They say that “money doesn’t grow on trees”.
At least, that’s what we hear in classical education all our childhood…
I used to believe it too until 2012… Even when I started planting my seeds but nothing sprouted…
Today, I have euros and dollars growing from my trees, in my little garden, no joke! And here’s what I’ve learned…
I come from a middle-class family, where hard work has always been a strong value passed on to me. I’m deeply grateful that this value made it possible for me to want for nothing, at the price of seeing my loved ones work hard so that we could have the best education possible.
Only, one piece of advice kept coming back to this notion of education:
“Work hard, study, so you don’t have to do a job you don’t like!”
This resonated in my head right up to my studies, since I chose to study long and hard to get a good job and a good salary.
But that’s when I realized the scam !
Far be it from me to think in terms of getting rich without doing anything, or “I’ve given up everything to start my own business” (I’ve finished my studies, and I like to follow through on my commitments). I’ve never been one for laziness or greed at any cost. I’m a hard worker and I get bored without a project.
However, to keep that meaning, I prefer to work intelligently (I hate repeating the same things) and reap the rewards for longer…
During several internships, I worked hard, but the work was repetitive! I didn’t feel I was creating anything, let alone enriching myself:
I work from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., collect my salary, pay my bills, go back, take a few vacations when I’m allowed, save a little…
The money doesn’t grow on the tree, because the tree, the garden, doesn’t belong to me. Someone else owns it, pays me to look after it and gives me a small share.
I respect that a lot of people feel that way, but I wanted to be free and tend my own garden:
I wanted the tree, the garden, the forest…
I made the decision to get out of the system, as soon as possible, so I planted my seeds while I was studying so that the trees would already be ready when I got out.
Well, the plan took longer than expected, but…
Money doesn’t grow on trees because you haven’t planted the right seeds and nurtured the tree to reap the rewards!
This metaphor is the basis of financial education. You have to sow in order to reap, and diversify your harvests.
But what are the seeds? The tree? The fruit?
One of my mentors told me to start with what I understand, where I can go faster!
For me, it’s business and entrepreneurship:
The seeds I’ve planted are :
- My financial education (investing in myself to know what to do and adopt the right attitude)
- Creating content to get my message across, make myself known and build a reputation.
- The development of my expertise and authority: value to bring to others
- Offers that condense this expertise and that customers will therefore buy
- More investment in me, because I’m my own best asset.
The tree that has grown:
- A reputation that creates regular opportunities for me (networks, customers…)
- Visibility that lasts (articles, videos, books, podcasts old and new consulted over several years)
- A growing base of loyal customers
- An ecosystem of offers that generate sales every day, week, month
- Skills, attitude and posture that I’m continuing to work on
- A strong entourage (team, network, partners…)
The fruits:
- Passive income (coming in every day)
- Extraordinary encounters
- Freedom (financial, geographical, relational and above all to be me)
- The possibility of reinvesting in oneself to learn, surround oneself, plant new seeds
The magic is that you can actually create a small garden or forest. As a multipotentialist, I have several trees:
- Various activities
- Investments
- Assets/Dividends
- Associative projects
You can plant your own tree, aim for a garden or a forest, the key being to understand the philosophy behind it:
- You work hard once you sow, then you grow your garden!
- All you have to do is water and concentrate on harvesting the fruit.
- You can take the seeds from these fruits and plant new ones.
It’s also said that “money doesn’t fall from the sky”, but that’s a different subject from manifestation and abundance, and I’ve got some great anecdotes about that… We’ll talk about it another time!
My specialty is passive income in business.
In 2012, I moved to New York with my first passive income and began my life as a digital nomad. Then I developed the model, improved it, adapted it to each “season of business” and to the codes of the times.
It’s never too late to start sowing seeds, whether as a complement to your income (salaried or self-employed) or with a view to making a 100% living from it, it can also be a transition.
You can create your ecosystems and plant your seeds to decouple your time from your income, whether as a supplement, transition or main model.
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