A speaker shares how poverty shaped their self-worth and mental health, then discovered money is a learnable skill, not luck. Nathan Barry, CEO of Kit, discusses how mastering money-making feels like unlocking a cheat code. The conversation explores what wealth means when you treat it as a competency you can build.
I was sitting at the top of the stairs. I was probably 3, 4 years old, and I was listening to my parents fight about not having enough money. That scarcity actually causes real problems. People say money doesn't buy happiness. They're not acknowledging that the lack of money really causes a lot of strife. That's never going to be me.
Nathan Barry is the CEO of Kit, where he has a front row seat to what's working in the most successful creator businesses. He's helped tens of thousands of creators earn a living online and is a strong believer in teaching everything you know, which he does weekly through his newsletter and podcast. Previously a designer, author, and blogger, he enjoys sports, woodworking, and spending time with his 3 boys.
All of my self-worth was tied into what I could accomplish. It's real pain. I ended up going to counseling to deal with, like, suicidal tendencies for a year and a half after that. How did those drive you to become successful? I came across this idea of making money as a skill. Making money is just about luck. I was in the right place at the right time. All of these sayings that have an element of truth to them, but they're not true. They don't want to take on the full responsibility. Making money is made up of like 1,000 little skills as well.
I mean, what an incredible skill to learn as an entrepreneur. You can compress time, right? And output is not correlated to the number of hours.
How did that feel? I felt like I had unlocked the cheat code to everything. We're talking— So what does wealth mean to you now?
