3.0: Knowing What Money Actually Is And How It’s made
Below you’ll notice what the website people call an “Accordion“.
It’s basically a toggled block of content that you can’t see until you click on it.
Before you open it I want you to write down your answers to the following two questions.
1: What is money?
2: How is it made?
Once you’ve answered those two questions…
…open the below toggle titled “What Money Actually Is and How It’s Made” and read on.
What Money Actually is and how it's made (Click to Open)
What Money Actually is and how it's made (Click to Open)
I’ve asked the two questions that you…
…just answered to hundreds of people. Some with low incomes, and some with what we’d say are very high incomes,
but none of them get the answer right. The responses almost always have something to do with trading their time for money,
or at best I’ll hear trading value for money, but then when I ask them to define value, they fall short.
If I were to point at a single thing that…
…allowed me to leave the SEAL Teams and a 16-year career in the Navy in 2008 — during one of the worst economies we’ve ever had —
and then never have to apply or interview for a job, and never not make a substantial six-figure-plus income,
while living a life of freedom — it would be the answer to both of those questions.
What is MONEY? — Money is the power, which is having enough time, energy, creativity, and currency to care for the fundamental human parts of life that impact our ability to live what we say is a good life.
How is MONEY made? — Money is made by helping other people care for one, some, or all of the same fundamental human parts of life that we are working to care for ourselves.
For sure I can see how you might think it an…
…oversimplification, but when you focus on those two things, they’ll require you to learn all about what goes into making them true — and how they actually work.
And that will cause you to design, build, deploy, measure, and modify every offer of love and leadership, both personally and professionally, in ways that allow others to live a good and dignified life.
You do that and you’ll be both scarce and in high demand, because there is nothing of greater value than helping others live what they say is a good life.
Just by completing this lesson, you can increase the value of the work you’re already doing simply by being able to communicate its importance more effectively.
But don’t “High Income Earners” know how to make money?
Well, I’d say they are often the furthest away from truly understanding and making it because they confuse currency with money.
Haven’t you noticed how they’re usually the ones chained to their work?
How their bosses, employees, or clients have them by a leash and yank them around in ways that strip them of having control of their own schedule.
Remember. At its core, money is the…
…time, energy, creativity, and currency one needs to harmoniously care for all of the parts of life that make up a good life.
Things like family, fitness, fun, friends, spirituality, and helping others.
So by definition, you can’t truly “make money” by sacrificing or neglecting any of those things.
People confuse large amounts of currency and busyness with power because both make us feel important.
Not because we are important — but because they make us scarce and unavailable.
And since scarcity is a major pillar of value, we think our busy, high-earning selves are valuable even as the life we’re trying to build quietly slips away.
It’s their ability to produce endless…
…currency and endless busyness that blinds them to what money really is.
So wealth is not increased by working harder, hustling, grinding or even taking ice baths everyday.
Wealth is increased and effort is decreased when we focus on helping others care for that which deeply matters to them.
Strategic Writing
When we write, we expand our understanding in ways that produce new thinking—thinking that leads to more powerful distinctions, which allow us to better identify and fulfill the purposes for which we were created.
1: What were your answers to What is money and How is it made.
2: How can the two tactics you completed prior to this (Identifying the parts of life and Calculating the money required) increase the value of the personal and professional offers of help you are already making?
3: How does the work you do help your customers, colleagues, employees, or employers better care for their personal lives?
4: What specific part of their personal life does your work help them with the most?
What is money?
The resource capacity to meet my lifetime purpose and objectives
[_] In your own words describe how “Money” is actually made.
Money is made by trading my skills, time and energy for compensation. The better I develop my compensable skills, manage my time and optimize my energy, the more money I can make.
What is money?
– MONEY is our ability to care for all the parts of life we say are important to live a good life.
How is it made?
– Money is made by providing something of value to another person who is willing to reward you for that value. It comes from helping others care for their needs.
1: How can the two tactics you completed prior to this (Identifying the parts of life and Calculating the money required) increase the value of the personal and professional offers of help you are already making?
– Knowing the parts of life gives me insight into the aspects of life that others also have (even if they are unaware of them) so that I can better understand how I can provide value to them so that they can care for their lives. Calculating the money required gives me insight into the kind of value I need to create through my offers so that I can harmoniously care for the parts of my life.
2: How does the work you do help your customers, colleagues, employees, or employers better care for their personal lives?
– My work helps others care for their personal lives by taking care of important aspects of their professional lives. Those who run businesses employ me to build their products and teams so the business succeeds and they can generate their time, energy, creativity and money to care for the parts of their personal lives.
– My work helps customers engage with community and spend time in nature. It inspires them to work toward a goal of continuous improvement, and to care for their health and fitness.
– Colleagues rely on me to provide a team environment where they can do their best work, continuously grow, collaborate, and solve meaningful problems. They look to me to provide coaching and mentorship to help them grow in their ability to care for the parts of their professional lives.
3: What specific part of their personal life does your work help them with the most?
– There are several parts I think are impacted by my work: community, flow, helping others, operational excellence, friends, adventure (fun)
– I think the one that might be helped the most is operational excellence.
Money is the actual capacity to provide what I say I need
It’s made by increasing my capacity by learning and caring for the parts and purposes of my distinction
Thank you Jason
What is Money?:
1. Money as Capacity
– It’s the power to maintain, protect, and enhance the parts of life you are responsible for.
– This includes aspects such as health, housing, food, relationships, education, caregiving, and retirement.
2. Money as Time-Sensitive
– Strategic Training highlights two crucial timeframes:
– Now — Active working years when income can be generated.
– Old Age (30+ years) — A prolonged period when earning ability may decline or disappear, but life expenses continue.
3. Money as Design Input
– It is not the end goal—it is a means of strategic design. Strategic training uses financial planning not just for budgeting, but for aligning your passions, profession, and purposes.
– Money is a constraint and enabler; shaping what is possible and what must be planned for.
4. Money as Outcome and Feedback
– In training contexts, money can also reflect value creation: what skills, services, or outputs are worth in the economy.
– It signals alignment (or misalignment) between a person’s passion, purpose, and productivity.
How is it made?
Money is made when you strategically convert your passion, knowledge, and ability to care for specific Parts of life, yours or others’, into something that others value enough to pay for.
Test
1: What is money?
Money tells us how much we are valuable for other people. It shows how useful we are, how effectivelly we can react.
2: How is it made?
Money is made by helping people to care for their concerns. These concerns are same or similar to our concerns. Other people are able to care for these concerns by our helping so that they don’t waste their power, but invest it – they get their power back in the same level, or more.
Marie… Consider a minor refinement to “What is Money”. Yes it for sure tells us how valuable we are to other people, but at it’s core it is the power we require to impact change. In our case it’s the time, energy, creativity and currency you require to use your passion to harmoniously fulfill the financial, professional and personal purposes you created for!
Yes, it makes more sence, thank you Eric! Is it possible to say that money express the value of the power (time, energy, creativity, currency) that we need to care for our concerns and fulfill our purposes?
1. My original definitions:
What is money?
Money is a means of exchange and storage of value. We receive money in exchange for providing value to others (taking care of their concerns), and spend it to take care of our concerns.
How is it made?
Money is made by having offers of help accepted by others to take care of their concerns in exchange for money.
2. Identifying the parts of life and calculating the money required to care for them informs how much value we must provide to others to take care of their concerns, helps us craft offers that directly address the customers’ concerns, and enables us to state the value more clearly. Communicating the value more clearly will make the offer more readily accepted.
3. As a B2B service we improved the profitability of companies by making their employees more productive, and increasing customer satisfaction through better interactions with the company. This is done by reducing the time spent looking for information, and recreating it if not found.
4. The specific part of their life it helps most is their career. By choosing and implementing our solution they can achieve a valued accomplishment for their company, improving their career prospects.
Original Response: What is Money – A tool to help exchange your value to others so that your’e Abel to provide for the parts of your life.
Original Response: How is it made? – Be a person that helps others care for the very parts of life of which they want to exchange it for the value you provide.
I now understand in the definition that money is Time, Energy, Creativity and Currency to care for the fundamental human parts of life. Now that I’m starting to understand this, it will help me move into not only knowing the definition of how it’s made but start practicing what’s needed to help others care for their parts of life.
1. What is Money?
Money isn’t just pieces of paper or coins jingling in your pocket—it’s a tool, a resource, and a reflection of how well you’ve learned to serve and create value in the world. It’s the currency of exchange, but also the measure of how well you’ve harnessed your time, your energy, and your creative talents to take care of yourself, your family, and your future.
You see, money isn’t just what you have—it’s what you do with it. It’s the fruit of your labor, the reward for your value, and the foundation for a life of dignity and contribution. It’s what makes sure the bills get paid, the kids are fed, and that you have a little something put away for when the work slows down. And in the end, it’s the scorecard for how you’ve turned your intentions into real, meaningful outcomes.
2. How is Money Made?
Money is made by putting yourself in the marketplace of ideas and service. It’s made by finding out what people need and then bringing that need to them in a way that’s honest, valuable, and true. It’s not about working yourself to the bone—it’s about working smart, finding the leverage points, and making sure every hour of effort counts.
Money comes when you turn your passions and your gifts into something others want to pay for. You make money when you learn how to solve a problem, fill a need, or inspire someone to be better off than they were before they met you. In the end, money is made by helping people do more, be more, and have more—and when you do that well, it comes back to you in full measure.
1: What is money?
I’ve come to see money as the power to care for the parts of life that matter most. Money, in its purest form, isn’t just currency or a number in a bank account—it’s the time, energy, creativity, and resources I can use to live a good life and help others do the same. In my work with chiropractors, money is the foundation that allows me to help them protect their license, stay compliant, and grow a practice that supports their personal and professional purposes.
2: How is money made?
Money is made by helping others care for those same fundamental parts of life. In my Law and Ethics Academy, money is made when I create courses that don’t just tick the box for license renewal, but truly equip chiropractors to lead with integrity and to practice with clarity. Money follows when the courses I create help chiropractors protect what they’ve built, serve their patients better, and become leaders in their own lives and communities.
3: How can identifying the parts of life and calculating the money required increase the value of the personal and professional offers of help I’m already making?
When I sat down and identified all the parts of life that matter—my family, my health, my work, my purpose—I realized that these are the same parts every chiropractor I serve is trying to protect. And by calculating what it takes to care for those parts now and into old age, I learned how to craft my courses to speak directly to those needs.
It’s not just about license renewal—it’s about helping chiropractors secure their future, protect their families, and live a good life. That’s what makes the value of my offers so much higher—because they’re no longer about checking boxes, but about equipping others to care for the parts of life that truly matter.
4: How does the work I do help my customers, colleagues, employees, or employers better care for their personal lives?
The work I do helps chiropractors reclaim a sense of peace and security in their lives. By focusing on clarity in the law and ethics, I help them navigate the complexities of practice without fear of missteps or fines. I help them build a life where they’re not constantly looking over their shoulder—where they can focus on their patients and their families, knowing they’re on solid legal ground.
And beyond that, I offer them a chance to be proud of the work they’re doing—because when you’re in alignment with the law, you’re also in alignment with your own sense of integrity and purpose.
5: What specific part of their personal life does my work help them with the most?
The part of their personal life that my work helps them with the most is their peace of mind. You see, when a chiropractor knows they’re practicing in full compliance with the law, they can stop worrying and start leading. They can put down the stress of uncertainty and pick up the joy of practicing what they love.
My courses don’t just fulfill a requirement—they restore a chiropractor’s confidence in their own ability to lead a good life and help others do the same. That’s the real value I’m bringing to the table—and it’s why I’m so passionate about the work I do.