By John Stockwell

If this is first time you've sat down and looked at your future you may be saying "This stuff sounds good but where do I start?". "I don't have enough money to invest" or "I simply can't afford it".

Well it's time to WAKE UP AUSTRALIA. If you really think this way, you may as well go and stick your head in sand and use your bum as a parking space for a bicycle. Or you could even try lying down near your front door and let other people use you as a door mat!

This may sound a bit harsh and it's supposed to. Quite frankly I'm sick and tired of all these "poor bastard" stories you hear in press and on TV. You know ones. Some poor bastard gets ripped off by some scum bag promoting an easy fix for some problem or other.

When are these people going to learn that if it sounds too good to be true then maybe it is.

Here's a big revelation for you. YOU GENERALLY GET WHAT YOU ASK FOR. So no matter what you do allways get a second opinion or ask someone who has "been there done that". Then and only then will you be able to make an informed decision.

Don't spend your time or money with people who skirt around your questions. Ask them what you want to know and be sure you are happy with answers that you get BEFORE you shell out your hard earned cash.

Hang on a minute. I think I've gone off track. This article is supposed to be about where to start investing even if you're as poor as a church mouse.

Well here's answer: INVEST IN YOURSELF FIRST.

You need to first change youre attitude. Stand in front of mirror naked and what do you see? A naked man or woman right. And what's only difference between you and any other naked man or woman?

Let me tell you. It's space between your ears. That is most valuable piece of real estate you will ever own.

Ultimately you choose youre own life. You can choose to do same thing as you've allways done or you can choose to try something different. It's totally up to you. But let me tell you one thing. If you keep doing same thing same way, you will allways get same result.

Anybody who has achieved anything in their lives (which should be everybody) will be able to pin point exact moment that they made their decission to change.

It doesn't have to be about making money either. It could be time you decided to learn a new language, sport, hobby etc.anything you have got a sense of acheivment from.

For me moment came when I was at a friends wedding in Dubbo. I met a bloke called Bob. He had his own business installing computer systems.

He was just like any other person you meet. Down to earth, sense of humour etc. We were talking about work and I asked him how he got into his line of work. He said he had no skills before hand but he saw computers as a growth industry. So he enrolled in night school and learned about them.

It took a couple of years but he finally got to where he wanted to be.

Many of us have been taught to be afraid of what we don’t know. It’s threatening, “bad” things happen in unknown, if you don’t know answer it means you are stupid. You have been taught over and over again that remaining with what you know will ensure your security and your success. But you can see repeatedly that this attitude gives birth to bigotry, prevents you from taking informed risks that could improve your life and often creates a life of boredom and fatigue.

In truth each moment is a new one. It is your habit of carrying past forward that keeps you repeating same old patterns both in business and in your personal lives. This is not to say that experience doesn’t develop discrimination. It does and discrimination is a valuable tool for us. The question is when is it blocking you? I can’t tell you how many times in working with clients they say some variation of following – Why even try a new approach, it will fail as it has in past, Why risk a new relationship, it won’t work out anyway, Why reach for next level of success and challenge myself I am fine here.

But what I know is that if you are not moving into new territory, you are not being as truly alive as is possible and your businesses are not as creative and successful as they could be. You are holding yourself back from what is possible in your life and in your profession. And because of that you suffer personally and professionally. Unknown territory is birthplace of all possibility, all real support and is a very exciting space in which to operate.