Note: I have a busy morning so this is a re-send of an email from last year that got a great response. It’s all about the feeling “I’ll be happy when I’m making $X amount of money”. Enjoy!
“Once I make 100 grand, then I’ll be happy”
This is a thought I had when I started my first affiliate business back in 2005.
At the time, I wasn’t a very happy person.
In fact, I was quite miserable.
But I was convinced that once I started making 6-figures, then I’d be happy.
So I busted my ass to make that happen.
Like most people, the first few years were a struggle.
I made around $27,000 a year for the first few years.
Eating PB&J sandwiches…
And living in a $250 apartment…
I was not living the “affiliate baller” life by any means.
But then in 2008 things really changed for me.
Cause in 2008 I had my best year yet.
At the time, I was mostly doing affiliate marketing for poker sites.
So I’d get paid like $200 for every player that signed up on their site.
Well sometime in 2008, a bunch of my pages started to rank really well in Google for some big keywords.
So I got way more sign-ups.
And I wound up making around $110,000 that year.
Which was mind blowing to me.
With that kind of money, I could finally afford to move into a decent apartment.
I could take my girlfriend out to dinner once in a while.
I even felt like I had a little cushion in terms of my savings.
It was all good.
However…
There was one thing that was missing.
That big wave of happiness that I was expecting to come with it…
It never came.
I felt just as miserable as I did the year before.
I was expecting this “emptiness” inside of me to just vanish.
But it didn’t happen.
And instead of realizing that the money was never going to fill that emptiness, I basically doubled down on it.
I thought “well once I have a 7-figure company, then I’ll be happy. 6-figures isn’t really that big of a deal anyway”.
This kind of thinking went on for years.
It was always “once I get to the next level” I’ll be happy.
And it all kind of culminated in 2017.
Cause in 2017 I sold my share of my $23 million dollar supplement company back to my partner.
I became a multi-millionaire for the first time in my life.
I thought “this is it. This is what Ive been striving for”.
I still remember staring at my Capital One account and seeing all the money in there.
It felt good to be that successful.
But the happiness still wasn’t there.
I started to slowly realize that things like money…
And success…
Were never going to make me happy.
But here’s the thing.
This is not uncommon.
Maybe you relate to this.
Cause I see the same thing in a lot of entrepreneurs.
I call it the “more more more” syndrome.
You think that wherever you’re at, simply having “more” will fix it.
I can tell ya from experience, it doesn’t work this way.
Because nothing is ever enough when you think like this.
Even if you build a 100 million dollar company, you won’t be happy.
You’d want a billion dollar company.
Or you’d want more recognition.
Or you’d want a bigger following on Instagram.
It’s never enough.
But we always go back to the well thinking “more” will fix the problem.
It won’t.
Sure making more money, will usually make your life easier (and more fun)…
But if you’re looking for it to make you happy…
Or to fill what’s missing inside you…
You’re gonna be disappointed.
You have to enjoy the journey on the way there, cause the end result isn’t gonna make you any happier.
That’s the key.
Enjoy your Friday,
– Justin
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