Let’s have an open forum about money. I want to start off with how I started learning about money and building wealth and hopefully you guys will chime in in the comments section.

It all started after I graduated college, and started working, I quickly realized this path would probably not get me to my multi-million dollar dreams, so I decided to study money, Seriously! I knew that there was a lot I didn’t know about it and figured the best way for me to make more of it was to research it and the people who had it. I started my research with the Forbes Billion dollar list and went through the richest 400 people in America and read their story. After googling every name, I realized that NO ONE said I got a job, worked really hard and earned a Billion dollars while working. Instead, they all had a product! The number one guy, Bill Gates, developed a computer program and sold it to millions of people. Then in between there was the Walton’s, the Wal-Mart family; Michael Dell, Dell computers; Steve Jobs, Apple computers (ipod); Warren Buffett, stock investor, etc…

Then I started researching people who made millions of dollars. Actors (Will Smith & Tom Cruise), Athletes (Michael Jordan & Tiger Woods), Lawyers, Doctors, CEO’s. These people developed an expertise and sold their services for a very high price.

Lastly I got to everyone making below a hundred thousand a year. They all had what we call a regular 9-5 job. I then concluded that my 9-5 job by statistics alone was not going to get me very far. However, I did understand there are people who sell products that are broke and others who have jobs and are millionaires. There are always exceptions to the rule, but the general pattern was the one I outlined above.

What I have learned is there are basically 3 ways to make money. You can get a job, sell a product, or provide a service (If there are any other ways, please leave them in the comments section below so we can discuss). Also, I would put investing in the product category because you are essentially trying to buy low (at cost) and sell high (at market value).

I then examined myself and said why am I not selling a product or providing a service. And from that point forward I knew that is what I needed to do and never looked back. Somethings I have done along the way and still currently doing are sell custom apparel and shoes, trade stocks, sell advertising, develop websites, small business consulting, and so forth. Now I challenge you to do the same. Your first product doesn’t have to be a million dollar idea, I have seen plenty people with a simple product make hundreds of thousands in profits. If your job is your only source of income, then you need to find a product or service you can sell to get another stream of income. Take your ideas and wrap them up in products to make money! That is what I say! So now I want to hear from you. Leave comments so we can discuss and I will respond with advice from my experiences. Also, if you have a success story or mistake story leave a comment on how you made it so it can help others!

Hello everyone, we are very excited at how fast the traffic on MoneyIsJustAnIdea.com has increased over our first couple of months. For our peers to become more interested in improving their financial stature is very important to us and was the reason for starting the blog.

In light of all of the new interest, we are starting a book club to give everyone a chance to discuss their opinions with all of the other readers. We are going to start with the basics and move up to more in depth and more focused books. Saying that, our first book is going to be Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki. We have a link on the homepage of the site to buy the book through Amazon.com.

Our discussions will begin on Monday March 23rd, so go and get your copy asap if you don’t already have one so that you can have questions ready.

Can’t wait to start the discussions!!

This post is for your questions and comments. If you have a question or if there is something more you would like for us to cover, please do so in the comment section below. We are more than willing to assist our readers in anyway we can. Thanks!

We have added a stock market, real estate, and ventures page to the site. Please click on the links in the sidebar to access them. We will be updating them often with our insights. I, Omari Worthy, also known as ‘TheMoneyMaven’ is Managing Director of Equity Markets for Maven IG. Mario Taylor II, ‘RedMaven’, is Managing Director of ventures for Maven IG and last but not least Barry Givens, ‘The Architect’, is Managing Director of Real Estate for Maven IG. Each of us will be updating each sector with our analysis, experiences, and current investments.

We received this comment today:

Lol..why was my comment deleted? Was it too true? I mean seriously, what has any one in Maven Group done to make them an authority on finances. It just seems to me you all picked up Rich Dad Poor Dad and decided to make a blog on making money. Possibly you all are trying to get rich off some Adsense Ads? A few commissions on books from Amazon? I mean even your about pages sounds like something in Kyosaki’s book. Also didn’t Kyosaki say “Money is just and idea” as well. Let’s look at the discussion topics. Aside from starting Maven Investment Group, what other business have you started where you have created a successful business plan? Are you making money in the markets are are you all just watching Mad Money ever night pretending you all know what your doing? Lol at Maven for deleting my post because I’m wise to you alls game…

First off we would like to thank you for your honesty and for reading the blog.  Next we would like to say that we were not running from your comment, we thought it was very intriguing and should be shared with all of the readers as a blog of its own.  Now to address your concerns:

Maven IG has no where stated that we are authorities on finance.  But we do claim to be more experienced in starting businesses and investing than the average Joe, which is exactly who we are trying to reach with MoneyIsJustAnIdea.com.  If you read the “about” section you will see that one of our goals is to promote the belief in financial independence through teaching, and that is exactly what MoneyIsJustAnIdea.com is here to do.  Also, yes we did pick up “Rich Dad, Poor Dad” many many years ago and it served as one of the inspirational tools for us to pursue our quest to financial freedom.  It is no secret that we learned a lot from this great book if you read all of the blog postings, and this is why we push everyone who comes to the site to also utilize “Rich Dad, Poor Dad”.

As far as our experience within Maven IG, we have taken numerous classes in stock market investing, real estate, and finance.  The reason that we feel we have more ability than other people who have followed these same steps is because we have taken everything we learned and turned it into profit.  Our first venture that started out as just an idea was AfroLogics Custom Designs, now known as Slushie Kicks.  This company has provided constant income since 2005 and is still growing.  Please check the website for more details on the history of the company (www.slushiekicks.com).  Starting this company and seeing the profits gave us the confidence that with our knowledge base we could turn any good idea into positive cash flow.

That confidence combined with the fact that our individual trading accounts were averaging monthly gains of over 100% led us to start Maven IG.  This was a company that we could use to invest in the stock market, real estate, and also in our own business ideas.  MoneyIsJustAnIdea.com allows us to make money (adsense ads) while also doing something that we love and pledged to do from our company’s inception (promote financial independence).  We are also working on 2 other business plans at the moment that will no doubt turn into positive income in the next couple of months.

And to comment on your last question, we do pride ourselves in being successful in the stock market and averaging larger monthly gains than most of the larger more well known investment firms.  And yes, watching CNBC all day everyday is a tool that we use along with all of the other successful investors in the world.  Our webmaster is currently working on allowing us to provide transparent trading so that all of our readers will be able to see every one of our trades as soon as we make them.  This way, you will no longer have to ask if we are making money in the market.

Please note that the knowledge you showed in your comment is appreciated and respected.  Hopefully this has answered all of your questions and concerns and we hope that you will continue to read the blog and comment on the posts.

We want to hear from you! Below is a list of the next possible discussion topics…please post a comment stating which topic you would most like to hear more information about:

• How to start a company
• How to write a business plan
• Saving your way to a million
• Stock Market 101
• The Economy
• Some other topic

We will be tallying up the results of the poll and post the top choice Feb. 13th, 2009.
Thanks for voting!