What Being Late On Rent Taught Me About A “Poor” Mentality

As a 27 year old business owner, being late on rent isn’t something you want to happen. Well, no one really wants to be late paying rent. It’s scary when the first of the month comes around, and you really don’t know what you are going to do.

Being a self-employed entrepreneur, I deal with the idea of “where is this money going to come from?” quite frequently. I remember just a few months ago I was so stoked because I was $1000 short of rent on the 1st, and SOMEHOW the money came to me by the 5th. The pride you feel when that happens is such an intense rush. But the problem is… that doesn’t always happen.

Quick background on me: Started my real estate photo / video business in 2016. Made less than the 20k the first year, but by 2019, the business was pulling in 12–15k per month.

In 2020, I fell out with my partner, dissolved that location of the business and moved to another city to start fresh.

The difference between 2016 and 2021 was a lot of equipment, business sense, marketing know-how and 5–7 contacts in the city I moved to. I say that to say I knew I could survive, but I didn’t know how hard it would be.

When you’re a business owner (especially a young one), it feels like this constant balancing act of subtly proving that you are capable / successful enough to maintain potential clients’ trust with the NEED to make money. You never want to come across as being stressed about getting paid, but I’m sure in the past I’ve failed at that.

I know in the grand scheme of things 27 is young and to have built a 6 figure business at 26 is a hell of a feat. The problem arises when you lose what you built. A depression or deep sadness births from this failure, and I didn’t feel lower than the month I realized I literally won’t have the money to pay rent on time.

I tried to come across as secure (not rich) and stable, but how can you come across like this when you are getting late bill notices every day.

This reminded of me something that sparked a couple of years ago and continues to intrigue and sadden me.

When I started my business in 2016, I was running around like a chicken with my head cut off. I spent no extra money on things to secure my possessions, my health, or anything. Just my gear and my coffee.

In 2018, I went on a road trip across country with $10,000 worth of gear. On night 2, $7,000 of my gear was stolen in Austin, TX.

If not for ONE thing, I would have been completely screwed. INSURANCE.

In my poor mentality of 2016, I would NEVER have spent an extra $20 a month on insurance. Are you crazy??? By 2018, I realized the worth of the extra money towards protecting my gear. And when everything got stolen, it saved the entire company from tanking honestly.

Let me connect these two stories.

It’s easy to sink when you are “broke” or in a low place. It’s WAY easier to sink deeper than to climb out. To me, it’s my “poor” mentality. This past year there were moments that I just wanted to drink wine and sink into the floor. Knowing I won’t ever be able to climb out of this quicksand of bills.

“Poor me. I suck. My rent is late. I can’t spend money on insurance. I can’t. I won’t. I will never succeed.”

Our brains are incredibly strong. They can keep us down. They can take us to all of our wildest dreams.

I have been both the victim and the survivor in my fight with the poor mentality, and I am so thankful to have gained the perspective. It helps me to connect with others who may be going through the same thing. It also reinforces the idea of how the poor stay poor and the rich get richer.

I mean who has insurance?? People who make smarter financial decisions aka typically more well-off people. So in that scenario, the poor mentality person has everything stolen, their business tanks and they have to get a new job. The more well-off person has insurance recoup their gear and keeps build their business.

I guess what I’m trying to say is if you are battling your poor mentality right now, believe in yourself. You got this. If you are late on rent, that’s okay. It happens to A LOT of people. Even if they seem super secure.

Let your rent people know, focus on your money making things you do and grind it out so that way you don’t have to be late again. You do not have to or need to sink into the floor. But even you do, it’s okay. Let’s get up. The floor doesn’t have anything for us my friends.