How to “Really” Get Rich!
By Kevin A. Lehmann on in Entrepreneurship, Kevin's Commentary
Almost everyone dreams or fantasizes about getting rich, but for most people, including those that write about the topic, that dream never becomes a reality. While it’s not exactly easy, it’s also not as hard as you think. If you want to become a millionaire, take it from me, it requires more balls than brains, but it helps to have both.
The great chasm that separates the wealthy from the proletariat isn’t the money, it’s the mindset. It’s how they think not only about money itself, but about the actions and ramifications necessary to achieve it.
For example, the proletariat generally operates from a fear based consciousness. They worry about the uncertainty of the future and therefore protect and save whatever money they have left over after their expenses. Those people could never, ever become wealthy. Rich people, on the other hand, operate from a consciousness of unlimited potential and abundance. They think big; they risk big, and they achieve big. How? They uncover or discover big problems and provide big solutions. The bigger the problem, the bigger the solution and the bigger the money. Position and posturing is crucial to a millionaire in the making. Just being self-employed or having a small business isn’t going to get you rich. Providing solutions to big problems, then creating a scalable business around that solution, is what will make you rich.
There is also a great chasm that exists between the rich and the poor about the beliefs and philosophies surrounding money.
Here are just a few:
Poor people focus on saving money. Rich people focus on earning money.
Poor people believe hard work creates wealth. Rich people believe leverage creates wealth.
Poor people believe money is earned through labor. Rich people believe money is earned through thought.
Poor people worry about running out of money. Rich people think about how to make more money.
Poor people believe getting rich is outside of their control. Rich people know that getting rich is completely within their control.
Poor people have a lottery mentality. Rich people have an action mentality.
Poor people wish to be rich. Rich people will to be rich.
Poor people associate money with mayhem. Rich people associate money with peace of mind.
What if you were rich and now you’re broke? I know, that sucks! But it’s not the end of your life, it’s just the end of a chapter and the start of a brand new one. The odds are good that you weren’t reaching the full potential of your God given talents and that the man upstairs is changing your course. “Oh but I have free will,” you claim. “I’m the captain of my own destiny,” “I control my own life.” Really? If that’s the case, than you’re saying that it was your will to go broke. I doubt that. There is a big difference between free will and free choice, but that’s a philosophical and theological discussion for another time.
Can you get rich again? Not only can you get rich again, if it’s your primary objective, you can get wealthier than you ever dreamed possible. “But how?” You ask. Let me share my personal perspective.
As a perpetual entrepreneur that takes extreme risks, I never allow my mind to consider the consequences of failure, much less dwell on it. If I did, fear would not only trump my faith, it would also rule my decisions and choke my ultimate destiny. I would rather deal with the consequences of prior decisions that landed me in the valley and use the exact characteristics, creativity, vision, knowledge and chutzpa that got me towards the top of the mountain before, to get me to the summit the next time around. Furthermore, If I were to surrender to my current financial condition, I would become a eunuch for the rest of my life.
Let me explain:
Once you make the psychological shift from a low or moderately risky person to a high-risk person like me, you have to accept the consequences—good and bad—that accompany the transition. Your successes are meteoric, your failures are catastrophic, and there is no such thing as middle ground. The pressure will either crush you to death or propel you to heights you can’t even fathom.
The moment you cave into your temporary roadblocks and downshift, you just committed psychological suicide—castration in effect—and cemented those roadblocks for life. Temporary circumstances only become permanent obstacles when you give them power and the source of that power is fear. If you’re facing colossal calamities, personal perils, or seemingly impossible hurdles and you’re already a high-risk person, now is not the time to cave into fear unless becoming a eunuch sounds pleasing. If you do, you will never again muster the intensity—the catalyst that fuels your passion, drive, desire, determination, persistence, perseverance, intestinal fortitude, creative genius, and renewed vision—to push you through. Contrary to conventional wisdom, if living on the edge got you to the top and subsequently brought you to the bottom, staying on the edge is precisely what will bring you back. Conversely, if you’re a low-risk entrepreneur struggling to make the paradigm shift to high-risk tolerance, you must have the discipline to part from the herd mentality and exercise the intangible attributes that make up an extreme entrepreneur. Only, just like a bodybuilder, the mental and intellectual exercises must be done with laser-like concentration and microscopic focus.
If you want to be rich, study how rich people think. Study how average people think too so you can avoid becoming a master of mediocrity. If you can’t surround yourself with rich people, associate with them through books, audios, videos, blogs, seminars, clubs, etc., etc. After all, we’re products of our environments and consciousness is contagious. The more you can hang out with, learn from, and read about other successful people, the more likely you are to adopt their way of thinking.
Times may be tough, but you need to be tougher. The current economic climate and political uncertainties will pass. And with that passing will emerge unprecedented financial opportunity for those entrepreneurs that weather the storm and not only educate themselves, but reinvent and position themselves to capitalize on the next cycle of economic growth. Are you ready? Really ready?
Until next time . . . Wake Up America!
Kevin A. Lehmann
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4 Comment(s)
By Dmitriy on Sep 17, 2010 | Reply
And this is why I am glad to consider you one of my mentors. You remind me of the truths behind the path that I am choosing for my life … and every time I read your material on entrepreneurship, I remind myself that I am choosing an extreme path with extreme goals that will take extreme measures, not mediocre ones.
Please continue to write more material on the entrepreneurial, high-risk, mindset.
By stacey on Sep 17, 2010 | Reply
Very nice article kevin. How true it is.
Some people simply just have a fear of success.
By Kevin A. Lehmann on Sep 18, 2010 | Reply
Thanks Stacey, I think it’s more a fear of failure than a fear of success. Too many would-be successful entrepreneurs allow their lives to be controlded and often dictated by other peoples opinions of them and their actions. That’s more an indication of lack of character, self-identity, and purpose, more than anything else.
By Kevin A. Lehmann on Sep 18, 2010 | Reply
Oorah Dmitriy! I’ll be talking and sharing more on entrepreneurship in the upcoming months with the debut of my radio show.