“A poor man’s money is hard to earn, but easy to scam. Interesting phrase, isn’t it?” the wifey asked me.
“Hmmm…” I thought for a moment.
But I couldn’t get it.
So I asked, “What does it mean?”
“Well, I’m watching this interesting show on YouTube. And this man is a food and beverage business consultant. People come up to him for advice to save their dying businesses. And almost everyone who starts a food business has no idea what they’re doing. They just think if they borrow enough money, or use their life’s savings and start something, or buy a sketchy franchise, customers will magically appear. And they will make a lot of money and become rich,” she said.
“Uh huh,” I nodded while taking a sip of water.
“So this food business consultant likes to use the phrase, ‘A poor man’s money is hard to earn, but easy to scam’. Because he noticed a common pattern with almost all failing business owners. If you tell them to invest $300 in a course teaching them how find the right location for their restaurant, how to create an experience that keeps customers coming back, or how to manage inventory and expenses, they will all just ignore you. Because they don’t care about learning the basics.”
“Interesting,” I commented.
“Yeah. But if you tell them to borrow some money from their family, or friends, or the bank. And maybe withdraw their life’s savings. And invest $300,000 into a new business opportunity or franchise that most of the time never works, but you promise them it will somehow make them a lot of money, they will rush to give you all their money as quickly as they can, and hope for the best,” the wifey said.
“Oho! Very fascinating. But very, very true,” I replied.
Because:
This ain’t uncommon.
I don’t know about you, but I have dozens of family members, friends, relatives, and what not… who are constantly doing this.
Tell them to crack a book open.
And start with the basics.
And they’ll laugh you in your face.
Tell them you have this new biz opp that’ll make them richer than their parents ever were, in so little time that they’ll be able to travel the world at their leisure and sip coconut juice on the beach, while the new business runs like a well-oiled AI robot on autopilot, and their friends look on in envy…
… and they’ll get into the car…
… drive up to their bank…
… withdraw all their life’s savings, while asking the bank to loan them some more…
… and if that ain’t enough, they’ll borrow from family and friends too…
… maybe even loan sharks…
… and start ‘pitching’ all that money away faster than Shohei Ohtani throws a fastball!
But then, once they lose it all?
And you tell them to settle down and start getting back to basics? So they can settle up all the deep debt they’ve accumulated?
Well…
By this time…
They’re so infatuated with ‘gambling’ with biz ops that everything they do is just another ‘pull on the slot machine’. Endlessly trying to hit the jackpot before they can’t pull no more. And the deeper the debt they find themselves in, the more desperate they are to gamble.
Until finally… for a very select few people (it’s rare)…
A miracle happens!
And they get lucky! And they strike it rich!
Like one of my business mentor’s close friends.
Who had zero clue on the basics of business. And just kept trying to throw smelly poop on the walls. Hoping something stuck. Which it did when he tried his luck creating apps, during the smartphone app boom. And made $18 million.
And thought himself a genius.
But:
Quickly got brought back to reality.
When he went in the ‘casino cycle’ again.
Because someone told him that real estate’s hot right now. And so he bought. And gambled. And lost. All of it. All $18 million. Which led him back to working a lowly, smelly day job. Where he still is today.
But, the moral of the story?
As my mentor likes to say after talking about this:
Gotta learn to crawl before you can walk. And gotta learn to walk before you can run.
Doesn’t matter how much money you make.
Whether it’s by hook, or by ‘crook’.
Or by luck.
You’ll lose it all again just as fast as you made it. Over, and over, and over again. Until you’re fed up enough to stop fighting universal laws of business and nature, and… crack open that book, and get yerself back to the basics.
Of how money really works.
And how business really works.
And how marketing and copywriting really work.
And it’s true for wealth.
But it’s also true for health. And love. And happiness. And it’ll save you from a world of heartache.
But the deeper into the basics rabbit hole you go (which just never ends), the safer, more certain, more consistent, more simple, and more predictable everything in life and business becomes… because you understand the First Principles of how everything really works…
Anyways:
When it comes to the most basic of the basics…
I don’t know anything more basic than understanding how the human brain works. Because literally, everything you see, hear, touch, smell, taste, and experience in life all comes down to your brain.
And your customer’s brain.
Which is the subject of my latest work:
On how the brain processes words, images, video clips… according to top neuroscientists in the field… and decides on what to listen to, and what not to listen to… what to remember, and what not to remember… what to release dopamine for, and what not to release crave-inducing dopamine for.
And which:
Once you understand the basics of it with my new framework, gets you knowing exactly how to say stuff in a way the brain likes, wants, craves, and also…
… what it needs to hear if you want it taking action.
Like buying.
And sharing.
And subscribing.
But if that’s something that gets your blood pumping, rather than chasing after the next AI get-rich-quick-scheme, then here’s where you go:
https://themysteriousmarketer.com/dopamine-on-demand/
Allen Walker
The Mysterious “Still Mastering The Basics” Marketer
Allen Walker, the Mysterious Marketer, is the marketing genius who’s deleted more 6 & 7 figure businesses than anyone else on the planet (*all because he gets bored). He’s also known as the world’s most genius renaissance marketer. Visit his blog to read thousands of his ‘secret’ copywriting tips for getting paid to grow your email list.
This post (https://themysteriousmarketer.com/a-poor-mans-money-is-hard-to-earn-but-easy-to-scam) was originally published by Allen Walker, The Mysterious Marketer. And yes, you can click that link to read his newest secrets for free…