performed almost as it should given the volatility.  There were some small down downs but after a week of panic I still enjoyed good profits...and that's even with some airline puts in my portfolio.  One, UAL, sold off 28% on Thursday...which I certainly didn't like...but the great thing about selling options that I've said before is you can be wrong and still be right.  My puts are well over 50% below where the stock price was...so even with a 28% fall I have nearly 30% cushion.  Of course there was a negative margin call on that option, but sleeping well in the knowledge that I priced in an enormous amount of safety when I established my trade.  Time will tell whether I make or lose on this particular option given such a huge negative move...but unlike stock owners who have lost 30% of their investment I'm still sleeping well at night.

Although my blog to date has concentrated on options (which I expect it will for some time given the reasons below) I like other investments such as property, intellectual property and businesses.  In time I expect I'll delve into these areas too.  The reason why I'm concentrating on options are:

• most other investment areas are currently experiencing tough times.  Properties prices and stock prices are falling, private equity is hurting, hedge funds are getting slammed and businesses are all entering increasingly difficult trading conditions.  Not much is left to invest in.  Bonds are simply a waste of time if you want to create wealth and other investments are often correlated to some extent with the economy, stocks, property etc.  But options aren't!
• they keep you money in a very liquid form which suits me at the moment
• they generate fantastic cash returns, especially on a risk adjusted basis
• they are great for anyone who wants to become wealthy and is willing to spend some time learning
• they don't require much time to implement

So what strategies do I implement?  Hopefully you already know that 95% of people end their working lives poor...I call them the 95% club.  The 5% left are financially free...the 5% club!  4% of the 5% are financially independent which means they have enough money to not be dependent on anyone else, but they also can't live like the rich.  1% of the 5% are rich.  They are the 1% club.  If you want to learn more about these groups you can by reading the "What percentage of people are rich?" article.

95% of people implement no strategy or the wrong strategy.  So if you want to become rich you need to be different.  The point is that option amateurs buy options either as puts and calls or as strategies such as straddles or strangles.  Professional investors sell options because they know that the laws of probability are on their side.  That's what I do as well.  My strategies are:

• sell calls
• sell puts
• sell strangles
• buy ratio call spreads
• buy ratio put spreads

Each strategy has it's place in your wealth arsenal.  Let's learn how to use them...

I must say it's both fun and challenging to place my cash strategies here in black and white for the world to see.  The reason is fairly simple though...I, like I imagine most people who read wealth creation style articles, blogs, etc, find there is rarely much substance.  There is usually tonnes of vague generalisations and feel good statements...but not much else.  No substance...no evidence that what they're staying stacks up...no specific strategies to make you wealthy.  Nothing you can apply.  This blog is here to address that.  I hope you've been following my journey and picking up tips along the way. 

Don't be deceived that making money doesn't take work...it take a huge amount of work...but in preparation not necessarily in execution.  I've been preparing for 15 years now.  What sort of commitment are you willing to make?  Some people when they've not met me or don't know me very well and they see the spoils of my income they think (or say) how lucky I am.  Luck has nothing to do with it.  I've worked really really hard. 

The point I'm trying to make is that success does not come by some uncontrollable selection process or some randomness.  While this may sound rather depressing that maybe, just maybe they'll be something that happens that'll make you more money than you ever dreamed.  Unfortunately that almost never happens...and when it does it'll always be to someone else.  But while this may sound depressing...it isn't...it's such great news...you want to know why?

Well it's such great news because wealth it totally within your control.  It is not random.  It is not unfair.  Quite the contrary...it rewards those that seek it...those that deserve it...those that have earned the right to have money.   This is such wonderful news.  All someone has to do to become rich is simple want it bad enough...bad enough to do something about it.  So there are two questions you need to ask yourself:

1. How badly do you really want to become wealthy?
2. What action are you willing to take today (and every day) to make that happen? 

Well that's not entirely true...It would be multiples of this...the $4,640 was just from my options positions.  I have multiple sources of income, but let's keep focused on options for now.  Plenty enough time to switch to other income sources as we move on. 

I was lucky that my initial job out of University was as an options trader and over the next 6 years survived and prospered.  Before I decided to change my course in life I was running the biggest short interest rate options book in Australia...a multi-billion dollar portfolio.  But you don't need this sort of background and experience to make options a very profitable part of your life.  Besides I'm here to help!

One of the great things about options is that it's not correlated with any other asset class (well not unless you want it to be!).  Today the Dow fell 134 points (it's fallen about 500 points in as many days), property continued to weaken and the general state of the global economies soured.  But my options positions don't mind...in fact although most of my options are on stocks I couldn't care less whether the market goes up, down or sideways.  I make money in all market conditions.  Too good to be true...maybe...but I haven't found that to be the case...to me it's simple probabilities.

I have a spreadsheet that monitors all my positions. Everyday I enter my option prices and the underlying stock prices which i look up from my brokerage account.  But more than that it makes sure that the trades I place are profitable enough and remain profitable enough (otherwise they're a waste of time and need to be closed)...and most importantly it helps me monitor my risk so that I'm never too exposed to any one stock or position.  Nothing is more important than this!  In time I will add it to Fee Wealth Tools section.  I hope you will make the effort to learn this amazing opportunity...

The old saying used to be "work hard and you'll make it"...then some witty person somewhere decided that this mantra sounded like too much work and coined "work smart not hard and you'll make it".  There was some logic to this version...I mean how many times have you wondered why so often people that seem to work really hard don't make it, yet someone else who seems to live life to the fullest goes from strength to strength?  These people concentrated on being connected to other people.  Their value is their network...they could make deals happen because they knew who to speak to.  They knew the right people...and the right people knew them!

In the 21st century I don't think either saying is enough...it is those that "work smart and hard" that make it.  Opportunities seem to migrate to this type of person.  Opportunity favors the prepared.  I've been working extremely hard and preparing...sometimes i think I've overly prepared...but one thing is for sure...my life suddenly feels like it's on overdrive.  Opportunities are everywhere.  The money is flowing and my problems are now what road to take rather than having no road but the one an employer offers me.  Are you preparing?

I've listed some of the trades I've placed over the last couple of months and consistent with that theme I wanted to introduce you to shorting stock puts.  Now we've looked at gold puts but not stock puts yet.  One of the benefits of stock options is the higher volatility that many stocks trade at over Dow and gold options...volatilities can easily reach 70% to 100% or more.  This means that it is possible to sell further out of the money options for higher premiums, which reflect the stocks higher perceived risk/volatility. 

On the 22nd April Rigel Pharma (RIGL) was trading at $19.08 and you could sell the 20th Jun $12.50 puts for $0.50.  Rigel is a $750 million dollar company whose share price has tracked between $15 and $30 over the past 6 months.  I sold 40 $12.50 puts for a total premium of $2,000 representing a notional value of $50,000.  What does this mean?  Firstly it means that the stock price would need to fall 35% in 2 months to hit my put strike of $12.50.  It would have to fall 37% for me to start losing money.  Possible? Yes...Likely? No, not really.

Using the $50,000 notional value the potential $2,000 premium represents a 4% return in 2 months or 24% annually (27% compounded).  Another way to look at it was the way we analysed the gold investment...what is the return on the cash I'm having to place on the trade...the initial margin.  In this case my initial margin was $12,000, so my $2,000 return is more like 17% in 2 months or 102% annually (160% compounded).  So how is this trade turning out?  Well, it is the 26th May now (one month after I initiated the trade) and Rigel is now trading at $20.50 and the $12.50 call is valued at $0.05.  Does this sound like something that would be attractive to you?

It's funny how you think you have things all planned out and then life throws you a curve ball.  It might be due to a negative thing like an accident or sickness or just as easily it can be due to something wonderful like meeting the partner of your dreams when you least expect it.  Sometimes they are the result of nothing more than chance but far more often than not they are due to your actions.

In my case it was work opportunities.  I do believe these things are like the returns you receive from planting seeds...the more you plant the more you'll receive...and you don't receive the yield from your labour (planting your seeds) immediately but over time and only when you look after them.

My planting and nurturing involved many many years in study and commitment to understanding CFDs and exchange processes. June last year (97) I told my employer that I intended to leave and move back to Australia and my world has not been the same since.  I already had accumulated enough investments to not have to work for anyone else again.  However, this was the action, the catalyst, that changed everything.  My life went from running speed to being propelled by a rocket.  Suddenly companies not only wanted to employ me rather than risk losing me to Australia, but they asked me to name my price and terms.  All those seeds had unbeknown to me had really started to yield fruit...and now my problems are the amount and variety of fruit I'm being offered...what a problem!  You should try it.  

Another trade I placed at about the same time (25th Feb) as I sold the gold short put options I spoke about in the last blog post , I bought a 1 by 3 ratio call spread on Rambus (RMBS), an IT company dealing in CHIPs. Rambus was trading at $18.15 and I bought 10 18 April $20 call options for $2.45 and sold 30 $25 calls for $1.20. If Rambus stock stayed below $20 both the $20 and the $25 call options would expire worthless and I would receive a net income of $1,150. My breakeven is at $28 above which I would be short 2 calls but this would mean that Rambus would have to rally $10 or about 55% in 1 1/2 months...possible but very unlikely. The odds are definitely in my favor.

So what happened? Rambus did indeed rally. Nearing the 18th April Rambus was trading at $22.42 and I sold my $20 calls for $2.60 and bought my $25 calls for $0.05 for a net income of $3,600 in income. So what does this mean in terms of return? The notional value of my $20 calls was $20,000 and $75,000 for my $25 calls. Based on my $20 calls I had returned $3,600 in 1 1/2 months...an 18% return over 1 1/2 months or 144% annually. But this is not the amount I actually had to place to earn this income. That would be my initial margin. My initial margin on this sort of trade is more like $10,000, so my return is more like 36% for the 1 1/2 months or 288% annually.

Now not every trade turns out as nicely as this one...but even if Rambus had not rallied at all or actually fallen I would earned $1,150 or 11.5% on my $10,000 initial margin or 92% annually. Still a brilliant return. Suffice to say that these sort of trades over time pay-off fantastically. But there are three ways that you protect yourself to ensure that they pay-off fantastically:

1. Place trades that are highly unlikely to ever make a loss such as selling way out of the money options.
2. Never expose yourself too heavily to any one trade if it does go wrong
3. Monitor it, place stop levels prior to the trade and religiously take them when the trade moves against you

Good luck...plenty more trades and tips to come.

It is getting late but before I head off for some shut eye I wanted to pen a few words about my income generating strategies...in this case selling options...puts and calls.  I've written in articles such as How Do You Sell Options To Generate Amazing Returns? and Selling Options...is it really one of the best ways to wealth? just how effective and useful option selling is so rather than cover old ground let's dive into the deep end with some examples. 

The first example is one that I've actually traded and has now expired.  Later on we can examine my current portfolio.

On the 28th February 2008 the Dow Jones was trading approximately 12,700 and it is no secret that I am not (and was not) bullish the stock market.  There are many negative pressures such as inflation, credit crisis, falling consumer confidence, falling house prices, sky rocketing commodity prices, massive current account problems, rising unemployment, tightening lending standards, falling corporate earnings to name a few negative pressures.  Actually, short of falling interest rates I could not think of anything remotely positive for the market.  My conclusion, the market is not about to rally anytime soon...and if it does go up it's going to be faily limited. Strategy: Sell Dow call options.

The 15 May Dow 135 call (i.e. 13,500) was trading at $1.04.  This means each Dow option represents a premium of $104 representing a notional value position of $13,500 (i.e. $135*100).  This would mean that if I sold a call at $1.04 the dow would have to rally above 13,604 (i.e. 13,500+104) for me to start losing money.  That's an 800 plus point rally in this climate...I don't think so!

In this trade I sold 25 Dow 135 calls at $104 for a total possible premium income of $2,600.  Now this may not sound like much but we need to look at this in context.  One of those contexts is that this is just one of many trades/positions that are held at the same time all generating an income.  Another way to look at it is that you can earn $2,600 in about 2 1/2 months (or $12,480 per year) just from this single trade!

In this example by the 10 April the Dow had hardly moved...in fact it had slightly fallen to 12,600 and the 15 May 135 calls were being offered at $0.20.  I'd already earned the lion share of premium so i bought them back to apply my capital/cash to other option opportunities with a net profit of $2,100 in about a month and 1/2. 

Hope this is opening your eyes to potential income opportunities.  Next time we'll look at some more trades...

This blog is to help members with their wealth journey through example.  I want to show readers the path I'm taking...the good choices...and the bad...so through examples you can learn via my experiences.  But before I cover individual investments it's worth knowing what my short term targets are...I will cover my medium and long term ones at another time I'm sure.  Now while I don't wish to tell everyone my specific financial position it's suffice to say that my focus is on generating high cashflow returns of approximately 35% on my liquid assets (i.e. cash) that are not correlated to the stock or property markets.  

So let's concentrate on what I'm doing with my cash at the moment (when my objectives move back onto generating capital returns my blog will no doubt focus on buying attractive assets such as properties).  I could be using my cash to buy properties, stocks or any of a number of other investments.  But I'm very bearish properties for the foreseeable future in Europe and the US which are the markets I'm familiar with.  This is why I sold my home (and just kept my investment properties) mid last year.  I've had my eye on South America (namely Brazil) for a while know but one of my golden rules is never ever invest in something you don't know well.  I've not had time to get on a plane and visit to get a feel for the place and do some first hand research so I've held off. 

I also do not want to tie up my cash.  Similarly, I'm bearish stocks so investing there is not something I'm considering at this stage (though there are pockets that I am interested in...but that's for another blog, forum or article).  Options are a market that I understand intimately and I know I can make brilliant low stress returns in any market conditions.  I generally use the following option strategies:

• selling puts
• selling calls
• selling puts and calls at the same time (known as straddles and strangles)
• ratio put spreads
• ratio call spreads
• covered calls

In the next blog entry I'll look at my current portfolio of options and explain why I've done what i've done and the performance they're generating.    See you then...

I called a good friend of mine this morning to have a chat and wish him a belated Happy Birthday (I missed him on his actual birthday).  In the course of our conversation I told him about Rich1Percent and Rich1Percent Community and also about my book Wealth Buys Freedom which had just been listed on Amazon.  I had not tried to be secretive to date, but rather wanted to have something to show for my work rather than a lot of talk.  My friend was stunned.  Rich1Percent blew him away...Rich1Percent Community had him speechless...and then to find that I'd written 380 book that was now listed on Amazon was almost more than he could handle.  "How", "when did you find time", and so on.  He knew I had a demanding job, wife, two new babies...where did I find the time.  I told him it has been the culmination of 3 years of hard work.  Usually working up to midnight every night i wasn't doing something else. 

Success takes planning, goals, commitment.  It will not just fall into your lap.  And at the end of it all there is no guarantee that it will pay off...but one thing is for sure...if you don't try then you are guaranteed not to succeed.  I prefer my odds thanks...hope you'll join me in pushing the boundaries!

The work needed to create Rich1Percent and Rich1Percent Community is truly huge.  I hope I lead by example...success certainly does not happen by accident...it happens by design...and lot and lots of execution!  But I'm sure anyone can do it with the right mindset.  I really hope I get to hear about fantastic success stories on this Community site...and that I've helped make it happen.