Hi, this is Billy Epperhart. Yesterday, we talked about God's covenant for wealth. So today I want to start talking about where the rubber really meets the road and the financial changes you need to make to start down God's road to financial freedom.

                As a matter of fact, I have today with me my book, God's Road To Financial Freedom, and in the book one of the things that we give you is really four steps in order to begin to build wealth in your life. And one of those steps that we talk about, the very first, one is you must learn to become more valuable yourself, matter of fact, I have people run up to me all the time in seminars and workshops and really conferences. And they ask me, they say, Billy, I have $1,000, what should I invest in? And my answer always is without hesitation, the first thing you should invest in is yourself. In other words, the truth is that money is attracted not pursued. And the knowledge and the experience and the understanding that you gain through getting in the game and applying yourself will end up attracting things to your life.

                Now, many people have a hard time believing that, that those things will be attracted to your life. But the truth is when you know how to do something and you understand how to do something, it's amazing how things begin to work out for you in your life. In fact, let me give you some insight about this today. When we talk about really these steps that you take, that we're going to talk about here in the episode, is one is you must become more valuable. Now, this first step is we're going to do is on this episode of this course is going to be on becoming more valuable. And the reason that I share that is, always remember, you're the average of the five people that you spend the most time with. Let's say that one more time, you're the average of the five people that you spend the most time with.

                So the truth is if you're not spending any time with anybody who really has any kind of financial wealth, then you may have to look around and see if there's some other friends you could gather. Now, I'm saying that jokingly, I'm not telling you to get rid of all your friends, but you may need to get some new ones. What I mean by that is learn to find people that can help you think different and help you understand things different in your life. In my life I had a significant mentor who came to my life and it wasn't necessarily, I can't say I was smart enough to know I needed to go find a mentor. But I had two businessmen who came into my life that taught me more about money and exit strategies and investing when I was only at the age of about 21, 22, when they first came into my life, they had a great impact.

                What I didn't realize is they were investing in me and I didn't realize until years later. However, as you're watching this video and taking this course, you can do this on purpose, which means that you understand that you get pulled up or pulled down by your associations. As a matter of fact, Proverbs chapter 27 in verse 17 says, "As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another." Let me read it one more time, "As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another." In fact, most people don't realize this, but did you realize that the amount of money that you make in your life every year, whether that's from what we call earned income and in the book we explain this and we really delve into it, but did you realize that you earned within 20% of your top five friends? So when we talk about the power of association, that many people don't even have friends that are at a certain level financially, that they walk in their life. And so the point we're making here in this first step is you have to learn to invest in yourself.

                Now you don't have to go out and and mishandle other people and try to take advantage of other people because maybe they're a little more well off than you. That's not what I'm talking about about. I am talking about being aware that you get pulled up by your associations. In fact, I like to say it this way, in order to have an above average income, you need to learn to become an above average person. So that simply means that you're willing to grow, you're willing to expand and you're willing to invest in yourself. And so people ask me, "Well, Billy, that's good. How do I learn to invest in myself?"

                Well, the first thing you do, number one is you must become willing to learn. And I like to say it, and I say this right here in the book, you must try to read something positive and inspirational every day, give it 30 minutes, as a matter of fact the best place to start is the Bible. But then you can also read other books that will help you expand in your understanding of wealth and in your personal growth. And remember this, you don't bring time to the marketplace, you bring value. And so one of the ways you become more valuable is by reading and learning, there are podcasts out there, there's blogs, there are many books that you can read and look at. And as a matter of fact, one way to challenge yourself is, think about it this way. If you were able to read, say two books a week in 10 years you will have read 1,000 books. I mean, that's an incredible place to be. Think about the knowledge that you would gain.

                So the second way is not just learning, but the second way is listening. And so by listening, we're talking about listening, not only with your ears open, but also with your eyes open. Because one of the things that you want to grow in is learning to discover other people's personal recipes for their success. This is what we mean when we talk about learning to invest in yourself, don't just listen and apply it to where you are only, but also learn to observe and figure out the difference between how you're thinking about something. And maybe someone you're looking to for leadership in your life. So learn to listen.

                And then the third one is what we've been talking about, is learning to look. I think the look part really moves you toward where you need to be in your success in life and learning what makes somebody unique. As a matter of fact, I remember one time in my life with someone who was a public speaker, and I remember listening to them speak and I thought they're okay in what they're saying, but man, they're not very charismatic. They're not very dynamic. Then I had a friend tell me, they said, watch him when he speaks and watch what he says. And as I began to look closer, I realized there was some things that this speaker was doing that was very unique, that represented his personality and represented who he was. And because of that, it translated to the audience and he was a very, very successful speaker.

                And so today, as we talk about here, God's road, God's road to financial freedom in this course, I want to encourage you today as we do that, apply what you're hearing in this course. And in the book, we break it down for you, this is God's Road To Financial Freedom, we break it down for you in great detail on the how-tos of how to prosper.