hosted by: AskPat 191 Episode Transcript
Pat: Hey, what's up everybody? Pat Flynn here, and welcome to Episode 191 of AskPat. Thank you so much for joining me today. We've got a fun little, different episode. No sponsor on today's episode, but a great question that actually reminded me of a post that I wrote in 2010. So why don't we just go to the question from Anthony right now.
Anthony: Hey, Pat. This is Anthony. I really enjoy your main podcast and I do enjoy AskPat, so I have a question. When are you going to buy that Audi R8? Thanks.
Pat: Hey, Anthony. Thank you so much for the question. Just to give a little bit of a background to everybody out there listening, I wrote a post in January of 2010 and it was actually January 18 of 2010. It was titled The Path to an Audi R8 (Or Anything Else You Want). And the reason for this post was to sort of break down how, with online business, or any business really, but online business especially, you can easily think about what you should do if you really really want something and sort of working backwards.
So here, the goal was an Audi R8, and this is a car that has always been a dream car of mine. No, I don't have the Audi R8 yet. And the primary reason for that is because it's totally impractical for me right now, as much as I want it. And yes, my business is doing really well, and I could get it, and it wouldn't be an issue. But that's not the example I want to set for my son, mostly, that's the reason why I don't want to get it. And also, there are more important things to spend money on right now, and things to invest in. And you know I'm investing in my business as well, and I'm making sure everything's all set and secure for the future. So you know, I can get that Audi R8 later, and really I want the Delorean first. But anyway, this is not about cars. This about sort of breaking things down.
So what I'm going to do for all of you out there, now that I've answered Anthony's question pretty much, I'm going to read that post to you because I think it was really helpful. And it's something that's sort of deep in the archives that I haven't really talked about very much. So I'll try to explain this because there's a lot of graphics and math here. But let me read it to you, I've never done one of these audio blog posts, if you will. So I'm going to read it as best as I can. I haven't practiced this, so we'll see how it goes.
The Path to an Audi R8 by Pat Flynn on January 18 2010. There's actually 93 comments, and one of the comments . . . I'll read some of the comments after this because they're kind of funny, or interesting. Most of you know that family is my number one priority, especially with the recent birth of my son, who is now 25 days old. Wow, I can't believe I wrote this that soon after my son was born. Most, if not all of the decisions I make from now on are done with him in mind. And now that I'm in the future with him and my daughter in mind. However, I'm still a dude, and dudes love their toys. My dream toy is an Audi R8, a car that I first saw on a commercial during the 2008 Superbowl. I don't remember the score of the game or even where it was played, but I do remember that car. I've wanted it ever since.
To quote Left Lane News, “The Audi R8 has a 420 horsepower, high revving V8 engine and all wheel drive. It uses the mid-engine Lamborghini Gallardo platform, positioning it squarely against the BMW M6, Porsche 911, and Aston Martin Vantage.” The base price for this bad boy in the US is $114,200. It's quite a bit of money.
Now, next section, How to Get an Audi R8. Using the methodologies of Tim Ferriss, let's take it step by step. Step one, first let's figure out the monthly payment. So, assuming $4,000 down, the five year plan, or 60-month loan, would cost me a total of $2,341 a month. As Tim would say, we have a TMI, or Target Monthly Income of $2,341 for this particular want.
Step Two, break down the monthly expense into a Target Daily Income, or a TDI. And so $2,341 per month, divided by 31 days is $78.03 per day. Now that we can see the TDI, the R8 seems much more obtainable. It would only cost me an extra $78 a day to own my dream car. And that's quite a bit of money, now that I'm thinking about it. That is a lot of money per day. But, putting a dollar value on your dreams helps you realize that the big things you dream of are, in fact, not as far away as you think.
Step Three, this is the kicker: increase your income accordingly. So if I really wanted this Audi R8 right now, and I wouldn't want anything else in my lifestyle to change, I wouldn't want to take money away from anything else, I would add that money as an income. So obviously, this is easier said than done, but now that we know how much we need, we can then determine the types of things we have to do or don't have to do. In other words, $78.03 per day, I mean it's not $500 a day. Trying to increase my daily income by $500 a day would take completely drastic measures. But if I had to make $50 a day in order to get something I wanted, then it would be those dramatic measures that I would take. $78.03 a day is only four $19.99 products. Or two $39.99 products. Or one $79.99 product. Or what about a coaching course that costs $1,200? Take on two clients a month and you've got yourself an R8. You see how this is starting to shape up?
To add on to the idea of increasing your income, here's a direct quote from Tim Ferriss regarding lifestyle costing and the target monthly income: “Even if the total is intimidating, don't fret. It is possible. Case studies in the book prove it. To get to more than $10,000 per month and extra income within three months. This is usually three or four times more than is needed. Getting to an extra $2,000 or $3,000 is seldom a problem.” And Tim is right, you can increase your income. I've done it myself too, from scratch. And I'm no better, or no more special than you are.
Next section: Should You Get an Audi R8? The answer to that question is up to you. For me, I definitely have enough room in my income for an extra $78.03 a day. However, as much as I want to get my dream car now, I would much rather spend that money on a house. Which we have now, which is awesome. My kids' education, which is all paid for, and family trips, which we are doing. This is so cool. All of those things are included in an overall Dream Sheet, where I break down the costs of each of those things, which I'd love to share with you later. Priorities are still important to understand, but don't get me wrong, I still want the R8. Additionally, I think I would much rather save $78.03 a day for five years, and invest that money so I can pay for the car in full. Or, work on new income streams that can help me earn an extra $78.03 a day, so I don't feel like I'm taking the loss.
In conclusion, this post isn't really about an Audi R8, or this audio, this recording. It's about realizing what you want and figuring out how to get there. The true thinking behind this methodology is that what we do should be determined first by what we want in life. Not the other way around. What you want in life is what everything else should be based off of. Have you sat down and determined exactly what kind of things you want in life? Or have you fallen into the trap of just working for work sake?
End of blog post. Or end of Audio file. I don't know how to end these in audio format. But anyways, that was the blog post, and there's a lot of really interesting things there. But I think the biggest thing is that a), you have to know what you want. And b) you have to break down so you can envision what it would take to get what you want, because a lot of us, we have these big dreams or big goals, you know, what is your Audi R8?
And then we just envision it, and it just seems so far away for us. But if you break those things down and actually see what it would take, then you can create things. You can do things, you can work on things that will help you get there much easier, because $114,000 is really far off it seems. But $78.03 a day isn't quite the bad. And that's how much, for example, SecurityGuardTrainingHQ.com, one of my niche sites is making now. Something I created from scratch in 2010, the same year actually, but at the end of the year. So that new site I created could've totally paid for the Audi R8. But again, like I said, that's not top priority right now.
So, yeah, let me know what you think. If you head over to Twitter and use the hashtag #AskPat191, I'd love to know what you think of this, and I've never done an audio blog like this before. You know, just straight up reading my blog post, I know I have a different tone of voice, because it's obvious that I'm reading. But, was this interesting to you and what do you think about the topic? And also tell me, what is your big thing that you've started breaking down and working toward? I'd love to hear it. #AskPat191. Can't wait to read it on Twitter.
Thank you guys so much for listening to this, and if you have a second, please leave a review on iTunes, I'd love it. Thank you and I'll see you in the next episode of AskPat. Peace.
