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How to Get Motivated To Make Money
Money is the ultimate tool, and we don’t always have the pure drive to make more of it. It is tough to work your 9-5 and then find the motivation to make money in other ways, but we know the 9-5 isn’t always enough.
Money Motivation
I have failed more times than I care to count.
I have failed at businesses, schooling, and I have made serious errors in judgment throughout my years on this planet.
Let’s look at one of my business failings. In 2016 I started an ecommerce site that specialized in trinkets and doodads(technical term). It was a niche site that demanded all of my time because I was dedicated to making it work.
So, I quit my full time job and dedicated 60-80 hours a week to making this site a success.
My motivation to make money skyrocketed when I had no other source of income!
It took about 3 months to really get rolling and see some income. Not nearly enough income to support myself or my family, but it was a positive indicator that I was doing something right.
As the site grew, I grew bolder and tried to expand into other revenue streams outside of the primary site. At the time I believed that I was expanding horizontally, but in reality, I was taking on more than I could handle.
Soon, I was upside down in product that I couldn’t market, because the business had run out of cash.
I folded the company.
You’re wondering how this story pertains to Motivation and in particular, the motivation to earn money.
I got ya covered.
Correct the Fails
I had to fail to see what was going wrong with my business plan. No matter how many YouTube videos you watch, your experience is your own.
Once you fail, it takes serious motivation to pick yourself back up again!
Where does this motivation come from, and how do we make this motivation a renewable resource that we can use to fuel our daily lives?
Motivation can come from a base of experience and knowing what the next step should be.
It’s a lot easier to get motivated if you have a plan, one tested by experience, that will guide you through.
Failing is a downer, but it will give you knowledge that is more valuable than motivational quotes or affirmations.
Work to your strengths in all that you do, then find a way to make money from it.
Get Motivated
Getting out of bed and starting your day can be such a drag. I would wager that the majority of folks out there don’t jump out of bed bright eyed and bushy tailed.
You are probably saying to yourself that 2 cups of coffee and I’m ready!
While coffee does help to get you started, are you truly motivated?
Are you motivated to do your 9-5 job, where you know exactly how your day will play out?
Do you get motivated to go sit in traffic to earn a specific wage and all the frustrations this job places on you?
Most of you are screaming NO! to answer these questions.
A large part of motivation comes from doing what you want and love to do.
You have to find that in life, it will not just be handed over to you. You must create the areas of opportunity that will drive your motivation.
Sounds simple, right?
Of course not, but it is a huge factor in driving your motivation, and if you can make money with this passion, we are even further ahead.
Outline a Plan
We want to create a plan, a wonderful plan, a plan that changes the axis of the Earth and causes it to spin backwards and out of control!
Maybe not that big of a plan.
This initial plan is there to give you an outline of what you want to do to make money.
Remember having a plan is a part of motivating you to make cash.
This plan will be developed by looking at what you are passionate about and looking to monetize it in some way.
There is always an angle to any field of interest, you have to find yours.
Some examples:
- Love dogs? Walk them as a side hustle.
- Love the beach? Start a website selling beach themed items or if you live close photograph the beach itself and sell stock photos.
- Love cooking?Develop your best recipes into a book or write about cooking online.
- Love knitting? Start a YouTube channel about knitting and show people how it’s done!
- Love Hustling? Flip items on Craigslist and build a business.
Just a short list to get you started on the brainstorming path.
Motivation will come as soon as you identify what your passions are.
Make Small Wins
Now that we have a plan and we have figured out what we are passionate about, we can look to put the plan in action.
This doesn’t mean quit your 9-5 and go all in on this, it just means find the motivation to make money at your passion.
Make this a side hustle that drives you to do more than watch Netflix.
Make this a side hustle that gives you the satisfaction of helping others and making cash while doing so.
Set forth a plan and complete each step, and once each step is complete, you will have satisfaction in these small wins.
Whether it is your first dollar earned, or discovering that you really do love knitting, these wins will multiply and give you the motivation to continue.
Also make sure you are saving or investing these new dollars, and set aside enough to pay taxes as well.
The more you succeed, the more that success will breed more success. The motivation to make money will come from turning these small wins into big ones.
How our Minds Work
If we were to struggle for a long period of time or not see results right away, the majority of us would give up.
Of course you wouldn’t, right? Right.
Look around you and you’ll see in you daily life that the great many masses of folks out there are not successful.
It’s not always due to a lack of motivation, it can also be due to a lack of education or even the will to become more.
Your mind is a combination of all the experiences that have happened to you and some bits of genetics thrown in for good measure.
I have had to overcome ADHD in my youth, and then dropped the hyperactivity portion to be just good ole’ ADD now.
It’s hard to overcome these things, but the ones that fail are the ones that lack the motivation to face them and then jump those hurdles.
Making goals, acquiring a plan, and then motivating your tushy to get things done will help you to overcome even the toughest struggles.
We cannot fall back on the excuses we always have before, not if we are going to cross this new finish line.
- Create new habits that your mind will fall in line with
- Exercise to get the blood pumping into the brain
- Make each day a new beginning, all the failures of the past are just memories
- Don’t make excuses, find solutions
You can overcome anything. I am overcoming my failures and my constant need to divert my attention away from the here and now.
If I can do it, you can too.
Motivation to Make Money From Other Sources
Money is not a good motivator on it’s own. Harvard found that money isn’t a good motivator, but if you enjoy the task to get the money or reward, you are way more satisfied. Money by itself is terrible motivator to be completely honest.
If your only drive was to watch numbers go up in an account, you’ve already failed.
The cash you make is a tool to let you do what you really want in life.
Your goals should motivate you, like:
- Retiring early
- Buying a home
- Paying for your child’s college education
- Supporting your hobbies(hopefully not expensive ones!)
- Taking back your time
These things will drive you way more than pure numbers.
Use money to get these things, but keep your eyes on these goals as the true prize we are aiming for.
It would be really disheartening if you weren’t able to buy your first home because you gave up halfway there.
All of the motivational speakers in the world will not get you moving if your only goal is a larger bank account.
Succeed with Consistency
The plan is in action and the dollars are rolling in! Now time to relax and watch some more Netflix right?
Hell No.
The hustle doesn’t stop here and I hope that you took the small wins and were even more motivated.
You won’t reach your goals if you aren’t consistent.
Say that out loud.
“I will be consistent.”
I hope people were around when you said that!
We follow our plan to a point where things need to be scaled either to a higher level, or expanded horizontally to create more opportunity.
As you saw earlier, this is the point I failed in my online business.
You won’t make that same mistake, right?
Of course not!
The plan has been working, and we are rolling in dough, well maybe not that dramatic, but the funds are coming in.
It’s time to enact the second phase of our plan. This part is where you are motivated to grow, but not overreach and get extended past where you should be.
Basically, we are making sure our motivation is in check.
We can see those goals looming closer and becoming more within in reach, but we don’t want to be greedy.
Motivation is a double edged sword, and when it comes to money, humans literally get greedy. They expand their goals to include more things, and more hobbies, and a lot of other trinkets and doodads that weren’t part of the original plan.
Let’s not make this mistake and grow competently and consistently. Put your blinders on to the material things you could have and grow your passion project into something that replaces your 9-5.
That is motivating as hell, ain’t it!
Finding Motivation in Everyday Life
No matter how hard we try and no matter how much passion we have in our project, there will be times where you will feel burdened or struggle with something.
It is very easy to lose the motivation you’ve built up. The minutiae of daily tasks can drain you just enough to make things tiresome.
Here are some tips to overcome this:
- Automate as much as you can
- Delegate as your passion project grows
- Involve your family, their love and support is unmatched
- Share your struggles with a mentor or someone who has been through it before
- Ask Derrick at Freedom From 40
- Create new streams of revenue so that all your eggs aren’t in this one basket
- Step away and vacate the premises by going on vacation(if possible)
Explore these tips and you’ll be able to renew your motivation for the side hustle while maintaining your sanity.
They’ll work better than a cup of coffee for sure!
Conclusion
I’m not going to give you a long list of motivational quotes to get you up and moving.
You are the one that has to find motivation to make money and hopefully we’ve pointed you in the right direction.
The motivation to make money can be extremely strong at first, but watching numbers in an account go up will only motivate you so much.
Gain strength from your experiences, involve your passions, and find help when necessary.
Without sounding mushy, find the motivation in your life by having a goal worth fighting for.
What motivates you the most? What makes getting out of bed a little bit easier for you? We want to hear from you and if you truly need a question answered, just ask away in the comments!