Wealth Creation: Part 5
For the first twenty years of my career, I played the games that I thought you needed to win at, in order to create wealth. In fact, I deployed all but one of the four pathways to wealth creation that I identified in Part 4 of this series. None of them made me wealthy. In summary:
The Savor-Investor - I gave this the old college try in the first ten years of my career. I realized early on that focusing on saving income pretty much always led to the same result. My savings were needed to survive, and sadly, always got spent. Not on wealth building opportunities. Just day-to-day life stuff.
For example, things like unexpected medical procedures, car repairs, rent deposits from multiple necessary moves, car and rent payment fatigue, travel, an engagement ring, etc. That last one probably hit home for every person who ever proposed! I felt like my piggy bank had a big gaping hole in the bottom, and I was getting nowhere fast, trying to save my way to wealth.
The Corporate Ladder - thanks to my copious consumption of Ayn Rand novels in my early twenties, I never even considered this path. Instead, I got to witness my friends suffer in their long term commitment to living paycheck-to-paycheck. 🙈
Become An Expert At Your Craft - I spent the last five years pursuing this path. I became an expert life coach. Fortunately, I did not do it for wealth creation. I did it for joy. Good thing too, cause as far as business models go, it kinda sucked. And I did it better than most!
My coaching practice pulled in a million dollars in revenue in just under five years. A joyful paycheck for my partner and I for sure, but no wealth creation. It did however expose me to my brethren in the coaching industry, as well as customers paying coaches so they too can become experts. I can share with absolute certainty that the vast lion’s share of coaches and experts out there, are anything but wealthy. They are, almost as a rule of thumb, quite broke. No real wealth building going on, but a whole lotta talk about becoming wealthy some day. The good news is that most that I encountered really love what they do, so that’s a plus to joining the industry. 😎 I just wouldn’t recommend it as a wealth creation strategy.
The Dreamer Path - this was the path I deployed better than most, but I still came up a bit short of true wealth in America. I was able to build a lovely company that went global. I was able to sell my stock in year twelve for $2.5. While this money did eventually lead to great wealth creation, due to how I chose to deploy it, the company itself did not. You would think that starting a company that increased its revenues 55% per year for eight straight years would tip the scales in favor of making its founder wealthy. If you are a business owner, read Part 2 of this series if you missed it.
Every year we were only as good as our next sales season performed. Despite our success at generating more revenue every year, banks would not lend significant dollars to support our growth, cause they said we had no assets.
In year eight and a half, the mortgage crisis struck. It took its toll on our beautiful business. Our downturn began and it would never match its annual revenue peak again. I was lucky to get out when I did four years later. The next owners were not as fortunate. Sadly, they lost everything by year sixteen.
I tell all these stories for two reasons. Maybe you have similar stories, and by hearing mine, you can resonate and don’t feel so alone. Or, maybe you can finally release the shame you have been holding onto for failing at one of the above pathways to wealth creation. Again, you are not alone. No shame my friend. It’s actually the norm to fail at these strategies, because for most, they don’t actually work for wealth creation.
But alas, it’s not too late! I am a living, breathing example of this. I did not discover a different game that helped me win at wealth creation till after I turned forty.
So, what is the game I recommended playing so you can create wealth? No cliffhanger this time. The answer is below. But it will take me a few more additions to this series to teach you how to play this winning game. But here it is:
Assets That Appreciate and/or Earn Revenue, while you _________ (fill in the blank)
In the days ahead, I will profile multiple ways to play this game, and more importantly, learn how to win at it!
