TOM@RICHHABITS.NET
Of the Four Paths to Wealth, which I discovered thanks to my Rich Habits Study, the Dreamer-Entrepreneurs represent the most unique group.
What makes them so unique?
They are Outliers.
They do things differently than others within their industry. They are trailblazers and non-conformists.
This nonconformity often comes from the fact that they are industry outsiders.
Being an outsider can be a huge advantage. Industry insiders do things the way everyone else within their industry does things. They toe the line and confirm to rules, protocols, strategies and industry guidelines. They do what everyone else before them did.
But, every so often, someone comes along who decides to do things completely different, if not outright opposite, of the herd that makes up an industry.
Take Elon Musk. He literally had zero knowledge or experience it the two industries he poured his $180 million Paypal proceeds into the Aerospace and Automotive industry.
The aerospace industry experts laughed and ridiculed him, as he poured tens of millions into his new company SpaceX, which he promised would make rockets affordable and re-usable.
No one’s laughing anymore. In fact, many aerospace experts soon found themselves applying for jobs at SpaceX.
Musk’s is an Outlier.
One of the benefits of being an Outlier is you lack the industry indoctrination of doing things a certain way.
- You do not have any industry-related habits.
- You don’t have any industry-accepted ideologies or mindsets.
- You don’t have any “fixed knowledge” that can close a mind to novel ideas or solutions to prevailing industry-related problems.
- You don’t have an industry reputation to protect. This allows you to take risks industry insiders would be unwilling to take, in fear of damaging their industry reputation.
As an Outlier, you are able to do things differently, which can cause turmoil and completely transform an industry, as Musk has done.
Another example of outliers bucking the trend, is the current insider-recognized path to success – a college education.
Thirty-nine percent of the self-made millionaires in my Rich Habits Study eschewed a college education, as a means to pursue success, and instead pursued an outlier path – starting a business.
Some of the wealthiest, most successful people in the world, were outliers who chose the school of hard knocks, in lieu of a formal higher education: Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Edison, Andrew Carnegie (US Steel), Bill Gates (Microsoft), Steve Jobs (Apple), Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook), Larry Ellison (Oracle), Ingvar Kamprad (Ikea), Sir Richard Branson (Virgin), Leonardo Del Vecchio (Luxottica Eyewear), Albert Einstein (Patent Clerk), Michael Dell (Dell Computing) and Ferrero Rocher (Ferrero Chocolates).
These are but a few examples.
Most people are conformists, not outliers, who do what everyone else is doing.
Conformists make a living in the world they live in.
Outliers change the world.
Tom Corley is an accountant, financial planner and author of “Rich Kids: How to Raise Our Children to Be Happy and Successful in Life”, “Effort-Less Wealth”, “Change Your Habits Change Your Life”, “Rich Habits Poor Habits”, “Rich Habits: The Routines Millionaires Use Daily to Build Wealth” and “Rich Habits Wealth Academy.”
