The Money Flow: How to Make Money Your Friend and Ally, Have a Great Life, and Improve the World

By Ana Weber-Haber, Shel Horowitz and Paula Langguth Ryan

The Money Flow explores our feelings about money, how most people allow money to enslave them either by craving it or fearing it, and how it's possible instead to make money a friend and ally: a partner in achieving your life goals and your goals for the world that does not control you, but aids you. "The Money Flow" is furnishing you simple, friendly and effective tools how to create and design your own life success; enjoy the process and live a life filled with quality, freedom and contentment. Just remember that money does not have in its nature to make you happy. "The Money Flow" is furnishing you with tremendous benefits you can introduce and apply into your own life. You can clearly express who and how you are as an authentic and genuine person, original and unique, with a mark to make in the world.?Instead of resenting the "No" in your life, see it as a starting point that you can befriend and embrace.?"No" also means that nothing is impossible: this simple shift of attitude could change the course of your life and the lives of your loved ones.?The key s accepting that the life you have is the life that fits you; It is designed to make you grow and be the best you can. Understand that change is constant and change is guaranteed; express less doubts and a deeper welcome.?Don't beat yourself up over perception and actions you took in the past; if they seemed right and proper at the time, then you made the best choice you could have; do not judge them or reject them; let them go; even if you might make a different choice now.?Plan and set goals for the future, but be in the NOW and take action in the NOW.?If you feel depressed, neglected, or rejected; validate how you feel but remember that tomorrow is a fresh and clean new start. There are no two days alike!!!?At the end of the day, it's all about happiness; the richness of our experiences, the people we touched, loved and impacted throughout our struggles give us wealth far beyond money.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Open Road Integrated Media
• Release date: Mar 1, 2013
• ISBN: 9781614484943

Book preview

the

MONEY

FLOW

How to Make Money

Your Friend and Ally,

Have a Great Life,

and Improve the World

ANA WEBER-HABER

with SHEL HOROWITZ

the MONEY FLOW

How to Make Money Your Friend and Ally,

Have a Great Life, and Improve the World

© 2013 ANA WEBER-HABER. All rights reserved.

No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, mechanical or electronic, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from author or publisher (except by a reviewer, who may quote brief passages and/or show brief video clips in a review).

Disclaimer: The Publisher and the Author make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this work and specifically disclaim all warranties, including without limitation warranties of fitness for a particular purpose. No warranty may be created or extended by sales or promotional materials. The advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for every situation. This work is sold with the understanding that the Publisher is not engaged in rendering legal, accounting, or other professional services. If professional assistance is required, the services of a competent professional person should be sought. Neither the Publisher nor the Author shall be liable for damages arising herefrom. The fact that an organization or website is referred to in this work as a citation and/or a potential source of further information does not mean that the Author or the Publisher endorses the information the organization or website may provide or recommendations it may make. Further, readers should be aware that internet websites listed in this work may have changed or disappeared between when this work was written and when it is read.

ISBN 978-1-61448-493-6 paperback

ISBN 978-1-61448-494-3 eBook

Library of Congress Control Number: 2011930383

Morgan James Publishing

The Entrepreneurial Publisher

5 Penn Plaza, 23rd Floor,

New York City, New York 10001

[phone] office • [phone] fax

www.MorganJamesPublishing.com

Cover Design by:

Rachel Lopez

www.r2cdesign.com

Interior Design by:

Bonnie Bushman

[e-mail]

In an effort to support local communities, raise awareness and funds, Morgan James Publishing donates a percentage of all book sales for the life of each book to Habitat for Humanity Peninsula and Greater Williamsburg.

DEDICATION

To my son, Sean. I am so proud of you. I cherish you and love you very much. You truly understand—and skillfully and successfully practice—the money flow.

CONTENTS

Foreword

Acknowledgments

Preface

Part I:Money Was My Enemy—Now It’s My Friend

Chapter 1Epiphany at Age Eight: How Selling a Magazine to a Stranger Created a Lifelong Passion

Chapter 2Uprooting at Age Ten

Chapter 3How to Make Friends with Money

Chapter 4Staying Friends with Money, For Life

Chapter 5Why Money Must Circulate

Part II:The Spiral of Success

Chapter 6The Ogress: Learning from my First and Worst Boss

Chapter 7Shipping Money Around the World

Chapter 8Steeling South America

Chapter 9California Clothing Dreaming

Chapter 10Marvelous Marble

Chapter 11Food, Glorious Finance

Chapter 1210,000 Percent Growth

Chapter 13Holding Spacecraft Together—While My Life Fell Apart

Chapter 14Signs of Progress

Chapter 15Racing Porsches, Racing Numbers

Chapter 16Washing Away Debt (and Tripling Sales)

Chapter 17Audits Don’t Have to be Awful—If You’re Already Organized

Chapter 18I Love Mondays!

Chapter 19It’s the Attitude, Dude

Part IIIThe Friends-with-Money Lifestyle

Chapter 20You are Creative—Life is Awesome

Chapter 21Money Principles in Your Personal and Business Life

Chapter 22The Power of No

Chapter 23Don’t be a Slave to Time

Chapter 24Arrest the Time Thieves!

Chapter 25Taming the Email Tiger

Chapter 26Time Can Be Your Friend

Chapter 27Boo! It’s Taboo!

Chapter 28Healthy Lifestyle and Success with Money

Chapter 29Making the World Better

EpilogueHappiness

Finale

About Ana Weber…

Ana Weber: Speeches and Presentations (partial list)

About Shel Horowitz…

Afterword

FOREWORD

By Paula Langguth Ryan

I WORK WITH PEOPLE from small businesses and large organizations every day and very often I find that people’s attitudes, beliefs and lack of knowledge wind up impeding their money flow.

When most people look back on business events, there’s a great deal of finger pointing and posturing about what could have been

different and very little take away on how to do

it different the next time.

During a three year stint with the financial newsletter behemoth Phillips Publishing, I was impressed by our weekly management meetings led by owner Tom Phillips. Every manager was tasked with bringing three Lessons Learned from the previous week. No matter what happened, positive or negative, you were to share your take away so others could benefit from your experience and knowledge.

These meetings stuck with me so completely, I still have my notes from them, 20 years later. Like the time we learned to never assume that humor translates well. We cited the case of the Alice in Wonderland-themed magazine promotional piece for The Retirement Letter. The White Rabbit was spouting I’m late, I’m late while frantically gazing at his stopwatch that showed only a short time left to save for retirement. Our team’s brilliant idea to have the 3 million mailing labels addressed to The Late Mr. So & So went to people in their retirement years. With a number of them arriving in the mailbox of Mr. So & So soon after he actually wasThe Late Mr. So & So. Lesson learned.

It’s this type of reflection that Ana Weber engages you in. No matter what your track record has been professionally (or even personally), Ana gets you to focus on a future you can influence, not a past you can’t change.

Most business leadership and personal finance books talk at you or to you. Ana takes a fresh approach by asking you to engage in a dialogue with her about how you can maximize your creative efforts and expand your impact in your business life while creating and maintaining balance and freedom in your world.

Ana regales you with story after story from her lifetime in the world of global business and finance. Stories of the ups and downs and the twists and turns of her navigation through the corporate world, entrepreneurship, management and leadership (a fine difference between the two) and finances abound. What captivated me the most, however, is how Ana peppers her stories with valuable morsels and mouthfuls of advice and lessons learned along the way, always positive, personal and profound.

Reading this book is like sitting down to tea and conversation with a seasoned business mentor who is secure enough to bare all and share all. As you finish each chapter, you’ll already be yearning for the next time you can get together for a mentoring conversation in which you can share something scrumptious you’ve created in your own career.

As a woman who eschewed the corporate world for the world of entrepreneurship only to find out that being a business owner eventually leads to becoming part of the corporate establishment, I am delighted that Ana has written this book. Her commitment to the shared values and actionable items that can lead to professional and personal success and happiness will hopefully challenge you to contribute something worthy and lasting in our world. Then you, too, in the end, can look back and reflect with satisfaction on how fulfilling and rewarding your career has been.

I wish you peace and prosperity on your journey,

Paula Langguth Ryan

Principal, Compassionate Mediators

Author, Bounce Back From Bankruptcy and Giving Thanks: The Art of Tithing

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

MY DEEPEST LOVE AND care to my husband, Mario Haber. You stand by me and support all my ideas, dreams, and purpose in life. I couldn’t ask for a better partner. Thank you for understanding me and giving me and sharing with me all you’ve got. You color my life.

My very special thanks to Shel Horowitz. The way you transformed this manuscript from a lump of coal into a work of art is truly amazing—to say nothing of your sage advice on every aspect of the publishing process. I am so honored to have your name on the cover of this book. You’ve been there for me, helping me achieve my dreams and materialize my goals. I am grateful, and I cherish deeply our friendship.

My gratitude to Scott Frishman for spending quality time with me and giving me the best advice ever. You are a man of great wisdom and poise.

My sincere thanks to Kelly Jo Eldredge for helping me pull it all together in record time.

My love and appreciation to Logan and Mia, my grandchildren. You always motivate me to write more and tell stories. I am so blessed to have you in my life.

My love to Mom, the most courageous brilliant woman I’ve ever known. You taught me how to appreciate each and every moment and learn to move forward always.

To Sarah, my daughter in law. Thank you for sharing with me all that is dear and close to you.

To Steve Harrison, Marc Goodman, Matthew Bennett, Mellanie True Hills, Dr. Elizabeth Lombardo, Dan Janal, Jamie Bright Forman, Julia and Doug Salisbury, Marcia and Ted Reece, Judith and Igal Rochverger, Michelle and Andrew Malatskey, Klara and Nissan Zysman, Zev and Olga Zysman, Tzipi and Stuart Kricun Caroline Shrednick, Eve and Bob Soltz, Helena and Richard Stoltz, Boaz Rauchwerger Kay and Zvika Hartman, Yona and David Goldberg, Shoshana and Avi Ben-Hur, Shalom and Mika Nesher, Gila and Shmuel Kotlovsky and Chen and Idan Kotlovsky, Carmela and Avaram Ben-Hur, Olivia and Tim Tran, Renee Elle, Tin and Pourie Parsai, Genia, Erika Weinstein, Dorit and Don Weiss, Romy and David Siegel, Ildi Singer, Elizabeth Gordon, Francis and Sabrina Hsu, Michael and Jamie Meditash, and Alex Bayer. And to my extended family: Elsa, Enrique, Gladys, Sylvia, Mark, Matthew, Sharon, Vanessa, Michael, Aaron, Derrek, Jennifer and Amanda. Thank you so much, Chase, for working on my new website and programs.

Special thanks to Les Hoffman. 23 years ago, you told me to write my life story and make it about not just money and relationships but also about work and career. It took me a long time to marinate the idea, but I never forgot your advice—and it wouldn’t have come out as well if I’d done it too early.

Thanks also to Shel Horowitz’s wife Dina Friedman, for giving us some great suggestions with the book Sweet Nothings Lead You to Everything.

PREFACE

ALTHOUGH MONEY IS NOT life, it is both a metaphor for life and a tool to organize your life. And like other tools in our lives, our relationship with money can help us or hurt us. Using the lessons I’ve learned in my own journey around money, this book gives you many ways to turn money into a positive force in your life—whether or not you currently have a little or a lot of it. Money flows in and out of our lives, and back in again, along with flows around relationships, career, life passions, and special moments. The Money Flow represents the flow of life. How money flows through and around you becomes an integral part of your life—but one you can influence, or even control.

To put it another way—whether you have a lot or a little, you can take charge of your relationship with money. By understanding that money is affected by human interaction, you can interact with other people in ways that create so much positivity, money starts flowing to you.

We live the life we choose to live, sometimes by following cold calculations, other times by going with our deep emotions, and most times moving in between those two extremes. Our decisions around money are also along this spectrum.

For myself, my two lifelong goals have been to achieve happiness and to help others. Money can certainly make these two goals easier, but it is not required. I was happy even when I was desperately poor, because I was helping others. And I am still happy now that I am financially well-off, because I don’t let a desire for more and more money dictate my life. I strive to be a good person and a happy person, and the money I have is just another tool for this.

Ultimately, it is never about money—how much we have and how much we want. It is about the lives we touch in the process and how much we grow, acknowledge, admire, and appreciate in our lives—which, as a miraculous side effect, sends money flowing toward us. In this book, I share with you my life story and the money flow in my life—how it began to come to me, what I have done and not done with it—as I have striven for (and mostly achieved) personal happiness and joyful state of mind.

Contentment is not easy to achieve or maintain. Life will throw us a rope sometimes, as we struggle to stay above big ocean waves. Other times, we have to swim across the ocean and feel every moment of the journey—but that makes the victory of reaching the other side even sweeter.

Either way, the journey itself is the key.

You’ve heard, Do what you love, and the money will follow. Remember that it also works the other way: "Love what you do, and the money will follow." I send my love to you, wishing you a happy journey. Life is precious, and its most delicate and nourishing component is love. Never stop adding a dash of love to your daily diet!

I’ve been thinking about this book for a long time. It is thrilling to see it come to fruition, because I know my story—my personal journey from poverty to wealth—can guide you on your own path, even though your path will be different.

Please share this book with all your loved ones, so they can grow in their own relationships with money, and make positive changes in their own lives. They will thank you—and so do I.

Ana

Part I

MONEY WAS MY