How to Become a Millionaire

Many people aspire to become a millionaire, but not so many people are pushing themselves hard enough to reach that particular goal. In a world where being a billionaire is now the new target for the rich, becoming a millionaire is a real possibility for many an average Joe, and it mostly comes down to good management, sensible thinking and occasional calculated risks.

Part 1 of 3: Preparing for Success

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   Set yourself concrete goals. Good preparation is an absolute necessity when it comes to endeavors as big as becoming a millionaire. And it all starts with giving yourself concrete, measurable goals that you can keep your eyes on.

   • Perhaps you want to reach millionaire status by a certain age, like 30.
   • Or perhaps your first goal is just to be out of debt within two years.
   • Break bigger goals into more actionable smaller goals. For example, if one of your goals is to have a growing business in a year, start with the goal of fleshing out a business model within the first month.
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   Get a good education. Although there are a number of examples of millionaires and billionaires who never completed college, statistics show a link between education and wealth. The higher your level of education, the more opportunities are unlocked for you, and the higher the chance that you will become a millionaire.
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   Take care of your health. Making money and making good decisions that create more money in your life require that you are in good shape. Keep fit, eat well, and take good care of your body. It is your health that will provide you with the energy and resources needed to keep going on the commitment to becoming a millionaire.
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   Be tenacious. Success requires an ability to keep getting up after failures. There will be plenty of failures as you try to find the best ways to make a million or more. This isn't about the safety net of an average salary and the boss's orders being met each day. To become a millionaire, you have to be prepared to make decisions that won't always succeed but if the risks aren't taken, then the potential for success won't be realized either.
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   Check your self-confidence. If it's low, now is the time to build it up. High self-esteem and good self-confidence are essential traits to help you on your way. However, don't let this delay you. You can fake it until you make it and the more you practice being confident, the sooner it becomes a part of who you are.
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   Read the advice of those who've made it. Benefitting from the wisdom of the successful can never hurt, but be careful not to get caught up in the planning and preparing stage. The most important step is taking action. However, do spend some time reading other millionaires' advice. Some suitable books to read include:

   • Thomas J Stanley, The Millionaire Next Door (2004) and Stop Acting Rich... and Start Living Like a Real Millionaire (2009)
   • Alexander Green, The Gone Fishin' Portfolio.
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   Find a mentor who has walked the walk and seek advice. Surround yourself with already-made millionaires. They can be found in several places, there's even a private online club where you can have a millionaire mentor personally show you how to make money in many areas online.

   Part 2 of 3: Managing Your Money

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   Stop spending and be thrifty. This is a key element of becoming a millionaire. Either you have the money in savings or you're spending it on things. You can't have both if you're aiming to become a millionaire. Most millionaires (a net worth of $1 million to $10 million) are living a very frugal and cost-effective life, without hyper-expenditure. This includes:

   • Live beneath your means. A good rule of thumb for your living situation is to spend no more than one third of your monthly salary on rent.
   • Buy quality clothing but don't pay ridiculous prices. A suit under $400 will do you just fine.
   • Wear inexpensive watches, jewelry, and accessories.
   • Don't collect things.
   • Drive a reliable but affordable car of an ordinary brand.
   • Avoid prestige and luxury brands.
   • Stop comparing yourself to others and trying to keep up with them through spending.
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   Familiarize yourself with savings. If you're used to maxing out the credit card and not saving much, you're going to find it hard to become a millionaire at any stage in your lifetime. Begin by opening a savings account purely for keeping aside money and add to it regularly. This should be different from your every day savings account that you use to draw bill payments from and it should preferably be one that has a higher interest rate than your usual savings account options.

   • Having a savings account is one of the many ways where you can set your money up to work for you. Your initial deposit of money grows whether you make additional deposits by interest. Learn the different types of accounts, including accounts like IRAs.
   • Savings requires good self-discipline. Spend time working on any bad habits that take away from your self-discipline. Focus on what you can accomplish by saving rather than hoarding stuff or showing off to others through conspicuous consumption.
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   Invest in stocks. If you're gung-ho for individual stocks, buy stocks of the companies whose products and services you use or purchase. One of the best ways to invest in individual stocks is through an investment club; you may want to consider forming one with your friends. However, whatever way you choose to buy stocks, get really sound and good financial advice first. Do your due diligence on that financial adviser - check their reputation and record of accomplishment first.

   • Blue chip investments may be slower and less exciting than other stocks but in the long-run, they're sounder.
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   Buy mutual funds. Mutual funds are an investment of other investments. When you own a mutual fund, you own the securities (stocks, bonds, cash) within the mutual. With mutual funds, you are pooling your money with other investors and diversifying your investment.

   Part 3 of 3: Getting Into Business

   

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   Look at what people need, not necessarily at what you want when deciding on a business. There will always be things people need and they need them to be done well. Things like garbage disposal, energy creation, providing products to the health and dying industries, etc. In addition, the certainty of customers should not be overlooked lightly. Choose a business that provides what people really need and be prepared to put in the effort to make your products and services either the best, the most price efficient or unique.
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   Have a frugal start up. There is much talk about "looking the part". There isn't much point looking the part if it cost an arm and a leg to get it and you lack clients to pay for it. Get yourself a fabulous suit that is worn every day and makes you feel confident and ready to meet people but be very careful with your office fit-out and other business elements. Here are some ideas to help you initially:

   • Consider hiring offices that someone else furnishes, cleans and that get shared around. Spend only the time needed in them, to cut costs.
   • If you do have your own offices, hire furniture or buy it cheap at auction.
   • Lease anything that needs to be constantly updated, computers being number one in this group.
   • Keep staff expenses under strict control from the beginning.
   • Fly economy. Or use Skype and other online forms of virtual conferencing and avoid flying at all.
   • Be eco-aware and turn off unused items all the time. Save the planet and your bottom line.
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   Monitor cashflow with an eagle eye in your start up business. This is one time in life where obsession is a good quality. Every cent counts and if it's not in your savings or being churned back into your business, it's in someone else's pocket.

   • Don't neglect the viability of your business. Always pay attention to what isn't working and remedy it at the earliest possible opportunity.
   • Don't neglect the mundane but essential parts of running a business, like timesheets, tax, petty cash, invoicing, etc. Do them with clockwork regularity or employ someone who is capable to deal with these things.
   • Deal with bad debt as soon as it rears its head. It isn't going away, so the earlier you face it, the better.
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   Find your business sweet spot. There are only three pieces to this. First, know your strengths that are unique to you, or at least where you can add unique value. Then find a market, a group of people, who want what you have to offer. Finally, you have to make sure those people will pay money for what you have to offer.
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   Define your brand. A brand is nothing more than a belief system that people have about you and your business. People will want to do business with somebody or some company they believe will solve a specific problem they have. You must be seen as the solution to that problem.
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   Create your business model. Your business model must be either high fidelity or high convenience. If it's high fidelity you will have fewer customers who will pay a lot. You need 100 customers at $10,000 each to make $1 million. If it's high convenience you will have many customers paying you small amounts. You need 100,000 customers paying you $10 each to make $1 million.
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   Decide on your exit strategy. The simplest way to make $1 million is to create a business, an asset that you can sell. People will often pay two times the annual earnings for a business. That means a $500,000 a year business can be sold for $1 million. That beaks down to having a business that makes roughly $40,000 per month.
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   Make more profits from existing customers. The fastest way to increase your income is to sell more products and services to your existing customers. Find ways to add even more value, and offer the products and services to your existing customer base.
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   Build systems and scale up. This a key entire secret to a massively accelerating your income growth. If you create a product that sells for $100, and you know that $50 spent on advertising consistently produces one sale, you have a winning model, as long as you've picked a large market. Scale up.
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    Hire great people. One of the biggest way to go from a $60,000 a year income to a multi-million dollar business is by hiring great people. This is why all the large corporations focus on team-building and leadership. It is the only way to have a great team is to be a great leader.

    Tips

• Read. The more you know the more you will perceive to be possible, the more you can make.
• Make it about something else than money. It has to be fun. You are doing it to become financially well off, but few wealthy get off on that alone.
• Find a "system" that has been proven to make people become millionaires. The top five producers of millionaires today are: technology - internet marketing, direct marketing, home-based business, product distribution, and investments (stocks, bonds, real estate investment / development).
• Help others. Learn to be a caring individual that makes the world better for people around yourself. It will lead to more positivity coming your way. Also, donating to charities can come back to you in the form of tax deductions.
• Don't use a credit card much, all the excessive spending will come back to haunt you, and you may end in debt. Try getting a debit card for daily purchases, they're a lot easier to deal with. Use your credit card only for emergencies, and to establish your good credit.
• Make friends with people who are different than you. They can be the greatest source of inspiration and guidance if you are open to their different perspective.
• Never invest more than you are willing to lose. This is particularly important when you start. The older and more experienced you get the less risk you are likely to take, or the better you are capable of taking it.
• If possible, make the maximum out your retirement fund provided either by your government or your work. Then proceed to put as much money in to an account like a Roth IRA.

Warnings

• Keep riches and wealth in perspective i.e. don't kill the goose that lays the golden egg. In other words, avoid neglecting the source of the wealth e.g. decent health.
• The internet is full of scams. Do not invest any money in them unless you know they are legit.
• Outside of saving your money, there is no guarantee that you will make money through stocks. You should be wary of anyone who tells you otherwise.