Money Mindset
Why Are Rich People Rich
& Poor People Poor?
Ten percent luck, ninety percent mindset.
Our Money Mindset is what makes the real difference. Our Money Mindset is our underlying feelings or attitudes we have toward earning money, and our financial life. It is the primary factor that determines whether we will be rich or poor; financially secure or always living paycheck to paycheck struggling to make ends meet; happy or frustrated; able to assist family and friends or standing by helplessly wishing you could help with their financial situation.
We are not created equal when it comes to our mindsets. Our Money Mindset is established and developed by the experiences we have relative to money. Like any other set of beliefs that governs our behavior, the way we think about money is initially established by how our parents thought about money. It is further affected, as we grow up, by the attitudes of those around us; people we choose to associate with; people we admire and listen to (including authors of the books we read).
What is a normal mindset about money?
You probably feel your family’s money mindset is typical, average. What is the money mindset of the people around you? It is similar to yours, of course. Everyone has the same mindset, right? You are normal – at least that is what you think.
I was listening to a resident at a drug rehabilitation center talk about her past. As she spoke about her upbringing she described the abuse and neglect she suffered at home. She emphasized that it only happened at home. When the family was out and about, everyone acted normal. They were mostly sober; reasonably kind, not overtly abusive. She assumed all families were like that; one way at home, another in public.
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“I thought my life was normal.” She said “Until I went to college, I thought that everyone else’s lives were the same as mine.” She thought her family life was normal. She has since found out it wasn’t.
My experience was different than hers. My parents always loved and encouraged their children. I thought my family life was normal. I’ve since found out that it wasn’t normal at all – and just how lucky I am.
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The fact is there is no normal.
Our relationship with money, the way we think about money and opportunity and saving and earning and working and investing – the way we create wealth – is governed by our Money Mindset, a mindset created and developed by our life experience, our choices, and ultimately our training.
The way our parents thought about money creates the family mindset about money and establishes their children’s money mindset blueprint and likely their financial future. The people we choose to associate with continues, strengthens or alters that pattern, nevertheless the formulation of our mindset in our early years is powerfully influential.
What is your Money Mindset?
How is your bank account? Do you save extra money that comes your way or do you spend it? Is that what your parents did? Do you tell your kids that money doesn’t grow on trees? Is that what your parents told you? Did you hear that money is the root of all evil? Do you believe that? Do you declare zero deductions on your W-4 so you’ll get money “from the government”? Do you consider your refund as extra money from the government for you to spend or do you realize that it was your money all along and you are not about to loan it to the government interest free? It is all indicative of your mindset.
Is your Money Mindset good or bad, positive or negative, constructive or destructive, effective or ineffective, open or closed unlimited or limiting?
Do you have financial goals or are you just settling for what comes your way?
A bad mindset fails to notice opportunities. It fails to take action even when you are aware of them.
A bad money mindset tends to create a victim mentality. We are envious of other’s success, and blame others for our lack of success. With a bad money mindset, we focus on why something won’t work or why not to try something rather that why something will work and why to at least give it a shot. A bad money mindset focuses on scarcity and probabilities and essentially shuts down your creative process. We are certain that there is nowhere to proceed if something doesn’t work. “If at first you do not succeed…” give up.
“When you have a monetized mindset, you are constantly thinking of all the things you do that you could monetize. Things you like to do, things you need to do, and things you are already doing.”
A good money mindset suggests that if “at first you do not succeed…” you ultimately will.
A good mindset constantly notices or actually creates opportunities. It includes a tendency to act quickly taking the simple steps to at least try and not beat yourself up if something doesn’t pay off.
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A good mindset focuses on abundance and possibilities. It is fed by awareness and action. It enhances your creativity and opens your mind to opportunity. You pay attention to possibilities and focus on what will work.
A good money mindset causes you to be ever more aware of opportunities – including opportunities you can create. You think about what you like to do; what you need to do; what you are already doing; and ways you might turn those activities and interests into income-producing opportunities. You are keenly aware of your strengths (and your weaknesses). You are aware of even small successes – and you celebrate them.
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Warning: Your good money mindset can revert back to a bad money mindset if you hang with the wrong people – sometimes, unfortunately the people closest to you. So you may have to limit time spent with them. [That can get dicey, it’s true – and that’s for another article.]
Consider the money mindset in your household. Who controls the money? Who pays the bills? Do you have a job that pays you a salary? Do you get paid by the hour or on a commission? Are you self-employed? How about your spouse? How does he or she deal with money or the concept of money? All of these are factors that affect, and are affected by, your money mindset.
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Why is it important to understand what your money mindset is? So you can enhance it and thereby improve and succeed where you may never before have.
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The objective of this article and my book “Monetize your Mindset” is to create alter, enhance, and advance, your mindset into a constructive, positive, profitable monetized mindset – i.e., a good money mindset.
So, how do you create a monetized mindset? It’s not that complicated, really. It’s a mental adjustment, a broader focus, a habit of thinking that drives your action. It is an awareness; being aware of the possibilities – the opportunities that are all around you.
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Monetizing your mindset is essentially training your response to something you do for yourself that worked for you, something that solved a problem, or something you simply enjoyed doing.
The old response was, “That was great!” The new response is, “That was great! Now how might I share it with others and get paid for doing it?
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A Monetized Mindset is the End Result of an Improved Money Mindset.
Money isn’t everything, That’s true. Money isn’t everything – unless you don’t have any (or you don’t have enough).
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My dad had a monetized mindset. I got mine from growing up around him. He was a great example and he supported me when I wanted to try things.
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I like music… No, I love music. I always have.
I bought my first stereo at age eleven. I worked all summer on the farm to save up the $285 needed to buy a Sanyo all-in-one system. It was awesome! It had the cassette deck on the left side, the 8-track on the right (yes, I did say 8-track. If you don’t know what that is, then Google it), the AM/FM radio in the middle, and a turntable on top to play vinyl records (Google might be necessary here too).
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Little did I know that this penchant for music would cost me more than $285 – a lot more. I became addicted to music. I had to have all the new tunes. Every time we went to town, I bought more music. It soon became a liability. All my money was going to music. It was an expensive hobby (remember, hobbies cost you money, businesses make you money).
Things had to change. No, I did not stop buying music. I did not give up my passion. I embraced it – leaned in to it. I turned it into a business […].
I monetized music!
At age fifteen, because of the monetized mindset my father had instilled in me, I figured out how to monetize music. Others have done that, but they are singers and musicians. I can’t hold a note in a bucket and I’m not a composer, but I do love music, so I decided to start a mobile disco business.
There was just one small problem. Nobody was hiring. There were not many events in our small town that required disc jockeys.
Perhaps there were no events, but could there be? Should there be? I thought so; as it turned out, so did the public. I took a risk. I tried something. I rented the community center and announced a community dance. I hired an off-duty cop for security, Mom and Dad took money at the door, and I spun records. Everyone danced and had great fun.
I netted three to five hundred dollars a night. I monetized music! I monetized something that I loved – and it was fun.
What a concept! I got paid for having fun, and I got paid pretty well, too!
I continued to invest and reinvest in my business. Within a few months, I had a killer sound system. It was rockin’! Dual amps; Peavey speakers; light system… it was great fun!
At age fifteen, I had monetized fun.
I was passionate about music. I had been spending money on music. I was playing music anyway. I simply monetized something I liked to do and was doing already anyway. I didn’t just seize the opportunity that came along. I created my own opportunity by creating my own dance party.
This was my first shot at doing something like this on my own.
Sure, I had monetized certain skills, like working for my dad on his pig farm shoveling pig poop. I was not passionate about that, but I earned enough doing that to buy something I was passionate about – music.
If my father hadn’t helped me develop a mind for monetization, it would have ended with my music business, but that process of monetizing something I loved (music) and was investing in anyway (the sound system) had an ongoing ripple effect that changed my life by changing the way I view everything I do.
Specifically, when I do something, like buy a house or a truck or whatever, my brain automatically kicks out the question, could I monetize that? More specifically, how can I monetize that?
The profits from the music business gave me spending money in high school and financed most of my first two years of college.
The investment grew.
By the time I neared the end of my second year of college, the business was worth twenty thousand dollars. I sold my interests. And moved on…
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If you did not grow up with my dad, or someone like him, you likely don’t have a monetized mindset. If that’s true, it’s okay. You can change – if you want to.
Just because you grew up with a certain money mindset does not mean you are stuck with it. You can change your money mindset and personal finances the same way you formed it. You can do it intentionally by governing and conditioning the thoughts and habits that govern the way you acquire wealth; how you save money, invest it and use it.Show More
If you surround yourself with people that have a monetized mindset you will be surprised at how fast your way of thinking will change from a bad money mindset to a good money mindset. To “surround yourself with people” includes, attending seminars that actually make sense, and reading good books like 10x Rule by Grant Cardone, The Miracle Morning by Hal Elrod, Crush It by Gary Vaynerchuk, Start with Why by Simon Sinek and Monetize your Mindset by – me.
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Monetize Your Mindset is not a “how to” book – it is a “how to think” book.
Actually it is a how to see book; how to see opportunities all around you that others miss.
What makes the difference between becoming financially secure or constantly living on the brink of financial despair – where a major medical issue or even a simple car problem can push you over the edge?
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Your money mindset. The way you think about money and the opportunities that bring money your way.
Did you know that practically anyone can develop a monetized mindset and succeed as an entrepreneur – even if you keep your day job? In fact, everyone who wants to be financially secure, could be and should be financially secure.
Tools and technology that were once out of reach of the average individual are now easily accessible. Systems that once cost thousands of dollars are now essentially free. Marketing and promotion concepts that were impossible just a few years ago are now doable. Anyone can build multiple streams of income that supplement or even replace a “real job”. “Anyone” means you, provided you have the right mindset.
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