I just spent the entire day at “Hub Melbourne” a co-working space in a magnificient old building full of lots of people working hard on their businesses.

I arrived at 11am, enjoyed a quick introduction and tour around the facilities with other potential new co-workers and then took advantage of the invitation to spend the rest of the day working there.

I had a new friend with me, Simone, a young journalist from the USA I met a month ago at a networking event. We clicked immediately with our shared interest in writing and technology.

What Did You Think In Your Early Twenties?

Simone and I have been working on a project together. As part of this work she has been listening to some of my podcast interviews.

Simone has experience with start-up companies having worked for one in the USA, but she hasn’t really been exposed as much to our world of information marketing and lifestyle businesses.

I was quite curious, after listening to some of my interviews, whether she would now contemplate creating her own business.

I asked her – “Have you thought about starting something of your own?”

She said listening to the people on the interviews made her reflect on whether she could see herself doing what they did.

I often feel quite excited about possibilities for my own business while listening to interviews about what others have achieved.

Simone is in her early twenties, which for many people is a time of figuring out what you want to do by having experiences. You don’t really know exactly what the future holds, but you are enjoying tasting different things.

For me I was very clear about one thing in my early twenties – I had no intention of starting a career that led to a lifetime of employment.

My “experimenting” was all about figuring out how I could start my own projects to avoid employment and hopefully make enough money to live.

Simone is experimenting in her own way through travel and freelancing as a writer journalist, moving from opportunity to opportunity based on what comes to her.

I Wanted To Make $1,000 A Day

I told Simone that when I was her age I came to a conclusion on one very specific financial goal…

I wanted to make $1,000 per day.

I figured that kind of money was more than enough to cover my costs, save for some big assets and pretty much do what I wanted with my life.

I felt like it was a lot of money, but I didn’t see it as something unattainable.

This kind of financial goal was something I considered possible because I was exposed to examples of people already achieving it.

I heard the stories of other entrepreneurs, from tech startups to internet marketers, who were makig this kind of money. I had even met some personally.

I saw the possibilities and figured I could find my own way to do this, even if I didn’t know exactly how at that point.

About six or seven years later I reached that goal of $1,000 per day.

I would never have guessed the paths I walked to meet my target all those years back when I first made my financial goal.

That being said, I doubt if I hadn’t seen the doorway to this goal and set myself on the path towards it, I never would have made it through and achieved the result.

What Would You Do With $20,000 A Month?

As Simone and I were talking I asked her something that is always fun to imagine –

What would you do if you made $20,000 a month?

I’m never quite sure how people will react to this question. Everyone comes at it from a different place.

It’s a fun question because for many people, especially young people who are living on very tight budgets, that kind of money is so much more than what they currently live off.

It allows you to contemplate a situation where money is no longer a restriction for what you do.

This might be something you have never thought about before (try asking yourself the $20K question right now…).

Simone answered as you might expect for someone who enjoys traveling – she wanted to travel more and also give back to people who had given to her.

Your Peer Group Defines Your Awareness

I’ve presented the $20,000 question to many people and I especially enjoy discussing it with those who I see have potential to run their own business, but have not seriously considered that path.

What I find interesting, is many times I ask this question and the reaction I get is so dramatic because making $20,000 a month is not even on the radar of things they think about.

It’s not that they don’t have confidence or lack motivation, it’s just not something that enters their reality as a possibility. They don’t even see the door.

I suspect peer groups have a lot to do with this.

If you associate with students or backpackers or traditional working class folk, making a lot of money is just not the kind of situation they find themselves in, hence no one is exposed to it in their peer groups.

For most people money comes from a regular salary that slowly increases over a lifetime of work.

Making $20,000 in one month only happens if you win lottery or some other kind of prize, or perhaps from inheritance. All one-off special events, that certainly won’t be a regular occurrance.

You might talk about other people with money, but it’s always from a distance – those “millionaires” who own mines, or start-up technology companies that get sold to Google, or stock brokers who have insider knowledge about what is going on in companies.

These are “special” people like celebrities who you hear about in the media, but are certainly not part of your social circle. They are topics for discussion like gossip, but do not represent a reality “normal” people experience.

You have probably heard said before that you are the average of the five people you spend the most time with (Jim Rohn made this quote famous and you can look into the law of averages for more).

To put it simply, you are limited or expanded by the people around you.

If you are a broke student, chances are you are surrouned by other broke students, so that’s the norm.

If you are a low-salaried worker, like a teacher or nurse or waiter or bus driver or countless other jobs, you are surrouned by similar people and that’s just how life is.

What you think about and talk about and see as possible for your own life is guided by those closest to you. Expectations are very much set by what others have and strive for.

I must clarify that there is nothing wrong with being on a low income. People can and do live happy and fullfilling lives on a low salary and often do because they place their value in other things, like family and social events.

No doubt there are many very rich people who are not nearly as happy as people on mimimum wage.

That being said, it’s pretty clear that money can make your life a whole lot easier, solve problems, and for me the most important thing – grant you freedoms.

I suspect since you are on my newsletter, you share this belief and have financial goals beyond the average.

What If You Can’t See The Door?

What was so important all those years ago for me was that I could see the possibility to reach a certain financial target.

Limitations are set by what you consider possible for yourself.

If you can’t see a door towards a goal, then you have no chance.

If you don’t contemplate the possibility of you running a business that makes $20,000 a month or more then it’s not going to happen.

Seeing the door sets you on the path. The realisation of the possibility creates the awareness to figure out what comes next.

This is why I love asking the question of what you would do with $20,000 a month. It always makes the person smile and imagine a life full of the things they enjoy and find the most gratifying.

By asking the question and experiencing a moment where you see it as possible, you briefly shine a light on the door to that outcome.

That door may disappear again as time goes by, or the idea might have set in and become a permanent agitation. A desire that just won’t go away.

This doorway concept is very similar to the idea of you not knowing what you don’t know.

If you can’t perceive a solution or an option, you won’t have the ability to see how to go and make it a reality.

Awareness ALWAYS comes first.

You have to see the door before you can walk through it.

Would You Like To Open More Doors?

The fact that you have read this long newsletter all the way to the end tells me that you have an interest in this concept of raising awareness.

If you want to continue down this path and open up more doors as a blogger and entrepreneur, then I have a reward to thank you for paying attention to what I have just written.

My Mindset and Productivity E-Guide is full of many more awareness raising concepts that I believe will be give you tools to reach that $20,000 a month goal.

My EJ Insider Interviews Club offers the chance to listen to interviews with people who have already walked through this door and earn significant money.

Being able to listen to these interviews gives you a way to surround yourself with the right kind of influence, the kind of peer group that will help you see amazing potential and also guide you towards realising it.

As a special just for you since you read all the way to the end of this newsletter, if you sign up and prepay for the full six months of EJ Insider membership, I will include a copy of my Mindset and Productivity Guide for free (normally $49).

All you have to do is join the EJ Insider Interviews Club at this link, choose the one time payment option, then email you receipt to yaro@yaro.blog and tell me you want to claim your copy of my mindset and productivity guide.

I will then upgrade you so you have access to both the interviews club and my mindset and producitivity guide and all the bonuses that go with them.

This is a special offer only going out to this newsletter, so take advantage of it if you think it is right for you.

I’ll talk to you soon, 

Yaro Starak

Yaro.Blog