Do You Actually Have to Spend Money to Make Money? Maybe You Don’t.

This screenshot is from my online banking application for Elev8 Wellness’ first business account. I opened that account with $100 on Thursday, December 28, 2012. I left my prior employer on Thursday, January 10, 2013, and I began accepting retainer payments for Elev8 Wellness the following day, Friday, January 11. In the course of five days I made $37,992.68, receiving four paid-in-full agreements in one day (January 14, totaling 26.6k), and then began shifting solely to month-to-month agreements immediately afterward to ensure my steady “salary” for the next 11.5 years (and still going).


I hadn’t spent anything on that business other than my LLC’s registration with the state of Minnesota and professional liability insurance in December 2012. I hadn’t yet paid commercial rent, technically not even having a sole dedicated business space until the February afterward. I hadn’t bought any equipment. I didn’t have social media or a website. I didn’t have a business card. I was not even thinking about advertising or marketing. Literally, I simply sat down with people in person, presented value, and asked for their support.


“You have to spend money to make money” may be a lie - a lie which Forbes tackled that same season: https://www.forbes.com/sites/actiontrumpseverything/2013/02/09/you-have-to-spend-money-to-make-money-and-other-lies-people-tell-entrepreneurs/


What you definitely have to do is you have to make a lot of money in order to be worthy to spend even a tiny amount. You have to be valuable. You have to know how to communicate. You have to be incredibly honest with yourself and others, but bold, and painfully humble, knowing your responsibilities do not just evaporate when you have a goal or a dream. Then you get the privilege to spend money. Long after, you GET to spend money. To continue making money or to scale up, yes, of course, you will spend.


In the eleven-and-a-half years since, my costs have risen DRAMATICALLY. Under private health insurance in 2015, our total health costs for my family were a hundred thousand dollars. Monthly business space costs are 5k minimum. Costs are a privilege and an opportunity. I received that opportunity as a consequence of my incredible sacrifices and willingness to go without for myself for a very long time. To this day, I still get paid last. Uncle Sam. Kids. Family. Biz. Investments. Then, long after, I get to eat, get to rest, get new clothes, get to visit friends and family. And oftentimes, coming last in the equation, I don’t get to rest or visit friends and family. But never, ever, ever, did I FIRST spend money in order to make it.

I have started and run several businesses of consequence. I have managed big teams. I have worked for myself exclusively for nearly twelve years, and on other businesses for over thirty. I do it to the tune of being able to support my family, my community, and a lot of causes. You don't have to spend money to make it, not initially. It can save you time on learning curves. It can save you on time with skilled labor. Money can save you a lot of time when you hire mentors and teachers. But you don't HAVE TO spend it. That's errant. It's a tool like any other, which users may distribute in place of other effort. All the same, you'll still have to figure out how to generate and present value, how to be honest, how to communicate. Money can't buy any of those.