2020 - 2022 What a time to be alive, right?
Did you lose anything during this time?
Did you lose some money in DeFi? maybe you bought Bitcoin at a high price, because you thought you’d be able to make a profit, but had to sell low because you needed the money for an unexpected expense. Did you loose your job this year? Maybe a business.
I lost this tree.
I’m serious. The owner of the house I rent decided she would chop it down because it might fall on the neighbor’s house. So some men came one day with chainsaws and cut it in half.
But today I took a nice, close look at it and realized it has some tiny leaves starting to sprout again. So it got me thinking that ...
The sun will rise again
If you’ve lost something in this very strange period, you’ve probably felt disappointment, sadness, anger.
You might even have gotten some nasty comments from friends and family about how stupid you were to exchange your hard-earned dollars for some ridiculous magic internet money. Or why you left the good, steady job you had to start a restaurant business. But you know what? what people say and think doesn’t matter. What they say about you or what they think about you comes from their experiences and their values and their view of the world. Maybe they are frustrated because they wish they could have started a restaurant like you, or maybe they have other insecurities. It has very little to do with you. So don’t let it get to you.
On the other hand…
What you think about you does matter.
You are the one who has the most conversations with yourself aren’t you? So be kind to yourself. Don’t tell yourself how stupid you were or how big of a failure you are, because we tend to believe ourselves.
If your business failed, it’s only because of circumstance. It doesn’t define who you are.
Now if you’ve lost your business and are considering finding a job, that's totally understandable, but let me tell you…
Renting your time sucks; I would know
Right after the hardest part of the COVID lockdowns, I panicked and decided to get a minimum wage job, because without the usual flow of clients in my business, how the heck was I going to pay the bills? I had to punch in and punch out every day and I got paid by the hour. For every hour I worked, I got some money in return. It was terrible. Don’t do that!
That means you have to put it hours all the time and if you don't you won't earn any money!
When you’re on vacation or sleeping your not making any money, you're only spending it!
Find leverage
Find something that doesn’t pay you linearly. Build a solution to a problem that you can dedicate time to now, but keep earning a disproportionate amount of money in the future. And I'm not talking about finding a mythical 100x opportunity, I'm just saying: find a way to make a little more, with a little less effort.
Let me give you an example: I run a recording studio and charge by the hour. 1 hour of studio time is $50 and I have to be there with client. I pay myself $20/hr and the rest is for the studio. Now, this year, I hired an assistant that costs me $9/hr ( I live in Latin America, so don’t judge me, it’s good pay down here) And I can have him run a 2 hour live session package for $500.
Costs:
3 hour setup = $27
2 hour recording = $18
6 hours editing = $54
total assistant hours = $100
Income:
$500
Profit
$400
hourly rate $36/hr
I improved the studio's hourly income by 20% and I don’t even have to be there, so in theory, I could run these packages all day, every day without even showing up to work.
That’s just a very small example. If you can code you’re golden.
Find a problem that needs to be fixed and build a program that pays you per download, per subscription, per transaction.. and then your set.
easier said than done, right?
haha
Hey, I came up with my recording package solution. If you're a programmer, you're way ahead of me. You figure it out.
Spend less than you earn and invest ONLY what you can afford to loose.
Yeah, I know, this is advice that you might get from your grandma, but it’s true. If you start earning more money, you don’t need to upgrade your regular clothes for new fancy clothes and you don’t need to eat out all the time. Live the same way you’re living now only with more money to invest WISELY in things that can earn you more income.
The sun will rise again
I might still be high from all the drugs from from New Years eve, but 2023 is looking good!
If you’re here in the crypto space, I think it will be an amazing year for building. I don’t know the date, but I do know it will happen: the bull run will come before you know it.
The sun will ALWAYS rise again.
I wish you much success in this year's endeavors!