Shadowing Practice: 02.e What Is Success? Commentary - Effortless Business English - Learn English Speaking with Video
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Hi, this is A .J.
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Hogue, and this is the commentary for what is success.
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I want to talk a little bit about this question, what is success?
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Now, that's a big question, and there are many, many different answers.
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So let's talk only about financial success, okay, because success can have many different parts, right?
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Emotion means, you know, our feelings.
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To be successful, I think you need to be happy most of the time.
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If you're very unhappy, in my opinion, you're not successful.
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But anyway, those are more difficult questions to answer about the total idea of success.
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So let's talk only about money, okay, financial success.
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Let's keep this simple.
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So what is financial success?
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In this article, we talk about the idea of cash flow and the idea of financial freedom, financial flexibility.
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And those are very important ideas.
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uh many people do understand these ideas but many people don't
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or they understand them but they don't take action
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and you know action is the important part you have to
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number one you have to know what to do right you need knowledge you need information
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but number two you have to do what you know.
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It means you have the information, you know, but that's not enough.
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You need action and you need action every day, not just one time.
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So this idea of financial freedom, of financial success, most people,
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I think, imagine that more money, more money, more money means financial success.
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If you have a big, expensive house, if you have a big,
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expensive car, if you make a lot of money from your job or your business,
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most people think, well, that is financial success.
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I don't.
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I don't.
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I think that that can be financial success.
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It depends on other things.
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But I don't really think that's the key.
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I think that cash flow, freedom, and control equal financial success.
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Cash flow means you have more money coming in every month than you spend.
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You make more than you spend.
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The bigger that gap, the bigger the amount coming in, and the smaller the amount leaving,
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means more and more financial success. And why is that?
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It's because you have more freedom, more flexibility.
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And that's the next part.
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It means you have choices.
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You have financial choices.
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It means you don't need to worry about emergencies.
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If you get sick, no problem.
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You have big cash flow, right?
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You have big positive cash flow.
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You have a lot of money saved.
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If you have an emergency, no stress, no worry.
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If your cash flow is negative or just even,
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right, the same coming in the same going out then an emergency is a big problem it's very stressful even
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if you're rich even if a lot of money's coming in if the same amount is leaving every month
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and suddenly you have a big bill unexpected a surprise bill that's going to be a big stress
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another situation if you have negative cash flow it means you're borrowing money right maybe you're using credit cards
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or maybe you're using a loan from the bank but anyway
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if you're spending more than you're making and suddenly your income goes down maybe you lose your job
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Maybe your business goes down a little bit.
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If your cash flow is even or negative, you're going to be super stressed.
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You're going to be worried.
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You're going to have a big, big problem.
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If you have very positive cash flow and you're saving a lot of money,
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then that situation is not so bad.
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If you lose your job, it's not good, but you have time to find another job, right? you have a lot of savings
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so you can relax a little bit i'm okay i have time to find a new job
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or if your business goes down again it's not good
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but you have time to find a new way to make
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money you can think okay i need to bring my business up again you have time to find a solution
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if you have positive cash flow every month, if you are saving money every month.
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So that's very important.
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And the last part for me of financial success is control.
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It means you control your money.
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Other people don't control it.
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So if you have a lot of money saved, you have control.
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You can quit your job if you're unhappy.
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You can change your business if you're unhappy or you don't like it, right?
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Your decision.
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You control that.
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If you don't have positive cash flow, if you don't have a lot of money saved every month,
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then someone else controls you.
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You're afraid to lose your job.
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You're afraid to quit.
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and when you're afraid to quit the boss can treat you very badly right you're afraid to lose your job
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so even if it's a very bad job you'll keep doing it not
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because you like it because you have negative cash flow
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because you must keep the job you need the money every
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month every month every month you don't have enough saved so you could quit and find a better job.
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So you live in fear when your cash flow is low, when your cash flow is even or negative.
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You live in fear constantly.
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You're always worried.
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You're always afraid something might happen.
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You're afraid to lose your job.
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You're afraid your business will go down.
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You're afraid of some emergency, some surprise.
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That's not control.
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That means other things control you.
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Other people control you.
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Even if you're very rich, even if your house is expensive and your car is expensive and your clothes are expensive, if your cash flow is low,
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negative, if you owe money, you have big loans, you're borrowing money from the bank,
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you're using credit cards you don't have control other people may may think you're rich they may think you're successful
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but really you're not so that's why this cash flow idea is so important
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so so important it's simple right it's so simple i'm not telling you something new
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i'm not giving you some difficult information it's so simple
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and yet so many people forget or ignore this very simple very important idea
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why well you know for one thing we are taught to ignore it from tv from movies from advertising from our parents,
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from our friends, from our co -workers,
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from our bosses, our jobs, from everywhere.
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We are taught that more money equals success.
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We're taught that a big house, an expensive car, expensive clothes equals success.
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so what do we do we borrow money to buy a
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more expensive car we borrow money to buy a big big
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house we borrow money with a credit card maybe to buy very nice clothes expensive looking clothes
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we're always borrowing money so that we look successful Right?
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That's what TV tells us to do.
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That's what everybody tells us to do.
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But that is not success.
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And it really means stress in the future.
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If you do that, you might feel successful in the beginning for a while,
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but eventually you're going to feel very, very stressed.
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You will not feel free.
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You will not feel in control.
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You will not have flexibility.
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You will not have a lot of choices.
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so we have to forget what our cultures tell us
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and it's everywhere in the world now this is not just
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america it's not just your country it's all over the world
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it's the same message right it means look like you're rich
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that means success and we make bad choices because of
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that it's not just spending we also make bad choices about making money what do i mean by
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that well it means we take jobs that we hate just
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because they pay more money well i think that's a terrible
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idea why would you want to do something you hate every
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day just for more money it's a it's a bad choice in my opinion.
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So, you know, we don't want to do that.
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That's not financial success.
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You're 40, 50, 60 hours a week.
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You're doing something you hate or something you think is boring.
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Maybe working with people you don't like just so you can have more money.
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That's not success.
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You're going to be more stressed.
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You're going to be unhappy.
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You're not going to enjoy your life when you do that.
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So just making more money is not the answer.
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Okay, so we need to think instead about cash flow.
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Cash flow is the important concept, the important idea for financial success.
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Forget this idea that just make more money, more, more, more, more, more, more.
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Make more, spend more.
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That's what we're taught.
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Make more money, even at a bad job.
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Spend more money, even if we have to borrow.
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That's what most people are doing, trying to be successful.
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Most people do not feel successful.
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Most people feel stressed and worried all the time about money.
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Most people don't feel free.
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Most people don't feel like they control their finances.
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So this is a new way to think.
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And it's very important to look at the order, at the numbers there, right?
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It's very important that number one is reduce spending, right?
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I did not put make more money as number one.
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That's number two.
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Number one, the first step, is reduce your spending.
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That's tough why is it tough it's not actually tough to
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spend less money the tough part is changing your brain changing your belief changing your mind
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and your attitude the tough part is to resist to forget
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all the messages from people from other people that's the hard part you know it's very easy to live simply.
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In fact, it's easier.
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It's less stressful.
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The hard part is everybody's telling you, oh, get more, more, more, but you're trying to spend and get less, less, less.
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You're going against the mainstream culture.
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But, you know, the mainstream culture is stressed and unhappy and not in control.
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So if you want to be happy and have a lot of money and be free, you have to go against mainstream culture.
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You begin by spending less.
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Get a smaller apartment that costs less money.
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Sell your house.
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Buy a cheaper house, a smaller house.
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Sell your car.
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Get a cheaper car or don't use a car at all get a motorcycle
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or take the bus or the subway it might feel
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inconvenient in the beginning but when your cash flow gets better and better every month you will feel stronger and happier
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So it's a very small thing to do to feel happier.
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Okay, so reduce that amount.
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Reduce the amount you spend on food.
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Stay at home more.
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Cook more at home.
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It's pretty easy, actually.
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There's a lot of different ways to spend less money.
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I recommend you start with rent.
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Rent is usually the biggest expense for most people.
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It's usually the largest amount of money people spend on their home or apartment.
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So that's the first place to reduce your spending.
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And then cars, transportation is usually maybe number two.
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That's also a very big one.
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For some people, clothes, expensive clothes, is a major expense.
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It's a lot of money they spend.
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You need to reduce that.
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If you want to be financially successful and free, if you want to feel relaxed about your money and happy,
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if you want that, you must do this.
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If you don't care about that, if you don't mind being stressed, or if you're super rich, you can ignore my advice.
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But if you feel some stress about money, If you hate your job and you feel like it controls you, if you're tired of working all the time,
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then this is the first step.
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Reduce your money for spending.
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Every month, your goal is to spend less.
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Spend less this month.
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Next month, spend even less.
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The next month, even less.
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Every month, less than the previous month.
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That's your goal.
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Do that for a year, maybe.
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And then part two, we have increase your income, make more money.
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Now, that might mean getting another job that pays more, but only if you like that job.
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I never recommend getting a job you hate.
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It's never worth it.
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Okay, the extra money, it's never enough to replace your happiness.
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If you're feeling stressed, if you're feeling very unhappy, if your boss is an asshole,
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a jerk, there's not enough money to compensate for that.
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There's not enough money to make you feel better about that.
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So don't get a terrible job.
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But if you can find a nice job that makes more money, that's great.
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Of course, go for it. Do it.
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if you can't then find other ways to make more money
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i think the best way is to start your own business
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it really is the best way to make more money it's scary for a lot of people
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because they do it wrong because they borrow money if you borrow money to start a business you're going to probably fail.
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I think something like 90 % of businesses fail.
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Why do they fail?
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What's the number one reason new businesses fail?
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You know?
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Cash flow.
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Cash flow.
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There's a lot of research about this.
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You can read any business book about small business, you will find this same information.
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Cash flow is the reason most businesses fail.
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And most businesses, 90, I don't know, 95%, it's above 90.
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Above 90 % of new businesses fail within five years.
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That's terrible, right?
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It's pretty scary.
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But why do they fail?
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They fail because of negative cash flow.
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Why do they have negative cash flow?
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Why are they spending more money than they make?
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Well, number one, they borrow money in the beginning.
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I mean, it's crazy.
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I can't believe what some people do to start a business.
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They borrow $100 ,000, for example, to start their business.
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Oh my God, well, of course, that's a lot of stress.
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You're already negative $100 ,000 on the first day.
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It's going to be very difficult to get positive cash flow if you borrow money.
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So number one, my advice, start a small business Do not borrow money.
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So that means start something very, very, very, very small.
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I started Effortless English with $200.
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I did not borrow $200.
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I saved $200 from my job.
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Then I started Effortless English.
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The first website was ugly and cheap.
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Because I did not borrow money, I did not create a big, expensive, nice website.
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Because I did not want to borrow money.
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I did not want negative cash flow.
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Instead, I started a tiny, super cheap website and did not borrow money.
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So on the first day of Effortless English, I had positive cash flow because the first month,
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actually, on the first month of Effortless English, I made more money than I spent.
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I spent $200.
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I think I made $225.
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So total, my first month, I made $25 dollars.
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That's not much, but it's positive cash flow.
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It's not negative.
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Most businesses have negative cash flow.
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First month, actually, first year.
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And as we see, actually, most of them fail.
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So if you want to start a business, do not start a business that requires you to borrow money.
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you know maybe you have a fantastic idea for a super website or a great restaurant or something
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that's fine but
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if you need to borrow money forget it do it later
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do it later after you have a lot of money from another business a cheaper business to start
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so start a super cheap business first without borrowing money.
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Build it very slowly, a little bit.
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You know, I made $25 my first month.
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That's all.
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That's okay.
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You can do the same thing.
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I was still working.
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I had my job.
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I was doing my business part -time.
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You can do that also.
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Start a cheap business.
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And then build it slowly, slowly, every month, a little better, a little better.
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Always focusing on cash flow, positive cash flow, positive cash flow.
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Never spend more than you make.
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Your business will eventually grow.
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I promise you, as long as you have positive cash flow and you keep trying new things,
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you keep trying, you keep learning, you will succeed.
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I guarantee you can't fail.
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You cannot fail if you have positive cash flow and you continue to learn.
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Maybe you might need five months.
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Maybe you need five years.
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Maybe you need 12 years, but you won't fail if you have positive cash flow and you always are learning, learning, learning.
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That's the two key things for a successful business, small business.
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Now, maybe your business will grow and grow and grow, and then you have a lot of cash flow, and you have a lot of money saved.
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Then you can try your big idea, your big expensive website, your big expensive restaurant.
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No problem.
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You don't need to borrow money.
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It's okay.
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But don't do it first.
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Don't start with the big expensive business.
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Start with something tiny, small, part -time, without borrowing money.
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That's the key to a successful business.
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Okay, well, that's all.
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That's the discussion, the commentary for what is financial success.
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I hope you enjoyed this.
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I hope you follow this advice.
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I want you to feel relaxed.
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I want you to feel happy about money.
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I want you to feel ecstatic about money.
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I want you to feel free.
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I want you to feel in control of your money.
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I want you to start your own little business and then grow it.
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I want it to be successful.
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I want you to be financially successful.
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Follow this advice, and I promise you will be.
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Okay, take care.
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Good luck.
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See you next time.
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Bye -bye.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This speaking lesson is built on the video “02.e What Is Success? Commentary - Effortless Business English”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: flow, cash, success, month, borrow. This video has 318 sentences and 2984 words to shadow. The speech runs for 24:32. The speaker talks at a steady 122 words per minute, a comfortable pace for shadowing. 92% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English, so the vocabulary is easy to follow.
Key vocabulary in this video
15 words from the video worth learning, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| borrow verb | /ˈbɑɹ.oʊ/ | To receive (something) from somebody temporarily, expecting to return it. |
| unhappy adjective | /ʌnˈhæpi/ | Not happy; sad. |
| cloth noun | /klɒθ/ | A fabric, usually made of woven, knitted, or felted fibres or filaments, such as used in dressing, decorating, cleaning or other practical use. Sometimes… |
| distress noun | /dɪˈstɹɛs/ | Physical or emotional discomfort, suffering, or alarm, particularly of a more acute nature. |
| borrowing noun | /ˈbɔrəwɪŋ/ | An instance of something being borrowed. |
| ignore verb | /ɪɡˈnɔː/ | To deliberately not listen or pay attention to. |
| relax verb | /ɹɪˈlæks/ | To make something loose. |
| mainstream adjective | /ˈmeɪn.stɹiːm/ | Used or accepted broadly rather than by small portions of population, market, scientific community, etc. |
| flexibility noun | /ˌflɛksɪˈbɪlɪti/ | The quality of being flexible, whether physically or metaphorically. |
| scary adjective | /ˈskɛə.ɹi/ | Causing fear or anxiety |
| expense noun | /ɪkˈspɛns/ | A spending or consuming, often a disbursement of funds. |
| commentary noun | /ˈkɑ.mənˌtɛ.ɹi/ | A series of comments or annotations; especially, a book of explanations or expositions on the whole or a part of some other work. |
| financially adverb | In terms of finance or money. | |
| stressful adjective | /ˈstɹɛsfəl/ | Irritating; causing stress. |
| belief noun | /bɪˈliːf/ | Mental acceptance of a claim as true. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| go down verb | To descend; to move from a higher place to a lower one. |
| go out verb | To leave, especially a building. |
Sentences worth repeating
Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:
- It's because you have more freedom, more flexibility.
- It means you don't need to worry about emergencies.
- You're going to be worried.
- You're going to have a big, big problem.
- You can quit your job if you're unhappy.
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | are taught |
| Possibility with “might / may” might/may + verb — something that is possible but not certain | might happen · may may · might feel |
| Superlatives the -est / the most … — the top or bottom of a group | the biggest · the largest · the best |
| Past continuous was/were + -ing — an action in progress at a moment in the past | was still working · was doing |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 79 contractions and reduced forms, such as you're, don't, can't. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- Long words — get the stress right: flexibility /ˌflɛksɪˈbɪlɪti/, commentary /ˈkɑ.mənˌtɛ.ɹi/, unexpected /ʌnɪkˈspɛktɪd/, motorcycle /ˈmoʊtɚˌsaɪkəl/, inconvenient /ˌɪn.kənˈviːni.ənt/
How to practise with this video
- Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
- Shadow it sentence by sentence at normal speed, repeating each one until your rhythm matches the speaker.
- Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like borrow, unhappy, cloth.
What is the Shadowing Technique?
Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.