Every Sunday morning I like to share 3 things that are on my mind…
Sometimes these things are about business…
Sometimes they’re about money…
And sometimes they’re just completely random.
So with that said…
Let’s jump into the first thing on my mind this morning.
1. Nothing will move the needle more on your net worth than increasing your income
On Friday I gave a talk to our Copy Accelerator members about wealth building.
And one of my main points was that increasing your income is the biggest needle mover when it comes to your net worth.
If you read a lot of personal finance books…
Or you spend time on Reddit personal finance…
Then you’ll be under the impression that the way to get rich is to set a budget, slash your expenses, and invest your money.
And while that can work…
The biggest needle mover in building wealth (that is hardly ever talked about) is increasing your income.
In the corporate world, this is tough to do when all you’re getting is a 3% raise each year.
However in our world, big leaps in income happen all the time.
I watched Troy Ericson go from making $30k a year to $300k a year in just one year.
I saw Krista Edsall go from a bartender making $45k a year to now being a 6-figure copywriter.
I personally had a similar jump in income starting in 2015 when my income went from $220k to $700k to over $2.2 million.
Point being…
Getting wealthy isn’t about cutting your expenses to the bone…
The real needle mover is increasing your income.
Cause the more money you make, the more you can invest.
Alright let’s hop to the second thing on my mind this morning…
2. Stop caring so much about what other people do in their business
I used to be guilty of giving unsolicited advice to people about their business.
I would see opportunities for them…
Or things they were doing wrong…
And I would eagerly tell them about it.
Which made me feel good.
I felt superior to them.
Like I was puttin ’em “in their place”.
Now being a few years older, and a few years wiser, I look back on this and realize just how insane it is.
Why do I care what someone else is doing in their business?
Nowadays I pretty much never give advice unless someone asks.
Why?
Cause it’s none of my business.
What they do in their business has no affect on me.
This is all really about having boundaries in business.
I used to have none.
So I was in everyone else’s business.
And things other people said, affected me.
Now that really doesn’t happen to me.
Cause I have better boundaries.
I’m able to take things in that matter, and ignore the things that don’t matter.
Point being, have better boundaries in your business.
And don’t pay so much attention to what others are doing.
Alright let’s do one more this morning…
3. If you’re working 70-80 hours a week, you’re going to burn out. It’s not a matter of “if” you’ll burn out, only a matter of “when” you’ll burn out
One of my buddies called me last month telling me that he was burnt out on work.
He just got into media buying…
And he was eager to get really good, really fast.
So he was working like 70-80 hours a week.
Between working on client accounts…
And studying media buying courses, all his time was spent thinking about work.
And all his hard work was paying off…
He got pretty damn good at media buying.
However…
After about 8 months of this, he hit a wall.
He was mentally drained.
And he felt like he just couldn’t do it anymore.
So we hopped on Facetime to talk about it.
“I always read your emails and you say you have to balance your life and your work. I used to read those and think you didn’t know what you were talking about, but now I’m starting to think you do”
I got a good laugh out of this…
Cause I prolly would have thought the same thing when I was his age (he’s in his mid twenties).
Someone that’s older and wiser than me would give me advice, and I’d ignore it.
I thought I knew better.
I thought I had it all figured out.
Well that usually was not the case.
And I wound up paying the price for it.
Same thing happened here.
I’m gonna keep saying this, cause people need to hear it.
You have to build your business and your lifestyle together.
Your whole life can’t be about work.
You can’t work 12 hours a day, 7 days a week and keep that up for years on end.
It’s just not possible.
You’ll be miserable…
You’ll lose all motivation.
I’ve been there.
It’s not a fun spot to be in.
You have to have balance in your life.
Anyone who’s been successful as an entrepreneur for 10, 15 or 20 years will tell you this.
If you try to rush it…
And you try to work 70-80 hours a week, you’re gonna hit a wall.
Like I said, it’s not a matter of “if”, it’s only a matter of “when”.
Make sense?
I hope so.
Cause that’s all I got for ya today.
– Justin
If you want to hear more from Justin, he has a private email list for top marketers, copywriters and business owners. To apply to be on the email list simply click the button below that says “apply now”.
