It seems like more and more people are looking for something that will make a lot of money with no risk. This is not easy to find. Risk and big profit go together. When investing, the things that usually return the most profit have the most risk. Knowledge and work will take some (or lots) of the risk out of certain things.

Knowledge may be the most valuable asset we can have. We should take the time to learn and understand something, not just copy – which may or may not help. If we try to copy a successful person, we will have to copy everything to be sure of getting the same results. To only copy part of what they are doing, or what we think they are doing, may not help at all. It is much better for us to learn and understand what works.

It is also important for us to understand ourselves. We need to learn and understand what works but also know what we will and won’t do. Sometimes it is better to know what we won’t do, or don’t do well, than to focus only on what we will and can do well.

In the past, people spent years to learn a trade. The first job my father had was a blacksmith’s helper. The blacksmith was a Russian who started as an apprentice when he was seven years old. When he was 14, he started getting paid one cent a day. When he was 21 years old, he was a blacksmith. My dad said his knowledge and ability was phenomenal. Dad worked with him for about a year and learned to be a fair blacksmith, but he still had to get help with the difficult jobs. Most people who ask how to do something want to jump over what I have just said and in a few minutes, learn how to do it. They don’t want to hear that it might take years to learn.

When trying something new or different, spend some time to learn the basics of how it works and then spend some more time on how it can work for you. If you are starting something new with limited knowledge, use good money management. Start small and correct your mistakes before you get bigger. Learning can be fun if you are making a little profit or only have small losses. Trying to learn is no fun if you are having big losses. If the first thing you do is profitable, be careful. It might not be how smart you were but just how lucky. Luck will take you a ways, but knowledge will take you a lot farther.

Knowledge will help you to Smile and Mean it!