How do people with such rotten integrity make such enormous amounts of money?

Updated 1/13/21

This question, in one form or another, has arisen from past clients and students, and has a surprisingly simple answer.

For these people, their focus is making money. For some of them the focus is so strong it becomes a higher priority than kindness, or integrity, or love.

This answer is a big reason why earning money has created such a divide in the hearts of caring people.

Let’s dig in a little deeper, both spiritually and strategically, so you don’t have to get caught here.

The Question Under the Question

What so many people are really asking is “Why do good, kind people with masterful gifts struggle so much, and people with fewer gifts and less integrity live high on the hog?”

First things first: know that there is no, direct formulaic relationship between wealth and spiritual attainment.

What I mean by that is having wealth is not a measurement of whether you are spiritually connected, and not having wealth is also not a measurement of whether you are spiritually connected. Someone can be rich and totally disconnected and someone else can be rich and completely enlightened.

Similarly someone can be in the depths of poverty and be completely disconnected spiritually, and someone else can be down and out and live completely in a state of enlightenment.

You may nod your head and agree, but stop for a moment and really let this in, because everything in our culture tells you the exact opposite.

If you don’t have money, or if you do have money, neither means you’ve messed up spiritually. It’s not a judgment on you and who you are. Your wealth has zero connection to your value/worth as a human being.

Stop. Stop right here. Breath that in. Take 5 slow breaths opening your heart to what this really means for you, it could make a huge difference in your business.

What does your heart show you?

Now, how to make money.

I’ll repeat what I wrote above, about why certain people have money.

“For these people, their focus is making money. For some of them the focus is so strong, it becomes a higher priority than kindness, or integrity, or love.”

Here’s the insight: you don’t have to hold making money as your highest priority or intention. You don’t have to run rough-shod over your values and caring.

However, if you want more money, what you *must* do is have making money as *one* of your priorities.

Here are a few questions for you.

Do you…

• Spend time thinking about how your business can make money? (Worrying, obsessing, and telling yourself stories about how you’ll never make it, while perhaps unavoidable at times, doesn’t count as part of this time.)

• Think through how much you are making currently, and where it comes from?

• Do the calculations on how much you would make if you were 50% full? 80% full? (Don’t bother with 100% full – you shouldn’t base your hoped-for income on 100% booked. It’s not fair to you or to your clients.)

• Dream about alternative ways to structure your business to be more profitable? Do you then experiment with some of those ideas, just to see how they might work?

I’ve written about the topic of business model which is a big part of what I’m discussing here.

You can tackle these questions without abandoning your heart. If you’re clear on your values, if you know what integrity means, then trust yourself and your heart.

I wonder what insights might arise for you, what possibilities would become visible, if you were to simply take 30-60 minutes a week for the next 2-3 weeks chewing on the four questions above? Hmmm….

I’m curious what insights might have come up for you immediately, just reading them and musing for a few moments. What do you see?

With love,

Mark Silver, M.Div.
Heart of Business, Inc.
Every act of business can be an act of love.

Maybe time to take a look at your business?

I want to invite you to take a look at our Readiness Assessment, to take 18 minutes to assess your business developmentally, to understand where it is, what it needs, and what you should focus on now.

It’s free: The Readiness Assessment