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Seeds For Thought God wants you to prosper. Good Catholics make good businesspeople. Success in business isn't complicated or mysterious. Catholic Action Principles show the way. Identifying The Special You     This course is about your amazing potential for making money as a practicing Catholic. Yes, God wants you to be prosperous. God wants you to be able to support your family. God wants you to be able to support your personal charitable efforts and those of the clergy.    If you haven't already read the Catholic Action Principles, you can begin your study right here on CatholicSuccess.com. You will quickly realize that when you commit to the Catholic Action Principles philosophy of self-improvement and service to others, wonderful things happen.    People like you.    People respect you.    People trust you.    They buy from you.    They promote you.    You make money.    You are happy.    You will realize something very important: it is good to be Catholic. As you will learn from the characters in this course, business success does not have to be complicated or mysterious. As a practicing Catholic and a lifelong consumer, you already know a lot about owing or working in a successful business.    Offer a quality product or service at a fair price.    Treat customers fairly, politely and with respect.    Hone your business skills.    Just follow this basic advice and you will be promoted again and again. Just follow this basic advice and your customer base will grow through repeat business. Just follow this basic advice and you will be exceptional. Exceptional means that you are willing to do what others can't or won't do. Being an exceptional worker, a good Catholic worker, a thinking, caring and spiritual person of action, you will prosper. This is a winner's attitude. You will win.    You do not need a privileged background. You do not need advanced degrees from elite colleges. You don't need powerful connections. You have already been blessed by being a member of the Catholic Church. Do what you know you should be doing.    You might well ask. "If success is really so much common sense, why aren't more people successful?"    We just answered this question.    Many people are unwilling to push themselves and face the risks of the unknown. The status quo becomes a comfortable cocoon of:    The easy.    The convenient.    The known.    The predictable.    Here is one example. Every Catholic parent knows the value of going to Mass on Sunday and yet two-thirds of Catholic families do not go to Mass every Sunday. Why not? Excuses.    Here's another. Seventy percent of American families own their own homes. Most of the money that American families have accumulated is from home equity. If you make a lot of money with one house, why not own two or three or six properties? Excuses.    Here's another. People who organize their days with a written plan make between three and ten times as much as those with no written plans. Why not take a few minutes to plan? Excuses.    It's easy to make excuses. It's easy to find people to support your excuses. You don't go to church. You don't invest. You don't feel the need to plan. You are complacent. You take it easy. You have decided that enough is enough.    So, what life are you choosing for yourself? If you are going to work for a living, why not do your best and enjoy the economic benefits for yourself, your family and those in need?    Why not? Who or what is stopping you?    For good or bad, you grow up and others stop telling you what to do. As a kid, you wanted independence. Well, now you've got it. You are going to have to decide for yourself that you want a good marriage, a good family and a good career. Wishful thinking isn't enough. You have to act.    You can be the real estate agent who makes $20,000 a year or the real estate agent who makes $200,000 a year. You can be the bus boy in the restaurant or the owner/chef. You can mow lawns or own a landscaping company. You can be an apathetic excuse for a teacher or a motivated educator. You can be a down-at-the-heels lawyer or a champion for social justice.    Who or what is stopping you?    Are you willing to see how far you can go with the one wonderful life that God has given you? Being a professed practicing Catholic, an honest and hard working person, your services will be in demand. There shouldn't be any reason why you wouldn't rise to the top 10% of your chosen profession. The profession doesn't matter; your style and attitude does matter. Be a landscaper, an accountant, a graphic designer or a mechanic. The ambitious taxi driver can make much more money than the lazy lawyer. Just being a thoughtful, spiritual person, willing to take risks and learn and adjust will set you far apart from the crowd. Keep growing.    Think about the people you know who are practicing Catholics. They are good men, good women, good parents and good teachers. If someone is a professed Catholic, the odds are overwhelming that he or she is a good person to work for or with whom to do business.    Challenge yourself. The road to financial prosperity may not always be smooth but the journey is worth the effort. Will you make mistakes? . Definitely. At times, might you look foolish? Probably. Think about the martyrs. That's right. You've haven't got it so bad. Brush yourself off and try again. Yes, you can and should be a tough Catholic.    The status quo, which means "things as they are" has an extremely strong pull. Routines are hard to change. Sometimes, it is painful to change. You may make a change and, then, may have to face the prospect of changing again and once again. Will you get discouraged? Almost everyone does. As you stumble along during the early phase of the learning/experimenting process, you may second-guess your own commitment. You will feel the pull drawing you, tempting you back to your old ways.    This is human nature.    However, take this course through to the end and reflect on your potential as a practicing Catholic of action in business.    In years, not decades, you reach a comfortable level of financial stability. Your housing, transportation and vacation options multiply. In decades, not lifetimes, you earn more than enough money to pamper your spouse and children, to pursue your avocations and to contribute to the well being of those in need. Finally, you leave a sizeable estate for your heirs and chosen causes, one part of your larger legacy of personal accomplishment.    This is a good life.    This is about you.    This is about your following the Catholic Action Principles.    This is about you being your best.    The power of the Catholic faith is yours! When others ask how you to do it, give them a copy of the Catholic Action Principles™ book. Encourage them to visit CatholicSuccess.com and wish them well on their journeys.    Let others experience what you have learned. Evangelize.    There is plenty for everyone.    They will thank you.    Be determined.    Read your Catholic Action Principle and say your prayers each day.    Take your twenty minutes of quiet time each day.    Decide what you want to do.    Take action.    If you are lazy, you've got a serious problem.    If you can't think for yourself, you've got a serious problem.    If you are a selfish, unpleasant loner, you've got a serious problem.    If you lose your faith, you've got a serious problem.    Say your prayers, meditate, and reflect.    Choose self-reliance and independence. Your guardian angels are by your side. Work hard and listen and learn and risk. Do not be swayed by the false excuses offered by others. In the beginning, the weak may not realize that you are not one of them. You are a person of faith. You are strong.    Are you ambitious? If you are working for someone else cleaning houses and making $9 an hour, you can't expect to keep working for someone else cleaning houses and make $29 an hour. Being a house cleaner working for a house cleaning company is a low wage occupation. However, you can start your own cleaning company. You can become a house-cleaning entrepreneur and become a millionaire. Does this happen? Yes, this happens every day.    You can be a full-time schoolteacher or full-time nurse and start a part-time business on Ebay or buy real estate and become wealthy. This happens every day.    But where do I find the time? There we are again, excuses. You know the old saying, "If you want something done, ask a busy person."    Here is the answer.    The average person watches 1,800 of television every year. The average person has a lot of time to read to their children, work in a soup kitchen or start a part-time business. Actually, isn't there time for all of these activities?    As each new day unfolds, only you can decide to take personal control and responsibility for your own life. Only you can decide to be positive and productive.    How could Helen Keller be born blind and deaf and still inspire millions?    How could Mother Teresa bathe lepers and speak at Harvard?    How could Mother Angelica, a cloistered nun, build EWTN?    Read the lives of the saints. You will find inspiration.    What can you do?    What can't you do?    Read the Catholic Action Principles.    Listen to your own heart.    Love and be loved.    Listen and be liked.    Get tough.    Do your best.    Follow the Catholic Action Principles.    Have faith.    Be a person of action and do unto others as you would have them do unto you and you will be amazed at how the things of life: money, cars, houses, tuitions and vacations are drawn toward you. You will be so prosperous that you will find that you have more than you need. As a Catholic, economic prosperity obligates you to share your fortune. Your Annual Bishop's Appeal would be a good place to start. You may also have personal charities and we, at Catholic Success, would certainly be grateful for your financial contributions to our evangelical campaigns. The Objective Of This Course    Through simple stories and parables, the object of the course is to show you, a practicing Catholic, the potential you have to succeed in the world of business. You will learn how rich people get rich. Being rich alone will not make you happy. Being rich and helping others will make you happy. As a person of high standards and moral values, you can make a wonderful living as an employee or as an entrepreneur. The odds are that you don't have to work in a low paying job. The odds are that you don't have to spend your days working in a job where the work environment is negative. This course will show you that you have choices.    This course is not a theological debate of comparative religions. It is not saying that Catholics can be nice and hard working and no one else can. This course is about you stopping to think about you. This course is about what you can do as hard working, thinking, and spiritual people of action. God is on your side, which means that you have the greatest ally supporting your sincere efforts to do your best and help others.    Much of the information in the Catholic Action Principles and the Catholic Success Courses is simply a reminder of what you already know. It is the time test advice that you have already received from your parents, grandparents, coaches, teachers, clergy and all the people who really cared about your personal success.    This course is a sharing of my ideas to stimulate your ideas. With your Catholic faith as your guide, you are on a personal journey of discovery and growth. This does not mean that attaining prosperity and becoming financially independent will always be easy. It is in the make-up of the ultimately successful person to learn from failures and mistakes and to muster the fortitude to move forward... again and again and again. Sometimes by tiny steps and sometimes by giant leaps... you progress forward.    Entrepreneurship is a talent and an ability that can be identified and developed. As you continue through the course, you should look for the style and attitude, and strategies and systems employed by the characters. This course is not meant, for instance, literally to show you how to make a million dollars in the art business or in the pizza business. The businesses in which the characters are involved are simply illustrative of unlimited financial possibilities and directions.    In one story, a fellow fails in the insurance business and becomes a success in the real estate business. The story could have been told just as easily in the reverse; a person fails in the real estate business and becomes a success in the insurance business. Or, the real estate fellow who eventually specialized in selling investment real estate could have specialized and become a success in residential or commercial or industrial real estate or any of the many different specialties in the real estate field. It was his attitude and commitment that made him a success and not, necessarily, the specific business venture in which he was involved.    This will be you: A Thoughtful Person of Faith and Action.    Do what you know you should be doing and you can go a long way.    Be reflective. Be honest. Say your prayers. Find direction. Act.    God has blessed you. This course is about you doing your best and finding your potential. Go to Lesson Two 1 | 2 |  3 | 4 | 5 | 6 Index

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