27 Money-Making Principles That Will Make You Wealthier Than A 4-Year Business Degree.
The path to wealth is rarely found in formal education.
Photo by Pang Yuhao on Unsplash
Traditional education teaches you to be a competent factory worker.
Don’t take risks, find a ‘secure’ 9–5 job, and save a portion of your salary for your retirement. Enjoy your riches at 65 years old. Have maybe a few good years before your arthritis kicks in.
Nope.
Here are 27 money-making principles anyone can apply to their life today. No need for daddy’s credit card or a loan from corrupt banks.
Never trade your time for money. Especially over the long term. A job = Just Over Broke. For the majority of the population, you won’t get wealthy from working your 9–5 job. Soz not soz.
Ownership is not something, it is everything. In a 9–5 job, you don’t own your income. You are being rented out per hour. Ownership in the form of equity and assets is the only path to long-lasting wealth.
Always cheat on your job with a side hustle. Relying on one job for your income is a joke. You’re one bad boss, restructure and economic downturn to be put out on your ass with no underwear on.
“Formal education will make you a living; self-education will make you a fortune.” — Jim Rohn. If you’re lost, don’t bother going to college. Go to Internet University. Widely accessible. Most freely. More relevant.
Build monetizable skills (that pay the bills) on the side. Copywriting (even with ChatGPT), social media, content creation, design and email marketing are all skills that will make you a walking six-figure business.
Networking makes the dream work. It’s really all about who you know, not what you know. It sucks but there are ways you can build real relationships that exist outside of phony ‘networking events’.
Be a good person. No one likes to work with jerks or assholes. No matter how talented they are. I am not the most gifted person, but I attract money-making opportunities just by being good to work with.
Growth mindset. Always. A fixed mindset will kill more money-making opportunities than a lack of talent ever will. Does talent matter? Of course. But most people give up far before talent becomes a factor.
Plan for your psychology. Everyone’s got a story about money. Whether it’s the root of all evil or the root of all good, you need to understand what your story is. The story you tell yourself is the story you become.
What got you here, won’t get you there. Never stop learning. Never stop asking questions. Never stop putting yourself out there. Never stop taking online courses. Stagnation is the enemy of growth.
Think in years, but act in days. Strive to make progress every day. Expect results after years of work. This mindset makes you unstoppable. The faster you want something, the easier it is to manipulate you.
Getting rich easily is not possible, but getting rich (relatively) quickly is. Friends who see my success on Medium say I got lucky or it seemed easy. Wrong. Success is a dividend built on years of investing time and energy.
Detach from material desires. Liberation comes in two forms: (1) fulfillment or (2) detachment. Since material desires have endless fulfillment potential, the only way is detachment.
Reading is the foundation of being wealthy. The disproportionate amount of millionaires who are voracious readers can no longer be ignored. Start reading more books. Quit most of them and read the great ones twice.
Build physical leverage. This includes labor (people working for you), capital (money working for you), or assets (investment property working for you). Physical leverage allows you to delegate and save time.
Build digital leverage. This includes content (that builds your brand), and digital products (anyone, anywhere in the world can buy). Digital leverage allows you to make money 24 hours per day.
Combine your physical and digital leverage. Congrats. You’ve got a seven-figure. The best part? You’ve got a stress-free life that gives you time and location freedom.
Accumulate assets, and reduce liabilities. Assets make time your friend. Liabilities make time your enemy. Time compounds whatever you feed it.
Action > theory. If business ideas made you rich, every Tom, Dick and Harry pining for $1 million would be rich. While dreaming of wealth is a good start, only action produces wealth.
Buy back your time. Audit where you spend your time. Does it move your life forward? What activities hold you back? 20% of your actions probably produce 80% (or more) of your results. Liberate your time by delegating, automating, or eliminating waste.
Observe human nature. Humans are complex, emotional, and prone to irrationality. Understand basic psychology, persuasion and influence to create valuable products and sales copy.
Not all risks are created equally. Good risks = unbounded upside, limited downside. Bad risks = unbounded downside, limited upside. Increase your portfolio of good risks. Decrease your exposure to bad risks.
Ignore most financial advice (including this). Only take financial advice from people who have achieved what you want. If you heard the latest stock tip from your uncle Rob at a BBQ, stay away.
Stay away from brokies. Negative, pessimistic people who believe money is evil will bring you down with them. They will make you feel guilty for wanting to secure your own financial future. Stay away.
Direction > speed. Be more concerned with where your financial direction than your financial speed. You’re allowed to build wealth slowly, just try not to walk backward.
Prepare for the worst case. When planning my personal finances, I apply the worst-case scenario. When buying my house, I borrowed less than I could get.
Understand this. Becoming wealthy will only solve your money problems. Wealth is not the silver bullet for happiness or good relationships. If you were unhappy before you were rich, you’ll be unhappy after you’re rich.
BONUS: Once you’ve won the game, leave it. Start with the end in mind. What number would you need to achieve to live your dream life? You won’t need Lambo-level money. This prevents life inflation and keeps you off the hedonic treadmill.
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