The one thing that will make you TRULY Rich About 11 years ago I had a conversation with my elder brother which ended in a very bitter argument. He was angry with me because I told him that I never wanted to have a degree and to even make the matter worse, I announced to him that I would never be an employee. What I wanted to do was to become rich but my definition of riches wasn’t what everyone thinks is riches. In this article, I’ll be sharing with you the one thing that will make you truly rich.
Now take time to think about it; what is riches? For most people, to be rich is to drive the most expensive cars in the world. The Ferraris, Rolls Royce, Lamborgini, etc. But is that the true riches? In my own opinion, true wealth is the freedom, freedom to do whatever you love to do with whomever you like to do it with, whenever you like to do it. Freedom is the only thing that will make you truly rich and happy and I think freedom should be your reason for desiring money. Let me give you some examples here. Mr. A works either for a big company or in his own business, but Mr. A has to work 60hrs every week. His working environment is so tough that he has to resume at a certain time (let’s say 8 or 9 am) and close at certain hours. No excuses and no absence is allowed. Mr. A earns $100,000/year but he’s not in control of his time, what he does and who he works with. Now think of another man we’ll call Mr. B. Mr. B either work on his own business or work for another company but he has the absolute liberty to work at any hours he chooses. He could decide to wake up by 7 am and he could decide to wake up by 11 am. He could decide to work from 7 am to 3 pm or from 3 pm to 10 pm. Though Mr. B earns only $50,000 a year, he lives in a smaller town which is less expensive than that of Mr. A so relatively, the purchasing power of his income is very close to that of Mr. A, plus he is in total control of his life. Now tell me, who do you think is richer out of the two men in this illustration? Most people would think that the man who earns $100,000 is richer than the man who earns $50,000. Most people in our society will assume that the man who rides Ferrari is richer than the man who rides Toyota. Most people will assume that the man who lives in the mansion is richer than the man who lives in a 2 bedrooms apartment. The reason why we think this way is because we measure wealth in terms of the money and luxuries an individual has but in the real sense of it, no human being can be truly happy except he’s free to choose what he does, how he does it and when he does it.
I want to challenge you to rethink how you define wealth and I want to challenge you to pursue money for the sake of freedom, not for the sake of luxury. This is not to speak against luxuries. It’s not a sin to use the latest iPhone, latest cars or watches but if that’s the thing you work for, if that’s the reason why you wake up every morning, you will have a terrible life because you’ll be working too hard, sacrificing too much of your freedom, just to use the latest wristwatches. But if your goal is freedom, you’ll soon discover that you don’t need a million dollars before you can achieve freedom. You’ll also experience what it is to be in absolute control of your life which most adults never experience. So, how can you have this absolute freedom I am talking about? From my own experience, there are only two ways to really be in control of your life. First, build a successful business. Don’t be carried away by what everyone calls a successful business. For instance, most people believe that a successful company is that company that makes a billion dollars per year. Well, not necessarily. As an individual, you may not need to build a company of such magnitude. Your goal may be to have a business that can pay you 150% of your standard of living and pays everyone you employ too, while you work only on the areas of the business you like, at your own time and pace and employ other people to handle other parts of the business. As long as you can invest back any extra profit and keep on being on top of your game, you’ll be fine. This isn’t easy but if you can take time to get the right education and you’re willing to try and fail, you can achieve this and have a lot of freedom and fun doing only things you love and at your own pace. The second way you can get a lot of freedom is by being extremely valuable to someone else’s business. As an entrepreneur, I know that not every employee is treated the same way. This may not be fair but it’s the truth. I can fire an employee for messing up the first time if he/she is someone I don’t think is valuable for my business while I can give some preferential treatments to some employees, if I think they are the pillars of the business, so in a successful company, some employees can have some preferential treatment like flexible working hours, opportunity to work from home some days, etc. Yes, not many people can reach this level just as not many people can be entrepreneurs. But it does worth it if you think you can fix your neck into any of the two categories. In conclusion, I believe the real wealth is in the freedom, the freedom to do what you want to do at the time you want to do it, with whoever you want to do it with. The reason why you should desire to have money is to achieve this height, the height of freedom because there lies the real happiness which all of us desire. If the reason why you want to work hard is to buy a new watch, you’ll soon discover that watches don’t make anybody happy. If the reason why you want to work hard is to buy an expensive car, you’ll soon see how depression can hit anyone, even inside a Rolls Royce. Pursue money for freedom.
Set goals that will make you arrive at a point in your life when you wake up at the time you want, to do whatever you want, with whoever you want. Even though you can still work hard when you reach this level, you’ll only work hard on things you love, not on things you were forced to do by an employer. Thank you