Does Being Broke Lead to More Creativity?

Do you remember back in school when you found out you had a big assignment due the next day?

Suddenly, your concentration levels went through the roof.

You pulled an all-nighter and read every word in the book.

When your back was against the wall, your focus levels skyrocketed.

It’s very similar to money and creativity.

When you’re broke, either you can whine about it, or you can get super creative.

In the long run, you will make money.

During your dark times, use tough moments to sharpen your intellect and expand your creativity.

How Money Can Make Us Lazy

I had this roommate who would always throw money at a problem.

He was starting a business with his dad.

Since he had “daddy’s money”, he never took the time to pause and see if he should save the money and do the task himself.

There was a day he needed to write some copy for a segment of his website.

Rather than learning some basic copywriting skills, he called someone to do it.

The guy he hired definitely overpriced.

Since my friend had 0 experience with copywriting, he had no clue when he was paying too much.

He also had no clue whether the copy was good or bad.

This was just the beginning.

All parts of his business dealt with him throwing money at a problem and praying that it’d go away.

When his back was against the wall, rather than roll up his sleeves, he reached for his dad’s wallet.

Suddenly, a few problems happened:

• He didn’t know when he was being ripped off.
• He wasn’t connected to the pulse of his business.
• His business was constantly in the red.

How Being Broke Makes You Crafty

A few days ago, I was having a problem.

I wanted to dub my videos from English to Spanish.

The software to do that cost 29 dollars a month.

How was I going to afford that though?

29 dollars by itself wasn’t that much.

But the ArmaniTalks business already had a bunch of other monthly subscriptions.

I used Hypefury which was 49 dollars a month.

GetMunch which was 49 dollars a month.

And now another product that costs 29 dollars a month?

That’d bring my expenses to 127 dollars a month.

Rather than immediately buy the product, I thought of ideas.

After some brainstorming, I thought:

‘Why not tinker with the plans and tools that I currently have?’

I went from the “professional” Hypefury package to the “starter” one.

My expenses went from 49 dollars to 22 dollars.

Then I got rid of GetMunch and switched to Opus Clips.

Opus Clips had more functions and was cheaper.

I went from 49 dollars to 10 bucks.

Suddenly, I had room to get the dubbing tool.

Now my expenses were 22 dollars (Hypefury), 10 dollars (Opus Clips), 29 dollars (dubbing tool) for 61 dollars a month.

Way better than having to pay 127 dollars per month.

I still have the same functionalities in my business despite the modifications.

Don’t automatically assume that spending less money will cause you to destroy your business.

A lot of times, you are overpaying for a subpar product, or you don’t utilize the functionalities of the software to justify paying for a certain package.

It’s smart to downgrade or look for better options.

The Benefits of Having a Lot of Money

I’m not making the case that being broke is the key to success.

Being broke for long will stifle your creativity.

You’ll always be in survival mode.

The point that I’m making is that when you don’t have money, you are forced to look around the corners.

Being semi-broke leads to more creativity.

Having tons of money leads to more creativity.

And it can’t be daddy’s money either.

It’s money that you built from your business.

When you are constantly in the green, there’s an added level of swagger you move with.

You’re willing to take more risks.

Money can destroy a lot of creative businesses though.

Here’s a tip that all great performers follow…

Work Like You Are Broke

Despite making a lot of money, work like you don’t have a lot of money.

Put your extra cash in a savings account or reinvest it.

If you make a million dollars a year, act like you make 100,000 dollars.

To be hungrier, act like you make 75,000 dollars a year.

This will activate the narrative of:

‘I still have a lot of work to do. I must not get complacent.’

When you go from a scrappy company into a titan, you can lose your killer instinct.

Look at what’s happening to Disney.

The reason for their failure is because they work like they have tons of money.

Whenever they have a problem, they throw money at it.

They throw money to woo bigger movie stars, they buy more writers, they buy fancier camera equipment.

All distractions.

They should work like they are broke.

They should act like they don’t have a library that they can fall back on to make more sequels from.

It’s smart for them to pretend like they are starting all over.

Suddenly, they will engage the creative brain.

The brain that comes alive when our back is against the wall.

Use Your Dark Times to Fuel You

Don’t give up so quickly when you have a problem.

Entrepreneurship is all about problem-solving forever.

No one can ever take away your knowledge and skills.

Any bubba can memorize something from a textbook.

But a few people can build the stomach to experience dark moments, learn from those moments, and use the knowledge gained on future dark moments.

Whenever you are tempted to throw money at a problem, pause.

Then ask whether you can do it yourself.

A lot of times, you need help.

Spend away.

But a lot of other times, you will be surprised by how simple the solution is.

It’s literally as simple as clicking 2 buttons that you were previously unaware of.

Gain knowledge and always maintain that scrappy attitude.

For more insights into creativity and running a content business, check out the ArmaniTalks Free Daily Newsletter.

– ArmaniTalks