When you start turning a sizeable profit in the online fitness world you can begin to develop a toxic relationship with money.
Toxic in the sense that you become exclusively focused on money as opposed to what got you to the dance in the first place.
It’s addictive, and it can certainly be destructive.
I made the mistake earlier in my career of saying yes to too many opportunities simply for the money potential they seemed to have.
Now, I see a lot of new entrepreneurs in this space make the same mistake I did.
Listen, learn from my errors — saying “no” will actually help you reach your finance, investment, and fulfillment goals much faster than saying “yes”.
Starting Saying “No” To Anything That Doesn’t Match Your Strengths
One of the biggest questions you’re ever going to ask yourself once you start turning a profit is “Whey should I invest my money to protect myself and my family’s future?”
First of all, as I outline adamantly in the How To Be A Successful Online Coach course, you need to invest in yourself first.
Second, an incredibly unfortunate event that I have seen repeat itself many times over is how entrepreneurs hand their money over to a retirement planner and just hope for the best.
They invest their hard-earned dollars without even understanding the value proposition.
Most have no idea how the stock market works, what it’s going to do, and if where your money is going even aligns with your own core values.
This is what I would call investing outside of your strengths.
The risk of investing lies exclusively within the individual and not the investment.
You should always know what you’re doing, and you should have control and influence on the outcome of the investments you are making.
I’m routinely amazed and perplexed when business owners ask me where they should invest their extra cash.
Back into your business is the most obvious answer in the world.
It’s the safest investment.
It has the greatest long-term potential for profits.
It will grow your wealth at a much faster rate than 5% per month.
It is something you have complete control and influence over.
It aligns perfectly with your core values and how you get fulfillment in this life.
Yet strangely, many fitness entrepreneurs who start seeing some success invest their money into almost everything except their business.
If this is what you do, you’re building your business the wrong way which in turn means that you’re protecting your future in the wrong way as well.
Now, does this mean all investments outside of your business are bad?
Of course not.
But, I’m a firm believer that if you have thoroughly invested in your business to the point that investing more wouldn’t increase your long-term profits, then it may be time to consider outside investment opportunities.
But even then, I think it’s important to say “no” to anything that comes along that doesn’t match your unique knowledge and skillset.
You don’t have to swing at every pitch, if you do you’re going to eventually strike-out.
Start Saying “No” To Anything That Doesn’t Match Your Core Values
Saying “no” is tough.
I was terrible at it at first.
Saying “no” requires a lot of patience, which as entrepreneurs I think we all struggle with having good patience.
We get antsy and think that inflation happens at such a high rate that we need to do something with what we’ve got.
We want shortcuts, but baking something at 700 degrees won’t get you the same quality as baking the same thing at 350 degrees for 10 minutes.
The same energy invested, vastly different outcomes.
The more money you have to invest, the more opportunities will come your way.
Yet, I would wager that less than 10% of them match your core values, so the challenge is always about saying “no”.
Let’s say these outside distractions were financially successful, they still drained the time and energy you could have put towards achieving more fulfillment in your life by investing in what you care about most; your business.
Final Thoughts
The further removed you are from investing in your strengths and core values progressively increase your risk of a major failure.
I learned the hard way.
It took me years to realize that my multi-faceted “hustle” was holding me back more than anything else and when I started saying “no” and focused on my strengths, that’s when my career started giving me much more financial freedom and freedom to create my schedule however I wanted.
The worst part of it all was the time, focus, and energy that I spent away from things like Hockey Training, which is the main driver of fulfillment in my life.
Living through your core values is the only guaranteed security in life.
The more distracted you become by opportunities, the more limited your contribution will be towards what truly matters.
So, the next time you’re considering what to do with the extra profits you earned this month, ask yourself if they align with your strengths, skillset, and core values first.
If they don’t, say no.
Because when you start saying “no” to all of the wrong opportunities you will allow the right ones to reveal themselves.
Dan Garner
