Order of Man - FFN 088： The Best Investment You Can Make

00:00:00.000 You're a man of action. You live life to the fullest. Embrace your fears and boldly chart

00:00:05.000 your own path. When life knocks you down, you get back up one more time. Every time.

00:00:10.440 You are not easily deterred or defeated. Rugged. Resilient. Strong. This is your life. This is who

00:00:17.240 you are. This is who you will become. At the end of the day, and after all is said and done,

00:00:22.800 you can call yourself a man. Gentlemen, what is going on today? My name is Ryan Michler,

00:00:27.480 and I am the host and the founder of this podcast, The Order of Man. I want to welcome

00:00:31.540 you to the show and thank you for tuning in and showing up the way that you show up in

00:00:35.480 your life as a father, a husband, a business owner, a community leader, just a man in general.

00:00:40.820 Now, guys, just a quick ask, if you would, please, if you have not done so already, please

00:00:44.420 leave us an iTunes rating and review. This goes such a long way in helping us promote the

00:00:49.180 podcast and, of course, spread the mission of The Order. It will only take a couple of

00:00:53.940 minutes, and I would really, really appreciate that. We're just under 700 reviews right now,

00:00:58.640 and I think that we can hit 1,000 reviews relatively quickly if you'd be willing to

00:01:02.560 do that. So I thank you in advance for that. Also, make sure that you share this show with

00:01:06.560 a friend who needs to hear the message behind what we're doing here and the call for men

00:01:10.240 to step up more fully as men in their lives. We are literally going to change the world,

00:01:15.280 but we need to get this message out. Now, I'm not going to share with you any announcements

00:01:18.840 like I normally would right now. I am going to save those for the end of the show

00:01:22.360 because it will tie in nicely with what I want to talk with you about today, which is

00:01:26.500 the greatest investment that you can make. We are on the heels of Christmas, and if you're

00:01:30.820 listening to this the day it's being released, New Year's is just around the corner, and I

00:01:34.640 thought it would make a ton of sense to talk about how and where you should be investing

00:01:39.220 coming in 2018. I'm looking at a few of my investment accounts this morning, and one of

00:01:45.160 the things that I've invested in this year is cryptocurrency. As of this recording, Bitcoin is over

00:01:50.720 $17,000 right now, but what I want to talk with you about today has nothing to do with

00:01:56.200 the financial markets. The only reason I bring that up is because I'm amazed at how often

00:02:00.400 people are willing to speculate in something as volatile as cryptocurrency and Bitcoin, and

00:02:05.720 yet when you ask how they're investing in themselves, all you hear is crickets. Now, I

00:02:11.260 don't know where Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are going to be in the next 12 months or longer.

00:02:15.900 Depending on when you're listening to this, it could have skyrocketed even higher or

00:02:19.100 completely crashed and burned. But what I do know is that finding a way to invest in

00:02:24.260 yourself this year will always, always prove to be a good investment. So today, I thought

00:02:30.220 I'd cover six ways you can and you should invest in yourself. Again, this is not going to have

00:02:35.200 anything to do with financial markets. I am a financial advisor by trade, but I don't want

00:02:39.480 to talk with you about that. I want to talk with you about the best asset that you'll ever

00:02:44.020 have, that you'll ever own, and that's yourself. And if that's truly the case, you're going

00:02:48.300 to want to invest more heavily in yourself than you have in the past, regardless of what

00:02:52.880 you've done up to this point. This year alone, 2017, I will have invested roughly $30,000

00:02:57.980 in myself and some of the strategies that I'm going to share with you today. Now, some

00:03:01.280 of you may think that's low and some of you may think that's high. Either way, it's all

00:03:05.940 relative. The more that you can invest in yourself, the better. In fact, I recommend earmarking

00:03:10.740 funds right from your paycheck each and every pay period to invest in yourself. And I recommend

00:03:16.360 that be at least 10%. So let's now talk about the six ways to invest in yourself. Number

00:03:23.260 one, formal education. Now, if you've been following me for any amount of time, you know

00:03:27.780 that I've spoken quite a bit against formal education. I want you to know that I'm not

00:03:33.080 against the formal education itself. I'm against wasting money on an education that you don't

00:03:39.060 need. So if you're going to school and spending tens, if not hundreds of thousands of dollars

00:03:43.540 on a degree that isn't moving the needle in your life, do not invest in a college education. 0.96

00:03:48.500 It's ridiculous. And it's an incredible waste of time and money. Get out of the real world 0.95

00:03:53.180 and work or invest in the other five areas that I'm going to be talking with you about

00:03:57.300 today, or even consider a trade school that will teach you the skills that are applicable

00:04:01.380 to an actual working environment that you might be participating in. Now, if you're on a

00:04:06.380 career track that requires a formal education and a degree, by all means, go out, go to college,

00:04:12.320 get your degree, but do it as quickly as possible and live in poverty for just a few years until

00:04:18.520 you get out into the workforce and get an income. Again, I'm not against formal education

00:04:22.420 for the right person. I just want you to call into question whether you actually need it

00:04:27.720 or are you doing it because someone told you that's what you should do.

00:04:32.360 Next, invest in books. Books are an extremely, extremely inexpensive investment and an ability

00:04:38.360 to tap into the greatest minds the world has ever known. I have tens of thousands of dollars

00:04:42.980 worth of books on my shelf. I don't care if they're physical, digital, audio, whatever,

00:04:48.060 just invest in what other people have to share. The only way to change the output of your life

00:04:53.600 is to change the input. And I think the best way to do that is to gain access to what other people

00:04:58.720 are thinking and what they're doing. And then of course, read the documentation they have,

00:05:03.440 which is the written words. A couple of weeks ago, I did a Friday field notes where I gave you

00:05:08.560 five recommendations for books to read in 2018. I'm going to read 50 at least in 2018,

00:05:14.180 but I gave you five to get started. You can head to order a man.com slash books 2018 to get those

00:05:20.540 recommendations. Now, the third recommendation for you is courses. There is a course on everything

00:05:26.980 that you could ever want to learn. Sure. You could tinker and learn on your own and probably save a few

00:05:32.820 bucks. But what most people don't ever call into question is the lost opportunity cost of their

00:05:39.120 time to learn all of that information. There are sites like greatcourses.com where they house courses

00:05:46.440 on everything and anything, or you can even get very specific with an isolated course. It could be

00:05:51.480 how to shoot a bow or pick locks, create spreadsheets. Maybe you want to fix your car,

00:05:57.560 learn how to speed read anything that you may want to learn about. It's available,

00:06:01.320 but just a word of caution on courses. Make sure that you're taking these courses from credible

00:06:06.420 sources. You're not going to take a fitness course from someone who's fat. You're not going to take

00:06:11.520 a finance course from someone who is broke. So go out there, find credible people, credible experts,

00:06:17.180 credible sources. Just make sure you're using discretion. Next events. The more that we dive into the

00:06:23.520 digital world of society today, the more physical events are going to be critical. And this one is

00:06:29.200 relatively new to me as I considered events, a waste of time just a couple of years ago.

00:06:33.980 But what I've realized is that there are some great learning opportunities, events, and even

00:06:38.220 more powerful. And I think this is probably the most powerful thing about events are the connections

00:06:42.700 that I've made with other people who are willing and able and have a desire to invest in themselves.

00:06:48.500 And I think again, that's where the real return is. So go to industry conferences, participate in

00:06:53.860 events that are going to physically and mentally challenge you. That could be a Spartan race.

00:06:57.200 We've got a three and a half day uprising experience. You can go to order of man.com

00:07:01.420 slash uprising on those geek out at comic con or financial bloggers conference, which is fincon for

00:07:07.780 short. I probably went to 10 events in 2017. And of course I plan on doing more in 2018. Also, I will

00:07:14.200 do a future podcast on how to make the most out of these events. And I'm also going to create a list

00:07:19.640 of events that I'm going to be attending in 2018. So hopefully I'll see some of you there.

00:07:23.500 A fourth is products. Now the products that I'm talking about are the ones out there that

00:07:28.820 are going to enhance your ability to be more effective. I see a lot of guys who will try

00:07:32.340 to get by with the cheap stuff or look for the free alternatives to the real deal. And

00:07:37.000 so when I'm talking about products, I'm talking about my computer or my podcast microphone,

00:07:43.180 my editing software, even my clothes, all of these things when done correctly, enhance the

00:07:48.360 quality of my life. And they also enhance the quality of what I'm putting out into the

00:07:52.540 world. If you can get by with a free stuff here, by all means do that. But I personally

00:07:57.740 am willing to pay a little more for quality on these types of products because I know it

00:08:02.720 makes things easier and more effective for me. So don't be cheap on this stuff, guys.

00:08:07.400 We don't need to be cheapskates here. Invest in your products wisely. And I think it's going

00:08:12.080 to make a world of difference.

00:08:13.020 And the last category I want to talk with you about today is masterminds, masterminds,

00:08:18.140 communities. These are a great way to tap into the power of other people. You're going

00:08:22.400 to expose yourself to new opportunities, to new information, a new way of looking at things

00:08:26.360 and doing things. Your ideas are even going to be challenged, which I think is beneficial.

00:08:30.760 Most masterminds offer also a level of accountability, which is a powerful, powerful strategy to keep

00:08:36.240 you on track. I currently invest in three masterminds myself, and there's no doubt in my mind

00:08:42.540 that I wouldn't be where I am today without the help of my fellow men and women inside

00:08:48.020 these powerful groups of people. Masterminds come in all shapes and sizes. So you'll have

00:08:52.500 to experiment. You will have to experiment to see what works for you. I would consider

00:08:56.300 starting with the people that you might already be following and see if they have a mastermind

00:08:59.840 or a group, or you can even reach out to successful friends and see if they're involved

00:09:04.000 in a mastermind that maybe you want to take part in. With that said, guys, I do want to

00:09:07.880 share with you a couple of resources that we have available, but let me say this first.

00:09:11.100 Obviously, I believe in what we've put together and I think the programs and options that we

00:09:15.300 have available will serve you greatly. I wouldn't have put them together if I didn't think that

00:09:19.420 was the case, but whether you invest in yourself through what we have to offer or something

00:09:23.580 else or a combination of both, I'm more concerned that you invest in something, whatever that

00:09:29.360 something is. So first, we've got an event coming up in about a month, January 26th, 27th,

00:09:35.060 2018. This is a Nashville. This is an opportunity to rub shoulders exclusively with other men

00:09:40.460 who are on a very, very similar path as you. We're going to have four breakout sessions,

00:09:45.200 team building and leadership exercises. There's physical activities and an opportunity to connect

00:09:50.020 with me and other powerful men. I know you're going to walk away with a ton of value and quite

00:09:54.200 honestly, alter the way that you look at your life heading into the new year. You can get registered

00:09:58.440 at order of man.com slash Nashville. And then second, we've got our exclusive brotherhood,

00:10:02.740 the iron council. Technically, this is not a mastermind because of the size,

00:10:06.000 but what a powerful way to tap into 300 other men on your time. We issue challenges,

00:10:13.380 monthly assignments, team meetings with 14 other guys. So small teams, more like a true mastermind,

00:10:19.400 an additional weekly call. We have a Slack channel that allows you to customize your experience,

00:10:23.660 the information, the conversations that you're having and have access to.

00:10:26.560 So you can do that and connect with us, lock in your spot at order of man.com

00:10:30.440 slash iron council. Again, I'd love to see you in both places. The meetup order of man.com slash

00:10:35.140 Nashville and the iron council order of man.com slash iron council. But if you found another

00:10:40.080 resource more suited to what you're looking for, great. Do that. I just want you to get in the

00:10:45.020 habit of investing a lot of money into yourself. It's the best bet. And I believe it's a sure bet

00:10:51.100 every single time. With that said, guys, until next week, take action, make sure that you are

00:10:56.540 investing heavily in yourself this year and become the man you are meant to be.

00:11:01.840 Thank you for listening to the order of man podcast. You're ready to take charge of your life

00:11:06.460 and be more of the man you were meant to be. We invite you to join the order at order of man.com.

Order of Man - December 29, 2017

FFN 088： The Best Investment You Can Make

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