Am I money chasing?

[circleme]

Since the beginning of this year I'm actively working on finally starting my Fastlane business parallel to my freelance work. However, in the last days/weeks I had again and again small sense crises. Primarily it was about questioning my motives why I want to start a fastlane business in the first place or why I slipped into freelancing back then. No matter how I spin it or turn it: At the end of the day, I'm doing it for the money and to take a big step closer to my goal of financial independence. I have read the TFM book by MJ DeMarco and know that this is not exactly an ideal mindset, but: I do not evaluate a business model solely on the basis of whether I can get closer to my personal goal (FI), but whether it can solve an actual problem and whether I create added value that other people / companies would be very likely to spend money on. Nevertheless, it's not a motivator for me that gets me out of bed every day. The money thought, however, is. At this point, of course, the question arises for me whether I am a money chaser, or whether this way of looking at things is perfectly fine for me to pull off a Fastlane business.

I am currently separating my motives between myself and my company, so to speak. I (my personal goal) have the goal of achieving financial independence in X years. However, the goal of my business is to solve problems that other people/businesses pay for. I just hope here not initial already have the wrong motivations (my personal, meaning money) and I would be interested in input from experienced fastlaners.

Thanks

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Johnny boy]

I only do this for the money and freedom.

But I know that I will only get the money and freedom I'm after if I provide massive value (either in a huge way to a small group, or in a small way to a huge group).

Give to get.

If you want a fire to warm you, you have to put the wood in first and light it. You cannot stand there and say "once you show me some warmth, then I'll provide the wood".

Lots of young guys are starting businesses without any regard for if it helps anyone in any way. If you don't know anything and try to sell a BS course online and it doesn't help anyone, expect to fail. They foolishly think only about the attractive parts of those kind of businesses "oh sweet, I can make money while I sleep, it's scalable too" and they never think "does anyone give a shit and will it help anyone?"

“To get what you want, you have to deserve what you want. The world is not yet a crazy enough place to reward a whole bunch of undeserving people.” - Charlie Munger

At the same time, you must be enough of a savage to take what you want. You cannot help a bunch of old ladies cross the street and expect to become rich. You will just be a nice guy. I see guys on here all the time think "oh, I must help people then" and they become soft nice guys who think it's about charity.

Nobody is getting rich that wakes up and wants to be Mother Theresa "Oh, I just want to help people. I love everyone".

After you get some experience you'll learn to calibrate and balance these two energies. You'll learn how to provide value, and demand a high price for it and get paid. You'll realize you do not need to be a genius to get paid. I know some F*ckers making 400k a year who can't even spell genius. All you need is a fundamentally sound "system" and throw in a bit of persistence and a little bit of scale and you will be making whatever you want. The key is to not be a follower who is starting stupid "me too" businesses like another F*cking social media marketing agency.

All of the opportunity is in things people aren't talking about.

Example: I have a friend who owns a very successful headstone business. They take orders, design them, make them and get them installed in cemeteries. He wanted to add another income stream to his business where he would sell cremation memorial walls to cemeteries. All that would be necessary would be to call up cemeteries, ask if they wanted to order them, and it would cost something like 40 grand each one. He said they all would want it done, but he's pretty busy with his current business and it's not worth his energy. You could do that as a business and get some workers to go install them and you would be making 10k profit every couple weeks. You could scale that up to having a team who can do more installs and you sell to more cemeteries. Does that take being a genius? No. Does it take money to start? Not really. Does it take a ton of skill? Not really, nothing you can't learn. But NOBODY is thinking about it, so it's invisible. All the good opportunities are like that. Invisible to all of the teenagers who are scrolling tik tok all day not getting out there and getting their hands dirty, who only think there are 5 businesses in the world you can start. There's hundreds of thousands. That's what you need to be searching for, a place in the market where you can hop in. If you were dedicated in that business and made good decisions, there isn't any reason you couldn't scale it up to maybe make a million dollars a year or more. It happens all the time. But it's invisible to most people which is why they think business is hard. It isn't, you just need to become aware of opportunities.

 

[circleme]

@Johnny boy Thanks for your post, it's very helpful and I can take away a thing or two.

So if I understand you correctly, it's perfectly fine if money is my personal driver that keeps me motivated to get up in the morning, but at the end of the day I still need to solve real world problems that help people to achieve my personal goal? The only bad thing would be if I were solely money-driven but had no interest in adding real value, right?

Personally, I just struggle with my intention being primarily money-driven. But it also concerns only me. The goal of my company, which I decouple somewhere from my person, is still to create added value.

 

[Johnny boy]

@Johnny boy Thanks for your post, it's very helpful and I can take away a thing or two.

So if I understand you correctly, it's perfectly fine if money is my personal driver that keeps me motivated to get up in the morning, but at the end of the day I still need to solve real world problems that help people to achieve my personal goal? The only bad thing would be if I were solely money-driven but had no interest in adding real value, right?

Personally, I just struggle with my intention being primarily money-driven. But it also concerns only me. The goal of my company, which I decouple somewhere from my person, is still to create added value.

Funny enough whatever you think and are motivated by will not make you rich, people paying you a lot of money will make you rich. But no one will pay you a lot of money unless in some way, they are getting some value from whatever you're doing.

You can be an a**hole, a great person, smart or literally retarded. But if people value what you're doing you'll probably end up loaded. It's just that USUALLY you'll only be able to create something people value if you're smart, savvy, a little creative and you intentionally set out to create that value.

I know many wealthy people who never once think about any of the things we are discussing in this thread. They have never heard of CENTS, they just have a business and make bank. It's solipsistic to think that whichever mindset you choose will be the deciding factor and actually cause you to make money. The only factor that will actually change your income will be if people pay you a lot of money or they don't.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[circleme]

I think I know what you are getting at.

I also think that I worry far too much about my motivation and my motives. I now see it as absolutely okay if making money is my main motivation. As long as I'm adding value, it's all good. I actually just wanted to point out with my thread that I don't feel creating value for others is as big a motivator as making money with it.

Your points put almost everything into perspective for me. At the end of the day, I don't feel any worse about it now, as there is a lot of talk here in the forum about money chasing being absolutely bad. It is, if one - as you have already written - the creation of added value leaves out.

Thanks for your time and input.

 

[BellaPippin]

Repeat with me: You’re not chasing money for the sake of money, you’re chasing financial independence. You don’t even need that much to get there.

In order to do that, the due process is to create value somewhere, in some form. It has a learning curve, but it’s a simple concept.

I don’t see anything wrong here. Don’t punish yourself for wanting life to be any other than working for a paycheck.

 

[Robdavis]

Since the beginning of this year I'm actively working on finally starting my Fastlane business parallel to my freelance work. However, in the last days/weeks I had again and again small sense crises. Primarily it was about questioning my motives why I want to start a fastlane business in the first place or why I slipped into freelancing back then. No matter how I spin it or turn it: At the end of the day, I'm doing it for the money and to take a big step closer to my goal of financial independence. I have read the TFM book by MJ DeMarco and know that this is not exactly an ideal mindset, but: I do not evaluate a business model solely on the basis of whether I can get closer to my personal goal (FI), but whether it can solve an actual problem and whether I create added value that other people / companies would be very likely to spend money on. Nevertheless, it's not a motivator for me that gets me out of bed every day. The money thought, however, is. At this point, of course, the question arises for me whether I am a money chaser, or whether this way of looking at things is perfectly fine for me to pull off a Fastlane business.

I am currently separating my motives between myself and my company, so to speak. I (my personal goal) have the goal of achieving financial independence in X years. However, the goal of my business is to solve problems that other people/businesses pay for. I just hope here not initial already have the wrong motivations (my personal, meaning money) and I would be interested in input from experienced fastlaners.

Thanks

Separate what you are doing from why you are doing it.

So you want the following setup:
What am I doing? I am going to help people to a significant extent in some repeatable way.
Why am I doing it? So that I can get paid.

Not the following setup:
What am I doing? Trying to get money.
Why am I doing it? So that I can have money.

TL; DR The "why" is what will get you out of bed in the morning. The "what" is the actions you carry out during the day.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[circleme]

that was actually exactly my main issue.

I had a problem with "Why am I doing it? So that I can get paid." as I thought that the value creation part should be my main driver, but at the end of the day, that's just not the truth. It should only be the outcome, but the motivator can be the money, without being someone who is only chasing money.

 

[Kevin88660]

Since the beginning of this year I'm actively working on finally starting my Fastlane business parallel to my freelance work. However, in the last days/weeks I had again and again small sense crises. Primarily it was about questioning my motives why I want to start a fastlane business in the first place or why I slipped into freelancing back then. No matter how I spin it or turn it: At the end of the day, I'm doing it for the money and to take a big step closer to my goal of financial independence. I have read the TFM book by MJ DeMarco and know that this is not exactly an ideal mindset, but: I do not evaluate a business model solely on the basis of whether I can get closer to my personal goal (FI), but whether it can solve an actual problem and whether I create added value that other people / companies would be very likely to spend money on. Nevertheless, it's not a motivator for me that gets me out of bed every day. The money thought, however, is. At this point, of course, the question arises for me whether I am a money chaser, or whether this way of looking at things is perfectly fine for me to pull off a Fastlane business.

I am currently separating my motives between myself and my company, so to speak. I (my personal goal) have the goal of achieving financial independence in X years. However, the goal of my business is to solve problems that other people/businesses pay for. I just hope here not initial already have the wrong motivations (my personal, meaning money) and I would be interested in input from experienced fastlaners.

Thanks

The phrase “money chaser” is a bit of a misunderstood term.

I think MJ come up with the term to describe those make quick bucks scheme that either doesn’t make much money or does not make money in anyway looks sustainable.

At the core of the issue is also mainly that they don’t solve problems and satisfy needs for people.

Customers will vote with the dollar that you are are successful in getting paid customers and even referrals then you are solving problems and satisfying need.

But for something to be worthwhile for you to pursue you still need to take into your own financial needs into consideration, namely things like risk and reward. There needs to be sufficient financial reward when you are right and testing ideas won't bankrupt you.

 

[circleme]

Thanks @Kevin88660

Chasing money in the way you've described is not something I would do at all. It was just a little bit confusing for me but now I know, as I only have money as a motivational driver (or better said "freedom") (that's my why) and aiming to create tons of value for others to reach it (that's my what). But my WHAT doesn't get me up in the morning. I really like helping others, but that's just not enough for me.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Kevin88660]

Thanks @Kevin88660

Chasing money in the way you've described is not something I would do at all. It was just a little bit confusing for me but now I know, as I only have money as a motivational driver (or better said "freedom") (that's my why) and aiming to create tons of value for others to reach it (that's my what). But my WHAT doesn't get me up in the morning. I really like helping others, but that's just not enough for me.

I don’t see as an issue, as long as you find motivation to get you to do the work. It doesn’t matter if the motivations are due to financial reasons or other reasons.