When I was a kid, my dad had a phone shop.
One day, a guy walked in with an iPhone 3GS.
He needed help turning on location services.
My dad knew everything about hardware… but he used Android.
So he told the guy he couldn’t help.
I overheard them, grabbed the phone, flicked on the setting, and handed it back.
Took me 5 seconds.
The guy smiled, pulled out a €5 note, and gave it to my dad.
My dad turned around and gave it to me.
At the time, I didn’t feel like I deserved it.
All I did was toggle a button.
But that was the first time I learned something about money that I’ve carried ever since:
Money isn’t about effort.
It’s about perceived value.
What took me 5 seconds was worth €5 to him.
And over time, I realized there are three truths about money that explain almost everything:
Money isn’t “created.”
It already exists - it’s just sitting in someone else’s pocket right now.
‘Value’ is created! Money is what is used to exchange that value.
The guy with the iPhone taught me that!
Money doesn’t care about you.
Poor people hate money.
Middle-class people worship money.
Both are wrong.
Money doesn’t love you or hate you - it’s just a tool, like a hammer.
Use it to build what you want.
That’s all it’s for.
Money loves speed.
Most people will make $1–2M total in their lifetime.
That’s not impressive.
What is impressive is someone who condenses that into a year… Or a month.
Because the game isn’t just “earning money.” It’s compressing lifetimes of value into shorter and shorter windows.
We don’t generate money.
We generate value.
And then we exchange that value for the money that already exists.
Those are the 3 truths I learned - starting with a single iPhone in my dads phone shop.
