How to Make More Money in Less Time

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Hey good looking people. And the rest of you, I'm Ryan Daniel Moran. Today we'll talk about the importance of taking time off. What to do when you're starting a business that you have no passion for. What to do with the money in your bank account. And we'll look at a multi million dollar powder drink company. This one right here.

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I became an entrepreneur because I wanted to take a lot of time off. I know a lot of entrepreneurs who got into this world because they wanted to be free and just enjoy their time and have passive income, which I think we all know is a little bit of a mixed bag. Passive income tends to be very active income. I have one friend in particular, he actually just moved here to Austin, Texas. We'll be having him on the Freedom Fast Lane podcast soon. But he is the one guy that I know that like actually takes an incredible amount of time off. And he said something really interesting. He said, the secret to me being able to take so much time off is I don't consider myself an entrepreneur. Entrepreneur. I just have multi million dollar businesses that support my lifestyle. That's interesting. If you're an entrepreneur, there is nothing else that you can be in the world. I'm one of those people. I went to college to be a pastor and the whole time I was like, I really just want to be an entrepreneur. Until one day one of my professors said, if you can do anything else but go into the ministry, please do that. And I said, thank you very much. I'm going to be an entrepreneur. So I thought I was getting into a world where I was going to have unlimited time off and total control. And guess what? I do. We all do. I just happen to be really bad at being protective of that time. Most of us as entrepreneurs are exactly that. We got into this game because we wanted a better life. We have control over our life now, but we feel like we're slaves to to our business because we actually don't give ourselves the structure to be able to take that time off. I can work Anywhere, including in bed and at the dinner table and while I'm watching TV and early in the morning and as soon as I wake up and checking my phone to make sure the sales are still there. That is fairly common among most of the entrepreneurs that I work with. What I have found is that I am resistant to the idea of taking time off because I'm worried that something terrible is going to happen. But by actually dialing it back and working less, that is when my batteries start to charge and then is actually when I find this creative solutions to the problems that I perceive in my business. So when I am particularly drained, as I said that I was on a recent episode of Freedom Fast Lane tv, the first thing I know I need to do is take a step back, because two things are going to happen. One, I'm going to look at a problem and I'm going to feel sharper and clearer about what the solutions are and what is actually important. The other thing that is going to happen is new creative solutions are going to happen. They're going to come up as the result of me recharging those batteries. Whereas when I'm trying to pound my way through something, that is when there is no creative energy. And it was when you are at the least capacity to be able to get the thing that you want done. So I say, let's start working in the lifestyle that we all say we're working for. We all say that we want to have lots of time off and time with our family, but we'll get there when the money is there. I promise you that the money will get there if you take regular time for yourself and for the things that actually matter to you. There's a part of our brain at the end of the day that just wants pleasure and to avoid pain. And when we are grinding all of the time, we are connecting in our brain that money and success equals more pain. We need to retrain that and say, the more money I make, the better my life gets. I did a fantastic episode that was absolutely spot on with one of my mentors, Peter Shallard, over at the Freedom Fastlane podcast. So if you go over to freedomfastlane.com iTunes, it'll pull it up in your podcasting app or on your computer, or you can go over to freedomfastlane.com and just search for Peter Shallard and that episode will come up. He calls himself the shrink for entrepreneurs, and he says exactly that, that our brain just wants to be happy and avoid pain. And we as entrepreneurs are working towards this idea while Also training our brains that we're always going to be miserable and that's why we sabotage. And that is why it's so important to be intentional about the life that you want before you're successful so you can fill in everything else around the life you want to enj.

Of course, I believe the fastest way to get there is to build a business and to invest the profits. So let's look at some questions that will help you do exactly that.

Chris Van Loan asks, how do you choose a product when you don't yet have a specific passion or niche?

I am in the rare minority, I think, that thinks that passion in business is overrated. I think starting a business just for the cash flow is totally fine. In fact, I know a lot of people who do that and they treat their business like a video game. If I do this and I do this, this result comes out. I want to gamify this as much as possible so they become passionate about playing the game, even if they're not passionate about the brand that they're building. Look, most entrepreneurs, I think, start businesses for the money or for the lifestyle that they're going to get. And the passion seems to come later. I find it to be a rare exception that someone actually gets paid to do what they love. I know that's not popular to say in our little community, but I don't know that many people who actually make all of their money doing the thing that they're really excited about. So have your thing. Have your thing that makes money, have your business that pays for your life, and then go enjoy your passions. Being in the business that makes you money will give you the skill sets that you need if you want to make your passion a business. I don't know, a lot of people have navigated that well, meaning that they have started a business that they're passionate about, stayed passionate about it, and been able to operate it like a business. I know more people who are like, I'm going to blog about this thing that I'm really excited about and if I make money, great, and as a result they get paid to do it. But it never really becomes a big business. It might become a legitimate cash flow stream, but it's not something they can scale or sell. The thing that you can scale or sell is the business that you operate like a business, which is probably going to involve some things that you're not necessarily passionate about. That is totally cool. If we can divorce the two. If we can divorce the thing that makes us money from the thing that we Just feel so passionate about, then we're free to live in both worlds. So build the thing that makes you cash, invest it, sell it if you want, and go park that money into other more passive income streams and develop the thing that recharges you and gets you excited and gives you passion. Do that as a gift to the world. And if it makes money awesome, or if there are a lot of people demanding that you sell something, go ahead and do that once the cash flow business is already taken care of. So if you watch the episode of Freedom Fast Lane tv where I say follow the money, not the passion, this was exactly my advice. We are entrepreneurs that are always looking to maximize everything, including our lives and our happiness, and we start a business that makes money and then the next thing is, well, what do I do in my personal life that I can make a business and maximize that? I think that's the wrong approach. Double down in what makes money, double down in what gives you excitement and passion and freedom. And free yourself from the idea that they have to be the same thing. They can serve one another, balance one another, and actually support one another. Because as you make the money, you'll feel good about playing in your passions. And being passionate about something will give you the energy that you need to be at full force in your business. Now, of course, there are exceptions to this, but I don't think that it is necessary for you to be super excited about your business, at least the things that you sell. As long as you are enjoying the process of being an entrepreneur, the way that you manage that is simply following the money. Where is the audience? What do they need? How do I serve them? Can you be passionate about the difference that you're making? Can you be passionate about the growth that you're enjoying? Can you be excited about the challenges that you're learning to navigate and therefore what you're learning? Can you be passionate about your customers specifically and the excitement they get when they get your product in hand? Can you be excited and passionate to see other people using your product? Can you be passionate about other things rather than just the product that you're selling? If so, you're golden. You're in the clear. Go scale that the only time that it's a problem is if you find it so mundane and boring that you just can't get yourself to do the things that grow the business. That's the sign that you need to exit. But if you can continue to grow and you can continue to be excited about the process, then you don't need to necessarily be all gung ho and excited and passionate about about every minute detail of your business.

Melissa Blackman asks I have $50,000 in the bank. Now what do I do?

Money in the bank. Do you want to do something fun here? Give it all to me. Put it in a parachute, Go skydiving and yell free bananas for all as you plummet towards the earth. Buy a really crappy house. Fill a storage unit of old VCRs, put a pair of ridiculous rims on an old crappy car. Get a set of really sweet oh shoot, what are they called? Grills. Get an awesome grill. Buy your entire church tickets to Freedom Fast Lane Live Boost a Facebook video of you saying to your crush, hey, check me out now and buy a lot of traffic. So there's two answers to this question. I know that for me, when I hit a certain point and it actually was $50,000 that was in the bank account, which was about six months to a year's worth of expenses for me at the time. That was a new level of freedom for me. So there is an ROI on freedom and feeling secure about your financial status. So if you don't have an emergency fund where you really feel like you've got six to 12 months worth of something to take care of you in the event of an emergency, do nothing, put it away and know that you are now free to go do things that you want and take a little bit of calculated risk because if it all doesn't work out, you've got a nice fallback option. That's what I decided to do when I had my first $50,000 in the bank. If you're looking to invest $50,000, I have made the mistake too many times of saying I've got money, I'm just going to throw it all into something. So I would say incrementally invest in something that you believe in, whether it's a dividend paying stock or it's a real estate investment trust or it's a down payment on an investment property that you want to buy and rent out for somewhat passive income. These are all things that are good incremental movements for you to invest in. But I've made the mistake of trying to diversify into things that I'm not necessarily good at doing. So where I would spend the money is on acquiring a business that supported the rest of your efforts. If you don't have a business, put it into a different type of income stream. But if you're an entrepreneur and you are building a business, what can you use that money for to overall support the health of the company. Is it in more traffic? Is it in sponsoring influencers? Is it in acquiring a high traffic website that isn't monetized that can support some of the products that you're trying to sell? These are all very, very good use of funds that might not have that immediate win that so many people look for, but it gives you the long term after effects that really drive business. $50,000 is just enough to be able to spend a good amount on traffic and or acquire a small property that makes either a little bit of money or allows you to support the efforts that you're doing. Those are the areas of business that I would focus on. If you don't have a business, I'd put it into a dividend paying stock that you're incrementally investing in. Meaning you're not just dumping all the money in there or you're putting it into a real estate transaction that you are going to finance the rest and then have the renters pay for it. So $50,000 probably isn't going to change any life or business unless it just frees you up to be comfortable and take more strategic risk. So if you're beyond that point, put it into a business or a passive income stream.

So for today's case study I thought it would be fun if we look at a that I personally buy from. So this isn't one of our tribe members. We usually reserve this time to look at one of our tribe members businesses. But I thought it would be fun to go outside and look at a case study that I follow because I think there are some nuggets that will help both our students and those of you who watch this show just because you want to get some inspiration for businesses that you might start. So today we're looking at four Sigmatic. Four Sigmatic sells powdered drinks like powdered coffee, powdered hot chocolate right here and most of them have some sort of a mushroom blend of them. So the hot chocolate is hot cacao with reishi mushroom. So mushrooms either have cognitive enhancer abilities or some of them are considered to be immune boosters. So I don't know if any of that is true, but that's how they are marketed. What's interesting about this company is that they do a few things really really well. And by the way, you'll see me often drinking their products while we're recording the show. What they've done really well first is they have a very clear differentiating factor. For them it's the mushroom blend. Because it would be one thing for somebody to say, yeah, I drink four Sigmatic powdered coffee. Where's the differentiating factor there? There isn't one. But if I say I drink four Sigmatic coffee because it has a mushroom blend that gives me a cognitive kick and helps me focus more. Ah, now there's just a little bit of a differentiating factor. Now let's be real. Coffee on its own is a cognitive enhancer that will give you a little bit of a bump and help you get more work done. But the fact that there is some sort of a twist tells the brain this is new, this is different. And it can create the impulse purchase. And it is that impulse purchase for a very specific reason that creates raving fans and repeat customers, as you can see. So I'm on subscribe and save on Amazon and I bought multiple products just because I used the impulse buy on Amazon and I went and I bought more because I enjoyed the product. We keep it here at the office so everybody can have some mushroom coffee if they want. So a differentiating factor doesn't need to be something that sets the world on fire. It doesn't need to be a big disruptor business. It can be just enough that piques curiosity enough to try it. The classic store that I like to tell here is Coors Light. When they came out with their slogan triple hops brewed for maximum freshness. All beer is triple hops brewed. There's no differentiating factor there. The twist though is that you say, oh, it's triple hops brewed. I should give that a shot. I wonder what the flavor of triple hops brewed beer is. Spoiler alert, you've already had it. But if you can call out some piece of your product that is slightly different or that no one is talking about to create that impulse purchase that gives you a product in a business that is different among all of your competitors. And that's what so many physical product sellers are missing. They're missing that piece that makes them different. And that differentiation is what creates the fans that will set you apart for everything that you do moving forward. The second thing that this brand does really well is their marketing and the aggressiveness with which they market is spot on. So I discovered four Sigmatic as a result of them being advertised and discussed on Tim Ferriss podcast. If you haven't read the article the Tim Ferriss Effect, go read it as a case study in how influencer marketing can have an impact on any business. This was an article about how Tim Ferriss affected a line of men's clothing called Mizzen and Maintenance about how one influencer made such an impact in their business that it changed everything. Four Sigmatic does the same thing of sponsoring podcasts. So influencers are talking about their brand. This does a couple of things. First of all, it aligns a business with a thought leader so you have an elevated perception in the marketplace. And second, it has the exact same effect of doing a blast or a giveaway, but you do it profitably. Like some people will happily spend $5,000 on giving away product in order to get it out to people or get their rankings on Amazon or to get people to buy for a dollar so that you have them on subscription. And that's a totally viable strategy. But I find it so interesting that people are unwilling to spend the same $5,000 to go to an influencer to talk about your brand. So they're sending actual real customers that want your product and will subscribe. So this business has done a really good job of being aggressive with their marketing and spending a lot to be able to drive the collective awareness. Now, I don't know if they're profiting on that advertising, but I do know that when you get a customer and they come back, it increases the amount of monthly subscribers, it increases the amount of people talking about it like I'm talking about it right now. It increases the amount of word of mouth, it increases the amount of other products that they come back and purchase. So if you look at it from the life cycle of a customer and you're willing to spend all the upfront profit that you would get on advertising, that is when you will have a breakthrough brand. So that one little clear differentiator plus aggressive marketing is what has made four Sigmatic a multimillion dollar business selling powdered coffee. I have no idea what their costs are. I don't know what four Sigmatic means. So it's not like their profit margins are huge because it's like a $16 product. And it's not like the name is just so good that it drives people to become customers. They've just executed well and that's what it takes to build a multimillion dollar business. If you've been hearing about these kinds of case studies, studies, and you've seen what we do here on the show and on the Freedom Fast Lane podcast, and you're wondering, how do I actually start one of these businesses? We put new people through a bootcamp that will get you to select, source and sell your first product. So that you have that first step towards your million dollar business in in process. And then we can put you through our strategy to taking that to a million dollar business. We do that bootcamp. It's something called the Brand builder bootcamp. You can go over to freedomfastlane.combootcamp to start your path to getting a product like this that you'll then differentiate and advertise and ultimately be on the path to a million dollar business. The older I get, and actually the older my daughter gets, the more I realize how much of a finite amount of time we have on this planet. And I realize that for most of my life I've been saving things for later and I have been saving the things that I want to do until later. And I spent a whole lot of time and energy worrying about things that were not in my control and trying to get somewhere that was very elusive. And I find that the older Esther gets and the older I get, the more I just want to enjoy every day and enjoy every moment of every day and realize that all of the things that I stress about are just more research and development for the next win, the next opportunity or the next thing that I get to enjoy. Pain is like a piece of navigation guiding you towards something different that'll lead you to a different destination. So as you build your businesses, as you look at the overall financial strategy that you will follow, please remember that you are in this for a certain type of life that you want to enjoy. All we have is now. All we have is the experiences that are in front of us. Everything else is either a memory or a projection. So none of that is real. All you have is today. So take time off with your family, enjoy the piece of pizza, Enjoy the things that are in front of you. Build towards your goals, but do them in a way that gives you more freedom and allows you to enjoy the process of getting there. That is what freedom is all about. That's why we do what we do. That's why we start businesses and invest the profits. Because that's what people like me actually enjoy doing, pursuing opportunities and providing value. That's what an entrepreneur does. That's what capitalism gives us the freedom to do. And that's why what you do matters. Thanks for watching the show. We'll see you on the next episode.