After two degrees, a BA in History and an MA in Administration and now an author and entrepreneur, I can say that this is the process by which you move along in life:
Wisdom, work, then wealth.
Wisdom. The first step toward earning a living, i.e. getting a job in the short term and then creating wealth in the long term, is to get educated. Whether that means that you go to school to learn from someone else or you self educate yourself, you need to know something.
The first step is knowing what your talents are. Each of us has multiple talents, things that come naturally which we were born with them. We ALL can recognize when someone has a great singing voice, right? Yep, that is the natural talent. I can't sing, except at a karaoke bar, but that's another story.
You and I both have talents, too, that others find hard, even difficult, to do it for themselves. Or, while you could persevere and push it through and make it work, the main issue is this: Does doing it bring you joy doing it? Do you wake up in the morning and can't wait to do what you love to do and when you go to bed you can't wait to get up and do it all over again? It's about accomplishing something that others wish they could do. It's not just having a natural talent, it's about developing it and having a growth mindset. This book is awesome about this subject, mindset by Carol S. Dweck.
When I first started writing my first book, How to Start a Business: Mac Version, I knew how to write, but I did not know how to write a book. So, I bought books, took classes and webinars, and searched high and low for content about how to write a book while I was writing my book.
But writing is only the first step, you actually have to produce a book, i.e. designing it and printing it out, I also had to learn this. When it came to designing my book, nearly every professional I asked said I had to use their services, or, I needed to use Adobe's InDesign or other high prices application. I'm an entrepreneur, I don't have tons of money, yet. Long story short, I figured it out and learned on my own how to use Apple's Pages to both write AND design it. A FREE Apple app, I got it done.
I had to learn how to publish it, too. I ended up using Createspace.com as my publisher of choice, it is a POD, Print On Demand publisher. Using Createspace allows me to have complete control over the process and my content. Another step learned in the process of becoming a "published author." But that's not all. I heard this saying while I was writing, "10% of your efforts are in writing the book, the other 90% is marketing!" Oh, was this so true. But that's another post.
So, get wisdom comes first, learning and educating yourself on what you're good at. Next, applying yourself.
Work. Once you know yourself and what you have a natural talent for, what your talents are, and have developed yourself, now you need to offer your wisdom and experience to serve others. In most cases it's getting your first job. In others, it might be interning to learn.
What ever it is that you have learned, you need to apply yourself and get more experience, which means learning more and getting even more wisdom. Wisdom is the application of knowledge.
It also means failing a lot in order to be successful. Only recently the adage, "practice makes perfect" was proven to be wrong. Bad habits practiced over and over means you get fast and doing bad habits. So we're back to step one, get wisdom, find out what the good, better, and best habits are and practice them until you not only get it right the first time, but get it right all the time. Here you out perform those take longer to get it done right, you earn more. :D
Wealth. My parents mantra growing up was, "Get a degree, get a job, work for 45 years, then retire." There was NO discussion about creating wealth, just earning a living. In fact, during a family patio dinner I announced to my family that my wife and I wanted to become millionaires! My mother looked at me with a scowl and said, "You're not suppose to be a millionaire, you're suppose to hep people!" My grandfather turned to her and said, "And what do you think a millionaire does? He/She hires others and gives them jobs to take care of their families!" It shut my mother up real quick.
Creating wealth means more than earning a lot, it's about ensure others are prosperous, too. It's not how much money is in the bank, it's about serving others, money is a byproduct of your service. Creating wealth also means creating products and services that others need or want.
Since then, I've learned a lot. In fact, part of becoming wise is never stop learning, step one, and applying yourself, step two. By applying yourself in earning a living, you increase the value of your skills and thus increase the value of what you earn. A friend that is high earner gave me his copy of this book to read, The Millionaire Mind. Just what I needed at that moment in my journey to earn more.
So, there you have it, get wisdom, work at it, then get wealth, the simple three step process of making it in this world.
Rinse. Lather. Repeat.