Transcription
Double espresso with me, and in this episode, we're talking about making money online, and especially the first €10,000. It's the most frequently asked question, probably not just by me. Everyone who talks about finances always wants to know how to make money, how to make quick money, what's the right business model, what can I do, what is a money glitch? Yes, so little time and somehow exploiting a loophole and so on. If you have that in mind, switch off. This episode is not for you. This episode is about fundamentals, essentials. It's five things. No lie, I've been self-employed for over 10 years, no matter how successful a company or a project was, or whatever, I always come back to this. I'm not saying this as a teacher or anything, and I'm sure one or the other will be disappointed, and if they go through with it, you might come back in a few months or years and say, that guy was right after all. I'm curious. And to all of you who are perhaps successful entrepreneurs yourselves, write in the comments, is that true or not? So, I'm not sitting here saying I have the truth or anything. This is my experience. Number 1: Cut out luxury. Cutting out luxury sounds strange coming from a guy sitting in a cool office. Clothes also cost €2-3. You'll understand in a moment. And that is, in the beginning, when you don't have "no money" in quotes, haven't earned any money, it's also not important, I want to say that in advance, earning money should never be the goal if you want to build your life on it someday. It's even smart not to scale immediately, for example, and say, oh, now we've made €100,000 in revenue, let's make a million. But rather to ensure that the foundation is laid and then to grow organically and naturally. But that's also a topic for another episode. Cut out luxury in the beginning, no restaurant visits, no online shopping, no coffee to go. And I know here too, one or the other won't believe me. I've earned a million in my life before I earned a million, not a million in the bank, but a total of a million earned, I didn't do any of that. And I swear, until then, I lived in a one-and-a-half-room apartment in Oldenburg. Many people from before know that too. In the apartment, there were two desks. It's like an IKEA bed, a black one, and three flip charts, whiteboards. That's it. I didn't have time. It's not that I sat there back then and was like, "Ah yes, I'll follow these five steps now." No, that would be bullshit. I didn't have time at all because I was working. I was somehow in a tunnel, when was I supposed to go out and get a coffee or something? I wanted to make calls and do something. Therefore, start with a subscription audit. Cancel everything. Netflix, Disney, everything that's there. Cancel Tinder, cancel Bumble, Yahoo, and all Yahoo, I say everything it's called. Okay, really cancel them rigorously. Wait 14, better 30 days for those things where you say, wow, I miss them, I need them. Subscribe to them again, the rest stays canceled because you won't even think about them anymore. In my opinion, that's the simplest trick. You cancel everything and build up anew, so to speak. Why not? Then calculating also belongs to this step. Be minimalistic, what are your fixed costs? Fixed costs don't mean going to the cinema twice a week or something, but rent, food, I don't know what else you have. Maintenance, leasing, I don't know. Calculate it. And now you don't need another account for that or your savings account or anything, but create a visual sub-account. At the Sparkasse, you can do that, it has the same IBAN, you can just transfer money into it, or you know what I mean. It's just for you. No one else needs to see it. It doesn't necessarily have to be a daily savings account either. It's just for you. As soon as the money comes in, leave the fixed costs in there, they will be debited, and the rest goes there. Why? Because every time you want to go to the cinema, to a restaurant, or whatever, you'll think about it one more time. It's just the second thought, or perhaps your subconscious that comes and says, do you need that? Do I need that right now? So. And that's enough. If you answer yes, go and get it. But if you answer no, you save the money. That's the point. It's like going shopping. I have my groceries delivered here in Munich. It doesn't even cost extra if you choose a time slot that's the most sustainable or something, or 80 cents or whatever. And I have fixed lists. So, I don't know, a large one, a small one, and another list. And then I always press repeat and briefly consider if I feel like something, like M&Ms, for example. Yes, there's a guy sitting here who could also skip the M&Ms, it would do him good, right? 5-6 kg less, a lot of ribs, but sometimes I say I feel like M&Ms and then I get them. But if I do, and that's the point, then they arrive and I eat them immediately. If I go to a store, preferably every day, then I walk through and say, "Wow, Prinzenrolle, Kinder, Maxi King are back." Then I stand at the checkout a bit longer. Three Rochers, I'll take three of those too. So, it's just this spontaneity. And if you make a conscious decision, everything is fine. So, and that's already step number 1. Number 2 sounds banal again, but use your time really meaningfully and be careful. I don't mean hustle culture, I don't mean work 24/7, but make a decision. Look, you know those days when you intend to be productive. You might even have a few to-dos written down or whatever. Then you sit down, start with something, then someone writes to you, I don't know, a girl you find quite attractive, you take your phone, quickly text her back, put it away again. So. Ah, I want to continue. You write a bit more, you feel a tingle inside. You might not have put on "Do Not Disturb," you look again, say yes, she wants to meet tonight. I actually wanted to finish this and that tonight. Yes, I don't know. You write and so on, put the phone away again, work further. Your mind is racing, or am I missing an opportunity? Bullshit. Look, you're not having fun because you could just take the time to text her, go out with her tonight. That's fun. So, that's relaxation. You say it was a cool day. Or you don't text back and finish your things. And both are okay. But what's very uncool is when you try to do both. So, both are okay in the sense that if you decide for one, but both at the same time, that can't be anything. You're neither productive nor chilling. You always have 50% of the result, even with relaxation. That's weird. So, I catch myself doing it again and again. That's why I say these are things I reflect on. I sit here at 11 PM, I don't know, come home from the gym, rather around midnight, and think, I'll sit down at the computer and continue writing the script. Then I start a bit, I don't know, the first line, the second line, meanwhile, I might stream an NBA game, and then at some point my consciousness comes into play. Hey, Tom, don't fool yourself. Go to bed, watch the game, or go to the couch, watch the game, or write the damn script now. And that's simply the point. Use your time, no matter for what, but always 100%. So. Um, yes, simple as that. So, also to all of you who are now saying, but Torben, I don't have time for either. Okay, then please really track, take a sheet of paper, 30, 60-minute blocks, and really see if you're productive or not. So, everyone has an hour, yes, if they can take it. So, it's always like this, you always have to add a "for." I don't have time. It's always "I don't have time for that," because "I don't have time at all" doesn't make sense. You know what I mean. Therefore, be honest with yourself. Reality check, and if it turns out in the end that you have 2 hours for your self-employment, that's cool. Okay, you thought you had four, you only have two. So what? Yes, or you actually have four, but you only use two. Yes, great. Then use two and chill two. You're more rested the next day. It's just this insight of, yes, this is how much I have and this is how much I can use, and I'm not lying to myself. Then the "Do Not Disturb" mode, pop-ups, and so on. Hey, it can't be that 226 people, why? I'll be completely honest, I always have "Do Not Disturb" on. So, completely. There are certain people who are sometimes excluded, and others are always excluded. My mom, my mom can always write to me, she can always call me. There are one or two friends and business partners who are sometimes in "Do Not Disturb" because their message is important for what I'm doing. Everyone else adheres to my agenda. Why should I dance to their tune? Because someone tells me, "Hey, I need this really quickly." Chill. Yes, if we haven't agreed on it, then you can't expect me to need it now. So, that's my opinion on that. So, I don't let others dictate to me when I reply. But he doesn't reply for so long. He even posted an Instagram story just now. So what? I check my WhatsApp when I feel like it. So, the keyword is flow. I've probably done one or two episodes on that too. I'm sitting here, I'm in my tunnel, I want to finish in a flow state, three, four times more effective than not in a flow state. No one gets me out of it, except for people who might need my help right now or where something is important or whatever, but no one else who has an agenda because they want to go home now, causes me to leave this flow state. So, I don't know. Or do you see it completely differently? Because the example with a woman is of course always simple, or if you hear this as a woman with a guy you like or whatever, but I'd rather finish first, faster, and more efficiently, and then have real time for the person, instead of some in-between, anyway, a good productivity tip, I'll throw one in for you. It's something like task batching, so bundle your tasks. Why do you check your email inbox every few minutes or get these pop-ups? Oh, a new email. Ah, then I'll reply immediately. So, which email requires a response within the next 10 minutes? Probably hardly any. Yes, unless that's already your active business. I check my emails once a day, I check my WhatsApp, my private WhatsApp, tend to check it three times a day. Of course, sometimes someone writes who is in "Do Not Disturb," then I see some other chats. But I actually try to restrain myself from clicking on them. So, maybe I'm the absolute monk, but that's how it is. And then it comes, ah, why do you always write in the middle of the night? Yes, because I have time now and I'm done with my things. So, there's no other reason than that it's also on my agenda, right? Or writing scripts, I don't manage that either, but the best thing might be to script two podcast episodes in a row and then record two in a row. So, these things. Step three, focus, it also fits very well with this, always on one thing. One product, one person in a relationship, one product, one target group, one channel, one customer, one skill. It is, if we think about self-employment now, then people are usually too fancy and artistic. I have a rule: if your service is a "nice to have," if you have to explain it, then it's not good. A service, especially in the beginning, is great if it's already needed by everyone. Free, so, because otherwise you go, that was the case when we started with TPA and also with branding, I always had to explain branding. Everyone knew social media, but not branding. But branding also includes logos and stuff. I say, no, branding is more than just logos. A website? No, we don't build websites at all. Branding is, and then I start explaining. And of course, there are people who listen and say, "Hey, this guy is right." But that's too complicated, especially for the beginning. Have a service that people want. Make it simple, not fancy. Yes. Uh. Should my offer statement, I don't know, you sell, you sell shoes. Yes. Should my offer statement perhaps be more like: "I ensure that your feet get the most individual insoles or the most individual treads, I don't know." But write, you're a shoe store, so, you make reels for clients, you're a creative, administrative AI effective agency. No, you're a reel agency. So, you know, I, I edit and I don't know, hypnotize videos, you cut them. So simple, the simpler the better. If I know what it is, then I have a chance to buy it. If I don't know, you don't stand in a store and it says beef fillet, it doesn't say, I don't know, in some magic language or some creative language or something. Yes, then you think, wow, I don't know, I'd rather leave it. In the end, it's dog meat or something. Free preliminary work to get to the best, offer it for testimonials, just test it. You have a prototype, you're just starting out. So, now come two additional tips within this step, and that is to use AI from the beginning, but not like most people, meaning I have a service and I try to do the entire service with AI. Nope, you don't do that. Then the AI server goes down. The AI has an update, your service is gone, and above all, that's actually the much worse thing, anyone can do that. Then you explain at some point, or someone from your clients finds out how it works and says, "Well, I'll do it myself now, right?" Therefore, you choose the skill, for example, I don't know, lead generation, whatever, sales, and see how you use tools, AI tools, Gemini, Claud, automation software, to learn your skill better, to refine it, to keep it up to date. Don't think about AI in terms of how can I replace my work, but how can I use AI as if I had one or two employees? That's the thought you should have. Tip 2: Start your personal brand in parallel. Not 90% content, document the journey. No, 10%. Then 20%, and then you'll stay at 80/20 for a long time. So, 80% is your business, your service, 20% social media, because you don't want to become an influencer. So, I sometimes have the feeling, I've mentioned it more often in recent episodes, or I think twice I said, like, collaboration with us, right? So, we build, I also build personal brands, I help people build their reach on social media. We is an agency that I founded with my best friend in 2017, and from a one-man show, from my, I don't know, from my love for social media and his at the time, he eventually stopped with social media, so posting himself and so on, this agency became, and then people also signed up, with whom we've already spoken, and so this, it quickly comes to this, okay, but how can I make viral videos for this service, we don't call it anything? I say, viral videos. What do you mean? Yes, you get sometimes 100,000 clicks with your videos or a million with short videos, or even somehow 50. How does that work for me? I say, yes, well, that has nothing to do with your service, but you can take two chemicals and mix them together, and if it explodes violently, then that's 2 million views. And then the person looks at me and says, yes, okay, but I say, exactly, but my question is, what good are viral videos to you? So, you just said that you want it. So, viral videos or going viral. You don't want to become an influencer, so just for that, and in parentheses, a social media agency, because it's proof of concept. But for everything else, why go viral? You want to reach the people who buy your product. So, put the ego aside and so on. Document your journey. Look at Anton from Glasomea. He does it great, right? But he sells, so his main cool thing, I haven't seen him doing placements yet or anything. That can also happen, but so far he sells Glasomer, or LG Sign, LGC Sign, or whatever his name is in China, the guy who imitates Trump and stuff like that. He really became a star with it, but he should never be your role model. Yes, make sure you reach customers. Jör Kinze, for example, right? Get the constructor, he was even there and said, I only want to reach these people, and that makes much more sense, especially for the beginning. Therefore, as I said, if you need help and so on, you can always get in touch. I also want to say at this point, because many people have actually signed up, even though the episode was never about it. Collaboration with us. I just want to put it out there, because, as I said, this is not something where you sign up and then I'll call you and say, "Yes, buddy, listen, I'll help you find your business idea. We don't do that anyway, and I'll tell you briefly what you should do on social media or something, that won't happen. So, please only sign up if you're interested in paid collaboration. I think, no lie, I haven't even checked myself, 200 people have signed up. We are a very, very small agency, and we do that for very select people. So, exactly, I just wanted to say that again, so that no one is disappointed or anything, but we don't have the capacity. We don't have, like, 20 setters sitting there. So, we are a small agency, we do it, we enjoy it. Long-term collaborations, which, by the way, don't last a month or so. So, after the motto, we'll help you with a viral video. We do 6 to 12 months at least, build the brand, €500 to €5k per month. As I said, I just wanted to mention it again, because I saw, hey, there are also many who are like, help me find a business idea? Nope, we do social media and branding. H, exactly. Now, by the way, because everyone always says it's actually empty. H, but that's the point. Yes, that means build social media with 10%, 20%. So, now step 4, and this is even for people who say, "Hey, things are going a bit." Never stop learning. Your grandparents probably told you too, you never stop learning. That's true. If you think you've understood a skill, start explaining it to people who have no idea about it. If they get it, congratulations, you've really understood the skill, but you have to constantly update it. So, always, always, you have to be in the field. You have to bookmark the pages where you get updates, go into the beta phases of the programs, and so on. You have to know the market, the international market leaders. Yes, I've done many episodes on that too, but please never have the feeling of, "I know how it works." Maybe now, but maybe not tomorrow. And there are people working on the construct of how it will work tomorrow or have recognized the trend. Do me a favor, no matter how well things are going, stay on the ball. It doesn't have to be as much research as at the beginning, when you're learning the skill from scratch, but it should still include the updates or this further development, and for that, I invest money to move forward. So, many people reach €10,000, €100,000, even a million, but then they stop, and that's due to four things, especially the last one, which is: stay small as long as possible. I might even write a book with that title someday. I say this constantly, but avoid this ego trap. Best example, if you're on YouTube and so on, it's when someone gets a bit of fame. I remember, I'm thinking of two or three names right now, being in a stream, getting a bit of fame. Suddenly they're like, "Hey, here I am." So, okay, um, do I need a trailer introduction video now and let me tell my story again briefly. Chill. So, fame can be transferred to money just as well. People freak out, say, dude, I don't know, my check is this big. Yes, car is upgraded, apartment is upgraded. Screw Torben and his shopping lists. I don't go to Penny Ali every day, I go to Rewe and I only buy things that are at the checkout. Come on, I know, life tempts with sweet fruits. Yes, believe me, and I don't necessarily mean the opposite sex, a woman or whatever, but I also constantly have invitations to events. Do you want to go there? To the opening, etc. Do I sometimes go? Yes, I go nine out of ten times, no. 100%. I don't go. Because if I only chilled at events now and said, ah, here with other YouTubers and so on, then no next video will come. And what do you think, how quickly fame or whatever is gone? What do you think, how quickly money is gone? Money is gone even faster than fame, I would say. And that's simply the point. Therefore, no matter how much success, chill. People who are really, really successful, you usually can't tell. And let me say this as a last point, I think it's good, maybe as a last point, when you earn the first money, no matter what the sum, it always depends on your background or how much you had before, then you want to show it off. That's just this ego. To a certain extent, that can be okay. For example, yes, I also started buying some clothes or something, but make sure you draw a line at some point and say, it's enough, that you don't try to find a status symbol with every paycheck, with every higher paycheck that expresses it, because this cycle, and I haven't gone through it myself, right? So, just so you know, but I know people who have. The cycle is, you're broke, you earn the first money, you want to splurge a bit, okay? You continue to earn good money, ideally. You think, yes, maybe I can buy a car or something. Okay. And now, this is the point where it decides. Either you drift from work to leisure. That's okay if you're done. Why not? You've made an exit, live your life. But truly rich, successful people, they eventually realize, ah, this doesn't bring me anything. Then they continue, and then you see it less and less. Exactly. And that's the point why billionaires or so, they even withdraw these status symbols. Why? Because it's a flex. They don't want to be seen like people with the all-over prints. They're beyond that. That's the next level, so to speak. So, level 1 is, you have nothing. Level 2 is, you have something and you want to show it. Level 3 decides, do you want to show what you perhaps don't even have? So, do you drift away or do you drive back and say, ah, wait a minute, it's a bit uncomfortable. That's me. So, I'm at this level because I realize when I look back, hey Tom, what did you do there? What did you look like? Hey, here, with, I also bought Philipp Plein and that kind of shit. I look at the pictures, it wasn't that long ago. So, 6, 7 years, and a bit of goosebumps, self-embarrassment. I was like, dude, did I need that so badly, and for whom, actually? So, somehow ordered something from Farfetch, did I ever wear it? And that's it. So, these are the fundamentals. I know everyone will say it's simple, write your opinion in the comments. I stand by it. These are the most important things needed to truly achieve not just the first ten, but the ones after that, and then the 20, 30, 100 or more. In that sense, I hope you enjoyed this. We'll hear and see each other next time. Stick with it. I wish you all great success. No luck, you don't need it. Five things.