Most people struggle to make money because they don't see making money as a skill they can learn.
Making money is something everyone wants to do, but few people see as a skill that can be learned, because money (as with other life-changing skills like social dynamics) is deeply intertwined with our self-image, emotions, and survival.
It's difficult to see money as something within your direct control because you carry the burden of conditioning from your parents, teachers, and life experiences that influence your perception of money.
We don’t control our reactions to impulses, so it creates a veil that disguises money as uncontrollable.
Have you ever wondered what truly separates those who control their income from those who don’t? It’s simpler than you might think. Forget complex schemes and get-rich-quick promises. The foundation of true financial independence rests on just two core principles.
The Fundamental Truth: Money Follows Value
Work is a necessary part of life. And work makes a huge percentage of human life and so you want to do work you love, work you control and work that makes enjoying other parts of your life like recreation possible.
3 problems that are stopping you from making meaningful contribution to humanity and enjoying life is because you’re always busy but never truly productive.
You work long hours, yet your to-do list never goes down. Your days feel full, but your results don’t reflect your effort.
Your problem is that
- You are not in control of your work.
- And since you are not in control of your work you are not in control of what value your work brings to people.
- Since you are not in direct in the value exchange the only thing you can do is rely on your employer who does that for you.
I can work hard for 1 year at writing to become an author, but 1 year isn’t enough to justify $100,000 of compensation. Many times, that writing can be perceived as less valuable than a shop attendant making minimum wage. It’s not what you do, it’s how you do it, and who you do it for.
You only make as much money as other people care about what you’ve done within that year. That is, how your creation benefits them so that they use it to solve a problem, change their life, and bring progress to humanity.
Complaining about not being paid enough is not going to get you paid. In fact, it will probably get you fired or ignored. Or just hated by anyone you come into contact with because they are thinking, “Ok… what are you going to do about it?”
The only option is to take matters into your own hands.
At its heart, every successful business, every thriving career, and every dollar earned boils down to one thing: value creation. If you work a job, you’re already doing this – you’re providing value to your employer. The shift to independent wealth comes when you realize you can provide that value directly to others, on your own terms.
Value creation manifests in two primary forms:
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A Product: A tangible item or a digital product that solves a problem or fulfills a need.
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A Service: An action performed for someone else that addresses a need or provides convenience.
Building Your Own Economy: The Two Essentials for Business
A sustainable path to making money on your own is through building a business. And a business, no matter how grand or modest, requires only two critical components if we go further into the chain of value creation:
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Something Valuable to Offer: This is your product or service – what problem do you solve? What need do you fill?
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People Who Want It: This is your audience – who benefits from what you offer? Who needs your solution?
Without both, you’ll perpetually rely on an employer. With both, you step into the driver’s seat of your financial future.
Now you would say that this is a "sweet talk", something very common I see in the comment sections. Before you close your mind off to another information that could completely change your life, I want you to know your mind doesn't want you to succeed.
Your Success Is Tied To Your Mindset
The thing is that you cannot change your life because you say you want to change your life but you quickly skip the only information that will bring a mind transformation. You jump from platform to platform to chase mindless entertainment to numb your mind.
If wanted to change my life, make more money or have better relationships, I don't need a cookie cutter on my freezer. I would need to attend a seminar, take a course or read a book on relationships, like the 5 Love Languages because information invoke positive behavior change.
You become what you consume so consume in accordance of what you want to become.
"Progress is impossible without change, and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything." —Bernard Shaw
We’ve all heard the promises.
Read this book. Take this course. Find a mentor. Your life will change, they say. I even talk about this too.
But here’s the harsh reality: If your mindset sucks, none of it matters.
Your mindset is the lens you filter good information from the noise.
- It determines how you interpret information.
- It influences the actions you take.
- It shapes your response to challenges.
You can invest in all the books, courses, and mentors in the world, but if your mind is cluttered with negativity, self-doubt, and fear, those investments are wasted.
The right mindset is open to different worldview, sieve the important ones and applies them.
Before you spend another dollar on a self-help book, ask yourself:
- Are you ready to learn as a student?
- Can you detach from the need for instant results?
- Will you commit to the process when motivation fades?
Books, courses, and mentors are tools. But they’re useless without the mental foundation to support them.
Detach your self ego from your identity.
How do you know if it is your ego or your intuition?
Your greatest danger here is your ego and how it makes you unconsciously maintain illusions about yourself. These may be comforting in the moment, but in the long run they make you defensive and unable to learn or progress. —Robert Greene, The Laws of Human Nature
The LOOP
Your ego wants you to stay in a loop; repeating the same cycle over and over again. This is what feels comfortable and safe to the egoic mind since this is all that it knows.
The SPIRAL
Your INTUITION calls you to make gradual changes in your life that lead towards ongoing evolution, development, and transcendence. Pure consciousness can see past the repeating cycles of the mind and urges you to move beyond what you think you know.
Breaking The Resistance Of The Egoistic Self
Waking up requires you to become aware of your ego and its resistance to heal.
How we interpret what we see is determined by our perspective at the time, and our perspective is influenced by our state of mind.
The ego perpetuates this issue. It doesn’t want to change.
If I am angry and have little experience with business, and I see a post from a billionaire about money… you can guess the outcome.
I will form a concept of who that billionaire is in my mind (after reading one of their posts) and solidify that concept with my beliefs.
“He had rich parents.”
“He got lucky, I could never do that.”
“Why doesn’t he give his money to charity? Doesn’t he have enough?”
Even if you don’t say these things, your ego does.
The ego creates barriers, limitations, and fabricated stories that veil reality. It prevents you from seeing things as they are by filling in the blanks of the static image your ego is attempting to construct.
In reality, you formed your entire opinion of another human being on a post that composes 0.0000000000001% of their contributions in life.
When you adopt a higher perspective, you can start to see things for what they are.
The Internet: Your Ultimate Lever
“People do business with people.” This timeless truth is amplified exponentially by the internet. The digital world has dismantled traditional barriers, making it easier than ever to create and distribute value to a global audience.
Today what is possible that man couldn't do 300 years ago is that you can:
-Learn anything: Acquire a new skill, deepen existing knowledge. -Build anything: Create a valuable product or service based on what you’ve learned. -Share It With 5 Billion People: Connect with your audience and deliver your value.
Why You Are Not Where You Want To Be
If you’re not where you want to be yet, there’s likely one key differentiator: skill. The person who is where you want to be possesses the skills necessary to navigate those challenges. By intentionally acquiring the skills that empower you to tackle better mental, physical, and financial challenges, you fundamentally change who you are. And that change unlocks unparalleled opportunities.
Most people don’t know what to do to generate new wealth.
I would argue that you do know. You’re looking at it right now. But you still have the “consume and save” mindset that limits how you perceive the gold rush happening right in front of you.
All new fortunes are being built in the digital space.
We're at a critical moment in history.
It is very good to have a skill or posses a technical skill but if no one knows what you do, people can't patronize you.
The Internet has given everyone the opportunity to do what they love.
In basic economics, you must have been taught the four factors of production.
These factors includes
- Land
- Labor
- Capital
- Entrepreneur
If you look at the four factors above, you will notice that the last factor, is called an entrepreneur.
Unfortunately, school trains you to be part of the labor market, rather than to be the entrepreneur.
So you must reeducate yourself into becoming the entrepreneur, if you want to run and succeed in your own business.
To do that, you need a few skills and then you need a big Vision.
Vision is simply the ability to picture how and on what scale the business you're building is going to positively impact your environment.
If your business is not going to positively impact your environment, its better not to start it.
Then you must learn branding, marketing and selling.
These three skills are non negotiable for a person who wants to be an entrepreneur.
The more you are good at these three skills, the more likely it will be for your company to succeed.
Then you must learn product creation, employee management, offer creation.
5 Crucial Reasons Why You Should Start a Personal Brand Online Business
The purpose of life is to do meaningful work, when you want and where you want. This is all possible through a personal brand and an online business.
People on the internet today are willing to pay good money to be where you are at now. What they want from you is knowledge of how you got there. And all you’d need to do is share and monetise it.
The days of working a boring 9–5 job is over.
An example is Dan Koe— A brand advisor for 6–7 figure creators and influencers. He freelanced as a web designer and built a reputable personal brand around it which fuels his second brain app startup.
- Pursuing Your Passions
You get to work on your genuine passions and dreams, instead of working on someone else’s.
Your work has meaning and makes life more exciting, fulfilling and happier. There’s no need to wake up and dread your day when you can work for yourself. And pursue passions you're interested in.
Now that's an exciting life.
- Your Business Will Always Evolve
The limits of your business doesn’t exist.
It revolves around your value at that moment of time. Your value being your skills and knowledge. And when you continue learning more, you can monetise and share it to the world.
As your knowledge and skills develop, so will your business.
- Financial Freedom
The same concept about your growth applies to your money.
Your value = your money. When you love what you do, you're always growing. And monetising it means there's always an income source. Your earning potential is never limited.
You can achieve financial freedom, whilst pursing your passion.
- Time Freedom
You choose your hours.
Your business is in your control. You can decide when to work and when not to. You aren’t forced to work hours assigned to you by someone else.
Time is no longer restricting you.
- Location Freedom
The beauty of an online business is it’s ONLINE.
There’s no need to drop into reception, clock in and twiddle your thumbs at your desk. You get to decide where you want to be. Anywhere in the world.
That’s the freedom it brings.
Thanks for reading.
-Patrick
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