Road to Making Millions: Clearing Common Misconceptions
Here’s the issue: you don’t know enough about money. And I can’t blame you.
The place where we learn over 80% of what we know is school, and handling money is one of the few essentials that schools don’t actually teach us.
But if you take a step back and observe how money works, you can actually make money work for you. Stay with me and by the end of this article I promise you, you will have a new perspective on money.
The Paradox of Money
This is a cyclical relationship we all live in: We pay money in terms of tuition, or if you live in Canada, taxes, in order to learn how to make money. The reason most people pursue a post-secondary degree is that it is a criterion for employment. After you get employed, you’re back to paying tuition for your kids, or taxes for all the Canadians reading this.
This paradox is often regarded as the “safe-option” and people will pursue degrees that either lead to high-paying jobs or jobs that are “recession-proof”.
So at the end of the day, you’re paying money to learn how to work for money.
I can’t be the only one who sees the irony in that right?
I’d much rather pay money and spend time, learning how to make money work for me. That’s just me.
So I decided to go and do that,
But before I could learn the right stuff about money, I had to clear some misconceptions I held about money.
The first one was pretty hard to believe, but once you realize that it’s true, its something so obvious yet the lie is believed by millions.
Misconception #1: How hard you work is directly proportional to how much money you make.
For many people, the answer to the question of, “How can I earn more money?” is to get a raise, and in order to do that, people work twice as hard only to earn about 50% more than what they’re already earning.
One logical connection people don’t make is that when you’re an employee, you are paid less than how much value you generate for that company. Or else why would they hire you? You’re making them profitable.
Take a step back and look at it from a different perspective: If you’re adding more value to them, and getting less in return, aren’t you worse off in that agreement? So why would you willingly choose to be rewarded less??
Its because this continuous loop is less risky and more socially acceptable.
People simply cannot pay the cost of straying from the socially acceptable formula and ending up broke and an outcast, and people can’t be blamed. We are social beings. Psychologically we always want to fit in with people, and when over 90% of the people around you are going into the endless trap of a 9-to-5 job, it is hard to exclude yourself and choose a different path.
This fear can be avoided if another minor misconception is cleared:
Taking a risk isn’t the same as gambling.
If you muster up the strength to take an unconventional path and you tell the people around you, you might hear, “You’re gambling your life away” or something along these lines. Some people can use this as motivation but for others, this becomes an anchor, and they are starting their journey to financial independence with this looming anchor.
But you need to know the difference between gambling and taking a risk. If you drop out of college, with no plan, no saving, no knowledge about finance or what you’re going to do, then yes, you are gambling your life. But if you have a plan, some savings, and some financial knowledge, that is a risk you’re taking. The key difference is gambling is you running blindly towards a gap, taking a risk is you assessing the distance of the gap and knowing your own abilities and taking the leap because you believe you’ll make it to the other side.
Misconception #2: Specialization is the key to making more money.
Here is the average annual salary between a general practitioner and a neurosurgeon:
If you want to become a doctor, then chances are you will specialize to make more money and are more passionate about helping people and not making millions, in which case, the specialization will make you more money(to an extent).
But if you’re reading this article, chances are you’re not going to study and train roughly 15 years for a $400k income.
Now think about some of the billionaires/millionaires today: how many of them specialized in either being a CEO or stock market investing or any other sector of business.
Specialization is a nicer term for going deeper into the conventional rabbit-hole!
Some of the richest people, who aren’t the CEO of fortune 500 companies, had to understand each sector associated with making and keeping money: accounting, law, markets, strategies, weighted risks, finding/creating opportunities and a lot more.
Even fortune 500 CEOs aren’t specialized in one sector. They have to overlook everything from sales to product development and everything else in the company.
Misconception #3: You’re selling the wrong thing!
There was a very interesting story in Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki:
(For anyone who has read the book, its the story of the Singaporean reporter)
So, Robert was in Singapore for a conference and a newspaper/journal wanted to write an article on his books and success.
A reporter came in and started interviewing Robert. She asked about his life, his book, and the conference where he was scheduled to speak.
At the end of the interview, Robert said that he had read some of her articles and that she is a very good writer. He suggested that she should consider writing a book, which would sell very well.
She said that she was considering it and had been working on something but had no idea how to be successful and didn’t want to end up selling only to her family and friends.
He suggested she go to school and take some courses in sales and marketing. She got offended.
She started listing her credentials, her masters in English literature and writing, and all the things that cause her to be offended.
At the time, selling wasn’t as glorified as it is today(thanks Gary Vee).
As she was about to storm off, Robert asked her what she had written as a description of him. It said: “Best-selling author: Rich Dad Poor Dad”. Robert pointed out that it said Best-Selling and not Best-Writing.
He admitted that he isn’t the best writer but he knows how to sell, which is why his title was controversial and his ideas too, which caused people to be curious and buy the book to see what he was about.
Regardless of how well a book is written, it won’t make the author a BEST-SELLING author, selling multiple copies will.
People are focusing on the wrong thing to sell these days.
Given how glorified hustle-culture is on social media (even LinkedIn), people are too busy watching TikToks of middle-aged men going to garage sales and reselling the stuff they bought on eBay.
That way will get you a couple of thousand, but if you want something that will be scalable to millions, you’re selling the wrong thing.
People are focused on selling a product. Often it is the best product and by the time they are done explaining why it is the best, the consumer isn’t interested anymore. Going back to the reporter's story, it’s like the reporter trying to write a very well-written book, instead of focusing on the right thing which is selling something that consumers will buy.
Look at some of the biggest names in the consumer market today. Let's take Apple for example. None of their products are the best in any criteria compared to the competition, so why is it that people line up for days when the new iPhone drops?
Apple doesn’t sell you the phone, they’re selling you a lifestyle. Customers are buying iPhones for what it says about their socio-economic status, not because it has 3 cameras on the back.
An idea will sell a lot more than any product.
If you are interested in making your own company and becoming a millionaire that way, focus on the idea/lifestyle that you’re selling with your product and go deeper with that.
This creates brand loyalty and causes people to come back and buy the newest thing that maintains the lifestyle that you associate with.
Now think: Why did AirPods have such a big impact when they weren’t the first wireless earphones, nor the best in the market?
Now that you have cleared some big misconceptions, the mind-slate is clean. After this you have to do two things: lay down the financial foundation, and then build on that.
Don’t worry, I got those covered as well. I am writing a series of these three things. So hopefully after reading the whole series, you are ready to go out and make your millions!
This entire series is inspired by Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki. I highly recommend you read this book on your own time. There are so many lessons about mindset and financial literacy, it is a very good start to becoming a successful millionaire.
One very important thing that was highlighted in the book is that this journey is one of constant learning. If you have some interesting insights on this, feedback on the things written in this article, or just want to chat, feel free to connect with me on LinkedIn.
What to do next:
- Stay tuned for the other articles in the series.
- Read Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki.
- After you have a plan and the knowledge, go out there and take action! Greatness awaits you.
