Money is a great servant but a terrible master. Understanding and getting money right is one of the most important things in your life, however if you make money to beginning and end point of your life you’ll be very unfulfilled. We all need money, we need knowledge of money to survive and thrive in this world. And the base level of knowledge that we need about money to thrive and survive grows with each and every day.
You need to know how to save money, where it comes from, basic expenses, how to balance a budget, and most important of all how to acquire money. A skill that few ever learn. Its very hard, if not impossible, to save your way to wealth or even stability without having good income. When it comes to money the biggest thing to focus on is how to acquire it, as saving it doesn’t mean much if you can’t acquire it.
Most are taught how to balance a budget. How to tally up income and expenses and see where you end up. And this is something that I recommend that everyone do, as it’s a foundational life skill and you’ll end up in a lot of trouble if you can’t do it. However with that being said many act as if that’s the only skill when it comes to the mastery of money but that’s not true at all. That’s the start and it doesn’t cover the most important aspect of money mastery.
And that is the creation of money, the acquirement of money. Save every day from you average job and you’ll barely be able to keep up with inflation, in most Western countries you won’t be able to. Throw your money to the stock market and you’ll end up screwed over and broke like the majority of people who trust the stock market for anything.
No, you need to know how to increase your income and bring in more money. That’s the only way to have any stability in the modern economy and things are only going to get worse. You essentially have to be what we would have called “rich” before to have a chance at a decent life anymore. Though much of that can be mitigated through simple living but that’s a topic for another time.
Are You In The Stream Of Money Or Hanging Out In The Desert Waiting For It To Rain?
Some places, jobs, careers attract money and some do not, that’s just the fact of the matter. Some are very location and market dependent. One day this job may be hot and the next another. One place may be desperate for people who can do job X while another place is desperate for job Y. However even with all those factors there are jobs, careers, and vocations that are going to attract money and those that are not.
Most people’s thoughts when it comes to money are doctor, lawyer, or a STEM degree however I really don’t think this is the best option. The truth of the matter is that most doctors, lawyers, and STEM professionals are not spending their weekends cruising around in their boats and sipping martinis with their trophy wives and spoiled kids. Most are struggling to pay off debt and don’t reap the benefits of their training until much later in life.
And then there are all the other hassles to deal with like you know law and medical school, which are two things that the majority of people just aren’t going to be able to do. So while doctor/lawyer/STEM can be certainly valid for some people, don’t think it’s the end all be all or the only option.
However you do have to rule out jobs that just aren’t going to make you good money. Look at your career what’s the income potential? Does your hard work, ingenuity, creativity, and all that matter? In the vast majority of places that’s going to be a big fat “no”. You can work yourself to the bone and never see a dime more for it while others get promoted over you. You want to have your income in your hands and you want to be able to increase that income. And you want to be in a place that has money flowing to it, the stream instead of the desert.
And the greatest stream of all is sales, which brings us to the “money skills”.
The Money Skills & Mastery Of Them
Once we go beyond basic savings and budgeting we turn to money acquirement and there are three skills that are the basis of essentially all money acquirement. Those skills are roughly sales, which includes “soft” or “people” skills, copywriting, and marketing. One is selling face to face, the other through print, and the other through organization of a company. All deal with selling and selling is the foundation, the basis of the acquirement of money. That is, unless you print the money yourself but I’m guessing that’s not you.
So for the rest of us sales equals money acquirement. Now at first this may seem a bit flippant. After all how can simply learning the money skills translate to wealth acquirement? Obviously you still have to put yourself into a place to make money. Having sterling sales skills as a ditch digger isn’t going to help you much. But with mastery of sales, of the money skills, you can essentially get whatever job you want. And sales jobs are some of the best jobs to be had.
Especially big ticket items cars, boats, RVs, and the like. Anything where you can make a commission. That puts your cash flow in your own hands with minimum interference from a corporate structure. The dollars in your bank account are largely determined by your sales skills. It might not be a one to one correlation but it’s about as close as you’re going to get to that in the real world.
But what if you don’t have a sales job? It doesn’t matter sales/the money skills are still essential to the acquirement of money. Doesn’t matter if you’re trying to work your way up the corporate ladder, have a business of your own, or don’t know what you’re going to do yet. Sales, copywriting, and marketing are still essential to success in the acquiring of good amounts of money.
You can’t be without them.
Starting Your Education
It’s one thing to say “Hey, these three skills are essential to acquiring and keeping money.” without telling you how to go about developing them. The best way to develop these skills, aside from putting yourself in sales situations, is by reading good books from knowledgeable sales professions. I’m going to give you a basic framework here. Now not all of these books fit neatly into one category and this is by no means conclusive but it’ll give you a head start and a basic understanding of each skill.
For sales I recommend Zig Ziglar, Grant Cardone, Tom Hopkins, and Brian Tracey. For copywriting I recommend Dan Kennedy, Joseph Sugarman, and Gary Halbert. For marketing I recommend David Ogilvy, Al Ries, and Robert Cialdini. Again these are just to get you started not the end all be all. There are plenty more like Dale Carnegie and many others that you should check out as well. MJ DeMarco has good stuff as well.
But we could go on all day about all that. Just dive in, start with sales as it transfer anywhere and most of your interactions are going to be face to face, but don’t neglect copywriting and marketing which can help take your sales skills, not to mention understanding of human nature, to that next level. And that’s essentially what sales skills, what the money skills are, having a deep understanding of human nature that translates to being able to make more money.
So don’t neglect the money skills. Sales or “soft/people” skills, copywriting, and marketing. Doesn’t matter if your a doctor, lawyer, plumber, online entrepreneur, or ditch digger you’re going to need these skills to advance and make the money that can provide you with some stability in this crazy world of ours. Don’t neglect them, they’re essential to life and happiness.
