4 Currencies More Powerful Than Money

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It doesn’t matter whether you’re employed, self-employed, or unemployed – chances are you think of currency as money.  Money is the tool that makes things happen, that you can trade for a good or service, and that you get in exchange for your work.  Money is not the only form of currency though, and I think, in fact, it is the weakest of the 5 types of currency that exist.  Furthermore, I think if a person spends their time focusing solely on the other four, money will come automatically.

What is Currency?

Currencies are forms of leverage – that is, you can trade a currency for something: favors, trinkets, labor, you name it.  The more of a given currency you have, the more leverage you have, the more you are able to do. This is a pretty accurate description of money, and what money can do, but it’s nothing compared to the other four currencies.

The Five Currencies

1. Time

2. Reputation

3. Connections

4. Knowledge

5. Money

Time – The Most Powerful Currency of All

Time is life’s only finite resource (but you already know that if you’ve been reading this blog).  It is only with time that we can pursue any endeavor: mixing concrete, eating corn dogs, trick-or-treating, and grooming show dogs.  Obviously, if you have no time, all the money in the world is meaningless.  If I offered you 100 million dollars to work 24 hours a day for a year, you couldn’t do it even if you wanted to(thanks Tim Ferriss for the example).  Most lives are set up to trade this all-important time for money – which is only useful if you have time.  This is why I love the concept of passive income, and also why I was never able to get a part-time job in high school, trading time for money seems like a loss to me – unless you can also do something you truly love to do (which is why I was a musician at one point in my past).

Most people spend time doing “stuff”: working, watching TV, habitually checking email (all fine in moderation) – instead of investing time in their relationships, their education, their health, and life-enriching experiences.

Making enough money to provide food, clothing, and shelter for you and your family is necessary to feel safe and secure, but beyond that point, trading time for money is a losing proposition.

Reputation: It Precedes You

Reputation is how people feel about you (or your product) before ever meeting you.  If you think first impressions are important – which they are – your reputation is even more important because it primes people for that first impression.  If people catch wind that you’re a shady character dealing primarily in snake oil, it’s going to be monumentally difficult to gain people’s trust even if you are the paragon of humanity in reality.  On the flip side, if people have heard great things, you might be able to sell them their own shoes before the first “hello.”

If Donald Trump came up to you and asked “want to go into business together?” you would probably say yes, no questions asked. That’s reputation at work.

Connections

Your connections go hand-in-hand with your reputation.  These are the people you know who have skills you can call upon, lead you to other connections, spread your reputation, provide moral support and otherwise provide you a service because you are a friend or partner, not because your wallet is fat.  Obviously, connections aren’t a one-way street – they’re mutually beneficial relationships.

Could you go up to anyone and get them to give you (not borrow) $100? Do you know anyone that could? If so, that’s a strong connection with a lot of trust in place!

Knowledge: Just Add Water

Knowledge is not just encyclopedic memorization of facts, it also includes a creative element.  Anyone can go to Wikipedia and learn some information – real knowledge is the ability to use that information in a constructive way.  This is the basis of all entrepreneurial endeavors; It’s seeing an opportunity and finding a way to execute.  Study + experience + creativity = knowledge.

Knowledge is what lets you get things done.  I’d be willing to bet that most people have a $1 million idea every day, most people probably have more than one.  However most people also lack the knowledge to implement those ideas, and thus, not everyone is a millionaire.

Why Are These More Powerful Than Money?

You ask a very good question.  To which I have a very elegant answer: You can trade all of these things for money, but you can’t trade money for any of these things!

If you consider for a moment the things that you really want to do in life, hopefully you’ll see that having time, reputation, connections, and knowledge will help you achieve your goals far more easily than money will.  Especially given the fact that if you have these 4 currencies, you will be able to create income streams essentially at will.  So if you’re working online, ask yourself how you can provide more value to more people, even if you don’t make money from them.  In the long run, you’ll make the world a better place, earn more money, and have something you can be proud of at the end of the day.