“The average millionaire goes bankrupt 3.5 times before making it to the top”.
That’s a powerful statement because it’s clear evidence that almost no one makes it from the first try. It’s absolutely normal to try, fail, try again, fail.
What matters at the end of the day is extracting the lessons after each failure to be able to avoid previous mistakes. Sometimes people make it from the second time and sometimes it takes 10 failures to do that.
Sometimes you get lucky and your idea hits right where it should such as Facebook, Snapchat, or Airbnb. If you ask the founders of any of these apps, none of them will tell you that they have expected such a success.
The problem with success is that, when you start succeeding, you will attract a lot of attention, and people will suddenly want to work with you and be your friend, which will create a snowball effect that will eventually lead to more success. That’s why successful people usually get low mortgage rates, and better deals even though they don’t really need them.
However, the absolute opposite is also true, when you have nothing, it seems impossible to start building wealth. Imagine having literally 0 in your bank account, what would you do? If you are reading this article, you probably have some money? But still, let’s try to find out how to start building wealth if you have no money left? What exactly can you do if you are sitting in an empty bank account? Do you really stand a chance to get out of that dark financial position?
If you just went through bankruptcy or you are just starting your financial journey. Forget about the long-term investments that we usually talk about. Yes, of course investing even $5 a day will make a huge difference in the long run, however, that’s not your priority yet.
Focusing on how you will be making millions of dollars 30 years from now while you are barely surviving is a waste of time. Of course, you should always keep a long-term vision in your mind however what matters at the end of the day is the foreseeable future.
What you can accomplish in the next 6 to 12 months. Long-term investments only make sense when you have extra money, where you already have a stable stream of income, then only you can focus on building a long-term portfolio. In that case, even a few hundred dollars a month over the long term will actually make a real difference.
But people usually come up with an excuse that you need money to make money. That’s absolutely true. It’s way easier to make money when you already have money. It could be any form of investment from purchasing a functioning business to real estate to stocks.
But that doesn’t mean that you can’t be making money trading your time. If you don’t have many skills, it’s difficult to get any decent income and that’s where the challenge starts. At this stage, you should only focus on developing high-income skills. Focus only on one skill, on a skill that’s both in demand and has some barriers to entry.
If you have just graduated from accounting school, for example, don’t go straight away and become an auditor because every other accountant is an auditor. Try something that’s not popular, that’s a bit more difficult like taxation. People hate taxation because of its complexity, but that’s exactly what’s going to distinguish you from the rest.
In fact, private tax consultants are some of the highest-paid professionals since rich people always look for loopholes to avoid taxes and if you can help them save a few hundred million dollars, they will not hesitate to come to you even if you charge a thousand dollars an hour.
The same applies to any other profession, be it designing, marketing, health, and fitness, whatever. The problem that I usually see in people is that they develop a skill, they reach an average level, where they are as good as their peers and then stop growing. They are making money but again, as much as their peers — that’s why never hesitate to invest in yourself to pomp your skills.
At some point, you just can’t keep self-educating yourself, you need someone who can share his or her experience in that field.
When I got into the stock market, the world of investing was something entirely new to me. Of course, I thought that I can self-educate myself, but then I found out that a single course from an experienced professional is far more valuable than any endless hours trying to figure it out on my own. As they say, if someone has already invented the wheel, go, and learn from him instead of trying to reinvent the wheel.
Sometimes all it takes is one conversation with the right person to figure everything out, that’s what makes networking events so important. Go to conferences, meet new people, talk to them. People enjoy sharing their knowledge, it gives them a sense of fulfillment, if you are humble and polite.
But at the end of the day, what matters the most is your discipline. Nothing beats discipline. yes, it’s hard, and boring to a certain extent, but time after time, it has proven to be a working strategy. The mistake that a lot of people do when they want to get disciplined after they had a motivational moment is that they get in and try everything at once.
It’s great when you are so motivated, but I have seen that fail every single time because at the end of the day, you will get exhausted and a few days down the road, you are back to where you started.
So, if the goal is to master a certain skill, let your goal be just learning 30 minutes a day, that’s it. What matters here is that don’t skip a single day, once you incorporate that into your lifestyle, make it to an hour, and so on and so forth. Let the strategy be simple and clear, make money, save money, and invest money. How you invest it will change over time as you grow financially or even personally.
At the beginning of your journey, it will most likely be investing in yourself, but as your income grows, you will have the opportunity to buy assets that will also be turned into a stream of income. While you are on your journey to financial freedom, don’t forget to continuously improve your credit score.
People usually don’t care about their credit scores until the day comes and they need to borrow money, but they can’t since they have been ignoring their credit scores all along. It’s difficult to build everything on your own. Sometimes it takes an entire lifetime to build a big enough capital to start something of your own, that’s why leverage is your best friend.
But no one is going to lend you money and there is nothing that proves that you are financially responsible. It doesn’t matter how good you are with money. If you can’t prove that no one is going to believe you. So, if you can get a credit card, get one. If you are bad with money, use a credit card to pay for your necessities and simply pay them back at the end of the week or month. That’s how you are going to let the banks know that it’s safe to lend you money. So, when mortgage rates are low, you can jump in and buy a house with favorable terms.
When you find a working business model, the banks will finance your operations and so on. Remember, when you are broke, no one wants to work with you. If you are not going to focus on building the foundations first, the rest aren’t going to work.
Thanks for reading!
