{"id":48232,"date":"2017-04-25T22:12:37","date_gmt":"2017-04-26T05:12:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/?p=48232"},"modified":"2017-04-25T22:16:54","modified_gmt":"2017-04-26T05:16:54","slug":"the-free-way-to-become-rich","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/2017\/04\/25\/the-free-way-to-become-rich\/","title":{"rendered":"The Free Way to Become Rich"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"eric<\/p>\n

Dear friend,<\/p>\n

I will share with you a secret on how to become rich — for free.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

1. Don’t lose money<\/h2>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

First of all, the biggest mistake we have in trying to become ‘rich’ is by losing money.<\/p>\n

For example, wasting $30,000 on a car is equivalent to earning $30,000 — and using that money to pay your rent and living expenses for a year (assuming you pay $2500 a month in living expenses). Better yet, consider you can live very well in Hanoi, Vietnam for $1000 USD a month — which means you can live comfortably for 30 months straight in Hanoi (2.5 years).<\/p>\n

\"EDWARD<\/p>\n

Trust me, I am the biggest sucker when it comes to wasting money. I grew up poor, and the poverty mentality is this:<\/p>\n

\n I better spend this money today, because I’m not sure whether it will be gone tomorrow.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It didn’t help that my dad was a gambler, and always stole the rent money from my mom. The moral it taught me at a young age was:<\/p>\n

\n If I don’t spend this money today, my dad might take it from me, and gamble it away. Therefore I must spend this money today (on shoes, video games, car upgrades) because I might lose it.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"eric<\/p>\n

In today’s world– I am the ultimate consumerist. I (falsely) believe that buying shit will make me happier<\/a>, more creative<\/a>, and more ‘self-realized.’ Rather than seeking to improve my composition and creativity in photography, I think buying a new camera will fix my life problems<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Furthermore, I think that buying a blacked-out matted-out ‘murdered out’ Lamborghini<\/a> will bring me everlasting happiness.<\/p>\n

Lesson: Don’t waste money<\/h3>\n

\"eric<\/p>\n

Remember\u00c2\u00a0Ben Franklin’s saying, ‘A dollar saved is a dollar earned.’<\/p>\n

For me, the ultimate way of being ‘rich’ isn’t having a lot of commas and zeroes in your bank account. Rather, the ultimate wealth is TIME<\/strong>, FREEDOM<\/strong>, and FLEXIBILITY<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Therefore, money is only useful if it gives you time, freedom, and flexibility. A lot of people are ‘money-rich’ but ‘freedom-poor.’ If you are a billionaire and you can’t even take a nap when you want– you are essentially just a really wealthy slave.<\/p>\n

2. Sure gains over uncertain (higher) gains<\/h2>\n

\"eric<\/p>\n

\n \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I made my money by selling too soon\u00e2\u20ac\u009d \u00e2\u20ac\u201c Bernard Baruch\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In life, it is better to take sure wins, over uncertain gains.<\/p>\n

For example, if someone offered me $1000 for a 100% chance, it would make more sense for me to take that then $2000 for a 50% chance.<\/p>\n

In the stock market, we always chase uncertain gains. But it makes sense to ‘sell too soon’ to cash in those certain gains.<\/p>\n

\"eric<\/p>\n

So the easy way of growing wealth is to find more certain investments, that give us higher guaranteed returns, and also by clipping our downside risk of bankruptcy.<\/p>\n

Whatever investment you take in life — make sure your risk of terminal bankruptcy (losing all your money is 0%).<\/p>\n

3. Create more value<\/h2>\n

\"eric<\/p>\n

My philosophy of ‘wealth-creation’ is this: Create more value than you take.<\/strong><\/p>\n

So for example, let’s say you are a wedding photographer and you teach a workshop on how to make more money as a wedding photographer. You have 10 clients who attend your workshop.<\/p>\n

You charge $1000 for the workshop, and each of the participants (after attending your workshop) ends up earning another $2000 in shooting weddings. Therefore it is a ‘win-win’ for both you and<\/em> the client.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The client is happy because they earned a net-gain of $1000 (after their income of $2000 in shooting weddings, minus the cost of your $1000 workshop). You are happy because you gained $1000 in money.<\/p>\n

Therefore, figure out ways how you can create additional value for others — as a way to create ‘free wealth’ for everyone. I like to think of this as ‘win-win capitalism.’<\/p>\n

Conclusion<\/h2>\n

\"eric<\/p>\n

Who am I to speak?<\/p>\n

For me, I am rich because I have insane amounts of freedom for my time, mental energy, and flexibility of my schedule. It doesn’t matter how much I have in my bank account.<\/p>\n

But consider this– I live in Hanoi (at the moment) where my expenses (combined with Cindy) is around $1,000 USD a month. I earn more money than that through workshops<\/a>, selling products<\/a>, and Amazon Affiliate links (around $800 USD a month).<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

If I have all my basic needs met (rent, food, water, coffee) — and I can have 100% freedom of time, isn’t that the ultimate wealth?<\/p>\n

What would you do in life, if your basic needs were met? What would you do with your time and creative energy?<\/p>\n

Be strong,
\nEric<\/p>\n

\n
\n

Entrepreneurship 101 >\u00c2\u00a0<\/a><\/h1>\n

\"EDWARD<\/p>\n<\/header>\n

Learn how to make a living from your passion:<\/p>\n

Entrepreneurial Principles<\/h2>\n