Follow These 7 Keys & Never Be Broke Again

My life-changing annual event, The Summit of Greatness, is happening September 12 & 13, 2025. Get your ticket today! I used to work out of a closet. Literally, a cleaning supply closet with a tiny desk. I believed that someday money would find me. What I discovered after years of being broke, angry, and desperate is that wealth doesn't start in your bank account; it starts in your belief system. In this raw solo episode, I'm breaking down the exact mental shifts that took me from sleeping on my sister's couch to building an eight-figure business, including the spiritual identity contract that changed everything and why I now talk to money like it's a person (yeah, it sounds weird, but it works). You'll walk away understanding that you're not broke because of your circumstances—you're broke because of what you believe about money, and that's something you can change starting today. Make Money Easy: Create Financial Freedom and Live a Richer LifeThe Greatness Mindset: Unlock the Power of Your Mind and Live Your Best Life TodayThe Mask of Masculinity: How Men Can Embrace Vulnerability, Create Strong Relationships, and Live Their Fullest LivesThe School of Greatness: A Real-World Guide to Living Bigger, Loving Deeper, and Leaving a LegacyIn this episode you will:Discover why guilt is literally repelling money from your life and how to shift from shame to gratitude when wealth flows to youTransform your limiting beliefs about money by learning the "orange juice principle" that reveals what's really inside you when life applies pressureBreak through the hoarding mentality and understand why holding money too tightly actually blocks more from coming to youMaster the spiritual identity contract technique that rewired my brain from feeling "dumb and unworthy" to becoming a confident wealth creatorLearn the exact phrases to stop saying immediately ("I'm broke," "I can't afford it") and what to say instead to speak wealth into existenceFor more information go to https://lewishowes.com/1810For more Greatness text PODCAST to +1 (614) 350-3960More SOG episodes we think you’ll love:Lewis Howes – greatness.lnk.to/1801SCDean Graziosi – greatness.lnk.to/1766SCAlex Hormozi – greatness.lnk.to/1324SC Get more from Lewis! Get my New York Times Bestselling book, Make Money Easy! Get The Greatness Mindset audiobook on SpotifyText Lewis AIYouTubeInstagramWebsiteTiktokFacebookX

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Lewis Howes?

  If you're tired of feeling stuck, broke, or like you're always one step behind, this is the shift that will change everything for you. I want to talk about these seven keys. The first thing you've got to be thinking about is shifting your beliefs, because wealth starts in the mind. It doesn't start anywhere else but in your mind. And you're not broke because of your bank account. You're broke because of your belief system. And most people hate hearing this. You're not broke because of what's in your bank account. You're broke because of what's in your belief system. But it all does make sense when you start to reflect and let your guard and your ego down and allow yourself to be self-aware. Because most of us aren't self-aware.

• 0:45Lewis Howes?

  We're living on autopilot and reacting and stressed and overwhelmed. But when we replace limiting beliefs like, "I'm not good with money," or "rich people are greedy and bad or stingy," with more empowering ones, more empowering beliefs, that's when everything should start to change. Okay? So you should be changing your language from, "Ah, this is bad, or they're bad, or I'm not good with this," to, "It is possible for me. Here's a great person who's doing this. I can do this as well. I'm learning how to do this. I'm improving. I'm getting better. I'm improving on my mistakes." You want to start asking, "What do I really believe about being wealthy? What is this belief system that I have?"

• 1:29Lewis Howes?

  And start assessing it and then start being willing to tear things down. Just because you've seen that in some ways doesn't mean it's always. Now, there's an interesting story, based on our belief system, that I want you to hear about. I love this story from Wayne Dyer. Wayne Dyer used to get on stage and tell a story. He'd walk on stage with an orange. And he would start his speeches and say, "When you squeeze an orange, what comes out of an orange?" And he'd ask people, "Hey, when you squeeze this orange, what comes out?" And he'd say, "Does apple juice come out of an orange when you squeeze it? No. Does lemon juice come out of an orange? No.

• 2:12Lewis Howes?

  Well, what comes out of an orange when you squeeze it is orange juice." And he would say, "Because that's what's inside. That's what's inside of the orange is orange juice." And then he would say, "What's inside of you?" When there is pressure applied to you in your life, does anger, resentment, frustration, a negative attitude, a limiting belief, does it pour out of you energetically or verbally? Or when you're applied with pressure, does confidence, poise, patience, gratitude, resourcefulness, excitement, does that come out of you?

• 2:53Lewis Howes?

  Whatever comes out of you is what's inside of you. So you've got to be thinking about, what is my limiting belief? Well, start to reflect on the last month, the last year. How did you show up and respond in life? When you were smacked with a challenge or hit with an adversity, did you show up empowering and creative and excited to take on the challenge? Or were you defeated? Were you a victim? Were you frustrated? Were you pointing the finger and blaming everyone else around you? Whatever came out of you is what's inside of you. And we've got to be willing to shift the limiting belief. Shift the language from, I should, or I wish, or maybe, because that language carries the energy of failure.

• 3:39Lewis Howes?

  Start eliminating the language that influences the limiting beliefs in you, and you'll start living a life that is more empowering for you. Start thinking about this. This is the key to starting this for the next 30 minutes here. The second key is that guilt is a wealth killer. You are destroying your ability to earn more when you live with the frequency and the energy of guilt.

• 4:12Lewis Howes?

  I always tell people that self doubt is the killer of dreams. When you live with doubt, when you live with fear, when you live with guilt and shame, this is a lower level frequency. When you live with joy, when you live with gratitude, appreciation, love, it's a higher level frequency. And when you're living in a state of higher level energies and frequencies, you attract more of that frequency. And you're going to attract more opportunities, wealth, abundance, people that are the right people for you. When you're living in guilt, shame, resentment, anger, frustration, your energy shrinks.

• 4:56Lewis Howes?

  And that is a killer for wealth. Money does not want to come to that. Money is not attracted by someone in that frequency or that energy. That is a victim mindset and it's holding you back. So if you're feeling guilty about having money or even wanting more, this sabotages your ability to grow, to earn more, to be resourceful and creative, and to believe you're worthy and deserving of it. Wealth isn't a betrayal of your roots. If you grew up poor, without a lot of money, I didn't have a lot of money growing up. It's not a betrayal. It's a resource that you can use to lift yourself up and to lift others up around you. But if you have a belief system that money is bad or people with money did bad things to get it, and I don't want to be a bad person,

• 5:39Lewis Howes?

  then you're blocking and holding yourself back because you're living in a belief system that is a lower level frequency that will automatically resist great opportunities, that'll automatically push away people that want to help you, that automatically say, no, I don't want this. I want to stay in this state. You're saying one thing. You say you want to have a better life. You want to make more money. But when you're energetically showing up every day with a negative attitude, guilt, shame, all these energies that hold you down, you're not in alignment with yourself, with what you want. Your body, your mind, your heart is living differently than what you want. Therefore, you will never be in alignment with money coming to you.

• 6:23Lewis Howes?

  You will always be, ah, it's just slipping through my hands. So instead of feeling guilty, turn the mindset into one that is more grateful, one that is more giving, one that is more appreciative, one that says thank you to money. When money comes to me, I say, thank you. I don't care if it's a penny or a lot of money. I say, thank you. And I say, where do you want to go? How can I help you today? Do you want to go to my bank account? Do you want to go on an investment account? Do you want me to buy food with you? Do you want to give you away to someone who needs it right now? Is there a charity that I can give it to? Should I give you to my church? Where do you want to go right now? I got this from my friend Ken Honda. When I interviewed him, he's got a book called Happy Money. He said, when money comes to me, I say, thank you. Where do you want to go?

• 7:08Lewis Howes?

  And that's something I've started doing in my life. It might sound a little weird. It might sound a little woo woo to speak to money like it's a person. I get it. It's a little strange, but energy is everything. And energy doesn't lie. And the frequency that you show up with influences the material things around you. People, environments, money, everything. And again, it might sound a little weird. But when I started doing this, I started feeling more free. And I want you to feel this freedom as well. I want you to feel this peace in your heart. Because inner peace is the new rich. So normalize success. Normalize, yeah, I earn more money because I'm working hard and I'm adding value.

• 7:53Lewis Howes?

  And stop apologizing for abundance when it flows to you. Stop saying sorry that you've made more, that you've earned more, that you're a magnet of opportunities, that you're a magnet of the right people and things just fall in your lap seemingly like out of nowhere. It's because your frequency aligns with your vision of what you want. And so when your heart energy aligns up with it, it comes more effortlessly. But if you're out of integrity with this vision, because you're not taking care of your health, it's going to be harder. If you're out of integrity with this vision, because you put yourself last, it's going to be harder. If you're out of integrity with the vision of what you want to create financially or

• 8:35Lewis Howes?

  in your life, but you are constantly doubting yourself and putting yourself down in front of others and self sabotaging, it's going to be harder. You've got to line up the energy of love, joy, possibilities, creativity, imagination, gratitude, generosity with the vision, not the energy or the frequency of guilt, shame.

• 9:03Lewis Howes?

  Why is this happening to me? Victim mindset, that is not in alignment with the energy you need to attract the things you want in your life. The third thing is that being wealthy is not the same thing as earning money and having a high income. And I tell people, if you don't care for money, your money won't care for you. Making money is not the same thing as keeping it. It's not the same thing as investing in it wisely. And I want you to start shifting the way you're thinking about money and the relationship you have with it. Again, my friend Ken Honda says, you know, when money comes to you, thank it and say, where do you want to go?

• 9:45Lewis Howes?

  You have to create almost an energetic emotional relationship with it. And it's a little signal saying, when you say, thank you for something, you're telling that thing energetically, I appreciate you. Thank you, I appreciate you. If something comes to you and you say, ah, should have been more, ah, I'm frustrated with you. Ah, why are you giving me this? You're resisting more of that thing because you're not appreciating it. So as little, as weird as this might sound, or like a little thing, every time money comes to you, just say, thank you. Here's a good example of what is so in our nature and our culture to do this, but I really feel like it's blocking you.

• 10:30Lewis Howes?

  And I have friends that will go out to dinner sometimes, and I like to pay for people for dinner or lunch. And often I'll pay, right? And most of the time I'll just take the bill and I'll just give the card and just say, I'm paying. And so many times these friends say, no, no, no, no, like, ah, let me pay, let me help, let me give something, let me do this. And I get it culturally, it's a great gesture because you don't want someone to say, yeah, go ahead and pay for me every time and expect it, because that's not a appreciation either. But when they like go on for minutes or like 10 minutes and like, no, no, no, please, please, please, here's the money. Like they're lacking the appreciation. Also, they're lacking the ability

• 11:15Lewis Howes?

  for me to give to them. They're almost resisting abundance. They're resisting the flow of generosity. Now, I'm not saying, you know, if this happens 10 times in a row or five times in a row, and they're just like, oh, Lewis is going to pay for me. I never have to contribute. That's a different thing. But learning to say, if someone's willing to pay for you,

• 11:37Lewis Howes?

  oftentimes you can just say, thank you so much. You don't have to do that. I appreciate it. I welcome it. And I'm grateful for your generosity. Thank you so much. Can I contribute anything to this? I'd love to contribute. No, I've got it. Okay, thank you so much. I receive. There's a courtesy to say, hey, I would love to contribute. Can I contribute? But it's like going on for minutes and saying, please let me pay. It's like this, this energy that is holding you back from receiving. And when someone does that for you, pay it forward. Do that for a friend, a family member, a stranger, like buy someone a cup of coffee, give them a generous tip the next time. Like pay it forward in your life. Allow that flow of giving and receiving and giving and receiving

• 12:22Lewis Howes?

  to circle with within you and outside of you. So you're creating this flow. So I like to say, thank you. And I also like to now learn how to receive because for so long, when I started making money, this was part of my challenge. I felt guilty. I felt like I had to pay for everything. And then I felt underappreciated when people didn't offer to pay for me after a while. And so it's like, it's a balance of learning how to give generously and also not give expecting someone to pay in return. And if you don't want to pay the next time, you can just, hey, I'm going to pay for my part. You pay your for your part. That's fine, too. Don't feel guilty about having more and don't feel guilty if someone wants to pay for you. Appreciate it. Appreciate the money when it comes to you. Say thank you. Where can I put you?

• 13:07Lewis Howes?

  How can I best add value to your life? Just a little psychological game you can play with yourself to say thank you to money, whether it's a penny or a thousand dollars. Thank you for being here. Where should you go? Where's going to be a best service to you? Where's going to add the most value to you and what we're creating and the vision of my life together? Let's be in this relationship, this energetic relationship. The same thing, you don't have to feel guilty if someone's providing for you as well. Say thank you. And then pay it forward. That's your duty and obligation. Pay it forward. The fourth thing is to invest first, then spend second. I mean, for so many years, I used to just, how can I get money? And then just go spend it. Cause I didn't have any of it. It was like, ah, I need to go buy this. Ah, I need this.

• 13:51Lewis Howes?

  And there's a time when you're kind of in like survival mode, when you're just going day by day. You can't think invest first, then spend it. Sometimes you just need to spend to survive. And so I hundred percent get that. But we need to flip this idea of investing first, then spending in a different way. And people tend to value us only as much as we value ourselves. And so psychologically, emotionally, how can I invest in myself first? In certain ways, it doesn't even have to be money, but how can I invest in me? Whether it be learning some new skill, whether it be overcoming a fear, whether it be investing in a relationship from a mentor or coach who

• 14:32Lewis Howes?

  can help me learn more about money or opportunities or a career or a skillset. It's investing in learning, development, education, mentorship, coaching. And if you don't have any money, there's so much free content. This is a free investment for you right now. This content right here, me, my team, the editors, the production, the setup. We researched this content to give you valuable information. And it's free. If you're on your phone or you can watch it on a library at a computer for free and you can click play and watch this, you're learning this, you're investing in you. So not all investments take money, but it does require you

• 15:15Lewis Howes?

  to show up and learn and develop yourself, your inner and outer world.

• 15:21Lewis Howes?

  So the more you can do that by investing into you, the better. Alex Hermosy shared a story once that he paid $350,000 for a single hour of advice from someone worth billions. And the biggest takeaway from that session, he said, was to protect your reputation with your life. Now, you might say to yourself, well, Lewis, I don't need to spend 300 something thousand dollars to understand the lesson that you protect your reputation with your life from a guy worth billions of dollars. But my good friend Dean Graziosi says that you pay attention to what you pay for. And the more you pay for something, the more you're going to pay attention, and the more you're going to follow through on that thing.

• 16:06Lewis Howes?

  And someone might hear that, oh, protect your reputation with your life. They might hear that somewhere, they might read that somewhere, but it doesn't sink in fully unless they invested in that, unless they paid for that. Then they're going to really listen and apply that lesson from that person that they paid from. Because if that, if they're paying someone, whether it be their course, their book, their program, their event, their coaching, if they're paying them, and they're essentially telling you, this is the blueprint. This is what has helped me get to this level of success in my career, or relationship, or health, that you are looking to get to in your life right now.

• 16:46Lewis Howes?

  And this is what I, coach, mentor, leader, has done, that you need to do this. And he's probably, he or she's probably saying it because they maybe made a big mistake that hurt them, that cost them a lot of time and money from that thing. So when you invest in this, and you get that information, he said, you know, protect your reputation with your life. My friend Dean Graziosi says, you pay attention to what you pay for. And the more you pay, the more you pay attention. I remember I spent 10 grand on a two day workshop once from a friend of mine. He was a friend of mine, a kind of a peer in the industry. And I paid 10 grand just because I was like, I don't know, I just feel like,

• 17:30Lewis Howes?

  even though I probably know a lot of what he's going to say and teach, like I've watched his content. I know him personally. We do similar things. I'm like, if there's a couple of things that I could learn, that could help me really unlock the next level of financial opportunity in my business, then it's worth 10 grand. And I went for two days and there was a lot of things that I already knew. There's a lot of things that I was already doing. But there were a few things I was like, oh yeah, I'm not doing that. That's a good reminder. And then there was like one or two things that I was like, oh, if we just do this in the next 30 days, it should generate hundreds of thousands of more dollars just by doing this one thing. And that $10,000, I paid attention for those two days.

• 18:14Lewis Howes?

  And I found the couple of things that I needed to do. And I took action on those things and the business started to grow. And again, pay attention to what you pay for. And I encourage you to invest in yourself first before you spend on yourself first. The fifth thing, write a new financial identity. Mel Robbins says, you are one decision away from a completely different life. And I want you to declare a new identity. I want you to think about all the stuff that you've lived in your life up until this moment of who you are. That is your identity.

• 18:57Lewis Howes?

  And now we're going to declare something new. And it might seem so far away. It might seem like, oh, I can't, it's going to take me years until I become this. But you're going to declare it right now. I'm someone who attracts, who manages and multiplies money. And start each day reaffirming your commitment to a wealth building action of this identity. And if you want to use that as an example, I am someone who attracts, manages and multiplies money. That can be a new identity around money for you that you just want to say. Create the identity that you want that speaks to you. And we got to start rewriting your money story. Again, I talk about this in my book,

• 19:38Lewis Howes?

  that your money story dictates your money personality style. And your money style dictates the money you have in your life, and whether you're blocking yourself from creating abundance, or you're opening the opportunities for money to come to you. So we talk about rewriting your money story, how to rewrite this, and how to really mend the psychological wound around money that you might have in the book, Make Money Easy. But you got to rewrite your money story to create a new financial identity, an identity that serves and supports your greater goals. So if you're looking to start creating a more abundant worthy identity, the best way that I've learned how to do this in the past

• 20:20Lewis Howes?

  is to write a contract for yourself, an identity contract. This is something I learned at a workshop about 12 years ago, that if you want to create an abundant life, you have to create a new contract with yourself, a spiritual contract. So for many years, I felt unlovable, unworthy. I felt like I had to project my ego to fit in. I felt like I had to act like someone I wasn't from an egoic place, rather than a soul, spiritual alignment place. And I was able to create more. I was able to be successful. I was able to earn more. I was able to build followers, but inside I felt unlovable.

• 21:05Lewis Howes?

  I felt like I was never enough, and so therefore I suffered because the external world did not match the internal world. There was an out of alignment, an out of integrity with how I thought, spoke, felt about me with what I was creating, and I was creating from a wound. Now, it doesn't mean that wound, it didn't give me incredible energy and fire and drive to go succeed, but it left me feeling more and more unhappy the more I made, the more I accomplished, the more I succeeded. And I just said, I need to make more to fill this hole of unworthiness. And 12 years ago, I went to an emotional intelligence workshop that had tons of different exercises that really helped transform the way I thought

• 21:49Lewis Howes?

  and helped me set up success with the School of Greatness, with writing three New York Times bestsellers after I was unable to essentially read and write growing up for many years and almost flunked out of English in high school. So many things that I was struggling with that allowed me to attract an amazing romantic partner, being married, all these different things, and feeling healthy and happy. It doesn't mean I'm perfect and I don't have challenges from time to time, but it's given me a lot more peace than when I was 12 years ago. And it was this idea of creating a spiritual identity contract with myself. And my contract is three words. I'm a loving, passionate, wise man. Yes, I am.

• 22:33Lewis Howes?

  I am a loving, passionate, wise man. And the reason I created that contract, because 12 years ago, I was living with a lot of rage and a lot of anger in my life. I don't know if you've ever felt this personally, if you felt angry or upset at the world or upset with previous partners or upset with family members. But I was living life with like a rage, like a rage inside. And it was coming on the outside. It was like, oh, this anger, frustration, resentment. And I was a loving, happy guy, but also when you triggered me emotionally, that wound, boom, it created a reaction of anger and frustration. And so I was like, I need to turn this anger into love.

• 23:17Lewis Howes?

  I am loving. Uh, passionate, I was driven. I was like driven to succeed and win at all costs. It was like compete to win. But I didn't learn winning through passion and through collaboration. Right? It was like, I need to win and someone else needs to lose. I didn't understand, oh, I can win and others can win around me because there's an abundance, there's more for all of us. We can all win as long as we collaborate to support one another. So that turned from competition to passion.

• 23:52Lewis Howes?

  And wise. The reason I'm wise is because for years I just felt I was dumb. I felt I was stupid. I felt like I was never going to be smart, that everything was a struggle, and it was. So my experiences confirmed my limiting belief. That every time I tried something, it was just so hard. I never remembered things. No matter how much I studied, I couldn't get a frickin C on a test. It was always a D or an F. It was just like hard. It hurt my brain to open a book and read. It was just challenging. And I just believed I was dumb. So I had to wear a mask in my life to try to project confidence in other ways. Let me use my sports background. Let me use this success, whatever it is to project, hey, I'm not dumb.

• 24:35Lewis Howes?

  But deep down inside, I felt like a dumb little boy every day. So my contract became wise. I'm a loving, passionate, wise man. And I didn't believe it right away. It's not like, oh, all of a sudden I'm like this intelligent human being that's just download all the information of the universe and I know everything. It's not like, but notice I didn't say smart. I said wise. Because I think wisdom is an even greater symbol of intelligence. It's a knowingness. It's a deeper feeling. It's an essence. It's an awareness of the world instead of a knowledge of things. And so I said, I'm a loving, passionate, wise man. And I started saying that every day. I started saying it out loud.

• 25:20Lewis Howes?

  I started saying it to myself internally. And I never, I ever doubted myself. I went back to my spiritual identity contract. And that contract is I'm a loving, passionate, wise man. Yes, I am. And what is that contract for you? Think of three words that you want to embody. Maybe it's not going to happen overnight, but anytime you doubt yourself, anytime you limit yourself, you say your contract back to you. You can internalize it. You can write it down. But the more you rewire the makeup within your mind, rewriting the story of the past to saying, I'm overcoming these things. I'm becoming more and look how much farther I've come from where I once was.

• 26:04Lewis Howes?

  I am these things. You're creating a contract with you. And once you believe and start to speak that into existence, beautiful things start to happen. So write down this spiritual identity contract for yourself.

• 26:18Lewis Howes?

  And who you want to become in all areas of life, but also financially.

• 26:25Lewis Howes?

  Number six, let go to receive more. Money is energy and money amplifies who you are. So if you are stingy selfish person, now when you make more money, you're going to become more of that stingy selfish person. If you're a generous, kind, joyful person, now you're going to amplify that energy into the world when you have more money as well. Whoever you are, whatever's inside of you, more of that is amplified when you have money. So again, going back to that Wayne Dyer quote of the orange, whatever's inside of you, whatever you squeeze out of you, that comes out of you because that's what's inside of you. So when you hold on too tightly out of fear, it stops the flow of abundance.

• 27:09Lewis Howes?

  Don't hold on to it. Don't hoard your money. Don't hold on to it too tightly because when you're holding on tightly to anything, it doesn't allow you to open your hands and receive more. And when you're holding on to it tightly, you can't be generous because you're not letting go. So we need to allow the circulation of money and opportunities to come to us. But also have with an open hand and say, okay, where do you want to go? Some of you can go here, some of this can go here. I'm going to keep some of you to invest. It's going to grow and help my, my future self continue to grow. But allow it to be a flow. Say, thank you for coming. If you want to go right now, okay, if you want to stay with me, great, thanks. Because I know more is going to keep coming and I'm going to keep being generous. It's this feeling of flow, this feeling of energetic flow,

• 27:54Lewis Howes?

  where you don't want to hold on to it too tightly out of fear that you're going to lose it. And when I was making a lot of money early on, I was afraid. I was like, I need to work harder. I was up all night, working nonstop, and I was afraid to lose it. And I just hoarded it. Again, I didn't have a car. I was living in an old apartment. I was taking like Greyhound buses. I was taking, you know, middle seat, multiple connection flights. Because I just wanted to spend the cheapest amount I could to travel anywhere. When I had a lot of money in the bank account. And I'm not saying you should overspend and overextend yourself. But if you're holding on to it so tightly, you're just hurting yourself and blocking that flow. And the seventh and final thing.

• 28:37Lewis Howes?

  Speak wealth into existence. All the money everybody needs and wants is waiting there for them. And there's only one reason it's not in their lives. It's because they're stopping it from coming into their lives. That's a quote from Rhonda Byrne from The Secret. And I want you to stop saying, I'm broke. I can't afford it. I'm not good with money. And instead, start saying, I'm learning to manage wealth. I'm learning to understand money more effortlessly. Money flows to me easily. I'm building my financial know-how. I'm excited to continue to learn the things that I don't understand. Instead of, I don't get this.

• 29:22Lewis Howes?

  It's just so hard to understand. I'm excited to learn these things that most people struggle with, including my past self. I'm excited that I'm learning more and more every single day. Your language shapes your subconscious and your results in your life. I'm going to end with this story. When I was broke on my sister's couch, I found a mentor that I started working for. And I actually worked for this mentor. I worked out of a closet of the kitchen of where they were working in their office. Cause they had no room. And they put me in the closet. They literally cleared out the cleaning supplies in the closet, put a little chair and a little desk. It had like a little thing off the wall. And I was doing phone calls and I had my computer in there.

• 30:07Lewis Howes?

  And people would walk behind me to get into the kitchen and grab the food. So I was like in the way of the flow of people walking in the kitchen. And I worked out of a closet. I was happy to be there. I was happy to have an opportunity to learn, to work, to add value. I'm not complaining about the closet. But after about six months of working really hard and I was trying to build my own thing. I was interning for him. We would go on walks every week. And I would just ask him questions because part of my payment was I could just go on a walk with him once a week, asking questions and get coached and mentored by him when he had free time. And I was like, I'm in, let's do it. So we'd go on walks and I'd ask him all these questions.

• 30:50Lewis Howes?

  And after about six months of this, he was like, how are things going? I go, man, it's hard. I still broke. I have no money. I'm working hard. I'm trying to develop skills. I'm trying to do all these things, but it's just, I'm not making any money. Six months, like, ah, it's just not working.

• 31:06Lewis Howes?

  And he goes, money comes to you when you're ready for it. His name's Chris Hawker. He said, money comes to you when you're ready for it. And I'm walking down the street with him and I go, I feel pretty ready for money right now. Like, I feel, I'm pretty broke. I'm like, give me some money or money comes to me, I'm gonna be pretty ready for it. He just kept saying, money comes to you when you're ready for it. And I didn't understand what he meant until about a year and a half, two years later. Because I started to make some money a year and a half, two years later. And once I started to unlock the money switch, it started to really turn on and I was able to like, generate pretty quickly. It took a while to figure out, but once I unlocked it, it was like,

• 31:48Lewis Howes?

  it's like I know Kung Fu from The Matrix. It was like, I know how to make money. It was like, it finally downloaded, it was like, oh, this is what you need to do? I'm just gonna do this every day. And I was like Neo from The Matrix, I know Kung Fu. But a year and I reflected back a year and a half, two years before then. And I was like, money comes to you when you're ready for it. I was like, gosh dang it, he was right. I didn't like to hear that because I just wanted someone to give me money. But I would have blown it because I wasn't ready for it. I would have spent it, not invested it. I would have blown through it all and been back to zero pretty quickly

• 32:28Lewis Howes?

  because I didn't learn the emotional, psychological, or financial tools that I needed to create more of it. And it wasn't until I was ready to receive it, that's when it started to unlock. And then I started to make more and more and more. And the thing is, once you unlock the money switch, there's new levels of learning around money. You might be able to take it to a certain level until you feel a block. You go back to a limit, a new limiting belief. That is holding you at this certain level of financial success and opportunity. And then you're going to be maybe stuck there for a while saying, ah, why am I not breaking through

• 33:12Lewis Howes?

  the next level of this financial growth? And then always have to go back to step one of this video. You have to go back to step one, re-watch this, re-listen to this, take notes again, and go back to step one. What in your mind is holding you back? What is limiting you at this level? What is the belief that you have that you can only be at this level and not break free to the next level? And it may not be, I need to make tons more money. But how can you create that inner peace with where you're at financially? Again, so if you go back to the start of this video, you re-watch this over and over again. You take notes and you apply this and you apply this, the lessons from this video. And again, if you dive deeper in Make Money Easy, in this book about understanding your money story,

• 33:58Lewis Howes?

  you're going to create freedom every time you feel blocked to create new opportunities in your life. And I want you to remember this. I want you to remember this, that the key is not, how do I have more right now? How do I make more right now? How do I become financially free right now? That's not the key. The key is to really set yourself up for a lifetime of financial freedom. But first, you need to create that inner freedom within you. I hope you enjoyed today's episode and it inspired you on your journey towards greatness. Make sure to check out the show notes in the description for a full rundown of today's episode

• 34:43Lewis Howes?

  with all the important links. And if you want weekly exclusive bonus episodes with me personally, as well as ad-free listening, then make sure to subscribe to our Greatness Plus channel exclusively on Apple Podcasts. Share this with a friend on social media and leave us a review on Apple Podcasts as well. Let me know what you enjoyed about this episode in that review. I really love hearing feedback from you and it helps us figure out how we can support and serve you moving forward. And I want to remind you, if no one has told you lately, that you are loved, you are worthy, and you matter. And now it's time to go out there and do something great.