the hardest question in the world
"what do you want nick?"
i stared intensely at these 5 words written at the top of my yellow legal pad.
it was soul searching time.
i was ready to quit. to give up on this website rental business i had been so excited to start 3.5 years earlier.
but before i made the decision to walk away forever i needed to figure out what i really wanted.
it was early December, 2019.
$60K in debit
2 car payments
1 mortgage
3 kids
1 burned out wife (who didn't even know about the debt part)
i'd been going at this website rental business for years & couldn't for the life of me get past that magical $10K/mo mark.
it didn't sit well with me thinking that i used to make more money as a door-to-door alarm salesman.
except now i was working all 12 months out of the year instead of just during the summers.
i remember thinking to myself, "maybe i'm not cut out for this, maybe i'm just a salesman, who am i kidding?"
but something told me i had to answer this question before making any decisions.
"$100K PER MONTH!"
i scribbled it furiously the top of the page in all caps.
"why!?"
"why do you want $100k per month!?"
i paused, flicking my pen back and forth between my pointer and middle finger while bouncing my left foot up & down at a rapid pace.
hmm...
"i want to be able to give myself & my family the life they deserve. the opportunities, the material things they deserve"
"but why!?" i once again wrote.
and so it went.
me answering my own question, followed by me asking why, answering that, then asking why again.
i spent over 2 hours locked in that room with just a yellow legal pad, a pen, and my thoughts.
when i emerged from that room i was mentally spent.
i had searched my soul, i had explored my motives & self reflected like i never had before.
i had clarity.
i knew exactly what i wanted, but more importantly, i knew why.
more than that, it had become painfully obvious to me that in order for me to get what i wanted ($100K/mo) i needed the right income vehicle.
a vehicle that had:
-passive income
-recurring income
-scalability
-leverage
-location freedom
-high margins
-assets
the vehicle i needed was staring me right in the eyes.
building & renting simple websites. digital real estate.
it'd been looking for the magical bullet and here it was sitting in my lap.
i couldn't quit, i had to give this a go. a real go. I had to see it through.
and see it through i did.
8 months later my little website rental business was bringing in $100k+ per month.
but thats another story for another day. (i tell the story here)
what to do now
go answer the hardest question in the world.
set aside 90 minutes this week. go somewhere quiet with a notepad and pen & turn off all devices & distractions.
write the question "what do i want" at the top of the page. answer it honestly. ask yourself "why."
rinse & repeat until you have answered "why" at least 7 times.
the reality
90% of you that have made it this far won't spend the time to answer this question.
i read a quote somewhere that said "we spend weeks planning our next vacation but we won't take an hour to plan our life."
ain't that the truth.
i know this may sound like an unnecessary and even trivial use of time. i get it.
it took me almost 30 years to get around to it.
when i finally sat down and got clear about what i really wanted and why... everything changed.
in a world full of uncertain people, it's the person that gets clear on what they want that gets ALL the upside.
don't forget, your whole life can change in 12 months my friends.
your whole life as you know it could also end tomorrow.
life is short, go buy time.
-nick
