No B.S Friday: Most people think they need to solve two problems with one solution.
I’m thinking about making friendship bracelets out of leather and selling them at the markets (when they open up again.)
I’ve got a passion for it. I like working with my hands. I like the feel of the leather. I like interacting with happy people in a craft market context.
It’s a lifestyle choice really.
I told a friend of mine. Do you know what he said?
“Jon, that’s crazy. That is such a difficult way to make money. It will take up lots of your time. It’s impossible to scale. Chinese producers will monster your margins. The market is really fickle depending on the weather…”
“It will be incredibly difficult to turn that into a viable career.”
And he’s right. Deciding to become a professional friendship bracelet maker would be an incredibly difficult way to make a living.
And is that going to stop me?
Nup.
Why?
Because I’m made all ready. I’ve got a fortune behind me already. It doesn’t matter if I don’t sell a single bracelet. It’s not going to touch me.
I am completely free to follow my passion for bracelet making because I don’t have to make it work financially.
My money gives me freedom.
And there’s something I do that I know a lot of people don’t do when they’re starting out.
I separate my money and my mission.
I see them as two separate things.
When you look at what a good life is, it’s solving two problems. The first problem is how do I survive? How do I gather the resources I need to get by? I call this the money problem.
The second problem is how do I create a life that’s enjoyable to live? How do I find a way to live with meaning and purpose and joy?
I call this the mission problem.
Now, it’s important to recognise that these are two distinct problems.
Most people try to treat them as if they were a single problem.
I love baking cakes (mission problem), so I’ll set up a cake shop (money problem).
I love being fit and dancing (mission problem) so I’ll become a dance teacher (money problem).
I love helping people (mission problem) so I’ll become a therapist (money problem).
The trouble is that most mission solutions are terrible money solutions.
Like friendship bracelets. It’s a perfectly lovely solution to the mission problem. It’s a terrible solution to the money problem.
So what I would encourage everyone to do is to keep these problems separate in your mind – you need money and you need to have mission – but they don’t need the same solution.
And the reality is that if you find a way to solve the money problem for good – and this is what wealth is – a permanent solution to the money problem – then you are completely free to follow your passions.
And your passions can be whatever they want to be, without feeling the pressure to make money as well.
Keep your money and your mission separate.
Then you’ll be free.
JG.
Kelsey says
Thats so simple and sensible. Yet I have failed to do this on occassions. Great tip.
Cheers
rb says
Great thought however, your mission that you create…will solve your money problem. Create your mission like baking cakes, dancing or making bracelets…make your mission and your money come together for the good.
RB