Money alone sets all the world in motion.

—Publilius Syrus

The entrepreneurial spirit of the Awakened Millionaire is expressed in three words: win–win–win.

When we stay true to our creed, true to our mission, and true to our values, then everyone wins. We win, our customers win, and the community wins.

We win because we have successfully delivered immense value to our customers. Our customers win through the impact our product or service offers them. The community, whether it's local or global, wins by the proliferation of positive actions happening within it.

Just one transaction imbued with the win–win–win spirit generates a ripple effect that can touch hundreds, thousands, and in some cases, millions of lives.

A little-known secret to attracting success in all areas of life is to look for the win–win–win in every relationship.

• I don't want to win but have the other side lose.
• I don't want just a win–win, either, though both sides winning is pretty cool.
• I want to complete the circuit with everyone involved winning.

This is far more than what most people do. Let me explain with a story.

For the past 10 years we have lived peacefully in the Hill Country of Texas. We love it here. There is a vacant, two-acre lot beside my home office. The owners of it visit their property once a year and when I see them I try to buy it from them. They refuse. They come back a year later. I offer to buy it again. They refuse. And so it goes. The situation has been acceptable as they haven't built anything on the property in all this time. It's been quiet. All is well.

But recently they sent workers and surveyors out to their land. The writing was on the wall. Construction would begin soon. I was facing a year of noise from the building of their home, and then a lifetime of neighbors. I dreaded it. I was imagining my serenity gone forever.

I knew there had to be a win–win–win someplace here. I just couldn't see it. What was I going to do? Where's my win–win–win, I wondered?

Nerissa, my wife, jumped online and found a five-acre tract of land for sale near us. She looked it up to get a sense of the price of land in our area. We were going to use that info to make a last-ditch offer to buy the neighbor's land. But her finding that information led me to come up with a wild idea. I received an idea that I was pretty sure was genius. I thank my intuition for it, as well as my ability to see an opportunity and act on it.

I found the realtor for the five acres and told her, “If you're good at one phone call, I can get you two sales of land.”

She was intrigued. I told her the story of the two acres beside me. I told her about the five acres near us. And then I said, “Call the owners of the two acres and tell them I will buy their land for the price of the five acres down the street.”

That would be a win–win–win.

This way I would get their land, they would get a much bigger lot for their home, and the realtor would get two sales. Win–win–win.

Yes, I would be paying almost twice what the two acres are worth, but emotionally, that land meant a million dollars of freedom to me. It is well worth the investment.

Not everyone would do this, of course. Most would fight to find a way to get the two acres and nudge out the neighbors. That's a single win.

Another person might go for the win of the two acres, and try to help the owners of the acres find the equivalent land. That's a win–win but not one to write home about.

Few would think to include the realtor. They'd use a shadow buyer to somehow cut out the realtor. But that's a win–win, not a win–win–win.

Again, a little-known secret in life is to go for the win–win–win. I do the same thing in my affiliate programs. If I endorse something, then I have used the program and love it so much I am now an affiliate for it (win), I know the creator of the program is making a fair profit from selling it through me (win), and I know the end buyer of it will be happy (win).

Why don't more of us do this?

Most of the time we get lazy and just come from the mindset of taking care of our own needs. But I've found that the true joy in living is in taking care of your needs while you also take care of others.

Here's one more story to illustrate my point. Recently I was watching an incredible documentary called Rock Prophecies, about this amazing photographer for the rock stars. Robert Knight has photographed the icons of music, from Led Zeppelin, Slash, Jeff Beck, and the Rolling Stones to Stevie Ray Vaughan, Santana, Sick Puppies, and more. Today he looks for the yet-to-be-discovered legends, such as Tyler Dow Bryant. His story is riveting and inspiring.

The photographer typically doesn't sell the negatives to his breathtaking rare photos. He was the only photographer at Stevie Ray Vaughan's last concert, for example, yet he's never released those photos or many others, of many other stars. He's been offered over $3 million for his entire collection, but he will not sell.

But then Robert's mother got Alzheimer's. She had to be put in a constant-care facility. This was going to cost about $9,000 a month. The photographer didn't know what he was going to do but he knew something had to be decided.

Out of apparently nowhere, the sister to Jimi Hendrix contacted Robert. They worked out a win–win–win deal where Robert would sell the negatives of his Jimi Hendrix photos to Jimi Hendrix's sister and the Hendrix foundation, and in exchange he would get enough money to pay his mother's health bills every month. Obviously this is a win–win–win. Robert got the money. The Jimi Hendrix foundation got the rare photos. And Robert's mother is getting the care she needs.

Do you see how this works? What I'm really talking about here is love. Love everyone involved in your negotiation and partnership and you'll naturally attract the win–win–win.

The next time you are faced with a negotiation, a sale, or a relationship issue, ask yourself, “Where's the win–win–win here?” If you assume there is one, then your mind will start looking for it. So turn on your mental radar for the next win–win–win.

The win–win–win spirit embodies the global perspective of the Awakened Millionaire. We act locally, but reach globally. We strive to extend our impact as far as it will reach. We do not look myopically at the actions we take. We do not limit ourselves. We stretch as far as we can.

The win–win–win is a problem solver, in addition to a mindset.

The greatest challenges awakened millionaires come up against are often resolved with the question: What is the win–win–win? If we identify what is commonly known as competition, what is the best way to approach them? We can reach out, join forces, brainstorm, and cooperate. We all offer something unique—we can only grow stronger when we support each other.

Hold an event and get twice as many attendees. Offer a product that offers two unique approaches, and reach twice as many people. Refer customers to the competition when appropriate, and vice versa. We may find that the competition transforms into an invaluable ally. We've seen how feedback leads directly to opportunity.

Awakened Millionaires empowered with the win–win–win expand the reach of opportunity. For example, a company makes organic, sustainable body products and gives a percentage of their profits to rainforest preservation. The company noticed that customers complain frequently that the pumps on their plastic bottles jam and need to be replaced. While they have always used recycled plastic for their packaging, they take this opportunity to redesign their bottles with a plastic-like material made from corn, and add a squeeze top. The squeeze top is far cheaper than the old pump, which more than offsets the cost of using the state of the art corn-based material. Now their bottles don't jam, are biodegradable, and slightly cheaper to produce. Everyone wins, including the environment.

As entrepreneurs, we are always ethical, always generous, always going above and beyond. We are always focused on the good of others —and we know that not only is this the right thing to do, but it nurtures the growth of more wealth and more spiritual enrichment at the same time.

We cannot lose as Awakened Millionaires. We are on a constant quest to expand our reach, knowing that every life touched is a victory.