Passion Income: How Nintendo Got Us Paid More

PASSION INCOME

What could there be better than to use your true passion and actually monetize it. Getting paid more with your “passion on drive” so to say. Unlocking your intrinsic motivation to go after goals can happen in many ways. Mikey of “Get Paid More” and myself have discovered how we are both huge Nintendo fans. We both learned to put that “passion on drive” and get paid more thanks to it. In this blog post, we’ll share our Nintendo “passion income” stories and tell you how to put your own passions to work for more money.

In short, it’s all about combining what you love with what the world needs and your ability to get paid for it. Learn more about the Ikigai concept here. The best part of mobilizing your passion is that you can live the life of your dreams no matter your age, your background, education or where you’re from. As long as you’re willing to try new things, you too can put your passion on drive!

As a teenager in the 1990’s, Nintendo was what I loved. While I haven’t figured out how to monetize that passion back then, it surely motivated me to find way to earn more money.

My passion put me on “drive” mode.

Put your passion on drive!

Unlock your passion.

Your passion is for you.

Your purpose is for others.

Nintendo consoles need to be connected with a TV, but our family TV was oftentimes in use by other people whenever I wanted to play. That’s what intrinsically motivated me to think about other options. It motivated me to passionately look for more income in order to buy my own TV.

When I first mentioned the idea of having my own TV in my bedroom, my mum was fully against it while my dad said: “Yes, why not – but you got to earn it yourself.”

I figured from age 14 onwards it was possible for me to become a “newspaper boy”. Instantly I applied and got a paper-route with 400 households to serve. At age 14 my life changed. No matter the weather, if sunshine, snow, rain, storm, heat or cold, I had to serve my 400 households or if I don’t – face losing my job.

That job earned me $500/ month!

A very decent pocket-money for a 14-year-old in the early 1990’s.

Lesson learned: Understand your motivations and use them to go after your dreams.

My dad thought me a lot about my money and my life, read more about the financial lessons from my dad here.

The dreams and passions stored within hearts

are powerful keys which can unlock a wealth of potential.

After three months distributing newspapers, I had sufficient cash aside to buy myself a TV. The moment the money was ready, I rushed to the shop and bought the largest 16:9 TV available back then. It was a monster. I couldn’t transport it back home. That’s why I called my dad and told him what I just bought.

He simply said: “Oh, you actually did it. Wait, I’ll be on my way.”

Mario time!

A few short weeks later, while I was enjoying my TV a lot, it dawned on me as I started to realize my bank account was back to ground zero while the time invested distributing all those newspapers is gone forever.

This feeling is what initially motivated me to keep earning but get started saving and later investing.

Lesson learned: When kids are given the opportunity to engage in strategically relevant experiences and are given the ability to learn the lessons from these experiences, they will have a higher likelihood of success in their life. I’ve written more here about how to raise [financially] independent kids.

Don’t just “go” through life, grow through it!

Some people figured out how to make money off their Nintendo passion, like my friend Mikey.

Check out our Youtube chat on Fast Track Money about “getting paid more” and please read about his experience just after the video!

Get Paid More

This is the story of how a broke wage-slave transformed himself into a somewhat-less-broke wage-slave. I originally wrote this story on Twitter as a thread titled “How I turned $40 into $25,000 in only one year.” Because I spent a couple of years flipping second-hand goods and using the profits to buy Bitcoin, my $40 has since turned into a bit more than $25k. But the essence of the story remains the same. A guy who had nothing, used the part of nothing that he knew and understood, to make profit from it. That’s my story.

Mikey of Get Paid More

At the start of 2019, I decided that I wanted money for investments. I am a man of very modest means though. I have a wife, a couple of mortgages, and a very unimpressive 9-5. Where would I get money for investments?

Firstly, I looked around my house for items of value that I wasn’t using. My camera, my midi-keyboard, my kindle. I listed them all for sale, and soon enough they were sold. When all of my goods were gone though, I had nothing else to sell. Not only that, but I actually suffered deep losses on all of that stuff. I’d bought it at retail price and sold it into the second-hand market like a total chump.

I needed more stuff to sell. But what? If you know me in real life, you will know that I am a nerd. A nerd disguised as a 90kg heavyweight punching machine. But anyway. My nerdy ways kept me in the second-hand market for Nintendo games. I was always watching to see if I could get some Mario action on the cheap. What I noticed though, was that Mario never got any cheaper.

Even when he was from a superseded generation, Mario held his value. So did all of his buddies – Zelda, Pokemon, Donkey Kong. There is a magic surrounding some games – particularly Nintendo’s own IP, that protects them from ever getting cheaper. This is only a general rule though. Most people know they can ask more for certain games, but not everyone knows. This divergent pricing is opportunity for me. It occurs consistently enough that I can run a nano-business on it.

Ignite your passion and find your calling.

So I wrote my own valuation for these games, and applied it to bundles that included consoles. In my model I buy consoles at a higher price, and games at a lower price. The consoles earn only 10% profit, but are still easy enough to sell back. The games earn 100% profit, and thanks to their strong brand, are also quick to sell.

The thing I noticed here is what Warren Buffet describes as a “moat”. The strongest businesses have a moat around them, protecting them. That moat is their brand. The cultural capital of the business. The goodwill and identity stored within the brand. These are the things that the consumer uses to value a brand, and Nintendo’s got it in absolute spades.

Other brands you might know that perform similarly: Apple, Rolex, Disney. You don’t think of the brand. You think of how you feel about the brand. I took these observations and applied them to my favourite niche – video games. Then I picked my niche-within-a-niche: Nintendo. Lastly, I wrote a profitable pricing model that allows me to win every time I play.

Who wouldn’t love spoonfed passion income?

My profit is already priced in, from the moment a seller takes my offer. I am guaranteed profit. So how did I turn $40 into $25,000? Time, hard work, and dedication. Oh, and using credit cards for liquidity without ever lapsing into interest.

The key to financial freedom is to unlock your entrepreneurial intelligence, work your network and lead the time.

Choose to shine!

Before the virus changed everything, I worked every day in a city office. In my city, 120,000 people wash in and out every day for work and entertainment. This gave me access to a huge number of people. They would message me, ask to buy, and then I’d sell to them in lunch break. You should have seen me those mornings – running to the train station with my backpack on. In each hand, a grocery bag filled with consoles and games. Maybe my fellow commuters had a name for me. Giant Nerd or something. I couldn’t care less – most days I made $100 in profit just from carrying some extra things into the city.

Watch here to learn how to make $100 in profits – per hour.

From 2019 until the 2020 lockdowns, I continually traded from my office in the city turning $25 purchases into $50 sales. That’s why I urge people on twitter – don’t disrespect a $20 profit. You’re a sucker if you ignore the potential of a small, repeatable profit. Time and discipline can turn small profits into the key that unlocks your prison cell.

Put your passion on drive and Get Paid More!

If you like to learn more about how to “Get Paid More”, check out the website, follow on Twitter, and watch his videos on his new Youtube channel. GPM wrote an awesome flipping guide called “Garbitrage” which is not just great in terms of lessons shares but also highly entertaining.

If you liked this post, and to stay tuned for more insights on how to financially imagineer your life please subscribe to the blog by email below, follow on Facebook, Twitter, or reach out directly here for more.

Now go get paid more!

Matt

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