So you want to start making money?
Volume I: Knowing about yourself first and sticking to it like glue!
Desperate times these. Covid 19 has shaped and continues to shape the world we live in. It has impacted jobs and affected millions of lives. People stripped off of their life time savings in a matter of a few months. Or in some cases a few weeks too.
So what do we do? How do we turn this around? Do I read some investment books and take tips from people who’ve made money on how to make money?
What the hell am I talking about??
Let’s be honest, there are a gazillion blogs, videos, books, articles and whatnots on how to make money. So I’m going to try and keep this simple. As simple as it can be to uncomplicate things for you.
Step 1: You’re either rich or poor. Realize which one you’re first. That should be simple. It’s in your bones it’s that deep.
Daddy’s money doesn’t count. Short, sweet and simple wasn’t it? Told you I would uncomplicate it for you.
Step 2: Do you keep looking for a job instinctively? Ask yourself this.
Well if you do, you’re not an entrepreneur at heart. At least not right now. Also, please don’t give me the pleasure of reading this write up and diving into the entrepreneurial world on impulse. That’s not what I’m trying to do. Think of it as a mirror reflection of your true self if we could call it that. If however, you are an entrepreneur at heart then hang on a bit longer as you’re volume is coming up pretty soon.
So coming back to “you’re not an entrepreneur” well you need to realize that if you’re working somewhere to get a higher paying job you need to get more work done and you need more qualifications. If anyone tells you otherwise trust me they don’t know jack of what they’re talking about. Would you give anyone a dime for not doing any work for you? Not a single chore? You’re damn right you wouldn’t. That’s the truth and the same rationale applies to you, my friend. You might go down the rut for a job loss or take a pay cut but eventually, these two things will get you back to where you want to be. Slow and steady but you’ll surely be where you want.
Step 3: Do you tend to save or invest? This is a really important question that you must answer for yourself.
If you tend to save then more than likely chances are that at some stage no matter how good those savings are, a personal event like a wedding, a course, or something else is going to eat into it and dwindle them away. It could be something unplanned like losing your job or a medical expense.
On the other hand, if you are an investor, which means every month you either buy gold, stock (and no I don’t mean mutual funds), lend to earn monthly interest or run a business on the weekends? If you’re not into this then well you’re surely going to depend upon your job. Not a completely bad thing but you would need to realize a few things and plan accordingly.
Step 4: Sticking to what you are and building on that. Child’s play.
Now that you know exactly who you are stick to your strengths. What do I mean by that? Simple. Don’t try to be someone you’re not. None of the “Learn this and that” nonsense. Not everybody can be Warren Buffet. Period!
So if you’re poor (not wealthy means you’re poor be realistic). you look for job options first and you’re a sucker for savings then you’ve got the salaried mindset. You’re not an entrepreneur.
People think being an entrepreneur is to take risks, have the guts to do something uncomfortable and blah blah blah. Well yeah, to some extent that’s true but frankly speaking, nobody talks about the core. Wait. What’s the core? Yes, there’s a core my friend and the core is deep down within you and it will just be this innate desire for you to be an entrepreneur or an investor. Do you order coffee because you don’t want tea? or because you want coffee? It’s that simple. You don’t choose to become an entrepreneur because your boss sucks or your job is sad. You become an entrepreneur if you really, so badly want to be one. So this core, that no one talks about? This core is not just a feeling like yeah I want coffee. No! It is a super driving agent. It keeps you hungry. Hunger to be an entrepreneur is every bloody thing! Get that straight in that thick skull of yours. I don’t care who tells you what. It doesn’t matter what you read. This is the truth. If you’re not hungry and you’re successful as an entrepreneur you’ll fail when the challenges start coming in and believe me challenges do come in. For most in the introduction stage and for a few lucky ones much later when everything goes right to the top in all the charts and they are in la-la land.
So stick to your strengths. If you’re not an entrepreneur keep it simple. Focus on your job. Keep doing more than what you are supposed to do. Work harder give more and more and more and still more. Take initiatives a lot of them. Keep working towards more qualifications, learning more skills that relate to your job or the job you desire. All this will take time. Two years, five years maybe but it will start mobilizing you towards your goal.
Step 5: Time for action. Let’s do this!
Now we talk about your saving habits.
Well, you’re a saver, so keep your saving ratio to 50% no matter how small that is coz if you don’t save you’ll go nuts. So don’t go nuts. Save 50% of whatever is left post expenses. It’s about creating a habit and a system. If you miss out a few times that’s fine. Keep at it till you succeed. The other 50% each month put it in something small. Buy digital gold or real gold. Invest in stocks (not mutual funds I repeat). Small amounts maybe, start with 1 or 2 shares. Look at crowdfunding options where you can loan money to someone and earn interest. Look out for what you can buy, revive a bit and sell at a higher cost but this should be all cash. No loans! Buy something that if it doesn’t sell won’t create a hole in your pocket. e.g. a used bicycle. You can buy it work on it without much money and then sell it at a much higher cost. Keep thinking about where you can invest time and money to either start getting some monthly income or grow the value of something over some time and then sell it off to make a bigger chunk. Nothing else but cash inflow or capital gains but in your plain and simple language.
Start a side business. Something small. Super small. Now you’re not an entrepreneur today but you may be one tomorrow. If you aren’t one in future too you still need to do this. I just talked about something you could buy and sell as an example. Do something like that. If you’re creative, write something, start a blog and keep working at it. Slowly, maybe after 1 to 2 years, you’ll see traction. Money will start coming in. So what you have now is another stream of income. So now, you have something which you do on weekends or end of the day and earn money from an “other than your job” source. You have to keep multiple things going for you. What you need to remember here is that after this income source starts getting in cash flow if your entrepreneurial mind starts itching you can scale it up fully but if you’re happy and content then you can just simply keep doing what you’re doing and keep pooling your cash flows to save more and move towards a better life.
Focus on your existing skillset. Please don’t waste your time, money and energy on something new. I honestly insist on this! At least till you have a lot of money with you.
Don’t make any unnecessary expenses. Until you have a good load of money (remember step 1) you need to only buy some things, that are genuinely essential.
You already have skills. If you don’t cash in on your existing skills how the hell are you going to cash in on your new skills? It’s like saying that I’ve got apples on my tree but am going to grow new ones and pick those? That’s so stupid. You will have some skills. You just have to think it over and build on it. Easiest to execute and confidence will be high as shit! I don’t care what that skill is. It doesn’t matter. You can bake a cake? draw? write? take pictures it could be anything and not necessarily one. So just pick up your existing skill and start putting yourself out there. Online, offline doesn’t matter just keep on pushing yourself out there to get some business on the weekend. Slowly but steadily it will come. Since you’re not a businessman you’ll only work in your free time and will take second priority to your job. This will also help you once your bandwidth post job hours are full. Then you know you can just slow it down. Believe me, when you reach to this stage you’re doing well. Then you can go aggressive in buying assets like stocks, gold, apartments, reselling stuff that can surely give you much better payoffs as they’re capital gains.
It was nice to put this up and share my views. We will meet again next time in Volume II: Are you an entrepreneur? Let’s find out.
