Happy Friday Y’all,

 

Last week I had the pleasure of visiting New York City.

 

The most iconic city in the world! 

 

It felt surreal being there. 

But something a little unusual caught my attention the most.

 

When I looked up at the New York skyline I noticed something unique.

 

There were THOUSANDS of wooden water tanks mounted on top of the skyscrapers. 

I’d never seen anything like this in other cities.

 

Maybe the tanks stood out to me because of my past? 

 

I used to work on tank projects when I was a mechanical engineer at the Whyalla Steelworks. One tank project in particular at the Coke Ovens almost broke me (and consequently made me). 

 

It was called ‘The Mother Liquor Tank’. 

 

This tank was filled with a low concentration of sulphuric acid and was used to remove ammonia from the Coke Ovens Gas pipelines. It was my first major engineering project.  

 

The wooden water tanks that filled the New York skyline sparked my curiosity – I wanted to know why they were there. 

 

I’ve come to learn New York is renowned for its water – and it’s been attributed as the key factor behind their delicious pizzas, bagels and hotdogs.

From my research I discovered although New York is surrounded by water, its natural freshwater supply is scarce. 

 

During the 1800’s when New York was growing rapidly – fresh water was a major issue. So they built the Croton Aqueduct (water supply system) from the Croton Dam to supply the growing population of New York.

 

Then in the 1900’s they built two more Aqueducts (Catskill & Delaware) to supply the city. These two sources now supply 90% of the freshwater to the 9 million residents of New York City.  

 

Using nature’s laws (gravity), water from the reservoirs some 200 km’s away is supplied to New York City – but the problem is, the water can only be naturally fed up to six stories high.

 

This is where the wooden water tanks come in.  

 

For the city to continue to grow vertically and sustain its fast growing population, they had to introduce water pumps to pump water above six stories and then use wooden storage tanks to store the water (they chose wood because they are more cost effective than steel tanks). The water is then gravity fed from the tanks to the consumers in the buildings. 

 

Getting fresh water to New York city was a mammoth (and ongoing) project. 

 

We often take for granted how much goes on behind the scenes to allow us to turn on a tap and have immediate access to fresh drinking water. 

 

 

Because New York’s water system has a lesson to teach us about our finances. 

 

Fresh drinking water is critical to build a thriving city. 

 

Because without fresh drinking water, life cannot be sustained. 

 

Similarly, 

 

 

Cashflow being the difference between what money flows in and out of your life.

 

With a surplus of cashflow, you can survive and thrive.

 

With a deficit of cashflow, you will struggle to get by and eventually die… 

 

Cashflow has two components:

To ensure you have a surplus of cashflow, your income must exceed your expenses. 

 

If it doesn’t, you have two options:

New York chose option one. 

 

They wanted to continue to grow and expand so they focused on increasing their water supply by building a large SYSTEM to deliver fresh water to its growing population.

 

They didn’t limit the amount of residents the city could hold and ration their water supply (option two) – yet this is how most people think when it comes to their finances… cut back, cut back, cut back! 

 

If you want to continue to grow and expand your finances then you must THINK BIG like New York City and focus on option one – building SYSTEMS to increase your income.

 

A system is something you can build that will produce income in the future (without you having to be there).

 

A fresh water system was the secret that allowed New York expand into the incredible city it is today.

 

Choose one and start building.