This article is one out of seven that I wrote about wealth. The whole series contain a lot of free valuable information about key factors that can help you become wealthy. The rich do things in a different way. That difference is the one I want to explain here. Let’s scrutinize together these strategies that can make you more money and help you boost your income.
The whole series contain the following articles . . .
1. Add Value.
2. The Multiple Streams of Income.
3. Passive Income.
4. Residual Profits.
5. Leverage.
6. Specialization.
7. Compound Interest.
Now, based on my own experience I believe that one of the faster and safer methods to create wealth is to add value to other people’s lives. You see. I believe that wealth can be created. The rich often become rich by offering better technology to other people than the one they already have. After all, that’s the idea behind capitalism.
The idea is to become rich by enriching other people’s lives. If you focus on making money, chasing money, growing money, getting money, you may stay poor. If you think about solutions, how to come up with solutions to other people’s problems you may become rich one day.
The beauty of this is that you don’t have to force people to give you their money. You don’t have to steal, cheat, lie, deceive. In fact you don’t need to make big efforts. You don’t need to beat up anybody in business. If you come up with creative solutions to common problems and learn how to market the ideas effectively, people from all around the world will be willing to give you their money in exchange for the products and services that you offer them.
Your goal like mine is to make money. That’s how we exchange values today. Money is turning into a drug in society lately, because many people can’t understand how the system works. Before money was invented people could understand much better the concept of creating wealth.
This is how it used to work. Let’s say that you were a farmer, so you had lots of food. Other person in the same town was a carpenter. So, whenever you needed some furniture for your house, you went to the carpenter and exchanged values with him. He agreed to make the furniture for you in exchange of some food for his family and himself.
In some way you agreed to work certain amount of time on your farm rising crops for others while others agreed to spend time working on their businesses for you. That’s how it used to work and that’s how it still works today but with a small change. Today we use money as a mean of exchange.
The reason we exchange values is because we humans can’t be expert in everything. We use a special kind of social leverage. I do something for you because this is my specialty and you do something for me because that’s your specialty.
The only difference is that today we use money as an intermediary which makes it even easier to exchange one value for other. Now I don’t have to waste time with the carpenter agreeing how much I think a bag of beans is worth compared with a chair. The carpenter sells the furniture for certain amount of money and I know since the beginning if I want to purchase it or not.
Money is simple. Some people want to make it complex but it is not. Now I don’t know if you have noticed something here. If all we do is to exchange value, then society doesn’t advance. We would still be in stone age. It would be something like this: I get some bananas for you and you hunt some animals for me.
You reap what you sow. That’s why when you enrich society, you yourself become rich! So, adding value can make you money, but it won’t necessarily make you wealthy. In fact even if you work for yourself and you are able to become financially free at a young age, it is probable that you still will have to work a lot if all you do is to exchange values.
Then how do you become wealthy? By creating values. You need to find solutions to common problems. The better your solution is the more money you can expect to make. Most people still get it wrong when they discover this.
Let’s say that you find a common problem and you decide to write a book about it. Your book contains information to all those people that are facing this problem and it helps them solve it. Now, analyze this, how many books about the same subject aren’t out there containing information about how to solve that problem?
Unless your book is among the best ones on the market then you still have not created something new. You have added value but your perceived value in the eyes of the general population is too low.
Wealth is not directly proportional to your efforts. In fact it has been said that “Poverty is a big effort that produces a small result while riches is a small effort that produces a big result.” You may think that you have created a diamond, but if most people don’t like it, think it is too expensive or are not willing to buy it, then you won’t make any money and you will be frustrated.
It is important to understand what people want so you can give them what they want. People want better technology, cheaper energy prices, more money, more knowledge, fresh new information, among other things. Your income will be directly proportional to the general perceived value of your efforts to improve the lives of others.
Of course there are people that make some money stealing and committing illegal acts, but graves and jails are full of those kind of people don’t you think? I don’t blame nor judge those who take that path. It is their own decision and I respect that, but as I said before, there is a safest path.
Most people in society make money by adding value to others, otherwise society as we know it couldn’t exist. If you wake up every day and go to work on your job, whatever your job is, if it is legal, then most probably you are adding value in some way to the life of others.
If you choose to work for yourself because you want to become rich or financially free and you do something, make something, build something or offer some services to other people, you may still not become rich until you realize that you need to create values. If your perceived value is too high, even if you do not create something huge you still may become rich.
For example if you have the funds required to build houses or residential real estate and you hire a custom home builder company, you may generate a huge income this way. One general problem that people have is that they need a house where to live. Houses are very expensive.
A new house is a general solution to a common problem. You are still not creating something new. There are millions of houses out there, but the perceived value of what you are doing is so huge that you may become rich within a few years. “The easiest way to make money is to help other people make money.” The easiest way to become rich is to enrich other people’s live.”
If you lie, steal, cheat or deceive, you may be disappointed of the results. No body is stupid. People that make money the wrong way and get away with it are experts on their field. Amateurs often get caught and get in trouble. You see. Society is competitive. Life is though, but it is also pretty, specially if you play by the rules.
Some people like the gray area. Gambling and trading fall under this category. Both of these are quicksand. Today you are above and tomorrow you are bellow. I trade the financial markets and I love it. I gamble from time to time. I play the lottery sometimes just for fun.
I don’t lose the real thing from my sight though. This includes the time and effort that I devote to my activities. Instead of sitting in front of a slot machine for hours, I sit down and write a few articles that could help or improve the life of somebody, somehow, somewhere. I devote must of my working time to adding value and whenever I can I create some values I do it too.
I understand you. Creating value is very hard. I know. To come up with creative solutions to common problems is not easy. That’s the beauty of it. If it were easy someone would have done it already. If no one have discovered a solution to that problem is because it is hard.
You don’t have to do it yourself though, but there is always a price to be paid. You can spend time and think hard how to do it or you hire someone to do it for you and pay them. That’s what many company do. They hire qualified employees like engineers, software developers, etc, to come up with the solutions and pay them substantial incomes for their efforts.
Some employees feel exploited because they have to produce more than they earn otherwise the company would go bankrupt. Did you understand what I just said. If you have a job, you will probably have to produce more than what you earn, otherwise the company that you work for would go bankrupt. It is how the system works, believe it or not.
In the other hand, no one prohibits you from starting your own company if you live in a free market economy. If you ever find a way to work for yourself, you will realize how productive your efforts really are. When you no longer have a boss who tells you what to do, when you are on your own, you will see if as an employee you were underpaid or overpaid. You never know for sure unless you try it.
I have being working for myself for quiet some time and I used to work for other companies in the past. Now I can compare. In some jobs I was underpaid, while in others I received more than I deserved.
Some people start working for themselves and become millionaires within 6 months. Others go back, find another job and stay as employees for the rest of their lives.
The bottom line is as follows. The first key to creating wealth in your life is to add value to the life of others. Your wealth will depend on the perceived value of your efforts in the eyes of society. On a free market economy people bid with their wallets.
If you are a doctor working for a hospital and you make a quarter of a million dollars per year, within four years you can become a millionaire based on your income alone if you save it all. If you use part of your income and save another portion of it, you still can become a millionaire even if you don’t save it all.
That’s because the perceived value that you add is high and your income indeed is also high. The same with lawyers and home builders. The same with many other professions, products and services that are in high demand. If in the other hand you do something that anyone can do, then your perceived value by society will be too low. Unless you become very good at it, you won’t make a lot of money. Then you have the second choice.
Create something new. Create something that’s really new. A new market that didn’t exist before. A product that is really innovative and solve a real problem. A service that truly help people solve a problem. Something that do not exist yet. Simply something new. Create a good solution to a common problem.
Next you will have to learn how to capitalize on your idea. Creating is not enough. Other people will try to still your idea. The better your stuff is the more coveted it will be. Others may hate you because you are smart. Expect to make money with this for a few years. The very moment that people find out your thing is profitable, they will start trying to copy it even if you patent it.
They will attempt to go around it. They will make a big effort to make money from it. It seems that is easier to copy/steal other people’s work than to burn neurons and come up with a solution to a problem. That’s why if you do it, if you take the time to develop something new, create values and help people to really solve a problem, you stand the chance to be on top of everybody else on that field. You simply created it. You are the owner.
When in two or three years people start copying you, it would be too late for them. You already made your millions. You became wealthy. You reaped what you sowed. Now you may move on and create something else if you want or retire and live in peace.
Just don’t forget that the better your idea is, the more envy it will generate as well as others will try to steal it. If you can stand all that and discover how to market your ideas effectively you will be on your very own path to wealth.
Last but not least. Add more value than what you expect to receive. What? You may ask. The only way you can possible do that and be joyous at the same time is through leverage, which I explain on one of the other articles on this series. People will happily exchange their values (money) with yours if they perceive that what you are giving them is greater than the money they are paying you for it.
There is a lot of manipulation going on in today marketplace because of this. All to make the clients feel that they are getting more than what they are paying for. That’s not good. You can be honest and make lots of money at the same time.
Remember this, to be successful, people need to perceive that they are getting more than what they are paying. The only way you can achieve this is through leverage. Otherwise you will have to work too much to satisfy your clients tastes and needs.
I share more information about leverage in my other article. I hope this article was helpful to you and increased your understanding of how to create more wealth in your life. There are many myths surrounding this subject, but the basics have always being the same.
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