A few days ago I introduced a guy to you named Brendon Burchard, who wrote a book I recommended called the Millionaire Messenger.
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Over the course of signing up for some of his free videos, I have had a chance to check out some of the comments after the videos. Most have thanked him for the information he’s given and have written that they felt inspired to look at things in a different way. But what has surprised me is how many people are put off because he talks about how much money he’s made in such a short period of time, saying it’s distasteful.
I often wonder if some of us are kept from success because of our beliefs about money. In another book I’ve talked about here, T. Harv Eker’s Secrets of the Millionaire Mind, he talks about how he would make a million, then lose a million, and how this pattern was perpetuated a few times before he realized that, because of how he was brought up, he was equating wealth with being evil, and since no one wants to be seen as evil he’d then lose it all each time. Once he came to grips with the inaccuracy of the belief he started holding onto his money and life improved dramatically.
Let’s get this one out of the way; there is no such phrase in anyone’s Bible that says “Money is the root of all evil.” No matter which Bible you believe (if you do), every time the statement is used in 1st Timothy, it begins “The love of money…”, and then goes on to explain what it means. Basically, it’s not the idea of having money or being wealthy it believes is evil, it’s how one gets that wealth that might be evil.
I don’t think anyone can gripe with that one. We’re allowed to applaud titans of industry who saw a lack of something, created what was missing, and made millions of dollars. Anyone who faults these people for filling a void, no matter what it is, and making lots of money from it is a hypocrite because all of us probably wish we could do the same thing. How many of us see something and say “man, I had that as a thought years ago; I wish I’d followed through on it”? I certainly do, and often; ugh.
The fact is that most of us don’t have a love affair with money; we can’t because we never seem to have enough of it If we did most people wouldn’t fall for the scams I talked about. We’d already have the money we needed and wouldn’t give these things a second look.
Think about it another way; why are there so many “make money now” blogs? Or so many posts, including many of my earlier ones, about making money in some fashion? Because we don’t have enough, and we want more.
Some of you have seen my buddy Sire and I debate the merits of those people who promote themselves and talk about themselves because they’ve made money, and they want you to know it. He sees it as bragging; I see it as telling it like it is. If I’ve succeeded I want to tell you I’ve succeeded and I want to tell you how I did it. Who wants to follow someone that hasn’t succeeded if the intention is to make money? And if we have the big name bloggers that we know have done it and achieved financial success, what’s so wrong with them letting us know about that success?
I say all of this as I celebrate my first $600 month blogging income. It may be a fluke but it was the next step up after mentioning my first $500 month some time ago. No, it’s not enough to live off just yet, but at least it’s moving forward. Of course I’m looking for other ways to make money because I have things I want to do, things I need to do. All of it takes money.
And if I have to find and listen to the guys who can tell me how much money they’ve made, I’ll do that.
I agree if you have a success story and are comfortable and confident in what you have done then it’s a great thing to share it. I don’t see it as bragging at all.
Hi Mitch
There’s always opposing points of view whatever is presented in a blog post isn’t there?!
Sometimes I think what puts some people off is the way the amounts are talked about. You telling us you have made $600 (congrats by the way)sounds fine as you are sharing the improvements in income you have made.
I get put off with boasting on some sites but just let it go over my head and move on. Also, what is more off-putting are the programs that tell you we can make x amount in a few nano seconds lol
Patricia Perth Australia
Pat, I think there’s “lying” boasting and there’s “encouraging” boasting. So many people are put off when people talk about the money they make but think about it in this fashion. If you need a lawyer, don’t you want the best? And if your lawyer told you he made $5 million last year because he won every case he took on, and showed that to you, wouldn’t that be the person you’d want representing you?
I actually think there’s a difference between the person who tells you how much money they made when they’re trying or purporting to help you and those people who use it to demean you. For instance, years ago I was talking to a guy about sales and marketing and I told him how I’d been to someone else who’d given me what I thought was good advice. His words to me were “are you going to listen to some guy who works for the state or someone who’s made $300,000 a year?” The way he said it was dismissive of someone else and I didn’t like it.
So, I believe it’s in the context that someone’s using it that’s the main determinant as to whether or not it’s a good thing or not.
Nice post, Mr. Mitchell! and Good day Patricia! You know, Mitch, I’ve commented on the “love of money” argument many times, always with the view that money itself it not inherently evil. Strangely enough, however, I’ve never thought to illustrate it as you have here, as “the way the money is made” being evil. Such a non-complex analogy. Thank you, and congratulations on your success.
Patricia, I don’t mind people telling me how much money they made — usually 😉 As a marketer, I believe most of their intent is just to illustrate that “normal people” can do this too (though…rarely in nano-seconds LOL). The goal of that I’m sure is to give some type of social proof that it can be done. Unfortunately, the boisterous way most present it, feels like bragging & rubbing it in one’s face. I believe that’s because most of them fail to deliver their message with even an ounce of sincerity. Somehow in the hype, even if they had it, the sincerity gets stripped away. At least, that’s my opinion. So… I pick and choose my gurus, and stick with one’s who at least seem sincere. LOL. I may be mistaken, but at least I don’t feel insulted. LOL.
When I get to that point, remind me not to lose my sincerity. Then again, I think Mitch might have the front row seat for that job, but do feel free to back him up.
Have an awesome day.
Kelvin
Mr. Ringold, thanks for your words. I’ll expect we’ll both keep each other in check. And you’re right, the way people talk about making money is definitely how I determine if I like it or not. Trump talks it all the time, and sometimes he says it in a good way, while other times he’s outright mean about it. I hate that so he gets no more promotion from me.
Overall, I make no secret that I want to be rich, as filthy rich as possible. But I have plans that involve others as well, so I don’t think it’s greed driving me. If it were, I’d probably already be there and the carcasses would be lined up. And I’d never be able to live with myself; no fun in that.
Honestly Mitch, this is one of the oldest tricks, I haven’t read the book, but generally in most books they are talking how they make a lot of money and making people to believe period. That’s why there are 3 times more results for “make money” in Google than for “Beatles”. If there is a system in the book, twist the system and make it your own, that’s the way to make money from blogging.
It’s not the system, Carl, but the reality that these guys can tell you about how they’ve made money. In this guy’s case he’s not a fraud; he plays with some pretty famous people. I have no problems with him saying what he did to make millions, and I also kind of don’t care how often he says it, but some people do.
So probably I will read the book then, however it is recommendation from you and I trust your advice.
Mitch, regarding the money being the root of all evil; My interpretation of it is not that it’s how one get’s the wealth that is important, rather its the fact that many people let that wealth corrupt who they really are. They have it an they will do anything to keep it. So much so that it stands in the way of their spiritual growth.
As for braggarts, there is a good way to do it and a bad way to do it. If you tell someone once how good you are that’s fine. If you tell people how good you are in almost every sentence, well that’s over the top.
Thanks for the Luv man.
Hey, we do what we do. And though I’d agree with the “every other sentence” line, I think it doesn’t hurt for someone to keep reinforcing their message while in a presentation or reading a book. I wonder if we’d be the same if we were in that position where we’re the rich ones and decide we want to help someone else out. You’ve seen it where people start talking about things, such as financial planners, and we want to know how they’re doing and if they’re rich. We tend to want proof, and then we bully those same people because they keep telling us they’re rich.
In the long run I think it’s how people deliver the message, not how often they deliver it. But who knows; maybe I just haven’t heard it enough times from someone to the point of where it’s bugging me yet.
I’m with Sire on this. Though for me, my attitude towards money comes from having had enough to live on when I was growing up because my parents made sure that their parents’ and grandparents’ poverty wasn’t repeated in my generation… and now, unfortunately, it looks likely to repeat in my own life the way I’m going.
I find it a very difficult subject indeed, which is why the title of your post drew my attention. I find it so much easier to do things for people on a voluntary basis that it takes me a year and a day to do anything for money. And while I know you don’t believe this Mitch, there are indeed a lot of people who don’t want to be rich. Just comfortable enough to live.
Val, I’m going to counter the argument that people only want to have enough money to be comfortable; not yours but people in general. What is comfortable enough to live anyway? If it only means enough to pay bills, be able to eat and put gas in the car and nothing else, I’m not buying it. People want unlimited money, whether they want to call it being rich or not. We all want the money to be able to buy whatever we want, when we want it. We want homes and cars and TV’s and computers and phones and cameras and smartphones and, and, and… If I had the ability to put my hand in my pocket and pull out exactly what I needed to pay at that moment I’d turn down wealth as well, but I don’t. See, in my mind, “comfort” is a myth because no one can really define comfort except those people ready to “rough it”. And people ready to rough it don’t have “stuff”, so to speak.
‘Comfortable’ generally means just that – comfortable. And comfortable is different for different people. You’re an example of one definition of what you regard as comfortable, I’m an example of another – and there are people like both of us, and there are people unlike both of us.
I know many many people (apart from myself) who don’t want a huge number of material things, but that’s not to say that they don’t want other stuff – a nice home, a good job, friends, family, happy children and to be healthy. Now those things do need money, but there is a stage at which one can go beyond the ‘got it need it’ to ‘got it want it’!
Here’s a question. If you had to choose between having all the material things you wanted that money can buy but losing your family, or having your family and losing all the material stuff, which would you choose? I’m betting you’ll say ‘family’ because I think that at base, you’re that sort of person.
Val, I had to look carefully at the way you worded your question, and if all I worried about was material things, then yes, family comes first. If you worded that differently I’d have given you a totally different answer.
I truthfully don’t believe there’s a stage where people have enough money; I don’t think that’s ever fair to say. As Trey points out, having more money gives you more options to give to charity if that’s something you want to do, to help others. One might say “give with your time” but how many more people could one help if they have what might be termed “excessive money”?
To me, wanting wealth so I never have to worry about anything again doesn’t mean I’m planning on being selfish with it. Sure, I take care of myself and family first, but I’m one of those people who, almost every time I go to the grocery store, pulls the little tag next to the cash register and asks them to scan it to give a little bit of cash to help feed a hungry person or two. How many more people could I help feed if I were wealthy?
Good points, Mitch. Certainly it’s not all about materialism, but, for instance, does the idealism of it actually happen that way in reality? Wealthy people might give a million dollars or so to charity, but that still leaves them with millions that they don’t and to my way of thinking that’s obscene when so many people in the world not only are very poor, often starving, but don’t themselves have the resources to do anything about it.
I’ve never been a fan of the total redistribution of wealth model, but I’d love to see something sometime whereby it was evened out just a bit. The two extremes are just horrible.
Most very wealthy people (and I’ve met some) tend to overspend, they buy several cars, several houses, several of this and several of that – all very expensive purchases. They might desire these things but they certainly don’t need them except on an emotional basis.
Val, we’re probably at that point where we’re going to have to agree to disagree because we’re coming at it from totally different backgrounds and realities. But I do want to respond to your first question, that being does it really happen this way. T. Harv Eker, in the book I mentioned in the post, talked about having this belief of rich people being selfish and the like. He got his millions, moved into a new neighborhood and was invited to a party. He didn’t want to go but his wife convinced him to go. While at the party the host mentioned that he had a charity he wanted to give money to and asked if anyone else wanted to contribute as well. At that moment most of the people in the room (he couldn’t confirm if all of them did it, and he didn’t do it because he didn’t know it was coming) pulled out checkbooks and wrote checks of at least $25,000 or more and gave them to the guy. He said he was amazed and that day changed his thoughts on people that have money.
So yes, it happens.
I recently discovered Brendon Burchard myself and just sucked up his information and it never even occurred to me that he might be turning people off when he talked about how much money he’s made, doing, this or that. Silly me I thought he was trying to encourage me with his own success. And the man really shares great information and great tips. Last weekend I went to a seminar and paid a hefty fee to attend to listen to two very successful people show me how I could be as successful as they were. They did some bragging about how quickly that had grown their business and how this year would be a 7 figure year for them. But I’m a slow learner, again I thought they were trying to encourage me, to see that it didn’t have to take me 50 years to get there. Went right over my head that I should be offended.
Now let me make it clear, I haven’t made seven figures and I have some “beliefs” that are in there somewhere holding me back and gosh darn it when I find them, I am going to tear them right out of my brain.
And oops I have T Harv Eker’s book on my next up shelf.
Nick
Great stuff Nick. I was surprised when I read it, yet at the same time I could see how some people might take offense to it. I’ve seen a few people lately myself, one that makes $500,000 a year just speaking, another that makes close to a million a year. Both made sure those of us in the room knew it, and it wasn’t bragging, it was telling it like it is and trying to let us know that we could do it as well. I’m looking for some of those 7 figure years myself; how’s about 2012? 🙂
I agree with you, I don’t see any wrong in people telling they make money and how they achieve that. I don’t see it as bragging and anyway, even if it was bragging, what’s wrong with that? It’s in our nature to celebrate our victories and to always be willing to have more. You can’t really deny your spirit.
Thanks Gabriele. I have to admit that if I were making that kind of money I wouldn’t go around telling everyone, but if I were doing a seminar and had people wanting to learn from me and wanting proof of it, I certainly would at that point.
Hi Mitch, I’m glad to see that you’re still around, and that your achievments in the blogging game are improving!
I agree with you that the first step in achieving financial abundance is to acknowledge that there’s nothing wrong with doing so. I think that a lot of people have equated money with evil, even if they don’t realize it. Look at Val up there in the comments, she only wants enough money to “live comfortably”. Why should anyone on this planet not want the very best for themselves?
Of course, if one is truly selfless, they can wish for financial abundance so that they can give money to those who need it. Or they can lead by example, and play the path of the sensei, literally meaning “one who has gone before”.
I also believe that it is my own fear of success and attitudes towards financial abundance that are holding myself back too.
Thanks for your comment Trey, and good to see you again. That really is the thing isn’t it? Rich people are somewhat condemned or frowned upon but the truth is that rich people are the ones that give most to charity and causes, not the rest of us. Sure, I might give my $15 – $25, and it all helps in the long run, but I’m reminded that Jon Bon Jovi handed Oprah a million dollar check to help with the victims of Hurricane Katrina; isn’t that the type of thing all of us would like to be able to do?
Mitch, CongratZ on your first 600 and wish more to come later and money is never root of all evil, its the evil inside of us.
Thanks Charleston; keep fighting the good fight.
Mitch,
This is my first time to your site and I must say I am impressed. This was a very insightful article which pointed out some of the blocking thought process I have that keep me from being succesful. I grew up without and now my past keeps me from taking risks to potentially grow my money as I cherish every dollar I earn. Money is neutral as it is just a means to provide and create opportunities. I just want more of it. 🙂 Great post.
Thanks Frank. You know, I think most of us have issues that block us. I know I certainly do, and I work on breaking those things down here and there. I’m definitely cautious, and that’s kept me out of trouble, but there are other times I need to let go and give it a shot as well. Let’s both be really rich, and then show people what more we can do.
Hi Mitch,
This is my first visit. I got interested in your post because you mentioned Brendon Burchard. I came to know about him from another internet marketer that I like and follow. It was a relief to know that that there’s another authority that regards him as totally legitimate because I was able to watch free videos of his total product blueprint program and I liked the guy. I was fascinated by the formulas and techniques that he presented on how to make money online. He was very enthusiastic about it and I got many ideas from that presentation.
I am not put off by his testimonials of how he makes money online. In fact, I would like to know more about making money. I think sometimes it also depends on how one presents his facts, if they are just empty bragging or backed up by figures.
I believe in the law of attraction and I think that if we’re not ready to receive financial success because of some negative perception about money, then we won’t achieve it.
Great stuff Theresa, and I’m glad you enjoyed this post and his videos. I’ve been watching his series of videos as well and they’ve been illuminating. Let’s see if I put any of it into action. 😉
I say, if you are a success… share it. why not inspire and motivate someone else with your story. It’s never bragging, only when you get a pompous attitude towards people about it – then that is not cool at all.
Gabi
I’d go with that, Gabi. Saying “I made _____ last year and you can to” is so much better than “I made _________ last year and you’re nothing!” lol
Hi Mitch. Well yeah.. Sometimes it does holding me back. Especially when I’m thinking “I want to buy xxxxx” means i need to save up. So that’s why, you know, in the end, i hold back.
Mitch, concerning the money being the main of evil My interpretation of it’s not that it is how one get’s the wealth that’s important, rather its the truth that lots of people allow that to wealth corrupt who they may be. They’ve it an they is going to do almost anything to ensure that it stays. A lot to ensure that it stands when it comes to their spiritual growth.
For braggarts, there’s a great way to get it done along with a bad method of doing it. Should you tell someone once how good you’re that’s fine. Should you tell people how good you’re in nearly every sentence, well that’s outrageous.
Interesting interpretation Jason. I’d have to say that I agree with you on money in general and how some people start exhibiting bad behavior, but I don’t know that I’ve ever thought about it along the lines of spiritual growth. Might have to think about that one a bit more.