The 1%. The millionaire club. This mythical place of happiness that only is a dream. How do we get there? How do we get to the point where we are not only beyond financially independent but can take that vacation we desire or buy that car we have dreamt about since we were only children. Though I do not have all the answers I do have some traits and characteristics that the rich share. As I grow to learn in my own endeavors I will look forward to creating that step by step program but for now enjoy this conglomerate of research that has been done on that fabled financial stature.
Trait 1
The thirst for knowledge. One of the biggest differences between the rich and poor or even the middle class is that they never stop learning. Now this doesn’t mean you have to continue formal education nor am I implying that a millionaire has to have 3 doctorates, but it does mean that you have to constantly be striving for knowledge. Classes and seminars in various subjects and the biggest factor to learning, reading, are what half of your day should in reality consist of. Make it a goal to start with one book a month, or even every other month, and steadily progress tell you reach the point that you are reading one per week. Making the time to improve on yourself through education is one of the best investments you can make in your lifetime, not just from a business standpoint but from a life and wisdom standpoint.
Trait 2
Individuality and ability to work against the norm. One of the traits that the 1% share is their ability to innovate and create in ways that haven’t been thought of. Vision is another form that ties in closely with this. Knowing how and the why behind the trends can help you to stay with or ahead of the curve in the finance industry. This being said many a good millionaires are adept at creating teams to accomplish this and all their other goals as well. Learn what you can but what you can’t hire someone else to do.
Trait 3
The ability to sell. One of the most important traits whether it had to be learned or whether they were blessed with it is the ability to sell. Not just sell an item but to sell yourself and sell your ideas to people’s hearts. If as an individual I have a fool proof plan that is guaranteed to make money through innovation and yet if I can’t sell the idea to an investor, or sell myself to anyone who is willing to take that chance to make it successful, then that perfect idea becomes something worthless. How many times have start up entrepreneurs well on their path to that millionaire spot missed this one item and failed to instill the belief of the product in the souls of the investors and the customers.
Trait 4
Living within your means. Well within your means is one of the ways to go from rags to riches. You have to have money to make money. The quickest way to get that money to start making money is by consolidating your expenses to allow for extra income every month. Pay off your credit cards or anything with a high interest rate first and work towards getting out of bad debt. Track your finances for a month and see where you have room for improvement. Whether it is the fast food, finding the better deals on the groceries or swapping down to a more economical car. Any way you can slim down you will be setting yourself up for exponential growth later.
Trait 5
Avoiding keeping your eggs in one basket. So you have your idea, you have your money all saved up now what. Your business is doing well but you are not seeing a million dollars out of it. What do you do now? Your business will grow as it can but there are other things you can do to increase your capital and potential. Creating multiple streams of income and diversifying all your assets is a way to help mitigate risk as well as to generate more cash flow in the long run. Science and studies show that millionaires generally have a minimum of 3 streams of income. This means you have rental properties, you have your business, you have stocks and bonds, you are an investor in other businesses, etc. Doing this allows for certain areas to do well even when others are not due to changes in the markets and economy. If you are invested solely in a business and it goes under due to a bad economy then you are back to rags and will spend ages getting to riches.
Trait 6
Resilience. How well do you bounce back from rejection or failure? Thomas Edison failed at making a light bulb over 1000 times. Yet it only took one to make a billion dollar industry. I am not condoning following a dead or dying industry but if you know there is promise in your business then KEEP TRYING. Work that much harder to realize your success and you will be rewarded for it. Learn to shift and change with the times and stay with or even ahead of the curve of business. This ties in well with innovation because you need to able to be molded by society but to realize where it is headed next. Stay on that tip of the spear but make sure the shaft and handle are not going in a different direction.
Trait 7
They do not work alone. There is no I in Team. There will always be someone smarter then yourself in a given field, so what if you could hire them or add them to the team to do that thinking for you? This is the way that most millionaires gain success. They develop a power team that is in essence a subject matter expert in their given field and they pull all these resources together to benefit the group as a whole and develop ways to make money that are much more effective than if they had attempted on their own.
In essence there are a lot of goals to strive for in your personal development to better your odds at becoming financially independent and later to hit that 1% threshold, but in all in all the best trait is to constantly try. I believe in you, those closest to you will believe in you and if you learn to sell the world will believe in you too, so start with believing in yourself. I wish you the best of luck in your endeavors and ask that you feel free to ask any questions in the comments, or that if you have topics you would like me to discuss leave them for me below.
All clip art was taken from the free clip art website ClipArtPanda.com.