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In my previous post, I put forth the proposition that America is chock full of opportunity, and the only reason a large number of Americans fail to grasp this is because their minds have been corrupted by opportunity deniers. In other words, the amount of opportunity you perceive is based on your mindset. If you’ve been trained to recognize opportunity, you’ll have no trouble finding it. On the other hand, if you’ve been trained to believe that the “system is rigged” and “social mobility is a myth,” you won’t even look for opportunity. After all, why waste your time and effort looking for something that doesn’t exist?
But in all honesty, finding opportunity is only half the battle. To actually take advantage of opportunity, you’re going to need money. And that’s the rub. Let me explain.
Opportunity and Money
In my previous post, I offered six ways to become an opportunity slut. Here they are again.
- Find a castle in the air. Buy into a company before the crowd gets excited about that company.
- Run with the dogs. Take advantage of “reversion to the mean” and invest in stocks or sectors after they have had a particularly bad year.
- Go slumming. Look for grungy or mundane business opportunities.
- Make the complex easy. The creator of WordPress is rich because he made starting a website super easy for the average person.
- Look for market failure. Uber and Lyft exist because the taxi industry sucks.
- Look for problems at work. Become a problem-solver and your boss will love you.
Now a question. Of the six ways to become an opportunity slut outlined above, which one requires absolutely no money? If you answered number 6, look for problems at work, go straight to the head of the class. All the others require money—not necessarily a lot, but without some money, numbers 1 through 5 can’t be acted upon.
Taking advantage of opportunity, then, is largely a two-step process. First, you must train your mind to recognize opportunity, and second, you must have some money to jump on most of the opportunities you come across.
So remember this key insight. Opportunity battens on money. If you want to become an insatiable opportunity slut, you’re going to need some money. The more money you have, the better.
A Groovy Example
Don’t let the need for money deter you from becoming an opportunity slut. Mark Goldman, for example, the founder of Goldman Sachs, began his business career as a humble peddler with a horse-drawn cart on the streets of lower Manhattan in the 1850s. Numbers 1 through 5 in our opportunity mindset don’t require a lot of money. Buying 50 shares of Microsoft in 1986—a castle in the air—required $1,050. To go slumming and buy a bread route, my friend Marco needed a $10,000 loan and a co-signature from his dad. Get the picture? Money is and isn’t an issue.
From my experience, there are two ways to get opportunity money. The first way is the traditional route. You spend less than you earn and you save the difference. Way back in 2003, when Mrs. G and I first realized that we were financial dolts, we were saving little if anything each month. But then, as our understanding of personal finance grew, and we put concerted effort into building our expense-minimizing and income-maximizing muscles, we became excellent savers in relatively short order. By the time we moved down to North Carolina in 2006, we were saving $2,000 a month.
The traditional route is nothing to sneeze at, of course. Save $2,000 a month for a year or so, and you got a nice chunk of opportunity money. So at the very least, anyone wishing to become an opportunity slut should master the skill of spending less than you earn. But if you really want to grow your opportunity money—and do it fast—I suggest a radical second way. Orchestrate a BIG HAIRY DEBT ANNIHILATION.
A big hairy debt annihilation (BHDA) is my twisted take on the big hairy audacious goal strategy popularized by James Collins and Jerry Porras in their 1994 business book called Built to Last. And as its name suggests, a BHDA is when you wipe out all or most of your debt in one dramatic move.
In 2006, Mrs. G and I orchestrated a BHDA when we sold our New York condo at the height of the real estate boom and moved to low-cost North Carolina. That one move completely wiped out our debt. And I credit this move more than anything else with really making Mrs. G and me opportunity sluts. It’s one thing to have a chunk of opportunity money, but when you’re completely debt free, your psychological capacity to handle risk grows exponentially. I should know. I only acquired the cojones to jump on castles in the air and chase Wall Street dogs once my debt was vanquished.
The lesson could not be clearer. If you want to be an insatiable opportunity slut, do whatever you have to do to unleash a BHDA, and get rid of your debt.
Opportunity Sluts of the Month
Before I end this post, though, I want to introduce you to a very inspiring couple. Here’s their story.
In 2015, they were “normal” Americans. They had a 1,500 sq ft home and were, largely because of a mortgage, $240K in debt. But in 2016, they made the bold move of exchanging their normal home for a 536 sq ft “weird” home. In amazingly short order, they reduced their debt load by $185K. Talk about orchestrating a BHDA.
In November of 2016, they made their final mortgage payment.
Once they vanquish $10K in student loan debt over the next few months, they will be completely debt free.
They are on course to reaching the Mustachean Threshold (aka financial independence) sometime in 2019.
The female half of this amazing couple recently quit her job and decided to turn her digital marketing side hustle into a full-time vocation. Having virtually no debt and trivial living expenses is very conducive to risk-taking.
Speaking gigs, advocating minimalism and frugality, touring the country in a tiny house, owning and managing a mobile home park—the amount of opportunity they see before them is nothing short of spectacular.
They love tomato pie and margaritas.
And, finally, they’re every bit as charming and amazing in real life as they are in their blog. So without further ado, I now present, Freedom Is Groovy’s first opportunity sluts of the month, the great Claudia and Garrett of Two Cup House.
Final Thoughts
Okay, groovy freedomists, that’s all I got. Did this post encourage you or discourage you? Money, sadly, is indispensable to opportunity. But the key takeaway is twofold. First, you don’t need a lot of money to increase the number of opportunities available to you. Second, you are in control of the amount of opportunity money you possess. Nothing’s stopping you from spending less than you earn. And nothing’s stopping you from orchestrating a BHDA. So what say you? Are you on your way to becoming an insatiable opportunity slut? Do you spend less than you earn? Are you ready to unleash a BHDA? I’d love to hear how your quest for lewdness is advancing. Grease for peace.
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