Are You Really Living a Rich Life or a Bankrupt One?

Hey there, real quick before we jump into the episode, listen, if your earnings treadmill hasn't set you free yet, running faster won't either. Listen, hustle without principles just going to burn you out. So here's what I want for you. I want you to join me for my money machine experience Live. It is three free trainings. Deep dive into how to escape the treadmill and build a money machine that actually works for you. All right, grab your spot here by going to moneymachinelive.com and I'll see you in the free training. Here's a question for you. You know, you're working really hard, you're really digging in, you're making money, you're doing all the right things, and everything from the outside looks good.

Everything on the inside feels horrible. Well, in this episode, it's a very different episode of the Affluent Entrepreneur show. This episode, I was actually on one of my mentoring calls with one of my elite clients, and she was going through some difficult challenges when it comes to business and fulfillment and life and everything. You know, we talk a lot about.

Richness in life. See, I truly believe that we should be measuring our wealth in time. Not just time itself, but how time is used. The memories, the moments, and making each one matter. And the mistake that I made and the mistake that so many, especially entrepreneurs, make is we get so focused on profits, we get so focused on systems, we get so focused on scale, we get so focused on revenue, we forget about life, we forget about living. We forget about the things that matter. And in this conversation that I had with her, I started to talk through a framework that I've used for years, but I haven't taught it for a while. But it's a framework that allowed me to start to understand how to do business in a way that not only is successful, profitable, highly lucrative, but much more highly fulfilling to know that I'm living true to a calling, living true to my values, true to my meaning. And so what I decided to do is I've taken her out of the. The conversation is to replay that conversation. You won't see her. You don't know who she is. I am going to keep her confidential because that's what we do with our clients. You might hear a little bit of her voice, but that's it. But I want you to eavesdrop on this conversation. And then on the other side of it, I'll be back to close it out because I think it's important for us to start reflecting on how we do things. You know, are we driven by accomplishing, achieving and acquiring. And where does it get us? Are we driven by living fully, fully expressed the richness each moment that has. Because I can tell you when we talk about the affluence blueprint, that's what we're trying to do. We can build the bank accounts, we can build the investments, we can create the wealth, but without the fulfillment, without the joy, without the pleasure, without all of that.

It's bankrupt. So I hope that you enjoyed this episode of the Affluent Entrepreneurial. Very different, but very needed. And I'll see you on the other side, complete the conversation. This is the Affluent Entrepreneur show for entrepreneurs that want to operate at a high level and achieve financial liberation. I'm your host, Mel Abraham, and I'll be sharing with you what it takes to create success beyond wealth so you can have a richer, more fulfilling lifestyle. In this show, you'll learn how business and money intersect so you can scale your business, scale your money, and scale your life while creating a deeper impact and living with complete freedom, because that's what it really means to be an affluent entrepreneur.

And this sounds like what you are drawing out a little bit.

That this framework that I hadn't taught in a while, but it came out of the drawing from, from Jeremy. Yeah, it's, it's what I call the analyst framework. And, and what happens is that.

As a business owner.

I, I had a, I had a business model.

Okay. And business really is pretty doggone easy.

To be successful in business.

We, we need to.

Focus on.

Minimizing, minimizing the downside. Okay.

And while at the same time maximizing the upside. That's, that's all business is trying to do. That's all we're ever trying to do in business. And so, so that's what we're doing. And it really comes down to what's my business model? What's my revenue model? What's my business model? And as someone that was a left brain thinker, that was a cpa.

I, I actually did this really well.

I had it down just like you do. But what I didn't realize is that all that shit's below the line. And Jeremy drew a picture and Jeremy showed me something else and he showed me what was missing, which is above the line.

What's the lifestyle.

I'm building?

What does that look like? Not just for me, but for him.

What's the legacy? Not that I'm leaving, but the legacy.

That I'm living.

What does he and everyone else outside of me see.

And feel.

That part.

Is all.

Driven.

By meaning.

And values.

And then. And, and the problem is.

If we don't.

Do this first and clarify this first, we may put systems and processes in a model down here in place that are great.

But we lose this. This is where our fulfillment is.

This is where our joy is.

This is where our pleasure is.

And all we really need to do is start here.

And then build there. I did it backwards. So did I.

Because we know this down here. You and I. You and I come from this space. It's easy to think in these ways.

But what ends up happening is then we're fitting the life, the meaning, the lifestyle, into the cracks of what's left over.

That doesn't work, not long term, because we get here and all of this is working. I got the downside working. The. The upside's going, model's going, we're making money, we're doing that. And you sit back and you wonder, why the hell do I feel so empty?

Why do I feel like it doesn't feel good? And from the outside, people think that I should be doing really well. Why am I miserable?

It's because we went from the bottom up.

Yeah. And not the top down.

It's the very reason that, that in the affluence blueprint now, and any financial conversation starts with lifestyle vision, the affluence vision first and works down.

Not from the income up. Because if in the process of building something, we lose access to the meaning, we lose access to the values, we lose the lifestyle we want. We erode the legacy we should be living, not leaving. We feel empty. It's a lot of people. It was me too. And I still find myself there at times.

We're not immune to it. We just got to be aware of it. September 8th, went in for a scan.

I saw a shadowing. It reconnected me saying, oh, crap, I've been living below the line. How do I get back? Above the line.

Was, you know, obviously turned out to be nothing. But it really put it back in my face again. What am I missing? What did I give up? Why am I not living up there? We need to allow everything above the line, the meaning, the lifestyle legacy, to inform what we do below the line. Or although the systems, the model and everything we do could be valid, could be great, could be, could be astronomical, it won't feel good. And you'll wonder why, when from the outside and from all other measures, you should be ecstatic and you're not. Space and batteries will give you the time to, over time, define what's above the line really matters. And then as you make the decisions below the line to connect them and say.

Does it move me closer to what I want above the line, does it align and is it congruent with what's above the line? And if not, you might have to pass. All right, all right. I hope that you found this meaningful. I hope that you found this helpful. I hope that in the process you'll take the time to maybe draw out the framework for yourself and start asking the questions, exploring the answers of the questions of what is the lifestyle I want, what's the meaning, what's the values, what's the legacy? Not that we're going to leave, but that we are trying to live each and every moment to ask those questions. Now, some of them, I get it. The answers may not be at the tip of your tongue. There may be things that you have to think through, you have to think about. They might be things that you need to discuss with your partner.

But whatever it is, what does it take for you to get above the line, to allow above the line, the lifestyle, the legacy, the meaning, the values to inform what you're doing below the line, profits without fulfillment is not success.

Wealth without richness is not living. And I hope that you get a chance to see that. If there are questions, if you have comments, I'd love to hear from you. This was a conversation, like I said, with one of my elite one on one clients. But I thought that it was such an important conversation that too often we don't have with ourselves, with the people that we care about and with the world. And maybe it's time we do. Maybe it's time we don't get caught up in all of the social media, the media and all the other stuff that can drag us away from what's above the line. And I hope in this journey that you get a chance to live truly above the line and allow the what is above the line to inform everything that's below the line. And in that process, you find that you can live a life fully expressed. You find that you live a life full of richness and you find that you live a life that outlives you. I hope you enjoyed it and I look forward to seeing another episode. Cheers.

Thank you for listening to the Affluent Entrepreneur show with me, your host, Mel Abraham. If you want to achieve financial liberation to create an affluent lifestyle, join me in the Affluent Entrepreneur Facebook group now by going to melabraham.com group and I'll see you there.

Foreign.

And that's it for this episode of Building your Money Machine where we help you learn how to master your money, eliminate financial stress, and live a life of choice. If you found this valuable or helpful to you, here's what I'd love for you to do. If you do me a favor, go to Apple, Apple Podcast, or wherever you're listening to this podcast and rate and review the show. It helps us tremendously to keep us up with Top of the List so we can continue to get this information and this message out to people. Because I truly believe that financial freedom is your birthright and I want to help each and every one of you claim it. Thanks so much.