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Want to learn how I manage money? Watch Part 1 of my 3-part series, Money Talks: Confronting the Money & Setting Financial Goals.

This free series is full of best practices and money-saving advice to help you protect your business and not go broke.

There’s something that younger entrepreneurs don’t really understand about true wealth and how it’s created.

Wealth doesn’t come from owning a business; it comes from selling it.

Whether you’re an influencer, an ecommerce retailer, or anything in between — you need to understand this key principle if you want to get the biggest possible return on your business.

I explain why in this episode of the Hustle Inspires Hustle Podcast with Alex Quin.

What I’ve Learned About Wealth

At this point in my career, I’m focused on the creation of assets that can be liquidated — that I can sell in the future.

I’ve been in this game a long time: I’ve done affiliate marketing, CPA, ebook sales, influencing, information publishing, SaaS, physical products, B2B services, dropshipping, the list goes on.

I have played in most of the business models that you’re considering if you’re reading this right now…

And what I realized in the last decade is that my goal is actually not revenue creation; it’s resource generation.

“I want to generate the most resource I possibly can, and I want the energy I’m using in my work-life to be as profitable for me as possible.”

What I discovered from a bunch of failures and missteps is this: things that you cannot sell are not worth doing (in a way).

Take Smart Marketer, for example…

Influencer Brand vs. Physical Products Brand

I own Smart Marketer, the business you’re engaging with right now.

Smart Marketer is an influencer brand that’s based around my persona. It’s the Ezra Firestone brand: I’m out there on stages, I’m an influencer, I create videos and blog posts.

People engage with my content and ultimately buy my courses on Facebook ads, how to build websites, conversion rate optimization, email marketing, etc.

And that’s great — however…

“[Smart Marketer] is an inferior business model to my physical product business, BOOM! by Cindy Joseph, where I white label and manufacture skincare and cosmetics.”

The reason is that Smart Marketer is based on my persona. I can never sell it because it can’t be operated without me, so it’s only as good as the next month I want to work on it.

Of course, it’s still a great business because it generates cashflow (and I love what we create) but it’s not an asset I can liquidate.

How Other Generations Became Wealthy

Let me explain this another way.

The way that our parents’ generation generated wealth was by investing in real estate. So what is real estate, really?

It’s purchasing an asset like a house or piece of land, holding onto it while it appreciates and then selling that asset once it has appreciated. The same is true for businesses. In business, you build or buy assets, operate them so they get better, and then sell them.

And it’s the liquidation of your business where large amounts of wealth can be generated.

“True wealth is not generated from cashflow businesses, drop shipping businesses, affiliate businesses or influencer businesses. Those are vehicles to generate revenue.”

Generating more revenue is what everyone is so focused on in this industry when instead we should be focusing on generating assets.

The Golden Age For Influencers

Today I think we’re living in the influencer economy.

So if you have the desire to engage a group of people, build a subscriber list and create products then this is the best business model in the world…

As long as you recognize it’s only a cashflow generating machine!

“If you have a cashflow business, then your goal should be to invest that cash to acquire or build assets that can be liquidated in the future.”

That’s the best strategy to generate wealth, and I don’t think the younger generation understands this.

A big thank you to Alex Quin for having me on the Hustle Inspires Hustle Podcast!

Want to learn how I manage money? Watch Part 1 of my 3-part series, Money Talks: Confronting the Money & Setting Financial Goals.

This free series is full of best practices and money-saving advice to help you protect your business and not go broke.