The term ‘making money’ is interesting. According to Ayn Rand, it was a purely American thing to come up with such a concept as to ‘make’ money. It was previously thought of as the result of luck, hard work or inheritance. In America, however, making money was invented as a concept and it has been pretty successful so far.
Here is an interesting thought about it. As a capital allocator or an investor, your goal is to make deals or trades that result in growth. When you already have money, your job is to allocate it wisely. You can start a business, you can trade stock, you can fund all manner of ventures, but your benchmark for how your money-making is going is typically your return on investment. So far so good; being a capital allocator opens doors for you.
But what about when you have no money? This is where the real magic happens. You see, the source of all this money-making is yourself. It is a combination of mindset, grit and luck. It comes from perseverance and an ability to hustle, seize opportunities and use your God-given gifts to create value out of random ingredients.
There is something very powerful about the concept of ‘yourself’ being the source of the money-making. Think about Kanye West when he sang “wait till I get my money right”. The money didn’t come from capital allocation, compounding interest or investment decisions. He created it, just as anyone else who has gone through the hustle of making it yourself knows. This is a precious mindset. When you have it, you can’t be struck down. And most importantly, the source of the grit is not money compounding in investments, but your own sweat and blood putting yourself to work.
Ambition and success can come in many ways. As a capital allocator, or someone who has been able to accumulate some wealth, keeping that wealth still requires grit, hard work and determination. But it is a different type of grit. Reaching for success means pushing yourself through thick and thin to accomplish and achieve your goals, no matter what they might be. You can extrapolate and say, even when you are hustling by your own muscle power and making money that way, you are still relying on market forces and the same economic dynamics that govern financial markets. But the difference is, the person starting from nothing and climbing up needs to do more than just allocating capital. He needs wit, determination, vision, foresight, thick skin, and a huge amount of perseverance.
So what is the conclusion to all of this? I myself have started from just a few hundred bucks and built a business. Through a combination of luck and staying eternally flexible, the business was able to overcome tremendous amounts of hardships and setbacks. Now however, I am transitioning from operator to allocator, and it begs for reflection and some pause. I like that lyric from Kanye West’s song. I like the grit and the struggle. But above all, I know that when you are blessed with opportunity, you must take it no matter if you are an operator or an allocator.
So, stay humble my friends. Be grateful when opportunities are presented to you and equally thankful when nothing goes your way, as those are valuable lessons paid for in sweat equity. If you keep aiming higher, stay flexible and are willing to learn, you can continue your journey to whatever you perceive as your destination.