[email protected]
I interviewed 361 rich and poor people over a five year period to learn why they were rich or poor. After peeling back that onion, I came to the realization that most people really do not want to do what they need to do in order to become rich.
Becoming rich requires an enormous amount of work and sacrifice. The sacrifices may be an investment in time away from family and friends, missing vacations or delaying the purchase of things you want, in order to save money. It is also, oftentimes, a financial investment, which means taking a risk with your money or leveraging all of the assets you accumulated during your life.
Many entrepreneurs who make the sacrifices that need to be made, fail. A few, pick themselves up and try again. Failure is the common denominator in the lives of self-made millionaire entrepreneurs.
For most entrepreneurs, the work and sacrifice, along with the failures, are too much to bear. After getting burned by failure and the lack of any return on their investment, most individuals put their tail between their legs and find safe, steady employment, working for those who refuse to quit.
If you were to study this process, as I have, you would come to the conclusion, as I have, that being poor or stuck in the middle-class is a choice. It’s a choice because the hard work and the sacrifices are just not worth it.
The cold hard truth is that those who become self-made millionaires are really very special. They are willing to do the work, make the sacrifices, fail and never quit. If you want a secret to success it is this:
Work, sacrifice, fail, learn – and never quit.
Thank you Tom. You are exactly correct.
Wow, what an eye opener. People in my life came to mind when mentioning folks who tried, failed then quit. I’m in my first year of my first company and really needed to read this, thanks!