In this episode, we discuss how it’s important to understand a variety of topics so you have a better understanding of the world.
Full Transcript
Hi Everyone, welcome to the You’re Daily Cup of Joe Podcast, with your host Joe Bautista. In this podcast, my goal is to give you quick lessons that you can reflect on in your journal so you can grow yourself physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually and have a better career, better relationships, and better personal finances while you enjoy your morning cup of coffee.
I’m also the author of the book “More You Know, More You Grow: How to Get Better Every Day”. In this book, I wrote down over 30 tips to help you grow in those four cornerstones. I’m also the founder of Grow With Joe, where I combine self-development coaching and financial planning for Latino Professionals.
At the end of today’s podcast episode, I’m going to give you a prompt question to reflect on in your journal. The idea is to take one to five minutes to reflect on today’s lesson and write a minimum of one paragraph on how you can apply the lesson in your life. You can use an actual journal, a word document like on Google Drive, or your note-taking app like Evernote. The idea is that you’re actually thinking about how to process the information to help you improve your life.
In today’s episode, we’re are going to talk about how supply and demand rule the world. When I was in college, I was a public health major that wanted to get into health care management. I went to my advisor and asked her what classes I should take if I want to go down that path, then I should make an economics class. I took her advice, and I fell in love with economics because I was introduced to Supply and Demand, which is the bedrock for business. Everything we do is based on this famous economic concept. How much we desire some is based on demand, and how much it cost depends on the supply of that thing.
Once I got a taste of economics, I changed the path that I was going down. I felt that I understood economics, then it would take me a lot a farther in life. Once you understand economic concepts like Supply and Demand, then you make more rational decisions. You don’t need to go get a four-year degree to benefit from the terms. Supply and Demand is easy.
When there is an increase in a product or service but there is no extra demand for that product or service, then the price goes down and vice versa with a decrease in a product or service, the price will go up. Just think about concert tickets. There is only a finite amount of seats and if you want to go to Taylor Swift Show, then you’re probably going to pay more on the secondary market. If you’re trying to go see your local fifth-grade recorder ceremony, they are probably giving tickets away because no one wants to go see fifth graders play Mary had a little lamb out of sync.
Once you understand that supply and demand set prices and the quantity available in the market, then you understand that things like rent control are not a very good thing because it causes rent-seeking behavior. If you’re the first person to get a rent control house, then you’re good but everyone else after you is going to hurt because they won’t have a house. The key thing is that more homes need to be built but if builders can only get a certain price, then they are not going to build those homes so then there will be a shortage of homes.
Economics is not really a study about money but is a study about scarcity. Everything on this planet is pretty much finite. Yeah, the sun will last for a long time but we are dealing with some sort of scarcity whether it is with resources or with time. And the demand for those things sets a price in the market. Since I understand price and everything, this is a big reason why I put a lot of effort into my personal development because I’m trying to make sure I’m ahead of the demand curve. If rent prices increase, I want to make sure I can handle those things. That might mean I need to make more money or I need to move to a more affordable place to live. There are alternatives in this world and if you require your life to be a certain way, then you will probably have to pay a higher premium for that life.
If you need to live in the city like in Washington, DC, then you have to pay higher rents and you then have to compete with everyone else trying to live in that city. If you can handle it, then you’re fine, but if you can’t, you might be struggling. There are a lot of unfair things in life, but life isn’t fair but what you can do it understand the rules of life, and it can help your live a better life.
Right now I’m living in Mexico but I’m making my money online from US customers. Life is good for me because it is so much cheaper to do so. I took my business online and it’s working for me. What worked in the past, might not be the best path forward. You constantly have to reevaluate the terms for your own victory. But you can’t do that if you don’t understand your options and you don’t understand the rules of the world. Understanding something like supply and demand with a bunch of other lessons will help you get more control and flexibility over your life.
When you don’t understand the rules, then you get upset at things you don’t know how to fix and then you end accomplishing anything because you don’t know how to get yourself out of the situation. The traditional education system has failed us because it doesn’t teach us how to make good decisions in the real world. But once you take control over your life and start growing yourself physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually, then you can have the life you want.
That’s it for today’s episode, to summarize it, supply and demand rule the world. I would highly recommend you just have a general idea of these concepts and how they apply to this world. If you’re in business, then you want people to demand your product or service, so then how are you going to do that while keeping your costs down? If you’re working for someone else, how can you increase the demand for your labor? We live in a competitive society but it doesn’t mean we live in a winner takes all society. We all can win when the pie gets bigger but we just need to know how to rules of the game operate like Supply and Demand. There are many more rules for life that you need to know, and once you learn them and execute on your ideas, then you can live a better life because now you have more options. I used to think there was only one way to do something but now I’m more aware of my options and it’s very liberating.
So in your journal, ask yourself, how do supply and demand operate in your life? Are you getting the price you want? How can you change that? Do you need to increase the supply of your knowledge or skills? Do you need to know how to market yourself better so you can increase your demand? We are all deficient in someplace in our lives and we can turn things around once we understand the lessons. Make sure your taking advantage of life so life doesn’t take advantage of you.
Thanks for listening today! To get a free copy of my book “More You Know, More You Grow: How to get better every day” just go to my website growwithjoe.me/book and just pay for shipping and handling.
I have a quiz on my website that grades your inner circle, so if you want to find out if your inner circle is an A, B, C, D, or F, you can take that quiz at growwithjoe.me/quiz
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Thanks for joining me today and remember if you go with Joe, you can grow with Joe, cause Joe knows Dough.
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