Business Guru Says People Struggling Financially Should Just Make $10k More A Year, But 'Won't Because Of Their Ego'
If only it were that easy, sir.
Nattakorn Maneerat / Canva Pro Everywhere you look nowadays there's a new story about how people are struggling financially, even as the economy improves. And the longer the struggle drags on, the more wealthy self-appointed finance experts seem to crop up to provide tone-deaf advice.
But one man's recommendations go to a whole new level of obliviousness.
The business guru advised people struggling financially to simply 'earn an extra $10,000 a year.'
Oh is that all? Why didn't we think of this before?! How silly of all of us. (Eyeroll.) But in a way, business influencer Brandon Dawson's frankly idiotic hot take shouldn't be surprising.
We're living in something of a golden age of ridiculous, completely out-of-touch financial advice.
Photo: Baris-Ozer / Canva Pro
From politicians and pundits insisting the economy is actually very good and we should all stop complaining, to gurus like Dave Ramsey who are ignorant about what things actually cost — we are absolutely chockablock with Marie Antoinette moments right now.
But the advice to "just go earn an extra $10,000" is tone-deaf and foolish even by today's standards.
Dawson said people struggling financially could make an extra $10k in the gig economy if they wanted to, but won't because of their 'egos.'
Dawson, a gazillionaire entrepreneur whose entire social media presence focuses on flaunting his wealth and telling people to have a "nine-figure mindset" while he poses with AR-15s, seems to have wisely chosen to delete this particular piece of advice.
But screenshots are forever, of course, and photos of Dawson's hot take on personal finance recently made it to the r/antiwork subReddit, where it for obvious reasons had hard-working people seeing red.
Photo: Reddit
"It's much easier to earn [an] extra USD $10,000/yr than trying to cut your annual expenses by $10,000," Dawson wrote, stating the obvious as if it's groundbreaking.
He then did the math on what $10,000 a year is, in case any of the silly poors reading his post are too silly and poor to own a calculator. Ten grand, he said, is just $833 a month, $192 a week, and $27 a day.
"Anyone can do this as a barista, Uber, pizza delivery, etc.," he went on to lie — er, sorry, write. "But most won't because of their ego."
Dawson's advice left hard-working people on Reddit infuriated and rolling their eyes because it's completely out of touch with reality.
Ah yes, of course. We're all struggling to pay the bills because we're too arrogant to work seven days a week and take on multiple extra jobs! The ego is obviously why people won't get another job — not "because they want a life," as one Redditor put it.
"And [because they want] to be able to have a functional body by the time they hit 55, you know not dying of heart disease and having chronic back and knee pain for the rest of their short lives," another user added. (As a former Uber driver with the ruined back that goes with it, I can tell you this is all too real.)
What's so galling about Dawson's ludicrous advice is how it is completely divorced from reality on a level that approaches satire.
You're broke because of your ego, not because average rents — which have already been inflated for over a decade — shot up $200 in two years, or because inflation hit a record high of 9.1% 18 months ago while all but the wealthiest 10% saw their salaries rise by roughly half that, if at all.
And speaking of inflation — you're not struggling to afford groceries because it's been proven that more than half of the inflation we've seen since 2020 is just good old-fashioned opportunistic corporate price-gouging. You can't buy groceries because you're lazy!
And it doesn't matter that those prices will never actually come down because that's not how disinflation actually works and the only time the price of consumer goods typically goes down is when an economy is collapsing. Quit complaining!
Never mind the data showing the American standard of living has been steadily decreasing for the last 50 years, or even the fact that trying to make $10,000 extra dollars a year by Ubering or DoorDashing means you'll end up spending hundreds if not thousands of dollars on car maintenance.
Disregard the details. You're broke because you don't have enough of a "grindset." Thanks, Mr. Dawson! But then what should we expect from a guy who straight-facedly posted on Instagram that the way to make $500,000 a year is to simply find a way to make $500,000 a year?
The charitable read on this and all other business gurus like him is that he means well, wants to help, thinks he's doing so, and is just insulated enough by his wealth that he doesn't realize what he's saying. And perhaps that's the case.
But there are so many rich people like him spinning the same counterfactual narratives and so much advice like this that rehashes the long-held lies of "the American Dream," that it seems unlikely.
That doesn't mean you just sit back and cry about your financial situation. That doesn't mean you simply give up and do nothing. And it doesn't mean that there isn't any hope. Take it from someone who's been homeless — digging yourself out of the depths is possible. Gut-wrenching, but possible.
But it is not your fault you can't get a leg up in this economy, and anyone telling you so is either totally out of touch with reality, or a grifter.
You didn't make this economy. Our politicians did. And you're not "egotistical" because you aren't willing to work yourself into an early grave to make things easier. Anyone telling you otherwise isn't worth listening to. Tune them out, and hang in there.
John Sundholm is a news and entertainment writer who covers pop culture, social justice and human interest topics.