35 Comments

To get out of poverty, the first step is to change the way you think about money. Unfortunately it will probably imply to change your circle of influences; your relationships! That is the biggest challenge where most people struggle to do...

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It's super hard Maximum. Have you managed to do it in your life?

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Great ideas Tim! 👍

One different opinion could be where you say “discount” is wrong. However, consider price gouging, severe price inflation, etc where things are literally overvalued, to exploit the consumer. So asking for discounts might not necessarily be wrong. No business sells anything at a loss. But grossly overvalued costs is borderline exploitation and definitely greed.

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If the price is silly then just don't buy from that person or business. Simple. It's why I don't buy a Mercedes Benz. For 50% less I can get a Tesla that's a superior car and electric.

Thoughts?

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1. One of the best books I came across was recommended when I hung around with network marketers. 'The Richest Man in Babylon'. Yes, its first rule is 'At least one tenth of what you earn is yours to keep' (another line for saving) but there are other rules in it. That rule helped me out of some of the toughest jams and still does. However, yes, investing in things towards improving yourself is a good followup step.

2. I found Tony Robbins' 'Unlimited Power' and it helped me fast-forward my life in a good direction at that time. Still is a good gem.

3. I think the biggest reason why people stay in that poverty mindset (and I see plenty of writers in this one) is the failure to see value in themselves. Not just present value but POTENTIAL value. A rough diamond will increase in value when cut and polished.

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Yep, read all those books Chris. Any other good ones?

I took your third point and saved it in my notepad. Wow. It's not just about value. It's about your potential value and that's unlocked through execution.

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Anthony Robbins' books are all good. They're even better when read and executed rather than hoping the success can be absorbed by osmosis :)

Mine are very well dogeared. And when I "fail", I try again.

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Yep, I've read every one of his books.

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Talk about massive golden-nuggets-value! Loved this, Tim. One itty bit contradiction though, "When you get stuff for free you don’t value it....I listened to all his (Tony Robbins) free stuff. He made me think differently." I guess the challenge with freebies is identifying who will treasure them, right?

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Good pick up. What I didn't say is his free stuff led me to pay for his events. Do you offer free stuff with what you do?

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Lol. Proof that "nothing in life is free". So, an apparent Tony Robbins freebie finally led to a conversion-Tim Denning. It's all a waiting game.

As for offering "free stuff", sure I sometimes do. But as proof that what I am offering is worth paying for. Or, as a way of keeping in touch-in return for their contacts. Freebies=friendship, no?

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Interesting angle. The free stuff did lead to a conversion. I do feel Tony is a huge exception though.

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Tru dat, Tim. Maybe he's an exception now, but not back in the day, though. We all gotta start somewhere. "A journey of a thousand miles..."

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As cliche as that quote is it helped me when I was in a dark place. One foot in front of the other.

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Forward ever, backward never. One step at a time. Enjoyable and RESTFUL weekend t' ya!

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Yes I did and it tooks me about 10 years to get on track. Sadly, with friends or relationships, the lesser the better it is!

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Well at least you figured it out Maximus. What other lessons can you offer for readers of this article?

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If you want to have a great life, stop focussing on money. Do what you like as best you can and money will come!

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Nice takeaway Maximus.

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I don´t agree with everything but definitely you have money if you make it! So concentrate on that

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Great to have varying opinions. What part do you disagree with? (Helps me learn)

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"The solution to money problems was never to save!" I need to remember this quote, Tim. Great message. I also stopped using the word "expensive" except on social media to make my point.

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Price is determined by value. I try to avoid expensive as well. The main focus should always be on ROI.

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Hey Tim, loved your stack! Some people are jealous of the wealthy not realizing we need them to succeed!

You usually encourage us to give everything away - free. Today you say people don’t value what they don’t invest in. My target audience - smokers - have been given every thing free by their governments and I would like them to invest in themselves and their smoking solution. What are your thoughts?

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Hey Sue, the gift it all away for free advice is one way to have an abundance mindset. I normally say this in relation to writing. Writing behind a paywall is harder because people don't often share paywalled content.

When it comes to education and courses though, I find people don't value the free ones. Spending money forces them to show up and pay attention.

Getting smokers to pay to fix their problem can work. Some sort of 1-1 coaching will likely work best. Have you done that? What else have you tried?

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Great advice Tim,

For anyone that would like to enhance their financial literacy I’d recommend they take a look at the Finlitiverse > https://finliti.com/finlitiverse/

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Checking it out Paul. Why is this good?

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Ha ha! Angry with wealthy people! I see so many people who do this, and I used to be one of them. It wasn't until I realized they are creating wealth and not taking it that everything clicked.

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Without wealthy people we don't have an economy. What are you doing now Jason to create wealth?

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Oh my gosh, so glad you asked. I have been working on my portfolio as a content creator, writer, publisher, whatever you want to call it. Right now I'm on Medium, just finding my voice, as I just started out at the onset of the new year. Not much in the way of funds as of yet, but that will change over time if I continue at this rate.

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Awesome Jason. Will you write anywhere else other than Medium? And what are successful Medium writers doing right now?

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I like Substack as a platform! It's so pretty and smooth, and it just feels a little freer than medium, so I'm also thinking of writing here in addition to Medium. I have not decided; like I said, my writing hustle is still in its infancy, but I'm very excited about it. 

It seems the successful writers on Medium are doing some exciting things. They are:

Creating newsletters

Writing about writing

Pushing articles which are mainly coaching new writers

This is my perspective, though, and I have seen content that's mainly fiction too, so there is that and I'm still exploring.

We are talking highly successful people with a following of over one hundred fifty thousand followers! One can dream, right?

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No need to dream Jason. Do the same. Just build your email list and fuck followers. Sound good?

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Sounds good, sir.

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Exactly this! Me and my partner wished we had started investing in our 20s but you don’t know what you don’t know right?

I’m not sure about the not valuing freebies part. We got given a free sofa and dining table set for our first flat and it held great value for us until we could afford different.

But I definitely agree that people don’t live within their means because they don’t want to.

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