Making your money work for you - Do’s and Don'ts

We’ve often heard people talk about making your money work for you and often what then follows is information that doesn’t necessarily always help you at your point of need. If you’re down and out, struggling financially, what on Earth is advice about investments going to help you with when you’re barely struggling to survive? This has always eluded me and after being able to build myself from the ground up I realised that information out there fails to give people real valuable truths that finds them where they are. 

Before we go deeper we have to start with some cold hard truths just to wet our appetites for the main course. 

We all know the quote: “The knowledge of the truth shall set you free.” - Some smart guy

*Please note that I am by no means saying my advice trumps everyone else’s advice but I want to tell you the things people are afraid to tell you about money with blunt honesty. I’ve seen that money problems are at the core of most of the problems people experience, yet it is the conversation topic they engage the least in.  So here are the preliminary truthbombs for you:

Truthbomb 1: You will never get rich by saving or.

Truthbomb 2: It’s not about how much money you make, it’s more about how much you’re able to retain. 

Truthbomb 3: No amount of money management skills will ever compensate for a lack of income. You cannot manage what you don’t have. 

Truthbomb 4: You have to have multiple streams of income.

Truthbomb 5: Money comes as a result of creating and giving solutions to problems. 

The most important thing you have to understand above all else when it comes to money is this: 

YOU NEED TO SWITCH FROM BEING A CONSUMER TO BEING A PRODUCER WHICH MEANS YOU NEED TO LEARN HOW TO MAKE MONEY! 

No, not earn it from a job, I’m talking about learning to create money out of nothing. 90% of the population are consumers whereas only 10% are producers. Being a producer requires you to initially understand that people buy 3 things: Products, services and knowledge. You must be able to look at yourself and decide what you can create or cultivate in yourself to develop something people will pay you for in these 3 categories. This means you need to familiarise yourself with basic principles of marketing, branding, sales, extroversion, communication and enthusiasm. Until you learn how to adopt a producer mindset, money will forever be a misty concept to you. 

This is what they mean in the basic term of making money work for you. If you decide you want to print T-Shirts and you take $500 of your salary to print some T-shirts, do some online marketing course, do online marketing on Instagram and maybe get a logo in such a way that people buy a T-shirt from you, YOU ARE MAKING MONEY WORK FOR YOU! 

There’s nothing fancy about this process, there’s no knowledge you need to learn about “investing,” you just have to understand how to money multiplies and that is done by coming up with basic to complex solutions to problems you experience from your current vantage point instead of trying to do the impossible because some online gurus told you you can make  $1 Million dollars by doing close to little work. The process of becoming a producer takes time and you fail more times than you win but the wins will more than make up for the losses. It really has to do with a shift in mindset that in turn gives birth to new actions from you and above all else, understanding that our societies teach us how to eat the fish and never how to actually fish. 

So I figured I’d compile a few Dos and Don’ts for you to nibble on today or tomorrow below. 

Do’s

1. Make a commitment to yourself that you’re going to learn to be a producer. 
2. Learn a skill, create a product or offer service people need. 
3. Take risks.
4. Register a company and have a bank account ready for when your opportunities arrive. (You must prepare psychologically to win)
5. Focus less on entertainment and more on learning (A few shows are ok but not all 1000 seasons of Game of Thrones).
6. If you earn a salary, start looking at it as “capital” and no longer as a salary that you ought to spend. 
7. Be bold enough to try and fail. It is going to take time to get it right. 
8. When you eventually do start to make money, never stop investing in marketing, this is what most people do but understand that money works on a basic principle of cause and effect - You reap what you sow. 
9. Think big but start small. 
10. Play the long game (Long term people always beat short term people in the long term).
11. Shamelessly promote what it is you’re doing. Don’t feel bad about putting yourself out there, it is better to be seen and ridiculed than it is for you to be safe and unknown. Obscurity will kill your money making efforts. Money is not an introvert. 
12. When you do get it right, seek to create multiple streams of income, 5 minimum (yes I’ve given you a challenge). 

Don’ts

1. Never put your money into something you aren’t interested in. 
2. Never invest money in anything unless you’ve gained enough understanding of it. For some people the stock market is a science and so they win, for people who lack the knowledge, it’s one massive Las Vegas slot machine. 
3. Never underestimate the power of marketing. 
4. Don’t get yourself into debt to consume. 
5. Don’t add more responsibility to your life unnecessarily. Some relationships can wait and when you date, make sure someone understands what you’re trying to do. You can’t be committed to being a producer while someone you’re with is committed to being a consumer. 
6. Don’t feel bad when you aren’t able to spend like your friends can remember you are playing the long game. The long game means you will look like you’re losing in the short term. Trust the process
7. Don’t spend money unnecessarily unless you have to. (Sometimes you really do need that drink so get it).
8. Don't beat yourself up when you make mistakes, keep going and get up when you fall.

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