The reason why I started out with the Second Principle of Business and now coming back to the First is because pushing expenses low and saving money is the foundation of all financial endeavors.
Financial minimalism is a mentality, a value, and a way of living.
Before you can truly live out this concept, I can guarantee that you’ll not go very far.
Once you have built out this foundation for your financial life, listen to this:
There’s a limit on how much you can save, but there’s no limit to how much you can earn.
This is the problem with most other financial guides out there.
Most of them stop after advising you to “cut your daily Starbucks cappuccino and invest that money and in 30 years you’ll have $300,000!”
I believe that there is also the other side of the equation that they are completely ignoring.
Because minimizing the leaks from your six buckets will allow you to end up with more.
And so will turning that tap on full to fill your buckets faster.
And I’m about to show you how to do so.
How Do You Feel About Your Day Job?
Let’s talk about your job.
You hate it.
You’re just kind of lukewarm about it.
You’d rather be on the beach at 3 pm.
I get it because it’s the case for most people.
Almost two-thirds of workers consider themselves to be “emotionally detached” from their employer.
They turn up to work, punch the clock and do the bare minimum.
What else?
They bitch.
They blame their superiors.
They gossip.
Yet they feel threatened when anyone looks like they’re trying to move up and beyond them.
I’ve worked with these people.
Many of them, actually.
And one thing they have in common is that they’re bitter because they’ve never done it themselves, and they are sure as hell don’t want you to succeed in doing so either.
Here’s the deal, though: you’re going to spend 8 of your waking hours working for the next half a century.
Add in sleeping, daily commute, and sitting on the can and there’s not much leftover.
I want you to recall the purpose of paid employment that we’ve talked about.
The purpose of paid work is to get paid.
Since you’re already doing it, why not spend the same time and some additional effort to try to get paid more?
Doesn’t that sound better than working in a limbo where you’re closed in within your cubicle, bitching, complaining, gossiping, and still earning your starting salary from 5 years ago.
How To Earn $5000 In An Hour On Your Existing Job?
We’ve all been through a job appraisal.
Most probably once a year.
But how much time did you put into preparing for it?
If you’re normal, you likely spent about 10 minutes thinking about it on your way to your boss’s office — including the elevator ride up.
I’m going to show how, by being just slightly less than normal, you will be able to make $5000 in an hour.
Let’s get down to it:
Step 1: Make a commitment. That sounds a little wishy-washy as the first step.
Like advice from one of those online guru scam courses filled with empty talk that do nothing apart from making you feel good about yourself.
But in all seriousness, if you’re going to earn more money than you did last year, you need to be committing to doing things you’ve never done.
You need to be committed to being the best at your job.
I’m not talking about being the best in the world or trying to set any Guinness World Records.
I want you to be the best at your job within your cubicle.
The best Excel spreadsheets, the best proposal, and heck, the best cup of morning coffee for your boss.
I mean, you’ve already gone through hell just to arrive at your cubicle — climbing out of the duvets, fighting for your life through rush-hour traffic, and spending the best part of your days and perhaps the best part of your years — so why not be the best at what you do?
The fact is, like many of your colleagues, very few people ever make that commitment.
Those who do, get paid a disproportionate amount for their nine-to-five hours.
Do you think a CEO works 200 times more hours than a regular worker?
Of course not.
Are they 200 time smarter?
Sure as hell not.
They’re just committed.
Step 2: Do your homework. Start your preparation at least one week before your performance appraisal.
Seriously.
Take out your position description and look at it from your boss’s point of view.
How does your job make their life easier?
How does your job contribute to the company?
How much additional revenue and customers does your job bring?
Write them down.
Most jobs can be boiled down to three fundamental tasks.
Write them down.
Then set yourself an ambitious goal for each task over the next 12 months.
Write them down too.
Step 3: Take control of your performance appraisal. Most people turn up unprepared.
They crap on it.
They wing it.
It’s obvious they haven’t put any thought into it.
You might have been like most people when it comes to performance appraisals.
But not this time.
You may be the single person in the entire company who’s actually prepared for it.
That’ll make you stand out.
Go on and present your list of prioritized tasks and goals.
Then genuinely ask your boss for feedback.
And remember you’re not doing this to BS your way up the corporate ladder.
You’re going to devote time — nine to five every day for the next 12 months — working your best towards those goals.
So you want to be crystal clear that you and your boss are on the same page.
Take notes on whatever they say.
And for God’s sake, smile.
Step 4: Visualize and track your goals. Take every opportunity to remind yourself of your ambitious 12-month goals.
Write it down on your calendar.
Put it on Post-Its around your cubicle.
Tell your partner, family, and friends.
You want to visualize AND publicize your goals and your progress towards them.
The key to progress is doing a little every day.
And I can guarantee you that there will be days where you will want to procrastinate, to slack off, or even to outright give up.
It’s only natural.
Visualizing and tracking your goals is to hold yourself accountable to the commitment you made to yourself.
The commitment to bring yourself towards financial freedom.
You’ll be surprised how much you can get done by focusing on your goals rather than bitching about your boss.
Step 5: Casually follow up with your boss over the next 12 months.Take note of the word “casually”.
Do not make this weird.
Don’t be like the desperate guy wanting a second date after the girl dodged his kiss-goodbye.
Be cool.
You want to frame it in your boss’s mind that you’re hungry, but humble.
Be dependable, ready to take on more responsibility.
Then casually show them the progress you’re making towards your goals.
The Power Of Compounding
How much time does will the above five steps take you?
Probably just a few hours or so a week.
All you’ll have to sacrifice is the same few hours that you used to spend chit-chatting with your colleagues around the water cooler or grabbing a quick snack in the pantry.
Certainly, no overtime is needed.
How much could it end up making you?
An extra $5000 over the next year with the same nine-to-five hours.
And just like dividend growth investing, your consistent effort at your job allows this extra $5000 and you’re standing within the company to compound.
The earlier you start doing it, the earlier this compounding effect can take place, the better off you’ll be.
In time, these baby steps will turn into giant leaps up the corporate ladder.
That’s how compounding works.
So stop for a minute and think about what a difference this could make to your revenue stream into your dividend growth portfolio.
Then close the tab where you’ve got Facebook on.
And let’s get down to work.
Please, give me your excuses.
Whenever I challenge people to boost their salary through the five steps above, there’s always someone who can come up with some sort of excuse.
“My boss is a prick. He’ll just snicker at my goals.”
“My boss is so presumptive. In her eyes, I’m forever a disposable manpower.”
“My boss is plain unfair. He’ll not appreciate wherever effort I’ll put in.”
And I think these people have already spoken out the answer to their own doubts.
They’ve already described in vivid accuracy who these highly-paid individuals that they’re working for.
Chances are they’re no smarter than you, and they may not work much harder than you.
The difference between you and them is that they’re doing one of two things: leading people, or “bringing home the bacon” (providing the goods, marketing the goods, or selling the goods).
These two roles will always be in demand, and will always be very well paid.
That’s because they directly influence the business’s bottom line.
So if your current position isn’t focused on leading people or bringing home the bacon, you have two choices:
First, you can spend some time before your next job appraisal thinking about which of these roles might suit you and make a commitment to either one.
Of course, if you’re a secretary right now, you can’t just bust open the sales meeting and start giving your elevator pitch.
But you could offer to help the sales manager by doing some admin work for one of their projects outside of your normal hours, for free essentially.
And while you’re helping, you could:
- Learn everything you can about the sales challenges your business faces.
- Develop a network of people higher up in the chain than you in the role that you’re trying to pursue.
- Connect a few sales leads with your contacts outside of work
The best part of all is that you don’t even need to reach the position of being a leader or a bacon-bringer to enjoy the ultimate payoff.
You’ll most certainly pick up bonuses along the way as you make yourself more valuable and more indispensable, and that almost always leads to more salary.
Second, if climbing the corporate ladder isn’t your cup of tea, you should become your own boss.
Get A Side Hussle — Fast.
No, don’t give your boss the finger and quit your job this instant.
I’m not sure what’s happening but so many people are wearing this “drop-out” status like a badge of honor.
Whether it be the “college drop-out” or the “nine-to-five drop-out”.
Listen, there’s nothing honorable about that.
You’re not doing yourself justice at the very least.
OK, Bill Gates and Steve Jobs sparked their paradigm-changing entrepreneurship in their garage after dropping out from school.
But do you know how long they’ve been coding, tinkering with electronic components, creating amateur side projects in their spare time WHILE going to school and pretending to be present in other classes that they have absolutely no interest in?
They started out in their early teens, experimented for years, and created viable prototypes some certainty of success before they actually took the plunge and dropped out.
I want to take your eyes of the glorious moment of “dropping-out” and appreciate the down-to-earth time and effort in the prolonged period beforehand.
They freelanced.
That is to work on your side project while working at your fulltime job.
Freelancing allows you to road-test your ideas, your pricing strategy, and your skills — all without leaving the security of your day job.
This is how most successful entrepreneurs become successful entrepreneurs.
What can you do?
You can do something related to your work.
If you’re a teacher, you could become a tutor.
Or you could focus on something that you’re passionate about, like I did with my YouTube channel on financial education.
You can start a blog, a podcast, or a newsletter.
And if you work hard to provide value for your audience, there is most definitely a way to monetized on the value which you provide.
The internet really opens up a whole new world of opportunities.
It’s whether you’re committed to showing up and putting in the work.
And when you have committed yourself to reading up till this point in this long-ass guide, that says something about you.
It says something about your commitment to bringing yourself, your partner and your family towards the option of financial freedom.
It says that you’re ready to dive straight into the Third and Fourth Principle of Business.
So let’s bring it on.
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