Let me ask you a question… and you have to promise to really think through the answer, no knee-jerk replies OK?
Does money bore you?
When you think of the most fulfilling, exhilarating, and enjoyable experiences you’ve had in your life, is making money one of the first things that comes to mind?
I think most (though not all) people would answer no.
In fact, I think many people, unbeknownst to themselves, find money to be rather boring. After all, money is just numbers on a piece of paper from your bank, or in your wallet. You can’t kiss, cuddle, throw a football, play chess, laugh, cry, scream, or take a nap with money. (Well, I suppose you could, but it wouldn’t be very fulfilling, would it?)
This, I believe, is one of our greatest obstacles to amassing true wealth. Something to consciously work on correcting in order to sustain a solid financial growth curve over the long haul.
I suppose this message would be more palatable if I spoke personally. So here it is.
I was a total idiot to enter 17 niche markets. My justification at the time was that I needed to prove my formula across a multitude of markets so I could really roll it out and/or get out there as a teacher.
But you know what? I was full of crap, because the formula was already proven after the 4th one, … and despite the fact they were all profitable and I developed a cool story to tell, I created a massive diversification of time, energy, and money which prevented me from developing any ONE of them to its fullest.
This not only meant seriously slowing down my trajectory, but in the end it meant I failed to deliver the back end products which would have been most helpful to people in any one given market.
Know why I really did it? (Hindsight is 20/20)
Because it would have been TOO EASY to just keep building out ONE of the markets. (We can’t have that, right!??)
I loved the challenge of making the front end profitable. This required an immense amount of research, immersion in the market, surveys, actually talking to (and connecting with) people, figuring out the puzzle. It challenged my comfort zone, requiring me to push my four core skill sets to the limit (psychology, computers, marketing, and research), and to find creative ways to combine them.
In contrast, the activities required to optimize and build out a market once it’s already profitable are much more executional and, well… kind of boring.
Testing and tracking, paying others to write and record more products, monitoring my spreadsheets, running regressions, doing a few joint ventures, getting interns to write and submit articles, working with SEO vendors, etc.
Yet THOSE activities are incredibly profitable once you’ve got an in-the-black traffic stream running.
So if I’m honest, I guess I chose to be “creative rather than rich”. (Thanks to Gary Halbert for that phrase). Getting rich, in my mind, was associated with being progressively more isolated, locked up in some ivory tower crunching numbers… BORING!
It was quite a shock when I had this insight.
I already had all the skills I needed to go to the next level. I could maintain a consistently upward trajectory. I only needed to find a way to re-connect this goal with my true purpose in life, with the people I loved, with the people I wanted to help, with the life I really wanted to live.
I just needed to choose this path, nothing more.
So I’m asking you all to take an honest look at where you are right now.
Is it possible you already have all the skills and knowledge you need to get where you want to go? Is it possible you’ve got some negative association with financial success which is causing you to make the wrong choices?
Does money bore you?
Let me know what you think below please!
Dr. G 
PS – In my Bulls-Eye Marketing Club, I’ve worked VERY hard to combine my knowledge of internet marketing with my understanding of entrepreneurial psychology to help you focus and stay on track.
PPS – I’ve got only 3 more slots available in my personal coaching board. (And in the spirit of this post, I’m going to close it to new members in a few days regardless of whether it’s full because it’s really not the most lucrative thing I do… I just really enjoy working with people directly, and seeing how they improve upon my ideas. That’s probably why no-one’s left the board since I discovered the new format)
{ 18 comments… read them below or add one }
Yes, money most definitely bores me.
It just sits there…staring at you. If you desperately need it, then you do what it takes to get it. But once it’s there, it’s just there. And unlike many business people, I think “keeping score” with money is a horrible concept also (and totally un-motivating).
That’s why financial goals have NEVER motivated me well (except that first one of getting out of debt). Instead goals for specific accomplishments in business are much more effective than anything that has to do with money. For example, helping a specific number of customers…or helping specific clients reach their goals.
I can add in another concept, shouldn’t someone be allowed to choose to be “creative rather than rich” as long as they are consciously making this choice? And how does this relate to this post:
http://www.payperclicksearchmarketing.com/another-reason-internet-businesses-fail-the-myth-of-work-vs-play/
Maybe the whole money/passion/work/play relationship should be considered together…
I would like to think that I don’t have a negative association with being financial successful. I am finally seeing the success that I have always wanted in my life. I think I always wanted to be successful for many years but tried to it through higher education. I now know that I should have gotten rid of the employee mentality long time ago. I am always looking to improve my skills and knowledge on a daily basis. I always gain a gold nugget that I apply immediately into my business.
Thanks for this Glenn – insightful and deeply thought out – values I appreciate and admire!!
For me, it IS more interesting and fun to learn and be creative than it is to make money – “Making Money” is indeed the boring part of the process and YET – money is an essential part of what enables the life I desire.
Thanks to your insights on this, I am re-evaluating and refocusing – A very good thing! :^)
Michael
Hey Doc,
You’re making me think, and it hurts!
Money by itself accomplishes nothing while it sits collecting dust in my wallet, but it allows me to pursue various things that I do enjoy. It’s a tool to use and like any tool using it correctly gives you the end result you desire. My fixation with it is to provide security and opportunity to pursue the various things I do love and enjoy.
One other aspect, maybe not totally associated with money is that helping others gives a lot more satisfaction and most people are willing to exchange their money for the help you provide. I read you and others to learn how to make myself known to those I want to help.
Love your work,
Bill
It is interesting how people attach things to money- all kinds of qualities it can’t possibly possess. No money is not boring. It is usually great company for most anything you’d want to do. Now some people have very materialistic mentalities. They are always boring and almost always never rich. They do tend to have a lot of nice things they’ll let you play with to amuse yourself though. This way they can tell themselves they really have friends. Its an old song that says when you have money you’ve got lots of friends coming round, but when the money’s gone they will be too.
I have all the skills I need to be successful. The problem has been a unconcious need for approval from people who will never be as successful as I will and need me not to be too. It has occurred to me lately that I do not need them or their approval if it costs me all of myself.
What’s with all the navel-gazing boys? You both have mastered your niches, your names are well-known in your chosen industries and your reputations impeccable. Face it, you accomplished this in pursuit of money. It’s nothing to be ashamed of — a well-run business is a thing of beauty. Now if you want to raise this to some sort of existentially satisfying level, make ME rich.
Money as an end is boring, yes.
But for me (most people?) money means FREEDOM… and that’s what’s REALLY exciting. It means being able to take interesting trips to other countries with your family… simply because the fancy strikes you. It means not having to answer to anyone (i.e., a b-o-s-s) but yourself. It means working because you WANT to, not because you feel you HAVE to.
We like to think we live in a free country. But a friend of mine said, “You’re never truly free unless you’re financially free.” I do believe he’s right.
This kind of freedom is something I really desire, so I hope I don’t have any hang-ups working against me!
Chuck
Is it money that bores us are do we become bored with the things we have to do to make money?
Maybe we are saying the same thing using different words. But I suspect that we do get bored doing repetitive tasks and we would rather wander off doing things that seem more exciting.
I suspect that those who find learning exciting spend more time learning new skills, techniques than they do implementing what they already know.
You have certainly given us something to think about. We need to focus our efforts on what we already know. Narrow our niche. Implement what we know – make the money from bringing value and then if we want to spend time on more exciting stuff, it is okay as long as we have done enough of the boring stuff that makes us the money.
Glen,
It looks like we’ve gone down the same path. I could have written this post and it would have been my own story!
I’ve only learned to focus in the past several years. I’ve missed so many great opportunities by not focusing and channeling my efforts.
But in the end, like you, I kinda like to be creative and doing one thing or going deep into one niche bored me to tears.
Now let me make one observation.
It’s okay to go into several niches IF…
1. You already have a cash cow in one niche that you’re drilling down into.
2. You hire a CEO and a team to start and run the second niche.
Those are my two rules for straying out of a niche.
Way to go. I love this post Glen.
David
My answer surprised me. Yes, I am absolutely bored by money!!!
And yet I’m so close to being absolutely destitute that it isn’t funny. Who knew something so necessary for someone who is scratching just to have the basics of life would elicit such a reaction.
I could understand “loving” money, desiring it, even hating it, but BORED? That was a shocker.
Not sure, exactly, how to apply this to my situation to make the insight USEFUL, but thanks for shaking up my thinking, Glenn.
Deb
Glen,
No, money isn’t boring in and of itself. It’s just an idea. I got a degree in finance because money literally fascinated me. Now, I’ve got to admit that making money simply for the sake of making money does bore me to tears. With all the studying I’ve done in economics, finance, accounting and cashflow vehicles you’d think I’d LOVE to make boatloads of money, but the fact of the matter is – in the final analysis – that money’s just a tool. If it becomes the goal, it can not only get boring it can twist a person and mess with the most (IMHO) important values like loving God, loving family, getting and staying healthy and then making a positive difference in the lives of others.
Your observations about tackling multiple niches makes perfectly good sense and I’ve made similar discoveries – so riddle me this one….
What if your chosen niche, the one that you’re genuinely passionate about and it’s NOT (at least not yet) your most profitable endeavor. How do you evaluate that in the overall “time is money” balancing act.
I haven’t seen enough of it yet to be bored by it
I think it is a mistake to directly equate business and money as if they were the same thing. Pursuing money through business is never going to satisfy you as much as being in the right business for your motivations and talents and making it the best example it can be. Business can be enjoyable precisely because it is so creative. You have to make the whole thing up from scratch and every day you have to solve problems and invent the future. Compare that to working for the government or a corporation, where if you want something even small to change, you have to go through committees, etc. I think your reason to be in business must be to become excellent at it. Money is simply a by product of your excellence in providing a service or product that people want, telling them about it and persuading them to buy it. Many people who do become very rich through business just really enjoy what is involved. Creating businesses, negotiating deals, beating competitors is all FUN for them. Of course there are equally many grumpy, angry, selfish millionaires but we don\’t want to be like them, do we? The key skill is working out how to only do the jobs that you are good at and getting the rest done by people who enjoy doing those jobs. If you don\’t enjoy the major bits of business, then money or no money, you need a different line of work, IMHO.
Well,
Yes. I\’ve often guessed that money – plain \’ol money – kinda bores me. I remember years ago when I was a newspaper advertising rep and would pay the other reps a few bucks to complete my billing forms…the same billing forms on the basis of which I was getting paid.
I couldn\’t get myself to go through the tedium of completing them ALL out myself. Years later when I hit my first big real estate deal, I found with dismay that the euphoria of getting \"big\" mid five figure paychecks didn\’t really have the long-term motivating effect I\’d always assumed they\’d have.
Educating myself through many classes, books, and blogs like yours have since made it clear to me that I\’m far more motivated by other things like – a need for significance, need for status and recognition (not easy for me to say), than by money.
Great post.
Gogo
I have a tendency to jump from project to project and never fully finish one of them. You pretty much hit the nail on the head.
I’m really not in it for the money, I’m in it for the challenge of making it and the freedom it seem must come once you’ve made some.
When I have enough money to pay all my expenses and have enough discretionary money to do the things that I have never was able to do….I won\’t get bored…. I will delve into something else to keep the flow of money coming…..Not that I won\’t enjoy life more but after working for a company 19 and 1/2 years and getting the boot…well, that really shook my confidence in the old adage \"work hard and you\’ll get your reward\"! I am now doing something now that I have always wanted to do which is sell online and I need all the help I can get…I\’m all ears Dr Glen……
Damn Doc ..I think you being hard on yourself with this.
“I was full of crap”
Because we are who we are as a result of our
experiences. So if you had not banged out all those
what would have been doing and where would you
be now…
Regarding money…
I believe you have to go through a financial hardship
really appreciate money. Then once you get it you
don’t what onto have the rug pulled out from underneath
you so you stay hungry and engaged.
My deal is I’m not certain that money bores me but I’m
certain business does not.
Be well
Brian Therrien
If you haven’t seen these videos about money, motivation and the latest research on how they relate to one another, you might want to check to them out:
TED Talk: Dan Pink on the surprising science of motivation
YouTube: RSA Animate – Drive: The surprising truth about what motivates us
Both of these are very similar, but I think you will enjoy both of them.
I know for me personally, I enjoy my life more when I’m not thinking about money and what my ROI will be on an activity. On the other hand, this has also caused me many times not to finish and follow through on things when I’ve gotten bored with the project or thought of a new idea.
Somewhere there is a balance between the 2 and I think eventually I find that equilibrium.
Thanks for the great thoughts, Glenn and everyone else.
Steve