All the money's gone to heaven

When this is the kind of comment you hear from your stockbroker, you can be certain that the world has changed.

In trying to get to grips with the statement "All the money's gone to heaven", I realized that a lot of people around the globe would agree with one stockbroker's new perspective on life, politics, the economy and God. As he was relating the story of his nephew, Conrad Schwalbe, I found myself wondering how someone with a Phd in economics and a long history of trading in the most spohisticated markets in the world comes to a place of joining the "spiritualpreneurs" movement.



Suprisingly, the weekend forum launched to align Love In Action projects and partnerships with the overall vision of this charity organisation provided more answers than the latest musings of stockbrokers-turned-spiritualpreneurs. But before I get to the insight gleaned from the forum, let me start by relating the plight of Conrad Scwalbe and the awareness it has raised amongst his family members, friends and churchgoers .

Conrad is a U.S Marine in Iraq. He spends his days searching for weapons and clearing houses in Ramadi. Aside from never knowing whether the house he's going to walk into is boob-trapped, there are other occupational hazards: frequently missing meals, staying up for more than a day at a time, going for a week without a shower and getting woken up at night by the sound of mortatr and gunfire.

My intention here is not to have a discussion about the war in Iraq. The message in a story like this is that it is impossible to simultaneously experience gratitude and misery.

George Orwell once said that if one sleeps peacefully at night, it is because there are people who stand ready to do violence on our behalf. If you have nothing more than good health and the love of your family, you have a lot to be grateful for. I don't think anyone would readily join Conrad on his mission and regardless of one's political convoctions, I think most people are quite releived that there are people like Conrad willing to go onto the battlefield in times of war.

Feelings and attitudes do a lot to change one's perspective. As spiritual coach Sharon Wilson pointed out last week, feelings and attitudes shape our beliefs and these in turn direct many of our actions. You can't act from a place of gratitude until you really believe you have a lot to be grateful for and you can't really believe this until you imagine the life of someone like Conrad Scwalbe.

At the Love In Action forum this weekend, the pastor's wife reminded us that a charity depends on the generosity of volunteers and partners to attain its goals. It is extremely difficult for people to see that generosity brings "rewards in heaven" when they are struggling day to day with ongoing obstacles and challenges. So it was wonderful to listen to those who choose generosity in the face of many difficulties sharing their dreams and vision for various projects. I walked away from the forum wondering how to translate all this into practical income-generating activities and decided the best way to tap into creative strategies would be to apply Sharon's formula : Feeling-Belief-Action.

I was feeling very generous and grateful for everything I have been blessed with as I tuned in to listen to a leading stockbroker being interviewed in church. I figured the day we can all comfortably sit and listen to a stockbroker preaching "You aren't truly free until you are financially free" is the day charities like Love In Action will change the face of the war in Iraq and the day people like Conrad Schwalbe will go out onto the mental battlefield to clear houses of poverty. I wasn't quite sure whether this is a good thing for The Church or not until the host of the show asked the stockbroker : "But where has all the money that was there before the financial crisis gone?" .When he answered " Pastor, all the money's gone to heaven", I knew in that one instant that the only thing charities like Love In Action need to do to generate income is ask God to send it back down from heaven. If you beleieve it, you can act on this understanding to change situations of poverty and who knows, maybe even situations like the ones Conrad faces every day in Iraq.

Acknowledgements: You can learn more about Spiritual Wealth at www.spiritualwealth.com and about the "spiritualpreneurs" phenomenon at www.coachingfromspirit.com.

Love In Action is an evangelical Christian charity that we have partnered with and does not necessarily share the viewpoints posted on this blog. The photograph of the forum was picked with their consent to promote their work amongst readers in Southern Africa, as they do not yet have their own website. For information about projects please e-mail : loveinactionlesotho@gmail.com.

Effective Communication

When we ventured out into the world of Web 2.0 applications, Joint Venture Partnerships and 'Creating a lifestyle of freedom from a life of service" (a philosophy inspired by personal lifestyle coach David Wood of SolutionBox fame), the landscape was fuzzy and we had no clear sense of where we were headed with this.

We began this endeavour with the decision to put Ron Kussmaul's advice into practice: "Find something that requires faith to accomplish and apply yours to it." Casting the vision to bring H.U.B (Humanity Unites Brilliance) to Lesotho did not require much faith but communicating that vision has tested us to the limit. We are grateful for the tests. We have grown more individually and as a team in the last 3 months than in the last 2 years! Ellen Britts, another great lifestyle coach -author of "Marketing Qi" and 'The art of zen list-building'- gave us an illustration of how marketing qi works in her report about bamboo: the bamboo stalk taks a couple of years to grow under the ground before it sprouts and then suddenly shoots up higher than any other plant around at a very rapid rate. That just about describes the kind of "business" growth we have experienced since January, although we did not know how to categorise this venture that falls somewhere between a ministry, a Social Entrepreneurs' network and a non-profit, humanitarian organisation.

Our first clue as to what was happening and needed to be addressed was a report from executive coach Steve Little. The Perfect BizFind Report clarified so many things about how roles and responsibilities needed to be allocated but the breakthrough really came from finding "The Cure for the home-business from hell". If you are running an internet or network marketing business that you started as a vehicle for getting to financial freedom without doing any work, you need to think again. As my mentors keep pointing out when I complain that I never expected the bamboo to shoot up quite so quickly: "most wealthy people are spinning a lot more plates than the average person on the street; the real difference is not how much work they have but how much they love what they do"

One person on the team is so thankful that her partners moved her out of her "home business from hell" and put her in touch with the gurus who showed her how to really make things happen. The landscape became a lot clearer for all of us when we decided to change from jeans to slightly more formal business attire and start having weekly, scheduled meetings at our new office instead of in the garden of my home. We all agreed we still want to reserve Monday mornings for shuffling paper in our jeans and tackling the e-mail monster. Our team claims we can provide anyone, even in the sleepy nation of Lesotho, with "Ultimate Freedom" so we decided we might as well start the week practising what we preach. Shuffling paper is not quite as mindless as it first seems: a lot of ideas spring out of the sudden discovery "oh, is that where I filed that invoice?" and paging through the latest report on what's happening in cyberspace can actually prevent you from falling asleep at the wheel.

That was certainly the case when we received Nancy Marmolejo's report: "1000 friends on Facebook is NOT a plan". It was a real Aha moment as we finally figured out what we had been doing wrong all this time!

This Monday, for the first time in 3 months, we found ourselves consulting. A busy medical practice called us in to figure out what is wrong with their communication system. The key decision-maker to whom we need to present a solution pulled her chair up so close to mine and leaned forward so attentively that I realised this is a situation that needs massive doses of Marketing Qi, Perfect BizFind assessments and 'Viva Visibilty'. Having only just learned how to unravel the "home business from hell" and communicate our own vision more effectively, it came as a bit of a shock to suddenly be thrust into the middle of "the medical practice from hell". Any ideas or suggestions from friends and partners would be most welcome.

Compassionate Capitalism works

We had our doubts about the validity of compassionate capitalism as a new economic model to solve the global problems the world is facing. But recent opportunities to form Joint Venture Partnerships and the blessing of making postive connections with like-minded individuals and organisations has shown us that "God's ways are not our ways" and we ned to always remain open to new possibilities. So it is with a great deal of excitement that we prepare to launch out on our journey through the Emerging Economy with trusted friends in business, advisors, sponsors and partners by our side.

One of the first ventures we found resonance with was the Ka-Ching Foundation in South Africa, a non-profit organisation that equips children, youth and adults with entrepreneurial skills. we look forward to hosting them in Lesotho next month.

Books we recommend

It is an immense privilege to learn from and share insights with like-minded people. As Social Networking becomes the new mode of co-operative marketing, we are excited by the opportunity to distribute these books to our circle of influence. All of them have greatly blessed us in our consulting practice, our business and our fund-raising intiatives.

Dreams Come True- Ilze Stoltz and Chiaki Satoh: a true story of faith, courage and love overcoming a life of victimazation to become a blessing to others. A third of proceeds from sales go towards the Dreams Come True Refugee Fund to help victims of xenophobic attacks in South Africa re-build their lives.

Go to http://dreamscometrue.cfsites.org/ for information on how to order.

How to track, set and manage goals- compiled by Stefanie Hartman. This is by far the most incisive book on goal-achievement ever written.

"Wealthy people think on paper" is an old proverb that you will begin to live when you start using this workbook. Go to www.hartofsuccess.com to order the e-book.

The Bliss Factor- by Milana Leshinsky. Thank you Milana for this precious gift. When we first arrived in Lesotho, everyone thought we were crazy to establish a fund-raising and wealth-creation venture here. Thanks to the inspiration from people like Milana, we have tapped into our Bliss Factor and are loving every minute of the work we do. Limited offer available at www.TheBlissFactor.com

Go to http://www.richdreams.com/ for this speacial offer and other excellent products. "I'm Rich beyond my wildest dreams" by Tom and Penelope Pauley revolutionised our thinking. We approached the Rich Dreams system with a great deal of skepticism as the titles seemed to suggest "prosperity preaching" which we are very wary of. But after getting to know Tom, Diane, Penelope, Chris and Alex through their video blog, we decided to take the plunge and have not looked back since. This system is truly amazing. Within two months of using it, our entire team has reached 76% of its goals and objectives for 2009. This is truly a gift that keeps on giving. Thank you, thank you, thank you to the Rich Dreams team for the work you do.

Readers in Southern Africa who do not have access to online payment facilities can write to : Life Ministries Lesotho, P.O.Box 1668, Maseru 100 Lesotho to request hard copies of materials. Prices will be negotiated with affiliates with orders received.