BY BILL WIDMER
So you want to know how to become a millionaire, eh? With that kind of money, you’ll have the freedom everyone in the world desires. You’ll no longer have to work a job you hate just to pay the bills, or be forced to spend 8 or more hours a day sitting in an office cubicle – or in any other restraining setting. Here are 10 things you should turn into habits for making your first million dollars:
1. Start Generating Multiple Streams of Income
The wealthy are not dependant on any one source of income. They have multiple streams of revenue coming in, be that through a business they own, a property they invested in, or a blog they run. You must learn how to increase your revenue through multiple sources.
2. Learn to Be More Frugal
Millionaires didn’t get to where they are by frivolously spending money on stupid things. You need to learn how to keep money in the bank. That doesn’t mean you aren’t going to spend it – oh no, it means you’ll spend a great deal of it. However, instead of buying a new car, clothes, or electronics, you’ll spend it on assets with a high return on invstment (ROI). Speaking on investing…
3. Save to Invest, Not Simply to Save
A millionaire’s worth is not merely the sum of cash in the bank plus the value of the things he owns. Yes, these things factor in. However, much of their worth comes from their assets; the businesses or items they own that make them money. Most millionaire’s are not savers – they are investors.
Money sitting in the bank pays a pitiful amount of interest that will never amount to anything unless you have an incredibly high sum of it; and even then, investing it would still make you more money. With depreciation of the value of the dollar every year, you must invest money in order to gain from it.
4. Speaking of Investing – Invest in Yourself
Investing in assets outside of yourself is great – but bad things can happen. Your building can burn down, your supplier can quit, you could get sued. Once you’re out of assets, you lose. But what if you’ve invested in your own mind? If you’ve learned how to build a business yourself, rather than simply buying an existing one, that knowledge stays with you even if you lose the business. Buy more books, go to more seminars, watch more webinars, take an online course. Never stop learning.
5. Stop Working to Make Someone Else Rich
Every day you go to work for a paycheck on Fridays (or whichever day). In the meantime, the owners of the business you’re working for are making bank. Stop making them all the money and start building a business of your own.
6. Set Goals and Review Them Daily
The biggest, most well-known and under-utilized secret of how to become a millionaire (or accomplish anything, for that matter) is writing goals down. Physically write them down on paper – but don’t stop there. You must review your progress daily, and make sure you’re on track every single day.
7. Be Wary of Who You Befriend
They say your sum can be guessed as the average of the 10 closest people in your life. Whether that’s true or not, the company you keep definitely affects you a great deal. If you want to become a millionaire, you need to start hanging around people who know how to make money.
8. Learn the Language of Money
How can you ever expect to own a lot of money if you don’t know how to speak it’s language? Take an online accounting course or even buy some books. Take a free accounting course on Coursera.
9. Start Reading More
Leaders are readers. Warren Buffett reads 8 hours a day. He runs a book club with Bill Gates. If you need a place to start, check out Tai Lopez’s book list – I’ve read half of them and they’re amazing.
10. Think Big
Screw $1 million – shoot for $10 million. Have you ever heard the saying, “Shoot for the moon – even if you miss you’ll land among the stars”? It’s true. Set stretch goals and SMART goals.
Set a goal for yourself
“I’ll save at least one third of my earnings to do something big.”
