RandyJohnson.org

money

Why Do People Hate Investing in Themselves

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If you tell someone they have to spend $10,000 on something that will make them more successful, they will freak out and likely be extremely skeptical, and probably think you and/or the product/service is a scam.

But if you tell them they will profit $100,000 within 3 months after investing that $10,000, with a 100% guarantee that it will work, obviously everyone would do it, right?

Of course, there aren’t a lot of guarantees out there. Some people offer money-back guarantees, but with ridiculous terms that makes it not even worth trying.

And there are plenty that are really genuine, but all the scammers give those people a bad name, and make everyone fearful out there.

Here’s an example

There’s a SaaS (Software as a Service) that I recently signed up for. It’s an affiliate program that I setup for my online course where I teach others my web design process.

If you’re not familiar with affiliate programs, they basically pay someone for referring someone to the website. So if someone signs up to be an affiliate for me, I will pay them a commission for every order that comes from their unique links/coupon codes. Pretty simple. The most popular one is the program that Amazon has setup, which I’m also a part of.

Anyways, the first year of this WordPress plugin only costs $49/year. I could probably justify spending $49/month on this, so this seemed like a great deal already. But it got even better when I broke it down.

So it’s $49 for the first year, and then you get a 30% discount for each year renewal after that ($34.30/year). Even better.

The current price of my course is $497, and I have my affiliate program setup to reward each affiliate with a 20% commission ($99.40 per sale).

So my profit on one sale through an affiliate would be $397.60, and it’s basically all profit since it’s all digital and I don’t have any materials and I don’t have to ship anything.

Now if you take my profit, and subtract the first year, you are left with $348.60. If you take that and divide that by the renewal price, you get 10.16.

So what does all this mean? That means if I invest just $49 one time into my business, and I get just one person to make just one sale for me, that will pay me back for the first year, and pay for the next 10 years of the product/service. Awesome!

A simpler example

To me, the above thought process makes so much sense. It’s a no-brainer. But what about if you just want to learn a new skill or become an expert at something, what are your options?

Well, a lot of people think the only way to learn anything is by going to college. While college can be an awesome experience and be extremely beneficial (and required for some fields), some people are wildly successful without it.

Full disclosure, I went to college. Just a 2-year art school, but it was still expensive. I’m glad I did it, and I learned a lot about graphic design and a lot about myself, but it was totally not necessary, and definitely not required.

So what else could I have done? Well I could have saved that $30K and spent maybe half of that on an accelerated course that gave me all the info in half the time or faster.

Or I could have bought a course like mine from an expert in the field. Maybe that would have cost me somewhere between $500-$5,000. On the expensive end, that sounds like a lot of money, but that’s a savings of over 80% off of my formal education. Well worth the risk in my opinion.

But what about that piece of paper, is it worth the extra $25K? To some, yes. Even to me back in the day, it was. But now, I think about all the times I ever had to prove I had it or show it to someone. I always end up with the same number: zero times.

Now I know, if you want a regular 9-5 job, you need a degree. I definitely worked several regular jobs over the years, but the person I am today is totally different. If you’re like me, that piece of paper doesn’t mean shit. I’m actually thinking about having a diploma burning celebration one day. Are you coming with??? Haha

What do I do with no degree

My advice is to invest in yourself as soon as possible and as often as possible. Knowledge is extremely powerful, especially when it’s laser-focused on a specific topic. You can become the expert at one exact thing.

I would recommend learning the basics about something, then getting to work as soon as possible. Learning is awesome, but nothing beats taking action. Learn something, take action on what you just learned, repeat. It’s that simple. Start now, and by this time next year, you’ll be amazed at what you’ve accomplished.

Do work for free for a client or two. Then get better. Then charge a little bit for a couple more clients. Then get better. Then charge even more for the next batch of clients. Keep getting better, and keep progressing. The more skilled and confident you are, the more you can charge.

And the more you can charge, the more bills you can pay off, which means you’ll pay off your debt quicker, until one day you’re debt-free. And the lower your debt, the more you get to say no.

Keep saying yes, until you can afford to say no

Early on, I was investing in all sorts of things, and my debt was piling up. How was I ever going to get out of this?

Well I kept increasing my skills, which allowed me to do more things, which made me comfortable saying yes to almost every single job that came my way. This helped me keep my finances stable and it definitely kept me busy.

The more debt I got rid of, the more freedom I felt. This became addicting. To the point where money obviously still mattered, but not as much. It finally gave me the confidence to start telling people no.

“Sorry, I’m not the best designer for you.” Or they weren’t the best client for me, or the project wasn’t something I believed in, or it just wasn’t something that I felt like working on at the time. Or maybe I already had 1-2 clients at a time and I was done working myself to death on no sleep.

So I simple said no. And the more times I said no, I had even more freedom in my life.

More investments

Some people will tell you that you need to invest in everything. I don’t agree with that.

Back in 2015, I attended Podcast Movement in Texas. It was an awesome conference for podcasters, and I was just starting out with podcasting, so I felt I had to go. It really helped me the first year and I think it was beneficial. Of course there was a lot of costs involved, but I felt it was worth it.

I went back again last year, but this time it was in Chicago, so much closer to home. There were still a lot of costs involved, but I did everything almost as cheaply as I could. It was a great time, but I don’t think I got as much value out of it as I could have. I think part of it was my fault, because I felt rushed, and I didn’t interact with as many people, but it was still a great experience.

They just ended the early bird special to register for Podcast Movement 2017 in California, and I really wanted to go, but I decided against it. When I wrote down all the pros and cons of going, alongside the costs involved, it just didn’t make sense for me.

With my podcast, I have all the skills and information I need. Of course there are always going to be new things out there that make my life easier, but I can find and learn about those products/services on the internet from my couch. Not to mention this trip was going to set me back at least $1,500, probably $2,000+.

When I figured out all the costs (ticket, flight, hotel, transportation, food, drinks, misc), I started thinking of what else I could do with that money. Books, private coaching calls with mentors, courses, ebooks, cheap vacation to reboot, pay off debt, new premium services/products for my biz, etc. So many things that I would probably get more value from, and for far less money.

Final words

I think a lot of people graduate high school, then they graduate college, then they get a job, then they just coast for 40 years. In my teens and most of my 20’s, I started to think this was the only path. And I was beginning to think I was a failure.

It really wasn’t until I started investing in myself that things started to change.

Now I’m nowhere near where I want to be (and will be), but I’m constantly pushing myself down the right path. It’s up to you to figure out what your path looks like.

It’s never too late, but the sooner you start, the better. Think of it like compound interest.

And while I don’t think everyone should be an entrepreneur or start their own business or quit their job to follow their passions, I do think that everyone should have at least some sort of side hustle. Something they love to do that brings in a little extra money in addition to the money from their full time job. Some people love their jobs, so this is the perfect route for them.

Anyways, I hope you at least got something out of this random post, even if it was 15 minutes of entertainment. But if this got the gears in your head turning, or it even changed part of your mindset, do me a favor and share this. My goal is to help as many people as I can when it comes to web design, online businesses, personal freedom, and more.

I may not be the best in the world at any of those things, but I’ve lived it, and I’m still living it. These are some of the things that get me out of bed in the morning, and I will do this for as long as humanly possible. And as always, if you ever have any questions for me, send me an email (randy@eightdeuce.com). I respond to everyone, and most people are surprised with the long emails I send.

“Dude, we don’t even know each other personally, and I think you helped me more in one email than all the other crap I’ve came across.” Emails like this and client testimonials are some of my favorite things in the world. I hope I can add some value to your journey at some point, and I look forward to hearing a quote from you like this. Take care, and thanks for reading.

PS… I wrote this from my $400 laptop that I’ve had for five years, sitting in my rusty 1998 Subaru, in the parking lot of a Panera Bread while stealing their wifi, and listening to free music on my phone from YouTube. You don’t need to spend a lot of money to take action and crush your goals. You just have to think differently, and be ok with being a little weird in the process. Cheers!

Black Friday, Gifts, and Women

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Black Friday was a couple days ago, and like normal, I didn’t participate like most Americans probably did.

So I bought nothing? Well that’s not true. I always buy one or two things, but I do it from home. This year I spent $14 on a small tub of beard balm from Dream Beard. Last year I bought a Mission Belt and a Buy Me Brunch tee, from my mom’s couch.

Now that I’m thinking about it, I did go into Walmart on Friday morning, but it was to rent a Redbox movie (The Adderall Diaries, decent film). And actually I had a promo code so I spent $0, and I returned it on time yesterday so it was still $0 (yes, there have been several times when I forget to return a movie on time, and I pay double, and I hate myself when this happens).

I ended up walking around the store for 10-15 minutes, just to take in the Black Friday atmosphere. I was kind of surprised there wasn’t anything crazy going on, but that was reserved for Thursday I guess. It seemed like a normal day, just more people with TVs in their cart.

Regardless of saving a few bucks on a small purchase, I’m not a fan of Black Friday in general. Sure, I run Black Friday sales on my LowLabel.com site, so maybe I’m a hypocrite. But for now, a nice portion of my income is from selling merch for my various brands. So until I stop selling clothes, I’ll probably always do some sort of sale at the end of November.

Where’s the meaning?

Anyways, back to why this made-up holiday annoys me. I think it’s mainly about the gifts and meaningless purchases. Sure, a lot of people have kids and Christmas is only a month a way, so shouldn’t they be out getting the best deals they can for all the toys for their loved ones?

No. How about training your kids as early as possible that the gifts aren’t important. Am I saying to not buy gifts for anyone ever again? No, because I don’t see that ever catching on with the majority of people. Maybe less gifts or better gifts.

I received gifts my whole life for Xmas and my birthday, and I wonder what kind of kid I would have been had I never received anything while all my friends did. What I’m saying is, buy gifts that are more intentional, gifts that matter, gifts that will be remembered for years and decades. Like experiences instead of whatever the popular junk toy fad is.

A lot of my thoughts when it comes to consumerism stems for my love of minimalism. If you aren’t too familiar with it, I suggest you check out TheMinimalists.com. One of my favorite quotes that they mention from time to time, I actually heard it on a Ted Talk with Adam Baker. He says, “People spend money they don’t have, to buy things they don’t need, to impress people they don’t even like.” That is powerful.

Future girlfriends will hate me

When I think of gifts that I’ve given in the past to ex girlfriends, I think, damn, what a waste. Sure, they were items that they wanted and sure they were happy when they tore into the wrapping paper, but for how long. How long will the pleasure last for most gifts that are physical items? It’s an incredible high that disappears fast, sometimes as soon as they move on to the next gift, where the process starts over again. A vicious cycle you could say.

I just think, wow, the majority of gifts I handed out were not needs, they were glorified wants. Things that the other person told themselves that they had to have, because of lies they told themselves or because someone told them they needed it.

Most gifts serve a purpose for a short time, and then make their way into a closet, or basement, or attic, or garage, or the trash can, or the $100 item ends up on the $5 table at your garage sale. “Like new condition” is a phrase that is often used when selling something. Proving that most used items have never been used.

Hoarders are everywhere

Another quick point to make is how massive the storage business is. Think of how many storage facilities you’ve noticed within a 15 minute radius of your house. I can think of at least 5 right now. A business that was built to handle average people’s excess shit. They bought a house bigger than they needed (myself included), and filled it full of junk, to the point that they ran out of room.

But they can’t stop buying things, because everything they bought becomes outdated so fast that they have to keep up with the Jones’s and buy the next new thing. So as they keep bringing new things into their home, at least they’re getting rid of all their old crap, right? Nope. They pay a monthly fee to store their old junk in the off chance that they might need to use it again, even though we both know they never will.

My point is, if you want to buy something for someone, make it be something that is meaningful and will add value to their life. And you don’t need to wait for a specific holiday, do it today or tomorrow. Of course, if you tell someone that you’re not going to buy them physical items anymore, they might break up with you. Trust me, I’ve had the arguments about how much we are going to spend on each other for Xmas. How ridiculous.

As a single man, with plenty of life experiences to write 10 books, I know more about what I want and what I don’t want in life, more than ever. It’s always changing but the core values are becoming more solidified the older I get.

If I end up dating someone and I can tell it’s getting serious, I will tell this fine woman that she must listen to a handful of podcast episodes and watch a few YouTube videos (if she doesn’t already know my thoughts on consumerism and relationships).

Someone that is anxiously awaiting Black Friday to come, so they can drive to all of the malls hunting out the best deals on clothes and shoes and handbags and everything else, that type of person doesn’t really interest me. With that being said, I’m not perfect either. No one is.

Presence over presents

To sum up my thoughts on Black Friday, it’s just a normal day. At some point, people gave it too much importance and the majority of people don’t know how to go back to the simpler things. Hell, it even cuts into Thanksgiving now.

People are supposed to spend time with family, but everyone is concerned with the new TV or video game or whatever that just came out. But it’s the same for me when I’m glued to my phone and/or computer during this long weekend trying to get as many orders as I can from my websites.

Writing these thoughts down makes me want to #OptOut of Black Friday next year completely. No sales. No free shipping offers. Nothing. Maybe even close the site down for this day as I’ve seen others do. If you know me, you know I’m random. So something funny like this isn’t out of the question. Haha

Until next November, buy people concert tickets, or beach getaways, or run a 10K with a friend. Experiences will stay with you for as long as your memory will allow. Pointless presents will only give you the false hope of happiness and fulfillment.

Sell Your Shit and Live Your Life

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I used to become attached to things. By things, I mean random possessions that I thought I needed. I had to give up money to own these things, or they could have been gifts I received. Either way, I used to put too much value on many of the things I own.

These days, I’m more focused on living the kind of life I want, rather than owning the next newest gadget. Sure, it’s cool to hook up that new big screen tv and be the first one on the block to have it, but at what expense?

“The price of anything is the amount of life you exchange for it.”

The average guy works a 40+ hour per week job, has a nice car, a good house, several of the latest electronic gadgets, eats out several times every week, and has a mountain of credit card debt. He has all of this while never making an effort to really do anything about it. How do I know? Because this guy used to be me.

I honestly can’t say I’m not all of those things anymore, but I’m definitely not coasting through life like I use to be. I have hated a lot of my past jobs and was too afraid to do anything about it. Until one day, I was fired. Technically I quit, but regardless, an unexpected life change was happening before my eyes.

At first, I was terrified. I did everything I could to get a new job. Then I slowly discovered… I didn’t want a new job. I wanted to work for myself. No… I HAD TO WORK FOR MYSELF! There was no way I could go back to another job where I knew I’d eventually be unhappy again.

It’s amazing that it’s been almost 7 months since that day. I never thought I’d go this long without a standard full-time job. I am grateful to have such a great group of family and friends who kept believing in me. As well as following amazing people online who are doing what I want to do… living life on their own terms. (Talk about inspiration!)

Anyways, I’m a different person these days. I do even more random things than I used to do, I sell my stuff to pay my bills if I need to, I am downsizing my monthly bills as much as I can all the time so I don’t have to rely on finding as many new website clients, I will be selling my house as soon as I can because I’d rather rent a small apartment than deal with all this useless space, and I’d rather do what I want when I want instead of clocking in and being told what to do.

Sure, many people say this kind of life isn’t for them. They might be right, but I have to argue that their current plan probably isn’t as safe as they tell themselves. Yes, you’ll likely be getting your regular paycheck every week or two as long as you’re a good employee and kiss enough ass. But everyone is replaceable. Sorry to kill your ego, but I 100% believe that. That’s why I have been working on side projects for as long as I can remember, although I never thought I’d ever get “fired” from a job and really become replaced.

What I’m getting at is, I’m probably living a life right now that isn’t what you want. That’s ok, I’m not doing it for you. I’m not ever saying you should do what I’m doing, especially if you’re happy in your current situation. But if you’re not, make a change. Make it now. “If you just keep coasting through life, you’re just trying to reach the end.”

Back to the possessions, I try not to put any value on any of my stuff if it doesn’t add value to my life. I have well over a hundred tshirts, I wear probably 20 or so a lot, and I probably have 50 that I’ll never wear again. A few years ago, I would have been sad to see some of them go, even if I sold them. These days, I’d be happy to see my list of possessions shrink even if I’m giving stuff away.

What I’m saying is, I strongly believe in minimalism. I define this as getting rid of everything that doesn’t matter to make room for everything that does matter.

On the other hand, take some of the things I own like my computer, my camera, and this iPhone. They help me do my work and make money or make my life easier. They provide value. I can justify these things and prove why I need them. There is no way I can make a valid excuse why I need 20-30 hats when I only wear 1-2 on occasions. Let’s not even mention my Randy Johnson baseball card collection!

In August of 2011, my friend and I made a 36 hour round trip to trade my old truck for a new one. There really was no reason for this, other than the fact that I thought this new truck would make me happier. I kept the new truck for almost a year. Just before my birthday this year, I traded that truck for an old hot rod station wagon. Why? I know I’ll be able to get more money for this than either of my old trucks. I’d rather sell things I don’t need to pay off debt to be able to live the life I want. Think about it, if I have a $10,000 vehicle just sitting in my garage while I’m paying several hundred dollars every month on credit card bills, I have to work that much harder. If I sell the car and pay off those credit cards, that’s less stress on my plate. And living on my own terms means more to me these days than having the most badass car on the block.

A couple things I’ve learned:

  1. There will always be someone out there with something nicer, better, or newer than what you have. It seriously makes no sense to keep up with the Jones’. You’ll likely never win that battle and no one really cares if you somehow manage to win.
  2. You’ll never be happy if all you do is exchange time for money. Working all those hours to buy all that shit to impress all those people who really don’t care means nothing. No amount of money will completely satisfy me. Time means so much more to me. This life is short and I’d rather look back on all my amazing memories than look back on my massive collection of worthless possessions.

I know this post was long and kind of went a few different directions. So I think I should pull it all together with a couple of quotes:

“Know your values and priorities, and build your life around them. If the most important things in your world are family, friends, and fun, you will likely never be happy working a 60-hour work week, no matter how much money you earn.”

“At the end of your life, what do you want… a bunch of stuff or a bunch of incredible stories?”

Thanks for reading my late night ramblings! On a side note, today marks the 11th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. A day in which this country changed forever. A day that proved just how fast your life can change. My thoughts and prayers go out to everyone who lost a loved one that day. Remember, life is short. You have exactly one life in which to do everything you’ll ever do. Act accordingly and stop procrastinating.

Desk Jobs Are Not For Me

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I’ve had several “normal” jobs over the past 15+ years that I’ve been labeled as an employee. But working for myself these past six months has taught me a lot of things. One of them is, I don’t think I could ever go back to a “regular” 9-5 desk job!

It is a little scary at times, not knowing if I’ll have money to pay my bills. But that’s what keeps me motivated. It’s all on me now. Before I thought I wanted to stay on the “safe path”, but really, anyone can be let go from any job, for any reason, at any time. I don’t see that as the safer choice, I just see it as a way to coast through life feeling bored, guilty, and/or depressed.

I’m not saying every job is horrible, and you’re gonna be miserable no matter what unless you work for yourself. Actually, it could be the complete opposite for you. But this is how I see it and this has been my experience.

In fact, I know several people who love their jobs. Jobs that are filled with monotony, routine, and doing what you’re told to do. Some people need that direction and order. Some people need the benefits for their family or the 401K for their retirement some day. Or maybe they simply really love everything about their job/career; the company, the product/service, their coworkers, the location, the hours, the atmosphere, etc.

In the end, you should always do exactly what you want to do. Most people will never do what you want them to do, so why should you cater to them. I mean, we’re talking about your life here. Do whatever it is that you’re passionate about. There’s always a way to monetize everything. But don’t do it for the money, do what makes you happy. But more than happiness, do what makes you come alive!