This is going to sound like a scam.

This is also my first time writing about this topic.

That said, I’m going to apologize in advance if any of the words are clumsy.

For context, here’s my favorite benefit of minimalism.

The practice of paring down to the essentials gives me the ability to minimize my future income requirement and maximize the potential joy that I get from my existing resources.

When I was 19, I had the opportunity to attend a seminar for financial planners.

The instructor talked about saving 10 or 20 percent of your income and how it makes your life a lot better when you get older.

They also talk about how almost nobody does it.

There’s a statistic about how 95% of people mismanage money.

The numbers from the 1960s to the numbers today haven’t changed.

At 25, I found myself with not a lot of savings.

I don’t have any investments to brag about.

I struggled to keep the money.

Pay yourself first, several famous financial books taught.

But I couldn’t put those words into practice.

I gave up on saving and began working on increasing my income.

I also attempted to learn entrepreneurship, and I got caught in bad business deals and got stuck trying to implement my complex business ideas.

I got nowhere until my 30’s.

I figured out that investing in books can, directly and indirectly, influence my finances.

I can buy a ₱500 cookbook and save 5k a month by preparing my daily meals.

Alternatively, I can buy extra ingredients, bring a couple of extra lunch boxes, and earn an extra 4k a month selling to my coworkers.

I bought over 5k worth of books on selling a few years back, so that’s also a consideration.

In 2016, I worked part-time for an upscale fitness center.

We were selling fancy bottles of water for ₱25.

Since I was part of the staff, I got to buy the water for ₱20.

A few days ago, I went home from an errand with a couple of bottles of the exact same brand of water, and I remember the experience working for that gym.

I log the sales.

I put the money in the cash box.

I record the total in the record book.

I also recall how, for two years, I often found myself spending ₱700 a week on JUST BOTTLED WATER.

I work from home now, and I rarely leave the house.

I pulled up a spreadsheet.

If I sold myself the water for 20 a bottle and drank five or more bottles a day, that’s a hundred pesos a day, three thousand a month, and thirty-six thousand a year.

That’s enough to pay for my insurance premium.

I also sold eggs and doubled my money while working in the call center.

If I bought two eggs a day at ₱15 each, that’s 11k a year.

I had my spreadsheet doing the math for five years, ten years, and twenty years.

I’m happy with the numbers that I see.

I also feel relieved that I no longer need to do anything dramatic to achieve my financial goals.

Start a business and sell to one customer.

That one customer is me.

I look around the house to see what I now own that I previously rented.

I own a washing machine and spent ₱500 a month renting at a nearby laundry shop.

I pulled out an index card and wrote the words “laundry shop ₱60 per wash” at the top.

I own a computer now and previously spent ₱50 a day.

Now I can begin renting “my computer.”

I have exercise equipment, and I can pay “my gym” ₱80 a day for using the equipment.

I can cook myself lunch and pay “my food business” ₱100 for lunch.

I can start as many businesses as I want and practice with just one customer.

If the business fails, it dies, and the business goes to the “competition,” just like it does in real life anyway.

If I enjoy running a specific business, then I’ll add one more customer and double my income from that specific business.

I’ll also learn the ins and outs of running the business with as little risk and investment needed.

If I do it for a year:

  • Water business ₱36,000.
  • Gym ₱30,000.
  • Laundry ₱6,000.
  • Eggs ₱11,000.
  • Lunch ₱ 18,000.
  • Computer ₱18,000.

These fake businesses get me 120,000 a year.

As you may have noticed, some businesses do better than others.

Are you able to set aside ₱120k a year?

If not, maybe you should start a fake business.


Thank you for reading.

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