TWP #001 - The Key Behind Professional Growth

Why you should think differently about Money

Welcome to the first release of The Wandering Pro newsletter.

The goal is to share actionable knowledge, on a weekly basis, that you can start applying today.

Every week you will receive:

- Fundamental understanding of a topic
- Ways to change your perspective
- A tool, template, or action to start applying today

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Today, I want to talk about the fundamental aspect behind anyone looking for growth -

Money

- Not how to make more of it
- Not how to prioritize life around it
- Not how to find fulfillment in gathering it

But

How to think about it

The mission of TWP is to teach more people about fundamentals when it comes to growing as a professional.

Trendy clickbaits don’t apply to people living across the world - we need a different approach for the masses.

Fundamentals → Answered

Let’s get the basic definition out of the way:

Q: What is money worth?

A: Money is worth based on how much someone is willing to pay

Talking about mindset shift - here are the three things you need to rethink when valuing money

Perspective → Shifted

1) Saving Does Not Matter!

When your average income is around 200 USD/month, following the famous 50–30–20 rule you will save 40 USD, right?

Do some quick math, if you save 40 USD every month, it will take you almost 20 years to save up to 10,000 USD — the average price of the cheapest car/sedan right now in Pakistan (and 100+ countries around the globe)

The thing is, besides the typical cost of living transactions, ‘stuff’ is still expensive:

- Our cars cost similar to cars in the States
- Our iPhones, funnily enough, cost more (Thank You PTA)
- Even our Houses cost the same as most of the world (given you equate for infrastructure)

BUT

Our average earning is 20 times less than that of a country like US

What do you do then?

Earn more!

Easier said than done, but we are talking about a mindset shift here

Next time, instead of thinking to save 20, think of how you can make 20 more. This simple mindset is effective if you practice it daily, it will force you to focus on the right things.

You will never get stable by saving 20%, you need to earn 100% more first, then worry about savings.

Next time you think of saving money to buy your next fridge, TV, bike, car - instead think of making more money to fulfill that need — the doors do open to the willing.

2) You are not ‘asking’ for money

Oftentimes when I counsel my peers, especially those who aren’t getting paid their worth, this sentence comes up as a response:

‘Saqib Bhai Mangtay huway bura lgta hai’

‘Saqib, I feel ashamed to ask for more money’

Listen, it might not seem that dramatic translated to English, but this again is another mindset issue prevalent among people who don’t understand how money works.

See you are not asking for more money, you are asking for your worth to be paid fairly.

Next time you go for a raise, defend the ask with evidence, show your potential, translate it to value, and present the fact that you are not asking for more money, you are asking to be valued.

Stay subscribed, I do plan to release raise-asking process that helped me grow immensely soon.

3) Learn to calculate the value of everything

As you progress in life, being on the path of success, you will quickly realize, there is an opportunity cost to everything.

Opportunity Cost: the loss of other alternatives when one alternative is chosen.

The problem arises when we fail to properly evaluate the choices we have in life.

Big businesses will convert every decision of theirs to monetary value.

Frameworks like Fear Setting (https://tim.blog/2017/05/15/fear-setting/) help you understand the cost of your choices or lack thereof

Workshops like this (https://thefuturishere.com/stcw/?__s=vp6wd78u3abp0r8yywwu) help you understand the value of outsourcing work

In the end, the mindset shift you need to have is, that everything has a value, everything you do, everything you experience, and everything you stand for — has a price (sounds depressing, it is).

And when you get really good at calculating the value of everything down to the penny, you learn to make decisions that fulfill you.

Months ago, I made the decision to make the most money possible within a month -

I failed -

in order to do so I would have to work 16 hours a day — an activity I don’t value enough

Months later, I shifted my mindset to — how about let’s make the same money, but work as less as possible -

I succeeded -

and now my free time lets me write this for you — something that is more valuable to me

To sum it up:

1 — Forget saving, first learn to earn, then worry about it

2 — Learn to ask the right way, know your worth, and show your worth

3 — Everything has a price, and knowing that will help you cherish value better

Actions → Delivered

Here is what I want you to do in order to understand money better,

Click on this link: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1YydvGIAHquIMbknAezWhJxtRmM4dh-KqRTbTlzdNnYs/edit?usp=sharing

Duplicate to your google sheets

Track your expenses every month

There are a billion apps that do this, but working on a sheet makes you to be more deliberate about it

The template is divided into fixed and variable costs, with support for savings and income.

When you will manually put in every number, you will realize what is most important - needs vs wants.

One last thing, don’t bother putting in expenses smaller than 2% of your income, the ‘Total Personal/Unlogged Cost’ has the formula to equate unlogged expenses (Income-Logged Expenses+Savings)

Here’s the process to use the template:

1. Fill in ‘Start of Month Savings Balance’ = All the money in your accounts

2. Fill the ‘Income’ with your salary after taxes

3. Set a budget for the month in the ‘Total Monthly Expense/Budget’

4. Proceed to log your expenses throughout the month

5. At end of month log your ‘This Month Savings’

6. The ‘End of Month - Total Savings’ goes to your next month’s row

7. Duplicate the sheet for the next month

8. Rinse and repeat

9. Adjust as needed

Refer to the sheet with a filled-out example, and further notes.

Any feedback for this newsletter is highly appreciated, feel free to respond with what you would like to see more of.

See you next Monday!