This is a story I often tell to my clients about my changing attitude to money and my wisdom of the 3 magical ways to earn money.
When I was younger and starting my first business (a marketing agency that ended up growing to 25 staff), I used to believe there were three ways of making money; the hard way, the medium way and the easy way. The hard way was doing a difficult job like being a dustman. The medium way was doing a job like you or I (probably) do, that involves selling our time. And the easy way was inventing something or making something that sells really successfully, or coming up with an idea that no one had thought of before. I believed that most of us earn money the medium way, which was ok and we should avoid making money the hard way, after all, who wants to be a dustman!
Fast forward 20 years and I’d now sold that marketing company and finished my training to become a coach. I still believe that there are three ways of making money; the hard way, the medium way and the easy way but now I believe the hard way is doing a job that you despise. The medium way is doing a job that you are ambivalent about (‘it pays the bills’) and the easy way is doing the job that you love. After all, if we love what we do then we will be delighted that people are willing to pay us to do something we enjoy so much!
Don’t chase the money
If we solely chase money in our career or own business, then we will never be happy (case in point – actors and musicians who have more money than you or I could ever dream of yet seem unhappy and end up with all sorts of issues) and we will get burnt out pretty quickly. If we pursue a career, job or running our own business based on something we love then the money will follow (provided of course it’s a sound business idea and we have sought professional advice to help grow the business).
So if you are a dustman and love your job then you have struck gold and the younger me needs to stop judging you!