If being rich was simple, everyone would do it. Here are 7 key areas of resistance to wealth.
1. You doubt you can:
A common psychological question: “I know this works, but will it : work for me?” The answer is yes you can – or some can help make it work for you. If you have doubt, it may be for a good reason, but you simply need to learn and get the right guidance. That’s something everyone should and can do. I speak to mentors from so many walks of life before going into every deal or decision.
2. You fear risk:
Does “risk” sound irresponsible or dangerous to you? To millionaires and billionaires, they live in risk that they calculate daily to maximize the upside and mitigate chances of a downside. Every business you start, piece of property you buy , or investment you make holds within it the possibility of extreme difficulty, hardships, and failure. Go for it anyway. Now this is not a risk like putting a million on red in Vegas. Ideally, risk creates a tension that moves you to deeply investigate the pros and cons of an opportunity, master the due diligence process, or as a beginner; find experts that will help you mitigate your risks.
Mark Cuban, a famous risk taker and billionaire says, “You only have to be right once”. You can be average or below average for decades and just have one or two good calls one year, and that changes your life.
3. You need some new skills:
As an example, real estate is a skill and not just about buying buildings that people live or work in. There are easily a dozen different ways to get involved in the business of real estate that all involve best practices that can be learned.
As an example, I’ve owned more than 2 dozen mortgages all earning between 8-10% interested and approximately 120-200%+ secured. 15 years ago, however, I didn’t even know that was a thing. I only learned about them because I was reaching out to a number of top realtors to learn about the different types of available real estate in my area and one of them became a friend and mentor who taught me the skill to do it. Today, the mortgage interest we receive each month is 3x the average salary of the peers in my profession – all from learning 1 skill.
Ultimately, wealth is the ability to leverage skills, the resource of other people’s skills, and time. Of course, leveraging money through a variety of allocated investments is important as well. Yet, by developing skills that can be utilized to produce wealth, building a team and creating relationships, and becoming a ninja at managing time – you don’t necessarily need money to start. Most of us started with nothing.
4. No one is paying you rent:
It’s more than just the rent too! When you own commercial, multi-family, single family, Airbnb, condos, etc. for people to rent there are tax advantages, appreciation, equity, and cash-flow all happening at one time. With inflation booming and looming, real estate is a long-standing hedge. Is it the right time for buying rentals? The Forbes Business Council, states that millennials are making multi-family properties the right investment now due to their tendency to want to rent rather than own.
5. You haven’t evolved:
To create and sustain a competitive advantage and meet the criteria expected of stakeholders for the value of the business to grow year upon year, there is a constant and necessary evolution. On the other hand, certain professionals will get stuck in traditional dogmas that have them doing business like it’s 1980 or 1900 for that matter and miss out on the greater impact that can have on both humanity and their bank accounts. These leaders would be fired as management of a company, but since they own the business carry on to their own hurt.
Just look at businesses or even churches that still have a model that only allows meeting or doing transactions face-to-face. The mega-churches and mega-businesses have obviously mastered remote. If you’re only providing a brick & mortar transaction than you’re similar to those who remained committed to horses for travel and never thought this automotive thing would get traction.
6. Urgency and that Gretzky quote:
In his famous book, “Urgency,” Kotler proves that the desire for speed must be present and maintained for even the largest global enterprises to generate, sustain success, and avoid nuclear winter. It’s practically a proverb that those who move slow finish last. During the shutdowns, as an example, those that moved quickly to online business, telehealth, and providing services relevant to supporting people during the crisis were the most successful. Others have a normalcy bias, still haven’t adapted, and await the return of “perfect conditions.” Gretzky’s quote, “Skate where the puck is going” applies here. To avoid getting killed by unforeseen, Black Swan, events that are now accelerating and impacting us in greater and greater numbers in this era of globalization and media manipulation you have to look ahead. To use another well-known Peter Drucker quote, “The best way to predict the future is to create it.”
7. You have no clear wealth plan:
A recent study showed that only 5% of poor people save money and the majority use debt to pay for their quality of life. The result is no resources are left for kids’ education, retirement, or choices in the future. Zig Ziglar once said, “Rich people have small televisions and big libraries. Poor people have small libraries and big televisions.” This is a metaphor for the use of time. Rather than setting a budget, executing the financial plan, studying finance, or spending time with others that would help; you’re not rich because of too much Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, and social media.
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Have fun saving the world
Dr. Ben
