Did you know that Elon Musk lived on $1 per day prior to becoming a multi-millionaire?
Inspired by how Elon leveraged the few resources he had to successfully build and exit Paypal, this post addresses the idea that living in material poverty, (defined below), does place you at a disadvantage.
In fact, people in material poverty have a competitive advantage, because of the following reasons. I want this post to inspire you to look at the resources you have at hand and see how you can maximize them.
Inspired by how few people are maximizing the resources [DU1] they have their disposal hand and how Elon Musk lived on $1 a day (more details below), I'm explaining how "coming from nothing" [DU2] is a competitive advantage.
20% of the world 1.2 billion people lives on $1 USD per day. Meaning no prestigious schools, no private education, and no teachers to spoon feed them material.
People with “nothing” Focus on the Essentials
They can’t cheat and they distill things down to their bare essentials. What I mean by cheating is You can't throw money at the problem!"
How many times have you seen someone try to gloss over a problem by throwing money at it? I know person who go on shopping spree after a recent break up instead of addressing their hurt feelings.
This person has been using material possession as a crutch to not dig deep go inside and get what they want. They have yet to build their internal resources.
People in poverty are forced to focus on the essentials, because…
By not being able to afford the luxuries in life, people in poverty repurpose things they have into the things that they need.
Poverty teaches you how to be crafty real quick. It forces you to repurpose what you have and squeeze the living life out of what you have. For example, watch someone in poverty squeeze the past out of tooth brush. [DU3]
An example of an entrepreneur who kicked ass and lived on $1 a day is Elon Musk. This is a great way to mitigate against risk. [DU4]
What risk specifically? The risk of using large resources as a crutch to not do proper creativity and problem-solving thoughts.
People talk about "calculate your burn rate" figure out what you need. I think that is important but a lot of the time it's total bullshit.
You need to stay afloat, when you take the same sort of urgency for the success of your company as you do to breath, eat or survive then you know what true creation is.
Which is creation out of necessity.
Creation out of Necessity
This isn't some abstract directive, "you need to be innovative" from some MBA program. (I would know considering I am in an MBA program). The people in everyday poverty need to make "something from nothing" in order to survive. Thus, they innovate of necessity instead of it would be nice for a competitive advantage.
I vividly remember seeing this while studying public health and medicine in El Salvador.
Three little kids saw the El Salvadoran national soccer team playing on TV. They looked at each other with a somber silence knowing they didn't have enough to afford a soccer ball.
But as fast as lighting, one of them took off towards a garbage can.
Which leads to the next reason...
Poverty forces you to have a vision.
Tony Robbins says there are three mandates to leadership:
"Step 1: See it as it is, not worse than it is.
Step 2: See it Better Than it Is
Step 3: Make it the way you see it. "
Poverty makes you skip to step 3 very quickly.
No sitting, no brooding, just full fledged energy!
IN A NUTSHELL
Poverty is the hotbed for renovation because:
People are undervalued. In their environment they can't cheat, they have to focus on the essentials, they have to understand how to not live with a lot, they have to create out of necessity, and they are forced to create a vision of things can be better than they are and create it.
What does this mean for you?
The next time you think you don't have enough resources or enough tools, think to yourself.
"How can I leverage this situation of having nothing to create something awesome? as if my life depended on it?!"
[DU1]Who else other than Elon Musk is maximizing their resources.
SEPARATE POST WE ARE CUTTING THIS BLOCK OF TEXT OUT.
[DU2]What exactly does it mean to come from nothing?
I’m defining nothing here as the statistic lvining on $1 usd per day that the majority of the world lives in. Think of Bangladesh, El Salvador and Ecuadorian slums as the scenario.
[DU3]This is the same thing as the above with example
[DU4]Elaborate on how it mitigate the risk. What risk are you talking about? The risk of getting lazy of living on excess.
Inspired by how Elon leveraged the few resources he had to successfully build and exit Paypal, this post addresses the idea that living in material poverty, (defined below), does place you at a disadvantage.
In fact, people in material poverty have a competitive advantage, because of the following reasons. I want this post to inspire you to look at the resources you have at hand and see how you can maximize them.
Inspired by how few people are maximizing the resources [DU1] they have their disposal hand and how Elon Musk lived on $1 a day (more details below), I'm explaining how "coming from nothing" [DU2] is a competitive advantage.
20% of the world 1.2 billion people lives on $1 USD per day. Meaning no prestigious schools, no private education, and no teachers to spoon feed them material.
People with “nothing” Focus on the Essentials
They can’t cheat and they distill things down to their bare essentials. What I mean by cheating is You can't throw money at the problem!"
How many times have you seen someone try to gloss over a problem by throwing money at it? I know person who go on shopping spree after a recent break up instead of addressing their hurt feelings.
This person has been using material possession as a crutch to not dig deep go inside and get what they want. They have yet to build their internal resources.
People in poverty are forced to focus on the essentials, because…
By not being able to afford the luxuries in life, people in poverty repurpose things they have into the things that they need.
Poverty teaches you how to be crafty real quick. It forces you to repurpose what you have and squeeze the living life out of what you have. For example, watch someone in poverty squeeze the past out of tooth brush. [DU3]
An example of an entrepreneur who kicked ass and lived on $1 a day is Elon Musk. This is a great way to mitigate against risk. [DU4]
What risk specifically? The risk of using large resources as a crutch to not do proper creativity and problem-solving thoughts.
People talk about "calculate your burn rate" figure out what you need. I think that is important but a lot of the time it's total bullshit.
You need to stay afloat, when you take the same sort of urgency for the success of your company as you do to breath, eat or survive then you know what true creation is.
Which is creation out of necessity.
Creation out of Necessity
This isn't some abstract directive, "you need to be innovative" from some MBA program. (I would know considering I am in an MBA program). The people in everyday poverty need to make "something from nothing" in order to survive. Thus, they innovate of necessity instead of it would be nice for a competitive advantage.
I vividly remember seeing this while studying public health and medicine in El Salvador.
Three little kids saw the El Salvadoran national soccer team playing on TV. They looked at each other with a somber silence knowing they didn't have enough to afford a soccer ball.
But as fast as lighting, one of them took off towards a garbage can.
Which leads to the next reason...
Poverty forces you to have a vision.
Tony Robbins says there are three mandates to leadership:
"Step 1: See it as it is, not worse than it is.
Step 2: See it Better Than it Is
Step 3: Make it the way you see it. "
Poverty makes you skip to step 3 very quickly.
No sitting, no brooding, just full fledged energy!
IN A NUTSHELL
Poverty is the hotbed for renovation because:
People are undervalued. In their environment they can't cheat, they have to focus on the essentials, they have to understand how to not live with a lot, they have to create out of necessity, and they are forced to create a vision of things can be better than they are and create it.
What does this mean for you?
The next time you think you don't have enough resources or enough tools, think to yourself.
"How can I leverage this situation of having nothing to create something awesome? as if my life depended on it?!"
[DU1]Who else other than Elon Musk is maximizing their resources.
SEPARATE POST WE ARE CUTTING THIS BLOCK OF TEXT OUT.
[DU2]What exactly does it mean to come from nothing?
I’m defining nothing here as the statistic lvining on $1 usd per day that the majority of the world lives in. Think of Bangladesh, El Salvador and Ecuadorian slums as the scenario.
[DU3]This is the same thing as the above with example
[DU4]Elaborate on how it mitigate the risk. What risk are you talking about? The risk of getting lazy of living on excess.