When money is always a problem you’re forced to live in fear.
That’s the harsh truth. Mastering money isn’t about Lambos. It’s about a safety net that reduces the burden of fear. With less fear you have more capacity to show courage.
I noticed something in my own life. Each year I got better at passive income, my ability to be courageous got stronger. That’s no coincidence. When you can’t cut off my food and shelter, you no longer have control of me. (Sorry bad bosses, dictators, and tyrants. Your reign is over. I’ll send you some flowers.)
The combination of passive income and a life of less fear led me to make the one decision I’ve been scared shitless of my whole life: quitting my pain in the ass job.
With less fear you can do anything. It starts with your rules about money. And if you think money doesn’t matter, then why do most of the global population give up 40 hours of their time a week to earn it?
Money doesn’t represent what you can buy. Money represents time.
Excuses belong in the dumpster
If you really want it, you’ll find a way. If you don’t want it, you’ll find excuses — Millennial Money Woman
A fearless life must have some form of passive income. People hate the word but don’t let the label scare you. Passive income is simply the result of investing your money or your time into an asset. When you think of it like that it’s not so scary.
When a friend or online demotivator tells you passive income is a scam, it’s simply because it hasn’t worked for them. They want you to believe it’s not possible so they can feel better for hardly trying and not finding a way.
If you have an internet connection there’s a path to any money goal. That’s what is easily forgotten.
Now if you really hate side hustles or real estate or eCommerce or any of the thousands of ways there are to earn passive income, then I have a simply solution for you that will keep the cool kids happy.
Buy stocks if you’re afraid of passive income.
Don’t build your resume. Build your assets.
Worry less about accolades for your resume & more about assets for your portfolio.
Cashflow > Credentials
— Codie Sanchez
Resumes are now handled by automation software known in the recruiter industry as ATS (Application Tracking System). Are you going to make the AI smile? Probably not. Don’t play the AI resume game. Or even the “network equals your net-worth” cliche game.
Middlemen shouldn’t stand between our dreams.
Sure, work a job and do what you’ve gotta do. But building a resume to get rich is old school. Shift from resume-thinking to asset-thinking.
Collect financial assets the way people collect Pokemon Cards. Let them do some of the work for you, so one day they’ll do all of the work for you.
Get paid in outcomes more than you get paid by the hour
Whoever pays you buy the hour has hidden risk. We’ve all seen this at work before. Maybe a person can convert a customer to a sale, maybe they can’t. Maybe a person can lead a team to smash revenue numbers, maybe they can’t. Because by the hour work has risk, you get paid less.
When you deliver outcomes you get paid sh*t loads more. With outcomes you have to deliver or you don’t get paid.
When I was looking for a person to work with on my online business it became a real challenge. Everybody spoke a good game but who knew if they could deliver. I could be stuck with a dud and have to go through the pain of an employment divorce. I don’t like to be the person who ends another person’s ability to pay their bills.
Then I found an alternative thinker. He didn’t want a salary. So I did a revenue share. If we make money then we both get rewarded. If we don’t then we starve. The arrangement has flourished. Outperformance from outcome-based pay is uncapped, whereas a salary breeds comfort.
Now, I’m not some guru who thinks the whole world can operate on outcome-based pay. I certainly didn’t start out that way. What works better is a hybrid model. Ask your boss “can I get some skin in the game, mate.”
Ask for a hybrid package. One part fixed salary and another part variable based on outcomes. This model has existed in the world of sales for a long time. But it can be applied to all jobs with a touch of creativity.
Choose outcomes over showing up for a specified amount of time.
Make numbers smaller to beat your mind
The fear of getting more than a salary comes from numbers. To replace a $100,000 salary sounds like an enormous task. How the hell does a normal person sell a $20 eBook and replace their salary?
I’d call that eBook side hustle a scam, too. Fear is in the mind. Big numbers scare your brain and keep you in the dark.
Break down the number you need to live and your salary, so you can understand at the micro level what’s required. When you do it’s 10x easier.
A few $100,000/year revenue streams, for inspiration:
– 300 customers @ $29/month
– 6 sales/day @ $45 each
– 1 sale/day @ $270 each
– 50 students/quarter @ $500 each
– 15 hours/week @ $125/hour
— Daniel Vassallo
See how easy a financial goal is when you break down the numbers?
A mentor of mine started a WordPress blog a while back. He told me his mantra in the early days, while still working at an internet company, was “how do I pay for my coffee, then my Subway lunch, then the gas in my car.”
At first his tiny WordPress blog paid for his coffee. His work colleague laughed at him. “$3.50 from Google Adsense. Nice one, pal. Haha.”
Eventually his side hustle paid all his bills. He just had to be patient for the passive income to take over. Oh, and his work colleague now manages his online business for him.
Multiple income sources add up faster than you think
A fearless life needs diversified income. Otherwise if one income source dies, then it feels like having one of your legs chopped off by a samurai sword.
That’s why each income source can be so small that people laugh at it. It’s not where you start, though. It’s where you end up. Income sources compound over time to look wild, especially after 5 years in the game. So don’t worry about the size of your income source. No. Think about the potential of each.
Action over daydreams
Golden rule: If you think about it every day, take the risk. No waiting. — Sales Notepad
I thought about an online business for years like a sucker. I daydreamed in the lunchroom while looking out the window of my 35-floor corporate prison. Make it a rule to notice what you think about every day.
If you find yourself going, “I wish I was somewhere else right now working on my side hustle,” then don’t ignore the feeling like I did. Make it happen. Take the first tiny step. Work on it after hours.
Design your own life (or get walked all over)
This is what society tells you is normal.
– Work 8 hours a day for 5 days a week
– 2 days break where you get drunk
– Small house with a mortgage
– Wait until you’re 70 to chill
– Live for the weekends
– Drowning in debt
– 1 holiday a year
Call me crazy but that sounds sh*t.” — Aaron Will
If that’s not a wake-up call, I don’t know what is. Lifestyle design isn’t about high-fiving Tim Ferriss bros. It’s about constructing your life the way you want it so that work isn’t the only focus.
The default lifestyle handed to us by society is a disaster. No wonder we burn out. No wonder we feel demotivated. No wonder we treat each other like crap on Twitter.
There is a better way. It starts with a lifestyle design. The plan becomes a reality with passive income from side hustles and financial assets. Until you reach the point where what you’ve designed takes over, just go to work each day with a smile, knowing your patience will be rewarded and you can still enjoy your life while you build.
Believe you can come back from any financial disaster
At age 39 I was homeless, no money, no job.
At 41 I got a job in tech after teaching myself web dev skills.
At 45, I start a 6 figure job in 9 days.
DO NOT give up on your dreams no matter how distant they seem right now.
Your best days lay ahead of you and not behind. — @Minimal_ishYT
If you want to make me cry then talk about my bankrupt friend.
His family has been through hell. They’ve been homeless more times than I can count. He still doesn’t believe he can make a comeback. I’ve tried everything. He has the capacity to rebuild, yet he lets one mistake define his life. Don’t do that.
The last money rule to understand is that things can go wrong. You can take a risk and have it blow up in your face. You can lose everything. You can get sued. You can go bankrupt. An emergency can wipe you out.
Financial ruin only takes away your possessions, not your mindset.
Losing everything has been a blessing for me. It taught me to shove my ego where the sun doesn’t shine and mature a heck of a lot.
A picture-perfect dream teaches you nothing. A dream that becomes a nightmare teaches you everything. You can come back from anything in life and be better for it.
This article is for informational purposes only, it should not be considered financial, tax or legal advice. Consult a financial professional before making any major financial decisions.
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