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Excerpt
How did you start your financial journey?
Jayson: Like most entrepreneurs, I started very excited and you know, a lot of upstarts start out that way, begin that way.
You’re very excited, full of ideas. And I was a ready-fire-aim guy, and it worked to a certain extent. But when you reach a certain level wherein it’s riskier, let’s say the size of your company’s bigger, then you have to be more careful. SoI started with very small businesses by selling gift items. There was no internet back then.
And what we did, we would go to the houses of our friends who are quite rich and they don’t have time to go to the mall when it’s Christmas. So, what we did was a house-to-house bazaar, we would go to their house, to their places and bring like 50 to a hundred different, different items.
So that’s our sample and then when they see those stuff they like, they’d be like “Okay, I’ll get these. Give me five off of that, ten of that, plenty of this. And then that week, the same week, we would deliver the items to them. And then from there, because the most important part is we talk about investing, we talk about passive income, but the most important would be earned income.
I saw a post, I think yesterday, asking what’s the difference between working hard and working smart.
It’s impossible to work smart if you don’t work hard. So in working hard, you’ll get to find ways to work smart. The same thing with money, you start small and then you start earning bigger. But when you start earning bigger, you have to find ways to put it back into the business. So that was one of my first businesses. And it helped me in terms of managing finances. Even though it was small at the time, dealing with people, dealing with partners. I was 20 years old when I started that business.
Sean: The next question, Jason is, how did it feel to reach your first million?
Jayson: It was both exhilarating. And I couldn’t understand the question before. One of my mentors would always tell me, you should know how much is enough.
You should know how much is enough. Because it’s never going to be enough. It’s never going to be enough. But when I reached my first million. For me ever since I knew that it’s going to happen. I remember I bought my first car when I was twenty-two years old and I bought it in cash. Didn’t borrow money.
When I was already driving the car, I saw my reasons for earning, of buying a car. I realized that it wasn’t right. Because I was trying to prove myself to others like, “See? You said I can’t make it but I can”. And eventually, I’m reminded of LeBron James, when he was in Miami, when he was in Miami, he was the most hated athlete in any sport.
And then he was playing out of rage because he was trying to prove himself. They were being ridiculed because they formed a super team and he left Cleveland. So it’s what somehow happened to me. And then he realized in the middle of his tenure there, of his stay there, that he wasn’t enjoying the game anymore. It’s like life was being sucked out of him.
And then he changed his mindset and then started playing with the right motives and intentions. And then that’s the time when they started winning championships.
I think that’s what also happened to me, I stopped caring about what other people think. And I know that’s a day-to-day thing. Day by day, it’s a challenge to everyone and it serves as a barometer for you. And that’s the time when I enjoyed making money when I stopped getting about what other people’s opinions are.
