I once heard Steve Harvey say, “Never worry about another mans pockets!”.
This phrase means that you should never be concerned about what someone else makes financially. The whole concept of pockets is interesting, because you can have big pockets, small pockets, or even pockets that have holes in them. You can never really tell what might be in someones pockets.
In life we are so driven by money. We are driven by material things. Before we go any further, I think material things are good, but limited good. They don’t equal depth and fulfillment and often leave us without purpose, but they can help us with the things we wish to do, learn, and experience on this earth. Money is a tool.
In the music industry it’s really hard to not compare yourself to others. Everyday it seems like someone is buying the latest piece of gear or upgrading their life and it can make you feel like your missing out, falling behind or that there’s something wrong with you. In reality, you have no idea how much money someone might have or how they acquired it. You don’t have a clue what their pockets look like.
I know lots of people who are crazy in debt but appear to have large pockets.
I know lots of people who make lots of money but also spend lots of money, so at the end of the day they really make next to nothing.
I know lots of people who appear to have nothing, but are actually wealthy.
And at the end of the day none of this matters because we should never be concerned about another mans pockets.
Money never equals happiness. Money does not equal success. Money does not equal contentment or peace.
There is a trend of entrepreneurship in the music industry. If you go on any social media platform, you can find endless amounts of “influencers”, “e-course creators”, and the list goes on and on. Often their number one pitch is, “I made lots of money one year and ill give you the secret on how I did it”. Then from there you pay them money to get information that really isn’t new or unique. Most of it isn’t helpful, because there is no depth in making “lots of money” for one year. It’s really not a unique story. People make money everyday.
Just because someone made a lot of money one year, doesn’t mean they have profit. This is the kicker. You can make $100,000, but also spend $60,000 of it. On paper you made a lot of money, but your expenses brought you down to $40,000 profit. Someone who makes $60,000 a year and only spends $10,000 a year will profit $50,000 for the year. That person technically made more then the guy who made six figures, but this is a story that is often untold.
This is where pockets become misleading. Someone could have big pockets but they are never full.
You will find an unlimited amount of people who can show you they made “lots of money”, but they rarely will show you their expenses for that year as that would make them “less successful”. Making money and having profit are two different things.
A lesson to learn from this, is to never care about what someone actually makes. It’s irrelevant and a moving target. You have to stay in your own lane and figure out what works for you. What do you want to do in life? Figure that out and then figure out what it takes to do that. This is a great place to start when your trying to figure out how much you need to make to do what you want to do.
I am not against money. I enjoy money. I like making money, but I am fully aware that there has to be more in your life that motivates you beyond money. As someone who has built a business that made next to no money and now makes money, I can assure you that once you hit your financial goals or fill your pockets, you hit an interesting place that goes, “now what?”.
What do you do after you make the money? It’s a great question that no one really asks.
If you work long enough and put out a decent product, the money takes care of itself. This is hard to understand when you have not reached your goal yet, but many people do reach their goal and then you have to figure out, what are you actually going to do with your life?
This is when you can decide what kind of pockets you want to have. You get to choose. Do you want to save your money, spend it, give it, create with it? There really is no correct answer as money is apart of the flow of everything. We work, we make money, we spend it, and on and on it goes.
One final thing about pockets and money….. You’re always in charge of your pockets. Very rarely does anyone force anyone to spend money, make money, buy things, or go into debt. We choose to do these things.
We always have a choice to buy or not buy. To save and pay for things or to go into debt in hopes to pay it off. I am not here to push you one way or another, but so many people feel like money controls them when in reality it only does when we give up our power. All of us start with a balance of zero. All of us start with empty pockets. You get to decide what you want to do with those pockets.
Take time this week to figure out what’s in your pockets and stop trying to figure out whats in everyone else’s pockets. Stay in your lane and the rest will follow.
Peace
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