FFN 088： The Best Investment You Can Make
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Summary
In this episode, Ryan talks about the best investment you can make in 2018, and why you should be investing in yourself. He discusses the best asset you'll ever have is yourself, and what you should do with it.
Transcript
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You're a man of action. You live life to the fullest. Embrace your fears and boldly chart
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your own path. When life knocks you down, you get back up one more time. Every time.
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You are not easily deterred or defeated. Rugged. Resilient. Strong. This is your life. This is who
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you are. This is who you will become. At the end of the day, and after all is said and done,
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you can call yourself a man. Gentlemen, what is going on today? My name is Ryan Michler,
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and I am the host and the founder of this podcast, The Order of Man. I want to welcome
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you to the show and thank you for tuning in and showing up the way that you show up in
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your life as a father, a husband, a business owner, a community leader, just a man in general.
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Now, guys, just a quick ask, if you would, please, if you have not done so already, please
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leave us an iTunes rating and review. This goes such a long way in helping us promote the
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podcast and, of course, spread the mission of The Order. It will only take a couple of
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minutes, and I would really, really appreciate that. We're just under 700 reviews right now,
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and I think that we can hit 1,000 reviews relatively quickly if you'd be willing to
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do that. So I thank you in advance for that. Also, make sure that you share this show with
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a friend who needs to hear the message behind what we're doing here and the call for men
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to step up more fully as men in their lives. We are literally going to change the world,
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but we need to get this message out. Now, I'm not going to share with you any announcements
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like I normally would right now. I am going to save those for the end of the show
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because it will tie in nicely with what I want to talk with you about today, which is
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the greatest investment that you can make. We are on the heels of Christmas, and if you're
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listening to this the day it's being released, New Year's is just around the corner, and I
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thought it would make a ton of sense to talk about how and where you should be investing
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coming in 2018. I'm looking at a few of my investment accounts this morning, and one of
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the things that I've invested in this year is cryptocurrency. As of this recording, Bitcoin is over
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$17,000 right now, but what I want to talk with you about today has nothing to do with
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the financial markets. The only reason I bring that up is because I'm amazed at how often
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people are willing to speculate in something as volatile as cryptocurrency and Bitcoin, and
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yet when you ask how they're investing in themselves, all you hear is crickets. Now, I
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don't know where Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are going to be in the next 12 months or longer.
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Depending on when you're listening to this, it could have skyrocketed even higher or
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completely crashed and burned. But what I do know is that finding a way to invest in
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yourself this year will always, always prove to be a good investment. So today, I thought
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I'd cover six ways you can and you should invest in yourself. Again, this is not going to have
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anything to do with financial markets. I am a financial advisor by trade, but I don't want
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to talk with you about that. I want to talk with you about the best asset that you'll ever
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have, that you'll ever own, and that's yourself. And if that's truly the case, you're going
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to want to invest more heavily in yourself than you have in the past, regardless of what
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you've done up to this point. This year alone, 2017, I will have invested roughly $30,000
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in myself and some of the strategies that I'm going to share with you today. Now, some
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of you may think that's low and some of you may think that's high. Either way, it's all
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relative. The more that you can invest in yourself, the better. In fact, I recommend earmarking
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funds right from your paycheck each and every pay period to invest in yourself. And I recommend
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that be at least 10%. So let's now talk about the six ways to invest in yourself. Number
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one, formal education. Now, if you've been following me for any amount of time, you know
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that I've spoken quite a bit against formal education. I want you to know that I'm not
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against the formal education itself. I'm against wasting money on an education that you don't
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need. So if you're going to school and spending tens, if not hundreds of thousands of dollars
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on a degree that isn't moving the needle in your life, do not invest in a college education.
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It's ridiculous. And it's an incredible waste of time and money. Get out of the real world
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and work or invest in the other five areas that I'm going to be talking with you about
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today, or even consider a trade school that will teach you the skills that are applicable
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to an actual working environment that you might be participating in. Now, if you're on a
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career track that requires a formal education and a degree, by all means, go out, go to college,
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get your degree, but do it as quickly as possible and live in poverty for just a few years until
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you get out into the workforce and get an income. Again, I'm not against formal education
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for the right person. I just want you to call into question whether you actually need it
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or are you doing it because someone told you that's what you should do.
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Next, invest in books. Books are an extremely, extremely inexpensive investment and an ability
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to tap into the greatest minds the world has ever known. I have tens of thousands of dollars
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worth of books on my shelf. I don't care if they're physical, digital, audio, whatever,
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just invest in what other people have to share. The only way to change the output of your life
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is to change the input. And I think the best way to do that is to gain access to what other people
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are thinking and what they're doing. And then of course, read the documentation they have,
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which is the written words. A couple of weeks ago, I did a Friday field notes where I gave you
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five recommendations for books to read in 2018. I'm going to read 50 at least in 2018,
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but I gave you five to get started. You can head to order a man.com slash books 2018 to get those
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recommendations. Now, the third recommendation for you is courses. There is a course on everything
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that you could ever want to learn. Sure. You could tinker and learn on your own and probably save a few
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bucks. But what most people don't ever call into question is the lost opportunity cost of their
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time to learn all of that information. There are sites like greatcourses.com where they house courses
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on everything and anything, or you can even get very specific with an isolated course. It could be
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how to shoot a bow or pick locks, create spreadsheets. Maybe you want to fix your car,
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learn how to speed read anything that you may want to learn about. It's available,
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but just a word of caution on courses. Make sure that you're taking these courses from credible
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sources. You're not going to take a fitness course from someone who's fat. You're not going to take
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a finance course from someone who is broke. So go out there, find credible people, credible experts,
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credible sources. Just make sure you're using discretion. Next events. The more that we dive into the
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digital world of society today, the more physical events are going to be critical. And this one is
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relatively new to me as I considered events, a waste of time just a couple of years ago.
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But what I've realized is that there are some great learning opportunities, events, and even
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more powerful. And I think this is probably the most powerful thing about events are the connections
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that I've made with other people who are willing and able and have a desire to invest in themselves.
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And I think again, that's where the real return is. So go to industry conferences, participate in
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events that are going to physically and mentally challenge you. That could be a Spartan race.
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We've got a three and a half day uprising experience. You can go to order of man.com
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slash uprising on those geek out at comic con or financial bloggers conference, which is fincon for
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short. I probably went to 10 events in 2017. And of course I plan on doing more in 2018. Also, I will
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do a future podcast on how to make the most out of these events. And I'm also going to create a list
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of events that I'm going to be attending in 2018. So hopefully I'll see some of you there.
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A fourth is products. Now the products that I'm talking about are the ones out there that
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are going to enhance your ability to be more effective. I see a lot of guys who will try
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to get by with the cheap stuff or look for the free alternatives to the real deal. And
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so when I'm talking about products, I'm talking about my computer or my podcast microphone,
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my editing software, even my clothes, all of these things when done correctly, enhance the
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quality of my life. And they also enhance the quality of what I'm putting out into the
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world. If you can get by with a free stuff here, by all means do that. But I personally
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am willing to pay a little more for quality on these types of products because I know it
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makes things easier and more effective for me. So don't be cheap on this stuff, guys.
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We don't need to be cheapskates here. Invest in your products wisely. And I think it's going
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And the last category I want to talk with you about today is masterminds, masterminds,
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communities. These are a great way to tap into the power of other people. You're going
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to expose yourself to new opportunities, to new information, a new way of looking at things
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and doing things. Your ideas are even going to be challenged, which I think is beneficial.
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Most masterminds offer also a level of accountability, which is a powerful, powerful strategy to keep
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you on track. I currently invest in three masterminds myself, and there's no doubt in my mind
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that I wouldn't be where I am today without the help of my fellow men and women inside
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these powerful groups of people. Masterminds come in all shapes and sizes. So you'll have
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to experiment. You will have to experiment to see what works for you. I would consider
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starting with the people that you might already be following and see if they have a mastermind
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or a group, or you can even reach out to successful friends and see if they're involved
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in a mastermind that maybe you want to take part in. With that said, guys, I do want to
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share with you a couple of resources that we have available, but let me say this first.
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Obviously, I believe in what we've put together and I think the programs and options that we
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have available will serve you greatly. I wouldn't have put them together if I didn't think that
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was the case, but whether you invest in yourself through what we have to offer or something
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else or a combination of both, I'm more concerned that you invest in something, whatever that
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something is. So first, we've got an event coming up in about a month, January 26th, 27th,
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2018. This is a Nashville. This is an opportunity to rub shoulders exclusively with other men
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who are on a very, very similar path as you. We're going to have four breakout sessions,
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team building and leadership exercises. There's physical activities and an opportunity to connect
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with me and other powerful men. I know you're going to walk away with a ton of value and quite
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honestly, alter the way that you look at your life heading into the new year. You can get registered
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at order of man.com slash Nashville. And then second, we've got our exclusive brotherhood,
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the iron council. Technically, this is not a mastermind because of the size,
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but what a powerful way to tap into 300 other men on your time. We issue challenges,
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monthly assignments, team meetings with 14 other guys. So small teams, more like a true mastermind,
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an additional weekly call. We have a Slack channel that allows you to customize your experience,
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the information, the conversations that you're having and have access to.
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So you can do that and connect with us, lock in your spot at order of man.com
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slash iron council. Again, I'd love to see you in both places. The meetup order of man.com slash
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Nashville and the iron council order of man.com slash iron council. But if you found another
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resource more suited to what you're looking for, great. Do that. I just want you to get in the
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habit of investing a lot of money into yourself. It's the best bet. And I believe it's a sure bet
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every single time. With that said, guys, until next week, take action, make sure that you are
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investing heavily in yourself this year and become the man you are meant to be.
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Thank you for listening to the order of man podcast. You're ready to take charge of your life
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and be more of the man you were meant to be. We invite you to join the order at order of man.com.