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WRAP #138: Why Make More Money?
Apologies for the unexpected skip last weekend, Reader! I should have expected it, since our baby girl is now here! She’s perfect and we’re so excited for our little girl to join the family. Mom and baby are both doing really well. No feeling like welcoming a new child into the world.
One of my favorite parts of having a new baby are the books I read and associate with each child. I read The Martian and Ready Player One when my oldest was born. Brandon Sanderson's Stormlight Archive books were a big part of the next two boys, along with Letting Go, Company of One, and Awareness. This time I'm re-reading The Brothers K, more about that in the reading section.
Before we get started, I want to say thanks to Pitch DB as the sponsor of this newsletter. If you're a topical expert or content creator, Pitch DB is your key to unlocking exclusive paid speaking opportunities, podcast features, and outstanding press coverage.
I'm using Pitch DB to start finding and booking events to speak at this fall, and find more podcasts to promote HeyCreator and FatherFire. Learn more about Pitch DB at the end of this newsletter, but now let's get to the big idea 💡
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💡 The Big Idea
Why More Money?
📖 Book to Read
The Brothers K
👀 A Video to Watch
The Death of the Follower
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💡 The Big Idea
Why more money?
I wanted to share a personal breakthrough I've had the past few weeks about money and wealth. For the longest time, I was stuck in the mindset of just wanting to "get rich." It was all about the numbers and the status, without much meaning or purpose. But then, I shifted my perspective and started thinking about WHY I wanted to make more money. This change made all the difference.
For my family, our WHYs around more money are clear:
🤱🏼 My wife can stay at home as long as she wants, giving our children a nurturing environment where one of us is (almost) always around.
🏠 We can have location freedom, living where we want and taking trips to beautiful places of the world.
💵 We can give even more generously to charity and our church, making a positive impact in our community.
🎨 We can invest in our kids' interests, giving them time and resources to pursue their passions and talents.
🚐 We can drive nice, safe, and reliable cars, ensuring our family's safety on the road and minimizing repairs.
💆🏻♂️ We can enjoy worry-free vacations, creating memories without the financial stress and thinking about every dollar being spent.
Of course, there are the usual goals like investments, retirement, and education. But understanding these deeper reasons helped me overcome my limiting beliefs about money. Now, I'm more motivated than ever to pursue personal (then generational) wealth because I know exactly why it matters to us and what we’ll do with it.
So, what are your reasons for wanting to make more money? Think about your WHYs, and let them drive you towards your goals.
Note: if you're a dad looking for encouragement and motivation around money and family — you should hang out with us in Father Fire. Reply for an invite or click the link to learn more.
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📰 Book to Read
The Brothers K
I'm reading The Brothers K again, first read was over 10 years ago. It's a generational family story centered around the 1950s-1970s, the Vietnam War, baseball, fundamentalist faith, and much more. It's a unique writing style, mostly narrated by the youngest of 4 brothers as he grows from 10 years old to adulthood, observing his family and the world along the way.
It's a laugh out loud book at times, terribly sad at others. My favorite stretch of the book is when a Father-Son outing goes terribly wrong, it's rock bottom for the Dad. His lifelong dream of playing baseball has disintegrated in an accident. The following year of him finding tiny bits of purpose, reconnecting with his kids, and getting sober is incredible. Here are a couple of passages:
Dad’s just like me! I think, amazed despite the pain. He’s just a grownup boy, stuck in a body, stuck in a life. And his life isn’t working. It’s not working at all. And he’s got no father, his mother can’t understand, he’s got no one to help him fix it. Feeling this, knowing it, I turn and try to hold my father, as he’s so often held me. He makes a small rasping sound when my arms slide round him, then wraps me up, very gently, and holds me back. He says nothing more, but I feel his broken breath, his broken love, his fear and heartbeat.
On Sunday morning, Papa donned his old White Sox training sweats and a pair of six-dollar running shoes, and did sixteen quarter-mile laps as fast as he could run, walk, or stagger them. When he got back home he was blotchy-faced, gray-skinned, and smelled close to dead. The first thing he did upon limping into the kitchen was grab his Lucky Strikes down off the top of the refrigerator. Instead of lighting one, he grabbed the carton and hissed, “You did this to me!,” ripped open every pack, shredded every last one, then flushed it down the toilet. From that day forward he ran four miles every day after work, and didn’t smoke another cigarette.
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Everything you need to get booked for speaking gigs, podcasts, and more
When I started as a content creator 8 years ago, finding events, conferences, podcasts, and media outlets to work with was a HUGE pain.
It was all through personal outreach, cold emails, tons of research, all for little benefit — especially compared to the time I was spending on it.
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👀 A Video to Watch
The Death of the Follower
Jack Conte gave a talk at SXSW about the "death of the follower" — the non clickbait description is that communities and connection are the new standard. But it's also the biggest opportunity for creators in the past 10 years (maybe ever).
Instead of chasing follows, build communities. It's something I'm focusing all of my energy on through HeyCreator and Father Fire. I'd love for you to join either one!
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The WRAP is (ALSO) sponsored by
Mighty Networks
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You've heard me talk about Mighty Networks on my YouTube videos the last few months — it's the community platform I've been running Father Fire on and I really like it. I talk about why I love it at this part of my most recent video.
It has all the features you would expect from a community platform, like spaces for posts, chats, and the ability to go live. Mighty also is using AI to help you better understand what your community needs and talks about the most, then develops questions to keep the conversation going!
If you're a person building community with others over a common vision or goal (like being a great dad) — then check out Mighty Networks and see what they can do to support your mission.
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