WHY ARE YOU STILL A SLAVE?
Peter Johnson

My libraryBooks and seminars I can credit for some of my success, if not all of it

When I left high school I had read all of three books, and one of them was Spot the Dog Jumped Over the Log. I failed Year 10 English, and in class nobody asked me to read aloud after the first time, because I was that bad. In my first company I had three cheques sent back because I spelt thirteen wrong. I was so illiterate that I asked a friend why they had computer parking at the train station. Now it seems funny, but when I was 18 and wanted to get into business I quickly realised the education system had failed me, and I needed to fix it however I could.

So I started reading. Non-fiction can be hard going, but I found books that read like stories (The Richest Man in Babylon and Og Mandino's books), and I found that the tape player in my car turned it into a university on wheels. I decided to read one page a day and listen to one tape a day. Because reading a book was such a big investment for me, I wrote a review of every one and took at least one principle from each and did something with it for at least thirty days. It is no good reading any book unless you intend to learn something and work at remembering it.

There are many mentoring and education systems around and I have tried many of them. The Amway program's habit of one book a month and one tape a week was fantastic for an uneducated kid from Brisbane, and I should say I am not in that system now and get nothing from recommending it. If you want to be successful you need at least that much commitment to change your habits and get your thinking right.

Peter on the books that built him

Read the transcript

G'day, Peter here. Well, Peter Johnson, and I'm the author of Why Are You Still A Slave. I just wanted to go through the back pages of this.

I actually credit in this book 159 other training courses, seminars and books that I've read and studied and kept. A lot of the material that I've seen, and that I'd bin if it's pretty average material (and there's a lot of average material out there), but if it's got an idea, and just one idea that I can pull out and use, then I'll put that on my shelf and I'll keep it, especially if I implement the idea in my life. So I've got 159 sources there that I quote, and I've read all of those books, which is pretty good for a bloke who couldn't read when he left high school. I literally couldn't read at the end of Year 12.

I got a pass back in those days because I saved up and bought my own computer. My parents thought I was crazy spending the money on a computer; they thought I should buy a car. But because I had the computer, I could get top marks by using the spell check and the grammar check. Even back then, everybody else was handwriting assignments, even in high school, so computers weren't very common. I spent $2,500 on an old computer back then that had, I think, one gig of RAM and a 120 meg hard drive, so pretty average compared to what we have nowadays. Anyway, I wanted to read.

Of the authors out there that I really think are good, there are lots of authors, but James Rohn is fantastic. I really do credit him for a lot of the mindset mentoring that he gave me in his courses. Jim Rohn, or James Rohn if you read his books, has a phenomenal seminar presenting attitude and such a genuine style about what he does. Again, he sells information; he doesn't sell products to people. You've got to be careful of presenters who sell information and sell products, because it's very hard not to be biased towards your products when you're doing both, isn't it? If your accountant's recommending properties you should buy, he's probably getting some kind of kickback or benefit out of that, and I probably wouldn't buy them. I would find them myself, and I'd buy the information from people who are selling the information to me rather than selling the products.

Anyway, so Jim Rohn, Charlie "Tremendous" Jones, he's fantastic. Ed Foreman, he's got a really good audio tape on how to have a fantastic day. Brian Tracy, [inaudible] Tracy covers everything from sales all the way through to... Zig Ziglar, sorry.

Now, Brad Sugars is an Australian guy and he runs Action International, and I credit him for a lot of my business knowledge. He really got into the nitty-gritty. He's an accountant, right, and he had a really good style of presenting to people all the different business things that you might need to know to run a business successfully and to sell it or market it. So, Brad Sugars.

Peter Spann was a guy who taught me a lot about property, and a key piece of information about property, which is borrowing money. If you can't borrow money, you can't use somebody else's money, and if you can't use somebody else's money, you're using your own. If you have to use your own, it takes a long time to save up to make investments. Peter Spann, I don't think he's doing a lot at the moment, but in his heyday, as it were, he had some really good information and I learned a lot from him, so I'd certainly recommend his material when it comes to property.

Tony Robbins, of course, is fantastic for your mindset and all of those things. I definitely recommend him. And I've put a note: Peter Johnson, which is obviously my book.

Another thing to mention is the quotes. Investing is tough, and part of the reason why it's tough is because everybody that knows and loves you is going to tell you that you're doing the wrong thing, at least sometime, right? They're going to be somebody you really trust and that really loves you and you really love them, and they're going to tell you in no uncertain terms, "You're going to lose your shirt. I wouldn't tell you this if... whatever." And it's going to be hard to go against them. But what you have to weigh up isn't whether they love you or not, because they obviously do, that's why they're saying it, and they're obviously giving you their best advice. But unless their best advice has led to success in the exact same field as what you're endeavouring to go into, or what you're trying to do, unless they've already made 10 million dollars out of real estate and you're trying to make one million dollars, in which case, and they've done it with no money to start, because you've got no money to start. Maybe if they made 10 million dollars in real estate but they started with an inheritance of 1 million, that just doesn't count, because they can't tell you how to get started, right? So you need people who've done what you're trying to do.

I've got a bunch of sayings that help me. Unfortunately, my mum loves me and she's a great mentor to me, and she's taught me a lot about life and love and all these things, but when it comes to business, I've almost got a proxy that if Mum thinks it's a bad idea, then it's probably a good idea, because it's just worked out that way in my life. Nowadays it's a bit of a joke and we have a laugh about it, but it's always been a good lesson for me that even though people love you, they're going to give you their best advice, but it doesn't mean it's the right advice.

Now, I'll just go through a couple of quotes I've got. "If it is to be, then it's up to me." And these are just to help me along the way. "Whether you think you can or you think you can't, either way you're probably right." "You can trust a thief, but you can't trust a liar." Now, in business that's important, because if people lie to you, then that's it. I don't do business with people who lie or cheat.

"Greed's killed more men than women or whiskey." When you're investing, don't be greedy. Leave some on the table for somebody else. Don't be afraid to sell before you get to the top of the market, or buy after the market's moved. Don't be the first in or the last out. Investors, contrary to what poor people think, investors don't take risks. The average poor person takes far bigger risks when they invest in the share market than I do. Most people don't even know that there's a mechanism for insuring your stocks against losses. If you bought HIH years ago, that was considered a blue chip stock and it was never going to go down, and overnight it went down to zero. It lost everything. Share brokers will tell you, "Oh no, it's a theoretical risk, they don't go to zero." Well, a lot of people, that asset went to zero, and if they had 30 percent of their savings tied up in that, they lost 30 percent overnight. So anyway, that's just something to keep in mind.

The only mistake that you can make is to not learn something from your mistakes. My attitude towards life is that there's nothing to be regretful about. You're having a great life, and if it doesn't kill you, it makes you stronger, and you're better and wiser for it, and smarter. And nobody can make you happy. I can't make you laugh, I can't make you smile, I can't change your emotions, I can't make you happy in life. Money can't do that for you, love can't do that for you. You do that all for yourself.

So anyway, I hope this video has helped some people. Have a read of my book. I think it's about $3.50 for the Kindle version. You can read it while you're on the train and you'll get far more value than that out of it. And buy the paperback version, it's about $25, then you can put it on your shelf and will it to your kids, the same way as I'm doing with my children, willing my library onto them. So anyway, like, comment, subscribe, share, and we'll see you on the next video.

The first seven are the must-reads if you want something to change for you. The rest are in no particular order; where I have added a note, it means I particularly liked the book and think it belongs on your list. Links go to Amazon.

Top seven must reads

Business and Management

Property

Shares and Funds

Marketing and Sales

Politics Religion and Philosophy

Personal Development

Personal Finance and Asset Protection

Healthy Body and Mind

Special Interest

CDs, Seminars and Coaching

Great authors and presenters

Great Quotes

I have read many more books than this and been to countless seminars, and I am sure some good books I thought I was lending are still unread on someone else's shelf.

One of the greatest things you can do for yourself and the ones you love is to fill your house with well-read educational books. Your library will encourage your family and friends in ways you don't understand yet. It will take pride of place in your home and mean far more than a bit of paper on the wall or letters after your name. The man who builds his house is blessed by his labour, more than the man who buys it.

If you are just starting your own journey of independent private education, don't feel overwhelmed by this list. I started with one book, Money Making Made Simple by Noel Whittaker. It was a rare gift from my dad, and even though I struggled to read it I knew my future success lay inside books like it. I was 15 and could barely read, but I committed to finishing that book. Now I have a bookshelf full of life-changing books that have paid me back time and again for the effort I put into learning from them.

I have duplicated the success of greater men and profited from their losses, and all that I know is in these books. I would like to thank all these authors for the hundreds of hours they put into writing them.

Peter Johnson
“Success is a choice. Make it yours.”