5 Things You Need To Know About Making Money
--
Take it from someone who’s worked his way up from being a garbage man to a millionaire.
Several years ago I reached a point where I couldn’t pay the rent for my apartment. I had to call up my dad and ask him to transfer me money to cover the most important expenses.
It was a very sobering experience. But also an important one.
Soon after, on a fine day in spring, I went to my town’s industrial park and asked from business to business for a job. Any kind of job.
I had luck.
The local garbage collection company was looking for people. And that was how for some time I became probably the only garbage man with a Ph.D. degree in my country.
Since then a lot of stuff happened and I became what some maybe would consider a successful person.
I made a lot of money (at least by the regular person’s standards). Mainly through investing in equities and crypto as well as by building various active and passive income streams.
As with all things, luck played a part and I am very humble and thankful for how things have turned out for me.
Now it’s time to give back.
In this article, I will share with you some of my learnings about making money. I’ll show you basic processes, mindsets, and other things you need to know to help you with your journey to wealth.
Let’s go!
1. How To Make Money
Everyone who is broke asks the same question.
“How do I make money?”
The answer depends on a lot of factors such as personality, location, and age. But here are some general rules and processes that apply to most people.
Let’s check them out.
Take these 4 steps to accumulate wealth
- Work 9–5 to cover the basics such as food and rent.
- Cut expenses down as much as possible.
- Side hustle (do your own thing) to generate additional streams of income.
- Invest as much of the generated surplus money as you can afford in appreciating assets.
This is the whole process in its most basic form. If you stick to this for a few years and if your investments don’t get hit by external factors such as market crashes, you will end up in a much better position.
Saving money won’t make you rich.
Saving money used to be the way to get from the lower class to the middle class. In times of sky-high inflation, it will just make you poorer. Investing, actively earning money, and making use of passive income streams are the paths you should follow to become wealthy.
If you really want to save money, then find something with a fixed interest rate. But I doubt that there will be any bank that offers you enough on your savings to counter the negative effects of inflation.
It doesn’t just take money to make money
Yes, having money gives you a head start.
But if all it took was money to make more money, everyone with a few thousand $$ would eventually become a millionaire and every millionaire would eventually become a billionaire.
It’s not your lack of money that’s holding you back.
But these things are :
- No plan. Develop a course of action that suits your situation best and stick to it.
- Your lack of action. Don’t be stuck in the planning phase. Execute!
- Being inconsistent. While it’s important to try out different things and experiment, you shouldn’t make the mistake of giving up too early.
- Indulging in things and activities which don’t contribute to you becoming a better and more successful person.
- Getting distracted. Stop minding the news, what politicians say, and what stupid celebrities are doing.
Your 9–5 won’t make you rich. Doing your own thing (maybe) will.
With the exception of a few professions such as doctors, lawyers, programmers, and salespeople, working a regular 9–5 won’t make you rich.
All it will do is to make someone else rich off the time you are investing.
That doesn’t mean that a 9–5 is bad.
When you start out, it’s what keeps you afloat and helps you pay your bills. But you always should aim for more.
To make good money with a 9–5 you need to
- Do what most people won’t do (f.e. empty trash cans inside the back of a truck)
- Do what most people can’t do (f.e. develop a more efficient garbage truck)
At the same time, you should do whatever you can to build up other streams of income. The internet offers plenty of opportunities. Start a blog, found an online agency, invest in crypto, sell your skills, reach out to potential clients.
That is not easy and it will require you to invest hours early in the morning or late at night.
As said above, the important thing is to have a plan and to act on it. If you can make 10$ with your side hustle then it’s just a question of scaling to make $100.
Try. Fail. Learn. Adapt. Grow.
2. Why It’s Important To Have Money (It’s Not What You Might Think)
Money is a problem solver.
A broken washing machine, the annual car check, and a higher electricity bill are all problems that will disappear or cease to be an issue if you throw enough money at them.
Of course, money doesn’t solve everything. But having not enough of it creates a lot of stress.
This brings me to debt.
Debt is slavery. People who are in debt can’t say no to their income stopping temporarily. Because if they don’t pay their debt on time, banks or even worse things will come after them. That’s why people in debt will accept horrible working conditions and other things.
The only acceptable reason to pick up debt is to make more money. For example, if you need capital for implementing a business idea. But even in this case it is something I would not recommend. In all my life I have never taken out a loan.
Debt is like a chain. Avoid.
3. Why Money Doesn’t Make You Happy And What Will Instead
When I was broke, I wanted to do luxury travel so badly.
I’d look at pictures of exotic travel destinations, 5 star hotel rooms, and kept on dreaming about flying 1st class and eating out in the most expensive restaurants.
But once I became wealthy, something strange happened.
I no longer really cared about these things. I still like to travel but instead of flying to Dubai, I just go on holidays on a farm with my kids or rent a cheap apartment by the sea during the low season. And instead of eating out in the best restaurants, I’m happy with enjoying a good meal in a local inn.
Buying expensive stuff doesn’t bring lasting satisfaction. Here is what does:
- A loving family
- Helping others
- Good, quality food
- New experiences that create memories
- Investing in your own future
- Not worrying about money
Money is a means that enables you to do these things. It is a tool.
4. The Impact Money Has On Your Character
There is a saying that money spoils character.
I don’t agree.
Money is amoral. It doesn’t change your character but magnifies it. Money makes good people better and it makes bad people worse.
That’s why it is important that you know and understand your own character, its positives, and its flaws when you are dealing with money and with other people.
The important thing is that you don’t let your money control you.
5. Broke people argue, rich people make more money
You have probably already realized that a lot of the things I wrote encourage you to build a certain mindset.
Why? Because almost nothing in this world is for free.
Complaining about the unfairness of the world or getting into arguments with strangers on the internet won’t change anything. It will just make you angry and waste your time. To become wealthy, you have to want it and you have to act accordingly.
A lot of broke people get jealous of successful people they should be learning from. That’s part of the reason they stay broke. And to be frank with you, in some cases you will have to cut off some people in your life and their bad influence on you in order to achieve your goals.
Does this mean that your whole life should circle around making money?
Absolutely not.
But you should make it clear to yourself and others what your goals are and that you will invest a lot of resources to achieve them.
You will realize that once you have this mindset your perspective on a lot of other things such as your health, society, and technology will change as well.
Final Words
It took me a couple of years to figure out the things I just described to you. Making money is a challenge but not that hard, actually.
Easy for me to say because I am wealthy? I used to think the same about others when I was broke.
It’s a process I can’t describe any better than what I tried to do in this article. What you need to do is to start, build up momentum, and experience it for yourself. Figure things out as you go. After doing it for a while, new and better opportunities will arise.
Be bold but not reckless. Be patient. Start small and take one step after the other. And when you finally make it, remember to help others on their way.
