Community Is Currency

My friend Brad is a master at connecting with people. He’s not just extroverted; he’s incredibly skilled at talking to and staying in touch with others. He is the type of person who makes it a point to get to know anyone with influence or expertise within the communities he cares about.

He shows up. He puts in the face time. Fifteen years ago, you’d find him at the most exclusive parties at SXSW, rubbing elbows with as-yet-unknown startup founders who would go on to become billionaires. It’s honestly incredible to watch what he does.

When I first met Brad, I thought he was an operator. I couldn’t imagine how a single person could be genuinely interested in and excited by being around people all the time. I figured he must have an angle.

But the more I got to know him, the more I realized he wasn’t being disingenuous at all. He just really likes meeting new people, learning about them, and learning from them and thrives on building an in-person community of like-minded but diverse individuals.

As an introvert, I get exhausted just thinking about how much effort people like Brad put into building and maintaining relationships. As an entrepreneur, however, I understand first-hand the power and the necessity of cultivating a community.

At the very least–even if you walk the path of solopreneur and build everything on your own as I did for many years–you need a community to buy into your idea. You need people who trust you and what you’re selling and tell others about it. And you need to cultivate that community for it to thrive actively.

When I first started to pursue Financial Independence and side hustling, I was alone. 

My friends and family didn’t understand what I was trying to do. They supported me in their own ways, but I couldn’t turn to them to validate my decisions or ideas or ask for advice. And back in 2010, the online FIRE community was still relatively small and dispersed.

I sought out others like me, but I did so from the comfort of my apartment and the privacy of a computer screen. I could tune in or tune out to the conversations other people were having when I wanted to.

I was excited by what I was doing and highly motivated by my goal of becoming a millionaire by 30. My personality made it possible for me to spend hours alone building websites or researching tax optimization strategies. Financial Independence was just that–independent. I didn’t think much about community because I didn’t think I needed it.

Then something happened that I didn’t expect. I knew enough about marketing to know that the more I shared my story online, the more my audience would grow, but I wasn’t fully prepared for how some audience members responded. Before long, readers started writing directly to me–someone they’d never met or spoken to.

They told me how inspiring my story was and how much they had learned from my blog. They shared their own FI journeys and offered their own take on the strategies and paths I discussed through my writing. Many of them impacted my thinking and helped me plug gaps in my own FI strategy.

I wasn’t just blogging anymore. I wasn’t just creating content that my target readers would consume. I was connecting—with real people. People whom I never would have met otherwise. People who all had families, friends, stories, and dreams.

The more people I connected with, the more they started connecting with each other. The simple website I’d started to share my thoughts on Financial Independence was now a community that had grown with little effort from me.

A single piece of content could reach thousands of people and bring them into the community, even years after I originally shared it. Within a few years, the blog I had started from my bedroom became a community that spanned the globe, and the content this community created impacted people in ways I could never fully comprehend. But I’ve always struggled with how to bring everyone together.

For years, I tried to figure out how to harness the power of this community better. 

I wanted anything I created to feel organic and maintain the same energy as Millennial Money. But I also knew that the right structure and formality would allow it to deliver real value. I wanted a place that would help people reach Financial Independence more quickly by leveraging collective knowledge and support.

Can someone reach financial independence alone? Sure. But community has always served as an accelerant to change, a motivator for action, and a currency that increases in value when you cultivate it.

A community can also rapidly accelerate your learning and help you connect with others who can expand your business and your life.

Over the past eight years, I’ve received many thousands of emails from readers who’ve asked if I would mentor them or if I offered coaching. The answer has always been no for a number of reasons.

1. First, my mentor Vicki Robin once told me that to help many you can’t help a few. What she meant by this is that to reach a lot of people with my work, I couldn’t get stuck in the weeds. I took this to heart and haven’t coached anyone personally since starting this work in 2015.
2. Second, I really care about people and want everyone to feel less stressed about money. That is why I do this work. I have had the opportunity to connect with many thousands of readers on my book tour at events and online. When they share their stories, I’m always genuinely interested and care so much about helping that it can overwhelm me. I leave book events thinking about everyone’s challenges and they stick with me for a long time.
3. Finally, remember that I’m an introvert! I like hiding behind a keyboard and a computer screen. While I love people, I don’t need much social interaction to survive. Often, it just drains me. I’m terrible at making small talk. But if you want to go deep, I’m your guy. Thankfully, over the years, I’ve learned to put myself out there and try to be a little more like my friend Brad. This has enriched my life immensely.

But a lot has changed over the past several months in my life and as my book has continued to expand and sell well around the world, I’ve already reached and helped way more people than I could have ever imagined.

So now that I’ve already helped many, now is the time for me to help the few and work more closely with anyone who wants to use entrepreneurship to accelerate their journey to financial independence.

For the first time ever, I am now coaching, mentoring, and supporting a group of entrepreneurs who are seriously interested in acquiring more freedom today and tomorrow on the path to financial independence.

Introducing the FIpreneur Community

FIpreneur stands for entrepreneur-driven financial independence. Entrepreneurship is the fastest path to FI. This community is for anyone serious about taking advantage of the incredible opportunities to make money and acquire more freedom today.

But just to make sure I really could and wanted to do this, over the past 3 months, I’ve been running a beta version of the virtual FIpreneur Community with about 100 members from around the world.

In the group, some people are just starting their side business, and others are already making thousands of dollars a month and are looking to scale their businesses.

The community has blown me away. Not only have many members gotten their businesses off the ground and started making real money, but there are also deep conversations between members about the role of money in their lives – why they want more money, how to use the freedom they already have, and how to build a business that supports your life, but doesn’t dominate it. We are diving deep into entrepreneurship and financial independence.

The weekly calls have become the highlights of my week, and I’ve enjoyed messaging directly with members in our Discord channel. On Wednesdays, I do a live business breakdown with one of the community member businesses for everyone to join and share exactly what I would do to grow the business.

I also just released an AI tool in the community that makes it easy to find a great side business idea that matches your skills and interests. You can also test ideas with the tool to better understand the time commitment, potential, and next steps. The early feedback has been awesome.

We also just started group working sessions where everyone can get together and work on their businesses in a virtual workroom. All members also get full access to my course and content not available anywhere else. You’ll get early access to my new entrepreneurship that I’m finishing now and have access to all of my recommended reading lists and resources.

We’re already planning a get-together in New York City for the Spring. Every member is invited. And this is just the beginning! This isn’t just me – we’re building this community together. I’m excited to keep building and seeing what this community becomes.

The reason I’m sharing this is because the beta group has been more successful and fun than I could have imagined, so I’m excited to finally announce that the….

FIpreneur Community is Now Open For New Members

It has never been easier to start a business. And thanks to the internet and the proliferation of digital goods and services, you can now do so with very few upfront expenses.

Still, if you’ve never built a business before, getting started as an entrepreneur can be intimidating and feel impossible. I wanted to create a community where people could share ideas and advice so they could see, first-hand, that YES, it is possible.

I also wanted to make it easier to help anyone find the perfect side business idea, get started, and then start making money. I also wanted it to be easy to get support from me and others who already have thriving side businesses.

The hardest part of my own journey was choosing to live my life differently than those around me. Because community is so important, I’ve been building the FIPreneur Community to support anyone anywhere who wants to think differently and pursue a different path in life. It’s legit.

Now I’m excited to open this community to you. There’s no hard sell here. I encourage you to check it out, and if you’re ready, I hope you’ll join us.

FYI there is a no-questions-asked 30-day money-back guarantee, so there’s no risk in checking it out. I want to ensure everyone in the community wants to be there and that it’s a good fit.

Once again, registration is only open until 10 p.m. PST this Sunday! This is not a marketing tactic. Registration will be closed on Sunday to ensure the new members have a great experience and I can provide as much support as possible.

One of the big benefits of becoming a Founder Member is that we can work closely together. I don’t know the ideal number of people in this community, but I do know that bigger is not always better and I’m really committed to supporting you closely on your journey.

But there’s a limit to the number of people I can work closely with, so if you’re interested, I encourage you to join before Sunday because I don’t know when I’ll open this group again.

To learn more and join, check out https://fipreneurs.com