I've been a teacher my entire adult life so far. Whether it has been music, personal finance, or entrepreneurship; I have made a living by guiding other people to do things in what I consider the “right” way.
Teaching is an irony-filled career, especially in my case. I ALWAYS had to get mad at kids that were goofing off or being lazy, when the truth is that I did all the same crap that they did when I was their age (I don't know how many of my students still read M$M…but they are probably all thinking “I KNEW IT!” right now haha).
I specifically remember being told in 6th grade that I would never make it in music because I couldn't stop jacking around with my friends during class. That prediction turned out to be horrifically wrong, but I can't say that I can blame that teacher too much. We were jerks.
Since I quit teaching a little over a year ago to run this site, I'm noticing that the irony is starting to happen with my M$M stuff from time to time. Let me explain:
I need to remember to be patient.
If my wife were to read this one, she'd probably roll her eyes as hard as humanly possible. I preach pretty constantly that building a business like I am is a long-term process (just like most things in life), and that patience is a flat-out requirement to keep your sanity.
With that said, I am the least patient human alive.
Every time I see another blogger's eye-popping income report, I start tripping out about what I can do to “catch up” or get to that level on the same timeline they did. I guess you can say I'm competitive AF. This month M$M on it's own is getting much closer to matching my old monthly salary, which doesn't count my marketing income at all. My goal is to double my old salary (gross) before the end of the year, and I really think I'll get there soon!
I'm doing just fine and clearly need to appreciate what I have and chill out. The funny thing is that I wrote about being patient like…a month or two ago:
I need to remember to let my friends pass me.
This is mostly in reference to us buying a house. We *OHMYGOSH* rent right now. What a bunch of money-wasting idiots #amiright?
Actually, it's pretty strategic. We are fortunate that we could “afford” a house right now, but buying within two years of starting a business is pretty sketchy for us because:
- My income isn't guaranteed.
- It's hard to get any kind of mortgage without two years of income history from your business. We just passed the one year mark BTW.
Regardless, I still see all my friends buying houses and I feel like a scrub from time to time. It's not like I'm going to post pictures of our bank accounts and say: “SEE. WE DO ACTUALLY HAVE MONEY I PROMISE”! But…I shouldn't want to do that anyways, because where we are compared to our friends doesn't mean jack $hit in the grand scheme.
Another example of something I've written about before that I should probably go back and read:
I need to go back to why I'm doing this in the first place.
Obviously I tend to focus on money, but when you own a business it's easy to let it turn into the ONLY thing you care about. The whole reason I started this site was to help other people that were struggling with student loans and $$$ in general.
I've forgotten that a little bit over the past few months and have focused too much on earning money lately. The money will come if I run my business the right way and focus on the main goal: helping people.
So…I went back and read the post I wrote right after I quit my job to refocus a bit:
Just FYI – I hate reading my old stuff. I didn't really know what I was doing at all and hadn't really found my voice yet (you could argue that I still don't know what I'm doing). 🙂
So…what am I really getting at here?
Trust me – I get, read, and think about all of your emails. ALL OF THEM (minus the businesses wanting free advertising on the site…you know who you are). I know you all have big goals and dreams. You're paying off debt, kicking @$$ in your careers, and starting businesses. Whatever you are doing, it's not always easy and I get that. I go through the struggles too believe it or not.
Just remember to compare yourself to others with a grain of salt. We all have different paths in life. You might get there faster or slower than me, but if you keep grinding you'll get there. That's all that matters. I have to go back and remind myself about this stuff too. 🙂
Question for you:
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What life lessons do you have to remind yourself of from time to time?
Live differently. Your bank accounts will thank me later. ~M$M
Patience has been my lesson in this life! I expected when we started this business to make tons of money in the first year. We did better than I thought, but I thought we would be making millions by year two. It was year three that we finally hit the million mark at the end of the year. Life is like a marathon, not a sprint. Take one day at a time, and EVERYTHING in moderation!
Wow a million by year three? That sounds pretty great! 🙂
Being patient is one for me too. I can tell you it gets easier as you get older, so hang in there. 🙂
I regularly have to remind myself to relax and that bad news (or potential bad news) is usually not nearly as bad as I think it will be.
Yeah I’m sure as I get older I’ll grow more patient. It’s weird – I find that I can be SUPER patient when it comes to finances, but building a business isn’t quite the same for some reason!
Nice advice. Waiting seems to take forever. Buying stuff to prove that youy made it is quick and makes you feel like you are really accomplishing things until you realize that some purchases just delay real future financial freedom. Keep being pateint. I wish I could have 35 years ago instead of buying all the stuff and cars that made me feel that I had arrived. FYI I have some ideas for a fiancial blog I would love to share and am not looking to post adverts on your site. 🙂
Feel free to shoot me an email 🙂
Usually the only people that try to get free advertising are the copywriters that want to do a “guest post”…that is really just a major advertisement haha. I’ve gotten a lot better at weeding those out!
Just read your old article and your style has certainly changed but you have always been a great writer. Finding your voice is one of the hardest things about blogging!
Patience is my biggest problem. Us millennials grow up in a world of instant gratification which makes patience a huge problem. Blogging has proven to be frustrating for the reasons you mention above but when you look back at it you are growing.
Haha yeah it has changed, but it’s mostly just a product of finding the right article length for my audience and not writing gigantic paragraphs! It’s so crazy to see anyone call me a great writer…I never had any idea I could write honestly.
Your thoughts on patience are perfect. Millennials…just don’t have it. Blogging is also the slowest business model alive so that doesn’t help 🙂
Patience is a daily, if not hourly, battle for me as well. And starting my own business hasn’t helped those matters. I used to think that I wasn’t as good as my cousins and that I was falling behind, but I had epiphany the other day. I have cousins who are lawyers, accountants, PR specialists and mechanics that can fix anything so of course I feel behind. Yet from an entrepreneur’s stand point, instead of feeling sorry for myself like I did in the past I’m now happy when they do well in their jobs. The more experience they gain and the more they learn, better resource they can be for me down the road. I now see their success as my future success and am using it as a spring board to help keep me going. And don’t worry, you’re not the only one that hates reading their own stuff (I cringed just proof reading this comment lol). Keep doing what you love and thanks for the great articles!
That’s a GREAT outlook! The people who can look around and find value from others tend to do well in life. The ones that are constantly jealous fail. Reading my old stuff is SOOOOO hard haha! I actually went back and edited the “quit my job” post because I couldn’t handle how bad the formatting was. Oh – I’ll give you more details on the forum you suggested as I get closer, thanks Christa!
Thanks Bobby!! I really look forward to the forums, especially a stock market forum. I wish I had the $1,000 to open a brokerage account right now. Hot tip: buy Disney stock while you can. Its under $100 a share right now. Christmas is nearing as well as a new Disney Princess movie at the end of November so it’s bound to sky rocket. Buy now!!
I’m thinking the forum will probably have a little bit of everything! I just want a place where readers can go to ask questions and maybe get some cool tricks/tips from other readers. I’ve realized I have so many people that like tackling debt or investing that it’s just a no brainer! 🙂
Remember….”Stay on target, Stay on target, Stay on target” – “use the Force Luke”
You have to trust yourself.
Do…or do not. There is no try. – Yoda
Patience is definitely one, but the big one is gratitude. It’s so easy to take all I have for granted, because I get greedy and want more/better things. But I’ve worked hard to get where I am, and things are pretty amazing. I aspire to go on and do more as I grow, but I forget to stop and smell the roses sometimes.
I 100,000% agree – that’s probably the most important one! I think we all get a little greedy sometimes (especially if you own a business), but it’s good to take a step back and realize how awesome things are. 🙂
Yes, patience! In my impatient moments, I use a tip from a friend to slow down and take a few minutes to meditate. 🙂 I keep telling myself that everyone runs their own races, so let’s enjoy the scenery along the way~
Absolutely!!!! I’ve never actually meditated…I’ve always felt my ADHD was too strong! Which…is probably because I’ve never meditated.
Good pointers. You should listen to your stuff. Especially where you are vs. others. You are exactly where you should be at this moment. We all are.
I have to remind myself to chill out with the saving every little penny. Going through a period of flux with income can be hard and it is an adjustment for me. I’m going into SUPER MEGA POWER SAVER MODE and it’s crushing sometimes. I work myself up to cut $10 when it isn’t really worth my time/it is stripping my joy away and we don’t need to do it. But you learn and grow as time goes on and that is what is most important.
Haha “super mega power saver mode”! That’s awesome. Yeah I just have to remind myself that I actually have good advice sometimes…but I need to act on it just like my readers do (hopefully). Thanks for the comment!
Am I allowed to say that patience is an issue for me as well when I only started blogging a month ago – lol! Anyway, it’s true and you can’t compare yourself to other people. As others have stated, it gets easier as you get older and get more confidence in the fact that you have a plan and are going down your own path. No need to compare yourself to others, because who knows what path they are on.
You’re making good money now, which is great and probably better than 99% of bloggers out there. I would let that fact put you at ease and then enjoy the journey and don’t worry about everyone else! You’ll be long retired by the time they realize what happened!
Haha of course you are! I don’t blame you; I had moments of impatience way in the beginning too. Hard to believe I’m only a year into this thing. That’s the thing – I know I’m on the right path. I know this blog has had more features and traffic in a short time than some people ever get. Still not enough though for some reason 🙂
But yes, you’re right. Enjoy the journey. Not many people are fortunate enough to do what I do for a living!
The biggest life lesson I find myself reminding me about is: Never to take success for granted. For those who have come a long way like I have in both career and finances, occasionally it feels a bit easy because much of the hard work happened in the past. Time has a funny way of diluting the struggles you faced because the success appears ‘granted’, when actually it is far from it. I have to remind myself that I worked real hard to reach where I am today and just because I am able to kick my feet up from time to time, doesn’t mean success was easy to get to or even easy to maintain.
Great thoughts – thanks for sharing them! I have taken for granted how quickly my blog is growing. I need to just enjoy the ride 🙂
I’m in the same boat – I always remind myself 1) be patient and 2) appreciate the moment.
I look at it from two levels on appreciation. To a small degree, I’m happy to just be alive. That’s a LOW bar when it comes to setting expectations and its an easy one to hit, every time! 🙂
On a second level, I appreciate the chance I have to make something of myself. We live in a time and age where we are capable of putting ourselves out there and working towards a better lifestyle. There are tangible rewards if we put in the work. That hasn’t always been the case in human history. So, I’m extremely grateful I can freak out and feel competitive and then do something about it.
Great post, as usual!
Dang Matt, that’s a great point. It’s easy to get wrapped up in a bunch of stuff and forget how amazing it is that we are just…here haha. Thanks for putting it into perspective!!!!