Having learned from many successful investors and entrepreneurs, there is something common amongst them.
That is the certainty that they have when it comes to rebuilding their wealth.
The most apt question to ask them is this:
"If you were to start all over again with no money, how would you do it?"
And they start bombarding you with all the different strategies that they have already perfected over the years, to rebuild their wealth. All of these do not come overnight, but rather, an accumulation of experience and a constant refinement of their skill set.
This is an important concept that we all have to internalize - money is just a consequence of the level of skill set that you possess. And if we refused to constantly upgrade ourselves, then naturally, the level of income that we would make become stagnant.
In this article, I want to discuss about something that I hold close to my heart, which is personal development. When it comes to upgrading myself, I don't hesitate when spending money for my personal development. Because I know that an investment in myself, will always give the best return. And those who truly understands this concept are the ones who build wealth the fastest. Those who don't, will have a painstakingly long journey. Or sometimes, they never make it at all.
With that, I want to share some of my learning lessons that separates those who achieve and those who don't - so that you can start on the right track on your journey.
Embrace The Struggles
The journey to success is not a walk in the park. If it was, then everyone would be successful. The success journey is one that challenges people to grow, and it is only those who are willing to grow, who will achieve their desired milestones.
To acquire a completely new skill set can be frightening. After all, you are stepping out of your comfort zone - and the fear of failure scares the heck out of you and cripples you from taking any action.
But this is exactly what will forge you as stronger individual. Without these failures, we can never learn from our mistakes and to constantly refine our skillsets. That's why it is so important to embrace the failures and constantly reflect on our mistakes so that we can "fail" all the way to eventually becoming successful.
Where Focus Goes, Energy Flows
We live in world today, where we are bombarded by so much information. When you start scrolling on Facebook and YouTube, you are going to be bombarded with other people's content - and we end up using our precious time to view all this content.
Most people don't know about this, but my personal phone does not have the app for Facebook, YouTube, Netflix, etc. There is no way for me to spend precious time to mindlessly scroll through content. I even installed an app, called Freedom, to block all of these apps.
(Yes, Freedom is a paid product - but its dirt cheap compared to the amount of time you are going to save.)
Why did I do that? Well, the answer is because I knew I couldn't resist the temptation to scroll my phone. Silicon valley have extremely smart designers that influences you to be glued to your phone. And yes, I basically needed an app to regain time wasted on mindless scrolling.
Some people argue that they use social media to read the news. But let's be honest, most news online are gossips. Do you really think that discovering how a celebrity spent their wedding anniversary is really going to change your life? I honestly doubt so.
So Freedom is something that I used on my phone. For my desktop, I used the following chrome extensions:
- DF Tube (Distraction Free for YouTube™) - This blocks off any recommended videos on YouTube so you only have to search what you actually need to watch.
- News Feed Eradicator for Facebook - This blocks off your Facebook newsfeed on your desktop.
Some people might say that they don't have time for personal development - but we need to evaluate how our time is actually spent. If we can spend two hours everyday scrolling social media, then don't fool yourself into thinking that we don't have time. Instead, spend the time to focus on developing your skill sets.
Don't Be A NATO
NATO is a term that I fondly use, which stands for "No Action, Talk Only". This is what is used to describe those people are all about learning but they never apply what they learned.
We probably have heard of the quote, "Knowledge is power". Now, that is only partly true. If I could make a refinement to this quote - "Knowledge is potential power, and it is only realised when applied." In other words, you need to get what you have in your heads and into your hands.
For example, everybody knows that in the long term, the stock market is going to do better than leaving the money in the bank. This has been proven historically, so much that even Warren Buffett told his wife to invest 90% of her assets into a stock index fund.
And if we were to look at the historical returns of the S&P 500, it is common sense that it will do better than leaving money in the bank. However, common sense are not always common practice. Like I said, knowledge is only power when applied. So while people are aware of the long term benefits of investing, some would still prefer to leave their money in the bank.
Another great example is the use of options.
Many people are aware that options can help to boost your portfolio performance. But as always, common sense is not common practice. Anyone can learn about options, but it is only those who actually apply the knowledge that will reap the benefits.
Making Money Even If Broke
Most of my readers are investors or at least aspiring investors.
So when I started the article with, "How To Build Your Wealth (Even If You Became Broke Again)" - a natural thought would be this.
"Investing needs capital, if you are broke then how can you invest?"
Now, remember that I started this article, highlighting the importance of skill sets, and how to regain time by spending less time on social media, and explaining that only implemented knowledge will change our lives.
This is where it all ties in.
You see, money is not a result but instead, it is a by-product of our skill set. So imagine this, if we have already acquired the skill set to make money from investing, why would it matter if you are broke?
"Gin, what are you talking about - if you broke, how to invest?! Are you crazy?"
I will repeat this again, if you have already acquired the skill set to make money from investing - it does not matter if you don't have capital.
Why?
Let me give you an example on properties.
Let's say, you are an expert in finding undervalued properties that allows people to make at least $100,000. But there's a problem. To buy these properties, you need capital right?
But who says that you have to use your own capital to make money from the properties.
There are rich people out there who have the money but not the skillset or the time, to find these undervalued properties. So if you can find them properties that would give them $100,000 profits, would they mind giving you a small cut of $5000 of every undervalued property deal that you found? And eventually, you would build up the capital to buy a property of your own.
And this could apply to stock investing as well. If you can help someone manage a portfolio and make them consistent profits over the years, then would they mind giving you a small cut of the profits you make?
"Oh but Gin, why wouldn't they just learn the skill set themselves?"
This is a typical question that comes up.
It is the same thing when we buy a burger from McDonalds. I could ask you the same thing:
"Why don't you just make your own burger?"
And likely your response will be because buying a burger from McDonalds is faster since you don't have to go through the whole hassle of buying the ingredients, cooking, washing up, etc.
So to answer your question, "Oh but Gin, why wouldn't they just learn the skill set themselves?" Well, the answer is because of time. Rich people are protective of the time they have because they are aware that time is a finite resource.
That is why developing skill sets are so important. Ultimately, money is a by-product of adding value to others. The more value you add to others, the more money you will make.
So ask yourself this question - how much have you been upgrading yourself so that you are able to add value to others? Because, the level of skill set you achieve is the secret to rebuilding your wealth even if you were to start from zero all over again.