On my way to speak in Atlanta today, my young Lyft driver asked many questions. After asking why I was in town, I told him it was to speak. He wanted to know about what, how I learned about the topic, and if I had written any books. This led to a great conversation.
I was impressed and told him questions are the gateway to a better life. They are a great starting point on his road to wealth.
He wanted to know the “secrets” of wealth.
The “Secrets” of Wealth
Is there just one? No.
Are many of the things that lead to wealth hidden and out of sight for most? Yes.
It begins with the choice of work. Find something of value, something with the ability to create leverage. The ability to have reach and/or major impact. This often comes with owning a business.
A major advantage is the willingness to be an entrepreneur. To pave your own path. To be able to explore, learn, and grow with less bureaucracy.
There are those who make it in the corporate world, but their time is rarely their own. The more they work, the more they are expected to work. In that world of shareholder demands and quarterly projections, it usually isn’t the best route.
The Importance of Purpose and Patience
It takes time and patience to discover our path for most of us. Too often, people choose expediency over purpose. They make short-term choices that lead to long-term consequences, impacting wealth, happiness, and personal fulfillment.
How do you create the most value? How do you become the consummate value creator? How do you find a model that allows you to serve enough people and make enough impact to create substantial wealth? That is the beginning.
It isn’t about investing in outside products first. Or picking the right investment at the right time. That does happen, but more often than not, it doesn’t work out. It begins with making money in a way that generates more energy, curiosity, interest, and momentum.
Add and Keep Value
How can you make money by adding value?
How can you add more value doing things that are challenging in a positive way?
What work are you willing and wanting to do to add value?
These are better questions.
Start with career and entrepreneurship—making money. Then, it is about keeping more of what you make. Pay less in tax. Reclaim cash that is rightfully yours with financial institutions—interest, insurance, investment fees.
Keeping more of what you make is about being mindful with your cash. But not so restrictive that you limit your velocity, growth, or investment in yourself. It is about efficiency more than discipline. It is about plugging leaks more than reducing expenses.
Grow Your Wealth with Your Investor DNA
Next, it is about growing your money. Learn to make it and keep it, then grow it.
Grow it using your Investor DNA.
Grow it through economic independence and cash flow before accumulation and speculation.
Focus on areas you understand, have ability in, and can focus on.
The wealthiest people in the world are not passive with their investments. They take an active role in making choices. Sure, they have a team to support them, but they gain know-how, stick to what they know, and become experts at risk mitigation.
Grow Yourself
The “secret” to wealth really isn’t a secret. It is ultimately to grow yourself. Take care of your health. See things through that matter. Keep and be your word. Develop relationships. Focus on value. Listen and learn.
When you grow yourself, you become a better steward over what you have been given. You develop your gifts. You leverage your skills.
I let him know to find people who have done well. Ask them questions. Interview them. Ask what advice they wish they had known at his age. Be willing to intern for someone who has money and less time. Give of his time to learn how to make money. And, importantly, build and establish his rules for living.
Learn what you like from people and what you don’t like or want to repeat. Establish your principles. Your guidelines. Capture your lessons.
When we have no boundaries, we can be lost in people-pleasing. We devalue ourselves. We minimize our time. We minimize our value.
Teach others how to treat you. Create mantras to reinforce what is true. Allow the ideas, thoughts, and bouts of scarcity to pass through without them defining any limitation.
Build Financial Capital Through Relationship Capital
I told him that our Mental Capital times our Relationship Capital determines our Financial Capital. Connect with great people. Add value to great people. Bond and build relationships with great people who can inspire and uplift.
He wanted to know what questions to ask. He was asking great questions, so I encouraged him to keep doing just that. He wanted to know what book to start with, so I gave him free downloads to two. He asked, and I wanted to serve and support.
Where are you not asking? Where could you use support? Where are you stuck?
Maybe we think everything is a secret when we feel trapped. But the secret is—know thyself. Ask for support. Value yourself. Don’t do this alone. Prosperity is not a do-it-yourself kind of game.
Wealth is built through conversation. What conversations are you having? Velocity is unleashed when you say yes to investing in yourself. Questions are the gateway to transformation; they are the key to unlocking your best life.
What question, if answered, would transform your life today? Start asking.
