7 Reasons You’ll Always be Poor
Take a second, and picture in your mind the “poorest” person you can think of…
When I do this, I picture the first person I met in Ghana.
It was in a small village called Nuamakrom waaaaaaay out in the bush. He sat in front of his outdoor kitchen (made out of mud) on a wooden stool maybe 6 inches above the ground. His clothes were tattered and greasy from his day’s work at the farm. He wore a smile on his face as he greeted me- the newest christian missionary to come into the village.
I actually lied when I said this man was the poorest that I had ever met. Up until that point I thought he was, but I later learned that this man was one of the wealthiest in the town.
You see, this farm that he worked, was one that he owned himself.
Though he didn’t appear to have many possessions, he was filled with the joy of harvesting his own assets.
I came to meet many others with better homes than him. None of them were as happy as him.
Especially when they saw the mason layers he contracted to lay the foundation for the biggest house in the entire village.
While others had the same opportunity as my friend (Kofi), none of them had the same mindset. They didn’t see the value behind owning their own farm. They didn’t want the LIABILITY. All they knew was the system they had been taught.
Stop picturing that “poorest” person in your mind and listen carefully…
Your worldview around money is trapping you the same as any homeless person.
You might have more possessions than them, but you’re both stuck.
Waiting on the dollar from your “master’s” hand.
I don’t think anyone wants to be subjected to waiting upon another’s whims. Sadly, most of the population is doing just that.
The KEY to maneuvering out of this financial subjugation lies within your mind.
Or rather, REMOVING from your mind the propaganda that has held you bound.
7 Reasons You’ll Always be Poor (unless you change)
1) You have no desire to become wealthy
“Success comes to those who allow themselves to become success conscious, failure comes to those who indifferently allow themselves to become failure conscious.”
There is a difference between complaining and having a 9 Month-Old Determination.
My son (cute little dude) NEEDS to open the pantry door. This is not some arbitrary interest that comes and goes. He is prepared to DIE to open this door. I have seen him faceplant numerous times in the pursuit.
Bro.
He is not playing about it.
Before he even knew it was possible, he was crawling up to the thing and yanking on it (it doesn’t have a doorknob, so he just has to get his fingers around the edge and pull on it).
Now that he figured out how to do it, he does it Every. Single. Day.
What conviction do you have about your financial well being?
Have you visualized an actual goal you’re working towards?
Or do you just try to be mindful about your money?
It’s easy to be mindful about money when you’re spending it.
It’s difficult to create hard rules for what you want your money to do for you and stick to it.
You must find a burning desire within yourself to become wealthy.
The kind of desire that propels you to fall on your face over and over until you pull that pantry door open.
2) You Think too much like a Consumer
When you get your paycheck, what’s the first thing you do? You probably take responsibility and pay all the necessary bills you have to pay. Good for you. Adulting and whatnot.
What do you do after that?
Likely, you either save that money or view it as “spending money”
(Even if you save it, what are you saving for? A car? A cool toy? A LIABILITY?)
A consumer mindset is based on the idea that money is the means by which we acquire possessions we want
An owner mindset understands that cash flowing assets are the means to a freedom more desirable than any one possession you can think of.
Don’t spend your days researching that next Adidas line you want to buy. Buy stock in Adidas and cash in on all the other people in line to buy the hottest shoes.
I recommend The Rich Habits Podcast if you seriously want to learn more about overcoming this consumer mindset.
3) You Think You’re Better than Sales
Maybe too many kids have knocked on your door trying to sell you pest control.
Maybe a guy at the mall mad dogged you until you had to stop and listen to their sales pitch.
You got roped into a timeshare meeting that left you feeling icky for taking the free meal and running.
For whatever reason, you think that sales is beneath you.
Set aside your reluctance for now. If you feel defensive, then recognize how emotional you are allowing this idea to be inside your psyche.
Ask yourself sincerely:
What is wrong with selling?
This might be where you say:
“Well it’s not the selling that’s bad, it’s all the manipulation that rubs me the wrong way. I can’t do that to other people.”
Let me tell you a secret. You already manipulate people.
With every interaction, you are intending to present yourself in a way that people will perceive you the way you want them to. The difference is you do it with no ill intent.
Here’s the key:
If you sell to people with the intent to actually benefit their lives, then you will not be motivated by greed and come off as salesy.
Money is made to exchange value, people!
There’s nothing wrong with creating something valuable with a desire to enrich people’s lives. Especially if it’s something that’s already enriched your life.
Stop seeking to trade your time (a finite resource) for money (an infinite resource).
Figure out how to trade your creativity (infinite) for money (infinite).
4) You Don’t Fail Enough
“Success is walking from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm ”
I have a problem with the school system. They pound into your brain one concept.
They teach you to avoid being wrong.
Tests that rank you based on the amount of answers you get correct.
Why not base a grade off of one’s ability to iterate on a process rather than selecting the “correct” answer based on information told to the individual?
Wealth is a process of building and collecting profitable assets.
One of the biggest hurdles into wealth is getting to that first TRULY profitable asset.
I’ll be the first to tell you that profits don’t just fall into your lap.
You can’t expect to build a cash flowing business just because you wrote a business plan or had a good idea. The only way to build something to this level of value is iteration.
You can’t iterate on something you’ve never created.
Start building. Fail. Repeat.
Find others that have done it successfully and use what you learn from them to inform your process as you create your next iteration.
Don’t fall to industry gurus promising to teach you how to make your business profitable the FIRST TIME around!
No one can deliver on a promise to protect you from growing pains.
Just get started building and learn from them along the way. Don’t get so butt hurt when their solutions don’t solve every possible issue you’re facing. It’s a process of iteration.
5) You Choose Ignorance instead of Hard Truth
“I actually became rich by accident!” Said no one ever.
Take any goal that you have in your life and break it down in your mind. If you have any chance of reaching that goal there are a few givens:
You know how far away you are
You know the obstacles that stand in your way
You have a plan to overcome those obstacles
These are literally the most basic parts of any goal you conjure up in your mind. Numerous books have been written on the topic of how to set goals and achieve them. Yet these basic prerequisites escape you when it comes to becoming wealthy.
Do you know your debt to income ratio?
Do you know your expenses on a monthly basis?
Do you have any plans around how to improve these numbers?
I’ll bet that half of the people reading this only have a vague idea of whether or not they are in the red each month.
It’s a painful subject to consider. Much easier to just keep working and kind of… guestimate where we are financially.
But I always pay my bills on time! You might protest.
Yes. But you’ll never be wealthy.
Take the time to go through the numbers. Figure out how much money you actually spent each month for the past 3 months. You already know what your income is. You might find that you’re more in the red than you realized.
Opening your eyes is a prerequisite to getting where you want to go.
6) Your World View is Holding You Back
Speaking of opening your eyes, you might want to consider what lens you’re using to assess the world around you.
Refer back to that Napoleon Hill quote under the 1st reason. You must learn to become Success Conscious.
When I broke up with my ex. I saw that stupid Subaru Forester she drove EVERYWHERE on the road. I freaking hated it.
The number of Foresters on the road likely didn’t increase significantly after my break up. My mind became much more conscious of that kind of car.
Each time one came across my vision, my subconscious would bring it to my conscious mind going: “Hey weren’t you looking for this?” (No stupid subconscious I’m trying to forget her!)
That’s the problem though. The subconscious mind isn’t stupid. It just can’t tell the difference between negative intention and positive intention. It only understands intention.
You might have grown up in a family where money was rarely talked about. It could have even been a taboo topic. I’m not here to put down anyone who came from this kind of background. I only want to ask you: Do you think this way of looking at money will attract more of it into your life?
You have to have intention towards building wealth, so your subconscious mind can do its background work to bring more opportunities to your conscious mind.
The world view you have about money is probably not your fault. It’s like an operating system on a computer. Do you cringe in your mind when you think about yourself becoming rich? That’s an error message. Your programming stops you from thinking in a way that would enable your success (I got this idea from Myron Golden by the way. Check him out here).
If you’re reading this article, I think it’s safe to assume that you have a desire to change your mindset around money. You have to look deeper within yourself, however. Reading an article about how to change your mindset won’t change your mindset.
It requires deep entrenchment within new ideas until they become the norm to your subconscious mind. Reprogram yourself. Install a new operating system for yourself.
7) You Want your Wealth Journey to be Sexy
Wealth is not as sexy as it looks.
In fact, what you’re looking at is not even true wealth.
I make Hip Hop and Pop music (Check it out here if you want!), and I see all these rappers getting signed by record labels and showing off their chains and cars…
Chains and cars owned by the Record Label.
So often people put on the appearance of wealth. What you’re seeing is consumerism.
Building wealth looks like:
Contributing to your Roth IRA every year.
Creating habits around saving money each time you go to the grocery store.
Building a car cleaning service from the ground up.
(Nothing sexier than buying boatloads of cleaning supplies right? It may not be sexy, but it can one day turn into a cash flowing asset)
Calculated risk isn’t as sexy as gambling.
Everyone’s lining up to gamble their way into a fortune by hopping on the nearest business bandwagon.
Be calculated. Don’t jump because people tell you to jump.
This is your sign to quit waiting on a sexy blow up story.
Build slowly. It’s less sexy, but worth every effort.
Recap
The 7 Reasons You’ll Always be Poor (Unless you change)
You have no desire to become wealthy
You think too much like a consumer
You think you’re better than sales
You don’t fail enough
You choose ignorance instead of the hard truth
Your world view is holding you back
You want your wealth journey to be sexy
We’ve hit some sore spots in this article together. The pursuit of wealth is a spiritual journey requiring incredible self mastery. It’s a process of creation. Creating a new self. Creating value for people around you. Join my newsletter to delve into the mind of an artist like me and find the creativity you have within yourself.
