The Power of Clarity

In 2009, I wanted to teach my maids how to invest in the stock market.  (Read the full story in my book, My Maid Invests in the Stock market and Why You Should Too.) 

Today in 2016, one of my maids has more than a million in her stock market portfolio.

But that’s not the greatest thing that happened; this unlikely idea has spawned a financial revolution.  Today, a tidal wave of people are investing in the stock market—and will be retiring multimillionaires—because of my maids’ example.

Today, my maids are not just maids. Yes, they still cook the meals, clean the house, and wash the dishes. But they’re also one of the best personal finance consultants I know. Because of their sincerity and example, they’ve been able to help transform the financial lives of their friends and families.

Don’t get me wrong. They don’t have that fancy title, “Personal Finance Consultant” in their business cards. They don’t even have business cards. But that’s the work they do.  

They do it simply by their example. Today, their siblings are now investing in the stock market. The maids around our house are now investing in the stock market. The beautician who did facials for my wife at home already started investing in the stock market.

No, my wife didn’t convince the beautician to do that. It was my maids. Because after my wife gets a facial, my maids get facials too. (They pay for it; they’ve got money.)

As my maids are lying down getting their facial, they talk. And they share. And they lead.

They lead with the power of clarity.

1. Be clear about your vision. If you are clear about your vision, people will gravitate towards you. Because in a world of confusion, clarity is extremely attractive.
Let me tell you: Much of leadership is about giving hope.

Some people think that you need to be very talented or intelligent to become a leader. That’s not true. To be a great leader, you only need three basic skills.  Master these three skills and you’ll be a phenomenal leader:

The first skill is the ability to give hope. After being in leadership for 37 years now, I’ve realized that many leaders miss this.  Leaders forget about giving hope.  Instead, leaders preoccupy themselves with all sorts of others “important” things that at the end of the day don’t really matter.

You see, nothing can happen to people’s lives without hope.  Once hope is gone, everything else is gone. You won’t even try to do anything else without hope. Hope is like oxygen, water, sunshine rolled into one. When people or organizations have powerful hope, they flourish.

Because reality is difficult⁠—disappointing, depressing, and discombobulating. That’s why people are looking for leaders and influencers who can stand in the gap between reality and the future, between what is present and what is possible.

If people don’t have a picture of their future, they only see the past. And they won’t try to get out of their past⁠—unless someone gives them hope.

That is the role of the leader.

Kids Need a Dream to Live For

One day, a priest was telling me how he was having immense difficulty bringing back young people to God in his parish. “Bo, our whole goal is to get them off drugs and gangs. So we built this recreation center, so the youth have a place to hang out. They can listen to music, play ping pong, foosball, table games… We also organized basketball tournaments. But it seems all these things aren’t working. What should I do?”

I told him, “You’ve got it wrong.  Young people aren’t looking for a babysitter.  They’re not looking for a distraction or diversion—but a dream.  A dream bigger than themselves.  They’re looking for a sacrifice worth dying for. They’re looking for a vision big enough to give everything they’ve got. They’re looking for a sacred mission.That’s why your basketball tournament and a recreation center by themselves don’t work. Tell them that God is calling them to give up their entire lives so that He can use them to build His Kingdom in this world.”

Young people are looking for passion: heroes, fire, sacrifice.  And it’s not even how big your project is—it could actually be a small project, but connected to a big purpose.  (More on this later.)

And when young people have a vision, they have hope.

2. Be clear about your values.

Let me share with you an embarrassing story.

I buy a lot of very expensive educational material for my business⁠—on internet marketing, infopreneurship, business strategies, etc. Instead of flying to the US to attend conferences and seminars, I just buy the video versions and watch them at home.

How expensive are they? Let me give you an example. A few months ago, I bought a six-video seminar for $1500. But the investment has paid off ten times and more. Because of the wisdom I gain from those video seminars, my businesses have really taken off.

One day, I received this email from a store. I don’t know how they got my email address. In the email, the store was offering me other video seminars that I really wanted to buy for 10% of the price. I couldn’t believe my eyes. I shouted Hallelujah!  So without much thought, I ordered. A few weeks later, the videos arrived.

And the store kept emailing me other fantastic seminars.  I would salivate every time it came. I wanted to buy 10 other things.

And that was when it hit me. “Oh my gosh. Are all the stuff here pirated material?”  I felt all my joy was sucked out of me.

I’m supposed to be an intelligent guy. But when I received that first email, I was slow. I didn’t figure it out that it was pirated.  Or as my friends told me, I probably wanted to be ignorant! In Tagalog, “Kunwari hindi ko alam.”  (I told you this is an embarrassing story.)

But the moment I finally resolved in my mind that this store was selling stolen material—and he wasn’t representing the organizers of these seminars—I never ordered from them again,  even if I really wanted to buy and buy and buy more stuff because I was going to save 90% of my money!

Oh believe me, it’s painful to live by your values.  Can you imagine?  Instead of paying for $1500, I could just pay $150.

But after the pain, I felt the joy of being WHOLE.  Which is what living by your values is all about.  That every part of me was synced.

And here’s what I experienced: When I’m clear about my values, it’s easy to make decisions.  Decision-making is difficult only when you’re not clear about what’s most important to you.

And somehow, people know when you’re a person of integrity. When you’re clear about your values, you influence others.  I repeat: People gravitate towards clarity.

Why do you think do people buy my products or services? Because people trust me.  They trust that I won’t cheat on them and I will serve them in the best possible way.

I’m financially successful because of my values.

I’m relationally successful because of my values.

I’m spiritually successful because of my values.

Be clear about your values!

3. Be clear about your vehicle.
You can’t just tell people “This is what you do” and “This is why you do it” without giving them specifics of “This is how you do it”.  If you want to lead people, you need to give enough specifics.  Enough steps.  Enough details.  Enough basics.  Enough nitty-gritties.

The best example I can give you is my financial crusade for the Philippines.  For the longest time, I’ve had this burden in my heart for spiritual people who were doing so poor financially.  It hurt me to see so many good people remain poor simply because they have wrong spiritual hang-ups and wrong financial habits.

So I started giving talks on financial literacy. In the first few years of my crusade, I simply taught people to save for the future. That message really them woke up. But honestly, I never saw a lot of results. Very few people actually implemented my message. I didn’t know why. People would leave my financial talks all gung-ho up to change their financial future—but I would meet them one year later and nothing has happened. They still had zero investments. They were still in debt. They had gone nowhere.

Until one day, I created the TrulyRichClub. In that club, I gave people one single, specific, and simple strategy on how to create millions through the stock market. (Later on, I give the other paths to wealth.) In that club, I provided month-by-month guidance in the Stock market, telling people what stocks to buy, what stocks to sell, when to buy, and when to sell.  The results have been absolutely spectacular. Thousands of people have now transformed their financial lives. Thousands will now be retiring as multimillionaires.

Why? Because when people are given the specific vehicle, it’ll be so much easier for them to follow.

If you’re clear with your vision, values, and vehicle, people will naturally follow you.

May your dreams come true!