Most people don’t think millionaires can appreciate what they’ve gone through, but Jeremy Schneider wants to change that outlook. His simple message—live below your means, invest early and often—is easy to follow. Yet he started from the middle like the rest of us. Schneider thinks if he can do it, so can you.
A Simple Man With a Simple Roadmap
Schneider started off like all the rest of us, landing up at the University of Michigan running track. In a lucky occurrence, he was offered a job at Microsoft but wasn’t sure if this was precisely what he wanted. He turned down what was then one of the biggest tech companies in the world.
Throughout his 20s, Schneider spent a lot of time and effort building RentLinx, his first business. Throughout his early life, he lived well within his means, buying a used Ford Explorer and paying himself a modest salary of $36,000 a year – far less than most people would get.
Persistency in Investing
Schneider grew up knowing that investing was the way out of a life of constant struggle. Since he was 16, he was contributing to his own investment fund. In 2015, Schneider sold RentLinx for $5 million. Around $2 million of that ended up in his own pocket. He decided to take a year off and celebrate.
During that time, however, he didn’t let his net worth lapse. He consistently tracked the growth of his funds and invested new money into them. In addition, he had a lot of free time, which he eventually spent playing video games.
Introducing the Personal Finance Club
Schneider’s big idea for social media was the Personal Finance Club. With all the knowledge he had garnered over the years, alongside managing his cost of living and investing, he decided the rest of the world decided to know his “secret.” So, he started this social media site to help people learn about things.
From investing in index funds to economic news, how it affects the regular guy and tips for paying off debt, there’s a whole slew of information here. Once the Instagram account grew to a certain level, he decided to take action and build a personal finance course to help people escape their debt.
Keeping Things Simple Is the Best Way’
Schneider advises new entrepreneurs to keep things simple. In keeping with his lifestyle, he says that adding complexity makes things seem more intriguing, but the best approach is to keep things as simple as possible.
When things are simple and something breaks, you can fix it easily. In managing finances and a business, simple business processes mean that the company just needs a minimum of input to keep doing what it’s already doing.
Peace Of Mind Makes You Money
Worrying makes you less efficient. Schneider believes that the path to earning money is to have peace of mind. If you set up a business, you should look at creating things to make that business run independently. This also operates on his idea of simplification.
A simple business idea can be much more easily automated than a complex one. Schneider believes that when you’re not frustrated or feeling overwhelmed, you produce better things. Making the business more automated takes the stress off you while still making you money. It’s a win-win situation.
Genuine Advice Beats Selling
Unlike many of the personal finance gurus on Instagram, Schneider is honest and open with his advice. He doesn’t try to sell you anything and believes that this genuine honesty is why so many people follow his account.
Schneider advises online entrepreneurs to build their businesses using good advice but not rely on that advice to sell more complex things. Instead, they should lean into things they are experts in and use those to add value to their followers’ lives. Value added means that the follower will keep coming back for more.
Consistency Is Crucial
Investing and social media have a few things in common, and one of them is consistency. Constantly putting things out there and investing in the market can earn a lot of money in the long run. However, it can also earn a lot of followers in the long run.
Schneider advises new entrepreneurs to follow a schedule, both in putting aside money for their investment and in growing their business. It’s only with dedicated, consistent posting and interactions that people see success in their business ventures.
Taking Care Of Yourself Is Also a Priority
Many entrepreneurs lose the thread when it comes to taking care of themselves. Schneider has seen it happen to too many young business owners. They hit burnout because they were too busy hustling and not paying attention to their own needs. He advises new entrepreneurs to avoid the hustle culture.
Instead, he suggests people take the time they need to approach their business. Not everyone has the luxury to do that, he admits, but taking the time off to get perspective and generate new ideas is a crucial part of building a new business idea or expanding on an existing one. Without that rest and reflection, most business owners just don’t have the energy.
Social Media And Investing Are Both Numbers Games
Both investing and social media rely on numbers. Having a certain number of followers opens doors, and having a certain amount of success in investing earns money. However, there are easy ways and hard ways to do both. Choosing individual stocks and betting on them has the potential for a lot of upside and a lot of downside. The same goes for following large social media accounts and hoping to piggyback off their success.
While it might seem like luck, Schneider says that it’s all about planning and understanding what’s going on. With the right knowledge, anyone can become a millionaire by investing or landing a huge following on social media. It’s not rocket science, but it takes consistency, drive, and understanding about when to push it and when to lay back and enjoy it.
