Who doesn’t want to be a millionaire — that too without money? Being rich, in fact, is usually the dream of every person. Whilst we all aspire to be rich, but very few among us are really able to accumulate extraordinary wealth, and then we tend to believe that millionaires are born, not made. However, this perception is not entirely true. Not all millionaires have inherited their wealth. In fact, there are equally good number of people who have been able to make a lot of money without inheritance or upfront investment.
When we say it is possible to be a self-made millionaire with no money, we in no way are propounding a get rich quick money-making scheme or espousing something that is not within the framework of the legal system. It is absolutely possible to become a millionaire from ground up without any money, but there is no shortcut to this process. There are plenty of real-life examples of people, who have made it big through their own efforts. They have done it without, very little or no money, but the common theme among all these people is an attitude to triumph, perseverance, dedication and a single-minded focus to achieve their goals.
J K Rowling, the author of Harry Potter, is one of the most successful authors of all times who achieved the fame by putting her skill to work despite facing several hardships in life. It is almost impossible to believe that only 20 years ago, Joanne Rowling and her child relied on government welfare schemes to survive, but now she has a net worth of more than $1 billion.
Leon Charney is another such example. His current net worth is more than $1.3 billion. He is a master investor and an expert of Middle Eastern geopolitics. It is said that he started his career with only $200. He invested in himself, became an expert and began to offer his guidance for a fee. He also invested his own money in the right places and his fortune grew from a few hundred dollars to billions.
Who does not know Oprah Winfrey — the legendary talk show queen? Her current net worth of nearly $2.9 billion puts her in the top list of celebrity billionaires. While growing up, her family was unable to afford for their basic living needs. Her story exemplifies sheer hard work and focus to achieve one’s goals. Oprah followed her dream of being a talk show host, graduated to becoming a news reporter in Tennessee. After that, she started her own talk show and struck gold. She expanded her enterprise to include holdings and investments in media firms and eventually built a billion-dollar portfolio.
Howard Schultz is another such example. Like other self-made billionaires, his current net worth is worth $2 billion. He too belonged to a poor family. He was passionate about entrepreneurship and was good at sports. His sports scholarship led him to the University of Michigan. Thereafter equipped with the necessary skillset, he had the courage to venture out and start his own coffee establishment that is today known as Startbucks.
These are just a few examples among many, but the most common thing is that each one of the above had a very humble beginning. They made it out of their hard work, grit and dedication. The ways to become a self-made millionaire and the ways to earn money are altogether different things. You can earn money through a several hundred ways — you can join a regular job with a high paying cheque, you can earn money through various online stuffs, you can monetize your master skills, or you can start your own business. But to become a self-made successful rich person you must have to follow a few basic rules and, in fact, much of the success will have nothing to do with money and the most important part is that the journey has to begin with the right mindset, attitude, people skills, cash management, and other good habits.
Following are some of the common traits, which all successful people who have risen from very humble beginning possess:
Focus and Discipline
Rather than focusing on money, focus on your goal to achieve success, and money will follow. If you know what you want, and then have the discipline to go after it, don’t get sidetracked by less important matters. You may cut expenses or, better yet, look for ways to increase your income to meet your goal, but you must have to stick with your goal to become a millionaire.
Put your skill to work that you love to do, and chase your dreams
If your aspiration to start your own business or work is motivated just because you don’t like to work for someone else or are not getting enough pay, then it’s highly likely that you will not go too far in life. To get success, it is crucial to focus on your passion, choose something that you are passionate about and love to do. To get success you must have dreams and goals of your own, and being driven to see them through. Self-made millionaires have ambitions and are willing to take risks to make those happen. They are passionate and relentless in their mission to succeed. Set highly defined short-term and long-term goals with strict deadlines and you have to frame out exactly what you want and how to get there. While most of the common people ultimately want to lead a comfortable life, self-made millionaires push beyond the average, they believe in creating their own opportunities. Be ruthless with your vision and be clear about what you want to eliminate from your current life, and what you need to add over the next few years.
See the Big Picture
Expand your focus from the short-term success to the bigger picture of how you want your life to be shaped. Keep your eye on the biggest, most motivating reward and let yourself be continually driven and inspired to achieve that. Set bigger goals for yourself, choose something that is not easily achievable, something that will make you stretch your faculties to the maximum.
Take calculated risks, and persevere through failures
While the middle class lives in fear of risking too much, often content to stay in their lane, millionaires strive to move out of theirs and know when to go for it. Ordinary folks do not go beyond their comfort zone so as not to upset the milk bowl, but the fact here is that without taking calculated risks and overcoming fear, you would never become a millionaire.
You need to take calculated risks to be a self-made millionaire. When deciding whether or not to take a risk, ask yourself what is the worst case scenario? Evaluate the costs versus reward probabilities before jumping in with both feet. If you can anticipate the worst outcome, you can survive the odds. Millionaires overcome fear with knowledge, and educate themselves before taking risks, and then they consider the consequences of failing. They calculate the intensity of the risk versus the power of the reward. If you can survive the worst that could happen and if the most likely thing to happen will get you closer to your goals, then go for it.
Keep your thirst for knowledge lifelong, be more innovative and embrace change
One of the main secrets of self-made millionaires is that they are passionate learners and their learning curve actually has been shown to go up after formal schooling, rather than flattening. They are voracious readers and always remain eager to know about the world around them. They reinvent themselves and their business on a regular basis as the market and technology changes. Invest in yourself first, even if you know nothing right now. Instead of resisting every change, figure out what caused it and move forward by creating a solution that capitalizes on the new opportunity.
Shift Focus from Spending to Investing
You can never build wealth if more money is leaving your wallet than what is coming in. This is especially true for a salary earner who aims to become a millionaire. You don’t need to earn a lot of money to become wealthy; it’s what you do with that money that matters.
The rich don’t spend money; they invest, they count every penny and put in somewhere productive. The worst you can do in your drive to become a self-made millionaire is to spend your earnings. You have to develop the habit of buying what is an absolute necessity of life instead of spending on pleasures. You have to draw up a plan of what percentage of your profits to plow back into your business, and what percentage to invest into other things.
To summarize, having a lot of money to start with is not a pre-requisite to become successful or extremely wealthy. The only way to become successful and have that success translate into wealth is sheer hard work and grit, the ability to take risks and make the most out of opportunities that come one’s way. This is what separates the normal folk from the extremely successful persons. It is important to remember that all the successful, self-made millionaires had something special in them that set them apart from others. Either they were gifted with that talent or they acquired it through sheer hard work! What you do depends on you!
(By Rahul Agarwal, Director, Wealth Discovery/EZ Wealth)
