If I Wanted to Be A Millionaire Before 35, I'd Do THIS

Summary

The speaker shares six key lessons for achieving financial freedom, emphasizing the importance of wanting it, acquiring the right skills, and understanding different types of income. They recount their journey from being in debt to making their first million, highlighting the value of taking risks, starting a business, and the power of patience and persistence. The speaker also stresses the significance of personal development, delegating tasks, and leveraging others' skills to scale success.

Takeaways

• 💼 **Pursue Financial Freedom**: The speaker emphasizes the importance of having a clear goal to achieve financial freedom, as it guides life choices and decisions.
• 🏆 **Value of Financial Resources**: The experience of traveling during a gap year taught the speaker the value of financial independence and the freedom it provides.
• 📚 **Beyond Traditional Education**: The speaker points out the limitations of traditional education in creating wealth and suggests focusing on acquiring the right skills for financial success.
• 💼 **Types of Income**: There are three types of income: earned, business, and investment. The speaker suggests focusing on the latter two for greater financial freedom and less taxation.
• 🛠️ **Acquire Wealth-Building Skills**: Learning skills like financial literacy, business building, and investing are more important for wealth creation than just getting a degree.
• 🚀 **Start Your Own Business**: To achieve significant wealth, especially at a young age, starting a business is more effective than relying on a high-paying job.
• 🔍 **Identify Your Business Idea**: The intersection of passion, skill, and market demand is the sweet spot for a successful business idea.
• 📈 **Scale Your Business**: To increase financial impact, a business must be scalable, moving from one-to-one to one-to-many models, and eventually to product-based businesses.
• 🕰️ **Patience and Persistence**: Success doesn't come overnight. The speaker shares their experience of grinding for a year with little initial success before seeing exponential growth.
• 🤔 **Deal with Uncertainty**: Building wealth requires the ability to handle uncertainty and the patience to wait for compounding returns on investments or business growth.
• 🧘 **Inner Work**: Personal development, managing emotions, and self-improvement play a crucial role in achieving financial goals and overcoming self-doubt.
• 👥 **Delegate and Leverage**: The speaker regrets not delegating sooner and stresses the importance of leveraging other people's skills and time to achieve goals faster.

Q & A

How old was the speaker when they made their first million dollars?

The speaker made their first million dollars by the age of 32.

What was the speaker's financial situation before starting their journey to financial freedom?

The speaker started with a debt of $100,000, meaning they were not starting from zero but from minus $100,000.

What did the speaker do before going to college?

The speaker took a gap year to explore Europe and Africa, which was a significant experience in learning the value of financial resources.

What was the most valuable lesson the speaker learned during their gap year?

The most valuable lesson was the understanding of the importance of financial resources and the freedom they provide.

What was the speaker's realization after their gap year about their future?

The speaker realized they wanted a life of freedom, similar to what they experienced during the gap year, and started seeking answers on how to achieve financial freedom.

What is the first lesson the speaker shares about achieving financial freedom?

The first lesson is the importance of wanting to be financially free and setting that as a specific goal.

What is the problem with traditional education according to the speaker?

Traditional education trains people to become employees and focuses only on earned income, without teaching about business or investment income.

What are the three types of income mentioned in the script?

The three types of income are earned income (from a job), business income (from owning a business), and investment income (from dividends, capital gains, and interest).

What is the second lesson the speaker shares about acquiring the right skills?

The second lesson is to spend time and money acquiring skills that will make you rich, such as building a business, financial literacy, investing, and marketing.

Why did the speaker quit their job on Wall Street?

The speaker quit their job on Wall Street because they realized that despite working hard, the job would never make them rich and did not compensate for the effort and life energy they were putting in.

What is the speaker's advice on starting a business?

The speaker advises starting a business based on what you're good at and interested in, and then considering how to scale the business to increase income potential.

What is the importance of dealing with uncertainty when trying to become a millionaire?

Dealing with uncertainty is important because building wealth through investments or businesses takes time and patience, and success is not immediate.

What was the speaker's initial approach to their business and how did it change?

Initially, the speaker tried to do everything themselves due to limited finances and an individualistic mentality. Over time, they learned the importance of delegating tasks to leverage other people's skills and time.

What is the 'be-do-have' approach mentioned by the speaker?

The 'be-do-have' approach emphasizes the importance of first becoming the type of person capable of achieving your goals (be), then taking the necessary actions (do), and ultimately acquiring what you want to have.

What is the final key lesson the speaker shares about leveraging others' skills and time?

The final key lesson is to not do everything yourself and to learn the skill of delegating to others, which can significantly speed up progress towards your goals.