10 years ago, my net worth was $200.
It used to be $1000 but I blew $800 on a bad stock trade.
Today $1000 doesn’t seem like anything to me – literal chump change, even though just a short decade ago it was all I had.
This post is not written to “humble brag”, it’s meant to inspire you to start a WiFi Money business.
Life at $150/month
(Yes, there was a time I used to make so little.)
Your friends are mostly other losers.
You take cheap public transport like the bus where losers talk about celebrities.
You eat out but it’s mostly roadside street food. It’s never a high end restaurant.
You see food prices more than the item name when you do go to a restaurant and read the menu.
If you buy something you don’t like, you still use it or try to get it fixed. You stand in line at the free warranty center if you have to.
You share expenses with friends. For example, if you go back from work, you take a rickshaw with 2 friends so everyone can split the bill.
You see people wearing $150 shoes and wonder why they are “wasting money”.
You end up eating a lot of unhealthy seed oils and carbs because that’s what most cheap foods are made out of.
Life at $1,000/Month
(Good old days where I’d work 16 hours a day, 7 days a week.)
You eat at small inexpensive restaurants. It’s still bad food, but at least it’s better than street food.
You still care about food prices more than the food itself when you read a menu.
You can now afford to travel alone in public transport.
You try your best to save money on clothes.
You get some “expensive” items here and there, like a $100 watch.
You still do things like stand in warranty center repair queues and buy cheap alternatives of expensive products (like fake headphones). You care about being seen as a baller among your friends.
Savings rate is pretty low because there’s not a lot of money left after necessities.
You worry about things because a lost job or a health emergency can completely derail your life.
You care about things like using WhatsApp instead of SMS to save money on your phone bill.
Life at $5,000/Month
(My online business ventures have started to take off.)
Life is pretty comfortable. You make enough to get by and have some time to yourself.
You buy the average Joe car and use that instead of public transport where possible.
You have climbed a level of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs and now have enough “bandwidth” to think about things like health, fitness, and more.
You go to better restaurants, stop eating cheap junk food like instant noodles, and sometimes splurge on high end foods and restaurants.
Life at $10,000-15,000/Month
(Raking in the WiFi Money from multiple online ventures)
Unless you live in New York or some other big western city, this is more money than you can reasonably spend.
You no longer do unpleasant tasks yourself to save money. You hire and outsource the nonsense. I have 3 maids, a cook, and a driver – I don’t have to do any menial tasks myself.
You no longer see food prices on menus. You just order what you like.
I focus so much on this point because it goes to exhibit how many “little” things change when you have money to spend. I remember that I used to only see food prices not item names.
If something cheap breaks, you just throw it away and get a new one. Standing in warranty center lines is no longer worth your time.
Your stress levels plummet. You could not care less about political bullshit and other mass hysteria. Your life is simply so good you do not care about these things.
You start getting a little lazier and have to force yourself to stay the path. You have to constantly remind yourself that now is not the time to become lazy.
You start buying more “premium” things like expensive digital gadgets and products.
When you travel, you do it in a more expensive way. You book good flights, good hotels, good cars, etc.
You rarely buy ultra high end stuff.
All the loser friends from your past start hating on you. They say things like “you changed man” simply because you stopped spending your time hanging out with them doing nothing of value.
Life at $50,000/Month and beyond
(Covid era and beyond have been very kind to anyone with an internet based business.)
Money stops being much of a motivator to do something. Sure, you like making more of it but it’s just a bunch of numbers on a screen. There’s no way you can spend it all.
You still like doing deals and building businesses for the challenge and thrill of it.
You save more money than you spend and your net worth is higher than ever because your businesses are worth a big multiple of the cash flow you are generating.
If you’ve been smart and haven’t let lifestyle inflation wipe you out, you have more money than you know what to do with.
You invest a lot of money and get to a point where your investments make more than most people’s active incomes. You like it but you are no longer emotionally involved with money.
You mostly just spend your time doing things you like that give you a higher sense of purpose. For example, I spent a few hours writing this article. It’s not going to “pay me millions”. Sure, I might get a few sales but that’s not the point.
You care more about health and well being than about money. Extra money to add more protein and butter to my food? Ok do it.
Most of the time, you don’t even know how much things cost until you pay for them. You order food, eat, and then see what the bill was.
You go to the clothes shop, pick what you like, take it to the counter, and then see how much it costs.
You buy the most premium stuff simply because you don’t know what to do with money.
You become one of those people you used to accuse of “wasting money” with $300 running shoes. It has only been 10 short years.
You hire the best trainers, the best coaches, the best everything. If you get sick, you hire the best doctors in the country. Quality matters more than price.
At first you show off your money with the big brands but later you learn to maintain a low profile because when you don’t, people start asking for loans that both of you know they won’t repay. Losers think you are a charity and it’s ok to not pay you because you are rich and they are broke.
Appreciating The Spartan Life
I realize that above text makes me seem like the typical rich guy, but on the average day, I live a pretty simple, modest, or spartan life.
For example, until I got married recently, I would sleep on the floor. I rarely used the bed because I wanted to inflict harshness on myself so I remained sharp.
Remember, if you have two wolves – and one lives in a jungle, and the other lives a comfortable life and is fed regularly – the latter forgets how to hunt. He becomes soft and useless. You have to avoid this.
You must inflict harshness on yourself instead of becoming insulated with comfort.
- Wake up early.
- Lift weights.
- Sleep on the floor if you are single.
- Put in the work.
- Don’t become arrogant. You can always get better.
- Remember that pride comes before a fall.
No matter how many digits appear in your bank account, you have to remember the principles and HABITS that made you rich in the first place.
‘History is filled with the sound of silken slippers going downstairs and wooden shoes coming up’.
Even kings fall if they become lazy and stop taking care of their army and don’t manage their kingdom properly.
You must keep in mind that BEING ABLE TO TOLERATE PAIN AND SUFFERING bought you all your prosperity.
Just because you are prosperous now, do not let it be a curse on yourself and do not become a comfortable soft dude who cannot take pain.
Lesson From The British Empire
The British conquered the entire world. A small island conquered Africa, India, China – everywhere. They became rich beyond measure.
Today the average Britisher is a soft dude who can’t throw a punch and watches his child discover a new “sexuality” every day while his country turns into Pakistan.
The mistake of the British people was that they forgot the mindset, the habits, and what it took to build an empire. They rested on their laurels, got weak and comfortable, and lost everything.
Today they are a little vassal state of the USA desperately trying to cling to its former glory.
If the USA says jump, they jump. If the USA says bark, they bark.
Do not make the mistake of the British.
KEEP the skills, habits, mindset, and energy that helped you build your empire. Do not become complacent.
Getting Started With Your Journey
Look, I live in India. I was born to a family of farm workers in a rural part of India. My village didn’t even have electricity when I was born.
If I did what everyone else did and worked a job, there’s no way I’d be where I am today. It’s not possible.
I was making more money at 24 than most CXO level people do at 58 simply because I was running online businesses. Making money from a job does not work.
A job will NOT make you rich. At best it will make you well off… by the time you are close to death/retirement.
If you want to get rich, you have to start a business.
Just make a decision and start anything.
A journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step.
People typically think they need to do something very complicated to start a business. They think they need to start Tesla 2.0 and have lawyers and engineers and sales staff.
You don’t need to invent the next social network or build a new electric car company or something technically complex that.
If you want to be a billionaire, then yes you probably need to do something complex.
But if you’re trying to do something far more easily achievable – making an extra $10-25k month, you don’t need to be Elon Musk to do that.
Just pick ANY BUSINESS MODEL, learn about it, and execute it.
- Audience building
- Web Design Agency
- Copywriting
- E-commerce
- Lead gen
- Video editing
- SaaS
- Podcasting
- Blogging
- ANYTHING
Just pick anything and work on it.
Find someone who’s doing it successfully and learn what they’re doing it.
If they’re kind enough to be teaching a course showing you how it’s done, do it.
Learn from people who already made it by doing what they’re teaching and EXECUTE IT.
What Makes Winners and Losers Different
DECISION and EXECUTION.
Winners: Decides what he wants to do. Takes action the same day. If it doesn’t work, he tries something else till something works.
Losers: Spends days, months, and years waiting to “start tomorrow”. Keeps reading articles about success but doesn’t actually take any action. Thinks everyone and everything is a “scam” despite being broke as a joke.
I will often come across people saying something “I am thinking of starting ….” (could be anything like a podcast or a blog or an X account).
Then a few months go by and I meet them again ask ask them how it’s going.
Usually, they are “still thinking about it”. Years go by and they’re always “still thinking”.
Examples of winners:
This guy did the web design course made by my web designer. Now he’s selling websites. In a few years, he’ll have a full fledged business making him 6 figures a year.
Another guy who did the web design course.
A guy who started his X account from my guide The Art of Twitter.
Another guy who just took action.
You don’t have to buy my courses.
This isn’t a secret sales pitch to get you to buy something I sell. (I actually want to you buy everything I have to sell and even buy some as gifts for your friends, but if you don’t have money, most of what I produce is free. You don’t need to pay me a penny if you don’t want to.)
What I’m trying to tell you is – just make a decision and take action.
Pick ANY business model that others are using. Find an expert on that subject and learn from him.
It doesn’t have to be me. If you want to learn about copywriting, learn it from Tej Dosa, not me – he’s much better at it than I am.
Decided to do e-com? Good. Find an expert and learn from them. Then start your own store.
The point is that you need to get started today.
People who don’t start today never start at all.
They just read article after article then go home to watch some TV before they sleep.
After they get done watching TV, they say “I just don’t have time“.
1 year goes by and they are still “think about starting…”
In the meantime, the winner who started 1 year ago is laughing all the way to the bank.
– Harsh Strongman
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