Focus on Your Money Maker
Email this article to a friend
Just a quick post to announce to everyone that I just gave my very first interview on the internet to the folks at a great new blog called “Focus on Your Money Maker.”
I was also the first one they profiled! You can find my interview at “Profile of a Money Maker: Shanel Yang.”
It’s a pretty short interview. Basically, I answered 3 vitally important questions that all of us should be asking when it comes to how we intend to make our money, or not:
THREE VITALLY IMPORTANT QUESTIONS ABOUT YOUR MONEY
“1. Briefly tell us about your money maker. (Some people have multiple money makers like stocks, real-estate, websites, businesses, etc.)”
“2. In your opinion, tell us what it means to stay focused on your money maker.”
“3. Most people have a mentor that they look up to and seek advice from. Tell us a little about your mentor and what sort of influence they have had on your life.”
Most people don’t want to think about these questions. In fact, another person who apparently has a great website and who was also contacted to participate had this to say in response to Focus on Your Money Maker’s request for an interview:
Hello! I love being profiled, but I’m a terrible financial example. My
website makes no money, my paycheck goes to bills, and I never seem to
be able to get out of debt. So … I really appreciate your kind
request, but I think I’m probably not what you’re looking for!
You can find the full (very brief) post about that at “Profile of a Money Maker.”
[NOTE: This is a 12/22/08 update to advise readers that “Focus on Your Money Maker” no longer seems to on the internet, so I’ve removed the broken links from this post above. However, I’ve cut and pasted my 06/27/08 answers to that blog owner’s original email to me with my answers to his interview questions below:
1. Briefly tell us about your money maker. (Some people have multiple money makers like stocks, real-estate, websites, businesses, etc.)
Right now my exclusive “money maker” or income stream is my blog, which is also my business. It’s not making much yet. But, I have plans to grow it to a sufficient size to attract advertisers and affiliate marketers to enable me to live comfortably again. I also plan to leverage the future popularity of my blog to engender interest in my future self help books.
However, my ultimate money maker goal is to have a cable or network TV show in which I provide personal development advice specifically for the intersection of teens, immigrants, and minorities. Although my blog doesn’t currently reflect it, that’s actually my ideal target group. When I launched my blog last year, it was designed only for that group. But, I quickly discovered that my blog would get nowhere fast if I focused on a group whose presence is as yet extremely limited on the internet. So, I broadened my original focus to include anyone who wants to hear self-help advice from a girl who came to this country when she was 5 years old, part of a very poor (only $50!), uneducated, immigrant family of six (from South Korea), who didn’t know a lick of English, and who struggled to find the American Dream, found it, pretty much hated it, and abandoned it all for the life of a struggling but very happy self-employed entrepreneur with huge dreams of success.
So far, I’ve done remarkably well with my blog in a short time, considering I had absolutely no computer skills or programming skills when I started. I am 100% certain I will succeed in all my goals—though I’m not exactly sure of the time frame it will take for me to accomplish all of this—because I have the requisite burning desire that all successful business people talk about and the intelligence, hard work ethic, and fantastic support group that I need to succeed. Most of all, come hell or high water, I will not quit.
Not to ignore the rest of your first question, I also plan to invest in real estate, index funds, and my own future businesses. But, I’ll need to study up on all of that as I go.
2. In your opinion, tell us what it means to stay focused on your money maker.
For me, staying focused on my “money maker” (That’s such a funny term! It always reminds me of that song, “Shake your money maker!”) is about how to motivate myself when I occasionally feel overwhelmed by these really big goals I’ve set for myself and the monstrous learning curve I sometimes stare up at, which looms over me like the huge stone ball that tried to mow down Indiana Jones in one of his movies.
But, the way that I do it is I remember myself when I was a confused little girl, or a frustrated teenager and all I wanted more than anything else was a mentor who could show me the way to do all the hard stuff. And, there was so much hard stuff to learn in this strange, new country, when my entire family was literally depending on me for that information for their survival. It was a crushing burden; but, I tried to be brave and carry out my familial duties.
Many nights, I stayed up and prayed and wished for a friend, a teacher, a guide through it all. I once saw a “Land of the Lost” episode in which Holly, the little girl, was magically visited by a beautiful woman who saved her and her family’s lives. It turned out that woman was her older self come back through time via some sort of time warp. She gave her words of wisdom and strength to carry on. I always wished that would happen to me. So, where I draw my strength when I feel weak is I remember how I felt back then—and I think of all the little girls out there now, who are immigrants, minorities, or otherwise disadvantaged, who are desperate for someone like me to help them by sharing what I know with them. All the little things that people whose parents speak English well, had great educations, and so on, take for granted. That’s how I stay focused on my “money maker,” which to me means my dream of helping as many of those kids as possible, which of course means a TV show. Nothing reaches as many people literally and figuratively as TV. My people don’t read or go on the internet much, but they watch a whole heck of a lot of TV. That’s where I must end up to finally reach them.
3. Most people have a mentor that they look up to and seek advice from. Tell us a little about your mentor and what sort of influence they have had on your life.
I have many mentors, but they don’t know me yet. Oprah Winfrey. J.K. Rowling. Steve Jobs. Andrew Carnegie. Napoleon Hill. Dale Carnegie. What these folks have in common is they were very poor—outsiders, if you will, from people who were born without the advantages of wealth, education, or even a stable home—until they decided to follow their hearts and do what they love and give it all they had. Then, when they “made it,” they gave back as much as they took and then some. I am following their lead.]
YOUR THOUGHTS CREATE YOUR DESTINY
Remember Suze Orman’s first law about money? Your thoughts create your destiny. Be careful what you think because what you think you will eventually say. Be careful what you say because what you say you will eventually do. Be careful what you do because your actions become your habits. Finally, be careful of your habits because your habits become your destiny. This is also the powerful message of Think and Grow Rich and How to Win Friends and Influence People.
Now, I know that money is a painful subject to think about even for a few minutes. I know because I actively avoided it myself for years. When the bills came, I shoved them into the “bill payment” pile and only looked at them for as briefly as possible once a month just before paying the minimum balances on them and so forth. When I got my paychecks, I didn’t look at those too closely, either, because it made me wince something awful to see how much was taken out in taxes and whatnot. It was all too much for me to handle! I just wanted to bury my head in the sand when it came to my colossal debt, how little I was making at the time, and how I had no idea how much I could ever even hope to make. I just hoped against hope that everything was going to miraculously work itself out in the end.
But, try as I might to not think about it, it began staring at me straight in the face like a ghastly phantom everywhere I turned. I think I could have become terribly ill if I let that go on for too many more years. It’s impossible to be happy living like that. So, I am suggesting to you to dare to start on the road to happiness, like I did. I was one of the biggest cowards when it came to money. So, if I can do it, I know you can do it, too. Read my interview to see just how fearless I have become when it comes to talking about my money and the big plans I have for it now.
If you shy away from even thinking about it, let alone writing about it, because you are too afraid to fail and look ridiculous, you are not alone. I was right there where you are now for a very long time. But, I also believe that fear breeds ignorance, and ignorance keeps us all exactly where we are—or worse! I know the successful ones didn’t keep their mouths shut about their big dreams. They thought about it constantly, planned incessantly, and talked about it to everyone who could help them achieve it. And, that’s exactly how they got the help and ideas they needed to make their dreams come true! So, how about it? Are you ready to commit your dreams to words? If not in front of potentially the whole world like I just did at Focus on Your Money Maker, then, at least, to yourself in your diary or journal?
CONCLUSION
Now, you try it: What are your answers to these 3 vitally important questions? Harness the enormous power of your thoughts and create exactly the destiny you desire. If you don’t, your fearful thoughts will do it for you anyway, but the outcome won’t be so wonderful. Dare to be awesome! Dare to be your own hero!
Be sure to get the latest articles as soon as they’re posted by signing up here!
[For “The Courage to Be Rich,” click here.]
[For “Change Your Mindset to Change Your Life,” click here.]
[For “What Would You Do If You Couldn’t Fail?,” click here.]
[For “Why We Buy It Even If We Don’t Need It,” click here.]
[For “How I Paid Off $50,000 of Debt in One Year,” click here.]
[For “Money Lessons for Nice People,” click here.]
[For “Greed v. Desire,” click here.]
[For “Millionaires v. Billionaires,” click here.]
[For “Think and Grow Rich,” click here.]
[For “200 Money Quotes,” click here.]
[For “200 Rich Quotes,” click here.]
[For “200 Poor Quotes,” click here.]
July 1st, 2008 at 7:33 am
Thanks Shanel. It was a lot of fun to have you as our first profile. You bring up a great point. I think most people are afraid to talk about money. It should be just the opposite. I think most people are afraid because they don’t truly understand it. If all of your money is going to bills, then yes, you might be afraid of it. I think you hit it right on when you said that “your thoughts create your destiny”. If all you think about is bills, then all you are going to have is bills. That’s why I created the site that I did. I want to focus on the things that bring money in, not the things that take it away. The more you focus on the things that bring money in, the more money you will have based on your saying that “your thoughts create your destiny”.
Thanks again! Love your website