Last Monday I did my second speech at Toastmasters Club 59. It was a speech about money, a topic that some people are not comfortable talking about, but it didn’t seem to phase my audience because the speech went down very well indeed!

Here’s the written version of the speech – the actual speech varied a little bit from this because I did it from memory.

How I changed my Financial Blueprint

Greeting

Thank you madam Toastmaster. Good evening fellow toastmasters and most welcome guests.

Pause.

Strong Opening

“Rich People Suck!”

Pause

Last year I attended a seminar about changing our attitude towards money and during one exercise we had to write down our negative beliefs about money. The guy next to me wrote “Rich people suck” and it’s quite a common negative belief, along with things like: “I don’t deserve to be rich”, or “money is evil and not spiritual”, or “finances are sooo boring”.

Tonight I’m going to tell you about a book I read that made a big impact on the way I think about money.

About the Book

I’ve been into positive thinking and personal development for quite a few years but I never really applied that style of thinking to my finances properly until I read this book.

[Hold up the book]

It’s called “Secrets of the Millionaire Mind” by T Harv Eker.

Has anyone heard of it?

It’s not a dry book about finances – it’s packed full of great ideas, and is quite funny and blunt in places.

[Put book down]

The main aim behind the book is to get you to look at your financial blueprint, that’s the way you think about money and deal with money, and to replace any thoughts that hinder your financial success with better thoughts.

I read it quickly and enjoyed it a lot, and then straight away I lent it to Helen, my partner, and said “you’ve got to read this so we can be on the same financial wavelength”.

Our successes

This was back in January 2007 and at the time I ran my own company making computer games and Helen was (and still is) a freelance Science Writer.

One of the things Helen got from the book was a realisation that she wasn’t charging enough – that her work was worth much more. She doubled her rates immediately and still got plenty of work and was able to say no to lower paid jobs. A couple of months later she was earning triple her original rate on some particular jobs!

As for myself, for a little while I’d had a goal of making £5000 from my game company every month. In March 2007 I had my first £5000 month. Then my company went on to have a great year, and the following year my turnover doubled and things are still going strong!

A large part of our success was because we are good at what we do but when we shifted our attitudes towards money, things got even better.

So where do negative beliefs about money come from?

Beliefs about Money

When we are children we hear our parents talk about money in the home, and we hear our peers at school, and what they say begins to shape our financial blueprint.

“Money doesn’t grow on trees”
“No way! We can’t afford that”
“I got the blues so I’m going out shopping.”

Stuff like that. Then by the time we reach adulthood our financial blueprint is already affecting the way we deal with money. It defines if we are always broke, or if we horde our money, or if we are well on the way to being a millionaire.

The book talks about many negative beliefs about money and offers positive alternatives that we can replace them with. Also the great thing about the advice in the book is that it doesn’t just apply to money, it’s about creating wealth in all areas of your life such as love, happiness and health.

For example, one concept I love from the book is that of being bigger than your problems. So let’s say on a scale of 1 to 10 that I’m only a level 1 in terms of dealing with problems. Then along comes a level 3 problem and it seems insurmountable to me. I think “Oh my God, how am I going to deal with that?” But if I work on myself and expand my comfort zone so that I’m say a level 8 person, a level 3 problem is really tiny by comparison, something that I can deal with easily.

Educating yourself

Therefore educating yourself about managing money is vital in becoming financially successful. Once you start effectively managing your money you start to think more about long-term savings, ways to cut your costs, and ways to invest your money to make it grow.

Another great piece of advice from the book is to split your income into several different bank accounts. That’s what I do.

I put 10% of my earnings into long-term savings that I never touch, this is for my future.

Then I make sure all my outgoings are dealt with and then I split the remainder into several more accounts: a giving account, a contingency account, an education account and a Play account. That’s the best account because the idea is to spend it every month just having fun. When you know how much money you have spare for fun you don’t overspend.

The result of using a system like this is that I know exactly how much money I’ve got available for different things. I feel much more in control of my finances.

Conclusion

In conclusion, I encourage you to examine your beliefs about money and ask yourself if those beliefs are serving you well or hindering you. I also encourage you to educate yourself more about money in order to manage your finances more effectively.

Strong Ending

Finally I’d like to remind you that to be successful in whatever you’re passionate about, you’ll need to overcome many obstacles along the way …

And that is why … you need to be … “bigger than your problems!”

Thank you madam Toastmaster.

Last weekend I spoke on a panel at PAX called: “I’ve Just Been F#$%ing Fired”: How To Get Back Into the Industry On Your Own Terms Through Mobile Game Development”. (I haven’t actually been fired but I know about running an Indie company.)

It was a bit last minute, someone dropped out of the Panel and I was asked to step in, and being the sort to take opportunities I did. Originally the panel was supposed to be about Mobile game development, which I have limited experience with, but I thought that my knowledge of running an Indie company would be valuable anyway.

The panel went great and was very enjoyable. My co-panellists were very knowledgeable and it was good to meet them. The audience was not massive, maybe 50 people because I think lots of people went to the PAX 10 Panel that was on at the same time instead. I wasn’t nervous at all, it was just like chatting with friends except into a microphone.

The coolest thing was that I got a free PAX pass and so I was able to visit the show for the first time and see all the latest games and attend some great panels and even go to a nerdcore concert!

Anyway, the panel had a slideshow and I made some notes beforehand about the questions on the slideshow so that I didn’t draw a blank. Either I or the other panelists mentioned all my points (because we agreed on everything) and we talked about other stuff too. Apparently the panels are recorded and I’d like to find out how to get a copy of the recording.

So here are my rough notes for those who are interested:

Intro

- Been a hobbyist game programmer since age of 8, but fell intro trap of making business software for nearly a decade.
- Finally saw the light and followed my dream to make games for a living.
- Quit my job with no real plan or savings but with a determination to succeed and a belief in myself.
- It was hard work, and money was scarce for quite a while, but it fun and rewarding learning how to make professional casual games, plus I got to sit in the garden whenever I wanted.
- Eventually my games got better and I was noticed by BFG and did some games as a contractor for them.
- Then they offered me a job in Vancouver. I took it for the experience and networking then moved my family from the UK.

Pick a Platform

- Arcade style: Investigate XLBA. Mini arcade game: iphone or Flash game (ads or licensed but not much money in it). Possibly Steam but Indie PC arcade games don’t sell that well off-Steam.
- Casual game: PC and Mac downloads via big portals (need pretty big budget to compete these days). Possibly WiiWare and even iPhone. Some casual games on XBLA.
- Why iphone? Can make very small game to get started with low budget (smaller than XBLA or Casual game) and just a couple of months of programming. Lots of tools, comprehensive language and great resources. Submit yourself to appstore + 70% of profits. BUT tons of competition and a chance of very little return.

Manage Finances

- Start saving money whilst you have a job.
- When Indie reduce all outgoings massively.
- Try to get people to work for profit share (or part pay and part %) so you don’t have to pay them. Caveat: pros want to be paid and they often do the best work.
- Learn the basics of accounting. Track expenses and sales. I expensed some consoles, games, events like this, and a plasma TV! Make a balance sheet. Hire an accountant as they save you money and will stop you getting into legal trouble. $1000 is nothing, they’ll save you that straight away. Who wants to fill out forms? Not me. Delegate it to someone who can do it faster and better. Don’t do anything illegal (on purpose or through ignorance) or it’ll bite you on the ass.
- Team up with someone with money. They may want control though.
- Get a business loan (tricky if you are new), or personal loan (pretend it’s to upgrade your house), or buy everything on credit cards if you don’t have savings (not very sensible but it sure makes you want to succeed quickly to pay them off!)
- Find an investor. Not easy. Need more than just an idea, need a prototype and a strong case to get money from publishers.
- Speculate to accumulate!

Choose Employees

- I’ve worked in a distributed team, it sounds cool, but it’s not cool. It can be done but is hard work. Tons of emails. Working in an office with other team members is way more productive and fun (if you don’t distract each other). OR at least live near each other so you can meet up often.
- Only work as a one person team if you are making a very small game and are great at art and music or plan to buy cheap art and music or use free stuff. That used to work 4 years ago but doesn’t cut it now. Working on your own will take to long as well.
- Need designer/programmer (could be separate people), artist x1 minimum, hire musician as a contractor, plus marketing or publisher. Minimum team of 2 for a casual game but 4 is better.
- Find other designers to bounce ideas off of because other team members may not know about game design.

Adjust to Change

- Roll with the punches. Rocky says something like: “It ain’t about how hard you can hit, it’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward.”
- Change can often be good and present a new opportunity.
- Change is always a learning experience.
- Be open to change not rigid because when making a game you have to iterate ideas a lot and scrap many. Don’t cling onto something because you made it and it’s your baby, if the playtesters think it stinks, ditch it.
- Funding down: reduce scope. Funding up: boost scope, or finish game and make another. More eggs in more baskets is good.

Get Distributed

- A good game will NOT sell itself.
- Learn marketing and spend a lot of time and some money doing it
- OR hire a publisher (delegate so you can keep making great games, but they will take a big cut). Learn from them so you can do it yourself in the future if you want.
- For casual games, use portals.
- Find someone with a game on XBLA and see how they got it on there and seek advice or partner with them.
- App store = easy to get on. Backup with website and viral marketing.

Legal Aspects

- NDAs when showing other people ideas, but don’t be too scared and never show anyone.
- Don’t copy another game’s characters or story or graphics. Mechanics are often cloned in the casual world, but try to add something new so it stands out. Build your own brand of IP.
- Don’t make fan games, you can’t sell them unless you are extremely lucky and strike a deal with the IP holder.
- Satires of existing are legally OK, but still it may be best to come up with something totally new.
- Make sure all fonts, sound and art are totally from legal sources. Beware “free” sources. Read the small print as often it’s not legal for commercial titles.
- Don’t get bogged down in legality. Just get on with making the game!

Take Aways

- Believe in yourself
- Want to succeed
- Ready Fire Aim
- Work hard and learn as much as possible
- Seek advice
- Networking (which is why you are here right?)
- Take opportunities
- Speculate to accumulate.
- Go to my blog: www.greyaliengames.com/blog
- Keep it simple! (but not too simple)

As I’ve mentioned before I’m improving my public speaking skills because I really enjoy helping people to become successful as game designers, or in running their business, or just in their daily lives. I feel like it’s a mission of mine, a life purpose if you will, and I intend to pursue it.

Already I help people via my blog and I receive grateful comments and emails every week that encourage me to keep going (thanks everyone!) I also enjoy talking to people one-on-one about their goals and aspirations to see if I can help them – so public speaking seems like a good way to literally reach a larger audience. Plus it’s a self-growth experience for me because I have to be confident and communicate my ideas clearly.

Anyway, I’ve made a list of my speaking credentials and would love to hear from you if you are interested in having me do a speech at your venue, or even an interview (via email or phone or whatever).