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Update: Mrs. Groovy here. Mr. Groovy’s post, Egotrage: Taking a Step Back Socially to Advance Two Steps Financially, advanced to round 3 in the Rockstar Rumble. Thank you to all who voted.
The Rockstar Rumble is a friendly competition among personal finance bloggers, hosted by—you guessed it—Rockstar Finance! It’s sponsored by Mediavine.
Back in December of last year, I coined the word egotrage. It’s a combination of words “ego” and “arbitrage.”
And here’s what it means in a nutshell.
Many people are slaves to their egos and won’t do tasks, take jobs, or start businesses that they consider “beneath” them. Some people, however, aren’t in thrall of their egos and are perfectly happy to “slum it,” if you will, and take advantage of the money-making opportunities abandoned by the proud. Those who advance their financial well-being by doing something a notch or two below their socioeconomic status are engaging in egotrage.
Egotrage in Action
I love the word egotrage for two reasons. First, it’s a tight, crisp name for a strategy that has long existed but has never been honored in the English language. Second, it gives a whiff of legitimacy and distinction to its practitioners. “Nah, I’m not cleaning up dog shit, you fool. I’m practicing egotrage.”
Oh, there’s another reason why I love the word egotrage. Ever since I coined it, I’m coming across examples of it everywhere. I’ve been “woked,” so to speak.
Here, then, are five examples of egotrage that have recently crossed my radar.
1. Crispy Doc.
Doctors, for understandable reasons, have fairly large egos. And because of this, they would never demean themselves by doing the things nurses, techs, and orderlies do.
Or would they?
Check out this post from the blogger Crispy Doc. He’s an emergency room doctor, and he discovered that he could reduce ER bottlenecks, improve patient care, and better his evaluations by performing “non-doctor” tasks. That’s right. Crispy Doc’s path to becoming a better doctor wasn’t trodden upon advanced surgical training, it was trodden upon wheeling patients to the x-ray department himself and retrieving patient urine samples himself. Talk about the power of egotrage!
2. Mr. CTF from Countdown to FI.
Do people with master degrees deliver pizzas?
Not if they’re worried about their reputations. But they do if they’re more worried about obliterating debt than saving face.
Mr. CTF has a master’s degree and has started a very compelling podcast with his wife called Countdown to FI. Two weeks ago, Mrs. Groovy and I caught his interview with the Millionaire Educator, Ed Mills, and during the interview, Mr. CTF mentioned how even though he was an established professional at the time, he went back to delivering pizzas in order to knock out some debt.
As soon as I heard this, I turned to Mrs. Groovy and said, “Holy purple cats! Egotrage!”
Haha. I knew there was a reason why I got addicted to Countdown to FI podcast so quickly. Mr. CTF is one groovy dude. I reached out to Mr. CTF to elaborate a little on his egotrage experience. Here’s what he wrote.
So I realized in September 2016 that if I could bring in $600 more a month, my debt payoff nightmare would end much sooner. I delivered pizzas during my first few years of college, so I was familiar with the work. I also knew I could make at least $600 a month.
Oddly enough, I went back to work for the same pizzeria I worked for in college. I worked nights, Wednesday thru Saturda
3. Vincent Pugliese.
Would an award-winning Super Bowl photographer demean himself by doing wedding photography on the side? If the award-winning Super Bowl photographer were Vincent Pugliese, you bet your sweet bippy he would.
You got to check out Vincent’s interview on Choose FI. Here’s the link. It’s a wonderful example of egotrage.
Vincent is a fantastic photographer. But he was working in a dying industry. Print media was getting killed in his corner of the Midwest. If he stayed in the newspaper business, his income would always be pitiful. So to improve his financial prospects, he did what his colleagues would never deign to do: he started his own wedding photography business. The horror!
Did Vincent’s foray into wedding photography prove fruitful? Yes, exceptionally so. He’s now kicking ass financially and on the door step of financial independence. And all because he was willing to “lower” himself and take pictures at weddings.
4. Brandon from Inside the Box.
Do Silicon Valley engineers live in box trucks? No, they don’t, especially when they have six-figure salaries. But Brandon from Inside the Box does. That’s right. Brandon is a 25-year-old computer engineer who graduated college in 2015, and because his home on wheels is so spartan and affordable, he’s completely debt free and has over $300K saved for retirement.
I discovered Brandon and his amazing egotrage story a few weeks ago on the Fire Drill podcast. Here’s the link.
5. Kevin the Financial Panther.
One of my favorite bloggers is Kevin, the Financial Panther. Kevin is the king of side hustles. In his spare time, he does such mundane things as delivering sandwiches and walking dogs. What makes his side-hustle business so compelling, though, is this: he’s a practicing attorney.
How many lawyers do you know who earn a few extra bucks delivering sandwiches or walking dogs?
In Kevin’s most recent side-hustle report, he mentioned how he flew to Chicago to meet a friend for a college football game. Kevin got to Chicago first and had several hours to kill. So what did he do with his down time? He whipped out his two favorite side-hustle apps, Postmates and Wag, grabbed a bike from Divvy bike-share, and started making money.
I was intrigued by how much money Kevin actually earned during his brazen example of egotrage in an unfamiliar city, so I reached out to him for details. Here’s what he had to say.
I pulled up my numbers and here’s what it looks like. It’s not a ton of money or anything, haha. But I find it fun (I’m crazy like that) and anyone could do it.
$33.21 biking around town doing deliveries + $18 walking a dog on Wag for a half-hour = $51.21.
I did deliveries from around 10 am to noon, then went to eat lunch and worked on some blog stuff for a few hours. Then went and walked a dog on Wag and did one quick delivery in the afternoon before my buddy came to get me. So, I got to explore the city, got some exercise, and had some fun while waiting for my buddy.
Also made $52 doing some deliveries in Indianapolis. My buddy likes seeing me in action and he had some work stuff he had to get done. We both had some time to kill.
So in that weekend, I earned $103.21. Not a ton of money, but it’s something.
Final Thoughts
Okay, groovy freedomist, that’s all I got. What say you? Do you have any examples of egotrage to share? Let me know about it if you do. Have a great weekend. Peace.
Mrs. Groovy here again: The word “egotrage,” coined by Mr. Groovy, is now in the Merriam Webster Open Dictionary. We’ve got a ways to go to get it into their real dictionary—but I’m pleased as punch to see my husband’s originality and wit reaching more and more people.
If you haven’t yet read the first Egotrage post, it’s a doozy. Without further ado, here’s a link to Egotrage: Taking a Step Back Socially to Advance Two Steps Financially.
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