What Will You Do With the Money? Pt. 1
What Will You Do With the Money? Pt. 1
A fundamental question that answers more than just your financial future.
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More recently, I launched a podcast episode titled, What Will You Do With the Money? (June 1, 2023)
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The inspiration for this post and that podcast episode came when I saw a post by Zach Pogrob talk about Ryan Holiday’s advice from Tim Ferris.
I thought the dialogue between Ryan and Tim was spot on.
It also prompted me to think about an entrepreneur I met years ago that told me of a story when he was on stage and he asked the crowd how much money they’d like to make…
one guy said, $100M…
so, this entrepreneur asked the gentlemen to stand up and he applauded the guy first but then asked, “what will you do with the money?”
and there’s the “rub.”
He didn’t know.
He knew he wanted “financial freedom” but he didn’t know what he would do with that money (or freedom).
Here’s a secret that should be obvious by now… freedom starts the moment you make your own decisions and build your life from there, taking full responsibility and accountability for what and how you want to experience life.
Freedom is a mentality.
For sake of this week’s letter and the podcast, I’m not going to go further on how to approach the question, “what will you do with the money” because the podcast answers a lot of that.
Instead, I decided to do what Ryan Holiday did and add some lessons of my own about what I’ve learned about money (and continuing to learn) so far.
Here are 15 concepts on money to consider:
How many hours you work is not the same as how you use the hours you work.
If you’re always chasing money, you’ll never catch it.
Money is a tool, not a goal.
Long term planning protects short term seasons.
If time is the most valuable currency then why aren’t we talking about an abundance of time when we talk about wealth.
There’s a difference between rich and wealthy.
Build your business around your life, not your life around your business.
There is an art to making money that is unique to every individual.
If you’re presently happy, more money won’t be about an upgraded lifestyle.
Cultivate quiet money.
Sometimes the opportunity isn’t the money.
Ethical wealth creation makes abundance for the world.
What and whom we place “value” on determines more about how we value ourselves.
Create leverage from your talents, the ability reach others and automating how you deliver value at scale.
When you put your happiness, health and God (faith) first, abundance will come naturally.
Let’s expand here👇🏼
How Many Hours You Work Is Not the Same As How You Use the Hours of Work
The reason more hours don’t equate to more money is because you’re still trading time for it.
The old paradigm taught people about work… not how to work smart nor wealth creation…
They taught people how to work more hours… and depending on their level of status, job title, position or school credentials they would make a living commensurate with those variables, often with a ceiling of how much they could earn.
As an entrepreneur, I used to work an insane amount of hours only to achieve similar outcomes time and again.
I’m not saying don’t put in all the upfront work, but I am saying to examine how you’re working so you can maximize time to work for you instead of against you.
When we operate from a place of intention, prioritization, reflection and optimization, we begin to instill systems and processes that expand our output but reduce our inefficiencies and admin work.
As James Clear said,
You don’t rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the levels of your systems.
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If You’re Always Chasing Money, You’ll Never Catch It
If you’re waiting to feel a certain way from achieving a certain goal monetarily or in any other endeavor, the chances of that feeling being sustainable are most likely zero.
The same can be said for any goal.
Ask yourself these two questions:
If ease, freedom, joy, peace, purpose, direction, clarity and devotion are the ultimate feelings associated with wealth, yet are free, why aren’t you participating in those feelings now?
If material gain is wealth but you sacrificed time, peace, purpose, joy and freedom, are you really wealthy or are you caged?
Instead of chasing money to reach tomorrow… chase the feelings associated with it today…
so that as you show up in every situation, more business and income will come your way…
abundance has a way of reaching people others trust… whether they are a client or a customer.
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Money is a Tool, Not a Goal
As I mentioned above, it’s not about acquiring some arbitrary number but knowing how you’d use money to advance your purpose.
Money is a beautiful energy and should be respected as such. You cannot take it with you, but you are responsible for it while you’re here.
Have an ongoing relationship with money… one of learning, growing, respecting, managing, optimizing and multiplying…
but most importantly, have an idea of how you’ll use it and in all the ways you can use it for good so that as more of it comes, more of it can go to work for you.
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Long-Term Planning Protects Short-Term Seasons
I’ve had great earning seasons and I’ve had seasons of absolute complete drought.
There are 3 key points I want to make here…
First, because I never upgraded my lifestyle and always played for my long-term vision, I’ve been able to proceed with my purpose, my work, my business and God’s plan during the tougher seasons where less income was coming in.
Sure, it was tough during droughts, but at least I could carry myself to the next season of plenty whereby I would stack even more.
Second, life happens and unexpectancies are expected. I’d rather not let life’s curve balls take me out of the game completely… a setback or two, maybe, but not completely out of the game.
By not always spending everything that was coming in, I always kept reserves just in case… in short, thank God I did.
Third, I didn’t want to be chained to seasons of my life that were no longer serving me simply because the money was good. I usually know there will come a time where I need to go to the next level and I might have to take a pay cut to do so.
By having reserves, I was able to make moves I wouldn’t have otherwise been able to do.
Sure, it was painful to let go… my ego and my commitment to be “responsible” often kept me in places longer than I probably should have but what got me here won’t get me there so steps back are leaps forward.
SIDE NOTE: I said “commitment to be ‘responsible’” because we can sometimes think that if we’re not earning a certain amount or doing something a more conventional way, that maybe we’re being irresponsible… I had struggled with that several times, but I countered it with saving responsibly so I can ensure I follow my path and purpose (and God) and not convention.
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If Time is the Most Valuable Currency Then Why Aren’t We Talking About an Abundance of Time When We Talk About Wealth
Time is finite, a depleting asset and you can’t get more of it back. You can only use the amount you’ve got.
When thinking about wealth, make sure to include and prioritize time because that’s how you’ll experience life instead of missing the entire journey.
Additionally, when you re-prioritize time, you begin to think about how you do things and make them work for you instead of simply using more time to be “busy.”
My journey into “systems” was not to become a robot, but to free myself from the one I was already behaving like.
I wanted to have a better relationship with my time… okay, why and what does that look like for me?
How does that affect my work and what work would I like to be doing?
How can I not only be the best at my work, but the only? How do I position myself as such and not burnout?
How do I build leverage so I can achieve more with less time, effort and resources but accomplish more output, impact and earning potential.
We live in a digital age where the old rules are completely thrown out the window and the new rules can include a life of doing more meaningful and impactful work (passion, purpose, mission driven, etc), giving it to the world via technology and receiving an undefined amount (unlimited) of compensation for that work.
If you struggle with this concept, I have an upcoming Masterclass on this… feel free to get on the waitlist HERE
I’ll end this section with this thought…
Simplification is the art of seeing what works really well from the subtraction of the things that don’t, then optimizing for multiplication.
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There’s a Difference Between Rich & Wealthy
To demonstrate this, here are some screenshots taken from Justin Welsh, an online creator (former 9-to-5 tech exec).
First, while I do believe wealth should be defined by each individual, Justin’s overall principles he’s sharing are spot on when you think about being chained to “shitty” situations or the stress that comes with it.
Second, having money is not the same as having time and money working for you, which can usually only be achieved by creating systems that amplify your value without you having to repeat the same things over and over again…
learn this concept because this is where you’ll see some of your greatest returns.
As Jack Butcher and Naval Ravikant are known for saying… when it comes to your value, learn to build something once, then sell it a thousand times.
The more I embraced processes, framework and models to deliver value and repeat that for others, the less time and effort I had to give. This is called leverage and I discuss it later in my lessons.
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Build Your Business Around Your Life, Not Your Life Around Your Business
Justin exemplified this up above.
In short, know what kind of life you want, then reverse engineer the process to get there. If you need specific directions on EXACTLY how to do this, I’ve created 4 templates you can access HERE
Don’t create a life once you achieve the money.
Achieve the money from how you’d like to live your day… now simply create and build from that perspective.
I don’t want to chase a never ending goal only to miss out on my life.
I want to live every moment of my life and have a business, or set of businesses, that represent those values and thrive because of it.
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There is an Art to Making Money that is Unique to Every Individual
The niche is you, period.
Think of this from the acclaimed Japanese word, ikigai… which refers to a passion that gives value and joy to your life.
Every individual’s path can be created from figuring out the intersection of what you love, what the world needs, what you are great at and how you are paid for it.
The old paradigm said you must follow a very particular path as the only means to be successful and earn a living… I fundamentally disagree.
No two souls have the exact same path… maybe parallel, but not the exact same.
If you can figure out the above for yourself and then put yourself out there to the world… even helping 1,000 people over the course of time can yield a windfall (a good fortune).
For Lessons 8-15, be sure to check out next week’s letter and if you’re not already subscribed, please do so below to receive it at launch. 👇🏼
Simplify, Multiply, Diversify below…👇🏼
SIMPLIFY…
Use the 80/20 rule. 80% of your wealth will come from the 20% you do really well. Cultivate that lane deeper.
MULTIPLY…
Instead of chasing money to reach tomorrow… chase the feelings associated with it today…
so that as you show up in every situation, more business and income will come your way…
abundance has a way of reaching people others trust… whether they are a client or a customer.
DIVERSIFY…
Learn to do one thing at a time really well… then use it to diversify how you receive from it.
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New Podcast Episode ➠ We Must Redefine Wealth By Rewriting the Rules of It (Apple, Spotify)
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