Would you like to hear about my hidden secret for productivity?
If so, would it surprise you to hear that it is rooted in fear?
When I am interviewed on podcasts, or for articles, the host or reporter will often mention how many different things I’ve done in my career. They will go back and forth about writing books, or the photography business, speaking, my time as a journalist, now running online communities and masterminds, and a host of other things that I’ve moved around with. Something we did that was our primary income source five years ago isn’t something I spend very much time with any longer. Often, those things still earn income but require a fraction of the time. Only when I talk about it with others does it seem eccentric, and only because they pointed it out.
But I never set out to be this way. There wasn’t a master plan around it.
As I mentioned, it’s rooted in fear..
When photography was our primary source of income, I spent much of that time stressing over money. Even though we did well with the business, and eventually had zero debt, a scarcity mindset around money stemming from my childhood had me in fear that it was all going to go away. As a teenager, my dad had six figures of money stolen overnight by a business partner. You also might have developed trust and scarcity issues if you had watched this happen.
Things were going great on paper. But inside, I was a wreck. I would wake up in the middle of the night fearing the worst. Every negative scenario would cross my mind. I was convinced that it all was going to go away. It’s a terrible way to think.
A few years later, I said those same words. But this time, in a different way. And with a different mindset.
Sometime in late summer, I asked myself the question in a positive frame of mind.
“What would happen if this business went away?”
I started to think about what I would do if I knew that this main income stream would not be here the following year. And I started planning like it was going to go away. Instead of being aloof and frivolous with money, we became ridiculously intentional. When that next year began, we were in much better shape if the business actually did go away. Which it didn’t.
But I learned a ton by doing that. By being better prepared for something going wrong, it freed up time. Because of that freedom, we were able to get over the fear of raising prices. That year, we worked less and made more. During that summer, I asked myself again what I would do if it all went away?
What would I do that I’m not doing now?
I told myself that I would write and publish a book. The following year is when I wrote the majority of Freelance to Freedom. The following year, when I asked myself this question, I said that if I lost this and I could do whatever I wanted, I would start a mastermind for creative entrepreneurs. The following year, I told myself that I would start an online community for the same type of business owners. The following year, I told myself that I would start a podcast. The following year, when I asked myself what I would do if it all went away, I said that I would focus on public speaking. I asked myself that question again the next year, and in my heart, I knew the book that I would write. It was called The Wealth of Connection.
Again, this summer, I sat down beside the pool and I gave it a lot of thought.
If all of this went away at the end of this year, what would I do?
For me, success isn’t about the accumulation of assets. It’s not about net worth. When I’ve fallen into that trap, I didn’t like the person that I became. Success, for me at least, is freedom. Freedom to wake up every day and work on the projects that I truly desire to create. To play a game of chess with my son like we did before I started writing this. To help the people that I know that I was built to help. Sure, numbers matter, but at what point do they become less important? For some people, numbers never become less important.
In our world, money equals freedom. And the less you need to attain that freedom, the quicker it will be to attain that freedom.
When I would wake up during the night worrying about money, I didn’t feel free. We had our own business but I felt like I had built myself a job. The constant dread of worrying about what would happen if the business failed kept me stressed out.
But by taking action on what I would do next, it created a layer to our business. And when what I worried about didn’t take shape the next year either, we added another layer. And then another. Ironically, we added so many layers that Elizabeth and I voluntarily walked away from that income stream that I was so worried about losing.
We live in a society where we are always taught to think positively. But what if thinking negatively once in a while serves us as well? By asking that question- what if this all went away- we get to think, plan and build things we might not have because we’ve become comfortable and complacent. I would imagine there are 11,000 former employees at Facebook (META) that wished they would have asked that sooner.
If you knew that what you were doing was all going to go away next year, how would you plan differently than you are right now?
Would you be a little more conscious of your spending? Would you shift that money and actually invest it into yourself for once? Would you come to the conclusion that you are way too reliant on one income stream and if it did go away, you would be up the creek without a paddle? Or would you realize that you have something inside of you that you aren’t getting out because you are just a little too comfortable where you are? The irony of comfort is often we aren’t happy there- it’s just the easiest place to stay.
Asking that question- initially with fear- forced us out of comfort. Because if it did go away, I have only myself to blame. But that question opened up a world of creativity and possibilities. I don’t know if I would have written these books, built this community, stepped onto those stages if I didn’t ask that question.
I’m not proud to say that I was motivated by fear. But I would be lying to you if I wrote this differently. And I would be lying to you if I said that it still didn’t creep into my head in the middle of the night. Is that fear something that I’ll never shake? I hope not. There have been too many times that I wished I could live without that fear- fear that it will all go away in an instant.
But I don’t think I’d trade it. If the fear is part of what fires me up to create, if the fear keeps me out of complacency, if the fear is the differentiator between creating that next thing and staying the same- I’ll take the fear.
Because, after all of these years, that fear has become a friend that challenges me to get better.
Have an AMAZING day!
Vincent
I’ll be back next week!
In the meantime, I love adding options that can be a help to you!
1- I offer the audio version of my first book, Freelance to Freedom,
absolutely FREE here. I was honored to have amazing people like Seth Godin and Pat Flynn to endorse the book.
2- Grab a copy of my new book, The Wealth of Connection here.
3- If you are looking for an amazing community of business owners to work through the loneliness of entrepreneurship, build amazing connections and create that business that provides you time, money and location freedom, check out The Total Life Freedom Mastermind Community here.
