Confessions of a Six Figure Professional Blogger

Why Throwing Money Away Can Make You Richer

August 7, 2009 | Advice, Feature

We’ve all heard the phrase: “It Takes Money To Make Money”. Do you agree with it?

Usually, it is thought that this means you have to invest money to ultimately make money back. In almost all cases, this is true to some degree.

However, I think there is a matter of attitude about this. And I think this attitude goes right to the heart of your ability to HAVE money in the first place.

money What I’m going to tell you is, of course, a matter of opinion. This opinion is based on my own observations. And you might think I’m full of crap when I say it, but hear me out.

Here it is:

You have to be able to SPEND money in order to be able to HAVE money.

At first glance, this might look to be a parallel to the chicken and the egg. I mean, obviously, if you have more money, you can spend more, right? However, reverse that. If you have the ABILITY to spend money, you can then have it.

The way I see it, there are two different attitudes one can have about money:

  1. Money is scarce and hard to come by.
  2. Money is not a really big deal.

Based on my observation, it is usually the people who don’t take money all that seriously who have the most money. On the contrary, it is people who feel the almost reactive need to reign in money and keep it close to the vest who have the most difficult time making it in the first place.

What’s The Big Deal?

I mean, what is this thing called MONEY? It is essentially a piece of paper. It is a piece of paper which has value assigned to it because of common agreements. And those agreements are generally held in place because a whole lot of complexity has been artificially piled atop this thing called money. The result is that people think money is a really big deal. At the end of the day, however, it is just a piece of paper and it has value because we say it does.

It would actually be a true statement to say that money literally DOES grow on trees. After all, it is paper. :)

So, take the significance off it. It is paper. In fact, just to remove the serious juju from it, you might try removing a dollar bill of some denomination from your wallet, wadding it up into a little ball, and throwing it around the room for a few minutes. Seriously, do it. You might be surprised at how such a simple (and seemingly stupid) exercise can change your viewpoint on money.

This thing called money isn’t hard to come by. It is flowing around constantly, and the government keeps making more of it (arguments about the sanity of that move aside). All you need to do is offer something of value which entices people to give you some of their money.

But, let’s get back to this attitude…

Why So Serious?

If you take money very seriously, you will probably never be rich. If you have a hard time spending money, you will probably never be rich. If the idea of overspending for something by $10 keeps you up at night, you’ll probably never be rich. If you cannot, right now, take a 5 dollar bill from your wallet and literally throw it into the trashcan, you probably will never be rich.

This world seems to be rigged such that those things which you feel you MUST have are going to be the hardest to get. On the flip side, if you have a nonchalant attitude about it, it just shows up like you’re not even trying.

As much as you might think that this attitude is the RESULT of having lots of money, I’m simply telling you that I don’t believe it is. It is certainly true that you can be more care-free about money when you have more of it, however I think the general attitude comes first. I really do.

This is so much true that I almost wince when I hear a new blogger say they cannot invest a little bit of money into their blog. A $10 plug-in. Or $5/month hosting so they can get a self-hosted installation of Wordpress. I wince because I truly feel that that attitude of SHORTAGE is going to inevitably breed more shortage.

I’m not telling anybody to go out and stupidly spend money they don’t have. I’m well aware that I’m walking a fine line by even putting out this opinion today. But, I believe it all comes down to attitude.

Money sticks to people with the right attitude. And part of that attitude is not taking it all so damn seriously.

If you enjoyed this article, you might also like...

  1. Why Some Blogs Just Can’t Make Money
  2. How Long Does It Take To Start Making Money Online?
  3. Where Does Your Money Go?
  4. Talking About Making Money Online In Order To Make Money Online
  5. Using Ustream To Make Money

Learn The Real Story On Blogging As a Business...

  • Get immediate FREE access to the Six Figure Blogger Blueprint
  • Get exclusive stuff NOT available on this blog.
  • Get the latest updates from the weird Risley man who runs this site.

Enter email:

  • Have to agree with you here. The times in my life when I haven't agonized over purchases above a certain level have led me to greater prosperity. The first time I hit $40k a year in my twenties as an employee, I felt comfortable blowing $100: if I wanted it, and I had "extra" money, I bought it.

    Then I'd figure out how I was going to make more money to replace what I'd just spent.

    And the first time I hit $100k in a year as a business owner, I refused to agonize over purchases less than $1000, etc.

    The converse was also true: the short time during which I participated in the "recession mentality" my income went down accordingly. Stopped agonizing, it went up to meet my spending habits. Fascinating to hear you put it like this.
  • showmywebsite
    Hey David,

    Great blog. I want to know where and how you market your sites. What do you think about the current adsense website templates good or bad?
  • I really agree with the idea that money and pretty much life in general seems to have an odd connection with the way we think. I think our attitude seeps into our subconscious and alters the way we act and the decisions we make. Some people call it "the law of attraction" but frankly I don't really know what to call it. Either way, being positive never hurts...or rather, being positive always helps! :)
  • I think some people would rather try to get lots of traffic first before investing money, but you're right that they should be afraid to spend $5 or $10
  • HollyMann
    Too many people "love" money too much. I agree with your post David.
  • reborndolls
    Sorry can't agree.
    The people with the most money arn't so keen on spending it.

    One thing making an investment, that makes logicial sense.

    I don;t know many rich people (self made anyway)who are careless spendthrifts.

    Just my opinion.
  • The main point here is "Spend and Invest Wisely" and "Don't Take Money Too Seriously".
  • A perfect example of this is the company I used to work for. Instead of hiring three developers, they hired two. Because they had only two, things were rushed, and when there were issues, the developers focused on resolving those instead of further development. In the end, the product failed to my mind solely because not enough resources were committed. Because they would not part with $80,000 more, They lost $2,000,000. You don't just throw money away, but you also don't print hokey business cards on your ink jet printer or have your kid design web graphics for your to save a buck. Saving that $1 can cost you $100.
  • makequickcashjohn
    You have just share an intriguing ideas on becoming rich. Investment is required to achieve a success in online business. you are right. Thanks for sharing this idea. Make Quick Cash John
  • chrisblackerby
    To quote Wikipedia:

    "Today, USD notes are made from cotton fiber paper, unlike most common paper, which is made of wood fiber."

    So technically money grows on plants, cotton plants ;)
  • Interesting insights... I have also found this to be true with jobs... my most successful interviews have been those when I was most relaxed and least convinced that I needed or wanted the job!
    And as an aside, I just heard an interesting story on NPR about research that found that just handling money... physically touching, counting money made people feel more powerful!
  • I'm quite for the point of “It Takes Money To Make Money”.
    As the old saying goes, no pains no gains.
    Cite the SEO business for example, one can easily promote his sites to PR4 or even PR5 without cash investment. However, if he is looking to further improve PR, money is needed in buying outbound links from influential websites.
  • evanhadkins
    I think my problem has been not taking money seriously enough - just don't find it interesting.
  • I think you have brought up a good viewpoint. I think that money only has the type of value that you give it. If you think it is worthless. Than that is what you will get from it!
  • It is ok to say that you need to invest in your business to make money, but it is irresponsible to say that "take a 5 dollar bill from your wallet and literally throw it into the trashcan." I think it all boils down to the Buddhist philosophy of desire. If you have unstoppable desire for something, you will not often act as prudently as you would otherwise. Yes, excessive desire for something may hurt you, but you still need to watch how you're spending your money. How would you feel if the company that you have bought stocks recklessly spends money in order to make more money?
  • willams
    It is all a matter of priorities really. For example, the guy who wishes the price of gas woud fall has no qualms about dropping a couple of hundred dollars on the horses each weekend. Go figure.
  • David,
    this article makes me smile because of the similarities to my own attitude about money :-)

    In general, people tend to over-value money itself, while underestimating their ability to get more. There are too many OMG moments.

    Money always flows, so it's a matter of positioning yourself to catch some of it as it goes by. We would all just love to have an unlimited source of the greenbacks, but that's not reality.

    My point in this, money is to be taken seriously or you and it will soon part company. But live your life in a self defined comfort zone (whatever that may be for you).

    I am by no stretch rich, but I live quite comfortably simply because I have chosen to do just that.

    As long as your money doesn't play out before you do, everything will be fine.

    Live your life folks, if you need more money, go get it!

    Now I'm not trying to over-simplify the matter, but if you keep doing the same thing over and over, can you really expect a different result?
  • gregellison
    I can see where some people can't buy things. They don't have the money. What I do is build up the money first then I have extra money in my paypal account so I can buy things for my websites. I pay for my aweber email list from the money that I make from my websites. You can still make money from free places. How do you like Disqus commenting system?

    Thanks Greg Ellison
  • Ken
    I agree – nice article. Act with a playful insouciance and suddenly life becomes a game. That is, truth be told, the only way LIVE; successfully and happily.
  • wayneporter
    When you think about it, with all the billions of dollars that has been created by Congress to bail out businesses, there is actually much more money going around now, than there was when times were "good" a few years ago.
  • Nice article, I agree that rich is relative to how much you need and that many people cheapen on stuff like a $10 plugin and don't take care of their credit which can be like 200k for a 400k house mortgage.

    By the way, money is made from cotton.
  • Hi David,

    You wrote: "The way I see it, there are two different attitudes one can have about money:

    1. Money is scarce and hard to come by.
    2. Money is not a really big deal."

    I would say these two attitudes about *making* money are true. But I wouldn't say it's necessarily a good viewpoint to have the second attitude about *having* money.

    It is often the richest folks who take money more seriously. I know in my own life, I realized when I came into money that I had to take it a lot more seriously. It's easy to blow it and spend it. It's much more involved to figure out how to invest wisely. So now I take money (budgeting and investing) seriously. But I also have the belief that I have nearly unlimited income potential.

    These things are always difficult to talk about. When I write about having money on my blog, people think I'm bragging. But I'm not -- there are serious considerations that come in to play (that most people don't talk about) once you have a lot of money to deal with.

    I'd love to see you separate out the attitudes between making money (which requires a abundance attitude) and not blowing it all once you have it (which requires taking learning how to invest, for instance, seriously.)

    -Erica
blog comments powered by Disqus