Theatre of the Mind Podcast Episodes

Kelly Howell: Welcome once again to Theatre of the Mind. Your host, Kelly Howell.


Okay! My show today is on "The Millionaire Course" by Marc Allen. And our guest is Marc Allen, author, publisher, and musician. Marc has written several books, including "Visionary Business," "The TypeZ Guide to Success," and "The Ten Percent Solution."


He's cofounder and publisher of New World Library, and Marc has published many bestselling books that you might even have on your bookshelf, like "The Power of Now" and "The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success."


So, today, I am hoping that Marc is going to share with us the most essential secrets to becoming a multimillionaire and creating true prosperity, which includes health and happiness in all areas of your life.


Marc, welcome back to Theatre of the Mind! It's great to have you on the show today.
Marc Allen: It's great to be on. Thanks for having me.
Kelly: Sure. So, how about we start with your version of who you are and what you do.
Marc: Let's see. I liked your introduction.
Kelly: Oh, good!
Marc: When I look back, I had the opposite of the Midas Touch all through my 20s. Because I had no clarity of mind, I wasn't doing any bigpicture thinking. I always knew I was born with this important piece I knew it was important to do what I love to do. I knew that was essential for a fulfilled life. But I had no idea how to be successful doing what I love to do all through my 20s.


I was an actor for a while, and my theater company fell apart. I got into another theater company, and that fell apart. I wandered into a Zen center, following my girlfriend at the time, and I got kicked out for breaking the rules. And I went to a Tibetan center for a while, and then was just dissatisfied with the teaching there. I wasn't getting it. I spent three and a half years there, and it felt like sand through my hand. I felt like I didn't grow much there. And then I had a rock band, and that fell apart. And so I had the opposite of the Midas Touch. Everything I touched turned to emptiness.
Kelly: I think a lot of people know about that one.
Marc: Well, that was the image I often had, of sand through my hand. Then I turned 30, and I woke up in a state of shock, and that is the day that changed my life. That is the day that I put together a simple little practice that I can teach to everyone, and that's the day I did some bigpicture thinking.


I had no job at age 30, no income. I was scrounging to get $65 a month together, every month, to pay for this funky little oneroom place in not a nice part of Oakland, California, and I did these little parttime jobs. I had no family support, no other sources of income, unlike some people I know in this motivationalspeakertype world, but I had no support from family.


And yet I sat down, the day I turned 30, and I did some bigpicture thinking, really for the first time in my life that I did it effectively. I took a piece of paper, and I wrote "My Ideal Scene" at the top, and I let spill out my dream of where I wanted to be in five or ten years. And much to my amazement, I had my own company, publishing my own books and music.
Kelly: Now, wait a second. Was that part of your ideal scene? You wanted to have a book publishing company or a music publishing company?
Marc: Right. That just spilled out the day I turned 30. Before that, I'd had no interest in business whatsoever. I'd never taken a course in it or had any kind of interest in business. I'd been an actor and a musician, and that was it. And much to my amazement, when I sat down the day I turned 30 to write down my ideal scene I said, "I have a successful publishing company producing my books and music." And it amazed me when those words spilled out.
Kelly: That's amazing. So you had no idea before that?
Marc: No idea. I'd never even really asked myself what I wanted to be doing in five or ten years. When I look back at my 20s, I was just following other, stronger people into this or that theater company or band or Zen center. It was always somebody else that I was kind of following along. And it wasn't until I turned 30 I said, "What do I really want to do with my life?" And that's the day I started doing some bigpicture thinking.


I promised myself, as I wrote "Millionaire Course," which was my book before last, my big book that has everything in it I know.
Kelly: It's a great book.
Marc: Thank you.


I promised myself as I was writing it, that whenever I talked about it, did an interview like this, I would try to give the essence of what I know away.
Kelly: Oh, good. I want to hear.
Marc: I promised I would not do what so many promotion people tell you to do, which is dangle a little carrot, give them a little something, but say, "No! They have to really buy the course to get the essence of it." I said, "No, I'm going to give away everything I can at every moment." And I can give the essence away in a very short time. I can give it away right now to those that can grasp it.


But it does come across sort of like a Zen koan, almost. It's not easy to grasp, partially because what I discovered is so simple. It's so simple that our doubts and fears immediately rise up and say it can't be so simple.


The simple little thing I did the day I turned 30 was to take a sheet of paper and dream my ideal scene five to ten years in the future. Then I took another sheet of paper and I wrote down a list of goals. I realized within that ideal scene, I had a list of goals. I had about 12 goals. "Start a publishing company." "Build a successful publishing company." "Start writing a book." "Start recording an album." I had a lot of starts, because I had nothing happening whatsoever in my life. I had no job, even.


Then I took another sheet of paper. I'd read about affirmations, mostly in books by Catherine Ponder, a Unity church minister in the 70s. And I rewrote each goal as an affirmation. "I am now creating a successful publishing company." "I am now writing a successful book." "I am now recording a beautiful album." And I rewrote them all as affirmations. To this day I carry a list of affirmations around with me in my pocket all my goals as affirmations.
Kelly: I think you mention in your book that the affirmations that you write out of your goals must be believable to the subconscious?
Marc: Yeah, that's what I believe. Although I heard an interesting guy on the radio. I missed his nameI was just changing channels, and on some PBS station he popped up. A guy was saying he felt that our subconscious is so powerful that even the most outrageous affirmations will have a great powerful impact.


He said, "If you're knocking yourself in any way, you should just say, "I am brilliant! I am beautiful! I am wonderful! I have a huge contribution to make to humanity!"" And he said even that, our subconscious will say "Yes" to.
Kelly: Right.
Marc: So I'm really thinking that. But I've found for me, I do know, for instance, if you are a poverty case and you say, "I am now a millionaire."
Kelly: It's not going to work.
Marc: It's not going to work. Your subconscious mind is saying, "You're scrounging to pay the rent. What do you mean?" But you can word it, "I am now creating total success in my life. I am now creating financial and artistic success in my life." That, to me, worked. When I was at my financial low, $65,000 in credit card debt and not even enough income to make the minimum payments. When I hit my low I came up with an affirmation that said, that directly contradicted my reality at the time. I said, "I am sensible and in control of my finances. I am now creating total financial success."
Kelly: And that worked, right?
Marc: That worked. That worked.
Kelly: That's amazing.
Marc: Within a year I was out of credit card debt and I had started building a diversified savings account.
Kelly: Now your conscious mind must have been kicking and screaming with that affirmation, huh?
Marc: Yes, it sure was. My conscious mind was kicking and screaming as soon as I made my ideal scene and my list of goals. I remember vividly all the doubts and fears that just rushed in. And I got around them in a very simple way. Because when I did my ideal scene, I wanted to be wealthy, I wanted to be successful. But more than that, when I really thought it through, I wanted a life of ease. I really didn't want to work too hard. I'd been an actor and a musician and those hours are great. I'd never worked a 40 hour a week job in my life. And I thought a 40 hour a week job is inhumane. For me, I just didn't want to go there.
Kelly: I can relate.
Marc: So when I thought my ideal scene, I thought, OK, I don't want to work any more than, say, 30 hours is OK. Thirty hours four days a week, in a job, that works for me. I can still do my creative thing and still have a spiritual life. So part of my ideal scene was I don't work too hard. I only work when I feel like it. I have a life of ease. That was what really excited me. I want a life of ease. And I encourage everyone to dream as big as possible. Of course the bigger the dream, the more doubts and fears will rush in. But I've found a simple way around them that totally worked for me. Because I remember clearly my 30th birthday. I remember my exact thoughts. I remember writing down my ideal scene and daring to dream this big picture. A very successful life, being a multimillionaire and having a life of ease, not working too hard at all. Doubts and fears says, "It's impossible! Never been done in the history of humanity! You start your own company, you've got to work 6080 hours a week." And all this stuff. I could go on and on, we all know this.


I realized almost all the work I've done is inner work, dealing with those doubts and fears. Creating that big picture, that dream, and going for it. And then dealing with all the doubts and fears that come up. And the way I finally got around them was I was literally pacing up and down in my little slum apartment. And thinking about all this. I remembered Buckminster Fuller saying that when he was in his 20s he came to the point where he decided that he was either going to commit suicide or he was going to look at his life as an experiment. And fortunately, for all of us, he decided on the latter. And as an old man he looked back on a 50year experiment, he called, where he was very successful financially and in a lot of other ways. That's how he did it, he looked at his life as an experiment. I grasped onto that concept, that one word.


And I said to my doubts and fears: "look, this is a worthwhile experiment. Let me go for my dreams. Let me do it in my own lazy way, in my own unique way. Not working too hard, having a life of ease, but going for my dreams." That's my experiment. They said, "Impossible." I said, "look, if it doesn't work. Give me a year or two, if it doesn't work. OK, then I'll realize it was impossible and I have to work 6080 hours a week to build. But let me try it purely as an experiment. And if it doesn't work I won't be any worse off than I am right now." And they had to cave into that. And so I got to try, in my own lazy way, working when I felt like it. I'm a night owl. I do not do mornings, I don't do Mondays. I have my greatest energy sometimes at night. And my energy comes and goes. Sometimes I am extremely lazy. And so I sleep a lot. I'm one of the few Americans that's not sleep deprived, I feel.
Kelly: That's great. I have your "TypeZ Guide to Success."
Marc: Good.
Kelly: It's really inspired me. Taking naps in the afternoon.
Marc: Yes.
Kelly: It's brilliant.
Marc: I tell these people that work 60 hours a week, "You can't be working effectively for 60 hours a week. A lot of the time, you're tired. And the best thing to do would be to take a nap or take a break, go walk on a beach or just sleep."
Kelly: Now wait a minute. You have a lot of people working for you, Marc.
Marc: Yes.
Kelly: Now are they working like you? Or are they in there 40 or 60 hours a week?
Marc: No, nobody works 60. We're flexible here.
Kelly: Oh good.
Marc: They have to show up and do their job, that's for sure. We each have very clear responsibility. We're flexible. Like our art director just works four days a week. And people have flexible time. And definitely if they have anything that comes up for family or anything they have to do, I encourage them, Just do it. And I always encourage them to take vacations as much as possible. To take all of the vacation they can. Because that's when we rejuvenate. And do learn to take a vacation. And not just go on your vacation so you come back exhausted. And need a vacation to recover from your vacation. We have a Type A workaholic culture. I'm convinced of that. We assume that you have to work really, really hard to succeed. That assumption becomes selffulfilling if you believe it. I chose to create some other beliefs. I now see it's totally possible to have success with ease. I've never worked more than 30 hours a week.
Kelly: So what are the things that you do to change your beliefs? What have you found most effective?
Marc: I've found affirmations are definitely the most effective. And the longest part of both my last two books, "The TypeZ Guide to Success" and "The Millionaire Course, " are what I call the "Core Belief Process, " something I learned in my late 20's, where you clearly identify the beliefs that are not working for you, the limiting beliefs or you could say negative beliefs. If you believe that you have to work really, really hard to succeed, that limits you from having a life of ease. So you could start affirming.


I think the best words I ever found, I got from Catherine Ponner, God bless her soul. My affirmations, I begin and end my affirmations with the words, "In an easy and relaxed manner, in a healthy and positive way, I am now creating total financial success." Or whatever you want to affirm there. Those words, "in an easy and relaxed manner and in a healthy and positive way, " I've been affirming since they day I turned 30.


And looking back on my success, I think those four words easy, relaxed, healthy and positive overcame the vast majority of my doubts and fears. Because to sum them up, your doubts and fears are saying, "it won't be easy. It's hard to create a successful business or to be successful as an author or an artist or whatever." It's not easy. It certainly won't be relaxed. It's stressful. Creating a business? It's stressful. It may not even be healthy for you.
Kelly: Yes. We have a lot of negative associations with creating abundance, success, wealth.
Marc: I believe those words for me changed my life in an easy and relaxed manner, in a healthy and positive way. I am now creating... then fill in the blank, fill in your goal and dream.
Kelly: May we back up a little bit though?
Marc: Ok, sorry.
Kelly: What if you don't know what your ideal scene is? You knew you woke up on your thirtieth birthday and thought, "I want to start a publishing company." What if someone is just very unhappy with what they're doing and have no idea?
Marc: I've met a lot of people in that situation over the years. I know Oprah even talked about this in one of the few Oprah shows I caught. She said the same thing I said. If you don't know, the single most important thing you can do is to find out.
Kelly: [laughs]
Marc: To take whatever time you need. Maybe you need to take a break and just think about it. Or, if you believe in prayer, which I hope you do because prayer is very powerful, you can pray about it. Or, if you don't relate to that language maybe even take a vacation and turn it into some kind of unique vision quest and keep asking for it.


Somewhere in your dreams, somewhere maybe in your childhood, you knew. Somewhere. When you really allow yourself to dream... If you could do anything, what would it be?


Another good trick is imagining you won the lottery. You have 50 million dollars in the bank. What would you do? Most everyone would say, "Oh, I would go hang out on a beach" or "I'd travel around the world." Ok great; think it through. You do that for a while, I guarantee you... I've hung out on a beach for eight months once and then it got boring for me. Then what do you want to do? What do you want to do with your life?


Our life is this precious gift, this incredible opportunity. If you could do anything, what would it be? It's really good to ask yourself those questions.
Kelly: Yes. You have a whole chapter, a lesson, on finding your calling and vocation. Or, your purpose and vocation.
Marc: Yes.
Kelly: I liked your definition of vocation in there.
Marc: Yes, it means calling. It comes from the same Latin root as the word vocal. Calling. Our vocation is our calling. Different people relate to different vocabulary because of our different experience. So I have people look at their vocation, or their mission. That word works for some people.


Or their purpose in life. Do I have a purpose in life? If so, what would it be? I've often reflected on that. I think we all have a purpose in life. As far as I understand, I know we all have a purpose and the purpose has to do with loving and serving others. That's the message I get from my purpose. I'm here to love and serve others.


I find that's not just idealistic, bleedingheart liberal stuff. It's also very practical business advice. To succeed in the world of finances, the best way to do it is to love everyone you work with, and to realize you are serving other people.


If you are an artist you are creating beauty for other people to enjoy. If you are a business, you have some kind of service, or product, that you are creating for other people to make their lives better. Loving and serving is very practical advice. That is the best thing to keep remembering to do, to succeed in the world.
Kelly: That's beautiful. You even have a lot of great questions in that chapter on purpose and vocation; what you recommend people do to discover it. Could you go over some of those questions?
Marc: Yes. It has always surprised me a bit that so many people ask that; that they are not clear on their vocation and purpose. That was the piece that I was born with.
Kelly: But you didn't know until you were 30, right?
Marc: Well that is true.
Kelly: See? Before that time it is all a blur. When you don't know, you don't know.
Marc: Right. Yes. I think we all have everything we need to succeed; we just don't ask ourselves the right questions. It was in the book "Rich Dad, Poor Dad." Rather than saying "I can't afford something," or "That's so hard," you ask yourself, "How can I do this? How can I succeed doing something I love to do?" That's the best question to ask.


When you ask your creative mind how you can do something you start getting answers. That is what I've found, and that's the final step that I discovered the year of my thirtieth year. Once I'd written down my ideal scene, and then goals. Then goals were affirmations, it started affirming them. I found a plan emerging for each major goal and I was able to write my plans down on one sheet of paper.


For myself, I always have to keep things simple. I even have to explain things in the simplest terms possible to myself. I find once I can understand things simply, and put them in simple words, then it has an impact on my subconscious and it has a real effect in the world.


It is the same with plans. I've found a simple, one page plan, or two pages if you write really big, where you just put your goal at the top, and then you put your strategies to achieve that goal. Here is my goal to create my company doing xmillion in sales. Here is my plan to get there. I am going to do this, this, this. I'm going to market it this way.


In one page you do a plan. For me it's been so powerful... To give the essence away of what I've learned; I can say it in one sentence really. How many people really dare do big picture thinking, and dream their highest dreams imaginable that they can achieve in 510 years? Of those that dare dream, how many sit down and write a plan? Even a one page plan to get there? Very few. But those that do usually get there unless they block themselves with their own thoughts, and fears, and small thinking.
Kelly: So this really isn't a business plan, it is just steps you want to take, or you think you need to take....
Marc: Yes.
Kelly: ...until you achieve your goal.
Marc: Yes, and even for creating a business... It is a business plan; it is just a short one. It may grow into something longer if you want to find investment or something. At one point I actually did a fullout business plan for my company. I tell exactly what I did in the millionaire course, and give the outline of it and everything. But that was only necessary once in my entire career; to do a bigger plan.
Kelly: What if you are not sure what steps you need to take?
Marc: Then just put down the steps you can take. I know for starting a business for example, the day I turned 30 when I decided to do that, I knew nothing about what to do. The only thing I could plan on were two little steps. One was to read a used Business 101 textbook, and another was to talk to people who knew more about business than I did; which was a lot of people, including my Dad. I literally went out and got a used business textbook, and read that. Then I called my Dad. I remember asking him, "The company you work for, is that a corporation?"


[laughter]


It is amazing how much he knew. "Yes, it is a corporation. It is a private corporation, not a public corporation."


"Oh, what's the difference?"


"Well, public corporation is stock listed in these exchanges, but a lot of corporations are private."


He explained that to me and I ended up starting a corporation. First it was just a simple little proprietorship that I learned about. It was just me. And then it grew to a partnership. And then grew into a corporation.
Kelly: Wow. Wow. So, you do the ideal scene. You write down your goals or.
Marc: Mm hmm. A list of goals.
Kelly: Then you turn them into affirmation.
Marc: Yes.
Kelly: And then each affirmation becomes a onepage plan?
Marc: Yes.
Kelly: OK.
Marc: For every major goal I have in my list of goals I have a file. Just a little file folder in my briefcase. And on top of that is my one page plan.


So affirming for my publishing company. That my company grows. You know. Increases profits in an easy and relaxed manner. In a healthy and positive way. New World Library increases its profits by 50 percent in 2007. And that's my affirmation. Then I have my plan in my folder for how to increase that profit by 50 percent this year.


And so for each thing I'm affirming the goal, the plan emerges. The plan emerges. Sometimes it takes, it takes several weeks. And the plans with one exception the plans keep changing. My plans have always kept changing. But just plan what you can plan. And sometimes it's just the first few steps is all you can see to do. But once you take those steps the next step will emerge.


The one plan that for me was exactly as I planned was real estate.


[laugh]
Marc: Buying my house. As I sat there a poverty case with no job in Oakland I decided to make my plan. One of my goals was to own a big white house on a beautiful hill in Marin County, California. Which is one of the most beautiful places on earth in northern California. I had this funky little one room in Oakland.


And so I wrote a plan. It was "move to Marin County." Learn about real estate because I knew nothing about real estate. Buy a single family detached home. I'd learned enough to know that that was good to get into single family detached home because they appreciate faster than condos.
Kelly: Mm hmm.
Marc: At least they did at the time. I'd read that somewhere. Then, you know, get into literally the cheapest home in Marin County to buy. And then after several years sell that and move up. And then after that sell that and move up to that big white house up on the hill. And that's exactly the plan I made. And that's exactly what happened.
Kelly: That's great.
Marc: But that's the only plan in my life that went exactly according to what I saw in the beginning. Every other plan just keeps changing and changing and changing.
Kelly: Oh it does though with a business.
Marc: With a business it keeps changing all of the time.
Kelly: Right. You never know. Maybe you'll exceed your affirmation and your plan or maybe not.
Marc: Yeah. And new things keep popping up. Now with like Internet and electronics and stuff. The whole industry is changing.
Kelly: So what's your attitude though if you don't make your intention if it doesn't happen?
Marc: Yeah. At the end of my affirmations I also add... I do my affirmation in an easy and relaxed manner in a healthy and positive way. I've now increasing my profits by 50 percent. And then I add in its own perfect time for the highest good of all. And that phrase in it's own perfect time reminds me that there is a perfect time for everything and that my plans are arbitrary.


So, sometimes I reach them but if I don't reach them then it is not yet the perfect time.
Kelly: Or there's a bigger and better plan in store for you.
Marc: Yes. That often could be. I remember the first year I started affirming our profits would grow by 50 percent that year. I affirmed it for the year and at the end of the year our profits were flat. They had grown by nothing. And I remember thinking, gee you know, am I losing my affirmation power?
Kelly: Hey what happened?
Marc: OK. Yeah. In it's own perfect time. It just wasn't meant to be. But then the next year I just kept affirming they grow by 50 percent. The next year our profits doubled. They grew by 100 percent.


So then I realized I got my affirmations. My affirmations came true. But it just took two years to do it in it's own perfect time.
Kelly: Yeah time. It's a funny thing.
Marc: Yes.


[laugh]
Marc: And I have my own chapter on time. Time and money are related. And most people think there's not enough time or money. You can change that belief. I've changed my beliefs about time and money. I have plenty of time and plenty of money in my life. There's no shortage of either. God didn't make a shortage.
Kelly: What's your affirmation for that?
Marc: Just I have plenty of time in my life.
Kelly: And plenty of money too.
Marc: And plenty of money in my life. It is abundant. That's a good question to ask. Is this universe abundant or not? Is there some kind of shortage of money? No. Not at all. There's a huge amount of money around. It's sitting in piles all over the place in different forms. Real estate. Cash. Gold. Art. There's tons of money it's just not getting around. We have a distribution problem.


It's like food. We grow plenty of food and yet people are starving. We have a distribution problem. It's the same with money. There's no shortage of money. And you can literally learn to tap into that flow of money and get a whole lot more in your life. And it's all dealing with your own limiting beliefs.
Kelly: Now is it important to feel the fulfillment of what you want? Or is that not necessary? I mean do you anticipate it? Do you feel it? Embody it?
Marc: Yes. I do. I do. In fact I've often said when I started getting my first big fat cash advance. And when I bought my big white house on a hill. And my goals started really becoming fulfilled. It's almost anticlimactic because I'd already seen it so clearly in my mind's eye. In the theater of my mind if you will.


[laugh]
Kelly: That's what it's all about here.
Marc: Yeah. In the theater of my mind. The day I turned 30 I saw the goal of the big white house on the hill. And me just walking around and lying in the grass and having plenty of time and ease. That was my dream. And I saw it. I saw it clearly. A life of ease, a nice big hot tub and a pool and a sauna and a steam room, and a lot of time to enjoy those things. And that's exactly what I created. And I saw it so clearly that when I did fulfill it it's almost anticlimactic.
Kelly: Right. Because the premanifestation before it happens is kind of exciting. I think.
Marc: It is. Yeah. It is.
Kelly: Yeah. So you visualize a lot. That's a big part of this.
Marc: I guess so in a way. Yeah. I don't exactly have a very clear images. But I definitely saw myself strolling around my home on a hill with a great view. And that's absolutely come true.
Kelly: So, Marc, in many ways what you're talking about is how to positively activate the laws of attraction. From a very grounded and practical perspective. Isn't that right?
Marc: Mm hmm. I think so. In the back of the millionaire course I even have a section called how it works. And I try to explain it as far as I understand it. Ultimately it's the mystery of creation. It's all about creating something from nothing. And how do we do that and how does any force do that. How did this holy universe get here? It's mysterious ultimately. But in my simple way I understand something. In the way I can describe it to myself is that the universe or your subconscious mind or God or whatever you describe it. It could even just be the creative power that made all this stuff here that surrounds us that we call the earth and ourselves.


Whatever you describe it as, there is some creative power and it does say yes to every thought we have. When we put out our dream, when we dare to dream, we say I want to be successful as an artist. Something, some power says yes and starts to show us how. Yes you could do this. You could do that. It starts whispering in our ear, plans. But if our very next thought is, oh but its so hard to succeed. So few people succeed. The universe says, "Yes it's hard to succeed for you with those thoughts."
Kelly: I'd say it cancels everything out.
Marc: Yes, you just cancel it all.
Kelly: But that was my next question. What do you think is the most common mistake people fall into when they're trying to achieve their dreams?
Marc: It's undermining with that kind of limited negative thinking. I heard T. Harvecker once some things I disagree with him on but like he says, affirmations don't work. And that's absolutely wrong. It all works. Affirmations work. Prayer works. Declarations work. Any kind of goal, it all works. It's just that we undermine it.


Negative thinking works, too. Negative thinking works. So when we say, oh, when we get frustrated and say oh it's so hard. Then the universe says, oh it's hard for you with that thought, yes. But the one good thing T. Harvecker, he had an image of the universe as this cosmic warehouse. When you say, I would like a million dollars, you know, in cash liquid assets. You say that. The universe immediately starts fulfilling the order. Oh, yes, ok, we'll give you a million dollars. Here's how you can get it. You start getting these ideas. But then if your next thought is, oh boy, it's hard. It's a struggle. Then the universe says, ok, cancel that order. And then your next thought is, oh, but I'd really like it. And the universe says, ok here. They get to work. And then your next thought is, oh, but so few people really succeed. Cancel the order. So he has the image of a frustrated order taker saying to us, would you just clearly tell me what to do? Will you clearly give me an order of what you want? Quit canceling your orders, and I think that's how it works.
Kelly: Good image. Good image. Well and it does, I'd would say probably the hardest work involved is doing it, getting single minded and becoming very aware of how we sabotage and undermine our desires and goals and intentions for ourselves.
Marc: Yes.
Kelly: That's where the real work is.
Marc: That is the real work. And that work, that's where I firmly believe in. I've seen in my own life. One powerful affirmation can overcome years of negative thinking. I was a total poverty case, total space case when I look back on it. I was a rock musician, man. I knew nothing about business. I had no interest.


So for years I was telling myself, oh it's so hard to succeed. I remember trying to save a thousand dollars to buy a truck. When I started my business, I had no vehicle. And I couldn't save a thousand dollars. Oh, its so hard, so hard. You know today the stock market went up a few points and I made like three thousand dollars in one account and a whole lot more in another one today doing nothing. So I'm convinced that everyone is capable of succeeding. If I can do it, everyone can.


These principles I have in my book, these practices, are very simple. They are not complex. Succeeding in business is not complex.
Kelly: I know. But you know, somebody looks at you and what you've done and what you've created, I know I've seen what you've done. It's extraordinary. They might just look at you and go gosh, he's lucky he has good karma. What do you say to that? I mean that's another way we undermine ourselves. Right?
Marc: Right. It is. I thought about luck and I really believe after thinking about it a lot. I don't know who said this, but I really believe that you make your own luck and that luck is preparedness meeting opportunity. And doing the simple things I did, I just prepared. I got prepared. And then suddenly I started seeing the opportunity everywhere. The opportunity was always there, but I never saw it, because I didn't prepare myself mentally. Once you allow yourself to dream that dream, once you go for your dream, suddenly you'll see all these opportunities that were always there but you didn't see them because you didn't prepare for it. So we create our own luck. We all create our own luck. I'm convinced of that, good or bad.
Kelly: So Marc, are there any final words of advice that you'd like to share with us about how to create a wealthy and fulfilling life?
Marc: I just like to encourage everybody to go for their greatest dreams. I think that our educational system is flawed in that it doesn't do that. I think that we should have gotten this stuff in high school.
Kelly: I agree.
Marc: We should have had a teacher that said, what do you really want to do? You know, whatever you want to do, there have been people that have been very successful at it. Let's look at them, focus on them, learn from them. And whatever you want to do, I want to support you in going for your greatest dreams. You'll never regret going for your greatest dreams. So I even say at seminars, if you're ninety years old and you decide you want to be a billionaire rock star, it's never to late to go for it. You may not make a billion dollars if you only have a few years left to live and you don't know how to play an instrument yet, or something, but whatever happens along the way, you'll love it. You'll love it. So go for it at any age.
Kelly: It's been great having you on the show. I want to tell everybody how to find you.
Marc: Great.
Kelly: Ok. So to find out more about Marc Allen and his work, visit www.MarcAllen.com.
Marc: But I also have a www.successwithease.net, where you can get a free chapter of my ebook version of the TypeZ Guide to Success. successwithease.net.
Kelly: Marc, thanks for being on the show today. It's been great.
Marc: Thank you, Kelly. I've seen what you've done over the years and really appreciate it as well.
Kelly: Thank you. So next week we'll be speaking with Dr. Lara HonosWebb about her new book "Listening to Depression: How Understanding Your Pain Can Heal Your Life." Thanks for joining me today. Until next time.