Do old beliefs serve us?

I remember many years ago sitting in the office of my then tax accountant working on that year's tax return. He was a trumpet player in his free time. He looked at me and told me that I need to smarten up. My tax accountant told me that I need to create royalties. I remember, I looked back at him like he was an alien. How could I create royalties? I was a conductor, university lecturer, aural and music education specialist! Not a song writer or composer!

However, just today I received a message from Amazon to update my details because they want to deposit USD $151.87 to my bank account for my books. This message inspired me to log in and check my payment from iTunes too, after my songs and albums. More royalties from there, too.

So much has changed in a decade....My tax accountant definitely has managed to put the bug in my head about the need to produce royalties....

Since his advice, I started to write books and publish them as eBooks which gave me total control over my intellectual properties. I started to write songs and similarly, I managed to publish them such a way digitally that I enjoy the full benefits of my own works.

But what is more, I started to look for business opportunities that bring royalties, create passive income. While as a musician I manage my own music studio and get paid based on the hours of lessons I teach, I managed to find and build a business that not only pays for my efforts now but also rewards me for my team building efforts forever and on many levels. The magic of duplication is the best kept secret of the business world.

A lot has happened since that advice from my tax accountant but forever I am grateful to him. He has managed to change my view of the world, my thinking when it comes to business and finances, but most importantly, he has changed my life and definitely he has changed my future.

It took a long time to get my head around what he said and to find a way to follow his advice. With his advice he challenged everything that I grew up with. He challenged all our conditioning, everything that our parents, our education and society taught us. Most importantly, he challenged the idea of getting a good job and working hard. It took a long time for the penny to drop on what "Work smarter not harder" means.

However, it looks like the seed that he planted is alive and is growing. The rest is now just question of time and increasing the activities that generate these royalties both in music, writing and in my businesses.

The most important that my tax accountant taught me is to challenge the age old beliefs and to look things with fresh eyes. Too many beliefs simply don't serve us anymore.