People these days seem to think that being an entrepreneur is some type of glamorous lifestyle, but it’s really not. It’s really just a pain in the ass. It’s exciting. It’s dangerous. It’s tough.

I’ve been an entrepreneur as long as I can remember. It used to be looked upon as something bad. A fancy way of saying you were unemployed, but it was the only thing I knew. It never made sense to me to do all the work and only get a small portion of the profits.

I guess that it’s something passed down from generation to generation unconsciously.

Counting money was always one of my favorite things to do as a 4 year old. My grandfather would allow me to pull a handful of change out of a jar on my birthdays and that was all mine to keep. By the time I was 4 years old I had managed to save up about a $1.26 in change, but I still hadn’t learned to obtain money in any other way besides having it given to me.

By the time I was 6 years old, I learned about recycling plants and that they would pay you cash for turning in recyclable goods. So I wanted to collect cans, but everyone was doing that. When I learned that they would pay for old newspapers, it didn’t take long before I pulled out the old wagon and started around the block asking people for their old papers. After collecting a truck load in about 1 weeks time, I rallied my mom and dad to help me tie them up with twine and carry them down to the old recycling plant for me.

All said and done, I averaged about $20 a load, not bad for a 6 year old.

When I was 7 years old I collected the candy from birthday parties and would sell it to the neighbor kids at full retail price, which they were happy to beg from their parents and give to me. Sure did feel good collecting more cash.

From 10-16 years old I learned that providing a service paid quite handsomely and the money came quick. I also understood that if I charged less than my competitors, I would likely get the job and if I did a great job, they’d call me again. So I made flyers and started mowing lawns, $8 for the front only, $12 front and back. I used that same flyer for years and it worked every time. I would get calls back before I ever made it home.

After seeing the level of work I did, people were usually happy to pay me $20 or more sometimes and called me back time and time again.

You’d think a kid running a business like that would be rich by the time he was 18 years old, so why wasn’t I?

There was a major flaw in my philosophy.  I was taught to save all of you money until you found something really big you wanted to spend it on, then spend it all…so I did that over and over again which always left me feeling a deep sense of buyers remorse.

When I was 8 years old, I spent $65 on a remote control car, and it turned out to be a piece of crap. I tried to return it, but they wouldn’t allow me to return it simply because I was dissatisfied. There had to be something actually wrong with the product itself.

I repeated this process various times throughout life, all the way up until the purchase of my current vehicle in 2014. A Toyota Camry is a great car and will last me for many years, but it doesn’t counter the fact that I went into the dealership with a specific plan and did not follow it. I was to take $7500 and buy the best used car I could find. That was it. Ended up coming out of the there with a new car and went $12500 over my budget.

Now I’m 32 years old and I have finally been freed of this failing philosophy.

Is saving money ok? Yes, but don’t go overboard. Our money is fake, it’s fiat, it’s bullshit. Inflation, the poor mans tax, causes your money to devalue daily. The more they print, the less your dollars are worth.

Save to buy something big.

NO. Just forget about it. Save your money to invest. Buy assets, something that will increase in value and make you more money, and let them be.

Eventually, you will start to have enough assets to where the passive income from them will allow you to buy and have all the “big” things you want.

Is being an entrepreneur cool? People seem to think so today, but I tell you what, it’s hard. There are a million more things you need to learn, the most important of which is how to get your money right.

Making a larger cut of the profit is always preferable, but remember that until you learn to organize the efforts of others to help you scale, and until you learn to invest your money rather than just save to spend, you’re going to have a really tough time. And even after you learn those two invaluable lessons, it still won’t be easy.

 

 

Thanks for taking the time to read through this article. If you liked it, let me know in the comments or send me a message on IG: @realdealdoug
You might as well follow me while you’re at it. I’ll keep you entertained.