“Alone we can do so little. Together we can do so much.” -Helen Keller

I just got back from spending 4 days in Palms Springs. I was there for FinCon, a conference for people who create content about personal finance, investments and money.

Almost 1,000 podcasters, YouTubers, newsletter writers, and coaches in one convention center, most of them chasing the same audience and the same sponsors.

On paper, that room was full of competitors. But it didn't feel that way at all.

This year's theme was collaboration over competition, and people lived it.

Folks were networking at lunches and dinners, opening up and sharing their metrics, making introductions, etc.

It was great.

It reinforced what Angela Duckworth talks about in her new book, Situated. Her point is that the people and places around us shape what we do far more than willpower ever will. One of the highest-leverage moves we can make is to put ourselves in the right rooms. FinCon is one of those rooms for me.

It’s a stark contrast to what many people experience in traditional work environments; where fear, mistrust, and competitiveness are often the default ways of operating.

One of the main takeaways for me was how every presenter mentioned fear being something they had to overcome on their journeys to achieving their financial goals and building their businesses.

Here are the 3 biggest takeaways for me.

On Wednesday I ran into Steve Chen. It was surreal. Several years ago I joined his Call to Leap program. Learning about LEAPs and selling covered calls against my Apple stock is one of the ways that allowed me to become financially independent by age 39.

Steve was a public school math teacher in Los Angeles making about $5,000 a month before taxes.

He now has 2.7M followers on Instagram, and earns well over $1M per year.

Before he started his channel he had a list of fears that almost stopped him. Self-doubt. Imposter syndrome. Fear of internet trolls. Fear of what his colleagues would think. He had them all.

He wasn't a certified financial planner, he didn’t have a degree in finance, and he didn't have an MBA from a big-name school.

He posted anyway, and all he did was share his own journey.

If he’d let fear win, he’d be missing out on more than $900,000+ a year. He now has complete control over his time, location, and was able to help retire his parents.

Same person. Same skills. Same pedigree.

The only difference is his willingness to act in the face of fear.

The Fear Tax is real. And it only compounds with time.

Erika Kullberg was the keynote speaker on Friday. In case you’re not familiar with her, she is a former lawyer turned content creator.

She now has more than 21 million followers, a hit podcast, and a spot on the Forbes Top Creators list.

But her journey there is what’s most impressive.

She’s an alum of two of the best universities in the country; Notre Dame for undergrad and Georgetown for law school.

Her identity was largely rooted in being a straight-A student, brand names, and progressing up the ladder of well-defined and traditional career path.

She took a 99% pay cut to go all in on building her media business.

She was making $200,000+ as a lawyer, when she started making content.

When she initially started making videos, people told her nobody would take a lawyer on YouTube seriously.

She's said that her fear of being judged was the hardest part.

She went viral during COVID and eventually found herself in a position where she had to make a big decision. Many of her colleagues became jealous of her success, including her boss.

When she gave resignation notice, a senior partner told her that quitting would be the biggest mistake of her life.

He was wrong. She was right. She never has to worry about tracking a 1/6th of billable hour ever again. He still does.

Almost everyone I talked to, including Andy Hill, who left corporate America to build his own media business, and now only works 3 days a week, had nearly talked themselves out of starting.

One of the most common fears was “someone’s already doing it.”

While that’s accurate observation, it’s a premature conclusion.

Think about how many companies sell chicken sandwiches. Or burgers. Or pizza.

There are literally thousands of companies all selling the same products, and they’re all able to profitably co-exist.

The “someone else is doing it” thinking assumes the pie is fixed and there’s not enough to go around. It’s based in a scarcity mindset.

It is fear, disguised as logic, which is one of the most deceptive forms of fear, and it disproportionately holds highly educated over-thinkers back.

The amygdala doesn’t take into account the ratio of supply-to-demand, it only looks at supply.

It doesn’t leverage the prefrontal cortex where reason, probabilities and statistics are given proper weighting.

Our brain’s have a negativity bias, by default.

This is why fear usually stands for: False Evidence Appearing Real.

If we don’t train them correctly, we’ll continue to operate sub-optimally and against our best, long-term interests, and collaborating with other people is one of those interests.

Helen Keller said it best “alone we can do so little and together we can do so much.”

It’s a great reminder that our entire human existence has been based on our ability to collaborate and work together.

Every great invention, scientific breakthrough or memorable experience, has always been, and will always be, due to humans working together with other humans to create something bigger than what either could do individually.

This is why a scarcity mindset is one of the most costly things we can own. It’s rooted in fear and survival.

It’s a great reminder of why fear is a tax on our potential, both individually and collectively.

Fear is a feeling. Courage is a choice.

Here’s to you and everyone who chooses courage and a mindset of abundance, collaboration and operating at higher vibrational frequencies.

I’m rooting for you. Let’s do something great.

Here's your reflection for the week:

Where have you been operating from a state of scarcity rather than abundance? What has it potentially cost you?

Identify ONE person that you could potentially collaborate with, and reach out to them to see if they’re interested in collaborating. Remember, their response is irrelevant, the fact that you tried is what matters.


With courage,

Jonathan