Twelve Smart Steps to Become a Millionaire in the next Few Years
No bullshit. And definitely no get rich quick schemes.
Becoming a millionaire has nothing to do with money.
Most people don’t care if you’re rich. And the ones who do probably don’t matter. Becoming a millionaire is about having time to fully experience your life.
Life spent chasing money and desperately trying to keep up with bills is less enjoyable. I always thought millionaire status wasn’t possible for me. Then it happened.
I didn’t go buy a Lambo or some $3000 piece of shit briefcase. Nope. I stayed the same person. I didn’t let lifestyle creep ruin what I’d built.
Becoming a millionaire did allow me to quit my job, spend time with family, and stop stressing so much about every little thing. Here’s how to do it.
Get really good at one skill
Money comes from a skill.
Writing is the skill I developed. I got started by being prepared to be really bad in the beginning. My former boss still tells me how bad my original writing used to be. That’s okay. You can only trend upwards from a low level.
The challenge with developing a skill is most people give up too soon. The learning curve of a new skill takes time. People often think in 30-day or 90-day terms. The shift is to think in 1-5 year segments. I’m not interested in developing a skill that takes less than one year. Why? I won’t get good enough to make money from it.
When a skill is monetized too early, the people who pay you leave disappointed. They give you poor feedback – or no feedback. They don’t tell their friends. Then you end up making very little money. The problem isn’t the skill you chose. The problem is you’re too early.
A money-making skill takes years to create. Unless you have terminal cancer, the great news is you have time. Being in a hurry to make money stops you from making money.
Choose one skill. Work at it for 5 years.
The whacko strategy that changed my life
Ads are dead. Read that again.
People try to make money from a business by marketing. I don’t market or pay for ads dressed up as low-quality content ever. The whacko strategy that changed my life is to become a content creator.
This term scares the heck out of people. Let me break it down.
You’re already thinking every day.
Write your thoughts down because they have value.
Share your thoughts on social media.
High-five. You’re now a content creator.
Labels piss me off. They limit us from creating content that attracts people to what we do and eventually makes us a millionaire.
Dare to sell yourself
Money comes from selling stuff. When you sell stuff you’re actually just selling yourself. If I trust you then I give you my money. If I don’t then I quietly run away and never speak to you again.
A reader asked me today how I sell. Here’s my answer.
Don’t sell what you do. Tell people what you do.
Example: “My name is Tim. I write about self-help, money, writing and work. You can find my work on my website. I teach online courses if you want to go deeper. If you don’t then you can get my free library of content here. I wrote a book too – man that was fun!”
See? I didn’t sell you anything. I just told you what I do in a relaxed manner. There’s zero expectation. If that resonates with you then you might jump on board. If it doesn’t then we can be friends and drink Kombucha when you visit me in Australia.
Don’t overthink selling. Selling equals telling.
Let flow states automate the process
Flow states make you a millionaire. Drill that into your head.
Flow is automation for your brain that wants to goof off and watch Seinfeld with a bowl of popcorn. My brain is never ready to make money. So, there’s a process to it:
Drink coffee
Read inspiring content
Take a warm shower and let the ideas marinate
Pop on my noise-canceling headphones to block out the world
Shut the door
Pump movie soundtracks
Start working and doing low-quality work
My editor says that after about one hour in, my work quality goes up 10X. She’s a smart cookie. Once you start doing the skill you’ve chosen, it gets easier. The trick is, once you’re doing deep work don’t stop.
Phones kill flow states.
Notifications kill flow states
Doorbells ruin future millionaires.
Once you’re distraction-free you can do the best work of your life. Flow states are simply starting work and staying lost in the work.
Work done in flow states happens faster, which means you produce more value and can charge more money for that value.
Help other people get what they want
You don’t get rich by being a selfish jerk.
I hate selfishness. I run from selfishness. I cancel my subscription to selfish people. Millionaires are created by helping people get what they want.
You help others get what they want by becoming obsessed with understanding their problems. The challenge with this strategy is people want to charge money to solve problems far too soon.
What I did was solve people’s problems for free for several years. Problem-solving gives you data. As the data gets better, so does your Harry Potter magic trick of solving problems.
And when you do well financially, remember where you came from by helping a percentage of people get what they want for free. Especially those who are less fortunate and can’t afford your prices. Those you help can even end up joining your team, or becoming partners, or affiliates, or references of the great work you do.
Selfless wins every time.
Change your beliefs about money
“I can’t be a millionaire.”
Yes you can, especially if you have the internet. Beliefs we have about money come from our parents. Your parents may have had a hard life but that doesn’t mean you need to.
Those who grew up poor are often the best millionaires because they have a reason not to repeat the cycle. And they care deeply about disadvantaged people when they do become a millionaire.
Disadvantages give you added motivation. Disadvantages put a chip on your shoulder. That chip on your shoulder can help you break through the rough days.
Collect people with similar goals
Every opportunity is attached to a person. Opportunities do not float like clouds in the sky. They’re attached to people.
If you’re looking for an opportunity — including one that has a financial payoff — you’re really looking for a person. – Entrepreneur and investor Ben Casnocha
I am a giant liar.
I didn’t achieve financial freedom on my own.
Nope.
Other people helped me get there. They built my website. They gave me investment advice. They introduced me to customers. They taught me how to use social media. They inspired me to completely obliterate mental illness that nearly ruined my life.
They serviced my car so I could get to meetings. They dated my former self that was an asshole and didn’t care about another human being. They made me dinner. They gave me love. They showed up for the funeral of my 104-year-old grandma.
Millionaire status is a collective title. You have to get good at attracting the right people into your life. How?
Join communities full of like-minded people. Do online courses and network with the other students. Go to live events around topics you care about. And rather than slam a business card in people’s faces, ask them what they’re working on.
Genuinely care. Listen. Then stay in touch because a relationship isn't built on one conversation, which is why cold calling designed to sell is such a terrible idea.
Combine your skills with other people. You’ll grow faster.
Reinvest money you make
I saw this a lot with writers who got paid royalties. They’d have a great month and then blow all the money on a new car. They never reinvested money. The greatest asset is yourself. So invest at least 20% of the money back into you. Sharpen your skills, get better tools, pay people to improve your digital assets like a website.
Get bloody amazing with these bad boys
Financial assets make you an eventual millionaire in a few years. Every other way involves trading a lot of time for money, which is exhausting.
Make money. Invest money.
Assets you can buy include stocks, bonds, Bitcoin/Ethereum, gold/silver, real estate, etc. Get a basic financial education and decide what percentage of the money you invest will go into each asset. If you store your work’s value in currencies issued by governments, you’ll never be financially free or independent.
Money stored in a bank account can be eroded through inflation and governments creating money out of thin air to fund wars and pandemics.
Don’t hustle your way to an early grave
You see these poor souls all the time.
They’re stuck in back-to-back meetings. They don’t see their family. They have zero time to eat lunch. They don’t exercise. They rarely take holidays. Their whole life is busy, busy, busy. Eventually they burn out. They even become so exhausted that it forces them into an early grave caused by a supposedly random event like a heart attack.
Your body needs rest to be effective at making you money.
Sleep 8 hours. Drink water. Take plenty of holidays. Schedule downtime. Spend time being fully present. Exercise every day. Practice some deep breathing.
Your body is a financial asset you must invest in. Otherwise your energy levels will plummet and you’ll become an angry, worthless, grump.
Make sure not to become a tight arse
Nobody likes a tight arse. Put money towards good causes you believe in.
I’m passionate about homelessness because my close friend still faces this battle today. I’m passionate about mental illness because it nearly destroyed me. So I invest money into specific causes to remind me that money can do a lot of good. The good that money can create is often overshadowed by all the greed it can create too.
Tight-arses hoard money they can probably never spend in their lifetime. Money is good when it’s invested back into the collective good of humanity.
If your neighbor does good then you do good too.
Create values that can only be broken with a gun to your head
Values drive decision-making. Here’s a few of mine to inspire yours.
• No mobs. No weaponizing social media to go after people.
• No dishonest people ever.
• No gossipers.
• No drama.
• Optimism over pessimism, always.
• No money-obsessed assholes.
• Making money has to be fun.
Once you know what you stand for, it’s easy to say ‘yeah mate’ or ‘nah mate.’
Bottom Line
Millionaire is simply a label.
What matters is who you become while –and – when you make money. Money turns a lot of people into accidental assholes. Don’t be one of those.
Be careful with money the same way you would without it. And if you lose all of your money, it’s okay. Money can always be made back again. Just be smarter about it the second time around and don’t get desperate. Your bank balance doesn’t determine the meaning of your life. Money simply buys you time to do whatever the heck you want.
Choose to spend your money buying a year off from work over a brand new Lambo. That’s how you know money is working for you.
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This article is for informational purposes only, it should not be considered financial, tax or legal advice. Consult a financial professional before making any major financial decisions.
Thanks for the tips!
I hope to be a millionaire one day and not become a “tight arse.”
Links to inspiring content?