According to the latest Hype, anybody can join almost any new marketing phenomena and earn an absolute fortune for doing nothing. The ads and sales pitches "guarantee" this fact don't they?

"Look at me, I couldn't spend the gobs of cash or drive all the fast cars and boats I now have through this new instant system I have developed. And I'm literally giving it away to you (insert name here) for only four EZ payments of $99.99. Say good bye to bills and hello to Easy Street! Act now, (insert name here) and lock in today or you will miss this one time only offer."

Hello! Please! It's time to stop this BS once and for all. If these claims had even a shred of truth to them, every 5 year old worth his or her salt would be reclined on a Mediterranean beach sipping a fruity cocktail with a toothpick umbrella while looking over their fat stock portfolio in calm retirement.

Give me a break, Please. And I say this with a definite sense of irony since I have fallen victim to more than my share of slick sales pitches like so many lemmings diving of a cliff.

I will say one thing to all who will listen: You do not have to hit rock bottom before you turn things around. You don't have to be beaten to a pulp before you begin to cover up and finally say,"Hey! I don't want to get hit anymore!"

It's a funny thing. We all walk around with this arrogance, this belief that we are the supreme answer to all questions worth asking. Then (If we are lucky) we get knocked around enough that we begin to see that if our supposed knowledge was boiled down, it wouldn't fill a thimble.

We begin to look at the phrase we were caught in grade school is the one truth. Knowledge is Power. Say that a few times over in rapid succession. Knowledge is Power. Knowledge is Power. Knowledge is Power. Knowledge is Power.

Oh, did I forget to mention, I know I get carried away sometimes. Knowledge is Power. Good, I feel better know.

Acquire knowledge, develop skills, take action, and you can actually write your own ticket. You can turn that thimble into a shot glass and then a tumbler and then a pitcher and so on.

But again, it is always easier to do nothing, as long as you remember to show up to someone else's job on someone else's timetable with someone else's agenda in uniform and on time.

The most important thing to remember today is not the easiest to swallow. We all want it to be true, but there is no magic, it will not happen overnight, and there is no one system that will skyrocket you to financial independence while sitting on your ass. Those people are lying to you. Let me make this absolutely clear: They are lying to you!

They want to take your money. They have nothing of value to offer you. You are just a wallet, and when that wallet is empty you do not exist to them anymore.

I have to apologize, maybe my words are a little bitter, but I still keenly remember that when I was finally completely out of money, all they wanted to do was then take my stuff away.

O.K. I don't know you, but I'm going to tell you a little about where I came from. I am the son of a high school teacher and a publishing exec, two of the most intelligent people I have ever met. In turn I was so arrogant that I figured this would just rub of on me and I would, by default, be so smart that I didn't have to work for it.

I challenged my teachers throughout my schooling and fought everyone's advice during my adolescence and beyond. I'm am not proud of this fact but I feel that if it is just my penance for being so utterly stupid than every word of this story is gold to me.

Maybe in some way I have some of their guiding spirit in me that I feel I need to help in any small way I can. No one deserves to have such a hard go of it when all it takes is to add a little humility into their personality and quietly take direction. Especially, when just a little is all it takes.