Welcome to episode 33 of the Free and Fearless podcast. This will be a short but empowering one. I have one simple point to make, which I’ve shared with my audience many times before. But wanted to dive deeper into its real meaning, how I apply this principle in my life, and how much it improves the quality of my lifestyle.

Tune in below:

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It’s totally okay if you don’t share that opinion. Many people don’t, and that means they won’t be a good fit for the entrepreneurship lifestyle and mindset. Or at least they won’t enjoy the business model I’ve chosen.

But here’s the thing: I believe that how you make your money is more important than how much you make.

This isn’t a sentence I thought of, but a quote I heard from Gary Vaynerchuk many years ago. I can’t find any mention of it now so maybe he just said it in a video or it was in a book or something. But still it’s crucial that I give him credit. He said it well.

I also know many other entrepreneurs who say this, but don’t live by it. So that’s quite inauthentic. 

I live by that rule though and the last year is the perfect example of it.

I just published my year in review and annual income report.

The conclusion was that I earned $8K less in 2021 than I did in 2020, and actually my income was lower than in the last 3 years. But I was happier, lived a better life, traveled more, got all the things I wanted to and did whatever I felt like. I also invested in my business more than ever. Both years were during a pandemic so the outer factors were the same.

In 2021 I also had more progress in my personal and spiritual growth than ever. I started dreaming bigger and am entering 2022 with a vision that would have scared me just 2 years ago. You’ll hear more about that soon, but let’s say I’m about to massively upgrade my lifestyle and environment before my income has grown.

So, back to the point I wanna make today. My business started as a hobby. It wasn’t about money then, it’s not about money today – 7 years  later, and it won’t be when I hit 6 and 7 figures either.

Money is a byproduct of all the time and energy put into such a special project, and it’s directly related to my level of personal and spiritual growth.

I’m one of those people who don’t just teach you how to start and grow a business. I don’t want you to just start any business or to follow the money.

I want you to follow passion. 

Your first or second passion project might not be profitable, but if you stay on that path, you will get to it. The rewards then are much bigger than the income.

When I take decisions in my business, money is rarely the first factor I consider. I’ve found out that quick or easy money is a risk we don’t understand, and it costs us a lot down the road.

For example, many people enter a profitable niche only to end up being bored to death. At some point they won’t have any more content ideas, won’t enjoy talking about the subject and creating products around it. So the business will slowly die.

Others choose a business model based on what’s trendy. And even if they get to 6 figures in 1 or 2 years, they end up creating yet another job for themselves as they work too much and need to do things they don’t really want to do. Such as having many video calls in a week, not being able to take a vacation, answering clients’ expectations, and feeling like the employee in their own company. But that’s not the goal.

Others jump from one idea to another, or join a new social media and get obsessed with growing a following there. Only to end up realizing it was never the right place for them and they just left the key activities and platforms in their business behind for 3 months.

These are examples of when how much you make is more important to you than how you earn that income.

I’m terrified of creating a prison like that for myself one day. My business is one of my biggest passions and it gives me the creative freedom, the freedom to take a few weeks off whenever I feel like, the freedom to create how to serve my audience and when to create new products or free content. 

If these are taken away, I won’t be happy, I won’t be excited about it. I won’t enjoy the other aspects of my life, and I definitely won’t be motivated to grow the business. It will all eventually go down.

In 2021, I proved again that the ‘how’ of my business revenue is more important than the ‘how much’. That’s because I stopped working with low-paying clients for sponsored content or anyone that wasn’t a good fit.

I focused less on growing my blog, which meant the traffic dropped and with that ad revenue was lower. Only because I knew I wanted to focus more on the course creation business. It’s my goal to turn that into my main revenue stream. Creating courses is the best way to spend my time right now and it’s what will eventually take me not just to 6 figures, but to serving people much more than I ever could with my free content.

There’s purpose, unlimited growth potential, creative freedom, and challenges involved. That’s what business means to me. All these at the same time.

So last year I invested most of my time working on something that isn’t bringing me a lot just yet, but it’s part of the vision.

Could have I earned an extra $15K to $20K if I finally offered coaching, both 1:1 and group sessions? Quite possible. But it’s not the kind of work I want to do, it’s not how I want to teach, or spend my time online.

The same goes for when I stopped freelance writing years ago as it was the kind of work that made me exhausted and kept me away from the things I actually felt passionate about. So I left that income stream and that whole industry, to focus on my blog.

Remember, any time you say Yes to an opportunity, you’re saying No to many others. Quick or easy money doesn’t mean a good deal.

A 6-figure income is overrated if it doesn’t provide you with the lifestyle, peace of mind, type of work and freedom that you truly desire.

So that’s what I have for you today. Let me know what you think and whether you’re living your life and doing business according to this same principle.

In 2022, I wish you to not just make more in your business, but to earn the income you’re meant to earn in the most enjoyable way possible, to make your money exactly how you want, to be in total control of your income streams, growth opportunities and any other aspect of your day to day work.