Hi gorgeous, I'm Denise Duffield-Thomas, money mindset mentor, author and founder of The Money Bootcamp. As you might know, I teach money mindset and clearing your money blocks so you can live a first class life.

Today I’m sharing another one of my key Chillpreneur Millionaire mindset lessons.

Becoming a millionaire doesn’t really make you special or clever, but the truth is that my biggest secret for becoming one is focusing on some very specific mindset upgrades.

So here’s today's lesson… There Are Easier Ways To Make Money

When I was a teenager, I heard about a nationwide competition to win a new car. The catch was that you had to live in it with four other people. The person who stayed in the car the longest got to keep it. You got a bathroom break every two hours and could order any fast food you wanted, but all the rubbish had to stay in the car, and you had to sleep in it. No showers either. You stayed in it until you couldn’t handle it anymore.

The car visited my local shopping mall as part of the promotion. It was before reality shows became a big thing on TV, so I was excited to check it out.

By then, the contest had been going on for two weeks already, and they were down to four determined (and very smelly) contestants.

People lined up to take turns gawking in the window at these poor people who were sitting in their own filth wanting to win the car.

I think about that competition often because, first of all, who wants a car after it’s been lived in like that, and second, there are easier ways to get a new car. Just buy one!

Because I teach manifestation, often people ask me how they can win a competition to go on holidays or win a house through a raffle and I think – just work on your business and buy what you want.

That counts too! You don’t always have to win things.

Seth Godin famously said, “When in doubt, raise money from your customers by selling them something they truly need – your product.”

So - I'm telling you - if there's something you want... Go get more clients and buy what you want.

Now that sounds easier said than done - but there are ALWAYS more clients out there for you.

And - There are easier ways to make money.

I say this all the time when I find myself doing the opposite: overcomplicating things, pursuing an idea that’s not exactly in my zone of genius, or otherwise making things harder for myself. Maybe you do the same.

In the pursuit of the entrepreneurial dream, we often take the hardest route. That’s why a lot of my early businesses failed—not because the ideas weren’t good, but because they felt hard for me, and I just wanted the outcome (the money). I didn’t care about the business at all.

And sometimes, I pursued a good idea that wasn’t really a natural fit for me.

For example, I almost started a business about toilet hooks. Years ago, when I was still desperately looking for my “thing” (otherwise known as a calling or purpose), I read a book that said, “Solve a problem that you’re passionate about.”

I was passionate about a lot of things, but want to know what was really pissing me off at the time? The lack of hooks in public bathroom stalls. Every time I went into a public restroom, I’d get frazzled about where to put my giant coat, hat, scarf, and gloves (I lived in London at the time and wore lots of layers), not to mention the enormous bag that I carried around.

I read a study at the time about how dirty people’s purses were. Of the 145 purses that researchers swabbed, 138 were contaminated with bacteria such as strep and E coli. Why? Because their owners put them on restroom and other floors (eew), which spread disease in homes and corporate workplaces.

Wow, I thought. This is my cause! It seemed perfect for my pedantic, Virgo, fastidious ways. Plus, complaining seemed to channel my energy into changing things for the better.

So, to market my new “toilet hook” business, I thought I’d start with a name-and-shame letter campaign to businesses, and then progress to an app where I’d have a map of all the “Denise-approved” restrooms where adequate hooks were provided.

Women would thank me in droves. Fewer employees would be calling in sick. Productivity would improve. It was life-changing stuff! I was outraged about this issue. Outraged!

I had no idea how to monetize it (that didn’t seem to matter), but it was obviously something that was needed in the world, and I was the girl to do it. So, I enthusiastically told a friend about the idea. He listened to my entire rant (The germs! The inconsideration!), and when I finished, he calmly said, “Why don’t you carry around a bag of stick-on hooks, and when you’re in a bathroom without one, just stick one on.”

Mind blown. It was just so … Zen. In an instant, this guy wiped my “brilliant business idea” off the map. I sat looking at him dumbfounded. “But what am I supposed to do with my life?” I asked.

I seriously thought that my entrepreneurial dreams were dead. “Denise, you’re a storyteller,” he said. “Tell stories.”

So that’s what I do. I tell stories on my blog. I speak on stages. I write books. I basically make a living by telling random stories and inspiring women to create the life they want. It’s so much easier than being the “Toilet Hook Queen.”

I’m so grateful to him. Because, instead of rolling his eyes at my dumb business idea, he could see that underneath my “toilet problem” was a real desire to change the world.

It was such a relief to hear that I didn’t have to solve everything and that my real gift was telling stories and inspiring others to find their passion. It was a massive weight off my shoulders.

I thought aligning myself with a simple, annoying problem would be great. But it was the wrong problem. It’s so tempting to try and solve all the problems you encounter and to turn every emerging passion into a business!

At networking events, people sometimes tell me about their latest business idea, and I just want to interrupt and say “Honey, that sounds way too hard. There are easier ways to make money!”

Maybe you’re overcomplicating things; maybe you’re going into the wrong industry, trying to help the wrong people, or pursuing a business that’s simply the wrong fit for your skills and talents. There is a path of least resistance; you just have to find it.

Just remember: You don’t have to pursue random business ideas. You don’t have to buy all the catchy domain names. It’s okay to just let hobbies be hobbies (in fact, turning a hobby into a business can take the joy right out of it).

You can be an activist for change without turning your activism into a business.

If you don’t solve a problem, don’t worry, someone else will—you can count on it.

Other people created products like Loo Hooks, Hero Clips, and Bagnets to deal with the toilet hook problem. Thanks to them, I’m not trapped talking about toilet hooks for the rest of my life.

You’ll have to learn this lesson over and over.

When I first had a baby, I got pissed all over again that there aren’t enough baby changing facilities in the world, and airport restrooms were obviously designed by men who had never seen—let alone changed—a baby, but again: not my fight. Not my calling and definitely not my business! There are easier ways to make money!

Deciding not to pursue an idea doesn’t mean it isn’t important to you. You can: Care about something deeply, sign a petition, or make a donation, but not make it your business. Contribute toward someone else’s crowd-funding campaign without making it your business. Write a letter to your local newspaper, but not make it your business. Have a really fantastic business idea without making it your business

Saying no to a good idea is a hard lesson to learn, but if you don’t, you can’t focus on your real purpose.

I wasn’t put on this Earth to revolutionize toilet hooks.

There are easier ways to make money than to: Follow a path that’s not yours

Work with people you can’t really help, even though you think you should
Solve a problem that someone else can solve

There are easier ways to make money. If you want to hear more, pick up my book Chillpreneur from any good bookshop.

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