By Bill Quain
If you haven’t read last week’s column, “Have you ever talked to Money?”, then I suggest you click on Shore Local Newsmagazine’s website and check it out right now. You need some background information about my interview with Money in order to wrap your head around this week’s Six Words on a Boardwalk Bench – “Money says: Get on my list.” Believe me, you want to be on that list!
Money goes where he is commanded.
Last week, Money let us in on one of his biggest trade secrets. He can only go where he is commanded to go. Only people with money can command him!
That’s right. Money is waiting for the command. If you want more money, then you have to find people who already have him and convince them to command him to go to you. You do this by creating value.
But, Money is always updating his list.
Being Money isn’t easy. It takes a lot of coordination. He’s constantly running around, especially these days when transactions take place in a split second. Money never stops moving. Without his list, he’d never keep track of where he is supposed to go next. You need to be on that list if you want more money than you have now.
Money leaves trails. He makes cents.
Let’s take a second look at my experiences as a restaurant owner. As I mentioned last week, I would buy steaks from a supplier. The supplier would buy whole beef portions from a butcher. When my supplier wanted more steaks, he’d tell Money to go to the butcher. When I wanted to buy steaks, my money went to the supplier. Finally, when my customers paid me for dinner at the restaurant, they commanded their money to go to me.
Here’s the big news. Every time Money changed hands, he left a little trail behind. Everyone in the transaction chain got to keep a little bit of the money that was traveling through our hands. That trail of cents is called “profit,” and it is the part of Money that each of us got to keep.
But what about your customers?
In the example above, everyone made money, except my customers. So, where did they get their money? Simple – they went to work for someone. The boss commanded Money to go to them. Everyone in this whole trail of transactions was on Money’s list. Everyone gave up their money in order to get what they wanted, and everyone got to keep a little money along the way.
That’s why you need to be on Money’s list right now, and every day of your life! You need to get busy creating something of value, so that as Money passes through your hands, he leaves a little bit extra behind. When you have enough little pieces of money stored up, you can use it to create more money by getting on another one of Money’s lists.
“Time” gets you on the list.
Take another look at the transaction trail above. The butcher, supplier, the customers, and I all gave up some of our time in order to qualify for our spot on Money’s list. The butcher met with ranchers, went to auctions, etc. The supplier cut the meat into steaks, stored it, etc. I had to buy the steaks, hire cooks, design the menu, etc. My customers worked in an office for forty hours per week while their boss managed her company.
Along the way, each of us gave up our time to add value to the transaction trail. That increased the value of the entire transaction trail. Time was the common element that got each of us on the list. We all owned our own time, and we used it to keep a little piece of the money that passed through our hands.
Time is money. Don’t add. Multiply!
When I interviewed Money, he told me a huge secret. “Bill,” Money said. “Most people are really busy all day long, thinking they are making more of me by working more hours each day. For every hour they work, they add a little bit of money into their paycheck. The problem is, there are only so many hours in the day, so they can only add so much of me, and no more. They need to multiply their money by putting me to work for them, instead of them working for me.”
I asked Money how people could do this, and he laughed while he said, “It’s simple. Use me to get on more lists, instead of using your time to get on those lists!”
You can invest time or money.
I want all my readers to carefully read these next few paragraphs because they come straight from Money himself. I learned it from him through my many hours of interviewing him. Okay, ready? Here we go…
People with money want your time. People with time want your money. Selling your time adds money. Investing your money multiplies both time and money!
Did you get that? If you sell your time by working, you only have so many hours in the day to trade. You can only be on a few lists. Maybe you are on your boss’ list, and you take a second job, and are on that boss’ list as well – and wham, you are out of time.
If you invest your Money, you can be on as many lists as you want because Money is working for you. Meanwhile, someone else (who didn’t have enough money) spends their time working on your behalf.
How about another week of money?
It’s going to be a long, cold winter here in South Jersey, so how about we spend at least one more week with Money? Stay tuned. Money left me with a few more secrets. In the meantime, shoot me an email at bill@quain.com with your comments. As I say each week, “I’ll see ‘ya in the papers!”
Bill is a Professor in Stockton University’s Hospitality Management Program. He is the author of 27 books, and a highly-respected speaker. Even though he is almost totally blind, Bill is a long-distance runner and runs the Ocean City Half Marathon each year. He lives in Ocean City with his wife Jeanne, and his Guide Dog Trudy. Visit www.billquain.com or email him at bill@quain.com.
