Planting Money Seeds

Are you actively planting money seeds?  How do you go about planting those money seeds?  In today’s post, I’ll go over my own personal philosophy of income generation.

Table of Contents

• Developing Active Income
• What Are Money Seeds?
• Planting Money Seeds Principles
• MoneyByRamey.com Money Seeds in Action
• Building Money Seeds Is A Mindset
• The Four Step Process to Planting Your Own Money Seeds
• FAQ On Planting Money Seeds

Planting Money Seeds 101

As Financial Freedom Seekers, it must be our goal to plant money seeds on a daily basis.  This means that any chance we get, we want to develop, work, and grow our sources of income.

We can do this through a variety of measures.  Let’s get into the 101 of Planting Money Seeds.

Developing Active Income

First off, maximizing our active income is a must for any would-be Financial Freedom seeker.

Through growing our income sources, we build more capital, and through building more capital, we will have funds available to develop our passive income sources.

Definitions

Before we go any further, let’s define a few of these terms:

Active Income – the work you spend trading hours of your life in earning.

Passive Income – the income you receive while you sleep.  At a basic level, this comes down to your money making money.

Financial Freedom – The state of not being tied down to any one job or income because you have developed your passive income sources, which make money for you.

Building Your Income

While the goal is to be building our passive income portfolios as much as possible, we cannot do this without earning active income with which to invest.

Unless we receive a large inheritance very early on in life, all of us will be in a position where we work for a period of time in order to build our active income.

Through this active income generation, we hope to earn more and more money, which we can use to invest in vehicles that make money for us.

A few examples of these passive income generation machines are dividend stocks, real estate, a business that sustains itself, etc. The list can go on and is only limited by our imagination.

But how do we get to the point of having our money working for us?  Enter the concept of planting money seeds.

What Are Money Seeds?

A personal motto that I have adopted in my own life is that I plant money seeds on a daily basis.

What in the heck are Money Seeds???  Time for an explanation.

As the name alludes to, Money Seeds are those money ideas that are born but not yet grown to fruition.  They are ideas that we are beginning to work on, that we have planted into the ground, and that with good water, care, and a bit of time, will eventually sprout and be ‘money trees.’

I find that in developing my journey to active income, this gamification tool has really helped me see money for what it is; something that the world offers me in turn for my solid efforts of energy.

Before adopting the money seeds mindset, I found that I struggled to convert my ideas into actual income.  There were some blockages in my mind around active income creation.

This might come as a surprise, but I am not really motivated by money. Granted, I do like to maximize my active income and earn more and more.  But I find that when I take on a project, it is not the money that keeps me in a position or gig.

What I am motivated by is the potential behind what that money can represent.  For me, this positive end goal has become Financial Freedom through entrepreneurial ventures.  Money then becomes a means to the end.

So each time I earn income, whether it be through a consulting gig or a steady paycheck, I am on becoming closer and closer to the Financial Freedom which I seek.

Example Forms of Money Seeds:

• Applying for new jobs
• Calling on clients for a consulting gig
• Running a blog
• Investing in Stocks
• Writing a Book

I find that through gamification – i.e. making more calls, applying to more jobs, writing more articles, etc., I see that I am actively planting money seeds.  Those money seeds might not yet be sprouting above ground, but the roots are being laid.

The list could go on and on.  The point is to get creative with your ideas and get planting!

Planting Money Seeds Principles

#1 – Money Seeds Can Take Time to Grow

Keep in mind that true money seeds can take time to grow.  Just like a plant, or a tree, once planted in the ground, the seeds are well on their way to being developed.

But it is here that we must have patience and the ability to see that the process through.

A money tree planted in the fall might not yield until the spring or summer time.  This is normal and a natural part of the process.

Remember that you are a farmer of an investing kind.

#2 – Money Seeds can Grow into Money Bushes, Trees, Forests, etc.  

What are the greatest things about planting money is that they can grow as big as you want. What starts as a small idea in someone’s mind can turn into a self-sustaining side hustle or business. This is a truly amazing part about money seeds; with hard work and perseverance, they often outgrow the original intent.

Take a look at any successful business today.  Those all started out as money seeds in someone’s mind.  What perhaps began as a hobby or passion, turned into Coke, Nike, or any other top product you see on the market.

The idea is to start small and build day-by-day.

#3 – Money Seeds Come In All Shapes and Sizes

Money seeds are not limited by ideas or persons.  No matter who you are, not matter what your idea, there could be a market.  This is the beautiful thing about planting money seeds; there are no limitations on what you can do.

Quick caveat: your idea has to be viable and executable.  If no one is willing to pay you for your service, or if you want to begin teleporting people around space without the technology in place, then I would say you do not have a money seed, but rather a dream.

With that being said, all ideas begin from vast dreams, so I say dream away.  The idea in this step is not to limit yourself by any rationality but to take those dreams in your mind and begin to build a prototype.

#4 – Money Seeds Can Be Planted By Anyone

Money seeds can be planted by anyone at any time!  The first key is to believe that you can build your income, and that the money seeds you are planting will come to fruition at a future point.

The hardest part about planting these money seeds is in waiting for the dream to become reality.  I have had some money ideas in the works that took months to convert into an executable income.

During those time periods, it was very challenging to keep the faith in that the path I was traveling was the right one.  It is difficult to build towards something without knowing if it will come to fruition.

For me, beginning this blog and writing Simple Budgeting have been forms of planting money seeds.  I put them in the ground, watered with care, and trusted the seeds would take.

While these seeds are still growing and maturing, I can see that the effort is worth the reward.  However, it has not always been easy to hold faith.  While writing without publishing, I receive $0 for my efforts.  Therefore I must have faith that it will all work out in the end.

I can tell you as someone who has planted money seeds and is on the other side of beginning to reap the rewards, the money seeds will grow if you water and take care of those seeds.

I firmly believe that anyone can follow the same path.  However, you must build the proper mentality in order to reap the rewards that comes from planting money seeds.

#5 – Building Money Seeds Is A Mindset

This brings us to our last point; building money seeds is a mindset.  It cannot be something that you execute without believing. You must adopt the ‘hustle’ attitude towards each potential contact, email, or encounter with the idea that you are planting, then watering, that money seed.

This is where I believe too many people lose faith in the process, myself included at times.  It is  very challenging to begin the course of planting money seeds. By doing so, you are putting yourself and your idea out there, and I can guarantee you will experience some rejection in the process.

In fact, it is very common in business to have a lower conversion rate on lead generation efforts.  Often times, it is not because of anything you have done, but rather that is just how the market works.  Perhaps the competitor offered something you could not, or they had a lower price, or you just weren’t a match with that particular client.

Getting used this rejection is of pinnacle importance to anyone looking to plant money seeds.  Whether you are job seeking or building a business, you will be hearing “no” at certain times. Understanding and appreciating that this is a necessary part of the process is something you will need to get comfortable with in your journey towards building your income.

Simply put, you have to believe, then put into practice radical action, in your path towards planting and building your money seeds.

MoneyByRamey.com Money Seeds in Action

In my own life, I have planted many money seeds.  Some are short-term, some are medium-term, while others have a long-term horizon.

Often times the process of watching money seeds grow can be filled with ups, downs, and everything in between.  The path resembles more of a ‘zig and zag’ pathway and is rarely linear in nature.

The thing that I really like about adopting the money seeds mindset is that it helps me correlate each action with the end result.

By envisioning the process of planting a seed and then letting it grow, I am more connected with the process of building my income, one day at a time.

Here are some of the money seeds I have recently planted:

Dividend Stocks

Developing and instituting my dividend investing strategy is one of the best forms planting money seeds that I know of.  I am taking my hard-earned active income, and putting that cash into investments which earn money while I sleep.  This is the essential dream of Financial Freedom.

Dividend investing is the slow and steady pathway forward, one in which it behooves an investor to take a patient approach and see the steady progress being made.  While it is simple in principle, it is very challenging in execution.

It requires the perseverance discussed above and the tenacity to stick with the plan, even when the inevitable challenges arise.

I am currently offering a live-tracking of my dividend portfolio. I just crossed the threshold of $4,000+/yr. in dividend income.  This might not seem like much, but keep in mind this income is entirely passive in nature.

I update my dividend portfolio quite frequently, and I am working on writing a book on my dividend investing strategy.  If you’d like to stay updated on the process, be sure to sign up for our Live Free and Div Hard email list!

Consulting

I run a company, Ramey Consulting, LLC, where I look to bring my working experience and IT/Finance skills to Small and Medium sized businesses.  I started the venture in May 2018, when I resigned from my full time job at a commodity trading firm.

Since my value point for doing work is rather high and my skill sets very specialized, the consistency of work is not always readily available.  The goal then, is to keep a steady flow of contracts on the books so that I am consistently busy.

This has been a challenging but fun endeavor, because the new skills set that I need to learn is one of lead generation and a consistently full pool of companies looking to hire for my skill set.

I recently began a project with a large, privately-held company to help them clean up their finance books.  It is a fun project with a great company. However, the contract runs until August 2019, so my goal will be to begin the process of lining up another consulting gig beyond that time period.

When reaching out to new, potential contacts, I am seeing the idea of planting money seeds at work.  Not every seed will be able to grow, but I am confident that some will take and I will have good, steady income moving forward.

MoneyByRamey.com

I see my blog, MoneyByRamey.com, to the be ultimate long-term money seed.  It is a site that combines my passion points: writing and finance, into a place where I can write for my readers.

Thus far, I have loved every minute of it and been paid little for my efforts.  It does not matter to me though, as I really enjoy what I’m doing and want to turn this into a full time gig.

I see each post that I write as a form of money seed – a thing that will help lend credence to my site and help drive traffic, which will increase my revenues.

It is quite the journey which requires ultimate perseverance, and thus far it has been wildly entertaining to undertake this path.

Website Design

Through my Ramey Consulting business, I have been building out websites for clients.  This has been a great boon to my active income and thus far I have really enjoyed building out sites.

When I was in high school, I dabbled in learning html and could spend all afternoon building out a site.  Now here I am, some 15-20 years later, offering this service as a venture towards earning income, with the idea towards building a business out of it.

The hardest part about this foray into the world of website development has been to find clients.  While challenging, I am taking pride in learning the ins and outs of networking, advertising, and developing a lead system.

With each new client that I meet with, my goal is to understand their service and to give them the utmost possible.  This mindset has served me well. Often times, going from meeting with the prospect to converting them into a client is a long process, sometimes months in the making.

I am meeting with two prospects at the moment who are both in the infancy phases of their businesses.  This means that they are not quite ready for a website build out, but are getting towards that stage.

They are both 40-60 days out from a website build, and my goal is to be their partner in understanding their online marketing and website strategy.  Many things could happen up until then: they might say no, they might go with someone else, they might decide a website isn’t important at this stage in their business process.

The jist of it is that each time I interact with them, I am keeping the idea alive that I am actively planting money seeds that will one day grow roots and build into income.  This helps me keep the end goal in mind.

Simple Budgeting

I love to write.  This website is sheer joy for me, as it helps me channel my writing tendencies into actionable efforts.

A life goal of mine is to write at least one book/yr.  This is audacious and bold, but that is how I like to set my goals.

In writing Simple Budgeting; A Minimalist Guide to Setting Up Your First Budget, I was well aware that I was laying the groundwork for what is to come, not necessarily what is.

I believe that in writing this book, I needed to have the ultimate planting mindset available.  To write something, without knowing whether or not it will pay off in the end, is one of the toughest things to do.

There is the writing, then the editing, then the formatting, then the publishing, then the marketing, etc.  It is a long and tedious process, but in keeping the planting money seeds mindset in full view, I am keeping the fullness of the end goal in mind.  This helps me to continue focusing me efforts outward towards that which I wish to accomplish.

The Four Step Process to Planting Your Own Money Seeds

You can and should plant your own money seeds on a daily basis.  It may take a while for them to grow, but the efforts you put forth will be well worth the rewards.

Think about money seeds as you would think about planting a flower or a tree.  Generally speaking, the bigger the money seed dream, the longer it will take to grow.

While a flower, which happens to be very beautiful, will take perhaps a few days or weeks to grow to full size, an oak tree – equally as beautiful – will take many years before it comes to full fruition.

The idea is the same: work on planting many small ‘flower’ money seeds or a few large ‘tree’ money seeds.

So how do we plant these money seeds?

Step #1: Dream

The first step is always to dream.  Any idea begins with an awestruck dreamer who thinks beyond his or her current circumstances into what can be.

What have you always wanted to do?  Where do you envision your life heading?  Take a moment to really dream where your life can head.

Step #2: Plan

As much as I love dreaming, ideas will never become reality without action.  The next step after we dream is to begin planning for our ideas.

We look to answer questions such as:

• How do I achieve my dream?
• What is the time frame to my dream coming to fruition?
• How long will it take to achieve my dream?
• Who do I need to recruit to help me in achieving my dream?

Asking and answering these questions will help you become closer to taking those seemingly faraway dreams and turn them into reality.

Step #3: Begin

Once you have a plan in place, the last and most vital step is to begin.  This means taking radical action on a daily basis, no matter what fears may arise.

I feel like many people stop at this step.  Sure they might dream and make a good plan, but when it comes to doing the hard, gritty work needed to take a plan and execute it, they will become distracted by the next shiny thing.

I do not write this to judge as I struggle with doing the action at many times as well.  Rather I type this to recognize the block that many of us find the need to overcome to achieve our life visions.

Step #4: Grow

The last step is to embrace the journey ahead of us and grow every step of the way.  Money seeds can take many months or years to bear fruit. Do we wait until they begin to flower to embrace happiness or do we see the best around us in the moment?

Whether our money seeds take root is beside the point; the main goal of our life path is to understand and see the lessons being revealed to us on a daily basis.  Just like we hope our money seeds grow, we too must grow as individuals in each of our circumstances.

FAQ On Planting Money Seeds

“I am employed, can I still plant money seeds?”

YES!  It doesn’t matter what you do or who you are –  you are capable of planting money seeds today. Even if you do not consider yourself an ‘entrepreneur’, you can begin to see your daily job hunting as your ‘planting’ money seeds.

Each job that you apply for is your ‘money seed’ in action.  Some will never take root, some will grow for a time and fade away.  Yet others will find fertile soil and grow tall, wide, and fruitful. Begin planting today!

“I do not want to change jobs or start a business.  How do I plant money seeds?”

In your circumstance, I would encourage you to begin gamifying your daily income.  Do you earn a salary? Then begin to break out that salary each day that you work. See each day as a set number that you earn to begin correlating your work efforts with income.

Once you begin doing this, then you can begin to maximize your profit.  Begin to play games such as:

• How much profit can I make today?
• Can I make this a $0 expense day?
• Can I make an extra $5 today?
• Where can I grow my income?

By engaging in these efforts, you can begin to see your income not just as an arbitrary daily figure but as something that you are earning and hustling towards on a daily basis.

Plant Your Money Seeds Today!

In closing, plant your money seeds today as there is no time to waste.  Here is one of my all-time favorite quotes:

“The great French Marshall Lyautey once asked his gardener to plant a tree. The gardner objected that the tree was slow growing and wouldn’t reach maturity for 100 years. The Marshall replied, “In that case, there is no time to lose; plant it this afternoon!”

― John F. Kennedy

What money seeds are you planting today?  Do you have a side hustle that is growing?

Get the conversation started by commenting below!

Disclaimer:

(1) All the information above is not a recommendation for or against any investment vehicle or money management strategy. It should not be construed as advice and each individual that invests needs to take up any decision with the utmost care and diligence. Please seek the advice of a competent business professional before making any financial decision.

(2) This website may contain affiliate links. My goal is to continue to provide you free content and to do so, I may market affiliates from time-to-time. I would appreciate you supporting the sponsors of MoneyByRamey.com as they keep me in business!