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Brad and Jonathan discuss multi-level marketing, side hustles, expanding your zone of awareness, and energy audits.
Multi-Level Marketing
Recently, Jonathan was approached by an old friend with the offer of going to lunch. At less than five minutes into the lunch, the MLM pitch started. Amway was the MLM of this pitch, but Jonathan pushed back on the pitch and asked questions about the business model and the products. The answers are always something along the lines of this is a passive way to build an income. However, it is anything but passive.
Quite possibly the least passive way to earn an income because you aren't in the business of selling a product. You are in the business of selling people to sell other people to sell other people.
Many new recruits in various MLM programs find it very difficult to sell the products once they have burned through their immediate social circle. The attrition rate of many of these programs is absurd. This isn't to say that it's impossible but statistics make it unlikely that you will thrive long term with this structure. But if you are interested in an MLM business model that's a great indicator that you are at least intrigued by the idea of entrepreneurship and there are many other (much easier ways), to build additional income streams.
Work for an MLM, maybe make some money. Start an MLM, you'll make crazy amounts of money…or forget the MLM structure altogether. What would it look like to take to create a product, find an audience and create marketing around it?
The sheer number of side hustles out there is amazing. We have covered many over the course of hundreds of episodes.
Related: Find Your Side Hustle Idea With Nick Loper
Side Hustle
If you have started down the path of an MLM, then you likely have the drive to pick up a side hustle and make it work. The key is to find something that you are really passionate about. With passion and authenticity, you can really build something profitable and worthwhile.
The hurdle you might face for starting a side hustle is simply bandwidth.
[Financial independence] gives you the bandwidth to pursue something that maybe you didn't have the courage to pursue when you were 17 or 18 years old when you picked that inital job…as you get a little more space between yourself and the financial cliff you can pursue something that would have been a little bit scary.
As you start to put more distance between yourself and the financial cliff, you might be able to pursue something that seemed scary before. Once you have that bandwidth, try everything! You will not know what you love doing until you do it.
In Alan's case, his bandwidth or suit of armor is allowing him to follow his dreams and write a movie script. What is your dream?
Listen to the whole episode with Alan here.
Lion Or Lamb?
Free to Pursue wrote Lion or Lamb- Which Would You Rather Be? The article kicked off a conversation about how Financial Independence can turn you into a lion. With the freedom to pursue whatever you like, you will not be operating from a place of scarcity which will allow you to withstand scare tactics more easily.
You can and should choose to put your time into experiments. Keep going until you find the right place of alignment for you.
Let's just be very intentional about what we take on as a community because we don't have to do something just because someone is hard selling us on it. It does not have to be that way.
To avoid becoming the lamb, choose to build your talent stack. Make sure that you cannot be taken advantage of by building your own resources to take care of yourself. Most importantly, take action. Do not expect results tomorrow. Instead, know that you will need to stick with this over the long term to achieve success.
You put in the work and you will see results down the line.
Plus, there really is no good alternative to giving things a try. The other option is to stay at home watching TV and regret it. Start by increasing your zone of awareness and see what interests you.
Increase your zone of awareness and be willing to try something new.
Luckily, Brad and Jonathan have interviewed many people that have been able to break out of the “normal” and build something exceptional. As listeners, we have the option to take this information and build out our zone of awareness.
It is not that every single thing you find out you use. But over time, you start to weave a strategy, a comprehensive strategy.
Take advantage of this knowledge and increase your zone of awareness. With that, you will be able to move forward and create a better life for yourself. Our goal is to create a resource of strategies on how to best approach life. Find what is useful for you and build your best life.
Feedback From The Community
Let's hear from the community!
Matt Writes In
“ ‘Throughout your life, you will be told that you are wrong by people in positions of power and respect. Even if those people are completely wrong, we are expected to trust their opinions and move on. At some point, you have to stand up for yourself, challenge the norm, and build your own path.’
This is one of the most powerful statements I have ever heard.”
This great quote from Alan was worth repeating! Alan has created practical strategies that can help to talk with people like this to understand their thought process and maybe change their mind. If you are interested in seeing these questions, then make sure you are subscribed to our newsletter because they will be sent out in the next couple of weeks.
FI In Schools
In this past week's episode, Brad mentioned that his daughter's school was planning to use a stock picking game to teach kids about the market. In general, the game encouraged short-term thinking that would likely not benefit these kids. So, Brad is going to stand up for this.
Brad is not the only one that disagrees with the stock picking game. Nancy, an educator, wrote in to provide an alternative game. The STAX investment game is a 20-minute game that mimics 20 real years of the stock market's actual returns. Hopefully, the STAX game will be a solution to the problem.
Brian Feroldi And Energy Audits
Brain called in with an idea about energy saving. He recommended that everyone schedule a whole house energy audit with their utility company. In some cases, the utility company will pay for it but if they don't it is worth the investment.
The auditor will come to your house and assess areas that could improve. In Brian's case, the auditor recommended 8-9 things to fix around the house for improved energy savings. Many of these recommendations were heavily subsidized by the utility company.
If the payback period is 10 years or less, that is a golden opportunity to reduce your expenses over the long-term.
Visit your local utility company to see what they have to offer.
Related: Solar Panel Cost Analysis
Take Action In The Month Of May
There are still a few days left to participate in the car insurance comparison shopping challenge. Just get a quote from Compare.com and you can be entered into a drawing for $500. If you are the person that has the most to save, then you will win $500! Learn more about how to enter here.
Definitely check it out before May 31, 2019.
Playing With FIRE Update
The documentary is hopefully coming soon to a theatre near you this summer. If you are interested in finding a screening near you, then check out the Playing with FIRE website.
Set up a screening in your area here.
Related Episodes:
New to FI? Be sure to check out Episode 100: Welcome To The FI Community!
7 thoughts on “128R | Expand Your Zone Of Awareness”
Another great episode. With regards to your comments on not spending enough time on career selection. I absolutely agree. We spend a ton of time researching universities, but little time researching careers to pursue. I know this was true with me. The problem may be exacerbated by our primary education system. Within the last month I attended a meeting at a local elementary school. The central hallway had banners hanging from the ceiling, with the names of ivy league and other state universities embroidered on them. At the end of the hall was a large sign with the question, “What University Will You Attend?”. I contemplated what I had seen for the duration of the meeting. A couple things bothered me. First, I was conflicted about the messaging at the elementary school level. Secondly, it hit me that the question was the wrong one. The question should have been, “What do you want to be- engineer, teacher, nurse, carpenter etc.?”. The university should be a means to a greater end and not and end in itself. By making university acceptance the “ends” of secondary school are we failing students by not providing a focus on career selection? College is only for short period, but careers can last decades…
Anyway, my thoughts. Thanks for the great program.
I got the screening set up for Idaho Falls, Idaho. Anyone in the area or anybody that knows someone in the area, please get the word out!
What, Netflix instead of Grey’s Anatomy?! 😉 Really liked the discussion of MLMs.
Guys, love the show. Thanks for the podcast and all of the resources on your site. You are truly a leading voice for the FI community! I have a friend who is a fireman and is eligible for a pension. How can he calculate his FI number? It’s not as simple as annual expenses divided by 4%. Am I overthinking this?
we talk about this in episode 57 Hope that helps
My wife and I had an opportunity this weekend to meet Brad/ Jonathan and a bunch of great folks @ Chanco on the James. A special thanks to David & Steven for hosting us. We are looking forward getting to know everyone in this group.
Heath & Jeanette
First of all, thank you for the amazing work on the podcast!
I just recently joined the Choose FI community but have been loving to listen to you guys while commuting!
That having been said, I was wondering where can I find the other questions Alan send they would send you guys.
Thank you so much and once again congratulations on the fantastic work!
Diogo