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Success Advice

4 Important Money Lessons I Learned From a Grueling Job

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Midjourney

As I was traveling to Australia in 2016, I experienced one of the most painful ways to make money working a job. I worked as a tree planter for three months getting paid 8 cents per tree planted.

I worked six days a week under capricious Australian winds, rain, battling with mud and drooling in sweat. Three months later and 10 kilos lighter, I learned powerful life lessons about money.

1. You start putting the cost of items into perspective

When you get paid 8 cents per tree planted, you start having a different perspective on money. On my first day off, I thought I’d buy a coffee for breakfast. So how much did that coffee cost?  It was $4.50. I remembered thinking, this is 56 trees. How much energy did it take me to plant these 56 trees? I could still feel the pain through my blistered tree planter’s hands.

When you realize the value of your hard-earned dollars you start thinking that maybe your money should be put to better use. Did I like tree planting? I hated every minute of it.

My naive optimism of the beginning soon vanished to be replaced by constant mental complaining. After the first two weeks, I was already mentally exhausted because of the numbing aspect of this repetitive job.

I thought I should start listening to audiobooks to keep my mind in a better place. So I started with Robert Kiyosaki, author of Rich Dad, Poor Dad. Robert was accompanying me at every tree I planted and for every cent I earned. He kept repeating the same things over and over again: “It doesn’t take money to make money”; “having a job means being just over broke”.

And there I was, planting trees trying to make more money one tree at a time.

“No matter where you are, your dreams are valid.” – Lupita Nyong’o

2. Working harder is not the solution

There was a British guy, Harry who was hands down the best tree planter of the crew. He planted significantly more trees than everyone every single day. But even though he planted more than everyone, he didn’t get much more money.

Why? Well, because Harry earned more, he also got taxed more. Ironic right? Especially since the effort to plant the extra 500 to 1000 trees was in my humble opinion, monstrous.

But Harry was a competitor and I don’t think he did it for the money. I think he enjoyed the insanity of the challenge. But thinking about it, you could easily get very cynical about how unfair this whole system is – and rightfully so. People work harder and the system gets harder on them. I guess Robert Kiyosaki was right after all. Working harder is not the solution.

3. Have a system working for you

Because I wanted to make more money without planting more trees, I started thinking of something else. There was actually a guy on the team who had an interesting position. He didn’t plant trees, but rather he collected the trays that each planter left at the end of every row. At the end of the day, he got 15% of the total of trees planted by the whole crew.

This guy made as much money as the top planters with a significantly lesser effort. Of course, he would still be taxed the way we were but what was interesting was the fact that he didn’t need to put in the mind-numbing-soul-destroying-blister-creating effort that the rest of the crew was putting in.

How much was my boss making? His income probably didn’t fall under earned income like ours. Which meant he got less taxes. This guy made money whether he showed up or not. He had a system working for him. Work will only get you so far but systems will get you anywhere. This is what we call leverage.

“The most important word in the world of money is cash flow. The second most important word is leverage.” – Robert Kiyosaki

4. It doesn’t take money to make money

What could I possibly do in a town in the middle of nowhere that had more cows than people? Well, I took a look at items that were selling in the area and I quickly realized that I could buy discounted items. Because it was a remote area of retired people, there wasn’t much demand.  I found amazing deals.

The problem was, I didn’t have enough cash so I called my friend Fernando who lent me $2000 for three months for 10% interest. When I got back to Sydney at the end of my tree planting adventure, I sold the items I had bought for a total of $3000. I gave $2200 back to my friend Fernando, and I kept the $800 difference.

I made that $800 in a matter of hours whereas it would take me at least 50 hours and 11000 trees to make that money working. Start thinking of things you can do outside of your job, outside of the sickening-and-addicting hourly rate. Be creative. It doesn’t take money to make money. Well, let’s say it doesn’t have to be your own.

Warren Buffett once said: “Someone is sitting in the shade today because someone else planted a tree a long time ago.” Understand that your hard earned money is the seed of what could create your freedom. Keep some of it. Learn to create and acquire assets that will be working and growing for you. So start planting your trees!

What money lessons have you learned from a not so popular job you’ve had before? Leave your thoughts below!
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Success Advice

Why You Shouldn’t Discount A Brick And Mortar Store In 2025

We’re constantly told about how stores are closing down and how shoppers prefer online options, but is it worth questioning this theory?

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How to grow a brick and mortar store
Image Credit: Midjourney

In 2024, you’d be forgiven for thinking that physical shopping is a thing of the past. We’re constantly told about how stores are closing down and how shoppers prefer online options. But is it worth questioning this theory? (more…)

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Success Advice

How to Alter Your Business Approach With Technological Advancements

Keeping up with technological trends has become a challenge for almost every business owner.

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Image Credit: Midjourney

Technology’s evolution has impacted everything, and business is no exception. Keeping up with technological trends has become a challenge for almost every business owner. Entrepreneurs unable to do so are being wiped out of the market.

There is no doubt that AI (Artificial Intelligence) and ML (Machine Learning) have taken over the business world. These technological advancements are impacting decision-making, success percentages, and other entrepreneurial aspects.

Adapting to these developments is integral to business success. Let’s explore how you can accomplish these milestones.

Embed the strength of AI and ML.

AI has modified business operations in major ways. For instance, companies have employed bots for customer support. These bots go through an effective learning process via Machine Learning before being able to answer like humans.  

Bots can also perform detailed data analytics and make business moves with high success percentages.

ML is used more for the analysis of data chunks and generating successful predictions. This simply means that business owners do not have to worry about large-scale financial losses. 

In terms of deployment and usage, a reputed company like Netflix employs machine learning for decision-making.

Blockchain is increasing the count of business opportunities

Tampering of financial transactions is quite common and causes severe monetary damage to customers. With the rise of digital payments, this risk has increased. 

Blockchain is used to elevate your experience for monetary transfers. It combats penetrating events to extract confidential customer information. 

Most business sectors are using block chain but finance and supply chain management sections have a higher count. These two corporate sections have several monetary deposits and withdrawals taking place. 

In terms of percentage, approximately 72% and 5% of finance and supply chain firms have implemented block chain successfully.

Dedicate Yourself to Continuous Learning and Individual Development

You invest in learning some of the very important skills, including digital marketing, financial management, and how to gain customers as an entrepreneur.

You need to set up your knowledge base about doing business on Coursera and Udemy with the basics that are necessary for the business, building further by networking with experts through webinars.

Besides, Agile methodology will introduce elasticity to your company: this review and feedback system with further correction regularly will allow for enhancing efficiency and promptly reacting to the market.

Developing key skills to achieve goals

Running a business successfully is not only about having niche/domain knowledge. Business owners need to have communication / soft skills as well in addition to niche information.

Here are some key technical/domain-related areas that business owners should have a strong grip on.

Data Storage on Cloud: These days, companies do not store their data on physical servers. Therefore business owners should know how data is stored/edited/removed/updated via AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, and other platforms.

Data Analysis/Interpretation Qualities: These days, data is as precious as gold. Business owners with data analysis abilities make correct predictions. As a result, their ventures grow in volume.

Development/Coding Knowledge

Programming knowledge gives business owners an edge whether the application is developed in-house or outsourced. It assists in getting updates deployed and handling application underperformance without getting professional support every time.

Hacking proof framework

There is no benefit of having an advanced automated system if can be penetrated. Successful business owners have above-average knowledge of cyber security and hacking attempts. They are able to choose top-notch anti-hacking software without much of an ambiguity.

Communication Abilities/Soft Skills

Here are some key communication qualities that business owners should have:

Communication/Conversation: Business owners should use to-the-point sentences in both written and oral communication.

Issue Resolution Abilities: Business owners should be able to drill down to problems and solve them. This is done successfully only if an entrepreneur has in-depth business domain knowledge.

Agile Implementations

It is mandatory for business owners to have knowledge of iterative/agile models. With such a competitive environment, it is impossible for business owners to succeed without adopting an agile framework.

Create a productive well-crafted Business Strategy

A productive business venture starts with a clear vision. The first factor making a business successful is the idea behind it. It helps with endless growth and combating competition successfully. Katherine Philips once mentioned that business goals are inevitable if goals are set concretely.

  • Goals should be based on smart achievements instead of complexity. Focus on the value that each one of them adds. 
  • Business objectives should not be vague. Key indicators should be constructed to measure the success/failure of each milestone.
  • Be realistic when setting goals. Do not aim at impossible milestones since they can be demotivating.
  • Milestones/goals need to be time-bound. Set a completion deadline for each one of them. 
  • Business goals should not be alien. Owners can think out of the box but not be obsolete / unrelated.

Create a productive well-crafted Business Strategy

Business owners cannot succeed without having a network. Some tips help in this case. Attend conferences and professional gatherings to connect with other entrepreneurs.
Here are some other related points business owners should pay attention to.

  • Attend meetings and conferences to stay updated with trends and meet business owners who already have well-set ventures. This helps in enhancing the learning curve of new / growing entrepreneurs.
  • Being a part of business communities/groups is very productive. When one shares opinions and discusses decision-making tactics, it helps in preventing errors and enhancing success rate.
  • Even the most experienced business owners have mentors as learning never stops. Take part in mentorship programs so there is an assurance that you are following the correct roadmap.

Conclusion

There is absolutely no doubt that business dimensions have evolved with technological advancements. Successful entrepreneurs have grabbed these changes in due course of time and continue to evolve. On the other hand, people following old paths and conventional steps fade out of competition. In a nutshell, keep an eye on the processes and practices you follow as these factors decide success rate.

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Success Advice

Understanding the Power of Yes and No: How to Create Boundaries For Success

These words have a significant impact on how our success unfolds

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Image Credit: Midjourney

The two smallest yet most powerful words in life, “Yes” and “No,” have a big impact on our growth on both personal and professional levels. In addition to affecting the choices we make every day, these words have a significant impact on how our success unfolds. (more…)

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Motivation

From Couch Potato to Go-Getter: A Step-by-Step Motivation Plan for Everyone

By understanding what motivates you, you can turn your dreams into reality

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How to be motivated
Image Credit: Midjourney

Are you tired of feeling like a couch potato? Do you want to transform your life and become a go-getter? You’re not alone! Many people struggle with motivation, but the good news is that change is possible. (more…)

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