The Biggest Mistake I See Entrepreneurs Make
By: Derick Van Ness
Tags: Goal Setting, Financial Planning, Entrepreneur, Life Hacking, Mindset

Before starting Big Life Financial, I worked for another organization as a financial coach. People had to pay anywhere from $15,000 to over $50,000 to work with our team.

I got to work with thousands of highly talented, ambitious entrepreneurs during that time. One of the most common things I heard was “I want to make a lot of money and have a ton of investments so I can go do what I really want to do with my life.”

That mindset — “I have to make money and then go do what I want” — is a big mistake.

First, as you make more money, you’ll want more money because you’ll be spending more. All of a sudden, $150,000 will not be enough. Then you’ll have to make $250,000. Then you’ll want $400,000 or $500,000. It’s just human nature.

Here’s what ends up happening: People get on that treadmill, start running toward the horizon, and always have a new financial goal they’re chasing. They get TIRED. They say, “This is not the life that I want to live.” Then they have to burn down everything they’ve built and start over so they can go live the life they wanted to live in the first place!

Don’t make that mistake. Don’t chase the money first. Reverse engineer it!

Begin by asking, “What’s the life I want to live? What kind of work do I want to do?”

After all, there’s no getting out of work. Even sitting on the couch is work. You have to figure out what to watch next, how to stay in shape, and how to still make the rent.

The question is “What work do you want to do? What’s the life you want to create?” THEN we can put the financial structure in place for it!

When business people come to me and say, “Hey Derick, let’s put together a plan,” my first question is, “Okay, what do you want your life to look like?” All too often, their response is “Uh…I don’t know! I just don’t want to worry about money.”

If you don’t know what you actually want, how do you build your life so that you get there?

I’m going to quote a famous exchange from Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll:

Photo by Haley Lawrence on Unsplash

Alice: Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here? The Cheshire Cat: That depends a good deal on where you want to get to. Alice: I don’t much care where. The Cheshire Cat: Then it doesn’t much matter which way you go.

Instead of worrying about money first, focus on the life you want. Then align your business, activities, goals, and financial structure around that.

There are as many financial strategies out there as there are tools in your garage. And just like the tools in your garage, each one of them does something different. But you won’t know the right tool to use if you don’t know what you’re building.

If you haven’t done this yet, sit down and write down what you want your life to look like five years from now, ten years from now, and in retirement.

Then you can reverse engineer it: “Okay, what does my business need to look like? What kind of income do I need to make? If I want passive income or tax advantages, how can I make all of that fit together?”

Every day, I help entrepreneurs not only come up with the right answers but also ask the right questions. Don’t hesitate to comment with your own questions or reach out and schedule time on my calendar if I can help you ask the right questions to create the business and life you want.