Sean Rasmussen

Napoleon Hill doesn’t tell us much about the fate of the Uncle, but he does continue the story of R.U. Darby and his ultimate success. How did this failure turn his life around and build wealth? By learning from his mistake, and learning the principles of the secret.

“Long afterward, Mr. Darby recouped his loss many times over, when he made the discovery that desire can be transmuted into gold. That discovery came after he went into the business of selling life insurance.

“Remembering that he lost a huge fortune all because he stopped three feet from gold, Darby turned that experience to his advantage in his newly chosen profession; his method was simple—Darby repeatedly told himself, “I stopped three feet from gold, but I will never stop because men say ‘no’ when I ask them to buy insurance.”

“Darby was one of a small group in the first part of the 1900’s, a group of less than fifty men, to sell more than a million dollars in life insurance annually. He owed his determination and success to the lesson he learned from his hastiness to quit in the gold mining business.”

Definite Thought

Finally, Darby learned the power of definite thought—the same power Edwin C Barnes knew and used to build his future, and his fortune, with Thomas Edison. Had Darby known that power of definite thought and definite purpose when he went mining, his wealth may have come years sooner. You have at least this elemental knowledge now and that small bit of information is power; power that you, too, can solidify and translate into tangible wealth.

I will see you back here Monday and Thursday every week for the continuation of the Mindset Mastery series.

Sean Rasmussen
Success Communicator
SeanRasmussen.com © 2004 - 2008

With seemingly insurmountable hurdles before him, how did Edwin C. Barnes convince a great and successful inventor like Thomas Edison to make this penniless dreamer his partner? Read on…

“Barnes showed up unexpectedly at Edison’s laboratory, and announced he had come to go into business with the inventor. Years later, speaking of their first meeting, Edison said, ‘He [Barnes] stood there before me, looking like an ordinary tramp, but there was something in the expression of his face which conveyed the impression that he was determined to get what he had come after. I had learned, from years of experience with men, that when a man really desires a thing so deeply that he is willing to stake his entire future on a single turn of the wheel in order to get it, he is sure to win. I gave him the opportunity he asked for, because I saw he had made up his mind to stand by until he succeeded. Subsequent events proved that no mistake was made.’”

Drive And Determination

Great for Barnes, but could that happen today? Absolutely. Some things never change, and pure drive is one of those things – those who have it, show it, in any way they can. Such drive and determination is obvious to others and, increasingly, a lost characteristic among men and women today who always strive to earn wealth by ‘playing it safe’.

I will see you back here Monday and Thursday every week for the continuation of the Mindset Mastery series.

Sean Rasmussen
Success Communicator
SeanRasmussen.com © 2004 - 2008

There are some basic things worth knowing about the secret to wealth creation, as Napoleon Hill discovered. He talks about the secret and its universal availability to all people in his original forward.

“A peculiar thing about this secret is that those who once acquire it and use it find themselves literally swept on to success, with but little effort, and they never again submit to failure! If you doubt this, study the names of those who have used it, wherever they have been mentioned, check their records for yourself, and be convinced. “There is no such thing as something for nothing! “The secret to which I refer cannot be had without a price, although the price is far less than its value. It cannot be had at any price by those who are not intentionally searching for it. It cannot be given away, it cannot be purchased for money, for the reason that it comes in two parts. One part is already in possession of those who are ready for it.”

Wealth Creation Secret

Hill is basically saying two things here:

1) the secret to wealth creation is not overly complicated, and is within the reach of anybody, regardless of wealth, handicap, education, or location,

and

2) obtaining and utilizing the secret requires effort on the part of the seeker; you won’t get rich sitting by waiting for an opportunity to come your way, you have to take an active role in your own wealth creation.

Hill doesn’t present this to scare away the reader—exactly the opposite; he puts this informational tidbit upfront so that you can prepare yourself for some worthwhile effort, but also realize that wealth is certainly within your reach.

I will see you back here Monday and Thursday every week for the continuation of the Mindset Mastery series.

Sean Rasmussen
Success Communicator
SeanRasmussen.com © 2004 - 2008

Napoleon Hill does not come directly out and name the secret to wealth creation in his book, and here he tells us why…

“The secret to which I refer has been mentioned no fewer than a hundred times, throughout this book. It has not been directly named, for it seems to work more successfully when it is merely uncovered and left in sight, where those who are ready, and searching for it, may pick it up. That is why Andrew Carnegie tossed it to me so quietly, without giving me its specific name.

“If you are ready to put it to use, you will recognize this secret at least once in every chapter. I wish I might feel privileged to tell you how you will know if you are ready, but that would deprive you of much of the benefit you will receive when you make the discovery in your own way.”

Your Path To The Secret

In fact, it might be best that Napoleon Hill does not put a name to this secret, because it might be called by many names by people from different cultures and backgrounds; it’s all semantics anyway, and if you grasp Hill’s point you’ll surely understand as well that the importance is more in understanding this secret thing and learning to apply it effectively in your own way, than in copying the path of another to the letter. Everyone’s path to successful wealth creation will be different; even in investing, no two paths are ever exactly the same. The key for educators of wealth creation like myself and Jamie McIntyre is to give students, such as yourself, the tools – tools that you can use for a lifetime of wealth creation, not a ‘get-rich-quick’ flash in the pan kind of windfall that won’t support you your whole life long.

I will see you back here Monday and Thursday every week for the continuation of the Mindset Mastery series.

Sean Rasmussen
Success Communicator
SeanRasmussen.com © 2004 - 2008

Andrew Carnegie was a great philanthropist, as came to be exemplified later in his life when he donated the majority of his fortune to public libraries, schools, and scientific research. Andrew Carnegie, like Napoleon Hill, was not born to money – he created his own wealth. He believed that the ability to create wealth should be taught to all people as part of a basic education.

“This book contains the secret, after having been put to a practical test by thousands of people, in almost every walk of life. It was Andrew Carnegie’s idea that the magic formula, which gave him a stupendous fortune, ought to be placed within reach of people who do not have time to investigate how men make money, and it was his hope that I might test and demonstrate the soundness of the formula through the experience of men and women in every calling. He believed the formula should be taught in all public schools and colleges, and expressed the opinion that if it were properly taught it would so revolutionize the entire educational system that the time spent in school could be reduced to less than half.”

The Right Kind Of Education

This is reflective of the fact that so many people go completely through first and secondary schools, and in fact even college and graduate school, without ever learning anything that teaches them to build wealth. The simple fact is that wealth creation techniques, such as those taught by Universal Wealth Creation work for people of all walks of life, of all ages, and all levels of education. The ’secret’ to wealth creation is not accessing the most education; it is accessing the right kind of education, and applying what you know for your own benefit with effectiveness. The path to enjoying that secret success is exceedingly varied. The means to that end, in respect to occupation, is not the function that matters.

I will see you back here Monday and Thursday every week for the continuation of the Mindset Mastery series.

Sean Rasmussen
Success Communicator
SeanRasmussen.com © 2004 - 2008