Over the past year, I’ve been busy knitting together creativity with money (conceptually, not literally), and looking at what would increase our money flow. It’s more about what stops it and what blocks your creative thinking, than anything else.
When we think of money and finance, we often get all crazy. Fear of not having enough, fear of investment losses, fear of missing out, and confusion over the array of investing choices seems to block our minds from truly thinking outside the money box.
I’m concerned that many are blissfully unaware of the way they are running their financial life. Some of them are crossing their fingers that Bitcoin will run; some are neglecting their own Super or Shares, but flying to the US to see an income-generation guru; and some don’t realise that they can do something better with their home mortgage than give 5 percent interest for 30 years to a bank.
Okay, I made up one of those, but you get the picture. The emotions of fear, greed and worry block our own money flow and financial plan… and the reason is that some of us go headlong into things that ‘experts’ tell us we should do.
But, there is no reason to mix emotions with investing or business planning. The emotions of fear and anxiety in particular will keep you on the treadmill of:
FEAR of missing out (FOMO) when the market is booming and buying at all-time highs.
FEAR of getting in and taking action when the market has paused and is recovering.
ANXIETY about a poor old age may propel you to take on waste-of-time MLM opportunities and speculative, strange buys.
Being creative with money is not about investing in lithium miners, products, or the cryptocurrency of the moment. It is more about acting within your life purpose… and using your mind to think of ideas that combine these things:
- what you like to do (your passion)
- what you’re good at (your skills/strengths)
- what the world needs
- what people will pay for (value)
There will be a special diagram in the book that relates to finding your passion and strength in the cross-section of what is needed.
“If you think education is expensive, try ignorance.”
– anon.
In my new book, I talk about professional development and learning as one way to grow your personal wealth. Learning Applied Business at online university helped me to:
- understand risk analysis,
- learn how to approach entrepreneurship,
- realise the importance of business models,
- find marketing approaches that help, rather than pay and hope,
- do market analysis, where you look at macro (external) and micro (internal) factors, and marketing planning.
But don’t worry, I’ve got some simpler steps for those looking to do a side hustle: earning income from a website or selling digital items part-time. The book briefly covers finding a niche, branding, and the entrepreneur mindset.
Creative Ways with Money will be out 27 January (ebook) and 7 February 2020 (print).