Panel conversation where Ryan Daniel Moran, Jay, and Zane discuss the psychological relationship to money and its effect on entrepreneurial choices. Zane describes managing three businesses (including a video production company that consumes most of his time but contributes ~1/8 of revenue), long work hours, and hiring difficulties. Ryan argues that viewing money as scarce creates tenseness; money is often a byproduct of pursuing creative freedom, and entrepreneurs should follow the work that gives energy (their 'zone of genius') to be sustainable and reduce stress.
Chapters
I'm trying to do it. I'm hiring people and then they fucking suck and I have to fire them. I'm trying to do the things to stop working 14 hours a day.
Most people view money as this scarce thing that is hard to get. So there's this tenseness. Well, of course you're gonna think that if you get enough of that, you'll be free. But what you really want is to be free of the tenseness. I've had a business that has been really, really stressful financially. It's just been a money suck. And the fear of the loss of that money was way worse than the money going away. You can solve money problems by solving the relationship problem. But if you recognize that money is abundant and money is a byproduct of you doing the thing that you want to be free to do in the first place, if you do that, then everything else is added unto you as well.
I think that the hard part is getting to that point. Like the whole idea of all these things being added to you is just getting that headspace where you really are content and comfortable. Like practically getting there as dip. I've been doing a lot of research on mind how our minds work over and over again. We have the same processes and patterns that will happen unless you get us out of it for a second and change. And our tendency is to want to get into fight or flight really quickly.
Okay, so.
I buy all this.
Working really hard and working 14 hours a day has been working. So I'm having. I know I shouldn't do it and I don't want to.
So I have three young kids and I really don't want to do this for the next eight years with. With the idea like you guys are saying, waiting. I'm gonna spend time with my family later when as soon as I can sell a company. Right. I don't want to do that. I'm trying not to do that. But everything in my experience over the last four years says that this is what works. I'm trying to do it. I'm hiring people and then they fucking suck and I have to fire them. I'm trying to do the things to stop working 14 hours a day.
What kind of business are you doing?
E Commerce. So I have, I have three businesses. That's the other problem. And I think I'm starting fourth, which I'll tell you guys about later. But all E Commerce guys have three. It seems like I have two. E Commerce business and a video production company.
So just question for Zane. Which one takes up the most of.
Your time, you know. No, no, I know I'm getting much, much better at this. It's the video production company and it makes, you know, one eighth of the total revenue.
That's the one you.
This to me is where is most observant. What you're talking about is where the thing where you put the most time and energy is also the thing that causes.
The most stress and also makes you the least amount. The thing that we've talked about is if you didn't care about the results of that business and you just did it because it was your thing, it would be immensely profitable. This is why I want to buy your video production company. Because as soon as you have the shackles off in that and it's just a mental thing, that business explodes.
You don't have the same tenseness around your E Commerce stuff. That's why they've grown. So as a whole, yeah, you're working 14 hours a day and it's working, but where is it working?
I get that and I believe it. And I. That's why I started like, I believe, I believe this, but my, you know, what's the.
So start saying it's not working and then you're actually looking for answers. You're actually open to ideas. And when he said it's working. As an entrepreneur on the macro, the real problem is not measurements, it's this 80% of your stress is coming from this one thing. And so our conversation that we started off today about your relationship to money is because I know that most people believe the lie that they have to work really hard to make a lot of money. And if you can convince someone that by following what makes them feel free, if you pursue the freedom, if you pursue that feeling of creation, creation that lights you up, if you go after that, you can have all the money you ever need. Money is the way that we make good work sustainable and we pursue the sustainability rather than the good work. And if you commit to just being in the place where you are creating, creating product, creating video, creating advice, if that's the business that you're in, if you just commit to doing that, then A, if you're working 14 hours a day, it doesn't feel like work. And B, if it all falls apart.
If all of the crap falls apart, you're still doing the thing that you would do if you had $100 million. So where you are is you say you have this fear. And I know, because I have this fear the worst thing in the world would be if I had to give up that excited creative zone so that I had to make like if I had to give that up so that I had and just to go make money, it'd be the worst thing. I'd feel like I couldn't breathe. Because what I really want to do is just create. Is that true? The reason we fear it is because it's happened. Because you have put energy into making it sustainable and now the creative person in you is stuck down, which is why you're stressed.
So weird thing is you can just commit to being like, I'm not gonna leave that zone. And that takes practice.
And the things that fall away will be the things that are stressful and things that get amplified are the things that make you happy. And you're in the very enviable position to where all your money comes from other sources anyway. But you really want to be the creative.
So let them out.
Jay. Give your final word.
It would open another conversation.
So probably.
Struggle is a sign. Struggle is a sign that energy doesn't want to go there, that it's stuck, something isn't right. Some people wear a badge of armor through struggle. If it's hard, it's good. That's not necessarily true. Businesses that work.
When they're right, they happen quickly and easily. Now, I'm not saying it doesn't take a whack ton of hard work. It's just the recognition to follow what gives you more energy. That's the thing that's sustainable. So that you are in that zone of genius as much as possible to create as much value as possible.
Those are the two reasons why entrepreneurs hit plateaus, get stuck and get caught in the struggle.
