Khin Maung Nyo (Economics) - Money Following You

If you do it right, the money will follow you.

This law is difficult for many people to accept. That is why they are suffering. In other words, I would like to advise you to continue doing what you want to do. Worry only about whether you are able to do it. I would like to advise you not to worry about money.

I would like to give you some examples of my experience. At the first International Book Fair in San Francisco, they were worried about how much admission they would have to charge to cover the cost of renting the exhibition hall and other expenses. The people who were organizing the event were excellent people. They had good ideas and great minds. They had the energy to do it. But they had to worry about the money without worrying about other things. Then I said, “Don’t worry about the money. I’ll take care of that. You guys can do other things.” Everyone looked at me. They knew my background, so they accepted what I said. They didn’t worry about the money. From that moment on, it was as if they had put money into the organization and directed their energies in the right direction. The book fair was a great success. Before the book fair, money was not a problem, neither during the book fair. The idea was already well thought out, so the money just kept rolling in. We had more than enough.

I go to a lot of meetings. After listening to a lot of discussions, I see a lot of people start thinking about money. They plan for money. They try to make money. Then they stop and can't do anything else. That's the problem with a lot of ventures. They think about money first and lose sight of their goals and plans.

I once advised people to avoid talking about money when they first meet to start a free school. If they start talking about money, they will start thinking about how much it will cost to hire teachers, how much it will cost to build a school, and so on. So they just do what they have to do. I always told them that if they do that, the money will come later. Many people leave the financial burden entirely to one person. So others can concentrate on their own work without having to worry about it.

Once, two young men came to me who were preparing to start an organization. They needed money to build a building for their organization. I told them that before they could buy a building, they needed about 30 people who were interested in starting an organization. They told me that they needed to get their signatures. After finding 30 people who were interested, they eventually had 250 people interested in their organization. That number grew exponentially in 6 months. Sometimes they even talked about money. If you have that many members and that much power, you have more than enough money. Money takes a back seat. You can do whatever you want to do.

The examples I have given are from my own experience as a consultant. I have tried to discourage people who are trying to start a business from focusing on money. If an idea is really good, people will want it. They will invest their time and energy in it. Then the good idea will bear fruit. Money alone will not make them achieve their goals. Only patience can make them achieve their goals. If people work hard at their work, at their plans, the money will follow.

People often ask, “What am I going to do next month? How am I going to get through this?” I tell them, “Just start, keep going, get something done.” I tell them to take care of the things that need to be done now, and then worry about your finances as a personal matter for a few months. I advise you to think about your work and your life separately. In the next few months, the desire to be comfortable will take precedence, and if you delay your plans, they will likely be ruined.

If you do the things that you have to do to survive and make a living, your finances will automatically come to you. However, you often worry about money first, not doing the things that you have to do first. Then you tend to not do the things that you have to do. Compared to the things that you are doing, your finances are only in the background.

But many people cannot accept this fact. From their own experience, money is secondary. They know that it is secondary, but they cannot accept it, and they think first about making money and second about business. Thus, their time, attention, and effort are reduced, and they do not do as much as they should, and therefore they do not succeed as they should. There are many facts and experiences that prove this, but there is not a single example of success by giving money first priority.

Many people say that what I am saying is that I have made my own predictions and I am doing what I have made my own predictions. If a project fails, it is okay, if they do a good job and do not get paid, it is okay, but I can say that they did not do it properly and well. In fact, it would be wrong to think that way. If we look at it superficially, there are some logical inconsistencies in the current law. Many people do not want to pay attention to the truth, but only to the weakness of logic.

All seven laws that will be presented now have logical foundations. These laws cannot be obtained by logical reasoning. These seven laws describe only those things that are outside the realm of logical thought. Logicians will not find the points that will be presented now in books on logic.

The logical rules of Western man can only detect 2 percent of the truth. The remaining 98 percent are related to emotions, sex, art, relationships, and senses. The two laws described here deal with the 98 percent of relationships that are not subject to logical reasoning.

When Adam Smith first began studying economics in the 18th century, he found that tariffs and duties levied between countries were not rational or logical. He argued that free trade would be more beneficial than taxation.

The two reasons for imposing import duties are to protect small industries and to protect domestic production. Suppose you want to start a small business. Suppose that the business is profitable. The problem is that the cost of starting the business is very high. The price of the first products will be very high. If the price is high, you can buy cheaper products from abroad instead of buying domestically produced products.

If you rely only on logic, how do you solve the problem? The solution to this problem is to not charge import duties, but simply provide direct government support to help you start your business.

Regarding the argument that other countries charge for domestic defense, let's say we have our own oil industry. So when it comes to military action, we don't have to rely on other countries for oil. This is a fairly logical argument. In that case, there would be no need to charge import duties.

But if we look back at history, we have been paying tariffs ever since Adam Smith and his followers advocated free trade. No amount of logic, no amount of logic, no amount of logic, has ever eliminated tariffs.