Richmond DinhCreator & Founder of Tiny Challenges™

The Hardest Part Of Making Money..

3 Oct 2026 · 1 min

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1:05

In this solo monologue, Richmond Dinh reflects on the biggest obstacle to earning money: the willingness to receive. He explains how Asian cultural norms teach deference and discourage asking for help or taking the first share, which creates a deep‑seated belief that requesting payment is selfish or wrong. When he entered entrepreneurship, he expected that having a product or service would make asking for money easy, but he found the psychological barrier far tougher than the logistical one. Dinh points out that many people who are habitually the go‑to helper for friends and family struggle to charge for their professional services, often fearing they’ll be seen as a bad person. He argues that the root of this resistance is a lack of self‑love and an empty “cup” – you can’t give what you don’t have. By learning to love oneself and to open up to receiving, you not only improve personal well‑being but also increase your capacity to make a larger impact. He shares that he now teaches this mindset to his three daughters, emphasizing that self‑care and the willingness to receive are essential for sustainable success and broader influence.

Chapters

The hardest thing about making money is opening yourself up to receiving. In the Asian culture, we were taught that we should never ask for help. We should always be the last person to take the food from the table. So for example, if you're getting a meal, then you should always wait for your elders to go first. And it was never about taking. And so when I became an entrepreneur, I thought it'll be easy. Have a product, have a service, and then ask for money. But when it came, it was actually harder than I thought. And many of you are watching this right now, and you're probably that person in your life right now where everybody goes to you for help and you do it for free. And you're friend touring, which is fine. But when it comes to running your own business, now you're gonna have to ask for $3,000, $4,000, $5,000. That's harder than it looks. And part of it is maybe because cultural conditioning, but more importantly, it comes down to maybe a belief that says that if I ask, then it means I'm a bad person. And this is what I found. This is what I teach my 3 daughters all the time now, is that make sure you love yourself first because you can only give to others what you already have. And if your cup is empty, you can't give to others. And so when you open yourself up to receiving, that's when you can make more impact on the world.