The Enlightened Millionaire
May 4, 2003 | 12:00am
"If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich." – John F. Kennedy
Mark Victor Hansen and Robert G. Allen are two well-known authors in America. I met them when I attended their seminars in the early ’80s, which they have been conducting separately in California for more than 20 years.
Recently they co-authored a new book called The One Minute Millionaire: The Enlightened Way to Wealth. The book has a remarkably inspiring anecdote that reaffirmed my philosophy that unless wealth is inherited or won in a Super Lotto, money (or success) in most cases must always be paid upfront and in full.
The book tells the story of Le Van Vu, who hardly spoke any English when he arrived in America but was always friendly, and through smiles and sign language became the daily supplier of doughnuts to John McCormack & Company. (Le Van Vu would later become a mentor of John McCormack.) During his first months in America from Vietnam via the Philippines, Le and his wife worked in a bakery and at night they listened to audio tapes to learn English. To save money, they slept on sacks full of sawdust on the floor at the back of the bakery. This was not the life they were used to. In North Vietnam, the Van Hu family was very wealthy but Le’s father was murdered and so the family moved to South Vietnam where he went to school and eventually became a lawyer. Having the DNA, grit, intelligence and work ethic of his father, Le prospered only to be captured and imprisoned for three years in one of his visits to North Vietnam. He escaped back to South Vietnam after killing five communist soldiers but the South Vietnamese government caught him and put him in prison once again.
After serving time Le got out and started a fishing company, which eventually became the largest cannery in South Vietnam. Then came the Vietnam War. When the US troops left, Le and his wife decided to leave Vietnam. With his hoarded gold loaded in one of his fishing vessels, he used this to bribe his way out of Vietnam. He and his wife found themselves in a refugee camp in the Philippines before they finally reached America.
Having left behind everything that he worked so hard for, he became so distraught and attempted to jump into the ocean and end his misery. But his loving wife inspired him to just give themselves one more chance in America.
In Vietnam, family takes care of family and Le and his wife found themselves working for a cousin’s bakery in Greenspoint Mall. They saved all their take-home pay: Le’s $175 a week and his wife’s $125 by forgoing an apartment of their own with all the concomitant costs such as utilities, telephone, car or commuting expenses. Le’s cousin promised to sell them the bakery once they could come up with $30,000 down payment, and he would finance the $90,000 balance. With this new dream of becoming a business owner again in America, they were motivated to replicate their previous business successes.
Here is what they did: Even with a $300 weekly net salary they decided to continue living in the back room of the bakery. For two years they managed to keep themselves clean by taking sponge baths in the mall’s restrooms. Their diet consisted primarily of bakery stuff and they sacrificed much and lived with extreme frugality. But in two years, they were able to save the $30,000 for their down payment to buy the bakery. After only three years, their promissory note of $90,000 was fully paid.
Authors Hansen and Allen ask their readers: "Do you think Mr. Le Van Vu is a millionaire today?" The authors’ last sentence in the last chapter says "We are happy to tell you, many times over!"
The One Minute Millionaire has two books in one: the left pages are for non-fiction people like me and the right pages are fiction based on an imaginary heroine named Michelle. This was deliberately done to address two kinds of learners: the left-brained people and the right-brained people.
Hansen is best known for his Chicken Soup for the Soul series with more than 80 million copies in print while Allen’s book, Nothing Down, has sold over l.2 million copies and his others books (Creating Wealth and Multiple Streams of Income) have all been major New York Times bestsellers.
By the way, Allen’s life had an early turning point when, by sheer accident, he briefly worked for the patriarch of one of the wealthiest families in the Philippines, Don Eugenio Lopez of Meralco and the ABS-CBN conglomerates when the Lopezes were in exile in San Francisco during the Marcos dictatorship. At the tender age of l9, the young Allen was able to see how the wealthy lived and prospered, which left an indelible mark in his mind and inspired him to become a multi-millionaire. The early beginning of Hansen in businesses, however, did not result in phenomenal success but in bankruptcy. He persevered and eventually became very successful.
Check their website at www.oneminutemillionaire.com. Both authors are not the greatest speakers in my book, but there is plenty of substance and proven principles that go with their presentations and books.
Without appearing or sounding condescending, they adroitly expound that indeed "there is more to life than money" and give you enough reasons why they want readers to become enlightened millionaires. They believe that an Enlightened millionaire will have great abundance that bear good fruits such as greater innovation, charity, tithing, expansion, new opportunities and challenges for others and even lower prices. The twin of abundance is altruism, which gives rise to nobility, fulfillment, joy, happiness, honesty and selflessness. Its enemy is greed, which is often more visible in our lives.
The chapter on tithing can also be a profound eye opener for many readers. It describes that the enlightened millionaire is a giver because giving is the highest form of manifestation of one’s true self. It is an action based on faith. Why is this? The authors answered: "Because giving expands money. How? Just as water exists in three forms – ice, liquid and vapor – we find it useful to think that money exists in three dimensions: the frozen state (material) the liquid state (mental) and the ethereal or spiritual state. If you give money from an attitude of gratitude and abundance, it thrusts you from the material state into ethereal or spiritual dimension. Sir John Marks Templeton, founder of the successful Templeton Funds, once said that ‘Tithing gives the greatest return on your investment.’"
The authors conclude that if we go behind the scenes of most great fortunes, you’ll find a common pattern – the more they give, the more they get!
The last chapter is the best argument I have ever read on why people must come out of the closet and learn to be comfortable with the idea of prosperity. They quoted Russell H. Conwell, founder of Temple University in Philadelphia, who said, "I say that you ought to be rich and it is your duty to get rich. How many of my pious brethren say to me, ‘Do you, a Christian minister, spend your time going up and down the country advising young people to get rich, to get money.’ Yes I do of course."
They say, "Isn’t that awful! Why don’t you preach the gospel instead of preaching about man’s making money?" Because to make money honestly is to preach the gospel. That is the reason.
This writer recommends The One Minute Millionaire. Who knows it might also help you to become an enlightened millionaire!
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