12. Future uncertainty and financial security

4. Future Uncertainty and Financial Security

The best way to take care of your future is by taking care of today. If I explore my anxieties and fears about the future, they reflect that I'm not valuing the opportunity of being alive right now. These anxieties are little alarm bells that try to help me gain clarity and focus.

Imagine driving across the country with the intention of visiting a specific location where you anticipate a joyful experience. Now, imagine that you don't have a map or any road signs to guide you. Imagine there is no plan whatsoever. You might as well be blindfolded. Do you think you'll experience some anxiety and insecurity as you start driving?

On your journey into the future, if you would like to go somewhere or build something, you have to have some clarity about where you would like to go or what you would like to build. Then, you will need proper maps, guidance, and tools to get there. Having those things is not enough, but they are a required part of the equation. To complete the equation, you have to use those tools and resources as you travel or build.

It's perfectly fine to not drive anywhere and not build anything. That is your freedom. However, if we talked one-on-one, I doubt you could convince me that this is what you truly desire for your life experience. We are creative human beings on an exploration, an adventure, and within us is a compulsion to grow, explore, and build.

Growth is happening whether you realize it or not. The more you realize that it's happening, and that it's unavoidable, the more you can consciously participate in the process and accelerate that growth. To do so, of course, requires clarity and focus - the proper map, guidance, tools... and the devotional decision to honor yourself and life.

Embrace Uncertainty as a Possibility

If I am not actively engaged in a playful vision for my life, then the future looks bleak and painfully uncertain. If I have a playful vision for my life, one that honors the sincerity of what I value and also creates a playful challenge, then the future uncertainty is a landscape of potential and possibilities. My playful vision essentially says, "I'd like to experience this or something better."

My vision does not place a demand on the future, for this would be trying to conquer uncertainty. My vision simply acknowledges real and practical possibilities within the unavoidable reality of future uncertainty.

I can either reject uncertainty or embrace uncertainty, but there is no erasing uncertainty. Everything beyond the present moment, beyond right now, is inherently uncertain. If I reject uncertainty, if I think I'm a victim of uncertainty, then I'll hide from uncertainty - which is also hiding myself from the possibilities contained within uncertainty. To embrace uncertainty, to see that it's a blank canvas that invites me to paint, opens me up to so many possibilities to learn, grow, and play.

RISK FAILURE

Oh, the thrill of taking a risk, as you step up to the edge of what's comfortable and take a leap into the unknown. It's like jumping off a cliff into a huge ocean of opportunity. But wait, what's that feeling in your stomach? Fear? Doubt? The voice in your head says, "What if I fail? What if it doesn't work out?"

Yes, my dear friend, failure is a possibility, and there will definitely be some form of failure along the way. But let me ask you this: what's the alternative? Staying safe? Stagnation? Living a life in which you never truly explored and honored your potential?

To risk failure is to take a stand for what matters to you. It's saying, "This is important enough to me that I'm willing to take a chance on it." And even if you fall short of your goal or vision, you've gained something valuable: experience. You've learned what works and what doesn't, and that knowledge will inform your next attempt. This is growth, this is how it goes.

MITIGATE RISK

When it comes to mitigating risk and failure, it's important to approach it with a playful attitude.

First, make sure you have a clear and actionable vision. This is the map that will guide you on your journey. Along with the vision, you'll need the right tools and guidance to help you navigate the obstacles that come your way, and they will come. Of course, these obstacles are opportunities for learning and growth. We don't avoid them. Rather, we prepare ourselves properly for them.

Returning to the example of going on a road trip, you mitigate risk and failure by properly equipping yourself. This doesn't mean you avoid all possible risks, nor does it mean you remove all potential for failure; that, again, would only be trying to conquer the uncertainty.

Grow Your Future Value

As it relates to future financial security, for me, it's a question of... "How much value will I have to offer in the future?"

What I have recognized in my intentional growth journey over the past couple of decades is that the value I have to offer the world has grown exponentially. This growth in value is what I lean on today to quickly create income when needed because creating income has always been an exchange of value.

Unfortunately, most people have fallen into the trap of believing their ability to create income is given by some external authority. They assume that money is something they get from someone else, rather than seeing that money can be a mirror of their ability to deliver value to people's lives.

Here are three important areas of growth in today's world that help protect your future financial security.

1. Grow an audience that's interested in your interests

   Social media isn't going anywhere; it's here to stay. Social media provides us with the opportunity to connect and build relationships with people all around the world. What was once only a local opportunity to connect with others has become a global opportunity for the everyday person.

   Yes, it takes time, and sometimes it's fast, and other times it's slow. Either way, it's always worthwhile if done right. However, don't assume you need a million-person audience. At most, you only need 1,000 people who deeply enjoy the value you provide. If you do, making $60k to $100k per year can be quite easy; even making much more is possible. At a minimum, this could be done with a 300-person audience of people who deeply appreciate the value you provide.

   Can you provide $200 worth of meaningful value to 300 people per year? If so, you've got $60k. What if this value is mostly automated and requires a minimal amount of time? Then you now have $60k and a lot of time to do other things that create value.

   To make it easier, give $500 worth of value and sell it for $200; then, what you offer becomes much easier to sell.

   Growing an audience is as simple as consistently sharing real value. What value? Whatever you find valuable for yourself. If you're on an intentional growth journey, exploring what you find to be beautiful and worthwhile, there are countless people in the world who are interested in the same.

   The decision to grow an audience is infinitely more important than figuring out how to do it. The "how" will come as you grow in your learning. What's most important is that you see how important it is and how much value it's going to give you in both the short and long term.

2. Invest your time and resources in creating assets

   Creating assets that solve people's problems or support their transformations can be a great way to invest your time and resources for future financial security. The path of creating digital products or automated services that can generate income over time is similar to buying assets like real estate or businesses that pay you every month or year.

   The beauty of creating digital products or automated services is that they can continue to generate income long after the initial investment of time and resources has been made. For example, creating an online course or e-book that solves a particular problem can generate passive or regular income for years to come.

   The key to creating successful assets is to identify a problem or challenge that people are willing to pay to have solved or be supported and then create a solution that is valuable, unique, and easy to use. The easiest way to do this, as you build an audience, is to understand your audience and know more about their struggles. These problems and struggles will be recurring themes for new people who enter your audience pool.

   Investing your time and resources into creating assets that solve people's problems can be a great way to build future financial security. The rewards of these types of investments can continue to pay off for years to come, providing a reliable source of income and freeing up time and resources to pursue other passions and interests.

   As an example, you could spend 20 hours creating a $50 offering that helps someone understand a particular struggle and guides them through it. Then deliver this product through "hands-off" automation. At a minimum, sell this product four times per month, and over the next five years, you've made $12,000. That's being paid $600 per hour for taking the time to create that product. Or, double that in ten years, and that's $1,200 per hour.

   The point I'm making is the return on your time investment. You can spend your time exchanging your time for immediate payment at a much lower exchange, $20 or $50 an hour. Or, you can invest your time (delay payment and leverage value) for a much higher return in the future.

3. Skill-building in Communication, Marketing, and Sales

   Speaking from personal experience, the best investment I've made in my personal growth is improving my communication skills, understanding marketing, and deliberately getting better at sales.

   These are superpowers when it comes to being a heart-based solopreneur. There are so many shifts in perspectives that transform how you see yourself, others, and the world, helping you connect with others in a much more productive and deep way.

   Be fairly warned, however, that there is so much crap out there being taught that ultimately disconnects you from a heart-based way of going about it. Weirdly, it seems that the world is obsessed with trying to figure out how to manipulate other people, rather than learning how to genuinely and authentically connect with them.

   Don't be scared of this sea of poor education, though. It also serves the educational process that points you closer to what works for you. As you explore information about these topics, you're not looking for someone else to tell you what to do; you're simply exploring new perspectives that may or may not resonate.

   COMMUNICATION: How can you improve your communication skills? By communicating now with the intention of improving them. Don't wait until you feel confident - start now and improve over time. Dive into it, just like learning to play an instrument. Make incremental improvements and while the initial progress may seem exciting, you may later realize it wasn't that impressive. Essentially, there's always room for improvement - you never reach a point where you're "ready.”

   MARKETING: Simply put, it is the discovery of practical and creative ways to get your message and invitation in front of more people. This requires effective communication skills and a willingness to explore new perspectives and possibilities, rather than relying on others to dictate what to do.

   SALES: First and foremost, let's move past any negative connotations associated with this word. Just because other people use a manipulative sales process doesn't mean you have to as well. There are beautiful and effective ways to engage in sales in a heart-based manner. Expand your understanding of why people purchase things, and then learn how to align your ability to communicate the value of what you offer.

From Surviving to Thriving

To go from surviving to thriving, in my opinion, we must include a vision for the future. Surviving is all about getting through the day, the week, or even the month. Thriving is being clear about who you are, where you are, and what is a worthwhile vision that is worthy of your heartfelt attention. Additionally, to thrive, we must be willing to adapt and change according to the twists and turns that show up along the way. You can't thrive if you're clinging to a particular outcome that says, "It must end up this or that way."

Thriving is a playful flow, a full-on engagement with life and being human; an adventure where the real prize is the growth you experience along the way.

Something to consider: Am I spending my days merely trying to get through the week or month? Or am I spending my days building an epic foundation for a life in which I can thrive?

Make a decision and then go; just go, and keep going.