Kevin W. McCarthy

The Professor of On-Purpose

money

Is More Money Your Answer?

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Ask most business people what they need and the likely answer is “more money!” That’s like asking a football coach what he needs: “More points to win the games.” The real issue is What does it take to produce the points or the money?

Money (or points) is a self-deceiving answer or an easy target to articulate.

While Stephen Covey’s Habit #2 is “Begin with the end in mind,” it is as promoted just a beginning to the end. When we only have the “end in mind,” shortcuts are probably even ethical compromises.

The “Management by Objectives” movement has suffered many of these challenges. While never the intention of its creators, it became a rationale for sloppy management and the abdication of leadership and strategy.

Having worked as and with business owners for five decades (I started very early), I can tell you that money may be the obvious answer, but it is rarely the right answer.

Money is a specific commodity with well-defined functions, mostly as a measure.

Oddly, the lack of money in business may be more valuable than the money itself. It forces us to get real, to be creative, and to assess what’s working and what isn’t working. In the end, we’re apt to become better prepared and more capable of adding higher value and better services at a lower cost. Ergo, we make more money.

Being in business provokes us and pushes our buttons emotionally.

I’m not saying go out there and look to take stupid hits. On the contrary—avoid them, but some number of hits are inevitable. Rather than letting them take you down, let them build you up by learning, growing, and maturing.

In this On-Purpose Business Minute, I’m sharing with you the three most common attributes that attract money to businesses: law, order, and opportunity. If you’re a business owner or entrepreneur, this is a must see Minute.

Need some help with your business? On-Purpose Business Advisors has worked with start-ups and entrepreneurs to Fortune 100 CEOs. Email me to learn more.

 

Resource

Invest 9 minutes to learn about The On-Purpose Business Plan. This maps out the essential infrastructure to create sustainable growth and profitability.

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What Is Money Worth to You?

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What is money worth?

After watching and reading this On-Purpose Minute, I invite you to comment below.

Money, life, and work are interwoven life themes. Your money perspective paints your financial outlook. Here’s a preview:

Money matters!

There isn’t a day in your adult life when you’re not handling money.

Consider all we do with money:

  • exchanging money for time
  • making money on the job
  • spending money for groceries, goods, and services
  • doing money makeovers
  • investing money
  • counting money
  • worrying over money
  • saving money
  • wasting money

There are nefarious aspects of money such as counterfeiting money, stealing money, embezzling money, and “following the money.” The list could go on.

Money is everywhere. Money moves and measures the economy.

Money is our storehouse of value. Money is in our pockets and purses. Money rests on our dressers, in our drawers, and under our mattresses. When we’re short of money and long in the month, we’re worried.

Money can be the currency of a relationship, as in a couple fighting over money, investing for retirement, or saving for a home down payment. Money opens doors to social standing and status. There are people with old money and new money. Money can define a parent–teen relationship. There’s mad money. And then there’s money madness.

Money has meaning but it isn’t the source of meaning and worth.

It can be a source of security, income, worry, emotional stability or instability, the driver of our decisions, and generous giving.

Artists and theologians weigh in with gold nuggets of money advice:

1 Timothy 6:10 informs,

“For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.”

Did you catch that last phrase, “and pierced themselves with many griefs”? Talk about self-inflicted problems! Money is the result of service, provided there is a mechanism in place for a fair exchange of value.

Pink Floyd’s Money lyrics (first stanza below) from their album Dark Side of the Moon reflects the dilemma with the almighty dollar:

Pink Floyd Dark Side of The Moon album cover
Click the cover to order from amazon.

Money, get away
Get a good job with more pay and you’re O.K.
Money it’s a gas
Grab that cash with both hands and make a stash
New car, caviar, four star daydream,
Think I’ll buy me a football team
Money get back
I’m all right Jack keep your hands off my stack.
Money it’s a hit
Don’t give me that do goody good bullshit
I’m in the hi-fidelity first class traveling set
And I think I need a Lear jet
Money it’s a crime
Share it fairly but don’t take a slice of my pie
Money so they say
Is the root of all evil today
But if you ask for a rise it’s no surprise that they’re
giving none away

In a prior On-Purpose Minute titled, “How’s Your Trust Account?” I invite viewers to consider where their trust is located … really.

Previously, I asked you to consider what you would do differently with $100,000 in your pocket.

Money will become whatever you choose it to become.

Will you become a slave to it or will you be the master of it? Come to terms with your attitude toward money. Money can be a source of great confusion and consternation. It can also be a source for provision and blessing.

Money can help you be on-purpose! Every time you use it, ask yourself, “Am I spending or am I investing this money?” Then consider if you are spending time or investing your time.

Ask yourself this simple question: What is money to me? Now you’re invited to chip in below with your comment to the question: What is money?

Let me hear from you!

Be On-Purpose!
Kevin

P.S. Perhaps you remember this “Show me the money!” scene from the movie Jerry Maguire.

Is Money Mastering Your Life?

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What is the relationship of purpose and money? Here’s the crux of many a modern-day challenge of money mastering our lives and dominating our thoughts. Is it practical and affordable to be on-purpose? How do we bridge the gap between what our heart wants and paying our bills? Keep reading!

The text and the video of this On-Purpose Minute provide important insights and strategic direction to create a healthy co-existing relationship with purpose and money. 

The Material World of Money

The chorus in Madonna’s 1985 hit single Material Girl is:Cover of "Material Girl"

Living in a material world
And I am a material girl
You know that we are living in a material world
And I am a material girl 

If your worldview is one of a material world, then money is its highest status symbol. Money becomes “what makes the world go around” because it occupies the center of one’s life, attention, and efforts.

Does money define purpose? Purpose is a currency all its own so it doesn’t need money to define it. It would be like thinking that only the rich are on-purpose. Money is a unit of measure, but not a measure of how on-purpose a person is or isn’t.

Purpose lives in your heart; whereas money jealously aspires to rule the house of your heart. Matthew 6:21 says, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

We have a choice which to treasure: money or purpose. Even of the best intended of us, far too few have taken a break from the material world and invested our time to discover our purpose in life. Our heart therefore remains relatively empty and undefended from within. We’ve shoved our purpose into a hall closet expecting to pull it out someday when we have more time and money to pay attention to it. 

Money, therefore, has an easy job of filling the vacuum of our spirit. Dropping our guard and inviting money to preoccupy our hearts places us at risk of never having the rightful resident abide within us.

Purpose and money are, however, related because if our heart or purpose remains ill-defined, money and purpose are competitors vying for the same space. Purpose politely awaits for our invitation to enter, whereas money will break and enter. Living life divided tears us apart with busyness and distraction as we jump from one pursuit to another in constant, yet ineffective attempts to calm our guilt as we deny and violate our true selves yet again.

Who wins the battle of the material and the spiritual? The answer is simple: the one we most give provision and comfort to within our being. Settling the matter is deciding once and for all which treasure lives in our heart.

I’m, of course, advocating for establishing your purpose as the sole resident of your soul. Money is a harsh and ill-prepared master of the home. It is intended to be a highly obedient servant of the master.

But how does one reclaim one’s heart? Taming money’s lust for control means gaining greater mastery of your life by answering essential questions:

  • Do I know what truly matters?
  • Do I know my 2-word personal purpose statement?
  • Am I willing to do the work to create the life I want?
  • Am I prepared to put money in its place?

Here’s a simple and fun exercise. How would you live your life differently if you had unimagined wealth? In this On-Purpose Minute, we’ve explored money’s unhealthy and overly aggressive elbowing of its “claim” on your heart, mind, actions, and decisions. Turn the tables by taking money off the table for a moment and imagining your life lived abundantly.

For what you may not realize is that you’ve already won the lottery! Imagine the price tag Apple would place on selling an iYou! The computing power, the eyesight, the touch pads of your fingertips and body, plus the mobility are priceless. Now add a heart and spirit! $30 million doesn’t come close to estimating your value and worth.

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How to Make Money?

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Regardless of whether you have a job or own a business, today’s On-Purpose Business Minute invites you to explore three aspects of what it takes to make money and make even more money. 

Make Money TreeDo you have the mindset, the multiplier and the mechanism in place to make money?

For most people, how much money they want to make isn’t the challenge … it is making that amount of money that presents the real issue. So let’s revisit this classic On-Purpose Business Minute and explore some simple elements to making money.

Study the people who made or make big money — Sam Walton, Warren Buffet, Donald Trump, Bill Gates, Stephen Jobs, or whomever comes to mind — and you’ll find the three essential M’s are present and to the creation of their wealth in a socially responsible manner and in a way that is meaningful to each person.

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Do you have a favorite quote about money and wealth? Share it in the comments section. Here are some that I found valuable.

Abundance consists not alone in material possessions, but in an uncovetous spirit.

                Charles M. Sheldon

 

Those who condemn wealth are those who have none and see no chance of getting any.

                William Penn Patrick

 

That some should be rich, shows that others may become rich; and is hence just encouragement to industry and enterprise.

                Abraham Lincoln

 

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On-Purpose® Radio Interview

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Listen for free to a 23 minute radio interview (MP3) with Kevin W. McCarthy by James Burkhardt on radio station WORL in Orlando.  James asks great questions regarding business matters for small and medium sized companies.  Join James and Kevin on Focus Orlando Radio Show as they talk about marketing, people, financing, target audiences, and business growth.  Learn how to do business on-purpose.

Recorded on May 10, 2008