Gurus, Magic, and Security

Read Time: 4.5 minutes

Nick Aufenkamp
December 08, 2023

Hey Y’all,

Did you know that the “12 Days of Christmas” are not the 12 days leading up to Christmas but, in fact, begin on December 25th and run through January 5th?

We thought you might want to tuck that one away for your next trivia night. And, no pressure, but you can thank us in advance by forwarding this email to a friend.

Factoids aside, however, wherever, and whenever you celebrate this holiday season, we wish you the best!

Now, let’s dive in.

On Tap Today:

Wisdom From the Week:
- Be Selective with Your Gurus
- Create Magical Moments
- False Security
Something to Implement

Wisdom from the Week

1 // Be Selective with Your Gurus

Every week, my screen time report informs me that I’m spending a striking amount of time scrolling through Reels on Instagram. However, my time on IG is beside the point right now.

If you’ve spent any time in the entrepreneurial sphere of Instagram, you’re experience has probably been something like this:

“Here’s how I made $3m in just three years doing short-term rentals. Follow these steps and you can do it, too. . . ”

Swipe.

“Real estate is about to crash! If you want to make real money, you need to buy small businesses. Here’s how. . . “

Swipe.

“Large multifamily deal syndication is life! Let me teach you how to get your first big deal . . . “

Swipe.

“Never use your own money to invest. . . ”

Swipe.

“Never go into debt to pay for investments . . . “

Swipe.
Swipe.
Swipe. . .

There are a gazillion self-proclaimed ‘gurus’ out there who are eager to sell you on their particular path to success and riches. Unfortunately, approximately a bazillion of those ‘gurus’ are faking it. The problem is, when all you see are 30-45-second clips, it’s very difficult to tell who’s the real deal and who isn’t.

Then, even among the few legitimate entrepreneurial ‘influencers,’ there are competing opinions about the best way to achieve success. Or forget competing; often, one bonafide billionaire’s advice directly contradicts the other billionaire on social media.

The cacophony of noise can be confusing, to say the least. And the endless swirl of advice can actually result in losing your good dreams and visions down the drain of indecision.

So, in addition to limiting mindless scrolling through social media, choose your ‘gurus’ wisely. Instead of leaving the voices you listen to up to an impersonal algorithm, carefully curate the teachers you want to learn from and be challenged by.

Like Confucius said, “When you have too many advisors, you lose your way.”

Which, on further thought, was either a really wise saying or a fantastic tactic to win students away from other teachers. Perhaps both.

2 // Create Magical Moments

Drew Holcomb has a song, “But I’ll Never Forget the Way You Make Me Feel.” In the opening verse, he sings, “I might forget what you wore on the 14th day of May. // I might forget the songs they sang that night on the stage. // I might forget what you ordered at the Sunset Grill. // But I'll never forget the way you make me feel.”

As the song progresses, he reflects on the fleeting nature of physical possessions and the particular details of even life’s most significant events. But the thing he claims never to forget is the way, in this case, his wife has made him feel.

Nick and I, each having three kids — especially as we approach Christmas — have been freshly reminded of what really matters. Our kids likely won’t remember most of the presents under the tree, much less what foods were on the table for Christmas Dinner. But, how they felt during these significant moments as a family will stick with them for the rest of their lives.

This awareness has caused us to think about how to slow down and focus on creating magical, memorable moments for our loved ones. It’s all too easy to get caught up in the frenzy of holiday events, shopping, cooking, etc., etc., and fail to be fully present and in the moment with the people who matter most to us.

And this principle applies just as much to business as it does to family life. When we create magical, memorable moments and experiences for our customers and clients, we earn their trust, establish credibility, and even win their affection. Not to mention the extra satisfaction you’ll find in those relationships, having provided a wonderfully unexpected experience they deeply appreciate and will never forget.

So, it’s well worth considering what magical moments you can create this season (and beyond!).

We’d love to hear stories of anything you come up with — reply here to share!

3 // False Security

It’s sad, but I’ve had four people close to me who have all been laid off in the last month. To make matters worse, none of them saw it coming.

And while addressing the economic factors leading to layoffs in recent months is beyond the scope of this newsletter, suffice it to say many people unexpectedly find themselves out of a job right now.

Hopefully, 2024 will bring a strong economic rebound. There seems to be ample reason to believe that will be the case.

That said, there’s still a valuable lesson in the wave of corporate layoffs: When working for someone else, you’re never entirely as secure as you think.

I certainly don’t intend to vilify any employers, much less shame anyone working in a corporate setting or as a W-2. Most employers and business owners care a great deal about their employees and only let people go if the company cannot financially sustain the payroll. And W-2 employees are essential to economic growth at both a micro and macro level.

What we want to test is the notion that a W-2 job is inherently ‘safer’ than entrepreneurship or investing.

Our real concern is that many of you have detailed visions and plans for investments to make or businesses to buy and run that can grow and bring in substantial income, but that you never pursue those dreams because they feel ‘too risky’ in comparison to the job stability you currently enjoy.

While we’d never encourage anyone to rush into an investment or business acquisition unadvisedly, we also encourage having a sober perspective and asking yourself, “What would you do if you lost your job tomorrow?” So long as you’re working for someone else, you must consider that a real possibility.

Risk is inherent to life. It’s unavoidable. But you do have a lot of say over what risks you will take. Choose wisely.

Something to Implement

Time blocking.

We’re not fooling ourselves. You’ve most certainly heard of time blocking by this point in your career.

But, in case you haven’t, the practice of time blocking is to take an intentional and proactive look at your schedule and block out time to prioritize your most essential tasks.

The concept is quite simple, and a million YouTube videos break down different approaches to time blocking and feature helpful scheduling tools. I’m sure you’ll have no trouble finding some applied resources there.

Instead, we bring it up here to create the opportunity for you to reflect on how you’re doing with time blocking and prioritizing the tasks most essential to your success.

We know how easy it is to get inundated with meetings, emails, and texts and feel like we’re perpetually reacting and task-switching. The ‘Tyranny of the Urgent’ is always a serious threat to achieving meaningful progress. So, time blocking is a powerful, if not vital, practice to ensure that you remain in control of your schedule and set aside sufficient time to proactively build toward your envisioned future.

Do you have a time blocking practice or resource you think would be helpful to the Abundant Journey community? Let us know here, and we’ll either feature it in a future post or add it to the Abundant Journey website. Of course, you’ll get all the credit ;-)

That’s all for now, folks.

Thanks for coming along!

Let us know how we’re doing by simply replying to the email here.