Have you heard the phrase “trading time for money?” If not, it means getting paid either an hourly wage or salary. You are paid to be at a certain place and to do certain tasks. It’s great to start with, but after awhile, you’re left wondering if there’s more money that can be made in a shorter amount of time.
Trust me, it’s an amazing feeling when you make a quick profit instead of having to slave for several hours for the same amount of cash. As an example, I just resold I lawnmower the other day that I bought for $30 for $120. I spent 20 minutes finding the lawnmower at a garage sale, taking pictures, listing it, and messaging the buyer and made $90. Cool, right? Not many jobs pay that well, so it’s a great feeling finding deals like that and creating value (the end buyer still got a decent discount when comparing that to new prices).
Working harder is not always working smarter
I want to share an interesting story with you to help you grow your mindset and think of how you can trade value for money instead of just time. A coworker from a previous job was talking to me about having worked from 4am – 7pm for 2 weeks in a row in order to finish some reports and presentations for a Board Meeting. I’ve heard all kinds of stats saying that most people are only productive a fraction of the time at work, so I wonder how much of that time was truly work… stats aside, if what he said is true, this means he would have spent 15 hours a day at the office, when he gets paid to be there for 9 (assuming he uses 1-hour for a lunch break).
Let’s do some math!
Excluding lunch, let’s say he worked 6 hours more per day for 2 work weeks. 6 hours x 10 days = 60 hours.
Let’s assume his hourly wage is $35. Not bad, right? That comes out to around $70K a year, assuming he gets 2 weeks of paid vacation. A nice, cushy job. It will allow you to pay your car note, a mortgage, and get groceries. Maybe take a nice vacation or two a year. Unless you live in New York. You might be able to afford a closet for $70K a year in New York (sorry, fellas).
During normal work hours, he’ll earn $2800, excluding taxes and any deductions from his paycheck after 2 weeks, or 80 hours, of work.
By working an extra 60 hours in those two weeks, he effectively lowered his hourly salary from $35/hour to a measly $20/hour. “Congrats, ya played yourself!”
Of course, when he told me, I replied “oh wow, sounds busy!” as he probably felt proud or something. In my head, I thought “Why the hell would you ever do that?” and tried my best to not look like Storm from X-Men by rolling my eyes too hard.
What can you accomplish with 60 extra hours of time?
What could he have done with those 60 hours working towards something else? He could have built an asset or added a passive income stream. Perhaps taken classes to get a real estate license. Or even have done something fun like gone fishing.
Here’s a few things I’d rather do than work 60 hours “for free”:
File an LLC for a business idea
Start conversations with potential business partners
Self-publish a book to sell on Amazon
Write blog posts embedded with affiliate links to earn commission as traffic grows
Create an online course with videos, captions, the whole nine yards
Instead, he put in overtime for basically a pat on the back. Maybe he’ll get lucky and get a 5% raise next year for his efforts. Am I the only person who thinks this is madness?!
If his salary was $70,000 a year and he got a 5% raise, he’d get an extra $3,500 the following year, or $73,500. Whoopdie-doo!
Next time your boss asks if you can stay late, really think about it. If it’s a serious matter and you’re not asked to stay late very often, perhaps once or twice is fine. If it’s a constant request, tell your manager politely that you’d rather eat burning coal. Yes, get fired or laid off, just get out of there! Or if that’s too extreme, at least negotiate a raise.
The best part about spending time on other things such as a side-hustle is that you don’t have to cram 60 hours of work into 2 weeks. You can start with just 30 minutes or an hour a day. Imagine how far you’ll be in just 2 months of time. What can you do differently with time you’re spending on wasteful activities? Figure out how you can add VALUE in exchange for money, and your “hourly wage” will increase astronomically.
Before we get into the 3 Simple Steps of how to inspire and motivate others, I want to share some nuggets of knowledge from what I’ve learned along the journey so far.
It’s impossible to know everything before starting something new. You just need to take action and figure it out along the way.
When I decided to create a website, start a blog, and a host a podcast, I honestly had no idea where to begin. I just started and continue to figure it out more and more as time goes by. I wanted to start sharing my message, and everything on my mind in regards to various business ventures or learnings. The most important thing is that I decided to take action. I could be twiddling my thumbs right now wondering “gosh, wouldn’t it have been nice to have started a website or podcast?” Instead, I’m jumping for joy at the little things. For example, my podcast had 499 downloads last month, up from 157 the month before. When starting from 0, progress is so exciting!
I have heard numerous times that “the riches are in the niches,” and that you should really focus in on a specific area, build a passionate following, and offer products or services to cater to your tribe. However, there is so much on my mind lately, and I feel like a sponge trying to absorb all the water from a fire hose. My posts aren’t just about “traveling” or “product invention.” My articles and blog posts are really about my entrepreneurial journey, from the time I invented a product with a friend to now, where I’m reading more, learning more, and trying to level up in all areas of my life. I’ve been documenting my journey and am trying to share anything of value with you as I learn things myself.
No matter what you’re passionate about, there will be others that share that passion.
The coolest thing to see is that there are a lot of people who have reached out to me to say that I unknowingly inspire. This even includes people I haven’t spoken to in years that have kept up with my posts on social media. I’ve poured money and time into things I strongly believe in and know will eventually pay off. While there are some people who think I’m crazy and taking on so much risk, most people playfully mention things like “remember us little guys when you make it big.” I’ve had people ask me how they can start with a website or podcast, or even how to get a logo trademarked. This has been extremely motivating for me to continue pushing and documenting the journey.
Some people ask how they can elevate their mindset and where they can start on things they’re interested about. I’ve got plenty of books and podcasts to refer you to, of that I am certain. No matter what advice I give to others, I always start off by throwing my tagline out there: less dreaming, more doing. I firmly believe in taking action, spitting in the face of risk (within reason), and just doing it. What is the worst that can happen? If it’s death, perhaps consider trying something else, but if it’s just something like monetary risk, you need to determine if it’s one you’re willing to take.
What is it that you are seeking?
For me, I’m willing to sacrifice my money and time to build assets and passive income streams that I can live off of. Once these systems are in place, I can live freely and on my own terms. How sweet does this scenario sound: your monthly expenses are $3000, and you get a check each month for $5000 without having to do anything. I’m not there yet, but that’s what I’m working towards. It takes a lot of time upfront to build these types of systems, but I’ve met so many people that have been there and done that. Now it’s just a matter of getting to that point. It’s NOT about the money. It’s about the FREEDOM to not have to go to a 9-5 job you hate when you can instead travel or spend time with family.
MINDSET SHIFT: Spending versus Investing: There is a HUGE difference between spending money and investing it. Investments have risk but also have a potential for return. Spending typically only results in temporary pleasure (or avoidance of pain such as being hungry). Check out the differences below:
Spending: You spend $500 of video games and spend hundreds of hours playing them. Nothing is gained but temporary pleasure. You can probably sell them back to GameStop for $20.
Investing: You invest $1000 on inventory from sourcing an item on Alibaba. You invest 30 hours in online courses on private labeling and selling on Amazon and eBay. You generate $3000 in profit after selling the items. Your profit is $2000, but what is more valuable is the immense knowledge gained from going through the motions and putting in the work.
Anyways, let’s get to the 3 Simple Steps necessary to motivate and inspire others based on my observations so far:
1. Be yourself.
Don’t try to fake your personality or anything else. Be yourself and things will be so much easier to do. When you try to speak differently or put on a front, you’ll find that things take longer and seem to be more challenging to do. When you just let your natural self talk about something, write about something, etc., you will find that you are able to get so much more done quickly.
2. Stay consistent.
Have a calendar, or recurring thing on your phone calendar, to remind you to do certain tasks. For example, I publish a podcast episode every Monday at noon. I might record the episode earlier in the week or the morning of, but I make sure to publish it at the same time.
I’m trying to get a little more consistent with my blog posts, but I have pretty good about posting on Wednesdays or Thursdays, with an occasional Friday post if I’m busy or feeling lazy. When you stay consistent, you can develop new good habits, and make things part of your normal routine. Things that you might put off without having a deadline now become urgent on your list of to dos and ensure that you actually get them done.
3. Put in the work.
Third but probably most important, put in the work. You need to be yourself, you need to stay consistent, but you need to put in the work or nothing will get done. Once you’ve got a plan, stick to it. No excuses, no putting things off until next week or next year. A sense of urgency is required or else you will never get anything done.
You must feel like something must get done as if your life depended on it. I think it is absolutely crazy to see the mindset shift that has occurred within me over the last 2 to 3 years. I recently shared a Facebook status from five years ago where I was excited to get a job offer at a certain company. I shared that status again this year saying “wow, was I crazy to get excited about a job.” Now all I want to do is create my own products, make my own sales, and grow my own dream. Things really do change with time and experience.
In college, I would put in the work to the best of my ability. I didn’t like studying for classes that I didn’t find interesting and it was a challenge to get myself to sit through it read chapters for classes like history. However, I wouldn’t hesitate to kill three or four hours playing Xbox sometimes in a single day after class. Now my mindset has completely shifted… I feel a sense of urgency and duty to create my own wealth, to not have to reach out to my parents and ask for help. And even to be able to help them and pay them back for all the things they’ve done for me so far in life. I know I need to put in the work, and I like to think that I do. It’s nice to take break sometimes, but make sure to put in the work.
Maybe These 3 Simple Steps Aren’t So Simple…
So maybe I lied… These 3 steps aren’t always so simple. There’s a lot that goes on with in each one. The important thing is that you take the first step and really focus on speed over perfection. If you try to get every little detail perfect, you’re likely to never take action. If you’re able to take action now, and put something out there, you will at will at least be one step closer than if you had just left it as a thought. My goal is to inspire and motivate you to light the fire inside, ignite that passion. Take the first step towards making your dreams reality.
I blame my background in Supply Chain for my constant desire to minimize steps and time needed to accomplish various tasks. I’m always looking for ways to improve efficiency in all aspects of my life. Some may call it laziness, but I like to think of it as pure genius.
Below, I will share a few productivity hacks I’ve come across over time and use to free up my schedule. I definitely recommend you at least consider trying a few to see how much more time you’ll have to do things you really want to do.
1. Pack a bag of essentials no matter where you go.
This single step has increased my productivity tenfold. Any time I’m sitting in the lobby waiting for my car to get an oil change, I’m not just watching Jerry Springer on TV or scrolling through Facebook. I’m usually getting work done or reading a good book – I never waste time reading “People” magazine or whatever junk is on those lobby tables.
Here’s another example. There may be times when I’m meeting with someone to buy or sell something. Let’s say I’m on somebody’s side of town, but he won’t be free for another hour. Since I might as well stay close to them instead of trying home and back, I can just pop into a Starbucks and get some reading or work done for that hour.
With headphones and my iPad, I can learn on Udemy or watch YouTube videos. I tend to watch/listen to videos on my phone and use my iPad to get work done since I have this Logitech keyboard that makes typing much easier.
Snacks and water make sure that I don’t get hungry and stop at random places where I might spend too much money on foods that aren’t always the healthiest options. I try to avoid eating out too often, especially since I always have a bunch of food in my fridge at all times.
Whether you’re driving and are stuck in traffic or you’re sitting on a plane on a flight somewhere, consider listening to podcasts or audiobooks. This allows you to transform down time that is usually wasted into very productive time. I’ve knocked out multiple books each month by listening to 30 minutes on a drive to visit my parents or 20 minutes on a drive to a friend’s house.
You can even listen and learn while jogging or doing chores. Handwashing dishes? Listen to a podcast! Mopping the floor? Listen to an audiobook!
This is, of course, entirely up to you. You might normally prefer music, but if you’re like me, you’ll find that sometimes you just keep skipping song after song, yearning for something more. If that’s the case, it might be time to try something new.
3. Use tools like Trello or Wunderlist to organize your projects and to-do lists.
I’ve tried all sorts of things for trying to stay organized. I’ve written goals on sticky notes, on my white board, and on the notes app on my phone. More often than not, I would end up forgetting about what I noted down using different tools and missed a lot of action items. Below are a few tools that have helped me stay on top of things:
Trello has an app and website that are both very well done. You can post cards of various topics and even collaborate with others. Think of Google Drive collaboration but with a card-based organization tool.
The app mentions that “Trello gives you perspective over all your projects, at work and at home.” Whether it’s managing a team, writing an epic screenplay, or just making a grocery list, Trello is your sidekick for getting things done and staying organized.
Some options that Trello offers:
Create boards to organize anything you’re working on
Use them solo or invite coworkers, friends, and family to collaborate
Customize workflows for different projects
Add checklists of “To-Dos” on cards
Assign tasks to yourself and coworkers
Comment on items with your friends
Upload photos and videos
Attach files
Trello is free to use forever with options to upgrade to Gold for “loads of extra fun and functionality.” The free version offers so many great features and is worth checking out.
Wunderlist is a tool that allows you to build checklists for any category. I’ve got different lists for workouts I’m doing that week as well as groceries I need to order. You can set due dates and even share tasks with others so that they can see it on their calendar as well.
Key features:
Add, organize and schedule your to-dos from your phone, tablet, or computer
Set due dates and reminders to ensure you never forget important deadlines (or birthday gifts) again
Use subtasks, notes, files, and comments to add important details to your to-dos
Create lists to help sort your to-dos for home, work and everything in between
Share lists and collaborate on your to-dos with family, friends and colleagues
Be productive from anywhere, thanks to Wunderlist’s apps for your phone, smart watch, tablet and computer
Wunderlist is free to download and use. There is a Pro version to give unlimited access to Files, Assigning and Subtasks for accomplishing even more for just $4.99 a month.
If you haven’t checked out my last blog post, I’ve been using a GoalTracker template that I put together and am using to track weekly and daily goals. It’s on Google Drive so that I can manage a few simple priorities each day from my phone, iPad, or computer.
4. Batch your chores or to-dos.
Don’t just pick up your laundry, go home, then go wash your car, then go home again, and then take the dog to the dog park. Try to combine as many activities as possible together. Set an hour aside and have your checklist (maybe even on Wunderlist or my GoalTracker file) ready to reference. Knock everything off the list one after the other, and enjoy the freedom of having the rest of the day to do whatever you like.
Or you can even take it a step further. Order groceries online. I’ve used HEB Curbside to order everything and set a pickup date / time. I simply park, text my parking space to a number, and have groceries loaded into my trunk. I’ve been meaning to check out Instacart as well to have groceries delivered directly to my house. If I never pushed a shopping cart around a busy grocery store again, I think I would be okay with it.
5. Optimize your route and plan your day around where you will be.
Going somewhere? Why not drop of laundry on the way back to kill two birds with one stone? It does kill me a little inside when I have a friend living in the ‘burbs that wants to hang out. I can justify a 30 minute drive from time to time to see friends. But when I do make those drives, I take the opportunity to do one or two things along the route while I’m in the area.
For garage sale hunting in regards to my reselling side-hustle, I like to use RouteXL to optimize my route based on entered addresses. It may be worth checking out if you have a lot to do but don’t need to do them in any particular order.
The power of connecting with like-minded individuals is truly amazing. I wanted to run through a quick timeline of events to show you how quickly you can meet new people, follow-up with them, and both help each other out by sharing experiences and knowledge. These connections can help take you from 0 to 1, help you break through plateaus, and jump over hurdles with lightning speed. It has been an extremely productive week for me in terms of growing my network with people with opinions I already value.
February 24, 2018 – Secret Academy Networking Event (Houston, TX)
I’m a member of an entrepreneurial group called Secret Entourage. When you join and pay a one time, lifetime membership fee, you also get access to Secret Academy, where you can watch interviews of successful entrepreneurs, listen to podcasts, and more.
One of the founders, Pejman Ghadimi (PJ for short), held an event in Houston recently at a place about 10 minutes from my house. I had no excuse to miss out, and am extremely grateful for the connections I made when I went. A few folks had driven down from Dallas, TX, while others flew in from places like California or Atlanta.
February 26, 2018 – Dinner with Samir (Dallas, TX)
Coincidentally, I was heading to Dallas the following day as I had a conference to attend on Monday – Wednesday. I grabbed dinner with a new friend I’ve added to my network from this event on Monday night. Samir is a young entrepreneur that’s already had a successful exit and sold a company not long ago. He’s looking into inventing a physical product and starting another company in energy brokerage next. We literally hung out for 2.5 hours and had a lot in common. He offered advice on staying persistent while I was able to offer some words of caution on the manufacturing side based on some issues we’ve faced.
I also chatted for an hour with another older gentlemen named Scott this past Saturday that runs a successful business out of Atlanta. We actually have a follow-up call this evening. He knows a few people that may be able to help me get over some hurdles I’m having with my own business. And I can’t leave out my new buddy Ali, who is going to get something on the calendar for us to link up and chat next week.
February 27, 2018 – Aggie CEO Added To My Network
Just a day after dinner with Samir, I heard a company speaking at a conference and the CEO just so happened to go to my university, Texas A&M. I got his business card and he told me to call or email him if I have any questions or need any support. I’ll definitely plan to grab some coffee with him in Austin, TX. He sold 2/3 of his shares of his last company and raised a significant amount from venture capitalists for his current business. They’ve landed huge clients such as Dell and are doing quite swell to say the least.
DO NOT UNDERESTIMATE the power of connecting with like-minded individuals.
Connecting with like-minded individuals helps you surround yourself by people who are ready to push themselves to achieve more. Some may be much further ahead, while others might be a bit behind. Where everyone is on their journey is not really as important as the fact that they are on the journey in the first place. The path looks different for every one, but the beauty of growing your network is that you can learn from others or teach others as well. Being able to share challenges, successes, and more with others who have been through similar scenarios is invaluable. Better yet, you can get personalized feedback and advice for your particular situation from smart people who know what they’re talking about. How great is that?
No matter what it is you’re interested in, whether it’s entrepreneurship, music, or sports, connecting with like-minded individuals is always in your best interest. Reach out to those in your community. Go to Meetups in your area, attend events or conferences to meet these people. It’s truly a breath of fresh air when you meet people that “get you” and understand why you’re on the path you’re on. This is very important, especially when you might have friends or family that just don’t understand and hold a completely different point of view than you. When you’re passionate about something that others around you don’t really care about, it can be a bit of a drag. By surrounding yourself with others that share that passion, you find that the fire burns brighter than ever and you’re more motivated than ever.
I left dinner with Samir pumped and ready to pick up the pace with Flexthetics again. I left the conference grateful for 10 minutes of a young CEO’s time and advice. While I had previously lost some motivation due to manufacturing delays, these people rekindled that sense of urgency by giving me several strategic ideas and the motivation to push through, even though there may be ups and downs even in the same day.
You feeling pumped yet? I know I am! Go out and get it!
Yesterday, I had a chance to catch up with a mentor of mine, Filip, over lunch. It had been a few months since we last spoke, and we had a lot to catch up on. Filip has his own website called The Product Startup. There are tons of great articles on there for any stage of the product invention stage, starting at designing and ending with sales. He also has several podcast episodes available to listen to. He’s sold a private label product on Amazon and done well in his chosen niche, and he’s also experienced in real estate. I forgot to mention, he’s also a Mechanical Engineer. Long story short, he’s got a solid background and tons of experience, and I really value his recommendations and advice.
At the end of the conversation, we had covered all sorts of topics. I talked about challenges in manufacturing the Flexthetics Pro as well as how I’d like to flip my house later this year. We also talked about marketing topics such as Facebook advertising, pixels and retargeting, and optimizing conversions for Amazon affiliate links. We shared difficulties, how we were adapting, and things to look into to improve on certain areas we’re working on.
I always take away so much from our conversations. He provides tips and specific advice on how to break through any plateaus I’m hitting. He takes notes during our conversation and sends a follow up email reiterating what we covered and what tools I should check out.
I wanted to share a few takeaways I got from that conversation and email:
1. Track audience behaviors with heat maps using a service such as Hotjar.
I had sort of heard of this before but had never really looked into it. These tools show where actual users scroll to on your site and what is making them leave. He said that this might help me understand how to improve my landing page for my reselling course.
For specific tools, he has used Crazy Egg (the market leader) and Capturly, but has since switched to Hotjar as they have a free, basic plan available.
According to the description, this book describes how the brain goes through decision making. Customers want to buy from us, but we need to put things in place so the customer feels happy to buy those things from us. It shows the information customers need in order to make a decision.
I just signed up for this today and already know I’m going to love it. With hoopla, you can instantly borrow digital movies, music, audiobooks, and more 24/7 with your library card. They have the good stuff, too. From a first glance at the business audiobooks, I’ve already seen titles of books that are highly recommended in the field, such as The 4-Hour Workweek by Tim Ferriss or Gary V’s book, Crush It!
We talked about Audible and how it’s great to access all those books. However, the charges can add up quickly if you buy a few audiobooks. Filip said he’s saved hundreds of dollars by switching to hoopla. Like I’ve posted before, I’m developing my mindset and thoughts from “I can’t afford that” or “that’s expensive” to “how can I afford that?” or “it’s an investment.” I think it’s important to be able to spend money on true investments in ourselves. However, why not use a free resource if it’s legal and available?
4. Limit consumed content and focus on taking action.
Filip mentioned he’s taken a step back and stopped listening to so much audio content. He found that he was spending all his time consuming information but not enough time taking action.
I mentioned that I have noticed it’s easier to take action when you’re physically reading a book. You’re usually sitting at a desk or in a location where you’ve got pen and paper readily available. You’re able to write any notes down or jot down an exercise the book asks you to do. Most people tend to listen to audio content in the gym, while driving, etc. They’re usually busy and skip over any calls to action in the content.
Make sure to take action, this is something I always stress in my podcast as well (like I always say, “Less Dreaming, More Doing”). Perhaps try to implement a key idea or suggestion in each book or podcast episode you go through to make sure you’re putting what you learn into action.
KEY TAKEAWAY:
The main takeaway from my meeting with Filip this time around is that less is more. Really pick a few big things you want to work towards and focus on those. Be the best you can be at those. Do 3 things really well instead of doing 20 things okay. I’ve heard this before, but it was a great reminder. I can see when jotting down all the things I’m working on that I’ve got too much going on. Perhaps you’re like me, you’re trying everything and going down various rabbit holes to see what works and how you can add a passive income stream. However, I know I need to really stick to a few and do those very well. Filip is even selling the rest of his white label item to focus efforts more on real estate. Cut back on things that are no longer adding value to you. Take the learnings from that experience and apply them on your areas of focus to really excel.
Pick a few things you must focus on and consider eliminating remaining distractions.
Here’s what I’ve been working on. I’m focused on some more heavily than others, but I’ve taken away tons of learning from every experience.
I’m still very focused on the Flexthetics Pro, but manufacturing delays and challenges have kind of has that area on the back burner until the supplier can get the plastic ejecting properly from the molds. While waiting on the supplier, I developed the Flipping course and wrote a book to teach others how I’ve successfully resold products for profit with consistency.
I also ordered a bunch of phone cases off Alibaba to try and sell on eBay or Amazon. I was aware that it’s a competitive area but now really am painfully aware. My listings have no reviews and probably are on page 80 of an Amazon search (exaggerating, but that’s what it feels like). Now, I’m just looking to sell the entire box in bulk to a cell phone accessory store and recoup my investment, which was relatively low at $250 for 100 cases. At least I got some practice ordering from China and having product ready to be fulfilled. I also know how to set up products on Amazon with a barcode and everything for the next product I try.
What are your key areas of focus? Jot down the top 3 things you need to get done, your biggest goals. Try to eliminate anything else that distracts you from those things and are not mission critical.
Recently, I posted an article called Morning Routines Of Successful People | 5 Things You Should Try. In that post, I mentioned that a lot of the suggestions were for myself as well, as I was one to just hop out of bed without any game plan whatsoever. My “ritual,” if you could call it that, was to basically roll out of bed, eat a healthy breakfast, shower and get dressed, then take on the day and address whatever tasks were on my mind. I’ve since adjusted my routine after reading a few articles and watching some videos about recommended morning routines. I’ve been at my new one for about a month. I have done a great job of sticking to this routine on weekdays, but will admit that I tend to slack on the meditation on the weekend. Hey, baby steps, right?
In any case, here is my new morning routine, and I love it so far. Side note, if you’re looking for an awesome to-do list app like the one in my screenshot, check out Wunderlist. Shout out to my friend Matt Miranda for introducing me to it. I’ve used it ever since and prefer it to my iPhone notes or even the reminder app.
Check out Wunderlist if you need an awesome checklist app
1. Meditate
I’ve begun to start my day off thinking positively and spending some time meditating. I tried the app Headspace and enjoyed the daily reminders along with the humorous little animated videos they have every few days to explain certain things about meditation. Go give it a try and see what you think. I’m not sure if you can adjust the voice of the person guiding the meditation, but I think that would be a nice option as the guy’s voice just didn’t seem to make me relax for whatever reason.
I’ve also tried doing a few short YouTube meditation videos.
Here’s the YouTube meditation videos I’ve come across that I like the most so far:
I sometimes follow up meditation with some entrepreneur motivation to pump me up… this video does an amazing job:
2. Write down daily and weekly goals
Get your daily and weekly goals down. I’ve sometimes done this on my Wunderlist app, but sometimes it’s nice to physically write them down and cross them off the list as they get completed. I find that a Post-It note works well as it can stick to the inside of a wallet or phone case, or even on your computer monitor for constant reminders.
Here’s my Post-It note for the day:
3. Do 50 push-ups
Get some push-ups in to get the blood flowing and kick start your energy levels for the day. Don’t just get a venti coffee at Starbucks and ingest a deadly amount of caffeine. It doesn’t have to be 50 push-ups, just enough to get going.
4. Take a hot shower with 30 seconds of cold water at the end
A hot shower is a good way to transition from the push-ups for me. I added 30 seconds of cold water at the end as it apparently helps you get more alert. I saw a video that talked about Tony Robbins’ morning routine. He apparently submerges himself in a cold water bath at the end of his morning shower. I just turn the water on cold and stand there shivering like a wet dog then dry off quickly… I guess the cold water part does help you speed up in the morning as it’s so uncomfortable for most people.
5. Eat a healthy breakfast
You may have heard this one over and over again. Eat a healthy breakfast. Your first meal is important to fuel your body and “break the fast” from hours of no food or water while you sleep. I recommend meal prepping on Sundays just to have your meals ready to go in general. This will ensure you don’t grab donuts or a cholesterol– I mean breakfast– sandwich on the way in.
My morning breakfast typically looks like this:
Plain oatmeal with Stevia to sweeten it up if necessary
Egg whites with low-fat shredded cheese and vegetables
What does your morning routine look like? Have you tried anything new to see if it improves the start to your day? Leave a comment below!
Taking risks is scary. We don’t know what’s on the other side and if we should take the leap. I want to offer a few tips to help you strengthen your risk-taking muscles. You can face the unknown and dominate challenges going forward with fearlessness, at least to some extent.
The first time jumping out of a plane without being strapped to an instructor was scary but rewarding
Worst Case Analysis (WCA)
One of my favorite books is by MJ DeMarco and is called The Millionaire Fastlane. I’ve mentioned it a few times over some posts and podcast episodes. MJ recommends trying WCA, or Worst-Case Analysis. Ask yourself a few questions:
What’s the worst that can happen?
What’s the likelihood that it will happen?
Is that an acceptable risk?
Another question to ask yourself that I’ll add to the above list is: what’s the BEST that can happen?
Too often, we look at all the potential downsides of making a decision. But we fail to see the possibilities and get excited at what could be if things go right. Many times, potential benefits far outweigh potential risks. An example is if you were to buy a popular item to resell. Let’s say that it’s going for $2,000 online in the similar condition. Yet you are scared to buy it for $500 from a going out of business sale.
The risk or fear is that you’ll lose $500 if nobody wants to buy the item. I would say that this is unlikely. Worst case scenario, you can probably break even if you’re really buying something valuable that is at a huge discount. Potential benefit is $1500 profit. Potential loss could arguably be $500 for some time, until you sell the item for profit or break even.
Weighted Average Decision Matrix (WADM)
This technique allows you to weigh factors that are important to you. Then you rate them. I did a similar exercise in a supply chain class in college.
You weigh things according to importance, as one thing might be more important to you than another. The example MJ uses in the book is an analysis to move cities. He really put a priority on living somewhere with sunshine as he tended to be seasonally depressed. This really helped his decision to move. He escaped the cold and snow which left him feeling a bit down and moved to a sunny place where he could thrive.
Like Nike says, “Just Do It”
Once you’ve weighed options and the action you want to take seems to be feasible with all risks considered, just do it. Don’t wait around and fall victim to analysis paralysis. Fortune favors the bold.
I was recently admiring a local grocery store, HEB for adding “Curbside” pickup. I can literally order groceries online, schedule a pick up time, and they load groceries into my trunk. Sure, you can get people to get groceries for you and deliver, but it tends to be a more expensive option. HEB Curbside is just $5, and they’ve given me multiple freebies to encourage users to try them out.
One of my brothers jokingly said “I thought of that idea years ago.” Joking or not, I immediately told him “it doesn’t matter at all, because you didn’t act on it or see a dollar of profit off of it.” People don’t care if you thought of Uber or Airbnb. You didn’t do anything, so who cares? Ideas are great. But execution is everything.
The only failure is the failure to learn
“I either learn or succeed, I never fail.” There’s a first time for everything. Professional sports players started off soiling diapers just like you and me. Huge thought leaders and motivational speakers like Tony Robbins or Gary V did, too. We all start off at the same place. The decisions we make and opportunities we create guide our end destinations.
If you try something new and fail, so what? What did you learn that you can avoid or improve next time? You’ll never learn if you never try. And chances are, you’re never going to be perfect the first time you try something.
Get out there, try new things, and take chances. Learn when you fail and celebrate when you succeed. Lastly, don’t let opportunities pass you by!
“Opportunities are like sunrises. If you wait too long, you miss them.” – William Arthur Ward
If I could go back and start from the beginning of the entrepreneurial journey, I would have done a few things differently. However, like the saying goes, hindsight is 20/20. Mistakes are meant to serve as lessons. I’m not complaining that these things have happened, and I learned a lot from the process. “It is what it is.” However, I would definitely do things a bit differently if I had to do it all again knowing what I know now.
Here are 5 things I would have done differently:
1. I would have chosen my first business partner more wisely.
I always hear about people jumping into business with friends or random people who seem gung ho about your idea. Sometimes, the stories have happy endings and everything works out great. Other times, there is some tension, but things ultimately work out. But in many cases, things don’t work out at all and things get very ugly. Unfortunately, the last description best fits my situation.
My original business partner (let’s call him Business Partner #1, or “BP1”) had ideas, but never executed. We’d brainstorm a lot at meetings and come up with action items. During the next meeting, I’d have all mine done and more… he’d show up with nothing. I shrugged it off for as long as I could even though the signs were there.
Later on, I brought a friend on board. We will refer to him as Business Partner #2 (BP2). We came up with an entirely new idea, created a product from scratch, and filed a patent on it. BP1 had some ideas when we showed him where the progress was at, but BP2 and I did all the work. Hours and hours of brainstorming and more importantly, taking action. BP2 brought it up to my attention multiple times that he didn’t think BP1 was pulling his weight. I still tried to push back saying BP1 had some other things on his plate as well. But the signs were all there and I should have listened sooner.
Fast-forward to early 2017. BP2 and I had the hard conversation with BP1 that we were starting a new LLC on our own with the invention we created. BP1 seemed to take it relatively well and agreed we could part ways. Things were okay, radio silence mostly. Then I see that BP1 maxed out the company credit card (that I was personally liable for). I had thought we both were, but found out later that he was listed as just an employee. BP1 stopped paying even the minimum payments. After weeks of Chase calling me and no payment, I just paid the entire amount and am going to resolve this however necessary. I will simply not let $10K vanish without a fight. He’s not answering any of my messages currently. It’s going to be a bit awkward if I see him at a bar to say the least.
So, if I could go back and do it again, I would have never created an LLC with BP1 at all. I would have especially not created a business account with him.
Lessons learned:
People can do shady stuff. Integrity is not a priority to everyone. That kinda sucks.
Find out who is personally liable when creating shared business accounts. If it’s you, set employee spending limits and never share your password.
I thought we both had a shared account and password. After doing more research, turns out that we both had separate accounts. I could have logged in and set his limits months before. Coulda, woulda, shoulda. I don’t dwell on what could have been done. I think about next steps and how to address issues at hand.
Get an operating agreement in place when getting partners. My attorney suggested this once I brought this situation to her attention. This is why I recommend signing up with an attorney’s help instead of just doing the LegalZoom way in 10 minutes. The entire predicament could have been avoided or risks better mitigated.
2. I would have started off with a non-physical product business.
Looking back at all I’ve learned, I might have started off with a non-physical product first. There’s so many moving parts when you’re creating something from scratch. It’s also quite expensive. Although to be fair, trying to start a software company or even create an app isn’t usually cheap, either. I remember moving to a physical product once I got crazy quotes for an app idea I had anywhere from $15,000 to $100,000.
As it just so turns out, the molds for our invention quickly got expensive.
Patent: $10,000
Random attorney fees: $3,000+
Molds: Thousands of dollars more than I expected.
At the end of the day, I’m looking at over $13,000 just for legal fees. Let’s not even talk about the price of the molds… Manufacturing, holding inventory, packaging, shipping, and advertising are all next. I suppose we could also look into licensing deals if we really don’t want to incur a lot more expenses.
Another thing to consider is time invested. Now that I’ve discovered ClickFunnels and how quickly you can begin driving traffic to a sales funnel and doing affiliate marketing to earn commissions on sales, I think I would have started out with that. If you didn’t read my last blog post, I wrote on travel hacking. Within an hour or so, I created this landing page and started driving Facebook traffic there via ads. I will literally get credit card points or commissions if anyone signs up for the cards I recommend or purchases the products I link up there.
Promoting products or services you believe in is basically acting as a salesperson for that product or service. You get a commission on every sale you make. If it’s a good product that solves a problem and sells itself, you just need to drive paying traffic to purchase. Sure, I might not make as much as I will when my Patent Pending product is in stores, but I can get up and running without spending a whole bunch of time or money. You don’t have to create a product, file a patent, etc. You literally just promote.
I might have also focused on creating online courses sooner. I do have one up on Udemy but I know there’s a lot of opportunity here for little monetary investment. Time is the main investment to be made when creating courses. You can get cameras, lighting kits, etc. for relatively cheap.
Lessons learned:
Creating a product is fun and exciting but can be very time consuming and costly
Affiliate marketing is a great way to get your feet wet in selling. Use sites like ClickBank or JVZoo and promote products or services you believe in to an audience willing to buy. Earn commissions on sales.
3. I would have spent more time learning about marketing and sales early on.
I’m rereading Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki currently (great book, by the way). Something really stuck out to me in the most recent chapter. Rich Dad suggested that you should know a little about a lot. I’ve always heard it’s best to know a lot about a little and really be a master at your craft. I guess both are important. What Rich Dad meant is that you should try to know as much as possible. Law, accounting, business practices, etc. You need to know it all to be successful, or hire people much smarter than you in those areas to assist you.
So even though my educational background is in Supply Chain, I would have started looking into marketing and sales earlier. I’m extroverted and love talking to people, which I hear are strong traits for success in this area. It’s exciting and involves human interaction, things that pivot tables in Excel don’t really provide sometimes.
Lessons learned:
Spend time learning what you want to when you want to, even if it’s “not your major.” I suggest sites like Udemy or even just Googling things to learn areas of interest.
4. I would have followed my gut more.
When starting something new, you’re dealing with a lot of new things. Filing an LLC, getting an EIN number, working with an attorney on a patent, dealing with manufacturers to design the product exactly how you want, etc. Those are things that take time to figure out. We can’t be pros at everything.
One example where I wish I trusted my gut was when I noticed a domain name similar to ours that was purchased. We noticed it and saw the site wasn’t set up or anything, it was just a blank landing page. I ran it by my business partner and he talked to the attorney. The attorney said we should be fine with “common trademark” since we had already been using the name.
Several months later, I noticed they had filed a trademark on the USPTO. Our attorney worked with theirs to come up with a Trademark Coexistence Agreement so that we can continue to use our logo as well. Then we got a nice little bill for $2,000. It would have been better to have spent half that amount to protect it upfront but I didn’t listen to my gut.
Lessons Learned:
Follow your gut instinct.
Trying to save a few dollars upfront can result in spending more down the line.
5. I would have invested in myself earlier.
I wish I had started investing more in myself earlier. Spending more money on courses and conferences I’m interested in and so on. There’s a lot of great free content out there and I have consumed a ton of that. But sometimes, paying for premium really gets you to the results much more quickly. Do your research before throwing around money, though. Don’t just buy the first course that claims to get you from 0 to 1. Check out reviews from people who have taken the course and who are succeeding.
I would have attended conferences to network with like-minded individuals sooner and begun to network much earlier on. It’s never too late to make changes, but I feel like I’d be much further ahead if I had started earlier for obvious reasons.
Lessons Learned:
Invest in yourself.
Don’t be afraid to spend some money and time going to things that will help you progress (taking courses, attending conferences, etc.)
In Conclusion
I don’t claim to know it all. It’s quite frankly impossible to know it all. How many Doctor Engineers do you know that also are CPAs? Probably not many. We can specialize in certain areas and try to absorb as much as possible. Like the advice from Rich Dad, Poor Dad, try to know a little about a lot. But I also think it’s important to know a lot about a little as well, find a niche, and really work in that area to find customers.
Learn from your mistakes and the mistakes of others. These serve as lessons. Going forward, I’ll be much more careful when setting up business bank accounts and legal documents. There will be losses at times and things will be out of your control. I don’t stress about things I can’t control. I do what I can to impact what I can and then try to figure out solutions to problems that arise.
I’ll leave you with a favorite quote of mine:
Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react to it.
If you’ve heard of travel hacking but haven’t really learned much about it, you’re leaving free flights on the table. Sure, you can get cash back, but your points are worth more when you apply them to traveling. If you aren’t a big traveler and want to be, this post is for you. If you are a big traveler and still pay full price for flights, this post is for you. If you aren’t a big traveler and don’t care to travel, I’m not sure what’s wrong with you. Just kidding, sort of.
No matter where you are on the wanderlust spectrum, I will open your eyes to the amazing world of travel hacking in this post and give you a step by step guide to travel for free or at discount. I’ve racked up thousands of miles of flights for free just by using these recommended credit cards for things I would have been spending money on anyways (groceries, gas, eating out, basically everything).
In May 2017, I had obliterated all my remaining points on an epic trip to Asia. On that trip, $700 of my flights were completely covered (I flew from California to Japan for free, and I only had to pay for half of my return flight from Vietnam to Texas). I paid for the flights in between from Thailand to Cambodia and from Cambodia to Vietnam using my main credit card that I’ll talk about here in a second. Any travel related expenses I charge onto my card gives me double points, so it will just benefit me down the road. 8 months after that trip, I’ve already saved up points that are worth $531 toward flights. I’ve got Greece planned for September 2018 and will get to fly there for free. Pretty cool, huh?
You might argue, “technically, you’re not really flying for free,” since I got points back by spending money. Well, I’d argue that it’s basically free because I would have spent that money anyways. Right out of college, I used to use my debit card to pay for everything. Dave Ramsey’s teachings made me think credit cards were evil and that I should always pay cash. Well, after lunch with a few coworkers at my first “big boy” job, my eyes were forever opened to the truth. Credit cards can be good if you can use them responsibly. I learned that you should never, ever use a debit card when you can be getting points instead (as long as you can afford to pay the full statement balance each month).
Use Credit Cards to Earn Points
Today, I literally use these credit cards for every single expense possible. I would pay my mortgage with it if I could. Of course, you can’t do that… you have to pay things like a home mortgage or car loan with direct withdrawals from your bank account. If you pay rent at an apartment complex, you may be able to pay with card, although there will most likely be a fee associated with it ranging from around $15 to $50.
Even on my Asia trip, where so many restaurants took cash only, I went out of my way to find restaurants that accepted card. Why? Because points add up fast. Especially when you get double points on things like travel. I had initially booked Hostels through Hostelworld, but then switched to Agoda, because I could pay for hostels with a credit card with them.
One thing to note here: I have enough actual money in the bank to pay off everything I am spending. You should not try to “travel hack” if you intend to make minimum payments on your credit card balance. If you do this, you’ll likely end up paying more in interest fees than you will make back on free flights (in short, don’t do it). The best way this works is if you pay off the entire statement balance every single month. This means sometimes paying a few thousand dollars at times (example below: I’d rather pay $4k than get hit with interest charges).
This is my current account. I could pay a minimum of $39, but I’d get hit with interest charges. To avoid that, I’ll pay the full statement balance. Note that as long as you pay off the full balance on the last statement, you won’t pay any interest fees. So in this example, while my current balance is $5,968.08, I only need to pay off $3928.65 on this payment.
TIP – set your account on auto-pay to pay the entire statement balance each month. Just make sure you’ve got enough money to cover that if you’re ever “running on E.” Again, this system works best if you have a good amount of cash coming in monthly or don’t have very high expenses. You never want to “be running on E.”
And now, I present to you: 8 Steps to Free Flights. Enjoy!
8 STEPS TO FREE FLIGHTS
STEP 1
Sign up for my two recommended cards, theChase Sapphire and the Chase Freedom, or any other credit card known for being good for travel points.
I did hours of research and this system has really great reviews by multiple people. There are other good travel cards you can consider as well, but know that these are at the front of the pack. Just a note that if you do decide to go with these cards, I’d appreciate if you can use the links provided as I will also get a few points thrown my way for referring you. You will not be charged anything from Chase, that’s just their way of thanking me for sending them new people.
5% cash back on up to $1500 in combined purchases each quarter in various categories.
Q1’18 offers cash back on gas station purchases, internet/cable phone services, and Chase/Android/Apple/Samsung Pay.
Fees
No annual fees
STEP 2
Spend $4,000 on the Chase Sapphire within 3 months of opening your account.
By doing this, you will receive 50,000 bonus points. This is worth $625 when traveling. 50,000 points is no joke. That’s several free flights domestically and even maybe a round trip internationally. Try to spend $4,000 on things you need or pay for already. I don’t recommend making unnecessary expenses just to reach that spending threshold. If you don’t usually spend $4,000 in 3 months, get creative.
A few options:
Pay some big bills for your parents or someone you really trust, and ask them to write you a check back. Conveniently enough, my parents were going to India when I got my card. I paid around $1930 for their flights, which got me closer to that goal with no money out of my pocket.
Pay for multiple months of rent at one time. If living in an apartment, you may have to pay a credit card processing fee if you want to pay by card. This will be worth it if you won’t be able to hit the $4K spend on normal expenses. I paid a $25 fee at my apartment at the time I signed up, and paid for 2 or 3 months of rent at once.
STEP 3
Activate your quarterly cash-back bonus for the Chase Freedom.
You should get an email and be able to activate by clicking a button. Once activated, try to use the Freedom for any expense in the eligible categories that month. So for example, Q1 of 2018 offers cash back on a few things, one being gas. I will use my Chase Freedom to pay for any gas I fill up, and I’ll use my Chase Sapphire to pay for everything else.
STEP 4
Use your Chase Freedom to pay for any eligible category for 5% cash back.
STEP 5
Use your Chase Sapphire for all other expenses that are not covered in the 5% cash back offer for the Chase Freedom
STEP 6
Set up autopay on both cards.
This is kind of a bonus step and a best practice. Books I’ve read such as The Automatic Millionaire recommend you automate everything. The last thing you want is to be paying late fees for forgetting to pay on time.
STEP 7
Combine points by transferring Chase Freedom points to the Chase Sapphire.
Click on “Use your points” button.
Click on the Chase Freedom card.
Click on combine points.
Transfer points from Freedom to Sapphire.
Select points (I always select all)
Confirm and submit
Points have successfully been combined.
STEP 8
Search for flights using the Chase site.
You can either book travel through the Chase platform directly, or transfer points to an airline. Due to the huge network, you can transfer points to tons of airlines. This is where the Sapphire totally crushes any airlines card. Sure, a Southwest card is cool when you’re flying to Colorado, but it’s not so cool when you want a free flight to Europe.
Transferring points to travel partners
Look at all the options!
This is where you can do research on each airline’s sites to see how many points it will take to fly from A to B. You can hack points… where one airline might charge 30,000 points to go from one place to another, another airline might only charge 20,000 points. So you are stretching your points and getting more miles for your buck.
That’s literally it. Rinse and repeat the steps. Every year you will rack up points and free flights. You can even try to do this with other cards. One friend of mine has 15+ credit cards. That just freaks me out, but he swears that it doesn’t ruin credit and that he hacks responsibly. If you have any questions, post them below and I’ll try to answer them as best as I can.
We all have our special morning routine. Some people make a cup of coffee while listening to music. Others meditate for a few minutes before doing anything else. No matter what the routine is, we should try to start our days with a positive, relaxed attitude. What does your morning routine look like?
Personally, mine currently looks like this:
Wake up
Eat a healthy breakfast (such as oatmeal or egg whites)
Shower / brush teeth
Get dressed and take on the day
There are tons of articles out there that will suggest various routines in the morning. I will admit that I’m also writing this post for myself. There are many things I could personally do to improve my morning routine and get in a productive state of mind.
I’ve selected the Top 5 morning habits that I have heard most people recommend and write about for you to consider trying. I will be trying these myself. I’ve heard of several great apps for meditation and productivity for planning your day. I will do a little more research and write a future post on what I find and decide to stick with.
5 Things You Should Do In Your Morning Routine
1. Meditate
I have done some meditation during yoga and remember how relaxed and clear of thoughts my mind was. Getting into this mental state helps you start the day off worry-free, as opposed to immediately checking your email and freaking out about all the things you need to get done.
2. Set goals for your day
Either set goals for the day as part of your morning routine, or consult a list of goals that you have created the night before. I have a white board with more of my weekly / monthly goals, but perhaps a Post-It Note or regular note card might do the trick to really get into the weeds and detail of daily goals.
3. Brainstorm
Have a quick brainstorm session while you start to unwind from the thoughtless state of meditation. Start thinking of all sorts of ideas, and don’t be afraid to think big. This is probably a good time to dream a little of the endless possibilities your life has in store. Remember the Law of Attraction… when you envision your dreams and successes as reality consistently, you will subconsciously start taking the required actions to make them happen.
4. Eat a healthy breakfast
Luckily, I’m 1/5 here in that I already eat a healthy breakfast every morning. Start the day off by fueling your body with healthy food. Don’t swing by Chick-Fil-A or grab the office donuts. The high sugars are sure to give you a crash and the high fats and cholesterol are not really that great for you, as you probably already know.
5. Think positive
This one is an important one. Start each day off fresh with a positive attitude. Each day is a new day of opportunities, another chance to chase our dreams. We literally never know when our time will come. However, we shouldn’t live in fear of our mortality. Instead, we should live each day to the fullest and strive to make a positive impact in the world.
Try these out and let me know what you think. Perhaps this list already looks like your morning routine. At the end of the day, we’ll each have things that work for us and things that don’t. However, I think it’s worth trying various strategies and seeing what works best for you.
