The $100K Question

If money wasn’t the problem, what would you fix first?

Feb 08, 2026

Mike Tyson made over $300 million as a boxer.

He bought mansions, luxury cars, jewelry, and freaking bengal tigers. He also filed for bankruptcy in 2003 and owed $23 million to the IRS.

He never figured out what the money was supposed to do for him beyond buying the next thing. He had money. He didn’t have an outcome.

This is not an isolated incident.

Research shows 70% of lottery winners file for bankruptcy within a few years. The NFL says 78% of retired players are in financial distress within two years of retiring.

Insane, right?

So what’s the real problem?

You don’t want the money.

You want the outcome.

Meaning, you want the thing that money can buy… hopefully to improve the quality of your life in some way.

Money doesn’t create outcomes. It often accelerates them.

You’re not struggling because you don’t earn enough. You’re probably struggling because you may have forgotten exactly what you want your money to buy for you.

Let me show you how to fix it.

How do you figure out what you actually want?

Imagine someone hands you $100,000 today. You have to spend it to make your life better.

What do you actually do with it?

When people answer honestly, the truth comes out.

“You’d hire someone to handle your schedule and emails.”

Translation: You’re spending 10 hours a week on work that drains you.

“You’d pay $40K so you never have to do sales calls again.”

Translation: You’ve been forcing yourself to do work you hate instead of hiring someone good at it.

“You’d take two months off.”

Translation: You’re burned out and more hours aren’t producing better results.

“You’d hire a team to build your brand.”

Translation: You know this matters but you keep putting it off.

Every answer reveals a problem that money didn’t create.

But you don’t have $100K right now

You don’t want the $100K. I mean, of course you do.

You want what it can buy.

Once you name what you want, you can start moving toward it today.

You don’t need $100K to improve your health.

Change what you eat.
Block 30 minutes to move.
Go to bed an hour earlier.

You don’t need $100K to get help.

Hire a part time assistant for 10 hours a week.
Delegate one task that drains you.

You don’t need $100K to build your brand.

Write one post this week.
Reach out to one person in your industry.

The full version costs money. The first version costs a quick decision.

Does this only apply to individuals?

Of course not.

Companies make this mistake too.

CEOs may say “Once we’re profitable, we’ll fix the culture.” They mean: “We’re avoiding hard conversations.”
Founders may say “Once we raise the next round, we’ll hire the team.” They mean: “We don’t trust anyone else.”

Money isn’t the problem. Not knowing what to buy with the money is the problem.

If your business had all the revenue it needed tomorrow, what would you change right away?

That answer tells you what’s actually broken now.

What should you do right now?

Name the specific outcome you want.

Not “more freedom.” What does that look like? Three day weekends? No meetings before 10am?
Not “better health.” What does that mean? Running without getting tired? Sleeping through the night?
Not “less stress.” Where is it coming from? Your inbox? Cash flow? Work you should have delegated?

Once you name it, ask: If you had $100K right now, what’s the smallest version of this you could buy today?
Then go do that.

If you can’t name what you’d spend $100K or even $1 million on to improve your life right now, you have a bigger problem than money. Spending the next 5-10 years earning it won’t fix what’s actually broken.

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